The sunshine falls on in

Well, the girl I like is now on talking terms with me, and I'll take any improvements I can get! So, for the remainder of the night, I feel pretty good!
Now, Wikibooks is horridly hard. It's one of those things where you don't know how hard it is until you do it. Still though, I knocked over an intro, so what the hey.

However, I looked into some writing tips/techniques/ideas. Some great sources are:
Holly Lisle
About.Com

Some of the ideas suggested were incredibly insightful, some of them are just what I've been doing all along! So, without further adieu, the insanity begins.

Rain assaulted the sky, lightening awoke the thunder in the clouds. One man stood, alone, in the rain, seeming to pay no attention to it. He was drenched, frozen to the bone, but it really didn't bother him. He didn't feel it anymore. Feel anything anymore.

Yeah, well, I kind of lost the train of that one, but hey, how cool is the intro!

I can of fell off the wagon again tonight, I spent the next 30 or so minutes reading the story tips =)

Oh well, good luck...

Wikipedia, a home of all

Wikipedia is an absolutely fantastic source of everything. An open encyclopedia, able to be edited by the common man or the fabled rocket scientist. If you don't know of it, check it out! It really is an experience, and from that day on it will be the first thing you turn to, even before Google.
From well-known things like chords to more oblique things like a little known game I play called Utopia it seems Wikipedia has it all.

A sub section of the whole Wiki culture is also Wikibooks, books that can be created by anyone. This isn't quite as filled as Wikipedia, most probably as articles are much easier to write and add to than full blown literary creations.

That brings me to my next thought, should I make a Wikibook? I go there, see a title, and open it with a smile, only to find it's empty. Empty you say? Well, yes, no-one has written it yet...
What gives you the permission to write a Wikibook? Well, that's the point, equal rights, equal world, the Wiki doesn't discriminate whether you are a PhD scientist or a young kid, as long as what you write is legible and sensical.

Thus, I am to write/contribute to a Wikibook!
Thus, I am going to contribute to The Written Word, of which I at least have elementary experience, and something is better than nothing, correct?

I am off to contribute, so fair the well, and I may drop by again soon.

Sleep is a highly addictive behavior, break it!

Think about it though, sleep could pretty much be described as an addictive behavior, of which we are, whenever we're awake, in withdrawal from. Since a child is born and first convinced to sleep, it has begun to take over. Then, as they grow older, they become even more addicted to it. If they don't get their fix, they become agitated, angry, annoyed, and even if we get a full dose, we can only last so many hours before we must succumb to it's grasp again!
Therefore, I surmise that sleep is a drug, and that the habit must be broken... =)

Characterisation
Preston asked me today how to do characterisation. It was really hard to give even an elementary explanation of it. It's one of those things which you always consider so simple when paying no attention to it, but the second you need it, find it ghoulishly difficult.
I got it down to a few base things, none of which may be true, but I try!

Every character is not simply a name written on a page. For a name to actually become a character, a lot has to be taken into mind. There is no such thing as a simple character, for every character there ever was is as complex as ourselves, or at least should be. When a character makes a decision, it has nothing to do with what is wrong or right or what fits in with the story, but has everything to do with what the character would choose, why they would do it. That's why Final Fantasy or Lost is so successful, each character's persona is so fleshed out, made so real, that every decision they make is completely justified.
Also, whenever you describe a character in writing, there is always a chance to work in something about their persona. What they're wearing, what they do, they way they do it, is all a diffuse reflection of who they are. They can be obvious things, like telling how quickly they come to anger by showing that he assaults the barkeeper for not letting him have a drink, to subtle things, like the character being shy and therefore always hiding behind a layer of hair. You have to reveal the character in this way unless you want the reader to have to go through a dozen pages of introduction on who the character is and what they do.

Anyway, that's my rambling on characters and their personae (don't you love Latin declensions!)

Characterisation
One of the largest things which I forgot to mention, is that over the last year I have slowly been taking up piano, and, especially, have taken up jazz piano. Mind you, I'm not genius yet, but I can feel myself growing bit by bit more confident as I go, and at least now I know all the styles and have a good feeling of jazz music under my belt =)
For example, I just finished playing Fly me to the Moon, which is one helluva jazz standard. Mind you, I didn't play it smooth, I'm still learning it, I'm just trying to find a piece to play for performance coming up in a few weeks.

Inspired by Myself

I know how dorky that sounds, but at least let me explain. I ran past a few of the posts in my blog from a year ago, and was amazed by some of the "Creative" writing. Simply put, it's insane! An unhindered flow of anything and everything to be thought of! It's just so utterly loose! I have trouble remembering a lot of it, as if it was written by someone else! I just have to try and get back into that groove.

Here we go again

He stood in a great hall, brilliant cold sunlight, the shade of the blue sky, spilling in. Under his leather boots was an expanse of polished marble floor, with the guild's emblem created within it. The emblem was simple, merely a black and white representation, but it got across the point. It was so polished that it was like looking into a tinted mirror. He stood in the middle of a great meeting, pleading with them to see his point. It was all coming apart, no-one saw his truth. He was going to have to fight for it. Some people laughed, others payed no attention, but they all knew it was the truth. In the end, he was forced out of the building. He descended down the steps of the great hall, now in disrepair. It resembled somewhat of a postmodern cathedral, or a renewed Parthenon, and was the only new building among a field of half destroyed ones. As he hit the street, he hid himself behind a cloak. This cloak was to be his home for years to come. Only hours later, this man had arranged it. The group. The one to repair the past, to redirect the future. The streets could not be left like this, the buildings could not be left to crumble. He had arranged a great taskforce, of the four most talented agents in the whole of the world. Each complementing the others strengths, all trained professionals, the others stood no chance, knew not what was going to hit them. It began with the destruction of a few warehouses. No one thought it a big deal, for the waterfront warehouses had only contained simple records. What they didn't know, however, was that those waterfront warehouses were actually a closely guarded secret. They kept his plans. The ones they had stolen from him. The only things keeping him in power. And now that they were ash, they had no more true power, only a dwindling empire to fall back upon. He would return this city to its prior pride, even if it killed him, and he meant every word of it. The taskforce was a work of genius. They were never anything more than something in the corner of your eye, leaving no trace, no trail. All the Guards heard were rantings of ghosts, people who disappeared into shadows, who fell into the street at mere sight. To some, they were thought of as heroes, avengers, but to the rest, they were the monsters under the bed, a fear greater than all others, a force of change.

Hell, I like it =) A post-parvum-apocalyptic world controlled by a monarchy of technocrats who stole their idea off of a man with pride still left within him.
Would make a good story, eh? =P

Good night, let your dreams be true and plentiful! =P

Infinite Monkey Theorem! And I'm back...

The infinite monkey theorem, while technically impossible, is still amazingly cool. The general premise goes:
"Given enough time, a chimpanzee typing at random will eventually type out a copy of one of Shakespeare's plays."
Go to Wikipedia's article for more info

And yes, after a year long hiatus, I am back, having wandered in from the darkness, with the bitter cold biting at my heels.

Phone Dialers
This very morning I was awoken by a devil itself. The viril buzz evoked the most primitive sense into me... Get up, and RUN! No, it was not the alarm clock, but, the phone.
Yes, the phone. You can't tell if the person is important or unimportant until you pick up, and unfortunately, due to it's very nature, you have to race to it to get to it in time.

This, is a horrible shock to someone still half asleep (semi-somnus), as the primitive instinct in your mind says "It's going to stop if you don't do something!"
So, I jumped up and ran for it! Ran with all my might! And what did I get when I picked it up? Someone asking if I was interested in some sort of holiday! BAH! The evility of the world today!

Holiday Hell
Yes, what I say is true! I seem to hate the holidays at the moment... Maybe it's just my frame of mind, but for the whole of the holidays so far, I've only been depressed or partially elated. I haven't really gone anywhere, and that may be the problem...

No, nowhere, apart from the movies and half a handfull of other places. It is deadly boring. It reminds me of when I was much younger, or, well, even now, when every weekend is like this. I have to entertain myself. How do you think I became so good at computers? It was the only thing I could turn to... No-one takes me out, no-one can take me out... Hanging out to me is what the teenagers in the movies do, I rarely ever do it, and I mean, ever...

That's a serious problem of my life at the moment, and hey, it needs a solution, but I haven't come up with one yet.

When, over a year ago, I said:
"I also need to find a project to become dedicated too soon, or I'll go mad..."
I didn't know how true I was.
I still haven't found anything, and it's gnawing away at me.

Now, for something completely different!
Considering this one post has taken more than three days to write (considering multiple times my post has been lost, I've been too busy or simply forgot) I'm going to simply wrap this up with my old insanity... I haven't practiced in a while, so I may be a little rusty, but hey! Stick with it =)
I want to get back to the "My subconscious went into overdrive!" days, and I certainly look forward to it!

(random words site)

forbs - The name of underground resistance groups, always working on weapons. They work on weapons as they don't have numbers, the only way to win with wit. Smoke is always billowing out of the deep underground caves, and many measures have to be taken to ensure they remain secret. That becomes the job of the smoke-watchers.
rehazes - On the horizon, the eyes of a talented seamen can see a slight disturbance of the horizon, as if one is tugging at the edges of the air itself. That haze, that small disturbance, may end up saving one's life, for it is actually the emissions of a cannon, one which, as all great weapons are, is only seen, not heard.
hievoksed - They have no option in life, they always have to run. No-one understands their talents, they only know their own fear. To see into another persons emotions is almost like trespassing, but they can't help it.
crontomodused - When one distorts the natural progression of a civilisation, because they focus on one area way too much. Essentially, it is when a civilisation advances incredibly in one area, but nowhere else, creating an immensely imbalanced society. This inevitably leads to a downfall. The closest in today's world would probably be computing, exceeding the speed of innovation and creation of almost any other industry in leaps and bounds.
enherest - The people who enherest promote the idea of revolt against an inane monarchy, one which controls all for one man's (or woman's) benefit. If caught, they are commonly charged with enheresty, which is considerably worse than mere treason.
collacon - These devices are the equivalent of a Miner's Bird. The material, through the world itself, can predict the possibility of destruction. It acts much like a piece of metal and a magnet, except this piece of metal tries to run like hell. Commonly used in military vehicles, this has saved many peoples lives. A more infamous use is that of a personal pendant, worn around the neck. The only reason it is infamous is that it is considered cowardly, and to be a coward, one must lose much honour. None the less, many talented fighters have been seen with these smalls pendants embracing their necks.
trimage - Many assassins, before they go off to battle, gather the three closest mages they know to them, to perform a sacred act. This act is the blessing of the assassin's tools, blessing them not just with luck, but with justice. It is believed an assassin must have the permission of three other highly respected individuals, at least that of mages, before they may perform such a task. It is commonly believed that if even one of the the three is in partial doubt, that the attempt will end up disasterous.
ductivations - A technique used by many new-age detectives, where one tries to know as few facts as possbile about a crime, and attempt to fill in the gaps from there. This means, that if they are going down the right track, the other facts known about the crime will fit into the detective's story, therefore, meaning that the detective is correct. Some people believe these men are more like psychics than true detectives.
ressive - Ressive tactics are most commonly used in war. Ressive tactics are actions done merely to infuriate the enemy, not to any real advantage. These are often very difficult actions, requiring immense skill and effort. A good example is a midnight drop of a dozen marines into a heavily armed fortress, with their only aim to spray paint propoganda and slang on the walls of the fortress.
hurterlation (from hurterlated) - The process by which pain is transmitted up to the brain in a partial cyborg. This is quite different to that by which a normal human feels pain, as nanoprobes assist in this task. First, the body is injured, and a message is sent along nerves to eventually end up at the brain. However, along the way, nanoprobes pick up on these senses and send them by wireless to nanoprobes in the brain. In this instant, the person is struck by pain as they notice their body has been injured. Meanwhile, the other message is still being carried along the nervous system, and finally reaches the brain. Bang! The person has just received the same message of injury again, to twice the discomfort.
A similar thing happens in fighting, called hurterlation insight, where a cyborg is given the information necessary in the fight mere milleseconds before they normally would, and because of this, end up fighting almost a few milleseconds earlier. Consider it their spidey-sense.

Wow! That was fun =) Now I remember why I loved it so much, and I haven't even gotten back into stories yet! Oh the world we live in! ^_^