Should Magic Be More Like Sight or Math?

Jeremy and I were talking about magic the other day.
Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series are arguably the first "modern" fantasy stories. In them individuals are either magic users or they are not. It is almost more a racial trait than anything you can learn or develop.
In a lot of popular fantasy series today, like Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Avatar: The Last Airbender, magic is still very much a gift that you have or you don't. It's like the ability to see, speak, or smell. You have it or you don't. Except that learning that magic tends to take a central stage in the plotline. Which is weird... because you don't really have to learn how to see or speak... and that isn't something you can really improve on per se. No matter how keen (or not) your eyes are no one goes about taking classes and learning how to see better (maybe observe more but not how to physically enhance their sight).
So then if magic is now treated more as something to be learned why is it still only some people that magically have the gift? The way magic has to be studied in most common series today it seems like magic should be more like a skill rather than a sense. Anyone can learn math, painting, programming, dance, soccer, writing.... some people are just naturally better at it then others. However, the diligence, desire and persistence someone puts into learning a certain skill often seems to outweigh the actual natural ability, at least in the long run. I think magic should be more of a skill. Anyone can learn it, even if for some people it comes more naturally than others...
So why is magic being dolled out like a sense so common? Perhaps it comes from history... from the idea that things like wealth, privilege, and opportunities for education were for a long time very much a "you have it or you don't" experience. So magic was envisioned the same way.
Then education became more prevalent and learning magic became a way to connect to readers.
But maybe our stories are still out of date and aren't "American Dream"/"Capitalist" enough... Could the next step be the magic can be learned by anyone? Down with the Muggle hierarchy!

I think it is interesting how fiction tends to mimic certain aspects of the real world but just so everyone is clear I actually have nothing against magic systems that are "you have it or you don't" I just think it might be interesting to explore it in the American Dream style.
And also it makes me curious about cultures of Eastern magic.... historical China with their intense government examinations being more important that money or heritage (granted sometimes it goes together) seems like it had at least a broader view of upward mobility than medieval Europe.... so does their stories of magic reflect that?

Deciphering Character

I just finished rereading Brandon Sanderson's novella, "The Emperor's Soul." This is a fantasy novel with a complex, original magic system. Recently, I have also read some of Sarah M Eden's books. She primarily writes clean regency romance. Today I realized that I actually like "The Emperor's Soul," and Eden's books for the same reason, or at least some of the same reasons.
"The Emperor's Soul," is about a girl who is a master forger, and in her world that doesn't just involve the typical type of forgery we have in out world but with an intricate type of magic if she knows the history of an object she can essentially rewrite it's presence. But what is cool, is that she does it for a person. In order to be successful she has to do a ton of research. She not only has to know what his favorite color is but why... even if he did not know himself. This is because:
 "a person [is] like a dense forest thicket, overgrown with a twisting mess of vines, weeds, shrubs, saplings, and flowers. No person [is] one single emotion; no person [has] only one desire. They [have] many, and usually those desires conflicted with one another like two rosebushes fighting for the same patch of ground." The whole book is about how she not only learns about the Emperor (who she is trying to forge) but also those around her as she discovers their motivations and their own deceptions and idiosyncrasies.
Eden's books are usually categorized as clean romance, which they definitely are, but unlike many romances (and just books in general) her characters are very well rounded and as the hero and heroine get to know each other they are discovering each other's motivations, and deceptions and idiosyncrasies, and why. Just like getting to know real people they are slowly piecing together each other through words and actions and sometimes they are able to come to conclusions that are true but might not even be recognized by the person. I just reread her book "Seeking Persephone" and Persephone recognized that Adam is shy, genuinely uncomfortable talking to people. Yet when you are in Adam's point of view he never once thinks of himself as shy.
I feel like I'm pretty self aware (I have made some of those types of connections about myself before) and I also find if fascinating to observe and talk about this kind of thing in other people. Plus, doing this well is one of the more rewarding parts of writing. So, I guess it is really no surprise that I like reading about it too.

Emotion vs Power

"It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered."
                    -Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien

I watched the Fellowship of the Ring this week and because of it I had a couple of conversations about the Lord of the Rings and just thought about it. Some people say the series is boring, and you know it is a lot slower than what today's media prepares us for. One thought I had was because the point of view is omniscient and kind of sees the whole story instead of being in someone's head the whole time there is less emotion that is blatantly shown. Don't get me wrong, there is still great emotion but that almost isn't the point. The point is the overall story in other words the themes almost seem more prominent. Other older books have some of the same characteristics, such as "Tale of Two Cities."
Brandon Sanderson is arguably the best, modern fantasy writer. The point of view he uses is always in his characters' heads, very close to the action and the emotions of the characters. This makes for a much faster pace and is honestly what today's readers want. Other modern authors, such as Orson Scott Card or J K Rowling, have this fast paced, emotional writing style. And they still have some amazingly honorable, brave, and courageous characters, and themes of triumph over evil just like Tolkien.
But sometimes I feel like because we are so close to the action and emotion in much of today's entertainment it is easy to feel the emotional power while missing some of the overall themes even when authors put them in.
It almost seems like sometimes meaningful or powerful ideas can be missed or stripped of their significance when there is too much emotion. Because emotion is so distracting in some ways. And yet.... if you don't care about the characters at all the meaning doesn't come through.
Maybe it isn't about the point of view, maybe it is more about the motive of the author. Are they trying to entertain or are they trying to moralize (don't take that in a negative way). Perhaps, there is some other reason completely.
I also think that emotion definitely has a place and brings another type of power to books. In a previous post I wrote about the emotion I felt when reading The Killer Angels by Shaara. Without being in some of those characters heads I wouldn't grasped the significance or the devastation of the battle of Gettysburg.
Ultimately, the question I have as an aspiring author is can I write a fast-paced, character-based book that is still meaningful? And what should my motive be?

Being Literate in the Classics

One of my summer's in high school I set a goal to read all the books in a series of "classics" that my mom had. I did it too. This wasn't the first or the last time I've read classics that were not required of me.

Recently I have watched some movies that are considered cultural classics... as in I've heard them mentioned a lot. Partly, this is because I have a roommate that enjoys watching them, and enjoys introducing them to me, but part of it is I just find it interesting.

The thing is, I don't why I think it is so interestign to read and watch things that are considered classics. It isn't like I am always in the middle of cultural norms while they happen... in fact I'm far more likely to avoid them. But I guess I do find it fascinating to see what types of stories people hold onto and I guess I also like suddenly being in on the "inside jokes." I just like to be literate... even if there is no reason for it.

Legend Speaker

So as I've mentioned before I wrote a book. I am doing some last minute formatting stuff (although it might take a while I might have to teach myself another program to make it work right!) and then I plan to release it as an ebook. Crazy right? This is the cover I made for it using gimp and inkscape.

Below is the blurb I wrote for the back. And just to be clear this is not an advertisement! But I do like to put some of my creative stuff on here sometimes.

Dreya, a young woman and daughter of a noble, lives with her family on the edge of a desert, a seeming wasteland that has drawn her since she first heard of it at her grandfather's knee. During one night's desert wandering she meets Wrael, a member of a feared race of nomads called Night Walkers. Unable to ignore the desert's call, Dreya continues to sneak out and she and Wrael become friends. Her new friendship forces her to choose between risking her father's love and the death of Wrael's people.
When Dreya sacrifices her home she hopes to find belonging among the Night Walkers. But running away from home isn't as easy as she hopes. The meat is raw, the desert is brutal, the culture is foreign and she can't even understand the language. Even with Wrael's protection, and Erok's training Dreya doesn't find her place until she draws on her unique heritage to help the Night Walker's remember their own.
Then death strikes, a warlord rises, and her homeland is threatened.
Only with the help of hesitant family, loyal friends, and honorable enemies will Dreya be able to keep the kingdom of her birth and the people of her heart from destroying each other.

Loving Characters is Easier than Loving People

Last night I watched North and South with my roommate. It is one of my favorite movies, and is basically Pride and Prejudice 50 years later with societal issues about how to deal with the industrial revolution. However, that is not really the reason I bring it up. My roommate, who has also watched it several times and has read the book, and I were talking about the characters like they were real people. It's amazing how much I want them all to end up well (even though I know the ending) and I can see the good in them even though I can also see their faults. Mr Thornton acts harder then he is and definitely has a temper but he also has integrity. Nicolas Higgins is rough around the edges, and has no patience for cowardice but is devoted to his daughters and his cause. Even Fanny, Mr Thorton's sister, who is spoiled, petty, and silly really just craves her families love and respect. So now to the point. I feel like I know these characters and can love them for their good characteristics despite their faults, maybe even seeing the good in their faults. So if these characters are supposed to be people and I have met lots of people why is it so hard to love real people in the same way?
The reason I love these characters is because I know their history and I have spent time with them. I have seen how they act with their families, and in the work place and what they do when they are angry or sad or happy.
Most people I meet I just don't spend that time with. I don't know their backstory, why they are the way they are or how they react to different situations.
I'm not quite sure what to do with this but I still thought I would share it.

Purty Pictures from Nauvoo

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from my trip. I apologize. I usually don't post boring ones like this. OK, maybe more than a few. But they are pretty. I think.

Fire hydrant in Nebraska. I have a fire hydrant thing.

Winter Quarter's LDS Temple.

Nauvoo Temple

Sunset.

Muskrat in the Mississippi.

Rainbow Over the Mississippi.

Inside a Cement Mixer

Stone Bridge.

Sunset Over the Mississippi

Waterfall

Pet Owl Rock

Artifact in the Dirt

Cool Clouds

Moon stone on the Nauvoo LDS Temple

Nauvoo Temple

Flowers

Emma Smith in the Nauvoo House. This one is more clever than good.

Raccoon Skull - I couldn't resist

Herons and Clouds on the Mississippi

Actors Playing Joseph and Emma Smith Outside the Mansion House.

My "photoshopped" version of the above picture. (I use Gimp).

Bunny

Earthenware Pitcher my friends excavated and I dug up.

This time I did take all the pictures, well except the last one. I was holding the pitcher.

Retold Fairytales and Superheros

As many people may have noticed retold fairytales and superhero stories have recently become popular in media. It seems to me that the reason for this is the same in both cases.
There is something immensely comfortable in hearing/seeing/reading a story that you are familiar with. Why else would little kids love to read the same books over and over again, and often seem far more likely to pick up a book about a character they know (The Bernstein Bears, Clifford) then a book with characters they don't know. For one it's easier to get into a book with a character that you already know and care about, even if the character isn't quite the same. Also, when you know that Cinderella will meet Prince Charming you know what to expect. And that works no matter if Cinderella is really a princess named Cinderella (Disney), is the daughter of a courtier named Danielle (Ever After) or is a cyborg named Cinder (Cinder).
Then you can add to the comfort of a story or character you know the excitement that comes with the twist or new view of what you thought you had already known. It allows something old and worn to become clever and surprising. It is like the best of both worlds, familiar but also new. Is it any wonder these two genres are so popular?

Epic!

***

I feel like epic has become a pretty popular adjective, at least among those of my generation. We want our movies and books to be epic. Superheros, Lord of the Rings and Brandon Sanderson are all pretty epic. Epic stories, and epic visuals.
But then I was thinking about what actually makes things epic. If Vin*, bounding across a smoke filled landscape with a sword twice her height, was not fighting for the survival of her world would it still be epic? Would Eowyn's** defeat of the Witch King with her famous line "I am no man" be epic if she and the others weren't fighting for the protection of Middle Earth?
I'm not sure they would. And yet when I hear people talking about things in real life being epic they tend to be  like this picture of me on the top of a mountain.

But really I'm not doing anything epic. I'm not saving the world, or even someone's life. I just went for a walk one evening after work. (Granted I was living at high altitude for an Archaeology Dig). So I find myself asking why don't we call doctors saving someone's life epic? Or a child standing up to a bully?

*One of the main characters from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy.
**A character from J R R Tolkein's Lord of the Rings.
***A fairly "epic" pose I did of a character from the book I'm writing. (Harrock).

Editions

Many times I have had teachers tell me and my fellow students that they better not see the first draft of our essays or papers. They much prefer a third or fourth edition.

I am presently rereading the book North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. The copy of it that I have has the title of chapter 24 being "The Meeting." Then it has a footnote noting that that title was probably a typo in the first edition and it should have read "The Mutiny." This would be a much more fitting title because that is the main subject of the entire chapter. So the question is why did the editor of my book find it necessary to keep the mistake just so that it would be consistent with the first edition. The author herself probably made the change. I find it more rude to ignore the author's intent then go back to the "original." 

I am in the process of editing my own book right now, and I certainly edit it for a reason, and want people to read the most recent copy. 

First Editions are overrated, that's what I'm saying.

VAK

My brother let me borrow a book called Pushing Up the Sky by Lee Donaldson and Jonathan Rand. Usually I am wary of such books, but as I read it I realized it wasn't so much a self-help book as a self-awareness one. I would place it in a similar category as the well known Love Languages books (although I haven't read those). 
After reading it all, discussing it, and thinking about it, I decided that these type of books shouldn't necessarily be taken as complete truth, or a solve all for all your questions but more like one more set of tools for my human analysis repertoire. 
So, a little about the theory: Everyone has a Personal Operating System that is how we process information. First we acquire it, than organize, and finally value it. There are three main ways of doing all this: Visual(seeing), Auditory(hearing), Kinesthetic (feeling/doing). The authors put forward the idea that each person has a dominant way of doing all three steps. Such as acquiring information visually(1V), organizing it through talking and hearing(2A), and place value on the information depending on how we feel about it(3K). I decided this is my personal operating system (VAK). But you could also be KAV, AVK, KVA or any other combination. 
The part I found most fascinating is how some things about myself that I have noticed actually fit into these principles. Instead of it being just a weird quirk it means something deeper about myself. Such as how I need to talk ideas through before I act on them or understand myself what I was thinking. This is a common characteristic in 2As. I process information by listening/talking about it. Or perhaps even odder, the thing I always hated most about gym class was not playing the sports (which I usually enjoyed) but the idea that when you play sports people focus on watching your body (not your face) and that made me extremely uncomfortable (hand over the baggy clothes please). This actually makes sense in the context of my being a 3K. Motion and emotion is powerful to me, and sharing it easily makes me uncomfortable.
The other thing I found interesting was how no one completely fits into one category for each section (at least that seems highly unlikely) but we are often more dominant in one over another. But in all actuality that makes us more adaptable.
Anyway. I found it all pretty fascinating and can't do it justice in two paragraphs, but oh well. The problem is I'm not sure I am particularly effective about actually applying the things I learn, to make me a better communicator. . .

Learning from Books

A couple of conversations I had this week and folding socks brought back a memory.
We were on a family vacation, staying for a couple of days at an Aunt and Uncle's house. My Mom volunteered us kids to help fold socks. While we were doing so we were talking to our cousins. My oldest brother told a cousin a few years younger than him "You learn something from every book you read, even if it is only I really don't like that book."
This bit of wisdom amazed me, perhaps just because I hadn't thought much about it previously. Earlier this week I talked to someone who jokingly (at least I hope it was jokingly) said that reading fantasy books teaches you about how dragons fly, or magic works. Granted you may learn that, but I think you can learn a lot more than just that. I have learned a lot about armor, weaving, and stone cutting from fantasy books, and trapping, history, and corn husking bees from historical fiction. And that is besides learning about human interaction and emotions, and good (or bad) writing from almost all fiction.
Nonfiction isn't the only way to learn.

Jane Eyre

In High School I once did a Relay for Life with some of my friends. Having no idea what it would be like I brought a book to read. Just in case. Unfortunately it was drizzly most of the day/night, and my backpack was too close to the edge of the tent so my book got somewhat waterlogged. It was a borrowed book. I ended up buying another copy of the book to give to the person I borrowed it from because I felt bad. The book, as you might have guessed from the post title was Jane Eyre. Although I felt bad about ruining someone else's book I wasn't sorry to get my own (although waterlogged) copy.

I liked it when I read it the first time. I just finished reading it the second time and I don't know how I missed the power behind it. Jane has a moral strength you don't often see in books, especially not in the more romantic genres.

Here are a few quotes from it that really connected with me, this time around.

"I had the means of an excellent education placed within my reach; a fondness for some of my studies, and a desire to excel in all, together wit h a great delight in pleasing my teachers, especially such as I loved, urged me on:"          -p98

This is how I felt about my schooling.

"Life, however, was yet in my possession; with all of its requirements, and pains, and responsibilities. The burden must be carried; the want provided for; the suffering endured; the responsibility fulfilled."       -p365

I liked how she described life and the responsibility that is a part of it.

"Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive."         -p416

Growing up with Books

In my elementary school if  we read 100 books or a specific number of pages (depending on the grade level) during the year we got a reading award for it, which included a medal and a book. These are the books I earned for each year. Some I don't read very much anymore. But they are good books, and I still have them.
This week I reread The View from Saturday by E. L. Konisburg. It was at least the third time I read it, once when I got it in fifth grade, once the summer after I graduated High School, and then now. Among other things this is what I wrote about it when I read it after High School "I still don't really understand it....."
Which I found funny because this time when I had finished I thought, "Oh, I get it." I would have never picked this book on my own, but because it was a gift it came into my life, and I'm glad of it.
There is something special about books that you grow up with. That you have read throughout your life, and they are still good. Maybe that is why my brother and sister have said that there are several series every kid should grow up with. I've grown up with this one.
The list we have at present of such important series are:
Laura Ingall's Wilder
Narnia (I got a copy of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in 4th grade).
Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings

English Blood and Manners

Conversation between John and George Knightley after several months of separation,  from the book Emma by Jane Austen:
". . .John Knightley made his appearance, and "How d'ye do, George?" and "John, how are you?" succeeded in the true English style, burying under a calmness that seemed all but indifference, the real attachment which would have led either of them, if requisite, to do every thing for the good of the other."

My blood is 9/32s English (as in from England) for whatever that counts for. But, I connected with this description because I have experienced it. Even when I haven't seen my siblings for a long time, and I have been jumping about all day/week long because I'm excited to see them but then when they finally come all they get is a "hi" and a tendency to stay in the same room. Maybe in that way we are a little more than 9/32s English.

Adventures for the Next Generation

When I was a little, maybe before I was eight or so I remember my oldest brother playing a particular computer game. And later I remember watching my other brothers playing it. A few years ago one of my brothers gave me seven games in the series and so of course we had to play them again. Last week I hung out with my oldest brother's children. They noticed a game on my computer... Yes the one in question, and got addicted, so I let them borrow them. I was pretty excited to share with them a series of games that I have enjoyed a lot. There is something about passing things you love to new people, and especially to a new generation, so that they can discover anew it's delights. In a sense it is sharing with them your own memories, and yet letting them create their own at the same time.

The games are King's Quest. They are a set of adventure/puzzle games (that you usually need a walkthrough for-- which by the way is partly why I remember them so early, because they were frustrating because we first played them before the age of easy internet access, and hence no walkthroughs). They follow the story of Sir Graham as he becomes King of Daventry (I), finds a wife (II), and rescues his family (V). His son, Alexander (III, VI), and daughter, Rosella (IV, VII), also have a series of adventures. For more information visit AGDInteractive Studios, they have made excellent remakes of the first three.
This is my quick pixel drawing of King Graham.
Happy Adventuring!

Pixel Art and Other People's Projects

So my brothers were working on a fairly simple computer game (It uses an OpenSource game called TripleA that is basically Axis and Allies). They wanted to do it based on the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender.* I volunteered to do the pixel art for the units, and I have been thoroughly enjoying it although it has taken quite a bit of time and effort. But here they are. Hopefully if you are familiar with the series you can see some resemblance. 

They are 48x48 pixels and meant to be seen at this size. 

The Earth Kingdom

The Fire Nation

The Water Tribes

The Air Nomads/White Lotus

Sometimes I just think it is interesting though how much easier it is to be motivated to do other peoples projects then my own... But only sometimes. It might partially depend on how enjoyable it is to work on it.

*This art and blog are in no way associated with Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Graveyard Book

This week I read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It was strange because it kind of felt like one of those books where there is no real plot it is just related stories and anecdotes from someone growing up like Louisa May Alcott's books. At the same time it felt like a novel with a single plot. After the book was a few pages written by the author about the process. This is what he wrote:
 "I wanted the book to be composed of short stories, because The Jungle Book was short stories. And I wanted it to be a novel, because it was a novel in my head. The tension between those two things was both a delight and a heartache as a writer."
No wonder that it felt the way it did. He definitely made it work though.
I also really enjoyed the premise of a little boy being raised in a graveyard by ghosts. And I liked how things like vampires and werewolves were portrayed in such a different light then they typically are.
At first I was disappointed that there was much more about Silas then there was about his parents, but when I talked to my sister about it she explained that when you are little parents are just there, they aren't exciting, so it is no wonder there wasn't much about them.
I thought the end was more sad then I was expecting though. He's only 16 and he can't go back... but I guess that is how growing up is, you can't go back. And this is what Gaiman said about that:
"I had set out to write a book about a childhood--it was Bod's childhood, and it was in a graveyard, but still, it was a childhood like any other; I was now writing about being a parent, and the fundamental most comical tragedy of parenthood: that if you do your job properly, if you, as a parent, raise your children well, they won't need you anymore."
This book definitely captured that feeling, because after all sometimes fiction is truer than reality.

Retold Fairytales

This week I've been reading some books from a genre I call Retold Fairytales. Basically they are a subgenre of fantasy, and true to their name they are expanded versions often with unexpected twists of fairy tales that were originally recorded by people like the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen. This genre is certainly not limited to books, many movies are retold fairytales (thank you Disney) and with the explosion in the book market there is even a TV show that is bases on fairytale characters. I own quite a few of the books, and I've read and watched even more, and I've even written a short story that I've already posted here. Some of my favorite authors in this genre are Robin McKinley (Spindle's End), Cameron Dokey (Golden) and Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted). This week as I was reading I was thinking about why I liked them. There are two reasons, one is the fairly superficial reason that they have a little romance (usually clean) and end happily... something to do with that happily ever after bit. The other reason is more interesting, and it has to do with my idea of the Imperfect Canvas. The point behind retold fairytales is that you can recognize which story it is but although you can predict and expect certain things to happen, good authors still make the  characters fully developed and the motives for doing things change, and are unexpected, and it is cool how they manipulate the "restraints" of the original tale and craft into something new, meaningful, and creative. This is a very imperfect canvas, but I find it highly entertaining.

PS. I started listing authors but then didn't want to stop, so here are few more authors and retold fairytales that I've enjoyed. Shannon Hale (The Goose Girl), Susan Fletcher (Shadow Spinner), and Juliet Mariller (Wildwood Dancing).

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians

This is going to be one of those few reviews I write and there aren't any spoilers. For Christmas I was given Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. I have read several of Sanderson's books, but this is a difference genre. And it is bizarre! I don't even know how to express how annoying, frustrating, intelligent, captivating, original, and clever it was. I still don't know how I feel about it.
It is a preteen adventure book, Harry Potter started out as the same genre. I would also include the Percy Jackson series as well as the Septimus Heap books. They are all about 12 year old boys (who all act older) who find out something amazing about themselves aka they have some magical ability and then they go out and save the world.
The thing about Alcatraz though is that Sanderson breaks all the rules. It's in first person and it's filled with foreshadowing and fake foreshadowing like "Little did I know that I was going to get attacked by sharks next." and then he goes and doesn't get attacked by sharks. But he does get attacked. And at the beginning or sometimes the middle of each chapter he embarks on random tangents about the correct way of reading books (from the beginning), and how thought provoking books are all about boys and their dead dogs. Which are genuinely intelligent and funny. Those asides definitely remind me of older authors like Dickens or Louisa May Alcott except their asides were usually moralistic.
But I think what might have been most frustrating is that throughout the whole book Alcatraz is trying to convince us that he's not a nice person. But he's not. And it gets annoying.
But the characters are interesting and well developed. The magic is original and complex. The plot is clever, and the voice is brilliant. I'm not surprised Sanderson wrote it. But I don't think I've ever read a book that was so purposefully irritating.
And I apologize, if you haven't read the book, this will probably not really make sense.