Time is running out!!!

Time is running out to enter for our Operation Feedback Blogfest!!!

It ends this Monday--so get entering!! :)


~Elizabeth

Eowyn

Alright, so if you don't already know, I'm a major Lord of the Rings fan. I had to choose someone from a book to write a five paragraph essay on, so I chose Eowyn. I'm having a little trouble coming up with a conclusion, though (my 5th paragraph), so any suggestions are highly appreciated!

Underestimated

There was a girl named Eowyn who lived long, long ago in a land called Middle Earth. She was the niece of King Theoden, King of Rohan. She was beautiful beyond compare, although her eyes were forever stained; she had seen how cruel reality could be. Middle Earth was, after all, in a huge war. Sauron and Saruman, together with all the forces of Mordor and Isengard and a some others who joined their cause, against. . .well, against practically everyone else. King Theodon’s only heir had died in a battle, and now the blood heir to the throne was Eowyn’s brother. Eowyn felt so useless, as if no one trusted her—she knew her skills with the blade. She wanted to defend her people.

Eowyn remembered looking down upon her insane Uncle Theoden.  The realization hadn’t even hit him yet that his son was dead. It made her want to cry. She remembered how it used to be; Theoden had brought her and her brother, Éomer, up as if he were their own father, since both of their parents were dead.  She ran outside, for she could stand it no longer—she needed some fresh air. As she inhaled, she recalled the slow fade of character and memory that was eating away her uncle, the king. He was now advised by a fellow named Grima Wormtongue; his character as snaky as his name. But as she looked up, she saw horses with riders approach. Little did she know that she would fall desperately in love with one of them—Aragorn, son of Arathorn, rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. How could she help it? He was, after all, charming and rather handsome. . he had an air of mysteriousness that clung to him, and that made Eowyn long to know more about him. Of course, it also never occurred to her that one of them, Gandalf the White, would remove the curse that Saruman had placed on her uncle. No, they were just normal riders to her.

Soon, however, Eowyn’s life began to change. True battles were beginning to occur, and Rohan was about to be attacked by a devastating force. She pursed her lips as she thought of the past events. She remembered when Aragorn showed her his necklace that his beloved elf maiden, Arwen, had given him. Most of all, however, she remembered that terrible time when she thought Aragorn had died in a battle—short though it was, it cut her heart to pieces. Then, of course, there was what happened after he returned. Legolas, Aragorn’s friend, gave him back Arwen’s necklace. It was a stinging reminder that she did not hold his heart. But with that, she gave up all hope of a future with Aragorn. Instead, she set her mind on another matter; King Theoden, who was now in his right mind, was refusing to allow his precious niece into the fields of battle. He would only allow her to take care of the women and young children. Eowyn knew she could fight; she only needed a chance to prove it. And later on, she would.

 Sauron was about to unleash nearly all of the forces of Mordor onto Gondor, the area of which Aragorn was heir.  Rohan rushed to their aid, and Eowyn snuck her way into the forces. In that battle, she saw her uncle die. Yet, her experience there was not all bad. She turned out to be rather useful—the King of the Nazgul, who could not be killed by men, appeared on the battle field, killing many. But Eowyn was no man, and she was able to defeat it.  All of the hurt from Aragorn was washed away as her eyes beheld Faramir, son of the Steward of Gondor. Not long after the two were married, peace was restored to Middle Earth, for Sauron was dead.

~Elizabeth

Christmas

I love this time of year. A lot.

There are little signs everywhere that Christmas is approaching; stores are posting count-downs on their windows, people are starting their shopping, egg-nog and hot cocoa is appearing on the grocery store shelves. . .It's all so exciting. 

This is the spectacular time of year,  
When signs of Christmas begin to appear,
Christmas lights aglow,
Grass covered in snow. . . .

I don't know why, but I just felt like adding that in there. For some reason, rhyming helps me write poetry. It makes it easier to come up with the next line, plus it sounds cool when you say it out loud.

So, what about you? What do you like about this time of year?


~Elizabeth

Villians

Today, I am going to talk about Villains! What is a villain you ask? According to the dictionary, (dictionary.com) a villain is 1.a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.  2.a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot. In a book, the villain is an instigator. I mean, would Batman have ever become Batman if the Joker wasn't terrorizing the city? Or would Eragon (from the Inheritance series) ever have become a deadly half-elf dragon rider if the king Galbatorix hadn't killed all the other riders and had a reign of terror? A good villain can make or break a book. What is a good villain? Well I think a good villain is a villain that you can almost sympathise with. One that makes you look at the good guys and wonder if they are actually wrong. One that is not just malicious but also deadly smart. If you look at some of the most well known villains like Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, they are geniuses. One of my favorite moments with a villain is when the people involved make a choice. They are given two psychologically difficult choices and the heroes have to choose. To clarify my confusing statement, in the movie Spider-Man, Spidey has to choose between rescuing Mary Jane and saving a bunch of people from a falling billboard. In the end he saves than both, but the choice is a mad attempt buy the Green Goblin to hurt Spider-Man. Then you have the more soft villains like Dr. Doofensmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. He isn't exactly a maliciuos person. He cares about his nemesis, Perry the Platypus. He makes a more or less lovable character for the children who watch the show. In the end, no matter what kind of villain you have, you need to make him or her human. (That is if they are human) They need to have some measure of understanding by the readers. I love a villain I can almost relate to. So go and enjoy the flavors of books with good villains!

~Leslie

NaNoWriMo

Alright. . .So I spent most of the day today packing for a family vacation I'm leaving for tomorrow. I'll be on this vacation until Wednesday next week; in other words, I will try to post on my days, but don't be surprised if I miss a day or two. So, that said. . .

I'm up to 6,000 words in my NaNo book! It's so exciting. . .I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with it. I'm using the one that I had been posting sections of, although I have changed most of it. Here's a piece of what I've written so far:

I thought of the people I had left behind. . .  my father, Jaradias, Edwin. . .so many faces. I longed to see them again, just one more time. To assure them that I loved them, to explain to them why I needed to leave. But I knew I couldn’t take back what I had done, and I knew that there would always be consequences for my actions.

And that was the part that haunted me.   


What do you think? ~Elizabeth

Blogfest: Operation Feedback

So, as you've probably seen, I've joined NaNoWriMo. Well, more than that, I've joined their Young Writer's Program. 

It's really a great system. I can put in my word count goal (30,000 words) that I hope to write in the month of November, and can update the amount of words I've written so far. Right now, I'm at 9% ( 2,700 words). 

But doing this gave me an idea.

What if there was a blogfest that went on from November 5th--December 5th, where people could gain points in various ways in a random drawing? And what if the winner not only won a picture-award, but also were able to get feedback on their novels from two well-read teenagers?

As you've probably guessed, Leslie and I will be the ones to hold this amazing blogfest, called:

Operation Feeback will be officially starting November 5th (this Saturday). 

Now, I mentioned a little bit about points above. This is a the point system being used:

For starters, you have to be a follower of this blog and comment on this post to enter. Doing these actions will give you a basic point. You could just stop there, but if you feel like earning some extra points, here are some ways to get them:

1) Put this picture on your blog linking it back to this post--not our blog, this post. 

2) Give a shout out for this Blog-Fest in a post.

3) If you're a participant in NaNoWriMo, you get a point.

But, if you do these things, you have to notify us, either by comment or email, to let us know what you've done, or else we might not find out and you won't get your point.

~Elizabeth