SS 1: Basic Pony

Today marks the beginning of September Sketches, where I will post a different drawing or drawing tutorial every day in September. Today, I decided to make a tutorial, of sorts, for a pony. Note--I darkened the lines in Paintshop, because the scanner butchered them. You can also click on the picture to see it full-size. I tried to have it that way in the post, but it messed up my formatting.

Hopefully you can see the writing, but if not, I'm including it here below--starting with the paragraph under "September 1, 2011" and continuing clockwise around the picture.

1. Basic horse/pony. More pony, really. If you look closely, you can see the guide circles I used. If you build off the circles correctly, you can use the remnants to shade your horse. (Above: Kidney bean shape for body)


2. Mercia Dragonslayer (My signature. While I'm on it, please remember that this is my artwork and I'd like you to respect that by not copying it!)

3. See, the line of the shoulder is parallel to the front line of the hoof. So the leg should be angled like this: (see picture for diagram)

4. Nose circle should be larger than the knee.


5. The mane should be light and whispy, but with enough solidity to distinguish it from your shading.


6. Highlight approx. in the middle. The neck rises there, the mane should be shaded and drawn accordingly. (You'll have to look at the drawing to see what I mean.)

This concludes my first ever drawing tutorial, of sorts! I hope you enjoyed it and/or learned from it. Remember, practice makes perfect--if you practice the same form over and over again, you'll perfect it. Keep holding on!

~Mercia Dragonslayer

Manzanar

All right, so I said I'd talk about poisonous Japanese blowfish today. Er--I decided I'd talk about something else, seeing as I already had to type this up for school. It's very interesting and, to me, somewhat disturbing.


When I first read my article on Manzanar Relocation Camp, I was shocked. I had never known, before, about the Japanese internment camps. To read about such an obvious lack in my education hurt me. If this was such an important period in history with such enormous discrimination, why don’t we know about it? Why isn’t it taught in schools today alongside the Nazi Concentration Camps and the aftermath of Pearl Harbor Day?

The government shut down American branches of Japanese banks. Men, women, and children, sometimes second-generation American or even adopted by Americans, were carted off to Manzanar and other camps. Religious and political leaders were arrested for no apparent reason, with no warning or explanation to their families. In the relocation camps, families were expected to survive in “apartments” the size of two horse stalls.

The worst came after the Japanese gained permission to leave. Those with less than $500 in savings received a measly $25, a train ticket, and food on the road. How could this ever be payment for what those people suffered? Even the $20,000 to survivors offered by President Reagan in 1988 and the official apology offered by President Bush in 1989 could never come close to repaying the Japanese for what we did to them.

I found this article at americanhistory.about.com, written by a man named Martin Kelly. Kelly taught social studies for eight years at a secondary school and developed the AP History curriculum for the Florida Virtual School. From my research, he appears to be well-educated and I found no reason to doubt the information he placed in his article.

You can read the original article here.

How many of you knew about this or learned it in history? Comment and let me know!

~Mercia Dragonslayer

I Learned Something New Today.

I learned something new today--something I definitely never wanted to know about. Let's visit some foreign countries and take a taste of their cuisine.

NOTE: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH, OKAY? Really. If you get sick easily, don't read this. I watched a video in Sociology today and I want to write about what I--er--learned. I think it might help me retain it better.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Imagine sitting down to dinner in Hanoi and glancing over the menu. You see "snake," and you and your friends decide to try it. The waiter nods. He comes back minutes later with a squirming, hissing, venomous snake. With a deft motion, he uses a small scalpel knife to slit open the snake's chest and drip the blood into a clear glass. A moment later the still-beating heart drops into a shot glass along with a small sampling of blood. This glass goes to the host while the other members of the party receive the same glasses with blood only.

I kid you not. This is considered a delicacy.

Tomorrow, I bring you the deadliest fish in the world--and where it's eaten.

~Mercia Dragonslayer

Thirty Days of ______

Today, bored, I googled "Thirty Day Blog Challenge" to see what would come up. The first site that appeared had Matt Cutts' Try Something New For Thirty Days challenge. You can watch it below.

I thought, "Why not do it? What have I got to lose?" Besides my dignity, of course. Instead of posting sporadically on my blog, I shall now attempt to post on it daily in accordance with a monthly theme. September's theme is drawing. October's is original fiction. So on and so forth.

Wish me luck, all! If you have any ideas for themes (or something you want to challenge me on!), go ahead and post it in a comment below.

~Mercia Dragonslayer

Fanfiction

Someone on OYAN (oh, yes, OYAN! Again!) asked whether fanfiction was acceptable to write for the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum. I, of course, had a bit to say on the subject.


First of all, there are fanfiction sites out there (most reknowned of which is fanfiction.net) where people write stories like this and post them for the world to see. You can't publish them, or make money off them, or claim the characters (unless they are original) or the story world as yours. I'm also fairly sure you can't enter such a story into the OYAN contest, although you may have to check with Mr. or Mrs. S on that. For your OYAN, it is best that you come up with original characters, an original storyline, and an original story world. This will help you in the long run.


(Translation for those of you who are NOT OYANers: You can't publish fanfiction without permission from the author or their publisher. You will also get in BIG trouble if you claim the story world or canon characters as your own.)


People have had different views on fanfiction. Some say it hurts one's writing, others say it helps. I think it can do both. If you write fanfiction like I do, mainly for self-entertainment, then I don't think it can hurt. It's extra writing experience, extra time spent making characters feel real. You have a template to start with and all you have to do is add a plot and run with it. It's good for developing good spelling and grammar skills, as well as a consistent writing style (or several, even!). I also use fanfiction as a way to write consistently. If I don't feel like working on a particular story one day, I open up my fanfiction and work a bit on that. 


However, if you ALWAYS write fanfiction and never come up with anything original, this will hurt your original fiction in the long run. It will sap your imagination. If you write it instead of your original novels, you will find yourself getting lazy and not wanting to work on the things you should. It DOES take up a lot of your time--and why write something you can't make money off of, some say. All these are things to consider.


So my point here is that while it is a bad idea to write fanfiction for the OYAN curriculum (or for your first "novel"), you can certainly save the idea for later. After you've written your first original novel, it will be good writing practice. It will help you write consistently. That's a good thing.


Peace out, yo.


~Mercia Dragonslayer


PS: I apologize profusely. It appears that I cannot remove the white highlighting... Oops.

The Greatest Author

First of all, I'm terribly sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy (and stressed!) working at a camp in the northeastern US. Therefore, no time for writing at all, even, on my stories, let alone blog posts. But I've got a bit of extra time on my hands and I have something interesting to say.

Lately, God has been revealing Himself to me through writing. No, not other people's writing--though that has helped a bit. Not even through my own writing (at least not recently). Through writing in general.

We, as writers, are called to a Special Purpose For God. We all are, as children of God, but I feel a specific calling as a writer to share the vision that God has given me in order to show the world His love.

"Then the LORD answered me, 'Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly.'" ~Habakkuk 2:2

This is a verse that shows me my purpose as a writer. I take The Truth and write it out for the world to see.


That's writing. Truth versus Lies. Love versus Hatred. Good versus Evil. Every possible struggle between the side of Light and the side of Darkness has already been documented in the greatest True Story every written. Our Heavenly Father and the Author of our Salvation has written out the plans of our lives before we were even born. He planned every single instant of every single day, as well as the beautiful story arc of the world.


God is the Ultimate Storyteller.


~Mercia Dragonslayer

Solving Character Flatness

Hello, all! First of all, I'm very sorry for not posting anything in so long. I've been quite busy.


I did, however, type this up for someone on OYAN who was asking for help in a character lounge. Enjoy, and please forgive me for any lack of continuity.


In my experience, putting a character inside a lounge doesn't do much for getting rid of "flatness." If anything, it really just gives you a chance to listen to how the character speaks, and shows you how he reacts in different situations. This is all well-and-good, and I'm not putting down character lounges. They do have their purposes.


It looks like what you need to do is flesh out the character in the story itself. I received this bit of critique from someone:

Another way to flesh this out is to help us understand what your characters are feeling. Don't come straight out and say. She was sad. Explain how sadness feels to her. Is there a yanking in her gut? A pull on her heart? 

These elements will help you bring your characters alive. You did a good job with describing WHO the man was--the one who helped her in the beginning. You used simple things like leaning his elbows on his knees and raising an eyebrow. See little things like that help MAKE a character real.

From what I gathered of this advice, it's not the BIG things that make a character real. It's the little things--constantly drumming his fingers on a tabletop, biting his nails when he's nervous, scratching the back of his neck, smirking, sneering. It's all these things. I'll give a few examples of some of my favorite characters of all time and what small things made their personality and character real to me.


The Doctor: Yes, I know, the Doctor is a character from a TV show. But he's still endearing. I'll give examples of the 10th Doctor and the 11th Doctor since they really are different people.


10th Doctor: He rubs the back of his neck when he's exasperated, charms people with just a grin, has a habit of talking a million miles an hour about everything. He runs a hand through his hair, starts half his sentences with the word "Well", and enjoys being "John Smith, Health and Safety!"


11th Doctor: He defends his clothing choices with gusto and has a flair for dramatics. I don't remember many little things, mostly because I've been watching the 9th Doctor recently, but I love the way he always says, "Bowties. Are. Cool." He's also completely oblivious to any innuendoes from other characters, which is both characterizing and hilarious.


Severus Snape (big jump here! XD): He sneers. He leers. He rolls his eyes, his cloak billows, he snarks, he's sarcastic, he unfailingly favors his Slytherins, he glowers. He drawls (goodness, the only British accent I have EVER heard to drawl!), and scowls.


For me, the little things about these characters drew me to them--NOT their past! When you meet each of these characters (well, Snape, really, you know all about the Doctor), you don't know their past. You don't know what influences them. You do, however, see the facade they put up and all their little actions throughout the story. I LURVE SNAPE. *glomps Snape*


Okay, now you know of my undying love for the most hated character in Harry Potter fiction. *cough* Well.


Anyways.


Another person also said to me,

Chapter was nice as far as setting up your plot. Your charctets? Not so much. Give them depth, add more descriptions, tell us more about them. This is the first time we meet them, make the reader fall in love! 

...(from someone else) 

 The plot is strong and the characters seem real. My only suggestion is maybe try to add a few more faults/habits to the characters. Not only will it help stir up the plot even more but it can help make the characters memorable.

The first bit of advice is much the same as what I said before. Add small things. Little things. Be descriptive! Don't go around putting out purple prose just for the sake of it (or at all, really), but DO describe the character and how he's feeling.


The second bit of advice is something I struggle with. I'm so used to seeing the big picture of things that I can't focus very well on the smaller parts of a story. Characters need habits and faults. Give your character a nasty habit of snapping "Rubbish!" every time his mother is mentioned. Make him say "BALDERASH!" every time he stubs his toe. Have him swim in the creek next to his house every full moon wearing a purple-spotted body suit, without failure. These little things build character.


I hope you found this information helpful! Thanks for reading.


~Mercia Dragonslayer