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This is just part of the story I'm writing called "The Dragon Chronicles, Book 1: Light and Darkness", and I'm sorry to say that it's not even the whole chapter. So, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know you all hate me now for leaving you all on a cliff-hanger but that's the way it is, so I hope you will accept my apologies. Really, I am sorry, I just haven't gotten around to typing the rest of it. Please forgive me!
Well, here's the cliff-hanging, unfinished story. I won't ask you to read it until the end, but, if you did read it, do please comment, cause I'd really like to know how I did. Well, here ya go:
chapter 1
It was light outside, despite the time, and Lief Olson couldn't sleep. It
wasn't the heat, though that probably had something to do with it. It
wasn't the annoying fact that she and her sister's friend Dahlia, had
invited her sister but not her to a sleepover. It was more the fact that she
felt as though someone, or something was watching her. But that couldn't be,
because there were no windows in this bedroom, and the door had been firmly shut
and locked since four o'clock that afternoon, and nobody had been in here
then. Yet still the feeling lingered and she couldn't get rid of it. So she
opened her eyes, turned the light on, picked up a book and started to read.
Despite being an avid reader, Lief was very good at sports, and almost always
was the best in her class, even though she never practiced the stuff, and rarely
went out for sports. This puzzled a lot of people, and usually got her a lot of
strange looks and questions in the process of trying to explain it more clearly.
On the very first day of every new school she went to, there was always
someone who tried to pick a fight with her. They always regretted it, too. And
no wonder, because by the age of twelve, Lief was a black belt in karate and ti
kw an doe. Now that she was seventeen, there were few people who could beat her,
even her masters had a hard time.
Lief read until midnight, when she finally fell asleep, which was a good
thing because it meant she had eight hours of sleep before she had to go to
school. Unfortunately she didn't notice the minute, draconish figure with
little bat-like wings, watching her from across the room.
The little figure flew out, took the book gently from Lief's unmoving
hands, marked the page and set on her nightstand. After, he carefully took hold
of the blanket and pulled it so it covered all but Lief's head. Then it flew
back to the desk and sat in the shadows, so that he could see everything, but
nothing could see him. And that was how everthing in Lief's life began to
change so that she would never be quite the same person ever again.
*****************************************************
"Morning mom! Morning dad! Morning sis!"said Lief.
"Morning Lief!"
"Good morning, honey."
"Good morning, Lief."
"Well, I hope I do well on all these tests today! I've got a test on
every subject, all in one day!" mourned Lief. "If I don't ace all
of them I might not go onto the next grade!"
"I know! It's the same for me!" cried Lief's little sister,
Catalia piteously.
"Well, they don't call it Test Day there for nothing, do they?"
laughed their mother.
"Yeah, but all in one day?!" chorused the two girls.
"They do that to see if you can endure. Do you think you can stand long
enough to finish everything and manage to ace it?" asked their father
menacingly. Their father was a fantasy writer, and one of his favorite things to
do was to try to make his kids believe the stories he made up. Unfortunately for
him, their mother refused to let that happen. Like right now.
"Now Steve, don't you go telling your crazy stories again. If I hear
you tell these kids one more false story that has nothing to do with what your
writing, I'll-"
"I understand Charlotte, really, I do." interupted Steve quickly.
Charlotte loved horror stories and once she got going into gruesome details, she
didn't stop until you were either puking or turning a nasty shade of green.
"Excuse me, but we have to get going, or we'll miss the bus. Come on
Catalia." said Lief, feeling the starting of a war about to start and not
wanting to get caught in the middle of it.
"Coming!" called Catalia, hurriedly putting her shoes on.
"Man, the least you could do is wait for me!"
Lief had already walked out the door and halfway down the street before
Catalia caught up.
"Sorry Catalia, but you don't want to be in the house when mom and
dad start going at it." Lief said gently, looking at her little sister with
absolute affection. Lief and Catalia were about as different as its possible for
two sisters to be. Lief was more like her mom. She had long blond hair that
reached her waist, skin as pale as paper, an enchanting smile, and a gentle
kindness that made almost everybody love her instantly. She was older than her
sister by just a few minutes, and could get seriously upset when she didn't
understand something.
In contrast, Catalia was more like her dad, with jet black, waist-length hair,
a cute little grin, and with the born spirit of a fighter. She was some one you
could never predict and who was more tomboy then anything else. The one thing
the girls had in common was that they both had the same stunning, icy blue eyes
that seemed to draw people toward them.
They had many friends but preferred to spend time reading, laughing, and
joking together. They knew each other inside out, and could make the other laugh
as easily as they could breathe. Which was how Lief managed to make Catalia stop
being mad at her by the time they reached the bus stop at the end of the street.
"So, have you studied enough?" asked Lief, a flicker of amusement
flashing in her eyes at the huge moan that came from the younger girls mouth.
"Hey sis," started Catalia, grasping at straws. "Could I read
your notes on the way there? Plllleeeaaassse?!"
Lief considered her sister for a moment. "What were you doing when you
should have been studying? Were you playing video games again?"
"No! I was reading the books you told me about!" cried Catalia.
"Which ones were those?" asked Lief curiously.
"The ones you told me had a boy in them with the same name as you, I
forget what they were called but they were really cool!"
"Oh, you mean the Deltora books, right?"
"Yeah, those ones!" said Catalia excitedly.
Lief considered her sister again. "If I let you read my notes, will you
do me a favor?"
"Of course! What do you want me to do?"
"There's a book that I want to read that just came out, but I
can't because I'm reading another book. Could you read it for me and
tell me what you think?"
"Sure! What's the book called?" asked Catalia.
"I have it here actually." Lief pulled a huge bound book entitled,
Eragon.
"Don't worry, I'll read it! Thanks a ton, sis!" Catalia
gave her sister a huge hug just as the bus stopped to pick them up.
*****************************************************
"Ugh! I can't believe we had an English test, math test, literature test, creative writing test, and a P.E. test one after another without a break!" moaned Catalia as she made herself fall onto the bed in which she and her sister shared. It was a water bed and luckily, too, thought Cat as she watched her sister plop her school bag onto the desk across the room and began pulling out her assorted things. Cat's eyes were drawn to the little statue of a dragon that Lief had had for as long as she could remember. There was something about that dragon that made Catalia curious. But Lief didn't speak very much about it, so Cat didn't either.
But there really is something strange about that figurine, she thought wearily, and not for the first time either. Nor would it be the last, it turns out.
"Hey, by the way, how did you manage to finish the literature test in five minutes? Not to mention the English test that took you all of two seconds!" Cat's mind was still partially on the dragon figurine, but thinking about it was making her head hurt, so she thought of something else.
"Two seconds? What, were you timing me or something? Cause if you were, then you did a horrible job of it. And anyway, nobody can answer a 276 questions in two seconds. If you were wondering how I managed to answer all of the questions in under twenty-five minutes, then the answer to that is quite simple - I studied." Lief said calmly. "Now, where did I put it? Aha! Here it is. Hmmm, that's not good, I think the bag got stained. Oh well, not like it's the end of the world, I suppose."
"What is it you were looking for?" Cat sat up, trying to get a better look at whatever it was Lief was holding. It was a velvet purple bag with a pale blue silk in lining. It looked expensive.
"I was looking for - this." Lief pulled something out of the bag and handed it to her sister.
"It's just a crystal." said Catalia, puzzled.
"Look again, you nitwit." said Lief, and there was a slightly irritated tone to her voice, as though she was trying very hard to remain calm.
Cat looked closer at the cryastal. It was in the shape of a male elf with a drawn bow, posed to shoot. It was blue in color, and quite detailed.
"Cool, where did you get this? Next time you go, can I tag along with you? I think I might want one of these! Here you go little guy." Cat set the elf on the desk next to the dragon, then looked at them critically.
"Hey you do realize that it's your turn to set the table, right? Shouldn't you get going on that now?" Lief looked up at Cat from her seat at the desk.
"Crap, I forgot!"
"Better get crackin' to it or mom'll be pissed." said Lief idly.
"Good point. Hey can you come with me? It'll go faster with someone to talk to."
"Alright, fine. I was actually going down there anyway so I could get something to drink, so I suppose it won't hurt to stay down there a bit longer than I intended." Lief got up and made her way to the door.
"Well are you coming or not?" Lief noticed that Cat hadn't moved, but instead was admiring the figurines on Lief's desk. "Come on, you." Lief grabbed her sister's arm and dragged her out of the room and down the stairs, where they talked about this and that, though the talk was half-hearted, and not very interesting.
**********************************************************
"Hi mom. Hi dad." chorused the two girls without trying.
"Thank goodness it's Saturday. Unfortunately, that means that we have to go with our friends to the mall. Maybe we can call in sick" asked Lief as she laid her head on the kitchen table and closed her eyes in exhaustion.
"No, don't you dare! You commited to this, and your going to go through with it to the end." said their mother shrewdly.
" Alright, alright, I get the point. I'm too tired to argue at the moment."
"Well then, pray that it won't last too long. Here you go." said their mother, setting down a plate of pancakes in front of each of them.
"Wow, that surprising. Mom baked her special homemade pancakes. What day is it, Christmas?" Lief joked, looking around as if she expected to see a giant, decorated fir tree with presents underneath it.
"Don't be silly, Lief. It's not Christmas - it's Easter!" said Cat, looking at Lief incredously, though it was obvious she was trying hard not to grin.
"Yeah, right," Lief laughed. "Easter in the middle of October, that'll be the day."
When the girls had finished their pancakes, they went back to their room and got ready to go to the mall. They said goodbye to their parents, and joined their friends outside of Old Navy, where they totally wasted their money on clothes and accessories. Two hours later, the sisters got back home and hurried up to their room, where they collapsed onto their bed. They were instantly asleep.
Well, there ya have it folks. That's the first part of my story, and that isn't even the whole chapter. So I hope you liked it, and please, please, please comment!!!!
 DragonMaster375 · Thu Nov 20, 2008 @ 04:02am · 0 Comments |
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This is just something that I found on Teen Ink. It was written by Megan M., and personally I agree with her. I also included the article that she wrote a little while later to explain what it was that she meant by the Ten Rules of Magic that she listed. So I hope that you enjoy this! Please read until the end and make sure to comment! smile
The Ten Rules of Magic
posted by megan m.
Magic is ubiquitous in fantasy – much like advanced technology in science fiction – and for good reason. Spells and potions can add intrigue and complexity to an otherwise everyday narrative. When they are used improperly, however, they can destroy reader credibility, erase drama and suspense, and punch holes in your plot. Want to wield magic like a pro? Masterful sorcery begins with these ten simple rules (most apply to technology too, sci-fi writers):
10. When the good guys have magic, the antagonists must have it, too. Conflicts are not exciting if they are one-sided or if the outcome already seems determined. Whatever skills you give to your protagonists must therefore be countered by equal (if different) abilities in your villains.
9. Magic, like any other force of nature, must follow consistent rules. Decide how magic operates in your world, including its limitations, before you start writing. Every violation will be just as startling to your readers as a sudden inversion of the laws of gravity in realistic fiction.
8. Magic takes practice. Could you ride a bike or do calculus perfectly the first time you tried? Probably not. The same is true of magic – to do it well takes practice, and the first few attempts will most likely end in disaster for your characters.
7. Magical skills should not appear all of the sudden, just when a character needs them. The technical term for this is “deus ex machina,” or “God from a machine,” and it is among the worst violations of rules eight and nine. If you find yourself breaking this rule, you must go back and at least hint at where such abilities might have come from.
6. Magic must come from somewhere, even if its origins are unknown to the characters. In Harry Potter magic was inherited, in some stories it comes from Gods or aliens or another dimension or natural materials (similar to radioactivity), but it should never just exist without any explanation (even if you don’t include that explanation in the actual narrative).
5. Magic is not inherently good or evil. This is perhaps the most contended of these ten rules (the idea of “black” or “white” magic is fairly common, after all), and the one for which there is the greatest possibility of acceptable exception. BUT in most cases, it should be the nature of your characters that determines whether their magic is “good” or “evil,” not some property of the magic itself (or magic should run a spectrum from good to evil that all characters can access).
4. Every spell comes with a price. If your characters fought hand to hand, you would not expect them to escape without (at least) a few bruises. The same must be true for magic, whether those “bruises” manifest themselves as physical exhaustion, emotional corruption, or unintended consequences.
3. Magic should never make a character invincible. The easiest way to draw all of the suspense out of your story in a second is to violate this rule. Now, you can make a character close to invincible (e.g. Dr. Manhattan), as long as you factor in all the mental and physical implications that brings.
2. If a scene or story line would read better without magic – if it would be clearer, cleaner, or more interesting – take the magic out. And:
1. The story must still work if you remove every trace of magic from the plot. These two points really go together. Magic should never be more than the “spice” of a story on the “meat” of things like plot, setting, action, character, and moral dilemmas. When so many fantasy stories have magic, it takes more than a pinch of fairy dust to make yours stand out.
Happy writing!
And here is the explaination she wrote:
Revisiting the Ten Rules
posted by megan m.
Two weeks ago, I posted a list of what I thought were the ten most important rules governing magic in fantasy. When I wrote them, I was well aware that they (as any “top ten” list) might spark some debate – and I’m glad I was right. Here are some of the problems you identified and how I would address them:
You can’t take the magic out of most fantasy stories and expect to be left with the same story. I agree completely, and I wasn’t meaning to imply that magic should be inserted into a plot as an “after thought” to make it more interesting. Rule #1 was more than anything a reaction to the stories I have read where the plot was completely devoid of reality – characters were inconsistent, events jumped around and did not follow logically from one another, massive hurdles were overcome in a matter of minutes – and the author relied on deux ex machina conventions of magic to hold things together. If you removed the magic from, say, Sabriel, you wouldn’t have the same story, but you would still have a logical plot arch: girl is disrupted from peaceful life by disaster, girl must develop dormant talents to challenge seemingly impossible odds, girl discovers new, exciting places and makes new friends, girl finds a way to defeat evil, etc. Now, I would be very interested in reading a story where magic is integral to this kind of very basic story structure – the harder a rule is to break (and I agree that many of my original rules allow plenty of room for exceptions), the more interesting the story when it is broken successfully.
Protagonists or antagonists can go without magic as long as they have something equally powerful at their disposal. Agreed, but going back to my previous point, some authors make magic so powerful that there is nothing else in their fantasy world that can logically counter it. I personally believe that magic in every fantasy story should involve a price or weakness that characters can exploit, but be careful of writing yourself into a corner where a character just “happens” to discover this weakness without it being hinted at previously.
Magic does not always have to be morally neutral. This rule sprang from a personal philosophical preference more than anything else. Nothing in the real world is absolutely good or evil. Even things like (to take an extreme example) illicit drugs can be used in some cases to treat medical illnesses, and sweetness can be cloying if you get too much of it at once. So what is a moral absolute, really? By making magic purely good or evil, you are destroying this nuance. There are some interesting moral implications in a story where magic only corrupts and people still choose to use it, but in my opinion it is far more interesting when magic causes both ill and good effects (for example, a character must kill an innocent to save their companion through magic).
Any rule can be broken for the better with enough creativity. This week, write a story that violates one or more of my original rules.
Well, hope you enjoyed that as well. I know that it sorta dragged on in places, but I hope you tried to enjoy it nonetheless. Also, just to provoke some debates and comments, what do you think of the Ten Rules of Magic? If you were to write a fictional story with magic in it, would you agree to these terms? Sorry if I sound like your literature teacher, I just want somebody to comment on these things. Anyway, see ya on the site!
DragonMaster375 · Thu Nov 20, 2008 @ 03:37am · 0 Comments |
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A Magic Carpet Ride by Winter Frore |
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This is another poem I made while procrastinating on my homework. My mom would freak out if she knew I had done this, even though I did get that history assignment done and handed in. But nevermind that, I hope you enjoy this, and please read until the end!
I dream of dragons far and wide
Of Elves, fair and true
I dream of different worlds
And wish to go there too.
I dream that someday, somehow, somewhere
My yearning for fiction I'll be able to share.
But how ever shall I share it?
In what form shall it take?
My love for anything that is
Beyond, beyond impossible?
In words, of course, I'll write a book!
And mark it as my own!
And say that anything can happen
With a pencil or a pen.
You could soar above the highest mountain.
Or swim in waters deep
Meet a dragon in a cave
Or even meet an elf!
My love for the impossible
Will take me far and wide!
So come, won't you join me?
On this magical wonder ride!
Well, I hope you enjoyed that! Actually, this poem, and the other poem that I wrote, "Dreams", are both published poems on Teen Ink, an website for teenagers to publish and share the stuff that they write. I thought that that was pretty cool, so I submitted these and they published them. Anyway, Thanks for reading this (If you actually did read it) and see you on the site!
DragonMaster375 · Thu Nov 20, 2008 @ 03:06am · 0 Comments |
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This is just a little poem I came up with a while back while daydreaming when I was suppose to be doing my homework. Hope you like it! Please excuse the occasional accidental rhyme, I didn't mean to do that.
Blue cherry blossoms above my head
And snow down at my feet
I walk along the road ahead
Along a well trodden path.
Watching the petals float to the ground
I thought of the world around me
This beautiful world, all wrapped in white
With blue floating by above.
As I thought about it all
I wonder why it was
That I truly came know
How wonderful it was.
The world around me glittered.
It sparkled like a star.
I laughed as I twirled about
and fell upon the ground.
But the sudden shock brought me back;
To reality I came.
My mother knocking on the door
And dream of it I did no more.
But never was it that I forgot
Never, as long as I lived
Of those cherry blossoms in the sky
High above me, floating by
Or of the pretty snow underfoot.
Well, I hope you liked that. If you didn't, and you nearly fell asleep while reading it, or you imediately went to a different post so you didn't have to read this, well, then I guess all that's left to say is good ridence, and who needs you around anyway?! Well, if you managed to read all the way down and to get to this part, I thank you for showing interest, and well, I don't know what else to say except thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank You!!!
DragonMaster375 · Thu Nov 20, 2008 @ 02:34am · 0 Comments |
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