Things I’ve Said To My Students

Past writing from other account

The lost things

      Amirah growled, digging through her leather satchel.  “Third time this week…”  She muttered angrily to herself.  “It cannot be gone!”  Her skirts were starting to get muddy from her hands being occupied elsewhere, but she could care less.  

     First her fan, then her favorite cloak, and now, the cherry on top of the cake,  her dance slippers.  Gone.  Vanished.  She closed the clasp on her satchel and swung it back over her shoulder, turning on her heel and walking back down the muddy streets towards home.

     “Mother won’t be happy…” She groaned at herself.  Mother was never happy, at least not with her.  With seven younger siblings, all of the maternal joy was gifted lavishly on them.  But Amirah, being the oldest, well, she was supposed to pull her own weight.

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is pirate a potential career

please

I beg of thee

let me be a pirate standing on the bough of a ship leaning out with my hair blowing on the wind without a care in the world, my chaotic evil radiating out from me across the dark stormy sea as I wander about, drifting with the tides with a quill in my hand and a never fading smirk upon my face

Watercolor painting, trying to do a Hades and Persephone type thing.  Took me about an hour and a half, and I had a lot of fun doing it :)

Books you should read to improve your writing (Part 2)

1. The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

Aspect this book will teach you: AMAZING WORLD-BUILDING

Too much time has passed since the powerful dragon Tintaglia helped the people of the Trader cities stave off an invasion of their enemies. The Traders have forgotten their promises, weary of the labor and expense of tending earthbound dragons who were hatched weak and deformed by a river turned toxic. If neglected, the creatures will rampage–or die–so it is decreed that they must move farther upriver toward Kelsingra, the mythical homeland whose location is locked deep within the dragons’ uncertain ancestral memories. Thymara, an unschooled forest girl, and Alise, wife of an unloving and wealthy Trader, are among the disparate group entrusted with escorting the dragons to their new home. And on an extraordinary odyssey with no promise of return, many lessons will be learned–as dragons and tenders alike experience hardships, betrayals … and joys beyond their wildest imaginings. (Goodreads summary)

Honestly, it blows my mind that anyone could have created the world in this series. The way the world is set out, the cultures and ways of living, the unique trade, the creatures, the history, the motivation of the characters, and the prejudices the characters have to face are all tied in so well together. This series offers a completely different world that still manages to be realistic AF. I would definitely recommend this series.

2. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Aspect this book will teach you: REALISTIC FIRST PERSON POV

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons. Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own. (Goodread summary)

The way in which Lauren Beukes tells the story through her protagonist’s perspective is so realistic that you manage to forget that Zinizi is only a fictional character. The ways in which things are described, the main character’s attitude and the way in which the city of Johannesburg is represented through Zinzi’s eyes is stunningly contemporary and accurate.

If you want to learn how to write a modern character’s POV with realistic humour and pessimism, this book is for you.

3. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Aspect this book will teach you: CREATING BELIEVABLE MAGIC SYSTEMS

Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands… (Goodreads summary)

The Inheritance Cycle will forever be one of my favourite book series. This is partly due to the fact that Eragon was the first fantasy book I read where the magic system made complete sense to me and was believable. The way in which the toll magic takes is described, as well the main character’s journey to becoming a powerful magic-wielder are done so well. It is well worth the read.

4. Half Bad by Sally Green

Aspect this book will teach you: BREAKING THE RULES OF WRITING LIKE A BADASS MF

Wanted by no one. Hunted by everyone. Sixteen-year-old Nathan lives in a cage: beaten, shackled, trained to kill. In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world’s most terrifying and violent witch, Marcus. Nathan’s only hope for survival is to escape his captors, track down Marcus, and receive the three gifts that will bring him into his own magical powers—before it’s too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves? Half Bad is an international sensation and the start of a brilliant trilogy: a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive. (Goodreads summary)

I absolutely adore the way this novel (and the whole series) is written. Green has some chapters that are only a word long, pages of only punctuation marks, sections where the POV is unclear etc. She breaks all the rules we were taught to follow and it makes the book all the better. Green uses language and form in ways that I would never have thought of to convey her characters’ emotions and it is an amazing experience to read how she does this.

5. Animal Farm by George Orwell

Aspect this book will teach you: ALLEGORY DONE RIGHT

Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose slogan becomes: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Published in 1945, this powerful satire of the Russian Revolution under Stalin remains as vivid and relevant today as it was on its first publication. (Goodreads summary)

As you can see from the blurb above, this book uses a deceptively simple story line to comment on political problems. The way this novel uses allegory and satire is iconic. If you want to learn about commenting on politics or other world issues in an ironic and unique way, give this book a read. It’s a very easy and short read - so, do yourself the favour.

Reblog if you love any of these books. Comment with your own recommendations. Follow me for similar content.

little things to do every day:

open your window and feel the air

make lists

hug someone

splash some water on your face

spend a few minutes without any screens

always have water with you

doodle 

clean one thing that’s messy/dirty

compliment someone

be kind to yourself

Story from my other account

The fae run free

A shiver ran along the ground, leaves shaking themselves free from the trees.  Something was awakening.  Villagers clutched their cloaks closer about them as a rumbling shook the forest.  

It was the one night that the fae could be free, peculiar beings they were.  An ancient spell from a mage long ago had imprisoned them, locked them far away from the world and one another.  But this one precious day a year they were set free to dwell, to feel real, once again.

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hiiii guys.  also fyi my old account was @pygmydragon but i kiiiinda deleted that email address accidentally that was linked to the account so now I can’t get into it.  Oops.  the chances of the people that liked my writings over there actually finding this are very very slim but if you do- Hi!  I love you guys!  I do still exist!  Just not over there!  I moved!  (aight imma shut up now)

okay so if you need more veggies/fruit, protein or fibre (bc most people do NOT eat enough) in your diet but you struggle to do so, hear me out:

look up recipes (especially snack recipes) that are child/toddler/baby-friendly

i can guarantee there is a woman with a cooking blog out there who has found away to pack a bunch of vegetables into a surprisingly delicious little snack for her kids. this process has never failed me when i feel like i am not eating enough fruits and veggies. my entire flat is eating spinach muffins at the moment, which doesn’t sounding particularly appealing to most people and yet somehow. they’re delicious.

Victoria Priessnitz

She watches over us and the night, her soft purrs causing the stars stuck in her fur to ripple and our mossy forests to sway.  

Concept: You walk outside one night and notice that there are two full moons. A few hours go by and they don’t seem to move.

You stare up at them.

They blink.