Fire

I see fire

Fire burning, burning bright

Bright behind your eyes

I see fire 

Fire burning, burning embers

Embers of desire

I see fire

Fire burning, burning sparks

Sparks of passion flying from your eyes

I see fire

Fire burning, burning high

High flame in your eyes; cannot be quenched

I see fire

Fire burning, burning and consuming

Consuming and I am afraid. 

It's a Monday

Today at school I got bored. And so I did the same thing I always do when I get bored: Pick up a pen. Only today, I did something a little different. I wrote a poem. Or tried to. You see, I'm not all that good at poetry, and I don't know that this even counts as poetry, since it doesn't follow much of a pattern, and doesn't really rhyme. But it came straight from my head of it's own accord, and was inspired in half from a character in a book. (If you name the book and character, I will send you chocolate through my computer screen) Anyways, here it is!

Screams

He weeps,

He holds death

In his hands.

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

The voices of many,

Voices of the Lost Ones

The lonely assassin.

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

He closes his eyes.

Still he sees them;

He cannot hide. 

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

He sees their faces,

Blood drips down,

It proclaims his guilt.

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

Sharp blade of steel,

Instrument  of death.

He holds in his hand.

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

He wonders, "Why?"

Bloody footprints 

Trail behind.

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

They hurt him. 

His soul twisted

In agony cries.

They haunt him.

Screams, screams.

And there you have it. I promise I'm not like suicidal or anything. It's just easier to write sad stuff than happy stuff. But I am not depresses; I swear! That's all for now, so have a lovely Monday, everyone! Except it's a Monday, which makes that statement a complete contradiction, but whatever. =)

Until I can think again, 

Robin

A Tribute to a Wonderful Villain

Warning: This post contains minor spoilers for Avatar the Last Airbender. If you have not seen the whole series, read at your own risk!!!


That sounds bad. I'm not an evil psychopath or something, I promise. Even though I'm writing a tribute to a villain. And who is this best of evil terrors? She is filled with a cool hatred, a calm, calculated wrath. She cares nothing for life; killing with impunity.

Azula. She is one of the best written villains I've ever seen. As a part of the audience, she terrifies and horrifies me. As a writer, I find her wonderful. She does everything a good villain does. Her calm disregard for life and ability to do whatever she needs to get what she wants is more frightening than Zuko's burning anger. Zuko is made less frightening simply by virtue of the fact that he does everything he does for a reason. He is driven to his actions by his anger and passion; his desire to regain the honor he feels he's lost. He is a villain I can sympathize with. Azula on the other hand does everything she does because she can. Or you could say because she wants power. She didn't lose something she feels she needs to regain, she's not trying to prove herself or anything like that. She simply wants power. Power to command others. The way she's written shows her consuming desire and her seemingly unflappable nature. Normally being unflappable is considered a good trait, but around Azula it just leads to more deaths. She does not care how many people die in order for her to get what she wants. She enjoys it when people cringe and cower before her. She loves the idea that she has power over others. Her friends are her friends only because they fear her. And she likes it that way. *SPOILERS*  But in the end her quest for power drives her to madness.

She begins to suspect everyone around her of coveting her power. She begins to fear. She sends everyone away in order to save her power, but she only hastens on her own demise. She allows herself to lose her cool logic in an attempt to protect her power from others. She believes herself invincible and yet sees enemies in every shadow of the fire.

She allows her thirst for power to destroy her and in the end is beaten by Zuko and Katara. The woman who starts out as one of the most frightening villains I've ever seen to an insane, pitiable creature. She allows thirst for power to not only corrupt her but to destroy her. She was written well; terrifying, horrifying, and in the end, pitiable.

Sad News (For November, Anyways)

I am so sorry for my lack of posting, lately. I however, have some sad news for you. Depending how you look at it. It might not be sad from another perspective. But anyways. Getting off track. Sad news. I won't be posting again for awhile. At least for the month of November. You see, I'm doing NaNoWriMo (write a novel in a month) this November. So while November lasts, I won't be posting. Or doing any of my other normal pleasure activities except writing while the month lasts. I hope you will forgive me. I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise. Sorry this post is so short; I'll try and make up for that too!

Until the end of November,
Robin

Grey Days

I'm home from work, done cleaning, and now I'm sitting here at my computer waiting for friends to get here for a night of food and football and....contemplating. Contemplating what? Contemplating how grey days make me contemplative. (I'm also wondering whether grey is spelled grey or gray?)

Sunshiny-is that even a word? I mean, if I looked in the dictionary would I find it? Or is it just something people say? Anyways random rabbit trail, there. Back to what I was going to say. Sunshiny days make me just happy. Something about the literally yellow sun the bright blue sky and little puffy clouds, the warmth that beats softly down on your face, it just makes me happy. I think its the way those days are so classic so to speak. Like when some one says "Nice day" you think of (or at least I do) a day like that. Those are the days that you read about when your a little kid in all those story books. Those are the days I have some of the happiest memories of playing outside at the playground or in my backyard.

Windy days make me feel alive. The way it blows in my face and whips my hair back, the sound it makes in the trees, a soft rustling or a strong woosh. How it can be a gentle touch, or hard buffeting. I love them both I love that even though it can't be seen I can feel it. Feel it pushing me and pulling me, and wrapping itself all around me. I love the wind. On windy days I always feel alive and awake, and glad to be so. Windy days, I think, are my favorite.

Grey? Gray? Whatever. Grey days make me feel like a philosopher; contemplative, like I said. I don't know why, maybe its something about how a grey sky makes the world a bit heavier and more mysterious. Not quiet like a storm, but clear and plain like sunny days. Maybe its the fact that the sky seems lower to the ground, the very air sometimes takes on new weight, maybe that's what makes me want to think on days like this.

Wow, I just spent a whole post talking about the weather! But that's what you get when you listen to me! :) Random talks about weather! So what do you think of grey days? Or any kinds of days? What sort of weather do you like best? Storms? I love storms, they're so exciting, they wake up the adventurer in me. They're also great inspiration for writing exciting stories. :)

Love,
Robin

Wait...You Mean They're NOT Real??

This happens to me all the time. I read good books, and the characters seem so alive, so real, that you can't help falling in love with them. And then, for me I find myself thinking, "I wish I could meet him" And then reality comes crashing down on me, and I remember that they aren't real. I think of all the characters I love, they don't seem to me like the inhabitants of an imaginary world made up by another human. They seem like real people who I could actually meet if only I could manage to run into them. There's always a moment, when I think about my favorite characters that I feel like they ARE  real, a moment when it seems that I could meet them, and sit down with them and talk to them. And then after all to short moment, I remember that they're not real people. I always find it heartbreaking that as soon as I close the pages of a good book the characters vanish. They remain, forever encased in some thin sheets of paper and ink letters. They don't follow me out of that world into the other., and it is only in this world of paper and ink that I can find these dear friends. Because that's how I view them: Not interesting characters, but as dear friends that I feel as though I've know all my life. And in that moment, when I remember that they're not real, or the moment I remember they will stay encased in ink, or that the series is over, I realize by the empty feeling inside me, how much I love fictional characters. There is a pleasant side to all of this, however. When I close the pages of a book, however sorrowful it may be that they cannot come with me, whenever I re-open those pages, those friends will be waiting for me, no matter what. We can pick up just where we left off. And no matter what happens, these people will stay the same, in the pages of a well worn book, unchanging, just waiting for me to return to them and pick up where we left off.

Does anyone else have thoughts like these, or am I just really weird??

Until I manage to travel to other dimensions and meet fictional people,
Robin



Good Christian fiction?

A few days ago, I was at a pool party with good friends, good food, (it was delicious) and obviously, a pool. My friend Joanna (from Castles in the Air) and I were sitting in the pool enjoying a pleasant conversation about books. And one of the things we talked about was the serious lack of good Christian fiction.
 It seems like most like a lot of Christian authors these days fill their stories with a bunch of fluff. Then they tack their good values and ideals onto the surface of their books so that they can say it's a "Christian" novel. But, as far as ideals go, they shouldn't be plastered all over the surface of the story. That makes them seem fake, or cheep. They should run deep, be demonstrated in the characters, their lives and struggles, inward and outward. Then these ideals seem like real things, an actual part of the story world.
Also with these ideals/virtues it seems that the non-christian authors understand what they should look like better than the Christian authors. Leadership for example. I read a book recently that was extremely well written, and it was not by a Christian author; it was by a Mormon. But this novel, written by an unbeliever, showed better biblical leadership than any of the Christian novels I've read. Two characters specifically, one, the leader of a bridge crew, the lowliest of the low. Another a noble man; uncle to the king. The second man, the nobleman, lived by the principals in a book called The Way of Kings. The principals were things like, don't ask your men to do anything you wouldn't be willing to do yourself. It told stories of past rulers, one who had traveled cross country on his own two feet rather than in luxury in order to see what life was like for his subjects, another where the king saw, as he went down the road, a peasant struggling to carry a heavy rock, and the king carried it for him. The first man, the bridgecrew leader, was always an encouragement to his men, never let them loose hope. In order to get them to practice carrying bridges so they wouldn't get killed, he did it himself. When they had to carry the bridges into battle, he made sure he always stood in the most deadly places, risking himself instead of his men. If these characters don't show biblical servant-leadership, then please tell me, what does?
Another thing that's been bugging me about Christian fiction is the quality of the writing. Set aside for a minute the morals and values and all that, and look at the actual quality of writing. To be honest, it's not that great. Once, in a sermon I heard that "Christians should be the best at whatever they do" best teacher, student, whatever it is you do, you should be the best at it because you are doing it for God. For His glory, in His service. But the Christian books I've read usually pale in comparison (with the exception of C. S. Lewis) to secular authors. The secular books I've read have been much better written, pull me into the world of the story with a force much stronger than that of a Christian book.
Alot of this has to do, I think, with the portrayal of the villain. The non-christian books I've read have me curled in a ball, my nose an inch from the page, expecting every moment the villain to jump out from behind me and attack. The Christian books I've read, however, have not been that scary. Their villains are usually some dude who lives in a far off country that we never really meet but everybody says he's really terrible. It's like they're afraid to show their villains as horribly evil bad guys because they think then they won't have a so-called "Christian" book anymore. Because it's to dark, and "we're Christians, we can't have stuff like that in our books!" Well, I hate to burst the bubble, but bad people exist in real life. And, since writing, even fantasy writing, is a reflection of real life, then bad people (villains) are going to exist in fiction to. And if you want a good story you have to make him believable.
Now, I am not saying that there shouldn't be a clear line between what is good and what is bad. There should be a distinction between the villain and the hero. What I AM saying is that the villain should be shown for what he is. The reader should be terrified of him, and yet feel a burning desire for his defeat.  This just doesn't seem to happen in Christian fiction. The job of a writer is to skilfully evoke the emotions of his/her reader. Emotions of love, joy, sorrow, fear. And you don't create fear without something to be truly afraid of. If we are going to be good writers, with good stories, not just OK stories, we need to be able to pull on our readers emotions, not just any one emotion, but all of them.
Anyways, thanks for listening to this long-winded post, and I hope I haven't made anyone mad, I don't want to be chased by angry readers armed with tomatoes! =)

P.S. Followers make my day! So pleeease, if you haven't been scared away by my excessive weirdness, pleeease follow me!