Robin Goodfellow

This is a picture of Robin Goodfellow that I drew while I was in class one day, after I was done with the story. I don't claim to be a good artist, but I rather like this piece. The picture initially had some lines on it as it was drawn on a single-ruled notebook. I edited it with the computer to remove the lines and add a border. The style of this particular drawing was inspired by the art from the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I left if black and white as I am not very creative with colours and frankly, I like it better in greyscale. ^^

This is just the Robin Goodfellow I imagined. The guy you imagine could be very different. I urge you to stick to your version. Consider this just a point of view. Anyway, enjoy~! ^_^

The Little Shop with the Three Birds

This is the second story I wrote in the book. But I must say that it really wasn’t my favourite. Initially the desire to write this story came from the title of a short story I read. I can’t remember the exact title right now, but the point was that it was very long. A long sentence, as it were. So I wanted to write a story [for whichever topic] having a long title just for kicks. And so, this one happened.

The title for this story is considerably shorter than the title I initially wrote it as. That one was “The Little Shop with the Three Birds Who Tell You What You Need and Give You What You Deserve.” Luckily I came to my senses just in time! ^^’ I’d be a laughing stock with a title like that…

Anyway, as for the story, I wanted to create a greedy character. But at that time, I was under the impression that most characters that were motivated by the lust for wealth [and are in the end consumed by it] turn out to be male. So I wanted to make [as I referred to her before she had a name] “A Great Greedy Bitch.” Personally, I don’t think I put in enough of the bratty side of Hannah in there. But I think the greed’s all there.

Now comes Robin Goodfellow. For those who got the [shameless] reference, that’s none other than Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I wanted to make a trickster-type character. So what better trickster than one that already exists? For inspiration, I watched the TV show Gargoyles. It had one of my favourite portrayals of Puck. I like how he turned out but am disappointed that he wasn’t as tricky as I imagined him. His trick wasn’t that devious either. But at least this guy inspired me enough for me to draw a picture of how I thought he might look. [I’ll upload that ASAP. Be sure to check the “Art” section.] I want to write his into a story one more time. Maybe I can do better.

Then, I want to comment on the three parrot sisters. They are supposed to be an incarnation of the triple goddess concept. The triple goddess is a term used to describe three separate goddesses [and sometimes other supernatural beings] who appear always in either a triad or a group. Things like the Fates, Morrigan, Hecate, the Norns and the three witches at the beginning of Macbeth. [I believe they are known as the Weird Sisters. Way to go, Harry Potter. ^^] Anyway, the point is, one of them knows the past and knows it completely. The other, the present and the last one knows the future and it alone. It talks sporadically as it’s not really ‘in’ the present per se. Or that’s what I think anyway…

Overall this is not one of my favourite stories but I am much more satisfied with the version that made it onto the blog than the version that I originally wrote. This one has more dialogue, description and, I hope, better pacing. And as for any future plans, I think Hannah’s told all the story she can muster. I do hope I never find myself writing her again. >_< As for Goodfellow and his little pet shop, there is still much left to be said. Anyway, enjoy!

Romulus and Juliet

This is the author’s comment for the first story I’m posting on my story blog and for good reason too. Its one of the first stories I wrote on the book AND it was well-liked by the people I let read it.

The idea for this story came to me while I was poking around wikipedia. I was trying to find connections between myths, legends and stories of different cultures. [That’s something I do out of interest. =P] As I looked around, I came across Romeo and Juliet; a well-known literary masterpiece. As I read up no the characters, I noticed a rather interesting [pointless and purely coincidental] similarity between “ROME-o” and “ROM-ulus” who was the founder of the city of “ROME.”

That was the spark. After that, I fervently looked through the histories of both the character Romeo and the king Romulus and tried to find parallels. Hell, you can find the parallels between literally anything if you look hard enough. ^^

Anyway, I took the Romeo and Juliet story and decided to give it a right good twist. The rest is research and stuff… ._.

The thing about this story, as pointed out to me, was that it was a bit similar to the kind of stories you’d find in the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. [Think the cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream show up to watch the same play…] That maybe true. That was a highly Sandman-fan phase of my life. ^^ I’m not saying it’s inspired by it or anything. It’s just a story idea I had and I went with it.

If I were to criticise the story, I’d first point out what I like about it. The character Tatia was one I enjoyed writing. I wanted to show differences between the 1900s woman and the Sabine girl way back then. But I also wanted a strong female lead. I am accustomed to writing from the male POV so this proved to be a bit different. I hope I did it reasonably well…

What I don’t like about the story are the transitions between the 1900s and ancient Rome. Sure, it would look EXCELLENT in comic, movie or cartoon form. But it takes a fair amount of writing to pull off as just a story. I’ve tried to ignore it as to not make it so prominent. I’m hoping that the imagination of the reader can fill in the blanks. Or something…

Either way, over-all I am very satisfied with this story. It’s a good start and I hope to carry on writing. Maybe one day I will revisit Tatia’s story. I have a feeling that she hasn’t said all she has to say just yet… =)