I'm on chapter 21 in my first book, and I so f*cking happy XD
There are like 6-8 pages in a chapter, so that adds up to a lot of pages, plus the fact that I'm talking MS word pages, which are actaully like 2 times the size of actual book pages, so now the book so far is like 300 pages X3
Ohmygosh, thinking back to when I first started this series 5 years ago, the story has evolved so much it's incredible! It went from a one shot kids fantasy book to a set of four huge books, amazingly deeply developed characters, awesome action paired with romance that spans the whole series, ranging from Artemis x Julius, Julius x Rose, Artemis x Myra, Victoria x Artemis, and Chloe x Xaivier. I'd have to say my favorite coupling, as well a my favorite theme of the series, is the strange on again off again desperate relationship that develops between Julius and Artemis, sworn enemies, complete opposites, yet Julius is drawn to Artemis because of Artemis' complete isolation from society, and Artemis, thought he at first doesn't realize it, needs Julius as a source of redemption. The best and only way I could really describe the way their relationship is, would have to be a line from Tatu's Show Me Love: "Like a game of pick up sticks, played by fucking lunatics". This is because when Julius at first befriends Artemis, he really does care for him, but Artemis absolutely hates Julius, or at least thinks he does. And then, after Artemis betrays him, Julius loathes Artemis, but then Artemis realizes he needed Julius, and desperately wishes to reunite with him. When he finally does, (I won't spoil it) Julius still hates him, but years later Julius finds out that Artemis really did love him, and even though he now would give almost anything to see him again, Artemis is not there. Then, when Artemis returns, Julius is no longer in the picture. So, yes, it is most definitely an on again off again relationship, in that everytime one of them loves the other, the other is either not there, or has opposite feelings. Poor bastards, I almost feel bad as an author doing it to them! Oh well. Will they finally reunite in the end? Guess you'll just have to wait to find out~!
I'm really happy with the way it's all turning out. It's no longer an "entertainment story", or a tale woven specifically to cater to the readers need for action or drama or the likes, with no real emotion in it. Now I proudly state that this is a story of redemption, love, and life. I think when people read my books, or at east I hope, they will take something very important out of it. I'm also really happy with how each character ends up at the end of the series. There won't be any readers stressing out about unresolved issues, or what happened to this or that character, or stuff that just plain isn't a satisfying end. I'm hoping for the best with reader's reactions.
I have no idea when I'm getting it published, the first book anyways, but I'm close to finishing it. I'm in Act 3 of a 3 act book, and I'm trying super hard to wrap things up. The most annoying thing is when I have a chapter just the way I want it, and then realize that I need to put a certain scene I forgot in there, and it interrupts the flow of the writing, or what I wanted the theme of each chapter to be. I work through it, but it sure is pissing me off :/
Sorry for not posting in my blog here more often guys, lol, but when I want to write about my books, I usually write my books, not write my blog ABOUT my books. As someone once said, I don't remember her name, "We'd all like to pretend working on our blogs is considered work, but we all know it's really not." Heehee, how true. Which is why updates here are so few and far apart. That, and if I'm in a blogging mood I usually blog about myself, not my books. (I have a different blog for that :] )
So yeah, I'm really happy with everything right now. Writing sure does take a lot out of you, but man is it worth it! I think I started typing up the first book like a year ago, and it's almost done XD yay!!
I know people aren't reading this blog. I know. Although, I suppose you're reading this right now, so it kinda creates a paradox of logic, but hey, you know what I mean :/ Anyways, what I'm getting at is that I know nobody cares about my books, and why should they? They're not even published yet. But one day, I hope that people will care, no matter how few. I'm not trying to get famous off them, although that WOULD be nice :) but I just want to get it out there. I'm not gonna be egotistical and proclaim that I'm the next Stephanie Meyer, or JK Rowling, or Tolken. But I can still hope that people will read my books, without being pompous, right? :]
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Moving, continuing my books, my progress so far
I've been working pretty hard on my first book, and I've been posting a lot on my other blog so this one has kinda been ignored. Sorry! ^_^;; But anyways, things are really shaping up and all my plots for the books are coming together nicely. I have to move to Westpoint New York, so I'm gonna be super busy this month.
I got my first book published-- one I illustrated anyways, I didn't write it--it's a childrens book, lol, I would never ever write those. :P Anyways, so I got a royalties deal with that, and I'm illustrating anothe book on the way. Plus I've got a whole lot of commissions I have to deal with, but hey- money! :D *teehee* Anyways, I also want to get my scanner working so I can selll some of my art on Deviantart.com That place is awesome!
I can't believe I'm moving...
I got my first book published-- one I illustrated anyways, I didn't write it--it's a childrens book, lol, I would never ever write those. :P Anyways, so I got a royalties deal with that, and I'm illustrating anothe book on the way. Plus I've got a whole lot of commissions I have to deal with, but hey- money! :D *teehee* Anyways, I also want to get my scanner working so I can selll some of my art on Deviantart.com That place is awesome!
I can't believe I'm moving...
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Hey everybody, I'm still alive :)
So I haven't posted very often on here as of late, but that's because I've been writing my books and school started up and I created a new blog (on a different account). Anyways, I should probably put some more of the story up... oh, btw I changed the character dialogue to period elizabethan english so it's more beleivable and accurate, even if it doesn't flow as well. It took me FIVE HOURS to redo all of the dialog and that's only in what I've got written down in the first book! DX Oh well. Here ya go.
-CHAPTER 2-
-The province of Veronia, England-September 13th, 1431
Artemis looked up at the ranks of men. There were so little of them… His eyes widened in realization: He’d waited three years for this. Somehow it was just so appropriate to have his revenge now, on the eve of their destruction. If he killed them now, Averleigh would triumph. He could go home a hero.
“Lux lucis nex…” he chanted under his breath. A crackle of electricity formed in his palm and he stopped in his tracks. “Theca!” The blue light enveloped the soldiers and electrocuted them. They writhed in the neon flames for a few moments; screaming in agony. Then, quietly, like a feather drifting to the ground, they fell before him in a shining heap of armored bodies.
Julius turned at the sound of screams to find every single one of his men dead, nothing but lifeless corpses; his best friend looking at him from across the hallway with an air of amusement. Artemis stood with his arm outstretched, energy still glowing in his hand; the sick smile of a madman painted on his face. His eyes burned with excitement and hatred, daring him to fight.
Julius stood aghast for a moment; the fear and surprise plain to read within his shrinking pupils and half-open mouth. In a moment it turned into teeth clenched in anger; his eyes grew fierce and unforgiving; and in that moment he knew. It was true that he did not understand why, but he knew.
“You BASTARD!”
he screamed unsheathing one of his swords.
He knew his best friend was a traitor.
He ran forth at him in a blaze of fury; Artemis turned to dodge his sword by mere inches and took out his staff. He whispered something in Latin and it glowed with a bright intensity, and he swung it at Julius’ head as he turned back around. Julius became afraid for a second- if that touched him surely he would die…! He back flipped to avoid it; sprung on his hands back to his feet and charged at him again. Artemis flipped his staff and shoved the wooden end of it into Julius’ gut. He choked with the pain and staggered back, left hand instinctively moving to his stomach. Artemis took advantage of this momentary weakness and sprung upon him; the jewel atop his staff aimed downward. Julius bent backwards; he touched his hands to the ground and pushed off, catching Artemis’ staff between his legs as he flipped; wrenching it from his grasp and catapulting it across the hall. He landed on his feet and panted; wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He ran back at Artemis; who in turn ran at him. Julius swung his sword in an effort to decapitate him, but Artemis crouched down below it and used the momentum to slide down the corridor. He ground his heel into the floor to stop himself and grabbed his staff off the ground as he rose. Artemis laughed to himself. Such fun! This was even more fun than he’d expected it would be.
They turned around to face each other.
Julius no longer saw the face of his friend. Here was the placid insanity of a madman. A sadistic psychopath.
A stranger.
Artemis too saw something, but it was not Julius. In his’ mind’s eye, before him stood the Late King, Julius’ father; his ghostly visage replacing the pleasant man he once knew.
And that was all Artemis could see.
A sadistic light danced across his eyes.
He was getting his revenge.
They both charged. Artemis brought his staff down upon Julius’ head, but it was stopped mere centimeters away. Julius had pulled out his other sword and crossed them in an X, keeping the deadly tip of the staff from touching him. They put all the energy they had into their action; Artemis pushed the staff towards his head with all his might, and Julius pushed it away from him with all of his, but in was soon apparent to Artemis that it would go nowhere; they were of equal strength and neither would win this way. He; however, had an advantage. He had magick.
He smiled wickedly and there was laughter in his eyes. “Silens nex.” he whispered as his eyes glowed an electric blue.
Julius tried to move away as he recognized the Latin phrase—silent death. An electrical charge went through the victim and created confusion of the heartbeat. It was essentially a magick induced heart-attack, and although it took a few minutes for the victim’s heart to stop beating entirely, it was a practical and relatively humane way of killing, and for that it was highly regarded as the best way to put someone out of their misery.
For a moment the world slowed down; a bright blue light coursed through the staff, conducted by Julius’ two crossed swords through his hands, his arms, his chest, finally reaching his heart, all within mere milliseconds; the hazel of his iris’ mixed with the crackles of electric blue as his mouth opened in a silent scream. He fell back and stumbled down to the floor; ending up in an awkward sprawled out position on his knees. He clutched his heart, his eyes grew wide, and his breathing became short, spastic gasps. His bangs fell over his eyes and a shadow enveloped his face. He knew he was going to die. He looked up at the man before him; the purple-clad figure beginning to blur around the edges.
Artemis face had gone rather blank. A quiet emotionless played across his eyes. Julius looked up at him, and even though Artemis could not see his eyes he could sense a sort of pleading in the expression. Confusion. Fear. Greif. He could see it on his face; it emanated from him.
In under a minute he had taken his entire life away.
He did not know it yet, but that picture would remain in his memory forever. He would dream of it almost every night, that moment where he broke a man’s spirit... the day he killed part of himself. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He walked up to the man dying on the ground and his face grew dark. The image of Julius’ father had disappeared when he’d fallen to the ground. Artemis stood quietly watching his friend die; the only sound to be heard was a tiny whimpering, short, small, erratic gasps for air.
He stood there for ages; for all eternity, it seemed.
There was a deafening silence, it blanketed emotions, thoughts, feelings; covering the whole world in a ghostly shell where all meaning was lost and time did not exist. A snowfall, peaceful and quiet. Full of death and destruction, but peaceful and quiet all the same.
Artemis saw what he had done, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He felt a sensation of tranquility; desolate, and empty. A strange thought began to form in his head, but he dismissed it before it got a chance to be heard.
_____
-CHAPTER 2-
-The province of Veronia, England-September 13th, 1431
Artemis looked up at the ranks of men. There were so little of them… His eyes widened in realization: He’d waited three years for this. Somehow it was just so appropriate to have his revenge now, on the eve of their destruction. If he killed them now, Averleigh would triumph. He could go home a hero.
“Lux lucis nex…” he chanted under his breath. A crackle of electricity formed in his palm and he stopped in his tracks. “Theca!” The blue light enveloped the soldiers and electrocuted them. They writhed in the neon flames for a few moments; screaming in agony. Then, quietly, like a feather drifting to the ground, they fell before him in a shining heap of armored bodies.
Julius turned at the sound of screams to find every single one of his men dead, nothing but lifeless corpses; his best friend looking at him from across the hallway with an air of amusement. Artemis stood with his arm outstretched, energy still glowing in his hand; the sick smile of a madman painted on his face. His eyes burned with excitement and hatred, daring him to fight.
Julius stood aghast for a moment; the fear and surprise plain to read within his shrinking pupils and half-open mouth. In a moment it turned into teeth clenched in anger; his eyes grew fierce and unforgiving; and in that moment he knew. It was true that he did not understand why, but he knew.
“You BASTARD!”
he screamed unsheathing one of his swords.
He knew his best friend was a traitor.
He ran forth at him in a blaze of fury; Artemis turned to dodge his sword by mere inches and took out his staff. He whispered something in Latin and it glowed with a bright intensity, and he swung it at Julius’ head as he turned back around. Julius became afraid for a second- if that touched him surely he would die…! He back flipped to avoid it; sprung on his hands back to his feet and charged at him again. Artemis flipped his staff and shoved the wooden end of it into Julius’ gut. He choked with the pain and staggered back, left hand instinctively moving to his stomach. Artemis took advantage of this momentary weakness and sprung upon him; the jewel atop his staff aimed downward. Julius bent backwards; he touched his hands to the ground and pushed off, catching Artemis’ staff between his legs as he flipped; wrenching it from his grasp and catapulting it across the hall. He landed on his feet and panted; wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He ran back at Artemis; who in turn ran at him. Julius swung his sword in an effort to decapitate him, but Artemis crouched down below it and used the momentum to slide down the corridor. He ground his heel into the floor to stop himself and grabbed his staff off the ground as he rose. Artemis laughed to himself. Such fun! This was even more fun than he’d expected it would be.
They turned around to face each other.
Julius no longer saw the face of his friend. Here was the placid insanity of a madman. A sadistic psychopath.
A stranger.
Artemis too saw something, but it was not Julius. In his’ mind’s eye, before him stood the Late King, Julius’ father; his ghostly visage replacing the pleasant man he once knew.
And that was all Artemis could see.
A sadistic light danced across his eyes.
He was getting his revenge.
They both charged. Artemis brought his staff down upon Julius’ head, but it was stopped mere centimeters away. Julius had pulled out his other sword and crossed them in an X, keeping the deadly tip of the staff from touching him. They put all the energy they had into their action; Artemis pushed the staff towards his head with all his might, and Julius pushed it away from him with all of his, but in was soon apparent to Artemis that it would go nowhere; they were of equal strength and neither would win this way. He; however, had an advantage. He had magick.
He smiled wickedly and there was laughter in his eyes. “Silens nex.” he whispered as his eyes glowed an electric blue.
Julius tried to move away as he recognized the Latin phrase—silent death. An electrical charge went through the victim and created confusion of the heartbeat. It was essentially a magick induced heart-attack, and although it took a few minutes for the victim’s heart to stop beating entirely, it was a practical and relatively humane way of killing, and for that it was highly regarded as the best way to put someone out of their misery.
For a moment the world slowed down; a bright blue light coursed through the staff, conducted by Julius’ two crossed swords through his hands, his arms, his chest, finally reaching his heart, all within mere milliseconds; the hazel of his iris’ mixed with the crackles of electric blue as his mouth opened in a silent scream. He fell back and stumbled down to the floor; ending up in an awkward sprawled out position on his knees. He clutched his heart, his eyes grew wide, and his breathing became short, spastic gasps. His bangs fell over his eyes and a shadow enveloped his face. He knew he was going to die. He looked up at the man before him; the purple-clad figure beginning to blur around the edges.
Artemis face had gone rather blank. A quiet emotionless played across his eyes. Julius looked up at him, and even though Artemis could not see his eyes he could sense a sort of pleading in the expression. Confusion. Fear. Greif. He could see it on his face; it emanated from him.
In under a minute he had taken his entire life away.
He did not know it yet, but that picture would remain in his memory forever. He would dream of it almost every night, that moment where he broke a man’s spirit... the day he killed part of himself. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He walked up to the man dying on the ground and his face grew dark. The image of Julius’ father had disappeared when he’d fallen to the ground. Artemis stood quietly watching his friend die; the only sound to be heard was a tiny whimpering, short, small, erratic gasps for air.
He stood there for ages; for all eternity, it seemed.
There was a deafening silence, it blanketed emotions, thoughts, feelings; covering the whole world in a ghostly shell where all meaning was lost and time did not exist. A snowfall, peaceful and quiet. Full of death and destruction, but peaceful and quiet all the same.
Artemis saw what he had done, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He felt a sensation of tranquility; desolate, and empty. A strange thought began to form in his head, but he dismissed it before it got a chance to be heard.
_____
Monday, July 20, 2009
Love philosophy?
By the way, if you love talking about the meaning of life, dreams, thoeries, philosophy or that sort of thing you should definitely go see Waking Life. It is by far the best movie ever made. Even the animation is thought provoking...! It will redefine the now.
Watch it for free, legally, and all at once, no download required or anything, instantly, here:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=waking+life&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
If the link does not work just go to Google.com and choose "videos" in the upper left hand corner then type in "Waking Life" in the search box and Viola! The movie should be in a box to your right.
Watch it for free, legally, and all at once, no download required or anything, instantly, here:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=waking+life&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
If the link does not work just go to Google.com and choose "videos" in the upper left hand corner then type in "Waking Life" in the search box and Viola! The movie should be in a box to your right.
Just some things I found on the web...
I was websurfing and I found a lot of interesting articles that I'd like to share with the world. (Or reshare, considering they are already on the internet) Here we go:
DEATH
The end point of your life after which there is complete darkness, you don't know where you are, with whom you are and how you are? We feel pain till we live, after which we don't have the sense to feel. It's a fact that death is the cycle of life, where life ends, death takes over and we don't know the phase of this stage. We feel fear to accept the fact of death, but death never feels anything while meeting you and taking you along with her.
You have to believe this, who has taken birth has to go one day and your fear to accept this fact, will make you die before your death. If you believe in this fact, you will accept your death happily and that makes you more competent to understand the meaning of it.
Life is temporary but death is permanent. You do, or try to do, every style of malpractices with your work, for you and for the betterment of your life, irrespective of thinking that for which you are thinking most, by every mean, has a very temporary standing, that is your life.
You don't know about your tomorrow, what could happen with you, with your life, it's totally unclear to everyone about his tomorrow. Life is definitely going to ditch you, either today or tomorrow but death will never ditch you, because it does not have a reversible phase from death to life again. Once dead you have to be in death mode always and even if you try or think to come out of it, you cannot. If this is a fact and it is being clear to you then try to live your life, in total.
A meaningful life has a fragrance of love, faith and trust and you will never think of wasting, even a minute of your precious life. It is better to discuss and think more of life because we don't have much to discuss about death. In life, we have sense, feeling of pain, love and everything, if we think, we are living otherwise you can feel that without these your life has no meaning.
Before death, I want to think only about my life so that; my life gives me lots of love and care, to make me feel that I have lived a full and meaningful life till my end. It takes years to make a person stand on his feet's but a killer mind makes him dead, in a minute, this is called the premature death and the person having no sense or pain while killing others is considered to be living with a retarded mind, a dead without emotions.
You can do anything or everything, when you are living, you can change yourself for the sake of others, you can try to make them change, for yourself, so try with your every effort, in your living mode otherwise you will feel regret at the time of death. You can have a desire that you want to live every minute of your life, till your end and feel alive at the time of death.
I post more later. Night!
DEATH
The end point of your life after which there is complete darkness, you don't know where you are, with whom you are and how you are? We feel pain till we live, after which we don't have the sense to feel. It's a fact that death is the cycle of life, where life ends, death takes over and we don't know the phase of this stage. We feel fear to accept the fact of death, but death never feels anything while meeting you and taking you along with her.
You have to believe this, who has taken birth has to go one day and your fear to accept this fact, will make you die before your death. If you believe in this fact, you will accept your death happily and that makes you more competent to understand the meaning of it.
Life is temporary but death is permanent. You do, or try to do, every style of malpractices with your work, for you and for the betterment of your life, irrespective of thinking that for which you are thinking most, by every mean, has a very temporary standing, that is your life.
You don't know about your tomorrow, what could happen with you, with your life, it's totally unclear to everyone about his tomorrow. Life is definitely going to ditch you, either today or tomorrow but death will never ditch you, because it does not have a reversible phase from death to life again. Once dead you have to be in death mode always and even if you try or think to come out of it, you cannot. If this is a fact and it is being clear to you then try to live your life, in total.
A meaningful life has a fragrance of love, faith and trust and you will never think of wasting, even a minute of your precious life. It is better to discuss and think more of life because we don't have much to discuss about death. In life, we have sense, feeling of pain, love and everything, if we think, we are living otherwise you can feel that without these your life has no meaning.
Before death, I want to think only about my life so that; my life gives me lots of love and care, to make me feel that I have lived a full and meaningful life till my end. It takes years to make a person stand on his feet's but a killer mind makes him dead, in a minute, this is called the premature death and the person having no sense or pain while killing others is considered to be living with a retarded mind, a dead without emotions.
You can do anything or everything, when you are living, you can change yourself for the sake of others, you can try to make them change, for yourself, so try with your every effort, in your living mode otherwise you will feel regret at the time of death. You can have a desire that you want to live every minute of your life, till your end and feel alive at the time of death.
I post more later. Night!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Hey guys! :D Wewt new installment <3
I know I haven't posted in like 2 months but that's because al my spare time I've been putting into my book. Okay, maybe I was on Gaiaonline for awhile too, but hey! -_-;; Anyways, so I'm up to about chapter ten in my book...each chapter is about 8 MSword pages, with translated to about 16 in book form. I'm very excited. :3 Now that summer is here I have a ton of time to finish up writing the first book. It's like my lifeblood. I pretty much sleep, eat and breathe my books. Every spare second I have is translated into coming up with new plots of story lines and writing it all down...which is rather tedious considering what a perfectionist I am D: lol, anyways, here ya go, a little more of the book to satiate your appetites. :3
But really, I know pretty much nobody views this blog...I just don't care :D
Okay, so this is the actual beginning of the book, but it's a little bit boring compared to the epicness of the battle I just wrote about in the intro because it's just about Allen... oh well. ^_^ Enjoy!
-SCENE 1 (Birth)-
-CHAPTER 1-
Allen Collins sat at his desk in Virginia High school, half awake and barely taking in what his AP European teacher was saying. Something something…monarchy project…something…due Monday…something…blah. How had he even gotten into this class? Oh… right. His mom had pushed his last Global teacher until he’d finally recommended him for it. Yeah—thanks mom. It wasn’t like he wanted to be in this stupid class anyways… Besides, who cared that it was Advanced Placement instead of regular European history? I mean, Come on. It’s was just two little letters anyways! An A and a P. Why did having those on his report card really matter all that much? Eh. Whatever. It’s not like he was planning on going to Harvard or anything. His light blue eyes drifted out the window to the trees rustling in the warm breeze and the heat waves rising off the cars baking in the sun. Why are people so interested in history anyways…? It’s dead; gone. People shouldn’t worry so much about the past. The present is what it is; they should just live for the future.
Oops, that was the bell.
Huh. Wonder how long Teach has been talking for?
He shrugged. Oh well. He’d just catch up on the project with Conner tonight. Hey- that what friends are for, right? Swapping agendas and copying homework. He chuckled to himself as he grabbed his books and headed to algebra.
Back at home though, Allen found there was more than one flaw in that plan. Conner apparently had to leave school early to get to the airport in time to catch a plane to Manhattan. Turned out his Aunt just found out she had stomach cancer and Conner’s mom wanted the whole family to go visit her before chemo started. So, right now, Conner was somewhere over Pennsylvania, probably trying desperately to ignore the screaming baby in the row behind him while simultaneously attempting to hold a subliminally provocative conversation with the pretty girl in the window seat. LoL…he could totally picture that happening. It would be so like Conner too. Ignoring what was wrong in his life and replacing it with big dreams and impossible, eccentric plans. Oh God, Conner. He thought. Don’t go getting yourself mugged in New York, dude.
But, getting back to reality here, he really did have to find out what was up with that freaking Euro report. Cause, if he didn’t get his priorities straight for the night, he knew he’d end up playing Half-life tm or something on his computer till two in the morning. Like last Tuesday. Man, he’d learned never to do that again. Three hours sleep just did NOT cut it for school. Anyways, he had to call somebody or something. Otherwise he was gonna have absolutely no idea what they were supposed to do. Problem was, he really didn’t remember the names of anybody else in his Euro class. Usually that was the period he just zoned out in. It was two periods after his lunch, so he had a bad habit of dozing off. Basically, he was in a jam. He didn’t know who to call and for God’s sake he was NOT calling his teacher. Nope, he was just gonna chill till tomorrow and ask for, like, maybe a project grading sheet or something… Wait a second-- teach definitely passed something out in class today. Maybe-? He opened up his history binder and rifled through the contents. Yup, there it is. He thought pulling out a crinkled piece of paper. Coolio. He could totally do this now. Okay, where to start? Monarch project…120 points…blah blah blah…wait—what!? What the hell?? 120 points!? That’s like…two test grades put together! WTF!? he thought reading on. Crap. Well…okay, maybe this isn’t THAT bad… he decided. All he needed to do was type up a five hundred word essay on…Let’s see…the structure of an absolutist monarchy and the most famous examples of it. Alright, he could do that. He just needed to go to Google real quick and find some good articles to glean facts off of.
Unfortunately, as he booted up his computer-- the pride of his possessions which he had spent hundreds on turning into a lean, mean, gaming machine—he found out that it wouldn’t load Microsoft. Great. Well, now his only choice was to go to the library or something. Sheesh, that was, like, WAY too old-school for his tastes. He had other things to do for God’s sake! But…he really did need to do this project on time; his AP European grade was slipping farther than he would’ve liked. It seemed he really didn’t have a choice. It was May now, and he only had a few precious weeks to get his grades up before they were set in stone. He supposed that explained why the assignment was worth so much. He was only 15 and couldn’t drive yet, and nobody was home right now, so he took his bike instead. His light brown hair disappeared as he shoved on a crimson baseball hat. He put up the kickstand and sped down the driveway headed north.
He glanced at the houses as he passed them by; the sky blue house with the white trimming, with the swing set in the backyard and a beer cooler in the garage… The cookie-cutter housing complex that boasted it’s eco-friendly designs, that people flocked to get closer to nature; the one that they’d cut down most of the forest to build. The park where the little children played in the sandboxes and the homeless men slept at night. The sign that proclaimed in large, bold letters,
“Welcome to West Virginia, the greatest place on Earth!”.
He really had no idea why he knew how to get to the library; it wasn’t like he actually went there or anything. He was a jock through and through; he wore his favorite sky blue jersey— lucky number forty-eight—almost every day, and had a thing for twisting his cap backwards. Well, okay, maybe his obsession with sci-fi computer gaming didn’t exactly fit the stereotype, but still. Pedaling at light speed, he reached his destination in no time. He sighed with relief as he opened the door and was met by a rush of cool air. Man that felt good. Walking around a little he found a section on historical novels, but he didn’t really see anything that could help him. It was a small library anyways, just one of the little dusty buildings so typical of small towns. He rolled his eyes and went up to the front desk.
“Hey, do you, like…have some really old books? No—I mean, like, about the Middle Ages ‘n stuff.”
The librarian looked him in square in the eyes and cocked her head. She was a pretty girl, and looked to be a few years older than him. He got lost in her big brown eyes and they stood quietly regarding each other for a moment.
“Oh—you mean around the 1400’s?”
“Uh...yeah. Research project.” He explained.
“I see…” she answered digging around in a drawer. “Here’s a key to the back room—it’s where they—we--keep the public records, but I think there are some shelves with out of date books there too. If you couldn’t find what you were looking for out front then it might be in there.” She said pleasantly, handing him a big old-fashioned key that looked like it could be a hundred years old or so. Knowing this town, that was quite possible. Sometimes it felt like you could get lost in this place, turn the wrong corner and end up in the 17th century. He grabbed it out of her outstretched palm, which was unusually cold.
Allen walked to the back of the library and found a doorknob that looked to be in the same disrepair as the key. Turning it in the lock, the door swung open and he nearly coughed up a lung from the dust. Jeez—did they ever come back here and clean since this place got bought!? It was actually pretty creepy… the only light was one of those really crappy old single bulb fixtures with a rusty pull chain in the middle of the room. He practically tripped over the piles of books trying to get to it. Pulling the string, the light flickered on and off a few times before it finally stayed lit. After taking a good look around he found a bookcase with ‘out of print’ scrawled on a yellowed piece of ratty masking tape stuck sideways on the topmost shelf. Scanning the titles with his fingers, he picked out a few that might help him. After a few minutes of him flipping the pages, the librarian came in again; long orange hair bouncing and the ruffles on her light blue dress rippling, and she asked politely if he had found anything of use. Yes; possibly, he replied. “That’s good.” She smiled warmly. He blushed. She was kinda cute… she turned to leave, but part of him secretly wanted her to stay. “Um—“he said, fumbling around for a topic of conversation; anything to keep her here a little longer. His eyes darted around the room trying to find something interesting to talk about. His gaze rested upon a big glass case in the corner; inside lay a gigantic old book with tattered edges and a leather binding. “…What’s in that case over there?” he asked her. “That? Oh. That used to be on display in the front a long time ago, but the woman who worked here lost the key to the case, so they--we decided to keep it back here. The book in there used to be the pride of the library because it was so old…but nobody really has any idea what it’s about because nobody’s ever tried to get it open since the locks really old too. I guess it’s just gonna sit there until somebody finds a way to get it open.” She shrugged. “But hey; if you can find the key I bet… my employer… will let you take a look at it.”
“Oh. Huh.” He said. “That’s kind of…creepy, but sure, I could totally help you look for it sometime.” Any excuse to spend time with her was a good excuse. “You know what?” she said laughing, “That sounds like fun. We should get together sometime.” He couldn’t tell if she was just egging him on or if she was being totally serious, but her voice was so sweet it melted any doubts he had. He sat there in a trance until she walked away giggling and twirling one of the strange of her hair; her foot kicking up the edge of the dirty green carpet. The sound of the door shutting brought him back to the present. He walked over to the corner and brushed away the dust. It looked like the book had been through Hell and back; the cover was dirty and it seemed as though if you touched it the thing would just disintegrate. He bent down and examined the case. It was really weird looking, part wood and part glass, with a sturdy but rusted metal frame holding it together. He ran his finger across the little golden plaque—‘The Lost Tome’ it read. Oh wow. That was certainly informative he thought laughing to himself.
As he stepped back to leave, he tripped on the edge of the carpeting and knocked into a bookcase. One of the larger books fell from the shelf and hit him on the head as he stumbled forward.
He awoke in a daze a few minutes later, unsure of what had just happened. He’d fallen down underneath the podium shaped case when he had been knocked unconscious. He looked up wondering if he’d gotten a concussion from this, and suddenly noticed a little cut out hole on the underneath the case. The bottom part of the case was made of wood, and it looked like somebody had cut a big chunk out of it for no reason. Huh. That’s weird he thought getting to his feet. He brushed some of the dust off his clothes and peered under the case. He cocked his head and stuck his finger up underneath it, feeling around beneath the velvet cloth inside the display case. His finger touched something cold and metallic, and he grasped it and worked it out of the hole. In his hand he held a rusty little key. Attached to it on a string was a little tag with a nothing but a simple pentagram. He raised his eyebrows. Okaaaay… that’s a little…odd… he thought. Wait-
He stuck it into the little key hole on the case. It went in all the way; he turned it to the left. It didn’t get far in that direction. He turned it to the right.
Click.
The top swung open.
Whoever worked there before had hidden the key themselves.
Totally forgetting about the project he was supposed to be researching for, Allen grabbed the book and raced out to show the librarian.
She was nowhere to be found.
He called out for her a few times but she did not answer. He looked down at the book in his arms. At first he was just using the excuse of finding it to get closer to her; she was a pretty little thing, but now he was genuinely curious. He really did want to see what was written in there. Well...she had said he could take a look at it if he found the key so…
Shrugging, he walked out of the building with it and pedaled back home.
_____
But really, I know pretty much nobody views this blog...I just don't care :D
Okay, so this is the actual beginning of the book, but it's a little bit boring compared to the epicness of the battle I just wrote about in the intro because it's just about Allen... oh well. ^_^ Enjoy!
-SCENE 1 (Birth)-
-CHAPTER 1-
Allen Collins sat at his desk in Virginia High school, half awake and barely taking in what his AP European teacher was saying. Something something…monarchy project…something…due Monday…something…blah. How had he even gotten into this class? Oh… right. His mom had pushed his last Global teacher until he’d finally recommended him for it. Yeah—thanks mom. It wasn’t like he wanted to be in this stupid class anyways… Besides, who cared that it was Advanced Placement instead of regular European history? I mean, Come on. It’s was just two little letters anyways! An A and a P. Why did having those on his report card really matter all that much? Eh. Whatever. It’s not like he was planning on going to Harvard or anything. His light blue eyes drifted out the window to the trees rustling in the warm breeze and the heat waves rising off the cars baking in the sun. Why are people so interested in history anyways…? It’s dead; gone. People shouldn’t worry so much about the past. The present is what it is; they should just live for the future.
Oops, that was the bell.
Huh. Wonder how long Teach has been talking for?
He shrugged. Oh well. He’d just catch up on the project with Conner tonight. Hey- that what friends are for, right? Swapping agendas and copying homework. He chuckled to himself as he grabbed his books and headed to algebra.
Back at home though, Allen found there was more than one flaw in that plan. Conner apparently had to leave school early to get to the airport in time to catch a plane to Manhattan. Turned out his Aunt just found out she had stomach cancer and Conner’s mom wanted the whole family to go visit her before chemo started. So, right now, Conner was somewhere over Pennsylvania, probably trying desperately to ignore the screaming baby in the row behind him while simultaneously attempting to hold a subliminally provocative conversation with the pretty girl in the window seat. LoL…he could totally picture that happening. It would be so like Conner too. Ignoring what was wrong in his life and replacing it with big dreams and impossible, eccentric plans. Oh God, Conner. He thought. Don’t go getting yourself mugged in New York, dude.
But, getting back to reality here, he really did have to find out what was up with that freaking Euro report. Cause, if he didn’t get his priorities straight for the night, he knew he’d end up playing Half-life tm or something on his computer till two in the morning. Like last Tuesday. Man, he’d learned never to do that again. Three hours sleep just did NOT cut it for school. Anyways, he had to call somebody or something. Otherwise he was gonna have absolutely no idea what they were supposed to do. Problem was, he really didn’t remember the names of anybody else in his Euro class. Usually that was the period he just zoned out in. It was two periods after his lunch, so he had a bad habit of dozing off. Basically, he was in a jam. He didn’t know who to call and for God’s sake he was NOT calling his teacher. Nope, he was just gonna chill till tomorrow and ask for, like, maybe a project grading sheet or something… Wait a second-- teach definitely passed something out in class today. Maybe-? He opened up his history binder and rifled through the contents. Yup, there it is. He thought pulling out a crinkled piece of paper. Coolio. He could totally do this now. Okay, where to start? Monarch project…120 points…blah blah blah…wait—what!? What the hell?? 120 points!? That’s like…two test grades put together! WTF!? he thought reading on. Crap. Well…okay, maybe this isn’t THAT bad… he decided. All he needed to do was type up a five hundred word essay on…Let’s see…the structure of an absolutist monarchy and the most famous examples of it. Alright, he could do that. He just needed to go to Google real quick and find some good articles to glean facts off of.
Unfortunately, as he booted up his computer-- the pride of his possessions which he had spent hundreds on turning into a lean, mean, gaming machine—he found out that it wouldn’t load Microsoft. Great. Well, now his only choice was to go to the library or something. Sheesh, that was, like, WAY too old-school for his tastes. He had other things to do for God’s sake! But…he really did need to do this project on time; his AP European grade was slipping farther than he would’ve liked. It seemed he really didn’t have a choice. It was May now, and he only had a few precious weeks to get his grades up before they were set in stone. He supposed that explained why the assignment was worth so much. He was only 15 and couldn’t drive yet, and nobody was home right now, so he took his bike instead. His light brown hair disappeared as he shoved on a crimson baseball hat. He put up the kickstand and sped down the driveway headed north.
He glanced at the houses as he passed them by; the sky blue house with the white trimming, with the swing set in the backyard and a beer cooler in the garage… The cookie-cutter housing complex that boasted it’s eco-friendly designs, that people flocked to get closer to nature; the one that they’d cut down most of the forest to build. The park where the little children played in the sandboxes and the homeless men slept at night. The sign that proclaimed in large, bold letters,
“Welcome to West Virginia, the greatest place on Earth!”.
He really had no idea why he knew how to get to the library; it wasn’t like he actually went there or anything. He was a jock through and through; he wore his favorite sky blue jersey— lucky number forty-eight—almost every day, and had a thing for twisting his cap backwards. Well, okay, maybe his obsession with sci-fi computer gaming didn’t exactly fit the stereotype, but still. Pedaling at light speed, he reached his destination in no time. He sighed with relief as he opened the door and was met by a rush of cool air. Man that felt good. Walking around a little he found a section on historical novels, but he didn’t really see anything that could help him. It was a small library anyways, just one of the little dusty buildings so typical of small towns. He rolled his eyes and went up to the front desk.
“Hey, do you, like…have some really old books? No—I mean, like, about the Middle Ages ‘n stuff.”
The librarian looked him in square in the eyes and cocked her head. She was a pretty girl, and looked to be a few years older than him. He got lost in her big brown eyes and they stood quietly regarding each other for a moment.
“Oh—you mean around the 1400’s?”
“Uh...yeah. Research project.” He explained.
“I see…” she answered digging around in a drawer. “Here’s a key to the back room—it’s where they—we--keep the public records, but I think there are some shelves with out of date books there too. If you couldn’t find what you were looking for out front then it might be in there.” She said pleasantly, handing him a big old-fashioned key that looked like it could be a hundred years old or so. Knowing this town, that was quite possible. Sometimes it felt like you could get lost in this place, turn the wrong corner and end up in the 17th century. He grabbed it out of her outstretched palm, which was unusually cold.
Allen walked to the back of the library and found a doorknob that looked to be in the same disrepair as the key. Turning it in the lock, the door swung open and he nearly coughed up a lung from the dust. Jeez—did they ever come back here and clean since this place got bought!? It was actually pretty creepy… the only light was one of those really crappy old single bulb fixtures with a rusty pull chain in the middle of the room. He practically tripped over the piles of books trying to get to it. Pulling the string, the light flickered on and off a few times before it finally stayed lit. After taking a good look around he found a bookcase with ‘out of print’ scrawled on a yellowed piece of ratty masking tape stuck sideways on the topmost shelf. Scanning the titles with his fingers, he picked out a few that might help him. After a few minutes of him flipping the pages, the librarian came in again; long orange hair bouncing and the ruffles on her light blue dress rippling, and she asked politely if he had found anything of use. Yes; possibly, he replied. “That’s good.” She smiled warmly. He blushed. She was kinda cute… she turned to leave, but part of him secretly wanted her to stay. “Um—“he said, fumbling around for a topic of conversation; anything to keep her here a little longer. His eyes darted around the room trying to find something interesting to talk about. His gaze rested upon a big glass case in the corner; inside lay a gigantic old book with tattered edges and a leather binding. “…What’s in that case over there?” he asked her. “That? Oh. That used to be on display in the front a long time ago, but the woman who worked here lost the key to the case, so they--we decided to keep it back here. The book in there used to be the pride of the library because it was so old…but nobody really has any idea what it’s about because nobody’s ever tried to get it open since the locks really old too. I guess it’s just gonna sit there until somebody finds a way to get it open.” She shrugged. “But hey; if you can find the key I bet… my employer… will let you take a look at it.”
“Oh. Huh.” He said. “That’s kind of…creepy, but sure, I could totally help you look for it sometime.” Any excuse to spend time with her was a good excuse. “You know what?” she said laughing, “That sounds like fun. We should get together sometime.” He couldn’t tell if she was just egging him on or if she was being totally serious, but her voice was so sweet it melted any doubts he had. He sat there in a trance until she walked away giggling and twirling one of the strange of her hair; her foot kicking up the edge of the dirty green carpet. The sound of the door shutting brought him back to the present. He walked over to the corner and brushed away the dust. It looked like the book had been through Hell and back; the cover was dirty and it seemed as though if you touched it the thing would just disintegrate. He bent down and examined the case. It was really weird looking, part wood and part glass, with a sturdy but rusted metal frame holding it together. He ran his finger across the little golden plaque—‘The Lost Tome’ it read. Oh wow. That was certainly informative he thought laughing to himself.
As he stepped back to leave, he tripped on the edge of the carpeting and knocked into a bookcase. One of the larger books fell from the shelf and hit him on the head as he stumbled forward.
He awoke in a daze a few minutes later, unsure of what had just happened. He’d fallen down underneath the podium shaped case when he had been knocked unconscious. He looked up wondering if he’d gotten a concussion from this, and suddenly noticed a little cut out hole on the underneath the case. The bottom part of the case was made of wood, and it looked like somebody had cut a big chunk out of it for no reason. Huh. That’s weird he thought getting to his feet. He brushed some of the dust off his clothes and peered under the case. He cocked his head and stuck his finger up underneath it, feeling around beneath the velvet cloth inside the display case. His finger touched something cold and metallic, and he grasped it and worked it out of the hole. In his hand he held a rusty little key. Attached to it on a string was a little tag with a nothing but a simple pentagram. He raised his eyebrows. Okaaaay… that’s a little…odd… he thought. Wait-
He stuck it into the little key hole on the case. It went in all the way; he turned it to the left. It didn’t get far in that direction. He turned it to the right.
Click.
The top swung open.
Whoever worked there before had hidden the key themselves.
Totally forgetting about the project he was supposed to be researching for, Allen grabbed the book and raced out to show the librarian.
She was nowhere to be found.
He called out for her a few times but she did not answer. He looked down at the book in his arms. At first he was just using the excuse of finding it to get closer to her; she was a pretty little thing, but now he was genuinely curious. He really did want to see what was written in there. Well...she had said he could take a look at it if he found the key so…
Shrugging, he walked out of the building with it and pedaled back home.
_____
Thursday, May 7, 2009
You know what's hilarious?
The acronym I use for my book series is TPK, short for, of coure, The Paper King. I just found out, however; that TPK is also an acronym for "Total Party Kill" used in role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons (which I love by the way :3). "Put simpler, everybody is dead" -Urbandictionary.com
lol <3
The ironic thing is that so many of my characters die that it's completely fitting! XD
lol <3
The ironic thing is that so many of my characters die that it's completely fitting! XD
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