Dear mods: Please lock.

[BucketORandomness]

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Banana Cream

xxxxxEach person has a color to me. My eyes can perceive into a world of feelings expressed as an ever-changing rainbow. My classes are filled with dull brown or exuberant green. The couples in the halls are surrounded in a billowing pink nimbus. Cheery yellow bubbles from between friends as they talk, and angry scarlet sparks between enemies. One person, however, has caught my attention more than the sickly green of a jealous boyfriend or the deep blue of a stressed student.
xxxxxShe was beautiful, in her own way. Her color was always a shade of quietly cheerful yellow. I was always surprised to see her constant banana cream amidst the kaleidoscopic colors of the hall. Her color seemed to spread to those she encountered, but she also seemed to hold herself back. I want to get close to this bright girl, but how? She doesn’t seem to push away the others and their colors, but she doesn’t seem to actively welcome new colors in a regular routine. Maybe after school, I could try joining her in the emptying halls.
xxxxxI want to find the truth behind this girl’s changing colors. It is strange, the difference between her banana cream yellow and the color she turns when she thinks no-one is looking. How can someone with such a regularly bright color bleed into so dark a silver as to be an abyss all her previous color trips into? I tried, once, to approach the Banana Cream girl during lunch at one time this week. Her color had tripped into that silver when she noticed my approach. The banana cream struggled back to the crest of that abyss with some success. Now that I was close, I could see that her characteristic color was simply a little that reflected around the whole color, covering the silver like a thin cloak. I was no longer surprised that it rubbed off on others’ colors, and the realization made me wonder what other people hid under their cloaks.
xxxxxCould the yellow bubbles between friends hide a passionate pomegranate? Did the pink nimbus cloud over a dark need for attention?

((A/N: So, I was looking for a thing and found this in some old dusty files. Thought you might enjoy it. From what I remember, this was from a time when I was obsessed with color psychology and wondering what color I could be. Not sure what all these colors represent anymore, but I'm sure I found them somewhere. Anywho, I suppose I could try and follow the narrator as they get close to the Banana Cream girl, but I'm not sure I'll come back to this. Hope you liked it >^.^<

[BucketORandomness]

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The Barn

xxxxxIt slumped to one side, leaning perhaps too heavily on its silo companion. Shadow and shade played tag across the exterior of the barn as clouds blotted out the sun. From this distance, it almost looked like the simple structure would survive another winter. Yellow grass buckled against the biting wind that blew brown leaves underfoot. They rustled drily together, and the clouds collided and melted into a single sheet that pressed against the roof of the barn.
xxxxxUpon closer inspection, that roof appeared to sag into the beams inside. One part had given up already and lay somewhere in the cobwebs below. The dark, rusty red that had been painted on so long ago barely broke the brown and grey monotony that had taken over the world. It chipped and peeled away from the grey wood beneath, wood that left splinters behind in any hand unlucky enough to touch its sorry surface; but someone would have to touch the warped wood of the doors and force the heavy things along twisted tracks if they wanted purchase inside.
xxxxxIt looked like the doors hadn't been opened in years, and the repulsive smell of feces gave testament to the only vermin who had graced these walls since. The overwhelming musk of mildew and decay almost seemed to coat the tongue in a thin, cloying film. Off in the back corner, the roof section lay forgotten as the dust morosely drifted over everything once more. The ladder to the hay loft had collapsed and currently waited to decay under a rusty and useless hay fork ready for the next bale that would never come. Rain thunked dully on what was left of the roof and ran freely down beams of unsound wood. There, it ran under mildewed lumps of hay to pool beneath the corroded frame of a once dearly loved tractor.

((A/N: I've started a creative writing class at school *euphoric warbles* This was the first exercise I was assigned, and I thought it was interesting. The goal was to describe the barn. I had to keep in mind, I was describing this from the point of view of a man who had learned that his son died in a war. Also, I was not allowed to mention the father, the son, the war,
or violence in my description. Basically, practicing mood. Kinda like, if Jordan just got dumped in the hallway and walk into class, they aren't going to notice the sunlight slanting through the windows, or the birds chirping cheerfully outside. Nah. They're much more likely to notice how others seem to be staring at them, or how much space is between them and their ex. So, I described the barn. How do you guys think I did? >^.^< Really honestly see no future in continuing this, but it was fun!))

[Ranger of the North]

Ooh, nice! It did have a rather morose, melancholy feel to it; like, even without knowing the backstory I could see that the narrator was obviously in a dark place. After reading your footnote I could go, 'ah, yes, I see that. So that's what's going on.' I think you pulled it off really well! (:

[~Teya~]

Honestly I think it was really good, I wish I was better at describing things, it was so detailed and you could almost feel what it was like to be in that very barn. ;o

[BucketORandomness]

Ooh, nice! It did have a rather morose, melancholy feel to it; like, even without knowing the backstory I could see that the narrator was obviously in a dark place. After reading your footnote I could go, 'ah, yes, I see that. So that's what's going on.' I think you pulled it off really well! (:

I'm glad it worked so well! Here's hoping my teacher likes it just as much I hope to get some other things from class posted here if they are up to snuff with CS regulations and stuff. It'll be a huge learning experience, and I'm hoping to grow with it. *excitement*

Honestly I think it was really good, I wish I was better at describing things, it was so detailed and you could almost feel what it was like to be in that very barn. ;o

I guess the exercise worked, then As for good descriptions, the only thing I can suggest is practice. There are some really great exercises I've heard of, like this one. You can try a similar thing to the barn with a classroom after the teacher got engaged, or a car after someone found out their significant other is cheating on them. Find a situation with high emotions and try describing a thing. There's also the simple item exercise, where you describe something simple like a paperclip or candy bar. Basically, take the time and go through all the senses to describe the littlest thing. After that, you can try describing something imaginary using the same method. There are others out there, I'm sure, but I hope your writing improves as much as you want it to >^.^<

[~Teya~]

Ooh, nice! It did have a rather morose, melancholy feel to it; like, even without knowing the backstory I could see that the narrator was obviously in a dark place. After reading your footnote I could go, 'ah, yes, I see that. So that's what's going on.' I think you pulled it off really well! (:

I'm glad it worked so well! Here's hoping my teacher likes it just as much I hope to get some other things from class posted here if they are up to snuff with CS regulations and stuff. It'll be a huge learning experience, and I'm hoping to grow with it. *excitement*

Honestly I think it was really good, I wish I was better at describing things, it was so detailed and you could almost feel what it was like to be in that very barn. ;o

I guess the exercise worked, then As for good descriptions, the only thing I can suggest is practice. There are some really great exercises I've heard of, like this one. You can try a similar thing to the barn with a classroom after the teacher got engaged, or a car after someone found out their significant other is cheating on them. Find a situation with high emotions and try describing a thing. There's also the simple item exercise, where you describe something simple like a paperclip or candy bar. Basically, take the time and go through all the senses to describe the littlest thing. After that, you can try describing something imaginary using the same method. There are others out there, I'm sure, but I hope your writing improves as much as you want it to >^.^<

Oh yeah, that'd be fun to try out! Thanks for the advice c:

[BucketORandomness]

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((This is based on an assignment from my Creative Writing class. It's not really a story or anything, though.))

Brian Stoll

xxxxxBrian Stoll, 82 years of age, is a Vietnam fighter pilot vet. His uniform is too big for his thinning frame, but he keeps the medals in a small box on his nightstand. As a kid, his dad skipped the draft, but Brian started to admire his uncle, who had volunteered to go into the service. When the Vietnam War started putting up posters for new recruits, Brian told his dad he wanted to join. Dad didn’t want him to go, citing Brian’s uncle and the tombstone there for support. This convinced Brian not to join, but he signed up for the draft and was called in for service.
xxxxxAs a young boy, Brian was the third of four children and the only boy. One of his older sisters participated in a few anti-war protests to get him back before they turned violent in nature. Brian grew up tall and lanky and didn’t show much enthusiasm for sports, but boot camp brought definition to wide shoulders and a muscular build. His favorite class was basic music theory in school, and though he learned a bit of piano basics, he can’t read music anymore and mostly plays by ear. This isn’t working so well now that he needs hearing aids, especially since he refuses to wear them on a regular basis. He’s tall, maybe 6’1”, though his good posture sometimes makes it seem like he’s taller. He held great respect for his mother and even tried to “write” songs for her until her Alzheimer’s took control while he was deployed.
xxxxxBrian worked at multiple jobs after coming home, constantly getting fired for more promising college graduates. He only has a high school degree, but he is fairly smart; a little lacking in street smarts, but he’s adapting quickly. Most of the older people and nurses know Brian from his visits to his friends who now live in the nursing home. His wife isn’t there yet, but everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before the couple of 53 years moves into the nursing home with the others. Sonya and her bad lungs and prospects for cancer, and Brian and his slowing reflexes and worsening vision. The nurses there have warned Brian about Alzheimer’s disease as well, so he’s started carrying a small photo book with portraits of people and their names in it, just in case he starts to forget them like his mother did.
xxxxxWhile he was married to Sonya, Brian had one daughter, Chelsea, who still visits her parents and tries to get the two of them out of their house in their quite town. Brian will sometimes go on vacations with his daughter, but not before securing someone to care for Sonya, since her lungs have given out on anything more than casual breathing. He always sends a picture to his siblings at Christmas in the same, thumbs-up and squinty-eyed smile that he’s become rather well-known for. He always uses it when saying goodbye in person or across the strange technical thing known to the younger generation as “Skype.” Poor Brian is constantly calling it “scope” instead.
xxxxxBrian has visited the Wall in DC a couple times to remember old comrades, and though he’s told Sonya about the war, he’s told less to Chelsea, and neither of them know about when his plane was shot down. They both know not to take him on airplanes for travel and have stopped questioning it at the airport. He easily sends others off on their flights, but he can’t bring himself to actually step foot on the plane. If he absolutely has to, Brian tends to break out in anxious shivers, and flight attendants have to be warned that he tends to get up and pace the aisle after take-off, and even the slightest turbulence sends him gripping his armrests. His typically easygoing and polite manner is subdued, and he becomes less polite and more sharp between take-off and touch-down.
xxxxxHis favorite food is garlic mashed potatoes, and cranberry-apple juice is ordered whenever he goes out. If neither of those options are available, he usually goes for some kind of chicken or ground beef. Brian doesn’t try to hide his receding white hairline, but too much summer sun tends to turn his face uncomfortably red so he’ll wear an old white fishing hat from his younger days with Chelsea on the lake.

((A/N: Aight. Sorry it's not a story, but the next thing I have to do will make more sense if this is here.
It's actually kinda nice to try this kind of character sketch. My teacher mentioned that you should be able to order for your character at a restaurant when you go out, and I think that was a really nice idea. Also, I've spent most of my time not updating by writing a narrative, but it's about six pages of text in my document. If you'd like me to post it, I can, but I won't if nobody does so people don't get the really awkward block of text as they scroll down.))

[Ranger of the North]

Ooh, I'm keen to see more! He's got this melancholy, bittersweet air about him (:

[BucketORandomness]

Ooh, I'm keen to see more! He's got this melancholy, bittersweet air about him (:

I'm glad you like him as much as I do >^.^< The melancholy tone was a bit unintentional, but I can see it now.

Side note: Do you remember that unformatted block of text I promised to format and never did? That thing from the Camp NaNo chat feature from forever ago about Odd and Mat and Shine is now the first draft of what will become my main Short Story for the creative fiction unit in class! I've already got the second draft written and turned in, and I'm kinda wondering how my professor will react. From what I can gather, he prefers realistic fiction, but I'm going all out fantasy with this one, since I can. I hope to post the final draft here whenever it's done, so that should be fun! >^.^<

[Ranger of the North]

Ooh, I'm keen to see more! He's got this melancholy, bittersweet air about him (:

I'm glad you like him as much as I do >^.^< The melancholy tone was a bit unintentional, but I can see it now.

Side note: Do you remember that unformatted block of text I promised to format and never did? That thing from the Camp NaNo chat feature from forever ago about Odd and Mat and Shine is now the first draft of what will become my main Short Story for the creative fiction unit in class! I've already got the second draft written and turned in, and I'm kinda wondering how my professor will react. From what I can gather, he prefers realistic fiction, but I'm going all out fantasy with this one, since I can. I hope to post the final draft here whenever it's done, so that should be fun! >^.^<

*celebratory noises!*