The Ideal Reader

I just read a book called On Writing, and it had an interesting concept I thought I'd talk about: The Ideal Reader.
The Ideal Reader is basically the person you write for.
In the book, the author's Ideal Reader was his wife - who always critiqued his books. When writes, he thinks about what scenes would make her laugh, and how she'd act to certain parts.
The nice thing about the Ideal Reader is that it gives you a specific goal. If you write with the sense of "how will the world react to this passage," you probably won't get a solid reaction. Everyone will react differently, both positively and negatively. For the Ideal Reader, you get a very definite answer for if something works or not, and what you might do to fix it.
And if you have a good Ideal Reader, then a lot of other people will also like the final result.

I don't know who my Ideal Reader would be. Perhaps I'll meet one. Or maybe I'll make one in my head.
This isn't something that I've tried out myself, but it sounds intriguing. I'm sure it won't work for everyone. But it certainly worked for this writer, and you can't argue with his success: Stephen King.

The Ones that Hurt the Most

A little while ago, I wrote a post about killing characters during a story.
And a few months ago, I made a list of the few romances I actually liked in fiction.
So this time I thought I'd make a list of the most painful deaths~
Yaay!
TT^TT

This is an abbreviated list. There are plenty of other dead characters that I don't want dead, but these hit hard.
This is in no particular order. Also, this goes without saying. Lots of spoilers.

Wolfs Rain: Well, yeah. Everyone dies here...
Les Miserables: Everyone dies here too. But there were two scenes that really hit. One was where Javert puts the pin on Gavroche. And the other was the very end. Because Jean Valjean has been one of my favorite characters since I saw a play in Middle School... And I never knew he died until just before the movie came out. Because he didn't die in any of the versions saw...
Hughes, from Fullmetal Alchemist. Especially during the funeral.
Draco, from Dragonheart.
Queen Tara, in Epic. Aww, she had so little time, but she was really cool...
Augustus Waters, from The Fault in our Stars. Crying during a movie is one thing. But crying during a book is really really rare...
Harry Potter: Well, a lot of people die through here too. For some reason, the one I'm thinking about most right now is Snape. Maybe because you don't realize you care until after he's been dead for a while. But Sirius and Lupin too. TT^TT
Diego, from the Mask of Zorro.
When the Jedi get wiped out in Star Wars. Especially the kids.
Anna, from Van Helsing
X-Men movies: Jean, and Professor X
Tadashi, from Big Hero 6
Bambi's Mom, and Mufasa were big ones as a kid.
There was a deleted song from Fantasia 2000, of the Little Matchstick Girl. I think you can find it on Youtube. Go watch it.
The beginning part of Up - it's so happy and so sad at the same time.
Nahoko, from the Wind Rises. One of the few romances I like...
Ari, from Maximum Ride. He's the type of character I get super protective about...
Zack, from Final Fantasy. Sob...
Kurow, from Okamiden. Sobs again...
Arthur, from the TV show Merlin. Why didn't they change the ending. TT^TT

Well, wasn't that cheerey?
What deaths hit you guys hardest? I know some of these make your lists. ^-^'
Maybe I'll do another posts of characters that you think die, but actually didn't...

Disappointment

Here's something cool I found linked to in a writing blog. I thought I'd share it.

Global Chorus

This post is a shameless promotion, because my uncle has a couple pages in this book. ^-^''
The book is called Global Chorus, by Maclean.

Rob is on pages 240-241.

Killing your own Cause

So, there are a lot of protests going on recently.
It's great if you can stand up for a cause that is really important. After all, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi made very significant changes to the world with their protests.
What would the world be like without them?
But these protests today... not so much.
I'm sure there are some good protests. But it's mostly the bad ones that have been publicized. Because the media loves to focus on the bad stuff (coughEbolacough).

Someone described these poor protesters as "shooting themselves in the foot."
Shouldn't the point of protests be to gain support of people who are neutral to the problem? Get their attention and have them take action to help make things better?
Well, how the heck is that going to work if you start screwing with the lives or normal people?
When protesters start breaking things, blocking traffic, and shutting down an entire bridge during traffic, then they start losing support.
Do you think any of the people that were stuck on that bridge for over two hours will have any desire to help the people that caused the delay?

I also heard that they turned down the Olympics in San Francisco because too many people were going to protest it.
Anyway, I don't want to list all the protests that didn't go too well.

When you mess with the lives of neutral people, you are not going to get their support. Even people who agree with your cause are probably less likely to want to help.
Do they really think that breaking windows and blocking roads will fix problems? Because sometimes it seems like an excuse for people to cause trouble.

We were actually very lucky to avoid the effects of one, last week. Dad thinks we missed it by a few minutes.
So, thanks to whatever fairy was watching over us. @__@

And seriously, fight for your cause. We have to fight for causes, or out world would be in much much worse shape.
I'm using college to prepare for my own big fight. Just wait for me to get it started.
But don't mess with innocent people. It's very unlikely that doing so will help you, at all.

The Music of Ghibli

The musician and the Ghibli fan in me went wild as I watched this.
How awesome would it be to have been at this concert?
Considering I have all the soundtracks. XD

Won Ton Soup

I have several blog posts in-progress. But the one I want to do next depresses me, so I'll talk about won ton soup instead~
I recently unearthed a couple recipes from a class in middle school. We didn't cook them back Today I tried makeing one - won ton soup (which, come to think of it, is the recipe I chose for that project, even though I didn't know what won ton soup was in 6th grade... I think I chose it because fewer peopel seemed to be doing it).
Won tons seemed kinda intimidating to make. But it was a lot easier than I thought! And they turned out amazingly good. O__O I think of my attempts at cooking "exotic foods," this is one of the best so far. ^-^

Also, classes start tomorrow.
And I haven't been able to enroll in any. Only one class I need is offered this semester. I'm on the waitlist. But the teacher of that class is my adviser, so i'm hopeful to get in.
But still... only one class. That seems like a huge waste of time and money (I'm not counting band and creative writing, because that's not part of my grad program, and I take these two for fun anyway).
I'll try to take archery if I can. I think the taecher knows my dad. Hopefully the timing works out. I might have to audit it, but I don't care. I dont' need the credits. I just want to learn more about it.
...Is it bad that I'm counting on connections for all these classes?

Also, there's an intership I was really looking forward to since I only have one class this semseter. But they just got back to me and said that it's not open until March. So I'm going to see if I can do anything about that. There's a certain amount of time you need to serve, and if I start in March, it will cut into Summer too much. I'm going to have too much going on in the summer already... like a summer class. I've never wanted to take a summer class at my school because it would involve a crazy commute schedule that I have no desire to think about. And family visits in the summer, and there are programs I like to go to. But one of the classes I need is only offered in the summer...
So my grad program continues to throw more and more stupid stuff at me.
Sigh.

I only wanted to talk baout won ton soup, and I ended up venting. --_--
Well, hopefully i'll get my class tomorrow, at least.

Water Pollution and Scarcity - Plot

After a long break, I am picking up the next topic for the "environmental plots" series.
This time we'll look at water. Yaay~

As I'm sure all of you know, water is essential for life on earth.
But there is very little fresh water available for us to use. Most of it is in the ocean, where it is undrinkable. And a lot of it is frozen at the poles, where it's kinda hard to get to.
Ground water, rivers and lakes are our main sources of water. And precipitation helps to feed most of these sources.

Right now, we've got two huge problems: using too much water, and polluting what is left.

For example:



We use so much water that massive lakes are disappearing, and some rivers no longer reach the sea. So much water is withdrawn from the Colorado River that it rarely gets to the sea anymore. Yeah, the Colorado. The one that goes through the Grand Canyon.
In the case of lakes, they often become saltier as they shrink, which makes them less helpful.
A lot of this has to do with terrible water rights, which leads to huge waste of water by agriculture, businesses, and people.
I'm not even going to try to explain water rights. There are too many weird ones.

Not only do we use far more water than we need, but we dump a ton of gunk into it. Factories dump sludge into rivers.



Rains wash all of the oil and other gunk off of roads and into rivers. All that stuff in the gutters - all that garbage you throw into the streets - that will probably reach oceans and rivers.
Agriculture uses all sorts of chemicals, to kill pests and to fertilize the crops. A lot of this runs off of the land and gets in the water - either rivers, or the ground water.
When fertilizers build up in the water, they can trigger something called "algal blooms." Algae takes advantage of the fertilizer and goes crazy in the water. Then all of that algae dies, and when it does, the decomposition sucks al of the oxygen out of the water. And this kills everything else around it.
The Gulf of Mexico has gotten massive dead zones because of all the agricultural runoff that flows down the rivers.



The pollutants that don't end up in rivers and lakes can filter down through the soil, and enter the underground aquifers. And ground water takes a really really long time to clean itself. Generations.
Some aquifers also take a long time to replenish, depending on where they're located.
When aquifers are depleted near the ocean, salt water can get in and contaminate what was once fresh water.
Or if you're further inland and take too much water, the land can actually sink, because the water that is withdrawn leaves room for the earth to collapse in on itself. Which means that the aquifer is shrinking probably permanently.



And all of you know not to litter, right?
As I mentioned earlier, a lot of garbage that's not thrown away properly gets washed out into rivers, lakes and oceans.



There's something called the North Pacific Gyre - an area of water in the middle of the ocean where currents have gathered together massive amouts of our garbage. This area is probably about the size of Texas. Or larger, depending on how densely packed certain areas are.
Animals - birds, seals, turtles - will see garbage floating around and think it's food. Birds will eat so much plastic that they starve to death because they have no real food in their stomach.
Turtles will eat a plastic bag - thinking it's a jellyfish. This can make then choke. And those plastic rings that hold your six-pack softdrinks together can tangle up animals.



There has been a lot of problems with droughts and floods too - opposites, but both devestating. Climate change makes these events worse, and more common. Where I live is in the middle of a drought right now. We've gotten very little rain for a couple years, and the mountains have gotten little snow. Snow is hugely important, because it stores all the winter water for us. This snow melts in the summer - right when we start to need it most. Less snow = less water available in the summer = more destructive droughts.

Destructive fishing methods, like trawling, can ruin ocean ecosystems.
Climate change can ruin coral reefs, which cant stand the changes in temperature.
Our methods of fishing have caused some fish populations to collapse because too many fish are being taken. And plenty of fishing boats kill a lot of animals that they're not even trying to catch.


What can you do:
Invest in water-saving appliances: Dishwashers, toilets, and washing machines.
You can get attachments for your shower and sink so that it puts out less water.
Be very aware of how much water you're using when washing your hands, showering, ex. For example, I have a pitcher that I stick under the tap when Mom heats the water to wash her face.
Plant native plants in your yard. Native means that the plants are adapted to your climate. They shouldn't' need to be watered much, if at all. Lawns are huge wastes of water, and most people never even use them.

So, how can we use this in an environmental plot?
You can have a town that's right next to a big factory. The factory gunks up the water, so the people that live there are sick and can't get enough food (Avatar: The Painted Lady).
Or a sea god who hates human because of what they do to his beautiful oceans Ponyo).
In a book called Flush, a group of kids busts a casino boat for dumping sewage into the ocean and making the beaches too dangerous to swim at.

Here's stories that use plots about water:

Ponyo
The Lorax
Serendipity, by Cosgrove
Flush, by Hiaasen
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Painted Lady ( Toph: "Let's clean up the River!" )
Flipper

Hearts

I had to post the ones that were reported in my last batch. ^-^

http://www.ifoundaquiltedheart.com/san-francisco-ca-usa-12/


http://www.ifoundaquiltedheart.com/grants-pass-or-usa-2/


http://www.ifoundaquiltedheart.com/portland-or-usa/

Why'd you kill him?

Hmmm... gotta think how to write this post without spoiling my own story.

A little while ago, I was writing at night, and I finished a scene where someone dies.
Mom was reading the next room over, so I went over to bug her a bit, by saying "boo hoo, this guy died." I was mainly being dramatic, though I was sad too.
And her response was "Why'd you kill him?"
Which kind of stumped me for a bit. Because I started to think, "why do they kill characters?"

Obviously, this question is different for every creator. Sometimes a character is killed for absolutely no good reason.
Sometimes a writer ends up killing everyone... (Les Miserables, Wolfs Rain, ex).

Sometimes no character dies. The writer goes out of his way to bring a character back from eery tragedy... sometimes if they've already died.
Some characters die in order to trigger action in a story.
Or a death can make the stakes of the story much higher.
And as some people will say, certain characters have to die because they're just too awesome to live. ...Well, as long as it doesn't happen every single time you have an awesome character. --_-- Plenty of them deserve to live.

But mainly I was stumped by Mom's question because I wondered why I killed some of my characters. There's a couple that I've written already. And there's a couple (especially one) significant one that I have planned (for a character I'm extremely attached to. TT^TT ).
And I can't think of a clear reason why some of these characters have died.
The most obvious one is the final one I mentioned - it shows that the danger in the story is real. For example, in Katani's story, there's a big fight at the end. And a lot of people get hurt. If all of the characters we follow somehow miraculously escape unharmed... well, was it really that dangerous? Doesn't see like it.
This is actually one scene I thought about a lot. It seemed that someone needed to die. But I just didn't think it would work for any of the main group. So I settled on a minor character. I probably need to give him more screen time. If I have to kill him, it should at least hurt.... otherwise he's dying for no reason. TT^TT I'm soooorrrry I have to kill you. TT^TT
So, yeah. that's one I need to work on.
On some of my much older stories, people died. I don't particularly think that's worth discussing. But "someone" does die in my Ashes story. Except while I am attached to the character, I'm not sure anyone else would be... So that's another thing to work on. --_-- Also, I should find a reason for why he has to die.

What do you guys think about killing a character? What are good reasons? Or bad ones?
(I know no one ever uses these prompts, but I like writing them. And maybe someone will use one some time. O___O )


Hmmm... I should make a list of some of the most painful deaths. I'll start working on that. And sobbing all the while. TT^TT