I have some things to blog about - writing tips and such - but I was lazy and decided I'd just re-post something from my other blog.

Unfortunately, the pictures only work on that blog, so you can go to it here.

~The WordWeaver

P.S.  How's your Short Stories coming?  Mine is about 1,300, but I'm going to write more tonight.
 
Last night I watched 'Toy Story 3' for the first time.

An interesting movie, for sure, but not really my favorite - at all.

ALERT SPOILERS FOR TOY STORY 3.

Cons.

First, just because I don't like Romance, I'll say that it's not a helpful thing to the movie. Romance rarely is, and... I just don't like it.

Although, the whole thingy about Buzz Lightyear being Spanish was more just funny than anything else.



More Cons.


I've learned a lot since I've watched either of the two other Toy Stories, and one of those things is that every character should have some characterization.


For the most part, the Screen-Writers did a fantastic job at this.  However, some of Woody's companions were just... there.  Stuck in the whirlwind of chaos.  Why?  Because they needed something that toy could do.


Slinky the dog (or whoever he is) for instance, he's just an accessory, he has no character development what-so-ever.  With a small group like Woody's, I think everyone deserves at least some attention.


And also Buzz Lightyear.  I couldn't help but notice that - while he was involved in a lot of action - they didn't develop him as they did Woody and some of the other characters.


Maybe I'm being too picky, but that's one thing I noticed.


Another thing that annoyed me was *PREPARE FOR SPOILERS.  DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE.  I WARNED YOU.* when everyone was about to die.


They were slowly coming closer to that big ball of fire, when help came in the form of a crane.  Woopidy doo.  The screen-writers just RUINED my night.  (And probably the next day.)


I hate cheap and cheesy excuses out of situations, and that - to me - was one of them.  Couldn't those three little thingies from Pizza Planet just followed the toys, then pressed the button which stopped the fire?  That might be a-not-so-concrete solution either, but to me it would be better.


Pros.


Other than Slinky, the Character Development was superb.  It's interesting, because it feels like I know Lots o' much better than I do Buzz.  Because Buzz wasn't really developed as much as he could have been.  But Lots o' was.  In both his actions and his past, a clear image came forth.


And a clear and consistent image of a character is almost always good.  In this case, it was good.  Though I do not mean to say being plain is O.K., and that's part of the reason why I thought Lots o' was done so well, because it didn't tell, it showed.


The plot was good, loyalty being chief among everything.  I really liked how Woody was split between which to choose - his friends or Andy.  Because a character on a mission will almost always succeed, but if a character has a choice that is equally important, you never know which one he will choose, and that makes it all the better.


*MASSIVE SPOILERS.  TURN AWAY IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED TOY STORY 3!!!*


And lastly, I come to the ending.


All I have to say about it was... it was so good!  And sad.


*SPOILERS ARE NOW OVER!*
*****************************************************************************


I give this movie a 7-out-of-10 stars.


~The WordWeaver  (A later post is coming soon - hopefully).
 
By R.A.H.Thacker II

What Was, What Will Be.

He stands there, balancing, below him lay fathoms of the city's depths.

He has a choice.

One step forward.

One step back.

Onto the air beyond, that seeks to fail Him.

Or back into the corners that trap Him.

"Shall I be strangled, in the seas of my past?"  He says.

"Or shall I step into the nothingness, the nothingness which will never keep my ground, and the nothingness which I shall never come out of?"

The balance of His foot wavering on the edge of death, like a deceiving path of a thin blanket over a black pit.  One step forward, and all is committed.

Miles below, the racket of all Human creation steamed like a monster, eating up all that once was, once could have been, and the hope that had been.

Was going back not a choice?

Was reaching forward the only path?

Or, was He stuck now forever?

Had his indecision swallowed Him for eternity?

Had He been to late?  Was there no way left to go?

The soft breeze of the past, reminiscing what He had dreamed, breathed up to Him, wanting to steal Him away.

The simplicity of Before, was it gone?

And if it was, would it ever come again?

However, from the heavens, descended a being.  It is a bright creature, radiant in the early sun's light, shining silently and still.  And a sense of peace and rest is upon The Man.

Yet from the depths of the earth came another such soul.  It was dark, ghostly, being - glinting of the twilight sun.  It plants a seed of anxiety and hopelessness inside The Man.

Then the Light Being says unto The Man; "choose not what you seek in your earthly flesh.  Take the choice of the Light, and go onward."

The other - quickly retaliating - spake the gruff and booming words which caused only dread on the earth.  "Take not the path of the unknown, go back into the luxury of what seek.  For it alone shall be your rest."

"It's words take the path of others, do not go astray.  The path back only leads to glimpses of what had been, and not what will be."  Came the soft voice of the Other.

But the being of the earth took The Man's shoulder, and with a dreadful gaze, lifted him up, shaking him and taking him far from the Edge on which Man had once relied, and there, showed him the world.

"It is a place full of dread and sorrow, the road onward, let it be not your path.  Seek what was, and it will be.  Take not what might be, take what was."

The Being of Light was soon with them.  "It will only lead to the faint traces of what has already gone by.  Choose what may be, the Light and the Hope.  Do not Despair, take the Hope in which you have and live upon it."

"Take not It's foul words," the reply of the Dark being's came.  "It does not know what is good for The Man's soul.  It wishes only for you to suffer the sorrow and the tears of what will be, and not what was.  The To Be is a land of darkness and death, the shallow waters will not spread out for long."

"Listen not to It's words," the Light One says, "forward is the Hope and Peace that longs to be with you.  No doubt, hard times may lay ahead, but the shield of your Faith will Protect you.”

The two Beings hovering off, looking on as The Man stood in the shallow airs of the Earth.  His Choice remaining for Him to decide alone.
 
"Yo ho ho ho
Onward we go,
Forward we go!
Under mountain, under leaf,
Over hill, over brook,
Through plain, through storm.
Yo ho ho ho,
Onward we go,
Forward we go!"

"Through waters we speed,
Through golden fields we lead,
Under mountains, past it's fountains,
towards the land of gold!"


"Yo ho ho ho
Onward we go,
Forward we go!
Under mountain, under leaf,
Over hill, over brook,
Through plain, through storm.
Yo ho ho ho,
Onward we go,
Forward we go!"
(This is the same song I made up that I also posted on my other blog ->
http://rahthacker.blogspot.com/  <-

So... I got the idea of that from climbing up and down a large hill near our house.  It was snowing a lot, which made it better.  Not a great song, not at all.

But considering that's the first one I have ever made up... I think I can give myself a bit of slack. :P

(It was also inspired from the Hobbit. :)


Life.

Volleyball practice could have went smoother, though actually got it over the net most of the time I served.  But when I wasn't serving... *facepalm**headdesk**turns various shades of green*... I not once got it over the net. :(

At least one time I actually hit the ball when it came straight to me...

Anyway, that's one of the reasons I don't like to talk about my life, not at this moment at least.

But, I'm sure there's something non-writing yet still good that happened recently... well, I'm alive (though, with volleyball that might not be such a good thing :P).

Well, I've been watching some cartoon kid movies recently... LOL.  They're funny, and cool, I don't know why I like cartoon movies better than real acting, but while I wait to watch the Hobbit, I can watch the Hobbit's cartoon version.  Not the best, but still cool. :)

I also watched the Princess and the Goblin.  Partly because I'm to lazy to read the book (It's a bit boring...), but it was still cool.

I also watched the Second movie of some series called 'Swan Princess'.  It sounds like a girly movie, and it is, sort of, but the plot isn't bad, so that's cool.  (it, like the others, was cartoon).

Writing.


Writing has gone okay-ish.  While I haven't written much on my Short Story, I got some inspiration from being in a low mood (as in sad), so I wrote a thingy.  It was short, but it was an allegory of sorts about what was happening in my writing life.


I might post it sometime.


~Inksplattered and Sputtering,
The WordWeaver
 
The War Horn was an amazing novella by J. Tobias Buller.  If any of you are looking for a good book to read, I highly suggest it.

John - the son of Lord Cayson - wakes late in the morning.  While a certain man visits his mother and father, he skips morning prayers and meets a welsh friend of his own age.  However, when news comes to the castle later and a note is found, John's world seems to be broken in half... and indeed it was cracking - cracking into war.  But after a few suspenseful days, John's only hope is to find the Holy Grail and... give it to his enemy.  But why would a tyrant, ungodly man like Lord Gair want a holy relic?

The War Horn places you in John's mind, every decision he makes, it feels as though you make.  I gasped at numerous twists and turns, with each page I was led inward, I felt myself wanting to scan the pages ahead to find out what would happen.

This Historical Fiction was well thought out, developed, and clear to understand.

I can see J Tobias Buller, or Jake, weaves his tale incredibly, amazing debut novella.  However, this is his first published work and in several parts - especially near the beginning - it shows through.  And being self-published there are several grammatical mistakes.  The ending, too, while satisfying, lacks some of the 'epicness' it could have.

Still, The War Horn is one of the tidiest self-published novella's I've read, and what experience was lacking in the beginning, was soon made up for.

I cannot explain how much this book engrossed me.  I literally was on the edge of my seat.  If you are looking for a book to read, to intrigue you and bring you in, or even just to relax after a hard day, then The War Horn is your book.

I shall wait (not so patiently) for more books by Jake as this has left me (almost) bleeding for more.  But first, join John on his journey, whether or not you like Historical Fiction, I'm sure you'll love The War Horn.

I give it a 4-out-of-5 stars.

~Ink-Splattered and Pencil Armed
The WordWeaver
 
4 days into the contest and I now have 1,774 words, though that word count hasn't been updated since yesterday, so I hope to write about 1,000 more words today.

I was hit (like really hard, I think I have a black eye (Just kidding)) with some cool, yet... weird inspiration.

My mind wants me to make this into a fantasy story, yet from the beginning I had always wanted it to stay in the Low Fantasy genre, not High Fantasy.

So I had a bit of a war going on inside me.

High Fantasy (what I mostly write) VS Low Fantasy (not so much).

But I have been writing so much High Fantasy that I really wanted a change.

At last, I came upon a solution.  While the High Fantasy part felt cheated, he wasn't totally raging my mind.  Low Fantasy was quite contented, though uneasy about this new character I was creating to the assured satisfaction of High Fantasy, and also a major event that just occurred (which could, if I wanted to, actually make it into a full blown novel, though not what I wanted to happen with it).

So here's how it is.

Something major (I won't tell you, you're going to read the entire story eventually - hopefully sometime in 2014), happens like really major.

Something I really hope I can pull off write.  If I don't, well it's just going to be a few (hundred) drafts for me.

Then the Protagonist meets a guy who (I can't tell you much), helps him recover from the major event, and actually ***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER***

Yeah, in no way am I going to tell you that spoiler.  It's the climax.

Anyway, how are your Short Stories coming?

Anything unexpected?

Plot Changes?

Also, what's your word count?  How many words do you suspect you will end up with?

I'm thinking my Short Story could range anywhere from 5,000 words to - dare I say it - 12,000.  Not that I want it to be that long, it's just the way certain things are happening it might.

Of course, I can't forget the deadline, which I hope to have it finished by (first draft of course).  And though the deadline is 21 days from now, I'll have to type fast.

Other things:

I always seem to talk about writing on this blog.  And that's all I do.

Maybe I should talk more about what's happening in my general life, eh?

Anyway, I have to go to Volley Ball practice in about two hours, so while I really, really want to keep rambling on (why today? :P), I have to go. :(

~The One Who Is InkSplattered
 
Yes, I admit, I didn't write any yesterday. :(

But I will today, and posting here is only the start.  I have a particular post I've been wanting to post for a while now that I'll put up today (though not in this post).

So, as I said above, I didn't write any, and that includes writing on my Short Story *facepalm*.

*Later that day...*

Originality can be one of the hardest enemies a writer can ever, Ever, have.

And it lies to us, it says it is originality, and yet, it is not.

We will always have this problem, however, we must prevail.

If something is clichéd, fix it.

For instance, as I am patching up one of my very first novel, first off, I see that the climax, well… it’s a bit clichéd, but here’s where it gets good (or bad, actually).  The antagonist invades the country, and the people in the country set out to defend themselves.

A battle ensued (the battle at the end of the book), and the good guys started loosing.  Then suddenly some people came to rescue them.  Throw a party, get excited. :/

The reason?  Well, because I didn’t set out a good plan, and didn’t have an outline, I had to make one up on the fly.  Guess what I got?  An overused, predictable cliché.

Wow, great ending to the entire story.  Not.

For that, and numerous other reasons, I have decided that the second half of my novel is unfit to have as my five NaNoWriMo book copies.  Alas… I sort of wish I could get the original, yet have it still be as good as I will make it.  Too bad life doesn’t work that way.

Anyway, I think I’ll have that other post up later today, but I need to write some first.

Inkblots are writers (random quote)

The WordWeaver
 
January 20th, that was the day I said It started.

Yes, It.  That's spelled with a capital I.

I'm not sure how many others have started, or will start in a few days, but I have started.

Day 1's calculation:  872(or so) words.  I had some inspiration last night, and I really got going once I started, but then had to stop. :(

But, I'd love to read all your word count so far (if you've started yet), you can post them in the comments!

As you may have gotten from the title, I will be keeping track of my progress each day and be putting it as a sort of journal.

Now, I'll give a little summary of my short story:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written from 1st perspective, Wayne Griphynn sets out to 'conquer' the world... or at least his neighborhood.  That is, conquer it for Christianity.

Wayne met Stephen as soon as school started.  They grew to be friends, but Wayne knew Stephen is not a Christian.  Wayne is now determined to help Stephen become a Christian... but he has more than a mountain's climb to overcome if he will succeed.  God will help him, and he knows it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's basically it!

Happy Short Storying!

The WordWeaver
 
The Short Story Contest starts in exactly 1 day.

The minimum word count for the contest is 1, and the maximum is 8,000,000,000.  As you can see, I don't really care... just so long as it isn't 9 billion or more. :)

I wish I could do a more full blog post, alas, I need to go write other things, which I should have done quite a while ago.

I am doing some work on the other pages, so if you haven't seen the them you may want to look at them before the reforming officially begins.  Most of which will happen on the 'Sorcers Scrolls' sub page of My Novels.
 
The Short Story Contest Rules.

1.  Writing officially starts January 20th.  Pre-writing and planning is definitely allowed and much encouraged

2.  Writing officially ends February 15th.  That's 25 days, those of you who did NaNoWriMo should know this is a breeze compared to November.

3.  You may post the short story in the comments of the Short Story Contest Results which will be posted on February 15th.

4.  None of the above rules are a must, writing is something that should be enjoyed; an exhilarating experience EVERY time, so don't feel pressured.

I wish I could go on, but it's 11 PM here and I really should be in bed... not typing wildly.  I have things to write, inspiration to share, alas, I am to tired to type it at such a late hour...

Enough with this Old English speech.

I promise sometime tomorrow I'll make the post, I have a lot of good things I want to put into ink (digital pixels that is).

The pen is mightier than the sword.  True words.

~The WordWeaver~