Dragons

On my new blog on Tumblr, I started writing about dragons and what I didn't care for about these books that had dragons in them.  Then I went on to talk about what dragons meant to me.  I was thinking of writing on here about dragons just to keep the blogs even. 

Dragons are majestic divine creatures.  They are better than lowly humans, for they fly and breathe fire and through that fire and flight they become a free creature.  Dragons dream, fight, speak, and through their strength and willpower, they can overcome any obstacle. 

I do prefer the European style dragon over the eastern style.  The main reason stems from Cornelia Funke's book Drago Rider.  I practically fell in love with the dragon(metaphorically) and idolized that character.  I found it so unique because any book that I have read and any movie that I have ever watched always featured the dragon as the enemy.  An unintelligent being that only kills the innocent.  For me, this wa a new experience, a change I never thougt possible.  And so there I became obsessed with dragons. 

Dragons are indeed very prideful creatures.  Pride and strength fall heavily on dragons.  They take pride in their fire, their flight, and have a huge competitive streak that drives them to survive.  We all know these canivorous and typical western characterizations.  But there is more to it than that.  Dragons are incredibly smart.  Though they do not think mathematically, they think geometrically.  They are true artists, painters, architects, writers, poets.  They encompass all the arts in their society.  And with it, they achieve the perfect society. 

Dragons do not rely on currency like humans rely.  In human society, everything has a complexity that makes things slow, complicated, and inneficient.  But wih dragons, there is no such complexity.  They live simple lives, without fear of disease, and famine.  They live in communities but sometimes adhere to a dragon king.  And with this they unite to defeat a common enemy, whatever it may be.  Not that they don't have wars themselves.  They do.  They fight for mates, territory, and submission.  So they to have violence, but on our level they are not like our money greeding political type of scandals and wars.

Dragons have emotion.  They understand emotion and naturally have love.  Dragons are some of the most passionate creatures.  Nothing is wrong or shameful if a male dragon hugs a male dragon.  For it is a sign of comradery, friendship, and a bond of unity.  And the male and female bonds have specia qualities of gracious love.  Sometimes the female is the dominant one of the mated couple, sometimes the male is the dominant of the mated couple.  But whichever is the case there is most of the time, true love. 

Dragon females one could say are very Spartan.  They are not whimps like many modern day women act like.  There is no limitations on females but rather, a sense of duty.  In times of war, if the male dragons are away and the enemy sneaks in, it is the duty of the female dragons to fight against the enemy and protect their hatchlings and their home.  They contribute as much as any female should.  And in this sense the dragon race has equality among the two genders.  Not that there are instances where this is not perfect.  Sometimes males take advantage of females, but it goes both ways.  If male dragons are dangerous, so are female dragons.  There is no true dominance. 

Those are some of the views I have on dragon society.  Perhaps I should truly write an essay on dragons and their behaviors.  I really should.  I will.  So perhaps I will even publish it, like a Plato's Republic almost.  That would be very fun.  Until then.  The message of the dragon sun god, Ra, has been spoken.  Until next time. 

,Starvix Draxon

Temeraire Series

Good day everyone.  I hope you are all doing well, ja?  Gut.  Well, I have good news for everyone and I thought I would share with you guys, that I have found a new book series to read. 

Yea!  Right?  Well, I thought I would give a critique of the first two books, His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade.  The books are written by Naomi Novik.  She was apparently a computer programmer for video games, but decided writing was her passion. 

So anyway.  The whole book series takes place during the Napoleanic Wars.  What makes this a fantasy books is that there is an airforce of dragons.  Dragons also fight in the wars.  Pretty awesome huh?  The story follows Captain William Laurence a man of 30 years is what I'm guessing, that captures a French ship and as a result finds a dragon egg.  The egg hatches and reveals a black dragon.  Later it is discovered that he is a Chinese Imperial, an extremely rare breed of dragons.  Laurence names the dragon Temeraire and procceed to the dragon training ground.  Later though it is discovered that Temeraire is actually a Chinese Celestial, even rarer than an Imperial.  In the second book they travel all the way to China because the Chinese want Temeraire back because only emperors of countries may own celestials. 

This is a good book series, I will admit.  Novik's gives grand description and detail in her books, something I need to grasp and work on.  However, the story naturally is in the eyes of Laurence rather than Temeraire.  That of course makes me unhappy but it never the less happens.  We do not get to see what Temeraire is doing or what he is thinking and often that leads to a weaker character.  Like in the second book, apparently he was courting a female and while that was happening, Laurance was having to fight off a Chinese gang of thugs that wanted to kill him.  We do not know this until after Laurence has finished fighting and has recovered.  (I also think later in the book, Temeraire and the female dragon, well, I think they well, love happened, which is something I would have loved to read.  ) But my point is clearly stated that I think in general her characterization is weak.  Not extremely weak, but weak in general. 

Another thing I will point out in the second book is that the back cover said they would discover something shocking and dark.  When I actually got to that point, I was still completely confused.  I still did not know if the prince was really trying to have Laurence killed or not and I still could not figure out what was so shocking and I was completely lost at why Temeraire was shipped to Napolean and...you guys haven't got a clue at what I am talking about do you?  Read the books and see if you guys can tell me what the shocking secret was.  Then you will be able to understand my confusion. 

So in some aspects, it's a really good book series, and in others it isn't that great.  Her diction is very extensive yet lacks good characterization and dialogue.  But it's still a good book.  I hope you guys decide to buy the book. 

Another note, Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, has decided to turn the series into a movie!  Wow!  If the characterization is weak in the books, I'm sure he'll fix it because I know he made the characters have more depth in Lord of the Rings compared to the books. 

So I hope you guys will go and buy this book series.  I reccommend it.  That's all for today.  Until next time. 

Starvix Draxon

Creative Writing Key Ideas

For my speech class, we had to give an informative speech.  It took me awhile to figure out a topic but I soon figured out a perfect topic.  I gave my informative speech on creative writing.  When I had finished presenting my speech, I actually was asked questions by my peers.  Later when my teacher told me my grade, she said how she loved how passionate I was when I presented my speech and how it could be seen that I really loved what I was talking about and how I showed that I wanted to be a creative writer.  She even said that even the students could tell I wanted to be a writer.  And she was propably write.  So I thought that I could share my speech with you who bother to read mein blog. 

Many people as you know want to become authors of fantasy fiction, but they lack the structure and style to do so.  There are several key ideas that authors of fantasy take into account that help authors write their story.  As someone who wants to become a fantasy author, I too must think about these key ideas.  An author must create their magic world, must create their characters, must develop the plot, and so on. 

First we start with the basics: creating the world and the characters.  First we create the world.  When creating a world, you need to come up with an idea of what the world looks like.  But more importantly, if the world is not the planet we live on like say, Final Fantasy XIII's world of Cocoon and Grand Pulse, one must think about the world's history.  Either the history of the world is important or it isn't.  If it is important make sure you make a clear history of the world and make sure that it's understandable and makes sense.  If the history of your fantasy world is not important, than don't start spouting out these idols, or historic events.  Otherwise your story will be terrible. If you don't explain the history of your world, the reader will become confused and will put the book in a trash can.  (If people do throw books into trash cans, they're comitting a crime.) 

For example, in Bazil Broketail a book about a dragon warrior and his boy, written by Christopher Rowley, the world that the author created was very...confusing and...horrible.  This is what he did wrong.  As I read the book, he started spouting out names that didn't make sense.  He explained some of his enemies, but it was just to vague.  Plus he doesn't explain who this empire is.  My assumptions are that there is another world and that the kingdom we were reading about was a state that served as a colinizing city that served an empire in some other world.  But that's not the point.  His thoughts were disorganized and it was just not good.  I became very confused and just gave up reading it.  (Do not read this book, it is not very good because the characters are not well developed at all.  His characters are flat and don't grow at all because he's too busy talking about something else.  Not that great.  I expected more.)

Usually when creating a world, authors create these races of creatures.  Take J.R.R.Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trillogy.  He creates several races and describes them.  However, let's use dragons as an example race.  You as an author need to think about your race.  What do your dragons look like?  How do they behave?  What is their culture?  All these sort of questions need to be taking into place.  You need to know these things to create your race, otherwise you might contradict yourself. 

Another thing that helps is to research your story.  Research dragonlore, knights, kings and queens, mythology and folklore.  It helps inspire, and also helps with your story.  Research the time period you story is based off of in real history and learn the culture of that time period.  It helps to know these things so that you can write a more believable story. 

Next stop is the character.  The best kind of story is a character story is a character story.  Everyone loves to read about a character that grows throughout the story.  So basically the first step to making a character is this.  Do not make a flat character.  A flat character is basically a character that remains single emotioned and does not change throughout the story.  So the first step is to give your character a unique personality.  How does the character behave?  What are it's actions?  How does it handle a situation? 

In order to write a good story, you must also have the character develop throughout the stoy.  Make the character change.  Have your character make a discovery.  Make him or her learn something.  Make the character change. 

For example, in the Percy Jackson series, Percy changes from a young 12 year old boy to a young brave hero.  Although his personality is the same, he develops a sense of maturity throughout the series. 

Now we get to the plot.  When writing a plot, be sure you stay true to your story.  According to Daniel Arenson, author of fantasy books such as Song of the Dragons: Blood of Requiem, he suggests to do one of two things.  Write an outline, detailed or general, or just head in there and start writing. 

Don't forget the flow.  Write with the flow of the story.  The characters.  Let them decide where the story goes. 

Now here is a very important part of writing a story.  You must balance your Dialogue and description.  When writing description, don't go overboard.  If its too much it imbalances the story and turns the story into something worthless.  Too much that is vague and broad and unclear makes a story really terrible.  With dialogue, too much dialogue, you lose sight of what's happening around the characters.  All you have is talking and no explanation of what's happening around them.  That is why when you balance the two, it creates a really good story. 

The next step is editing and publishing.  Go over your grammer.  I really hate it when I see grammer errors in books that I might really be enjoying.  Oh and just a bit of advice, a good book is one that has great diction and vocabulary.  Make sure you communicate your thoughts to your audience.  Make sure you're saying to them what you want them to hear.  Make sure your message is communicated.  And when publishing, if a publishing company rejects your book, don't panic.  It's not the end of the world.  Keep sending your book, promote it and join writing forums to help get yourself out there. 

In conclusion, a writer must create their world, characters, and plot.  They must write fluidly, and must also balance dialogue and description.  They must edit and make sure they communicate their thoughts.  If authors do this, they will write a very good fantasy book. 

I hope you, my audience, whomever you are, take this advice if you want to be authors as well.  I hope you learned something, and thank you for reading. 

Forgive me if I sound a little off.  My document that I wrote my speech on dissapeared and so I'm having to recall what I wrote.  I could remember most of it.  I hope to fix it later.  I do hope you enjoyed. 

Starvix Draxon

Wolf's Rain

Wolf's Rain is an anime series that I really hate.  I did not even finish watching all the episodes.  Why did I not finish a show about an animal I really love and am obsessed with?  I'll tell you why!  It has the sadest ending ever!  Everyone dies! 

The story takes place in some place in a futuristic world that's been devastated.  Wolves are believed to be extinct.  But they're not.  A white wolf named Kiba follows the scent of a lunar flower.  He is joined then on a quest by the following wolves, Tsume, Hige, and Toboy, to rescue the flower maiden Chezza. 

I don't want to explain the whole story.  That would take to long.  The point is in the last four episodes the world ends and everyone dies.  DO NOT WATCH THIS ANIME!  It's really sad and heart breaking. 

a warning from Starvix Draxon

Chronicles of Kale

I've read a book recently during the summer and have been meaning to talk about it on my blog for a while but I kept forgetting to do so.  The book is called The Chronicles of Kale: A Dragon's Awakening.  It's about a black dragon named Kale who's turned into a human by his friend who is a sorcerer.  At this point in time, the bad guy, General Jedah, has been slaying all the dragons in the world and Kale is the last dragon alive. 

While Kale is a human, he learns to adjust to being a human and meets and elf named Neelan and other characters.  The story's theme involves judging others when you only see the bad and you haven't seen the good.  Kale at the beginning of the story views humans as selfish beings and are puny and weak.  Throughout the story Kale sees the good parts in human beings, the kindness, the generosity, and so on. 

This book is an action packed adventure.  It has its own complete fantasy world, unique creatures, and well developed characters.  I never wanted to stop reading.  I recomend this book to any young adult.  (That means teenager also) I also wish to let everyone know that you can go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  It is not found on bookshelves however, it's a print on demand book.  I recomend a hard cover.  This book is worthy of getting it in hard cover. 

The author is Aya Knight.  She lives somewhere in Florida.  I can't remember off the top of my head.  You wouldn't believe how many similarities I found between her and myself.  We both developed a love of fantasy and writing at a young age.  She loves books movies and video games.  I do too.  She says these things offer us an escape into the unreal.  We need to help her since her book isn't selling as well as she had hoped for.  Buy her book.  Help popularize it.  We need good literature like this. 

Voices of Dragons

This is book is really good.  It's about a girl and a dragon that talk with each other even though they're not supposed to.  It causes an outbreak of fear and well you have to read it. 

I hated this book so much I wanted to rip it to peaces, it was that good.  If it made me that mad, that's good.  It had a really good story line.  However, if I were to meet the author Carrie Vaughn, I would say to her that I wished the dragon had a bit more personality.  I wished she dwelled into the dragons side of the story rather than the humans.  Other than that it was fine.  I recomend this book to all dragon lovers in the world. 

This book is also a book that inspires me to right about dragons. 

All those support me, keep rooting for me and my writing. 

Harry Potter

If you don't like Harry Potter, then you best not read this post.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II comes out this July 15th, which I believe in the story is Harry's birthday.  But alas, I forget.  I've always loved Harry Potter.  I loved the wands and the spellcasting.  It was just right up my alley.  Before I knew it, I was sucked into it.  However, when it comes to the movies, the only ones I considered good were the first two.  I always felt that those were better than the book.  I felt like they took the right parts of the book out and made it even better.  Then it went down hill from there until the sixth movie.  However, even then they took out the decent action in it and place it in a different scene.  Then Deathly Hallows part one came out.  I was thouroghly impressed.  It was extremely accurate, it took out just the right parts and made it an outstanding movie.  I have high expectations for the next and last film.  I expect to be really good.  I know I won't be dissapointed. 

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is one of the most popular game series in the world.  It was developed by Square Enix or rather Squaresoft that merged with Enix to become Square Enix, in Japan, and sold directly to the U.S and Canada and then Europe and I think one other country. 

Final Fantasy has many games.  The typical games are the ones with the numbers that are roman numerals and then there are spin offs of some of the real popular ones.  It started in the 80s and has continued to this day. 

Just recently I downloaded Final Fantasy III.  I now have to start over because I died and never truly saved my progress.  Grrr. 

My favorite Final Fantasy games are VII and XIII, mainly XIII.  I own Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII and also own Final Fantasy.  I hope this doesn't come off as bragging.  

My favorite of them all is Final Fantasy XIII.  The graphics in the game are incredible.  It looks so real.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.  The story line was wonderful.  The game style was pretty neat.  It was different from most of the style in most Final Fantasy games.  The process of leveling up was interesting.  It wasn't easy.  In fact it's not easy at all to beat the game.  I suffered big time.  I haven't even completed the whole game yet.  I'm still stuck on one boss, a falcie known as Dahaka.  I can't seem to beat him.  It makes me furious. 

The story starts off in a floating planet called Cocoon that hovers above the extremely chaotic feral planet Pulse.  Falcie are basically divine like beings that do a variety of things.  There are Falcie on both Pulse and Cocoon.  Cocoon is basically a peaceful utopia while Pulse is a perfect area for un civilized manner.  The people of Cocoon have become so afraid of Pulse that anyone in contact with something from Pulse is to be quarantined and sent to Pulse.  It's a really good game and applies good literature devices and themes to the story.  If you do get it, good luck, it's not easy to beat enemies in this game. 

For more info on any of the Final Fantasy games, type in the name of the final fantasy game and go to wikia.  They're the most informative.  Do not do Wikapedia because they have no where near the amount of information as wikia does.