Does a comeback post need an intro? fine... I'm back.

Hey. The title says it all: I'm back. Idk what happened, exactly, to my blog. Maybe a mix of uncaring with a dash of school graduation hectic-ness rolled up into an oblivion of thought. But hey, life happens right? I've come to notice that somehow, in the last month, this blog has gotten over 100 page views. It probably has a lot to do with Nanowrimo, and a lot to do with school, but hey. Why did I stop writing? I know a ton about writing. I know a crap load about writing theories. Why did I stop posting here? Because I succumbed to be what everyone else figured I would be.

Yeah well enough of that. On to the first post Ive made in a long time.

Whatever your heart Desires #2

The other part of the story. What the Main character's heart desires.

The main character's desire is the basis for the story and for the plot.  It's Important to have the main character's Desire to be a noble or notable one, because otherwise it becomes difficult to relate. Remember, you need to make the reader care about your story. If what the main character desires is to eat a cake, and he can grab a cake in the first three pages. . . It really takes away from the point of the story The main characters true desires should be something you can write that allows people to relate to them. Either way, be creative and have fun in your writing!

Whatever your heart desires. #1

Well, I was told in class to post about whatever my heart desires. I know a second one is coming up, so I'm going to post about just that: Whatever your heart desires.

This truly is the defining factor for choosing the plot of the story. A good story  needs to have a drive for whatever your heart desires, for the side characters, the villain, and the main character him/herself! Without it, it becomes dull and uninteresting.

When having your story, be sure to give people something they can relate too- especially for the villain  If what your heart desires is to kill the main character... Sorry. That's not usually the best underlying factor for a good stories development   The main character should, in some way, foil what the villain wants in order to achieve what he needs.

Now that being said, the villain isn't usually evil for an evil cause. Remember, most people are inherently good. Most don't just run around killing people for their pleasure. That being said, some smaller-tier villains can be great having that purpose alone, like some deranged, crazy butcher that loves carving FLESH. But for the main villain, why is he evil? It's a question every writer should seriously ask themselves, and realize that to the villain, the Main character is the bad guy.

The beginning...

Here's an excerpt of what I have been working on for you readers. Just because I have to.

Aurell walked down the streets of the great city of Lumendere, marveling at the great workmanship of the Lumendei forefathers. She had never been to Lumendere before, but was completely enthralled by the mysticism of it all. The city gates themselves were almost a hundred meters tall, barely showing as a spec in the huge Man-made city. For miles, she could see the huge statues holding up the main level, fading off into the distance because of their sheer size.

            In the peculiarity of it all, despite being thousands of meters both above and below the surface, the city had true sunlight, plants and flowers, and it felt like she was still outside; the Spell Weaving from countless experienced individuals kept the city in the condition it was in. She was awed at the peculiar feeling of statues and staircases disappearing into the sky, knowing they were helping to hold the massive foundation of Lumendere. Vibrant colors and floral scents filled her senses, and she found it difficult to believe this was truly an underground city. The only thing that kept her on track was the small sense of claustrophobia she had at the mountainous walls that bordered the length of the metropolis.

            This is more than a city, she thought. This is… unbelievable.

            Aurell turned her attention to the path in front of her, scanning her surroundings to find where she needed to go. She was unfamiliar with the other races that scampered about the city streets, and it put her on more of an edge then she would have thought. She passed by an Aeon sitting by the main path, trying her hardest not to stare. Despite her precautions however, her unquenchable curiosity was greeted by the creature.

            “What’s the matter, daughter?” The Aeon asked.

            Aurell stood speechless, marveled by the Aeon before her. He was clad in a robe of whiteness and while sitting down, he still managed to reach about six feet in height. The Aeon had no eyes; instead his skull encased where his eyes would be, indented with the glowing symbols strewn about his face. Distracted by his sheer size and alien appearance, she was slow to compute his words.

            “Daughter?” She asked, “I’m not your daughter.”

            He chuckled at her words; reaching into his robe and pulling out a map, he handed it to her. “It’s my job to help people navigate Lumendere. Is there anything else you need?”

            Aurell was still confused, but graciously took the map of the city. She didn’t have any idea where she was going and a map would be just what she needed. She swallowed her anxiety and asked the Aeon, “Um, can you point me in the way of the Evokers guild?”

            “Which one?” He asked.

            “. . . Which one?” She repeated. Silently, she was giddy with excitement. She lived in a small village which had only known Fei’s Evoking. She knew other guilds and studies existed, but only in her wildest dreams did she think she would find the others. However, her outward show of giddiness was naught- she was terrified to have so much to take in.

            “The closest one to here is Fei’s, if you’re interested in that one,” the Aeon suggested, “It’s roughly ten leagues away, directly under the southern great statue.”

            Aurell thanked the guide and continued on her way, heading towards the monumentally tall statue. She continued for a while along the path, taking in the tremendous amount of new information. Anxiety struck at her constantly, and often times she had to sit down and breathe deeply just to stay sane. Growing up in a small hamlet far to the north, she had never experienced such a breathtaking conglomerate of people before. Her anxiety built up when she had left her home, slowly accumulating as she traveled thousands of kilometers away. Now, at fourteen years old and not technically an adult until next week, Aurell was struck with an overwhelming sense of Agoraphobia.

            Aurell turned to the only think she could think of to calm herself down: Magic. The pursuit of knowledge has always intrigued Aurell though, she hadn’t known much of it growing up- aside from a book she got for her birthday when she was younger. She intently studied the symbols crawling up her left hand, impressed with her progression. All Lumendei had symbols on their dominant hand and although she wasn’t sure what they meant, she did know that it was directly linked to the magic she used.

            As Aurell gestured towards the ground, faint green colors swirled within the runes on her hand while she Evoked a simple idea she had done many a time. A small pea plant rapidly matured and bore fruit until she finished her Evocation. She smiled and picked a pod from the plant, sticking the entire thing in her mouth; the sweet, slight savor of the peas bringing back a nostalgic euphoria. Aurell had always enjoyed the squint peas her mother had evoked and eating them once again helped focus her mind on where she needed to be going.

            Aurell picked a few more peas and, as a common courtesy, reverse-evoked the rest of the unused plant.

           

            

EmbarrASSment

Embarrassment... 

Dignity. Always Dignity.

This phrase has been used sarcastically on the ballroom team for a while now. Why? When someone does something embarrassing, it usually drops their level of Honor or Dignity. What does that mean anyway? A sense of self towards the community? Could a beggar not be honorable?

This post however, isn't about honor. Its about Embarrassment. Embarrassing things happen all the time. Often times, embarrassment can stem from a large misunderstanding, like your parents, teachers, or coaches publicly chastising you  for something that isn't your fault. Even if it wasn't your doing, you can't say anything or you'll look like a delinquent, so you sit there and take it like a man (or woman).

Those are some really embarrassing moments. How can you tie things like that into writing? I'll give you perhaps the most obvious example: Romance. 

Here's a funny romantic story to quench your thirst for knowledge. Wait no its right here. Here? where is it?

Oh-Found it. HERE is the story. 

Okay it wasn't much of a romance as it was a comedy, but lets take a look at the elements. The three ultimate horrors that could be accomplished in "chick-lit" novels are as follows: 

1: The love interest ends up with the jock or the head cheerleader, or somebody that's just wants them for their bawdy personality (you see what I did there?)

2: The love interest is driven away by something stupid the main character does*** 

3: The love interest is a creepy pedophile who watches you in your sleep, paler then ice, and has the uncanny ability to love the main character despite the fact shes nothing more then a shell  without showing a shred of emotional attachment and expects her love interest to do everything for her.

Sorry. typo- I mean the love interest dies.

With those three things in mind. . . Lets start something. Write about an embarrassing plot twist/climax that ruins the main characters chances of getting the love interest.

Courage, An important hero's tool.

 Courage.

Love it? Hate it? What is its purpose in creating heroes?

Well. Courage is the building block of underdog heroes. Lets take into account something like STAR WARS. Star wars is a perfect example for courage; Luke doesn't exactly enjoy the idea of his family being murdered by the empire, but faces the threat like a [whiny] man and decides to go with Ben Kenobi on his adventures. Little did Luke know, old Ben was Obi wan Kenobi, a general in the clone wars. Luke had more then he bargained for.

Star wars reviews aside (for we WILL get to those star wars reviews) Luke shows a remarkable amount of courage in the activities he shortly after leaving his home. Luke, a boy who had barely seen the cities on his own planet, decides to travel off world in a vain attempt to help this princess who spontaneously popped into his life.

Courageous? I think so. Webster's Dictionary says the following: Mental or Moral strength to venture, persevere  and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.

 What does that mean? What do you think it means?

 Prompt: Courage. . . Well, write about a time, scene, or scenario where the hero is courageous. I think that's an appropriate topic.

Fear

Here's a Chance for me to show off my Skilz
Because I need to for class, here is a poem i wrote on FEAR


If it takes a thousand years,
Eventually my strength will prevail
And I will rid myself of my fear

I wish for a soulmate to love me
I will succeed, I will not fail
If it takes a thousand years

I long for someone to hold me
I'm battered, fragile, and frail
But I will rid myself of fear

I wish that you could set me free
And I would see you in your veil.
If it takes me a thousand years

Under the shade of an aspen tree
I promise myself with you I will sail
And i will rid myself of fear.

Now you said you loved me, for all eternity
And even if i still turn pale
If it takes me a thousand years
I will rid myself of fear.

Monomyth/The Hero's Journey P2

The Hero's Journey

Crossing the Threshold.

Part Two: Crossing the threshold

Now that our hero has gone through the tedious act of accepting the call to adventure, he needs some help crossing the threshold. The "supernatural aid" so to speak. The threshold separates the known and the unknown knowledge along the heroes journey. An example in the Star wars movies, Luke Skywalker knew that the Jedi existed during the clone wars and that was about it.

As Luke travels throughout his journey, he finds a couple different Jedi, learning more about what the order was before they were lost. Crossing the threshold of the unknown, he starts his transformation as part of the Jedi world- ready to influence all that he might come across.

Crossing the threshold is an important gap; without the threshold being crossed, the hero cannot enter into the unknown and solve the problem in which the plot revolves around. But sure to have an adequate and descript crossing of the threshold, lest the hero be seen as under powered or inadequate.

Monomyth/The Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey. 

"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit."

-J.R.R. Tolkien

The Monomyth. The Hero's Journey. Everyone's going to be excited for this three FIVE part post, so stay in tune! I Haven't been on much because of school, but lets get this party started! This Will be my first Great project* On the site, So really keep in touch.

Part one: Journey into the unknown.

"As I enter into the unknown, the unknown moves away"

-Anonymous

A perfect quote to start us off. Lets address what it means to move into the unknown. We all love our heroes. There's something about heroes that makes our hearts race, Our desires and creative powers flow, and our dreams seem to become more achievable. So the question becomes how do heroes become heroes?

Without a doubt, Heroes are NORMAL people that do EXTRAORDINARY things. The call to adventure is what initially brings our heroes to the story (obviously) but what does that mean? Well, why does your hero decide to become a hero? Even if your protagonist's desire in life was to become a hero, (I cringe at this example, but Disney's Heracles does an excellent job at portraying that particular desire.) they still need some sort of driving force. 

Lets take the great fantasy novel into account- The Hobbit. 

Bilbo originally had no desire to go on this adventure. His call was from nothing more then a divine destiny that was never explained in the book. Bilbo didn't need to go- the entire basis of him being the one to go on this journey was because he. . . Sucked. 

The underdog! He had to journey from his quiet life into the unknown of adventuring. At first, He didn't want to go and came up with every excuse to leave until- The contract. Money may be the root of all evil, but money is a very awe-inspiring force. Along the road of course, Bilbo realizes he doesn't really need the money, being instead contempt with what he already has. 

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. While writing, Keep this thought in mind: Your Hero needs a driving force behind his actions. Why does your hero go to save the world? Why does he decide to leave his home in order to do ___ thing when no one else will. 

Stay tuned for part two: Crossing the threshold

Poems

A dented spider like a snow drop white
On a white Heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of lifeless satin cloth -
Saw ever curious eye so strange a sight? -
Portent in little, assorted death and blight
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth? -
The beady spider, the flower like a froth,
And the moth carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The blue prunella every child's delight.
What brought the kindred spider to that height?
(Make we no thesis of the miller's plight.)
What but design of darkness and of night?
Design, design! Do I use the word aright?
-Robert Frost

Nothing quite so fancy today guys. Your writing prompt? write a poem!

You provide the food, I'll provide the perspective.

Perspective. Point-of-view. The other side. Point-of-view is an Essential trait for any writer. New and old must master the content required in achieving an alternate perspective. the biggest reason why? Unless you're writing a story about yourself in first person, you'll be in the minds of others.

So you have to consider, what is the person in your story thinking? Have you taken into account the extremities of their situation? All too often, Writers (both new and experienced) write their characters into doing a stupidly brave thing. It depresses from the story, and it puts you into a situation where your characters are extremely powerful.

For example, If you have a character that has arachnophobia and he overcomes his fear and kills some giant spider, when does he come up with the bravery to do so? He doesn't get it overnight in a random surge of adrenaline: He will freeze up until something happens where his fear is less motivating then his desire to help ___.

Lets use an example from the master, J.R.R. tolkien: Sam doesnt help Frodo kill Shelob until AFTER frodo had been caught. He was still horrified, but he didnt charge out to protect Frodo before, because he was too afraid.

Use caution in your writing, so that your characters deranged acts of bravery make sense. Take into perspective what THEY'RE thinking, not what you think they're thinking. One of the hardest, and best things to do? The age-old question- Why are women/men so cray zee?

Thats your prompt. Pick up Aphrodite's mirror (men) or Ares' shield and spear (women) Show us what its like to be the opposite gender

Writing prompt: Write from the perspective of someone the opposite gender. Be careful of stereotypes!

Unkillable

Today, I'll talk about Immortal, or unkillable characters. These are a great incentive and a horrible pitfall all in the same fell swoop. Often, Immortal characters are seen either as a god or as an evil entity, something that should not be tampered with. Have you ever thought about your own characters being immortal? You might be doing it subconsciously.

Dues ex machina- a Latin word that means god from the machine. This is a plot device which is far too often used by writers, with or without their knowledge. Consider lord of the rings. If Gandalf helped destroy the Balrog without any consequences, what would happen to the party? The Balrog was seen as one of the most evil creatures alive in middle-earth at the time. From that point forward, there wouldn't be any reason they couldn't just march into mount doom and destroy the one ring.

Be careful when making your characters immortal in books, you need people to feel fear at the fact they're escaping. If they always get away in the nick of time with cuts and scrapes, if they always escape with a crippled limb, if something always happens to your Protagonist and he always gets out of it the same way, it feels less like a novel and more like a bad action film.
Conversely, immortal characters can help the protagonist in ways that can be useful to the plot. Just make sure the "Grace of god" doesn't get out of hand. This type of usefulness will be covered in the upcoming post, "The Hero's Journey"

Lastly, the immortal character can serve as a great antagonist. If the bad guy isn't striving for it already, the immortal bad guy poses a very interesting question, "How do we kill him?" Interestingly enough, this practice is seen in a lot of story plots for a good reason. In the Eragon Tetralogy (by Christopher Paolini),  Galbatorix is seen as a figure that cannot be stopped. In the Mistborn Triology (By Brandon Sanderson), The main antagonist has lived and ruled for over one-thousand years.

Granted, both series have their own plot twists and dramatic turns, But the evident correlation comes from the immortal aspect of the antagonist. The stronger they are, the more satisfying you feel when they get pulled from the throne, id say.

Special thanks to Christopher Paolini and Brandon Sanderson for helping with those analogies, and also thanks to Writing excuses for giving me the ideas for this post!
Be sure to check out Writing excuses, starring Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Kowell, and Brandon Sanderson.

Good luck writing!

Writing prompt: Romance! We didn't discuss romance plot much here, but write about an immortal character  and his complications with love (I.E gods cant seduce mortals, their a witch/warlock and cant let that person know, ect. be creative!)

Writing Exercises

So its a bit late but I decided to put my thoughts down on paper (or blogger rather). A good writing tool is to come up with some writing Exercises. These, like normal exercises, help you to build up your writing in a good and well-refined manner, even if you don't write a lot that day. A common writing exercise is reviewing what you previously wrote that day (or an earlier day) and edit it to sound better. It's a common enough occurrence  but don't let it suck you in. It doesn't matter how long you spend editing the first chapter, your book won't be finished if you do nothing but edit.

Another commonly used one is known as the "Writing sprint" where you'll write a certain amount of _X_ thing in a certain time. It could be about your book, or about something completely different. The goal is to get your mind ready for excessive writing, and to let your mind and thoughts flow. This one is actually the exercise that I use (most of the time).

Don't be afraid to make up your own writing exercises too, if they help you with your writing. Just start off with a goal in mind, I.E. better at not using four million commas (*cough* I usually have to half ((lol. have to half)) the amount of commas I use before I publish. Whats with all these parenthesis anyway?) or better at having your descriptions or dialogue. Doing writing exercises every day can really help you become a better writer.

Writing prompt for the day: The world is flooded and you have to stay in your house or you'll drown.

(don't judge me on my semantics or parenthesis at all during this post.)

What to write?

Often times, you can have a hard time deciding what to write. Why not start with the basics? It's been done a million times before, a million different ways, and a million different memories. So why not use it? That's right, I'm sure you guys have it all figured out by now. We're going to write the bedtime story!

Dragons, knights, damsels in distress. Evil guarding a trove of knowledge, and a very *words catch in throat* woman at the end of the quest. We've all heard this story somewhere, yet it tends to slip away, and it's one of the easiest things to write. There is no difficult plot line, everything is simple and potent. 

Protagonist- A knight in shining armor.

Antagonist- An evil, treasure holding dragon.

Motive- one beautiful princess.

Those are the basic elements of a plot line. You don't *need* anything more then that. 

This post is a bit short, but there you have it

Go write!

Writing prompt: Write about a knight in shining armor, saving the damsel in distress.
Challenge: Make it different with a small twist.

New Writers! Aspiring writers!

Hello! New and aspiring writers! Looking to write, but not knowing what to do? How to do it? Writing is hard. It can be fun and rewarding- but it's difficult. I'm going to give you the number one absolute best advice any author could give you. Ever. It's literally the holy grail, the cats meow, the bees knees, the trinity of writing. 

Write.

I know you're probably all looking at my post with speechless awe, appalled by how stupid it sounds. But seriously: write! that is the number one problem with most writers. Refer back to your writing. We've all been in this situation before- you had an amazing idea with everything all planned out. The bad guy, the good guys, the plot. Maybe you had holes in it but you went at it anyway. Bam, the first chapter is pumped out and you're feeling pretty good about it. Everyone likes it, everyone critiques it, its exactly what you want.

And then you stop. No real reason for it, you just stop. Maybe you think your writing sucks, or your idea is stupid and it will never work. Maybe you find out you're a father or mother now and get distracted. All of that is okay! Just keep writing!

Your first draft is supposed to be garbage. It's not meant to be good. Every author I've talked to has griped and groaned over their first draft, and often times it doesn't remotely resemble the finished product. Maybe all you keep from it is your main characters name. That's perfect.

Consider an Olympic athlete. The runners might be naturally gifted in their craft and can run really fast, but if they don't ever train their running skills they wont be able to make it to the Olympics. If you never write, you won't be able to have that work published.

So to all of you beginning writers, Get out there and write! Set a goal for a simple 200-500 word a day limit. Write about one of the prompts on the blog, post a link to your excerpt in the comments! Just get 'er done. You don't have to write about the same story or idea, and often times your mindless writing can contribute to the amount of writing that you have in your finished product!

And with that, That One Monk is out. Be sure to keep the rest of the community posted!
Stay tuned for the second part to Aspiring writers where we will talk more in depth about writers block, and overcoming it.

In the beginning. . .

Ilúvatar (the one) Created the Ainur as the offspring of his thought. Ilúvatar brought the Ainur together and showed them a theme, from which he bade them make a great music.

Okay, not really. Die-hard fantasy fans might recognize this as the beginning of the Silmarillion, the great  mythopoeic collection of middle-earth's history. While its true that we have no relation to middle earth, that fantasy and creation is exactly what i hope to strive for.

My goal is to create fantasy, sci-fi, adventures, all akin to the world building power of J.R.R. Tolkien himself. Will I be as good? As loved? Perhaps, only time will tell. Despite my academic dependencies, my goal is to create a blog that aspiring authors (And other authors) can come to too receive insight, Inspiration, dare I say visions and revelations on what they need to do! I have a very creative mind and all my ideas couldn't possibly be used in lifetime. I'll be sure to keep the best ideas to my self, but by all means. Welcome to my blog! There will be a new writing prompt at least once a week, and hopefully great goodies that will be posted throughout. Get to reading, get to writing, welcome to The Author's Sepulchre!

( Hey! interesting little tidbit- a Sepulchre [sepulchre or sepulcher], for those of you who don't know, is an ancient burial ground, tomb, or altar for religious purposes. I don't intend for this website to be a cult, rather a place people can come to achieve insight towards their writing. Insight is often received at Sepulchres.)

I in no way affiliate myself to any religion actively using Sepulchres.
Thanks to Merriam-Webster for being free enough to let me link to their site.