2 short stories have been in development for quite some time. The horror story I've been working on takes place in a costume store. It might be released chapter by chapter on here. The next story will be 'The Ranger'. I think it will also be written chapter by chapter and released on this blog. I've also been listening to several great audio books as of late. One of these has been an anthology of short stories. I've enjoyed listening to this collection and it's inspired me to keep writing mine and submit them for publication to magazines.
The book I'm reading is simply called 'Horror Stories' by Jack Kilborn & J. Konrath. While they're not all great, there are more then several worthy of reading for the season.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
The Neverending Story
I'm happy I grew up in the 80's and 90's. It was a great time to witness the original and inspired ideas of the 80's. I watched plenty of movies, some were kids movies, others were more adult and I probably shouldn't have been watching them.
One of my favorite movies that we had on tape was 'The Neverending Story'. It was such a great fantastic movie to watch. It totally inspired me, to write and to dream of making life, in general, an adventure. I mean, when I saw The Rock Biter, the racing snail, the bat and the amazing sets they built I was just blown away by it all. This was the age of Jim Henson and I was loving every minute of it!
I mean the scene where Atrau loses his horse in the Swamps of Sorrow, who can forget that?
The music was simply amazing as well. Every time a new bit of scenery is introduced a beautiful bit of music is unraveled. The scenes where Falgor is flying are great.
Nothing in the movie grabbed me more than Gnork, the wolf antagonist on the film. What a Jim Henson masterpiece. When he explained what Fantasia essentially was and about The Nothing, I was blown away. There's nothing worse you can do to a kids world then take away their imagination and creativeness. What a truly scary idea. When he discussed the possibility of growing into an adult and losing the ability to imagine and dream it really made me think about how many people lose that ability and embrace the horror of complacency of work, marriage and everything else life can bog us down with so we forget who we were when we started our lives out. Fantasia was the realm of human fantasy and The Nothing was people forgetting about their dreams, aspirations and worst of all their imagination.
The book takes that idea and really rolls with it and takes it further with another theme. The idea of losing yourself in fantasy so much that you forget about the people in your life that love and care about you. This theme served as a clever warning to us to not go to the other extreme and lose ourselves in fantasy so that we forget all our responsibilities and loved ones. I get the idea that we should strive to balance our lives with or creative imagination and out mundane day to day tasks and 'reality'. The other worlds/lands that the book delves into are unique and each has it's own story arc with characters coming from their own continuing stories. Each new land and adventure has a new thing for us to learn . Every time Bastian makes up a new adventure or land he gets more arrogant and mean, forgetting more memories from his life back home. There's this neat part where other people have entered Fantasia (in the book it's called Fantastica) and are just stuck spouting gibberish that over time can come out as every story ever written. They have completely forgetton who they were in 'real life' totally became characters in Fantasia and are now mindless zombies who can't escape. Wow, I have to give it to you Michael Ende, you know how to give a kid an existential crisis way too soon in their lives.
One of my favorite movies that we had on tape was 'The Neverending Story'. It was such a great fantastic movie to watch. It totally inspired me, to write and to dream of making life, in general, an adventure. I mean, when I saw The Rock Biter, the racing snail, the bat and the amazing sets they built I was just blown away by it all. This was the age of Jim Henson and I was loving every minute of it!
I mean the scene where Atrau loses his horse in the Swamps of Sorrow, who can forget that?
The music was simply amazing as well. Every time a new bit of scenery is introduced a beautiful bit of music is unraveled. The scenes where Falgor is flying are great.
Nothing in the movie grabbed me more than Gnork, the wolf antagonist on the film. What a Jim Henson masterpiece. When he explained what Fantasia essentially was and about The Nothing, I was blown away. There's nothing worse you can do to a kids world then take away their imagination and creativeness. What a truly scary idea. When he discussed the possibility of growing into an adult and losing the ability to imagine and dream it really made me think about how many people lose that ability and embrace the horror of complacency of work, marriage and everything else life can bog us down with so we forget who we were when we started our lives out. Fantasia was the realm of human fantasy and The Nothing was people forgetting about their dreams, aspirations and worst of all their imagination.
The book takes that idea and really rolls with it and takes it further with another theme. The idea of losing yourself in fantasy so much that you forget about the people in your life that love and care about you. This theme served as a clever warning to us to not go to the other extreme and lose ourselves in fantasy so that we forget all our responsibilities and loved ones. I get the idea that we should strive to balance our lives with or creative imagination and out mundane day to day tasks and 'reality'. The other worlds/lands that the book delves into are unique and each has it's own story arc with characters coming from their own continuing stories. Each new land and adventure has a new thing for us to learn . Every time Bastian makes up a new adventure or land he gets more arrogant and mean, forgetting more memories from his life back home. There's this neat part where other people have entered Fantasia (in the book it's called Fantastica) and are just stuck spouting gibberish that over time can come out as every story ever written. They have completely forgetton who they were in 'real life' totally became characters in Fantasia and are now mindless zombies who can't escape. Wow, I have to give it to you Michael Ende, you know how to give a kid an existential crisis way too soon in their lives.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Books Read
I've been listening to many audio books as of late as well as reading a few too.
I've been listening to a few books on Quantum Theory. It's been fascinating to listen to the Multiple Worlds theories. It just opens our eyes to the endless possibilities that could be out there for us and for many story telling opportunities. I was fueled with the what-if's by Michio Kaku's book 'Parallel Worlds'.
I've seen him talk before about String Theory and many others. This book was very dense and explained the possibilities of time travel, worm holes, teleportation, multiple dimensions and parallel worlds identical to our own.
Some of these theories were created or spurned on by H.G. Wells and other sci-fi writers. I'm amazed to find that some of their theories hold water and are possible through the Laws of Relativity. Amazing! Just amazing.
I've been listening to a few books on Quantum Theory. It's been fascinating to listen to the Multiple Worlds theories. It just opens our eyes to the endless possibilities that could be out there for us and for many story telling opportunities. I was fueled with the what-if's by Michio Kaku's book 'Parallel Worlds'.
I've seen him talk before about String Theory and many others. This book was very dense and explained the possibilities of time travel, worm holes, teleportation, multiple dimensions and parallel worlds identical to our own.
Some of these theories were created or spurned on by H.G. Wells and other sci-fi writers. I'm amazed to find that some of their theories hold water and are possible through the Laws of Relativity. Amazing! Just amazing.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
4th Hour and Short Stories
I have finished a basic spell check of
4th Hour and am now over-looking each chapter and placing them in their proper spots within the book.
I have to rewrite a missing chapter that I left in storage in California. This has
Been frustrating since it's a key scene in the plot and one of the first ones I wrote when I started writing the story many years ago.
I have begun plotting a short story called 'The Ranger' (working
Title). It involves a man who used to be a pirate and finds himself stranded in a new land and has to defend himself and the local villagers from plunderers. Using his new skills as a Ranger he must utilize the land and its resources to turn the tide against them.
4th Hour and am now over-looking each chapter and placing them in their proper spots within the book.
I have to rewrite a missing chapter that I left in storage in California. This has
Been frustrating since it's a key scene in the plot and one of the first ones I wrote when I started writing the story many years ago.
I have begun plotting a short story called 'The Ranger' (working
Title). It involves a man who used to be a pirate and finds himself stranded in a new land and has to defend himself and the local villagers from plunderers. Using his new skills as a Ranger he must utilize the land and its resources to turn the tide against them.
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