Writing: Show vs. Tell

Hello lovies!

I am back again, this time I wanted to give you some examples of what I've mean on showing a story verses just telling a story. Lets start off with a simple setting.

• A cold jungle Night.

Tell:

The easiest way to just tell it is to leave it at that. "it was a gold jungle night..." Otherwise person you could tell it like this:

• A soft breeze gentle danced though the air, rustling the large leaves bringing the cool temperatures of night. Up above the canopy of trees, the large violet moon Eles and Its small companion Inah, rose into the sky showering the world in a soft moonlight. 

That was a little  better of course, but still this is mostly telling. I'm not showing you the scene I'm telling you. Its cold. The leaves are big. It wasn't bad, but if we pull back just a little more we can show the reader the scene.

Show:

The sun is falling. 

Brilliant colors sing a lullaby as the grand light of day fades below the horizon, temporarily cascading the world in darkness. when the light fades, the beauty of the night comes alive. Countless stars seemingly blink into existence as colors streak a crossed the once dark sky. The violet sphere of Eles peeks over the horizon to soon dominate the night, followed closely by the small, blue, Inah. The violet and blue companions cast the land in their soft moonlight, forever the silent guardians of our dreams. The moons of Narsayes let out a sigh upon the land. The wind, nothing more then a gentle caress, sweeps through the jungle canopy. 

Leaves, some larger then a man, rustle under the caress welcoming in the cool temperatures of the night. Many creatures, both big and small, sleep yet even in the night the jungle is filled with bustling life.

Can you see how instead of just saying it was night, and just saying it was cold, just saying the leaves were big I showed the reader instead.  Of course you have to be careful to not have to much description or the readers get bored. You should find the right balance. A good way to do this is to not just describe everything in one huge block. Break it up throughout the scene, showing details when they are necessary.

I hope this was helpful!

Take care!

J. K. Van'Ellessad

Recent Projects and Book Reviews: The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir and A Monster Calls

Hello lovies!

First let me show you what I've made recently with Craft Fantastic products! I used a heart base and glass that I got as a gift from my last order and an image i loved of part of a map. I used them to make a heart necklace. I have a fondness for maps, in fact I make my own maps for my fictional world which I keep in a sketchbook. If you look close enough you can see the N which of course stands for North. The North star has always been a point of great interest. It will always guide you. And in my necklace it says to me you will always be my north star.

The second necklace i made took a bit more time. The image isn't one I bought from Craft Fantastic. Instead, I got an image I liked and worked in word to get it exactly 1 in by 1 in. I then filled the page with the 1 inch images and printed them out. Then I followed the steps of putting glue on the glass, putting the glass to the image and pressing down, using a q-tip to clean up excess clue and then cutting it out and sticking it in the base with the double stick dots. This is perfect for the Fourth of July, and with all the images I printed out I can make many many more. The great thing about Craft Fantastic jewelry is you don't have to use their images, you can print out and use your own!  ( they do not recommend not using thick photo paper)

As many in my area know, January means one thing ( besides my birthday). It is time for the Adult Reading Program for our local library district. I look forward to this every year. I was very sad when I turned to old to participate in the teen reading program. But we have an adult one so it makes it alright. I started reading a book today for the reading program that I had checked out awhile ago and hadn't gotten down to.  The book is: The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir by Susan Daitch.

The premise and idea of this book is an interesting one. A civilization long lost. Most of the archaeologist community doesn't even believe it exists but everyone who goes looking for it ends up imprisoned or dead. The narrator finds the city accidently but before they can finish excavating it, war interrupts and they are forced to flee the country with stolen artifacts.

The book itself, however, is not well written. It uses the right grammar, the right language, the right words but that is all that it has going for it. The story is flat. The dialogue is almost non-existent. I have read first-person books before, and if done right you can have a wonderful story. In this, the narrator mostly just tells you what the conversation was about. You learn the narrator had a wife, and her name was Ruth. But you could not care less about Ruth or the others in the story. You don't feel for the narrator, you don't feel for this characters. You don't hate the villains, cry for the victims, root for the hero...

You feel nothing. Writers are always being told, "Show don't Tell" This book is a prime example of someone simply telling a story and not showing. It does not make you want to stay and read it. It does not make you want to care for the characters at all. Its simply as plain as a textbook.

After such a let down and the mental effort it took to finish such a poorly written novel, I decided to ready something else today as well. I chose A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. In the introduction, he states how the story began as an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Before she could write the book, however, she died leaving just the idea, the characters, and a beginning. Patrick stated he felt it would be wrong to try and mimic her voice, so he rather focused on telling a story he thought she would have liked to read.

A Monster Calls is truly an amazing story. I bought the collectors edition from my local Costco.  The had drawn images throughout are truly amazing an where The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir failed, this book succeeds. You come to care for Conor so much. I guarantee this book will leave you sobbing. You follow the story of Conor, quickly realizing his mother is suffering from some kind of cancer though they never actually say. The monster comes each time to tell him a story. 3 to be exact. The monster claiming the 4th Conor will tell him. And if he does not tell his truths, then the monster says he will die.

Although short, the story doesn't lack at all in what it is telling. It pulls you in quickly and soon you are feeling what Conor is feeling and suffering.  I highly recommend this book to any and all! I could not put it down.  The collectors edition, besides the story, also includes the following:

* enlightening new essays by the author (who also wrote the screenplay)
* interviews with the director, cast, and crew 
* stills from the movie 
* exclusive behind-the-scenes content 
* previously unpublished early sketches by the illustrator, whose artwork inspires animated scenes in the film

Another point i should add, about why i loved the book so much is while the monster is telling his 3 tales. Each time Conor acts like a normal human being and boy. He makes remakes and questions what the monster says and the monster reacts. All of this is in the book and makes it more like a real story.  You truly do care for Conor in the end. 

That is all for today lovies. Have a great evening!

J.K. Van'Ellessad

Back Again!

I am back again!

Please forgive me for my absence, I have been going through a lot lately. I have become ill again, like when I was younger. I started passing out and eventually the center I worked at put me on unpaid medical leave and now my 12 weeks are up and I am unemployed until the doctors can figure out what is wrong with me.

I have been trying to figure out what to do since all that I have worked for is pretty much gone at this point and so I have been doing a few things. I recently got into beading. I have an Indian beading loom, a Ricks beading loom, and a Wrap-it Loom.  I even started doing some netting and beading with just needles and string. Throughout this post I will post pictures of everything I have been working on lately.

At the moment I am trying to decide if there is a way I can mix beading and the type of jewelry done by Craft Fantastic. I met them a year ago while attending Yarn Fest and fell in love with the jewelry! Thankfully at the time I had money to spend on supplies, now i find myself without money struggling to figure out how to make jewelry and things i love, without any money to buy the supplies. It is hard to create when you have no assets..
I am keeping my head up though. I will find a way to do the things I love to do. In the lyrics of my theme song from Spamalot:

I am not dead yet
I can dance and I can sing
I am not dead yet
I can do the Highland Fling
I am not dead yet
No need to go to bed
No need to call the doctor
Cause I'm not yet dead.

I have been singing this song for the past few months now. I am not dead yet.

I am alive, and that will have to be enough. I worked hard to get my AAS in Early Childhood Education and if now that time is over, then I will find something new to learn, something new to create and express myself, even though every single day I will miss seeing those little children every day.

To the left is a bracelet I made using the charms and items from Craft Fantastic. The only thing I did not get from them was the jump rings and clasp. Isn't it just gorgeous? I originally took the photo for Facebook and I am going to start working on making more professional photos that don't look so bad. I highly recommend Craft fantastic's products. They are truly amazing and it is all so amazingly easy to make.

The other photo is a necklace I made that I and many others adore! I love the sheet music image  in it. And as I said before so simply and easy to make, not to mention quick!

The Terrible Truth and a Broken Soul

Yesterday I finally learned a terrible truth I've always kind of known.

My father does not love me. I've worked hard all my life to prove I am worth something, that I am worth loving but yesterday... Him and my mom were arguing because i was upset dad wanted to just get rid of my chair and table and shove it in a corner somewhere so he could put a seat for himself there.

Listening to them argue I heard the hate in his voice...and later talking to mom she tells me she saw it clearly in his face. He hates me, he dislikes me, he doesn't love me. When she confronted him later telling that "your daughter is downstairs in her room crying because she thinks you don't love her, and i saw it in you face you don't like her. " He didn't say he "no I do love her, I like her" he just defended himself saying things like, he doesn't like some of the things I do, and hes not that kind of person. He hasn't called me in the tell me he loves me. He can't, because he doesn't.

It is truly heartbreaking to know that your own father sees no worth in you and doesn't love you. TO know he hates you and blaims you for anything and everything. I know i have a mom and sisters that love me, I have a couple friends... but it hurts so bad to know that my father doesn't. And how can I trust my heavenly father if my own father is so awful?

I'm not sure about anything anymore. I miss Squirt, I miss having a bird friend to comfort me, I miss the hope I had that one day dad would get better and love me... My heart and soul hurt so much...

Mending a broken heart

I'm sure any followers will remember when I lost my beloved Squirt. It has been hard having other birds in the house that hate me when i just want a bird to love. So i have turned to GoFundMe page to try and raise money for a new bird.

If anyone is curious about the story here is the link gofundme.com/zhk3un4

Tera: My favorate game

 Recently I have gone back to one of my favorite games, the only mmo that i actually stuck with and was willing to spend money on (though you do not have to spend a dime on tera to play or to win the game) First I was a Beserker, which helped because beserkers can block so i could solo BAMs and dungeons on my own. BU then the new class, Gunner, came out. I decided to give it a try and loved it.  My gunner is now lvl 65 (at the current lvl cap) and so I have started an Archer.

This second screenshot here is of a demon i had to hunt for one of my quests. It was just soo creepy looking.

The next few are because of an achievement at dragon turtle beach where every year they hold the beach party festival. well the festival wasn't going on but the sand was still there and if you pick up the sand and use it on the beach you make a sandcastle. I did enough to complete all the achievements and ended up with Magic Sand as a reward which let me build sandcastles everywhere which is alot of fun watching people run around and figure out where the sandcastle came from.
 You can also see my gunner sitting down wearing the pirate costume i bought for her,

I also took a screen shot of a BAM I was fighting who was like.. an evil Armadillo Beatle thing.
It kept curling up into a spinning wheel of death,





Here you can see Jageg's Money Trees in the lvl 60-65 area. You have to pick some gold from them for Jageg before he will tell you what you want to know.

 Today I discovered there was an achievement outside one of the large cities Kaiator. If you climbed up the mountain and reached the right spot it would give you a pet called bam bam. Well i found it, which ended up being the Wall of Wordcraft. you click on it and leave a permanent message along with all the others and you get the pet there standing besides my gunner.


Lastly my Archer. I recently used my gunner to farm fashion coupons to get her the fashion and the weapon skin. The mask i found on the trade broker. It could be bought from the shop but i didn't have enough really money for that and another player was selling it for only 800 gold so i bought it cause it looked SO good with her.



I wish I had more friends to play with but I do have a guild that is lots of fun and friendly. I adore this game, and am happy to spend time on it.

A Penny for Your Thoughts, and a Quarter Back

This semester I was enrolled in Jewelry and Metal Working I. We went through many assignments and my first one i do not have a picture of.  The second assignment was wire and i made a snowflake coin that i attached with a chain i made from wire and a clasp from larger wire.

Next i balled two ends of a strip of wire and made it into a cuff.

Third came the bezel wire. I used a Crysopraze stone with bezel wire that i saudered onto a crescent moon.

My last assignment was just finished. It took the most work but is my favorite by far. I used 26 pennies. 12 of them were domed and saudered together to form beads, the rest were drilled through and then all put together with jump rings i got from Walmart.

I just finished my pennies today and I am so excited! it looks just like i wanted it to! Can't wait to wear it for graduation!


A friend of mine told me this when he saw it: What do you know, a penny for your thoughts and a quarter back. That should be worn, as a reminder of self worth. That every thought is valuable, even your own.