Thursday, November 5, 2009

Update on my NaNoWriMo progress!

Whew, I'm more busy then I thought I would be!

I started today a few thousand words behind...and now I'm slightly ahead! I've been plugging away at it ever since I finished school. But it's so hard to stare at the computer screen all day, and once I'm done posting this I'll get off the computer and do something outside.

The hardest thing about this is remembering that it's about quantity, not quality. I am a perfectionist, and if something isn't perfect, I tend to worry over it. So my story is horribly written, but I'm up to over 8,333 words.

I know a lot of you NaNo-ers are in the 10,000's already...but I'm not quite so good a writer as a lot of people.

And I am really tired.

[So that means I'm too tired to post my signature]

Izori

Tagged by Siminy!

Do you like to write?
YES!

Favourite Books?
At the moment, that would be...'Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien

Do you compose music/write songs?
Yes.

Do you like Poetry?
I actually write poetry myself, so yes.


Loved someone so much who made you cry?
Yes.

Broken a bone?
Nope.

Been in a police car?
I don't think so.

Been on a boat?
Yes!

Fallen asleep at school?
Uh, yes. I'm home schooled.

Did you sing today?
It's 5:40 AM! Have you ever heard my voice early in the morning? Don't. And I haven't sung today, because I know I sing horribly in the morning.

KFC, Popeyes or Church's?
I've never really been to either.

Chick-a-flick or What-a-Burger?
See above answer.

Starbucks or McCafe?
Starbucks!

What's your favourite time of year?
Fall.

Do you ever talk to yourself?
Yes.

Do you have a favourite treat you like to buy on occasions?
Books.

Do you believe the Bible is the literal word of God and is infallible?
Yes! All the way!

What's your favourite sport?
SOCCER!!!!!

What colour is your Ipod?
I don't have one. My mp3 is blue.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Hmmm...Scotland or Ireland.

If you could go to any fictional place, where would you go?
MIDDLE EARTH!!!!!!!

Do you love to write or do you just like writing? Or do you write at all?
I LOVE WRITING!

What do you want to be when you a grown-up?
A wife and a mom. And a writer. And a singer. And a professional soccer player. And maybe an actress.

Favourite animal?
Dragons, nixies, unicorns, and the like.

Favourite Song?
I have a gazillion of them.

Do you like school?
Yeah.

Are you a people person? Because I'm getting the idea that you are!
Eh, sort of.

Do you like to talk?
Sometimes. I talk poor Erestor's ear off, at least!

Favourite food?
I don't know...

Hobbies?
Reading, Writing, Crocheting, Knitting, Singing, Composing, the Piano, Soccer...the list goes on and on.

Favourite Author?
How can you ask that question? I don't know! At the moment, maybe J.R.R. Tolkien.

Favourite weapon?
Sghian Dhu (I think I spelled that right), bow and arrows, sword.

Is this a fun tag or are you getting bored?
Yeah, it's okay.

Do you like Hannah Montana and all those girly people and movies like high school musical?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are you scared of?
Hmmm...writer's block.

Favourite flower?
I don't know.

Colour of your eyes?
Brown.

And I tag all of my followers!



Wednesday, November 4, 2009

First person perspective vs. second person perspective vs. third person perspective

Wow, that was a longish title for a short-ish post.

So, which do you enjoy writing/reading more--books written in first, second, or third perspective?

Just so that there is no one left wondering, "Huh?" I'll explain what the perspectives are.

First perspective is written from the viewpoint of the main character using "I" instead of "he/she". For example:

"I watched as the strange creature crept across the floor of the cave, waiting for my chance to strike."

Books written in first perspective include Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine, and Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell.

Second perspective uses pronouns for the main characters such as "he/she" but sometimes the author uses "I", too, sort of like they are telling a story.

"He watched as the strange creature (I do not know this creatures name; maybe it didn't even have one) crept across the floor of the cave, waiting for his chance to strike."

C.S. Lewis uses second perspective in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and E. Nesbit uses it in Five Children and It.

Third perspective just uses pronouns "he/she" for the character.

"He watched as the strange creature crept across the floor of the cave, waiting for his chance to strike".

Examples are J.R.R. Tolkien in The Two Towers and Wayne Thomas Batson in "The Door Within Trilogy".

[in too much of a rush to post my signature]

Izori

Chapter 8 (From the Dark)

Soooooooooo, been a very very long time since I've worked on my Elandai book (which still isn't named). Some of you gave me name suggestions a while ago, so I'll put those on a poll with the names I thought up and then y'all can vote.

Another thing...I've decided not to prolong the Elandai series any longer. So basically, this book will turn into the last. Don't worry, I'll make it as good as I can!

Oh, and one other thing--click HERE to see my last chapter. I was reading through it, and I was like, "Man, I wrote this?" I think my writing style has matured a little.

Chapter 8

Ben started as Kaela screamed. Not because he had been scared (although that certainly had happened), it was because he had run into something that felt uncomfortably like a spiderweb.

He wasn't paranoid of spiders like his sister was, but this was a very large spiderweb. Ben frantically swiped at his arms, trying to get the sticky strands away from him. He gave a small yelp as he touched a strand--it was thicker than a piece of yarn and it burned his hand.

Trying to jerk away from the burning, acidic web, he blundered straight into another one. Except this one had a resident living in it.

Ah, so that was what Kaela was screaming about, Ben mumbled to himself. He was staring straight into a pair of glowing balls that he knew were eyes. The scary thing was, the eyes were the size of oranges.



Kaela had dropped her sword when she had nearly walked into the web. The spider sitting in the middle of it reached out grossly-large, hairy legs toward her face.

Behind her, Lisa saw it and jerked Kaela back, who had been frozen in terror. Then she too gave a screech.

Both Ben and Kaela's swords--one dropped and one still held in a webbed-up hand--had suddenly been extinguished.

Lerin, who had been behind the others, hadn't yet reached the spiderwebs. All of the children heard him as he called out, "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"Help?" Ben groaned. Over at the edge of the path where he was, the spider had begun making him into a cocoon. He jerked out an arm and struck out at the spider, but it merely hissed and avoided it. Trying to move his sword, he found that he was too webbed up to do it. When the webbing gets past my jeans and my shirt, it will be rather painful on my arms and face, Ben reminded himself, redoubling his efforts to get free.

Kaela never knew how she did it, but with a high and shaky yell, she picked up her sword once more and lunged at the spider closest to Ben.

It was one of those moments where she felt that someone else had climbed into her body and was making it move, and all she had to do was sit back and watch. With a move she had not told herself to do, she sliced right through the spider's middle. Blood that looked black in the dark, but could have been a different color in better lighting, spilled out as the spider shriveled up and flopped dead onto the ground.

She shivered--the spider was close to the size of a pony--but her arm continued on in it's seemingly unassigned work. Her sword cut through the webbing around Ben as quickly as if the strands were water, and so neatly that Kaela was startled. She could never do that!

But the main point was that Ben was safe now, rubbing his arms and trying to get that horrible spidery sensation out of them. And there were many more spiders, creeping just outside the ring of light.

Light? Kaela caught herself. Yes, light was once again coming from her sword, and in the glow she could see Lerin in the act of kicking at a spider, trying to fend it off.

Ben was off like a shot, his sword drawn and shedding light again. But as he went by Kaela, he muttered "Thanks!"

Behind her, Lisa called out, "Kaela?" There was panic in her voice.

Kaela swung around, thinking that her friend was entangled in a web. But instead Lisa was distractedly beating a spider with a stick.

"Did you see that?" Lisa gave the spider one more whack and it curled up, stone dead. Kaela realized that she was not talking about how she had defeated the monstrous arachnid.

"See what?"

"Right over there by the edge of the light--I saw something like a...a man!" She pointed with a shaky hand.

Kaela knew what was going through Lisa's head right now; the stories Ben and her had recited about the Ogres and other things from the times they had been to Elandai before. "I don't think--" she began, but then stopped with a small squeak.

A spider had just dropped from a tree overhead, obviously aiming for Kaela's head. Unfortunately for it (and very fortunately for her), it has missed by a hairsbreadth and instead impaled itself on her sword. There was a squeaky hiss, and then dark blood spattered Kaela as the spider shriveled up on the blade.

For one startled moment, she stood there with her mouth open, staring right into huge orbs dimmed by death. Then Lisa broke her silence.

"Well...I guess that's one spider that won't jump again."

For some insane reason (and it wasn't hysteria) Kaela broke out into laughter. From that moment onward, she looked at spiders much differently. Even years later, she would remember the time when a spider had jumped onto her blade, and fear of them would no longer bother her.

Lisa laughed with her, and then the two girls--one with a sword (now without the ornament of a spider) and one with a stick--set out to shrivel some more spiders.


Ben had just stuck his sword into the last spider when a voice said from the edge of the dark, "Well, we came to help you, but I believe you do not need our assistance."

Lerin jumped and shouted, "Outlaws!", Lisa screamed, "Ogres!", and Ben and Kaela eagerly toward the sound of the voice.

"Who's there?" Ben called out.

In answer, the owner of the voice stepped into the voice.

He was tall and strong-looking, with green eyes that twinkled with supressed merriment. His beard, brown and curly, made him look like the Elandaian version of Robin Hood. He was not dressed in green though; instead his garb was a light brown tunic and boots and leggings of the same material. And instead of being armed with a bow and a quiver, at his waist was tied a sling, a bag of stones --and a sword that looked remarkably like Ben and Kaela's.

The man surveyed the little group with a smile. "My, my, two ladies, one young sir, and a another sir who looks like he fought his last battle decades ago defeating this rabble of spiders. My thanks we owe you, strangers. These spiders have been plaguing us for some time. No doubt set here by the Dark One, they have been carrying off those of us who stray out at night--young ones, older children, even grown men."

Kaela decided that she liked this man who had just appeared out of the darkness. Although he didn't bring the assurance that she knew only one would bring, it was still a comfort to have another human around--one who looked like he knew something about mountain survival.

Ben, however, caught something that his sister missed. "Hold on. Who's 'we' and 'us'?"

The man's eyebrows leapt up in approval. "Rather sharp young man, aren't you. And I see that your sword shed light." He gave a slow whistle.

Men materialized around the small group, revealing the fact that throughout most of the fight with the spiders, they had been surrounded. The men were dressed much like their leader, although (with the exception of the swords) they were armed differently.

The man who had first appeared drew his sword. It glowed, warm and mellow, showing that he was a 'follower', or one that Adonai had set aside as his own.

Lerin was looking accusingly at the man. "You are outlaws, aren't you?" he demanded. "This army proves it!"

Looking around at his men, the man nodded. "I see a band, not an army, but one cannot be too exact in words. So I suppose you could call us outlaws, yes."
--- --- ---

There. I maybe could have done better on this chapter--it's hard to write an attack by huge spiders when you're listening to 'Let it Snow' by Celtic Woman!


Monday, November 2, 2009

The Caption Contest that I have promised!!

Well...if you read the title, you know what I'm talking about.

GUIDELINES:

--Caption Contest starts on Monday, November 2, and ends on Friday, November 6, at midnight on Eastern time. I know that some of you are rather spread out and won't be on the same time as I will be, so just a warning that it ends on MY midnight. Not that I'm going to be staying up 'till midnight to figure out who commented after the deadline. But I'll trust you guys to figure out when exactly to post to make it before 12:00 AM Eastern time.

--When you comment your caption, please number them according to what picture your caption is for (i.e. #1. Blah, blah, blah. #2. Blah, blah...etc).

--There will be no prize other than the satisfaction of knowing that you have won. And winners, what I will do is figure out the winner for each individual picture, and then the overall funniest caption will be the winning one.

--the link to the Caption Contest will also be on my sidebar.

RULES:

--Please do not use bad words or any language that you would not say in the presence of our Lord. Also please don't insult other people in your captions. If you violate any of that, I will have to delete your comment (or if I can) simply use a more politer word in its place. I don't think any of y'all would do this...but I'll just say it anyway.

--Be a good sport.

--HAVE FUN!!!!!

And here are your pictures, taken from 'The Princess Bride', 'Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'.


#1.

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/Princess-bride-cary-elwes-dread-pirate-roberts.jpg

#2.

http://www.culch.ie/images/PrincessBride001.jpg


#3.

http://www.collider.com/wp-content/image-base/Movies/P/Princess_Bride/the_princess_bride_movie_image__3_.gif


#4.

http://content6.flixster.com/question/52/06/88/5206884_std.jpg


#5.

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2001_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring/viggo_mortensen_the_lord_of_the_rings_the_fellowship_of_the_ring_002.jpg


#6.

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2001_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring/the_lord_of_the_rings_the_fellowship_of_the_ring_003.jpg


#7.


http://www.watoday.com.au/ffximage/2008/09/26/lord_wideweb__470x309,0.jpg


#8.

http://www.ugo.com/tv/gambles-in-entertainment/images/gandalf.jpg

#9.

http://www.channel4.com/film/media/images/Channel4/film/L/lotr_fellowship_of_xl_01--film-B.jpg

#10.

http://images.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2005/12/09/narnia/story.jpg

#11.

http://www.flickdirect.com/images/movies/lion-witch-wardrobe/lion-witch-wardrobe_1.jpg

There's so much more that would be great caption pictures...but I thought eleven was enough.

BTW, the caption contest starts NOW!


Sunday, November 1, 2009

NANOWRIMO!!!!!!

It's here! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

I will be writing a LOT, so I'm sorry, but my blog (s) will be a little neglected. However, I've scheduled some posts including...


A caption contest

Chapter 8 of my Elandai book

Weekly Debates

And more!


As a matter of fact, my caption contest starts tomorrow. So stay tuned, folks!


Zonked.

I like that word...zonked. It just sounds funny.

Yeah, any way, I'm zonked. Man, that's such a cool word!

Moving past zonked, on Friday we watched 'The Two Towers'! It was awesome. Of course, we stayed up until midnight watching it.

Erestor is rather sensitive--he didn't like the scary parts. I, however, am slightly more...bloodthirsty...not really, but I scare less easily.

I can't even name my favorite character! I liked pretty much all of them (Eldarwen, I repeat, you were right. Haldir is totally AWESOME *sniff*!)

Rather pressed for time...and very zonked :D.

[Too busy writing NaNoWriMo book to paste signature]

Izori