The Belgariad by David Eddings

Today, I'm going to talk about my favorite book series of all time, and its subsequent sequels, prequels, and companion text. This was, of course, none other than the epic fantasy series "The Belgariad" by David Eddings. Though Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author, the Belgariad is undoubtedly my favorite series, mainly because of the nostalgia attached to it.

I grew up with these books. Right now, I'm on my sixth reread of the entire collection of books set in that world, about two-thirds of the way through it. I've read and reread these books over a period of ten or so years, and have loved them more and more with each return to their beautiful story.

The first line of the first chapter (barring the prologue, which is sort of like a history article that explains the creation mythos) is: "The first thing the boy Garion remembered was the kitchen at Faldor's farm." That line, for the past ten years, has been my entrance into a familiar world filled with characters, places, and scenes that I love dearly, almost as if I had experienced them myself.

Our main character is a farm boy named Garion, and we see the expanding world of each novel through his inexperienced yet determined-to-understand eyes. Yes, it's a cliche--a farm boy (oh, and did I mention he's an orphan too?), but this was back in the 1980's, when this was what fantasy was--the classic quest story with the orphaned boy destined for greatness. And this is still the best version of that classic story I have ever read and probably will ever read.

David Eddings is a master of dialogue. These books are so unbelievably quotable...it's not even funny. No, I lie, it is. His dialogue is hilarious. He does banter better than almost anyone I've ever seen in fantasy, and I am consistently amazed at how well he can characterize people who are (to an extent), sort of cliches.

For a long time, I've tried to see if I could get some of my friends to read this series. At first, one of them was willing to try, though it is a long series (five books, and then a sequel series of five more, the Malloreon), and they seemed to be liking it. But it turned out that it just wasn't their thing, and I was discouraged. I kept wondering if these books weren't as good as my nostalgia was making them out to be, and the only reason I liked them so much was because I had grown up reading them. But then I remembered the Facebook group I'm a part of: "Got Belgariad?". There are hundreds of people in that group that love this series as much as I do, and that was good enough for me.

But then my brother started reading the books. And he loved them.

And then one of my best friends started reading them, and loved them too.

One of the greatest feelings in the world is sharing art that you love with someone close to you and them loving it as much as you do. I've so enjoyed talking to my brother and my best friend Miranda about this series and these characters. I also sort of envy them--they get to visit it for a first time, and I can only read it again. But it's okay, I can live vicariously through their experience.

So, in close, this series, the Belgariad by David Eddings, is incredible, and is filled with lovable characters, witty dialogue, beautiful use of language, amazing world-building, and a gripping story with an epic scope. Do yourself a favor and try them out.

And remember...never forget the cabbages!

Anywhere 2014

This year was a year of change.

I graduated high school, along with an amazing group of other teenagers that I believe will do great things in this world for the Lord. I struggled with mistakes, and I learned from them, pressing on against the things in this world that would hold me back. I watched as some of the people dearest to me began to move on with their lives, going forward towards their dreams. Some of those people moved away. Some stayed in little old Janesville. I try to stay in touch with all of them, but sometimes you just can't continue to have as close a friendship as you once did, because of the distance.

For the past three years, my friend group and I have had a short phrase that we used to categorize our year. In 2012, that was YOLO, which was sort of ironically chosen because of how much all of us thought that phrase was dumb. We ended up embracing its simpler meaning, and had all sorts of crazy adventures that year. That year was the year I began to develop the deepest friendships I'd ever had before, and continue to have.

Next, it was Younglife in 2013, referencing the Anberlin song of the same name. We continued to have crazy adventures, but this was the year that most of my dearest friends graduated and started to go in a different direction with their lives. The bridge of the song Younglife perfectly illustrated my hopes and fears at that point in my life: "All those days gone forever, wonder if we're gonna ever see all our Younglife friends that we made again. Have we all lost connection? Life blows in all directions. Memories bring us back to where we've been."

This year, it was a few months before we ended up deciding on a phrase. Most of the people who had been such a vital part of my life before had begun to move away or just not be in touch as much, and so there was less of that "every Sunday afternoon we hang out" mentality, as we all began to grow up. Finally, in the driveway of one of my best friends', we came up with our theme for the year. Anywhere.

You see, my two best friends in all the world--Anna and Miranda--were moving to Moberly, Missouri, to go to a fantastic Bible college. And the clock kept ticking away the time we had left together. We decided there and then that ANYWHERE we were, we'd still be side by side. Things were going to change, but we would still keep in touch. We would still be the best of friends. And we would still support each other and love each other in everything the others did.

The months passed, my two best friends moved away. I had a really hard time without them. And I mean really hard. I was very depressed for a while, and though I probably didn't outwardly show it, the more time that passed not having seen them, the harder it got. Finally, they came back in October for a weekend, and I got to hug them and laugh with them again. It was wonderful. But it was also very obvious that things had changed, and they could never go back to being quite like they had been. And I had to deal.

I didn't deal very well at first. To be honest, I was sort of bitter. Though I desperately wished I could drop everything and go to Missouri, I knew that it made no sense. Everything that I did, everything that I was...it was here in Janesville. The best plan...the thing that made the most sense for my life was to stay here. And so, I worried. I worried that my two best friends would move on with their lives completely, and little old me would be left behind, wondering where they had gone off to.

I was very bitter, with God, with everyone around me. I just couldn't understand why any of this had to happen. Why couldn't everyone just stay in Janesville and life could stay the same? But then the Lord started working on my heart. Things are going to change, Caleb, He said. There is nothing you can do about that. All you can do is continue as you always have. Being the person I created you to be.

I realized something. Who was I to think that I knew better than God in this master plan? Who was I to believe that I knew how to tell the story better? The only thing I could do was continue to love and support everyone around me, giving them encouragement. That's the thing I'm good for. God didn't want me to be bitter. He needed me to be supporting, encouraging. He needed me to be there for people. And I was too busy wallowing in my depression to see that. Until now.

I'm okay. Yes, things have changed, and yes, I still hope that when we're all adults, some of us can live nearby each other and continue to be the best of friends, and then our kids can be friends, and it'll be awesome...but I'm okay. I'm okay with what God has planned for my life, whatever kind of crazy ups and downs it holds. If there's one thing I know, it's that life is God's story, and the only thing I'm good for is being a part of that story the best way I know how.

So, as Anywhere 2014 comes to a close, I take a look back and realize how great my life was...and how great my life continues to be, despite the changes. My best friends are still my best friends, and we've changed...but no matter where we go from here, we'll still be side by side. Goodbye, Anywhere, and hello 2015, whatever you will be titled.

And thank you Lord, for this breath I'm breathing, this life I'm living, this song I'm singing, and this story we're telling.

I Won #NaNoWriMo

Hey guys, guess what? I won National Novel Writing Month!

Yes, I wrote 50,000 words in the month of November. It was both easier and harder than I thought it would be, in different ways. It was easy to write that much, because I write pretty fast anyway, and had already outlined the story extensively, but it was hard to write that much without editing. I ended up getting to a point where I knew I would have to go back and change major plot things, but I had to keep going, because I was behind. 

I learned a lot about my process during the month--namely that I can't not edit while writing. I can't turn off my internal editor, and that's not a bad thing. It makes my prose pretty workable by the time I get done with a chapter, but it also makes writing a chapter take a little longer. When I was completely focused on writing during November, that wasn't that big of a deal, and I could more or less churn out a chapter every three to five days or so. But now that I have to work on other things, such as my music, college preparation, and other projects, I'm not going to be able to finish chapters as frequently. But that's okay. It works.

As people have been reading along online and critiquing To Look Skyward, I've caught a lot of things that I need to fix. Unfortunately, I need to keep this book plodding slowly forward, so I don't get stuck in an eternal rewrite. That means I'm going to have to ignore the glaring mistakes and focus on making the next parts of the book better. I can come back and fix everything in a second draft. So, off I go! Wish me luck. 50,000 words down, lots more to go. This is definitely going to be a thick book. But it is an epic fantasy... So there's that.

NaNoWriMo Week #4

This is it. Crunch time. I have eight days to get fifteen thousand words in. I did about three thousand today, and so I'll have to do about two thousand a day to get finished on time. Unfortunately, my two best friends ar going to be in town, so distractions will be many. BUT I WILL OVERCOME!

Wish me luck.

NaNoWriMo Weeks #2 and #3

Well, it's November 20th. And I'm behind. I have ten days left to get to 50k, and that means 2,000 words a day--which is what my goal was in the first place, but that didn't happen. I hit a wall for a little while, stuck on a chapter that I had to fix before I could move on. Something just wasn't right about the first part of the piece, and until I went back and made it tolerable, I couldn't keep writing. So that cost me some time and some words. Also, life distracts sometimes. Things happen. But I will win NaNoWriMo, I'm confident of this. And--call me crazy--but I think I'm gonna do another 50k in December.

Yes, I'm insane.

But this book is definitely going to be longer than 50k, and it may even be longer than 100k. Only time will tell. And I don't have that much time left, so back to work. No, what am I saying. Sleep first, then writing tomorrow. I'm not that insane.

As a side note, I totally got Johann Johannsson's new score for the movie The Theory of Everything, and it is fantastic and is now a part of my To Look Skyward playlist. Seriously, check out his stuff, he's an amazing composer. (Enjoy the soundtrack below.)
 

NaNoWriMo Week #1

Well, it's Sunday afternoon and I'm right on par for my NaNoWriMo novel, To Look Skyward. 15,000 or so words, and almost three chapters in (finishing up that third one today), and I'm excited for this story. Of course, my initial ideas were shifted around and rearranged in my head even with the first words written down, and I expect that to happen more and more as I get closer to the end, but I am still super pumped to write this book, and I am super pumped for people to read it!

For this project I decided to try something a little bit different on the critiquing end--I uploaded my chapters to Google Docs and shared the links with my writing group and on a writing forum I'm a member of, allowing them to comment while while reading to give me their honest reactions as they happen. It's been super helpful so far, and I'm definitely going to keep using it. From the initial feedback I've gotten on my first chapters, the book is going well, and though there is obviously some work to do on the editing side of things--for example, I didn't get the characterization of my main character quite right in the first chapter--but that is the nature of first drafts.

(Note: If you're at all interested in reading my novel as I write it and giving me feedback, send me a text, Facebook message, email, or direct message on Twitter and let me know, I'll get you the links. I'd really appreciate any suggestions you could give me.)

So far in November, I've been listening to a custom playlist I put together just for the writing of To Look Skyward, including music from Rhian Sheehan, Johann Johannsson, Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel score (which is the theme album for the world of TLS), and soon Hans Zimmer's Interstellar score. I just finished watching that fantastic movie, and though the soundtrack has yet to be released, it will fit perfectly with the rest of the music I've set aside for TLS, with beautiful piano, organ, and strings. Sorry, I'm a film score buff.

Well, I'm off to do some editing on the first scene to rectify with the prologue I just added, and then I'm off to write more. (Shh, don't tell anyone I'm editing my novel during NaNoWriMo. I'll get in trouble.)

Have a good day, and I'll give you another update in a week!

I'm Writing A Lot

Hello there! It's been a while since my last post, but for somewhat of a good reason: there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. But now there is! And so I will spill the beans.

Writing: During the two weeks my family was on vacation, I wrote a total of 11,068 words, which was fantastic! Obviously not as much as I could have gotten done, but a significant amount when compared to what I usually get done. In that time, I wrote a short story to its completion (Annoyance In The Air, which needs some revision, but should be finished soon), and another short story almost to its completion before I realized that I was going to have to scrap the whole thing because it was way too complicated to be a short story. I also got closer to completing Spend A Winter In Hell, but got stuck on the ending of that, and am going to run it by some people to get their input, and false started another short story that turned out to also be too complicated (this is me trying to put too many magic powers in a short story), but did provide a springboard for a very interesting character arc that I'll use later.

Since then, I've been doing some editing on short stories and my novella, while worldbuilding and outlining for my NaNoWriMo novel, To Look Skyward. I still have a lot of worldbuilding to do before I'll be completely satisfied with everything I need to know about the world, but tomorrow is when NaNoWriMo starts, so I'll have to be quick about that if I want it done before I have to start putting words to paper. All in all, though, I'm very satisfied with how the outlining process has been going. I've done more outlining than I usually do on a project (but recently it has all been shorter stories, so there's that), and I think the first half of the story is pretty solid in terms of story structure as a result. The last half, though... I still need to work on that. I have a feeling that once I hit that I'll either have a wonderful shot of inspiration and figure out the direction I need to go...or I'll need to brainstorm with my writer friends about where the heck I'm supposed to go with it.

Just as an aside, I also came up with a very interesting short story idea a couple days ago, as a result of one of the writing sprints for a NaNo Write-in. I didn't have time to go into it very fully, as I needed to focus on To Look Skyward, but I'm excited to write that in December sometime.

Music: Well, it looks like my plan to go to a recording studio in October has been postponed, because of crazy schedules on both sides, and so that's not going to happen until sometime later. But that's okay. I have recording equipment that suits my needs, and a good program to work with, so I can have fun with demos for now. I've been slowly but surely working on A Promise To Write's demo, but it still needs more work before I'll be satisfied with it. I did make an acoustic demo of my newest song, entitled "The Girl", and so there's that. I really like this song, so hopefully soon I'll release it somewhere. I also have the opportunity to play one of my original songs (with the rest of the worship band accompanying me) at my church this Sunday, so that's exciting. I'll be playing Somebody Has To Start, which is one of my favorites that I've written.

I'm planning on recording a rather special song in early December (after the craziness of NaNoWriMo dies down), but it's a secret as to what it's ultimate goal is, so I will not say anything more.

Reading: If you're at all interested in what I'm reading right now, you can follow me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Xcarthan12 -- as of now I'm reading through a bunch of different books, some non-fiction, but mostly fiction. Part of that is my annual reread of the Belgariad and the Malloreon series by David Eddings, ten books of absolute awesomeness that formed a significant portion of my childhood.

Listening: So, the other day, I fell in love with a New Zealander composer named Rhian Sheehan. You should go check out his music. Right now. It's so beautiful. http://rhiansheehan.bandcamp.com/

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Well, that's about all, so I'll sign off. Hopefully this is interesting to you in some way.