Saturday, December 20, 2008

Rawr!

Rawr=dino talk for "I love you" (or was it 'hello"? Ella? Help! *cough*)
Um, ok, never mind that. In my old age, my memory is failing me.

I'm serious.

It snowed last night. By morning, we had a foot. Anyway, I went to go outside in the evening, and then when I got to the door, I turned around and asked my mom, "Mom, where did I put my glasses?"
Her reply: "They're on your head, aren't they?"
Me: "Um, yeah, right."

I kid you not. I'm getting old. And speaking of that--I'M 16!!!!!!!! And have been since the first of this month...and didn't tell any of you...haha.

So, a while ago I heard some people complaining that they didn't like the colors, & thought they were too conservative, not crazy enough.

Satisfied now? If not...how about bright green? Really, really bright green, the shade that makes your eyes scream in agony the instant they behold it? And really, really bright blue to match? With the text in really, really bright orange, of course. ;)

I'm really tired, so this isn't gonna be a very funny post, just a random one. Saaaawwy. I was out snow shoveling for three hours this morning.

So, Bridget spent all of November writing frantically, and ended up writing a huge amount of words--um...how many pages, Bridget? A few hundred? Lol--while I barely wrote anything that month. And then, come December, and just in the last several days, I have written two really long scenes on my main story, two short stories, a song (which actually has a tune! Astonishing--only a few of my songs ever have a tune to go with the words), probably a poem or two, or fragments of several poems, anyway, and--last, but by no means least--I started writing a new story. And it's a vampire story. Yes, you heard me right. I, Lanta/Sara/whatever other name you know me as, am writing a vampire story.

However, no decent, self respecting, average, run-of-the-mill vampire fiction will assosiate with it. Not even Twilight. And why, you ask? Why is my poor story scorned and degraded by all its kin? I will tell you, my readers. Be patient, and soon all shall be revealed to you.

For one thing, the only thing it has in common with its relatives (yes, even Twilight) is the whole drinking-blood thing.

All the decent, self-respecting vampire stories I have ever read (which is actually only a very few; vampires are just not my thing) have a few key things in common with each other:
1. They are set in this world, or in a world that's close enough to this world to be nearly identical in every way to it.
2. Vampires are always the strong, the powerful, never the weak. Being a vampire is a good thing. Except for the whole drinking-blood issue, it's acutally worth it, when you think about it--I mean, come on. You've got superhuman powers, strength, abilities, etc. You're better. Being a vampire is never (or rarely) shown as a bad thing--the vampire character rarely regrets it, and even then (in cases like Rosalie) it's not because of being a vampire, it's because of some of the unwelcome side effects.

Now, the reason my vampire story is shunned by all its kin is because it has neither of those two elements mentioned above. In my story:
1. It's not set in this world. Vampires don't belong in this world. I actually rather dislike most fantasy-set-in-this-world because, no matter how well-written, it's always just a little (or more than just a little) weird.
2. Being a vampire is a weakness. It doesn't make you stronger. It doesn't make you better. (And actually--I'm thinking there will be only one character who's a vampire, and it's not something that can be passed on by a bite.)
When the vampire lady (who regretably lacks a name as of yet) craves blood, it's like an addiction. it makes her weaker. She loses control over herself. Unless she drinks blood, she grows so weak that she can barely stand. Another idea I'm toying with--she doesn't crave blood all the time, only during certain times, or after she does something or other, I need to think this idea through more, though, before doing anything with it. And--drinking blood isn't nessasary. She doesn't live on blood, like the vampires in Twilight. But, unless someone else intervenes, she can't stop herself. And that's where the Guard comes in. They are people who are bound to her her, they owe her absolute loyalty & absolute obediance when she commands them using the bond. And, when she is overcome by the BloodCall, they are the only ones who can restrain her.

So, that's my story. I haven't even gotten to 10 pages on paper yet, but I'm totally hooked by it already. And yes, I admit it--I was somewhat (well, acutally, a lot) inspired by "Lord of Snow and Shadows", a book I read a few days ago. I started writing my story the same night I read that book.

Haha, you wanna know another funny thing?

Ok, so I write a short story. Bridget reads my short story, and than has a dream inspired by it, and starts writing a story based on her dream. So I read her story-that's-based-on-a-dream-that's-inspired-by-my-story, and I'm instantly inspired to write a song. So, I'm talking to Bridget on the phone that night (seriously, it was after 11 when I finally got off the phone with her) and I sing my song for her, and she gets inspired to write a song of her own. So, I read her song-that's-inspired-by-my-song-which-is-inspired-by-her story-that's-based-on-a-dream-that's-inspired-by-my-story, and I'm inspired to write a short story like, 10 minutes later.

I wonder what will happen when Bridget reads that short story. Oh, dear.

Well, I shall leave you to ponder in the depths of your heart the terrible image of Bridget and I writing stories and poems and songs inspired by each other's poems and stories and songs until the very day of our death. (It is actually quite a scary thought!)

To help rid your mind of that horrifying image (and believe me, this works), don't say more, say Mordor!

13 comments:

The Other Katie said...

Mordor!
That's hilarious about the story to dream to story to song to song to story thing. XD

The Other Katie said...

And... *gasp*... I kinda liked the blue better.

Rose Marchen said...

Mordor!

Green is cool! Thanks for changing it! (Of course, orange is cool as well...)

ROTFSE, can I read the stories and the songs? Pleeeeeaaase?

Anonymous said...

THE INSPIRATION WON'T DIE.
I'm writing a short story right now.
We're going to have a complete anthology of star related gunk by the time we're done!
~Bridget

Anonymous said...

Ohter Katie--I kinda liked the blue better, too, but I feel obligated to please the Mordorest (get it? More = Mordor, Most = Mordorest? :P) demanding of my beloved readers--after all, they're the ones who are armed O.o

Rose, you gotta join Ella's site!!! They're all on there. But if you wanna read the two songs, go on "songwriting, anyone?". They're a page or so back. *nods*

Oh--and guess what... I got double inspired yesterday, so I wrote a poem. *sigh* I actually love it :P And yes, it was about stars... haha.

~Lanta

The Other Katie said...

OOHHH well that makes sense...
*looks apprehensively at everyone*

Ella said...

Haha, rawr means I love you. But I use it as a greeting anyway. ;D

Lanta said...

:P Thank you, Ella. You have just saved my sanity.

For those of you who are wondering, I'm at 10 completed short stories so far, 2 nearly finished ones, 2 songs, and 2 poems. ;)

Rose Marchen said...

Write more-*cough* I mean, Mordor posts on your blog!

Anonymous said...

*rolls eyes and smiles* You're so funny!! You have always made made laugh from the day I first "met" you on the forum! Love you my Firefly!!!

-Your Candle (Aunt Vicki)

Anonymous said...

I think that you are really onto something, both with that being a vampire s a weakness rather than a strength, and with the concept of the vampire's thirst for blood being a type of addiction. I like how you put it, that the vampire doesn't need to drink blood to survive, yet it turns to drinking blood in order to feed an addiction. Although the part about the vampire being physically weak from drinking blood is excellent, wouldn't it be better to add that the vampire turns to drinking blood in order to attempt to fill a void within its being. And that no matter how much or how often it drinks, it never can be able to ease the void? And that as the vampire indulges in the blood and attempts to experience the essence of the completeness it is seeking, it finds the blood to be empty, like when you bite into one of those candies with the sweet syrup in the center to find it empty and bland, while still staring at the remnents of the candy and percieving the actual syrup being still there, yet frustratingly unaccessable. And as the blood to be indulged runs out, it feels the acute mental confusion/pain inside; anguish from not knowing why it is helplessly addicted to blood and frustration from still not being to fill the void within.

Anyways, I think my mind has wandered into the abyss of the empty darkness enough :) I look forwards to reading your story.

Lanta said...

Maybe you should write one yourself, David =P

Anonymous said...

LOL it took me 15 minutes to find this--that's what I get for not going to bed and trying to stay up past midnight on a day when I can actually sleep in and not have to wake up early...OK thats the long stringy sentances I should try to avoid. Although I could probably write a story myself, that post about the vampires was one of those weird moments when I'm like, "wow, I like your idea! Did you think about adding this aspect? I think it would improve the story!" You know, one of those rare moments when I am not thinking, "What can I get out of this inspirational thought?" but rather, "What do you think bout this aspect in relation to the awesome idea that you thought of?"