Saturday, June 9, 2012
Update: I Want To Be A Turk!
Note: Due to some things in my life, I'm delaying one week of uploading. Please forgive me. Chapter 61 will be uploaded on the 14th of June earliest. Thank you.
New Word (3): Divulse
1.
To tear away or apart.
Word of the day from dictionary.com
So now I need to find a way to use them!
Writing 101: Self-narration
For once, I shall write about writing. Of course, I am an amateur, but hope anyone who is reading this will benefit from it :)
Self-narration.
Well, the concept is kinda stupid, but I found it useful. I have no idea, in fact, if everyone does this or am I the only one... so... let's get started before I sound stupid.
When I was a child, I love to narrate the things that I'm doing. So if I'm walking to the kitchen to get a drink. In my head I'll say it as if I'm a character in a book and I'm executing what the words say. So in my head I'll think of something like this:
"I walk into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of juice out of the fridge. Unscrewing the cap, I drank the juice from the bottle. It was sweet and my insides felt cool."
No joke. I really think like this in my head while I'm just... grabbing juice from the fridge. Hahaha! Am I weird? Anyway, I found that self-narration is fun. Firstly, I pass time and I get my brain thinking instead of letting it idle. (idiosyncrasy #1: I can never let my mind rest. If there's nothing for me to think, I'll think of my story plot) Secondly, I help myself go through the entire descriptive narration. Since I'm always doing something, there will always be something to narrate.
Once you get the hang of it, you can easily narrate skimpy actions in stories. In fact, what I do is narrate ahead of my actions. Then while doing the actions, I'll notice other details (like how my fingers ache when I closed them on the fridge handle.... or something not so wimpy :P) and then I'll form and add the details into sentences. Honestly, it's more of a yeah-I-can-describe-scenes-but-im-gonna-practise-cos-i-have-nothing-else-to-do kind of activity.
It might start off weird, but soon you'll be talking to yourself in your head all day long. Yes, my mind is sort of like Meia. It never shuts up, but I don't have photographic memory (awwww!)
So last night, before I fell asleep, I found myself narrating again. Italised sentences are the initial lines. The others are added after much thought and self-talk in my head.
I lie awake in my bed, covered in cold sweat. I want to sleep but i couldn't. The words that he said ran through my mind like an endless movie. I could feel completely indifferent about it, but I don't. Not when my life's happiness depended on it.
I took my folded blanket and covered it over me, not bothering to unfold the blanket. Despite the cool temperature in the room, I feel warm.
Try to sleep, I told myself. But I might as well talk to a wall. My eyes stung a little, but I doubt they will become swollen tomorrow. I have done a marvelous job at keeping my tears to a minimum. No saying what tomorrow might bring, every day is a land mine.
Yeah, something like that.
I'm going to finish off with two more posts and then I'm headed to bed :)
Self-narration.
Well, the concept is kinda stupid, but I found it useful. I have no idea, in fact, if everyone does this or am I the only one... so... let's get started before I sound stupid.
When I was a child, I love to narrate the things that I'm doing. So if I'm walking to the kitchen to get a drink. In my head I'll say it as if I'm a character in a book and I'm executing what the words say. So in my head I'll think of something like this:
"I walk into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of juice out of the fridge. Unscrewing the cap, I drank the juice from the bottle. It was sweet and my insides felt cool."
No joke. I really think like this in my head while I'm just... grabbing juice from the fridge. Hahaha! Am I weird? Anyway, I found that self-narration is fun. Firstly, I pass time and I get my brain thinking instead of letting it idle. (idiosyncrasy #1: I can never let my mind rest. If there's nothing for me to think, I'll think of my story plot) Secondly, I help myself go through the entire descriptive narration. Since I'm always doing something, there will always be something to narrate.
Once you get the hang of it, you can easily narrate skimpy actions in stories. In fact, what I do is narrate ahead of my actions. Then while doing the actions, I'll notice other details (like how my fingers ache when I closed them on the fridge handle.... or something not so wimpy :P) and then I'll form and add the details into sentences. Honestly, it's more of a yeah-I-can-describe-scenes-but-im-gonna-practise-cos-i-have-nothing-else-to-do kind of activity.
It might start off weird, but soon you'll be talking to yourself in your head all day long. Yes, my mind is sort of like Meia. It never shuts up, but I don't have photographic memory (awwww!)
So last night, before I fell asleep, I found myself narrating again. Italised sentences are the initial lines. The others are added after much thought and self-talk in my head.
I lie awake in my bed, covered in cold sweat. I want to sleep but i couldn't. The words that he said ran through my mind like an endless movie. I could feel completely indifferent about it, but I don't. Not when my life's happiness depended on it.
I took my folded blanket and covered it over me, not bothering to unfold the blanket. Despite the cool temperature in the room, I feel warm.
Try to sleep, I told myself. But I might as well talk to a wall. My eyes stung a little, but I doubt they will become swollen tomorrow. I have done a marvelous job at keeping my tears to a minimum. No saying what tomorrow might bring, every day is a land mine.
Yeah, something like that.
I'm going to finish off with two more posts and then I'm headed to bed :)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
So I was looking through my old stuff...
I was trying to organise the messed up files and folders that I hastily tossed them into years back when I first got my external hard disk. I doubt I'll finish anytime soon but anyway... I was reading some of the poems that I wrote when I was younger. Like, 5 years ago? Man, I was much more talented then than I am now. XD Sometimes the best works are birthed when you're in the most pain. My life has been quite smooth sailing in the past few years, muahahaha!!
Will I publish them? I'm not too sure, I would like to, but I don't really know where's a good place to publish these things (Apart from FictionPress XD)
Will I publish them? I'm not too sure, I would like to, but I don't really know where's a good place to publish these things (Apart from FictionPress XD)
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
So I had a dream...
“What’s out
on the patio?” I asked. I walked out of my hotel living room and stared in awe
at the place before me. It was a large open area joining with the other rooms.
Normally I could cringe at the thought of how there weren’t any boundaries
between the rooms, but not today. The patio was for communal use, it stretched
out before me in dark grey slabs of concrete. Around me, ivory pillars shot up
from the ground like strong trees, curving in at the top to look something like
the skeleton of a dome.
~*~*~
This was a place in
my dreams, I kid you not. As soon as I woke up, I wrote it down hoping that maybe someday I can use it in my stories. The feeling in the dream was overwhelming, it didn't feel as grand on writing, heheh.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Book Review (1): The God Project by John Saul
Aloha!
No, today we are not going to talk about my fanfiction. Rather, we will be talking about book reviews from other authors. The last time I talked about someone else's book... happened to be my first in this blog too. That was Robin McKingley's "Pegasus" (which I'm still waiting for its sequel). Since then, I've read two more books (and am now reading through one of it).
For someone who hasn't read a book from cover to cover for more than 5 years... this is an achievement. So I hope that I'll have more opportunities to read :)
The first book that I've completed this year is 'The Warriors of Alavna' by Browne. I'll talk more about that story another time.
I would like to talk about the book that I've just finished. Literally, just a few hours ago. If you are wondering, I'm still reading 'Eragon'. I find myself slowing down that story to read the others first. I wonder why :/
Reading "The God Project" started because I mentioned in a post that I wanted to expand my reading repertoire. So I picked up John Saul (a recommendation from the Boyfriend, who said that it was his first novel... he has been reading Marvel comics till then XD) and began to read.
And two days flew by.
It was a little hard to pick up at first. You gotta understand that I am a very childish reader. I bloom rather late when it comes to reading. Not bad I struggle with reading, just that things aren't as appealing to me. I was reading Enid Blyton when I was 12 years old, when my friends were reading books from Goosebumps, Jeffrey Archer and Agatha Christie. I read Sweet Valley High (and Sweet Valley Twins!!) when classmates were enjoying books from Stephen King and Anne Rice. I started Harry Potter WAY too late (I started when Goblet of Fire was long published. I was around 13 years old then.) When my friends were tackling biographies and memoirs I was reveling in magic-ky stories. I still love magic-ky books.
But I digress. I was saying that it was hard for me to get used to the fact that I was reading such an 'adult' book (many would beg to differ that the book was hardly an adult book). However, once I kinda caught the essence of the story, I was hooked. I couldn't put it down. That feeling of not being able to function until the story is complete brings nostalgia of how I would spend hours in the afternoon pouring over books :)
I guess I've spent too much time already. I'm going to summarise my thoughts of the book into point forms.
1. Language
John Saul's language in this book struck me oddly familiar. Then, it dawned upon me that his writing style is like mine. Or rather... my writing style is like his. The variations of complex sentences, with simple sentences in between to make a point. The little extra information about each character and their background... Simply put, if I continue to hone my writing skills, I may end up writing like John Saul (in description).
Of course, I can never be half as good as these authors, but that doesn't mean that I can't hope :) John Saul's description is written more on the characters rather than the setting, which kinda isn't what I'm doing, but is something that I hope to improve :)
2. Unpredictable
As with horror-thriller stories, you will be expecting twists in the plots. However, what I love about this story is how you think you know how it's going to end, but it... doesn't. There were some people that I thought were the baddies but they were not. The awesomeness comes because in the end you realise that you were thrown another twist, just pages before the end. And well... the ending is chilling.
From the beginning to the end, I couldn't be sure what the end would be like. That, I guess, would be the hallmark of a plot with twists. I could blame it on my inexperience in horror-thriller stories, or I could give John Saul the credit... so I might as well be nice :)
3. Timeless
Being printed in 1982, you would expect the content to be blah. After all, it's 30 years since it's first printing.
To this, I give a resounding NO.
The technology and concept behind The God Project is an area that is constantly explored and examined - Genetic Engineering. I remember that when I was in high school/Junior College, my teacher first introduced that to me (Yes, I am a noob who doesn't read the newspapers.) and it was a little hard to stomach. Imagine the concept of genetic engineering... in 1982. Before Windows 95 were made, for all we know!
Absolutely timeless. The concept doesn't make me feel that the book is unrelevant and outdated.
Oh, now that I'm tired, I suppose I'll take a rest. So here it is, my (somewhat) short afterthoughts of 'The God Project'. I've received some recommendations on books to read, but I doubt I'll have time to read, though i'll try my best to get around it. Enjoy your week!
Disclaimer: Despite the official term, the above book review is not a wholesome and fully critical one. The book is merely reviewed and reflected on based on story writing skills and other literary elements.
No, today we are not going to talk about my fanfiction. Rather, we will be talking about book reviews from other authors. The last time I talked about someone else's book... happened to be my first in this blog too. That was Robin McKingley's "Pegasus" (which I'm still waiting for its sequel). Since then, I've read two more books (and am now reading through one of it).
For someone who hasn't read a book from cover to cover for more than 5 years... this is an achievement. So I hope that I'll have more opportunities to read :)
The first book that I've completed this year is 'The Warriors of Alavna' by Browne. I'll talk more about that story another time.
I would like to talk about the book that I've just finished. Literally, just a few hours ago. If you are wondering, I'm still reading 'Eragon'. I find myself slowing down that story to read the others first. I wonder why :/
Reading "The God Project" started because I mentioned in a post that I wanted to expand my reading repertoire. So I picked up John Saul (a recommendation from the Boyfriend, who said that it was his first novel... he has been reading Marvel comics till then XD) and began to read.
And two days flew by.
It was a little hard to pick up at first. You gotta understand that I am a very childish reader. I bloom rather late when it comes to reading. Not bad I struggle with reading, just that things aren't as appealing to me. I was reading Enid Blyton when I was 12 years old, when my friends were reading books from Goosebumps, Jeffrey Archer and Agatha Christie. I read Sweet Valley High (and Sweet Valley Twins!!) when classmates were enjoying books from Stephen King and Anne Rice. I started Harry Potter WAY too late (I started when Goblet of Fire was long published. I was around 13 years old then.) When my friends were tackling biographies and memoirs I was reveling in magic-ky stories. I still love magic-ky books.
But I digress. I was saying that it was hard for me to get used to the fact that I was reading such an 'adult' book (many would beg to differ that the book was hardly an adult book). However, once I kinda caught the essence of the story, I was hooked. I couldn't put it down. That feeling of not being able to function until the story is complete brings nostalgia of how I would spend hours in the afternoon pouring over books :)
I guess I've spent too much time already. I'm going to summarise my thoughts of the book into point forms.
1. Language
John Saul's language in this book struck me oddly familiar. Then, it dawned upon me that his writing style is like mine. Or rather... my writing style is like his. The variations of complex sentences, with simple sentences in between to make a point. The little extra information about each character and their background... Simply put, if I continue to hone my writing skills, I may end up writing like John Saul (in description).
Of course, I can never be half as good as these authors, but that doesn't mean that I can't hope :) John Saul's description is written more on the characters rather than the setting, which kinda isn't what I'm doing, but is something that I hope to improve :)
2. Unpredictable
As with horror-thriller stories, you will be expecting twists in the plots. However, what I love about this story is how you think you know how it's going to end, but it... doesn't. There were some people that I thought were the baddies but they were not. The awesomeness comes because in the end you realise that you were thrown another twist, just pages before the end. And well... the ending is chilling.
From the beginning to the end, I couldn't be sure what the end would be like. That, I guess, would be the hallmark of a plot with twists. I could blame it on my inexperience in horror-thriller stories, or I could give John Saul the credit... so I might as well be nice :)
3. Timeless
Being printed in 1982, you would expect the content to be blah. After all, it's 30 years since it's first printing.
To this, I give a resounding NO.
The technology and concept behind The God Project is an area that is constantly explored and examined - Genetic Engineering. I remember that when I was in high school/Junior College, my teacher first introduced that to me (Yes, I am a noob who doesn't read the newspapers.) and it was a little hard to stomach. Imagine the concept of genetic engineering... in 1982. Before Windows 95 were made, for all we know!
Absolutely timeless. The concept doesn't make me feel that the book is unrelevant and outdated.
Oh, now that I'm tired, I suppose I'll take a rest. So here it is, my (somewhat) short afterthoughts of 'The God Project'. I've received some recommendations on books to read, but I doubt I'll have time to read, though i'll try my best to get around it. Enjoy your week!
Disclaimer: Despite the official term, the above book review is not a wholesome and fully critical one. The book is merely reviewed and reflected on based on story writing skills and other literary elements.
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