Fantasy

I recently came across a note that a friend of mine wrote on facebook in the form of a poem, talking about why she writes fantasy. This got me thinking about why I enjoy reading and writing fantasy literature. Since I am not nearly as creative as she is, my reasons will just take the form of a list.

• Guys treat girls with respect. It's something that is surprisingly uncommon these days... the idea of chivalry and honour. But in most, if not all, fantasy stories, the leading guy is a firm believer in and follower of the code of chivalry. Girls are also tend to be less manipulative than they do in today's society.
• A true sense of family and belonging. Even if it's not by birth, characters in fantasy stories generally act like family better than ones in realistic stories do. Take LotR, for example. What holds the fellowship together to the best of its ability is the power of friendship and teamwork. The goal wouldn't have been able to be accomplished by one character alone and each character has a place that they belong.
• Responsibility of powers. Whether this involves magic (as many fantasy stories do) or the ability to kick some serious behind with a sword, fantasy stories explore the balance of having power and being responsible about it. Those who abuse their power get what's coming to them in the end and those who either refuse to be tempted by the power (think Aragorn's reaction to the Ring in LotR here... or Faramir's reaction in the books!) or accept it with responsibility to use it for good (ie, Gandalf or Elrond or Galadriel with their Elven rings) are rewarded.
• Second chances, redemption and self-sacrifice. I don't know if this is true, but fantasy characters seem to mess up more than realistic characters would... or their mistakes hold much graver consequences. Through this, fantasy authors are able to explore themes like second chances (Pippin got at least one in LotR), redemption (Edmund's story in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and self-sacrifice for the sake of helping others (when Boromir died at the end of FotR or beginning of Two Towers, depending on whether you're following the movies or the books, respectively). You don't see that as clearly in realistic fiction.
• Beauty of other cultures. Fantasy authors are able to address controversial issues like racism in a much less offensive way than realistic fiction authors would be able to. The deep-seated prejudice between the Elves and the Dwarves in Tolkien's stories could easily be applied to modern prejudices and show readers how foolish it is to judge people solely on an aspect of themselves over which they have no control.
• In a highly materialistic, secular humanistic culture where there is little belief in what cannot be explained by science (or pseudoscience, as the case often is), to jump into a world where elves and dwarves, fauns and satyrs, talking beasts and trees that move exist is rather refreshing. To be able to enjoy a story like that allows for just a little bit of hope that some of it might be true... and thus opens a person up to the possibility of a supernatural.
  
• The end. I have yet to come across a fantasy book where the bad guys win in the end. The bad guys always have to get what they deserve (usually in the form of death or some other humiliating punishment) and the good guys win, but rarely without some large sacrifice on their part (once again, this often involves character death). In the words of a young character of mine whose universe is at war, "we have to win in the end 'cause we're the good guys. And the good guys always win in the end, right?" He's able to sum things up much better than I can. This idea is very Judeo-Christian, as God will have the final victory.
  

And I think that just about wraps things up. These are the main reasons why I enjoy reading and writing fantasy as much as I do. Thanks for reading.

Sam's Fantasy Epic

I've been working on a story that Sam is writing and she lets Michael read later. I have vague ideas of some of the characters, but I don't know where the story is going.

Just to let you know, Sam is a huge fan of writers like Tolkien, so her stories have a definite fantasy flavour to them. Yes, there is magic in this story, but it is written in the spirit of Tolkien and Lewis.

Character List
Royal Family of Kumori~

King Richard: 53. Was once a fair and noble king. Now going slightly senile due to the effects of a magical illness he contracted as a child.
Queen Lauren: 42. Wants to marry off her children while her husband is still able to function. An adept hostess.
Prince Adam: 20. The eldest son and heir. Arrogant and slightly spoiled by his mother. Very handsome. Is overdue for an arranged marriage, but Queen Lauren cannot find any girl who will suit him.
Princess Emilia: 17. Middle child. Is jealous of her mother's attention to Adam. She enjoys dressing extravagantly. Likes Lucius Touchstone.
Princess Charity: 14. Youngest child. Friendly and takes a special liking towards Violette. Enjoys playing matchmaker. Original tamer of Luminas.

Residents of Kumori~

Violette: 16. A resourceful and hard-working girl originally from the kingdom of Thalmosse. From a noble family, she was one of the girls taken to be a possible wife for Prince Adam. Luminas now belongs to her. Olivia is her best friend and Quincy is her twin brother.
Olivia: 16. Vi's best friend and a fellow servant girl. A bit spacey at the best of times. She is an Outsider.
Lucius Touchstone: 18. A servant who is learning how to become a healer from Eirhian. He likes Emilia, but is a commoner.
Eirhian: Age unknown. A celestial Outsider who works as a healer. She used to be an assassin and is now training Lucius. Nioko belongs to her.
Nioko: A rather snarky imp who often takes the form of a snake and accompanies Eirhian wherever she goes.
Luminas: A playful imp who takes the form of a giant butterfly/moth.

Other characters~

Sir Keith Chandler: Early-to-mid 30s. A mysterious knight originally from the kingdom of Galoris. He rarely speaks, but he has been training Robert for at least a few years.
Elyora: Sir Keith's fiancee.
Robert Anderson: 15. Demonic outsider who accompanies Sir Keith on his expeditions. He's originally a commoner from the kingdom of Galoris.
Synistra: Age unknown. A demonic outsider who is a skilled user of magic. Resides in the kingdom of Sheol.
Quincy: 16. Violette's twin brother who is studying to be a performer in King Sebastian's court.
King Sebastian: The king of Thalmosse.

Kingdoms
Kumori
Thalmosse
Galoris
Sheol

Races
Humans: Your typical humans... normal, diverse, etc.
Outsiders: Any non-human humanoids. They're treated as second-class citizens in most areas. The children of outsiders will always be considered outsiders, even if they look human. There are two types: Celestial and Demonic. This doesn't necessarily have any say on whether the character is good or evil (as Robert, Synistra and Olivia are all the same type of Outsider); it merely comments on their appearance.
Imps/Faeries: Small creatures that usually take the form of animals or plants.

Magic and Other Stuff
Magic: Yes, this story has magic in it... both magic to heal (what Eirhian and Lucius use) and magic to hurt (like what Synistra uses). Magic users are generally Outsiders and therefore, treated as outcasts. It is an inherited ability, but must be developed with effort and much practice.
As an author, Sam is very much inspired by the world that Tolkien created, as well as a bit of CS Lewis. Both authors had magic in their stories (for Tolkien, it was primarily Saruman and Gandalf, and for Lewis, Aslan and Jadis) and it is not inherently evil. I think I'm going to make a blog post over on my other blog going into further detail with this, so I'll leave it that for now.

Speculation?

So, I've been thinking a lot about Sharpe's character as of late, so that has been quite interesting. One thing that I've figured out about him (indirectly) is that he and Stephanie Rei knew each other primarily through Jennie Alton, as Stephanie and Jennie were friends while they were in school. So Sharpe was the one who delivered Emiko's Christmas present to her (in this piece). Emiko is fourteen and in ninth grade (her birthday isn't until April), so she would've recognized Sharpe's voice as being familiar.

Also, there should be some reason why he was at the church on Christmas Eve... of all times and places. One would think that Sharpe would rather go on Easter Sunday or just some random day, but not Christmas Eve, mostly because of his history. In fact, in the narration of this piece, it is stated that he does not want to go on Christmas Eve. So why does he?

For this, I can think of only two reasons. One is that someone would have had to force him to go. Since he is an adult and responsible for his own actions, that doesn't seem likely. Plus, he hadn't been to church since high school (when he was living with the Altons) and even then, he didn't go very often.

The other reason that comes to mind is that something in him was drawing him to the service. I don't know what was said or what in that particular service went on other than what Michael is thinking to himself. I would love to know what exactly drew Sharpe to go to church and what drew him to go there on Christmas Eve. Because something did. It honestly doesn't surprise me that he chose to go to the church where Jonathan is a pastor. Since he's had quite a few run-ins with people who are hypocrites, it's kind of really important for him to be somewhere that there aren't as many (if any at all!). And I think he knows that the church that Jonathan works at and that the Altons go to is probably safer than elsewhere.

But there's something that draws my curiousity towards Sharpe. There's so much about him that I don't know yet, even if he is one of my most well-developed characters. I'd love to know if he has read any CS Lewis (one of the most amazing people who has ever lived, by the way!) because I think if Sharpe read anything religious, he would be more likely to read Lewis than anything else. Especially given what I know about CS Lewis from reading a biography on him.

Those are just my thoughts right now. Good night.

Just Alright - A Brief Writing Piece

I just got an idea for a scene between Sharpe and Dr. Shasthri, so I think I am going to try to write at least some. I don't know how good it will be, but here goes...

MPAA Rating: G
Word Count: 1682
Characters: Priya Shasthri, Sharpe, others by mention
Summary: Takes place right after this... Sharpe has an interesting conversation with one of his professors.
Warnings: Controversial content by the name of religion. Either deal with it or don't read it.

The teenager glanced up, still keeping his hands folded tightly, his fingers almost white from lack of circulation. He had not meant to stay this late, but he had no family... at least none that would be worried about him or wonder why he wasn't at home. Sure, it was the day before Thanksgiving and almost everyone else on campus had gone home for the long weekend, but despite the Altons' kindness and hospitality, their small house on Chestnut Avenue still didn't feel like home to him. It never had.

"Victor?" Dr. Shasthri leaned over next to the teenager. Despite the fact that the boy's student identification read an entirely different name, Priya Shasthri knew quite well that when someone requested to be called something, it was a wise idea to comply. She knew Sharpe went by his middle name... and had since at least the beginning of his freshman year. The professor seriously doubted whether anyone other than a few of the faculty members and the teenager's family even knew his first name. "Listen, I don't want to disturb you, but don't you have anywhere to go?" Even she had something to do tomorrow; she had signed up on the volunteer list to help feed homeless people when their pastor had passed it around the church congregation.

Sharpe's dark eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I have a paper for Frasier's toxicology class that I am going to finish writing tomorrow." He had already done nearly all the research for that project; now all that was left was writing the eight-paged paper, something he had chosen to put off all semester.

Priya frowned and shifted her weight to a more comfortable position, letting her shoulder bag drop to the ground. Inside, she was carrying the weight equivalent of at least three text books. Something told her that prying was a bad idea around Sharpe; the university sophomore had been more than secretive over the past year that she had gotten to know him. But like anyone else, she was curious. "Do you not have anywhere to go? Doesn't your family live nearby or anything?" She could have kicked herself in the shins for that comment; as soon as she had spoken, Sharpe's face paled to the color of parchment.

The teenager bit the end of his tongue, almost hard enough to draw blood. Yes, his family did live near... well, as much as he could call them family. "Not particularly," he lied. The Altons had chosen to go down to San Diego for the break; they had left that morning and were now in southern California, visiting people Sharpe had only met once and honestly could care less about.

Dr. Shasthri sat down on the linoleum floor, thankful she had chosen to wear jeans to work that day instead of a skirt. There was so much she understood, yet so much she had no idea about at all. For a long moment, she studied the quiet student who had proved himself to be an enigma. She had been told that she was good at reading people and she decided to put this theory to practice. As she looked into his dark eyes, he glanced away, resortng to counting the speckled dots on the floor. Her glance followed down to his hands. Scars. Somehow, this didn't surprise her much. There was a short pause. "Well, you're more than welcome to come and join us. We're helping serve homeless people at the church."

Sharpe stood up with such quickness that surprised Professor Shasthri. She had never seen anyone who was not an athlete move so quickly. She watched as Sharpe recoiled into the shadows that were provided by the stairwell. "No!" This was spoken with more force than he had ever used around an authority figure before, other than perhaps Alton. Josiah Alton had heard him yell before, but few other adults had. The back of his fist hit the wall just hard enough to cause redness. There would probably be a bruise there tomorrow.

"I..." The professor was nearly speechless. She knew not everyone at the school was religious - in fact, she was one of three professors in the greater sciences department who held Judeo-Christian beliefs - but she had never imagined anyone getting so upset at the mention of a church. "I'm sorry." Those were the first words that came out of her mouth. "I didn't mean any offense." Priya thought for a moment. She had taken a lot of flack from her co-workers whenever the subject of religion came up. As if being both a woman and an ethnic minority in the sciences wasn't enough. The professor had learned not to take offense at anything that was said.

"I don't take any offense, but I can't." There was a certain aspect to Sharpe's voice that Priya had never heard before. Normally, the sophomore was quiet and his reactions were measured and composed carefully. He hadn't been inside a church building since before he graduated high school... not even on Christmas Eve or Easter Sunday. Especially not Christmas Eve. He could not go back. Not now or ever again. He had promised himself never to set foot in a church building as long as he lived and the young man intended on following through. A promise was a promise, even if it was only to yourself, right?

Dr. Shasthri glanced over at him, but decided not to press... for information or otherwise. If Sharpe was going to tell her what was going on, it would have to be his own choice, not her pressuring him to do anything. "Are you sure everything is alright?"

Sharpe nodded. "Fine. Just perfect." Sarcasm was dripping from his voice and Professor Shasthri caught that and frowned, her thin lips drawing together. Sharpe moved forward slightly and clasped his hands behind his back.

Before she could stop herself, Professor Shasthri decided to take a chance and ask a question that she would probably regret later. "You don't like anything that has to do with religion, do you?" Her question was innocent enough and her voice, non-accusing. It was the same tone she frequently used in the classroom or talking individually with her students.

"Religion is stupid." As the three-word response came, Priya couldn't have been more surprised. She was used to him being far more eloquent or at least less blunt. However, she had to agree with him... to a certain extent. Religion for the sake of religion - as she had pointed out so often to Lewis from the philosophy department, with whom she enjoyed long talks over coffee - was pointless.

Although common sense told her not to, she decided to press. Part of her inner core told her that she was closer to getting the young student to talk than anyone else had been, but Shasthri knew she would have to tread carefully. Amongst the general population, topics including religion were deemed as controversial at best. Even though she and Frank had talked extensively on the subject, both were respectful adults, capable of civil conversation, despite not always agreeing on any particular subject. "Perhaps it is..." These words were more of a muse to herself and a ploy to get Sharpe to explain his comment. "But surely anyone who dislikes religion must have a reason." As a scientist, she held to the philosophy of having some reason for every decision she made, no matter whether her reasons were logically oriented or not.

Sharpe was quiet for a long moment and his long fingers ran along one of his scars on his right hand and up his arm a few inches. "I don't hate religion. I hate Him." The last word he spoke was emphasized and the teenager nodded towards the ceiling. Sharpe's voice had lost its previously present sarcasm.

Dr. Shasthri glanced up at Sharpe. For the past several minutes, he had been standing and she, sitting. She nodded towards him and he sat down, leveling her with his dark gaze. Priya was quiet for a long moment. "If you don't mind me asking," there was a short pause as she studied him and she leaned forward, supporting herself with her hand, "please do explain." Not only had she assumed he was non-religious, but she was aware that at least one of the other faculty members was under the impression that Sharpe was an atheist. It didn't bother her one bit, but something in her said that there was more to him than what met the eye. Such was the way with everyone.

"Explain what?"

She knew she should have been expecting a question in return. She had seen this strategy before, mostly in students who preferred not to talk about a certain subject. They would ask questions in response to questions or try to change the subject; some were better at it than others were. "Your esteemed philosophy professor seems to think that you are an atheist." She was speaking of none other than Dr. Lewis.

Sharpe's eyes narrowed so much that he looked like he was squinting at something. "That is illogical." His lips drew together into a thin frown and he sunk to the floor, leaning his back up against the brick wall. "It's impossible to be angry at someone if you don't believe that person even exists." In the back of his mind, he was pretty sure there was a God somewhere, but he was sincerely doubtful that God was anywhere near caring. His life had taught him that this was most likely the case.

Dr. Shasthri nodded. She was about to say something, but she stopped herself as she caught a glimpse of something shiny in Sharpe's eye. Maybe it was the way the light from the lamp post outside was hitting his face, but she doubted it. "Are you alright?" She almost reached out to put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but decided against it.

Sharpe shrugged. "I will be." He was always alright. Never great, rarely horrible. Just alright. He always would be.

NB: Yes, Frank Lewis is named partially after one of my favourite all-time authors... and after one of the characters he wrote. But these characters belong to me, despite whatever namesakes they might have. And the Altons live on Chestnut Avenue, too (same street that the Lius live on... and the Adamses and the Johnsons).
Another interesting thing to note is that Kiran makes a similar comment about one of her teachers... that their "esteemed science professor will have her corpse as the next anatomy specimen" if she left school without permission.

Last of the Hollidailies

So today is the last day of Hollidailies, which is kind of a sad thing. I've been writing a lot more commentary than I'm used to and I think I've actually been writing a little more than I usually do. Last night when I was in bed, I had the most random idea for a story, so I think when I finish Snapshots, I shall write it. The idea was basically what would happen if Michael went for a walk on Christmas day and happened to run into Sharpe. I don't know what it is with writing those two characters together in scenes; I should've figured out by now that it doesn't work very well.

Outside my window, it looks like Narnia. No really, there's snow and icicles everywhere! And... I'm sick, so I might not be posting here for a few days. :(

Randomness yet again...

So I spent most of the afternoon watching Prince Caspian (the movie) instead of writing like I told myself I wanted to. While not comparing it to the book, it was a well-done movie. Which got me thinking... oftentimes when I write, I'll imagine my characters to be in a movie of sorts and just write down what I see... and sometimes what they're feeling (if I can manage that - ha!).

If my books were ever made into movies, I wonder who would get cast as my different characters. Like I said before, I definitely imagine Johnny Depp playing Siyamak (who is seriously a creep). Usually I just imagine people I know looking like my different characters, actually. But that wasn't what I was going to talk about.

What I was going to talk about today was I am completely not sure. No seriously. I have no attention span right now. But what I need to do is figure out the relationships within the first generation and continue this piece before I work more on the Christmas Eve Story and eventually Once Upon an AU.

Quick Update, Christmas, Knitting, Quotes...

Since I have been failing so badly to post with anything relating to writing lately (and that's what this blog is about!!!), I feel bad for not continuing my Christmas Eve story today. Yay for writer's block and being sick. Not. I've been knitting like a crazy person over the past few days in a pathetic attempt to get Christmas gifts done by Christmas and today I taught my sister how to knit.

Did you know that one of my characters knits? Yes, Septimus McAllistair (though almost everyone just calls him Seven) does and he's quite good at it. He has a pair of black fingerless gloves he's made himself that he always wears. He's also kind of a computer geek and he's really smart. No wonder he gets teased a lot. Marie Wilson knows how to crochet and I'm guessing she's taught most of her friends how to do that also. Sam, Tyler and Michael probably both know how... Sam and Tyler just because they're willing to go along with whatever is happening and Michael because he is quite artistic.

And this last little bit is kind of completely random (my thought patterns are not linear, in case you haven't already noticed!), but most of my characters are somehow interconnected. There is some way that Sharpe knows Stephanie Rei (see this entry) because despite the fact it's not explicitly mentioned, that is Sharpe. He was the one who delivered the package... but he has no idea about its contents. My guess is that Stephanie contacted him and told him that she had something that was really important that it get to Emiko... and that Tetsuya wouldn't like his daughter having it. Which is rather true.

So yeah... I guess that's all I have to say tonight. Let me end with a quick CS Lewis quote this time. It has nothing to do with writing. "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God." ~CS Lewis

And God bless us, everyone! Merry Christmas!

Dystopian Society Novels and Banned Books?

I'm just going to warn you in advance that this might be a little controversial. So if you don't like that, don't read on. Okay? Consider yourself warned.

As I was at a swim meet today and didn't actually have time to write much of anything as far as my own fiction goes, I'll be talking a little about books again. Some of my favorite novels have been the dystopian books, like Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies by Golding. Oddly enough, according to the list of banned books and authors, many authors of these novels (and other such excellent novels) either are or have been banned for some reason in some place around the USA. In fact, some of these have been required reading for school classes.

As an author, I don't necessarily invite debate into what I write, but I don't shy away from plot points just because they could be touchy subjects. Most of my characters tend not to swear too much (one of the main themes I've noticed in the "banned books" list) and I don't write past PG-13. My plot lines have elements of dystopian societies in them (or at least Once Upon an Alternate Universe will - think weird combination of influence from The Phantom Tollbooth, Animal Farm or just about any other dystopian society idea and CS Lewis - just because his writing is made of pure awesomeness and he's one of my favorite all time authors - and you'll be spot on). But I digress.

Honestly, if you don't want to read a certain book, no one is forcing you to read them. I don't think they should require such authors to always be read for school... we seemed to read an abundance of the dystopian and other weird books in high school English classes (but Edgar Allen Poe's stuff was freakier than anything like Animal Farm or Farenheit 451!)... and parents should be cautioned before letting their kids read whatever they want (except for Tetsuya Takahashi because he doesn't care what Emiko does). But books shouldn't be banned from public libraries just because of controversial issues; people just need to be aware of what they read.

Any thoughts?

To Learn by Reading

To be a good writer, one has to learn not only by writing, but also by reading. Eventually (once school settles down - haha), I'll probably get around to talking about some of my favorite books and authors here and what I do and don't like about those books. Despite my abhorrence for unnecessary character death, I still enjoy reading the works of William Shakespeare. In case anyone was wondering, CS Lewis is probably my all-time favorite author.

Things I Enjoy in Books:

• Good characters. A book has to have decent characters for the book to be good. As CS Lewis remarked, "we read to know we're not alone" and through the characters of a book, an author can speak to us in ways he or she wouldn't be able to otherwise.
  
• A halfway decent plotline. The more complex the plotline, the better. As a writer, I love making complex lines and intricate threads for characters to follow and I appreciate an author who can do the same and do it well. This is where I especially love the works of JRR Tolkien.
• Believability of a world. It doesn't matter whether it's real (The Andromeda Strain) or historical (Pride and Prejudice or The Three Musketeers) or made-up (Lord of the Rings or Narnia), but the world has to be written well and believable. One thing that I really love about Tolkien is that he goes through all the trouble of making up the languages (okay, so he really loved that stuff) and the races and the stories were just a product of people seeing what he'd done and asking him to write. In creating a different universe, you almost have to do all the background work before writing all about the characters or you'll have a lot of gaps. Trust me... I know from experience.
• I love it when authors think of clever allegorical references or symbolism or interesting names that actually apply to their characters somehow. For example, in CS Lewis' Narnia series, Aslan is Turkish for lion. Quite suiting, considering the fact that he is the Lion. Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is frequently characterized by being tall, dark and handsome. Darcy means dark. Pretty interesting if you ask me... and I'm sure there are other authors who do this; I'm just not sure of any others at the moment.
  

Things That Are Major Pet Peeves in Books:

• Unnecessary character death. Mr. Shakespeare, anyone? Need I say more? Actually, I do like Shakespeare... I just see it as unnecessary to kill off characters without a good reason.
• When authors don't check their facts or make things realistic based on what universe they're operating in. Take The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton (scroll down between half and two-thirds way for the part I'm talking about), for example... excellent book and it was written well overall. Unfortunately, I have a knack for random facts that'll only be useful if I happen to get asked to appear on Jeopardy.
• Weak female characters, especially if all the main characters are female and they're all weak. I love the strong female character, like Eowyn from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
• This applies more to fan-fiction and short stories that people write and share online, but I really dislike it when they don't include warnings. If you're going to write romance (whether it's slash or non-slash and especially intense romance), please warn us. Same thing with language, etc.

I suppose that's all I have for now. I enjoyed taking a little bit of time out of my busy studying schedule to write this up and organize my thoughts into a somewhat coherent thought pattern before I go off to eat something for dinner and do more homework.

Hoorah for homework and studying! No really. Oh, this is the site I found the name information from.