National Novel Writers Month

This year, I will be taking part in National Novel Writers Month, often abbreviated to NaNoWriMo. In the month of November, budding authors from all around the country attempt to write a novel of 50,000 words or more in thirty days. This would be roughly 1,600 words per day. It is at times like these that I rejoice for this blogging competition. It has hopefully prepared me for this task.

Actually, it might not be too difficult. Those are famous last words, I know, but I just think how little time I actually put into blogging. One of the purposes of NaNoWriMo is to not put as much thought into quality as one would otherwise. Like the last few days writing Perla Vardo, in which I usually quickly wrote as much as I could in about 30 minutes, I can try to experiment with my writing style; takign risks all along the way.

I have a story in my head that seems like it will work, but I will try to not make the plot as confusing as in Perla Vardo. Not that I don't like plots like that, it's just that I will be having enough trouble as it is. I don't think that I could weave a complicated plots with things as confusing as time travel in a story where I have to write as much as I can as fast as I can.

Well, wish me (and Ryan too, he is participating as well) luck in November! I'm quite excited :)

This Is Going To Be A Fun Blogging Month...

On Monday, I will be going to East Iowa Bible Camp, also known as EIBC. I'll be there for a month with a service program called Tag Team. I'll fix meals, clean, and other fancy stuff. My half ends on July 2nd, but I will still be without internet access for four weeks. I'll be able to come back on weekends, but I will have to write a weeks worth of posts in a very short time. Not to mention that I'll be really tired.

We'll see how it works out. If you are reading this blog, you (hopefully) know me, and you know that I am a very competitive person. I will not let a little challenge like this make me lose to my competition.

This might actually be good for me. I'll be writing a novel in November through NaNoWriMo, so this might be a good way for me to have a similar situation where I have to do a lot of writing in a short amount of time. I'll fully explain NaNoWriMo in another post. I have to use whatever I can, right?

What will I do to manage to cope with all the writing on the weekends? Will I resort to the old fashioned pencil and paper, or will I simply keep all the ideas in my head, and write like a mad man (like I'm not already) during the weekends?

Will the quality of my posts go down? I hope not. I will do my utmost best to keep to my usual standard (oh wait, that isn't that high anyway...)

To Abby and Ryan: I hope that even though you won't have as much direct contact with me, you guys will keep on persevering. It would be really lame for me to make this herculean effort, and then you decide that you have other things in the summer to spend your time on. Please?

Perla Vardo, Thoughts About The Series

8,718 words. 16 installments. I never thought that it would go on for this long. Really, this has been a great experience. Part of me wishes that I had a more impressive word count, just for bragging rights (not that I would care about that), but I'm happy with it in in the time that I had, and how busy I was. I think now I'll explore how it went on behind the scenes.

First of all, I was as mystified with the plot as you guys were. For the majority of the writing, I had no idea where I was going, and just let it flow and hope that an okay result came out. For example, I might make something that has to do with the plot (like the dream Perla had with all of those deaths), and then I just expand from that, even though I don't know where I'm going.

When I was lazy or short on time, I often would insert filler material. Maybe introduce a new character that doesn't really do anything or make a long patch of dialogue that is meant for humour only.

I have to say, I was disappointed with the ending. I really thought that I could have pulled off something better than that. But, I can't change it now. That's the thing with blog writing, once I write something and publish it, all facts are canon and set in stone.

It was more enjoyable than expected the control I had over the characters. I wanted to kill them off? Okay. I want to bring them back? Okay. I can do whatever I want, it's a great feeling of control.

I wish that the plot was more uniform throughout the entire story. Sadly, this wasn't always possible. At times, I might (Gasp!) forget things I wanted to tie in, and of course as previously mentioned, once I publish the post...

I want to thank Ryan for his unending support and constructive criticism. Thanks for taking the time to read through it, buddy :)

Perla Vardo: The Ragnarok Chronicles (Part Sixteen)

Perla was getting very annoyed at mindless enemies circling around their little group and attaching them. So, he thought he would do something about it. The most prudent course of action it would seem would be to destroy the humans. He raised a foot, and lightning stuck.. Brutally killing the guards in an instant. They had barely fell to the floor, charred and dead, when he he was immediately trying to get answers. He felt no remorse for the killing; morality was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment.

Energy pulsated around the room, ripping up the floor tiles and flinging kitchen utensils every which way. The other Perla started clapping enthusiastically, giddy with joy. "A tremendous show! I would ask for an 'encore', but those minions are as dead as a doornail. I hadn't realized that you had discovered your abilities already. Of course, that is one of the reasons that I was able to control the world, you see. But even without them, I would have gotten around to it eventually."

A wave of Perla hand, and the throne burst into splinters. "Now, get to the point quickly, please. I'm not very patient right now."

"Well, I guess you deserve it. As I was saying before, my scientists discovered time travel. I thought that it would be quite interesting if I matched wits with myself, so I went back in time. I used resources from the future to make the old house in which you resided until just recently. I always wondered what would have happened if I had not taken this glorious path, so I took myself right after I was born and whisked you away to the mansion. You were as violent as ever at first, but after a few years of being restrained you quieted down into what you are today. The hatred had never really burned out, however. You felt great sadness for your fallen comrades? Bah. Don't kid yourself. Right now you would kill them without a second thought if it was convenient for you. But see, you won't become what you once were, because this is who you truly are, in your heart."

Perla knew what he said was true "But that doesn't explain what happened with Lucy's deaths."

"Doesn't it? Hmm, I thought that I would be smarter. When ever she died in a roundhouse kick, she would be re-born in another point in the time frame. It went from 1. The mansion, living normally to 2. The forest to 3. The path to the forest to 4. Right now, In my house to .5 Shortly after escaping from Ragnarok. Of course, that is assuming something doesn't happen now that will affect the time stream and force history to re-live itself. But I'm control of the situation, so don't worry. I placed Lucy as an assassin, just because I thought it might be fun. She's terrible at it, though."

"What was Mattindell made for?"

"Your protection. Again, he's not very good at it due to the fact you were unprotected for so long."

"And Tu?"

"He's a special case. He was one of the original living toys, and his energy did not come from me. I have no idea where he got it, he won't say. He ever so loves manipulation,  so he got a chance to send all sorts of amusing ideas into your head. Again, he's bad at his job. I really thought he was a better manipulator."

Just out of the blue the villian snapped his fingers, and Tu rapidly grew old. "You want to know why he went from senile to active? This. I wonder how he will like it going through a living death."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat"

"This is of course the scream that came from when the building without any warning blew up. Those that needed to die to go back and achieve specific goals did, and life went on. Actually, technically it didn't. Details, details.



THE END

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. Whoo!

Perla Vardo: The Ragnarok Chronicles (Part Fifteen)

The Perla clone kept up his barrage of verbiage; talking for several days and nights, forcing Perla and the others to take occasional naps. Finally, the last word was said, the last point made, and everyone had a through understanding of quantum mechanics. Apparently he got the go ahead from the author to stop sticking filler material in; the plot was ready.

"We're doing the scene where the bad guy reveals his evil plot only for the hero to stop him at the the last minute? Okay. I have to tell you ahead of time, you won't stop me. Why? Because you aren't the hero of this story. That's a new thought, eh? Because you are in reality me, the villain. Yes Perla, we are one and the same toy. It's complica..."
Perla rudely interrupted "That's a bold face lie. You're just trying to trick me. Were you behind all of the confusion with Lucy too?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"What are you talki..."
"Perla." said Lucy, stepping in from a side room.

Perla retreated back a few steps, his composure shaken. "W-what are you doing here, Lucy?"
She went slowly went forward a step. "I didn't want it to end like this, I honestly didn't."

"Fake me, what did you do to her?"
"I assure you that I am not in anyway fake. Actually, if anyone here is fake, it would be you."
"Just tell me!"
"Alright, alright. Absolutely nothing. She's just a little annoyed to know that you caused the death of all of her friends."
"But I didn't..."
"Actually, you did. Do I need to explain it all? Alright. Even for me, this might be long, so you might want to make pop some popcorn, it's over by the shelf by the way, as a snack. Promise no interrupting? Okay. I made as a handmade toy for a little british child named Billy. My theory is that the mother put so much work into making me that a tiny bit of pure energy was trapped inside my body, giving me life. I don't have any scientific data that this is where the energy came from, but it is my theory nonetheless. Upon gaining conciseness, life, I left by the window, never to return again. I didn't kill them then, although I had the will power and lack of moral values to be a mass murderer, I refrained, although I'm sure it cost me plenty of potential joy. I didn't want to make enemies when I was so new to my surroundings, you see. After a few long and arduous years, through much manipulation and intrigue, myself and a devoted band of followers conquered the earth. Having the populace in constant fear of me was nice, as was the luxury that the position of dictator-for-life entails, but it got quite boring after awhile. Then I ordered my scientists to... Oh, look at the time! You know what this means, right? Guards!"

A legion of battle hardened humans with automatic weaponry charged in from all directions.

"You see other me, I think that it will be quite amusing if my guards kill you right now, before I explain how and why we all came to be here. I hope you have plenty of anguish. Have fun everyone!"

The humans stepped forward, towering over the little toys.

"This will be fun." said the evil Perla as he sat down on his throne, a malevolent smile of pure joy on his face.

To be continued...

Perla Vardo: The Ragnarok Chronicles (Part Fourteen)

The hallways that led to the highest tower had lush red carpets, grand adjoining rooms, and giant pictures featuring somber pictures of eating utensils placed in such a way that they resembled flowers. In the corner, peeping his head out of a tiny hole, was a mouse. Seeing this, Radunk clashed his cymbals together producing a cacophonous sound. The noise jarred the entire structure. "Well" said Perla dryly "If the evil mastermind wasn't mad at us before, he certainly is now for us waking him up from a nap". Tu replied "Or at very least, perturbed that we disrupted afternoon tea". Mattindell of course, stayed silent the entire time.

Before they scarcely knew it, they were at the door (they obviously knew that it was the door because of how big it was, where else would the villain be?). Mattindell motioned for Tu to open it, his sword at the ready. The room was very long and tall, but at the far back was a figure sitting on an exalted throne. Going forward a few steps, they saw the yellow fabric body and malevolent green eyes. He was the exact likeness of Perla. Actually, only Perla was shocked by this. Tu and Mattindell were indifferent, while Radunk didn't even notice the doppleganger.

"W-w-why do you look like me?" Perla stammered.
"Ah, that isn't the correct way to say it. Instead, why do you look like me? Oh wait, haha, I already know. One advantage of being the bad guy, I guess, I know all of the answers." replied the twin in a mocking voice.
"Are you going to tell me them" said Perla, his courage slowly rising.
"Oh, eventually. We need to draw this scene out as long and as dramatically as possible. Authors orders."

Perla first reaction was to glance over at Tu, who he was sure would soundly rebuke the doppleganger for breaking the fourth wall. At the very least, it was certain that Tu would engage in a fierce debate about morality. Tu didn't even flinch.

The evil twin started talking on and on "Hmm, not dramatic enough. We need some action. Maybe you can try to kill me to avenge the death of your friends. Got a concealed knife anywhere? Me neither. Maybe what we need to do is lighten the mood. Can you sing or dance. I can do a mean can can myself, but I always feel silly doing it alone."

Perla patiently waited for the monologue to finish (a skill he got from listening to Tu). Surely eventually all the questions will be answered, right?

To be continued...

Perla Vardo: The Ragnarok Chronicles (Part Thirteen)

Lucy, Perla, Radunk, and Tu silently walked together. In the horizon, there was a giant wooden cube, reaching into the heavens Its area was impossible to derive from how far away they were, but it was obvious that it was on par with that of a skyscraper.

The woods had several layers, it seemed. The part that they entered in was comparable to a haunted forest, while the section they were in now was lush and vibrant. Healthy trees stood tall, and if one listened closely the quiet chirping of birds was audible. Yet again, it seemed like the destruction of most of the world had never happen. Instead of smoking craters and gut wrenching smells, there were faint odors of various bright flowers.

You never would have expected at this moment for wolves to attack, but they did. Fierce, proud creatures, one leaped at Lucy, it's teeth shining bright in the sunlight. But he never made it. A sword went down, and blood spurted from the wolf. Mattindell, looking as knightly as ever, his armor polished so that each section shone like a miniature sun in the sunlight, settled into a defensive position. You cannot blame the wolves for not hesitating for a fraction of a second, but once seeing that that they outnumbered the group by quite a lot (they didn't even bother counting Radunk, but who could blame them?), the pack rushed forward. Mattindell surveyed the situation, and then began fighting.

Despite the desperate look in his eyes, Mattindell remained calm. His battle prowess was unmatched; he had the strength of a giant, the agility of a cougar, and the courage of a lion. His one focus was on protecting Perla. He circled around the frightened toy, daring any foolish wolf to taste his blade. After several dozen were cut down, the rest found the battle meaningless and fled.

Somehow in the confusion, they managed to take Lucy with them. Perla and Tu felt a wave a sadness, and yet not as much as other times. This seemed to be quite predictable, and they were certain that soon enough they would find Lucy again, right as rain.

Right about then would seem to be the ideal time to ask Mattindell a few customary questions. Yet, the group remained silent (Except for Radunk's occasional "Boink!", it was his favorite word, after all). With a meaningful look in Tu's direction, Mattindell walked next to Perla, every now and then stealing a quick glance to the left and right.

The pace of their walking was quite fast, so not too many hours had passed before they arrived at the foot of the huge wooden structure. It had absolutely no windows, it was not possible to see it's top from where they stood; it was much too tall. When they stepped onto the doorstep, the double doors opened by themselves, allowing the group entry into its interior.

To be continued...