Thursday, October 29, 2009
Break
It's midterm season here at the home of the Bruins, so there won't be any posts about the book this week. Until next time then.
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Tenth Post!!!!
So, this is my tenth post on the new and improved blog. Which means I've been blogging for a little over ten weeks. Where have I gone with all of this? Nowhere.
Which isn't to say I'm unhappy. I've had more people get into my book than ever before, and I've had more people read it than before too. Which is astounding for me, because before this blog a sum total of three people had read it. And that was the poorly written version. I've edited a lot since then, and I'm still editing. I'm using what little feedback I'm getting from others, hopefully soon I'll have a flood about the first chapter, and also using any new knowledge that happens to come my way to rewrite the book.
The character of the Magna Beast has been with me in some way for as long as I can remember. There isn't a single memory of my life that isn't accompanied with the character. In fourth grade, I finally put the words The Magna Beast onto paper in a short story assignment. I used a recurring character I had created in other short story assignments called Briock. His name has been changed to Briok since then, because I thought the extra c was bogging down the character. ;)
From then on, I never touched it again. I only rehashed the story in my mind, actually making it more and more ridiculous as I was exposed to new influences, likes and dislikes. Finally in eighth grade, another short story project was assigned. My English teacher actually defined each genre we were supposed to write in, one of which was science fiction. If I remember correctly, he said, "Science fiction always has a moral dilemma." So I created one, the difference between choice and fate. I essentially wrote the first chapter then. And I got a B. I was pretty shocked. I thought my story rocked. It did he said. But it wasn't a short story, he continued. To him it seemed, the story felt more like a continuation of a novel, or rather it deserved a continuation.
Look at what that man started. Five years, three versions, lots of tears, sweat, and late nights later, I'm finally done with the skeleton of the book. Yes, I've been focusing on school more than this book. Yes, I could have done both in high school if I had kept my focus. But I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. I needed certain things to happen to me over the course of high school in order for my book to be the way it is now. I needed to see certain movies, read certain books, meet certain people. All of that is distilled in my fantasy world. In a lot of ways, The Magna Beast and his story is a dissection in minute detail of my life and of myself.
I guess that's why so much of my heart and my dreams are in this book. Not only has it been a part of me my entire life, but it's also the purest expression of who I am. I know of no other way through which I can show me. Most people don't care, but I can't really hold this story in anymore. Whether it's good or not, I'm probably going to continue writing it. I'm glad I've reached this tenth post, and I hope for more to come. Insha'allah, you do too. Until next time then.
Which isn't to say I'm unhappy. I've had more people get into my book than ever before, and I've had more people read it than before too. Which is astounding for me, because before this blog a sum total of three people had read it. And that was the poorly written version. I've edited a lot since then, and I'm still editing. I'm using what little feedback I'm getting from others, hopefully soon I'll have a flood about the first chapter, and also using any new knowledge that happens to come my way to rewrite the book.
The character of the Magna Beast has been with me in some way for as long as I can remember. There isn't a single memory of my life that isn't accompanied with the character. In fourth grade, I finally put the words The Magna Beast onto paper in a short story assignment. I used a recurring character I had created in other short story assignments called Briock. His name has been changed to Briok since then, because I thought the extra c was bogging down the character. ;)
From then on, I never touched it again. I only rehashed the story in my mind, actually making it more and more ridiculous as I was exposed to new influences, likes and dislikes. Finally in eighth grade, another short story project was assigned. My English teacher actually defined each genre we were supposed to write in, one of which was science fiction. If I remember correctly, he said, "Science fiction always has a moral dilemma." So I created one, the difference between choice and fate. I essentially wrote the first chapter then. And I got a B. I was pretty shocked. I thought my story rocked. It did he said. But it wasn't a short story, he continued. To him it seemed, the story felt more like a continuation of a novel, or rather it deserved a continuation.
Look at what that man started. Five years, three versions, lots of tears, sweat, and late nights later, I'm finally done with the skeleton of the book. Yes, I've been focusing on school more than this book. Yes, I could have done both in high school if I had kept my focus. But I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. I needed certain things to happen to me over the course of high school in order for my book to be the way it is now. I needed to see certain movies, read certain books, meet certain people. All of that is distilled in my fantasy world. In a lot of ways, The Magna Beast and his story is a dissection in minute detail of my life and of myself.
I guess that's why so much of my heart and my dreams are in this book. Not only has it been a part of me my entire life, but it's also the purest expression of who I am. I know of no other way through which I can show me. Most people don't care, but I can't really hold this story in anymore. Whether it's good or not, I'm probably going to continue writing it. I'm glad I've reached this tenth post, and I hope for more to come. Insha'allah, you do too. Until next time then.
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Old Man of the Sea
Hello Reader! The title above is for Chapter 8. I'm not exactly sure how to describe the way I came upon the name Proteus, who is Briok's best friend and an incredibly, incredibly important part of the story. To tell everyone here the truth, the names of the most important characters in the book were wholly made up. I consider myself incredibly lucky that I got these names down. Anyways, this blogpost is dedicated to a review a friend of mine gave me on the first chapter.
I've been asking some people to review the first few chapters of my book. And through this process, I realize how the structure of my book may not be the best. I'm going to still run with it, because those readers who have seen the book say that the storyline is interesting enough for them to continue reading. But I have my doubts about the book's quality. At this point, I'm wishing that I had an English teacher or something who could read this for me and tell me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.
My reliance on cliffhangers might be a little too obvious in the novel. A lot of breaks in the chapters end on quotes by characters, like a soap opera, and the beginnings of some chapters are quotes. I sort've throw the reader into the novel's dialogue from the very beginning. Here's the first paragraph of the entire book:
I've been asking some people to review the first few chapters of my book. And through this process, I realize how the structure of my book may not be the best. I'm going to still run with it, because those readers who have seen the book say that the storyline is interesting enough for them to continue reading. But I have my doubts about the book's quality. At this point, I'm wishing that I had an English teacher or something who could read this for me and tell me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.
My reliance on cliffhangers might be a little too obvious in the novel. A lot of breaks in the chapters end on quotes by characters, like a soap opera, and the beginnings of some chapters are quotes. I sort've throw the reader into the novel's dialogue from the very beginning. Here's the first paragraph of the entire book:
“And here we go again,” Tov sighed. It closed Its eyes in frustration, and rubbed Its temples, “Are you ready Yfel? Oh, of course you are. We’re both ready for this to end. It’s out with the old, and in with the new!”
So this blog post is going to be short. I don't want to bog down the blog with an overlong rant about apprehension and anxiety. I'll be sending out queries this weekend when I'm at home, so that should be a great subject for next week's post. The main point of today's message to the readers was that if you're reading this casually, and you have time on your hands, read Chapter 1 please. Just leave your name and e-mail address, and I'll send it to you super-quick. Not only that, I'll delete your e-mail from the comments afterwards. Thank you to those who decide to do this. Until next time then.
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