The Story of Yume

2010-04-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have been working on Book 2 and a few other books. However, I need to really focus on Book 1, since for about two years I have been meaning to redo chapters 1-7. I'm also waiting for my peer reviews on the first run of printing to come in.

That said, so far everything has been extremely positive.

2009-10-19T19:57:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted here in a while. No more need for excerpts or anything. Editing is progressing well and should be done within days. Excellent.

2009-09-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

Book One is complete.

2009-09-08T19:39:00.001-07:00

Two chapters left, a week to go.

Writing styles/techniques

2009-07-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

I am closing in on the end of book 1. It's a great feeling.

I'd like to discuss writing styles or techniques of mine.

Syntax is a funny thing for me even when it shouldn't. Although I hardly make grammatical errors, I am wont to put clauses in weird places. I have always realized that since I studied Latin and then Greek, I'm prone to making things go in random places, since their syntax is free.

This might be something looked down upon by 'standard' writers. But I think it's very useful. You prep the scene and/or the reader's mind in a very particular way if you put a modifying clause at the end of a long sentence, or offset it at the beginning like an ablative absolute.

I had sent a sample to one of my friends, who said, 'Whoa, like commas much?'

Sometimes I am inclined to splice commas--whoops, thankfully there is editing. But sometimes I string things along on purpose. I noticed this while translating Livy. I obviously don't think I've come upon something new, but I wonder if it's missing nowadays. If there is an action scene, you can leave the reader breathless not just by the action, but also by not chopping the sentence into pieces, but letting it flow with commas and such. Or with fear you can do small sentences that make you hold your breath. These are common techniques I'm sure (I haven't researched them or anything), and it's really fun to do.

Okay, back to writing.

2009-07-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

This chapter that was supposed to be short and kind of filler has actually turned out to be quite a gem, I think.

2009-05-25T14:22:00.001-07:00

You know, it's kind of funny, but I just realized that Moeru comes dangerously close to breaking the fourth wall sometimes.

2009-05-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

By Thursday afternoon I will be able to rescue Moeru and Yume from the Tomb in the desert.

(I'll be done with finals then).

Another table of contents update and reflection

2009-05-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Prelude: The Coming of War and the Hope For a Hero
Chapter 1: Set The Quest In Motion!: The Sword Glows Again
Chapter 2: Black Evil from the East!: Bastion of Good Enters the World
Chapter 3: Secret Society of the Shadow!: Inner Light Cuts a Path
Chapter 4: Past, Present, Future, Revealed!: The Tome of Zantrukara
Chapter 5: Mysterious Other-World Beings!: Enter Odo, the Demon
Chapter 6: Nature's Perfect Deception!: Angry Glare of a Beautiful Woman
Chapter 7: Dastardly Attack of Magic!: Sleeping Lunite Powers Stir
Chapter 8: Sumus Sabotage?!: Save the Source
Chapter 9: Tales and Revelations!: Memoirs of Metal
Chapter 10: Heavenly Helper!: Enter Archael, the Angel
Chapter 11: Pain and Peril!: The Bonds of Trust
Chapter 12: Contests and Choices!: Dream To Be The Best
Chapter 13: What Speed Is This?!: A Town Like an Anthill
Chapter 14: Attack of the Fallen Warriors!: The Resemblance of Alliance
Chapter 15: Tombs and Treasure!: Husks in the Desert

I realized something ÜBER crazy today. I wrote the prelude my senior year of HS, then wrote a decent amount and I know I worked on chapter four my freshman year of college, so there was five chapters. Then I remember working on chapter six while in a bathtub at my apartment my sophomore year, and then I didn't even finish chapter 7 until the early or middle of the summer before this year. So you can see there was a huge time-gap where I didn't do much between sophomore year and right before this year.

But this year alone while doing full time school crap I've written chapters 8-15, which is a huge increase in productivity. So I'm optimistic that now that I have everything in order I can finish this sometime during the summer, including edits.

2009-04-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Gyre has dealt me a serious blow. I will do all I can to help the Hero overcome him.

2009-04-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

Such craziness. More and more papers have piled up, so I won't get a chance to write for another week and a half. Definitely not cool.

2009-04-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Although I've been too busy to really write, that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking. The time for Book 2 nears, and thanks to some input and consultation from friends I was able to make a decision on a plot thing I was trying to figure out, and now I have it lined up in my head and have the initial stages of Book 2 set forth. Getting ready for that hopefully before 2010 (okay, I'm trying to be more honest with the timelines here)

Writing Break

2009-04-13T15:19:00.001-07:00

I have to take a hiatus on trying to crank out book one. I have a paper due tomorrow, as well as some misc. other jazz, and then I really need to make progress on my senior essay (thusly entitled, "Morphophonology of Reduplication in the Latin Perfect Stem"). Then I have a bunch of stuff due in History of the English Language, including an exam, Monday. So as far as I can tell I will just have to leave Yume and Moeru in the desert until next Monday evening.

2009-04-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

There are some nights when you feel like writing, and you hear the song, and the muse tries to force the pen in your hands.

But on those nights, it is sometimes best to say, "Not tonight."

Time Skips

2009-04-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I am able to jump out of the time frame I am writing in and write something in the future of the story. Sometimes I write in book 2: for example, I've written chapter one of book two. This is not something that surprises me, because I know in almost all certainty and entirety what happens in book 1, so naturally the first of book two isn't a stretch.

However, sometimes I write late, late into book three. This happens on a whim, and I just write, without having things really planning. Sometimes it's startling to see what's there: I learn unexpected dynamics between people, learn new events that happen, and even wonder where characters are until I found out they are dead.

Sometimes this is unnerving and sad. It makes me appreciate some of the moments in book one more, not only for their usual innocence but also able to cherish things before they get complicated and the people that get to be around then.

Stamina

2009-04-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

I was able to revise the last chapter without any problems. Awesome!

I am at the point where, if I have nothing to do, and the mood is right (which has been a lot lately) that I can write nearly 2,000 words in a sitting. I am somewhat happy about this because I read somewhere that Stephen King tries to hit this quota daily. But what is more is that this is about 1/5 of a chapter (a chapter lately has been about 9,500 words in MS Word, or roughly 18 pages in MS Word). Keeping up with this stamina is good for writing--it begets the proper pace--and it means I get to the end much sooner, i.e. a chapter a week. Sometimes if I'm really in the zone I can do 4,000 words in a sitting (about five hours). Considering that from senior year of high school to about...before Christmas Break my 5th year of college I had only written about eight or nine chapters, and now in the span from then till now I have written six chapters, this is a great boon. We'll see what happens with finals and other things coming up, but I may finally get this thing done by June or so.

Also, it's kind of interesting. Let's say I wrote this all this year. Doing (goal of thirty chapters+prelude) at the pace of a chapter a week is about 31 weeks. And, I rush, maybe burn out. At the pace lately it doesn't seem like that's a long time, but that's almost a year to write thirty chapters. No wonder sequels for books take a long time to come out. You have to prevent burnout, get inspiration from reading and doing other things, and so on.

On the other hand

2009-04-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

Recently I have blogged a lot about the new direction I allowed my writing process to go in, which was mainly to be looser on the plot outlines I had written and just let the story evolve and write itself, which it always does anyway. I still feel this is a very superior way for organicness and overall good story-telling.

However, last night, I did not have a firm enough hand while keeping the important plot points in place, and the laxness caused a mix-up, a flopping in the order of how the plot played out in one chapter. This simple lack of oversight caused the chapter to ruin its climax and, actually, a key point for all of book one and even the series as a whole.

The night I had written the block of text that included that in it, which was about 2,500 words, I realized the error as I was going to bed and that I could not allow it to remain that way. I was, very luckily, able to avoid a complete re-write of the last 1/3 of those 2,500 words. A few quick edits and I was able to add in front what would have ended up following the important point had I continued on. This saved the chapter and many other things. So, I will be watching a little more carefully because I don't want to get into a spot where I write like 4,000 words in a sitting and then have to rewrite the whole jazz due to some error like that.

2009-03-28T12:37:00.001-07:00

I haven't written a whole lot lately. I'd been having gallbladder problems and then had gallbladder surgery yesterday to get it removed, so I'm a little worn out. I did write a little bit on the next chapter ("Attack of the Fallen Warriors!: The Resemblance of Alliance"). A little bit of composite histories left on Earth is talked about to paint a picture of Gyre. What I like about Gyre is, at least on his first arrival, is he isn't some big time bad guy necessarily, or anything like that. I can't describe it in small detail; however, a good example is that he was just a general following orders when he came. So he wasn't the head of anything or operating on his own.

I'm excited to finish Book 1 and edit it. Since the excerpts I put here are always 'hot off the press', they're sometimes riddled with errors or simply aren't as clean as they can be, so I'm just looking forward to seeing it all complete. But first, a little R&R after the operation.

Recurring characters

2009-03-13T09:47:00.001-07:00

It is now the moment in book one when things wrap back around before the slingshot to the climax. The duo has had to return to the town of Esiw before being sent on the final journey. Before this, they are met by another Angel named Hajrael, who opens a portal and sends them to Esiw, directly into the chamber of Aras, the Elder of that town.

Besides the duo and Suleiman, this is the first time we come back to a character previously introduced, like Aras (Hajrael hasn't been introduced but the Angels are all very similar). I was not sure what to expect as far as keeping the character the same as before. Since the first book is so episodal in nature, so quest-oriented and travel through the wilderness-like, I was worrying about this wrap around. But Aras is a good character and he is just the same as he was seven or so chapters previous, which is a good thing. Same goes for the manner of the Angel. Excellent.

Waves

2009-03-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that I write in a 'waveform' style, I guess you could call it. At least, that's what it seems like in my head.

Usually, a chapter will go something like this: I will begin with some sort of exposition that is more sweeping in its style of what is going on, maybe lightly describes several things that happened/are happening in a paragraph, and so on. I'll do a few paragraphs like that.

Then I'll suddenly take a paragraph and begin a spiral into specificity as though I'm focusing in, and then I'll start a series of paragraphs of specific, detailed things. It's almost like I begin speaking as though it was a plane just viewing the landscape and then I suddenly nosedive and land on one spot in the field.

Usually these specific-type paragraphs, that include detailed scenery and dialogue, go on for a while (obviously, because I have to tell a story). Then I will suddenly pull out, and give more sweeping storytelling style for a short time. Again, here I might have a paragraph that has broad description and even several unrelated quotes, usually done in parenthesis, to show that many different things were said in these sweeping paragraphs. In a way it's so you can write about things that aren't important without doing a complete time skip. It also is good for pacing and can actually be pretty fun. In fact, these series of broad paragraphs are almost parenthetical in themselves.

2009-03-11T00:15:00.001-07:00

I just wrote a little over 4,000 words since 11:15PM to finish out the chapter I've been working on. I've never written so much in one sitting, but I needed to finish and strike while the proverbial iron was hot. However, the chapter is now eighteen pages. Editing that is not going to be fun.

I have written a lot the last few days; in fact, I think I've written almost every night, at least 1,000 words, in the last week or so. I think I'll take a break until after the camping trip to refill on creativity. We'll see.

2009-03-10T00:55:00.000-07:00

I wanted to finish the chapter I'm working on very badly, but for this next part I am going to need my rest and my brain is running on fumes. However, I have succeeded in having my heart race as I wrote the last few parts of this chapter. I am very pleased by that, and can't wait for the climax of this chapter.

2009-03-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

The last chapter I have been working on, while having no action (to my surprise, as every chapter has had some action in it) and having really no important plot points, has turned out to be one of my favorite and most natural and funny chapters ever. I am pleased.

Bored Update

2009-02-26T15:26:00.001-08:00

I kind of feel like I should update this, so I will partially update by revealing a partially updated table of contents.

Prelude: The Coming of War and the Hope For a Hero
Chapter 1: Set The Quest In Motion!: The Sword Glows Again
Chapter 2: Black Evil from the East!: Bastion of Good Enters the World
Chapter 3: Secret Society of the Shadow!: Inner Light Cuts a Path
Chapter 4: Past, Present, Future, Revealed!: The Tome of Zantrukara
Chapter 5: Mysterious Other-World Beings!: Enter Odo, the Demon
Chapter 6: Nature's Perfect Deception!: Angry Glare of a Beautiful Woman
Chapter 7: Dastardly Attack of Magic!: Sleeping Lunite Powers Stir
Chapter 8: Sumus Sabotage?!: Save the Source
Chapter 9: Tales and Revelations!: Memoirs of Metal
Chapter 10: Heavenly Helper!: Enter Archael, the Angel
Chapter 11: Pain and Peril!: The Bonds of Trust
Chapter 12: Contests and Choices!: Dream To Be The Best
Chapter 13: What Speed Is This?!: A Town Like an Anthill

2009-02-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

I know I said the book would be Prelude + 30 chapters...but it's looking like it will be more.

2009-02-21T21:33:00.001-08:00

Thinking ahead to Book 2. Yume may be going to a much worse place than I thought--emotionally, in his mind. I feel dread at the idea, but we shall see what happens.

2009-02-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I've written (maybe a week...it's been busy), but it is time to jump back into the tale of Yume and Moeru.

Familiarity

2009-02-08T23:47:00.000-08:00

I have been pleased with my writing the other day. I am a fan of Stephen King's. I wouldn't say a huge fan because I haven't actually read enough of his stuff to say a 'huge fan', but I love The Dark Tower. Anyway, I happened upon his wiki page and apparently there was a quote about how you need to do X amount of reading and writing in a day or you can't make it, something like that, and also how he sets a quote of himself for 2,000 words a day. The other night I sat down and wrote 1,000 in about an hour and a half, which I think is pretty good for that time frame and considering it was the start of a new chapter (which is sometimes hard to know where you go). I don't mean this to try compare myself with him or anything like that, I am just kinda glad I could do it and that I may be making good progress.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. I have reached a pleasing point of familiarity with the world and the people in it. I am referring to the books world, obviously. It is hard to describe, so I don't know why I made a post about it, but I feel I could trust them if they were in the real world or something. Perhaps before I could only see their choices, but now I understand why they make said choices or where they want to go and how they want to proceed, and so on. I guess that didn't really make any sense.

I also grow proud of what the characters have accomplished in development terms. I just finished the summation of a subplot and the duo learned the importance of trust. It was a struggle for them but once it came to fulfillment, I couldn't help be proud. I think this details a certain level of intimacy I have reached with the duo, at least.

On a side note, it's kinda interesting to see this has probably progressed without my knowledge, not only familiarity with the characters, but being comfortable in my writing style. I look now at how easy and fun it is to write a 14-page chapter (maybe pushing it though) and look back at how difficult and not quite as fun as it was to crank out an early chapter at eight pages. I'll probably add a little to them, or rather, revise and edit them to reflect a more refined writing style. I already did that once to chapters 1 and 2 but I think they could have at least one more going over.

2009-02-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

If Book 1 were to be published into an actual book (i.e., so as to not judge by the size of Microsoft Word pages), it could be 400-500 pages in length, if not a bit more.

I like this scene, so I am sharing

2009-01-31T22:59:00.000-08:00

This if from Chapter 11.

Finally they noticed more and more green creeping onto the floor, reaching out like patches of spilled ink from an unknown source. There was more grass and vines began to be seen spiraling up trees; bushes burgeoned here and there and there were even some flowers flourishing in little clusters, their pink and white petals like clams shut in the relative darkness.
Yume took notice of the answer slightly earlier than Moeru: there was a river rampaging just out of sight (Yume’s slightly pointed ears gave him an edge). Within two hundred paces Moeru slightly cocked his head and Yume knew Moeru had heard, too; fifty paces thereafter they could see, past the increasingly lush greenery, a nice streak of colorlessness that caught their eyes like a lightning bolt across a dark sky.
This was when something strange and frightening happened.
Suddenly and without explanation the hairs on the duos’ bodies stood at attention while goosebumps tingled all over; it was not out of cold, for their armors suitably controlled these things, but of a strange energy in the air. Their pores opened up and without reason their senses had suddenly sharpened: they could hear pebbles being tossed about individually in the river, they could pick out bent blades of grass on the ground, they could count the raindrops that fell on the canopy overhead, and they could feel the slightest shift in wind.
Their minds felt jolted with electricity, for suddenly whatever thoughts they might have had before had instantly evaporated and they were aware of everything around them. This was not just paying attention: this was raw, razor-sharp and crystal-clear clarity. And this was not triggered by anything that they saw, or by any queer feeling, but it fell upon them before they realized what had happened and were caught up in it like a relentless riptide.
All of this happened so swiftly and unexpectedly that there was no time for the two heroes to process the event, because at the same time that they experienced this is when they noticed a man standing at the bank of the river.
Their already unnaturally strong warrior and Lunite senses bolstered by this focus took note of a strong yet worn-out looking man standing with his fists clenched and his arms flexed as though trying to impress a woman. His chest was sticking out and his back was arched; however, as both Yume and Moeru instinctively squinted to further analyze what was happening, they realized that the position of his body was all wrong: the back was arched much too far and his chest was unnatur ally tight under his tattered gray garments.
He opened his mouth and began screaming in agony, and suddenly his chest bulged, fit to burst, and then it began to shrink peacefully without harm. As it did so, like a burst pimple, some sort of something began to inflate from the man’s chest.
But this was not a good description, decided Yume, for there was no material to speak of, and whatever was coming out was not coming from the man. In fact, it was not really coming from anywhere at all, yet it seemed as though something was coming off of the man. It was more like a cloud of something much more solid than smoke or anything of that sort.
And then a great wind rushed toward the duo, but it was not a wind, for the grass did not wave; rather, it was a force of pure energy that hit them like a shockwave, tossing up little rocks and small twigs around the duo, causing their cloaks to flap. And then they heard it: that horrendous howl of agony and anger, but now that they were closer they could hear that it was mingled with a cry of anguish and determination from the man. But if the cries from before were not from the man…
And then they beheld a most sickening sight, for the weird cloud in front of the man began to swirl and take shape, orienting itself as though it had a front, and receding onto the man, covering his front; and then the cloud began to pull itself away, taking shape in the form of a man-like creature, solidifying, ripping itself away from its host. It was as though the man’s skin was being pulled apart, for there were wet strings of flesh-like material spread between the man and the new entity, like melted and stringy cheese. Yume looked on in horror as he thought the man’s flesh was being torn from his body; yet as he looked closer he saw the man was physically remaining intact and, as far as he could tell, unharmed.
As this went on, the man began to cry, more weakly, yet more determinedly, a look of concentration contorting his face. Simultaneously a monster was forming in front of him, facing him, its arms in the same manner as the man, as though ready to fight or display his own power. There a monster had pulled free a torso from the man, trying to elongate his trunk, a grotesque head with waxy, twisted, yet ethereal features snarling and howling at the man, horns and fanged teeth and all, trying to solidify and reinstate itself.
The duo stood in shock, yet the unnatural focus that fell upon them had remained and so they could not help but look and take in every detail, although they did not know what they could do…
“I have not been appointed by those who sealed you to give you up to the world just yet! Praise the Light, praise to those who bound you to me! It is not over yet! Signum Angelorum, luce!” cried the man, weakening with every word, and suddenly a bright light shone from beneath his garment, and in the middle of his chest a light blue pattern vaguely became visible: a circle with three lines from equidistant spots on the circle, two on the upper part of the circle and one coming straight up from the bottom, joining in the middle with a dot; it vaguely resembled a wheel and its spokes.
“Signum daemonum…luce!” and then a bright red line began to trace itself on the inside of the circle, though it seemed to struggle: an inverted triangle, its points fitting inside the circle and laying upon where the lines of the blue circle, a dot also in the middle of the seal, turning the overlapping dots purple…
The being forming from the man began to groan and struggle, gesticulating wildly, and then the man spoke, his eyes closing not in peace but nigh-unconsciousness, “Signum…obsignandi…luce…” and the purple point in the middle rushed outward, turning all lines purple, and there was a purple flash. Whatever monster was forming had become eerily lifeless and still, and blew away like ashes in the wind. The light from the man had disappeared and he fell flat on his face.
The quickening of their senses evaporated and the world again seemed almost normally dull in such a way that they were momentarily dumb. Then Moeru twitched and darted toward the man, and Yume followed in equal haste.

2009-01-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today in Language and Politics we broke down Barack Obama's inauguration speech. I didn't look into it as much as some of my peers and it was really awesome to learn so much.

It made me want to skip ahead, as I am occasionally wont to do, and write Yume's final speech in Book 3, to the soldiers. We'll see how it goes.

On Morality

2009-01-15T08:29:00.000-08:00

I have a Microsoft Word documents titled 'desiredthemes' that I have had since the book's earliest inception. This file has a bunch of themes I want to work into the book. There is a good deal of religion in this book as well as good versus evil, 'doing the right thing', etc., and basically how I can convey the main character being the epitome of moral uprightedness even in the most dire and desperate situations.

Morality is an interesting thing. When I had began the book, in late high school, I struggled a lot with morality in a religious sense and a temporal sense. I thought I had to be 'good' to please people and be 'blessed' by God, and I thought I had to be 'good' to gain merit with God.

Throughout college, I struggled with 'morality' but in even different ways. I had to be 'good'! But these desires for works did not come genuinely from discipleship, from taking the yoke of Christ upon myself, but for some own reason--maybe to look good to people, maybe in hopes of some temporal or eternal reward. But these works came from me--not from grace through and from the Holy Spirit, the only works that have life.

As I began my shift from Baptist to Lutheran, I began to see the folly of these contrived works and desire to just 'do good'. More often than not I realized how all such of these works that any try to do 'good' have no merit in God's eyes at all. We cannot choose God, this is a false teaching. If we cannot even choose Him, which is what He ultimately wants (to save us) and does Himself, then how can anything we do please Him? The reality comes from Christ: 'No one is good, except the Father.' We can do nothing on our own, and no works for ourselves that are 'for God'. Only what the Holy Spirit works through us are good works.

Now, what does this have to with the book? I wanted to work the stuff I had in 'desiredthemes' into the book, but the episodal nature of book one was making this difficult. Character rotation and quantity is a tricky thing in this book, and even when new characters and situations come about, you can't contrive plot points to show some good moral choice or not, just like you can't contrive good works.

This isn't to knock morality. However, 'morality', whatever that can and may mean, can only come through the Holy Spirit. This realization, following my conversion, also follows a pattern on my 'giving up' on trying to fit in any 'moral' plot points where they don't work. Dead men don't choose to do things like works, and dead plot points don't get to be placed where they want to go.

I still want to incorporate these themes, but I cannot force the story--I am just a conduit, just like I cannot force any good works, but am a conduit for the Spirit. So now I will stop trying and stop worrying, and let the story develop naturally. I know the Hero is 'good' and 'moral', whatever that can and may mean. But the story will show it, not me.

(okay, kind of a weird post; I had it laid out well in my head until I had to go get my ultrasound)

2009-01-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

After a brief hiatus, I am running for the finish line of Book One.

Publishing Update, Deus Ex Machina, and Burnout

2009-01-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

As I had mentioned, I don't think I will be able to get book one published on schedule due to financials. Therefore, it'll probably be two weeks longer. This isn't so bad, because it will give me more time to polish.

My friend Andrew reviewed Chapters 8 and 9 for me. One thing he brought up was Deus Ex Machina. He feared I was using it too much. After asking him a bit, I found that there were parts he assumed had happened before in the book by how a character talked (although they didn't happen), but it didn't help that the Angel appearing at the end of chapter 9 is, more or less, a bit of deus ex machina. I was a bit surprised to hear this, though: not because I didn't think I was using this technique, but because I hadn't actually thought of it all together. After going back through the chapters I thankfully only have one actual use of deus ex machina, which is the Angel's appearance. There are parts that appear to be this technique, but it repeats frequently which I feel eliminates it from being pure deus ex machina, but rather dilutes it and makes it more out to be mystery: why does this certain thing keep happening? And that's what I'm going for...it's an integral mystery of book one.

Upon thinking about this, though, I wonder why I hadn't even considered this technique, or rather, why was it not an issue in my mind? I think it is because all the anime I have watched is rife with deus ex machina: take DBZ for example. They're getting beaten up, and who comes at the last minute to save everyone but a revitalized Goku. Or Bleach: Ichigo is getting killed by Nnoitra, who is about to deliver a final blow, when who saves him but none other than Kenpachi Zaraki and the other Captains, when they aren't even supposed to be there. I could go on with animes that are fighting oriented. I've always found this to be predictable and I never worry about characters in that situation. But after so much of it, I guess in my mind I began to consider it a simple staple and no longer gave it much thought. I'm glad that so far, after really looking at things, I haven't used it as a staple. Once and a while is fine, I think, like the Angel's entrance: I hoped it would be dramatic. But yeah, I don't want a story full of cop-outs.

I am, however, beginning to feel a burnout with this particular story. Obviously I do not mean this negatively: this is my true passion. I do not foresee any story I try to tell later to be superior to this, nor do I foresee myself trying to trump this. I have had this story in my head for almost six years, and I have been in that world every single day for that long. However, there is a point where one must take a break from these worlds, for they sometimes move too quickly to keep up with and with such strange concepts of linearity (read as: not linear at all) that one just gets worn out.

It's not just that. I have a legitimate desire to 'leave everyone alone' after book one, because there are 'three full weeks of seven whole days' of missing time after the end of book one and the beginning of book two. As any writer/author will tell you, we do not create these stories in the strict sense. We are but mouthpieces or conduits to transfer information. As I just said, these conduits are prone to wearing out and need time to rest and be repaired. But in this case it's not only that. For there to be a continued sense of wonder in the second book, I need to not be present for the 'three full weeks of seven whole days'. The watchful eye of the world needs to look away so the world's denizens can blossom without the feeling of Big Brother; the events need to unfold without a breath from above blowing them this way and that. In a way as well, I am tied to Yume and Moeru. If they are not able to experience the 'three full weeks of seven whole days', then neither would I want to, nor really would I be able. I can't fully articulate it, but basically while I have known what will happen at the end of book one and book two, I have not been able to know what happens in the 3 weeks of 7. And in a way, it's a wonderful relief, and when I as a conduit reach that part of the shaky timeline that I receive the story in full, in a way I want to cherish it and partake in the rest, and I await it.

But I'm not there yet, and so that's not the only part. I have, at the moment, at least four to five other stories that I am a conduit for. I can hear the characters calling, and I can see the different worlds of which they are a part. I want to visit these unique places and I want to meet these characters of which are a part of me and I a part of them. Their stories want to overrun the gates, and I am trying to hold them steady until I can finish book one of the current story.

Since I am the nexus that unites all these worlds, it might be good to take these breaks and learn a bit about these stories and meet the people in them. It can only help recharge faster, I think...I just want to get as much down in book one as I can before I can no longer hold the gates and I am overrun.

Good News

2008-12-22T21:54:00.001-08:00

Last night I was talking to my friend Sarah on the phone. I was giving her some updates on the book and also describing to her how I already set in place events that set another story (as in, book series) in motion. I was trying to explain to her what happen, but decided to just pull the file up and read it to her.

As I did so, she said it was really good. I then began to read another part to her. She was like ."..read more!" Then I continued on to where the first Angel appears. I stopped reading.

"Wait..what does the Angel do?!" she asked. So I read some more. She then asked, "Are Angels supposed to be so matter-of-fact when they speak?" I was really excited because that is exactly what I was going for and it came across!

These were all fairly small chunks, but then I asked if I could read a bigger part a few paragraphs up. It was an action scene and I wanted to test pacing and action-ness. Reading it to someone was incredible for me. I had not talked to her in a while so she did not know about this recent part of writing, and she gasped in all the write places or said 'oh my gosh' or little things like that all where I hoped a reader would do so.

This was extremely gratifying to me. I have a hard time getting people to help review my progress and I don't know how things come across. To read my work to someone and have it interpreted how I hope and with praise and, above all, provide a reader with enjoyment, is wonderful.

Musings on Dialogue and Cast

2008-12-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

I had a better title for this post when I was leaving my CVA exam and walking to the Union, but I forgot.

As I mentioned two posts ago, I am a bit more plot-centric than freestyle when it comes to my writing.

Upon reflecting, I am starting to wonder if some of the dialogue is beginning to appear to have the only purpose of driving the plot. This is not something that is enjoyable and it really does not lead much into character development.

However, I think the lack of conversation for the sake of having conversation and other random dialogue is due to the nature of the first book. The two main characters are on a specific quest against the clock. Not only that, the first book has a completely rotating cast until the last five or six chapters or so, and Yume and Moeru are the only ones that have been in every chapter (Suleiman has only been in a few and Aras only two.)

This is also because of the episodal nature of the first book, because the first fifteen or sixteen chapters are really separate episodes until the aftershocks of the episodes merge into the final deluge into the climax of book one.

I think then it depends on what the book really needs to accomplish and if this can outweigh some certain points of development...in terms of postponing characters. But maybe not. Granted, I intend to spice up a lot of the prose so I can probably do so with the dialogue as well. I won't lie: there are some concepts and themes I am trying to work in that just get too unwieldy for me at some points. It takes me a while to incorporate them smoothly. Hopefully this will be done before I publish the first draft, but it may be something to save for the second draft. We'll see.

Well, this post was supposed to be much more insightful and less sounding like one long excuse, but I'm a little tired and still have some finals stuff to attend to.

Publication Update

2008-12-03T22:59:00.001-08:00

The self-publication of my first draft should be able to be completed as scheduled. However, now that I am having to pay for an intercession class, I don't know what finances will be like. That could mean I'll have to wait until I get financial aid for spring and use some of that to publish the first few copies (not something I feel comfortable doing, but hey).

I was really in the mood tonight to write, but unfortunately I have to write a history paper that is due tomorrow. But that's okay. The longer ideas are inside the longer they get to cook.

Learning during the writing process

2008-12-01T22:48:00.001-08:00

I have been listening to the Stephen King septology and, in my opinion, masterpiece that is The Dark Tower series. I am reading The Song of Susannah right now and, without spoiling too much just in case, there is a part where King himself is in the novel. In there he makes a comment about his writing process.

I also read something similar online that was about his writing process, mainly that he doesn't use outlines and he apparently often doesn't know how things end. He just writes and sees where that takes him.

That can't work for me entirely. I end up with too many thoughts that I must outline or I will lose them. Due to the nature of my writing process (visualizing a scene and then working on how that scene came to fruition and where it will go from there) I invariably have huge plot points here and there, including the ending (heck, how I started to come up with the book was seeing the scene of what is now the final showdown in the last book).

However, reflecting upon that and a few other things I've noticed from his books made me realize a lot about what I need to do. I was thinking about just how much writing there is in a seven-book series like The Dark Tower or Harry Potter. A lot! And I was actually thinking, 'Jeez, he really could have probably condensed it into five books if he wanted, four if he really tried.' I thought this not out of boredom or lack of fun, because I very much do enjoy them, but out of practicality's sake. (For the record, I can't see that being the same for Harry Potter mainly by virtue of each novel being school-year centric).

And here I realized the error of how I shoehorn myself. I will not lie: I think my book has a fantastic plot. Telling this story is what really makes me excited, what really makes me look forward to point C when I'm really struggling to get to point B. I also really like my characters: not only am I excited to see them grow and where they go but just how they are in general.

And in that sense I've made my focus and, by extension the first book so far, too plot and character intensive.

This may seem a little strange, but think about what I thought about The Dark Tower and condensing it. Why would I think that if I am enjoying reading it?

It's because just as much as the plot or the characters make a story, the 'nonsense' moments where characters are just being, witnessing something or being involved with something or talking about things not too integral to the plot is also what makes books enjoyable.

And as I look back on some of the writing that I have done that I feel the best about, that I really think shines, a lot of it is dialogue where characters are just being, or where the character is just doing something or observing something that has no point at all, but really makes things seem alive and easy to relate to. It just has a naturalness and organickness to it.

Where I have tried to be too plot focused I have run into roadblocks with dialogue. I try to make it go one way but it turns into pithy one-lines. And it's because I'm trying to force the plot and not natural free-styling.

The nature of the story and how I know where things go prevents me from truly just writing and seeing what happens. But that doesn't mean I can't let things be real.

Duality

2008-12-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

I have always been a fan of duality in life. I find such dualities immensely intriguing. Even in novels I was drawn to the duality of Harry and Voldemort, for example, and that is the biggest reason I read the book.

It occurred to me tonight just how much duality is in my own novel...it's almost integral to everything.

Earth and Luna
Angels and Demons
Tiger and Wolf
Moeru and Yume
Warrior (Lunite) and Mage (Earthling)
Western Magic and Eastern Magic
Fire (Ember Clan) and Ice (Frost Clan)
Passion (fire) and calmness (ice)
Good and Evil
Love and Hate
Red and Blue (representing fire/ice, clans, emotion, etc)
Crimsonmight and Azurewrath
Black and White
Gyre and ???
??? and ???
??? and ???
Faith and Reason
Light and Darkness
War and Peace

and so on and so forth. I had to put some ??? because I don't want to reveal too much. However, they're the most important.

As I said, these dualities are all integral to nearly everything that happens in the story. It's really interesting how it turned out.

What draws me most to duality are a few things. First, the natural of the duality: opposition and apposition. Secondly, the connection between the dualities. Thirdly, the balance of the dualities. Fourthly, the necessity of dualities. And finally, and most of all, the ramifications of messing with or pulling apart such dualities.

Angels

2008-11-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for a long time to be able to introduce some Angels. Their entrance wasn't as grand as I was imagining, but that's just how it goes during the writing process: a fight scene takes another direction than I was planning, and thus the entrance of Archael is not as dramatic as I pictured. However, it carries with it more authority, and I like that. I'm too lazy to format this right now, but I hope the quotes help separate it enough

"And then the area was filled with bright light, almost blinding Yume, making him fearful. There was a whooshing sound as the light coalesced around a single being, and from that being came a clear, loud voice with authority, although it sounded strange, almost as if it were speaking from underwater.
“Enough!” it said. “Away from him, Kono.”
And as Yume’s eyes began to focus, it focused on a being of glory. It was wearing a thick silver robe that glowed and had a hood, but it was all made of one piece of glowing garment. The hands and feet had golden gauntlets and boots of great splendor and might. Under the hood there was no face but a strange and ornate golden plate that seemed like a visor or a mask but had no place for eyes to peer through or a mouth to breathe through. It had many long, silvery, ethereal tendrils coming out of its back that waved about it like wings."

"Yume took in the strange Angel, who was now kneeling next to him and apparently examining him. Yume could not tell exactly how it was doing so, because it did not have a face: under its silvery hood was a round plate that seemed to be made from miniscule bricks of dark and light gold. In the middle of this plate was a solid piece of raised, dark gold that Yume thought looked almost like two goblets with broken stems fused together. It was wide from the top of the plate and then abruptly became skinny about where the eyes should be, extending down to where the chin should be, and then repeating the formation of the top part, only upside down. It also appeared that the plate was sewn into the lip of the hood, for there was no separation between the two and nothing at all could be seen behind the plate."

"Archael stood up next to Yume, and Yume noticed two swords floating next to the hip of the Angel in their hilts. They were not held there by any belt or binding, but simply hung in the air next to its hip, moving about like normal as the Angel moved. But what was more curious to Yume was that there were two swords. On top there was a sword sitting in a hilt like normal, and stacked under it was another sword. The sword on the bottom, although also in a hilt, had heavy black chains coiled around it."

"As Archael said this, there was another localized flash of light that coalesced into another creature. Yume could tell it was an Angel, and based on its build he decided it must be a female Angel, if that existed.
This being had the same kind of raiment as Archael, the one-piece garb that glowed silvery-white. However, instead of gold gauntlets and greaves it had dainty silver-colored ones. Under its hood was a round, silver plate, attached to the hood like Archael’s, although this was more like a normal mask. It had two almond-shaped indentions where eyes should be with raised silver dots trailing downward from them like tears. It did not, however, have anything resembling a nose or mouth.
She also floated like Archael, and had the same peculiar set of swords: one on top, not attached to anything, and one on bottom, also not attached to anything, but shackled with black chains. She also had what looked like wings; however, these were different than Archael’s. Yume almost didn’t recognize them at first but realized this must be what they were if male and female angels had homologous structures. There were two brightly glowing beams of light coming from the back of this Angel’s shoulders, sticking out behind the Angel, and falling from each of them like a thin fabric was a nearly-transparent swath of something that had constantly-falling sparkles from the beams of light that came from the shoulders. They glittered and fluttered gently as though they were caught in an eternal breeze. It was mesmerizing."

2008-11-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

I really wasn't intending to have spent three chapters in the Magnoc Mountains, but, it's too late now, heh.

2008-11-15T01:06:00.000-08:00

I finished chapter 9 tonight. It needs smoothing out, but I finished it.

And now we begin the REAL story.

Just a song

2008-11-11T23:47:00.001-08:00

“Fury of frost,
anger of ember,
these are the cries
we’ll always remember!
shouts of lightning
ever frightening
until the coming
of Gyre.
Cheer on the Heroes
Of red and blue!
Battle of might
With swords bright and true
O Luna!
Our hearts cry for you
Forever and evermore
Mourning and tears for Luna!”

2008-11-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased with how Chapter 9 is coming out. I had to write a flashback from a certain POV that was difficult to do, but that part is finished and it is gratifying.

As I mentioned earlier, once I finish this part, then I have set the stage for the main events for the rest of the book. I'm very excited to have it done and get to the nitty-gritty. I think it will be a much easier to finish up because I am excited about the final chapters (I remember how easy they came out when outlining the plot).

Anyway, here we go.

Big Chapter

2008-10-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

I'm at a big crossroads here at chapter 9.

I've had great ease in writing the last few days, and I'm hoping it lasts long. Hypergraphia is my friend in certain situations.

Anyway, the book so far has been: a Prelude (for history's sake), chapter 1 (which begins the quest), and then chapters 2-8 which have been more episodal in nature in order to just be a little fun and introduce a few characters and some plot elements here and there.

But in a moment I am about to begin a part of chapter 9 where there is a flashback. So far, the book has been limited mostly to the two main characters and whatever characters are introduced and needed for that particular chapter (except for Suleiman who is a constant character, and Aras who is right now in two chapters). So there isn't a 'whole lot' going on except for some plot points and smoking guns. But now what I'm about to write sets up the whole political scene and cultural scene for the first time, and I need to make sure it's right. I kind of want to wait because I'm a little sleepy, but I know writing while I'm really inspired is important. Maybe I'll have some tea first.

Redacting Apology and a thought

2008-10-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

I had written 11 pages of chapter 8, and before I realized what was happening I had concluded the chapter without adding what I thought was another ten pages. I then checked my plot outline and chapter 9 was looking to be about five pages. I decided to move the 'other stuff' of chapter 8 to chapter 9. I think will flow much more better than how it would have turned out if I just stuck to what was in my original plan.

Now a new apology might be that chapter 8 doesn't have any interesting plot twists or anything. But it does add a little character development and some other tidbits which are nice.

Speaking of character development, I'm hoping I'm doing well with it. There are a few things that come naturally to me, thankfully, such as the prose and the plot twists/smoking guns and the connections and the overall story. There are also things that I had to work on but have really gotten the hang of, like dialogue (which now sounds much more natural...I'll have to clean up the first chapters), working in some humor (so things aren't too dry) and not leaving overly obvious red herrings (that weren't obvious to me because I was too busy trying to be apparently clever and not concerned enough with actually leaving good red herrings). But character development is a little iffy to me. I'll tell you why.

I know the characters very well. Although at times I begin to question if I actually created them (because they do take on such a life of their own), I know where they came from, where they've been, where they are, and where they're going. Truly I am outside of their time. The problem is being able to write their early characters without mixing how I know they turn out.

I guess the best I can hope for is, since by default the events they encounter mostly shapes them, that by virtue of writing chronologically that their development shapes themselves. But I need to be careful and should probably go back and double check. I don't want to just present a character in their entirety in the first two pages that you meet them.

Then again, I realize Moeru has had some good development. After all, at first he was a comedic relief of sorts, as well as the 'information character', and then I noticed I was writing him too serious in certain situations. "He's supposed to be a goof!" I thought. But then I realized, he is a goof, but during fighting or strategy he is very serious and quite cunning. Bam--two dimensions. Congrats to myself: my 'mistake' allowed me to not have a crappy one-dimensional character. And it was just a natural development of the situations.

Of course, Yume is a bit different story. He is almost all he seems at first, however this is essential to the overarching story and what happens later, so for now, I'm safe with him.

Apologies in advance

2008-10-26T19:56:00.001-07:00

To those of you who will receive--via me giving or you requesting--a copy of book one's semi-rough/semi-final draft, I apologize in advance for Chapter 8. It has kind of gotten out of control with what I wanted to do, and what's in there cannot be broken and placed into separate chapters. We'll see what I can do, though. Or you might like it, which would work out kinda cool..

Release date update

2008-10-24T20:02:00.001-07:00

I decided to move the release date of my first draft to January 5th, 2009. Gotta be on a Monday.

2008-10-13T23:27:00.001-07:00

Trying to finish chapter 8. I'm excited to finish it because it finishes a sort of 'introductory exposition' and into the nitty-gritty. Too bad it's getting freaking long and I haven't even gotten to the point of the chapter yet..

2008-09-29T23:05:00.001-07:00

The worst part about not writing for a month? You can't remember if it's night or day in the setting. You'd think it'd be insignificant...but it's actually kinda important..

2008-09-25T15:49:00.001-07:00

First draft publication date: January 2nd, 2009.

Someone please nag me about it so I can keep my goal.

Lack of Updates

2008-09-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

Now that school is in full swing, I have not had a whole lot of time to update. Part of the problem is because I haven't had time to update...mainly because I haven't had time to write. Since I am trying to have the first draft of book one completed by Christmas so that I can give some people a copy, something needs to change and fast. I am starting to implement a new schedule after this wave of exams and I hope that gives me more time to write.

By the way, noticed a few typos with the last big entry. Oh well.

Races/Entities

2008-08-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

I am starting to be more serious about what I do and don't post on this blog. As I do intend to publish the book, it would be silly to have pointless spoilers. I was intending to write something about Angels, and also the Tiger and the Wolf. However, upon reflection, I'll probably do a brief description of an Angel, and also of the Tiger and the Wolf, but nothing beyond that, so as to leave their nature, background, and other things like that ambiguous.

2008-07-27T23:03:00.001-07:00

Beware, the Tiger approaches, and I fear the Wolf is close behind..

A Glimpse into the East

2008-07-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Just a little bit of a brand of Suleiman's Eastern magic and some scenes of the East. It needs a little expanding, but hey.

Suleiman leaned over to draw a circle in the ground, using his small crystal dagger to do so. He spit inside of the circle and then made a strange motion with his index and middle finger. The saliva spread into the earth, forming slimy, brown clay, which rose and hardened in the form of a bowl. The saliva then rapidly increased in volume, all the while becoming more fluid and clear as water.
Suleiman muttered something unintelligible, and then the fluid gently rippled, as though a small pebble had just fallen into the bowl, and from the depths of the bowl images floated to the surface. Moeru and Yume bent over, looking into the bowl, their reflections barely visible over the clarity of the floating images.
First, floating up from the depths, came images that Yume found to be simply beautiful. Dunes of gently rolling golden sand were in the foreground. In the background were beautiful buildings with tall, squared parapets, always arrayed the same: two short on the corners of the façade, with a longer one in the middle that began at the cornerstone and stretched toward the sky. Oil lamps hung out the outside of the buildings, and they were multicolored: the glasses were stained orange, purple, green, and blue. In this image, between the foreground and background, there was an expanse of still, blue water. It was a calm night and the moon and stars were out. The reflection of these upon the water, coupled with those of the colorful lamps, made Yume’s heart yearn for such beauty and tranquility. Moeru was equally as impressed, even though he knew where this was. “That’s the East for you: the first place of beauty on Earth,” he said.
“You are too kind, Moeru. Yes, my homelands. As you see, all is peaceful. There are no signs of alert or apprehension. Daily,” and on cue, the moon set and the stars vanished as the sun rose, shining upon the water, “people go about their business.” The scene zoomed in past a few of those curiously styled buildings, and indeed people could be seen going about their business cheerfully, as they did in Yume’s town or in Efas. Their complexion was darker than Yume and Moeru, but matched that of Suleiman. Old men wore robes like Suleiman, and older women wore the same kinds of robes, only cut to suit the feminine figure. Yume realized that robe tones seemed to come in pairs: couples wore the same colors when they dressed. Younger people wore white pants and long-sleeved shirts in whatever color they wanted, it seemed, and the shirts looked very soft and comfortable to Yume. Many had brilliant green eyes, the kind of which Yume had never seen before.
“The animals,” Suleiman said, and again the scene changed, another image floating to the top as the current one faded from sight, “do not flee their homes, nor do they quarrel.” Jackals were meandering around the sands and vultures were circling overhead, but nothing was out of the ordinary.
“The only sign of any worry,” he said, and the scene quickly changed, “is in the Council of Elders.” The current image disappeared and the water grew murky, and out now came an image of a darkened stone chamber with orange lamps surrounding the circular room, causing dark shadows to flicker and gesticulate wildly.

Shine On

2008-07-26T00:03:00.001-07:00

Shine on, and shine long.

Genre?

2008-07-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

There are times in the creative process that one must ask: what genre is this work? What genre am I trying to write in, what shade should be cast on it? It is an important question to make the work follow in one smooth direction.

I have thought about it, and honestly, I can't put my finger on it. Immediately one thinks fantasy, what with there being icy and fiery swords and Angels and Demons and magic. But having to go to point A and point B, through many different places, along with there being many battles along the way, also implies a great degree of action/adventure. That's fine, because a lot of time these ~two/three genres are together a lot.

But there is also a love story that runs through the core of the book. Actually, there are a few, and these motivate a few important characters. That can fit too, I suppose.

We also have a world rooted in politics and economy and power, and every choice is influenced by these factors, just like in real-life. I guess it fits, although we're starting to stuff the box pretty full.

However, we also have deep religious implications in the book. This doesn't just imply our own religious world-views finding parallels in the book, but also the characters themselves sorting out religious issues that influence them as well. The lid almost can't fit on the box.

Tied to this in particular is the classic 'hero archetype' of the eventual main character. He must find himself as he is thrust into a new world and must be led to the truth.

Of course, history is important in this world. Many choices in the past still have implications in the future, and historical legend must be studied by the characters (but no worries, this boring stuff is cut out) to actually figure out key things in the course of the book.

As well as some of these, there is are lot of culture and also languages in the story. There's a lot of anthropological things cruising around here. Now the box is overflowing with a pretty eclectic mix.

Many of these such background-like factors cause drama in the series, for whatever reason: political alliances and backstabbing, cross-culture love, territorial battle, and so on, for a few examples. There's much treachery that people have to worry about thanks to Gyre!

Part of the thing that makes the world really connected is the mythology. There is a clear creation that has a ripple effect for all life in the story, and as such the origin of many things are important, as is the history that now borders on mythology.

Before I forget, there is a bunch of mystery and thriller-ness and suspense in the book. Many things are hidden and are not as the main characters think, and there is always moments where even I hold my breath at what happens in some situations.

Of course, we can't forget general philosophy and so on, that stuff.

That's a lot, and everything is integrally tied to each other, just like in our lives. So, what genre is that?

Yume, son of Kago

2008-07-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Yume's father is central not just to the trilogy, but events preceding it. The problem is that he's no where to be found (and I promise there is no Darth Vader type scenario nor an Art Albright situation). Here's a long, fun excerpt, because it also involves the Mark of Luna, as mentioned below.

...Although it was not his mother’s cooking, Yume appreciated and enjoyed this home cooking very much. Bacon, fried eggs, biscuits and fresh fruit were in front of the duo and Aras. There was plenty of cheese and milk, as well as prunes and a warm pasty porridge that neither Yume nor Moeru touched due to their youth. They ate well and did not talk for a while.
“So,” Moeru said, breaking the silence, “did ‘it’ come out and help you in your fight?”
“It?” asked Yume.
“Your moon!”
Aras coughed as Yume said, “Oh, right. It made her visible to me, but I think it was just the annoying light it put out. I wish I could learn to control it, because that could be dangerous sometime.”
“Yume!” Aras gasped.
Yume faltered, and said, “Did I…say something wrong?”
“Yume, you have a ‘moon’? What sort?”
“On my forehead. It glows when weird things are happening, I guess. Danger, maybe.”
As he said this, he thought of the forest that Gyre’s minion had created, and that down-facing crescent flickered.
“Ohh…” said Aras with awe. Moeru folded his arms and looked away, more embarrassed than disdainful. “This is quite remarkable…” Aras said, pulling out his pipe. “How long have you had this? It is a great sign; few bloodlines have this.”
“It came out only when I left my city, around the same time as…” he then remembered Moeru, and tried to say as casually as possible, “…my ears grew pointed.”
“Hmm…Yume, I did not want to pry before, but may I ask if your father has the same mark?”
Yume fidgeted in his seat and slightly blushed. “I’m not sure…my father left around eight years ago, when I was about 11 or 12. I never knew much about him or his family, because he was gone a lot.”
Aras apologized, and then began to study Yume’s face and hair. Moeru had begun to sit up ever so slowly, while counting on his fingers. When he had counted eight, he shot up, sitting straight forward and gazed at Yume with awe and suspicion.
“Yume…” began Aras, “may I ask the name of your father?”
“Raymin,” Yume replied blandly.
Moeru leaned back, looking slightly relieved yet disappointed, but then Yume said, “I don’t think that was his real name though. That’s just what everyone called him, but sometimes when they didn’t know I was around, I heard my mom call him ‘Kago’ a lot.”
Moeru jumped to his feet, fiery eyes wide with disbelief. Aras blinked a few times in disbelief as well.
“What? What’s wrong?” Yume said.
“You’re Kago’s son?” Moeru gasped. “The Kago?”
“The Kago?” Yume repeated. He had clearly missed something.
Moeru opened his mouth, but Aras stopped him. “Kago was one of the most powerful Lunar Warriors of the Frost Clan, and one of the most kind, justice-filled, yet peaceful people one could know. He was one most highly regarded by the Angels and respected by Demons.”
Yume’s heart began to fill with joy as thought a spigot of happiness had been opened there; he had not known his father as a young man but had missed him secretly when he left. Was he going to see him again? But then what would he do, what would he say to that jerk who left him and his mother all alone, without warning or saying goodbye…
“It was a great, tragic loss when he went missing. It was eight years ago. I was awaiting him; Hermael, the Angelic Messenger, told me Kago was to bring news to me. He never came. I am sorry, Yume.”
Yume felt like a trapdoor opened in the bottom of his heart and that his joy was now a sour, heavy liquid that flooded and weight down his stomach. He could have seen his father again…just maybe…
“This explains so much!” clapped Moeru. “Your skill…the Mark of Luna…it’s in your blood! Boy, am I glad you’re on our side!”

What's interesting is these aren't the only ones who know of 'the Kago', which I have hinted at. And something else happened around eight years ago which no one has made the connection with. Kago is definitely important, and one of the most central (if not the central) character in the tale. Since he isn't around, though, Yume and Moeru will probably have to find clues about him. Moeru will have many stories to tell Yume of Kago's legend as they travel...

The Mark of Luna

2008-07-09T20:50:00.001-07:00

I mentioned that the swords have the Mark of Fire and the Mark of Ice on them, but Yume himself has a very different mark that is upon him.

...“Yume, there is something special about your father’s family. He wouldn’t reveal his heritage too much, and in fact, I’m not sure if he even knew himself. Even still, there is something magical about…you.”
The hair on Yume’s neck stood up.
His mother went on, “I don’t know much, but I do know that all of your ancestors have been excellent swordsmen, as if by nature. They had almost superhuman abilities…but only the first-born male. Anytime something bad was about to happen, you could tell…your father…he had a scar, on his forehead...but it wasn’t really a scar, more like a marking. Anytime something bad was going to happen, the mark would appear on his forehead for some time, and he would go outside the village…”
“I guess the whole story about nobody entering or leaving the village in a thousand years has a lot of holes, huh?” commented Yume.
His mother ignored him and continued, “He would go outside with his sword for days at a time and then would return. He never wanted to talk about what he did…he was irritable about it,” she said with annoyance, although a twinkle of longing gleamed in her eye. “Yume…you haven’t had a mark all your life, like your father’s, so I was hoping the chain would be broken.”
“I don’t have it, do I? This is different. Besides, if it would make Dad proud…I want to do this...

But Yume had to leave the village to begin his quest:

The whistling grew louder and more intense as if it had a sense of urgency. Suddenly, Yume felt his forehead ache and burn. His skin peeled away and blood dripped into his eyes. He was blinded by a deep, dull purple light but did not know where it was coming from. He winced in pain and screamed and fell to his knees. Moeru was blinded as well, but scrambled to help Yume. The light abruptly vanished. Yume’s pain was gone, and he confusedly looked around. Yume once again looked toward the sound and his eyes grew wide. “Watch out!”

Suleiman tells Yume he has the Mark of Luna, which is very unique. Moeru wishes he had it. Yume had no idea what they're talking about, however

Suleiman produced his crystal dagger and it slowly turned into a mirror. He held it up to Yume. “See for yourself.”
Yume gazed into the mirror, and saw a deep, dull purple crescent on his forehead. It was facing downward, as if the bottom of a crescent moon. Yume reached to touch it in disbelief.

What are the uses of this Mark? It is unclear, because it comes and goes at random times, and Yume cannot control it. However, here's an example of it helping Yume in a dire situation:

“Come at me again. Things will be just as before.”
Yume closed his eyes and concentrated. Deep down he knew this evil should not weaken him like this. He was too strong for that. In his minds eye, he saw a light. It was growing in him; growing for him…
“Fall asleep did you, boy? I’ll end this now, then. It’s always peaceful to die in one’s sleep.”
Yume felt things around him swim, but the light he saw held him steady. He felt the energy from Ahamay grip his body, enveloping him.
Yume took a deep breath, bade the light farewell, and opened his eyes. Darkness pressed on his eyeballs in this black coffin. It was closing in, suffocating him…
Then the moon on his forehead began to shine. This time, not a purple, but an incredible white light began to calm the air around him.

The light is usually purple, but this time it becomes white. Why is this? It is definitely the same crest, that's for sure. But you'll have to wait to see just what benefit was brought about on this occasion...

2008-07-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

So I found my old sketchbook while cleaning my room. I'm not a good artist by any means, however I intend to try to draw some things (swords or something) and put them on here.

2008-06-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

My posting has trickled, but that's because the MCAT is coming up (Friday, actually).
But after that I will be able to write a lot more, especially on vacation, and so more will come soon.

2008-06-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

If you read any of these entries, please let me know what you think in any way (through the blog, in person, email or facebook, etc). I need criticism to be make it be the best it can be, and positive reinforcement on what I am doing right. Thank you.

The Duo

2008-06-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

I think I should put up some descriptions of the main characters: Yume and Moeru. They'd only just met due to their mutual quest. Not only do they both have Lunite blood, but they are uniquely able to perform their quest because only they can unlock and use the true powers of their swords Azurewrath and Crimsonmight. Although they'd just met at the beginning of the quest, brought together by Suleiman, they really work together like they've known each other for a long time.

Some descriptions of Yume's features:

His hair of tall, almost clumped-together black spikes wavered in the wind, as his pale gray eyes began gleam cobalt blue as he fell towards the ground, ready for a mid-air attack.

And of Moeru:

Elsewhere, watching the match was a man in his mid-twenties, only a few years older than Yume, leaning against the same tree the old man was sitting in. He was dressed very uniquely: white undergear with red gauntlets, black and red boots, and a brilliant red chest plate with darker red trim and extra long, pointed shoulder armos. A red cloak flapped about him, and as it rippled, the handle and hilt of a sword peeked in and out of sigh. He had his arms crossed and was eating an apple in a somewhat cocky fashion. “He’ll be a good partner,” he said to himself, as he grinned and rustled his dusty, reddish-blonde hair with his hand, his brown eyes twinkling.

A contrast of the two:

“You’re still in your armor. Maybe that’s why they won’t let us in?” Yume said. Moeru nodded.
There was a flash, and swirls of red unraveled themselves from around Moeru.
Yume realized this was the first time he had seen Moeru unarmed by his own will. He was still dressed, not to Yume’s surprise, in red, but also in majestically sweeping robes. He still had a red breastplate, but this one was clearly ornamental rather than for battle. He also still had a cape, but it was of satin. A crest similar to Kraser’s, but more ornate, was upon it in gold.
Yume, in a simple white tunic in the style of his people, felt quite unimportant next to Moeru. Yume looked at Moeru, stunned. Moeru shrugged, “Um…my father does pretty well?” he said rather unconvincingly.

When they are fighting, they become in the zone. Their energy really transforms their bodies:

Through the smoke, fire, and rain, there was a restless purple flickering as a bluish-white icy sword rose a figure stood tall, with black hair waving with energy and a blue sheen in the darkness. As this happened, two gleaming red jewels shone through the dark rain, rising as a long flame burned brighter and brighter. Then, striking sheer terror into anyone who may have seen, two cobalt blue gems suddenly pierced the darkness below that ceaseless purple light.
Yume’s eyes were not their usual gray, but the cold blue of warriors of the past. Moeru’s flaming eyes were a sight to behold. Bursting from Yume’s lips, without meaning to, because his being only knew rage, he growled, “Fury of Frost,” and swung his chilling sword.
As this happened, Moeru muttered in rage, “Anger of Ember,” and swung his ever-brightening sword of fire.

Now, I haven't really described their personalities or backgrounds, but let's just say that Yume DOES represent ice, and Moeru DOES represent fire, and they do so in certain senses of the word.

Themes

2008-06-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

From the beginning, I have had a Word file that has many themes I want to touch on through the series. It is complicated to weave them together without making the story lame or overcomplicated, but so far so good. Here they are, although some are now merged or more complex:

-Love gives incredible powers, unlocking the true inside
-Believe in the good inherent in people, even if you have to awaken it yourself
-Be humble.
-You cannot change your fate, but can rise to meet it
-You can change the negative fate in others, if it is the will of your heart
-Do good when overlooked
-Always light through the darkness, even if you must light the way for yourself and others
-Be the rock when others change, they will need it.
-What others want of you and how they change you is irrelevant, it is your core that matters.
-See past the evil, hate, and treachery.
-Ignore your fears, they can only be surpassed.
-Only the pure can truly excel, without enhancements changing who you are.
-You are who you are, and you have a purpose-but your purpose is not without reason, -it is your purpose because only you can do it.
-Are justice and virtue really things created by the weak to protect themselves from the strong, or are they really a source of immense strength and power?
-Keep a sense of self.
-Struggles are inevitable, and only the good have to endure them for the greater good.
-Should you change people’s fate? Would you? Could you? Is it your place?
-Can people really be evil on their own accord?
-Evil pervades this world. Are we all immune to it by choice, or are more prone to fall to it than others?
-Is killing for good right? Who decides good?
-Is killing to eradicate evil the right thing to do? Again, who decides this?
-You may have to abandon people who are important to you for yourself, a greater cause or good. But, does it have to be permanent?
-Instincts are powerful. Some should be fought and others should be harnessed.

How should I put this...

2008-06-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

There are no talking animals in this story.

However, that doesn't mean there aren't animals that talk.

Think about that.

Magic

2008-06-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

The magic in this world is nothing too crazy. There is some that help people live easier lives in practical, daily applications; then there is the study of alchemy and apothecary uses in that regard; and then there is defensive and offensive magic. Back in the day the pure Earthlings had great power:

The people of Earth were imbued with more mystical abilities and those not of physical force: agility, foresight, clarity of heart and mind, the ability to see into others’ energies and, to an extent, the ability to physically manipulate the energy that is in all things. People became more reclusive and meditative, concentrating on the energy that flowed through themselves, each other, and the planets as a whole. Wise-Men climbed to the head of the state on Earth. Mages began to consolidate not only their abilities, but their power in the government and social system as well, and used their powers to persuade those with lesser abilities to their sway.

Battle did not begin immediately, though the people of Earth, with their near-prescience of the future, alerted Luna of what was about to happen. The Great Portal was opened between the planets; swords were unsheathed by Luna, as the Earthlings concentrated their minds to send the invaders into disarray.

The Earthlings sent reinforcements, as mage and warrior took the front lines together. Some of the more powerful Earthlings were able to literally make the minds of the Sharhans explode. Their clarity allowed the battle to not ail their hearts, and so they concentrated manipulating energy of the Sharhan battle vehicles.

Nowadays there is not a single soul on the planet that is 100% pure Earthling or Lunite or whatever group. Simply too much time has passed. Maybe 99% pure, sure, but not 100%. This very small dilution has, unfortunately, still had its consequences. Nobody can do these things anymore.

There are now two schools of magic for the Earthlings (the Lunites still have some magic for their blades, as was discussed below). This is also what caused and causes the certain schism between Eastern and Western magic.

Besides the basics, the West focuses more on the elemental-type spells. Fire and ice and electricity are big, as are disciplines of meditation to clear the mind and focus the soul. There is some foresight and clairvoyance to be had still. Energy manipulation in others is rare but possible. Levitating objects is common for all mages of all schools, although levitating people or oneself deals with energy manipulation in people and is difficult to do and rare.

In addition to the above that I outlined that all magic users share, the East focuses more on the magic of nature and its cycles, such as life and death. They focus on divination and scrying and mysticism. They also focus on the unseen undercurrents of destruction and creation in the world with which they can use. For example, their magic can be pure devastation without going through ice or fire (although the West thinks this is unnatural). But on the same note things can be created or changed through this process. They also are interested in changing the very nature of some organisms themselves. Again, the West sees this unnatural, but why should it be if the undercurrents exist? Is that not nature itself? To cause animals or animals to die and rise again is helpful for food supply, for example.

The problem here is that this kind of natural manipulation is a much more corrupting path. There are many, many noble Eastern mages, but it is this inclination that makes the West worried. However, they cannot manipulate the life-and-death energy of sentient beings (nor can Western mages, but they don't anyway, as it's different than say levitation I discussed earlier) due to free will. They wouldn't really try anyway though.

On a final note, there are mages and sorcerers (very powerful mages; most of these become Mage-Kings at some point), and then there are wizards. Wizards are usually held in disdain. I'll let Moeru explain:

...“Good thinking, Yume. Let’s wait and see what he does. There’s a smoking pile of shattered barrels over there, maybe that was him.”
The figure near the gate continued to slowly search the area, and then lifted his arm. Within a moment a chunk of a nearby stone structure exploded, but some big stones that had been produced hovered in midair, rotating slowly about each other.
“A mage,” Moeru whispered.
“What’s that in his hand?” asked Yume. The figure was holding a small object, sort of like a stick.
Moeru squinted, and then hissed, “A wand. It’s a wizard, not a mage. Pathetic,” he added with distaste.
“What’s the difference?
“Mages naturally control magic, but wizards need specific magical items like wands to focus and produce any sort of specific spells. Since mages can manipulate magic on their own, their range of spells is much broader,” replied Moeru. Yume found it fascinating how calculating and quick Moeru was in battle.

Besides the magic I outlined here, there is a bit more to it. What sets mages apart from non-mages is that they can see and manipulate to a great degree the Fibers of Magic, which is basically the essence of magic itself. If you're non-Earthling and can see the Fibers of Magic, be prepared to be regarded as something between a celebrity and a god. Your mind may not be able to handle it if you're not an Earthling though, and you could be corrupted. Also, not all Earthlings are mages, obviously. Although it is very likely all of them can see it, as I said you need to really be able to manipulate them to devote yourself to being a true mage.

Angels, Demons, and Druids all have their own brands of magic. Angels' and Demons' magic work very similarly. The Legion of Gyre has their own special, slightly different brands of magic due to their conditions. Gyre has magic in a sense too, but that's a little different and too complex and insidious to be discussed here. Plus, this is a long post.

The Tome of Zantrukara

2008-06-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

In the fourth chapter, Yume and Moeru find this book somewhere interesting. I debated putting it up here, due to spoiler reasons, but it might make you more interested in some core points of the story. Besides, in this chapter, it's not what's in the book itself that's interesting, exciting, or important, but what happens before and after they get to it. The Hero that Yume and Moeru are trying to find has been prophesied, and this old book has some surviving pieces of this legend. Maybe I should actually only put a bit from the end of it:

It is said:
Thrice will the hero be
Before he is done
Alive, walking dead, and born again
Before he is done
Torn of love, sorrow, loss, and betrayal
Before he is done
But at the end it will be through him that
Crimson and Azure become as the Sun.

So it is said, and so it is written, and so it shall come to pass. We await the Hero, to restore Luna and avenge it, to make the Earth sleep easy. So it is said, and so it is written, and so it will come to pass.’

The Hero will be three times?

The Languages

2008-06-01T20:18:00.001-07:00

As I said before (or at least alluded to), every major group has their own language, although there is a Common Tongue which, conveniently enough, happens to be English! Yay.

However, at home you can be sure that there is much inclination to speak a group or race's own language. Why wouldn't there be? I can reveal some examples here:

Yume blushed as Moeru became rigid and strode over to the Elder. To Yume’s curiosity, Moeru got down on his right knee, and grabbing the Elder’s right hand with his left, spouted, “Chokira, da’tatta.” His head was bowed.

Yume threw his tunic on and opened the door. There stood Aras in robes similar to the other night. “Chokira na sotsoke,” he said.
Yume blinked, bleary-eyed.
Aras smiled, the edges of his beard stretching with his cheeks. “That was ‘greetings and good morning’ in the my tongue, which I suppose is your tongue too. You may have heard Moeru say ‘chokira’ to me yesterday.”

A few days ago we saw the word 'cho-sho'. It means 'fist-closed', or a fight. We see 'chokira' a lot, which is a greeting that literally means 'fist-opened'. Lunite, the examples here, seem to be simple enough. 'Greetings and good morning', the 'na' being the conjunction. A simple SVO (subject-verb-object) language. It is a very rhythmic language, and if you saw more you would see that somehow the language conveys a warrior pride not yet wholly diminished. It reminds me a lot of Japanese, to be honest, with different grammar.

We have an example of Western Earthling language too. Let's look:

Yume could see the postman was using his thumb to draw a wide circle. He did this in one stroke, and then drew repetitious patterns on the ledge, appearing to be done inside the circle, or maybe on the ring of the circle itself. He finished and then spoke in yet another language Yume did not recognize. “Aleth elter alamart, Merethel luth luie,” he spoke in a calm voice, then placed a palm on top of the purple envelope. Sudden streams of light, the same purple as the envelope, rose and gleamed, and yet did not spread out and illuminate the pillars of the other stone window ledges or arches around it. A feeling in the air made Yume feel strange: slightly energized yet slightly out of his head, like he had a bad head cold.

Here, the postman says, "Mail quickly I send, to Mereth directly he will receive," or otherwise 'I quickly send the mail directly to Mereth". Mereth is one of the Western Mage-Kings. The language sounds pretty enough, although it's a weird object-subject-verb language. Kind of rare. Be glad you don't have to understand it and pass it along. Although admittedly the way of speaking here is part of the magic of mailing something in the manner the postman is doing so, and most Western Earthling layman have a more modern subject-object-verb language.

The Eastern Earthlings language is obviously derived up the language tree, but theirs is a little different. I'll save this for later.

The Angels speak a lovely language. It may be familiar to you:

Veni! Video eum, velit auxilium.

Well, look at that. He is saying 'Come! I see him, he might need help.' The Angels speak Latin! Very fitting.

Finally, we have a little bit of that nasty speech from the planet of Sharha. The Sharhan Guild of Conquest forces this language on the conquered peoples, rather than working together to keep all their own languages alive and work together. A shame.

He stood up and turned around. He looked deep into the dark sky and two orange, evil, almost triangular looking eyes hovering in empty space stared down upon him. They were wholly menacing and enormous in the black sky, dwarfing Yume. “Sharha ratata heoi sariee sa…Gyre ratata heoi sariee sa...zara zen du’un…Sharha is above all…Gyre is the highest power…your end is near…tagara nareeto Gyre…succumb to his will…”

Kind of nasty sounding.

The other languages I shall not talk about today, because it's fun to find them out in pieces. While reading the story you thankfully won't have to know any of the languages since I can translate for you, but it does add a little something.

The Legion of Gyre

2008-05-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

There is a group of people that are said to be uniquely powerful in certain aspects. These powerful gifts are said to have been bequeathed by Gyre, and it is said that they are 'special forces' of sorts for Gyre. Here is a description of some of them by Suleiman in Chapter 3 of the first book.

'...“Ahamay is a good man. The old fool he has sentenced to death is quite against anyone standing in Gyre’s way, especially the Hero who will destroy him. He will stop his coming at all costs, and, by default, your efforts to find the power to bring the Hero to us. He is the coordinator of the Legion of Gyre.”
Silence fell in the room at this name. A Legion of supporters of Gyre? Yume and Moeru exchanged nervous glances. Two of them. A veritable army of evil. Would they have to face them? Would they have to wait and stave them off until the Hero arrived?
Yume sat down on the slab of rock across from Suleiman. Moeru folded his arms and leaned against the wall, and took an uneasy breath. Yume leaned forward to Sulieman, and asked, “Suleiman…will you tell us more about this legion?”
“Yume, I sense your distress. You needn’t worry much. They are far away.”
This didn’t comfort Yume any. Moeru cleared this throat.
“Very well. The Legion is full of powerful men and women. Evil. Not just any men. They are superhuman. Whether transformed by evil, training and focus, nature, or magic, they have destroyed towns, families, people, and lives. They are fearsome indeed.” He squinted, his rosy cheeks crinkling near his eyes.
“There is Baba the Glove. A great brute of a man, he can punch through any wall; he can grind your body to dust. They say he is the size of two oxen. And then there is Bowa the Bow, the deadliest archer around. His marksmanship is uncanny and he can enchant his arrows, be it flame, ice, poison, or pure devastation. There are many more. Watch for them. If you cross their paths, destroy them if you can. They, like the old man below, will do anything to bring back their master.”
“I’ll fight ‘em,” Moeru said absently, with a look of determination on his face. “If I see them, I will kill them.”
Yume agreed hollowly.
Ahamay appeared in the doorway. “Suleiman, the Legion of Gyre is striking one of our strongholds in the North. Would you desire to come see this, and perhaps give input?”
Suleiman got to his feet, gently. His robes became deep purple. “Impressive,” snorted Moeru...'

Aside from the two that Suleiman mentioned, there is Corona, a man made of light, who attacks them later in the chapter. Senex is the old man who was taken away to be put to death. There is also, as I can relay here: Noctis, who can slip in the shadows; Granger the Stout, who enjoys fighting with a double-edged axe and great sword at the same time; Zanthus and Xunis, twin mages; a mysterious man known for fighting with his fists alone; the silent man with the bo staff; and a soft-spoken woman who enjoys lashing thorned objects.

You can be sure that they have hidden powers, and that they will definitely cross Yume and Moeru's path. 11 is a strange number though...perhaps there could be a 12th?

cho-sho

2008-05-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Literally meaning 'fist-closed', 'cho-sho' is the Lunite phrase meaning a fight. Yume, as one with Lunite blood, finds while he has always been skilled with a sword, he is also decently skilled without a sword (which surprises him).

As Yume turned way, however, he caught something in the corner of his eye that made him turn back. As he gazed out, he saw the door was slowly closing, and after that, he strained his ears—oh, how he thanked the fact they had elongated—and heard what sounded like a lock being set—or reset.
He could see no one down there, but as he craned his neck to see better, the moonlight made things slightly clearer: there was a small area in front of the door that looked like he was looking at the door through shimmering water, and it just happened to be short and slender, like the shape of a person…
“Hey!” he shouted.
There. He saw the figure make a quick, possibly startled movement, then freeze.
Yume could not stand by while someone was taking something from Aras. Without thinking, he jumped out of his window into the courtyard.
Falling through the air, he fell for several stories, and with a thud he landed; unaffected by the shock of he fall, he in one motion had landed, crouched, and launched himself toward the now moving blur of a figure. He soared through the air, arms outstretched, across the distance of the courtyard, and knocked into some soft mass, toppling over with it.
He heard an “oomph!” from what he had fallen on; it sounded like a woman. Like ripples in a pond, shockwaves from the hit cascaded over the invisible figure for a moment, and Yume saw gray eyes behind a balaclava that pierced him deep and stirred some hidden memory or feeling in him.
The person quickly muttered with desperation something short in a strange tongue and tone, and in chorus the ripples seemed to reverse, and the person vanished again as Yume was struck in the jaw by an unseen fist. He felt blood rush from his lip and a swelling in his jaw; he was stunned as he felt weight lift from his body.
Yume blinked a few times, forcing his eyes into focus. Strength quickly returned to him thanks to his great stamina; he wiped blood from his mouth and jumped high into the air, toward the sound of grass being trodden on. In mid-air he flipped and turned, and his moon began to glow. Whether by some mystical power of his mark, or simply the small light it cast in the night, he saw the outline of the person more clearly.
Chancing the timing before impact to the ground, he flung himself around and did a back flip with his legs outstretched, kicking something hard and then landing on his stomach, knocking the air out of him.
He inhaled deeply a few times as he heard feminine groaning, and he stood up, stretching out his arms to the thief, yelling “Stop! What did you take from Aras?”
Indeed a woman’s voice responded, “The fool from earlier! Out of my way! I don’t know how you see me, but don’t stop me, for your own good! You don’t know who else is coming after this!” She slurred her words as though disoriented thanks to Yume, and slowly became invisible. It was those gray eyes…
Before Yume could respond, he was again struck in the jaw, but stood his ground. He began to fight back with his fists, but found without his sword, he wasn’t nearly as good of a fighter. He was still keeping up with this hand-to-hand combat, but for how long? Soon he was put on the defensive. After a series of blocks and dodges, the woman made a sudden movement and vanished in a flash. Yume was again disoriented.
When his sight returned, he looked around frantically. He had given up under the quiet night sky, and resigned himself to get some sleep after rousing Aras or notifying a guard. He turned toward his window.
His insides hit with a jolt, Yume saw the figure climbing toward his window, scaling the wall. He then realized what was inside: My armor crystal! Is she after that too?
A sort of primal feeling gripped him, like a protective fire had ignited in his gut. He made a mad dash and jumped, scaling the wall himself like an animal. She must not have what is mine! he kept hearing inside his head.
He almost reached her leg by the time her arms reached the window ledge, but as he stretched out his arm, she hoisted herself up in a quick movement. A rabid growl escaped Yume as he felt failure, but the woman, cloaked in the shadow of the windowsill, turned and jumped away, vanishing into the night.

Why the strange reaction to the threat of his armor crystal? It is not like Yume to act aggressive or animalistic. Oh this world, one where objects can hold sway over some people's minds...

2008-05-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'd be lying if I said this story didn't follow the generic Hero's Journey archetype.

I'd also be lying if I said this story did follow the generic Hero's Journey archetype.

Think about that.

Deity

2008-05-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Although culturally diverse, there is indeed an old religion in this world. Do all worship it? No. Does it have a role to play? It's possible. The Deity is interesting, and so is its relationship to whom and what...

‘It is I, the Eternal Flame, the Never Melting, the Hot Ice and Cold Fire of the Sun, Bringer of Warmth. Sailors of things greater than your seas use Me to guide them; those who are lost use Me to find their way. Plants reach in My direction and animals fix their cycles to Me. Angels and Demons revere Me, and many worlds worship Me. Those who love goodness and care for one another glow with Me, and those who care only for themselves find themselves groping about in a great tenebrosity. I dry up the tears of those who mourn, and the meek are thankful to see Me every time they wake. It is I. I am the Life, and everything is fixed on Me. It is I. I am the Light.’

Songs

2008-05-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Songs and music are always important in every culture, and in many cases they're about events past. Here's a song that Moeru sings at one point while he and Yume are heading to somewhere important:

“Fury of frost,
anger of ember,
these are the cries
we’ll always remember!
shouts of lightning
ever frightening
until the coming
of Gyre.
Cheer on the Heroes
Of red and blue!
Battle of might
With swords bright and true
O Luna!
Our hearts cry for you
Forever and evermore
Mourning and tears for Luna!”

What's interesting is this is near legend now, when it is indeed historical.

Chapter Titles

2008-05-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

The three books have different tones, and the chapter titles reflect this. The first book have happy, Japanese-style titles, while the second book has ambiguous, one-word titles, and the third book has direct titles of short phrases. Here's the table of contents so far for Book 1, The Return of Gyre:

Prelude: The Coming of War and the Hope For a Hero
Chapter 1: Set The Quest In Motion!: The Sword Glows Again
Chapter 2: Black Evil from the East!: Bastion of Good Enters the World
Chapter 3: Secret Society of the Shadow!: Inner Light Cuts a Path
Chapter 4: Past, Present, Future, Revealed!: The Tome of Zantrukara
Chapter 5: Mysterious Other-World Beings!: Enter Odo, the Demon
Chapter 6: Nature's Perfect Deception!: Angry Glare of a Beautiful Woman
Chapter 7: Dastardly Attack of Magic!: Sleeping Lunite Powers Stir
Chapter 8: Tales and Revelations!: Memoirs of Metal
Chapter 9: Tales and Revelations!: Memoirs of Metal
Chapter 10: Heavenly Helper!: Enter Archael, the Angel
Chapter 11: Pain and Peril!: The Bonds of Trust

Some examples for Book 2, although not in chapter order:

Missing, Amnesia, Homage, Paternal, Cursed, Demons, Blinded, Doppelganger, Schism

Again, examples from Book 3, not in order:

The Cyclops of Gelforge, The Gyre of Gyre, The Hall of All Things, Cataclysm's Eve

The chapter titles also somewhat reflect the nature of the books. The first book is much more episodal in nature, with almost none of the ~30 chapters ending and beginning in the same place or in a seamless time frame, for example. It's as though every chapter is it's own small adventure whose components and revelations add up to one bigger story of the first book.

Demons

2008-05-20T10:33:00.001-07:00

As I said before, there are Angels and Demons in this world, but that is just what they have been called. They were not made before any creation, and it is entirely possible that they arrived from somewhere else after the Lunites and Earthlings had already been on Earth. Also, Demons are not what you would think. Here's an example, an excerpt from Book 1, Chapter 5:

...Lying uncomfortably in a small glen they found outside of Esiw, Yume awoke to a red glow in his eyes. Thinking it was the glow of his moon, he ignored it. Then he began to feel uncanny warmth envelop him, particularly strange for a cool summer’s night. He opened his eyes, and the haze of morning was far in the distance, with the sky above him still dark and starry. Curious, he got to his feet.
Yards away, near the river, and in a grouping of trees, Yume saw a towering flame, a few feet taller than he. It was also not burning anything it was touching, and deep within the inner chords of his being, Yume was terrified, and not just because of the sight itself. He did not know why, but instinct pleaded him to stay away. But as it was with Yume, he began to feel the characteristic calm flow through him. Seemingly on cue, his crest awoke, and Yume’s vision felt piercing.
The fire vanished, being replaced by a tall being in an elegant, almost gaudy looking garb. Yume started to realize, though, that this person did not actually look quite human: something was off. Yume noticed this stranger was eyeing him intently. It was a curious stare, one full of interest, shrewdness, and a small amount of disdain. Yume approached.
Yume drew nearer to the trees, and began to see more clearly. He was looking at a creature with pale skin, but it was not a sickly kind of pale: it was a glorious, almost radiant pale, with a tinge of silver, like it was reflecting the moonlight. The creature was now looking, with his pale green eyes, nonchalantly at his long, sharp, trim fingernails, stretching out from long fingers.
Yume stepped on a twig as he came close, and noticed pointed ears twitch under a head of perfectly straight, silver-blue hair, which made halfway down the figure’s back. In the middle of the face was a rather small, prim, pointed nose. His small lips gave way to a sneer, revealing two sharp canine teeth.
He was holding himself in proud, pompous manner, and he was tall; on his noble frame were long purple robes with many extravagant designs splaying across them. His height was not menacing, but enough to make one hesitant.
Yume reached him. “So,” the creature said. “So…”
This greeting confused Yume. He could say nothing.
“My flame did not scare you away? What a surprise…what are you, a mage of some sort? Or perhaps a loon? Those always seem to see us.” He gave a mocking chuckle.
“I could ask you what you are, too,” Yume retorted.
“Oh, he can speak to me as well!” said the being, with a sarcastic clap. “But how dare a human speak to me. Many fear us, and believe we are living flame, or sentient whirlwinds, or other things, but you dare to look closer. I shall remove my façade.”
“I’ve already seen past your guise,” Yume said.
The being paused and looked surprised. “I do not appear to you as flame?” Yume shook his head. “I see…I see. Well, well, well…you do look familiar after all…is he come at last? So then, you are Yume, are you not?”...

Not all Demons act in quite this way, but why does this Demon seem to know about Yume? And what is with the cryptic remark of familiarity? It may be that Demons are privy to certain knowledge that humans are. The question is, will Yume gain access to this knowledge? As with every group in this world, they have their own agenda, which could make things difficult for Yume.

The Great Swords

2008-05-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

If I had to place the setting of the story in a similar or analogous place, it would be something like Tolkein's Middle Earth or Lewis' Narnia. No guns, mainly swords and bows and axes and simple chain or plate armor (except for Yume and Moeru's armors).

The Earthlings do not like weapons much (as most are magic users), but the Lunites, before Luna's destruction, were always swordsmen. From the Prelude (pre-Luna destruction and the Clan of the Bolt destruction):

...The planets and their forces of nature begat their inhabitants with special skills. The people of Luna began to wield magical swords of light and energy by focusing their pureness through common metals. Speed and strength were bolstered. Arcane spells were used to summon the use of the elements through the swords' tall, wide blades. Fog of frost emanated, char of magma swirled; storms surged as lightning struck. Only the most skilled swordsmen could attain these potentials, and only select few could even pick up a sword. Warrior-Kings began to be at the top of allthings on Luna. The swordsmen comprised an elite group of soldiers, and they began to hold the common folk into a kindly debt they knew would soon occur...

...Never before had the Lunites actually had to fight, but they realized in mid-battle they could concentrate their energies through the elements of their swords and produce devastating attacks. Flame waves surged and glacial spikes soared, overpowering, pelting, and impaling the Sharhan front lines...

Blades have always been magical for Lunites, prior to Luna's destruction. They have always been a way of life.

However, now things are different. The process is a bit more savage without the planet's power to help the remaining Lunites on Earth. Every male child is given a sword at birth, regardless of what field they enter in (although a lot go into the army). At birth, there is a bloodletting ceremony, and the baby's blood is used in the forge when their sword's blade is forged. This allows for a bond between the sword and the person, although it's weak (and the swords aren't sentient..at least these). There is paltry elemental magic still in these blades, but nothing near the powers of old.

During the battle with Gyre, Warrior-engineers on Luna worked together to produce two superior blades for the most skilled swordsmen in the remaining Frost and Ember clans: Azurewrath and Crimsonmight. These were used to fight Gyre and, in the aftermath, were sealed away for generations.

These are special and magical, and it is these that Suleiman brings to Moeru and, when they find him, Yume, in order to restore some glory of the old clans. From Book 1, Chapter 1:

...“Oh boy, just watch and learn,” said Moeru. He pulled out the paper-thin sword, but Yume noticed the golden hilt was much more ornate than the blade. He stood with the sword in front of him, readied, and started to focus.
Yume watched as the air around the three standing there started to get stale and dry, even sweltering. The hilt became black, charred looking even, with orange-yellow and red patches slowly churning through it like molten lava. The churning went faster and faster, and suddenly a cyclone of flame and energy soared up from the hilt to the tip of the blade as it moved to the top. A thick, wide blade, as wide as the hilt now stood tall, straining to control the fury of the fires inside the blade. What looked like a slag of magma was now the hilt, separating the blade and the handle, and it continued to swirl.
After a few seconds, Yume finally managed to stammer, “I-incredible!”
“That’s right!” exclaimed Moeru triumphantly. He proceeded to produce a few fireballs from the tip of his sword and playfully tossed them in Yume’s direction. Suleiman pulled out a small crystal dagger which sent forth a wind to blow the fireballs harmlessly away, but one went astray and caught an apple tree on fire. “Heh…all part of the act,” grinned Moeru as Suleiman’s wind extinguished his flame.
“Anyway,” said Moeru, changing the subject,” I wanted to call it ‘Smokin’ Lady’ or ‘Hottie’, but Suleiman insisted I call it by its real name: Crimsonmight.”...

...A small explosion of power pulsed from Yume’s chest, but it was enough. A blue sphere of energy swirled about Yume and then erupted in all directions. Suleiman and Moeru had to cover their eyes. The ground shook and the area grew white with light. The hilt flashed bright blue, then a column of ice and energy shot up from the now frosty hilt with small ice sickles hanging from it. Yume started to get worried and then changed his fear to focus. The column of energy spiraled around the blade, then shot up into the air.
A now prominent, noble, strong-looking flat blade with a bluish tint was in place of the measly blade. The air around it looked frosty as well as a cool wind barely emanated from the blade. Blue light began to spin around Yume’s feet. He raised his sword in the air and a pillar of blue light came down from the heavens and enveloped Yume, then shrunk and dwindled down, collapsing upon itself on Yume’s chest. Yume was now clad in a dark blue cape with white under gear. He now wore a dark, royal blue chest plate with true-blue trim and with wide shoulder pauldrons. His boots were black and blue and his gauntlets and waist plates were in the same style as his chest plate."...

...“At any rate, can you un-sheath your swords? But keep them in their base form, if how legend describes them is right.”
Moeru and Yume did as asked, showing their plain handles and hilts—bronze for Moeru’s, by the looks of it, or maybe gold—and steel or silver for Yume’s. The blades were both black, rusty, and chipped in some places. They were paper-thin overall.
“Moeru, may I see yours?” Aras asked.
With curiosity, Moeru did so. Aras tried to focus while holding the sword readied, but nothing happened. He asked the same of Yume, although the same thing happened.
“Interesting. You see, I cannot cause the swords—Crimsonmight and Azurewrath—to transform. They are very particular, it seems."...

There are more to these blades than you would think.

History of my writing process

2008-05-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

I have always written stories since I was younger, although they weren't long, maybe a chapter or two of short chapters. I've always had the itch.

I've also been attracted to writing about evil and darkness, but not an outright evil. I've always been more disturbed by evil that warps our free will and subtly perverted our good hearts without or knowing or realization than by evil that manifests in outright cruelty or greed or brutality. As such, I've always tried to write about this sort of thing.

I had started something called 'Darkness: The Legend of Zantrukara' when I was in middle school, but I ended it. On a side note, there is a Tome of Zantrukara in this story, just because I liked the weird name.

Fast forward to late junior year/early senior year of HS. I, and I hope am not too cliché in saying, felt like I needed to do something for God's will. Anyway, I had set a story in the future, a love story, and it was okay, but not quite right. I scrapped it, and around Christmas break of senior year I got a stroke of inspiration and began writing the Prelude, which has to this day been basically unaltered. (Also, it was very much helped by when Matt suggested a name for the villain, Gyre, which coincidentally has a perfect meaning for what type of evil he has/is).

It began as one book, but as images and plot lines came to me, I realized it could not be contained in one book alone. The introduction of Moeru to my mind mainly caused this.

The book is heavily influenced by family and friends in a certain way. It also skews strongly to Christian parallels, although they're not overt. There is symbolism from all sorts of cultures/religions, and besides, the world in the book is multi-cultural in itself.

It's strange that I am able to take one flash of an image--interesting or mundane--or a line from a character and build whole scenes or chapters around it. There are times when I know where I want to go, and there are times that I don't. Thankfully this is the kind of story that writes itself and fills in its own blanks, which is a good sign.

I'd like to end this post with something I thought of the other day. The only difference between authors and schizophrenics is that authors write down the voices in their head onto paper and put them in interesting situations.

A Nightmare Approaches

2008-05-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from the first chapter of Book 2, Inherited Sin:

   "... In fact, quite cool was this night, and it was as if winter itself were creeping over it, striding closer and closer as if by steps in a march.
   Out of the shadows a figure emerged, hooded and cloaked from head to toe. The shroud on his back was heavily tattered, but it seemed to be made of many layers that completely concealed him.
   Every step was determined and deliberate; they were surely solid and purposely planted. With every step winter indeed followed him: frost swirled in his air, icy flakes fell from his boots, and gray clouds even followed in his wake. He drew in cold breaths, and out they poured colder.
   He shook back his left sleeve as he approached, and a wide, cold blade slowly appeared, glinting in the moonlight. Frost emanated from the blade, and it chilled the air.
   Winter had fallen upon the town. So had destruction.
   With a wild howl at the moon that chilled the night, the Winter-Bringer swung his sword with his left hand, high over his head, and with little effort. Waves of ice soared and splintered, ripping through wood houses and thatched roofs. Crops froze and shattered, and trees fell to the ground with a crash.
   With the movement, the hood had fallen back slightly from the head of the Winter-Bringer. His wild, wholly black eyes reflected the moonlight and deep down in them, as if cobalt marbles at the bottom of a black sea, slight color could be seen. His chiseled face smiled a mocking smile with fanged canines..."

"   ...He shook back his hood fully and his tall, almost clumped together spikes of hair had a strange bluish tint in the moonlight. The villagers did not seem to hear him, as they were plainly too scared and were running for their lives.
   'And see the power that he lacks...' whispered Akumu.
   And as he looked upon them with those wholly black eyes, he raised an eyebrow, not in surprise, but in power and fury.
   And out of nowhere, flames sprung to life all across the village, in towering fireballs and plumes of smoke. The villagers screamed in greater fear, and Akumu looked at the moon and laughed a howling laugh, the flames growing larger with his glee. He threw down his cloak and he stood grandly in an armor of black and blue, crafted in a familiar fashion, with Azurewrath at his side..."

Transformations

2008-05-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

Some excerpts from various chapters demonstrating the process that Yume and Moeru put on their magical armors.

'“Quite remarkable indeed,” Aras said. “Which brings me to another point. Would you two don your armor? I would quite like to see it.”
Moeru reached into a pocket and the ornamental chest-plate he had been wearing burst into flames from which red streamers spread forth around his body. There was a flash, and he was in his bright red armor with the wide shoulder pieces of bright red and dark red trim, his white under gear contrasting wonderfully with his black and red boots and red gauntlets and blood-red cape. Aras was smiling.
Yume, unaware that he was already habitually carrying the crystal with him (save for the night before), also instinctively reached into the pocket of his robes and clenched his crystal. The ground below his feet rippled like waves, and then a blue ring spread out from his heels, shoulder width apart. It filled with ice, and then blue streamers of nothing rose up like some strange kelp. They began to wave more and more furiously, and Yume’s hair began to stand up and wave in kind. The streamers obscured Yume; there was a flash, and he was now clad in his armor: identical to Moeru’s, save for the fact it was a royal blue with darker, true-blue trim and a true-blue cape.'..

'Yume nodded at Moeru, and they clenched the crystals in their pockets. A cool blue light fell upon Yume, washing over him like a crisp waterfall, and slowly formed into his undergear and armor. There was a crackle of red light which exploded from Moeru’s palm, as streamers of red violently wove themselves around him, and with another crackle, solidified into his red undergear and fiery armor. '

'“Exactly! Put on your armor and come on!” Moeru broke into a run toward Mount Swazoc and Yume saw him reach into a pocket. There was a point of red light that began spinning in front of Moeru as he ran, which then pulsed out a multitude red streamers that streaked out behind Moeru, covering him from view, and erupting into a trail of flame as they fell behind Moeru. The light broke and melted off Moeru, like he had just walked through a wall of water, and now an armor-clad Moeru was making his way up the mountain.'

'“Right,” said Yume. He reached into his pocket and tightly squeezed his armor crystal. A blue glow came from his pocket and bright, magical fibers erupted from his hand and wrapped around his body. They formed his armor and under gear and then disintegrated.'

A Look at the Warring Factions

2008-05-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

Here are the factions that exist and, if not at war, are in contest in the first book:

For the most part, there is peace between Lunites and Earthlings, although some distrust, but this is an older way of thinking. However, in the first battle (Book I), it starts to be troops based on:
• Lunites, most Western Earthlings, some Eastern Earthlings [and Angels by default] (Yume and Moeru)
• Many Eastern Earthling Mages, and Southern Warriorkind [Lunites who have forgotten the way, no elemental powers or gifts], donated golems from some people (Gyre-influenced)
• “Ancient Order”, although a small and not direct influence in battle (except for OoV Destruction
• Western Earthlings vying to fill a power vacuum (don’t really believe Gyre is coming back.)
• Druids (although allegiance unknown at this time)
• Demons (neutral, although try to as indirectly as possible dissuade Yume from his goal)

This landscape changes after the climactic battle of the Orb of Vales, which ends the first book and the aftermath of which is seen at the beginning of the second book, soon after the dust settles.

Premise

2008-05-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

Finally for today, a little information on the premise of the story.

It is set in a pre-gunpowder and pre-industrialized Earth, but it is not really our Earth. The idea is that the moon was a sister planet to Earth, with a race a bit different than regular Earthlings. The two planets were peaceful and friendly. Luna, the moon, was a planet whose inhabitants were more warrior-based swordsmen with elemental swords, and Earth was more magic based. A legend came about saying that the powers of the planets, when combined, would rival the strongest of the universe.

Gyre, leader of the armies of Sharhan Empire, comes to the two planets to find this power for his own. A fight ensues on Earth, and Gyre decides to forgo his technology in favor of fighting sword versus sword. He is defeated by two Lunite warriors, and in his last breath for near-death, he destroys beautiful Luna, leaving a ravaged moon behind.

Times change. Evil and war spread between the Earthlings and the Lunites who had come to Earth before the destruction. The peoples have fallen from grace after knowing battle. Eventually, legends come about that Gyre will return again to find the powers, but that also a Hero will defeat him and bring about Luna's vengeance. This is where the story begins, with a young man named Yume ("yuu-may", Japanese for dream) being pulled out of his peaceful town into a quest to help Suleiman, a mage from the East, and Moeru ("mo-ey-ru", Japanese for burning), another Lunite, find the Hero and, if possible, prevent Gyre's return. Moeru and Yume received the armors and swords of the two Lunite warriors who first battled Gyre. They must find relics for the soon-to-emerge Hero, and that is how the story plays out.

The world contains magic and amazing geographical locations. It is also culturally diverse, with Western and Eastern mages (different styles of magic), a small Lunar kingdom on Earth for Lunites (the remaining Frost and Ember clans), Angels and Demons (although not created from a Deity nor holy, these are only what they have become called), and Druids. They all have their own languages as well. You will not find any tired Elves or Dwarves or Hobbits in this world. Every culture has a role to play in the politics and events that play out over the three books, as well as important backstories. Not everything and everyone is as it seems..

And that's it for now. I will post some writing samples soon.

2008-05-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

This blog is for me to place excerpts of the story I'm writing (or maybe a chapter here and there) in order to get critiques of writing style. I'll also put character summaries or some plot discussion here, as well as reasoning and explanation of my creative process. I might put some pictures up here as well.

The story consists of four books: there is a book that contains some mythology (like creation) as well as these for now: The Advent of Gyre and the Destruction of Luna, The War of Pointed Fingers, the Herald of the Angels, Demonic Sacrifice, and the story of Kago (Yume's father, who does some things out of kindness that create enormous implications).

The other three books are the main trilogy. The Trilogy has a name that I am not 100% on yet, but the three books themselves are titled as such: The Return of Gyre, Inherited Sin, and The Sword With No Blade. The second book, Inherited Sin, is broken into three components. Although the story is continuous and centers around the main character, they focus on specific things in a chronological order. They are entitled: Angels and Demons, The Tiger and the Wolf, and Nightmare.

Yes, I intend to publish...I can have the rough draft of the first book complete before the fall semester, if I work hard.