Destiny, Love and Inexplicable Moments

Maybe it was a little adventurous of me to try and cover three extremely broad subjects, but everyone loves a challenge! Destiny and Love are two subjects that the world is obsessed over. No debate there, people are obsessed with the concept of love, aswell as being in it, hence the large abundance of romance books/film and the endless success of them. Destiny is a word that on its own once mentioned in a conversation creates a large chain reaction in people who don't 'believe' it or have alternate views, and the conversation turns into a debate and lasts far into the night.So merely because its the first word I placed in the title, Destinies up first! What is it? Is it real? To what extent do we control it? Three questions constantly asked about it. As far as I know destiny is pretty much fate; the events, direction and success of one's life, normally pre-planned or supposedly 'set in stone'. But does it exist and can we change it? first off by typical and conventional definition the ability to 'change' your destiny...stops its being destiny anyway. Thus the questions is really, can we control our own lives? Of course I am no encyclopedia of tangible and definite answers but I believe that destiny kind of works in some ways, primarily for friends and partners. Yes, you can change parts of your life, and you can change how you're treated by people but I think when it comes it down to it there is an element of 'destiny' to our lives, in the sense that we are meant to meet certain people. Even it appears that people have put a bad mark on our lives, these experiences and people allow us to realise when we have something better. Friends come and go, especially in our younger years, but no matter who you are, they'll always be a few, if not more that will stay, no matter when you meet them. The more bad friends we have, the more appreciative we are of the good ones. The good friends, the ones that stay for a long time will not only help to re-define or help you understand yourself, they'll become another part of your life and sometimes it just seems that some people were meant to meet you. Similarly this goes into love, we're all meant to meet different people that we have feelings for or sometimes think are "the one" but is there such a thing as 'True Love'? and again this is argued a hell of a lot, but of course its real. Whether you're large, obnoxious, racist, fascist, sexist and everything bad in the world or you're a stunning/handsome slim lady/man they'll be someone for you. But what some people doubt is how many there are, there's nothing to say we cant have more than one person for us in our entire life, but we just wont meet them unless we're single. You may meet someone that you fall in love with instantly and they become your soul mate and your true love for the rest of our lives. You may genuinely fall in love with someone and for whatever reason that love fades, it doesn't mean it wasn't 'true love' unless of course you were a prat, or they were a prat and treatment of each other wasn't right, then you find another person that similar becomes your new true love. Believe it. Don't doubt it. Where's the reasoning behind doubting it?
Lastly and briefly; 'Inexplicable Moments' - still pretty much relates to the destiny and love sometimes but there are moments or events that are somehow impossible to explain. You meet a group of people, they become your life and they become part of you, and then after a little while that changes and you meet completely different people. There are times when everything seems low, and something happens to lift the mood. There are people who walk into your life, and positively or negatively change it by TONNES, and no matter what they are memorable. These times, however impossible to explain are ones not to be challenged, questioned or forgotten, they are ones to be cherished.

Approaching the end of Freshers Year

This is insane. No other word for it. Insane. Around a year and a bit ago I started this blog, originally to blog about my uni preparation, arrival and general experience and now I'm nearing the end of my freshers year, and this blog has turned into a multitude of different things (hopefully not a bad thing). So how about I recap how my first year has gone? After all, a lots happened, and University has been one hell of a good thing to do so far. I arrived at my Uni accommodation on the 30th September 2013 at around ... 2? 12 hours before I was in a fit of panic with a friend of mine, stuck in London (far more frightening a situation to non-Londoners) as all the trains had stopped after the Paramore concert we'd been to. So, after going to sleep at about 4 after eventually arriving back in my little town in Essex when I had arrived at Uni I was in a state of extreme fatigue. Not the best mood or way to arrive I know, but Paramore was still absolutely incredible, so I was at least still happy about that and of course the prospect of actually finally reaching UNIVERSITY. THE BIG U. What I had been waiting to do for so long. Moving in was actually fairly simple, we were given a random trolley to hold all our stuff, and we took about 3 trips back and forth to fill my new bedroom. There I was, happy, excited and nervous. Talking to people was tricky for me the first week, everyone in my flat was quite up for going to parties and club nights during freshers week, but I was in a strange mood because of various things and the fact I was in a different place with different people, and it freaked me, so I was somewhat of a recluse that week. Shameful really. Nevertheless I came outta my shell later and showed my flatmates who I was later on. Since then, my confidence has grown, my experiences have grown, my open-mindedness has grown and so on.  I've been to club nights that absolutely blew my mind they were so fun, most of which I finished feeling absolutely exhausted and waking up feeling absolutely awful. I got involved in some societies; mainly Theatre Arts and Tennis.  Tennis I kinda forgot about after a while, but theatre arts was good fun and a little stressful with a certain production. Then
came a slight crash... personal issues arose for TONNES of reasons, and I got pretty down in the dumps for quite a while, which meant that I stopped auditioning for some of the productions and I missed out on some good things. Now I'd like to say that although this time of unhappiness, shall we say was affected by University, (not the main reason) Uni was also a way for me to get past it. University is an incredible place no matter what mood you're in, so much life and so much culture, puts a smile on the face of even the saddest of people. Skip some more club trips, stressing over deadlines, christmas dinners, mexican dinners, cinema trips, zoo trips, problems with washing machines, reading, writing, reading, writing, writing , reading, revising, and we come to now. Now, I have 1 exam left, and have done pretty well even if  I say so myself, excitement for the summer ball is rising, and excitement for the next 2 years is also rising. Overall Uni is worth it. Uni is great. Uni is awesome. Uni changes you. Uni goes by faster than you can ever bloody imagine!! So much happens in such a small time. Brilliant.

From Shorts to Novels; Finishing What You've Started

So in terms of turning back I'm pretty much into the story now with 8,000 words done out of the target 40/50,000 and so it comes to the point of making sure that  I do in fact finish it. It's gonna happen, however long it takes! One thing I'm not keeping unique to myself, and something I've heard authors mention before in interviews is that you can start something and love it, and then during it for whatever reason the enthusiasm can start to lower a little. I wouldn't say I was at that point just yet, but I must say that the amount of words still left to write is a little daunting, but it's all part of the process, and I'm putting in some basic steps that I'm taking to ensure my enthusiasm for the story is as high as possible, and ditto for the productivity! So what are they? At the moment they are as follows:

1. Have breaks - Whether this is a couple of days, or a couple of hours, or even just a couple of minutes! On top of sleep of course, I believe breaks are essential, yes you want to get it done and yes you want to make the most of your creativity and your productivity. BUT without breaks your enthusiasm will inevitably lower and your creativity becomes a little stressed, because you're concentrating so hard and becoming tired. You also start to miss out little grammatical mistakes or rush through parts! 
2. Get feedback - You may not be done, it may not be your last draft of that particular selection but get feedback from friends or family on writing that you've done so far. If they like it, it will you give you more confidence to continue, and if they have negative opinion's it give you something to work on before you write the entire novel and then find out people don't like it!
3. Watch and Read - It may appear to be procrastination but its not. If you watch films and you read books as rest from writing your own, you'll have the get up and go to create something just as good, you'll have influence/inspiration from the author/writer/director and certain things might spark ideas! Keep the creativity alive!! 

The Hunger Games; More Than Just A Franchise.

One thing that I cannot deny about myself is that I over-think, and I read into things more than is needed, so obviously that doesn't always work to my advantage, however it does help with the film course and makes watching films a little more interesting, and my poor little mind went a little crazy with The Hunger Games. There is an abundance of intelligence in the film franchise (haven't read the book collection yet, don't shoot me) with some films I'm able to relax and say to my mind "fancy just chilling and watching and not reading into everything?" to which it occasionally goes "alright then mate, go on then, why not?!" (apparently it's a geezer...) but The Hunger Games, nah don't think so. EVERYTHING about it is brilliant, it's one of those films that if I went into my second year and found out I was studying it and had to write an essay about it, I'd go back to my bedroom and never stop writing. I mean there's almost too much, is that possible? Narrowing it down to The Capitol and The Districts, as this is probably the best thing of all; the representation of these two communities and their relationship makes me happier than it probably should. You get the total and utter dilapidation of the districts and the dark monotone voices and colours of the district completely contrasted with the outrageously bright colours and charisma of The Capitol, especially when Effie first enters district twelve I mean she looks, no doubt intentionally, ridiculous and overbearing. Entering The Capitol aswell, is astounding, to come from such a down trodden area into a more futuristic and privileged place; it clearly has something to say about the current society that we live in, all films have some sort of realistic commentary to it, this satirises greed and humans ability to take pleasure from peoples pain (The actual Hunger Games). The absolute ecstasy of The Capitol and the audience that watch The Hunger Games in joy and excitement is really quite disturbing but it does question ourselves, it's as if The Capitol represents the unconscious part of our minds, the part that secretly is interested by things like that. The very fact we watch The Hunger Games, which is full of violence and violent subjects shows that we have a curiosity to the macabre, we pay money to see it and to enjoy it. Nevertheless The Capitol is somewhat substantially worse than we are, no doubt but its clear that those in The Capitol are not meant to be seen as serious beings, apart from when Effie starts to change in Catching Fire, when the audience begin to see the wrong in the games and when it matters, they are meant to be ridiculed by us, to be seen as something overtly ... frustrating? This is only an informal blog so I wont go too much more into it but if any of you have seen posters or adverts and compared it to something like Twilight, thinking "oh its just another teenage craze that's probably not all that good" Well, its far from just a teenage craze, personally I would say it appeals to all ages and all varieties of people, its fascinating and captivating, no matter who watches it. Watch it or if you've already watched it. Watch it again. One last thing, a key line in Catching Fire is "Remember who the enemy is" which I absolutely love, you can apply this to nearly every situation you're in, sometimes your brain gets a little confused, and you find yourself questioning others, that have always and always will care for you and you just need to step back and say "who is the true enemy here?. Equally, if you are trying to chase the dreams, remember the enemy is the block, its the non-believers, the trajectory and eventual finish of a goal is inevitable, you want it to happen, you chase it enough, it will happen. Remember who the enemy is and live your life, not avoiding them but instead hold them at the same significance as the best of your friends and family, because those who will support must always be remembered but those who will not and will try to stop you are just as significant, so you can learn to ignore them, to use them as fuel to do exactly what they tell you you cant. The Hunger Games is more than just a franchise, and your life is more than just what is given to you from birth, it is what you give yourself, what you create for yourself.

From Shorts to Novels; Skeleton Blocking

If I'm completely honest here I've not been writing my story as often as I'd like for differing reasons, but I have written more! I am still being fairly productive!! As I said before moving from short stories, (the majority done at a younger age) to attempting a Novel I wasn't absolutely certain how to approach it but I've found a way of writing now that suits me and that I think is a good way of getting more out of my story and will help to make it into the length of a novel. This particular way of writing, imma go ahead and call Skeleton Blocking; this consists of me writing a good block of stuff, the way I would for a short story (conserving certain words, information etc to make the most of the words) and just by doing this for the introduction I've already got to the length of my longest short story. Once this initial writing is done (basically blocking) I then go back to certain sections of it, and decide to add a character introduction/description, or a little bit more descriptiveness to an event and basically  attempting to make it as effective as possible. Then when I'm happy with the additions or alterations I've made, I'll continue with the story and do the process again, whether i'm gonna do this for the whole novel I'm not sure but in terms of getting me use to the length and scale of the novel compared to the short story and to help me understand my own story even more. There is always more you can comprehend about your own work, even when you've written so much background you think you could actually live in that town with those people and understand how the town works and how the people tick, there's always more that can be done to enhance the story. This is an extremely brief post compared to the others, I realise that...and its a little discomforting but still, if its short maybe that means there's not many negatives about the project? YAY