http://www.writingforums.org/blog.php A writing forum, dedicated to creative writing, where writers can use writing workshops, share techniques, and discuss every aspect of writing, publishing, and the writing industry. en Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:03:34 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.writingforums.org/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.writingforums.org/blog.php http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62831 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:55:46 GMT I'm hoping you guys will be nice and tell me any mistakes I made :)

I'd be grateful.

The stench of rotting bodies filled the air as Kathryn squatted behind a dumpster. The two men she was spying on where from president Largons patrol squad. They scoured the area for people out after dark and who were making trouble. Her large hazel eyes speculated whether she could take them or not. Ever since President Benedict Largon had been elected, he had called himself the new liberator of America. Everyone else just called him a dictator.
Kathryn shifted silently, her thighs hurt from squatting so long. The two men seemed lightly armed one with a wicked looking knife and the other a small pistol. Benedict cared not for arming his soldiers more then he cared for keeping everyone under his thumb. Three weeks into office, Largon made it impossible to impeach him and announced his rule as dictator. Many people where threatened by him and showed it by rioting. They were either shot down or locked up in the Cave. Kathryn's family had been shot down and she had run to friends who were also missing family. They had banded together and now lived outside the law and try to avoid the patrol squad as often as they could. It was Kathryn's job to gather supplies and these men had plenty.
Several large boxes sat next to them while they walked around and talked. Kathryn slunk forward light on her feet staying in the shadows. Her long brown hair was messily tied up into a bun and her pants covered in dirt. She really did look like a rebel. She had long thin knife with her that allowed her to protect herself when needed. And open boxes.
She finally reached the behind of the boxes and slit open the tape with her slim knife, inside there was cans of food. Two cans fell out and clunked onto the hard concrete. Kathryn winced at the noise and squatted back down behind the box. "John you hear that?" a whiney voice asked his companion. "Yeah..I did. You think a rebel?" "Naw, probably just a rat." The two men went back to walking around and talking. Kathryn breathed a sigh of relief. She picked up the box the cans had fallen out of and moved it slowly, staying in the shadows. Once clear she booked it with the box back to camp.
The camp she arrived at was slightly better smelling, downwind from the giant fires where they burned the bodies of loved ones beside a river. She saw Sterling a close friend of her's snoring away under a giant knitted blanket, her other friend Chase was cleaning and sharpening his knife a bit farther away under a large tent covered with brambles and other foliage. She walked towards him the cans in her box clinking. Chase winked at her. "I hear dinner don't you?"
Kathryn set the box at his feet. "I came across two squad men guarding a couple boxes. This one just happened to have food." "So you took it?" Kathryn shrugged. Chase reached into the box and brought out a couple of well recognized red cans. "Chef Boyardee. I haven’t seen this in forever. We're eating like kings tonight!" ]]> Kitskit http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62831 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62830 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:52:07 GMT Review LADDERTOP Author:Orson Scott Card Genre: Manga My Review:Pretty much like Enders game, except it is geared towards Manga... Review LADDERTOP

Author:Orson Scott Card

Genre: Manga


My Review:Pretty much like Enders game, except it is geared towards Manga fans,and young women. OSC pretty much recycled the material used in 'Enders Game'.Overall I wasn't to happy with Laddertop, Even though it is Card's first Manga I feel he could have come up with an original story idea.


plot 2/5 stars
art 4/5
originality 1/5 ]]> Flanders http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62830 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62828 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:24:37 GMT Life like a strobe light.
Ode to the old gods.
Gonna make it gotta fight.
Own it like it ain't wrong.

Uga Lang Uga Lang
Rah Rah a damn shame
Uga Lang Uga Lang
Rah Rah kill the tame.

Grave yard shift blows. It's like perpetual jet lag. Good night guys. ]]> ClusterChuck http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62828 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62827 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:57:02 GMT As George lay in bed he let the book "Pirates Chest" fall open at the page with the folded corner.
George began to read.
Captain Greybeard picked up his trusty spyglass and looked out to the shore he could make out tall new buildings and a man dressed smartly walking quickly with purpose.
Andy was late for an appointment. Twenty minutes late. Mr Smith would be cross.
In his office Mr Smith looked at his watch. The gold watch he found in the attic. In the box. The box had a story, but the story was too long, because there was a knock on the door. It was his wife. "I'm leaving you".
Outside, Frank was waiting in his car. The engine was switched on. It was a new life. He thought about his wife. He thought about his children.
Emily and Peter walked through the Schoolgates. The bell rang.
It was morning and George stared at the ceiling. ]]> Cycle http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62827 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62825 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:47:27 GMT There seems to be this strange breed of writer I have come across from time to time. I write because I love to read and to me the two are... There seems to be this strange breed of writer I have come across from time to time. I write because I love to read and to me the two are intertwined. Devouring stories is a frequent past time for me, and with each story the hunger grew greater until the only solution seemed to be to create my own worlds and stories.

Why then would someone who does not like to read try to create them? Note even a hypothetical question since this type of writer actually exists. I don't mean the writer who sheepishly admits they haven't' had time to read much, being so sucked into their own projects, but a person who calls them selves a writer and in the same breath proudly proclaims they don't read much. As if it was some sort of feat, or special talent. If prodded or asked for clarification on why, these writers demise the question casually stating they don't want their work to be tainted by others that are similar.

Research is for the unimaginative and they don't want their baby to be influenced by the obviously inferior work that would lay beside their own on the shelves. That is what they say, as they look down upon the very people who read their work.

In my younger years I was a bit of a hypocrite in the same situation. I wrote poetry though I had no interest in it outside of my own work. My excuse was my youth. Being a teenager makes you say and do a lot of dumb stuff, but to continue with that line of thought even after leaving high school I cannot imagine.

Reading in your own genre, and in others as well is important. It helps to learn what is out there, and can help with aspects of writing you have difficulty. Though I don't stay on top of the market exactly I do pay attention to current themes that seem to crop up. Writing a story about a princess who takes up sword fighting isn't 'edgy' or 'new' perhaps a couple decades ago it was, but if you force yourself out of the loop then how can you expect to speak to those who read the genre?

It's something I see from time to time, some wannabe writer (and I say that as a wannabe writer) proclaims they have the next greatest sci-fi book ever, but are quick to clarify that they don't read such things. I can't help but think of a scene from Friends when Joey was being interviewed and when the last question was what sort of soap opera he liked, he proclaimed that he found them stupid. Of course he at least was unaware of what sort of show he was in. ]]> UrbanBanshee http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62825 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62824 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:50:26 GMT Day one as a forum dweller. I have no idea what I'm doing. Just posted a hi, hello on the "new member introduction" thingamajig, and tried to post a short story, but I can't seem to figure out how. Oh well.

In other news, the first thought I had when rereading the story I was going to submit was, "Dear God, what if my mother sees this?" It's nice to know that I still intrinsically believe in God and my mother, and that they have become the top two bogeymen of my adulthood. ]]> bibliolept http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62824 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62823 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:26 GMT Why did you bother to wake me up? Didn’t you know that I can put myself to the most beautiful sleep? And no, they’re not called dreams. An... Why did you bother to wake me up?

Didn’t you know that I can put myself to the most beautiful sleep? And no, they’re not called dreams.

An eerie silence which I definitely love, but only sometimes. And nonetheless, I often ask myself if I’m always sleepy. Unfastened, undone dreams. Shake them off from your eyelids and get back.. if you can. It’s a matter of when. The water still runs the same taste from last night. Widen your smile, forgive and never forget, get past the day and never forget. Blue waves and white lights wait for the perfect killer to show up, he never gets in time ]]> terrapin http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62823 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62821 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:20:02 GMT Literary age 1: Man vs. Beast. Oral history has passed down through the prehistoric man the stories of heros standing up in the face of the dark... Literary age 1: Man vs. Beast. Oral history has passed down through the prehistoric man the stories of heros standing up in the face of the dark things in the forest that want to drag our sick, young, and old away from our nightly fires and into the darkness. Or great hunters that return from the wild reaches of the world with the heads of monsters, tales of wonder, and the scars of immortality. Today this is present in Man vs. mountain, or street gangs, or a rival sports team, or a foamy mouthed demon possessed dog trapping you an your child in a car. Boewulf to Odysseus, these stories have been the driving force of using literature to forge the idea of 'hero' and solidify the place of man in nature, and identifying our fear of it. Our fear of death.

Age 2: The verticality. Or Dante. Dante reached up into the well of creation and made fiction a place worthy of the residence of god and all other higher thoughts of philosophy. It can be claimed that the myths of man predated dante but it wasn't until him the the sacred was able to be pulled down from its columns and dared to be stared at by the eyes of man. In the wake of him we had the hero's psyche being much more self aware. Ever since Dante we have used Fiction to define Mans' place in a loftier definition of reality.

Age 3: The horizontality. Or Shakespeare. Shakespeare threw open the gates wide and far on ever aspect of society from the personal (sex, lust, love, sanity, pride, identity, family, death, envy, time, legacy, vengence...) to the political (war, ambition, power, justice, nationality, kingship, tyranny, social equality...) After shakespeare fiction have been a much more all encompassing lense to see the world that Man created as a barrier between himself and nature, and an antithesis to god's own creation. Through him we can clearly see the walls created by our hands and where we stand within them.

So what's next. Are we done? We have the primeval driving force casting us forward. We have the range to go as high or as deep into the light or the darkness that shrouds the mysteries of our world. We have a wide angle scope to explore where we stand on the shores of our own paved and caffine fueled creation.

But then what? What is the fourth barrier to break and fling forth the consciousness of the masses through the divine art of the written word?

One of which I've had this discussion has suggested It's not the content that we have to break into next but the presentation. As in video games and Interactive media. (singularity)

Another has said the next step is a depth in the X-Y plane. A 'Z' axis that represents a plane of consciouness we are just not capable of seeing yet.

A third has insisted that the gambit has been run and we have our parameters. I wonder though. ]]> ClusterChuck http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62821 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62820 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:56:45 GMT It seems we are inundated with Superhero movies these days, maybe it is a reflection of the times we live in, with people facing the consequences of... It seems we are inundated with Superhero movies these days, maybe it is a reflection of the times we live in, with people facing the consequences of the global financial crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis.
In addition, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the possible decline of the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower.
Remember that Superman arose out of the miasma of the Great Depression. When people felt insecure about their lives. They cleaved to characters that have the power to rise above the soul grinding pressures and tedium of their miserable existence.

Superman was a being who fought against the wrongs of the world, an almost godlike figure or higher being that would pull the struggling masses out of their personal sufferings.

It’s fiction but it supplies the same need whist we are in that moment of "suspension of disbelief," as religion does for theists. One could argue that Superman is the Hercules of the 20th century and therefore, no less worthy of worship then any Judeo-Christian deity. If one were inclined to believe in mythological beings.

The Superhero mythos, in fact has taken on more of the characteristics of Greek mythology as time has gone on. Today, we have a vast pantheon of flawed Superheroes; they have become the receptacles of every human frailty, in effect, this very neurosis is often the driving mechanism that propels these characters into the roles of superhero.

In an age when film producers and studio executives scour the world looking for screenplays with a correct percentage of helicopters and explosions the superhero genre is a fertile ground from which to harvest.
Fans of comics offer a ready market for any offering, even disappointing ones for at least one movie of a franchise.

However, such offerings quickly become used up and need reinventing; the Batman franchise was divested of its campness with the release of “Batman Begins and The Dark Knight,” directed by Christopher Nolan. This sort of retooling breathed new life into a Superhero that had almost been dealt a deathblow by Joel Schumacher in his unbearable 1997 offering “Batman and Robin.”
Therefore, where does this leave Batman in the realms of popular understanding, no longer a pantomime stooge of the 1960’s, but a genuine gothic, psychotic vigilante with a very deep pockets?
Marvel comics Ironman is merely a more technologically encased version of Batman, whereas Batman carries a Edgar Allen Poe-ish sort of mythology.
Ironman is all about the gadgets; it could be argued that Ironman is a gadget in himself, or a man who has made himself into a gadget in order to surpass his human condition.

One could go into depth analysing every comic book hero who has found his way into film, but I invariably find myself drawn back to Superman. Is this because of his Nietzschian associations, Nietzsche who coined the name Superman or ubermensch!
Ubermensch is better translated from the German as “Over man or Higher man,” and in the context of Nietzsche’s writing it has a connotation of transcendence, but not transcendence via supernatural means rather a realisation of ones own empowerment.

Mensch has more of a connotation to the human species, rather than to a male, specifically. The philosopher declares that the Superman does not as Christians would seek, try to escape from this world by imagining another world, the archetypal heaven.
Which also requires the invention of an eternal soul, which would be separate from the body and survive death.

The Übermensch is tied to the death of God, whilst God is the ultimate expression of otherworldly values that only really exists so that beings without any other factual framework can give meaning to life.
God being dead means that God, as a discredited concept can no longer provide values to evolved human beings.

Therefore, in effect, the philosophical construct of Superman was the complete antithesis of our fictional Superhero. The comic book and film Superman has outside of a Nietzschian context become a transient vehicle for beliefs and values whilst we sit in that darkened room worshipping at the temple of Gotham and Metropolis. ]]> ScaryMonster http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62820 http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62819 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:27:57 GMT By the words we speak we live, by faith we walk to die happy, by no means does any of this help anyone. Its just another meaningless Status, to keep... By the words we speak we live, by faith we walk to die happy, by no means does any of this help anyone. Its just another meaningless Status, to keep those busy that have nothing else to do, in times space they found them self a need to feed; attention... Some still go the way they went, and for no reasons still remind those of the things they have done. Everyone always keeps the past near; a backup plan?? With words they tell; to hurt those or to turn them, loving and hating...

All and all this still makes no sense what so ever... I fear the fact that we will stay like this until the end?? Makes us think when will this 'End' rupture... Unknown to all... By day the one by night the other, by today this and tomorrow that... You are killing those around you... you know? I bet you don't... By faith we walk by faith we live, by faith we lie, for those that hope... All we do, all we see; projection... Wake up!, This is real you know... Or I bet you don't. To see those that some supposedly should be looking up to, live the way they live under constant deconstruction, away killing ones-self from the outside in, influencing every other soul with bounds to that one, I fear you lost. For the way that is, it still remains by Your faith as righteous... Illusion;

A character by name and date, a will and a way, fear and love we all do the same, you make your world the way you want, I guess its fine since we all die alone... So the only one really living in this world; could be you and only you or I... The way you see it makes it work the way it does... Still this has or will or had no meaning, and will probably never for no one knows the meaning of this... All we can do is wait, or live, or die.... A choice; Its never easy and will never be.... ]]> Acidz http://www.writingforums.org/entry.php?b=62819