AderuMoro’s Too Many Ambitions

Gender Switching!

2012-03-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

I drew this for fun because, really, there's no other reason I should've drawn this other than to curb my boredom.

Anyway, these are my characters Michelle, Gediyon, and Jayse, drawn in the other gender. I really like girl Gediyon's entire design, and I love girl Jayse's hair (though I highly doubt she'll ever wear a tiara, even in proper princess clothes--I thought it looked cute though). I'm not in love with boy Michelle. Michelle is only fifteen, and her boy version still looks like a girl, and I got lazy with the design. (Sora was kind of my inspiration for boy Michelle's look.)

If their genders were switched, this is close to how they would act. Boy Michelle would probably be oblivious to girl Jayse's affections, even though she flirts with him constantly. (Though I'm not convinced that girl Jayse would even fall in love with a rambunctious boy younger than her... At most, girl Jayse would probably find boy Michelle endearing and adorable, probably the same way--while other girls think he's hot--I still think Josh Hutcherson is adorable in a little boy sense. And he's three years younger than me.)

Girl Gediyon isn't much different than her male counterpart, except for her physical mannerisms. She'll still be calm and pleasant and play the older sister role. I wanted to draw her in pants so she could easily switch from being a proper lady to a fierce...black mage? I'd like to see girl Gediyon in pants flying while shooting fireballs out of her hands.

...Yeah that doesn't sound weird at all.

Anyway, I didn't draw Dreana because I just can't imagine her as a guy. She's always ridiculously feminine to me, no matter what role she plays. So, I guess, in a gender bent universe of CSM, Gediyon and Dreana would be lesbians.

I'm totally cool with that. It'd be like Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. ♥

Query Cloud!

2012-03-14T21:03:00.001-07:00

I'm rewriting my query letter for The Cycle of the Six Moons: The Starriest Summer, and I was anxious that I was over-using several words, but this shows that I only used the key words several times. Which is good :D

This is so cool! I kinda wanna start some kind of "query letter blogfest" now, hehe.

I used Wordle to make this word cloud!

Update: I decided to copy and paste the entire first book into the text box, and this is what I got.

I think it's funny that "Gediyon" is smack in the middle of the cloud. Hehee. ♥ But it looks like "like" wins for the most overused word in CSM.

WIP: The Movie: Casting Oresonn and Trissa

2012-03-10T13:10:00.002-08:00

I decided to enter Kyra's WIP: The Movie, but I think I'm a day too late. Oh well, it was still fun :D

The rules are to cast one or a few of your characters from your work-in-progress, and then add some soundtrack.

My current WIP is the trilogy, The Cycle of the Six Moons.

Anyway, the two characters shown above are the king and queen of the magical kingdom Arriscyal, Oresonn and Trissa.

Anyway, for Oresonn I cast Hugh Jackman. King Oresonn is supposed to look very majestic, but even in my drawing he looks more militaristic than he does kingly. I always imagined him darkly handsome and kinda rugged--hey, Hugh Jackman fits the bill!

As for Queen Trissa, even though I think my drawing looks more like Taylor Swift, I cast the lovely Naomi Watts! She has more of a wistful, innocent beauty than a more stern and seductive look of say...Nicole Kidman.

Not that I don't like Nicole Kidman!

The following songs have nothing to do with the two characters above, but they're still songs I feel pertain to one part of the story or another.

The Resistance: If the Cycle of the Six Moons were a series, I would imagine this song to play at the beginning of the third season (or third book), The Last Winter Moon. I can imagine the camera flying over a snowy landscape and see my characters fighting, hehe.

Atonement: I listened to this song a lot when I was writing Part Two of Book One (The Starriest Summer: The Creator's Role), when my main character Michelle was alone in the desert, and the sadder interactions with The Prince Imposter.

Scattering Blossoms: I listen to this song when I'm writing some of the sweeter moments between Michelle and her love interest, Jayse, who's the son Oresonn and Trissa.

I've never actually cast actual actors to my characters before 'cause I usually think of my stories as animations instead of live-action films. Anyway, that was fun, but I'm jumpin' on the bandwagon a bit too late, heh.

Review: Battle Royale

2012-03-04T10:48:00.002-08:00

Warning: Like this work of fiction, this review isn't really suitable for minors. (Pfft whatever. Who's gonna pay attention to this?)

These four guys? Awesomeness.

Battle Royale
by Koushun Takama

The Hunger Games
I'd recently re-read the Hunger Games because I was going to do a "book revisited" review, but I found that my opinion of it hadn't changed. Upon re-reading, my overall impression of the first book was that it was so extreme that anything that Suzanne Collins would write could not meet my expectations. That's why I was so disappointed with Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Anyway, so many people are comparing The Hunger Games to Battle Royale, or they're saying that The Hunger Games is a rip off--some even have the nerve to call it a direct rip off. The biggest similarity is, of course, that kids are forced to kill each other until one survivor remains.

This review isn't a thorough analysis of the similarities and differences between the two works, but I will draw some comparisons. I would like to do a thorough analysis, but I'll probably have to read Catching Fire and Mockingjay again. (And I'm not too keen on that prospect...)

Different Adaptations
Battle Royale comes in three different forms: the novel, movie, and manga series.

I exposed myself to all three, though I only read the manga series in its entirety.

I started reading the manga about eight years ago, but I lost access to it after reading a few volumes. I saw the movie a few years later, and I just recently decided to pick up the novel.

Switching from the Novel to Manga
I'll admit, maybe I'm a bit more of an idiot than I like to let on, but I thought it was a bit difficult to follow the first chapter of the novel. I already know the situation from the manga, but the first chapter was pretty much an info dump about all the characters. Now this is where my idiocy comes in. Even though I've watched anime, Japanese dramas and movies, and read manga, I find it rather difficult to acquaint myself with Japanese names. It's not as easy with Western names because certain names have connotations in our culture. Jessica could be a popular cheerleader, Dexter is probably a nerd, Monica could be a student body president...or whatever. (See what I did there?)

Anyway, because I haven't been exposed to Japanese culture, I don't really know the connotations of these names, so it was harder for me to put faces to them. Sure, Yukie is the class representative. Shinji is one of Shuya's new friends, and he's a popular basketball player. Mitsuko is the leader of the delinquent girls.

Most of this information means nothing to me. I get to read all of their names, but I don't really get a grasp of their character, because I haven't seen them in action. I know they exist, but I don't know who they are.

This is my biggest complaint about the novel.

Anyway, I read a few chapters until Shuya encountered Akamatsu outside of the school, then I decided to switch to the manga.

Fantastic! Now the art does the work for me, and I know who the characters are just by looking at them!

Just for the record, my favorites in chronological order were
Boy #5 Shogo Kawada, Boy #19 Shinji Mimura,
and Boy #11 Hiroki Sugimura, who are also pictured
at the top of the review. All boys. Hm. Go figure.

I read several chapters of the manga nonstop, not eating, in a very bad posture, so by the time I was done for the day I felt physically sick, but I also wanted to stop reading because the story is exhaustingly depressing. If there was a moment of happiness, it was because someone was about to die.

I decided not to read anymore and I went back to writing for about two more days.

Then I decided to pick it up again, and I could not stop. Sure, it's still depressing as hell, but now I actually got true moments of happiness, and not ones that would disappear with a bullet to the head.

Anyway, for the remainder of the review, I will be mostly referring to the manga.

Romance

FYI, if you're unfamiliar with manga, it's read from right to left.

Someone might reason, "But when you're in a game of survival, why the hell would you consider romance!?"

Well, The Hunger Games certainly played it out with Katniss and Peeta as star-crossed lovers.

A few of the characters, like Yukie, Takako, and Hiroki decided that since they were all about to die anyway, it's no use keeping their feelings inside. Takako told Hiroki he was most precious to her, Yukie confesses her long-time crush, and Hiroki seeks out the girl he'd fallen in love with from afar.

I guess if I was crazy in love with one of my classmates that's fated to die, I might risk my life to see him again, even if he might kill me. Maybe.

The tragic romance isn't the most touching thing about the whole story. (Personally, I found the most gripping moment to be when Shinji shoots Keita, but that could just be 'cause I like Shinji so much.)

The romance adds some charm and lightness to the story.

Well, in the case of Hiroki Sugimura, he changed from a stoic martial artist (who I didn't like much in the beginning) to flustered and shy in the presence of the girl he's had a crush on (which I thought was the most adorable romance in the series!).

Realistically speaking, Sugi's actions were pretty drastic. He's risking his life to find the girl he's had a crush on so he can protect her, especially because he couldn't protect his best friend who had a crush on him.

I guess he can afford the risk, though. I mean look at those muscles up there!

(And just sayin', but his actor in the movie was pretty cute too.)

The romance with Shuya and Noriko, Hiroki and Kayoko, Sakura and Kazuhiko were all cute, sweet, and innocent. (I wouldn't consider any of Mitsuko's scenes romantic, not even when Yuichiro said he had noticed her eyes, 'cause I knew the bitch was planning to kill 'em anyway.) They weren't physical romances with nonstop kisses. In fact, at most, the characters in Battle Royale held hands or hugged. Cute stuff!

I think these light moments of love are great in adding contrast to the darker moments of the whole story. The reason I stopped reading it once was because I thought it was all going to be a depressing story without redemption, but these moments bring it back up. Of course, those moments don't last long because you know the kids are going to get brutally murdered one way or another.

Blood, Guts, and Death
Blood sprays. Guts spill. People die. Oh so many people die.

It ain't pretty, but I can't
help but appreciate it.

In the Hunger Games, there are twenty-four kids in the Games, and Katniss only witnesses a handful of their deaths. In Battle Royale, there are forty-two students in the class, and they're all played out in detail. Some stories are longer as readers follow the characters in their own tactics, like Shinji planning to bomb the school to kill the authorities, or Sugi searching for Kayoko and why, but a few of the characters' backgrounds are only right before they die. Three jump to their deaths, too many are shot, one's collar explodes, a few are hacked or slashed to death...

They're detailed. Of course they are. It's a graphic novel. No pretty words to say that someone is simply mangled. You see the bullets as they impact with someone's face, or the exposed bone when someone loses a limb or finger, or someone's intestines spilling to the ground.

The gore is definitely an obstacle to overcome in order to see the beauty of the entire story, and that's why the manga is rated 18+ But when you're reading a story about kids killing each other, you have to expect bloodshed, and Battle Royale delivers to gore lovers.

That Thing Called Sex
Why stop at violence when you can go a little further and add the other taboo, sex?

Most of the sexuality centers around the previously mentioned leader of the delinquent girls, Mitsuko Souma, a fifteen-year-old who has a body that no fifteen-year-old should have.

She's sexy. She's deadly. She's crazy. Like Kazuo Kiriyama, she's playing the game to win. Her assigned weapon: sickle. Bait: A) Act sweet and innocent, pretend to be scared, and join forces, only to betray later. B) Use sex to lower the boys' defenses, only to betray later.

I admire her, only because she's such a well-thought-out character. Her backstory is touched on a lot more than Kazuo's, whose plays out only during the final confrontation. It's fascinating to watch the two Mitsukos come out and to learn how she became this way in the first place. No holding your hands here, kiddos, this is dark shit.

Oh and of course there are sex scenes.

Kazuo Kiriyama

This guy isn't human.

While everyone else is sweating from exhaustion, pain, or fear, Kazuo always looks perfect. Even after a ridiculous fight, he doesn't have a scratch on him. His beautiful vacant eyes never change. He doesn't feel anything. So can you really call him human?

His death humanizes him, not only because he obviously dies (after getting up several times like a zombie), but because Noriko shoots a part of his brain that recovers his ability to feel. And this is when we learn that Kazuo was in fact just a normal kid once upon a time. Like Shuya says, something made him this way; people aren't born evil.

I found Kazuo to be an interesting character, because I wasn't like, "Oh my god KILL THAT FUCKING BASTARD!" like I felt about Sakamochi. In a strange way, I was both rooting him on and hoping that he'd walk away with at least a scratch, especially since he killed so many characters, including two of my favorites.

Of course, being the next-to-the-last villain, Kazuo's death was amazing.

Character Psychology
What I love most about this series is seeing the reason why the characters act the way they do. We get to see into their pasts, the confrontations they had with certain characters and why they choose to team up, risk their lives to find someone, or why they don't trust someone. A few of the students like Yuko lose their minds from the trauma of witnessing murder, and I wonder if I were in that situation, would I be strong enough to--literally and figuratively--keep my head? Would I lose it from the beginning and try to kill anyone even if they were trying to help? Would I band with others to try to find a way out? Would I be lucky enough to be assigned a decent weapon, or come across trustworthy people? Would I even trust them if they were offering me alliance?

Makes you wonder, but thank goodness it isn't real.

My Favorite Characters
I mentioned earlier that Shogo Kawada became my first favorite character. I have a fondness for male characters who are outwardly tough, but softies on the inside. Now, I wouldn't exactly call Kawada a softie, but he's not a complete badass. He cares about his friends, Keiko haunts him, and he's more aware of Shuya and Noriko's feelings for each other than they are.

← Plus he makes this adorable face.

He has a soft side, of course. He ain't Rambo, though he...kinda looks like him. He's incredibly competent--after all, he was the survivor of the last Program, and I think his "sixth sense" in being able to tell if someone is doomed or not is pretty cool.

His confrontation with Keiko in the manga was loads better than it was portrayed in the movie. The manga imbued him with regret, while in the movie it was just about survival. Just like many of the other characters, something haunts him.

He also gets extra points for saving Shuya and Noriko.

When Shinji Mimura came in, I thought he was pretty damn awesome. I was a little bored with his whole techie plan at first, but I really became intrigued with his relationship with Yutaka. Shinji was just so COOL! He always remembered his uncle who taught him to stay cool, to stay in control, and he had this elaborate plan to blow up the school. Yutaka was always fumbling, but Shinji kept forgiving him, even though he was sleep deprived and fed up with Yutaka's screw-ups.

I sped through the pages when Keita came into the picture and Shinji "missed his warning shot" by delivering a bullet through his head. It was so brilliant! Shinji finally lost control, but I didn't hate him at all. I wanted things to get better for him, and I wanted Yutaka to know why he pulled the trigger--the psychology behind the characters.

I knew, knew, knew that once Shinji and Yutaka had solved their dispute that something horrible would happen, and it did. Considering Shinji's wounds, it was amazing that he survived as long as he did, and I was wishing so hard with all the flying bullets and explosions that Kazuo would walk away with at least a scratch...but no.

It's a good thing, though, that my favorite characters fought longer than the others.

Thirdly, as previously mentioned, is Hiroki Sugimura. I thought he was really boring at first. So he's buff and studies martial arts and keeps to himself, and yet Shuya wants to find him and ask him to join. I wasn't convinced at first, because I actually thought Sugi was untrustworthy, until I came across the scene with him and Takako. It was the first scene that made me tear up.

(It's not 'cause I'm a Robo-bitch myself, but when there's so much violence, you're kinda desensitized to most of their deaths.)

Anyway, like I said above, Sugi really got me when he finally caught up with Kayoko. (Ugh but I hated that scene in the movie. It was so rushed.)

His fight with Kazuo was kind of weird (blasting Dragonball Z chi balls!?) but with the lead-in of Kayoko talking about optical illusions, it didn't seem too out of place and actually transitioned well into the actual fight. It was a beautiful death, just like Yukie's and her friends.

Oh yeah, Shuya
So even though Shuya is pictured in the top image, I didn't mention him under my favorite characters. Maybe it's 'cause he didn't really have a heartfelt story like everyone else. He was involved in everyone else's stories, and he's an amazingly righteous character to the point of naivety. He's a great guy, and the other characters always make a point of it to each other and to the readers. He's always likable, but he's the main character. Are people's favorite characters usually the main?

I really respected him after this scene, though. I don't know if it was in the novel, but it definitely wasn't in the movie. After the group of friends who had banded together killed each other over a misunderstanding, Shuya brought them together so they could hold hands in death.

Once the numbers had dwindled, Shuya found it difficult to pull the trigger even if it meant saving his life. Even as Kazuo was dying, he apologized and begged him to be okay. It was endearing and heroic but silly because really, how many people would actually do that? I guess that's what made him the protagonist.

Comparing it to The Hunger Games
When I was re-reading The Hunger Games, I paid more notice to the reasons why the Capitol was punishing the Districts in the first place. This mythology behind why they have the Games is touched on more, and it also sets the whole Mockingjay rebellion against the Capitol in the following books. After I finished Battle Royale, I'm still not certain why they have the Program in the first place. Research? Whatever. The Capitol's punishment seems more reasonable.

In The Hunger Games, it was clear that the Games were televised nationwide. Katniss's trip to the Capitol made it even clearer; these were the kinds of people who would be watching them kill each other. While reading Battle Royale, I kept thinking...this is supposed to be televised? Where are the cameras? There are satellite cameras and microphones in their collars, but the viewers aren't actually watching the action. They can't get close enough to watch a kiss or the placing of delicate flowers. I appreciate the media coverage in The Hunger Games. It creates a view of an entire country, not just a small, abandoned island.

But what Battle Royale lacks in mass coverage, it makes up for in focus on the characters, which is where The Hunger Games fell short. So the Careers were raised from a young age to learn how to fight in case their names were drawn. Cato became furious when Katniss played him several times, but his fury was nothing compared to the dark motivations of Kazuo and Mitsuko. In The Hunger Games, we only follow Katniss, but in Battle Royale, we get to see each of the characters. The Japanese fifteen-year-olds aren't just pawn; they're people. I got to know these students, but I can't remember who the Tributes were from District 7, and I don't know anything about Cato or Glimmer's upbringing. Because the Tributes are for the most part sane, their strategies are different.

At the beginning of Battle Royale, I thought it was going to be just that--a battle royale. No strategy whatsoever, just mindless killing. Sure they get a few fun things like a bag of supplies and a randomly assigned weapon, but one of the things that deterred me from the story in the beginning was that I didn't think they would use strategy. In The Hunger Games, Katniss's strategy for surviving in the end was to appeal to the viewers. Kiss the heck out of Peeta so the sponsors would give them supplies. Blow up the Career's supplies so they would have to fend for themselves. Stay high in the trees, because she's better at climbing than anyone else. As I continued to read Battle Royale, I realized that they did have plans--build a bomb to blow up the school, assume that everyone is out to kill you--but they felt a bit more improvised and sloppy.

I already mentioned the romance above: The Hunger Games is more physical. Appeal to the viewers with kisses, and you'll be rewarded. The romance in Battle Royale is much more emotional. This probably has to do with cultural differences as well. Westerners are more physical when it comes to showing love, but Asians express themselves more through words and non-physical action. Just compare the original My Sassy Girl to the American remake, or any other Asian romantic comedy or drama to an American equivalent.

Overall, The Hunger Games is a much lighter story. There are supposedly disturbing moments with several killings, but I didn't think that Cato's death matched Shinji's, Hiroki's, or the girls' in terms of striking me emotionally. Battle Royale has a much heavier, darker, and uglier look at humankind. It's well worth the read.

However...

The Verdict
Don't let this manga ruin your childhood.

There's a reason it's rated 18+. There's stuff in the manga that scarred me when I was fourteen, but it's nothing to me now. It's an amazing story, but it's violent as hell and I don't think kids should see a girl raping a dying boy, or a girl splattered against sea rocks with her intestines splayed beside her, or other kids getting their heads blown apart.

Yeah, yeah, there might be an ass somewhere who's like, "But I live on this shit! WOO GUTS AND BLOOD AND RAPE AND BOOBIES! If the Program were real, I would win!" Well, listen you little bitch; you either belong in a mental institution, or you need to grow the fuck up. Hack one of your classmates to death and see how you feel about it.

Anyway, I absolutely recommend Battle Royale, but it requires a certain amount of maturity.

One More Thing
I guess I failed to mention that almost none of the kids look like they're fifteen. Shuya looks like he's at least eighteen, Shogo looks like he's twenty-eight, no fifteen-year-old should have Mitsuko's body... I think it was the artist's choice to portray them this way, because it might be illegal to show fifteen-year-olds having sex, and it's disturbing enough to watch them kill each other. Draw them a little older, and maybe the readers will ease up a bit.

And now...Shinji Mimura.

The Research I Conduct for Accuracy!

2012-02-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

'Kay, I'll be honest, this isn't much research, but it helped me figure how how to describe chicken scratch in paint.

I painted this the other day hehe.

And this is the passage I wrote based on the image:

There’s a roll of cream-colored paper on it, a small black stone dish with a few drops of water, two black blocks shaped like flowers, and an assortment of wooden, tapered brushes. When I look up at him, he flicks his mustache aside.

“What do you want me to do with this?”

“Write a sign for the people to inform them that the temple will be inaccessible while undergoing repairs.”

I’d never taken any calligraphy courses, but I can’t be that bad with a brush. I choose the fattest brush and grind the ink block into the stone. I don’t think this is the right consistency for good quality ink—maybe too grainy and thick—but it should do for now. I dip the brush into the ink and unroll the piece of paper. A drop of ink splatters across the page and Kan Se clicks his tongue.

I’ll probably mess up even more with him hovering over me. I bring the tip down to paper and begin to write.

Temple closed for repairs. Sorry for the inconvenience.

My letters are fat and uneven in size. The ink’s consistency varies across the page—thicker in some spots, in danger of looking like water color by the end of the page. The brush has left dried, scratchy strokes, and “inconvenience” nearly falls off the page because I didn’t allot enough space for it.

“A blind child could paint better with his big toe,” Kan Se says. “Is this your idea of a joke? No one could read this.”

Sure, it’s a little messy, but I don’t think it’s illegible. “Come on! It’s not that bad!”

“Rewrite it in the Goddess’s language.”

“But this…” I look at the words again. I wrote it in the language I grew up speaking and reading—English. I glance up at the golden script on the pillars and above the back walls. That’s the language of Starrs. It’s nothing like that I’ve seen on Earth, and I can’t explain how I can understand it as easily as English.

I sigh and pick up the piece of paper. I hold it against the cold ground, my palms pressing against the right and left sides to prevent it from curling up. I stare at the painted words, and even though the meaning of the words doesn’t change, their form does. The ink rearranges itself artistically, swimming over the paper fibers, creating even-sized words that dominate the space without overcrowding each other. The words flow as beautifully as the words painted around the temple. No one would have trouble reading this sign now.

I’m proud of my work, but all Kan Se says is, “You’ve cheated.”

I scoff. “It’s a sign, isn’t it?”

“You were to rewrite it with your own hand.”

I stand up with the sign in my hands. “I can’t. My hand only knows how to write one alphabet, so if I try writing it again, no matter how pretty I write it, it’ll be in the language I learned on Tyme. Take it or leave it.”

Review: Wereling

2012-02-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

WEREling
by Steve Feasey

How I Stumbled Upon this Book
I was browsing through the young adult section of my library, skimming over the titles for something that caught my eye. If it were the title alone, I wouldn't have picked up this book. I'm not really into vampires, werewolves, or other paranormal creatures.

Actually, it was just after I had picked up Fahrenheit 451 that I saw this sitting on top of a stack on the bottom shelf. It should've been invisible to me, yet I pulled it off, looked at the title and scoffed that it was about werewolves. Then I reshelved it properly.

Then I pulled it off again, read the back, and decided to read it.

Overall Impression
I really liked the opening of the book, but after the first few chapters it fell into a typical storyline.

The Cover
Closeup of teenage boy. Full moon peeking through dark clouds. Title: "WEREling." Hmm. Must be about werewolves, huh?

Masculinity
I'll admit, the one thing that drew me to read this book was gender. The author and main character are male.

That must mean... no crazy romance!

Now hold on just a sec, 'cause on the back it says "Trey is falling for a girl who is half vampire, half human, and insanely pretty."

...Yeah, but romance from a guy's point of view usually isn't gushy, hopeless, or the main priority.

I didn't want another paranormal romance. In fact, I think teenage romance is idiotic.

That half vampire, half human pretty girl named Alexa is a stereotype of a teenage girl in that she's a shopaholic, but at least she isn't romance-obsessed.

This book isn't BAM BAM BAM action, but it isn't gushy, touchy-feely, let's talk about how we're so right for each other. I think it has a good balance of the restful parts, "let's talk about what's important" (like what it means to defend yer sorry ass, not "I love you sooo much"), as it does with the training and tracking down the bad guy.

Werewolves
I don't know much about werewolves as I ought to know about vampires, considering I watched Buffy growing up, but I really liked how this book adhered to the mythology of werewolves. A full moon, the process of becoming a werewolf, half-man, half-wolf "bimorph" instead of the "fwah-BAM! I'm a giant WOLF!" that we see nowadays with, ahem...the Black clan.

Anyway, I like how Feasey attempted to explain why Trey hadn't transformed into a beast beforehand. He's only fourteen and his testosterone levels have only begun to rise to werewolf-appropriate levels.

I initially thought the Theiss amulet was a cool addition. Now Trey can control which kind of beast he'll turn into when he's heated up enough! But I thought that gave him too much control. The original charm of werewolves was that they couldn't control when they transformed, because it depended on the phases of the moon.

Werewolves are supposed to be at the moon's mercy. They can't help that they're going to turn into a vicious creature and attack people. Most werewolves don't really want to hurt people.

The amulet had potential, but for me it lost its coolness because Trey could transform when he was in danger and he chose who to attack.

Vampires
Vampires and werewolves always seem to be fighting.

The case is the same for this book--Trey's nemesis is a vampire--but Trey's mentor is also a vampire. (And he's sort of crushing on a girl who's half vampire, but hey, that's nothing new.)

What I found most interesting about Trey and Lucien's relationship is how Trey reacted when Lucien told him he was a vampire.

Both the vampires and werewolves in this book go back to the more classic horror movie type, instead of the more recent "Oh em gee you're a vampire/werewolf!? Do you sparkle in the sun!? Do you have a six pack underneath your shirt? WILL YOU MAKE LOOOVE TO MEEEE!?"

Thing is, they shouldn't be sex objects. They're supposed to be horrible! They aren't scary anymore, because everyone thinks they're sexy!

But clowns are scary!

Oh...wait... I guess some people are into that, huh...

WHAT ABOUT SPIDERS!? Spiders are disgusting!!!

...I don't even know anymore...

Anyway, my point is, even though Lucien is described as handsome (he's gotta be bait after all, right?), a split second in the sun blisters his skin, and a simple stake through his heart will kill him. There's no need to chop him up and burn all the pieces. That's overkill.

And he doesn't sparkle.

See what I did there? :P

The Structure
So I read book flaps and book backs. It wasn't hard to tell what was going to happen in the book.

This is what it says on the back.

Fourteen-year-old Trey Laporte was "just a kid." Not anymore. Not after the day he wakes up in agony--retina-splitting, vomit-inducing agony. His clothes are torn. His room is trashed.

Now, demons are closing in on every side, and the most psychopathic bloodsucker to rock the Netherworld wants to destroy him. And Trey is falling for a girl who is half vampire, half human, and insanely pretty. Above all, Trey must face one terrifying question: Is he a boy...or is he a werewolf?

Now tell me that I'm supposed to be surprised that Trey is a werewolf and that he encounters vampires and other demons throughout the book.

I didn't experience the joy of being surprised when the characters were, but it was still entertaining nonetheless.

The Common Final Act
In young adult novels, there's usually a common ending for novels geared toward girls: a dance, a ball, prom, some other soiree.

For boys, it's probably a showdown with the villain.

We had this lead in to the ending with Wereling, and I think these kinds of endings are great. It's like looking forward to a final boss in a video game! The problem with this book is how they came to confront the antagonist.

Bait
Call it what you will.

The damsel in distress is taken hostage by the bad guy.

"Oh no! We must save her! And in doing so, we can also fight the villain!"

Blah blah blah. Did Alexa really have to be so stereotypical? A sensitive shopaholic teenager that gets used as bait.

The Verdict
This is the first YA novel about werewolves that I've read (Twilight doesn't count), and it didn't completely throw me off the genre. I attribute that to the lack of focus on romance. It didn't strike me emotionally, and the "emotional" parts were typical--parents killed long ago by a sworn enemy, teenage misunderstandings, ally in mortal peril... Nevertheless, I was entertained and I am curious about what else happens to Trey.

Why I Hate Nail Polish

2012-02-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

For "Ana."

These are so not my nails,
but currently this is the color I'm wearing.
From thenailphile.blogspot.com

I hate painting my nails.

I get nail polish, nail decals and stickers, polish sets, but I hardly ever use 'em.

I'm a very hands-on kinda girl. I use my hands a lot. The process it takes to trim my nails just right, apply the polish, and then wait for my nails to dry is a handicap for me. Even if it's "dry" I can't really do the things I usually do, because if I brush my nail up against something before it's fully set, it's gonna scrape the polish and I'm gonna have to use nail polish remover and repeat the process.

I think manicures are a very luxurious procedure. I'm only painting my nails today because I'm filming tomorrow, I have an audition Wednesday, and I'm out of a day job so I don't need to use my hands for intense work, but I still find it gets in the way of a lot of other things (like cooking, typing, drawing, sewing...)

I'm an impatient person. As soon as I finish something I like to move on to something else, and if something from the previous task hinders my performance on the next, of course I'm going to be annoyed.

To counter what my friend said, it's not like clothes, and it's not like regular makeup.

Clothes are easy. You put 'em on, and then you're done. They'll affect the way you move for the rest of the day--at least while you're wearing 'em, and unless you're wearing a hoopskirt and corset, they shouldn't get in the way of daily activities. (Of course, you have to dress smart. No intelligent person should wear a full suit on an elliptical; neither should one wear a full ballgown while working at a fast food joint.)

Same with shoes, unless they're heels. I hate heels just about as much as I hate nail polish.

Makeup is also another little luxury, but not to the extent that nail polish is. If you're going on a date, to an interview, or you're acting in a play or on film, makeup is always nice to wear so your face looks the best. Once someone has focused on what you're wearing, they'll concentrate on your face while you're talking (unless you're wearing something inappropriate, then interviewer might stare down your low-cut top). Makeup takes a little while to perfect in a five-minute application, but once it's on, you're done. Sure, you might need some touch ups, some powder here and there, and I hope you applied makeup after putting your clothes on otherwise you might have a funny skin-toned smear somewhere on your expensive interview outfit.

Makeup might feel uncomfortable to someone who isn't used to it, but most people don't wash dishes with their teeth, type with their noses, or wipe down tables with their cheeks.

When you paint your nails--even with the best nail polish brands--it doesn't take long before a scratch appears and the tips start cracking. Then high-maintenance people remove what remains and repeat the process all over with a new color.

I just let it crack off until it's gone.

And that's why I hate nail polish.

Though, I admit, I like to paint my TOE nails in summer, but they're my toes and they don't see nearly as much work as my fingers.

Six Months: Adventure vs. Cafe

2012-02-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

Even though I turned in my two week's notice last Saturday, today was my last day of work. My name had disappeared from next week's schedule, and I turned in my apron, lock, and received my last paycheck.

It's convenient for me since I have a lot of things planned for next week, but now I'm out of a job. That's okay. I'm young. I'm an artist. I'm the kind of person who has to take risks, who has to let go of things that make me unhappy. I don't want to settle. I won't.

Anyway, the real reason I'm writing this post is the time period that I've worked at Barnes and Noble. I've worked approximately the same time at the store that, in The Cycle of the Six Moons, Michelle has (or, will be) in Starrs. Michelle entered Starrs on July 20. I started work about the last week of July. Michelle's last day in Starrs was January 18. My last day was today, February 3.

Michelle was on an adventure. She was risking her life for the people around her. Her friends risked their lives for her. People she trusted betrayed her. She killed for her friends. Her friends killed each other. She fell in love. The burden of Goddess's responsibilities weighed her down. She couldn't go home. She had to live the adventure.

I worked in the cafe--at most eight hours, five days a week, but usually just twenty hours for the entire week. At the end of the night, I could go home and sleep, but on that drive back, I would have to think about how I didn't perform well enough for the company, because my numbers were lacking. I had to communicate with others so there wouldn't be a misunderstanding, but even so my boss managed to twist my words and assume things about me when in fact, she didn't understand. It was stressful on my mind and body--the physical labor and the people I had to deal with. In the end, it wasn't the customers that drove me to the edge. It was my boss.

I didn't make close friendships, but I laughed and joked with my coworkers and the customers. I cried, and my coworkers did their best to comfort me. I was exhausted, and they helped me, told me that everything was going to be all right. (Well, except for my boss.) I tried to bring smiles to the customers faces by smiling, myself. But it was too much, and that's why I left.

Michelle revealed her dreams, anxieties about achieving them and juggling her responsibilities.

I only revealed my ambitions this past week, when a former high schoolmate came into the cafe, and once I had let the others know that I was leaving. "I'm an aspiring voice actress." "I'm looking for representation." "I have an audition with an agency next week."

When Michelle first thought that she was going home, it was only two months in. Within those two months, she still felt a strong loyalty to her friends, she thought she witnessed death, and she had overcome her first trial as Goddess. They were beginning to accept her, and when it was time to say good-bye, she shed tears.

I shed no tears, though I fought against them this morning.

It was the morning meeting the cafe. Sally looked at me and asked, "Anything to report from the cafe?" and I said, "Well unless next week's schedule changes, today's going to be my last day here, so... It was great working with you all!" I say it with a smile, and my words are sincere, 'cause at that moment everyone in the cafe has been a joy to work with.

But they looked surprised and sad. I guess no one told them...

Once the meeting was over, one of the older men, Michael, came up to me.

He usually works in the back in receiving, shelves books and takes them out of boxes and such. He's away from the bustling crowd. I've worked back there with him twice, and it was great because we didn't have to worry about waiting on customers. When he taught me how to sort magazines, he praised me, saying that I work quickly and efficiently and he would like me to work with him again.

But I never did.

Anyway, today Michael said, "I had no idea you were leaving! No one told me. It's a shame, I'm going to miss you. I wish you could have worked in the back with me again, or at least have seen more of the book side of things. I'm going to miss you." And I had to get back to work, but it nearly made me cry.

Once Spencer, the cafe manager came in, I took my first break and went to the back room to check up on my schedule again. It hadn't changed. My name was erased from the list. I came back and asked, "So today's my last day, huh?"

Spencer said, "Yeah. I'm sad. I don't want you to leave, and Jennifer's leaving too!"

I punch the air in front of me cheerfully and say, "But you'll get new people!"

And he says, "But I don't want new people! I mean, I know you were new once too, and training can be fun but it doesn't give me that much time to do other things. And I'm gonna miss you and your energy and your style..."

And when I went to the back, the letter addressed to him was finally taken off the bulletin board. I guess he finally read my resignation letter.

I tried to stay positive through the whole thing, though. Jennifer came in earlier to play cards with her sister and I told her, "Today's my last day!" And she said, "I know! I looked at the schedule in the back and your name wasn't on their at all. Sophia also cut my hours short, too." I don't know if I remember correctly, but she might have said something like, "Guess she's trying to get rid of us as soon as possible." I said, "Well, at least others get more hours!" And Jenn said, "Yeah..."

Even Olivia at the front said, "It's a good thing you're staying positive."

But now, I'm free. I'm excited about the opportunities ahead. I still have to pay off my college loans, but I have just enough money for that. Just enough. I'm lucky my parents let me stay at home.

After I had clocked out for the last time, I passed by the music department and waved good-bye to Grace and told her it was my last day and I'm leaving. In her pin-up clothes and heels, she wobbled over to me and gave me a hug, saying, "Well it was great knowing you! I'm gonna miss you!"

After I had turned in my apron, combo lock, and name badge, Sophia said to me, "Well, I wish you the best of luck, Heidi. I hope you find a job that you actually like. Good luck with your acting." And I had never spoken to her about my acting, so I guess Spencer or Rebecca had told her.

I exited through the cafe door and waved good-bye to Spencer and Jenn.

"Come back and visit!" Spencer said.

When Michelle was preparing to leave Starrs, half the world was saying good-bye. Half the world was saying they would miss her.

...But she came back.

I am going to miss the people I worked with. Most of them were great people--fun to talk to and fun to work with. I just don't think the company was a right fit for me.

I had the right and privilege to leave, and I took that opportunity.

Michelle was stuck.

But hey--I'd take a perilous adventure over making a quad-shot over white mocha shaken with ice any day.

Oh, salted caramel mocha, you were one
of the most popular drinks of the season.

CHARGE!

2012-01-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

The other day, I got fed up with work.

When I got home I decided to apply for a bunch of new jobs.

Then I recorded a new demo reel.

Then I submitted it and a makeshift headshot to the Blackwell Files, JE Talent, and Stars.

Not the most professional actor headshot.
It's not even 8 x 10, but I'm cheap, and it also
passes as a Facebook profile pic.

Then I uploaded my demo reel to a YouTube video so maybe people will more likely watch it.

I need change in my life, bitches, so I'm gonna take charge.

Even though I haven't finished writing Chapter Five of The Cycle of the Six Moons: An Eclipsing Autumn, I've started reading a new book: Heir Apparent. I will write a review for it when I'm done.

My Method for Getting Over Crap Writing

2012-01-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Call it what you will. Writer's block, lack of enthusiasm, depression...

I was still really upset about the last chapter I wrote, but when I started to write Chapter Five, I loved it. I'm still not finished with it, but I've gone quite a ways, and I'm sure I'll continue to love it even after I finish it.

For everyone experiencing "writer's block," the easiest method is a two-step process. Read, and then write.

Read something you love. More effectively, read the latest thing that you wrote that you loved. Because it's recent, it'll be closer to your current writing style, and once you read it, you'll probably see why you loved writing in the first place.

That's what got me out of this stump. A few nights ago, I was really sleepy and I decided to go to bed early because I had to wake up early for work. I didn't want to go to bed with only the day's events running through my head. I wanted to read, so I picked up one of my childhood's favorite books: Ella Enchanted. The first time I read it, it probably took me over a month to finish it, between homework and playing. This time, I finished it before midnight, and I remembered minor details. Little lines like the cinnamon and raspberry tones in Areida's skin, "you may prefer legumes to legs," "I don't remember there being orange coaches in Bast." It was one of the books that influenced my early writing.

And heck. Even after all these years, I still enjoyed that book.

For some people, I think spontaneity works better than planning, but I find that if I plan then I have a better product in the end. It's more fleshed out and feels alive. Rather than just saying "this is a city," I show how the people live, because I know how they live. (I even drew a diagram of this city so I know where everything is, how long it takes to get places, and different shortcuts.)

I hold off on writing until just the right moment, either when I can't hold back the words anymore or if I have a feeling I can write something brilliant. Once I do, the words just keep coming. Even if I'm taking a break and bathing, ideas are stronger now that I have a few words down. I can hear conversations, and I either keep repeating them in my head so I don't forget them, or they evolve and I write them down later.

I think the worst thing to do is to force yourself to continue writing something when it isn't fully fleshed out and when you aren't fully motivated to write. In my case, at least, I get a very blah product which discourages me from writing further.

I have to be in a pretty good mood when I'm writing, too. That's why I turn to my substances... Chocolate, coffee, tea, wine, champagne, sake, lovely dark dark chocolate...

Transition Chapter HELL

2012-01-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when I don't want to write a transition chapter.

I'm sharing this for the sake of author humility. Sure, once things are all polished, they're beautiful, but in the beginning stages things are often rough and ugly.

And my frustration leads to unnecessary PROFANITY!!

My notes:

Chapter Four is currently a PIECE OF SHIT! Why!? Because I need more background!

This is how it goes. They’re on the boat to go to Dissett, but everything is so fucking dead, I need to paint the background some more.

There are no children. Just old men fishing, and a very excited tour guide boat driver person—I don’t think it’s even fair to call her a captain. She’s BORING. But she’s like, “Look at all the shit around us!”

So now that they have a captain, Wolf and Dastin can’t even row a boat. Wait a minute. This isn’t even a Taesmal vehicle. How does it MOVE!? They need someone to move it, right?

Why don’t Wolf and Dastin just ROW THE FUCKING BOAT!? Fuck the “tour guide”—she should just be sleeping on the boat with ‘em, ‘cause you know Wolf and Dre aren’t returning the boat, so someone’s gotta bring it back.

One problem solved: Wolf and Dastin are rowin’ the boat, the boat manager is sleeping, and Dre is hung over. Michelle is watching while shit goes down.

Since Michelle is turning into the healer-sort, perfect, “oh I don’t like to see the people around me get hurt” kind of person that she didn’t like to begin with, she’s gonna offer to give Dre some claren tea, ‘cause her buddy Gediyon thinks it’s a cure-all for everything. Whoop-dee-doo. Down the hatch claren tea goes.

Oh, but these guys are heading to Tyrique, so there’s no way they’ll stop at Dissett! Something must ATTACK their boat! Like piranhas or eels or something. Wolf is like, “Quick, Miss Goddess, to the shore!” And so she walks the rest of the way to Dissett while her buddies face impending doom. What a wonderful heroine! What a shitty chapter.

Screw the pretentious assholes who say that you need to know everything in your story before you write it. And screw the people who say skip the chapter and go on to the next one, 'cause I like writing in order.

This is what it is: a transition chapter, helping the main character from one plot point to another. I could describe Maureigh in the greatest detail and know exactly what kinds of things they trade for a living (which is probably freshwater fish), but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a transitional city. This is only the first draft and I know I'll flesh it all out later, but really, I just want Michelle to get the fuck out of there.

Pseudonym!

2011-12-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'm spending my Christmas morning reading BookEnds' posts about pseudonyms.

Here's the thing. Since eighth grade, I had promised that I would write under the pen name Adelle Yeung (you can read more about the naming on the About Aderu page), but since I had established the name AderuMoro, that name has become more famous than my own or Adelle's. (Not by much, but you know, comparatively.)

Santa goes by a lot of names, too.

AderuMoro is the name of my YouTube page. It's the name I use when I'm voice acting. It's the name all over this blog, and in only does the name Adelle Yeung appear (which is over there → in the About Me box). It's the name that's linked to my entire internet resume.

But I had promised my friends throughout school that I would write under the name Adelle Yeung.

Even so, AderuMoro is still more well-known.

Jessica Faust writes that she doesn't want to be confused with multiple names, but my professional e-mail address has my real name in it. Should I change that?

...And should I write it as AderuMoro or Aderu Moro?

Anyway, Merry Christmas :D

Must resist querying!

2011-12-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

I told myself I would hold off querying agents until after I've completed writing the entire trilogy of The Cycle of the Six Moons. Well, last night, something sparked in me and instead of starting the second book, I started to write a query for the first.

I'm honing my query-writing skills, but this is making me so excited that I actually want to query agents about the project. Of course, the first book is done and ready for querying, but the trilogy isn't.

I wanted to finish all three books before querying because the three books are so tied together that if I decided something later on, I wanted to fix it in the first book to maintain continuity.

But I've been reading people say that it's better to pitch the first book as a standalone in case it doesn't sell.

My problem is that The Cycle of the Six Moons is a straight-up trilogy. The second book starts immediately where the first left off, and the third where the second left off. Though they solve issues within their respective books, the story isn't complete without all three.

I've written the story twice already so I know exactly what happens, I just have to write it all again so it sounds prettier.

Despite people saying you shouldn't waste your time writing the second book until you know the first can sell, I think I'm going to at least start writing the second before querying at all.

Because if the first doesn't sell--hey, at least there's e-publishing.

Skyward Sword Dub: The Temple of Hylia

2011-12-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Video games are currently taking my time away from writing, but it's ZELDA! So that's excusable.

Anyway, this is a little something that I was working on. I messed up on a few of the lines (saying Sacred Grounds instead of Sealed, his form instead of the form...), and some of the timing isn't perfect, but it's still a beautiful video!

Someone pointed out my "lisp," which I first thought was just my tongue producing too much saliva and making my S's extremely spittable, or it's my mic to blame, but come to think of it my tongue is a bit injured. I'm gonna have to put some effort into trying to heal it.

The Books I Buy

2011-12-03T00:23:00.001-08:00

I was going to ask someone else if they could come up with a theory about my spending habits, but I think I may have found the answer myself.

The question was: Despite being an aspiring novelist, in the past year why would I buy thirteen non-fiction books, one anthology, one textbook (it was a copy of a text we used in a class that I loved, and I bought it again for about sixty bucks cheaper--and yes, I bought it for pleasure reading and reference), and only a single NOVEL?

I realized that the non-fiction books I buy are used for reference. If I have it on me, I can just refer back to it and read up on what I need help with.

On the other hand, I only read most novels once. If it's a story that I don't think is worth reading again, then I won't buy it (because I read most of my fiction from the library).

I guess that's the reason why, no matter how interesting a novel looks or what people say about it, I'm cautious about purchasing it because I'm unsure if I want it hanging around after I've finished reading it.

That's why as an aspiring novelist, it's my goal to write a book that people will want to read over and over. :D

CSM Cover and eBook

2011-11-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

I can't get over how awesome this is.

I'd gotten myself an iPod touch for my twenty-second birthday.
Using calibre, I made an eBook of CSM for my iPod touch, so I can read it in iBooks and find little typos and other things that I can edit.
I just finished making this cover today. TODAY. It took a lot less time to make than I had anticipated. I hated the four or so versions I had come up before this, but I'm kind of in love with this one.

Even though it's not an actual book, just its presentation gets me all excited.

The cover depicts a scene from the story, because those are some of my favorite covers. I don't really like seeing photographs of models depicting the characters looking all sexy and stuff--I want it to say something about the book, and not just about how the characters are supposed to look.

(Though I nearly fell into such a trap with one of my previous concepts.)

Or I like covers with something symbolic on the front, like an item.

Anyway, here are more screen caps!

My bookshelf with only two books, and they're both written by me. Haha. There's The Aviation Waltz next to it! And on the right, a screen cap of an excerpt. IT'S SO COOL!

And here's a clearer version of the cover art! (Click on it for my deviantART page.)

CSM - First Pages critique!

2011-11-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

This blog has had a sad, sad case of neglect. I've just been terribly busy, but here's news! I've posted the first chapter of The Cycle of the Six Moons on the YAlitchat's First Pages Critique Group! Any kind of feedback I can get would be fantasterrific!

Yaki Onigiri

2011-08-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't really been motivated to write, draw, or do much else. Even voice acting seems a bit hum-ho these past few days (I blame it on my hormones), but I have been cooking fun things!

Today I wanted to make onigiri, but every time I make it, the rice falls apart. I use a rice mold, so I guess I wasn't packing it in densely enough. When I was Googling how to prevent onigiri from falling apart, I came across "yaki onigiri," and I decided to make it!

Basically, they're made like regular onigiri but they're pan fried once on all sides, and then brushed with soy sauce and fried again. I brushed them with a mixture of 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part sesame oil, 'cause I love sesame oil.

The two pictured in the second picture have a Thai chili pepper soaked in soy sauce and about a tablespoon of sesame paste (which is kind of like peanut butter, almond butter, only made from sesame seeds). That's soy sauce and Sriracha sauce in the small bowl.

Characters Who Prove Themselves

2011-08-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

It's probably because I'm fresh out of college and I'm approaching the world with a purpose, but I think the best kind of motivation for characters in YA fiction (or should I call it New Adult?) is the drive to prove oneself.

Not to survive, because most people take it for granted that they're going to live, and it's assumed that a character will want to live if a story is written about them.

If a character's main motivation is to catch a boyfriend, then I won't be as emotionally invested in her either. Because honestly, being in a relationship shouldn't be any young person's main objective. It's too shallow and I want character depth.

Then there's everything in between. Maybe it's to save the world, make people happy, exact revenge, enslave the world...

To prove oneself, the character should have some tangible goal. Maybe it's to win a cooking competition to prove that a student is right in studying culinary arts. Maybe it's to build a plane to prove that a ballerina isn't brainless after all. Maybe it's to make a lot of money to prove that one's college funds weren't wasted. Maybe it's to publish a book to prove that one isn't a worthless lump. Maybe it's to prove that a birthright isn't a mistake, or maybe it's to prove that everyone's prejudice is wrong.

It has to be something they're really passionate about too, something believable and understandable. It might be irrational like resorting to bulimia to prove that someone is capable of modeling, or even horrible like killing one's mother to prove loyalty to a dictator. I want it to catch me in the heart if I want to really care about it.

The character has to make some kind of choice and act upon it.

I want to be with her in that journey as she changes possibly herself, but especially the world around her--whether it's her view of the world or the people in it. She may fail, fail, fail, and ultimately fail, but it's the journey that makes it all the difference. It doesn't matter if she doesn't succeed, because it's what she learns in the end that really matters.

Scilla's failure was both of ours, but hey, I learned a lot too.

If no one learns anything--whether it's about themselves or the world, then I feel like someone's time was wasted.

Well, that's my spiel. What do you think is the best kind of character motivation?

Milk Green Tea Agar - version 2!

2011-08-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

And now I got the chance to make them pretty! An update from my last recipe.

This is the recipe I used for these:

1 block agar
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon matcha
1 1/4 cups milk
3 drops green food coloring
4 drops yellow food coloring

Heat water on stove.
Break agar block into water. Whisk until completely dissolved.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and add sugar. Mix well.
Add matcha and mix well.
Add milk. Mix well. Add food coloring, if desired.
Pour into pan or molds and refrigerate for about two hours or until solid.

Since I reduced the overall liquid, these are a lot more solid, and they can hold shapes better! They're also a lot cuter ♥ I used silicone cupcake molds from World Market.

I think next time I'll add two teaspoons of matcha instead of one and a half.

Milk Green Tea Agar Dessert

2011-08-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

Since I got the voice of the main character, Najika, in a dub of the Kitchen Princess manga, I was curious to try out one of her recipes: the fruit agar.

Well, I didn't use fruit, but I thought it would be tasty, healthy, and extra Asian tasting if I used green tea! Hehe.

Yeah, I'm not the best food photographer or presenter, but hey :P

Anyway, I still want to experiment more, but this is the recipe I used for this particular batch:

1 agar block*
2 3/4 cup water
1 green tea bag
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
2 drops green food coloring (optional)
2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Break agar block into small pieces and blend in a food processor so it becomes powdery and flaky.
Stir flakes into 1 1/2 cups water.
Bring water and agar flakes to a boil. Stir to dissolve. (I used a whisk.)
Meanwhile, use the remaining water to brew green tea. Let steep.
Add sugar to dissolved agar.
Add tea to dissolved agar. Optional: Open tea bag and stir tea leaves into mixture.
Remove from heat and add milk.
Optional: Add food coloring.
Pour into a glass baking dish or mold and refrigerate. When solid, cut into bite-sized squares or cute shapes. Yay!

*I found the agar block at a Filipino food store. They came in a package of two and they look like blocks of white (or red, or green) seaweed. I think you can also buy this as powder at health food stores, but it's a lot more expensive there.

Anyway, I'm kind of amazed at how flavorful it is, though it is a bit soft. I think next time I'll reduce the amount of liquid. I also bought matcha at a Chinese market (which was kind of expensive for a small jar of --$9.99!) so I'm excited to use this the next time I make it.

I think I also want to try making a vegan version using soy milk and a low-calorie version using agave instead of sugar. Yay!

Illustration: The Farewell Kiss

2011-08-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about drawing this in manga panels, but well... I kinda suck at that sort of compilation, so I stuck with a plain old illustration.

After reading this chapter to him, my boyfriend Michael suggested I draw this scene, so yay :D

From The Cycle of the Six Moons: The Starriest Summer, Chapter Seventeen: The West Wind.

“They’re Mysiochs,” he whispers. “Taesmals. I don’t know if it’s me or you they’re after, but you have to stay down here, okay?” He pushes me toward the coat closet and shoves me inside. “Trust me, I’ll take care of them, but you must not leave this closet—no matter what, do you understand?”

“But you’re still hurt!”

“I can take care of them. Trust me.”

“But they’re Taesmals!”

“And I’m the Prince Imposter.” He winks. “I’ll give them what they want.”

He pushes the door in, but before he closes it completely, he holds it ajar for a moment, then opens it again. He looks at me in the dim candle light, and I’m scared and wide-eyed and uncertain of what’s going to happen. Then he steps closer, leans in to me, and gives me a light, gentle kiss on my cheek. He looks at me one last time before shutting the door.

This part of the story has a major impact on Michelle because it's the first time she feels like a failure and the last time she chooses to be passive. It's also a lot different than her encounter with Dastin in the last version. In that one she only knew him for a few hours and they were very mean to each other, yet his death still had a major impact on her. (Like, what? Where did this come from?)

In this one, she's with him for two whole days under dire circumstances, and though they're still jerks to each other, they help each other survive, and he's a lot nicer to her after she saves his life. He also thinks he'll never see her again and realizes in this last moment that he's thankful for her and that he has romantic feelings for her--even though they only knew each other for two days (but hey, beats a few hours).

The kiss didn't happen in the last version, but their farewell wouldn't have made that much of an impact on her if he hadn't.

I was experimenting with colors and shadows and things like that, but I still think it came out a bit lighter than I wanted. At least the colors look cool, I guess. I also don't know if he actually looks like he's kissing her on the cheek or if he's just...kinda...standing really close with his eyes closed. Haha. I thought it'd be a good idea to make her misty-eyed too.

She's also wearing the same clothes as she's wearing here, but she changed the color to blue so she won't stand out as much.

Self-Inflicted Drama

2011-08-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

When I was fourteen, I loved Fushigi Yuugi. I probably liked it for the same reason people liked Twilight--all the unfamiliar, unrealistic romance and danger and excitement. Now that I'm twenty-one, I watched a few episodes and couldn't help but cringe--probably for the same reason that I cringed from the romance in The Body Finder. All the cheesy professions of love were also hilarious, and I loved making fun of Miaka and Tamahome with my little sister. (But still, I have to admit, I love Chichiri, Nuriko, and Tasuki--my favorite characters!)

But what really bothered me, aside from the ultra cheesy romance and the sudden sexualized subplot, was the self-inflicted drama. This drama could have very well been AVOIDED! if Miaka only had the sense to communicate her plans with the others. Sure, she's a very well-to-do character and some the stuff she does is admirable, but it's her simple mindedness that makes the show difficult to watch, because a lot of the drama she brings upon herself.

It just makes me mad when drama arises because of stupidity and the lack of communication, and then the main character goes "WHY ME!?" Well, maybe 'cause you did it to yourself!

Lack of communication is a great way to build drama, or even comedy like in a lot of Shakespeare, but when it's one person making the same mistake over and over, it gets tiring. I also lose sympathy for the characters that bring drama on themselves because they're too stupid to redeem themselves.

Illustration: The Creator's Return

2011-08-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't been too inspired to write lately, so I decided to illustrate this scene, which is the first scene that I've wanted to illustrate. I wanted to challenge myself with an actual scene instead of boring "I am wearing a costume, check me out" kind of drawings.

I open my mouth to say something, but then a small black figure appears over the boat and I scream.

“Madam Manasa!” Gediyon exclaims, pulling his hand out of the water and allowing the boat to slow.

I look again and see that the black figure is actually a short woman wearing a dark, ornate robe. She hides her face well under her gray hair, but I can see that she has wrinkly cinnamon-colored skin and a nose the size of a slice of cake…or maybe I’m just hungry.

“How are you this afternoon?”

“I’m fine, Gediyon, thank you,” she croaks. She swoops down on me and I find myself pressed against the floor of the boat. Part of the woman’s arm is inside the water sphere and her sleeve drips. The water falls just beside my leg.

“It’s this young lady I wanted to have a word with,” she continues.

“M-me?”

“Yes, young Goddess, you!”

I hear Gediyon gasp, “So you are…!”

“Why have you returned?” the woman shrieks, inching closer to my face. Her breath smells like curry. “Starrs is not ready for your soul! You should have stayed in Tyme!”

“She came from Tyme?” Gediyon asks.

She twirls around and I can breathe. She says, “Yes, boy, and she should have stayed there!”

“Hey!” I say. “I’m just playing a game!”

“No! No you are not! Starrs is just as real as Tyme, and the Cycle is not a toy at your mercy. Your brother shouldn’t have created that machine of his. He knew he’d be playing with the universe!”

I gape at her. “I… I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t!” she spits. “The Creator should only enter Starrs when she is born here. She’s raised and taught the ways of the Cycle. It’s a lifestyle. A fifteen-year-old can’t hope to learn how to be Goddess in six months. All because you and your brother wanted to play a game, you’ve awakened the dormant Cycle of the Six Moons, and all the universes are doomed.”

She twists herself like thread on a spindle, then vanishes into nothing.

Amazingly, Photoshopping this didn't take as long as I thought it would, and I really like how it turned out, even the background which I thought would suck, but hey! It works. It also looks a lot like how I imagined it in my head, so yay!

One thing that's off: Madam Manasa's robe is depicted as dark purple when it's supposed to be black. Maahhh. But I like my color. She's also a little out of proportion--her head is big and her body is small, like Yubaba, but not as extreme.

Gediyon kinda looks like a girl, but meh, it's expected. I mean, he's pretty and he has long hair that he braids when he doesn't want it to get in the way. I rather like how his hand turned out.

And I like putting black bars there 'cause it makes me feel like it's from a movie or something :D

Costume: Jayse's Adventure Clothes

2011-07-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not really looking forward to writing more traveling scenes, so I made this to pass the time! I was debating whether I should draw Dreana and Wolf or Jayse and Michelle, but I ended up just drawing Jayse's "adventure clothes."

This is his third "change." Technically it's only a variation of his second outfit, but his shirt is torn. I'm sure if he wanted, he can prepare an even snazzier adventure outfit, but this is what he got stuck with.

In the past I've colored his hair more blond, but he isn't really supposed to be blond. His mom is blond. Jayse's hair is supposed to be the color of "antique gold." (It's kind of like what Nintendo did to Link in Twilight Princess. He almost looks brunette at the beginning of the game.) I also changed the style of his hair from what I used to draw, and consequently, he looks like a girl.

It bothers me a bit how much he looks like a girl, but he is supposed to be "beautiful."

Anyway, the color scheme isn't much different than his "original outfit," but it sure looks a whole lot snazzier. I like how I drew the sword-sheath-holster-thingamabob.

The Muse Tree

2011-07-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

In CSM, I created a tree called the muse tree. It is planted outside of libraries, universities, and other scholarly places. Its scent can motivate even the most uninspired sloths to live. For everyone else, it gives them the extra push to complete what needs to be done.

I need this tree.

Or at least its extract.

Review: Gone

2011-07-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Warning: Review contains spoilers, like everything else.

I wanted the full front and back covers together :P

Gone
by Michael Grant

The last time I left the library, I walked away with The Body Finder, The Maze Runner, and Gone. I read them in that order because it was from shortest to longest. I also found that I liked them 1) not so much, 2) more, 3) pretty amazingly.

Overall Impression
This is like... Lord of the Flies (with chicks) meets X-Men meets the apocalypse.

The Cover
This is probably my biggest criticism about the book. Pictured above from the left to right are whom I think are Diana, Caine, Astrid, and Sam. I think these models fit their book descriptions pretty well, except Sam looks more like a Hollister model than his character let on. I mean, I know he's a surfer, but...ehh...

Anyway, Diana and Caine look wonderfully dark, and I think it's cool how they're looking at the camera and Astrid and Sam aren't. Astrid looks nice an' pretty, though I imagined her preppier and wearing a button-up blouse rather than this flowy thing.

But, this is what I have a problem with.

First of all, these kids don't look fourteen. They look sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, but not fourteen. My sister is fourteen, and neither she or her friends look like this.

Secondly, the cover doesn't say anything about the book. You just got four too-attractive kids starin' off into the distance.

On the other hand, the hard cover copy that I got from the library has a metallic, pearly thing going on with the sky, which can probably symbolize the barrier. And it's cool. The cover is also gender-neutral, and that's a good thing.

Familiarity
I think what made me connect more with this book was that it was familiar without being mundane. The Body Finder was too mundane. The Maze Runner was too unfamiliar. What I like about Gone over the other two is that I cared about the characters. I don't really know how, maybe it was because the author got inside the heads of pretty much all the main characters and showed us how they thought. Maybe because they were all once normal kids who were suddenly thrown into a situation they didn't ask for. Eh. I don't really know what it is.

At the beginning, there were also very distinct and familiar roles, like Harry, Ron, and Hermione (or in this case, Sam, Quinn, and Astrid). You have the hero who is more special than he lets on, his goofy joke-cracking friend, and the smarter-more-responsible-more mature-than-everyone-else girl. This trio just seems to work.

Also, the entire book took place in a familiar world in an unfamiliar situation, unlike the Body Finder with its familiar setting and familiar situation or the Maze Runner with its unfamiliar world and unfamiliar situation.

The FAYZ
I know at some point when I was younger, I wondered what it would be like to be in a post-apocalyptic world with only people my age. (I didn't think so much about the younger people, just my age, like the entire middle school.) This book pretty much eases all fantasies I had about that situation. I don't want to give Mr. Grant too much credit, but he covered almost everything--from being stranded out in the desert to running Mickey D's to completely slacking off to trying to find a solution to it. I especially like Albert and McDonald's.

And what made everything even more awesome was that kids were developing powers.

The Characters
What I was worried about when I first started reading this was that I didn't know if the fourteen year olds would act appropriately. They're only fourteen, for chrissakes, I know I was an idiot back then. But the author showed all kinds of fourteen year olds, from the abusively charismatic to the humble heroes to the slackers and regretful bullies and even psychotic bullies. Not to mention, the "normal" guy who's caught up in all the action because his best friend is supposedly a hero but he's too afraid to make decisions of his own. I thought there was great diversity.

I also liked how the author showed the corruption in a too-young society, like Lord of the Flies.

Anyway, I also liked how not one person was constantly the hero, and not one person was constantly in danger or being used as a hostage. Everyone had their moments of vulnerability and glory. Astrid wasn't an "eeek help me the serial killer is after me!" and Sam wasn't "DON'T WORRY 'CAUSE IIII WILL SAVE YOOOU!" Even Caine had his good moments. ...Not so sure about Drake, though.

Heck, even Little Pete had his moments.

Romance (...?)
I think I like Astrid and Sam more than Jay and Violet, because they weren't all over each other and professing love in every scene they shared. Sure, I guess they did it once, and they'd only really known each other for like eight days or something at that point, but it was enough. It wasn't overwhelming, it didn't feel forced, and I actually cared about them.

Evolution and Mutation
One kind of nitpicky thing was that some of these powers, namely Sam's and Lana's, arose out of a need. He's afraid of the dark and can produce light out of his hands when he panics, she's mangled and all of a sudden she can heal... It's awfully convenient, and I mean, good for them, but things don't evolve just because they need something. Otherwise we could all teleport. Or at least have wings.

Suspense!
I don't even know where to start, but Mr. Grant did a great job with building one problem, throwing in another, but he gave answers, and that's what's awesome. I was halfway through last night and I really wanted to know what was going to happen next BUT I COULDN'T 'CAUSE MY EYES COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMOOORE!

Verdict
I don't even know what else I can say about this book. I like it, and I highly recommend it.

Changing Character Names - A Necessary Evil!?

2011-07-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Why change a character's name? Maybe the author had originally intended to create a comical character but after development, the character became more serious, and the original name didn't fit. Maybe the author named a character Britney and she turns out to be the president of NASA or something. Ironic much? Or maybe it's science fiction and the name is freakin' hard to pronounce...like Kaalnikanj oo Jdahyatediinkahguyhaht aj Dinso.

Sometimes names can be so stuck to the writer, like gum on a shoe, that they decide to stick with it, no matter how unfitting it is, how hard it is to pronounced, or the negative connotations associated with the name. But sometimes, the name needs to change. Maybe beta readers hate it, maybe an editor wants it changed, maybe it's the own writer's decision.

I don't know what it was that hit me when I woke up this morning, but it was almost an epiphany. I need to change Gwydion's name. I had already changed many of the other character's names, some of which are minor spelling or pronunciation changes, but ever since the very first draft of CSM that I wrote when I was thirteen, Gwydion always fit him. Even in a world with Jasons and Dustins and Andreas, I was determined to keep his name the same. Even after I changed Jason to Jaysonn and Dustin to Dastin and Andrea to Dreana, I didn't want to change Gwydion's name.

...until today.

The main reason is because I want to let go of mythical and religious connotations and semantics. Jason and the Golden Fleece? Forget that. Andrea means man and she's half machine? Oooooh, ironic. Tia means princess and she's the queen? How fitting.

And Gwydion? In Welsh mythology, he's the God of Magic--which is fitting for his "black mage" role--but I don't really like the story of the hero. It's... icky, and I don't want that kind of connotation for my darling character.

So, I think I want to change his name to Gediyon. It's not too different from the way I've been pronouncing it (which I think is wrong in the first place). It's just... not Gwydion.

Gediyon Raidyne. I don't think it's too hard to pronounce, and it pretty much rolls off my tongue. I think I might have to let it sit for a while before I Ctrl + F all the Gwydions and replace them with Gediyon. It...kind of hurts too much. It's like burying him or something.

Anyway, here's a list of some of the major names I've changed.

So, you can see, they're similar. Not totally different. (Though I think my little sister really doesn't like what I did to Dreana. I was crying at her this morning when I told her I was thinking about changing Gwydion's name, and she's like, "But it won't be the same!" And I just whined and whined and whined... haha. Love ya, butt <3)

And here are the names I didn't change.

Has anyone else gone through this necessary evil of changing their characters' names? And why? Were they unfitting, had unfitting connotations, were they had to pronounce?

Review: The Maze Runner

2011-07-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

The Maze Runner
by James Dashner

Overall Impression
The feeling I get from this book is like the Hunger Games meets Lost. Frustratingly brilliant, with teenagers trying to beat a system, and questions upon questions and not enough answers.

The Cover
I think the cover is refreshing. A lot of YA covers are dark with a single "significant" photographed object, or they have ridiculously pretty girls who are usually supposed to represent the main character. Presenting faces on covers, especially with photographed models, bothers me because I'd rather imagine the characters myself. I don't mind the significant objects as much, but the kinds of covers I really like are ones with scenes--in action and not just a pretty pose--or a snippet of the setting, like this cover.

Though... I do prefer the Spanish and Portuguese covers more. Yeah, it's darker, and I rather like the misty brightness on the US covers, but I like the vines more on the Spanish and Portuguese ones. It looks more foreboding rather than...Roman.

The Grievers

I know all the kids were scared witless about the Grievers, but the description of them made me think of a discombobulated mess. Actually, I thought of Final Fantasy's Flan monsters (pictured right), only with spines stickin' out of them and weird arms. They didn't sound very scary to me. In my video game-oriented mind, I kept thinking, "Just cast a level three magic spell and they're done for. Boom."

Meh. I dunno. Maybe creatures just don't scare me very much. They sounded rather creepy, but more like "Ewww I don't want that thing touching me" rather than "OMFG I NEED TO RUN FOR MY LIFE NOOOWWWW!"

Anyway, if on the back of the Spanish and Portuguese book covers is an artistic representation of a Griever, then I like it a lot more of what I had in mind when I was reading.

Now maybe if I saw this I'd actually run for my life.

Minho
I just want to say, thank you, Mr. Dashner, for breaking an Asian stereotype. Minho isn't a nerdy guy. He's not dumb either. And he sure ain't wimpy. Oh, and what's that? He's actually a leader? Oh, I mean a Keeper... KEEPER OF THE RUNNERS! Oh and he's muscular? OH AND HE'S ASIAN!

I do wonder about his name though...

Names
I liked how they were named after brilliant people. I knew Alby had to be some kind of Albert, Thomas didn't phase me, I thought Newt was named after the animal, and I thought Charles when Chuck came in, especially when Thomas said "survival of the fittest." But what about Minho and Teresa? Maybe it's explained in the next books.

Unanswered Questions
The one that still stuck with me till the end was, how come Thomas thought that he was older when he first came to the Glade? And why did he have memories of the farm? I'm more curious about his actual past than what he did with the Creators.

And another, why are they all teenagers? Why aren't they younger, why aren't they older? It was hinted at toward the end, but could they not trust someone older with more experience? Aaah.

Frustration!
If there was one thing that Thomas felt that I did, it was frustration with not getting enough answers. Like I said about my overall impression, it's like watching Lost. Questions upon questions upon questions, and not enough answers. I'm not sure if I have enough patience to read the next books to find out what really happens.

It's like watching Lost. Maybe I'll just wait until the entire series is done and then read up a series plot description so I can get the story without wasting my time and getting frustrated.

Meh. Or I can just suck it up and read it. (I haven't actually finished watching the entire season of Lost. Oh but an avid viewer I was back in high school.)

Language
When I first started reading, the language bothered me. I thought, "Oh geez, a bunch of marooned foul-mouthed boys." I thought Lord of the Flies, but I got used to the fictional language quick enough, and I thought it was pretty brilliant of the author. To the characters, they had the effect of actual curse words, but it's not as jarring on the reader. I rather like it. I've done this before too, but less slang.

Emotions
For the most part, I read the novel stoically. I don't know what it is with me and these past few books, I just feel distanced from the characters. I didn't fall in love with them like I had fallen in love with Luna Lovegood and Hagrid. I was interested in what happened to them, but I didn't really care. I was just an observer. Maybe it was because some of the language felt rather forced. Thomas is scared. Your heart should race. Thomas is angry. You should understand why. Thomas is sad. Feel for him.

I was only mildly sad at a certain character's death at the end. I just wish the author had spent more time developing their relationship instead of pretty much flat-out saying "and then they were friends."

Same with Teresa. Sure, she's pretty. Sure they have a connection. But still, it felt forced.

BUT I am grateful, although somewhat forced, these relationships were not cheesy. Hurray.

On the other hand, I really liked how Newt was concerned about Minho and Alby. Maybe 'cause Newt wasn't the actual main character, but like how Thomas thought it was endearing how he worried, I did too.

Action
This book is heavy on action, and it's great. I mean, it's called the Maze Runner. There's running--running to beat time, running from the Grievers, running for your life...

I just felt...there was too much action. (Wow, how picky can I get!?)

Balancing Action and Emotions
I'm starting to see in other books what I like and don't like reading. It's easy to write what I like, but it's different when I see something that's already published. I just like more of a balance with action and emotion. Not necessarily with romantic relationships, but friendships yes, revolving around some kind of need to survive.

Maybe I just wanted the characters to actually have a moment and sit down and talk about how they feel.

But what am I sayin'. About 98% of the characters are male.

The Verdict
I think this book is brilliantly set up, well thought-out. Pacing is a little slow in some places, but one can learn something about writing action scenes. I recommend it, but it's not that satisfying of a read because I would've liked more of an attachment to the characters.

Review: The Body Finder

2011-07-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

Warning: This snarky review totally contains spoilers.

The Body Finder
by Kimberly Derting

I've seen this book on several people's must-read YA lists, so I thought I'd put it on hold at the library and read it myself. I'll review this book in a slightly different style than my usual.

First Impression
I'll admit, I haven't read the Lovely Bones. I haven't even seen the movie, but I caught my sisters watching it, and they told me about it, and my younger sister was reading the book, but anyway, I thought this book would be more like what my idea of the Lovely Bones is.

The Cover
It's a pretty flower. Violet, right? Like the main character's name. Or maybe it isn't a violet. It's pretty, simple, but I don't think it really says much about the book, and it hardly sets up a tone. The feeling I get from this book is trees. And dirt.

The Prologue
When I first started reading, I was like, oh, this book has a prologue? I'm not the kind of person who'll thrown down a book and refuse to read it if there's a prologue, but I was wondering if it was really necessary, and it turns out it was. So yay.

The Opening
A few openings bother me to no end, and one of them--because it is so overused and cliche--is waking up to realize that the main character is about to be late for school. Really? Especially if preceding this wake-up is a flashback or an important dream of some kind.

Not only that, but some things within the first forty pages made me roll my eyes. Violet is special. She has this ability. She doesn't think she's pretty, but actually she is. Plus she has a shitty car when the rest of the kids at her school have fancy new ones. Not only that, but she's starting to crush on her best friend, who happens to be a guy that she's known forever. None of this seemed really new to me.

The Romance
Crushing on your best guy friend, but you don't want to say anything, and you get jealous because all of the other girls just noticed how hot he's become, and you don't want to jeopardize your relationship... I'm sure this is a popular setup for YA romance because it's something some girls actually experience. It would've been nice if maybe the author had explored what it's like to appear as a girl friend--the friend who hangs out with the guys but she doesn't have a dick--but Violet and Jay seemed to have a really smooth relationship. Uh...minus the misunderstandings, "I'm not talking to you 'cause you endangered yourself and pissed me off," "I'm just trying to make you jealous so you'll actually notice me"... Okay, I guess their relationship wasn't that smooth, but it would've been interesting to see the two of them confuse gender roles and different kinds of friendships. It just seems more interesting to me than cliche high school romance problems.

Anyway, once they've admitted to liking each other, the writing in their make-out scenes felt borderline porn. Or borderline flat-out romance novel. Not that I read these kind of things, but the writing turned me off. Was I supposed to be sighing and wishing that I'm in the same situation? 'Cause I wasn't. I was cringing a little.

Maybe I'm just not the girly girl I once was, or maybe romance kinda turns me off nowadays, and I like these things to be tempered with more action, adventure, and danger, but I'm starting to find that I don't really like girly novels.

Two Worlds
This novel kept switching between two worlds. Violet's normal high school life, with all her shopping girl friends and boy drama, and the one I found more interesting: her "echo-sensing" abilities.

I didn't find her normal life to be very interesting, and I don't think it really added to the plot. If this novel didn't have the whole other side of it with trying to catch a serial killer, it would've been a really mundane book. A sixteen-year-old high school girl (sixteen seems to be a magic number these days) realizes that she has a crush on her best friend, and she has to fight the most popular and beautiful girls in school, even though she herself is rather attractive. Oh, and of course, there's a dance, and asking-outs and jealousy.

I wish there was less normal-world and more serial-catching. I thought this book was going to be more action-packed, more like a mystery, detective novel, and I found myself wanting more of these scenes. But just when I got a teasing taste, I get thrown back into boring high school life.

I was frustrated.

The Predator
I was so frustrated at some point that I actually wanted to skip ahead to all the italicized scenes and read those. Who cares about shopping for Homecoming dresses? I want to know what's inside this sick guy's mind. What exactly is he doing with these girls? How does he pick them? How does he kill them?

And there, I have to admit, I was disappointed. Maybe I should just read the Lovely Bones. But I wanted to know in gruesome detail how the girls were killed, if they were raped or not, how disfigured they were.

I wanted the gruesome details but they weren't there.

The Pacing
With everything mentioned above, I thought that the pacing suffered. I thought it was too slow.

The Suspense
There were some parts when my heart actually started to beat faster and I wanted to know what was going to happen next, but these were mostly during the predator's scenes, and they were far too scarce. When I did get some suspense in Violet's life, I felt like it fell short. I was actually hoping Violet would get kidnapped so I could see what kind of sick and gruesome things the predator actually did, but nope. Sigh.

The Dance at the End of (it seems) Every Girly YA Novel
Ugh, did there have to be a dance!? Personally, I like to shop. I like getting all dressed up even if it's for a few hours of the night. I just feel like this works better in movies, where I can actually see designer dresses and the transformations in the actors, but in novels it's just another reminder of "Oh yeah, that happened in high school didn't it?" And what's up with putting these getting-dressed-up events at the END of novels and movies? At the climax?

I was relieved when Violet broke her ankle because then they couldn't go to the dance, and I was like "Okay! So it's not going to be that kind of novel then." WRONG! Because then Jay goes, "Guess what! We're still going to the dance!"

BOOOO.

The Ending
Eh, it was predictable. Of course the bad guy is gonna get caught. Of course, with 116 pages left of the novel, they don't have the actual killer.

I do like how a new echo was formed at the end, though. I was just hoping that it would be on Violet's hands. How disturbing would that be? She's the one who can sense all these things, and then it gets on her conscience. I think it would be wicked schizophrenic time.

But no. It had to be her uncle. I felt cheated when it said that the dandelion taste faded too quickly.

The Echoes
Maybe I would have to read the next book, but I was wondering, what determines the echo? Some of them are scents, some of them are tastes, some of them sounds--but what causes them?

And why is that all killers have them, even innocent ones? Wouldn't almost everyone be a killer then? I'm sure everyone's smashed a mosquito, swatted a fly, squashed a spider, or even stepped on a freakin' ant at some point. WE SHOULD ALL BE STINKING AND NOISY AND TASTY.

Eye-Rolling Quotes

"When you were little, we were worried when you first started finding dead animals in the woods. That was when we knew you'd inherited Grandma Louise's special skill." --page 67

An inherited skill, huh? I rolled my eyes at this. I thought, PFT, REALLY!? Not even that, but this is the only time they mention Grandma Louise. Maybe the author expands on this in her next book, but I would've liked if they had talked more about why Violet has this skill, like in Jinx, how Jean could do weird things even though she couldn't really all because of her great x 5 grandmother back in Wales. But nothing more was explained in this book. GROAN.

"I can't imagine living without you," he said, tendering kissing her forehead, his warm breath fanning her brow. He paused thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again. "I love you, Violet. More than I ever could have imagined. And I don't want to lose you.... I can't lose you." --page 271

I'm pretty sure teenage girls think it's irresistible if a guy says this to them. To me, I just groan. It reminds me of sickening girly anime, too-young teenagers running into each others arms and professing, "I can't live without you! I'll die if I don't have you by my side!" Really? You kids must have lame lives, but it says something about their psychologies, I guess. Look at Romeo and Juliet.

Anyway, in my future writing, I do not want to write any such lines, unless it's literally true. "I can't live without you, because if you left me alone, who else is going to press my ON button every morning?" or something.

The Verdict
For some reason I came off rather snarky in this review. I really don't know what it is. Maybe I had higher expectations for this book. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. I'd recommend the Lovely Bones and I haven't even read it.

Maybe I should add that to my list.

Costume: The Prince Imposter

2011-07-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Enter Dastin, the "Prince Imposter," as Michelle knows him (since she doesn't learn his name till the second book). He was previously known as Dustin, but...well you know how things work. (Or not.)

And here is my character/costume design for him:

He's supposed to wear loose, dusty-colored clothes that can serve as camouflage in the desert (but as for the blue, I felt that it needed some contrast). The scarf is used to wrap around his head to hide his "beautiful face" (his words, not Michelle's). He actually has a sword strapped to his back but you can't see it 'cause the scarf is kinda hiding where the handle would be, heh.

Anyway, originally his hair was supposed to be darker, but I thought that would make him look too much like a goth, and this time around, I wanted to make it so that if he spent more time in the sun, he would look more like Jayse. (Or if Jayse spent less time in the sun, he would look more like Dastin.) You can tell them apart 'cause Dastin's hair is shorter and darker, his skin is lighter, his eyes are bluer (while Jayse's are greener), and he has a scar. Originally he didn't have a scar, but being a swordsman, it makes sense for him to have one.

I think I've only drawn him once before, and then, he also had an earring on his left ear. It's never mentioned but I always thought it was a nice touch.

Hurray.

While Researching About Wounds

2011-07-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

I came across this page: Wound Care in the Wild

I don't know how accurate this is, but I thought it was funny.

CSM Costume Change 2!

2011-07-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

I am making WONDERFUL progress with my writing! I also got to major costume change #2 for Michelle, and I wanted to draw it. I wanted to get around to drawing the other characters too but I spent so much time Photoshopping this that...er, well I didn't get around to it.

Anyway, this is Michelle's costume change for the Tufos Canyon area.

The reason the fabric looks so regal is 'cause she altered it from a "princess dress" that she wore in the palace, but when she found herself in the desert, she had to change her clothes to fit the terrain. Shorter skirt so she won't be tripping over it in the dirt, boots instead of heels so she can walk comfortably, and a capelet to keep her shoulders warm during night and to protect her shoulders during the day. She also has a hood 'cause she wants to hide her face. Of course, since she's in a desert, she has to carry a canteen. The wooden staff in her hand shoots fire.

The reason she looks so sad is 'cause it's the first time she's all on her own.

And the reason this drawing looks so different than the last costume design is 'cause ~~I'm too lazy to be consistent~~ I'm trying to develop a suitable drawing style for this story :D

Anyway, I really like the warm and soft pink colors. I was going to make her boots and belt white instead, because her "princess attire" heels were probably white, but I thought for an adventure outfit, brown would be better. (Actually, I started drawing the "princess dress," but drawing adventure attire is so much more fun. I can think of all kinds of functional things, whereas princess dresses are just pretty. Blah.)

I think I actually like the pink and brown more than the yellow and brown that I drew for her first original costume change. (That is a really old drawing.)

Hmm... this drawing kinda looks like Jill. The post and the hair and the boots. I guess I can see Xion too with the hair and hood.

Jill Valentine and Xion for ya.

Anyway, I like costume designs, so maybe I'll keep this up whenever I change her clothes :D I want to do it for the other characters too, burrmehhh.

Review: Jinx

2011-07-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

This review contains spoilers.

Jinx
by Meg Cabot

First Impression
"Meg Cabot. I could do with some light reading."

I wanted to read something that wasn't all vampires, werewolves, my mother is dead and now I've resorted to cocaine, and that's why I wanted to read Meg Cabot, but I didn't want to read something that was fluff either.

What I Think of the Cover
I'll admit, I picked this up because it was pretty much the only dark-spined Meg Cabot book on the shelves at the library. The main character, Jean, has vivid red curls and wears a skimpy black dress at the Spring Formal, though I like the dress that the cover's model is wearing more than what is described in the books. Simple, clean design, effective, but it isn't breathtaking.

What I Liked
Attractive love interest. Check.

...Okay, so I guess Ms. Cabot did a pretty good job blurring the lines between magic and happenstance, but this ain't Harry Potter.

She also did a good job covering up Tory's true plan for revenge, but I was always suspicious of Tory's intentions, since her "change" was so abrupt.

What Could've Been Better
Overall, I thought that the book was formulaic. With such a big name like Meg Cabot, I guess she can get away with it. It was also pretty predictable. A few chapters in, even with all of Ms. Cabot's trying to get the reader interested in what Jinx had done in her past, I knew that she had cast a love spell on her so-called stalker, and when it still wasn't explained what happened to him, I knew he would appear at the Spring Formal in the end. And he did.

Basically this book is Meg Cabot with a hint of supernatural, but I would've liked it to be a bit more magical.

Anyway, sure Zach looks like a Greek god, and of course Jinx's "rival" figure is in love with him, and I knew from the moment he was mentioned--the last person mentioned in Tory's gazebo of friends--that he and Jinx would end up together. I knew that his love for Petra was a coverup, and it annoyed me that Jinx was humble and oblivious about his feelings toward her.

Which brings me to, I don't really know why Zach really fell in love with Jinx. Maybe her farm-fresh demeanor was refreshing in the materialistic New York. Meh. As a reader and a writer, I want to feel both sides of the relationship, and I just barely understood her feelings toward him.

The Verdict
I wouldn't recommend it, but maybe I'm just getting old for high school stories. I like my action and adventure.

Real Life References in a Fantasy World

2011-07-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Cycle of the Six Moons is a YA fantasy, but the main character is from our world. As the narrator, it makes sense for Michelle to make references to things that she's familiar with, to familiarize the target audience with her world. The ideal target audience, on the other hand, is already familiar with these references, so in an ideal world, everything makes sense.

Haha. Anyway, last night I was reading through the first 66 pages (31,000 words) and I thought that since I've reached the end of another "arc," I should count all of the references I've made in the story so far.

This is what I've got.

Video Games

Final Fantasy (in general) x 5
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy VII x 2
Final Fantasy IV

Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories x 3

The Legend of Zelda (in general) x 2
Ocarina of Time x 3
Majora’s Mask

Resident Evil 4
Earthbound
Pokémon
Chrono Cross
Mario
Monkey Island

Movies, TV shows, Books

Star Wars x 6
Star Trek x 2
Avatar: The Last Airbender x 2
Titanic
Frankenstein
Matrix
Batman
Wizard of Oz
Lost
Peter Pan
Cinderella
Aladdin
Snow White
Tarzan
the BIBLE!

Miscellaneous

Bawls
ramen
Safeway
Ben and Jerry’s
Red Lobster

Well it looks like Final Fantasy, Zelda, and Star Wars take the cake :D

I'm also going to include some of my favorite quotes because I think they're funny, even when taken out of context they aren't as funny.

It’s a drawn out, dramatic, “No!” What, is he doing his Darth Vader impression from the end of Revenge of the Sith? I guess he didn’t name his car Padmé for nothing.

“Gwydion! You can firebend, too!?”

Geez, if only I had Guybrush Threepwood’s pants, I could store all this stuff without it weighing me down.

“The heck? What is this, like Glinda the Good Witch’s teleporting bubble?”

“Screw side quests! Link can goof off and get bigger wallets, quivers, and heart pieces, but I want to save the princess! I-I mean, prince!”

“This isn’t right! Someone is screwing with me! Next thing you know, a meteor is gonna fall out of the sky and pop and shower everyone with candy and confetti!” I look over at Launce and Nichols. “And what are you guys, fairies? Oh and guess what! I’m your father!” I start laughing hysterically.

References don't fit for all kinds of stories, but I think for the Cycle of the Six Moons, not only does it fit, it's also imperative. The last version that I wrote of this didn't have as many references, and it's not the same.

Convenient Romance

2011-07-12T16:22:00.001-07:00

I thought about this concept when I was re-reading the Cycle of the Six Moons, because I use this for the main character and her love interest. I first wrote this story when I was thirteen, so it's no wonder that I was kind of lazy (or just inexperienced), but as I kept reading I came across a deeper romance between two other very important characters, and it occurred to me how shallow the main character's romance was. My goal for rewriting CSM this time around is to make Michelle's romance a lot more believable, and I want to the readers to go along with her as her feelings develop.

I can think of a few instances in which this "convenient romance" pops up in things that I like.

Final Fantasy IX: Zidane and Dagger. Maybe it would be different if I replayed it now, but for Zidane I think it was pretty much love at first sight. He sees a pretty girl, and of course she's a princess, and he wants to protect and save her. I think the initial setup of their romance was pretty bland, but seeing how she reacts, and the development of their relationship, how she changes over time and especially his reaction when she's about to become queen, not to mention that lovely ending, that's what gets to me. That's what works.

But my beef is, did Zidane have to fall in love with her just because she's a pretty, proper, polite princess with a soft butt?

Now here's another Final Fantasy couple. Squall and Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII.

I'm not sure when he falls in love with her, but she was pretty open about it from the start. "Ooh, you're the best looking guy here. Wanna dance?" To the player, of course it's bound to happen, especially with all the artwork of Rinoa running into Squall's arms and him trying to protect her and save her from one incident to another, but how do guys fall in love with some chick they have to constantly save? I'd probably get annoyed and tell her to grow a backbone and fend for herself (but then I'm a girl).

But at some point, the players just accept that you have to keep rescuing her. Oh, and she's the daughter of the woman that Squall's father used to be in love with? Aww, I guess that is pretty sweet after all, but my problem is that at some point, it seemed like the game writers went, "Okay, AND NOW THEY'RE IN LOVE! Make them act like it!" The build up took a long time, and the result was abrupt.

And this brings me to the mother lode.

Tamahome and Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi.

I'll admit, I like this anime a lot, but it's so annoyingly girly and shojo and one feminine drama after another. Ordinary girl enters a world and just because she's the "Priestess of Suzaku," all the guy guarding her fall in love with her... just because she's the Priestess of Suzaku, 'cause really, she doesn't have that much else going for her. I understand if they want to protect her, but to say something like, "I've always dreamed about the Priestess of Suzaku, and I fell in love with the stories of her, and since you're here, I'm in love with you (even though you're nothing like the person in legend)."

Okay, okay, but the thing is, she falls in love with Tamahome even though he treats her like crap and she only knows him for like day or so. Probably the only reason she likes him is 'cause he's the only one who bothers to look after her for the first few episodes, and because she thinks he's hot. Then around episode five or so, she screams, "I love you!" and I wonder, "When the HECK did this happen!?"

It's convenient romance. Why waste time showing how they fall in love when you can use the rest of the series to show how they act to be together, protect one another, express their undying love, blah blah blaaaaahh...

The thing is, I think the build-up of romance is more powerful than showing the after effects. The aftermath is lazy. The thing that's hard is to write how people get there.

I'm going to throw in another example just because I'm replaying this game, and that's Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X.

From the start, Tidus can admit that he thinks Yuna is cute, but it's not as if he thinks he's already in love. As they get to know each other, he hits on her, she tells him to smile/scream/laugh, he tells her about Zanarkand, she believes him and asks him to be her guardian, he tells her that sacrifice is futile, and she starts to question the ways of Yevon. Then the whole marriage scene comes up, and it's clear that Tidus is jealous, and he wonders if she's even doing it for love.

Before replaying this game, I didn't think much about their romance, but I now see it from a different perspective. They connect on a more personal, emotional, philosophical level than "I must save the princess/pretty girl/priestess!" I liked seeing their relationship develop over the game, and unlike Cloud, Squall or Zidane, they actually kiss.

Super pretty scene, though one wonders how they don't drown.

Plus the ending is freakin' sad.

I guess people can always start out with the two love interests together already, and bypass the whole meeting and falling in love, but I think that's the most fun thing about writing romance. Maybe I don't read enough strictly romance books, but I don't like to because I like the adventure that goes along with the stories I want to tell.

Even in Harry Potter, I don't think Harry and Ginny had much goin' on. I loved seeing Ron and Hermione develop through the books, though. I think I like them even more than Tidus and Yuna, because they were friends to begin with, and that's something more relatable than going on a pilgrimage and sacrificing yourself.

In Uglies, Tally and David didn't feel strong enough, and Zane was just blah. I think Tally and Zane had the convenient romance as well, because their meeting happened "off screen."

In the Hunger Games, I thought Katniss and Peeta were cute, but she thought it was just for show, and I didn't understand why he liked her in the first place. So she's pretty and she sings pretty and she's skilled with a bow. They don't even talk before their names are pulled. Gale was also kind of blah.

I'm just about to start writing the chapter where Michelle meets the person she falls in love with, but it's not gonna be another "Omigod he's so HAAWWT" like it was in the past two versions. Sure she's still going to think he's hot, but she's only going to playfully flirt with him and see him as a companion (he's royalty after all, and she was born a commoner, even if she is Goddess of Starrs), until he comforts her later 'cause she's distraught over not being able to live up to her name.

I can't wait to write that scene.

And he's gonna fall in love with her not because he has to save her constantly ('cause I don't think he ever does, but he does protect her in battle), not because she's Goddess--because respect comes before love, not 'cause she's cute 'cause she doesn't have much going for her until her sixteenth birthday (huh?), but 'cause she's spunky, caring, strong-willed, she cheers him up, he can be himself around her, they can carry deep conversations, they both love Gwydion, and they can relate to each other with the roles they play. But I really need to add more to this list.

Now to continue with the prince's rescue. Yay role reversal!

Costume Change!

2011-07-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well I guess instead of writing in the past two days, I've been doing more designing. But hey! It's a good way to keep my motivation up for a project while giving myself a break.

Anyway, today I decided to draw the main character of CSM, Michelle, in her first "costume change" in Starrs.

Besides the obvious of keeping myself entertained while I'm not writing/playing video games/watching Qin's Moon, I wanted to do this 'cause:

Despite what some people say about not describing what your characters look like, or keeping it to a minimum anyway, I love knowing what my characters look like. It's a given for me. I mean, if someone looks a certain way, it affects the way they act. Sure a character can look average, but maybe it's her confidence that makes her stand out. If someone has a scar, hey that can affect how someone acts too. Despite this, in the 19,000 words that I've written so far, I've only described Michelle as being tan, and it's hinted that she has short hair. I know there will come a time when I can describe her physical appearance more in depth, but I'll only describe people when opportunity strikes.

(Well, as for some of the other characters, Michelle can't help but describe some of them on first contact, 'cause some of them just look funkieh, or some are just so notably good-looking.)

For similar reasons in the last paragraph, I like knowing what characters wear 'cause that also affects how they act. It's the same thing in costume designing for actors. Someone who wears a corset isn't going to move the same way as someone wearing a bikini, and that same person probably can't run very easily in a full suit of armor or a ridiculously huge hoop skirt.

Also, since I'm a former design major, I just like drawing new outfits :D

Anyway, the first place that Michelle visits is a tropical village called Lereli, which is kind of like Tahiti, but I guess they wear Chinese-esque clothing. (But that's mostly 'cause I've been replaying Final Fantasy X for old time's sake and so I can spew out a bunch of video game references, and I've been watching Qin's Moon for role research 'cause I got the part of Xuenu in a fandub, and well, they dress like this.) The tropical setting also explains the seashell motifs on her outfit.

I also wanted to get away from the whole Western feel that the last version of CSM had. I wanted to make this one more cultured.

I had to dress her in colors that match her personality, plus these are the kinds of colors I like wearing myself. She's holding a mallet because that's the first weapon she crafts for herself, and as for the face on the flat of the head?

...just for fun, I engrave both flat sides of the mallet with an angry emoticon. That way, when I smack someone, it’ll leave an imprint like this: >:O

And that's all about that haha.

She's more mature than I've drawn her before (at least she doesn't look ten), but I think she looks prettier than she has in my previous drawings, where she just looked "cute." This might also be the shortest I've drawn her hair.

So who else likes having vivid images of their characters in their heads? :D

Map Making!

2011-07-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging lately 'cause... I started rewriting CSM! Woo hoo! So far I've written 19,000 words. At some point I'm going to make another post about how many references I've made because I think they're funny, but anyway, this post is about making a map.

I made an original map back when I was sixteen or so, but it was stupid 'cause it didn't make much sense in terms of Pangaea. If you look closely at this map, you can see that the landmasses at some point connected :D Woo hoo!

It's not complete yet, and I know I can do a better job, but I just wanted to show off what I've made so far. At some point, I think I want to put in the Intercontinental Highbridges. I also only labeled the places of significance. I'm sure there are many tiny villages and towns all in between, but blah, I don't want to name them.

These are some fascinating things I thought of while creating this map:

The ratio of land to water.
The placement of continents. When I first started, I actually had a "Pangaea" layer that I split up and distributed across the giant ocean.
The placement of rivers, seas, and lakes. I can't make a big metropolis in an area far from water!
The equator and climate. Arriscyal and Dissett are located around the same latitude as the US and Europe, Bledred and Blancande are around the latitude of Russia, and, well, the West Wind is supposed to be more southward and Lereli is supposed to be closer to the equator, but let's just say that ocean currents also effect the climate :D
In terms of distance, I guess the scale is kinda similar to that of the Final Fantasy world maps--but hey, haha, Starrs is fashioned after a video game world, after all.

As for the name "Starrs," I was going to change it 'cause I thought it was ridiculously stupid. So it's the "starriest" planet of all, big deal. Then I wrote the names of the other planets and how their trials relate to the Cycle, and how since Starrs is the last planet created and its final trial is the black hole, I couldn't think of another fitting name, so Starrs it is. After all, they call Earth "Tyme."

From Seiken Densetsu 3 to Radical Dreamers

2011-06-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

This post is an explanation for why I've abandoned the Seiken Densetsu 3 project and opted instead for dubbing the entire game of Radical Dreamers.

About a year ago, I decided that I wanted to dub Radical Dreamers. I had been wanting to do it for a while, and I finally had the means necessary. I didn't want to tell everyone about it, though, and I wanted to get a side project going while I edited all the footage. The Seiken Densetsu 3 Character Introductions dub was this project.

However, the Seiken Densetsu 3 project turned out to be more trouble than I had anticipated. It had a huge cast, and many people weren't turning in their lines or even responding to my e-mails. (Those who had turned in their lines were fantastic, and I thank everyone for doing such a wonderful job, and again apologize for dropping this project. Even more thanks to those who were trying to help me recast.) With school work, extra curricular activities, and rewriting The Aviation Waltz, this extra project became too much stress for me, and I told myself I'd continue it once I had graduated from college.

Well, graduation happened, and woot! I got a powerful new laptop! One that won't freak out when I have both Photoshop and Movie Maker open. I transferred all of my files from my old computer to my new computer, but there's a bit of a problem with the Seiken Densetsu 3 project files...

When I first started it, I had edited everything in Windows Movie Maker. Little did I know that Windows 7 has Windows LIVE Movie Maker, and, well... this makes it a little difficult for me. Not only have I lost the timeline view, but uh... well actually... it's just all kinds of trouble.

Anyway, I'm frustrated and I've lost motivation to continue this project at this point, but it's something that I've started and I would feel bad if I'd never completed it. At some point in the future, I would like to bring all the files into VideoPad and edit them there, because I do have a good majority of the raw files that I need (minus the lines from those who I've needed to recast).

In the mean time, while balancing my new job and rewriting The Cycle of the Six Moons, I'm going to occupy myself with this new project. Radical Dreamers.

These are the reasons why I'd rather do Radical Dreamers than Seiken Densetsu 3:

The entire game amounts to seven hours of narration and dialogue. That's more than twice the length of The Aviation Waltz audio drama, but the cast is very small. Twelve characters--eighteen if you count the extras. This is a lot more manageable for me than however many people I had to keep track of for Seiken Densetsu 3.
Because this is a visual novel, this game goes helluva lot more in depth than Seiken Densetsu 3, or a good majority of the other games I've played. It's not on-the-surface characterization. Because the characters change in each scenario, it gives voice actors a bit of a challenge to play their characters to the fullest potential And when you want to improve, who doesn't want a challenge?
This game is the true sequel to Chrono Trigger and true prequel to Chrono Cross. Have I mentioned I love those games?

The only downside is that this game doesn't focus much on visuals. But yunno... get over it.

Here's the audition information video:

Blog Meme: Writing is like...

2011-06-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

KV Briar tagged me in a blog meme post a few weeks ago. I didn't want to write something until I came up with a metaphor that I thought was fitting enough for me, so here we go!

W r i t i n g i s l i k e
d i v i n g f o r p e a r l s .

How deep do you have to dive?
How do you even know you'll uncover a treasure?

How do you even know that the oyster you're sacrificing will even have what you're looking for? How many oysters do you have to kill, and would you even be satisfied with what they have to offer?

Enough about the treasure itself, what about the diver? How long does it take to develop the necessary skills to dive deep into the ocean to search for that perfect treasure? How many of these divers actually risk their lives?

To me, writing can be painful, but it is always exhilarating. I can't live without it. I wouldn't be the same person if I never wrote. But I waste so many characters, plots, and places. They had the potential to be something beautiful, but they hadn't developed enough to be picked out of their shells. I'm still learning the skills, myself, to find that perfect treasure. I still doubt that I'll be able to find it painlessly.

On another note, I've never dived for pearls, nor do I know how to swim, so I don't know how difficult it really is. My favorite English teacher ever, Mrs. McCarty, used to teach scuba diving lessons, and I think she also went pearl diving as well, but that last part might just be a fabrication.

The last few weeks of my life...IN BULLET POINTS!

2011-06-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Graduated from the University of California, Davis with a major in psychology and minor in theatre.

NO MORE STUDYING!

Got a job at Barnes and Noble.

I won't start until July because my apartment lease isn't up till the end of the month, but the manager said twice, "I like you!"

As much as I love it, I'm going to shelve The Aviation Waltz for another few years.

Because I know I can make it a lot better if I let it mature for a bit. I still love it and think it's fantastic, I just want to release it at its full potential.

I re-read The Cycle of the Six Moons.

In the beginning, I thought, "How is this good writing!?" By the middle of the second book, I remembered why I loved it so much. I am now currently writing a "bible" for it, which is going fantastically.

I got a new, snazzy, super-powerful laptop!

That means I can Photoshop, edit videos, mix audio, write notes, and multitask galore without freaking out my computer!!

But, sadly, some of my voice projects seem to have died in the process. ...

Now I really ought to get back to blogging! So much more I gotta do with my life!

Reading - Katniss Volunteers

2011-06-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, I've just taken my last exam ever as an undergrad! So now technically I'm free. But I have to find a job.

Anyway, in the spurt of free time I had yesterday afternoon/evening, I decided to record this scene from the Hunger Games. I read the entire thing, so feel free to laugh at my attempt at manly voices. Ha ha.

As annotations go, it's probably better to watch it on YouTube.
In case you're wondering, I read it in a Southern accent to honor Suzanne Collins, and I apologize if my accent isn't consistent.
I should also get around to reviewing Catching Fire and Mockingjay but I read them during an extremely stressful part of this quarter so it didn't really stick with me. Actually, they fell short of my expectations from the first book, and the writing even started to bother me. I know I should write a review, but I read them sporadically, and I'm not sure if I could offer fair insight.

Review: The Hunger Games

2011-05-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

“I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.”

This review contains spoilers.

I know, maybe I should be in bed. I know I should've reviewed Specials before even starting to read this book. Funny story on that, actually. It's a library book and I let one of my cast members use it during rehearsal but we both forgot about it, so I couldn't finish reading it. I started reading this book...

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

First Impression
"Yay! I've heard so many good things about this book! I can't wait to read it!"

But oh my god is it hard to get a copy of this from the library.

What Could've Been Better
Really? I can't even think of anything right now. It's so amazing it kind of blows my mind.

Oh wait. Here's one thing.

Peeta's name.

It bothered me at first, the pronunciation, but I'm happy with my own mental pronunciation. "Pee-tuh." A soft pronunciation, like the English pronunciation of "Peter." Works for me. Heck, it's a lot better than what I had in mind when I first started reading it. I kept thinking this:

Yeah, I think I'll stick with this pronunciation, thank you very much. (Yes I really did just look for a video just for this demonstration.)

On with the review.

What I ~~Liked~~ FREAKING LOVED
I'm even gonna have to put subsections here.

The Characters

If there was a complaint I had with the Uglies series, it was that I wasn't attached enough with the characters. Not in the Hunger Games. I had a sense of many of the characters from the get-go. Their essence--how Katniss categorizes them based on their skill, or other traits like Effie's Hollywood quality or Rue's curious magnetism.

Oh, and can I say that I love Peeta? Normally I don't fall in love with other people's characters as easily as I do with my own, but gosh, Suzanne Collins had me with that boy. More on this later

Anyway, I found that I could become way attached to these characters, and I love that. It ups the emotional value.

The Style

It was written in first person present tense. It's necessary for the immediacy in this story. It was also so simple, so to the point, so frank. No flowery language, but wonderfully descriptive when it needed to be. So easy to understand and relate to, I'm even considering rewriting CSM in present tense.

The Structure

I loved how for a week, the tributes were preparing for their interview. Prettifying, learning what they needed to say in front of the camera, how to fight, as if it were the freakin' Olympics or something. But nah, they have to die. I like how this gives the characters a chance to shine in their own normal light, as fake as it is for Katniss.

There was just something about having this pampering. It makes the reader feel good that these characters, who weren't in very good circumstances to begin with, get pampered and knowing that they're gonna get thrown into a battle arena. Knowing that they were once beautiful when they can end up mangled.

I just like how it seemed so much more organized compared to something like Battle Royale. These kids know that they're gambling their lives every year for food. The games have structure, they have rules, not just "kill everyone in three days or your collars are gonna blow up." Battle Royale seemed like an endless--ahem--fuckup on everyone's life, but in the Hunger Games, there's an actual sense of hope, a feeling of sanity instead of constant dread. The Hunger Games just feel a lot more relieving than Battle Royale.

Collins set it up with the normal world, then the turning point, and going into the world of the enemies. Then the games, the battle itself, the test. And then it seems all is well again--but oh, nope. Can't have that happening 'cause then there wouldn't be two more books.

The Romance

I don't think I've ever squealed this much reading a story that wasn't my own. Maybe watching anime or something. My friend/director for Undergrad: The Musical said that the romance was incidental. And that's fantaaaastic. I haven't read much YA romance but I don't like the entire story to revolve around a relationship, but if it happens in a greater circumstance, then that's what I love.

So yeah, everything that happened with Katniss and Peeta pretty much made me squeal--probably as much as it made the Panem people squeal.

Oh wait there's one thing that bothered me: Katniss's obliviousness. Durr, of course he's actually in love with you! (Peeta's interview with Caesar made me squeal so much that I even had to turn to my roommate Sue and express my sentiments toward what had just happened even though she doesn't know what else is going on in the book, haha.) I also thought it was dumb how she thought he was playing along.

And you know, even though she's denying it all along, that she feels something for Gale. Why else would she question it so much?

The Food

Yeah, I like writing about food, and this is called the "HUNGER" Games. Once Katniss arrived at the Capitol, there was probably a chapter in which three meals were described in full. It was amazing. It made me hungry. And I thought, "Why is there another description of food!?" I mean, it's awesome and all, but these people were basically fighting for food. Erm... basically... it's awesome.

MUTTations!

Okay, this was one thing I wasn't really expecting. I know it's a futuristic society and all, and I love evolution, so I really like how these animals were bred, evolved, mutated, whatever. The mutts at the end of the games, the mockingjays, the tracker jackers. AAHH! SO COOL!

Things I Question
Maybe I missed something in the beginning, but where exactly was the arena? The Gamemakers have control over fireballs, and it seems they have control over the weather, so was it an artificial playing ground or were they transported somewhere? Big point, and I probably missed it.

Oh, and District 11? By the sounds of it, it seemed like slaves working in fields and singing to each other all day, only they just happened to have mockingjays to spread songs. Sounds like ye old south, and Rue and Thresh are both black, right? I dunno, I thought it was kinda funny.

Quotes I Like

“I don’t know how to say it exactly. Only . . . I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?” he asks.

I shake my head. How could he die as anyone but himself?

“I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.”

People have explained in other fiction that people change when they have to protect themselves from imminent death. It's either protecting those around you, saving your own life, or finding the murderer. I just like how the book addresses this, and because Peeta says it, it's even more awesome.

I’ve left on Peeta’s undershorts because they’re not in bad shape and I don’t want to pull them over the swollen thigh and, all right, maybe the idea of him being naked makes me uncomfortable.

I just love this because it's something I would've written, haha.

This is the first kiss that we’re both fully aware of. Neither of us hobbled by sickness or pain or simply unconscious. Our lips neither burning with fever or icy cold. This is the first kiss where I actually feel stirring inside my chest. Warm and curious. This is the first kiss that makes me want another.

Explanations of meaningful kisses are just awesome. AAHH! Oh yeah and this made me squeal.

Do I wish I'd written it?
YES.
So much so that I even have to make it that big.

Two chapters in, I knew, this is exactly the kind of story that I want to tell. Emotionally gripping, characters that you know and love, immediacy, a fascinating world, how the romance played out. Ugh, I can go on and on, but there's really something special about this story that I haven't felt with anybody else's stories except for my own.

IT'S JUST SO AMAZINGLY AWESOME I CAN'T GET OVER IT AND YES I AM GOING TO READ THE NEXT BOOKS!

Oh and I think I'm actually going to buy the book. I want to buy the whole set but I want to wait until they all turn paperback so I can get it for cheaper. I just really want a coupon so I can get the whole box set. AHHH!

And then I can actually study it. That's right. I love this book so much I'm going to study it before I start rewriting CSM.

The Verdict
Oh what the heck.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

READ IT ALREADY!

By the way, here's an image of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss:

Not exactly how I pictured Katniss, but she looks pretty
damn good. Or maybe I mean, "Damn, she looks good."
Or maybe... erm, anyway...

2011-05-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

I'm only five chapters in, but the Hunger Games is so awesome that--even though I haven't finished Specials (because I sort of...lost it?), even though I haven't written other reviews or finished my villain posts--I have to post this just to say how UH-MAZING IT IS!

Gah this is exactly the kind of story that I want to write! The emotional grippingness!

But I will get back on this and other things once my life has slowed down--

--back to reading--

Sympathetic Villains and Ambiguous Characters

2011-05-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of my three favorite villains. Read about Admirable Villains here, and I will continue with Abhorrent Villains in another post.

The kind of sympathetic villain that I like isn't a laughable character. It's not a bumbling idiot who fails to do evil no matter how hard he tries. The kind of character I'm talking about isn't one you feel sorry for 'cause he fails. You feel sorry for him 'cause he succeeds and later regrets it. Or maybe he was an average guy to begin with but turned evil through a series of unfortunate events. Or maybe you can see that he's doing evil for his own benefit, but you totally understand why he's doing it, and then you forgive him.

Sympathetic villains are similar to admirable villains because they may not perceive that they're even doing anything wrong... at first, anyway. It's when they realize their wrong-doings and struggle with their identities and morals that makes them compelling.

Just looking at this makes me wanna watch it again!

What's even cooler? Ambiguous characters. I say ambiguous characters because they could be protagonists or antagonists. The most awesome example of this is Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.

It turns out the protagonist can be a villain himself. It turns out the evil wolf girl has good intentions after all. The people who are helping out the protagonist have evil intentions. They all have their share of good and evil deeds, and it's awesome!

What Avatar fangirl doesn't
like Prince Zuko?

I love it when characters switch sides, especially from evil to good. Then it's like, yes! Badassery is on our side!

Take Prince Zuko for instance. (Actually, I heard somewhere he wasn't supposed to have that big of a role, or something like that, but he was just so awesome that they gave him a bigger role. Yay!)

Sure, he's from the Fire Nation, that means he's a baddie. Oh wait, he's been banished from his own kingdom!? Oh there he goes after Aang again... Omigod the Blue Spirit is Zuko!? Aww he's helping them! Who's side is he really on?

But at least it's not like Sylar from Heroes. (I am EVIL! No wait I think I'm a good person after all... JUST KIDDING I AM EVIL! Fooled you again. See how I helped you out there? MUWAHAHA I AM ALWAYS EVIL! Maybe I'm just confused...)

But it's pretty tragic when it goes from good to evil...

It's like you want them to turn around and prove that they are a good person after all. You wanna slap them and say, "What are you doing?!" And maybe they just can't help it. Maybe it's an external force controlling them, like fate, mind control, blackmail even. Maybe they just went crazy.

But I LOOOOVE, love, love, LOVE! all the background that these characters have. With such a fleshed out background of how they became the way they are, and when they have the qualities that make us sympathize with them, understand them, love them even, it just makes them feel all the more real.

And I love real characters! 'Cause they can take over a story and make it all about them. Haha.

I can't reveal my absolute favorite sympathetic villain, but the only other one that comes to mind right now is Harvey Dent.

He was such a nice guy. Maybe too nice.

I'm sure I can come up with another example if I thought hard enough, but what's your favorite sympathetic villain?

Admirable Villains

2011-05-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now, but today's posts from YAtopia and KV Briar gave me the extra push to write about it.

Of all the characters I write, villains just might be my favorite. Protagonists are easy to write because I usually write in my own motivations and opinions into them, but I get to explore a new realm when writing villains. They might have different views than me. I might even hate them.

These are my favorite kinds of villains:

An admirable bad guy.
A sympathetic bad guy.
The asshole whose neck you want to wring whether he's present or not.

In this post, I'll write about the first kind: admirable villains. But I can't really go over my point if I don't mention the villains that don't work for me, can I?

This guy. You know him as the man in the black cape. He twirls his finger around his curly mustache and rubs his hands oh-so-evilly as he ties poor Miss Damsel-in-Distress to the tracks. Why does he do it? So the hero has someone to save to make him look like a hero. He's more of a plot device than a person. His only motivation is to cause trouble, and because of that, he's portrayed comically in today's media when we have more complex villains.

This stock character comes from ye olde melodrama, when white was good, black was bad, and you could tell who was who by the sudden change in music. Good guy enters the scene? Cue the Indiana Jones theme. Damsel in distress enters the scene? Cue pretty, slow-paced music. Bad guy dressed in black enters the scene? Cue DARTH VADER MUSIC!!

That's right. Star Wars is a melodrama.

Sure, these guys are fun to watch on screen. Just seeing them instills some kind of fear. Who doesn't think that a big tall guy dressed in all black is a little creepy?

But it's so simple. These guys are pretty much evil for the sake of being evil. (Ah, or they've gone to the dark side or whatever...)

On the other hand we have vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, etc. They're supernatural creature whose actions could also be explained with "that's just the way they are."

I like a more psychological understanding for why they are the way they are.

They could be downright crazy. Maybe they're schizophrenic or they have antisocial personality disorder, but to me, even that seems like a cop out. They hurt people because they can't help it. They might as well be vampires.

Then we can go down a somewhat more complex route. Maybe said villain doesn't like people because his parents were mistakenly murdered when he was young, and he lives to avenge their deaths. Okay, cool, but does every big killing spree have to be about revenge? It's a step up from killing people just 'cause you can, though.

Then we can get to the real psychological stuff. Maybe said villain was neglected as child. Perhaps his alcoholic mother was abusive, and so the villain either detests alcohol (or becomes alcoholic himself) and he hates all women because his sleazy mother painted the wrong picture, that all women were slutty, easy to addictions, used men for their own gain... And then maybe when said villain finally falls in love with a woman, and then she dumps him for someone more emotionally stable, said villain rocks off into crazy mode.

That's the kind of villain that I want to write and read about. We can understand why he's crazy. His actions then have some reason behind it. We can sympathize with him.

It's even better when the villain isn't even doing the bad deeds for personal gain. Maybe he's doing it collectively for his group of people. Maybe it's to break out of an oppressive class. Maybe to save one's homeland, someone has to slaughter colonials. Maybe it's to save future generations by tinkering with people's brains so they won't over populate and break out in countless wars.

Or...maybe like in Romeïn's case, he just wants to make sure that nobody will ever steal from his family again.

Kay, I couldn't help it. I just had to put this in here somewhere, haha.

...but according to viewers of the Aviation Waltz audio drama, Romeïn also fell into the "asshole whose neck I want to wring" category. *shrug* I don't know why they didn't like him so much. I guess I was doing something right because people felt so strongly about him, but personally I think he's cool. And rather sexy. Relica thinks he's hot too. His craziness is strangely alluring.

The thing is, these characters don't understand that--to someone else--they're actually doing something bad. To them, it seems like they're doing the right thing.

Perspective is an amazing thing.

So that's my spiel on admirable villains. I think I will write future posts about sympathetic and abhorrent villains. Yay!

What are your favorite kinds of villains?

Review: Pretties

2011-05-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

"Get your ugly face out of here!" Tally screamed.

This review contains spoilers.

Pretties
by Scott Westerfeld

First Impression
"Oh well dah Tally is pretty now. Oh wait, she's totally stupid-minded, isn't she?"

Despite knowing what I found out from Uglies, I thought that Tally would somehow maintain her open-mindedness, but nooo. She's a full-fledged pretty now, but still causing trouble.

What Stood Out
I noticed in Uglies that there were a lot of page breaks within a chapter, and the scene could have very well continued without the page break. I thought it was an interesting choice. At least it gave the reader a chance to let the thought sink in.

I also couldn't help but notice how much the language seemed to have changed since Uglies. They were using a whole lot of their own slang, like "pretty-making" or "fifty milli-Helens" or "bubbly." I'm still not even sure I completely understand what bubbly means. I thought it was pretty cool to change the language according to Tally's new mind, I just didn't expect it to be that drastic.

What Could've Been Better
Actually, I don't even think I have many complaints here.

...Except for the book cover. I'm not really sure how this one or the Uglies book cover really tie in with the book itself.

Things I Thought Would Happen that Didn't
I thought Zane was made to be a special. I mean, that's what they called him in for before, right? Plus, with his already more extreme features--but maybe that was just too much of a blatant hint. I also thought he might've deliberately betrayed Tally, instead of his freakin' tooth betraying them.

I also didn't expect Shay to go so...emo.

What I Thought Was Really Cool
Tally cured her own pretty-mindedness. Yay! Talk about badassness. When I first met Tally, I didn't think she was that awesome of a character, but then I saw how everything she did tied in with her becoming a better person--running into New Pretty Town, going to the Smoke on her own, curing her own brain... I don't give her enough credit.

Things I Thought Would Happen that Did
Shay turned special. I mean, she already turned pretty in the last book. Why shouldn't she turn special if the next book is called special!? Of course, that would mean Tally would have to turn special too.

Jealousy between David and Zane. Hoo yes.

Which brings me to...

Things that Made Me Go "WTF!?"
See quote above. Damn, that was harsh. Sure, Tally said it to save David and everyone else--at least, she thought she did. But that's so mean.

David and Zane
Sure, Zane's got the looks. The big golden eyes, the more extreme "pretty" looks, other biological engineering perfection. But for some reason, even when David came back, and he and Tally weren't interacting much, I still thought that David was cooler than Zane. Maybe 'cause he was the first, and he's normal, and he has all these cool revolutionary ideals, while Zane is just... pretty.

Things I Didn't Expect to Happen
A reservation? Cool. And what a way to keep them inside. It's like Blair Witch Project electro-dolls or something.

And why did Shay have to turn into a Cutter? Like, literally!? She's lost points in my book.

The Verdict
I felt like I had more room for surprise with Uglies. There were some things in Pretties that surprised me, but not as much as Uglies--probably because by the end of that book I had already been introduced with the laws of the world. Still, a trilogy isn't complete without reading the second. Now to read the third.

Plans for the Future: Standalone First Novel or Series?

2011-05-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'd like to thank Ashley Nixon for the Blogger award she gave me :D I don't want to just give it away like candy (even though I can) so I'll let it stick for a while, haha.

I also made a Twitter account, but really I have no idea what I'm doing.

Anyway, I've been wondering a lot about what I'm going to do with my future in writing. I'm still not published, but once upon a time the one book I thought I would publish first was The Cycle of the Six Moons, which is now...will be, rather, a trilogy. Then I started writing The Mark of a Seráphi and The Aviation Waltz came from that.

It had me thinking. Would I be better publishing a standalone first novel (The Aviation Waltz, which is actually a prequel to another "trilogy") or would I be better off taking my chances and starting off with what I meant to be my first novel, The Cycle of the Six Moons (which, for the rest of the post, I will refer to as CSM)?

The risk here is that an agent will have to take on the risk of publishing a trilogy with books that don't do well as standalone novels. They need each other to be complete--to make sense.

Whereas, if I start with The Aviation Waltz, then at least I'll get my name out there, but it's not the reason why I started writing in the first place. CSM has the romance, the epic adventure, the betrayal, violence, heart-wrenching storytelling that made me fall in love with writing in the first place. CSM, I think, is what will gain my future readers--the ones that will stick with me until the end.

About a week ago, I thought it was a wise choice that I was going to go back to CSM, but at the same time I don't really want to let go of The Aviation Waltz just yet, so another thought came to mind.

I could finish editing The Aviation Waltz until I'm satisfied with it, and then for some time set it up as an e-book so the fans of the audio drama can read it as a novel. I'll still try querying a few more agents once I've edited the bazillionth rewrite of the first chapter and spruced up the query letter, but I don't want to rely on that method too much. At least I can get it off my hands for a while. It'll give me some closure, but it won't be complete. It won't be complete until, maybe ten years down the line, I'll have rewritten it again and then see if my agent (I hope by that time I will have one, at least) will want to represent it.

I also think, that since this is the way that I had written them, it'll make more sense for me to release them in the world the way I meant them to be. After EXTENSIVE rewriting, of course.

Closure, the fans can read it, I can move on writing other things. Seems like a good plan to me.

But what's bothering me is that I really don't know how much agents are willing to risk investing in a trilogy that needs all three books in order to make sense.

I'd rather CSM be a trilogy 'cause it takes place over three seasons, and it'll lift some of the weight of a 290,000-word standalone novel.

How do agents really feel about taking on a series like this?

Review: Uglies

2011-05-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Goodness, I hardly have enough time to check Blogger anymore! Let's see if I can fit in a quick review, and maybe this weekend I can get back to my normal bloggy business -_-

Which was worse: a friend with brain damage, or one who despised you?

This review contains spoilers.

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld

First Impression
"Weeell Behemoth is nowhere in sight. Maybe I'll see what else he has."

Honestly, I had no idea what this book was about when I checked it out. I hardly even read the back cover.

I thought it was going to be a book about mean girls and the outcasts were called "uglies" and these "uglies" went through a sort of recruiting transformation when they were taught the ways of the "pretties..." Like in Mean Girls.

Turns out I was partly right. I didn't know there was actual surgery involved. I didn't even know it was a sci-fi novel until I started reading it.

What Could've Been Better
While reading all the stuff about symmetry (and being in a dressing room surrounded by mirrors I couldn't help but notice my own asymmetry), I started to feel rather ugly myself. I don't know if that's a good response to the book, though, haha.

At first I was bored with the description of Tally learning how to hoverboard. I was like, meh, big deal. It'll probably play a bigger part toward the end, and it totally did, but in a way I didn't really expect.

And why does the population seem like 85% teenagers?

As much as I understood Tally and what she was going through, I don't think I fully connected with her. Though I wanted her to do one thing, I wasn't really cheering for her.

I also thought that Tally and David's relationship was forced. I didn't really feel much reason for why they felt the way they did. They make wonderful survival partners but...boyfriend and girlfriend?

I also wanted an explanation for David's NORMAL name. Which leads me to...

Things I Thought Would Happen that Didn't
I thought David was gonna be from the past (our time) or something. He has such a normal name. Even Tally comments on it being "odd" with everyone else's names being different. Maybe it has some biblical reference, and I ought to look that up later.

Anyway, I thought David was gonna be this super cool guy from our time and he happened to go to the future and he's trying to get everyone to be normal again. But he just happens to be one of the uglies who's trying to get people to not be pretty. Cool enough I guess but he didn't turn out as cool as I thought he was going to be.

Things I Thought Would Happen that Did
I liked how the circumstances and clues led to Tally turning herself into turn herself pretty. I was afraid that she was going to turn pretty because she wanted to be pretty, but she's doing it for a better cause! And that was awesome.

Things I Didn't Expect to Happen
Shay turned pretty! :O

Things I Liked
Ugh, what can I say? The book turned out way better than I thought it would be. I especially loved the SpagBol bits. I want food like that. Maybe not SpagBol specifically, but dehydrated food that can pop up into a meal! So cool!

All their other gadgets are really cool, too. Bungee jackets? Crash bracelets? Scilla could learn something from Scott Westerfeld.

Do I wish I'd written it?
It's different from the kinds of stories I like to tell, but I can definitely learn something about the story structure and plot devices.

The Verdict
Definitely worth a read.

I. Am. Gonna read the sequel. What sucks though is that I went to the library today, and though they were there the last time I went, Pretties and Specials were nowhere in sight! Ugh! So now I have to wait!!

Review: Howl's Moving Castle

2011-04-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

"Help me, someone! I'm dying from neglect up here!"

This review contains spoilers.

Howl's Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones

First Impression
"Yay! I've wanted to read this for a while! I freakin' love the movie!"

Even though I finished Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box a day before I started this, I feel like I'm more prepared to write a review for this book. I thought it would take me a few days to finish since I'm dressing for Moby Dick, but last night I did almost no work during rehearsal, so my nose was in the book for most of the time.

This review will take on a slightly different format than the others, because I can't help but compare it to the movie.

What I Like About the Book
The novel gets to the heart of the characters more than the movie did. Howl is wonderfully vain and cowardly, and this is only touched on in the movie (though rather brilliantly). Old Sophie is much more bossy and angry. I found her incredibly charming as an old woman in the movie, but as a girl she seemed far too polite.

I also liked how the book explained what it meant by Howl stealing the hearts of girls and that Michael (Markl in the movie) "blackened" his name to prevent any more girls falling in love with him. Plus I liked the confusion between the two Letties--Michael falling in love with one, and Howl falling in love with the other.

I liked how Sophie had the power to enchant things with her words. That was cool.

There were some parts in the book that made me laugh out loud (and my fellow dressers probably thought I was weird).

I thought it was funny when Sophie and Michael were going to visit the real Lettie at Upper Folding and Sophie couldn't figure out how to work the seven-league boots.

I also loved when Howl had a cold and he was being a baby.

Meanwhile a certain amount of moaning and groaning was coming from upstairs. Sophie kept muttering to the dog and ignored it. A loud, hollow coughing followed, dying away into more moaning. Sophie ignored that too. Crashing sneezes followed the coughing, each one rattling the window and all the doors. Sophie found those harder to ignore, but she managed. Pooot-poooooot! went a blown nose, like a bassoon in a tunnel. The coughing started again, mingled with moans. Sneezes mixed with the moans and the coughs, and the sounds rose to a crescendo in which Howl seemed to be managing to cough, groan, blow his nose, sneeze, and wail gently all at the same time.

I also liked the small hints of how much Howl spent in the bathroom before going out to flirt with his current love interest was a gauge of how much Howl was really in love. Especially when he came to save Sophie in the end.

Howl had not bothered to shave or tidy his hair. His eyes were still red-rimmed and his black sleeves were torn in several places.

Yunno a narcissist is in love when he doesn't spend as much time in front of a mirror.

Where the Book Confused Me
Wales? I guess that was nice surprise, but wow, I was not expecting that.

Was Howl courting Miss Angorian, or did he know that she was the Witch of the Waste's fire demon the whole time?

Why exactly was the Witch of the Waste looking for Lettie, anyway?

Why was everyone so afraid of the scarecrow!?

What the heck happened to Percival? Did he just split into two people? Who was "Percival" then?

The Witch of the Waste wasn't disgustingly old like she was in the movie? Was she just perpetually beautiful?

So uh...Howl and Sophie fell in love, right? When did that happen?

What I Didn't Like About the Book
After it turned black, Howl turned his hair back to blond. ...

The Witch of the Waste... was evil.

The abrupt ending.

What I Like About the Movie

Is Calcifer not the cutest fire demon ever?

The movie seems to follow the book quite well until Howl asks Sophie to pose as his mother and talk to ... Madame Suliman? Who's really just a combination of Mrs. Pentstemmon and Wizard Suliman--who's a dude. After the Kingsbury visit, the movie plot seems to go off on its own.

Anyway, of course I'm a big fan of Miyazaki. I love how he mixes nature with technology, shows that people are both good and bad (which was far more apparent in Princess Mononoke), his artwork is beautiful and storytelling touching.

Back to the movie.

Three cute things in one picture!

The cute things.

Everything in the movie was just so cute! Old Sophie is just an adorable little old lady. Even the Witch of the Waste, when she loses her powers, is adorable. Markl is adorable as a little boy, and I think a smart choice since the Lettie sidestory was dropped. Heen was adorable in a sort of pitying way, and Turnip Head wasn't scary at all. He was such a sweet scarecrow. And like I said, Calcifer is so cute >__<

And Howl... Well.

This scene.

The movie also conveyed Sophie and Howl's feelings better than the book--I think, anyway. I'm just a hopeless romantic, though. It was a lot more subtle in the book, when Sophie was thinking about all of Howl's good qualities.

In the movie, it was clearer that Howl knew that Sophie was under a curse. Though in the book, while she stopped aching so much, we don't get to see that physical change in Sophie like we do in the movie. I also liked how Sophie was just considered plain, instead of the eldest of the three pretty Hatter girls like she was in the book. I got a thing for "plain" girls discovering that they're actually beautiful, or simply not caring about how they look and what they do makes 'em beautiful.

This last one is just me being a fan of Miyazaki, but I love how he can portray a character as both evil and good (which, like I said, is best conveyed in Princess Mononoke). I just like how the Witch of the Waste turns from being a mean hag to a senile old woman who has an uncontrollable greed. She was just a whole lot more sympathetic in the movie.

Where the Movie Confused Me
Howl's a human, right? Just a wizard who can somehow transform into a big black bird. Maybe I'm just confusing the book with the movie now, but I'm confused about the "curse." In the movie, it seemed that if Howl kept using his magic, he'll turn into a demon. I dunno.

Overall Thoughts About the Book and Movie
I think the movie simplified the overall plot. If the movie had Miss Angorian and the Lettie sidestory, it would be too complicated and the movie would go off on tangents. I like that in the movie, the Witch of the Waste wanted Howl's heart, but it made it seem like he really did eat girl's hearts after all.

The movie made more sense to me before I read the book. Now I'm just confusing both plots.

Do I wish I'd written the book?
I really like how the small things seemed to weave back together in the story, like the hints about Michael being in love with Lettie, and Suliman being from the same world as Howl. That's a weak point in The Aviation Waltz, which right now I think is just too linear.

The Verdict
Fun book, loved reading it. I should give it another read if I want to find answers to all my confusion.

Writing Parents

2011-04-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

This is one blog post I probably never want my parents to read.

It hit me today when I was watching TV and a commercial came on about Mother's Day. It's pretty obvious, but once in a while these things strike you as more relevant, and you can apply it to so much more than in the context of a flowers ad.

A guy who views his parents one way probably won't view his parents the same way as another guy standing ten feet away.

Like, duh, right?

But it got me thinking about how I portray parents in my writing. In my early writing, they were either absent, or absent-minded, because what parent in their right (and overprotective) mind would let their kid go out on an adventure? Especially when the kid says, "Hey Mom! I'm gonna go out on an adventure! And I'm gonna get a lethal weapon! And kill lots of bad guys! And lots of bad guys will want to kill me! And even if they don't kill me, bad stuff will still happen! Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?"

Before, the absence of parents was a simple plot device to get the kids out on their adventures. Of course, Freud would probably say something about unconscious feelings regarding how one perceives the roles their own parents play. And I agree with him here.

In CSM, Michelle's parents were "vacationing in Tahiti." Though they're mentioned a few times, they're never actually present in the story. The Kenstin parents are also absent, but at least they get an explanation that they're off for business. They even get a flashback cameo. Their absence allows their children to do things they wouldn't have gotten away with otherwise.

Back in middle school, I told my friend Kelly that I didn't write fathers in a very positive light, and she said, "Maybe 'cause you don't have that great a relationship with your own father." I didn't agree with her--I mean, it's not like my dad ever tries to kill me. But maybe the perceived absence of my dad--even if he is in the same house, even if I am talking to him, which leads to a lack of connection--transferred in my writing as these fathers who were effective in the protagonists' lives, even if it were for the worst--like trying to do away with their sons... It led to the boys facing basic survival: "I won't let my father kill me!"

And then there are the parents who are there, but they aren't adding any extra stress to their children. In fact, they're so neglectful they might not even be there, like Lienne's parents. I think this allows for more character development than a simple plot device, though, because that neglect leads Lienne to being independent but closed off.

I've only just recently started writing rocky parent-child relationships, maybe because I've acknowledged the reality of my relationship with my own parents. Scilla is trying to impress her father, who's forcing her into doing something she doesn't want to do anymore. Megan is uncertain whether she'll make a good mother because her own mother was too authoritarian. I think that these kinds of relationships give the characters stronger motivation, because it's something more people can relate to. Because, really, how many parents would let their kids go off on perilous adventures? How many really are always vacationing without their kids? How many really are trying to kill their kids?

Well I guess some parents really are too optimistic, psychotic, or neglectful, after all, but at least I find the strongest motivations for characters who are trying to prove themselves to their parents, because currently that's what I'm trying to do.

And then I remember another kind of parent that I've written. The ideal mother. Gwydion's mother, and Diames's mother. Wonderful, sweet women who brought up their sons right, despite their husbands being dead. Scilla's mother too, I guess, even though she was the one who died. They were adored, sweet, caring, supportive, loved their kids unconditionally... I wonder, is this the type of mother that I would have liked, or is this the type of mother that I would like to be?

I remember when I wrote Gwydion's mother that I aspired to one day be just like her. Calm, serene, loving and optimistic. I still hope I can be like her one day, but I'm still afraid that when life comes to it, I still might fall into one of the other categories that I've written.

People who perceive their parents differently probably write different parents. Someone who thinks that their parents play favorites might write a lot of about sibling rivalry. Someone who thinks that they're smarter than their own parents might write a teenager who's teaching her own mother how to behave. Someone who has an awesome relationship with their parents might write a well-adjusted character, but what's the fun of that?

Have you noticed anything interesting in how you portray parents?

Review: Coraline

2011-04-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

This review contains spoilers.

Coraline
by Neil Gaiman

First Impression
"Yay! Something short to read!"

I hopped on the bus after rehearsal, went to the library, quickly pulled Coraline and Howl's Moving Castle off the holds shelf, checked them out, and ran back to the bus stop before the next bus left.

I read this in about an hour, which actually took less time to read than the graphic novel, which I started way too late at night. As soon as I finished it I fell into a groggy nap for about an hour.

What Could've Been Better
I already addressed these in my review of the graphic novel.

One thing I noticed in the novel, though, was the weird discrepancy in Coraline's age and what she likes to do. What she seems to like to do above else is explore. I imagine her to be around ten to twelve, but she asks her father to play with her (fair enough--maybe they can have some fun exploring games), and she seems to be taken in by simple toys like dolls, balls, a tank, dress-up clothes...

The novel was written in 2002, and it's made clear that her parents use modern technology like computers. So sure, maybe Coraline isn't your average, modern, spoiled, material child. That's cool. I just think her character is a little out of date in the contemporary setting, but her exploratory nature gives her that extra bravery and drive to fight back against the other mother that a child spoiled with video games might not have.

Also, compared to the movie, novel Coraline seemed way too polite.

Half of her wanted to be very rude to it; the other half of her wanted to be polite and deferential. The polite half won.

I guess in the movie, she did seem rather...well, American, especially around Wybie. She just seemed to have extra spunk in the movie. Maybe I just like that better because I'm American.

What I Liked
There actually seemed to be more references to spidery things in this one than the graphic novel--ones that I noticed, anyway.

Spiders made Coraline intensely uncomfortable.

There was also mentioning of the other mother's hand scurrying off Coraline's shoulder like a spider, and the sac encasing Miss Spink and Miss Forcible like a spider's egg case.

In the novel, the other mother actually seemed to transform, while she appeared mostly consistent throughout the graphic novel. Maybe Coraline was too blind to see how monstrous her other parents were before, or maybe they really did transform. Either way, the way the other mother was described toward the end made her sound more like the spidery creature she was at the end of the movie.

Also, I have a fondness for illustrations in books. Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince... They are things of my childhood.

Do I wish I had written it?
Still do. Still wanna write dark children's stories.

The Verdict
I think the novel and the graphic novel are interchangeable story-wise. But of course, you can't really get academic points for reading a graphic novel (and high school teachers might look down on you for reading children's books).

I still think the movie beats 'em both, though. Watch it. It's amazing.

Voice Over: Elemental Goddess - Class time!

2011-04-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well it appears that a new video has been uploaded with my voice in it :D

This is Diamant88's Elemental Goddess. I've voiced for him before as Maryam (the brunette who first speaks in this video, alongside Trolli who voices the blonde Mandana). Anyway, Elemental Goddess is basically a spoof of Sailor Moon. It even has a TVTropes page!

Diamant asked me to fill in for Jessica, even though I told him I'd probably make her too annoying. So, voila, Elemental Goddess with the fourth voice of Jessica, me!

I did the squeaky voice of the short-haired blonde chick. Yeeeahh. Haha.

Review: Coraline: The Graphic Novel

2011-04-24T21:49:00.001-07:00

"Because when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."

This review contains spoilers.

Coraline: The Graphic Novel
by Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by P. Craig Russell

First Impression
"Cool! A Coraline graphic novel!? Neato!"

I absolutely loved the movie. The first time I watched it, I was actually scared. I don't get scared easily, but my heart was racing, I was gripping my blanket, thinking "Oh God get away from her!"

Coraline graphic novel? This has to be cool.

What Could've Been Better
I haven't read the novel yet (but I plan to--I've requested it at the library :D) but the movie was pretty loyal to the graphic novel.

Anyway, this was a fun, quick read, but what bothered me the most was inconsistencies in some of the drawings. On one page, Coraline would look really cute. In another, she would look a bit older and rather pretty. On another panel of that same page, she would look kind of distorted.

Also, there was a weird continuity problem when it deliberately said that Coraline "took the old black key off the ring" but several pages later... it's back on the ring?

...???

I dunno what that's about.

Anyway, I can't help but compare this to the movie. The following is what was missing from the graphic novel that was present in the movie:

Wybie. I liked him. The graphic novel felt especially lonely without him, and the part in the movie when the other mother took away his ability to speak was especially chilling. I think I remember watching in the making-of that they thought Coraline needed a companion to speak to so she wouldn't be speaking to herself all the time. I also really liked how they tied in Wybie's grandmother's missing sister with the ghost children.
The doll. The opening sequence with the other mother taking the old doll of Wybie's grandmother's sister was awesome. Plus, like Wybie, it added another air of companionship. Now, someone might argue that the sense of loneliness was what made the novel/graphic novel all the more creepy, but in the movie, when Coraline is facing off with the other mother with only the cat... Well, I thought that was pretty effective. Anyway, I also like the doll as a device that the other mother uses to spy on the children's lives.
Bugs. In the movie, the other mother was a freakin' spider. Not only that, but the other mother was quite attractive to begin with, but she slowly transforms into a more monstrous creature, and in the movie that was awesome. In the graphic novel, the other mother is a little off to begin with. Now, the other father was the one that slowly transformed, like in the movie, but... Anyway, in the movie, the fancy furniture room also transformed into a room with bug furniture. It was so cool.
The garden. Coraline's dad making weird food made more sense in the movie 'cause had a garden to pick stuff from. I thought it was charming.
The explanation of button eyes. Why didn't the ghost children have button eyes!? I thought it made more sense in the movie.

What I Liked

OMG Coraline cosplay!?

The one thing that wasn't present in the movie that was in the graphic novel was the story about the wasps and Coraline's dad (as quoted above). That part one me over. It was endearing.

"And he said that wasn't brave of him, just standing there and being stung. It wasn't brave because he wasn't scared. It was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared, that was brave."

"And why was that?"

"Because when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."

Anyway, the realistic comic was a bit chilling compared to the very stylistic movie. It made it feel a bit more eerie. But I still absolutely love the style of the movie. Claymation FTW.

Do I wish I had written it?

Yeah. Actually, I do wanna write a children's book now. A dark one. A fairy tale with shrooms and seduction. Would that still be a children's book, though? Or would it just be a dark fairy tale novella...?

Dark children's stories are fun to play with. Michael hates 'em though. Kinda makes me love them even more, haha.

The Verdict

If you love the movie, give the graphic novel a read.

Now I just have to read the actual novel.

My Shiny New Library Card

2011-04-24T21:06:00.001-07:00

Something exciting happened Friday.

After three and a half years of living here, I finally got a library card.

I was so excited.

I think I'm gonna start doing reviews.

Pre-Dream Story Time

2011-04-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is such a cool picture.

I used to entertain myself before falling asleep back when I was around eight to eleven. My parents would make me go to bed early even though I wasn't really tired, and since we couldn't even turn on a light to read books, I'd lie in bed making stories in my head.

Actually, I had even gone to bed early because I wanted to continue where the story left off.

Throughout the day, I'd daydream and think, "How can I make these people go from this point to the next point?" And I'd think of a plot point but I wouldn't develop it all the way, because I'd have to save that for when I'm lying in bed and I have the next few hours or so to fall asleep and "watch" the story unfold behind my eyelids.

I had always loved coming up with stories, but it wasn't until eleven that I started to write them on paper.

Anyway, I've been having a lot of trouble falling asleep lately, even though I'm exhausted, so last night--after rolling around in bed and telling myself that I need sleep because I'm sleep deprived and I have to wake up early to study for the exam that I failed earlier--I came up with a story in my head.

It was sort of based off an epic dream that I had in fifth grade, only I made it more historical. It was a funny cowboy/samurai thing.

So for some reason (underdeveloped plotting, Inception status), I (the female protagonist) land in a field somewhere, not wearin' any clothes, and then this farm girl finds me and brings out her maid/nurse/cook/aunt person and they take me inside and dress me up. Then for a while I'm wandering and I come across these people who are like "There she is!"

...I guess I've breached security or something. I am an outsider, after all.

Then comes samurai cowboy dude and he shoves me inside a house, pulls some boards off the WALL--not the ceiling, not the floor, because they'd expect people to hide in the floors, but not the walls. And with the way the building is constructed, the corners are at ninety-degree angles, but you can barely tell from the sides that the walls grow wider to conceal a secret hiding spot. So the baddies storm the place, and I'm practically holding my breath. Once they leave, I just wanna get the hell out of there (guess I have claustrophobia or something), but cowboy samurai guy whispers, "They're outside--waiting until we think it's safe to come out and start talking, and that's when they'll ambush us. You didn't hear their horses trot off, did you?" And I realize I haven't.

Once it is safe to come out, cowboy samurai guy goes, "We need to get you a weapon because I'm not gonna cover your ass for the rest of the way."

I never get a weapon though, 'cause I guess I actually fall asleep then.

It's a cool concept, I guess, and shows what kinds of stories lie dormant in me. I don't know how many times I've told this kind of story (so far the only one it's not really apparent in is The Aviation Waltz).

(Tonight I am in dire need of catching up on sleep, so I might drink some wine to jump-start sleepy-time instead of getting my weapon.)

Anybody else "act out" stories before sleeping?

The Aviation Waltz Query Critique on BookEnds

2011-04-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well this is embarrassing. I didn't even know they picked up my query to critique until someone mentioned it on my Absolute Write query critique. Haha. As embarrassing as this is, I'm pretty glad. Look at all the awesome feedback I'm getting!

The BookEnds critique is here and I'm just now reading through the comments.

(I refuse to change Scilla's name, though.)

E-Publishing: My Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

2011-04-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

I commented back to Ashley Nixon about how the fate of my novel may follow a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This needs an explanation.

Back on March 5, 2011, I wrote that if another agent isn't interested in seeing my material, then I'm going to follow the e-publishing route. There's a bit of a problem with that, though, because since February 18, I haven't sent out another query, and if I keep this up I probably will be publishing my own work.

Not that it really seems like a last resort anymore. I like the idea of keeping my own rights and setting the price. I actually like the idea of formatting an e-book or a PDF for CreateSpace. I think formatting is fun. I get a bit OCD about formatting the programs for the UC Davis Dead Arts Society, because not only do I love writing the content, I like making the words visually appealing.

I also adore my cover, as middle grade as it might look. So, in that respect, I think I'm ready for all my novel's formatting.

The only problem that I do have with e-publishing is marketing. As much as I would like to think, I don't have that great of a following. The one thing I want to rely on most is word of mouth (because that's always the best, right?) but how do I know that the original voice actors of The Aviation Waltz audio drama will even want to read the novel? How will I know that they will pass their words on to their friends and family?

Hope and optimism is the best answer, because without that, I wouldn't even be trying to pursue any kind of publication.

Anyway, as much networking and promotion I'm willing to do on my own, I still think that an agent and publishers will be better at distributing my book than I can. I don't know how well I can make my own work stand out from the rest, what with everyone (it seems, at least) jumping on the e-publishing bandwagon.

In other news, I really want an e-reader, but I'm torn between a Kindle and a Nook.

I want to ask for one from my parents for my graduation present. The Kindle app on my laptop is kinda...meh. I want to be able to bring something more lightweight with me.

All around, the Kindle seems more appealing, but the Nook has the ability to check things out from the library and share with friends! And that's awesome.

Guess I'll just have to handle them myself. Time to hit Target and Barnes and Noble!

How much prose is too much?

2011-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

I was reading Anne R. Allen's post, 12 Signs Your Novel Isn't Ready to Publish, and the only thing I think I'm guilty of is excessive prose (and maybe wordiness, but I think I've improved). So I asked, what's excessive, and Anne replied,

“ These days, most people are in a hurry. They want short. So I'd say follow Elmore Leonard's advice and "cut the parts that readers skip." ”

I don't know if I can put myself in the reader's shoes and know which parts I'd cut, because as a reader, I read everything (except for my textbooks, but that's a different kind of writing and I'm sure this is more pertinent to fiction). I want to catch every detail in case it comes up again later, hear the writer speaking to me in my head, see the characters as the author envisioned and follow every movement down to the positioning of a hand.

As a writer, I'm guilty of writing "too much" detail, but I think that's necessary in fantasy and sci-fi. I love to paint sceneries and I want the reader to see what I see. Some people might think that I'm not putting enough faith in the reader, but I feel like I've failed when a reader thinks a character is Asian when he is in fact black, or that a character lives in a castle in the center of a kingdom when she actually lives in a seaside cottage.

As awesome as some artist depictions are in books, I doubt they are exactly as the writers envisioned. I can't even accurately depict beautiful landscapes that I see in my head in art (but that's mostly because I'm better at drawing people than sceneries).

The amount of detail I put in this drawing is awesome, but it doesn't look as
awesome as Quartz Square really ought to be.

Still, I love describing things. I love getting into the senses. I love writing about how a place smells, how the morning sunlight shines through the thick of a forest, the history behind a building and the endearing things that happened there...

At the beginning of The Aviation Waltz, I use omniscient narration to introduce the characters, what they're thinking, and poke fun at them, but it's mostly done through exposition. I feel like I need this set up so the readers can ground themselves and laugh when they know what's really going on, but according to some people on the Absolute Write forums, all this exposition seems to make them uninterested.

I know literature has sure changed since the Canterbury Tales, Pride and Prejudice, and even To Kill a Mockingbird, but really? What do people want to read nowadays? Scripts?

One of my writing peeves is too much dialogue in an opening. I want to get to know the people and the world and how they interact before anyone starts spurting "As you know, Bob" dialogue. Too much dialogue, too much explaining through dialogue, and I feel like I'm reading a script.

I can understand why people would want to skip massive pages and pages of description. I was talking with my friend Ridhi about Lord of the Rings and how Tolkien would go into excess describing a tree that wouldn't have anything to do with the plot. Sure, I understand how that's a style thing, and I would love to be spared from the extraneous details in modern literature, but when I feel that I've written the right amount of exposition to dialogue for a certain point in a story (like the beginning) in a certain genre (like sci-fi) and someone tells me it's too much, I get confused!

Of course, what calms me down at the end of the day is that it's a subjective business, and who's really the authority figure on the ratio of prose to dialogue anyway?

Anyway, when do you think there's too much prose, and what parts do you tend to skip in books?

Meeting Your Characters

2011-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

I've had the pleasure of coming across a girl who resembles, talks, and behaves how I imagined Aima Idense of The Mark of a Seráphi. We work as dressers for Main Stage Dance. I still haven't said anything to her yet.

In the anime-esque style in which I first drew Aima, she has long, golden curls, eyes of the deep sea (basically she's a Venus of her own world) and she's about my height, 5'4". When Dazes takes over her, her colors soften. She's sweet and polite and is basically your "perfect princess" type character. She's also older than Lienne and Diames so she acts like an older sister to them sometimes--reasoning with Lienne that she isn't really mad at Diames, telling Diames to tell Lienne how he feels, supervising them when they're all little and making sure they don't do anything too stupid...

So this girl is a freshman, but she's quite tall--5'9", the same height I wrote for Lienne, and that's the only thing that isn't really right. She has about shoulder-length wavy light blond hair and deep blue eyes and she has a pleasant voice--youthfully high, she doesn't stress anything needlessly harsh, pretty if you will. And even though she expresses her concerns about the dancers complaining too much about their costumes, she's more concerned because Roxie (the woman in charge of the costume shop) and Abel (the main costume shop pattern-maker, cutter, tailor...) are way to busy with the upcoming production of Tommy to worry about the dancers.

Anyway. I feel like I ought to say something to her, but then I'd feel weird 'cause I'd have some explaining to do about my story and the character and I'm not really sure if I want to do that since it's not my main writing focus at the moment.

Is there some kind of etiquette when you meet someone who resembles a character? What if the character wasn't even likable? (I feel like I was biased to like her because Aima is such a nice person.)

Have you ever come across anyone who was previously just a fictional character until you saw them?

Fairy Tales for Angry Little Girls!

2011-04-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

My sister's boyfriend got me this--

Not only that, but it's a signed copy!

Heidi,
Stay angry!
Lela Lee

I want to say that I liked Angry Little Girls before it got popular and everyone started carrying bags with 'em on it. Haa. I bought a tiny little book from the campus bookstore back in freshman year, I think it was, and I was planning on giving it to my older sister for like a Christmas present but I just kept it for myself. Hehe.

I read through it one sitting and thought it was adorable. The endings are great :D I also like how all the boys are taller than the girls. I think it's funny.

Storytelling and Food

2011-04-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

I love writing about food. It gives the characters time to wind down and catch up with each other, build friendships and--from a writer's perspective--an opportunity for characterization and building a society. It also allows the writer to break into the reader's senses. Food is necessary, after all, and taste might be one of the most primitive sources of pleasure. Just look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

At the bottom of the pyramid under the Physiological Needs lies "food." (I'm pretty sure some models even include "sex," but I guess that's more for the survival of a race as whole. That goes into another one of the five senses, touch, being a pleasure center, but that's beside the point. Visual art as sight and music as hearing would be higher up the pyramid under the "creativity" of Self-Actualization.)

Anyway, my point here is that writing from the senses paints a better picture of the story for the reader. There ought to be a pie chart of how much each sense is most described in a piece of fiction, but I'm pretty sure that sight has the largest slice, followed by sound, and then touch. Smell and taste, not so much, even though smell is the strongest sense to trigger a memory (probably because the olfactory bulb is close to the amygdala or something like that), and more people should write about food for aforementioned reasons. If you have described a feast and have successfully made the reader salivate, then you know you've done something good. Same if you're writing about a disgusting meal and the readers lose their appetite.

(For the rest of the post, you'll have to assume that the societies I write about are ones in which resources are abundant and people can eat on a regular basis.)

Food is also important in defining a society. It says something about the food that grows in that region and how people prepare their food--whether it is for a large community, for their own smaller families, or for the sake of being gourmet.

What I think is most important about food is that it gives the characters the opportunity to socialize. Look at the following social gatherings:

Dates
Celebrations, from birthday parties, weddings, promotions
Hanging out with friends
Reunions with old friends

They all involve food. (And if they don't, then something is incredibly wrong.)

I've noticed that in the scenes that I've written food, it gives the characters a chance to get to know one another better (quite like dates). They're enjoying something in common--they're eating, and if they aren't enjoying their food then that can say something about the character, like either they're a picky eater or they don't make wise choices, or it can show that a character is self-indulgent, has no sense of self-control, or enjoys the smaller things in life. It can also say something about the person who is preparing the food, whether they're caring, a pushover because someone made them cook, or maybe like in Romeïn's case, because cooking calms him down.

I also LOVE describing food. The textures--whether a bread can scrape the tongue or melt, how smooth a pudding or chocolate might be, how much effort it takes to chew something and the strain on the jaw, whether something is scalding or leaves the entire gastrointestinal tract with a cool menthol feeling... The tastes can be all kinds of crazy--things that I love myself, things that I want others to try and love, things I wish I could eat, things I wish existed.

Writing about food just makes the world seem more alive.

Now for one of my favorite sandwiches ever:

Lee's Sandwiches: Number 8, Shredded Pork

Are you writing enough about food?

Sympathetic Male Characters

2011-04-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

I touched on this in a previous post, Characters Must Suffer, but this goes into more specifics of the male characters that suffer from the conflict, how these characters become sympathetic, and how that can lead to readers falling in love with them.

In this post, I'll cover how I wrote two central male characters: Edillan Kenstin of The Aviation Waltz and Diames Libery of The Mark of a Seráphi.

In The Aviation Waltz, Edillan is an eighteen-year-old boy who is generally cheerful and carefree, despite a large number of the population scorning his family's reputation. From the start of the story, I present him in a positive light, and try to use that to get readers to like him right away. (There's something I find about presenting guys more favorably than I do girls, but I'll get to that later.)

Hardly has anything to do with
the post, but it's adorable :D

Edillan is similar to Scilla in a strange contrast--they play similar roles in different classes. Though he isn't as famous as Scilla, he is notorious for riding his bike around the city. Like she's admired with those who know her for dancing, he's well-liked by the low class 'cause he's a good kid. Unlike Scilla's admirers, Edillan is more down to earth with Scilla, and that makes her more comfortable with him. Though he does have a crush on her, he puts friendship first and is more interested with her as a person than he is admiring her as an icon.

I first present him as this humble guy who kind of likes the girl but values his friendship too much to say anything. Unlike Scilla, who's beautiful, smart, rich, extensively talented and basically perfect, Edillan is more of the relatable underdog. You just can't help but like the guy. I mean, I like him. It seems that a lot of the viewers of the audio drama liked him too. I also said that (minus Gwydion), of the characters that I'd like to date, I'd pick Eddy (partly 'cause, in this universe, I can't decide between Diames or Cage). Not to mention, my boyfriend voiced him.

In fact, in preparing to write this post, I asked my roommate Jennifer why she liked Eddy as a character. With food still in her mouth, she smiled and kind of laughed, and as soon as she swallowed, she said, "'Cause he's like boyfriend material." I laughed, and she continued, "He's patient, and he knows cool things, and he's reliable, and he's like not cocky." And I said, yeah, he's just like a normal guy (or how girls idealize "the normal guy"). He's not even aware that he's cute.

(Obligatory quote insert.)

“Edillan, this is going to sound really forward, and I don’t want to make you feel too weird or anything, but…”
“What is it?”
In one quick breath, she let out, “You’re really cute.”
He dropped the cup—good thing it was mostly finished. “What?”
“It’s just one of those things you need to let people know. I always thought you were cute, but I didn’t know you well enough back in school to say it to you.”
“Are—are you serious?” His face was turning red.
“Yes!” She laughed, then smacked him in the shoulder. “Stop it! I said I didn’t want to make you feel weird.”
“But I… Nobody’s ever said that to me before.”
“That’s ‘cause all the girls were afraid they’d lose reputation if they admitted ‘toolbox loser’ was a hottie.”

Carrying on...

In Edillan's case, you have a guy likable from the beginning. He's not as flawed as Scilla, but he's not perfect either. He can be lazy and unmotivated (but Scilla balances him out), he can lose his cool (but apparently Romeïn pissed off a lot of people, and how many people can really put up with Tack and Tinny?), and he's a bit of a coward, but, um... well, I don't really like writing macho male leads, 'cause they'd just make me laugh.

So, in Edillan's case, I make the readers/audience love him, then I throw a bunch of conflict his way and see what happens.

"Edillan Waiting," also known as my fake-out.
"Haha, just kidding, he's not really in jail."

I can imagine some people go, "Omigod, nuuu!" while I sit back and laugh. Of course, as I mentioned in Characters Must Suffer, I'm not completely heartless. Sometimes I find it tremendously difficult to write what I do. At times I sit with the same song playing on loop wondering how I'm going to word a scene because I find it hard to actually write the words.

Anyway, basically Edillan suffers for Scilla's actions, but she's left with more emotional, internal guilt because it was all her fault. Though most of the blame goes on Scilla, I think that for most of the climactic parts of the story, people were more emotionally invested in Edillan. Scilla was occupied and helplessly worrying at the ballet, but Edillan was taking action. He was the one who had to rescue the plane and escape Romeïn.

Suffer suffer suffer.

So then we have Diames Liberoy, one of the best friends of the protagonist and (secretly, at first) in love with her. He's twenty years old in the present time of the story.

I wanted to first present Diames as a typical boy. As Lienne calls him, he's a "bass." He's not a jerk, though. He's lived with only his mother for the past twelve years, and she's a kind, gentle, soft-spoken woman who taught him to respect girls. He does more than that, though--he freakin' loves them.

He makes his love toward them pretty explicit, and unlike Edillan, he's well-aware that he's good-looking and uses it to his advantage. So many girls have crushes on him that it even gets out of hand. He flirts with women any chance he can get, but mostly does this to hide his feelings toward Lienne, whom he treats as more of an equal.

On his good side, Diames is extremely devoted and forgiving. He's rational, but in the flashbacks, some of his reasoning comes off as cowardice. In the past and present, he's slightly competitive and confident in his skills. In the present, though he's heroic and willing to protect others, he still can't let go of his past phobias: a fear of the dark and a tendency to faint at the sight of blood.

It came natural with the situations I wrote him in. Unlike Lienne, who is surrounded by people who know the truth and can protect her, Diames is almost alone and has to face the bad news by himself. First, he thinks he's doing a good deed for the Government, arrests "criminals," finds out about the cruel experiments, is then told that his home is destroyed, and then his close older brother figure is slaughtered in front of him.

Diames faints, like, way too much.
But I love it.

And this is only the start.

The Government starts using him as their puppet, and then Diames undergoes all these other "I can't believe this is happening" kind of scenarios.

What I did with Edillan and Diames was almost flipped. With Edillan, I made readers like him first and then he suffered, while with Diames I presented him in an almost "meh he's a boy" kind of way, then the readers sympathized with him as he suffered. Either way, I think these were two successful examples.

So why is them being male so important?

I have two hypotheses for this. One I had formulated a while ago in long e-mails to Trolli, Scilla's original voice actor. I told her, maybe the reason why we (being heterosexual female writers) found our male characters so much more fascinating and focused more of our character-building and plot on them was that because we were attracted to them. Maybe, being hopeful young females, we had written them in such ways that we wanted actual men to be.

Take, for example, the following traits. Edillan was upbeat and didn't worry a lot. As Jennifer had mentioned, he was patient and reliable and put up with Scilla after everything she'd put him through. Diames was extremely devoted, even when he couldn't control his own actions. Gwydion was a people-pleaser, and was outwardly perfect, but that stemmed from trying to be accepted with his tragic past (and the reason I'm not elaborating more with him is because I'm going to save a future post for him).

So, because we're attracted to them and want them to be representative of the male population (who for the most part are hardly accurately depicted in YA romance), we find them to be more sympathetic? And that's a question because I'm not even sure, myself.

Another hypothesis was one that my friend Ridhi and I came up with the other day. Maybe, being girls, we can more easily emphasize our own flaws and present girls as more "truthfully" compared to how we "ideally" present boys. Maybe with the traits and mindset that we already understand, we can more accurately depict girls, and make them more relatable?

As awesome as Lienne is, I feel like I didn't portray her as sympathetically as Diames. I still think some of her sass is hilarious and I admire her courage and headstrong attitude, and I love how she changes from the beginning to end, but that's because she's the protagonist. I wrote her flawed so she would change in the end.

Same with Scilla. As perfect as she is, she's still a bit of a spoiled brat who thinks she can get what she wants and tosses around money effortlessly even though she hasn't made any herself. It isn't until she screws up her own and Edillan's life that she really changes.

Now, I'm going to set myself a goal to write a sympathetic female character, but I probably won't get the chance until I start to write The House with Two Faces. Then again, my plan is to make readers believe that Pauline is a boy at the start. But she goes through a lot of crap right at the beginning.

So that's my spiel.

Sympathetic characters:

Male because I'm attracted to them
Presented first as otherwise average and happy
Screw up their world with all kinds of conflict

So, what do you think makes a character sympathetic, and what's the best role a sympathetic character can play?

(And yes I really did stay up past midnight to finish this post.)

Aviation Waltz Chapter One Rewrite Again

2011-04-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Just a few things first off:

I bought Wind Waker today and started playing it and as much as I want to continue playing it I SHOULDN'T BECAUSE I'M A COLLEGE STUDENT!
I fixed my comment settings! Should now be easier for ALL to comment! YAY!
Did the "fill" color of my latest drawing, but instead of finishing it like I was supposed to I started rewriting the opening of the Aviation Waltz again, because--

The super awesome original voice of Scilla Rotcod from the audio drama of the Aviation Waltz, trollitrade, has sent me quite an extensive analysis and commentary on the first chapter that was originally posted here, but it is now updated with the re-write.

And I'm so glad and grateful and honored to have her feedback :D

Unlike a certain other author. (Ahem.)

Anyway, I still think it could do with some work, but it's a whole lot better than before and honestly, I fell in love with the admirers.

I just think they're hilariously ridiculous. And I love how I can apply my omniscient voice to them! Muwahaha!!

I also wanted to point out the first paragraph...

If only Edillan’s sister hadn’t asked him to babysit their hyperactive cousins, he might have reached Quartz Square on time. He was only halfway across New Reindon when the clock tower began to strike five. The chimes shot an alarming jolt to his stomach and he revved up his motorbike, speeding through the streets and trying today to not run over any cats.

Cats! THE CATS!! It's hilarious, because, long stored away, the story that the audio drama was based on, started like this:

Edillan Kenstin ran over a cat while trying to avoid the little old lady who owned it. He laughed as he shouted his apologies to the woman, and in the process ran over a man’s foot.

CATS! *wild laughter* ...Okay I'm done.

Dub: Wind Waker Prologue!

2011-04-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

After GrandPyromania revealed that his next let's play will not be Wind Waker, I asked him for permission to upload this video :D

Those following my blog will get an earlier preview of it. (I will make it public later this week.) Hoho! Pays off dunnit.

I recorded these back in November of 2010 when GrandPyromania was still planning on doing a let's play of Wind Waker, so there are some things about it, like my hissy S's, that I have now learned to fix. Anyway.

And here are the bloopers!

Love According to YA Fiction

2011-04-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

My earliest concept of love probably stemmed from the classic Disney movies or the fairy tales I was read as a child. Let's look at these:

Cinderella: "common girl" falls in love with the prince. It's love at first sight, he finds her, they live "happily ever after."

Snow White: princess escapes royal life to be safe, is put into enchanted sleep by jealous stepmother. Random passerby prince sees her sleeping form, instantly falls in love with her and administers a kiss that wakes her and...they fall in love and live happily ever after.

Sleeping Beauty: princess unaware of her royal blood lives a common life to be safe, falls in love with a random guy in the forest, is told she's the princess and that she can never see the guy again, put into enchanted sleep by vengeful witch, rescued with a kiss by random guy she ran into the forest who happens to be the prince to whom she was engaged at birth. Instant romance, happily ever after. In this case, at least, they had an interaction before the "love at first sight."

The Little Mermaid: young mermaid princess instantly falls in love with handsome seafaring prince, rescues him from drowning, vows to "be part of his world," goes to tremendous lengths for his affection, actually manages to have some interaction with the guy before evil sea witch intervenes. Once all is solved, mermaid grows legs, leaves family to live "happily ever after" with hunky prince. Not to mention in the original fairy tail she dies.

Beauty and the Beast: I give this one points for not having "omigod super hunky male love interest" right from the start. Belle, a common but strange young woman, falls in love with him even though he is a beast, and him turning into a super girly prince only reinforces that. But the point is, they live happily ever after.

Aladdin: Oh wow a MALE protagonist!? Same formula still applies: love at first sight, forbidden love due to class differences, things work out in the end... happily ever after?

Of course, Disney sequels do not apply. I don't even remember how many sequels it was until Jasmine and Aladdin actually married.

This isn't to say that I don't like Disney movies. I adore them. They make me feel young, I can get lost in the world, it's easy entertainment--who doesn't love musicals!? They just give a ridiculous, unrealistic ideal about what love is. This isn't always a bad thing--I mean, you probably don't want five-year-old girls watching movies about husbands beating their wives, or cheating on them, etc... We grow up, realize things, and girls go from watching Disney princess movies to reading young adult romance. (Not to say that some of us still don't watch Disney princess movies.)

Sometimes, but not always, the following still applies:

Love at first sight.
Attractive people.
Going to tremendous lengths for affection.
Happily ever after.

It's a romantic fantasy, and society conditions young girls to think that they have to grow up pretty, find a man who loves 'em for their looks, fall in love and get married. (Of course, views are changing--more women are working, starting families later after their careers have been established, some don't even have kids.)

But what happens after they've fallen in love and gotten married? It feels like marriage is a goal, a climax, the denouement--and after that everything goes downhill. (And quite often, according to some psychological studies about happiness and family relationships, happiness does go downhill with the advent of children [omg no pun intended]--though couples like to think that they were just as happy as they were before having children. They're just lying to themselves.)

The early models of love, like Disney and fairy tales, gives the impression that once you get married, a "happily ever after" is guaranteed, but there's so much more that happens in a relationship, and the idealistic, hyper-romantic fantasies don't always delve into such waters.

In fact, looking back at the romantic Final Fantasy games, VII through X, what did it mean for main character to end up with love interest?

Not official artwork
but it's really cool :D

Final Fantasy VII: People can argue on and on about the Cloud/Aeris/Tifa love triangle. Cloud promised Tifa he'd come in her time of need, Aeris promised Cloud a date for protecting her, and depending on what the player does, he can go on a date with either of them...or Barret... or Yuffie. But really, in the end, did he end up with anybody? Cloud is pretty much oblivious to Tifa's affections, Aeris freakin' dies. But the planet is saved, and that's all that matters.

For some reason, this game seems to have more fandom than the others, and it could be because the characters have such complicated pasts and so much could be expanded upon. And it is, for this reason, that some will argue Aeris was only attracted to Cloud because he resembled Zack. But I'm not gonna go there.

Actually they look kinda awkward...

Final Fantasy VIII: Arguably the most romantic Final Fantasy game. Sure, in the past, there's marriage. Squall's dad falls in love with Rinoa's mom, but they never quite make it themselves and so their children end up finding each other in the present and falling in love with each other. Rinoa asks Zell to make a copy of Squall's ring (is that kinda stalkerish or what?), and at the very end of the game, it's implied that they kiss--but we don't see it on screen. Sure, they hug, and hold each other, and cry out each other's names in times of need, but there isn't a formal, "Hey Squall, does this mean I'm your girlfriend now?"

Final Fantasy IX: The buildup to Zidane falling in love with Garnet was... well... awkward and on the verge of being "love at first sight." One of the best parts of their relationship was when Garnet was being crowned queen and Zidane's feeling all weird about being in love with her. Like Aladdin and Jasmine, he's a thief, she's royalty. It's pretty clear that they're in love with each other, as subtle as it is sometimes, and after my first playthrough, I was squealing all over the place at how sweet and cute the ending was (this was before spoiling the endings was readily available on YouTube). But, they're only sixteen. They don't get married.

Final Fantasy X: Now what messes this one up is that Tidus is a dream, and Yuna has to sacrifice herself. They're all-around star-crossed "lovers." Some might say that the players get to see more of the interaction between Tidus and Yuna in this game than the main character and any of the other love interests in the previous. It just sucks that he disappears at the end, so how are they gonna end up together? (I'm not even gonna talk about Final Fantasy X-2.)

The point I wanted to get at here was that there is no formalities when it comes to love. Some people feel like this is necessary today, what with one's Facebook relationship status making a relationship official (which makes it easy to keep track of anniversaries, I guess), or the actual asking of "Will you be my girlfriend?" I just think it's ridiculous when some fans say "But they never made it official!"

Does anybody need to make love official? I mean, sure there's marriage and there are official papers with dates and signatures and all that stuff, but in my mind that's more for government, security, and benefits. Take it back to primitive times. Did people need documents to say that they were in love with each other? It wouldn't be fair to say that they weren't in love because they couldn't comprehend the concept of documents.

In other words, I just think that people need to be more open that "getting together" and "falling in love" does not mean that characters have to go through methods of formality.

These are video games, though. While the main storyline often has romance, it doesn't revolve solely upon whether two characters hook up. Anime, on the other hand, is totally different.

I was going to write about shojo manga in anime in my post Characters Must Suffer, but I realized I was going off topic and figured I should just create an entirely new post about the topic.

I mentioned Yuu Watase before in Inspiration from Video Games. Yuu Watase is a mangaka of shojo manga, Japanese graphic novels aimed toward young female readers. Teenage shojo manga usually has some form of romance, and younger shojo manga usually have magical girls. (I'm sure I can split these into more technical Japanese manga terms but I don't know them.) I've only seen the full anime of Fushigi Yuugi and Ayashi no Ceres, but I have read some of Yuu Watase's other work.

From these two anime alone, the main characters are so determined to have the men of their dreams, even (in Miaka's case) when there is an abundance of other attractive male characters around. But no, Miaka only wants Tamahome. I'm pretty sure at some point Miaka even points out that she and Tamahome are "boyfriend and girlfriend." *shudder*

Young adults these days must have some kind of obsession with the officialness of relationships. Even though Fushigi Yuugi takes place in ancient China, Miaka is from modern Tokyo. (Well, more like Tokyo in the 90s, I guess, since that was when it was first created.) There's more occurrence of the "official" relationship in other shojo manga, too. Like Peach Girl. Kare Kano. Sailor Moon.

I understand that young girls like escape and they like fantasizing about what their first relationship is going to be like. Some daydream about their crush, in hazy soft lights on a warm summer afternoon, and he finally asks, "Will you be my girlfriend?" (Though it's more likely he'll say some form of "you wanna hang out sometime?") It's something young girls can look forward to. After all, super crushes basically flood you with endorphins. When else are you gonna get a high like that (and not take drugs)?

Still, I think all this fantasy and fiction leaves young girls with unrealistic expectations. They expect the high and excitement of "first love" to last forever. They don't expect the "plateau" or getting accustomed to the high, and once that feeling leaves, some people think they're not in love anymore. A lot of young crushes are just fleeting feelings, but some feelings do become more. They just don't always feel as exciting as they used to be.

That's probably why women return to fiction. Maybe they've been in a relationship for so long that they forgot what it was like to initially fall in love in the first place, and they just want a reminder--a jolt of excitement, a glimmer of hope, something to look forward to when their everyday lives become routine.

Still, nothing can beat making your own characters fall in love.

Maui Sunset

2011-04-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

My roommate Sue and I walked from our apartment to Ben and Jerry's, got a strawberry cheesecake milkshake that we had been talking about getting once the weather got warmer, then walked downtown to Let Them Eat Cake. I wanted to get a red velvet cupcake, but instead I got this!

It's called the Maui Sunset. If I remember correctly, it's a coconut cake with cream cheese coconut frosting and topped with shredded coconut. I've only taken a small slice out of it and put the rest of it in the fridge because, on the long walk back, it was attacked with sunshine. Sunshine = softer frosting.

Anyway, it's not too sweet, and I love how the tartness of the cream cheese compliments the coconut flavors. Om nom nom! I'd want to eat more but I already had a milkshake and I'll save the rest of the cupcake for later.

By the way, is that not the cutest individual cupcake capsule you've ever seen!? It's like, "I'm on display! I'm so cute!"

Admiration and Independence

2011-04-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

Back in elementary school, when you were like eight and still had a developing grasp on how the world works, it was probably easier to write those essays, "Who I admire the most," "Who I admire and why."

I'm not sure if I really had a role model growing up. There wasn't anybody I really wanted to be, but sporadically, I did find traits in others that I admired. The ability to inspire others to do something, which I eventually found myself doing--in high school when I started writing CSM and others wanted to write too, and even now with voice acting when I inspire others to do the same.

Of course, I do have my girl crushes on Miranda Kerr and Emma Watson.

They're so pretty >_<

In the most superficial, shallow sense, I like them 'cause they're pretty, but it's not like I want to look like them or be like them so much that I'll go through plastic surgery. That's just dissociating myself from who I really am, but I'll get more to that later.

Probably the one person that I admire the most is JK Rowling. I just love how inspiring her "rags to riches" story is, how she inspired children all across the world to read her stories and become so involved with her world and characters that there's an entire universe larger than the books themselves of fans--fanart, fanfiction, films, parodies, merchandise, cosplay...

I look up to her because I want to be at that same level one day. I want the world to know and fall in love with my characters, to connect with them through all their trials and sufferings. Seeing what she can do sets the standard for what I can achieve, myself.

But she isn't really what I would call a "role model." I don't want to copy her. I don't want to be her. I know my own limitations and I have a strong grasp on my own identity. As much as I put myself down sometimes, I would rather be nobody else. I have all this potential and I haven't reached my life goals yet, but knowing that I can be better gives me hope and drive to keep going toward the future. At the same time, seeing the disparity from who I am in the present and my ideal self causes anxiety (to almost quote my psychology courses).

Dissociating oneself from one's true identity is unhealthy. There are some obsessive fans out there who have true role models, but they don't only look up to their role models, they want to be them. Thing is, people are born certain ways. They have their genes, they were raised in certain environments, they have gone through certain experiences. Nobody can be another person.

They can change themselves for the better and strive for the absolute best that they can be. People should stop comparing themselves to people they admire. They should stop saying, "If only I could sing as well as this person," "If only I were as pretty as this person," "If only I were as popular as this person..." It's healthier, instead, if people strive to be a person better than what they already are, instead of trying to change themselves entirely.

Everybody has a certain amount of potential--some more than others. It's really too bad that you can't hook yourself up to a computer to calculate the exact potential that you have. Some people are born naturally gifted at certain things, whether it be voice, empathy, athleticism... People should start understanding that they need to stop comparing themselves to others and only compare themselves to themselves.

Reach for the ideal self, not the dream you can never be.

For most of my life, I've been fairly foul-mouthed, short-tempered, and aggressive, but I'm also extremely empathetic, which helps me understand characters when it comes to writing and acting. At the beginning of college, I delved into my Lolita phase, which I've now gotten myself out of. At the start, it was just fashion, but in order to pull it off, you had to act a certain way. I started to act a bit more ladylike, but often my true self would come out.

(Imagine a girl in a fluffy petticoat, frilly dress, lacy stockings, little Mary Janes, and curly hair going, "Oh my fucking Jesus this is a load of BULL SHIT!!" Hilarious, because it's not right for the image.)

Then I told myself, this is not how I really am. I climbed out and returned to the "tough chick" I used to be when I was young.

Still, I shouldn't classify myself as a "Lolita" or "tough chick." Everyone has individual differences.

Anyway, because I seldom look up to others, I often have to do the job myself. I can't depend on others to do what I want to do. I have the vision in my head, and I can't easily pass my thoughts on to another person. I'd much rather do the following myself:

Write; just now I'm starting to break out of my "I don't want to read anybody else's stories 'cause they aren't as poignant as my own" bubble.
Voice act, which covers a variety of things, like using myself to do all the characters. Even though I know others are available, I'd rather do it myself because I know I can do it the way I want it to be in the short amount of time that I want it done.
Cook; I think both my sisters are too inexperienced to cook as well as I know I can, and while I used to enjoy my mother's cooking back when she actually cooked, I know that only I can cook to my own preference (which is usually very spicy, a tad too sweet, and extremely flavorful with an abundance of herbs, spices, onions, garlic, etc).
Take care of myself. "No thank you, I can make my own ginger tea." "No thank you, I can massage my own sore muscles." "No thanks, I'll cut my own hair." There's nothing else like letting somebody screw up on your own health.

I think this is mostly due to the stage of life I'm at now. It's the end of college. I've had four years of taking care mostly of myself--buying my own food, taking care of my self when I'm sick. I'm about to graduate, and for at least the summer (hopefully not longer, god forbid), I'm gonna have to depend on my mom to buy the food that I eat.

Unless I manage to get a job right away, and then I can buy my own food, or better yet, live on my own.

It's probably because, in this stage of life, I know I can take care of myself. I have hardly anyone else to look up to but myself.

Most of the time, I know I can rely on myself to do things the way I want them done, even if they aren't "right."

Characters Must Suffer

2011-03-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Just finished a can of Slimfast, snacking on craisins, not reading for my drama history class, and listening to the End Credits theme of Twilight Princess, just to give an idea of how often I listen to that song.

In my experience of writing one-act plays and short stories, this post pertains mostly to longer works of fiction, especially journeys--physical or emotional. The characters have to go from one point in their life to another, and the journey itself is usually perilous and entails a lot of suffering.

I touched on this topic in a previous post under "Shit Happens."

So. Why must characters suffer?

In stories of emotional or physical journeys, the main character should change by the end. (Not saying this always happens, and this is more a personal preference than anything else.)

First of all, do we want to read a story in which a character has a perfect life and everything gets better from there on out? Not really, but sometimes real-life stories are rather inspiring--even more so if that person wasn't in the greatest position to start with.

On that note, let's say you have a character who is in a pretty bummer position, but something life-changing occurs, life gets more exciting, and sure life has its ups and downs, but in the end the character changes for the better.

Personally, these are my two favorite kinds of stories. One that somewhat follows a classic tragedy structure, but in the end things get better because the character has changed, and one in which the character's life gets more exciting, but reality strikes in the end and makes the character change.

There's one element that stands out here: change. How does one evoke change?

Suffering.

This may be because I'm a bit of a sadist when it comes to writing. Also, this probably also has to do with my psychology background, but when you're writing you probably want to evoke some feelings in the readers, and it's generally easier to elicit sympathy than empathy.

If you can feel sorry for a character, most likely you'll want to see their lives get better, and this leads to the readers reading more.

On another note, if you have a mostly dislikable character, I've found the most effective way of making readers like them more is to put them in one of two lights (maybe even both).

Show their redeeming qualities, like helping a sympathetic character.
Make them suffer and the readers will sympathize with them.

...or so we hope.

Being the sadist I am, the reason I like writing the "gray" areas of stories (when the beloved characters are in possibly the worst predicament imaginable in their universe, and it seems all hope is lost) may be because I know I have the ability to make readers feel for them. I've used all previous chapters, character and plot development to get to this point, and I will make everyone pay.

Not saying it doesn't take an emotional toll on myself--I'm not that heartless. If I can't get an emotional reaction out of myself, how can I get an emotional reaction from others?

Observing something we can't experience ourselves.

A lot of people read for the escape. They read to immerse themselves in another world, to have a taste of adventure and experience things that, in the reader's given circumstances, would be nearly impossible, whether it be due to expenses, location, era, abilities...

I believe that art is used to make people feel human. People question, what is the meaning of life? Some people believe that if they have never loved, never lost, never gained, then they haven't truly lived. We can't always find the circumstances to experience every possible human emotion, and some of us can't even imagine what's the worst that could happen to us.

So we read about it. After all, it's easier to connect oneself to a character and her sufferings, then close the book when it's time to sleep, rather than to actually live with a burden.

Why make the characters change?

In the stories that I like to write and read, the characters start off one way, and usually they have a lot of dislikable qualities. Take Scarlett O'Hara, for example. If she didn't change by the end of Gone with the Wind, I would've felt cheated. Stories of journeys are written with peril, loss, treachery, and overall suffering for a reason. Characters--heck, people--change with these experiences. In the beginning, they were naive and possibly even happier. By the end, though they have lost a lot, they have also gained a lot more knowledge about life. Whether they end up happy or not depends on the writer's decision.

Anyway, as I've written before, the motivation of literary suffering is change...and getting an emotional reaction from readers.

Dub: Before Entering the Palace of Twilight!

2011-03-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Finished another video today! :D

I thought I would've been able to do a better job on the sage's voices. (In actuality, seeing as this is a simple and quick dub, I didn't feel like asking any of my male VA's to help me out so I attempted it myself.) I usually joke with my little sister in an old man voice about little boys, but that's a story for another time...

Can't really compare it to my other Twilight Princess dubs at the moment, but I think I also made Midna less..."squeaky"? After all, this is the point in the game at which she talks a bit softer sounds less mischievous.

In more disappointing news, it appears that the boom of my microphone stand has conked out. The threads that screw the boom onto the stand itself have worn down and if I attempt to screw them back together, the boom just topples off. Ugh. I really don't want to have to buy a whole new microphone stand. If I could just somehow fix the threads...

2011-03-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

Just got this message from the Voice Acting Alliance today:

Dear Ms. Aderu Moro

I wanted to tell you how much of an inspiration you are to me ^_^
I used to watch your videos ages ago and I really liked your voice acting. I love voicing over video game characters when I play

Hopefully I can achieve the level where you're at--got to start somewhere, right?

kenkenspatz

I love knowing that I inspire people! I really appreciate it when people tell me this. Let's me know that I'm doing something right.

I also got this message on Facebook from my beloved high school English teacher Mrs. McCarty:

Call me when you're in town. I'm retiring this year and would like to see you before Mr. Mc and I head for New York.

Good lord, I love that woman. I was hoping that I could see her this summer when my little sister has her high school orientation, but I guess not. I must see her again before she leaves! I'll hate myself if I don't!

Inspiration from Video Games

2011-03-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Let's say someone asks me, "What is your greatest source of inspiration?"

There are a lot of things. For different aspects, there are different sources. The smaller details come from everyday observations and watching other people.

Inspiration for setting comes from walking down the street, through a park, by the ocean, at a time when I don't have to worry about getting to a certain location within a certain time. I can breathe fresh air, notice the architecture of buildings, feel the strain in my legs as I walk up hills, see how the wind rustles in the leaves of trees. At these moments, you have to use all your senses and trap the moment so you can release it again later when you're writing.

On the contrary, I also write settings of places that I want to go, but I still do my research on it. Like, how hot does it get in a desert, what altitude is ideal for snow... I want to go to these places because I'm a poor, deprived child.

Anime is helpful for discovering emotions you thought you didn't have. In fact, in high school, I found Yuu Watase's work especially helpful. In hindsight, Fushigi Yuugi was rather silly, petty, shallow, and often overdramatic, but that helped me discover what is worth writing about and how to tug at readers' emotions. The anime I like best is the kind that you can completely immerse yourself with the characters, allow yourself to care about them and cry when someone dies, feel their pain and anguish and understand them. One Piece is also awesome at doing this.

A lot of inspiration for writing itself comes from literature, though I have to admit, to date nothing but my own work has excited me and made me want to become part of a world as much as Harry Potter did. Harry Potter and The Princess Bride had voices that strengthened my own voice. Often quirky, humorous, and witty, a lot of the times conversational, and at the best of times, dark.

But what is the source of inspiration that makes me want to tell a story?

The answer, of course, is in the title. Video games.

But what is it about video games that makes me want to tell a story?

The easy answer: adventure.

A more in-depth answer: Being a normal person--even a nobody--and finding yourself caught up in an adventure to save the world.

The best part of it?

YOU'RE PLAYING A GAME! You get to control the main character, fight bad guys, obtain awesome weapons, key items, and treasure, immerse yourself into the story, go on sidequests--it's all interactive!

The first game that I fell in love with was Chrono Trigger, and it's still one of my favorite games. It was just special. The battle system of 1995 was straight forward, and then you travel back in time. Not only that, but you find out that the girl you're traveling with is the freakin' princess, and not only do you have to prevent her ancestor's death so she'll live in the present, you then find yourself in the future and discover than an ancient creature is going to wipe out most of mankind. And the best part!? YOU GET TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME AND FIX IT!

Is he cute or what!? *Squeal!*

I also love the sequel Chrono Cross, mostly for the beautiful world and the beautiful music. Everything is so tropical and playing it is an escape. It makes you want to live in that world. Same with a lot of the places in Final Fantasy X. I didn't find myself attached to many of the forty-some cast of characters in Chrono Cross, but I still love Kid, Harle, and Serge, even though he doesn't speak--but I think I mostly like him because he's super cute. (On that note, I think it's easier to attribute certain likable characteristics to silent protagonists, like Serge, Crono, and Link, than it is to straight-out like the "strong silent types who actually speak" like Cloud and Squall.)

On that note, I think the most likable characters I've found in video games were in Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX. I felt like I could relate to these characters and understand them more than characters in any other game. Personally, I think that there were more likable characters in Final Fantasy IX than the others.

For one, Zidane was a refreshing protagonist reminiscent of Locke from Final Fantasy IV. He was cheerful and energetic and only got down at the end when he realized he was different. (Unlike Squall and Cloud who were somewhat too serious from the beginning and only got more serious from there on out, unless you count Cloud dressing up like a girl.) Garnet was sweet, mature, regal, and a little too perfect that it annoys me, actually, but she was someone young girls could look up to. Vivi was adorable and sympathetic, Eiko was adorable, energetic, and funny. Steiner was a lovable, bumbling, loyal, idiotic knight; Freya was respectably heartbroken, and Quina... well, Quina was strangely adorable.

You gotta love the characters if you want to care about what happens to them in the story.

The day of Lavos.

My favorite thing about Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft) games is that I love their stories. In the end, it's basically the same thing--you gotta save the world, whether it be from a giant meteor, an evil sorceress or summoned demon from the future, a sister planet, or a vengeful beast. Who doesn't want to trap themselves in a fantasy about saving the world?

What tops it off is the music. The number one played music on my computer is video game music. A lot of video game music is absolutely beautiful, and 95% of the time it's the only thing I listen to while I'm writing. Much of the music is meant to be looped, played in the background while you're trotting away on a horse with sword and bow in hand, so why wouldn't it serve as the perfect backdrop while you're writing?

I already mentioned that Chrono Cross has some of my favorite music. Just listen to this song. (Chrono Cross: Voyage, Home World.) Doesn't it make you want to hop on a boat and sail to the horizon?

Or how about this one. (Chrono Cross: Departed Souls.) Personally, this one makes me feel like I'm staring outside a multi-paned window on a rainy night wondering what the future holds.

Can't forget Zelda. (Twilight Princess: End Credits.) This song makes me feel like I've really accomplished something. It's hopeful and celebrates triumph, but also leaves the listener longing for more.

This is still one of my favorite songs. (Seiken Densetsu 4: The Endless Dream.) I used it at the end of The Aviation Waltz audio drama, and it leaves me with the feelings I love when I finish something. Bittersweet hope.

After playing all these video games, it makes me want to create an adventure of my own. If you can't make a video game of your own or find the means of embarking on that adventure, then the next best thing is to write and create that story. It's the reason I love writing so much.

Of course, that was my initial desire for writing. After going through college, I found that there are other important things that I like to write about, like reaching out to readers who can relate and laugh about certain topics (like parents). Sometimes, people have a sadistic want or need to see others struggle with their own skills and dreams and applying them to the future. Finding out what someone's going to do with their life is often more important than writing about them fight crime to save the world.

In the end, though, if I could say I love one thing about writing, it would be the escape.