The Many Worlds of EzloSpirit Writing Blog

NEW STORY: "The Mirrors are Plotting" + Zelda Universe Forums Stuff + New Audiobooks Coming Soon

2012-12-05T21:26:00.000-05:00

"Nesborne" fell through like the 2011 Halloween story. Thought I'd open up with that. But don't worry because...well, I'll get to that!

So here I am! Back again for another full blog post! Recently, I've been posting updates on the official Many Worlds of EzloSpirit Google+ Page (link up top), but if you are repulsed by such a site, then I will bring you up to speed now as best as I can!

Anyway, so "Nesborne" fell through, but there is hope! I wrote something different instead! It was a bit late (by almost three weeks), but I actually think it better fits Halloween than "Nesborne" would have. I am talking about "The Mirrors are Plotting," a 2760-word story almost guaranteed to make you paranoid about looking into mirrors! I can't really describe it too much without giving the whole thing away and ruining most of the suspense, but just know that it stars Kat, a snarky businesswoman who is haunted by nightmares of a monster with knives instead of hands. Kat is my second female narrator ever, and she is much better than Maddy Morain, narrator of "Trust Fall." Trust me on this! Reader discretion is advised for this M-rated hybrid of snark and terror---"Mirrors" is my first written work to contain the so-called "F-word"---which was released on the Zelda Universe Forums on November 20 and on Figment just yesterday.

In August, former ZU Forums member and staffer Jehanne did me the great favor of drawing some beautiful cover art for "Duck Season." However, I apparently never downloaded the image, and she left ZU in October, also apparently removing the artwork from her Photobucket account. Which means I can't make a cover for the story. Which, in turn, means I can't release it to Figment or deviantART at this time. I emailed Jehanne a couple weeks ago using an email address I found in a years-old version of the ZU Staff Page using the Wayback Machine, but she hasn't responded. So if you know how to get a hold of her (or you are her!), please let me know!

In other news, I apparently forgot to mention that this past June, I became the dedicated Forum Moderator of ZU's Writing forum! Recently, I've been working to start a Writing forum-exclusive awards...ceremony(?). If you frequent ZU's Writing forum as either a writer or even as a reader, and you have a ZU forum account, feel free to chip in with your ideas for the Writing Awards (official name open for suggestions, too)!

On a related note, the ZU Awards, now dubbed the ZU Community Awards, as a separate awards thing has been set up for Zelda (game series) section-related awards, for winter 2012 have begun and are currently in the nominating phase, as of Monday. The Best Fic award has returned this season thanks to a suggestion on my part. I have yet to be nominated for anything, which is nothing new!

On a final ZU-related note, ZU's Nayru Clan is holding its seasonal Nayru Awards right now. This season is very different, however, in that they are more focused on creative output, and "Nayrulians" are required to submit something (game review, joke, artwork, short story, etc.) within the respective thread in order to be considered for an award, and the submissions will be judged by a predetermined panel of judges rather than nominated and voted upon by all of Nayru's members. Submissions to the Nayru Winter Competitions are open until Monday, December 17 and are limited to members of the ZU's Nayru Clan and ZU mods only. I have already submitted "Duck Season" for the short story competition!

I hope to record the third edition of my short story audiobooks collection over my winter break this month, with a possible release in January! This will also make audiobooks for "Star Crash," "Duck Season," and "The Mirrors are Plotting" available for the first time. However, this new edition will not be available for free. I am considering selling it for an introductory price of US$15 through PayPal (Bitcoins will not be accepted for this). I am also considering making 1-3 audiobooks available for free through the Audiobooks page of this blog (link up top). The second edition will remain available for free in its entirety on said Audiobooks page.

Finally, I will be resuming work on Chapter VI of Armed with Wings starting in a week or two. I hope to have it completed by next month.

Until next time! And if I don't write another blog post by the end of the month, then have a happy new year!

NEW PAGE: Bitcoin Emporium

2012-07-29T10:13:00.000-04:00

UPDATE (8/29/2012): The Bitcoin Emporium is now simply The Emporium, as Bitcoins are no longer the only currency accepted. Through PayPal, one can also pay using standard currencies such as USD or GBP. In addition, the short story anthology (US$15.00) originally exclusive to Google+ users is now available in The Emporium. The sale is over, however. (Don't worry, though, because the 50% discount for the I&L:U scans will remain available until October!)

This blog now has an official store! ~~However, there is a catch: the only currency accepted is Bitcoin, a digital peer-to-peer currency! (Head to the Bitcoin website to download a Bitcoin wallet if you do not already have one.)~~

Currently, I have ~~three~~ two offers available. Two of them can only be found on the Zelda Universe Forums and ~~Google+~~. The blog-exclusive offer is the best one, in my opinion! Here's what it is:

"Illusions & Lies: Undercover" (in-progress scans) - 0.6 BTC ~~(approx. US$5)~~ US$5.00 or 0.45 BTC

Ever wonder where Leonard Rickson's adventure would take him next? Well, wait no longer! Incomplete since 2010, "Illusions & Lies: Undercover" is the on-hold fourth installment in the Illusions & Lies short story series. And for the first time ever, you can have access to scans of the existing story, handwritten by the author! And it's only five dollars' worth for a limited time only (regular price: ~~1 BTC, almost nine dollars~~ $10.00 or 1 BTC)!

That's right! You get a preview of what will probably be finished within the next couple years (wow)! Email me at ezlospirit[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested! (I will send you some information regarding the transaction, and after the transaction is completed, you will receive a PDF containing the I&L:U scans!)

Don't forget to check out the new ~~Bitcoin Emporium~~ Emporium page for more offers coming in the future!

NEW STORY: "Duck Season"

2012-07-10T20:30:00.000-04:00

For the past five months, I have been making most of my news updates and announcements on my official Google+ Page, but do not worry because here is another blog post!

Here's what's been happening: not much. Work on Chapter VI of Armed with Wings has been at a standstill for these five months, but I do plan on returning to it after I complete "Nesborne." Then, there is that: "Nesborne" is the title of my Halloween short story for this year, my first one since 2010 ("The First Hour"). The story is a lengthy sci-fi thriller about the fictitious town of Nesborne, Illinois, and how a group of high-schoolers discover that an alien invasion is not on its way; instead, they discover that an alien invasion is already there....

Finally, today marked the official release of my newest short story, "Duck Season," written last week in two days (July 1-2) for the first-ever official Zelda Universe Forums Art Collab, which is essentially the same thing as ZU's Writing Contests, except that all art forms are accepted and there is no competition. Basically, it's an art show! The theme for this month was "Seasons."

"Duck Season" is what I consider to be my greatest masterpiece thus far. In 2,360 words, it tells a story so deep and so powerful that it has reportedly made most of the people who have read it thus far at least shed a tear. Personally? As soon as I finished typing the last word, I broke into sobs. Simultaneously, I was grinning from ear to ear, so it was pretty weird. But pretty amazing. "Duck Season" is written like a children's story, so the language structure is pretty simplistic (although some more advanced vocabulary is used occasionally throughout). However, the story itself, and its young characters and its conflicts, are as deep and complex as almost any piece of short adult fiction. It also marks the first time that I have used a plot device symbolically, meaning that "Duck Season" has the most intentionally-placed symbolism out of any of my stories thus far, which only adds to the emotion.

The story follows a young boy named Martin as he meets and gets to know a young girl named Angie by the bank of a duck pond in the local park. They quickly become best friends, and they spend their weekends playing in the park by the side of the pond. How could they ever drift apart?

It is my deepest wish that you enjoy "Duck Season" and that it has as much of an effect on you as it did on me and some of those readers whom I sent the story to before release.

By the way, I will be recording audiobook versions of both "Star Crash" and "Duck Season" after I return from Vermont, where I am currently participating in a program for high school students at a college (to help prepare us for college). Stay tuned!

P.S. If you are interested, you should check out the July Art Collab exhibit on ZU! All of the work submitted is top-notch!

P.P.S. "Duck Season" will also be coming to Figment soon! Not yet sure about a deviantART release.

AwW Chapters IV & V Launch + Now on Google+! + Other Little Things

2012-02-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted here. Granted, I've gone at least twice as long without posting before, but considering how often I'd been posting up to now, this is pretty unusual. I've been really busy. Thanks, school. (More on something writing-related at school later on!)

Since my last post, both the fourth and fifth chapters of Armed with Wings have been completed and published to the ZU Forums. "Chapter IV: This Power" is the first chapter to focus entirely on Vandheer Lorde, shedding (semi-unofficial) light on how he became so powerful and power-hungry. Poor kid. Anyway, "Chapter V: Blackmist Beast," which was released today, switches back to Armed with Wings's perspective and journey as he comes face to face with a deadly creature made of the purest blackmist. It is a very painful battle. For both involved. Check them out, and if you aren't caught up, you can read the prologue and Chapters I through III using the same link! Enjoy!

On January 26, 2012, Google finally opened up its lightspeed-growing social network Google+ (Google Plus) to users aged 13 to 17, having been open only to users aged 18 and up since it first opened in June of last year. Having held a legitimate grudge against Facebook since it was first revealed how horrible its advertising policies and privacy policies are, I have never experienced social networking beyond Internet discussion forums (hey, ZU!) until joining Google+. And let me tell you: it's awesome! I've already almost reconnected with a good friend from camp the first year I went (2004), and I've been playing social games with my friends (Dragons of Atlantis, Millionare City, Edgeworld, and Bejeweled Blitz), which are more fun than they should be! If you are a fan of my written works, my podcasting, voice work, etc., feel free to add me to your Circles! +Eric Biskin. I will be creating a Google+ Page for the Many Worlds of EzloSpirit in the coming weeks, so look out for that, too!

I have removed the Current page from the blog. As you may know if you read my previous post, The Current, my recent fully original project, is currently on-hold until further notice. As such, I have deemed it unnecessary to have a whole page dedicated to it at this point. Whether or not I will create a page dedicated solely to Armed with Wings and the Blackmist Chronicles series remains to be seen. It is likely, however, especially after I start writing Episode I.

On Google Sites (more Google!), I started a site dedicated to an entirely fake television network fittingly (and pathetically) called "The TV Channel," a little thing I made up when I was about four years old (before the 21st century?!) for the purpose of entertaining myself. It includes tons of references to stories I have written, partially written, and will eventually write. Check it out if you're into that kind of thing...?

At school a few weeks ago, I worked with my adviser/English teacher and one of my friends (both are writers) to come up with a proposal for a creative writing after-school activity that could begin next year. At my school, after-school activities are required, and I'm sick of working on the school newspaper (which I also think has gone down the drain as a newspaper, mind you), so this would allow me to have some fun during the fall (and winter?) trimesters for once AND to get some good old writing done! Thought I'd mention this. Nothing has been finalized, though. Apparently, the Head of School loved the idea. The Head of Athletics, who organizes the after-school activities, is apparently much more resistant to the idea. Funnily enough, he apparently used to be an English teacher. Strange response.

Finally, I have proposed the idea of a biannual Writing forum-exclusive awards "ceremony" on the ZU Forums. These would be voted upon twice a year by ZU members who both read and write works in the Writing board. Awards may include ones for best writers and poets, best overall original fiction, best overall fan fiction, best poem, most improved writer, most established writer, etc. Maybe even a veteran's achievement award. It's still in the planning stages, but if you are a member of the Zelda Universe Forums, head over to The Writers' Pad to give your input! Thanks to Writing forum "head moderator" Holden and Writing moderator Vynrah for your support!

That's about it for now! I look forward to lots of progress (completion?) on Armed with Wings over the course of 2012 (and maybe two or three new short stories?)! Until next time! (Look forward to it: I wrote a new song last month inspired by Armed with Wings! I'll post the lyrics and maybe a recording here in my next post!)

P.S. My birthday is in 12 days. No, I wasn't born in a dag nab leap year; whenever I say my birthday is February 28, the first thing people always say or ask is related to being close to a Leap Day.

ARMED WITH WINGS LAUNCHED! + Fate of The Current + Winter 2011 ZU Awards

2011-12-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

Bubs says, "I shoulda made this post like exactly a month ago!"

So, November 1 saw the launch of the prologue and first chapter (with November 2 and 15 seeing the launches of Chapters II and III, respectively) of my newest and most active project, Armed with Wings. Armed with Wings is a fan fiction novel project whose source is…a Flash game?! Yes, it is. You may not have believed it so, but it is possible to write a full-length fan fiction piece based on an online game. Because, yes, some Flash games and series actually have stories to them. Those are my favorite kind of Flash series, by the way!

Armed with Wings is based on the game of the same name, the first out of five games to be released (but the second in order of occurrence according to series canon) in Sun-Studios' Armed with Wings series (informally known as the Blackmist series). It follows the resurrected commander of a rebel force that had tried to dethrone the tyrant king but had failed; now, the former commander is back for revenge. He will have to scale a mountain and make his way through hundreds of guards and traps before he can reach the king in his castle.

As stated earlier, the first three chapters are already available for your reading pleasure! Armed with Wings is currently only available on the Zelda Universe Forums, but have no fear; there is a table of contents for easy navigation. In addition, a rough audio version of the fan fiction piece that goes up to the end of Chapter II is also available exclusively (for now) through the project's thread on ZU. However, this is a rough version, meaning that I deem it below standard for my audiobooks, so I will be redoing it at some point in the near future.

Armed with Wings can be found here! Enjoy! (It is rated M for violence and language. Please be aware of this.)

Now, I want to take a moment to discuss The Current. Part of the title of this post is "Fate of The Current," which has likely led you to believe that I'm scrapping it. This is not the case. I am, however, officially putting The Current on-hold. I want to focus on Armed with Wings, which I am well into the fourth chapter of. I will likely return to The Current in 2012.

Lastly, the ZU Awards are back! They are currently in the nomination period, with zero nominations for me for any award. The nomination period ends tomorrow. Thought I'd mention that.

That's it! A short update, since I explained Armed with Wings a lot in my last post. Until next time! (My next post will explain what happened with that "Live Q&A Event" thing. In case you were curious.)

Happy Halloween! + NEW STORY: "Star Crash" + Story Collection Thread + Next Up... + This Friday...

2011-10-31T23:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween, all! I know I stayed in and got irritated every time the doorbell rang...even though my mom was doing all of the candy stuff! What did you do? Most of you probably did some form of trick-or-treating, a tradition I upheld myself for a time, going as Harry Potter for the last 6 or 7 years of my trick-or-treating life. This was my third year not going out. It was also the year I officially decided that trick-or-treaters annoy me. I'm sorry. But I don't like little children ringing my doorbell every three minutes. Especially not when I'm talking to my mother about serious matters during dinner. Argh!

Today marked the first anniversary of "The First Hour." In its honor, tomorrow, I'll put it up as the Featured Story for a month or so. If you haven't read it yet, it's the perfect Halloween story, especially when read immediately following "Twelve Chimes!"

This past week, Tuesday night (late) specifically, marked the launch of my latest story. Again, sadly, it was not "The Shadow Loop," my planned Halloween story for this year. For more details on that, please see my post immediately preceding this one. Instead, it was a short story written as part of a school assignment, titled "Star Crash." It's an adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, but...in space! It takes the overall/main plot of the play and puts it in the context of the first scene of the play...but all in space! It's an interesting read! "Star Crash" launched late Tuesday night (my time) on the Zelda Universe Forums as my final story to be released as an individual thread (I'll get to that shortly), it launched Wednesday afternoon on Figment, and finally, it launched on Thursday afternoon on deviantART.

This next point is more directed at my readers on the ZU Forums or anybody who ever reads my stuff there. On Wednesday, I began compiling all of the short stories I'd ever posted anywhere on ZU into a single thread. Friday morning marked the completion (for now!) of this thread, when I posted "Star Crash" into it. The thread is a place where readers can view in their full texts all of my short stories (minus "Chosen Ones" and "The Blind Man Who Could See") and where ZU members can post feedback for any or all of my stories, from my newest to my oldest, without necroposting, which goes against ZU forum rules. From now on, all of the short stories that I post to ZU will be posted exclusively in this thread. No longer will they have their own threads for each one. You can find the collection here.

Well, I've written a couple sentences of The Current since June. However, I plan on getting back into now that I'm mostly caught up with schoolwork for now. I hope to have chapter 3 online (Figment and ZU) by Thanksgiving at latest.

Because I've decided to start another project! It's ironic because with all of the disapproval I throw at fan fiction and writers of exclusively fan fiction, I've made two attempts thus far to write fan fiction. One of them I have not even completely thrown out the window! But I've decided to start a new one. This one, however, I am more comfortable doing because it's a fan fiction based on an online Flash game that is, except in the Flash community, otherwise not very well-known. And I'm not sure if anybody's ever written any Armed with Wings fan fiction before! That's right! I'm going to be novelizing the first (well, in in-universe chronology, it's the second) game in Sun-Studios' Armed with Wings series, which is titled the same. The project will be called The Blackmist Chronicles: Episode II: Armed with Wings, and it will tell the first adventure of a resurrected commander of a rebel army as he, along with his highly intelligent eagle, takes on the tyrant ruler of the kingdom, Vandheer Lorde. Because the game itself lacks significant plot points besides the opening and ending, I will be taking the original game's plot's unused potential and adding multiple flashbacks which flesh out the main characters ("Armed with Wings" and Vandheer Lorde) and tell the story of how the rebellion army fell five years before the main plot takes place. I believe that this will take a beautiful game to new heights, and I hope that Daniel Sun, creator of the original series, will take notice of the project while it's in progress and approves! If you haven't yet played the game, it's great (a bit difficult, though)! I will begin work on Armed with Wings when I finish chapter 3 of The Current. I think.

Finally, I wanted to announce that, this Friday, November 4, 2011, at 7 PM EDT, I will be holding a live Q&A session here (and on Vokle) in a new, temporary blog page that I will be setting up soon. The session will be primarily focused on my short stories, The Current, Armed with Wings, and any other writing I've ever published (or not), as well as writing in general; however, when I'm present, conversations tend to drift to Nintendo and Doctor Who, so I expect that, too! If you're interested in asking questions, you'll need to sign up for Vokle (vokle.com); if you just want to watch the session, that's okay, too (and sign-up is not necessary)! Please join me, if you can! I look forward to chatting with you or even seeing you (if you come "on-air" to ask a video question)!

That's all for now! I expect some "Star Crash" reception to be coming in within the next week or so--I did request some more feedback from Anju_Amnell, who takes requests for reads and feedback over on ZU and who provided me with excellent constructive criticism for "The Open Gate" and "Freeing Truth" (see my last post)--so I'll post that in the near future! As for the next chapter of The Current...ASAP! I hope to see you Friday!

"The Open Gate" & "Freeing Truth" Reception + Musings on School + The Fate of "The Shadow Loop" + Another Original Song!

2011-10-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

It's been a bit (uh huh) longer than I'd originally planned since I wrote my last post. Well, anyway, I promised some reception for some of my newer stuff so I have that for you now!

On good ol' ZU, general member and Writing community member Anju_Amnell started a thread in which people could ask her to read their works and then comment on them. So I did that, asking her to take a look at my April 2011 story, "The Open Gate," (released July 2011) and my September 2011 story, "Freeing Truth." Which she did. This was quite possibly the first constructive criticism I've ever gotten from anybody besides my teachers at school, which is a nice change of pace. That said, you'll see that she also liked both stories overall. First, you'll see Anju_Amnell's feedback for "The Open Gate," which was actually the second piece she looked at of the two; then, you'll see her feedback for "Freeing Truth." Here we go:

Okay, this piece seems a little more fully formed even though its older, there is less trouble spots, and if I had to give any criticisms, they'd be the same as my last, though not so frequent.

I enjoyed the imagery in this, there are some beautiful things.

Quote:

I crossed the street and walked through the open, black gate, drops of water on the iron causing it to shine.

I felt like this short story wasn't fully completed though, like the ending was rushed, or some element was forgotten. What happened to your need to contact your mother? Your feeling for anyone outside? I sort of felt as if you were trapped, but then thoughts of being trapped never really crosses the character's mind. Maybe like the character was actually in a coma, and couldn't come out so his mind was providing the only necessities it could, but again, there were no real second guessing moments. I suppose the strife of the story was missing.

You really have some solid, hard hitting imagery and writing bread crumbs that keep falling from your pockets, and I feel like the little bird pecking at the crumbs behind you, waiting to find the loaf. In other words, if you keep writing, and perfecting you art you'll improve so much that I'll expect to be reading your first novel. There's a lot of potential in your work, more than I see in most.

-Anju_Amnell, ZU Forums, 9/12/2011, here

Okay, first and foremost, I want to make it absolutely clear, that I loved this story. Its an exceptional piece of creativity, and I hope you'll continue writing and improving your craft.
I can see a few problems that might cause you to lose readers in the first half of your story however. Which is a crying SHAME. So here goes the detailed breakdown.

Quote:

privileges and permissions that would normally be granted to princes

Great use of alliteration. This is VERY strong writing.
There are many, many weak spots in the story however, such as places where you use the same word too soon, like
Quote:

Despite the likely consequences of even laying eyes on the Light, many denizens of the kingdom travel far and attempt (rarely successfully) to sneak past the royal guards and cleverly break into the not-so-secret hidden room behind the throne room without alerting the guards.

Though this one would be a super easy fix, since you can change"alerting the guards" at the end of the sentence to, "alerting them."
(at the end, the light coming from the Light gets a little confusing as well) Radiance is a good replacement for the light coming out of the Light, though there are many equally good words.
Second point of weakness (and I have the weakness threaten me quite a bit) is using phrases or words that I really don't need. The problem with this, is that in the end, you end up sounding almost like you're stammering for something to say. If you've ever been told not to say "ummm..." in an interview, its the same concept.
Here's an example, and how you could make it stronger.
Quote:

And so, Damen had a legitimate reason for being in the royal castle during the time when he planned to swipe the Light.

Damen had a legitimate reason for being in the royal castle during the time he planned to swipe the Light.
Also, this spot doesn't make much sense, and I know it does to you, however its one of those things that you look past because you understand it best.
Quote:

his parents were determined not to spoil their son, despite his being a prince, and they deprived him of many of the privileges and permissions that would normally be granted to princes, such as huge feasts, any toy in the world…even friends—Arten’s parents decided that he should make all of his friends,

It sounds as if they decide to not allow him to have friends at all , and then decide to let him. Perhaps you meant predetermined friends?

One more thing is that as a reader, direction is hardly ever important. So whether the character is to the right, turns to the right, or heads north, doesn't really have any true meaning to us, since we have no real sense of the geography of where you are, nor does it usually matter if they imagine them to one side or the other. Its like telling someone who is in outer space, without a reference, to turn head north.
Okay, so that is the best help I think I can give you but this is an awesome story and I think you should write something with a series of installments so that we can all keep reading, or even start a general short story thread, so that you can continually post new stories in it, without having to worry about it becoming a "necro thread". As long as you're still working on something you can keep posting it in one thread as far as the writing forums go, even if someone doesn't comment, and as long as its progressive, and not just thread bumping.

Good luck- keep writing, and maybe you'll take Holden's place as my favorite ZU writer.

-Anju_Amnell, ZU Forums, 9/12/2011, here

Thanks for the wonderfully constructive feedback, Anju, and I will take it to heart in the future! It is my dream to surpass Holden and take over the Writing forum (just kidding! Holden, you're awesome!). Actually, I had written this relatively long response to your feedback (also thanking you) back on the same day in the quick reply box in your thread, but something happened, and I wound up losing everything I'd written. And I was too lazy to rewrite it. So I won't rewrite it here, but I did want to let you know that I read your feedback and that I had meant to thank you that same day. So thanks again!

I am now more than a month into school, and as an 11th grader--I detest the terms "freshman," "sophomore" (though I like "sophomore" because it's an oxymoron), "junior," and "senior" in the context of school years--I have had more work this year from the get-go than I have ever had in my life. I have had three papers, lots of reading (boring textbook crap), and multiple misunderstandings with teachers (almost all have been resolved by now). And a math class that I am learning nothing in since the teacher is going so quickly and doesn't know how to help me within his "rules." I mean, I was in an honors math course last year, and until the last month or so, most of it was ridiculously simple. The teacher also went at a pretty leisurely pace. Not this year/teacher. This teacher, while funny and random on occasion, doesn't know the meaning of "accommodate." Or "prevent from failing." Instead, he lets people fail and then after the fact, he throws in extra things to help us bring our grades up! After the fact! Extra work! WTPF?! I thought I liked this teacher when I first met him, but now I see him as quite rigid, ridiculously self-centered and condescending--and I quote: "If you're not doing it my way, you're doing it wrong."--and just way too demanding. I am in the works of inquiring on the possibly of dropping out of his class to go down to the regular, non-honors class. Which, thank goodness, is taught by my math teacher from last year. (If you are reading this, current math teacher or student who really likes my current math teacher, then I am sorry if I offended you. Humans wonder how they are perceived by others. Well, now you now my side of the story. This is how I feel, and I am not afraid to express that.)

Other than that, this year is okay. I've been having tons of issues with motivation and anxiety in terms of work. Which has not served me well up until now. I've decided that an educational system based on grades is too flawed. And an educational system in which students are forced to learn stuff that they don't want to learn and/or they won't need any time in the future. And an educational system in which all teachers believe that their respective classes are the only classes. Bloody hell, America! And pretty much all of the "first-world" countries! Get real, here!

Unfortunately, the worst part of school for me right now is all of the homework and projects that I've had. As you may know from previous musings, there is almost nothing I hate more in this world than writing non-fiction, especially about something I have little to no interest in (i.e. Huckleberry Finn, one of the only books I've read that I can honestly say that I hated, despite liking Tom Sawyer). On the contrary, I absolutely love writing fiction. Which is why I am here.

It's nice that all of these musings have led to my next matter for this post. Unfortunately, it is perhaps the most depressing of them all. Because of all of the work I've had, I have had no time whatsoever to write fiction. As a result, I have made no progress since the summer on The Current...and I am forced to scrap my Halloween story for this year, "The Shadow Loop." I want my school to read this. And while I didn't quite expect this level of emotion, as I write this paragraph, my chest feels tight, and I can feel tears welling up in my eyes (no exaggeration). It breaks my heart to be forced to scrap a piece of creative writing because of school, the one place that should actually be encouraging creative writing. My school, I want you to read this, because this is what you have done to me. I know you're a college prep school, and you should give a fair amount of work. But the amount of work that you give is so much, that I almost literally have no life, except on breaks. I don't even have time to play too many video games. Or watch Netflix. Or see my friends outside of school. I have no life! The only reason I am staying in your school is that I have nowhere else to go besides public school, and I'd rather tear down the walls of the public school than attend it.

So...that's enough of my depressing lamentations! Because I have a treat for you today: another song that I wrote and recorded (a capella, of course)! It is called "Live Your Life," and it's one of my most upbeat songs ever. For more information (and lyrics), read on! (And, as a reminder, all of the audio versions of my short stories up to "Freeing Truth" are now available free of charge on the Audiobooks page on this blog! Check them out if you haven't already done so!)

Song Information: This is the only song to date that I have written just for the heck of it, as in not for any fake TV show or anything like that. This song is perhaps my most upbeat song, which is nice considering what the next song is! "Live Your Life," which I angrily found out was the name of an actual popular rap song about a year later (my song came first!), is all about just living your life, even if bad stuff happens. At the end, there is a bit about actually doing something about the bad stuff, but after all the stuff about NOT bothering, I guess it just means that you should do something about it but nothing extreme. Or something like that. This was the first song that I wrote to actually rhyme a bit. A line in the chorus doesn't really make much sense in the context of the rest of the song: "Just gotta figure out what to do on my own." However, this is better than the original version of this line (only found in the original recording), which was "Just gotta contemplate what to do on my own." Which makes no sense in the context of the song...or in general! Anyway, I like this song because it's incredibly catchy! (Originally written and recorded in 2008.)

Download my summer 2011 recording of "Live Your Life" by clicking this link!

"Live Your Life"

Lyrics written by Eric B., 2008

VERSE 1:

I gotta get up

Brush my teeth

Grab something good to eat

Then I'm off into the world

It's how I greet the day, every day

Whether rain or shine

But that's just me

I just do what's right!

CHORUS 1:

It's a brand-new day

There's lots to do

Just gotta figure out what to do on my own

I know the world's imperfect

But there's nothing I can do about it

Just gotta live your life

I'm living my life!

VERSE 2:

When you're in the air

Don't look down

It's a really, really, really long fall

You know you're no Spider-Man crawling up the wall!

Saving the world's too big for you

Just gotta do what you gotta do

Just live your life!

CHORUS 1

BRIDGE:

Living my life

The world should be perfect (live your life)

New day (live your life)

Live your

Life!

CHORUS 1

CHORUS 2:

It's a brand-new day

There's lots to do

Just gotta figure out what to on my own

I know the world's imperfect

And I've gotta take a stand

You're living your life

Living your life

You're living your life

I'm living my life!

Story Launch: "Freeing Truth" + First Batch of Audiobooks Launches! + NEW PUBLISHING SITE: deviantART

2011-09-18T16:59:00.002-04:00

Good news: I'm starting again on The Current next week!

In other news, one week ago, I launched my newest short story, "Freeing Truth." This was written as part of a school assignment, which was to make a creative piece (story, poem, painting, sculpture, etc.) involving the quote, "The truth shall make you free," in the light of Cory Doctorow's dystopian, modern-day 1984 novel, Little Brother, which was the "all-school read" for this past summer. The result is "Freeing Truth," my longest short story to date, at about 5.25 pages long in Word. Like "Trust Fall" before it, "Freeing Truth" is split into "chapters;" there are six in this one, as opposed to five in "Trust Fall." The story is of the fantasy genre, and involves a selfish king who holds a mysterious power in his castle. A youth then tries to steal it and learns a startling fact about the king and the kingdom. "Freeing Truth" is currently available on both the ZU Forums and Figment, and in the next few weeks, it will also be available on deviantART (more on that later).

Today marked the launch of the first batch of audio versions of my short stories! In case you never noticed the "Audiobooks" page here, it's been here for about three months with a message saying "Coming soon! (I promise!)" Well, it wasn't quite as soon as I'd hoped, but I'd say not bad! Each audiobook is read by me, unabridged. If you download the whole thing (as a ZIP file), you get some extra goodies. Unfortunately, that's not out yet, as I haven't recorded all of the audiobooks yet. The first nine have been recorded, as well as the version of "Trust Fall" with the extended second chapter, the version of the audiobook that will only be available in the ZIP file. I will also be recording "The Blind Man Who Could See" later today (UPDATE, 17:38: Done and available!), and maybe another, as well. If you enjoy books more when you can listen to them, then you'll benefit from the really dramatic (at least most of the time) audio versions of my stories! Even if you're a visual reader, you can still enjoy! Just head over to the "Audiobooks" page, and you can download (individually) the available audiobooks. (There is a small error in "Twelve Chimes" when my microphone apparently cut off for a second. No need for you to worry, as I will be fixing that--by rerecording that cut-off sentence--and re-uploading the file within the next week or so.)

As I hinted at earlier in this post, I now have a new official publishing site! It is the well-known art site deviantART, which has a relatively small (compared to its art community) writing/fiction community. You, readers, are much more likely to be on deviantART than on Figment or, especially, the ZU Forums. So now you have access to some of my works directly on a site you may frequent! Because DA's literature-publishing system is limited to text and HTML (really crappy, in other words, but at least easier to work with than FictionPress's, which is as buggy as heck), I am uploading the Word documents in PDF format. This means that you will be reading my works through an embedded Google Docs Viewer (like The Current on this blog) on deviantART. Not very pretty, but better than nothing, I suppose.

Currently, the only work of mine on DA is "Resolution." I will be uploading the rest of my works from 2011 to DA in the coming week. Be aware that for the time being, I will be limiting my library on DA to just my 2011 stories (excluding The Current), the Midnight Sequence, and the original version of "Trust Fall" (without the extended second chapter).

Finally, just a few bits of information. "Wonders of the Sky" is now available on Figment, as of one week ago. Also, I have officially changed the title of "Just a Bite: A Tale of Medesaelus" to the shorter, easier title of "Just a Bite," a move mostly made to establish that the Tales of Medesaelus series will not come to fruition as originally planned. (If you want to write it, shoot me an email or something!) While previously-published versions of the story will maintain the original title, all future publication of the story and all future mentions of it will refer to it as "Just a Bite." Lastly, I have begun writing a new, longer list of my short stories that includes more details, including the exact release dates (for most of them; I wasn't able to get exact dates for all of them because Figment does not list dates of publication anywhere) for each one at each location. Currently, this list is private, located in an unshared state in my Google Docs; however, I may do something with it in the future.

In my next post (probably sometime this week or next weekend), you can look forward to seeing some "Freeing Truth" reception (already got some from ZU), some "Open Gate" reception (also from ZU), some musings about my first couple weeks of school, and probably also a new song! Remember when I posted a song I had written in 2008? Well, I'll post another one next time, too!

Enjoy your week!

ZU August Writing Contest Results + Entry Reveal/Launch/Reception + "Trust Fall" Anniversary

2011-09-04T14:40:00.000-04:00

Yes. I did. Finally. I won first place in a Zelda Universe Forums Writing Contest! I tied with two other greats of the ZU writing community, Doran_Bladefist (one of my former co-Muses/co-Teachers in the Writing School/Muses' Oasis) and FightingTorque. I was up against thirteen other entries (a record), and I received three votes--only five or six people voted. Voters each voted for up to four entries. Special mention goes to ZU member America for his outstanding praise of my entry, praise that touched me so deep and made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside!

So, you're probably wondering what the heck my entry was in the first place! It's a folktale-style piece that followed the contest's theme of "magic" in an indirect and more metaphorical sense, titled "Wonders of the Sky." It tells the tale of a man called the Wanderer who travels the world searching for "wonders so impossible that they could only be magical." Following him on his journeys are a group of devoted Followers. Eventually, however, he begins to give up hope of ever finding what he is looking for. Will he ever find it? Find out in "Wonders of the Sky!" (Yes, I used to love making advertisements for things.)

Where can you find this new story? Hit the jump to find out this and more!
In the contest results thread, that's where! I will also be publishing "Wonders of the Sky" to Figment in the coming week or so, as well, so my fellow Figs (a.k.a. my Figment audience) can enjoy this piece, too! I will also be posting it here as the new Featured Story.

I actually wanted to post my first piece of positive reception for "Wonders" here. This, again, is from ZU member America, as posted in the August Writing Contest voting thread:

Entry #10.ENTRY #10.ENTRY. NUMBER. TEN.10, please.

DO EEEEEETTTTT (In case I have the wrong number, it's Wonders of the Sky)

It blew my mind. It made me cry from how much it moved me. It's fan-tas-tic, it was just beautiful and I was like *glimmering eyes* *angelic voices singing* when I finished it. I loved it. It deserves ten thousand votes but I can only give it 1 so I'll just put it down four times anyways. Place holders for when I find something that moves me even half as much as it. I loved it. So much. Words do not describe it. It was amazing. Amazing. Just beautiful. I mean seriously, seriously beautiful.

Now I'm rambling, sorry

-America, ZU Forums, 8/26/2011, here

Ye gads! Like I said before, this is quite possibly the most touching piece of feedback I have ever received for my writing, even better than Naya's feedback for The Current back in June! Like, cripes, man; my chest and throat totally tightened up when I first read that, and I felt like I should have been crying at that moment (but I didn't feel like it)! Thanks so, so much, America--that sounds funny--and I am thrilled that you were so touched by "Wonders!"

On a different topic, my 2010 sci-fi/tragedy short story "Trust Fall" was also an entry in an August ZU Writing Contest! Obviously, it was my entry in the August 2010 contest, but still, it was an entry in an August contest. In honor of its one-year anniversary (which actually passed a couple weeks ago), I will be giving Figment the previously-ZU-exclusive extended second chapter this week! Until now (or this week, rather), Figs have only had access to the original "cut" of the story.

And what of The Current? As I mentioned in my last post, the school newspaper activity at my school will be starting on the first day of school, which is this Friday. During this time is when I have gotten tons of my creative writing done (because once I'm finished writing a 500-word article, I don't have anything else to do for about three weeks), so you can bet I will be continuing to write the third chapter of The Current starting this Friday.

In the meantime, I have a podcast segment script to write (and record) for the ZUCast (ZU's podcast)! Oh, goodness. I feel rushed. (Liah, if you're reading this, I'm working on it today. Sorry for the delay; I got lazy and I'm a bad boy and you're gonna kill me don't kill me!)

Anyway, that's about it for now! Thanks again to those who voted for "Wonders" in last month's ZU Writing Contest, and I'll post again next week or so to let you know about my progress on The Current (and maybe some musings on my first couple days of 11th grade)!

Um... (a.k.a. a Current Update) + New ZU Writing Contest Entry

2011-08-27T01:46:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so at least I...sort of have an excuse this time? I've been busy with a few things: two vacations, one of which made it a tad difficult to perform tasks on a computer; relaxing--it's a valid excuse, considering the fact that I otherwise have no life during the school year; writing podcast stuff--remember, I work on the ZUCast, and I have scripts to write; and writing a new short story ("hit the jump" for more on that). There is hope, however! A month ago or so, I signed up for my choices of the mandatory after-school activities at school for this year, and my first choice for both the fall and winter trimester is the school newspaper. Believe it or not, this is when I have gotten quite a bit of my creative writing done in the past couple years! Forget the school newspaper (though I obviously write articles); once I'm done writing articles within a day or two, I spend the rest of the month writing stories and novels! Take that, school! Yeah....

On the 14th (August), I completed my first short story not written for school in seven months! It is for the Zelda Universe Forums' August 2011 Writing Contest, which is the first of its kind being run by new Writing boards moderator and longtime ZU writing community member Holden, who is taking over for former Writing mod Fairess and her predecessor, Veyrael. By the way, if you're reading this, Holden (which is awesome), then I want to once again say thanks for stepping up and taking charge, and congrats on your newfound mod-dom (palindrome!); you're doing great already!

This month's theme is, quite simply, "magic." I am not at liberty to say anything more in case I slip up and reveal anything else about my entry, but I can say that my hopes for this entry are as high as my hopes were back in the October 2009 ZU Writing Contest with "Twelve Chimes," making these my highest hopes for an entry since my first contest. Remember, this is my fourth contest ever. And I've never passed 2nd place in them yet, even with "Twelve Chimes," which appears to have won when you count the votes, but still wound up losing somehow. But I digress....

The voting phase is well underway at this time! ZU Forum members can vote for their top four favorite entries (out of a whopping, record-breaking fourteen entries total!) until tomorrow, the 28th. Be aware, however, that the voting phase may be extended due to lack of voters.

That's about it! However, I do want to take this time to promote the award-winning BBC sci-fi television series Doctor Who, which returns with the premiere of "part 2" of Series 6 tonight at 9 PM on BBC America and tonight at 6 PM(?) on BBC One. Series 6, Pt. 2 begins with the conclusion to the two-part story A Good Man Goes to War (as I call the whole story), controversially yet humorously titled "Let's Kill Hitler." DON'T MISS IT! (It's obviously my favorite TV show, but I still highly recommend it to sci-fi lovers and even a bunch of other kinds of people!)

Until next week or so, when I'll announce how my entry fared in the contest, as well as when I'll actually reveal the entry itself and add it to the Master List and stuff! Bye now!

The Current Update + Conceptual Dual-Release Launch + Reception on Figment

2011-07-04T15:20:00.002-04:00

Well, the good news is that I've started the third chapter of The Current! And now that I'm into it, I should have it finished in a couple days or so. Don't worry. It will happen soon! Chapter three has also undergone a name change, in case you didn't notice it under the "Current Projects" (how fitting!) box on the right. Originally to be called "Chapter Three: The Current," for the obvious reason (if you read chapter two!) that Joe will be going down the Current in this chapter, I felt it was too simple and, since the novel's title is The Current, didn't really express what I wanted it to in regards to the chapter's content. The new chapter title is "Chapter Three: Insult to Injury," of which I will not disclose the relevance of at this point in time, due to it being a fairly major spoiler. Again, it should be up in a couple days or so.

As I mentioned in my previous post, today I have launched a dual-release of conceptual short stories that I wrote over the course of the past school year as English class assignments. The two stories, as I also mentioned before, are titled "The Blind Man Who Could See" and "The Open Gate," respectively. The former was released exclusively on Figment, and the latter was released exclusively on the Zelda Universe Forums.

"The Blind Man Who Could See," which I originally wrote last October, is a conceptual/spiritual story that sacrifices complexity in the plot and in the writing itself for an important, powerful message. Like "The Open Gate," this story is told from the view of the main character. This character is a young man who meets a blind, old man on the side of a street in London. From his conversation with the old man, his view of life is forever changed. The assignment for which this story was written was to write a short story borrowing elements, particularly the character of Vasudeva, from Hermann Hesse's classic novel, Siddhartha. It received a B+.

"The Open Gate," which I originally wrote in April, is more fantastical than its parallel release and carries less of a message. It is also significantly darker in mood. The main character stumbles upon an open gate across the street from where he is walking home, and he/she realizes that the gate is made entirely of pure gold and is studded with all kinds of gems and crystals. He/she decides to take a detour to see what lies beyond the gate, but he/she soon finds him-/herself walking down an endless road that provides for his/her every need in order to wipe the thought of turning back from his/her mind. It's a very chilling story! It received a B or a B+ (I'd need to check to remind myself).

I've (finally) received some more critique for my work, this time both on Figment, marking the first time I have ever received full reviews on Figment! A week ago (though I did not see it until today), a Figment user posted a (pretty long) review of The Current (obviously based on only the first two chapters). Then, today, only minutes after I published the story(!), a different Figment user posted a review of "The Blind Man Who Could See."

Here is what the respective reviewer had to say about The Current so far:

Let me begin with the characters. The way you started it and the dialogue exchanged between them all gave this sense of liking toward them. Nelson and his out-going, crazy, annoying yet jokster attitude made you instantly like him but also recognize his level of immaturity. Joe and the way he is so confident in what he does and getting what he wants, as well as the sweet man who cares about his kids but also has this nagging small conflict with his wife; it all made you respect him as the main character, one a reader can trust and always keep their fingers crossed behind their back, "I hope he doesn't die, I hope he doesn't do something stupid, I hope...I hope...I hope...". Job well done on the intro and characters, because the way they seemed so real, with true life, made me want to keep reading.
Okay, secondly, I think the writing and forshadowing is coming together in just the right timing and rythm! All the pieces kind of come together in a slow yet exciting way. I also like how it isn't too predictable, and for those readers out there who want something to keep them on their toes instead of knowing the whole future plot after the first chapter, this story fits those needs.
I don't nag about spelling or grammar, personally it's annoying when people comment on that or little random words of commas that I missed. Just wanted to let you know though, I enjoyed reading it just like an edited novel, with little to almost no mistakes!!
And lastly, my one, small little suggestion: sentence flow. It felt a bit choppy (at times, not all) and at some points of the story it made things confusing and caused me to want to skip ahead. It's a small thing because I didn't find it that many times, but just keep it in mind ;D
All in all, this is the longest review I've ever written, and it was for an incredible story that I REALLY HOPE YOU KEEP WRITING AND UPDATING!

-Naya B., Figment, 6/27/2011, here

Thank you so very much, Naya! I have never, ever received higher praise that was so full and constructive for any of my works before! My approach to characters is either to make characters as realistic as possible or to make characters very generic with a touch of uniqueness about them. With The Current, I went with the former. And it seems I've succeeded! Characters tend not to be my strong point, so this means all the much more to me! As for exposition and plot progression, like pretty much all novels, the first chapter was dedicated entirely to exposition and, especially in this case, introducing the characters and the world in which they live. In terms of foreshadowing, I don't know how you could know that any of what I wrote is actual foreshadowing, but I can say that there is definitely some foreshadowing in there.... In regards to spelling/mechanics, this is something I pay all sorts of attention to; I am what the people over at the ZU Forums would call a "Grammar Nazi." This means I am very, very picky about spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and I am quick to correct myself and, admittedly, others. So it's no surprise that you'd find little or (hopefully) no mechanical errors in a work of mine! Finally, as far as my sentence structure and flow, I would like to formally acknowledge my writing style as being stylistically choppy. This is how I write. Some people don't seem to understand this style, especially plenty of my classmates at school, and some people, like you, Naya, just don't seem to care too much for it. Unfortunately, there is not much I can do to alter this at this point. Perhaps, as my style evolves, this aspect of my writing style will fade, but for now, this is how I do things. I'm sorry that it makes you want to skip ahead (please don't)! Again, thanks so much for your review, Naya! I found it very helpful, and I will do my best to keep all of your points in mind. And don't worry: the third chapter is coming soon!

Finally, as I mentioned earlier in this post, I received a (smaller) review from Figment user Ariel Magic-esi, of my new story "The Blind Man Who Could See." Here is what she had to say about this new release:

The story is very beautiful, and the subtle metaphor of the 'blind man who could see', as in, the people, no matter how limited their own lives, who know the truth of how important it is to help the suffering, is very well-done. The writing style is a little blunt at some points, not very flowery or anything, but I think that's a good thing because the message is more important than descriptions or fancy adjectives. It was a very good story and I would recommend it to anyone, especially to consider the message.

-Ariel Magic-esi, Figment, 7/4/2011, here

Thanks, Ariel! To be honest, that metaphor was not intentional, but every reader takes something slightly different out of a story than other readers and even the writer, and I actually like that metaphor! I also admit to writing almost this entire story only hours before the assignment was due--don't try this at home, or at school, kids!--so stylistically, it's not my best work. But it is certainly true that the message is what is supposed to shine brightest, so like you said, flowery writing is not necessarily needed in this story. Thanks again for the kind words and helpful praise, Ariel!

Okay, people! That's about it for now! I want to let you know, just to get it off my back, that I'm getting one-and-a-half cavities filled on Thursday, and I'm pretty nervous about the Novocaine. That stuff lasts way longer for me than most people, and I hate it, hate it, hate it. Hopefully, chapter three of The Current will be out before then, though. And don't forget, Americans, that this Friday night sees the premiere of Torchwood: Miracle Day on Starz! Don't miss it, if you get Starz and are around! (Okay, that was random.) Anyway, until next time! Enjoy the new stories! Feel free to leave a review/comment in the comments area of this post (below, if you're on the blog itself) or on the respective story's page on the respective website, if you're a member!

(UPDATE, 15:51: It turns out that "The Open Gate" is my fifteenth short story release ever! 15th, people! Boo-yeah!)

New Upcoming Short Story Releases + NEW PAGE

2011-06-29T22:51:00.001-04:00

This post will be more of a quickie than my usual posts. I wanted to announce that I will be releasing two never-before-released short stories that I wrote over the course of this past school year as assignments for English class. They are both of the conceptual genre, my first to be so, one being more obviously so than the other. And while they have nothing to do with each other, I'm releasing them as a paired release, one for each of my official publishing sites. Figment will be getting "The Blind Man Who Could See," the more conceptual of the two, which I wrote last October. Zelda Universe will be getting the more fantastical, less conceptual story, "The Open Gate," which is also much darker than the other story.

I will write more about each story when I release them this coming Monday, including what the original assignments were for each. Until then, you have the third chapter of The Current to look forward to!

Speaking of The Current, I have added a brand-new page to the blog! The page, appropriately titled "The Current," is where you can read a Microsoft Word-formatted document (courtesy of Google Docs and Google Docs Viewer) of The Current that is updated whenever I finish a chapter (a.k.a. the only time I will press the "Sync" button on Google Cloud Connect, you sneak-preview-hungry rascals!). Also, for those Travelers of the Many Worlds of EzloSpirit--in other words, those who are following the blog through Google Friend Connect (to follow, press the "Follow" button in the Travelers console in the right-hand column--can use an embedded gadget under the document to place a short (or long!) review of the novel and let me know what they think about the project so far and/or in general. (Constructive reviews, people, constructive reviews.)

And that's all for now! Until a day or two from now!

The Current Update + ZU Awards + Music

2011-06-27T18:27:00.001-04:00

Here's a tip: whenever I say I'm expecting a chapter to be out, don't expect it to be out then. Remember "Illusions & Lies: Undercover?" Perfect example. I haven't even started writing the third chapter yet. However, there's someone I like to show my writing to in person who I'm seeing on Thursday night, so this next chapter will most likely be done, if not online, by then. But no promises.

So, while the Summer 2011 ZU Awards season isn't exactly over--it's currently in the voting stage--it is for me. Surprisingly, I not only wasn't nominated for the Best Writer award like I was last year, but I wasn't nominated for a single award at all! Maybe I'll have better luck this winter, when the next awards season takes place. I wasn't really expecting to win, but I was expecting at least a nomination. You see, there is actually a bit of a hierarchy in the ZU Writing section, one that I have identified as follows, from lowest to highest: spammers, new members (to the Writing forum) who haven't read the rules, Writing forum newbies who have read the rules, little-known veterans, known veterans, and elite veterans/moderators. I consider myself to be an elite veteran, one among the likes of ZU members Doran_Bladefist, Holden, The Unknown Soldier (now known as Gamzee), Sakume, Jordan, Hero of Geeks, and moderator Fairess, plus former moderator and former ZU member Veyrael. Strangely, though, almost all--if not all--of the people I just mentioned were nominated for Best Writer this awards season. But I wasn't. Am I complaining? Yeah, probably a bit. If I hadn't been nominated last winter, I probably wouldn't be complaining at all. But I was, so I was expecting to at least be nominated again. Oh, well. I guess it makes sense considering how little I've actually written in the past few months compared to the previous few months.

You may have noticed the word "music" in the title of this post. Well, if you did, then good for you. If not, you should be more observant. Whether or not you noticed it, you're probably wondering why I'm mentioning music, especially on a blog about writing. Well, think about it: is all music improvised? No. Almost no music is improvised! Somebody writes the music! The reason I am bringing up music here is because I've written my own music...lyrics. I can't actually write the music; I can't tell which notes are which just by hearing them. However, all of the songs I've written lyrics for have tunes which I've already completely established. I've also recorded all of these songs at least once (many at least three times!) with really pathetic a capella instrumentals. So I thought I'd share a song I've written for you, along with a recording. The lyrics were written in winter or early spring of 2008 (1-3 months before I would even write my first short story!), and the song was also originally recorded pretty much the same day. The recording I am providing here was made about two weeks ago, so it will actually sound like me, not a little child. More information about the song itself can be found after the lyrics. However, brace yourself. This was my first full song ever, and the lyrics are pretty...bad. Anyway, here it is:

"Overcome the Evil"

Lyrics written by Eric B., 2008

VERSE 1:
When all seems lost
And there doesn't seem like there's anything you can do
You must overcome the evil
By yourself

There is darkness below our feet
There is darkness in the air
So you must
Overcome the evil

I'm overcomin' the evil!

CHORUS 1:
I can fight the evil!
The evil doesn't stand a chance!
It doesn't have its grip on me anymore!

I can fight the evil!
I'm the evil-killer!

For I
Am a hero in my heart

VERSE 2:
When there's no escape
And there's no one but you and the dark
You must overcome the evil
With me

If everytime you turn around
There's somethin' bad starin' back at you
Then you must
Overcome the evil

I'm overcomin' the evil!

CHORUS 2:
I can fight the evil!
The evil doesn't stand a chance!
It doesn't have its grip on me anymore!

I can fight the evil!
I'm the evil-killer!

For I
Am a hero in my heart
A hero in my heart

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

BRIDGE:
If everytime you turn around
There's somethin' bad starin' back at you
Then you must overcome the evil

I'm overcomin' the evil

CHORUS 2

Night Fighter!

Download my summer 2011 recording of "Overcome the Evil" by clicking this link!

Song Information: This was the first song I ever took the time to fully write out lyrics for! It was meant to be the theme song to a little TV show thing I made up (not meant to be real) called Night Fighter, which features a superhero of the same name who fights villains using the power of darkness rather than light. The song itself is not very well-written, with the word "evil" repeated once every few seconds. Then there's also that bit in the chorus that goes "I'm the evil-killer," which one of my friends says sounds like the character kills evilly! Which was not my intention, by the way. Still, the tune can be catchy. This is my best-ever recording of this song. And please excuse the poor a capella "instrumentals." I use them in practically every song I record. The only instrument I can play is the clarinet, which is hardly appropriate for any of my songs. (Originally written and recorded in 2008.)

Still Alive + The Current Launch + ...Halloween 2011...? + ZU Awards

2011-06-18T22:34:00.002-04:00

If you read my previous post, you'll notice that it begins with an astonished question, "Did I manage to go a whole month without posting here?". Now look at the date on that post. It's March 10, 2011. Now look at the date on this post. Yeah. So not only did I manage to go another month without posting here, but this time, I managed to go three times that without doing so! Impressive?

Basically, I've been busy. My school is a college preparatory school, and they give us boatloads of work. While I'm fine with all of the regular homework, I have particular trouble with working on long-term assignments; my brain shuts down easily due to anxiety. Well, in the past few weeks, my school, which got out the first week of June, gave me about five long-term assignments at once. Imagine how that worked out for me. Long story short, I had no time to work on my fictional writing and had to dedicate a few weeks of my life to sleeping, eating, going to school, and working on...non-fictional writing (plus breathing). Let me officially mention that while writing fiction is one of the things I love most in this world, writing non-fiction (essays, etc.) is quite possibly my least favorite thing in all of existence. Yeah! No joke! (I know some college or something is probably going to find this blog at some point and read that statement. Well, my fine friends at the college or something, I'm not going to lie about that fact. I have to force myself to write essays and things. And it sometimes drives me a bit crazy. Literally. But they all get done in the end. And I'm a bit paranoid for writing this, especially considering that I won't even begin looking at colleges for another few months.)

Anyway, in writing news, the first two chapters (time flies...?) of my previously-mentioned project, The Current, are now online. The first one can be found at both of the novel's official web locations, Figment and the Zelda Universe Forums, while the second chapter, at the time of this posting, can only be found at the ZU Forums. And yes, the novel has been listed on the Master List since I first published the first chapter. You can expect the third chapter to be up by this Friday or so.

While I was not originally planning on it being part-comedy, that is what The Current is turning out to be. However, it will likely become less humorous (not necessarily darker, except for later on) as it goes on. It also features more swears than I have ever featured in a single project! And more references to drinking! And the first-ever references to drugs (well, tobacco)! This is my most mature science fiction project to date, and possibly tied with The Midnight Sequence ("Twelve Chimes"/"The First Hour") for being my most mature overall project to date. If you are easily offended by that kind of stuff, this is one project you might want to stay away from. Sorry!

I thought I would inform you of my next planned short story because you are here, and this is my writing blog. And that means you must at least be interested in m writing. How do I know that? Because you continued reading, that's why! See how clever I am?

My next planned short story--and I say "next planned" because I may be entering a Zelda Universe Writing Contest in the next couple months--is my annual Halloween story. Yes, I've decided that I will be writing an annual Halloween story. This next one is based on a dream I had a couple months ago. It's not horror exactly, but it's heavily based on suspense, and then it becomes...chilling, especially at the end when it all comes together. I know you were expecting more information, but that's all I'm willing to give away at this early stage in the story's life. However, I will give away one last thing: the story's title. It will be called "The Shadow Loop." Ponder on that. If you're really bored, you can place your predictions in the comments. Or email me. Or something. Right. Anyway...

Finally, I wanted to point out that the Summer 2011 ZU Awards are currently going on at the Zelda Universe Forums. Currently, they are in the nomination stage, which will be ending this Monday. Which is strange, considering the fact that the nominations began last Wednesday or so. Usually, they last at least a week. Huh. Anyway, unfortunately, I have not yet been nominated for anything, most importantly, the Best Writer award, but there's still time. And I hadn't posted anything in three months before last night anyway, so maybe now that people have something by me to look at that's on the first page of the Writing forum, I'll get a bit more noticed. Aren't I clever? Okay, that didn't really make any sense.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll be posting here more often now that I have the time. My next post should be within a week or two, regarding the next chapter of The Current and/or the ZU Awards. Okay! Farewell for now! Happy reading! (Chapter two of The Current should be available on Figment within the next 24 hours, by the way.)

Return to Fan Fiction?! + Return to Novel-Writing

2011-03-10T01:00:00.003-05:00

Did I manage to go an entire month without posting here? Wow. Well, my birthday was at the end of last month. Just wanted to put that out there.

Anyway, last month saw my return to fan fiction. What is fan fiction? Fan fiction is written literature (almost exclusively novellas; however, fan fiction novels, short stories, and even poems have also been written) that takes elements from one or more existing books, movies, TV shows, video games, etc. Commonly, these include the characters, setting, and even plot. Pieces of fan fiction are always unofficial, hence the "fan" part of "fan fiction."

Like I said, I have recently returned to fan fiction. That's right: this is not my first piece of fan fiction. Back in summer '09, I began working on a Legend of Zelda fan fiction (it's on the Master List with a link included) of which I only made it to nine chapters before tossing it aside. Why did I toss it aside? Because it was getting pretty stupid. I have always tended to look down on fan fiction, considering it "unoriginal art," lacking creativity on the part of the writer. Given this fact, I have no idea why I decided to return to fan fiction. I think something snapped inside my head a month ago, and I went insane. Or something to that effect.

Back in January, I began watching the English-dubbed French animated series Code Lyoko again, of which I'd first watched a good portion of the first season back in 2004 or so. It is a tween/teen cartoon/CGI science fiction series following the adventures of five junior high/high school-aged boarding students who go into a virtual world called Lyoko, which is located inside of a supercomputer in the basement of a defunct automobile factory, in order to battle an evil entity known as X.A.N.A., which is intent on escaping Lyoko and taking over Earth. X.A.N.A. (which doesn't really stand for anything, as far as the fanbase knows) has the power to manipulate things on Earth, including the ability to possess animals and people.

Why am I talking about Code Lyoko? Because that's what my new fan fiction is based on! The fan fiction, which is updated chapter-by-chapter exclusively on the Zelda Universe Forums, is titled Code Lyoko: Virtualization and is the first in a trilogy of fan fiction pieces known as Code Lyoko: More Than a Game. The first three chapters are currently available, with the fourth chapter temporarily on hold (just for a couple weeks to a month).

With my return to writing fan fiction, I have also decided to stop writing short stories for a little while so I can dedicate my writing time to more long-term projects (such as the fan fiction). I'm not getting back to writing any of my on-hold projects yet, but I'm instead starting something new.

My new novel is titled The Current and is inspired by the lyrics of a Blue Man Group song of the same name. I believe the song was also played during the end credits of Terminator 3 although I have not seen this movie, so I'm not sure. It is science fiction (of course), and it takes place in post-disaster--I've recently become hesitant to say "post-apocalyptic," as this implies taking place after the complete destruction of the entire planet--Earth, when the human race has moved underground.

After intense pollution completely removed the ozone layer over time, even the smallest ray of sunshine is lethal. One man, Joseph Harding, who is a worker in the mines in which the workers mine a mineral that provides power for the city, has surface access, and he takes his children up to the surface a few nights a week. He just needs to make sure that he, his children, and his friend, Nelson Lambert (who likes to tag along), get below ground by sunrise. Joseph is also paranoid that there is a secret message hidden in his grandfather's letters. His grandfather had spent years searching the expansive network of caverns beneath the surface for something that would produce ozone or, at the very least, provide some sort of shield for the planet that would block out many of the sun's harmful rays. Meanwhile, Joseph must maintain his job performance in the mines in order to keep his surface access. Unfortunately, he has his mind wrapped up in his grandfather's letters, which doesn't do much to help his performance at work. One day, he has a very painful experience while traveling down the mysterious jet stream of air known as the Current when trying to get to the cavern where the mine workers were mining in. This costs him his job...unless he repeats the training course, which would significantly cut down on his surface time and the time to look at his grandfather's letters. Eventually, he finds the time to look at the letters...and he finally discovers a clue: coordinates for a cavern halfway around the world. The only way to get there? The Current. Joseph sets off, along with Nelson, on a long "scavenger hunt" to find the source of a shield from the sun's harmful rays.

And that's a long teaser for my new novel, The Current! I will begin work on the first chapter today, and it will likely be up today, too. It will be available on the ZU Forums, as well as on Figment.

"Resolution" Reveal/Launch ; NEW PUBLISHING SITE

2011-01-29T00:29:00.001-05:00

It's been a while, and I've made very little progress on I&L4. Deal with it. I've been busy.

With what, you ask? With "Resolution," of course! Wait, what? No, I haven't been busy writing New Year's resolutions. Those are pointless. Instead, I've been writing "Resolution," my entry in the Zelda Universe Forums' January 2011 Writing Contest, for which the theme was "resolution." The results? Well, they came in tonight, and ...I got second place. Again. I guess I can't win. But hey, last time I entered a ZU writing contest, I didn't rank ("Trust Fall," August 2010). Also remember that I got second place in my first writing contest, too ("Twelve Chimes," October 2009). "Resolution" is a thriller, which is a genre I have never bothered (or actually wanted to bother) getting close to before, but I couldn't avoid it this time. (The following is exclusive information, so be glad you're reading this!) Originally, the story was going to involve an established serial killer writing a list of resolutions, a.k.a. his next victims. (That's pretty much it for the exclusive stuff.) The final product is barely a shadow of the original idea, the only similarity being the main character, William, writing his resolution, which includes a short list of people he wants to murder. Why? William is a patient at the Woodstone Institute mental asylum for post-traumatic stress disorder. He wants to know how he develoed the disorder, but he'll have to stay for a month to give the psychiatrists enough time to figure it out. Well, he doesn't want to stick around in that dump for a whole month, so he decides to escape. Which involves brutally murdering a few people. "Resolution" is available on the ZU Forums (no membership necessary, as usual) in this thread and now on Figment.com. Wait. Figment.com? Wuzzat? To find out you're going to have to...

Figment.com is an online publishing website, not too much unlike the oversized, unfriendly FictionPress.com. The difference? It's smaller, has a MUCH cooler/better interface, and it's more welcoming. Well, I'm using Figment as a new place to publish my works. Don't worry, ZU Forum-goers, I'll still be publishing my stories on ZU, too. In fact, I'll most likely be publishing my new stories on ZU first. So you get first dibs on my new stuff, unlike those Figment people; I mean, who cares about them? Okay, I think I'm being really odd right now. But what else is new? Currently, five of my works are available on Figment: "Twelve Chimes," "The First Hour," "Trust Fall," "A Future Lost," and "Resolution." Unfortunately, Figment is inferior to FictionPress in one way, and that is the absence of big archives/lists of published works. Instead, it only lists the top ten newest works, most recently updated works, and most popular works (by genre), which is pretty dumb. So to find my stories on Figment, you'll have to search for them. At least Figment has a search feature! Well, there's that, and I'm going to update the Master List on this blog with links to the Figment publications of my stories as soon as I post this.

That's about it for now. Maybe I'll finish I&L4 before I'm 2,005,750 years old (which is the end of next month)!

Sayonara. Or how ever you spell the transliteration.

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot! I didn't win the Best Writer award in the ZU Winter 2010-2011 Awards. I got quite a few votes, though, which I'm proud of. Maybe next time.

Final "Armor" Reception ; I&L 4 Update ; ZU Nomination

2011-01-06T22:47:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Now that that's out of the way...

As you may have been aware, "Shining Armor" was originally written as a school assignment. Well, I'm now back in school as of Tuesday, and on Tuesday, I received my story again, which was graded and had comments written by my English teacher. The grade? A-. And in my English teacher's class, this is saying something; he's a tough grader when it comes to writing assignments! In his comments, he stated that he was impressed by my writing (as usual), and he was also impressed by my incorporation of "trickster story" elements into my story. I was especially pleased with the latter, as the "trickster" elements were more abstract in my story than in most trickster stories, and I wasn't sure that he would catch them.

As promised, I will now update you on "Illusions & Lies: Undercover." I have made progress. Last night, I forced myself to continue writing it, and I made a decent amount of progress. I can say for certain that this story is pretty much devoid of any action/violence (there are violent references, though), but it is primarily to serve as a transition from the dark (and still kind of funny) atmosphere-exposition stuff of its predecessors to the next chapter of the Illusions & Lies story as a whole. Oh, and I&L 6 will also be a transition story. Just as an advance notice! I'm not setting any actual date that I&L 4 will be ready by, but I'm hoping it'll be out before February.

Lastly, I was nominated for the Best Writer award over at the ZU Forums (along with two other, completely different awards which I don't even stand a chance at getting)! The ZU Awards are held twice a year, and they span every possible aspect of the forum community, including the creative side. This is the first time I have ever been nominated for the Best Writer award, and I must admit that I have been dying for this award more than any other award on ZU (even more than Overall Member of the Season!) since I first started posting my written works to ZU. The voting process is well underway, and there are seven other ZU members in the running for this award besides me (one of them being Holden, a member who has been giving me great feedback on my more recent stories!). This is not a request for votes (even though I can't get disqualified for making one here since this is not on ZU). In fact, please only vote for me if you (besides belong to ZU) really think I deserve the award. Be sure to check out mine and the other nominees' works in the ZU Writing forum!

That's all for now! Expect some "In the Trees" feedback within a few days! And hope you are all enjoying your first week of 2011! Ta-ta!

Mystery Story Revealed & Released! ; Thoughts on 2010 and 2011 ; More "Shining Armor" Reception

2010-12-29T23:50:00.001-05:00

In my last post, I officially confirmed that I would be releasing a mystery story (not in genre; I didn't want to give away the title!) that I found while cleaning my room this past Saturday, probably instead of "Illusions & Lies: Undercover," which I've been unmotivated to write due to too much free time, as my last story of 2010. This is indeed the case: I have released this mystery story, and it will be my last story of the year. (However, on an unrelated note, I will begin making up Spirit World: Extinction tomorrow, which is the last installment on the official Spirit World Saga timeline!)

The mystery story is titled "In the Trees: A Short Story of Vislia," and takes place on the planet Vislia, the same planet where my Sight Chronicles series (and my canceled Sound Chronicles series) takes place. It is different, though. It tells of King Nesh, king of Junglaria (a jungle kingdom), and his encounter with a deadly danger approaching his kingdom. And how his philanthropy and extreme care of others but not himself leads to his downfall. It is currently up on the ZU Forums, and, for a limited time, on the Featured Story page of this blog. A link to the story on ZU can be found in the Master List under Short Stories>Other.

I'd like to take some time now to briefly think back to the past year and briefly think ahead to next year. But to read that, you'll have to...

This past year has been my most successful year in writing so far. I've established myself as one of the more prominent writers on ZU (not the most prominent writer, though). Over half of my short stories were written this year. I began a nine-story journey with "Illusions & Lies: Day One" back in March. I concluded a beautiful two-story horror-fest with "The First Hour" this past Halloween. I used cool audio effects to make myself sound like an alien in the "Trust Fall" audiobook (link found in the ZU Forums' "Trust Fall" post). Wait. Forget that last one.

Next year will be another incredible journey for me; I'm sure of it! Beginning with the (hopefully) long-awaited "Illusions & Lies: Undercover," and hopefully even finishing off the nine-story series with "Illusions & Lies: [censored subtitle]." Perhaps a new horror story or even horror series will arrive this next Halloween. Could we also see more Sight? Or maybe even some more A Future Lost (novel version)? Possibly! Happy New Year, everyone!

Lastly, I want to bring up again the reception of "Shining Armor." I recently received some comments from none other than one of the producers of the podcast I work for on ZU, who had read her first story by me, that obviously being "Shining Armor!" Here is what she said of "Shining Armor:"

Hey man! This is the first time for me reading any of your work. I rarely venture into the writing sections. I like this story. Westley is a cute and likable kid.

I found myself wishing the scene where he remembers and puts on his knight costume was a bit more suspenseful or descriptive. Given that this is the part that shows his "shapeshifter" aspect, I wished it were more interesting than "Oh yeah he remembered a costume he had, put it on, and walked out of the house."

But great story overall. I like his imagination (and yours).

-Margar, ZU Forums, 12/29/2010, here

Thanks, Margar!

Okay, everyone! I may have one more post before 2011, probably involving reception for "In the Trees." But if not, have a very happy New Year, and I'll "see" you in 2011! Farewell!

"Undercover" Delayed ; Mystery Story to End 2010

2010-12-27T17:54:00.001-05:00

Yes, it's true. Due to my inability to structure myself during my winter vacation, I will most likely not be able to release the fourth installment of my short story series Illusions & Lies by the end of the week, which is already a week after I was originally planning on releasing it. This is not a definite, but it is almost a definite.

However, all is not lost. In fact, something was found last Saturday while I was being Jewish (as usual) and not celebrating Christmas (because we Jews don't do that!). I was cleaning my room (wishing I celebrated Christmas so I didn't have to clean my room) when I stumbled upon a short story that I wrote two-and-a-half years ago. It was only the second short story I had ever written, and I had completely forgotten about it, giving the honor of second-short-story-I-had-ever-written to "Chosen Ones" for the two years since I wrote it. I will be typing up the story either tomorrow or Wednesday and will be publishing it to the ZU Forums the same day. I won't reveal anything about it other than it is based on the world of The Sight Chronicles. It will be my gift to you in honor of my most successful year in writing thus far since I officially began doing so 3 years ago!

Until then! Bye!

"Shining Armor" Reception ; I&L4 Update

2010-12-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

If you read my last post, you know that I recently released my latest short story, "Shining Armor," on the ZU Forums. So far, one person (on ZU) has responded, which I must say is an improvement from most of my stories: most of those this year have gotten no comments! Also, if you read "Shining Armor," and you aren't a member of ZU, feel free to leave a comment on this post here instead!

Anyway, so this single response contained some very high praise (on top of pointing out a typo, which I hastily fixed after reading the comment)! I thought I would share it here:

I sort of really love this. I had a big smile on my face as I read this. It's a very charming story with a bold, noble message. [...] Reading your work is always fun, and as you pointed out, originals deserve some attention, too.

-Holden, ZU Forums, 12/12/2010, here/here

I found that very, very high praise, and I will mention that that is not the first piece of praise I have received from ZU Forums user Holden either!

Anyway, if you want to read about my progress on "Illusions & Lies: Undercover," (spoiler-free), please "hit the jump," as they say!

Oh, you must have continued! Either that or you're reading the feed or something! But I digress.

As you are probably unaware, I write the majority of my short stories down on a notepad first before typing them up. Actually, about half of them. This notepad is a bit bigger than the standard 8.5-by-11. I am currently on the third page of "Undercover." This is about 2 pages and two-thirds of 8.5-by-11 pages in Microsoft Word. This is because the font is smaller than my writing.

The beginning is pretty silly (in a good way, of course!), and I'm currently writing about an argument between Leonard Rickson and his manager at the "bookshop on Errins Street" (remember that from "Day One?"). That is a pretty awkward yet funny scene!

While "Undercover" isn't nearly as plot-twist-filled as the previous three installments, it is less about exposition (which is basically what Part 1 was all about) and more about moving the plot along. I can (almost) assure you that it'll still be pretty interesting!

I'm still sticking with my original estimate of launch being sometime late next week or so.

Farewell, for now!

This is the Seventh Blog Entry....

2010-12-12T20:44:00.001-05:00

Indeed, that is true! This is actually the continuation (although you don't need to read the earlier entries) of the same kind of blog, which was in my "fanclub" on the ZU Forums. This is more noticeable and therefore more useful for people.

Anyway, work on the fourth story in my short story series Illusions & Lies, titled "Illusions & Lies: Undercover," is well underway. It's coming along pretty well, and I should be finished in about a week and a half. So if you haven't done so already, catch up in the series by reading the first three installments, which you can find links to in the Master List, which you can get to by clicking on "The Master List," located above this post and under the blog's header.

"Undercover" is confirmed to be the last story I will be releasing in 2010. I am towards the end of a different story that is actually a school assignment, which I will be publishing as an official story, probably to the ZU Forums. This will probably go up tomorrow. It is neither sci-fi nor fantasy, but rather it is realistic fiction! It will be rated G.

Well, ta-ta for now!

Update (22:26/22:31): "Shining Armor," which is the story that I mentioned in the second-to-last paragraph, is now up on the ZU Forums! A link is in the Master List now, and another can be found at the beginning of this update! Enjoy! Feel free to post a comment in the thread on ZU if you're a member, or you can leave a comment on this post here!

Oh, and if you are wondering what the moral I had originally intended on conveying was, I will tell you now: "You don't need to be a valiant knight to be a hero; you can simply be yourself."