The Silent Mage

Wow, it's been years since I have written on here. Today I post a short story based on an idea for a novel. In this world magic has 3 forms, spoken, signed, and written. Each more powerful and deadly than the last. Signed magic is cast using movement. Think of it as a cross between ASL (American Sign Language), and Tai-chi. Spoken words and movement are temporary, written words are permanent. This means that written magic has the potential to alter the fabric of the universe.


The Silent Mage

 Duryn sat on the bench just outside Grand Master Nobu's office; his foot tapped out a furious rhythm. Master Nobu had a way without words. He could snap his fingers and make everyone in a crowded room stop and take note. Duryn's foot froze to the floor.

Normally Duryn was only summoned into one of the Silent Brothers' offices for reprimands, however, today was different. He stood before the simple oaken desk for what seemed an eternity. The beauty of the solitary star-gazer Lilly, the only adornment on the desk, offered no comfort. Duryn's lunch threatened an encore appearance. After a time, Grand Master Nobu slid a copy of the Silent Brothers' charter across the desk to Duryn.

"Grand Master? I don't understand," said Duryn.

Grand Master Nobu put his hands together as if to pray, then opened them like a book. Duryn followed suit and opened the charter. Grand Master Nobu smiled at Duryn.

Duryn began to read. Nobu snapped his fingers, and Duryn began to read aloud. "All brothers must tend their own fields. Tend your own field first before you offer help. Never do anything that you are not willing to pay the price for; the consequences are unknowable. All words have power, actions have consequences, debts have collectors." Grand Master Nobu closed the book for him.

"I still don't understand."

Grand Master Nobu turned up his right hand, followed by his left, and then gestured toward Duryn. In that moment Duryn understood. He must weigh his options and make a choice. Change his ways, or ring the bell of submission.

"I never thought a few harmless pranks would cause this much of a disturbance. It's just, well, none of the brothers seem to remember how to have fun."

Grand Master Nobu nodded his understanding. He brought out two pieces of paper and placed them face down and again gestured toward Duryn.

"This is a difficult choice, drastically alter my lifestyle for my chosen path, or choose an easier path. I have shamed myself Grand Master and for that I..."

Grand Master Nobu stopped Duryn from finishing his sentence, and produced a third piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Duryn.

"This paper is one of three. Which of the other two you receive depends on your choice. I caution you to think carefully and deeply about your choice. Life here is different from your earlier life, all of us had to adjust to life in the sanctuary. If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life."

"I understand, but I don't think I could live my life without joy, without fun. I thought becoming a brother would be the greatest thing ever. I love magic, even the smallest things I have seen done are amazing." Duryn hung his head. "I just don't think I have what it takes."

Grand Master Nobu's gentle smile faded. He nodded and handed one of the two papers to Duryn. It read, "There is no shame in the choice you have made, however, I urge you to reconsider. There may yet be aspects of life at the sanctuary, which you have not yet experienced. Remember, you cannot un-ring a bell."

Duryn regarded the note for a few minutes. He took a deep breath and said, "I understand. Please gather the brothers, I wish to apologize and say goodbye." Master Nobu nodded.

***

Duryn made his apologies and said his goodbyes before picking the striker up from its stand. He took a deep breath.

An unknown voice intruded upon the sanctuary. "Stop!"

The brothers searched for the source of the unknown voice. Their eyes finally settling on a boy of no more than ten summers running toward them. When he arrived he pushed past the brothers, went straight to Duryn and handed him a piece of paper.

Master Nobu signed something and one of the initiates interpreted. "Who are you? What is the meaning of this?"

The boy turned not to the interpreter but to Master Nobu. "A thousand apologies Master Nobu, but I am here to un-ring a bell."

Master Nobu's hands dropped to his side, stunned into stillness. Duryn dropped the striker. Master Nobu snapped his fingers and held out his hand. Duryn ran the paper to him. When Master Nobu had read the note, he placed the note on the ground and began what seemed a dance. This was no ordinary dance, his hands and feet flowed from one position to the next, there was a power to his movements. It was beautiful.

The note began to move about as if trapped in a whirlwind. It rose into the air, a soft golden glow about it. When he finished, Master Nobu plucked the note from the air, inspected it, and sank down into the dirt. The initiates nearby rushed to aid him. He waved them off. One of them grabbed Duryn by the collar and asked, "What did you do, what did the note say?"

"It said, 'Duryn, do not make this mistake again, the bell represents a binding magical contract. One cannot un-ring a bell, so I shall do it for you.' signed, Grand Master Deket. Who is Grand Master Deket, how does he know my name, and what does he mean again?" The wind rustled the leaves in the trees around the courtyard. The initiates were as perplexed as Duryn, but the Silent Brothers looked as if they had seen a ghost.

One of the brothers finally approached and signed, "Grand Master Deket died more than fifty years ago. In his last days, he said he was working on correcting a tragedy. All of us were very confused because we knew of no tragedy. He sequestered himself in his office for days at a time, we had to remind him to eat and drink. He spent his last day in the sanctum. We don't know what he did, but for a Grand Master to cast a written spell is no small undertaking. What is written, cannot be unwritten. A great light poured from the sanctum. When we entered, we found him dead, with his quill in hand, but neither the spellform nor the parchment could be found."
Duryn looked pale. "How could this be from Master Deket if he is dead?"

"We don't know, but Master Nobu verified it, the note is genuine."

Duryn picked up the striker and placed it back on the stand, then retired to his bunk.

Editing fun

I have been re-reading my rough draft and documenting all the various things that happened throughout so I can shore up any plot holes. Well a funny thing happened. I found some things I wrote which I had forgotten about.

First a little background. In my novel when a rider is bonded to a dragon they are able to communicate instantly, sharing thoughts, feelings, emotions, and even normal communication. In addition to dragons, there are a few genetic cousins, such as the sea dragons, aka sea monsters, and the drakes which look just like dragons but are much smaller. The largest of drakes will only reach about the size of a large horse, not counting the long neck or tail. They, so far, have been unable to communicate with language, only imagery, impressions, and emotions. But all dragons, drakes, and sea monsters, have a consciousness so vast and powerful it can overwhelm a human's mind in seconds if left unchecked.

In this scene my main character's half sister, Hiali/Ali, has been incapacitated by her drake, Roan, who is babbling incoherently with images and feelings. My main character, Shael, and his dragon, Dasy, are trying to calm him down and find out what is going on.

     Shael closed his eyes and lightly brushed against the consciousness of the scared little drake. Seemingly random images and feelings flashed all about. Shael felt very confused. He dove in deeper. More random images and feelings flashed by, he now under stood what dasy was talking about when she said he was babbling incoherently. Finally, after a few seconds, Roan focused on a single image it was an image of a large mouth full of razor sharp teeth bearing down on him. It reminded him of his dream, only this was worse, much worse. That, coupled with the sheer terror emanating from Roan, caused Shael to wet himself. Shael quickly let go of the physical contact that kept his link to Roan active. 

     “Are you ok?” Dasy sounded worried. 

     “I will be. Despite how close we are, dragons in general scare the piss out of me. Literally, it would seem. Damn, this is really embarrassing. I'm sorry you had to see this. I just hope everyone else out there will go easy on me,” said Shael. 

     “You don't have to be embarrassed with me. You are my rider, I am your dragon, we are one. What you feel, I feel, you should know that by now. Besides, you should see what I did out here.”

 In this scene, Dasy has figured out what Roan was trying to say. Also mentioned is the head of the council of the Bishamon, the freedom fighters in my novel, her name is Ariana.

     “Are you sure they are all headed here?” asked Shael.
      Dasy emitted a deep rumbling growl.
      “Stop that, you damn well know that I believe what you tell me, it's just that this is so...improbable that my puny human brain is having a hard time accepting it. Yes, I know you know that. Which is why I'm not questioning you because I see what you saw when you were out flying.”
      “Wait, she saw this herself?” asked Hiali.
      “Yes, apparently the random images Roan was sending you seemed random because he was trying to show you everything he saw. Unfortunately it appears that drakes have issues with linear thinking.”
      Hiali shot a fierce look at Shael. “No shit, ya think?”
      “We need to tell Ariana about this.”
      Dasy nosed Hiali's arm so she was included in the conversation. “I already informed her.”
      Shael chuckled. “How did she take it?”
      “She took the news just fine. She's quite calm and collected under pressure.”
      “I meant being connected to a dragon's mind.”
      “Oh, she threw up.” The corners of Dasy's mouth lifted just a little bit.

 That's all I have for now. Thanks for listening.

Story Complete

I did it. I finished my book. Well, the first draft anyway. Now comes the fun part. Re-reading what I have written, condensing it into a few short sentences for each chapter, and doing what will probably be a full rewrite after I figure out what my characters want to do with the story. I already know that it's going to end differently, in a big way. Should be fun.

P.S. Some free advice for those of you thinking of writing a novel. Get a writing partner. Someone to go on the journey with you. You can push each other to finish. I know I would never have finished if not for my writing buddy. And he would have never started if not for me. Now we both have a completed novel.

Dragons and Bunnies

I really love the beginning to this particular chapter. I had been looking forward to writing it for some time. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the opening to "Dragons and Bunnies."

When Shael and Dasy returned to the camp they found the grounds at the edge of the battlefield littered with little white bunnies. Most of them had tiny suits of bunny armor, bunny breast plates and such on them, and they clinked while they hopped.

“What the hell happened here?” asked Shael. “Why the hell are there all these fluffy white bunnies hopping around, and why are most of them armored? Don't get me wrong, the tiny clinking sound is cute but...”

 

Boodah chuckled, “These are the stupid ones who didn't leave when they showed up.” He gestured over his shoulder to the wall of multicolored dragons off in the distance.

“Ah, and why did you turn them in to fluffy white bunnies?”

“Because its funny.”

“No seriously, why did you do that.”

“Because bunnies can't swing a sword...and, because its funny.”

“Oh, ok,” said Shael.

 

Kiki snatched up an unarmored bunny and swallowed it whole. “Look Dasy, hors d'orves.”

 

Dasy wiggled her butt then pounced on one. “Couldn't you have made them something bigger, like sheep. I'm hungry.” Dasy swallowed the bunny she had in her claws.

 

Boodah muttered something under his breath, turning the bunny Dasy just swallowed into a sheep inside her belly.

“Ohh, that tickles,” said Dasy. She picked up an armored bunny. She turned it over in her claws trying to get at it from the right angle. She sat down on her haunches trying to puzzle it out. “I hate armor. It's nice that they try to prepackage food like this, but it's a pain in the butt to get the packaging off. Why does it have to be so difficult to get at the creamy center?”

 

Kiki picked up an armored bunny, “Dasy, you need to hold it like this. Then bite the head off and the rest will just slide out the back.” Dasy proceeded to demonstrated the technique to Dasy. “See?”

 “Ooh, ok. I get it.” Dasy picked up another armored bunny and mimicked what Kiki had done.

Shael and Boodah laughed hysterically at the sight of them trying to figure out how to get at the bunnies in the armor.

“That's gross,” said Shael between laughs.

 

Kiki turned to Shael, "We don't criticize what or how you eat, who eats green stuff? green stuff is what food eats.”

“Seriously,” added Dasy.

“Ok, ok. You two enjoy your snack,” said Shael. “We are going to go report in.”

Cliffhangers

Ya know, as a reader, one thing that really irks me about writers is when they stop a chapter right before the good part. And, then they have the audacity to make the next chapter about someone else in the group who is not even in the same location. Now I have to wait even longer to find out what happened. What kind of crap is that. Well, turns out, it's an effective technique to get your readers to keep turning the page. Works on me.

Conveying action

Aside from writing, another one of my hobbies is 3d rendering. One of my friends was in the middle of creating a scene with a tank. He wanted to show the muzzle flash, but it would be terribly difficult. I suggested showing some smoke trickling from the end of the barrel which would make the scene more dynamic. I thought about this for a few minutes and figure out that it related to my writing.

In order to convey action in a story we write in the past tense. The phrase "John punched Bill in the face." conveys more action than "John is punching Bill in the face." The same holds true for single frame drawings. The image of a main character in the act of throwing another shows action, but showing the end of that scenario where in the background the main character is bent over in half with arms outstretched and the poor bastard who was thrown flying through the air upside down towards the camera. Showing the end of the action is always preferable in writing, and as it turns out that translates well into art too.

Valentines day 2011

It's Valentines day once again. As always, most men struggle to find "The Perfect Gift". I'll tell you a secret. You can't find "The Perfect Gift" in any store. If you are struggling to find something for your special someone. Why not try making something with your own two hands, or your brain. Since I have a passion for writing. The easiest thing for me to do is write something for my wife. She deserves much more, but alas I am neither a stone mason nor a carpenter. So her castle will have to wait. ;)

Valentines day
Love is a wonderful thing.
It can make you fly,
it can make your heart sing.

Valentines day is here at last.
Time to celebrate love,
a feeling that can't be surpassed.

Time for sending loved ones candy or flowers.
A thing of beauty for one of beauty,
too bad their life can be measured in hours.

Be careful which present you send.
Everything can have a double meaning,
and you don't want to upset your best friend.

Flowers wither and die quite fast.
She might think you're not serious,
and you love is fleeting and fast.

Candy is sweet, no doubt about that.
If she is concerned about her wieght,
she may think you are trying to make her fat.

But, sometimes a girl just likes to get flowers.
A box of candy is a delicious treat,
and finding the right gift, shouldn't take you hours.

So give without regret.
If your gift comes from the heart,
she will love it, no matter what you meant.

Before you go I'll tell you this.
If your gift comes from your hand,
your day will surely end with a kiss.

The continuing saga of Strokes Neckbeard.

The continuing saga of Strokes Neckbeard.
Savior of the seven seas.

We join our hero, Strokes Neckbeard in his bedroom. His girlfriend Boobs MacGuffin is finishing up her shower...

...Just then Fragile Glassjaw bursts into the room.

"Oh my god, boobs!"

"Hey, how did he know my name?" Asked Boobs MacGuffin.

Strokes pointed at her chest. "I think he was referring to those." Strokes turned to Fragile. "Damnit Fragile, what the hell are you doing in my bedroom?"

Fragile rushed Strokes and sucker punched him in the neck. Strokes began to cough and choke and attempted to sputter an obscenity at Fragile, who stood there laughing and pointing.

When Strokes regained his composure he shouted at Boobs to "Cover yourself for God's sake." Fragile took that opportunity to kick Strokes when he was down.

The location of that kick prompted a protest from Boobs MacGuffin. "Hey, I need that!"

"Shut up and cover yourself will ya," said Strokes.

Boobs took the stolen hotel towel she was wearing around the waist and moved it up to cover her chest. However, since this was a hotel towel, she uncovered something else. Fragile's jaw dropped. He stood there like a gaping idiot. Strokes seized the opportunity and punched Fragile in the gut, then introduced his knee to Fragile's face. Fragile fell to the ground unconscious.

Strokes Neckbeard

My writing partner IM'ed me with a single line describing an action. "*strokes neckbeard*" I turned it into some corny, but fun, flash fiction. Who knows, perhaps there is a story line here.

We find our hero, Strokes Neckbeard bound hand and foot by the nefarious villian Fragile Glassjaw.

"So, you thought you could just blow up my ship and get away with it, eh Neckbeard? What, no snappy retort from the great Strokes Neckbeard, the savior of the seven seas? I confess myself dissapointed," said Fragile.

"I thought it might be better to answer you with my fist."

"And just how do you plan to do that?"

"Well, I found a nail that was not quite pounded down over here, and I've been working on my ropes for the last few hours." Suddenly Strokes sprang forward and landed a blow to Fragile's jaw.

Fragile immediately coughed up some blood and teeth. "You broke my friggin jaw!"

Strokes shook his hand in the air as if to shake off the hurt. "Serves you right Glassjaw. You're busted."

Apparently my writing isn't that bad

I write like
Rudyard Kipling

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Writers Block

Every writer gets writers block. It happens. Even if your heart is dying to get this story out of your head and on to paper. It still happens. So many people ask "How can I cure my writers block?" or some variant there of. Most, if not all of them, hate the answer they invariably get. Write. The only way to get past writers block is to write. The problem I have with that, is that it's too generic. Ok, write. Write what? If I could write I would continue my story. One of the best things I have found to help with this is free writing. Pick an arbitrary amount of time, say, 10 minutes. Set a timer. Then start writing. Don't stop, ever. Keep your pen/fingers moving. Even if you have to write "I don't know what to write" a bunch of times, that's ok. Also if you can't figure out what to write about use a writing prompt, the internet is full of websites with plenty of writing prompts.

When you force yourself to just write and write and write, your subconscious takes over and ideas flow out of you that you might never have thought of just "brainstorming" about the problem.

Now back to your blocked up story. Try using what is going on, or whatever problem is happening as your writing prompt. For instance:

The hero is cornered by a dragon and...

Now continue that sentence, it may seem dumb or stupid but just keep going.

The hero is cornered by a dragon and...the dragon eats him. No that won't work, he's the hero. I don't know what he does. Maybe he finds a rock at his feet and throws it at the dragon and hits it in the eye. Now we have a mad dragon. Ok bad idea. Wait didn't we have a throwing knife in our sock. Ok throw that at the dragon. A hit, right in his other eye. Now run for it doofus...

That's the kind of thing you might expect to get, or you may not. Everyone is different. The point is, just write. It doesn't matter what, but using your problem as a kickoff point may even provide you a solution.

Here are a few sites to get you started.
http://www.writingfix.com/index.htm
http://www.writersdigest.com/WritingPrompts
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily-writing-prompts/

Haiku Challenge: Three line story

I was talking with my writing partner via IM and he spit out three lines that I remarked was a complete story.

You cannot change the future!
It is already set in...oh look a penny.
*gets hit by bus*

His response was "for a real challenge, haiku three line story". So we did. Here are my two.

Power flickers on.
Then an explosion happens.
Everybody dies.

Cars speed round the track.
One man makes a daring pass.
Takes the checkered flag.

And his two.

The man does not know
his father is still alive,
and always watching.

The ninja strikes fast.
Throwing shuriken at me.
Shotgun beats ninja.

Growing word count

Work on the novel continues. For those who don't know I started a novel back in November for NaNoWriMo, and I actually won NaNo. The novel was called "Dragon Rider", but I think I'm going to change the name to "Dreaming of Dragons". I'm up over 76 thousand words and just finished one of my favorite chapters. I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for a while. I don't know if it will be critical to the story or not yet, but I had to include it. It's been gnawing at the back of my mind for a while because I came up with it a while ago but had to wait until I got to that part of the story to write it. I hope to be able to post some short stories on here soon.

Greetings

Greetings. My name is Ian and I recently discovered writing. I participated in my first NaNoWriMo in November 2009 and I am proud to say that I won! I had a friend participate with me, he won as well. Having a writing partner is a great thing. Having someone to bounce ideas off of, or complain about what my character just did and without my consent, or to share my little nuggets of brilliance (at least I think so) with made NaNoWriMo survivable. I don't think I could have done it alone. Thanks Boodah. If you have ever wondered if you could write a novel, why not try it. You would be amazed what a tight deadline will do for your wordcount. If you don't know how to begin then check out The Snowflake Guy at AdvancedFictionWriting.com his Snowflake Method is what made me think that I might actually be able to write a novel.