Stories (70/0)
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 6 - Character Design and Conspiracy
No warm up today! I’m jumping right into the novel! Okay, so already I’m seeing that I need to work on character dynamics. Do you ever read your first draft dialogue or a section of dialogue that never got to meet an editor and realize how unnatural and awkward it is? Or sometimes the dialogue is really cliche and the energy between the two characters becomes muted; the statements sound forced and out of character. This is why I really like studying personality types. I do a mixture of astrology and the MBTI when I design my characters and breaking down how they express themselves, develop their motives, who they are friends/enemies with, and so much freaking more. Another thing I do is pay attention to the dialogue and acting when I’m watching a show and think about how characterization comes to life through their speech, mannerisms, and facial or bodily expressions since those are descriptors necessary for fiction. Combine that with context and you get a solid, believable scene.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 5 - Studying Karma as a Writer
Warm Up: I started with blogging about karmic patterns and then moved on to reading about karma itself just to make sure I really understood what it generally meant. This quote from Brittanica caught my eye:
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 4 - Flowing in Circles
Warm Up: Published an old, melancholy poem from my journal today called “A Plea to Death”. I really like it. It’s Poe-esque. Yay consonance. I did my best to pay attention to the metre/meter since I made each stanza into a limerick (which is kind of unintentional). Limericks are usually happy or funny so maybe that was a weird choice. Oh well. That happened. I hope that eventually I get over the nervousness in my stomach that bubbles up every time I post a new piece. I know it’s nerves, but it’s still awful. Insecurity sucks.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 3 - Kill Your Darlings (or torture them)
Today, I’m a bit off due to a weird night, which means I gotta be real with myself and take it easy without slacking off. When I’m like this, I head to YouTube and look for great videos that discuss or critique storytelling. I keeping getting “How Bojack Horseman Subverts Narrative” recommended to me so I watch it.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 2 - Don’t Be Perfect or Lazy
Warm Up: I published a poem called “Winged” earlier. I don’t know why my stomach is churning. It’s almost nausea, but it’s not sickness. I know it’s nerves, but it’s quite uncomfortable. So referring to the first entry… yeah I have a difficult time posting any kind of work as is sometimes. I don’t mind critiques or anything, but there’s something different about, this… You know what my problem is? Everything has to be a project. Everything I do has to be ridiculously complicated so it feels “wrong” that I did something simple, like publishing an expressive poem online rather than adding it to an elaborate collection of poetry that is carefully planned. See, I’m glad this happened because this is exactly the kind of thing that holds me back from actually developing my career. I make it incredibly hard and set these crazy high standards for myself so I’m forever lost in a limbo of neither success or failure. How ridiculous! I don’t mind putting in the work I need to do, but I really need to knock off the perfectionism nonsense. It’s a creativity killer.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Journal
The Violet Project Diaries - Entry 1
My scattered brain has buried me into new projects time and time again. I initially started a blog to keep track of my own progress and it did help me get the first draft done. Now here I am with the second draft, swaying back and forth between that and any other new project that pops into my head. It’s aggravating realizing only now that this was a strange procrastination technique masquerading as productive career building.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Journal
Prose of The Magician
Swaying between the fine line of arrogance and confidence, destruction and creation. That place of transformation many dare not to step. They’ve been taught to quiver at other powers, staying grounded as the boom of the gods shake the world. When that boom rattled your bones, however, you were not shaken. You resonate with the thunder as if it were a destined call. Rather than keep your head to the ground, you stare down the heavens with a finger pointing at the cosmos and another to the underworld.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Poets
Elemental Magic - Fire
Fire introduced himself as the fuel for survival and a slow killer. I thought thinking of his slow burns made my teeth chatter not realizing the cold surrounding was the chill of fear. I admired his trickster ways and wanted to learn from him, while I hid in the cold without knowing why.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Poets
Symbolic Monsters of Legend - Vampires
Horror enthusiasts will always respect vampires and their everlasting presence throughout history. They've spread terror since the origins of Mesopotamian and Jewish folklore and were depicted in so many different ways, their beliefs about them overlapped and spread throughout the world. We commonly know vampire tales to be most prominent in many parts of Europe, but their legend is global and their archetype is littered throughout literature to this day. Let's look into a brief history of the vampire and explore their symbolism. Then, I'll propose another interpretation of vampires.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Horror
Letting Go to Hold On
The above video by YouTube channel Einzelgänger is about the Taoist perspective on letting go. Being in a flow state is mentioned many times throughout Taoist teachings and it's something I struggle with. There's a part in the video discussing how an archer who is fixated on a material prize will not shoot as well as he truly can because the focus is on the future rather than the present. As a future thinker myself, that really hit me.
By Kris Leliel4 years ago in Motivation