Sorry About Not Keeping My Promise( But I have a good reason, and I’ll give you new content Saturday)

Posted on by under Fun Projects, Future Plans

 

Hello there my wonderful writers! Today’s post is going to be talking about a massive project I’ve been working on for the past two months, so stick around till the end. I hope you all are doing well and I wish you the best.

 

    To begin, I know I haven’t followed through with my promise of a consistent uploading schedule, and I’m really sorry about that. As all of you who read my previous post know, I’ve been dealing with some family emergencies. Because of this, I haven’t had a lot of time to work on activities unrelated to that. Thankfully, that situation has gotten better over the past couple of weeks, so I’ve been able to get back into the swing of things. You’ll be happy to know that throughout this two-month break, I was working on a really big “What We Can Learn From….” post that would cover the popular anime Cowboy Bebop. The problem I came across while writing the post was that there was so much information put into that single post. After this, I realized it would make more sense to separate the information into a whole bunch of posts talking about each individual aspect of the show that we could learn from( there’s quite a lot, trust me). During this time, I also came up with some ideas for posts that would talk about the “Beauty of…”, “Importance of…”, and “Lessons of…” certain animated T.V shows and books. Anyways guys, look forward to not one, but two posts this Saturday talking about writing lessons that we can learn from Cowboy Bebop. 

 

Stay safe, and remember, as always, to wear your pencils!!

Look Who’s Back in Town! (It’s me, just to clarify)

Posted on by under Future Plans, Uncategorized

See the source image

Hello there fellow quarantine companions, and welcome back to Writer’s Talk! Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, a lot of “things” came up. “Things” that I’ll be talking about with all of you in this post as I have nobody except my family to talk to( after a couple of weeks of just talking to them, I think I have finally reached clinical insanity). In this post I’ll be talking to you all about the latest news on me and the future of this blog. I hope you all enjoy!

As you all know by now, I usually like to keep things light and fun of this blog, but for today’s post I have to be a little bit more serious because something really serious happened in life recently. Two weeks ago, my uncle, Sohaib Sultan, Chaplin of Muslim life at Princeton University and author of The Quran for Dummies, was diagnosed with stage three bile-duct cancer. This was/is probably the worst news I have ever received in my life. I have always been very close to my uncle and I’ve always known him to be a great man with a lot of love in his heart for other people, so when I received the news that he had been diagnosed with this disease, my heart sank. I’d like to make a post dedicated to my uncle, my relationship with him, and his journey so far in the next couple of weeks, but for this post all I wanted to say about him is that I love him dearly and hope that his treatment along with the rest of his life will be easy and painless. Other than this, I’ve been okay and have been keeping myself occupied writing, reading, and learning. I’ve been able to finish a large chunk of my book and have been able to almost completely finish my movie script that I’ve writing for the past four months!

 

As for the future of this blog, I plan on writing at least one post per week. Most of the posts will be about what we can learn from different movies, books, and/or plays in regards to world building, character development, and writing in general. I’ll probably also make separate posts expressing my opinions on those movies, books, and/or plays. I was thinking about maybe making a news-update-video post similar to John Krasinski’s Some Good News YouTube videos. That I’m a little more hesitant on, but if you guys think that might be a good idea, then I’ll do it.

Remember to stay safe! Thank you for reading, and remember to wear your pencils!

SBC Week 8( Last post of the SBC :( )

Posted on by under Future Plans, Student Blogging Challenge

           

Image result for saying goodbye

          ¨It’s been a long road getting from there to here.. And I see my dream come alive at night, yeah I going to touch the sky.¨ (Star Trek Enterprise Theme Song). Hello there my wonderful writers! Today I ́ll be looking back at all of my experiences in this years Student Blogging Challenge. This will sadly be my last post for the Student Blogging Challenge as this is the last week of the Student Blogging Challenge( sorry if that sounds redundant, I didn’t know how to word it differently). I ́ve had a lot of fun these past couple of months, and I hope you all enjoyed this wild ride as well. Whether it was reading your all ́s comments or writing up the post(s) of the week, I had a blast participating in this year ́s SBC! 

 

        Over these past two months, I’ve been able to publish nine posts( not including this one) which really surprises me as I have just started blogging this year. My favorite post, however, has to be my week four post because I was able to actually teach you guys something about writing( the whole point of my blog)! I also love how I was able to talk about something I love, Star Wars! I loved reading your alls 24 comments! I was surprised to find that my comments were came from both my teachers and friends along with students and teachers from Canada and the rest of North America. 

 

           My favorite thing about blogging was being able to express myself in different creative ways, my favorite way being creating an avatar. Creating an avatar helped me realize different aspects of my personality that I had somewhat forgotten about, and that I now try to let shine more often. As for the Student Blogging Challenge, I had fun writing the different topics, but I don’t think I would do it or something like it again. This is do to the fact that I wasn’t able to write about the topics I intend to talk about on this blog. This is actually a nice transition into my next point of discussion, the future of my blog. In the future I’m going to try to write more about tips for writing( the purpose of my blog). I also plan on doing more video posts, so look forward to that! 

 

That’s all for now writers! Have a nice day and remember to wear your pencils!

SBC Week 7 (Holidays!)

Posted on by under More All About Me, Student Blogging Challenge

 

Image result for crescent moon and star

Hello there my wonderful writers! Today I’ll be sharing with you a “holiday” I celebrate, Ramadan, in order to fit this week’s SBC requirements( I say holiday in quotations because Ramadan is more about reflection and peace rather than partying and festivities). I wrote the post in a freestyle poem format, so I hope you guys enjoy it! (P.S Ramadan is an Islamic festivity)

Ramadan

 

Have you seen the beautiful moon

with its lunar glow?

Have you heard the Imam say the long awaited words,

“It is Ramadan”?

 

You may have heard,

but you chose not to listen.

May I ask, 

is it because you believe Ramadan to be a chore?

I will tell you now

your thoughts are in fact invaild, 

for Ramadan is no chore, 

nor is it just about helping the poor. 

Ramadan is a month of solace,

a month to reflect and contemplate.

To purify one’s soul is the goal of this month.

Not to mention

 a reconnection with the religion you chose.

 

Ramadan is the month of the Quran 

for that is when it was revealed,

so read thy solemn book 

as a way to reconnect. 

 

Thou should also remember 

that fasting does not happen at the consumer level.

To fast from sunrise to sunset 

includes fasting from that which is prohibited and vile. 

 

Thou should try to improve thy character

in this holy month.

To show kindness and patience 

Is what you should do. 

 

Ramadan is all these ideas wrapped up into one,

and that is not such an awful thing, right?

 

And even if you are not a muslim,

I ask that you might contemplate and reflect

in a month of your own

as a way to purify and cleanse

thy soul of immoral directions,

for we could all use a month like

Ramadan.

         

Let know what type of holidays, celebrations, festivities, or traditions you guys participate in! I loved reading your comments on my week five post, so I can’t wait to see what you guys do this week!

        

   Thanks for reading and as always, remember to wear your pencils! 

SBC Week 5

Posted on by under Fun Projects, Student Blogging Challenge

 

Hello there my wonderful writers! Today, I have provided for you a small music video of me playing guitar! As this week’s Student Blogging Challenge is related to music, and I truly do love guitar, I decided to write a song on the guitar. For a little background, I took guitar for two years in school, and still play on the side at home. My genre of music isn’t defined by any existing genre, but a genre that I have dubbed FSSEASNS(it’s okay if you can’t pronounce it I can’t either). While you may be scratching your head as to what FSSEASNS is and pondering if I have gone mentally insane, I can assure you that, one, I’m okay( at least according to the doctors) and, two, that FSSEASNS stands for the Fifties, Sixty, Seventy, Eighty’s, And Some Nineties Songs. When I was around the age of eleven, I found that I didn’t have a “favorite genre,” so I looked back on all the music that I loved and found that they all come from one of these five decades! And so FSSEASNS was born and it was glorious. I’ve used music from my made-up genre ever since. I think the wacky song I made up for this video takes inspiration from the FSSEASNS.

When making this song, I just started experimenting and tried to decide what sounded right to me. In the end, my final product sounded a little out of control, so I toned it down for you all. When writing the notes for this song, I found that my love of guitar is as strong as ever! This surprised me, as I don’t take guitar class anymore! Maybe all I needed was some experimentation to let my creative/inventive juices flowing. I also found that writing music is very similar to writing a story. When your writing, you write whatever comes to mind, but you don’t truly know if your story sounds proper until you read it out loud. In music, you write your lyrics and notes, but you don’t know if it sounds good until you play it. At the end of the day, aren’t they both forms of expressing ourselves creatively as well? Isn’t crazy how similar these two art forms are? I know it is for me!

Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed my song and my post. Let me know about your musical journey or some connection you have to music in the comments section. Remember to leave a link to your blog in your comment, so that I can visit your guy’s blogs. I love reading other people’s experiences, it lets me think of new ideas for stories :).

Have a great day and remember to wear your pencils!

SBC Week Four Post (What We Can Learn From Star Wars)

Posted on by under Fun Projects, Student Blogging Challenge, Uncategorized
Image result for Star Wars Logo

Que the John Williams music, because today I’ll be talking about Star Wars!      

 

Star Wars has been a part of my life for, well, most of my life! I love the way the characters are built up and interact with each other. I love the intense action and story. I’m enthralled by the overarching narrative and world building(well in Star Wars case universe building, but I digress). Plain and simple, I love Star Wars! Which is why today I’ll be taking you on a journey through this franchise to show you what two things we can learn from it and how we can apply it to our own writing. 

 

When you think of Star Wars, what comes to mind? Is it the logo, the music, the little green man, the whiny boy from a desert planet, or is it something else? The point is, something comes to mind. You may not know anything about Star Wars at all, but when someone says the words “Star War” something from the franchise comes to mind. This is the first thing we can learn from Star Wars, memorability. We all write about characters, fictitious or based in reality, but more often than not, only a handful of people will remember them. I know Star Wars was originally a movie, thereby more people had access to it, but still you have to admit, the franchise made extremely memorable characters. The way Star Wars was able to make memorable characters, in my opinion, is by using relatable, realistic, and generic characters with a slight twist. Let me give you two examples: the character Luke SkyWalker is your standard male protagonist; seeking adventure, white, whiny, and born with an exceptional amount of powers(his force abilities that is). The nice lemony twist is, Luke reacts like any normal person in this situation. He doesn’t believe that he has any connection to this mystical power, but when a recording of a cute girl asking for help appears, he’s all in. I’m not condoning his motivations, I’m just saying it’s realistic. I’m a guy, trust me on this. Luke is also a dynamic character. While at first he only does it for the girl, he later does it to avenge his dead aunt and uncle and bring peace to the galaxy. My next example is the cute girl, Princess Leia Organa. When Luke and smuggler Han Solo finally save Leia, she says the classic line, “You came in that(“that” is the Millennium Falcon)?” When you get rescued, you probably want to be rescued in a classy and organized fashion, and that’s exactly how Leia expected to get rescued as well. We later find out that Leia isn’t just a little snotty, but that she also has admirable qualities such as strong leadership skills, bravery, compassion, and a no-nonsense attitude. You want to have characters like these in your stories because they resonate with the large majority of people. They’re likeable and well-rounded characters. Let it be known, though, that you should not copy and paste these characters into your stories. All I’m saying is that we should make our characters relatable, realistic, and slightly generic with a twist, so that they are likeable! Sorry, it’s just you guys won’t believe how many people don’t get that. It gets a tad bit annoying re-explaining myself, so yeah my apologies. 

 

Now it’s time to move on to the second thing we can learn from Star Wars, that being the portrayal of power. In Star Wars the Jedi are portrayed as the good guys( the reason I say the Jedi are portrayed as good guys is because we find out in the comics and books that the Jedi have made some morally ambiguous decisions) and the Sith are the bad guys. The Republic, the New Republic, and Alliance are the good governments, the Separatists, Empire, Yuuzhan Vong, and Lost Tribe of the Sith(I don’t count the new trilogy movies, which is why the First Order isn’t on here) are evil governments. Any ways, you can clearly see that one side is primarily good and the other side is evil. This is what we call a balance of power, good and evil exist to show what power can do to both good and bad people(or organizations, governments, etc.). Take Anikan SkyWalker for example, he was supposed to bring balance to the force(which he eventually does in Return of the Jedi), but when Palpatine, who is an evil sith lord, offers him power which he can’t refuse, the power to save his wife from death, then he swears allegiance to Palpatine and his teachings. Anakin was misguided which is why he was willing to do anything to gain power, even if that meant committing horrendous deeds upon the galaxy. Star Wars shows us that even the best of us, or maybe the most powerful of us, can possibly be corrupted by power. It also, surprisingly, let’s us know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. It also shows us who has more power/control, who has less power/control. In the original trilogy the Empire is the overpowered central government in the galaxy. In the prequels the overpowered central government is the Galactic Republic. I could go on and on about all the different governments that we learn about in the books and comics, like the Old Republic or the New Galactic Republic, but I’ll stop at these two. Now that you know how Star Wars portrays power, let me explain how we can use it in our own writing. When writing our stories we want to have a very clear line between who has more and who has less power/control. You should try to write some type of governing power in your story that has more power than your protagonist( this could be a person as well, not just a government). You also want to have some type of “good guy(s)” and some type of “bad guy(s).” This doesn’t mean that the good guy(s) always make the best decisions, it just means that we know that they make better decisions than the bad guys on more occasions. It’s okay if you make your bad guy(s) relatable or have logical reasoning(in my opinion that makes for a much better story and, I literaly just said that in my first point), but you should have them make morally ambiguous decisions. 

 

Wow! That was a lot to talk about! I thought it was going to be much easier, but I found myself referencing some of my books for information( and relief). None-the-less, it was really fun making this post, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

 

May the force be with you, and remember to wear your pencils!

SBC Week 3 Fun With Photos

Posted on by under Fun Projects, Student Blogging Challenge, Uncategorized

Hello there my wonderful writers! For this week  of the Student-EduBlog-Challange, I had to make a story, or my case a poem, that relates to an image. I decided to chose a pretty dreary illistration from Edgar Allen Poe´s The Raven, which if you didn´t know is a horror classic.  My poem is actually structured the same way as The Raven ,  which is why  at certain points in the poem you might pause and say, ¨What?¨ due the repetive nature of the poem. I really did have a lot of fun with this poem and I worked pretty dang hard on it too, so I hope you all enjoy it!

 

The Crow (A Parody of The Raven)

 

 I remember that day clearly, for I was sitting in my study weary

Mourning for someone I loved so sincerely

I can love no more

I care no more 

I know better now

Forgive me

I plead.

 

The world was always dreary that is till I met Erie

Her beauty was in the soul and on face and could be compared to that of a child´s cheery 

When she passed I was so teary 

My life had no meaning

Like a word with no meaning 

I wished I could see her

Just one time

How I wish I had not felt that way

But life is tricky

Now let me proceed.

 

The night was freezing as my soul was fleeting

The air was stifling 

I sat alone and still till I heard the rapping on my study door

A erie rapping on my study door

I thought to myself

̈Who is rapping and tapping at my door?

What could they want to implore?¨ 

Little did I know 

it had just planted a seed.

 

I ignored the tapping on my door for it was probably nothing more

than a peasant at my door

I nodded myself back to sleep

but I couldn’t sleep 

for my soul could sleep nevermore

It knew my thoughts and desires

I know that now

and it haunts me.

That I could have let myself be

Freed.

 

The rapping and tapping at my study door 

grew louder each knock more sour I could take no more. 

So I opened my study door to only find emptiness.

Emptiness such as that of which has no purpose, emptiness

like my soul

empty 

yet filled with that of 

sinful deed.

 

I returned to my study chair uneasy about this tapping affair

my lair was still cold and weary but now my soul was lost in complete despair

Everywhere I looked I only saw something daunting

Images of my lost Erie, perfume she used to wear, demons haunting, all so daunting

Stalking my mind till my eyes did weep

And my 

soul did bleed

 

I opened my study window to release the demons in my head so I may not feel my internal dread

But when I opened my door a crow did intrude with such pain in its eyes I thought it was dead

The crow then did rest upon the top of my study door mockingly and hauntingly 

I then decided to implore the crow

̈ ̈What hath brought ye to me young Crovidae breed?¨

Alas its only reply was 

Ne ́er

 

Why did it say that dreadful word, did it know a second or even a third?

Though I can not lie, my curiosity did expand the moment that bird

Spoke.

How frightening it was, a bird who spoke

In my lair

 

 I then did implore some more,

̈ ̈What hath brought ye here young demon of yore?̈ ̈ 

Yet alas it’s only response

Its only response being

Ne ́er

 

It drove me mad, I was no longer sad 

Only filled with hatred was I like that of a child bride

And yet I still wanted to implore

I was still curious, and was getting curiouser, so I did implore

What a mistake 

To start 

A flare

 

I asked the crow so

̈Will I ever see my lost love, Erie which I loved so dearly, tell me crow or ye  shall be my foe!¨

And it did reply so mockingly

The stupid bird did speak so hatefuly and mockingly 

Ne ́er

 

I had had enough of that vile beast on my study door, enough did I implore

I shall ask no more

I shall fight it 

I will track it down and burn it 

Enough of this foul bird 

I shall skin 

it bare 

 

I attacked that beast with my book of a forgotten war, for I wanted to see its gore 

¨I shall destroy you vile beast of yore, I know my pain no leave me forever more!¨

I chased 

And chased 

Till I saw 

Its awful glare 

 

It evaded every snare in my lair 

I cursed it out with every swear 

I had fallen trapped under my books

Papers my father had read, wonderful books

I could read them 

And I could love them 

Ne ́er

 

The End

 

And as all ways, remember to wear your pencils!

SBC 2019 Week Two Challenge

Posted on by under Fun Projects, Student Blogging Challenge, Uncategorized

 

    I hope you all enjoy this video that I made for week two of the Student EduBlog Challenge, I know I enjoyed making it! It´s slightly more informational than usual, but I strived to make this as enjoyable as possible. After watching my video, you can read my experience in the paragraphs down below. 

      Just for a little background, my entire communications class is in the Student EduBlog Challenge, so most of them worked in pairs. I, on the other hand, decided to go solo, which proved to have its ups and downs. While I was able to have complete creative control/power, I did have to edit and do the audio by myself. For editing, I came across the problem that I would stumble over my words and start over. I also came across the problem of grammar and long unsettling pauses. These would occur because I would forget my lines or forget to look at my script. After all of those problems, though, I was able to make a final product that I was satisfied calling my own. 

    As for the positives of this experience, I can safely say that they out way the negatives. I had a lot of fun adding my sense of humor into a video that I perceived to be bland. I also had fun telling you all something useful for once, as most of my posts have been about myself. I love piano music, which is why I added it as background music to the video. 

     Overall this was a great experience, and I can´t wait to do more Student EduBlog Challenge. And as all ways, remember to wear your pencils.

(P.S, Sorry if I sound kind of groggy, I´ve been sick for the past couple of days!)

A New Avatar Post (yay!)

Posted on by under Fun Projects, Student Blogging Challenge, Uncategorized

Time sure does fly by! Our communications class had been working on this slide show for about three days, and it sure was interesting. While making my avatar I kept on thinking about what aspects of myself I wanted to be represented in my avatar. I wanted to make the avatar an extension of myself. I think the important thing to remember when  making your avatar is that you have to add depth and meaning into every little detail of the character design. This is  because you build a connection with your reader. They can get to know you better, and so that you can get to know yourself better. You can obviously see what I think about my avatar and my thought process about it in my avatar post, or by looking at my slide in this slide show. My classmates, I think, also did this as they gave their characters unique quirks and traits that you can read about on their separate posts and slides. They struggled as well, but their hard work defiently payed off. This experience was great and I can’t wait to do more EduBlog challenges.

Have a great day, and remember to wear your pencils!

Avatar: The One that Resembles Me

Posted on by under Fun Projects, More All About Me, Uncategorized

 This character represents my sense of fashion, passion, and humor. His laugh represents my love of comedy and of chuckling hard. At this point in my life I also partake in comedy, usually stand up or improv, I also love hearing witty jokes/puns. His creamish, light brown skin comes from my family’s roots in India and, after 1947, Pakistan. The glasses that lay upon his face are nearly identical to the large, dark-blue-rimmed glasses that I wear. His tiny mustache compliments his face just like how mine does. I gave him a sophisticated-long-sleeve shirt and sweatpants given the fact that that’s my ideal attire. His fedora and lightsaber represent my love of film and storytelling. I´ve always been entranced by gangster movies, though I’ve never seen them, and fedoras look tough and cool in my opinion. I love Star Wars for its characters and storytelling, which is why I´ll make a blog post about what we can learn about storytelling in Star Wars in another post, so stay tuned for that. This avatar may not have a mouth, but if it looked at me, he would probably say, ¨I must be looking in a handsome mirror.¨ This avatar almost perfectly represents me, both in personality and in appearance. 

 

And as always, remeber to wear your pencils!

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