Finale

So, this has to be the end of my small blog. There were many things I learned by writing about Bastien Winterfield. The first thing I learned was simply how hard it is to write fictional stories. The reason why it is so hard is quite simple: Writing needs forethought, and careful planning in order to drive the writing forward. By the time I was writing my second chapter, my enthusiasm for my character had died, and I simply had nothing to write about, because I have never planned ahead. In fact, the last chapter was nothing but filler, using simple symbolism to indicate that I had ran out of ideas on what to write. After re-reading my entries, I can't believe how hastily I wrote my stories. It is simply surprising how many grammatical errors I had in my writing. These needless errors made me look as if I was uneducated, and I was terribly ashamed of the sheer low quality of my writing. Again, these problems all indicated to my biggest problem: I was unorganized. Without proper organization and forethought, I had only my immediate impulses at my command. I plan to learn from all of these mistakes, and hopefully become a much better writer after more practice on my writing skills. Perhaps, when I do have the adequate fore thought, planning, and ideas, I might rewrite my stories, since my ideas are sound.

Anyways, for anyone who actually liked the first chapter of Bastien Winterfield, I am terribly sorry for the increasing inferiority of the story.


A Rest, and a glass of water

Bastien Winterfield stared at the glass of water.

This was the first time he had been properly resting in months.

He had been planning about what to do when this golden time appeared to him.

He fantasized about what to do, and yet...

Bastien did not know what to do.

And all he saw,

was a glass of water

Murphy’s Law, Pointless Arguements, and the Return of the Earl Grey Tea

Murphy’s law: The law that states that things that can go wrong, WILL go wrong. 


Bastien looked at this definition that he managed to find in the internet, and raised his eyebrows. This sounded exactly like what he was recently experiencing. 

For starters, nothing was going right.

His Communist Manifesto essay he completed the night before disappeared before he had the chance to print them out (not that this was the first time it happened to him of course). Leaving him with the choice of quickly writing a short essay out of everything he remembered (which was, not much).

As usual, he was called on by his History teacher for not putting citations in MLA form, and not giving enough support from “proved” information.

What in the world was he to say about this? Mr. Frank already knew that the information which Bastien wrote in there was the truth, since it was Mr. Frank who taught him the information. Not having the guts to say these things, Bastien decided to shut his mouth, and not say a thing.

Since Bastien could not take revenge on Mr. Frank in any direct way, Bastien decided to give his dreaded history teacher the Earl Grey tea he drank a few days earlier. Mr. Frank was at first, suspicious (since their relationship was less than ideal). But he received the gift with a good intentioned smile.

After making sure he was all alone, Bastien decided to give himself some time to laugh like a madman, for the sake of satisfaction.

Unfortunately, Mr. Frank noticed this, and gave the tea back to Bastien, saying that the tea was too strong, and tasted too “peppery.”


Murphy’s law indeed.

A personal appeal from the writer

So, I can guess that many people wonder why they should read my blog post. Why is there a story of a random teenager named Bastien. So, here is my answer: The entries Bastien writes about life is based on many different events of my life as a student, among many experiences a student goes through throughout his high school. Without saying, there will be both positive entries and negative entries, depending on what I would feel interesting enough to share.

Independent Reading Novel Review

Note: Since the intention of this blog is for a school assessment, I will rotate between the story of Bastien’s school life, and independent reading reviews. Please bear with this. 

Thank you.

Coraline review

Coraline is a novella that was written by Neil Gaiman during the year 2002.

About the author:
Neil Gaiman was born in 10th november, year 1960. He was an avid reader as a child, and enjoyed the Lord of the Rings, the Narnia Chronicles, and Batman comics, among several other books. He pursued journalism during his 20s, and has written several books, such as Good Omens and Coraline. He has also been involved with graphic novels, with notable works including The Sandman.

Synopsis:
Coraline is a “different” child. She is constantly bewildered by the behavior of her parents (they both work at home, and have no time to play with Coraline), and is surrounded by strange neighbors, such as the retired actresses Ms. Forcible and Ms. Spinks, and Mr. Bobo, a supposedly insane man who is training mice for a circus. Because of her unfortunate circumstances, Coraline is bored out of her wits.

Then, Coraline finds the Other World. The Other world is a reflection of Coraline’s home, only more exciting, and better: Her parents are extremely attentive to her, Spinks and Forcible are fabulous actors, and Mr. Bobo does have a circus of rats which do amusing tricks. In this world, in which every one of Coraline’s dreams come true, there is one strange difference, and it is the fact that everyone who resides in this world have buttons for eyes. When the mother from the other world asks Coraline to join the other world, and have her eyes sewed with buttons, Coraline runs away in fear to the real world, only to find her parents gone: Their parents were kidnapped by the other world.


To rescue her kidnapped parents, Coraline is forced to play a game against Belham. A game in which Coraline has to find the souls of the three children whom Belham has previously devoured. By using her inherent bravery and wisdom, Coraline frees the children’s souls, and rescues her parents. From the adventure, Coraline is finally able to appreciate her parents little by little, and realize the warmth her neighbors have within them.

Reviews & Thoughts:
Despite being a novella that was written for children, Coraline succeeds in the genres of fantasy and horror: Something that delights me, knowing that the reason I picked this novel up was to see the difference between the movie and the book.
Coraline is clearly a beautiful piece of work with a lot of imagination, but it also has a lot of similarity with Alice in Wonderland when it comes to main themes, such as understanding the adult world, and experiencing a world much different from the protagonist’s world.

From this book, I was able to learn that good books do not have to be long, and that, in certain cases, short novels work just as well.

Writer's block , killing time, and the Earl Grey Tea

Bastien was killing time.

Well, to be precise, he wasn't killing time.

He was writing his History Essay that was due the next day. But seeing that the essay was of no value to him (except for perhaps, grades), he was killing time. It seemed to him, that, no matter how long he was typing, his essay on the Communist Manifesto was nothing but rubbish.

He considered plagiarizing as an alternative of doing the work himself, but he gave up on that long time ago, considering how he was notoriously well known to be a horrible writer. Besides, he couldn’t be bothered with trying to find a decent essay that was relevant to his topic. Knowing that writing a decent essay was going to take forever, Bastien reconsidered the idea, but failed to persuade himself to do things the easy way.

As time passed, Bastien started to feel his body sag, his spine bend forward, and his eyes grow heavier. His head also started bobbing, like some kind of a rag doll, or marionette. His mind felt clogged with fatigue. His thoughts became foggier, and appeared at slower intervals. Knowing that he was starting to fall asleep, he stood up in his chair, and shuffled his way into the kitchen, and did a favor for himself, by making some tea.

Bastien opened the cabinet in his kitchen, where he stored all of his precious tea. Without a thought, Bastien grabbed for the closest package of tea, and put it in the boiling water he prepared earlier. He shook the teabag up and down in the cup, in the hopes that he will be able to drink it as soon as possible.

To his horror, Bastien was repulsed by the strong smell of pepper which entered his nose the moment he was about to take his first sip. He realized that it was the tasteless decaf Earl Grey tea his grandmother gave to him years back, and never touched.

Bastien swore, and, knowing that he will have to get rid of the tea sooner or later, he chose to throw the putrid liquid into the sink, and hastily finish off the essay he was writing previously.

As Bastien slowly fell asleep, he prayed to god that his history teacher will not notice the lack of citations in his essay.