Tuesday 27 May 2008

Stuff

Hey everyone, not too much going on in my life at the moment, it's all a bit slow and boring, but what I HAVE done is started to re-write the intro to the novel, and here it is (so far)!

Many years had passed since Maldavin’s now soulless body had been buried to slowly rot away and became a part of the earth. The knowledge of Maldavin, like his existence, slowly disappeared from the memories of everyone in the country. Almost everyone, that is. It was only kept alive by a distant family connection, handed down by numerous generations like a ritual to a nameless God. Now, the person it had been handed down to was a 16 year old boy named Chris Key. A bright young man who had notorious intelligence that could take him far, but was never really interested in anything long enough to take it further than a few weeks of interest before getting bored and moving on to something else. However, learning that he was connected to an ancient and mysterious sorcerer made him believe without question that he was chosen to be something more than a normal person; his life would mean more, and perhaps Maldavin would help him achieve that. When he was fourteen, Chris discovered Buddhism and slowly began to change from an ordinary teenager into a misunderstood odd ball. Once popular, now unwanted, Chris went about his daily routine regardless – knowing that those who respected his chosen way of life were the ones that were worth holding on to, and the rest were but shadows in the night.
Saturday July 14th, Chris did his usual; woke up at 6am, slipped into his meditation robes and tip-toed barefoot across the cool yellow stepping stones that dotted their way over the back garden. At the end of the grass was a larger rectangular slab made of the same stone but about a metre across and half a metre in depth, to where it halted flush with the end of the grass, dropping off a few feet to a shallow level of chalky pebbles before the thin black metal fence that lead out onto the great rolling hills that spanned as far as the eye could see. The soft morning breeze laid a gentle sweeping kiss across his face and he fell into his semi conscious state of awareness; awaiting the wisdom that sought him out every morning.
His slow drift from reality was interrupted to the firm touch of a palm on his left shoulder. He jolted round to see a close companion of his peering down on him bearing a great smile, it was Kris. Although his friend knew all too well of his devotion to his early morning acts, Chris was always embarrassed for anyone to see him practising it. Blushing he jumped to his feet and attempted to appear not concerned by his blonde friend’s presence
“Hey” he beamed
“Alright mate”
There was a short silence; neither quite knew how to react to this current discomforting situation.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you, it’s just...”
“What?”
“I need some help” Kris said, now looking at the ground, he never was one to admit weakness
“What with?”
Kris fumbled over the decision on how to word it, he had thought about how to pronounce his desire a hundred times on his journey to this very spot but it all seemed to sound silly now.
“Last night in my lesson, my fencing teacher told me that I need to find inner peace so I can focus on my ability.” Chris peered at him unconvinced at this sudden interest in his activities. Kris continued, “Bob thinks I’m too aggressive, and considering you come out here and meditate every morning, I thought I could ask for some advice”

More to come soon, let me know what you think!!

Thursday 22 May 2008

Tonight

So me and Katie broke up. Tough decision but it's one I felt was right to make. This summer I'm going to focus on changing myself as a person - ive become a bit of a shut in and I don't like it. So I'm going to get fit, go out more, be more sociable (with whoever is going to be in Stoke!) and just more of the person I used to be back when I was 16 - 18. Plop. Everyone is welcome to come visit over summer, I'd love to see anyone and everyone! There's always a footon you can stay on :)

Harry, I'm going to be redrafting the novel soon, but I'm not starting over, I'm just going to be focusing much more on WHO the characters are, as I have large gaps in those areas anyway and thus it's all good.

Safe

Wednesday 21 May 2008

Big update again kids!!

With the recent decisions and events involving my book and the extensions to the narrative, it looks innevitable that we'll soon be seeing my book as 2! That's right, I think i'll split the book into two, or possibly even three! We'll see how it goes, but for now I think i'll keep the prediction at 2 books, and i'm gunna be changing the name aswell. This is where you come in!! If you've got an idea or a suggestion of any kind then bring it forward! Any words or sentances or cool ideas are welcome. The fact that its 2 books is key, as i'll have to have a running series name (like The Lord of the Rings etc)

So here are some of the basic words for the story's theme:

Courage
War
Fight
Battle
Love
Four best friends
Knowledge
Unity
Teenagers
etc

email ideas to reno_is@hotmail.co.uk


sweeeeeeeet

Monday 19 May 2008

Big novel update!!!

It's hard to write things like this without giving away too much but I'm gunna give it my best shot! Okay, so I made an executive decision today to change the story in a rather major way. I have decided to make something that the main characters are fighting for fall to the enemy, completely fooked and lost. It's quite key, as this is the main theme for the whole book, and its meant to be kinda shocking. Anyway, yeah, its gunna fall, and then there'll be silence. More character development and then a huuuuuuuuge load more of fighting :D
Originally there was guna be one big battle, but now theres gunna be countless fights - a proper war. It means my story is probs guna be twice as long as I'd originally thought (targetting about 40,000 words - currently at 30,140 words) so it's guna be pretty fuckin long :P
Also going to make some new characters soon, should be fun to make a few outside influences on our main protagonists, stir stuff up a bit!!

Anyway, thats about all I guess, more updates coming soon!

Reno

Sunday 18 May 2008

Reno's life update - May 18th

Okay so recently my life has somewhat slowed down of late, and after looking up some of the ways ive been feeling recently on wikipedia, i was a little concerened that I was starting to face depression - worrying stuff. HOWEVER! I want to thank my Mum and her magical book which she gave me last year. I read some stuff for just twenty minutes and I already feel on top of the world. Happiness was always there waiting for me, I just wasn't listening! There's so much hardship facing the world at the moment (particularly in the direction of China) and I'm so lucky for what I've got, and yet I'm sat here feeling sorry for myself? It's not right. After reading my book, I came to a stark realisation, LIFE IS GREAT!!!

Sorry if I've been weird with you lately but I promise it's gunna change, this summer is going to be the dawn of a whole new Reno/Kris, you'll see a lot of change in me as a person and how reliable I am etc. Bare with me, it's going to be a really good change!

I'm focusing on what I want from the world and the destiny that I know I can and WILL forfil; my book will be finished, I will complete uni, I will move to a fantastic new home next summer and then in the future I will live in Miami. I know I will, and therefore it has to happen.

Thank you for your continuing support and love, it's really appreciated :)

Kris/Reno x

Friday 16 May 2008

Closer to home: Tom's story part 1

Hey, I'm Tom. You could call me your average kid I guess; 13 years old, quite intelligent, i hate school, I like bike riding and music. I know what you're thinking, you were expecting me to say I enjoy spending time with friends in that section, everyone seems to say that, but I dont. See, I've always had a problem with my friends, with trust especially. I've always been pushed around and stabbed in the back, friends deserting friends for other 'friends' and all that. I know, I know, it's all just the way the world works, and how kids act, but I like to think of myself as more mature than that. Why bother falling out over stupid things like girls and who goes in goal for lunchtime football when I can just be on my own and focus on things that actually matter? See, I'm not that average really, I think far more ahead of myself than most others do. Okay, some people might be worried about high school and stuff coming up but I look further; what is my future? What is my destiny?
I've always had an obsession with destiny, "Don't do something tomorrow when it can be done today", that's my motto. The way I look at it, I don't want to put things off because the more I get done, the more I can learn and enjoy in the future. That's why I go for such long bike rides in the evenings, I love to go to the forest and explore. This has become a slight obsession of mine too, some of the stuff I've seen in those woods is amazing, and I don't mean amazingly large trees; i mean weird stuff. I could have killed myself once when I was trying to reach this weird thing I found! Basically it was in this large ditch near the side of the path, a load of the mud had fallen away during the storm from the previous night. I went over and in the small pit was something metallic sticking up through the gushing rain water, it was shiney and smooth, pointing out at a strange angle - resembling the top corner of something - though I've no idea what. The mud started to fall away beneath my feet so I ran back to my bike and carried on with my journey. By the next day it had dissapeared below mounds of slimy mud and I've never seen it since, I doubt I ever will, but I'll always look when I go past.
Though I love the idea of exploration, I doubt I'll ever go far from Maldessus (my home town), there's too much here for me to leave behind. I can't imagine the thought of being too far away from this place, even if it is boring a lot of the time and that chavs are really annoying...

Monday 12 May 2008

Closer to home: Chris' story part 1

"Son, there are some things in life that nobody understands. Sometimes, whoever is looking over us from the great beyond makes a decision that we cannot understand" Neil (his father) said to Chris - 5 years old, sat on the big leather arm chair which seemed to engulf him. He looked back at his father in slight bemusement. His beloved Dad, crouching infront of him, continued
"You see lad, there are phenomenon in this world that we cannot explain, and other actions of fate that are unable to fully get our grasp on the understanding of. Although they are different, we can always look to the skies for the signs that come adjoined to these great mysteries - the calling cards of a knowing fate, left behind for us to decypher and get a greater connection on the universe around us."

Most of this was going over his son's head, and he knew it, but it was important to tell his only child the secrets of his family. It would be a slow process that would have to be conducted over many years with slow additions to the tale like a series of books that spanned hundreds of thousands of words. No matter how long it took, Chris would know the truth, and would carry the tale of the great sorcerer Maldavin that had been passed down through blood and knowledge through countless generations, and now it was his turn to take these words and make them his own.

Realising the words were making no impact, Neil leaned forward and ruffled his son's corse black hair. He stood up and walked off in the direction of the kitchen on the other side of the house. The intruiged 5 year old snuck his way closer to the kitchen and hid near the door, listening in to the conversation his parents were having. Through the crack in the door he could see his Mother shuffling from one side of the kitchen to another while his father was stationary; leaning against a work counter.

"Imagine it Claire" his father said excitedly. His mother didn't respond "Our son could be the one!" she still didn't respond. Chris' mother, coming from the other side of the family, never had any interest in the old story of sorcerers and magic. At this point, all she cared about was finishing the cooking, so naturally her natural instinct was to take as little notice as possible

"Doesn't that excite you?!" he said louder. She stopped in the middle of the kitchen with a hot pan of brussel sprouts in her left hand, a pack of vegetable stock cubes in her right and a dissaproving look on her face.

"Neil, I've never really cared, to be honest. If you want to be excited then that's fine, but let me get on with what I need to do!" and she continued to shuffle her way through various cupboards and adding different spices to different cooking apparatus. Neil looked down in dissapointment

"One day, he'll be the strongest warrior this town has ever seen. You'll see" he said softly

This was the first time Chris saw a glimpse of the true future his Dad had planned out for him, and it scared him.

Sunday 11 May 2008

So it's been hot

And it's been clammy

Don't you just hate sweat? It's gotta be the most gross thing in the world. Perspiration, though its natural advantage and purpose is important, is disgusting. It smells, its wet and it never stops. Personally the sweatiest place for me is my armpits, and thus with that you get soggy armpit hair - another disgusting development of the human body. But there you go, we can thank God for that creation.

When I die (and if heaven exists) I'll ask God why such things exist, along with a number of other questions such as "Why are sexual organs so ugly?"
This question was raised the other day in a routine conversation with Saraww about general stuff (which is usually not very general really, it's very abstract actually) and the question raised was "Why are vaginas so flappy?!" and I think that this is a fair question, don't you? I reckon God thought "It's a fun area so I'll make a downside - its ugly as hell!!" Double-edged-sword God, I love it! That guy was/is smart.

Anyway back to the sweat, I hate it when I sweat on an occasion where there is no call for it. Like a cool February afternoon where I have just gone to hand in a piece of work or go to a lecture. It is neither hot or cold and I am not under any stress or strain that would cause perspiration and yet I seem to be giving certain parts of my t-shirt a free salt-water wash. I simply do't get it, or accept it!

This is me looking down on heat, but then there are huuuuge upsides. One of which is the fact that I can walk to the 24 hour shop at 1am in a wife-beater vest and shorts without feeling even the smallest bit cold. Summer nights are deffinately the best thing you can experience all year round; the heat of the day can sometimes be overpowering but the sun leaves a little forget-me-not of night time warmth in his absence until he returns gloriously to offer us blistering heat (and the possiblity of skin cancer) once more. Awesome.

Hellos

I've decided to start a proper blog now, my myspace one isn't very professional and I want to use this to bring across lots of little things!! Firstly I'll be reporting on my life over the coming months, then I'll be telling people about the progress of my novel and developments as they happen, as well as mini stories I'll be writing - some of which will have direct connections to my novel that introduce the characters - so you'll be getting an exclusive connection into their lives before you get to read it, which I hope you'll enjoy. I'll also be posting my "Fuck Society" blogs here, for those of you who don't know what this is, it's a regular rant of mine about something I don't agree with in 'mainstream' society which is a simple personal opinion based in a comedy field. I hope all of this will be of value to you and that you'll keep reading!!

Thanks :)