Just pop home for a weekend, see the fam, have a chill... blah blah blah
Sounded brilliant in theory. Realistically my brain decided to have another meltdown, which as always is grand. I'm used to having my apparent 'bi-monthly burnout' where I need to walk away from any work or intense thinking and move on to doing nice things like drawing child-quality doodles and laying horizontally for many many hours. It's a good excuse to rest up and avoid work really
Its quite irritating normally because I quite like doing my law studies, in that state I am incapable of reading anything or taking in any new information. But, and there is a but, a nasty one, :( , this burnout has been an 8 on the richter scale.
I'm recovering from it now but during this episode my memory, cognition and general awareness just imploded, leaving me a lost and confused little gerbil. So what started as a weekend with the family has ended as a week at home slowly rehabilitating myself. I'd love to be able to say that I just wanted to stay home with muzza and farzar; uncz, bruvz and kitty but unfortunately I was well and truly out for the count. It has been awesome to stay home for longer but I can feel the work mounting on my mind, so I've been slowly bringing myself round to doing it and its a good sign that I can actually do it again.
My brain melted to jelly and now its starting to join back up into the little machine that it was before, we have been parted too long and I have missed it muchly. And on ze weekend when I return to the land of university I can see my beloved peeps who I have missed dearly. Thanks for your messages of support you secksy peeps :)
29 Feb 2012
18 Feb 2012
So hungry...
I need some decent food in my life. I think I have adjusted to living with five other people in a student accomodation quite well, but if there's one thing I am struggling with it has to be the fridge/freezer space for all of us. Hopefully all these problems will be gone when I'm in my house for the second year, living in a very generous space for only three people.
At the beginning of my uni term I was living quite glamorously, even cooked myself a few steaks with various tasties with it! But now with a one/two bag limit of freezer and the fridge always filled with shizzle I find it hard to go beyond pasta, sandwiches and sweets now.
Not good now that I'm actually trying to get a bit fitter, though without my beloved Dance Central 2. Oh whatever will I do.... *faints*
This is a total ice-cream eating moment, but the freezer is too full so I guess its sucking on ice cubes for me! Hopefully I will survive untill we next meet again!
Much Love
Hoping You Are Well...blud
L.H
At the beginning of my uni term I was living quite glamorously, even cooked myself a few steaks with various tasties with it! But now with a one/two bag limit of freezer and the fridge always filled with shizzle I find it hard to go beyond pasta, sandwiches and sweets now.
Not good now that I'm actually trying to get a bit fitter, though without my beloved Dance Central 2. Oh whatever will I do.... *faints*
This is a total ice-cream eating moment, but the freezer is too full so I guess its sucking on ice cubes for me! Hopefully I will survive untill we next meet again!
Much Love
Hoping You Are Well...blud
L.H
16 Feb 2012
Inspiration
I do love a bit of imagery. I love action fantasy and the most technical movements in any action scene. I can't do guns. How much creativity and skill can you show by having guns pointed at each other in a stalemate or masses of soldiers shooting from behind barricades; never hitting anything until, ta-da, the main characters come in and they suddenly turn into Clint Eastwood and shoot everything squarely between the eyes without even looking.
No, with me its all about working around them to make something much more intimate and diverse. Good ol' Neo knows what I mean, don't you? Check out The Matrix Reloaded: Vampire Chateau scene, and you will get just what I mean. F.Y.I, really wanted to use the Burly Brawl scene but it was nowhere near as relevant to what I was getting at.
Everything about that inspires me, the gravity defiance, array of weaponry, bullet stopping psychokinesis, fluid combat, physically unnatural battles, and yes even the swish of the air.
I think that in terms of physical combat that stems from a distorted interpretation of reality, Matrix really ticks the box and I will gladly label it as one of the inspirations behind my work. In fact having watched that clip for now the 5th time I notice that my Hierarchy angel characters bear a resemblence to the twins at the oppening of the scene when they 'phase-out', just my angels look more pleasant as they are not programmed dreadlocked killer stars from "Better Homes".
Shall we take a moment to appreciate Trinity's face? I think so...
Why so serious, Mrs One?
Sorry... Moving swiftly on! My next inspiration, and the reason I started the whole fiction writing shenanigans, is the Halo series. The Master Chief and the technology of Halo was a big 'yes' for me. Having a character who plays Goliath against the clearly unbeatable odds is brilliant because once you have that character established you don't even need to explain how it all happens, the mere fact that the Chief is on the scene is enough to say "Put the kettle on, we got this one in the bag".
My first book in the series owes a lot to the imagery of the technology from Halo in helping me create my own space vessels and alien gadgets. When I first started writing my mind was pretty much set upon the idea of glorious, not gorey, space battles blazing through the vacuum and eventually flattening whole cities with single shot weaponry. That stuff still interests me and I still put it in, but not nearly too as much emphasis as I did with the intimate physical combat.
By the end of the first book, beginning of the second I realised that although I had created a universe of futuristic technology and thrown in some alien creatures, it wasn't these elements that had kept me writing to the very end. It was the 'goliath' characters that made it fun. What Neo and the Chief do that is against many typical action heroes is that they not only win the good fight, they do what hundreds couldn't do together. They single-handedly save planets or people or just their own skin while defeating unending numbers of people trying to kill them. In earlier posts I have mentioned how I like the idea of 'godly' characters whose powers are limitless and unstoppable, it's brilliant to see these characters in action, constantly thrown in the corner but inevitably rising as the champion. My second book moves its attention to the powers of these 'Spartans' in war, and how much of a difference they make. The two following clips really capture the ideologies of 'one man conquers all' and the 'godly warriors' that I have incorporated into my own concept
My final main inspiration is none other than the Final Fantasy series. This series really combines fantasy and action together beautifully in my opinion. Its this series that inspired me to take the real world and add new elements and possibilites to it. Like Harry Potter with the addition of magic, or my own book with the Hierarchy and their powers of creation. But the Final Fantasy stories don't necessarily add such a blatant new dimension to their fights, sometimes the only real difference is the speed and the heights that the character can so freely leap through the air. Although Halo and The Matrix have already added similar elements in their own stories, their emphasis is so less focused upon who the character is and instead we see what they can do.
Final Fantasy is all about characters who when it comes down to it are just feeling and living in the same way that film characters do, its just they have much bigger problems and a different way to deal with them; rarely do you see characters in the series talk about a problem, they prefer to shoot into the air and clash into powerful battles. The other thing I love about the series is the colour and vibrancy that it brings to fantasy fights, which, as in the above clips, normally are filled with black, dark shades of blue and green or something similar. Here are two more clips, one being my favourite combat scene ever made (though admittedly this one is dark), the other is an example of combat with a bit more grace and colour. Hope you enjoy
So these are my inspirations, in case anyone wants to get me an early christmas present you should have an idea what I like now ;)
Only kidding!
My First book is so close to being out now, hooray, though who knows if any bookstores will actually buy it :P. Thanks for reading folks
Enjoy the video goodness!
L.H
No, with me its all about working around them to make something much more intimate and diverse. Good ol' Neo knows what I mean, don't you? Check out The Matrix Reloaded: Vampire Chateau scene, and you will get just what I mean. F.Y.I, really wanted to use the Burly Brawl scene but it was nowhere near as relevant to what I was getting at.
Everything about that inspires me, the gravity defiance, array of weaponry, bullet stopping psychokinesis, fluid combat, physically unnatural battles, and yes even the swish of the air.
I think that in terms of physical combat that stems from a distorted interpretation of reality, Matrix really ticks the box and I will gladly label it as one of the inspirations behind my work. In fact having watched that clip for now the 5th time I notice that my Hierarchy angel characters bear a resemblence to the twins at the oppening of the scene when they 'phase-out', just my angels look more pleasant as they are not programmed dreadlocked killer stars from "Better Homes".
Shall we take a moment to appreciate Trinity's face? I think so...
Sorry... Moving swiftly on! My next inspiration, and the reason I started the whole fiction writing shenanigans, is the Halo series. The Master Chief and the technology of Halo was a big 'yes' for me. Having a character who plays Goliath against the clearly unbeatable odds is brilliant because once you have that character established you don't even need to explain how it all happens, the mere fact that the Chief is on the scene is enough to say "Put the kettle on, we got this one in the bag".
My first book in the series owes a lot to the imagery of the technology from Halo in helping me create my own space vessels and alien gadgets. When I first started writing my mind was pretty much set upon the idea of glorious, not gorey, space battles blazing through the vacuum and eventually flattening whole cities with single shot weaponry. That stuff still interests me and I still put it in, but not nearly too as much emphasis as I did with the intimate physical combat.By the end of the first book, beginning of the second I realised that although I had created a universe of futuristic technology and thrown in some alien creatures, it wasn't these elements that had kept me writing to the very end. It was the 'goliath' characters that made it fun. What Neo and the Chief do that is against many typical action heroes is that they not only win the good fight, they do what hundreds couldn't do together. They single-handedly save planets or people or just their own skin while defeating unending numbers of people trying to kill them. In earlier posts I have mentioned how I like the idea of 'godly' characters whose powers are limitless and unstoppable, it's brilliant to see these characters in action, constantly thrown in the corner but inevitably rising as the champion. My second book moves its attention to the powers of these 'Spartans' in war, and how much of a difference they make. The two following clips really capture the ideologies of 'one man conquers all' and the 'godly warriors' that I have incorporated into my own concept
My final main inspiration is none other than the Final Fantasy series. This series really combines fantasy and action together beautifully in my opinion. Its this series that inspired me to take the real world and add new elements and possibilites to it. Like Harry Potter with the addition of magic, or my own book with the Hierarchy and their powers of creation. But the Final Fantasy stories don't necessarily add such a blatant new dimension to their fights, sometimes the only real difference is the speed and the heights that the character can so freely leap through the air. Although Halo and The Matrix have already added similar elements in their own stories, their emphasis is so less focused upon who the character is and instead we see what they can do.
Final Fantasy is all about characters who when it comes down to it are just feeling and living in the same way that film characters do, its just they have much bigger problems and a different way to deal with them; rarely do you see characters in the series talk about a problem, they prefer to shoot into the air and clash into powerful battles. The other thing I love about the series is the colour and vibrancy that it brings to fantasy fights, which, as in the above clips, normally are filled with black, dark shades of blue and green or something similar. Here are two more clips, one being my favourite combat scene ever made (though admittedly this one is dark), the other is an example of combat with a bit more grace and colour. Hope you enjoy
So these are my inspirations, in case anyone wants to get me an early christmas present you should have an idea what I like now ;)
Only kidding!
My First book is so close to being out now, hooray, though who knows if any bookstores will actually buy it :P. Thanks for reading folks
Enjoy the video goodness!
L.H
15 Feb 2012
Bigger and better
With a sequel now well over the halfway mark, my plans for making the second book longer than the first is going very nicely. The first book UNISON will be approximately 199 A5 pages, 199! GGRRR
The second book is only 10,000 words short of the first and there's still a lot planned for it. The original concept of the book would have been about the same length, on rough estimate, but because of my sudden idea for a third and final story in the series, or at least final in this arc of the universe's history, I am extending it to welcome in the events that occur in the third. It's exciting to think of what new characters or concepts will be in the third story.
#SPOILER ALERT# Unfortunately many of the characters have been removed from the limelight along with the focus on the futuristic technology from the first book to help the transition from UNISON's main organisation to the much smaller neo-military 'Academy' as well as a shift in focus from Sci-fi to Fantasy. #SPOILER END#
The good thing about having the first book written and out of the way is that the basic themes, characters and settings have been introduced and explained. I am feeling much more freedom with the second book so I can turn my attention to the future of the story and what would make it exciting as I write it.
Now I have more exciting characters in my second book, plus the ones that I enjoyed the most from the first, which I have really enjoyed bringing together. This sequel revolves mainly around the new military division that are being trained to master the mystical energy that the Hierarchy possess. These ARC's are under the direct command of the main character from the first book, Jason Rider, and puts humanity on a more level playing field with their enemies.
I love the action scenes of my books, though with my imagination I insist on them featuring odd and outrageous movements so its quite tricky to write it and keep the pace going. I'm not saying I have actually managed to do it effectively though. In the second book I have thrown technology to the wall and focused on the battles from a fantasy perspective and more often than not I've scaled down the scope of war to just two or three people battling in intimate locations. It's definately much better than the first book in that sense as the full potential of my characters was only revealed at the very end, whereas in this current story I can keep the quality of scenes to the standard the first book ended on but work on making it better!
Hopefully this book, when finished, will have a chance at being brought to stores like the first was, if not I can always self-publish. With me its not about literary perfection, which is just a shameful way of admitting I don't think I'm a technically gifted writer, all I care about is bringing an interesting new story to people, something that you will enjoy. Hopefully, if anyone looking at this blog comes across my first book, due for release very soon now, you will like it for that reason and want to move on the second; whatever format it is released in.
Much Love,
Hoping You Are Well :D
L.H
The second book is only 10,000 words short of the first and there's still a lot planned for it. The original concept of the book would have been about the same length, on rough estimate, but because of my sudden idea for a third and final story in the series, or at least final in this arc of the universe's history, I am extending it to welcome in the events that occur in the third. It's exciting to think of what new characters or concepts will be in the third story.
#SPOILER ALERT# Unfortunately many of the characters have been removed from the limelight along with the focus on the futuristic technology from the first book to help the transition from UNISON's main organisation to the much smaller neo-military 'Academy' as well as a shift in focus from Sci-fi to Fantasy. #SPOILER END#
Now I have more exciting characters in my second book, plus the ones that I enjoyed the most from the first, which I have really enjoyed bringing together. This sequel revolves mainly around the new military division that are being trained to master the mystical energy that the Hierarchy possess. These ARC's are under the direct command of the main character from the first book, Jason Rider, and puts humanity on a more level playing field with their enemies.
I love the action scenes of my books, though with my imagination I insist on them featuring odd and outrageous movements so its quite tricky to write it and keep the pace going. I'm not saying I have actually managed to do it effectively though. In the second book I have thrown technology to the wall and focused on the battles from a fantasy perspective and more often than not I've scaled down the scope of war to just two or three people battling in intimate locations. It's definately much better than the first book in that sense as the full potential of my characters was only revealed at the very end, whereas in this current story I can keep the quality of scenes to the standard the first book ended on but work on making it better!
Hopefully this book, when finished, will have a chance at being brought to stores like the first was, if not I can always self-publish. With me its not about literary perfection, which is just a shameful way of admitting I don't think I'm a technically gifted writer, all I care about is bringing an interesting new story to people, something that you will enjoy. Hopefully, if anyone looking at this blog comes across my first book, due for release very soon now, you will like it for that reason and want to move on the second; whatever format it is released in.
Much Love,
Hoping You Are Well :D
L.H
Carpark Catchphrase!
You know what I love about wednesdays? No timetable, that means... Carpark Catchprase, BBC Radio 1, Chris Moyles Show. Woot!
As I type this I am listening ro newsbeat with an extract of Daniel Radcliffe chatting some baff about his drinking during his younger used in Potter 'arry. Chris Moyles takes me back to when I used to stare at the TV to watch Roy Walker present Catchphrase; for those that don't know it, its an old show where popular english idioms are presented pictorially with money awarded for whoever guesses it first.
Chris Moyles Show has revived the show on the radio every weekday morning (I think) but lets people sat stationary in their cars participate by using their horn as a buzzer. It is most amusing :) There tends to be some cheeky banter and cheating but with Roy Walker's voice played as a voiceover you just can't help but appreciate it <3
I always feel a bit sad when it comes on and I miss it, but today... just waiting for one more song to finish... ahhh there it is. Tune in around 9:45 and get ready for the fun my children.
Bum bum bum bum bum-bum ba-dum ba-dum
Gotta love the intro
Much Love
Hoping You Are Well!
L.H
As I type this I am listening ro newsbeat with an extract of Daniel Radcliffe chatting some baff about his drinking during his younger used in Potter 'arry. Chris Moyles takes me back to when I used to stare at the TV to watch Roy Walker present Catchphrase; for those that don't know it, its an old show where popular english idioms are presented pictorially with money awarded for whoever guesses it first.
Chris Moyles Show has revived the show on the radio every weekday morning (I think) but lets people sat stationary in their cars participate by using their horn as a buzzer. It is most amusing :) There tends to be some cheeky banter and cheating but with Roy Walker's voice played as a voiceover you just can't help but appreciate it <3
I always feel a bit sad when it comes on and I miss it, but today... just waiting for one more song to finish... ahhh there it is. Tune in around 9:45 and get ready for the fun my children.
Gotta love the intro
Much Love
Hoping You Are Well!
L.H
14 Feb 2012
On the bright side
always look on the... no, way too cheesey
Just wanted to mention that I know so many beautiful, amazing people who I could genuinely steal and keep in my room forever. Friends are what truly make life great, and I hope you all agree on that.
I have much love for all of you goons (yes Rhiannon, 'oo' again :P) and you all know who you are :)
Where would I be without any of ye :')
Givez uz a hug :D
Just wanted to mention that I know so many beautiful, amazing people who I could genuinely steal and keep in my room forever. Friends are what truly make life great, and I hope you all agree on that.
I have much love for all of you goons (yes Rhiannon, 'oo' again :P) and you all know who you are :)
Where would I be without any of ye :')
Givez uz a hug :D
The Multiverse of fiction
Narratives are waaaaayy too linear. I know that sounds mad but I honestly think that writers restrict their imagination by sticking down the straight and narrow, so to speak.
Okay, so this is what we are used to, Linear Narrative
I've thrown in some of the funkier types of narrative just to make everything look snazz. Buuuuuttt my defective imagination tells me that that is just not enough. I want something more complicated and diverse. I often wonder what it would be like if two or more very different stories crossed over into each other because of this similar element. The characters and the locations would be merged, because this 'common element' would need, want or require it to be that way. Here's an idea of what the linear timelines of the multiple narratives could look like
How about an analogy, though I realise this is going to sound stupid because I'm basically throwing stones at a wall to give a quick idea of what madness I'm talking about, and madness (view blog title) is what I'm good at.
Okay... you have Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (IV, V, VI). All three are epics in their own right, but people often hypothetically debate such questions as "Who would win between..." "Who was stronger..." and I think it should be explored more thoroughly in writing. What if the three Dark Lords, Voldemort, Sauron and Darth Vader were cast together by some greater being and the combined forces of the Death Eaters, Mordor and the Sith had the chance to take on the three worlds that had been somehow spliced into one hybridized universe.
Inevitably it would seem that 'LOTR' would be severely disadvantaged against the others with their fantasy and sci-fi powers but that can be part of the fun. Afterall, Gandalf could give them a run for their money and the heroes of Middle Earth are much more strategically minded when it comes to war; plus the wizards and witches fighting the good fight would more than likely prefer to protect and enhance the Middle Earth fighters than actually use their powers to kill.
Of course this is hypothetical and not fully thought out so it could be worked out that while they're universes are conjoined, they share each others' world's benefits. Magic, the force, armies and technology coming together. (Proper geek moment there)
I want to attempt to create several 'universes' that can collide together like I have explained, I already have UNISON and from there I want to make new stories that are original from UNISON but have some common element; an element crucial enough to bring them all together! That way I can bring the best parts of each story together, for me that would be epic; already I doubt whether such a book would ever be a good idea to write, but I know from the perspective of writing it it would be really fun!
Feel free to take apart the idea and tell me off for even thinking it up :)
Just a bit of madness from my head :)
Not As Much Love Today (having an emo)
Hoping You're Feeling Grand
L.H
Okay, so this is what we are used to, Linear Narrative
How about an analogy, though I realise this is going to sound stupid because I'm basically throwing stones at a wall to give a quick idea of what madness I'm talking about, and madness (view blog title) is what I'm good at.
Okay... you have Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (IV, V, VI). All three are epics in their own right, but people often hypothetically debate such questions as "Who would win between..." "Who was stronger..." and I think it should be explored more thoroughly in writing. What if the three Dark Lords, Voldemort, Sauron and Darth Vader were cast together by some greater being and the combined forces of the Death Eaters, Mordor and the Sith had the chance to take on the three worlds that had been somehow spliced into one hybridized universe.
Inevitably it would seem that 'LOTR' would be severely disadvantaged against the others with their fantasy and sci-fi powers but that can be part of the fun. Afterall, Gandalf could give them a run for their money and the heroes of Middle Earth are much more strategically minded when it comes to war; plus the wizards and witches fighting the good fight would more than likely prefer to protect and enhance the Middle Earth fighters than actually use their powers to kill.
Of course this is hypothetical and not fully thought out so it could be worked out that while they're universes are conjoined, they share each others' world's benefits. Magic, the force, armies and technology coming together. (Proper geek moment there)
I want to attempt to create several 'universes' that can collide together like I have explained, I already have UNISON and from there I want to make new stories that are original from UNISON but have some common element; an element crucial enough to bring them all together! That way I can bring the best parts of each story together, for me that would be epic; already I doubt whether such a book would ever be a good idea to write, but I know from the perspective of writing it it would be really fun!
Feel free to take apart the idea and tell me off for even thinking it up :)
Just a bit of madness from my head :)
Not As Much Love Today (having an emo)
Hoping You're Feeling Grand
L.H
13 Feb 2012
The book cover, znn znn
Emailed my productioin co-ordinator on saturday to see how things were going with UNISON. I have recently sent the proofread edits back to them after reading the entire book again with the suggested ammendments.
Dear Hannah managed to reply this morning very quickly; her swiftness made me fell loved I must admit. :D
Apparently the graphic designers have my suggestions and the book synopsis so they should have something drafted up within the next two weeks which is exciting stuff to say the least! I am hoping that my suggestions will be taken into account, after all they know best what really pulls a buyer in. I think I may die a little inside when I see the artwork knowing that it is my work, my product.
Watch this space for more news about that! I don't know if I will upload a scan or picture of the design because it may just spoil the fun of showing people the finished work. My own concept art on the UNISON page is purely a collection of key themes in the book, in reality cover art at a professional standard is much more compact and neat without going over the top as I do, though I confess it makes me a little sad :P
Here's some cover art for some of my fellow authors amongst Austin & Macauley Publishers Ltd
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well! ;D
L.H
Dear Hannah managed to reply this morning very quickly; her swiftness made me fell loved I must admit. :D
Apparently the graphic designers have my suggestions and the book synopsis so they should have something drafted up within the next two weeks which is exciting stuff to say the least! I am hoping that my suggestions will be taken into account, after all they know best what really pulls a buyer in. I think I may die a little inside when I see the artwork knowing that it is my work, my product.
Watch this space for more news about that! I don't know if I will upload a scan or picture of the design because it may just spoil the fun of showing people the finished work. My own concept art on the UNISON page is purely a collection of key themes in the book, in reality cover art at a professional standard is much more compact and neat without going over the top as I do, though I confess it makes me a little sad :P
Here's some cover art for some of my fellow authors amongst Austin & Macauley Publishers Ltd
 |
| The Devil's Fury, Graham Wilson (Romance) |
 |
Me290, S.M.Deeming (Science Fiction) |
 |
| The Stabird, B Cunningham (Fantasy) |
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well! ;D
L.H
12 Feb 2012
"Want a character in my book?"
Never, ever, ever, ever do it... simplez
Seriously though, its all well and good using your friends and family as inspiration for characters but never make a character in your own story a direct representation of someone close to you. The way you see that person will no doubt influence how you treat that character, and inevitably their outcome will be influenced the same way.
A few of my close friends have been translated into my first book and some of the characters still persist into the future story ideas, which is helpful but it works best when you are not strongly attached to that person. If, perhaps, lets talk hypothetical here, not at all related to my own work, totally, you base a character on a particular partner you have at the time, to help spark an element of romance in your writing then I have one piece of advice. REMOVE/DELETE/CHANGE THE CHARACTER.
Should you ever find yourself having done this, which I totally wouldn't, (Blates... >.>) then you may find that the partner of your main character meets an unfortunate end... or... maybe a painful and slow death upon a slowly burning planet...
But we are all rational here, none of us would ever do such a thing, right?
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well ;D
L.H
Seriously though, its all well and good using your friends and family as inspiration for characters but never make a character in your own story a direct representation of someone close to you. The way you see that person will no doubt influence how you treat that character, and inevitably their outcome will be influenced the same way.
A few of my close friends have been translated into my first book and some of the characters still persist into the future story ideas, which is helpful but it works best when you are not strongly attached to that person. If, perhaps, lets talk hypothetical here, not at all related to my own work, totally, you base a character on a particular partner you have at the time, to help spark an element of romance in your writing then I have one piece of advice. REMOVE/DELETE/CHANGE THE CHARACTER.
Should you ever find yourself having done this, which I totally wouldn't, (Blates... >.>) then you may find that the partner of your main character meets an unfortunate end... or... maybe a painful and slow death upon a slowly burning planet...
But we are all rational here, none of us would ever do such a thing, right?
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well ;D
L.H
11 Feb 2012
The trouble with originality
When it comes to naming the characters, creatures, and objects of my fiction I think very carefully about what name would best reflect the function or personality of what I'm naming. I think that these subtle references help reinforce the imagery behind images as well as subconsciously helping a reader to remember what the thing is upon just hearing the name, even if they arn't aware of the meaning of the name.
J.K.Rowling employs this tactic with her characters name and particularly with the spell names, its something that I personally really appreciate. A lot of people would understand that in Harry Potter when a wizard wants to 'remove something from the hand' they can cast Expelliarmus, but especially the younger reader would not appreciate that the charm is the command of 'expell the arm(ed)'. Just like how Lumos relates to 'illuminate' as Protego does to 'protect'. These little subtle references are what impress the older reader, its almost like a reward to find these things. The characters are much more interesting, such as with Bellatrix Lestrange; roughly translating as a definition of her character, as being a once beautiful female agent who is strange and odd.
With my own writing I try to do the same to hint to character behavior and also to underlying themes of the book *This is not a spoiler*
For example,
Mercurius, a hybrid character in my sequel is in two minds as to who to fight for, and his allegiance is fluid and shifting depending on the situation. Referencing the physical behaviour of Mercury
Seraph, the highest rank of warrior of the Hierarchy who carry out the physical will of the Vanguard and protect their people from the Fallen. They are ascended warriors who stand with six wings, command the lesser ranks and guard the Vanguard. Links to christian views of the 'seraphim'. Think 'Seraph' from The Matrix for an idea of how the beings are said to protect the higher beings.
There are many more but I do not want to just explain every reference because if you happened to ever read any of the stories it would be like opening a crossword to find it was already half finished. Oh the horror.
In a day of madness I created a new creature for my book which would be a giant animated draconic skeleton that served the Fallen. I didn't feel up for searching through synonyms for the characteristics of the beast so I took the lazy option and went for the next random thing that popped out of my head.
I went for 'tetrax'. Random, right? well I was just writing a section of a chapter where a tetrax makes an appearance and thought I would google the word. amusingly it actually came up with a little bird! I was impressed by that, seeings as both of the creatures are kind of bird-like, they fly fly fly. Most of the other results were pretty random to be fair, seems that some foreign companies like to call themselves or their products 'Tetrax'. But what really made me rethink the entire name choice was the next little image that popped up under this name.
Ben 10... really, really not what I had in mind when I was concepting the creature. It just shows how trying to be 'original' is really a challenge these days, even the most random of thoughts appears to have happened before! I have learnt from this little exercise to stick to having some form of witty reference behind all of my names, so I do not get my Omniels mixed up with any Omnitrixes. For now, I will leave the name as it is, it can be our secret ;)
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well ;D
L.H
J.K.Rowling employs this tactic with her characters name and particularly with the spell names, its something that I personally really appreciate. A lot of people would understand that in Harry Potter when a wizard wants to 'remove something from the hand' they can cast Expelliarmus, but especially the younger reader would not appreciate that the charm is the command of 'expell the arm(ed)'. Just like how Lumos relates to 'illuminate' as Protego does to 'protect'. These little subtle references are what impress the older reader, its almost like a reward to find these things. The characters are much more interesting, such as with Bellatrix Lestrange; roughly translating as a definition of her character, as being a once beautiful female agent who is strange and odd.
With my own writing I try to do the same to hint to character behavior and also to underlying themes of the book *This is not a spoiler*
For example,
Mercurius, a hybrid character in my sequel is in two minds as to who to fight for, and his allegiance is fluid and shifting depending on the situation. Referencing the physical behaviour of Mercury
There are many more but I do not want to just explain every reference because if you happened to ever read any of the stories it would be like opening a crossword to find it was already half finished. Oh the horror.
In a day of madness I created a new creature for my book which would be a giant animated draconic skeleton that served the Fallen. I didn't feel up for searching through synonyms for the characteristics of the beast so I took the lazy option and went for the next random thing that popped out of my head.
Ben 10... really, really not what I had in mind when I was concepting the creature. It just shows how trying to be 'original' is really a challenge these days, even the most random of thoughts appears to have happened before! I have learnt from this little exercise to stick to having some form of witty reference behind all of my names, so I do not get my Omniels mixed up with any Omnitrixes. For now, I will leave the name as it is, it can be our secret ;)
Hoping You Are Well ;D
L.H
Angry at a cookie...
However! And I do like a good however. My pageviews still doubled overnight, so unless I was sleep-viewing or a stalker has been lurking between my posts then it would appear some people may have actually seen this already! I think its very unlikely that this is actually true so I say shame on you Blogger for getting me excited, as punishment I'm taking your cookie and I am certainly not giving it back!
Anywho... I shall spend most of today bouncing between study and working on my sequel so I will create my UNISON: ARC label if I find something worthy of talking about :P
Please be on the lookout for any stalkers hiding in the shadows of this blog.
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well ;)
L.H
P.S, everyone who is cool should view this blog lots! Interesting lady ;D What About Everything?
10 Feb 2012
Gods and the beyond...
I have always had a bit of an obsession for those things that are diametrically opposed to each other. The fundamental binary opposites that seem to exist in every part of life are just beautiful and often, or arguably always, these are the heart behind a good story.
Take 'Beauty and the Beast', self-explanatory, the conflict is of appearance. The characters are opposites and as with seemingly all opposites they are in a state of equilibrium; constantly these factors either, collide, conflict or attract each other in order to sustain the other's existence.
We relate to these opposites because they often give us a form of scale to which we can measure ourselves against the two extremes and find out where we fit or, perhaps, where we want to be.
Of course there are so many other forms of opposites which appear in life like peace and suffering, fire and ice, good and evil. The latter two of which are handily featured in this little pic.
Without these conflictions there can be sudden growth in society, whether it be growth in morals, knowledge, relations or an infinite other options. The rich will quibble with the poor (watch Trading Places :D), yet they sustain each other through the flows of industry and business just as the strong conflict with the smart even though they must come together to keep society running smoothly.
We like horror to have an unstoppable entity that kills all but the one 'last girl', dressed in white to show innocence, perfection and tranquility. We see heroes of the tale in the most unlikely figures, Frodo, Shrek, Stuart Little, Harry Potter!
But, enough of this philosophy. The point I'm painfully building up to is the fundamental opposition that has been diluted into narrower categories mentioned above. This grouping is the classic good and evil. I have noticed that my favourites stories are those with a very strong distinction, and this has translated into my own writing through two themes. My book 'UNISON' focuses on angels and demons mythology, note the blog background, as well as the powerful and powerless.
Its all nice and cliché to have the righteous heavens fending off the raising hell that opposes them, just as its the same with a science-fiction which features alien races which are always superior in strength and technology. What has influenced my writing greatly is the thoughts of diametrically opposed but fundamentally equal gods who, due to the equilibrium, are in an endless struggle and then the balance is disrupted. What if the powerless find a way to succeed the powerful by going beyond anything they ever believed possible, a human becoming a god amongst men. The disruption in balance is interesting but ultimately with great power comes chaos (not great responsibility I'm afraid).
But now lets go a step further, lets throw in a being who created everything, the very existence, the concept of non-existence, the opposites and the balances. With a 'god-above-gods' on the scene how would the rest hope to stop it if it became tyrannical and destructive. The creator of all would not be stopped by the powerless no matter how many there were, water can not be thrown to the fire and good can not prevail over evil simply because the morals dictate it should.
I want to explore this struggle with UNISON. I want to see how a power struggle would change when a limitless force is added to the mix. Is there any way to stop the god-maker and creator of all?
Much Love
Hoping You Are Well ;)
L.H
Take 'Beauty and the Beast', self-explanatory, the conflict is of appearance. The characters are opposites and as with seemingly all opposites they are in a state of equilibrium; constantly these factors either, collide, conflict or attract each other in order to sustain the other's existence. We relate to these opposites because they often give us a form of scale to which we can measure ourselves against the two extremes and find out where we fit or, perhaps, where we want to be.
Of course there are so many other forms of opposites which appear in life like peace and suffering, fire and ice, good and evil. The latter two of which are handily featured in this little pic.
Without these conflictions there can be sudden growth in society, whether it be growth in morals, knowledge, relations or an infinite other options. The rich will quibble with the poor (watch Trading Places :D), yet they sustain each other through the flows of industry and business just as the strong conflict with the smart even though they must come together to keep society running smoothly.We like horror to have an unstoppable entity that kills all but the one 'last girl', dressed in white to show innocence, perfection and tranquility. We see heroes of the tale in the most unlikely figures, Frodo, Shrek, Stuart Little, Harry Potter!
But, enough of this philosophy. The point I'm painfully building up to is the fundamental opposition that has been diluted into narrower categories mentioned above. This grouping is the classic good and evil. I have noticed that my favourites stories are those with a very strong distinction, and this has translated into my own writing through two themes. My book 'UNISON' focuses on angels and demons mythology, note the blog background, as well as the powerful and powerless.
Its all nice and cliché to have the righteous heavens fending off the raising hell that opposes them, just as its the same with a science-fiction which features alien races which are always superior in strength and technology. What has influenced my writing greatly is the thoughts of diametrically opposed but fundamentally equal gods who, due to the equilibrium, are in an endless struggle and then the balance is disrupted. What if the powerless find a way to succeed the powerful by going beyond anything they ever believed possible, a human becoming a god amongst men. The disruption in balance is interesting but ultimately with great power comes chaos (not great responsibility I'm afraid).
But now lets go a step further, lets throw in a being who created everything, the very existence, the concept of non-existence, the opposites and the balances. With a 'god-above-gods' on the scene how would the rest hope to stop it if it became tyrannical and destructive. The creator of all would not be stopped by the powerless no matter how many there were, water can not be thrown to the fire and good can not prevail over evil simply because the morals dictate it should.
I want to explore this struggle with UNISON. I want to see how a power struggle would change when a limitless force is added to the mix. Is there any way to stop the god-maker and creator of all?
Hoping You Are Well ;)
L.H
Ramblings of a day-dreamer
This is my first official post upon this blog-thang so I should at least explain its purpose (so I don't forget).
This here be my personal blog and hopefully it will be where I store my thoughts and random insane outbursts whilst working on, and documenting, my books; starting from the 'lightbulb' stage in my head and ending with their inevitable death or unlikely publishing.
I say hopefully, I will likely forget what I'm using this for and post about whatever has amused me during the day or my current obsession.
One warning, my imagination is in overdrive 24/7 so some of my idea may just be completely...well... let's just say 'quirky'. normally I like to create characters or locations and live their lives in my head and then I go from there with my writing. It's all good fun, right? ;P
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well!
L.H.
This here be my personal blog and hopefully it will be where I store my thoughts and random insane outbursts whilst working on, and documenting, my books; starting from the 'lightbulb' stage in my head and ending with their inevitable death or unlikely publishing.
I say hopefully, I will likely forget what I'm using this for and post about whatever has amused me during the day or my current obsession.
One warning, my imagination is in overdrive 24/7 so some of my idea may just be completely...well... let's just say 'quirky'. normally I like to create characters or locations and live their lives in my head and then I go from there with my writing. It's all good fun, right? ;P
Much Love!
Hoping You Are Well!
L.H.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)