One thing never changes about going back to school: the first day is all about getting to know your classes and seeing your friends again. (Of course, in college, it's a lot easier to do the latter earlier than the former.)
Of course, classes in college are different than in high school. The only time my class schedule has been the same from one semester to the next was when I was a freshman, and that's only because the freshmen don't have many options when it comes time to register. This semester is the most imbalanced schedule I've had so far; most semesters, I've had one or two classes on one day and two or three on another. This semester, I have three classes (plus choir) on Monday, no class on Tuesday, four classes on Wednesday, choir on Thursday, and two classes on Friday. Needless to say, Wednesdays are not going to be fun. (I've had good Wednesdays before, but the prospect of those happening this semester are rapidly decreasing).
I'm really excited about the semester, though. I'm doing courses in Shakespeare (commence epic fangirling), Greek Historiography (we're reading Xenophon), Uses of the Bible in Literature (which, as an English course, has more emphasis on the literature and less on the Bible part of it) and Basic News Writing (this is the one that's happening on Wednesdays only. It may be the reason that Wednesdays are terrible, but I don't know yet). I'm also doing choir, which is a lot of fun.
Also, here's an update on THINGS WILD CARD IS READING RIGHT NOW.
As some of you may know, there's a very popular YouTube series called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which follows the story of Pride and Prejudice in the form of video blog posts on YouTube. Well, now it's come full circle, and The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, the companion novel to the series, is the book I'm currently reading. It's written diary-style; while you could probably understand the book with some decency if you know the basic plot of Pride and Prejudice, it's definitely a lot easier to take out a few hours to watch the series before you read the book. (I realize that this may be the only time I advise someone to watch before reading, but the vlogs came before the book.) You should all go check it out on Amazon. I may do a proper review of it later.
But, for now, it's time to prepare for a lot of academia.
Showing posts with label character building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character building. Show all posts
Monday, September 1, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Homeric Epithets
Soooo today we're going over the fascinating topic of epithets.
This was inspired by the fact that we're holding the last quest in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that has lasted almost two years, and my character has developed a lot. When she started the quest, she was a 19-year-old bard. Now she's a 22-year-old bard/ sorcerer/ fire elemental with a raven familiar named Casca and... well...
When she first introduced herself, she basically said, "I'm Ana of Danger Fief." Her full name is technically Rowan Anaïs.
Now, if I want to refer to her full name and title, it would be Rowan Anaïs of Danger Fief, Queen of the Dead Kingdom, Single Half-Sybaran, Daughter of the Avatar of Chaos and Evil.
How does this relate to Homeric epithets?
Well, Homer does a little of that as well, depending on how many beats he has left in a line and whether he wants to start a new statement in the middle of it. Because of this, Achilles is called swift-footed even when sitting down; Circe and Calypso both have well-braided hair; Odysseus is ever-seeking or cunning; Athena is grey-eyed or wise; there are a bunch of others.
It's kind of interesting to think about what Homer would call Anaïs. Anaïs of the Fire-Hair? The One Born of Darkness? Singer of Tales? The One Doomed to Darkness? The Girl Who Is Really On Fire and Not Metaphorically On Fire Like Katniss Everdeen?
What would you call your favorite character?
This was inspired by the fact that we're holding the last quest in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that has lasted almost two years, and my character has developed a lot. When she started the quest, she was a 19-year-old bard. Now she's a 22-year-old bard/ sorcerer/ fire elemental with a raven familiar named Casca and... well...
When she first introduced herself, she basically said, "I'm Ana of Danger Fief." Her full name is technically Rowan Anaïs.
Now, if I want to refer to her full name and title, it would be Rowan Anaïs of Danger Fief, Queen of the Dead Kingdom, Single Half-Sybaran, Daughter of the Avatar of Chaos and Evil.
How does this relate to Homeric epithets?
Well, Homer does a little of that as well, depending on how many beats he has left in a line and whether he wants to start a new statement in the middle of it. Because of this, Achilles is called swift-footed even when sitting down; Circe and Calypso both have well-braided hair; Odysseus is ever-seeking or cunning; Athena is grey-eyed or wise; there are a bunch of others.
It's kind of interesting to think about what Homer would call Anaïs. Anaïs of the Fire-Hair? The One Born of Darkness? Singer of Tales? The One Doomed to Darkness? The Girl Who Is Really On Fire and Not Metaphorically On Fire Like Katniss Everdeen?
What would you call your favorite character?
Monday, February 24, 2014
On King Arthur (again!) - Merlin
Yes, another post about King Arthur! HUZZAH!
I know that this is an easy way to do things because I'm writing similar things for class, but I find it kind of interesting - so I'm writing about Merlin today.
Right, so Merlin. In the three accounts we have read so far - Geoffrey of Monmouth, Thomas Malory, and Lord Alfred Tennyson - Merlin has pretty much been Uther's wingman; his sole purpose seems to be to turn him into Gorlois (and, later, to whisk Arthur off to a humbler upbringing). As far as we've gotten in Arthur's upbringing, that's Merlin's only relationship to Arthur.
Then we get to T. H. White's The Once and Future King. If any of you have ever seen Disney's The Sword in the Stone, this is the same Merlin that shows up in the book (I'm pretty sure the movie is based on the first third of the book, in fact). The Once and Future King is obviously more of a kid's book than the others - there's no mention of wingmen or sex of any level of consent - and the early pages focus more on Arthur's early life than the other works thus far. (this is probably because, again, it's a kid's book, and probably wants to relate to the target audience and everything). Here, Merlin is Arthur's teacher, mentor, and the resident hooligan of the castle. He's got powerful magic, turning Arthur into a fish and a hawk for various ordeals. Outside of Uther's relationship with Ygerne, this is the first real mention of Merlin's magical abilities.
Merlin, in White's tale, gets a lot more description than in the earlier works; whatever classic Wizard trope you have in your head - that's what Merlin is in this book (also, look up The Sword in the Stone; they do a good job of animating him). Interestingly, this is one of the only descriptions of the wizard we have - or any character, for that matter. It shows a bit of the values for the time - White was writing a narrative story for kids in the 1930s, not a history of kings from a monastery in Wales in the 12th century, as Monmouth was. White spends more time describing interests and places and things - the typical fare that you need to comprehend a novel. Monmouth does the same, but focuses more on the battles than the people. Merlin is more of a presence in T. H. White's novel as well - that could just be because Arthur hasn't properly pulled the sword out of the stone yet; maybe Merlin leaves after that. I don't really know.
The third major thing that White added to Merlin's character is that he ages backwards. As Merlin has only had a few lines of text among all three of the previous authors, it's a lot easier to expand on his character and his hobbies. Here, White uses Merlin's backwards aging as a source for comedy and bringing in time-irrelevant things (Merlin tries to draw his pointed wizard hat from thin air, for example, and goes through several iterations, including a sailor's hat, before he gets it). At the same time, there's so much potential for something darker - but, of course, remembering one's audience is important. (Maybe White might go into that... but... we haven't gotten there yet).
I know that this is an easy way to do things because I'm writing similar things for class, but I find it kind of interesting - so I'm writing about Merlin today.
Right, so Merlin. In the three accounts we have read so far - Geoffrey of Monmouth, Thomas Malory, and Lord Alfred Tennyson - Merlin has pretty much been Uther's wingman; his sole purpose seems to be to turn him into Gorlois (and, later, to whisk Arthur off to a humbler upbringing). As far as we've gotten in Arthur's upbringing, that's Merlin's only relationship to Arthur.
Then we get to T. H. White's The Once and Future King. If any of you have ever seen Disney's The Sword in the Stone, this is the same Merlin that shows up in the book (I'm pretty sure the movie is based on the first third of the book, in fact). The Once and Future King is obviously more of a kid's book than the others - there's no mention of wingmen or sex of any level of consent - and the early pages focus more on Arthur's early life than the other works thus far. (this is probably because, again, it's a kid's book, and probably wants to relate to the target audience and everything). Here, Merlin is Arthur's teacher, mentor, and the resident hooligan of the castle. He's got powerful magic, turning Arthur into a fish and a hawk for various ordeals. Outside of Uther's relationship with Ygerne, this is the first real mention of Merlin's magical abilities.
Merlin, in White's tale, gets a lot more description than in the earlier works; whatever classic Wizard trope you have in your head - that's what Merlin is in this book (also, look up The Sword in the Stone; they do a good job of animating him). Interestingly, this is one of the only descriptions of the wizard we have - or any character, for that matter. It shows a bit of the values for the time - White was writing a narrative story for kids in the 1930s, not a history of kings from a monastery in Wales in the 12th century, as Monmouth was. White spends more time describing interests and places and things - the typical fare that you need to comprehend a novel. Monmouth does the same, but focuses more on the battles than the people. Merlin is more of a presence in T. H. White's novel as well - that could just be because Arthur hasn't properly pulled the sword out of the stone yet; maybe Merlin leaves after that. I don't really know.
The third major thing that White added to Merlin's character is that he ages backwards. As Merlin has only had a few lines of text among all three of the previous authors, it's a lot easier to expand on his character and his hobbies. Here, White uses Merlin's backwards aging as a source for comedy and bringing in time-irrelevant things (Merlin tries to draw his pointed wizard hat from thin air, for example, and goes through several iterations, including a sailor's hat, before he gets it). At the same time, there's so much potential for something darker - but, of course, remembering one's audience is important. (Maybe White might go into that... but... we haven't gotten there yet).
Friday, February 14, 2014
On Character Building
I know I've talked about Dungeons and Dragons characters before, but the character-building aspect of it has come to my attention again. I'm doing a new campaign (which is a smaller and less regular campaign than the one I've been in for the last year and a half), and I'm trying out a new character class: one that is fighting-based, not magic-based. It's a rather large campaign, and we're all rather low-level characters; this makes it easier for the less-experienced people in the group.
My favorite part of the character building in D&D is that you have to have a weakness: you're not allowed to just re-roll your skill points until you get 18 for all six skills (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). The way the classes are structured will show which skills are favored and which are you dump stats. For example, bards need a good Charisma and Intelligence score; the way the class is structured makes the bard less inclined towards Strength and Constitution. Certain kinds of armor interfere with their magic as well. As a result, Bards are a good choice if you're on an information-seeking RPG quest, and are complete shit if you're on a combat-based kill-the-bad-guys quest. (I speak from experience).
On the other hand, a class like a Fighter or a Barbarian is the Bard's opposite. These classes, obviously, are combat-based; my Strength and Constitution scores are my highest scores for this character. I haven't fully fleshed her out yet, because it takes a really long time, but it's important to remember at least one way that Hollywood tends to lie to us: if a character is a fighter-type, their Charisma is often their dump stat (attractiveness falls under Charisma), and their armor is generally functional, not showy. Sure, they may be attractive because they've spent years training to have a solid 18 in Strength and a 17 in Constitution, but that probably means that their Intelligence is more like a 12.
This is something I need to remember when drawing up my non-D&D characters. I can't have someone be smart (at least, not necessarily book-smart) and still have them train 8 hours a day in combat skills. For most characters in the D&D universe, it's better to have an 18 and a 16 mixed in with a few tens and elevens, as opposed to having a character who has a 13 in every box.
Why?
If you have a good strength score, you can attack better. The higher your constitution, the more you can get hit before dying. If your dexterity is good, you'll be able to go earlier in battle and react more quickly. If you're more intelligent or wise, you'll succeed as a mage. If you're more charismatic, you can work crowds, intimidate people, and talk to people better because they'll think you're attractive. Often you can be charming and gather information about how to defeat an enemy because you know what sort of questions to ask, and that can be your contribution to the actual battle, because all you can do during the fight is poke people with a rapier and sing songs to support people (protip: rapiers don't work). Alternatively, it's probably unlikely that someone who has perfected their fighting skills also has good people skills. That's why groups are important.
My favorite part of the character building in D&D is that you have to have a weakness: you're not allowed to just re-roll your skill points until you get 18 for all six skills (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). The way the classes are structured will show which skills are favored and which are you dump stats. For example, bards need a good Charisma and Intelligence score; the way the class is structured makes the bard less inclined towards Strength and Constitution. Certain kinds of armor interfere with their magic as well. As a result, Bards are a good choice if you're on an information-seeking RPG quest, and are complete shit if you're on a combat-based kill-the-bad-guys quest. (I speak from experience).
On the other hand, a class like a Fighter or a Barbarian is the Bard's opposite. These classes, obviously, are combat-based; my Strength and Constitution scores are my highest scores for this character. I haven't fully fleshed her out yet, because it takes a really long time, but it's important to remember at least one way that Hollywood tends to lie to us: if a character is a fighter-type, their Charisma is often their dump stat (attractiveness falls under Charisma), and their armor is generally functional, not showy. Sure, they may be attractive because they've spent years training to have a solid 18 in Strength and a 17 in Constitution, but that probably means that their Intelligence is more like a 12.
This is something I need to remember when drawing up my non-D&D characters. I can't have someone be smart (at least, not necessarily book-smart) and still have them train 8 hours a day in combat skills. For most characters in the D&D universe, it's better to have an 18 and a 16 mixed in with a few tens and elevens, as opposed to having a character who has a 13 in every box.
Why?
If you have a good strength score, you can attack better. The higher your constitution, the more you can get hit before dying. If your dexterity is good, you'll be able to go earlier in battle and react more quickly. If you're more intelligent or wise, you'll succeed as a mage. If you're more charismatic, you can work crowds, intimidate people, and talk to people better because they'll think you're attractive. Often you can be charming and gather information about how to defeat an enemy because you know what sort of questions to ask, and that can be your contribution to the actual battle, because all you can do during the fight is poke people with a rapier and sing songs to support people (protip: rapiers don't work). Alternatively, it's probably unlikely that someone who has perfected their fighting skills also has good people skills. That's why groups are important.
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