Thursday, January 26, 2017

Art

Sorry I'm late guys (I know i didn't mention a time but to me, I'm late, bear with me please!).
so i now present you with a few art pieces i have made.

sorry it's sideways, i can't fix it.

you can find a video of me making this on my YouTube channel, TheArtsyPuglet.
thanks for viewing! i hope you enjoyed seeing some art and if you want more leave it down in the comments and answer this question, Who's your favorite artist?


Thursday, January 19, 2017

Building character, how to make heroes and villains, writing tips #2

Creating characters is by far, the most difficult thing to do when writing a story.



when you want to create a character you need to make sure that they aren't OP (for those of you who don't understand video game terms, that means Over Powered.). Readers want to be able to relate to the characters they are reading about, characters like hiccup (from How To Train Your Dragon)

(yes, the books, not the movies, everyone knows that him in the movies is completely unrealistic....)

or someone like Hermione Granger, a smart character who studies a lot (from Harry Potter)

 (yes, i know this is the movie version but i couldn't find a picture of her from the books.)

or maybe the kind of character that provides comic relief is tough situations like Zaphod Beeblebrox (from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.)



Villains are also extremely difficult to make, why are they evil, what do they want, who are they trying to defeat?


do you want a serious villain, focused on killing the main character like Voldemort (from Harry Potter)



or a funny sort of villain like Princess the Destroyer (from Bad Unicorn.)



Now, when creating a character you want to first think of their appearance.
normally an author would say, "No! you start with their personality!" and that's also true, you must keep their personality in mind when designing their looks. Are they constantly happy and bubbly? for that you will want to use bright and pastel colors like pinks, yellows, whites, greens.

are they dark, mysterious, or even the villain? then you might want to use dark colors like dark reds, blues, blacks, grays, and other deep colors, unless you want the villain to not be obvious.


also, does you character have some kind of minion?

Image result for minionnot that kind of minion! (*cough* copyright *cough*)

companion?
Related imageImage result for pikachuImage result for dog

and does your character have any close friends?

(no more pictures provided, i have already gone past the point of no return.)
Image result for sweating laughing gif (okay, that was cheating.....)

try to keep all these points in mind when making an interesting character.
I hope some of this helps you, and keep and eye out from the next tip!
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Fern pt. 1

Here is another story I've been working that i thought you might like! ;D sorry if there are any grammar errors.

The sky glittered by the stars in the dark night. The moon was full. A dark shadow dashed through the juniper bushes and berries fell onto the fur of the shadowed creature as the bush rustled. The creature entered a clearing where three people were standing, chatting.
“finally you're here,” one of the people said.
“yes at last! we have waited too long this time,” another said.
“yes i know i am sorry” the animal replied, growling.
“oh please! don’t nag her!” one of the women cried and it started to snow as she sobbed.
“oh come on! not this again!” a man said and his hair burst into flames. melting all the snow around him.
“oh! that hurts!! please stop!” the woman cried even harder. ice formed underneath their feet the animal slipped, fell, and yowled in pain.
“alright! cut it out both of you stop that right now!” another man commanded, then slipped.
“fine fine….” the man with fire hair sighed
“i can’t help it.. i hate animal cruelty..” the crying woman sobbed and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.
“alright enough secrets guys, i have something to tell you,” the animal said suddenly the animal melted and reformed in the shape of a woman “i’m leaving,” the woman blurted out.
silence. there was no response from any of the people. then the silence was broken.
“no!! you can’t leave us!” the person who had cried, gasped.
“she is right Nareen, you can’t leave after all this time” another man said he had huge boots upon his feet and large gloves for making earthquakes. “you already signed a lifelong contract”
“well that is of no concern to me” Nareen growled, turning into a wolf “i can shred it just as quickly” “but.. but then you’ll die! i can’t have you die!! you’re my friend!!!” the woman started to sob again
“oh hush Erin this does not involve you” Nareen hissed, becoming a cat  “nobody can stop me from leaving. contract or not,”
“that's not true this involves me completely! you don’t know what's best for me! you are not in charge of me! you guys are my only friends and if one of you leaves then so do I!” Erin protested then blushed. she had never raised her voice or stood up against anyone. but she felt pretty confident.
Nareen took the form of a fox and dashed off towards the forest from which she came. looking back she saw the sad looks on her friends faces. even the man with fire for hair looked upset. I never thought he could be sad. Nareen thought switching her glance to him. she felt guilty. but this was her decision. it was done. she had left. Nareen left behind everything she once knew for her own happiness. at last she reached her destination. It was a small  hole to squeeze through especially if you’re expecting young.
“i’m home!” she barked. and a dark shadow crept out from underneath a patch of ferns.
“at last.. i thought you left me” another fox sighed with relief
“oh you know i’d never do that. even if i wanted to keep the pups for myself you know i would tell you first,” Nareen replied brushing her tail along the muzzle of the other fox. tickling him harshly.

It had been two full moons since Nareen left her friends and she was getting weaker. until the day came. She yowled in pain. the pups were coming.
“quick get Phoenix!!” Nareen yowled flinching again “she’ll know what to do!” and male fox dashed out of the cave and ran through the forest. only a few minutes had passed until he re-entered the cave with another fox behind him.
“oh Nareen how i’ve waited for this day to finally come!” the third fox gasped she picked up a large leaf that she had brought. Phoenix trotted over to Nareen, who was lying on her side, and unwrapped her leaf package. herbs fell out and tumbled into the cracks in the dirt floor.
“oh im so sorry about that!” Phoenix stammered “i really should be more careful,” she picked up some of the marigold and yarrow that she had dropped and set them beside Nareen.
“now just breath. and eat some poppy seeds,” Phoenix commanded, nudging some seeds over to Nareen’s eye so that she could see them. “they will ease the pain,”

After three hours of hard struggle finally a little head poked out wriggling vigorously. soon followed by its body, the first pup was born. as soon as it was fully into the world Nareen gave it a quick lick and then passed it to the male fox, he too licked it to help it breath. soon another came. then another, and another. on and on they came out, ready to greet the world. there were seven in all.
“here, smell these,” Phoenix barked as she nudged some freshly picked poppies toward her “you need to rest,” Nareen sniffed and let darkness claim her.

five days had passed since the pups were born. four sons and three she-foxes. the oldest was a son. he was called Bird. the second oldest, a she-fox who was called Crystal. then there was Oak, another son. then Wren another she-fox. the next oldest was a son named shrew. after was the last son, named Storm for the color of his fur. then the youngest was Fern because after she was born she was pushed by Oak through the ferns and onto the muddy ground.
Nareen watched as her pups play wrestled over the dirt floor.
“now stop that both of you! you know that when you play you must play outside!” she barked at Bird and Shrew, who, as soon as they heard their mother’s voice sat as straight as they could.
“yes mama,” they barked back in unison. they stood up trotted over and licked their mother respectfully on the ear and then dashed outside as quick as they could.
“hey! wait for me!” storm shrieked and bounded after his brothers tripping as he went.

after eleven full moons had passed Nareen took her pups to the clearing where she had left her friends so long ago.
“tonight you each are eleven moons old. there is something i must share with you.” she started
“what is it?!” Oak barked
“is it nice?!” yowled Wren
“maybe it's nice maybe it's not you just have to wait and see.” Nareen snapped at her interrupting pups.
“today is the day you must make a choice.”
“but what choice?” Bird asked
“yeah you never told us about this before!” Shrew pointed out. “why did you never tell us before?”
“because you were too young!” Nareen growled these pups where getting on her nerves. “now you are ready. the choice is… do you choose to either stay here with me as a fox OR you can go out and live life as a human. its your choice,”
there was no response. only horrified stares greeted her speech.
“well? we don't have all night you know,” Nareen barked, starting to get annoyed again.
“but mama, excuse me i don't mean to be rude,” Wren started “but why would we want to leave? i mean it's not even like it's possible for foxes to turn into humans,”
many nods greeted her response, the pups thought she was right. Nareen cleared her throat, ready to strike back.
“ah you may be right dear Wren but that's also not true though you did fight well. it is possible to become a human because i am a human,”
many gasps greeted this. Nareen stared out at her terrified pups with an angry glare.
“mama do we have to choose tonight?” Crystal asked. Nareen was sure that her other pups were wondering the same thing but they weren't brave enough to speak up.
“yes you must choose tonight,” she replied “you have until midnight,” she stalked off toward the den.
all the pups came home at one time ready with their decision. “well have you decided yet?” Nareen growled she was starting to get a little annoyed with her pups again.
“yes mama we have decided,” Bird stepped forward to speak for his younger siblings.
“who wants to tell her?” silence none of the pups truly wanted to break their mother’s heart so none spoke up.

“very well i’ll tell her,” Bird replied to the silence “mother we have decided to leave.”

Whats happening? Starting a story, writing tips #1

Hi, Author here, today marks the beginning of a new series! WOOOOO!!!!! this series is going to be about how to write a lasting story.

starting a story is one of the hardest things to do when you write. you have to plan out a story line, characters, character development, places to live, new environments, and much much more.
when you start a story you want to remember two key things:

  • is anyone going to read this?
  • is this going to be fun to write?
those are two questions and at least one of them should always be yes. you have to have fun when writing something, otherwise you'll never finish it and it will seem like a chore. if you have fun when you are writing, it makes the story better for your audience.
and who knows if anyone will read it, that's always the big mystery, will this be something at least one other person will want to read? i hope the answer is yes, but you can always write short stories just for fun!

If you want someone to read your story, it has to be relevant. readers want to be able to relate to the characters, whether that character is strong but kind, or shy and timid, people want to somehow see themselves doing what the characters do, but more on that in another post.
there will be more coming soon, and please tell me your opinions!

Tell me, what kinds of stories have you written and how difficult was it to start? let me know in the comments!

pt. 19

Edith woke up the next morning to find herself still under the willow tree. She tried to stand up and hit her head on a very conveniently placed, super think, extremely tough branch. She staggered backwards, rubbing her head.
The willow, very offended by this rude gesture, started to cry.
“Oh great,” Edith grumbled. “It’s a weeper.”
Weepers, or weeping willows, as they are sometimes called, are simply willow trees that are quite easily offended by just about anything.
Edith tried to avoid these as much as possible, but she tended to bump into them (literally) quite often.

After a few hours of wandering around, Edith found herself back at her tower, it was in perfect shape. She sighed at walked up to the door. She magicked up her key and went to insert it, but before she could unlock the door she heard someone call her name.
“Edith?!” a voice behind her called out.
Edith turned around and backed into her door. Standing in front of her was the one person she really didn’t want to see right now.
“It is you! Edith!” a girl with long, flowing, bright yellow hair bounded up to her. Her tall leather boot were worn and covered in dried mud which was also crusted on the bottom of her dark blue pleated skirt. The girl also wore an off-the-shoulder sweater with a bleeding heart on it. Her striking white eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
“Oh, Sebille, hi…” Edith grumbled.
“You, you don’t like me do you…” The girl’s hair instantly drooped and turned blue, her skin became extremely pale and she started to cry.
“No! Wait! It’s not that, it’s just that, well, i wasn't expecting to see you again so soon!”
The girl continued to cry and her hair was morphing from blue to black.
“Wait! Stop! Stop being scarred for life!” Edith yelled at her.
The girl lifted her head as her hair turned orange. Edith saw that she was confused.
“Sebille, listen, I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve had a lot to think about lately, it’s not you.”
“Oh, ok, I understand… But you haven't talked to me in a few years now, you’ve been ignoring me…” Sebille sighed as her hair started to turn a deep red color.
“Sebille, please, listen, i can’t get in contact with anyone these days, if you wanted to talk to me you could have come yourself.”
Sebille growled. Edith sighed.
“Here we go again…”

Sebille flew up into the air and sprouted demon wings from her back. Her eyes turned black and her hair turned to fire. She grew long talons and roared into the sky.
Edith sighed and threw a piece of ice at her. Sebille immediately froze and fell to the ground. Her hair turned white along with her eyes and everything returned to it’s normal proportions.

After about a day of walking, Edith finally reached her destination, Fairy Haven. She dragged Sebille by her leg along the ground to a large castle made of a portobello mushroom, Edith’s favorite which made it hard to resist taking a bite as she entered. She remembered the directions, two rights and a left, she soon found herself in the throne room which smelled of mushroom stew. Edith cleared her throat and the jester instantly stopped juggling. The queen looked down at Edith and Sebille and sighed. She waved her hands and the jester grabbed her stuff and ran off to the corner where she liked to pretend to be stealthy and listen in on other’s conversations.
Edith dragged Sebille up the the throne and snapped her fingers, instantly Sebille unfroze and stood up with rage, her hair turned to fire again. A nearby guard ran in with a fire extinguisher and put out her head. Not realizing she was bald, Sebille ran from the room, leaving puddles of tears in her wake.
The jester in the corner giggled then shut herself up in a closet.
The queen looked to Edith.
“I’m sorry she bothered you... “ she sighed.
“That’s okay, it gave me the chance to come visit again, it’s been years Queen Tatiana.”
“Indeed, it has, come, let’s walk.”

Edith and the queen walked through the village with the jester not far behind.
“So, who’s the new jester?” Edith asked, not recognizing her.
“Hilaria.” The queen giggled.
“Really?!” Edith gasped. “She’s been wanting to do this for years!”
“Yes, she did, so i gave her a chance, but Edith, something is wrong, what is it?”
“How could you tell?”
“I just know, you know this.”
Edith sighed. “Fine, Nicole came back.”
The queen stopped in her tracks. Her face went blank.
“Tatiana? What’s wrong?”
“She’s back, after a thousand years, she’s finally back… my daughter… she’s back…”

The queen rushed over to two of her guards and started talking rapidly. It sounded like a mouse trying to speak english, or worse, elvin.

The two guards nodded and ran off to spread the word. The queen then rushed to her chambers and grabbed a small pinch of light. She sprouted her wings and dropped the light onto them, they shimmered and enlarged. She then flew out the window with Edith following as a mini dragon.

pt. 18

It had been three months since Nicole had started working on Reviving Scotty, and she had had nothing but success. And one day he finally woke up. He sat up abruptly and looked around himself frantically. He was alone in the room because Nicole had just left. He tried to get to his feet but fell and boxes violently crashed down onto him. A maid heard the commotion and decided to see what had caused the noise. When she entered the room and saw Scotty lying there, attempting to escape the large pile, she screamed, which brought the guards, who ended up calling the cook, who called the jester, who called the cupbearer, who eventually called the queen. When the queen arrived she was overjoyed and sent for Nicole immediately. When she arrived she started cleaning up all of her work and potions. When he had the strength, Scotty threw himself at Nicole in thanks.

Scotty walked through the village to Indigo’s bakery to say hi. When he walked through the door, she dropped what she was doing and gave him the biggest hug in the history of hugs.
“Oh, i’m so glad D could help you?!”
Scotty had no idea who “D” was but he was too tired and too happy to ask questions.
“Is that Scotty?” a voice sounded from the back room.
“Yes Momma! Is it okay if i get out early?!”
“I wish!” Indigo’s mother entered the room with a beheaded chicken in her hands. Scotty shuddered. “But we just have too many customers and Roary is sick, I can’t afford to lose you too, i’m sorry honey!”
That’s okay,” Indigo smiled. “Hey, Scotty, meet me by the river tonight after work, we can hang out then!” Indigo hugged Scotty and continued with her work.

Edith tried her hardest not to cry but she couldn't hold them back any longer. A sizzling sound could be faintly heard through the silent forest. She sat against a willow tree and cried. Cried like never before.
She tried to save him, Scotty, the one person to understand her, she had failed. Failed to save him from the awful fate he would faced. She knew what Nicole what do to him, take a piece of her own soul and connect it to his. Whenever she wanted, she could possess his body and mind, forcing him to do or say anything she wants him to.
Edith looked down at her hands, tear streaks had burned themselves into her skin, the same had happened to her face where the tears had been.

The sun started to set, making way for the moon to look down upon the pesky mortals.
Scotty say down at the dinner table with his mother and Nick. The queen had invited her to eat with them as a thank you for bringing Scotty back to life. She had quickly accepted, almost too quickly.
The queen had prepared mollusks, Scotty’s favorite food, in celebration. Turns out that Nick loved Mollusks and was very excited. Scotty reached for the salt and prepared to sprinkle it on his serving when Nick’s hand grabbed his wrist. The queen stared at the two, who were looking at each other.
“Salt?! Really?!” Nick sneered.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” Scotty asked, confused.
“Here,” Nick took the salt shaker from his hand and replaced it with a vial of sparkles. “Try this.”
“Really, sparkles?”
“Not sparkles, silly, this is the essence of light, go on, try it!”
Scotty reluctantly uncorked the vial and sprinkled some on his mollusks. He then took a bite. It tasted amazing, like stars made of more stars. Scotty wasn't sure what that might taste like, but he could think of no other way to describe the incredible flavor.
“Wow!” he exclaimed after several seconds of silence.
“Good, right?”
“Yeah!”
The queen remained silent, trying her hardest to take photos with her memory to be extracted later, she liked to think of this as Scotty’s first date. She was already planning a scrap book. Yes, she was that kind of mom.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

pt. 17

Edith walked out of the castle courtyard and went to the lake. She sat on a hill and gazed out upon the silent, motionless water. Two others joined her there.
“Are you thinking about Scotty?” The girl asked.
“Yup, you too?” Edith sighed.
“Yup,”
“So Pierson, who’s this girl you brought with you?”
The boy was startled at the sound of his name. “How do you know my name?!”
“Really? It’s me! Edith!”
Pierson turned to her and laughed. “Oh, so it is! This is my cousin, Indigo. Indigo, this is my friend Edith.” Indigo turned to Edith and shook her hand.
“Wow,” she gasped. “I’ve never met a real live dragon before!”
Edith froze when she mentioned that word. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about!”
“Don’t be silly, and don't worry, i love dragons, my best friend was a dragon. Until he died.”
“I’m sorry,”
“Hey, it happens. Don't worry about it.”
“So do you think D can save the prince?” Pierson shrugged.
“Whats with the whole ‘D’ thing anyways?”
“My cousin, Pierson’s long lost sister, Delilah? She was the blonde girl who said she could bring him back to live.” Indigo sighed.
“Nicole is your sister?!” Edith shouted at Pierson.
“Yeah so?”
“You’re related to the most dangerous criminal in the universe!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Delilah would never be that bad. Nicole Whisper is the most dangerous, no one has ever seen her and lived to tell the tale!”
“I have! You have! Scotty almost did,”
“Don't be silly, it's not like D is Nicole!”
“But she is!”
Silence.
“You’re crazy!” Indigo glared at Edith. “If you want to insult our family again, you’re gonna wish you hadn't!” and with that, the two walked off, leaving Edith sitting there in horror.
“Clever, clever girl,” a voice sounded behind her.
“What do you want Nicole, or should i call you D now?”
“You can call me what you want, i won't mind,”
“What do you want with Scotty?!”
“I want to do the impossible, bring him back to life, he was the only one to take me for who i truly am,”
“He never saw your true self, you just showed him your fake side,”
“Well, i’ll be seeing you,”
“Don't count on it!”
There was a boom and Nicole burst into flames. She was gone. Edith was alone, for real this time. But she didn't care. Slowly she rose to her feet and started home, she shouldn't stay here any longer. Everyone hated her here. So she headed home.