He's Everything You Want in a Girl

Fanfiction, oh fanfiction. Once upon a time, writing fanfiction was my hobby. http://www.fanfiction.net/ was my homepage, and within three years, I'd written over 70 different stories. It wasn't just an obsession, it was my life. I still get the occasional message from my old readers, asking if I'll ever return.

Looking back, a lot of my writing was pretty shameful, but there are the few that I still enjoy to this day. One of my most successful was an alternate universe Fullmetal Alchemist humor/romance called He's Everything You Want in a Girl. I admit the plot was far fetched, and the humor rather lame, but I was only 15 at the time, and I'm still fairly proud.

The other story that sticks out in my mind is of the same nature, an alternate universe, Fullmetal Alchemist, etc. While still plenty humorous, Summer Of Memories was a bit more serious. It was one of my longest stories, over 15,000 words, which, to my 15 year old self, was rather impressive.

I'm fairly certain the prompt was referring to a fanfiction not written by myself, but in my time I've probably written just as much, if not more, as I've read.

Into The Wild

Nonfiction, sometimes I despise it. Sometimes? More like most of the time. In particular, biographies/memoirs and the like. Why? Well, we shall use my all time favorite nonfiction book, "Into The Wild", as an example.

"Into The Wild" is a great story, filled with action, a likable hero, and a lot of deep thinking. Yet somehow, the way the book was written, made the reading experience painful. In fact, I am fairly certain the author, John Krakauer, ought to be locked up in an asylum. Preferably one in which he can't get his hands on a pen/pencil or other means of writing.

The book is about a man name Chris McCandless, someone whose ideas/actions are quite admirable, in my opinion. Unfortunately, this book written about him is one of the most annoying pieces of literature on the planet. Alright, alright, I've complained enough, "What's so horrible about it?" you ask.

The story opens with... the ending. Yes, that's right. Within the first page, you learn the end of Chris's tale, lowering any sense of suspense that the book might have held. Krakauer then proceeds to tell the entire story OUT OF ORDER. From the end, to the beginning, to the middle, to before the beginning, etc. As if that isn't frustrating enough, at some point, he begins writing about himself, despite how irrelevant it was to the story.

If you STILL think that a book can be enjoyable, despite the things I listed, go right ahead and read Into The Wild. I'll stick with the slightly more comprehensible movie, thanks.

Peeps

When I first read the prompt "fictional book", my first thought was "Is there any other kind of book?" Oh, nonfiction, how I loathe/ignore the existence of thee. BUT that's getting into tomorrows discussion.

Today I'll talk about one of my all time favorite novels, "Peeps" by the brilliant Scott Westerfeld. I first read said book a number of years ago, but recently came across it in a Goodwill for $2 and - of course, - purchased it. And, after rereading it, I fell in love with the story all over again.

The thing I really like about Westerfeld's writing style is that he makes the genre of Young Adult Literature seem more... well... intelligent. He takes a rather common topic like vampires and puts a whole new spin on it - a scientific one, at that. He does his research, putting a lot of fact in with his fictitious tale, yet still manages to keep the story humorous.

I can only hope to one day be as awesome of an author as he.

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod

I'm beginning to grow tired of this "favorite" nonsense, but thankfully tomorrow is the last of those prompts. Today I am to address what my favorite book is. For someone who read as much as I used to, this shouldn't be too difficult.

My relationship to books is similar to that with movies - I don't find that many that I like, but the ones that I do, I read over and over again. There are a couple authors I really like, Meg Cabot and Scott Westerfeld for example. I've read every one of their books I could get my hands on. My current favorite series though, would have to be The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer.

Perhaps it's because it has to do with my love of vampires, and the failure of a take on them that most popular media has done in recent years. Maybe it's because it's a nice mix of light hearted humor and serious tragedy. Or it could just be how incredibly sexy Vladimir is. For a 14 year old half vampire, that is.

The Game Of Life

Why am I in college? Seriously. Don't give me that "to gain more career opportunities" crap either. That's why people go to college. But why am I here? My parents gave me the college or move out ultimatum, but in the end, I could've gone out and gotten a job.

It's like when you're playing Life, the board game. At the beginning, you can either get a career or go to college, and I've forgotten why I chose this path. I think I'm going to add that to my list of what I want to do this summer, figure out why I put myself through this misery of higher education.

Actually, I'll make a list right now:

- Figure out why I'm going to college.

- Learn at least 3 more songs on guitar.

- Clean my room.

- Do well in my summer classes.

- Go on an adventure.

- Post at least 15 drawings.

- Finish at least one video game.

- Write at least one story/fanfiction.

- Do a random favor for a friend. This was actually REALLY easy.

- Watch at least 5 movies.

- Read at least 5 books.

- Continue to blog regularly.

Wow... that's a really long list.