How I Write: Part 4

Great Battle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, I need to post something for today, and the only thing I can think of right now are more writing exercises.

I just bum-rushed the last 3 episodes of ‘Vikings’ on History Channel to catch up, and I’m now listening to Amon Amarth, and I’m more eager for epic battle or at least writing about it, but instead, I will be posting to you… so, to make up for it, ‘How I Write: Epic Battles!’ shall be woven into this glorious thing. This is mildly also fueled by a writer friend of mine, Catrina Taylor (author of the ‘Xarrok’ series that you should be reading), who asked the question of defining “epic” for a blog entry of her own. My answer used epic battle as an example and now my mind is on the glory of epic battle!

A true epic battle by my concept of what make it truly epic, is a battle that is as grand scale that any battle can be. If you can think of something that could be in that battle but isn’t in that battle, then by the gods, put that thing in there and let it scream to the heavens ‘til they rain down blood! In most stories, the climatic battle is the usually an epic battle, but not all epic battles are the climatic battle—also, squares are rectangles, but rectangles are not always squares… just sayin’…

Battle a (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I consider battle scenes to be commonly the most challenging things to write, but yet, I also find myself needing to write them often (my stories are very violent). The more going on in the battle, the greater the challenge. All those images of sword clashing, arrows flying, fists smashing, and fire spew blazing in and unending pan of fast paced chaos have to all be crammed into a little box we call “written word.”

The choice for an epic battle will actually come early in the planning of your story (even considering how little planning I usually do). The reason for this, for me, is that if I really need to have it truly, truly huge, then I need the story to have more POVs (point of views). ‘Ravenblood,’ for example, will have a few different POVs entirely for the battle I have planned for the second book (there will be fighting in the first, but I got so much fighting in the second… so much battle—but still, keep in mind the early planning bit… this is planning for a whole book later just to make sure the battle can happen at the scale that I need it to). Think about ‘Lord of the Rings’ (movies for now, I’m trying to get you to see visual scale clearer). They had at least one epic battle in each, trying to out-do the last, and for all of them, they kept jumping between POVs everyone fighting. ‘Avengers’ in the final battle did the same thing… one moment we’re in Thor smashing aliens, next we’re in Hulk smashing aliens, next we’re in Captain America… also pretty much smashing aliens… at some point a really big alien was being smash also.

The Battle of Helm’s Deep in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Don’t get me wrong, it can be done with only one POV also, but may the gods have mercy on you for trying it… ‘cause now you have to figure out how to have a whole lot of stuff happen to one guy, all in one battle, and make his survival make complete sense—completely doable, but never very simple. The end-battle in ‘Natural Selection: Elimination’ is probably the best I’ve done with it, but even now, every time I re-read it, I wonder if I could have put more in somehow (I’m sure if I had more time with it, I could have, but having time wasn’t really the point of the exercise—I had to Iron Chef that shit… make a crazy ass feast with the ingredients that were thrown at me in very little time… because you can make ice-cream out of any-damn-thing!).

The main focus, no matter the number of POVs will always be to make as much happen as you can possibly make happen. Everything.

Now… exercise… for… that… hold on… I got something… um… wait… no… ok… maybe…:

You stand in the middle of a field… you are surrounded. Who/what are they? Why are they coming for you?

Are you standing alone? If yes, why? If no, who’s with you and why?

What is your weapon—sword, ax, guns, magic, and/or fists? Same for everyone else with and/or against you, what do they have?

What comes at you first? What do you do in response? What next? Keep going…

Next time I’m going to try to talk more about my point of view on POVs in general, since this kinda will spur some thought on that (and if anyone knows anything about the writing world, this is an unending debate on how POV should be handled).

And Bonus exercise I think some of you really should try. This will be a team effort, so find a writing friend, I want you to try playing your own Flash Round with them (for you lonely types, you can just play on here with me if you like—it’s ok, I’ll be your friend). This exercise will probably frustrate the crap out of many of you because each round will not go quite in the direction you planned… there’s a double lesson learned in that: one, you will work on your ability to create in any given direction, and two, you will be inspired to write your own story in order to subdue that pain caused by someone going a different direction… and look, you’re writing.

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Iron Man 3

The Mark III armor as featured in the 2008 film Iron Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t know how much detail I can really put into this review compared to any of the others I’ve done because there was seriously so much stuff happening in this movie I probably missed half of it from blinking. But I’ll do my best to cover what I can.

We start off the movie in a flashback on New Years Eve 1999, where Stark is still his old self. Avoiding spoiler, we’ll simply say that pretty much everything that’s happening is crucial to the plot… except for maybe the Y2K joke.

Bringing it back to the now, Stark is working on another design for an Iron Man armor that allows him to will the armor to him with implants that he just injected into himself (not Extremis, but for those that know that arc, you should really keep that in mind). All the while we are introduced by news that there is a terrorist going around blowing stuff up known as the Mandarin, which then leads us to the president introducing the new War Machine model now known as the Iron Patriot (not Norman Osborn, it’s still Rhodey, just with a name that they deemed better for PR).

Meanwhile, back at Stark Industries, Pepper and Happy are trying to get things running as usual when Pepper gets an unexpected visit from the guy in the flashback, Aldrich Killian, which shows her a project that he’s working on call… Extremis (told you to keep it in mind—over all, this is somewhat of an odd remix of the Extremis arc). After Killian shows off his stuff, Happy finds him suspicious and follows him.

We move back to Pepper returning to the Stark house and being introduced to another new armor that Stark is “breaking in,” she assumes to be about Mk15, but is actually Mk42, which all becomes a reveal that Tony is dealing with PTSD from events that occurred back in New York in ‘the Avengers” (this is really about the only detail that seems to be even hinted about the other movies—if there was anything else, I missed it—oh, and sorry, there was only the most vague slight hint to Stark having a drinking problem… that was as close as Disney would allow it).

Back to Happy, things happen, boom. Mandarin takes credit, Stark threatens a terrorist. And now we bring the other person from the flashback in, and before we even know why she’s there, said threatened terrorist blows shit up, which gives Pepper her first moment to be a bit badass.

After huge sequence of shit blowing up, Stark is assumed dead, and we end up in Tennessee with a busted up armor. This leads us to the investigation of a boom that happened here similar to Happy’s boom, and as soon as you think shit is slowing down, shit starts blowing up again. Lot’s of blowing shit up going on in this movie—honestly, through this whole thing, I kept trying to figure out at what point Robert Downey, Jr might have gotten injured that caused a slight delay in production, and well, I stopped trying pretty early in… I couldn’t tell where he was using stunt doubles verses doing his own stunts, and there was so much going on that could have caused some injuries to happen.

Meanwhile, Iron Patriot is hunting down the Mandarin in all the wrong places and stumbles upon a trap that leads to his capture.

Back to Stark, the armor is on a slow charge and he has to MacGyver some stuff while he waits and starts to infiltrate the Mandarin’s hideout. Zapping, booming, and zapping happen, and Mandarin, stuff happens, Stark is captured.

Back to Rhodey still in the Iron Patriot, they eventually pry him out, Rhodey proves he’s pretty badass without the armor (best part about this movie is that all the characters that didn’t really get a chance to be badass in the other two, really get their chance here).

Then chase and rescuing of everyone, and final battle comes with the entire hall of armor out at once. The End (as close as I want to get to it without giving away every twist).

Stay ‘til end of credits (those that don’t already know this shouldn’t even be watching Marvel movies anymore). Final message is that “Tony Stark will be back”… I assume this is in response to the rumors that have been going around that Robert Downey, Jr was done with Iron Man, and no one knew if he was at least going to do the next Avengers movie or not… so, I guess that was telling us we have at least that… I think… or it’s saying they’re recast Tony Stark, but at least Stark is still a thing… I don’t know.

I heard rumors that there were supposed to be references to future Marvel movies in this one—references to Nova, and Ant-man—if these references ever made an appearance they were among the things that happened when I blinked, and I missed them.

Ok… rating, 4 out of 5, and I probably would have given it a straight 5 if it wasn’t for the internet filling me with so much stuff about the movie ahead of time, such as Disney axing Stark’s drinking problem (the writers wanted to mix in ‘Demon in a Bottle,’ but Disney drew the line on darkness there), I probably would have let it go easier if I never knew about it (internet ruins everything).

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I’ve been busy…

I’ve been on vacation from the day job this week. For those who bother to care, you noticed I skipped my blog for the week… that wasn’t entirely on purpose. I’ve been busy working on ‘Stiym’ as much as I can (plus a wedding, and getting drunk with southern family members, etc), and next thing I know, it’s Thursday now. So… yea…

On that… i actually have nothing in mind to post on right now… i do have more exercises in mind later, but i’m bum-rushing this entry as it is, so, that will have to wait. For some time in the future though, I will be shitting out some reviews for you people that like to bitch about things they saw, then go around the net and find other people that bitch like you. I haven’t work on any new recipes lately, but I will get around to something… if anyone has any suggestions for stuff they want me to try doing, feel free to share…

So… blah’blah’blah… i wrote a blog this week… yay me… get back to work…

How I Write: Part 3

I think I put this off long enough… or have I…?

Ok, I have… fine. Those that read my Images in Your Head post are probably wondering about how that “study” has progressed. Well, incidentally, I plugged it through Reddit, mostly to test the usefulness of Reddit for a friend, and after 2 years of finding that most people are the 2/3 and only couple some-of-somewhat-vaguely 1/3, I have discovered that all the actually fully 1/3 seem to be on Reddit… I’m not really sure what that means for Reddit, but shit, I got a lot of hits from there.

What does this have to do with the exercises? I originally re-posted that bit to try to figure out the non-visual types better because I wasn’t sure how my exercises would work for them. Now… I am still rather less than completely sure, but far as I can tell, they actually might not. But, as stated at the start of all this, “this isn’t the definitive guide to how everyone does or should write a story, this is only me doing the best I can  to tell you how I write a story,”  so the best I can do, is give you the exercises that I do to write a story as such. But, for you non-visuals out there, if this doesn’t help you in the least, do not feel discouraged from writing if that is really what you want to do with your life—remember that the existence of you people was brought to my attention largely by a pair of writers. I have yet to meet CE Murphy, however I have had the chance to meet Faith Hunter via conventions and FB, and have had at least enough random conversation talk with her to tell you that she would be willing to help you if you only ask (and possibly bribe her with cake).

And for those really curious about the results from my “1/3 search”, I may try to put together a follow-up at some point, possibly containing a mini-interview with Faith if I can get our free-time to be in existence at the same time.

I know, I know… shut-up… gees…

The exercises…

To find inspiration… so many ways… Take in stories from everywhere: books, TV, movies, music, people watching—lots of all of it.

As an exercise, go to a mall with notebook and pen in hand (I upgraded to a smartphone for the sake of making it easier to follow the most important rule of writers: always carry a notebook and pen). About mid-way in the mall, there is usually a bench, no matter which entry a person comes in, they will more than likely pass that point… sit there. Relax, and just sit and watch… take in everything… if you want you can add the music element (give the watching a soundtrack). If you’re in school, even easier… you’re surrounded by so many people of so many sorts… look at all those different people… dear god, you have a full cast of character sitting before you… the awkward, the popular, the jock… introverts and extroverts of all scales, shapes and sizes.

Go to this school/mall/public place where you can sit in the background…

• pick one person… anyone… they’re your main character now. Give them a name… give them a history… don’t even worry about the story forward yet, just tell me about that one person’s life… who are they.
• Now… pick another person… anyone… another character… how does that person’s life tie to the first? Are they friends, enemies… the person that passes up the first every day at school and doesn’t know they exist? Why?

Do this… do this often… on paper, in your head, doesn’t matter… just keep doing it until you’re doing it without even thinking about it anymore. Remember… it’s all wax-on/wax-off one moment, and beating a guy to death the next… now get waxing.

Another exercise along similar lines—remember that music mentioned before? Yea, did you try it with the people watching? Did it help? What if you can’t get out of your house for whatever reason, but the music is still there? Well… I’m presently listening to Volbeat’s new album ‘Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies’ on Spotify, and I’m finding myself needing to fight back the demons of inspiration screaming to work on ‘Natural Selection,’ but I say, “Fuck you, demons, I have to finish ‘Stiym’! Shut-up-shut-up-shut-up!” (Don’t worry, insanity just means you’re a writer now—and I will be doing more with ‘Natural Selection’ eventually, it’s unavoidable at this point, but I have to finish ‘Stiym’ first). As I was saying, get hold of an album by whatever means you do that these days… I won’t ask questions. Doesn’t really matter what you pick… well, let’s lean more towards lyric heavy music for now, but styles otherwise doesn’t matter for now. Listen to those songs, so many metaphors… but of course, you know that metaphor is actually about drugs… and that one is just sex… and I’m pretty sure that one is just something he looked up in a rhyming dictionary and hoped no one asked. Listen again, instead of translating the metaphors to what was probably intended, make them more literal… the dragon is now a dragon. I wrote a few different songs drawn from Pantera’s ‘Far Beyond Driven’… ‘Syn: Eternal’ was started with no more than the randomly yelled line “head-butts of broken glass!”… and at least one story can be considered completely original since I later found out I had almost all the lyrics wrong… good times. Simple task… listen to the lyrics… take in each word, create a story with them, try to apply this to the people watching later even.

Ok, last exercise for now… close your eyes… well, not now… finish read this first… then, close your eyes:

• You’re sitting on the ground, you feel the grass below you, and you smell it all around you. Somewhere there is a stream babbling in the distance… to your left someone says something to you… Who are they? What do they say?
• The person leaves your side, you see them walking in front of you, they’re about to leave your view… How does this make you feel? Should you follow them—should you stay—why?

As I once told someone that greatly inspired my decision to try write this how-to, a lot of story writing is mostly just you coming up with a vague idea, and then after that idea is written out, and you now have to figure out where to go, it will just be you asking questions. The more you do the people watching and the music listening, etc, the less this question asking will be conscious… it will just be you beating a guy to death.

(…to be continued…)

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Pimpin’!: 1.5

I may at some point just go ahead and make a section for pimping stuff since this seems to be a thing at least two posts deep now, but for now, here we go…

Remember that Cathrine Stovall chick I told you about last time:

Now there’s Cathrine Stovall, who already has a pretty good growing fan-base, so I’m probably just being redundant in pimping her at all, but it’s happening anyway:

http://catherinestovall.webs.com/

You like vampire stories, but don’t like hearing about 200-year-old dudes trying to get in the pants of high-school girls and not being arrested for it? Then you need to look into Cathrine’s ‘Requiem for Humanity’ series: http://www.amazon.com/Catherine-Stovall/e/B005LET560/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Well, fuck… she went and came out with yet another in the series that bitch-slaps sparkly vampires that you need in you:

Description:

Jenda and Soborgne are best friends and everything they do, they do together. Unfortunately, this time the girls may be joined at the hip in a far more horrible way: by death.The girls are kidnapped and held captive by Belle and Matteo, two vampires with a plan. Belle, a sociopath in life and death, is searching for an heir to her reign as the only vampire to hold the secret to surviving the sun. Matteo is a lost soul who would give anything to be loved and to see the light of day. As the four characters’ worlds collide, blood is spilled, lives are lost, and rules are broken.Disappointment in love and life bring out the worst in humans but, with vampires, it leads to a chilling tale of romance and terror.

Excerpt:
Jenda’s eyes were unfocused from the quick change of light and still blurry from tears. She ran the back of her hand over her eyes to clear her vision; she blinked furiously from the sting of salt and sand. As she opened her eyes, his presence suddenly filled all her senses.The intruder stood inches from her, his black eyes boring into her as if the entire world depended on this very moment in time. He stood almost a full foot taller than Jenda. His broad shoulders tapered down to a trim waist. He appeared to be well muscled but not overly large. He was almost handsome except that his presence sent tremors of pure undiluted terror screaming to every brain cell and nerve ending inside her. All of her senses told her to wake up, to run, and to escape as quickly as she could.Jenda did not turn or run. She stood her ground, focused on the object that the intruder stood holding between his thumb and forefinger. There in his large pale hand hung a crystal from her tree. Her mind went wild with the outrage she felt at the idea of this invader, this intruder touching something so personal to her.Jenda seethed. Before she could stop herself, she reached to rip the trinket away. As she grasped the crystal, she saw the purple light begin to fill it. She gasped and then his hand closed around her tiny wrist. The cold shock of steely flesh sent shivers through her. She paused, thrown off guard by the sensation of having her entire hand plunged into ice. Then her heart skittered and she felt as if the world were spinning too fast and that she may fall. Trying to pull away from that frozen iron grasp, Jenda felt terror and heard her mind scream for her to run before she died.

Pulling with all her might to free herself from his grip, Jenda looked up into the intruder’s face. The beauty of it surprised her even as he held her fighting, kicking, and screaming. His face seemed serene and his mouth no longer held the sardonic smile. His lips were full and sensuous. There was not a single line or crease in his translucent skin. He showed no irritation or ill will despite Jenda’s ongoing struggle to escape. He would have been Orlando Bloom hot if it were not for the fact that his eyes looked like two giant glass buttons. The difference between pupil and iris was so slight there was almost no end to the blackness. There was only the tightness of the flesh around his eyes and mouth that showed there was any sort of physical exertion on his part.

Then in a moment of pure horror, the intruder smiled. It was not the sardonic smirk from before. It was a large predatory showing of teeth. In a fit of hysteria, Jenda thought of how much he reminded her of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. A high-pitched frenzied laugh escaped Jenda’s mouth and echoed into the silence of the canyon. It was the kind of laugh you only heard in the movies or in real asylums.

Almost as soon as the thought of the cat crossed Jenda’s mind and before the echo of her laugh faded eerily in the silence, the intruder chuckled. The sound of that dry mocking noise nearly put Jenda over the edge. No, he was not the Cheshire Cat. This was the big bad wolf in all his menacing glory and she was his for the taking.

I want you to go to her site and buy that stuff:

You have it at the Amazon on the Kinde: http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Requiem-Humanity-Book-One/dp/1470146983/ref=la_B005LET560_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366300546&sr=1-1

You have it at the CreateSpace on the whatever the hell that is: https://www.createspace.com/3810629

And you even have it at the UntreedReads on the every damn thing: http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_7_46_65&products_id=202

As an added mission to your buying quest, I also place upon you the glory to go out into the world and pimp this tome to the masses. If you could be so kind, please share the pic below where ever book pimping is not a burden, and even print out the pic and plaster the towns with it:

I thank you all in advance… because I know you’ll all be too busy for me to thank you later… ‘cause… you know… you’ll be out pimping the book… now get the fuck out there!

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“Why do we fall?”

Many of us are still in shock from the attacks in Boston yesterday. It has been putting many things through many peoples’ heads, and leaving them very dazed and confused with large cauldrons of emotions as a result.

Those who are not from the US who don’t get why this is such a huge impact when there’s so much still going on in actual war-zones, well… I’m sorry, but please stop being a cliché. People care about your tragedies, too, but they will always care more about their own, this isn’t because they’re heartless for yours anymore than it means you’re heartless for theirs (yes, I realize, you care more than you state, and your words come from your own personal pain—you’re human, we all have the same flaws).

That said, as best I can say it, I am someone that has learned from all the past events that I have to be able to find a path to move forward from things. I’m too easily sucked in, and weighed down by the pain of the world if I let it. So now, as a writer, I must simply use it to fuel me. For anyone that reads my blog who are writers or people trying to find their way as writers (but have yet to work up the courage to claim the title), I encourage you to do the same… take out your notebook, open up your MS-Word, and start writing on the pain—let those who tried to break us know what we’re really made of.

Also, please everyone do what you can to help those who are in need from this tragedy, and, yes, all those others that have been going on around the world who still need everyone’s help. Do what you can to stay informed, give to Red Cross, and other organizations… just do everything you can.

From: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/04/boston-marathon-victims-how-to-help-find-information/

Boston Marathon Victims: How to Help, Find Information

By ABC News

Apr 15, 2013 9:57pm

Credit: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Two bombs exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line today, an area that was crowded with runners and spectators, leaving at least three people dead and 130 injured, several of them children.

As the story develops, here are a few resources to help people reconnect with loved ones, find their personal belongings or lend a helping hand to those in need.

Keep in mind that cell phone service has been spotty today in the Boston area, because of high volume.

FINDING LOVED ONES:

Boston Police Help Line: Family members looking for information about individuals injured during the incident are encouraged to call (617) 635-4500.

Boston Marathon Athlete Tracker: This section of the marathon’s official website lets users track runners by name or bib number to find out if he or she finished the race and when.  Visit the website HERE

Google Person Finder’s Boston Marathon Page: Google’s Person Finder launched a page specifically for the Boston Marathon tragedy that lets users look up information to either find someone or offer information about someone. Visit the website HERE

Let your friends & family know you’re OK or locate your loved ones w/ Person Finder for the Boston explosions: goo.gl/jkH6H

— A Googler (@google) April 15, 2013

The American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts: This branch of the Red Cross has opened a disaster operation center to help families locate loved ones who were at the Boston Marathon.

Let friends/family know you’re safe! redcross.org/find-help/cont… Boston Marathon#BostonMarathon#BostonMarathon2013#marathon#prayforBoston

— RedCrossEasternMA (@RedCrossEastMA) April 15, 2013

RESOURCES FOR MARATHON VICTIMS:

Boston Marathon’s Official Facebook Page: Marathon officials have been regularly updating their Facebook page with the latest information, including where runners can pick up their running bags. Visit the Facebook page HERE

American Red Cross’s Safe and Well website: This allows people to register their status with the Red Cross so family members can search for them. Visit the website HERE

Strangers Offering Housing to Marathon Victims: Marathon participants or spectators who are stranded in the Boston area and need a place to stay can fill out THIS FORM to connect with people who are offering housing.

WHERE TO SUBMIT INFORMATION:

Boston Police Tip Line: Anyone with information about the incident at the Boston Marathon is encouraged to call the Boston Police Department’s tip line: 1-800-494-TIPS or call the department’s task force tip line at 617-223-6610 or email boston@ci.fbi.gov

Community members wanting 2 help this investigation can call 1(800) CALL-FBI or the BPD’s Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS.

Community members wanting 2 help this investigation can call 1(800) CALL-FBI or the BPD’s Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS.

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Images in Your Head

Deutsch: Zentrale Heterochromie: Grüne Iris, um die Pupille herum jedoch ein braun-gelber Ring (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ok, this is a copy/paste of a FB Note I wrote a couple years ago, but the direction of my ‘How I Write’ posts brought be back to thinking about this—more so since the writing exercises I’m trying to come up with, as far as I can figure out from my perspective, revolve greatly around visual thinking—I think—I can’t really tell, because of the simple fact that I really don’t understand how non-visual thinkers actually think at all.

Ok, this is a question that I have for all authors and pretty much everyone else as well (I only say authors at all because the question pretty much started there, but I really want thoughts from all the other brand and breed of people I have residing in my FB Land).

Ok, while reading a chapter from the book ‘How to Write Magical Words: a Writer’s Companion’ (which falls under being the only how-to book on writing that I would pass along to others—as opposed to others which normally make great paper-weights… not because they’re useless, so much, but because they tend to be written with so much info overload that by the time you actually finish processing it all, you’re on your deathbed and completely missed your chance to write a book–basically, this is written in a way that’s easier to process and still have time write with its advice). Under the chapter ‘Visualizing the Story,’ written by CE Murphy, she reveals that she does not see pictures in her head when reading, listening to music, etc. and that it baffles her that others do. Now, this baffled me close to my brain exploding.

A similar confusion came to me while watching the HBO movie ‘Temple Grandin’—about the title character who is a high functioning autistic—basically a doctor asks her about the way she remembers things, asking if she actually sees everything in her head, and her response was pretty much quoting what was going through my head at the time, “don’t you?”

I’ve always been able to see absolutely everything in my head. When I do math, I see it in my head, when I type, I can see where my fingers are without looking, etc. I say I have photographic memory because I actually see all my memories photographically… all of them. Now, over the years, I’ve come to believe that the level that I do this at is simply higher than other people, but at no point has it ever fully occurred to me that some people actually can’t visualize like this at all.

In this chapter, author Faith Hunter also confesses to being among the metal-visually impaired, and Murphy even mentions that her father, who was apparently a teacher, knew nothing of this visualizing thing and wished he did (as he would have completely changed the way he taught–and mentioning this also made me suddenly understand some of my teachers that I usually ended up ignoring and going off on my own instead, and why none of them seemed to understand how I did things like math). Further, Murphy throws in a statistic that says 2/3 of people see pictures… so the question I have for you all is, which of you are the 2/3, and which are the remaining 1/3? And for you 1/3, I really, really need to know, how do you function? I mean, how to you read, do math, listen to music, get into a movie, how do you remember what happened two seconds ago, etc?

Oh, and I also need to know because when I get done with Ravenblood, you 1/3 can’t be beta-readers, the whole magic system wont make sense to you at all, apparently.

So, my entry with the exercises may be delayed depending on speed of responses, because I really would like to find one of you 1/3 to try to get an idea of what the world looks like to you (as much as possible, anyway).

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