In 5 Years
Posted by: lovelovelove on: March 10, 2009
So for the purpose of this post, I’m going to more or less link you guys to another wordpress blog which discusses the situation way more generally/thoroughly than I will be:
For those of you who’d rather skip the more widely applicable version that could very well apply to you and instead read my thoughts on it (I’m so flattered! Seriously ♥): There’s this quote by Charlie “Tremendous” Jones that goes.
You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.
Now this quote seriously… well, not intrigued me, necessarily, but more like… impacted?… me because it’s so darn true. We are who were are based on our interactions with our environment (which generally tend to involve people unless you’re living in the wild by yourself or something) and our exposure to the world. Reading is hoenstly the best way of getting exposed to the world – you learn about cultures, history, technology, the human psyche… the list can go on forever. And if your love of reading goes as deep as it does for me, then you actually have the love to learn and be entertained.
How people impact you are easy enough. I’m not sure about my younger years because a) my memory is hazy even at the best of times (so if you ever need me to stand as a witness for you… well, have people as backups) and b) when we’re younger our minds are more attuned to our environments and we soak in things like sponges. I guess we’re more prone to be influenced. But one thing that’s strange is that my brothers and I have grown up in more or less the same environment, but our personalities are all radically different. I’m really soft, most likely to get emotionally hurt out of all of us, but also the most approachable and friendly. My oldest brother is quieter, calmer, stricter, and generally… well, cool, but he acts like a 12-year old when all of us hang out together. By middle brother in contrast is more hot-headed and likely to get into fights, but in the same time, cares for us all with the same intensity as he has when he’s angry.
My older brother tends to read only his university textbooks and religious texts, and the general crowd he hangs out with is similar. His friends are all extremely genuine and amicable, but there’s this aura of scholars surrounding them or something. You can tell that they have no idea it exists because in their heads they’re like, 15/16/17 years old, but other people see it and most usually respect it. Especially parents, because he’s polite and respectful without coming off as being cold. My younger brother on the other hand (who is still older than me) hangs out with a more, er, typical group of friends. They’re all academically smart but with a good sense of humour and a love of sports and television.
Me I can’t define as well because I’m part of the group of friends, so someone observing would be a better judge. =) But the guys I hang out with tend to be loud and friendly but all of them with distinct personalities, and I just click well with my girl friends. Some of them I have everything in common with while other’s I just feel comfortable hanging out with. But I guess in a way they all influenced me because all of my friends, they’re all very self-assured. Not arrogant or cocky or anything nonsensical like that, but they’re comfortable and confident with who they are. I tend to constantly question my actions and behaviour and sometimes being around amazing people like them tend to rattle my already shaky self-esteem.
But two people who I’ve gotten the chance to meet properly for the first time this year have totally had an impact on my life. My Physics teacher, Mr. van Bemmel, he’s just something else. I honestly feel the motivation to be a better student in his classes because he just has this ability to make me feel as though I can do more. That our class is honestly worth something and we have so much to offer to the world and I seriously hope I become someone worthy enough of his faith one day. Like, if I get on TV and I’m thanking people, he’s be right there alongside my family.
And also, this student who graduated back in 2007 came back to our Physics class. His name is Nirosan and he’s currently getting his Arts and Science Bachelors at McGill University. And he genuinely cares. This is the first time I’ve ever met someone who actively does something (he travelled around West Africa last summer) to help the causes he believes in – which in his case is poverty – like setting up meeting with politicians and joining groups and raising money. Listening to him tell us about how he honestly wants to help people (he want to join an organization like Doctors Without Borders one day) honestly sparks something in me.
Holy that was long. Okay, onto the more relevant part, “the books that we read.”
The Part 2 link provided above really shows real life examples on how reading about something inspired others to act. And reading – the impact of words – is so powerful that I don’t even know how to begin.
Articles in magazines like The Times, or NEWSWEEK, or even Reader’s Digest – there’s so many things there about the realities of the world. Poverty, hunger, debt, deaths, wars. The environment, even. Nicer news too, sometimes, such as love, births, inventions, donations. So many people are inspired to act against violence and donate to countries inflicted by natural disasters. But also, it helps us grow as a person, makes us realize that our lives aren’t the big picture, that sometimes it simply isn’t enough to live a quiet unobtrusive life. We realize that in our positions we actually have the ability to affect change.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Currently I’m reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I’m not exactly sure when the book takes place yet, but it’s sometime after slavery was abolished by Lincoln in the States but while segragation and racism is prevalent. Reading that book about the main character Cellie… well, let’s just say I have absolutely no reason ever to hate my life or complain about it as I often do. No matter how bad my life could possibly get, it will pale in comparison to the struggles that Cellie went through and somehow throughout it all, survived and didn’t lose her sense of self.
There’s also other books (all fictional, however) that influenced my life – Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, for example – which I disliked immensely – but somehow managed to strengthen my faith in religion. It also put into clarity about the way children from 3rd World countries are treates as commodities and sold into slavery and prostitution. Then there’s Between Our Legs by Lisa Foad which we read in class, which discusses the roles and psychology of females concerning sex, the emotions that are felt that contradict the stigmas attached. And let’s not forget The Once and Future King by T. H. White, which takes on the world of King Arthur but with so much emphasis on human psychology, philosophy, the difference between want and need, loyalty, the concept of wars, the neverending cycle of conflict.
So books have obviously had an effect on me as well. =) And though I love these books which make me think, I enjoy nothing more than curling up under a blanket on a gloomy day and reading Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep a Secret?
Elves
Posted by: lovelovelove on: March 6, 2009
Ever noticed that throughout fiction and folklore and all sorts of other literature that the magical creature ‘elf’ pops up from time to time? But the characteristics of the elf vary from story to story – you have the tall and fair and elegant elves that show up in fantasy novels such as Lord of the Rings and Eragon. These elves tend to be mysterious and beautiful and human like, with an amazing magical aura, an image of cold perfection. But then there comes another type of elf, the type that show up in fairytakes such as The Elves and the Shoemaker or even in the plays of Shakespeare such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These elves are tiny little things that are mischevious and playful and sometimes annoying, but never harmful. They are almost like fairies, and their role in the tale is to help the plot move along or create the problem that needs to be solved, helping the characters out along the way.
Arwen, an Elf Princess from Lord of the Rings
Even though these two creatures vary greatly in decription, they are still known by the same name. Interesting, interesting…
The idea of elves first orginated from Norse mythology. In this world, elves were similar to the former description mentioned above – they were strong and fair and human like. In fact, there was even a belief that once you died, you could be elvated to the status of elves. The majority of the elves in Norse mytholofy were men though (but this could just be a cultural thing, as men tend to be heroes in many legends and myths) and they were always described as ‘beautiful.’ In terms of their physical appearance, there was definitely a feminine touch. In a nutshell, they were pretty. The elves found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fit this description, as the males elves were also described as beautiful and fair and long flowing hair, which are words to traditionally describe womanly beauty. Elves were held in high esteem, associated with fertility and spirits of nature. OFten the rulers of a setting in a myth were Elf Kings. There was also a lot of cross-breeding occuring in elf mythology. In fact, many of the heroes in Norse mythology were half-elf, half human.
The elves of Norse mythology survived in to Scandanavian folklore, but mostly as beautiful females. They had an added characteristic of being incredibly unpleasant when offended, and a star like symbol was carved in many places to protect people against angry elves.
However, it’s in Scandanavian folklore that the existence of the smaller type of elves are introduced. Some of these elves were so incredibly tiny – such as the elf in fairytale The Elf of the Rose by Danish author H.C. Anderson – that they could live in the bud of a rose!
Elves are still a popular part of the Scandanavian culture. Similar to how North American culture has customs such avoiding a walk under a ladder, in Scandinavians may avoid certain places if legend has it that elves live there. This type of culture is also visible in Iceland, where people believe in the existence of “hidden-folk” and often go on adventures looking for them.
A scene from the Brother's Grimm Fairytale, The Elves and the Shoemakers
In German mythology, elves are slightly different. In this world, elves are something of a decendant from heaven. Unlike Norse mythology which has Elfin rulers, German mythology has the Erlkönig, which literally translates to “Elf King.” This fellow appears when a person is about to die, like Grim Reaper. Or some other bringer of death. German mythology also includes the little form of elves, as reflected in The Elves and the Shoemakers by the Brothers Grimm. The idea behind these elves are reflected upon the house-elves that exist in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe – in Harry Potter, house-elves are servants that are set free whenever they are given clothes. In the Brother’s Grimm fairytale, the elves kept helping the shoemakers until one day thanked the elves with presents and the elves were so excited that they took the presents and never came back.
Lastly we come to English mythology involving elves. =) In old English literature, elves were similar to the ones described in Norse mythlogy, beatiful and predominantly male. Their presence in old English ltierature is very slight though and not much evidence is seen. However, many old English words relating to elves have popped up over the years, such as ælfsciene, which means “elf-beautiful”.
The presence of the fairy-like elves – the tiny, mischevious creatures often with wings – however is seen throughout English folklore and modern English literature such as fairy tales and plays. In Victorian era writings, for example, elves are tiny things with stocking like hats.
The only thing that sucks is that even after all this research, I still don’t know where the idea of the little elves originated from. =(
2nd Person POV
Posted by: lovelovelove on: March 1, 2009
The 2nd person POV is a very uncommon writing style in the types of books that I read – by which I mean fictional novels. That is a category of writing that is widely dominated by the 3rd and 1st person. The only place where the “you” pronoun dominates would be in self-help books or those choose-your-own-adventure stories, both of which aren’t exactly at the top of my reading list.
I’m not exactly sure why this is. The 2nd person pronoun is a bit out of the norm, but I don’t find that it makes the story annoying to read, so to say. I think that’s where most of the controversy comes in on this. It’s a different style, but when I read the 2nd person, I don’t necessarily feel as though it’s me who’s the character (despite the “you”), yet somehow that word makes the emotions and actions of the character so much more personal to me than the more commonly used “I.” It’s complicated to explain.
At this point I think it should be mentioned that I have never read a 2nd person’s novel other than those Goosebumps interactive novels back in Gr. 4. And since I don’t exactly have those handy, most of my references will be coming from fanfictions, where this style of writing is surprisingly popular. And the writers themselves are shockingly talented which I hope will get across.
“i’m your biggest fan,” she whispers. her cold fingers shaking violently around the sleek black gun. “i know everyone says that but it’s true, i’m your number one fan.”
you groan. you can’t think coherently anymore, everything is a mess. (like the scrambled eggs junsu made this morning. sheepish laughter. sunshine. bits of shells crunching loudly like the way. the ground. crunches. underneath. you.) you try. try so hard to lift your. arm? hand? fingers? you can’t feel. not like this.
“and i would have gone to the stars and back for you, jaejoongie oppa. i would have, all you had to do was ask.” she speaks, in complete sentences. suddenly your grasp of the korean language includes commas. you gasp out a weak trill of laughter, and she is, you can tell, delighted. you can feel the sharpness of the pavement and the cold of the pebbles seep. into your skull.
This is the first three paragraphs from a DBSK fanfic called Fan. Now this story really got to me mostly because as a fanfic, it uses real people as characters and the main character in this story is Kim Jaejoong, and I love him to pieces.
The use of 2nd person in this story was so amazing. It says, “you can feel the sharpness of the pavement.” In that line I don’t personally feel the ghost of the pavement pressing against me, by the use of the you makes the imagery much more vivid. Had the sentence been, “I can feel the sharpness of the pavement,” or, “he can feel the sharpness of the pavement,” the impact isn’t as powerful. The use of the 2nd person here managed to tie me to the character without being the character. The “I” wouldn’t have been as strong because I’m totally aware of the fact that the “I” in the story isn’t me and it’s easier for me to distance myself from it.
The complexities of this pronoun is so interesting – maybe the impact isn’t as great from just reading a small snippet, but I can just feel this heaviness everytime I read it. The use of ‘you’ in Fan is done so brilliantly.
(you. yunho. sitting together, sharing an ipod (stolen off of yoochun who stole it off of junsu who stole it off of changmin and oh, their faces, they’re fading from your memory).
The short choppy sentences – and sometimes the long, flowly, almost a train of thought types of sentences – combined with the obvious disorientation of Jaejoong’s mind is obviously an important factor at how powerful the story is, but I simply can never get over the fact that this story would have a totally different feel to if it was in written in 1st or 3rd person.
I also tried experimenting with this type of writing by writing this short story called Full Circle. But, er, after reading Fan it seems rather crappy.
Eoin Colfer
Posted by: lovelovelove on: March 1, 2009
Funny, quirky, and one heck of a writer
Eoin Colfer is best known for his series Artemis Fowl, although he wrote a bunch of other books as well such as “The Wishlist,” which is one of my favourites. =)
I found an interview of him in youtube where he talks about his whole inspiration with the Artemis Fowl series. This is kind of a really big deal because I adore the Artemis Fown series: the characters, the plot, the humour and the gadgets. So I’ll just go through a bit of Mr. Colfer’s writing process with the books just so we can see exactly where the ideas for characters such as Artemis and Captain Holly Short comes from.
(I love Mr. Colfer’s Irish accent by the way ♥).
So Mr. Colfer was inspired by a lot of Irish mythology, which would totally explain the whole idea behind the LEPrecon and the underground fairy world. He says that the idea behind Artemis came from a picture of his little brother in a suit where he looked like a “little James Bond villain.” He thought it would be a hilarious idea to have a 12-year old JB-villain.
The first of the successful series.
That’s a note to remember: Always derive ideas from the people you see. Give alternate personalities to someone who you sit beside on the bus based on appearance, and who knows how a story may pop up?
A lot of characters in Mr. Colfer’s book are inspired by his friends and family – the impish and prankster nature of his brothers for example inspired goblins and kleptomaniac dwarves.
Mr. Colfer loved to write books longhand, but then he discovered computers. This is amazing because I always write snippets of my stories at the back of my Finance notebook, and write the story itself (from beginning to end) on a MS Word document. He writes in a little “shed” in his garden, which is totally different from me because I need to be doing twenty different things to be writing. I watch a little Kyle XY on the side, read some fanfiction, write the story or whatever, talk on msn. I’d get massive writer’s block if I had to sit down at a quiet place and had to write.
Mr. Colfer spent about 4 years traveling to certain places around the world with his world, parts of which he incorporated in his Artemis Fowl series. That’s something else I want to point out about his writing: his descriptions aren’t rich with adjectives and long stifling paragraphs, but as a reader, I totally find myself in the setting. He chooses the right words and lets us fill in the gaps. And his style is also fleeting and fast paced, which fits with his action humour genre.
Eoin Colfer is so awesome. I love him.
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- mouseyy: Hahaha, I guess you saw my post already, but I <3 this. Especially the first one. And I <3 Photoshop too ^^
- Field Trip, P.2 « the mouse nest: [...] did for their field trip investigations… and Fabiha’s struck me as amusing. (Visit it here.) Then I remembered this slideshow a frie
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