Kael 17/08/09 *Reposted

“Do you think… that anyone survived this?” Kael landed on the parapet of the Church of the Gods and set Jessie down.
Scanning the remains, he flicked his tongue out and grimaced at the assault to his senses. “Most likely. They would have evacuated or run. Not everyone fights to the last. The children…” He squinted at the body pile below them. “The invaders may have taken on slaves, to carry the loot. He paced along the narrow ledge, examining the walls, the wounds on the dead and destruction of the whole city. “Whoever did this… has access to things that I thought were long lost to your kind.”
“All those books… those cars and… bombs… you mean?” Jessie reached out and clutched his arm. Staring at him, no longer able to look at all the death. She was a soldier, yes, but there were sights that scarred you in an instant.
“And the like. Come,” Kael turned, wrapping her in his arms and lifting her all in one smooth motion. “Let us see if we can locate survivors.”
Neither of them mentioned Jack. The silence between them said enough.
He bounded off and glided over the city. “We will not follow the roads. Most likely the survivors would have fled to the fields, where they can seek cover. On the road they would be cut down.”
Jessie nodded, staring forward and down.
Bodies lay scattered at the city’s gates for what seemed like miles to her. Clearly some had thought the road the best escape route, and like Kael said, had been slain on the spot. The bodies tapered off and Kael veered off and began to circle.
Jessie tried, but all her eyes saw were the thick woods beyond the fields that encircle the city.
“There.” Kael shifted his grip and brought them to lower to the ground. “You can see where the fields have been disturbed.” Nostrils flared and tongue flicked. “There is the faint taste of blood, but not much. A group fled this way. A few beats and they shot above the field and forest.
“You can see-“
“Child, I have the eyes of a hawk.”
Jessie fell silent, her eyes scanning the forest floor and much as she was able as they winged above the trees.
Kael took a moment to look at the human in his arms. Her face was paler than usual, her lips bloodless and tight. Jessie’s eyes flashed white like a spooked horse. He noticed that the hand around his shoulders was petting him in tense motions.
Returning his eyes to the forest he murmured. “That was not a recent battle. The survivors have had many days to travel and seek safety. By the decay of the bodies, the carrion eaters and still burning houses… Most like it was two weeks ago.”
Jessie’s fingers dug into his shoulder, saying nothing.
“It will soon be dark, and though my eyes are keen and night does not bother me, I rather we both rest and set out with clearer heads.” He nodded towards a clearing. “We will set down there for the night. Perhaps you will come up with ideas where you think the survivors may have fled.”
One tight, controlled nod in reply.

Twitter

My brother told me that I should start using Twitter.

I told him that he was crazy. No way am I going to let the net the rule my life like that. That and I don't follow it myself and since I don't I doubt people like me would :P

Twitter... twits... that's all I say on that.

Now blogging I enjoy, I get to write as much or as little as I want and I don't annoy people with constant... *tweets*? I don't know what they are called but I think that's it.

I mean come on do you need people to know what you are doing every minute of every day? How much can you get done when you are constantly updating your twitter like some people do?

I actually set this blog to post at later points in the day when I'm in the mood.

I am all for writing and expressing yourself but even for me Twitter seems a little much.

Ramblings 22: Notes and Sunflowers

I think I ramble a lot. 54 postings and nearly half of them are Ramblings...

Though perhaps they all are.

What is sometimes frustrating is that I will come up with an idea that I think would be cool to blog about and then when I start writing I realize I have completely forgotten what it was.

Occasionally it will uncover itself amidst the ramblings or on a later date but still it is annoying.

I should probably carry a notepad with me all times and jot down ideas. I keep loosing pens though, and mostly I come up with these ideas where it wouldn't be too smart to be scribbling in a notepad...

I think I will look into it. How many ideas are lost because we didn't record them?

On another note. Sunflower Seed Oil.

I am looking for cold pressed sunflower seed oil. But the bottles I have found do not tell me whether or not they are cold pressed or not. Are all sunflower seed oils cold pressed?

I read some where that generally cold pressed sunflower seed oils are used in foods and the heated ones are for industrial purposes.

But I rather know before I buy... so anyone know?

Why Criticism?

A friend (you know who you are) of mine emailed me:

Here is a thought, to be a good editor someone needs to understand your work. As you have mentioned earlier, some people may not get your writing or meaning in other words. So how do you expect people who do not understand it, to give you a valuable feedback or insights? Sure they’ll catch small things like grammar, but I doubt they would impress you much with anything beyond that.

“How are you supposed to learn when you are not shown what you have done well? You are left guessing what is good and all you see is the bad.”

I tend to think along the lines that we can choose what we see. From this description of your work I take it that you think that you are fairly confident in your ability and performance, but also realize that there is a room to grow. Correct me if I’m wrong. Yet you say you do not know at the same time. It makes my thoughts go back to one of your very first posts, when you said that you are starting to look for answers more and more inside of yourself.

I replied to her in an email, but I believe I will elaborate here a little more.

The reason I look for "insights" from people that don't get my work is to gain perspective. What is it that they do not get? Do they not get it because of lack of background? Do they not get it because I was overly complex or simple? Did they not get because I explained it poorly or focused on the wrong audience?

It all helps me see what I am doing from another's eyes. I like to see how others interpret my work, to see if I was able to convey what was within my mind to them as I wanted to.

Also I want to know how to communicate to people that don't "get" it. Of course I am, above everything else, writing for myself. I write because I enjoy it, I like putting my thoughts, ideas and stories down for others to read.

But sometimes I want to share my ideas, and let people see something through my eyes. And if I can acquire the ability to let them see it, even briefly... well I think that that is just plain cool.

There is always, always, ALWAYS room to grow. To believe otherwise is to be a fool in my opinion. I believe there is always a little more that you can learn, a new skill to acquire and new experiences to gain.

I am looking to myself for answers, but I also want to understand others as well. I am not the centre of the universe... I am just the centre of my life.

And I'd like to learn a little about the others orbiting around me as I go about it.

What is it that makes others tick, how is it that they view me from the centre of their own lives?

Lastly, in the end the writing is mine. I define it, I create it, it is just plain mine. I have the choice to take what others give me in criticisms or not. I do not define myself by then.

I often use writing to clarify my thoughts, as I write it sharpens things that have been tickling at the back of my mind, having people tell me their opinions on strengths/opportunities of stories or posts can give me new ideas and concepts to play with as well. And also allow me to look at something in myself at a different angle.

This is the end of the post, I think I am about to go too far afield and I'm tired! :P

Criticism

After taking courses on writing, and completing the program I have come to realize that most people really don't know how to edit properly.

Oh sure they get typos and spelling errors, but they don't generally know how to improve on a phrase/piece or to tell you what is missing.

Added to this is that they don't know how to criticise.

By this I mean actually being helpful in what they say.

Generally, criticising has negative connotations for most people, since it implies that you have done something wrong.

Now in my writing courses what we were taught to do is this:

- What are the Strengths?

- What are the Weaknesses?

- What are the Opportunities? 

*** Do I have these right Dorian?

Opportunities are what most people ever hear except that it is all negative. Opportunities appear where there is generally a weakness in the piece or something that the reader/editor feels is missing. This can also include something that is not a weakness but something you think could improve or add to this piece if added or removed.

What you usually hear from people is what you did wrong. You rarely hear about what you did right.

For instance where I am working I handle about seven pages of newspaper. I catch many of my own errors within the writing after several checks.

But of course with this amount of information things fall through the crack. I am not an OCD personality type or anal, I am not that much of a perfectionist, but I do get a large majority.

My proofreader out of thousands of words find 2 to 10 things maybe a week that need correction. Ie neighbor vs neighbour or ".. vs ." 

And then all I hear about is the errors I have made. I do not mention to them that I have to go over every change they made to check that they are viable. Often they are corrections that should not have been done in the first place.

I get that it is important to be precise, and each time I do it I get better at it, less and less fall through the cracks.

But I dislike this superior, snobbish attitude these proofreaders get when I make an error. I do not go rubbing it in their faces when I catch them at an error, or when I see all the errors in the rest of the paper.

How are you supposed to learn when you are not shown what you have done well? You are left guessing what is good and all you see is the bad.

I am used to criticism, I was raised on it as a writer. I like it when people tell me what they like, where they think I should give more details, or what they feel isn't right or whatever else they feel about a piece I have written.

What I don't like is purely negative feedback, feedback I can't work with, feedback that makes you feel shot down as if all the work is shoddy crap.

 

Archetypes

I recently read through some of my past fiction stories and noticed that each of my heroes shared certain characteristics. The newer the writing the more defined these characteristics became.

I had not even realized that I was basing each character off the other. I thought I was coming up with something original.

And then I remembered that my favorite authors have done the same. I had read some of their early writings before they wrote the series that launched them, some free pieces, etc and saw that the heros all shared similarity. From physical features, past histories, skills and personalities.

And that with each writing the character had developed. I hadn't really liked their earlier books, but they were okay, just not complete yet.

It is like writers create a mold for their characters and constantly chisel at it until it is complete. then they can pour the story into it.

Similar to when artists make sketches of possible characters or scenery and refine that image or build on it until the final product.

Archetypes, gotta love em.