Thursday, April 5, 2007

Writing

I purchased one of the finest collections of Science fiction shorts available yesterday, and its shown me several things about writing. Along with learning new aspects of the writing style, I also became so inspired that I had more trouble sleeping. I just wish I had my spiral with me so I could have written down all the what ifs and then whats I came up with. At the end of my lucid thoughtfulness, I had some ideas to put on paper for Kai to finally put some structure to it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Gold by Isaac Asimov has shown me several things I didn't know about writing in only the first novelette - Cal. Its one of the stories that you identify with a robot in. A robot who wants - yes its apparently possible to "want" with a positronc brain - to become a writer, struggles against the three laws of robotics to see his aspiration realized.
I'm not into writing spoilers even for short stories, so to know the end you ought to read it yourself. There's something special about finding something you would think about killing anyone who would stop you.

Chapter 2: Part 5

[Its time to get organized, so each chapter so far covers a day, and each part covers what I write in a post]

Booshi was waiting for Kai at his treehouse.
He said, "Are you ready for training?"
"Alright, lets get this over with..."
"You sound anxoius, Kai. What could ever be distracting my brilliant pupil?"
"You heard about my day at school, I take it?"
"Your victory over Konsetsuo was flawed, my apprentice. However, you should not think of it as less of a victory because of it. You merely took a chance and it worked. We don't train our students to take risks, we train them to perfect themselves."
A long silence. Kai fidgeted as they walked.
"Your form of combat was impressive for a beginner. Who taught you? Was it your parents?"
"My parents wouldn't teach a pig to pass gas. I wanted to learn, so I found some books. I would practice it whenever I could get away from my parents for a weekend."
Booshi raised his eyebrow a little. "You have run from your family a great number of times then?"
"Whenever I could. Those two don't know anything about the feelings of others."
"They were claimed by evil before you were born, but they surely would have shown you the benefits of their ways?"
Kai stopped walking. "They have never had a mind to let me in on their secrets, but I've been good at gathering information since I was little. I learned their secret on my own. What its made of them made me sick, so I ran away again and again. I didn't stop going to school for the sake of my old friends. That is where they caught me and took me back home."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we have trainiing to do."
Kai looked up and saw a field of long uncut grass. They had walked outside the forest. Off in the distance grew an enormous tree all by itself.
"Do you know what this village's prized possesion is, Kai?"
"Ummm, no."
"This land, the very ground you are standing on. The village - our village - is the one thing we'd just as soon die before it gets taken away from us. This field you are standing in is the precious jewel of our village. The air is so saturated with power, it gives us heightened senses and greater abilities."
"How does it work like that? I thought it was just a field."
Booshi looked at the ground for a moment and then back at Kai. "Do you know the one thing a human body cannot do without?"
"Food? Water? ..."
"Oxygen. If a man has his nose and mouth clamped shut, he will perish much faster than a man who has gone without food and water."
"But oxygen is naturally there... Doesn't it just provide the cells of the body some kind of metabolic effect to keep working?"
"Oxygen does more than you might think. Our most ancient ancestors discovered the ability to manipulate the energy given to the body by oxygen. What happens, then, when you have too much oxygen?"
"It gets exhaled like normal, right?"
"Not if you have trained your body to store that energy. Human beings are capable of so many things, but just lack the willpower to train themselves to achieve those abilities."
"What kind of abilities, Booshi?"
"No, not Booshi. I will only answer to 'master' as long as you are my pupil."
"Alright, master, what kind of abilities?"
"You know of prestidigitation?"
"Yeah, magic tricks its also called."
"Good, then you'll know not to think this is a trick."
Booshi put out his palm facing toward the sky at an angle. His other hand soon was next to it. He brought his hands together and murmured some words. His hands started to glow and ripple in the heat coming from them. He then almost immediately sent his hands palm-out to where he had aimed, launching a line of fire into the afternoon sky. Kai stood there speechless, not sure of what he saw. A smile grew across his face, he was excited now. After so much time, he thought he knew the limits of a human body (though not personally) and didn't expect to ever see anything like this.
"This is your curriculum, Kai, and I am your teacher. Now, If you will come with me."
Kai followed, dumbstruck at the implications of what he had seen.
They arrived at the tree that sat in the field of grass. Kai noticed that it was even more monstrous than he anticipated. Its gnarled lower branches were nearly the height of the entire forest. "You realize how this power can be abused, but now you'll see how it can help you grow. This tree was brought from Japan by my Great Grandfather as a sapling. He kept it alive through the trip by using his energy. When they found this land, he planted this great tree and helped it grow to the monstrous size you see before you. This is no ordinary tree though, it woke up the dormant power of our forest. To phrase it more correctly, it channeled the energy of the forest to itself and releases it as a purer form of oxygen. We breathe it and it is more than enough, so our bodies learn to store its energy more efficiently."
"Its a ninja battery?"
"I suppose you could downgrade it to that status, but it shows a great lack of respect for our ways, Kai. We don't rely on it entirely, but it is our symbol of power."
Kai felt the bark. A pulse went down his spine, but it wasn't pain and it didn't cause Kai to jump in alarm, he merely felt like he had taken a refreshing bath after a long night's sleep and jogged half a city block to get his blood pumping.
"You might have guessed that everyone has an elemental affiliation in this village, those who make it out of academy realize this. My great grandfather was naturebound and gained power over wood and plants of many kinds. I have the ability to control fire. I'll have to train you more before you will know your own element."
"Anything else, master?" Kai was practically begging to be shown more.
"You may rest for today, but be ready for tomorrow's training. I will not go easy on you just because you were not trained in our academy."

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I'll try to make a habit of writing twice a week and no more so nobody misses anything, and I can keep up with work.

Thank You!
Krustyknuckles
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