I just hit thirty-two thousand one hundred and twenty-two words for my NaNo novel. Yep, only about eighteen thousand words left. Unfortunately, it seems I just hit the middle of the actual story. So, basically, I'm going to hit 50k and still not done. Not sure if that's good or not. Hell, I might continue after that. Not sure. I must admit, the worst part of devoting all my writing to this is not being able to delve into any other ideas. I'm itching to write another story, but I know that if I do I'll never come back. This has quickly become torturous. Not to mention it's hard trying to explain to those friends of mine who are not writers why it's important that I finish this. Most everyone I know finds the whole idea to be not just lame but also useless since I don't actually win anything. I have such shallow friends /sigh. Granted, I am beginning to wonder why I am doing this to myself. I've lost sleep because of this novel, which is crap since I don't expect to ever publish the thing. I am still doubtful any fantasy publishers wants to deal with a story where the elves are genocidal war mongers and the goblins are rational and trying their hardest to find peace. Oh yeah, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out and I'm addicted to it. The actual story is absolute horrible, but the multiplayer is amazing. If you're interested at all, my review for it can be seen here. Enjoy. Or don't. I don't care. I'm off to waste my day writing. -Irish P.S.: In an attempt to become more apathetic, I did not proofread or edit this post. Enjoy my molestation of grammar!
I'm now twenty thousand works in - so about forty percent finished? Anyhow, I'm finding the experience so far to be exceptionally fun and oddly brilliant. Admittedly, I am having problems balancing the dialogue and actual scenes since I feel like I have to describe everything in length. The only part of the whole process which I find regretful is that I have no writing buddies. In RL (real life for those of you who are not WoWNerds) I have plenty of friends, but none of them are writers with one exception, and he writes poetry... something tells me he has no interest in writing a fifty thousand word novel. And before someone says "he might", trust me when I say he does not. I feel like somewhat of a loner on the NaNo website. There are no special cliques or groups I am affiliated with and I haven't anyone to show off to. Instead, I send my work to my friends and they politely inform me they're busy playing Dragon Age: Origins or doing something call w..wo....work. No clue what this "work" is, but I hear it's hard. In regards to my story I have finally fleshed it out (obviously) and am currently breaking into chapter eight. As I said previously, I am hoping to write a fantasy novel with all of the possible cliches and stereotypes just so that I can turn them over and shake them about. To put it simply, here is the basic plot: A small group of soldiers escort a dignitary from their country (A republic, none of this monarchy crap) to a small nation they are looking to ally with. No, seriously, that's it. I used a basic idea and fleshed it out with the world around it. The elves are the enemy of humans and goblins, who have allied. Yes, goblins are good. In fact, in my story they are anti-war and have stopped the advance of the human war in an effort to negotiate a treaty with the enemy. Oh, and before anyone asks, no the elves do not live in a forest and no, their nation is not elf only. They have a plethora of races and their armies include humans as well as elves. The whole point of the story is that in a war there is not a single hero who saves the day, just as there is not a single villain. There is no good and evil, everyone is different, and whether you support it or not (I am pro-war in most cases, mind you) war is horrific and should be avoided until the very last straw. As an added side bonus here are a few other things I decided to toss into the story: women are equal and serve in the military alongside men, the elf kingdom is actually a theocracy, bows have been replaced by rifles, catapults have been replaced by canons and black powder, magic is deemed otherwise useless (and I do mean that, none of this crap where a wizard pops out of some elfs bum and starts shooting lasers out of his eyes), and sexuality is considered fluid. Oh, and to piss off some of you political folk: Capitalism is seen as good. OMG! I know, weird right? I actually decided to delve into politics and societal issues in the story. One of the biggest problems in the human/goblin nations is elves who have dissented from their nation and come to seek aid from theirs. My influence was how F.D.R. reacted in WWII by detaining all Japanese Americans. Whether it was the correct thing to do or not, I cannot stomach the idea of being so cruel to innocent people. -Irish
I should have named this blog entry: Avoiding the Cliche. Actually, that was the very first post, other than the obligatory introduction post, that I ever posted. It was all about fantasy cliches and how to avoid them... obviously. Well, a friend of mine challenged me to write a fantasy-based story for the NaNoWriMo competition. He knows how competitive I am and how much I abhor fantasy novels. Something about them makes me ill. I think it is simply how many of them there are that blatantly rips off a certain English fellow. I accepted my friends challenge and have begun my work. This is what I have thus far... First of all I have decided against having a single protagonist being the one to save the world. Instead, the hero of the humans, the one man who led them into an ascension to brilliance, and who has been the one every single man knows will beat the enemy, has unfortunately died of typhoid. Oh, and the main benevolent country in the story is a representative republic, so if the mythical farmboy superhero wants to come save the day as the mighty leader he'll have to run for office and win the vote. No, I'm not kidding. The benevolent country, the one fighting for its sovereignty, is also under the duress of racism. You see, at one point the entire world was under the boot of a strict theocracy run by the elves. The humans, who were treated as equals but made up the majority of the military, revolted and made their own nations elsewhere. Some are democracies, some confederacies, some are monarchies, and a few are dictatorships. With the humans came the goblins, incredibly intelligent people who despise war in general. Almost every single city built by the freed humans were also built by the goblins, who have become their brothers. Unfortunately, because of the hatred the humans and goblins have for the elves, they've gathered a bit of bigotry towards all of them. I should mention that there are some elves who dislike the way their old country is acting. There are some who like the often times capitalistic nations the humans have forged. Nevertheless, they are treated as second class citizens. The other, less important races include orcs, who are used only as miners and loggers because they are incapable of fighting strategically. Also, there are dwarves, who have a incredibly strong fear of the mines. Why? Well, they prefer living nice, comfortable lives in the forests with their human allies. They're typically farmers and loggers, but some are also fishermen. Lastly we have the trolls and ogres, both of whom are offshoots of goblins and orcs. Trolls are the native inhabitants of the moorlands and are generally calm. The ogres, on the other hand, are brilliant strategists who work as generals who the elves. Oh yes, I also forgot to mention that in the human societies women are considered divine. They are not to be abused, paraded around naked, or treated as inferior. You can thank my healthy distaste of the standard half-naked busty female barbarian who knows only war and... love. Actually, I didn't make them deities or divine by nature, I simply made women what they are: equal to men. Lastly, there will not be any (ANY!) wise old men, loot-guarding dragons, amnesia riddled youths, half men/half tigers, a fear of technology, perfect heroes, magic using wizards who are feared and wear stupid hats, or names and titles with apostrophes which grammar does not demand naturally. There will be political and societal problems. There is an economy in each nation and it fluctuates appropriately, then affecting other nations. If one decides to stop growing corn, it then directly harms another. Oh yeah, I'm making the elves generally weak in terms of their physical strength. They have pointed ears, but they're not floppy bunny ears. Their skin tends to be a bit pale and sickly and they're absurdly thin like they don't consume enough food to exist in the first place. Dwarves are NOT Scottish, not every human knows how to use a sword, and the villain is not a single person or a group of people. -Irish P.S.: That was all one big unedited rant, so I apologize for my lack of grammar.
I'm not a very big family person. In fact, I don't have any family that I am proud of and that I acknowledge. The only exception are my sisters, both of whom I have known for about three weeks now. We're only half-related, to be fair. We have the same father, but different mothers. When our father passed away (I was two at the time) our perfect family was split and they were taken to Oregon with their mother. Well, through the miracles of social networking I was able to find them. For the first two weeks everything went great and I felt a sense of utter happiness. And now that feeling has metabolized into a shapeless hell which keeps my mind unfocused and my emotions beset by silly theories. Basically, I got frustrated that one of my sisters had suddenly stopped replying to my emails. For about a week she basically ignored me. I don't know why and there was never any explanation. There was no great secret or revelation revealed, so I didn't scare her off. And then yesterday she sends me an email and asks what I'm up to for Halloween. Still slightly angry at the fact she didn't even reply to a simple hello six days prior I told her that I wasn't doing anything. That's it. I suddenly became apathetic as a way to protect myself. Shortly after she sent me another email stating she thinks I'm always unhappy. Since I was still angry I fired off an email describing all the ways that I AM happy and that she should probably avoid telling people when they are and are not enjoying their life. That, by the way, is why I named this blog entry: I made a mistake. I never heard a response from her. I stayed up until 1AM because I wasn't sure if I had pissed her off or if I was correct in my own judgment. In all fairness, I don't know how to deal with women, no matter who they are. Whether they be my sister or some random stranger or my landlord. I am unable to deal with women of any sort. Shockingly, I am also gay. I'm not really sure what to do. All of this is new territory for me. I've never had anyone in my family that I actually felt love for. Sure, that sounds terrible, but when you come from a family who thinks of abuse as a tradition then suddenly you realize why I am so confused about a proper family. So, I made a mistake and now I don't know why to do. I really wish I was a smoker right now. Damn. -Irish P.S.: I am unhappy.
I'm sick. I'm not entirely sure if I have H1N1, but I have the majority of the symptoms with few exceptions. A friend of mine had it (he was tested and it was positive for H1N1) and said it only lasted three days, but it was the worst three days of his life. Then again, he's only twenty so I'm sure he's bound to have worse days. Nevertheless, after roughly four days I am doing well. The only problem which still persists is a soured stomach. For the first two days I felt like absolute hell. I had a fever, my head was killing me and I didn't eat anything. And then I realized that I was sick... yes, the two days I spent sick was not a clear enough message that I was in fact sick. It is either a statement on the flu or my own mental health. Anyhow, on the third day I decided to suck it up and get better. So I did, and now I am. End of story... Alright, alright, here's my method: plenty of V8, engorge your body with vitamins, drink plenty of tea, and eat your way out of the sickness. I kid you not on the third day I ate four helpings of potatoes, eggs, and bacon. I felt better than I ever had before. On the fourth day, however, the soured stomach came back and I had to eat some more bacon. Well, this morning I feel a little lightheaded and my stomach is still soured, but it's a vast improvement from the last four days. Time to go eat some bacon! Alright, maybe the whole bacon thing doesn't actually work. Instead, I think it's the mere fact that I am thinking positively. I know it sound absurd, and in fairness it is, but once I realized I was sick and there was nothing I could do but feel better forcibly I did. The power of the mind is an amazing thing and when you put it to work you can some pretty astonishing things. I know, I know, I've probably gone insane from all of the tea I've had in the last three days, but I don't care. I feel better.