Putting on the show

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That really is the whole entire life cycle of writing. It’s a party.

            You are putting out your fiesta, and everyone is invited to your special event. The first chapter is the introduction. You pointed everyone out, and tell every Tom, Dick, and Harry who they are. The middle of the party, is all about the gathering of people, and they start to groove about as they make the next part. Happenings happen! People laugh at a joke, they play a video game, they cook some wieners on your heater, they start playing baseball in your bathroom, and build a flourish statue to the chair god out of your table. Time pass by, and you get to the end. Everyone leaves, and they tell you what your party was like.

             Your party goers are going to like the party, get bored, pass out in the bathroom, or return to want one more party.

            What makes a good party? You! You are the maverick showstopper party with host with the most…uhmm..host.

                        

                          YEA! DOUBLE ENTENDRE! NYUNYAAN! ß Guitar solo noise 

                                    

                                     Be prepared to go out there with a smile.

As my next step is starting. I find myself facing two divided decisions. One being that I can go to school, and spend a whole bunch of time on more writing, or what my mentor is pointing out to me. My mentor told me to head towards the writing circles. I never really been in one right away.

                    From my understanding, you go in, and you write. This has been done by every author, every writer, and every critical thinker. Just like scientist using coffee houses in the 1800’s. Like Isaac Newton went to the Grecian Coffee house, and used to have conversations with the Whigs!

                But you and me, we got to put on the show. We got to put the fireworks on, and dance with the guitar strapped on our shoulder. Slide your tongue up and down on those strings/words on your paper. Raise our hands in the air, and say “Thank you very much, I will be here all week, and try the liver!”

    
           What I’m trying to say, to be an author, you got to know that you are an author. Do not be afraid to spread around. Though, personally I have never been to writing circle. I am going to rock and roll my ideas in there, and walk out a rock star. But with a book, and not a guitar strapped to my shoulder. Texts and sentence, baby! NYUHYAAH! Book solo! Get it? Instead of guitar solo?

                                                  Keep on writing. 

The Frist Edit.

The first edit,

I am going to be hiding names for now. I do not want to offend people; but really, the only people I know that read this blog right now are close relatives or close friends.

I should or could go on about other things first. The first write, the first page. How I got where I am, how I created the story, and yadda yada. But I prefer to take this root. As you already have your own story, you know what it must take to get to this certain points. I went through 17 reimagining of my story- no joke, and to take you through all 17 I would have to list all of my main protagonist’s names first. Kit, James, Kid….. And so on. Those edits are important. What’s kind of crazy is the one person name that did not change was Calico’s name. Off topic here, sorry.

                The first edit was really an adventure. The huge journey I went on to get to just one person to read the first Chapter, and help me get ideas. I got reject from schools, teachers, famous authors, friends, family members, and even a ninja that was dressed up like the siding of a building. They kept saying they have no idea how to publish; how to start editing. Luckily, I found someone that would help me.

                See when I first came up with the story I wanted I was so excited, but I failed an English. The first time I tired getting an idea on where to start this publishing of my book I sat down for a meeting for two hours to talk to someone for about three minutes. She told me about her mentor that helped her in her class. I talk to him, and he blew me off right away. Saying that I crazy, and pretty much never going to make it because there’s no way to get in.

               

                 I got lucky! I had found a way to get an hour sit down time with an author! I had a chance for a famous author to sit down and read it with me, but after half an hour, I only got to sit down and joke with him. He did not point out any flaws in my story, he just said to keep on writing. So now what?

                                                  Then I meet my mentor.

               

                   A teacher I knew told me to talk to someone. She knew I was having issue with starting my book in the proper way. So she pointed me to someone. My mentor.  

                

             It was in a class room we meet. I kept asking who this women was to each person, and assuming each person the entered the room would be her. They all laughed, and said no; however, she know who I was, and greeted me instead. That day was wonderful. We went through the first page, and the first chapter. I still have her notes, all of them, in a blue binder from that day. This was it, and I knew than I was an Author. You've heard if it before.

                                             The spark. 

              The rapper Eminem sings that you only get one shot, y’know, that song from his movie 8 Mile. I’m being simple here, and I am talking about how people all have dreams. But you’ve got to have that dream, you see what I mean? You've got to be crazy about it. Can you lose hope? NEVER! Life’s too short to be sane, and get some real job that just pays your bills. You’ve got to go fully into it. Be a Funky Bozo, who care if you get embarrassed that someone reads your story. ‘Cause you’re only given a petite trigger of fantasy…and if you misplace that, drop it, or lose it. You’re nothing. You are not just one more person texting on cell phone on how much your day job sucks.

                You are an Author. Say it to yourself! Make a book cover of your book, and place it on your desk to prove you are. Open your writing tools each day, and read them to remind yourself you an Author. KEEP DOING IT!

                

                                               The first edit is a must! 

                           My mentor-I tell her that she is, has taken my story leaps ahead of what I would it could be! This would have never of happen without her. She encourages me, she even told me that no one she knows has gotten this far, and a lot of people would have given up by now. Not me. I am trapped in my fantasy. I look at my first edit of my story and tell myself, “I can now stay that one other person has read my story.” As my Mentor would say: Keep writing Lucas. I’m reading.

                                                        I’ll keep writing. 

                   So one day the world will know that I am an Author. I will have my dream. 

                                                         And so will you.

How long will it take?

How long will it take to write your novel?

 That is an enquiry I cannot answer, but can give you an idea by how long it will take you by the appearance of myself and how long it has taken me to get where I have been. Back in 2008 (being 2014 now), I came up with the idea behind Staff in the Stone. I worked at bottle depot in Kamloops called General Grants for a very long time, and I was very happy there. After that, I moved down to Vancouver. In-between all that I have been writing. I write on buses, cars, parks, and even on the greyhound. I went to school to improve my English and writing skills for two years, and need to learn more about English.  I am now close to my 3^rd edit of my story. I tired being Dungeon Master for my DnD group, and think of idea I can get from there, and that has been four years of my life. You can find a great many idea from a couple of friends and a dice that has twenty sides.

Why am I telling you all this?

I have invested a lot of time into this. A LOT! Many weekends, and many things I have skipped to keep writing. I am not even close to being done. I will need all of this and more if I am going to publish my book. So how long will it take? Your life. It is a dedication to your story. Career, kids, and other such society achievements will never or may be late. If you want to write know that you will always be writing. Your first novel might take two years, or it could take ten to fifteen years. I am up to six years now, and I think I still have four more years to go. Good luck.

Jake, wants to be your hero.

Jake,

                You follow this crucial character in my story, and is the self-appointed hero to the world. He’s the adopted son of Captain Calico Handcock, and lives on the Canadian Pirate’s ship-when it’s docked in Vancouver. Since the age of 5, anytime Captain Calico’s ship leaves he is left in care with nurse’s houses, homes for abandon children, churches that were full of nuns, and other such places you should never place a child should not live in. Though Jake learns to laugh at all his trouble, he still a very angry child. His parents were killed in a boat fire, but they stood on the ship, and had lots of time to escape. Thought Jake never knows why, they passed him off to Captain Calico whom takes him as a son.  Though at the start of my story he has a positive attitude towards the beginning, want adventure, wants to be a super hero, is very arrogant, and battles his arch-nemesis Seth Satana.

He learns eventually that forcing people into an adventure is not the, uhmm, high-quality choice, and has left him in a bloody shame of a man. Seven years later the happy go lucky Jake will be turned into a demon.

 And his engagements the planet leaves the world questioning if the planet is better off being in its macrocytic of life that is dazed and destroy by its materialism and a human’s self-worth that is judge by how much popularly you are or how much money you have.

Keep reading peoples! As I travel you into the world my book, The Staff in the Stone.   

Customer service!! What?!?

Like our favorite weapon for the culinary artist who scrubs dem’ dishes said, being happy makes any ones day, and you are going need this as a +20 on your skill chart. *Snort*, Dungeon and Dragons reference! It's not really hard to pick up this skill, but one of the hardest to master. Knowing what people will or will not say. How to sell yourself, how to smile when are you having a bad day, and able to relate to anyone are skills you are going to need. Why is this related to writing a story? Well, you will have to self-promote yourself. As you start your travel writing your own book, and finish publishing your novel. You will be spending sometime in the public. It may be at an Expo, a bookstore, your website, or at a lemonade stand that sells your book instead of lemon-maybe both.

So, what would you like to do with this information? I know you are asking that! How do I get this skill! Well, you should be working to get money, so you should go get a job in customer service. See how people function, see what people do or do not like, and get some skills. It will teach you how to deal with problems, how to deal situation you do not want to be in, and how to interact with people. Making them laugh and smile is the best way to sell yourself. If they see you are happy and inviting person the most likely they are going to see what your book is about. Just think of yourself as Bugs Bunny who is standing on a soap box trying to sell tickets to a freak show. Get them interested, get them to love your story! If this your main goal in your life to write for a living, you will need to do this. You got to sell the tickets to your show,baby! 

Good luck!

Why a story is important. Proof!

I am posting this here due to this is about storyline. Most of the complaint I have with the well-known game of World of Warcraft is how they deliver their story. As you may get an idea from my post to blizzard, and see how a story is very important. 

A love letter to Blizzard,

On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released their MMORPG, “World of Warcraft”. This was the first game that expanded about with several expansion in its very successful run, and focused on expanding the lore and what defines a MMORPG. In my review of this game, I’m not seeking to devalue Blizzard’s video game or trying to seek out a blue. I am simply offering a review of my viewpoint as a long invested player, and as a gamer. I hope to bring a positive feedback to blizzard, and constructive criticism so they may use my viewpoint to make their game into a RPG we can all enjoy.

With that said, let the paragraphs begin.

PVE. 

Quests:

My first anxiety with World of Warcraft has always been the questing. Blizzard choices to approach questing like a 1975 text adventure. Rather than understanding a quest, Blizzard pursues the player to accept the quest quickly, for you to find the quest- as you are told to do, and for you complete it. Just like a text adventure you select west, east, north and west, and you memorize the rhyme of the quests selection. Instead of a developing and immersive story, it rapidly turns into grind to get to max level quickly. Sometimes, like Quest: The Rider’s Bind, NPC act in text and not in action. The player picks up one of NPCS, the Playful Serpent. They say things like “is hungry” or “needs some love” in text, and not show it.  Though World of Warcraft is a game with wonderful music and a graphically appeasing world, we are still playing a text adventure. Show not tell. Make the new scenarios, the three man dungeons with voice acting and lore, as normal single player quest line for more lore and adventure, and make the same “click and accept quests” for those who want to grind to max level faster. After we hit max level the quest stop, we are more concern of getting gear for looking for raid, and stop thinking about the adventure we just had. This does not involve you into the game, and does not drag you back into the story.

Lore.

As a player I seem be push away from the lore. Exciting quest like the Wrathion quest where you get your legendary quest seems to have no impact on the world. It is always the faction’s leaders who impact the world, and we are left behind.  We are involved as the “adventure”, but we are invalided in any part of the story. We should been commanding the troops of our factions in the Jade Seperent tower cut scene, we should have been the one trying to take Garrosh’s head. In video games you’re the hero, and your action should reflect upon the world. By a citizen greeting you, to the main faction leaders greeting you. A player may face an instance in which he or she must aids the world and their companions, but that should not make us less important to the lore of Warcraft. By implying our actions upon the world we can measure are own worth to the world as we travel in, but you deny this. Though asked about this, players get the “Should go play Skyrim”We fought the bosses, we stop the world from getting killed, and then the faction leader congrats themselves and are amazed by their progress. I do not care about that they are amazed, I want to be amazed! 

     Also half the time I do not know who these people are, what happen to them, or why they are important! How about teaming up with Alexstraza, and she follows you as a veiled humanoid, or being in the court room as a lawyer to Garrosh. Why not hire the people that made wonderful books like “War Crime”, and have them write out a quest line in the game. Let us be the bounced, or the lawyer to Garrosh. Get us involved in the story instead of taking us out of it. You should never make the player, the reader, be unabsorbed of the story. We should be the right hand man to the faction’s leader. 

PVP.

I used to love PVP. It used to fill the time waiting for raids with PvP. I would practice my skills as the current class I was playing, and enjoy mastering my class. Now PvP has taken that focus away. Gear from arena is the only thing that matters, and the idea of being the Arena Master. Though pushed on websites, your single purpose in PvP is now Arena. (RBGs are the same thing- just with more people.) This has made low level PvP more enjoyable than max level PvP, and PvP is more about getting gear rewards than enjoying some random fights or city invasions with other players. Thought if you people enjoy this, I understand. But for me, I enjoy the game when the focus was away from Arena.

In conclusion, this game has gotten better over the years; however, I do not see the purpose of me returning to the game until the next expansion is announced during Warlords. I came at the end of Mist of Pandaria, and I was able to see everything. Why would I continue on paying for a year and half to only be disappointed during that time, and twiddle my fingers until the next patch? I am able to just quickly gear, and see everything now at the end of an expansion. Though my words do show antagonism to them, I wish you all the best in the next expansion.

Outside.

Although you might think this corrupt thing would mess up your life. You even try to elude this as a writer, you know that it's out there. Outside. Burr.

I know this will be a colossal undertaking, but you will thank me later. I employ you to use this "outside" biosphere. What happens out there is important- believe it or not. A good way to get rid of writers block is to just, well, wander around. Go for a miniscule adventure. I know it seems simple enough to just stay home, watch a video, play some videos games, and stay on the internet all day. But, take a notebook, and just stop being a Hikikomori (Google that, and you’ve learned something today.) The word out there is not trying to hurt you, but instead trying to help you. Hmm, kind of. Think about it a little bit. Even though people out there are-for the most part, don't really care about you or anyone around them. They have personality, and traits you might be able to use. Going into a shop, and your events in bargain hunting might be what you write down in your story for today. Go to the park, and watch children play, and think what would happen if a huge dinosaur stomped on their sandcastle. Then he says, "I hate sandcastles." Why does he hate sandcastles? Maybe he ate a little girl he that made sandcastles, and she was his best friend. He so hungry, he could not take it any longer, and gobbled her up. I'm going to write a story about that now. But, that's what I mean. Outside should be used as a tool, and not as a place for you hide from.