Since we are going to be quarantined for long a time. I decided I would make a series revolving around different characters being stuck at home. Not necessarily because of the same virus but because of something else in their world. Even though it is not talking about this quarantine, I am going to be calling it "Quarantined Characters." But, this won't just be talking about what the characters will do; it might also involve doing drawings, short stories, and stuff like that.
And since I have a lot of characters, some of them even in totally different genres from the others,
I am dividing this post up into parts.
Let's begin: Elm
Elm is a dryad and spirit of her tree. Because of this she would not be afraid about being stuck in it for a while. But what Elm would do if she were ever stuck in her tree would be to practice her singing and learn to play a musical instrument that some human had left behind.
Annabelle
Rules to Annabelle are more like guidlines anyway, so she would have difficulty following them strictly, especially since her father, Lord Oberon, would be so cautious about making sure she stays inside. He would be cautious perhaps to a ridiculous extent. And because of this, this would be Annabelle's first plan:
1. Disguise herself as man in order to be unrecognizable.
2. Grab her detective equipment, and bring it along with her.
3. Tie her bedsheets together to get out through her window.
4. And finally once she is down, go solve homicides.
However, suppose she isn't able to escape the castle at this time, because something happens and she realizes it would be bad to try to escape* or Oberon reinforces the guarding of the castle.
She would instead respond to letters from people who had murder cases for her, and she would do this under the name of her detective alter ego
She would also in her spare time practice self defense, as she wouldn't want to be defenseless when the world is on edge, and it might be life threatening. Like everything she does, she would have to make sure she does it in secret, because a lot of people in the castle would consider it "unladylike."
*Because of the ongoing threat that caused everyone to have to stay inside. Not because she would ever want to stay in the castle like everyone wants her to.
Ashalena
If she was stuck inside for a long period, Ashalena would spend her time drawing and sketching.
The things she would find most relaxing to draw during this time would be wildlife, nature, and landscapes, because even if she can't go out to see them, she would still like to imagine them.
She would send her drawings to people during that time, to brighten the mood of the situation. She also would include handwritten notes with the drawings she sent to them.
She would also pray to the gods that the threat (whether it be fires, flooding, illness, or monsters) would leave soon. Ashalena would ask the priests and priestesses through letters if the threat is at all an omen from the gods, and if so what it means, and what person angered the gods enough to cause it. If you are the empress of the country, or are going be the empress, you do have to talk to the gods or try to communicate with them, especially if the country depends deeply on it.
Aurinda&Ichabod
Aurinda would probably end up getting stuck with Ichabod--yes, whether she likes it or not.
And since they already have a lot of problems on their hands, with ghosts like the The Headless Horseman, Aurinda would make sure that they had as many battle or escape strategies as possible, so they could make it out in one piece. She learned a lot from fighting in the American revolution. Meanwhile, Ichabod would be hanging up garlic in various places, as well as putting his other lucky charms everywhere. Given that Aurinda and Ichabod don't tend to always agree on everything (more often they don't agree about magic, and whether or not it is good or evil) they would probably be arguing with each other from time to time, which is not very good if there is a threat of death.
Phoenix
If Phoenix was stuck inside he would cuddle under a blanket and write poetry. He would also write letters to his best friend, and ask how she is doing. He would work on improving his book of poetry that he wants to publish, editing and/or rewriting his poems while he is sitting in his room.
If anything, he would be doing a lot of writing to make his stress go away. (After all being stuck inside for a long period of time is stressful.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What would your characters do if they were quarantined? Would they panic or would they remain calm?
-Quinley
Hello fellow actors! I hope everyone is doing well, I know that COVID-19 can be scary.
But to lighten the mood, I thought I would do the acting related post I mentioned here.
This particular monologue I first memorized for a Shakespeare summer camp, where someone else and I each did half and half of it (and both played the different sides of Romeo). I played the negative side of Romeo while the person I was acting it with did the positive side. After the summer camp, I decided that I wanted to memorize the full monologue and work more on it. But I should say unlike To Be Or Not To Be which I have used for many auditions for Shakespeare shows, I have not used this one for an audition yet.
As for the filming of this, it took me many takes before I actually got an end result that I liked,
partly because I forgot the line "who is already sick and pale with grief" and without that, it completely changes the meaning of what Romeo is saying.
As for the role of Romeo, I very much enjoyed playing him, and I think it would be neat to play him in a full production of Romeo and Juliet and not just a single monologue or scene. Romeo is a neat character, a very love-sick one, but a neat character even so. And I find Romeo to be a more fun character to play than Juliet.
Also, in the future for more acting posts, I have a contemporary monologue memorized. I plan to film it as soon as I find the costume props I need for it. So, there will be a mix of Shakespearian and contemporary monologues and scenes on this blog.
“Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul of both hope and fear” — Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
Hello everyone, so the reason why I have not been responding to comments or blogging, was due to the fact that I was in the middle of a tornado. Because of this I lost power and internet. The power came back after ten days but the internet was gone for three weeks. Everything and everyone was fine after the tornado, but it was still scary. I have been doing yoga and mediation so hopefully that will calm down the stress that I have been feeling and am still feeling. Yoga and mediation have been really helpful for me in that way many times before. So maybe in the midsts of all this chaos I will obtain inner peace.
If the fear of COVID-19 is making you stressed, or something else is, I recommend doing whatever calms you down. Also I have something included later in the post that might help.
My old camera before it broke
One of the things that happened during the tornado was that my camera got broken and the lens wouldn’t open. So I had to switch to a different camera (using the same memory card). The new camera has very odd dates. For example it labels new pictures as being from 1980, 1970, or 1979. (It doesn't know that it is 2020.) So, apparently it thinks this is the seventies or eighties. Maybe the camera reset to the start date for Epoch time, which is January 1st 1970 (equal to zero in Epoch time). Also it is a possibility that the camera will get to “negative dates” and I might be able to put it at a time longer ago than 1970. Since I am posting updates about the tornado, I had to mention it since I found it rather funny.
While dealing with no internet, I read some very neat books: Monkey, The Graveyard Book (graphic novel version, though I do intend to read the novel version soon), and the first book of the tetralogy The Journey to the West. This has been very inspiring for my own writing, given that the setting for the Silver Key has some asian influences.
(Image from GoodReads, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100237.Monkey)
The main character of the abridged version of The Journey to the West, called Monkey, is Sun Wukong (The Monkey King). He is a really light hearted and happy character, who desires to live forever. (And cheats death to do so, along with eating and taking several other things that made him immortal even though he is already immortal). I felt like he was a character I needed at the moment. He is an optimistic trickster who can shape-shift and wants to live forever, and kind of caused a little havoc. And, I felt like the book in general was one that I had been looking for in the Fantasy genre, for some time. It completely fit all the things I had been looking for. (Also the series it is one book longer than Lord of the Rings which is a bonus). Anyway, Monkey is a bright, happy, mischievous, character to read about when times are rough and sometimes sad. So it was a very uplifting book to read during this stressful time.
(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Graveyard-Book-Graphic-Novel/dp/0062194828)
As for The Graveyard Book, I loved that it focused on ghosts that were protecting the main character, and even I love that he had ghosts as adopted parents. It was a happy but sometimes bittersweet book. And I can’t wait to read the novel version of it, as the book was very comforting for a time like this. The novel will be fun to read, as I love Gaiman’s writing style.
I also should add that I missed making a post for my blog's anniversary, which was on March 9th. I really wanted to make one and now the date has passed. I do intend make one though, even though there is very little time left in March. I want to make two posts on both my blogs for their anniversaries, even if it is very belated or not even in the month of March.
In the future, hopefully after the epidemic of the coronavirus calms down, and when it would be sensible to visit a hospital, I hope to visit those who were harmed by the tornado in my area and the people who lost their belongings. I have a project going which is for those who were hit by natural disasters all over the world. I hope to give customized dolls to children (and maybe even teenagers) who lost their belongings due to the tornado. That’s why I am glad that I worked on the doll project and got dolls for it before the tornado. Because now once everything calms down I will be able to give dolls to people who really need them. If you want to know more about it, I am going to be posting updates on it onmy doll blog.
Though my house survived (even though it is a little damaged), it can be really sad to think about the people who lost their homes (and belongings) because of it. And even to think of the birds and squirrels who lost their trees, because several trees fell down during that time. Though I probably should mention on a happier note that two birds decided to make a nest in a grill that no longer works, which I find neat because now they are completely protected from rain and cats and other dangers. Because of the destruction it caused, I have a desire to help both people and animals who had their homes destroyed by the tornado whether it be through making things for them or even helping people emotionally through my creative work.
I was also stressed at different times, and instead of writing new posts I decided to edit and post things which had been written before COVID-19 became an issue and the tornado struck. Such as my post about editing my novel, and the new updated about page. (Also I just wanted to say, thank you to Kat for leaving such a sweet comment on the new about page, it really brightened my day).
For those who are feeling overwhelmed by COVID-19, or are dealing with COVID-19 and a natural disaster, I think mediation is good to do. I’ve suggested it to those around me and it’s helped (and I’d like to thank my yoga instructor for teaching it to me). Anyway, I thought why not put it out there, in case anyone needs it? Here it is:
Prema = Love, and you close your eyes and sit down somewhere and chant this out loud you can chant it about 3-10 times or more if needed.
Shanti = peace, and you can chant it as many times as the other one.
I feel like this is one of the most important ones as of right now, because the translation means “may all beings be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life contribute in some way to happiness and freedom for all.” I feel like this is something very important and needed at the moment. If you want something to follow for chanting along, I recommend this video:
You can do it on your own or you can do it with someone else. If mediation helps you (it doesn’t always work for everyone), I recommend doing it. It might help you calm down. It’s helped me. It really doesn’t matter what religion you are, or if you have no religion. Yoga and mediation can sometimes be really useful. And I know that for some, mediation and yoga are not accessible, so that is why I am putting this out here so that those who need it can find it.
I did manage to do some writing while having no power or internet (writing short stories and even editing one that I had written before, and animating in between). But at some points I still found it hard to focus. When we got power I did also manage to film a Shakespeare soliloquy (I won’t say which one it is, but all I can say is that it is from Romeo and Juliet, and that I play Romeo in it). I still need to film one more thing for it, but I have the most important part already filmed, which is Romeo’s part. It felt so good to play him and it made me feel so much better. But given that there is broken glass where I filmed, it might take a little cleaning before I can finish filming the last thing I need, edit it, upload it to YouTube, and post it on my blog. Once there is no broken glass I hope to film a contemporary monologue or monologues as well, when I find the props I need. And maybe I will even act out two scenes from Doctor Who or Star Trek, once I memorize the lines. This will also give me a chance to learn more green screen skills such as playing more than one character.
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley#/media/File:RothwellMaryShelley.jpg)
What I try to keep in mind during this time is that Mary Shelley, the writer of Frankenstein didn’t give up or stop writing when the world felt like it was collapsing around her. She kept doing it, she kept on going. And if we can, I think we should all be a little like Mary Shelley and pour our sadness, fears, and anxieties into our creative work.
————————————————————————————— How about you? How are things going for you? Have you been reading any good books recently? If so then I would love to hear about it in the comments! :)
It would be good to read part one, and part two before continuing reading this post...
In Tolkien's story, it is quite clear that the elves are leaving of their own accord, but in my mine, the situation is different, because it is scarily unknown why the elves and fairies have suddenly vanished. There are clues here and there, but not much informations surrounding it. The elves are certainty not speaking about it, and the fairies run away before you can ask them.
Eerie Lullabies
But it occurred to me when writing that it would be a scary thing from the perspective of the elves and fairies. And perhaps from the point of view of their children. When something scary happens around children, they are likely to make a song about it. After all, Ring Around the Rosie may have come from the black death, and yet we still sing it today, forgetting the background behind it.
After a singer, Ashley Serena, posted this Russian Lullaby (which does sometimes have a different ending to it, depending on what version you hear), I felt as if it would be neat to create a haunting song for my own world:
I thought this was interesting because this version of the lullaby has an eerie ending when other versions do not. Since something in the world like an object or creature must be connected to the incidents, either in fact or because of a misinterpretation for the poor elf or fairy children who have little to no idea what is going on to make a song about it. They may have heard bits and pieces of information that adults have said by accident, which then becomes an eerie song.
And I also found that the song itself, "Bayu Bayuski" ties into another part of the plot, even though I intend to write my own eerie song for it. Since one of my characters is now a shepherd, and shepherds are a few of the people who've noticed the strange happenings (and blame it on wolves), as I stated in the first draft:
There had been a lot of unexplained events, and one of them (the sheep disappearing) is misinterpreted as related to wolves.
In the first draft however I didn't bring these events to the scary level that they could have. I merely mentioned them once and never brought them up again after that. But, I feel I want to create some fear for the readers and for the characters in the story, and mystery to what is happening with the disappearance of the elves and fairies.
Ghosts
Ghosts tie into the gothic elements of the story that I have added. I considered all the places that have been affected in my story, and I thought it would be really neat if there were certain ghost stories told by different people in each area. Even with all the fearful things that are happening, I
want to add some light heartedness to the story, as well as actually adding ghosts into the story, but that will be talked about later.
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost#/media/File:Brown_lady.jpg)
Since Tess will be traveling (even if she didn't decide of her own accord to go to the places that she is traveling to), it would be interesting if there were a ghost story for every part of the world (like there is a haunted house, tree, bridge, lake, etc). Stories could be traded around to explain why they were haunted.
And besides there being the element of ghost stories (even if none of the ghosts come out in the places that are mentioned), I thought it might be neat if there were some actual ghosts, who perhaps act as an oracle to the plot-line or even a guide. I think I will have them appear and disappear at will, but not have it happen smack in the middle of a weird point in the story as I did with this scene in the first draft...
The problem with the first draft was that it happened and then no one seemed to be worried about what was going on at all. A friend of mine mentioned that it felt like Lida just shrugged it off and somehow forgot about it, without being concerned about her father in the slightest. And I also felt upon looking back at it that when I first wrote it I didn't really think too much about what happened to Mr. Short. I knew it was magical, but didn't consider an oracle like possession or ghostly one as a possibility of what it could be. So that is certainly a possibility of what it might be when I rewrite that scene.
Since paranormal things that appear to be bad are happening, I think it would be neat if something paranormal happened that actually helped the main characters as well.
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost#/media/File:Banquo.jpg)
This post will not only talk about Tess's powers but also about the other magic that resides in the world. I talked about Inny's powers in part two, which are more witch-like, but Tess's powers are different and more elven if anything. Though my inspiration was Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit, I will be giving my elves different powers than the powers J.R.R Tolkien's elves have. In terms of magic I noticed that the elves in Lord of The Rings did have some abilities, Galadriel is a little bit of a mind-reader (sort of psychic in some sense) and has some light related powers. Tauriel uses healing magic by chanting; however, I feel I want my elves' magic to be more involved, and perhaps more nature-like, perhaps druid-like, and have some elves use their powers more than Tolkien's elves would. I remember that in a Dungeons and Dragon campaign the elf druids and bards had much more magic than the elves in Lord of the Rings, which is something I am aiming for in my Fantasy world. And I've noticed that the powers are used more in Dungeons and Dragons than in Lord of the Rings, and the powers often tend to be more complex. This is something I enjoy, as well as the fact that the bard's music (in D & D) can actually do something magical or that they can inspire the other players with their music.
So, I want Tess's magic to be somewhat powerful (she is half elf, so it can't be as powerful as a full elves' magic), but not in the way that Galadriel's or Tauriel's is. And I want it to have some musical and non-musical elements to it, and be a lot more like elves' magic in Dungeons and Dragons than in Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit.
There is also a group of sorceresses that come together when they are most needed. (Ariel is part of that group.) Otherwise the members are solitary sorceresses, whose goal is to make the world a safe place by using their powers to frighten off anything that may cause a threat to the world. They also are the ones people turn to in times of need. But mostly they turn to a single sorceress and not the whole group. The group is very much against witches since most witches of the world tend to perform dark magic. They may have mixed feelings about Inny's using witch's magic even for good since there has never been a case besides her where someone used witch's magic in that way.
As a side note, I see this as a theme song for the group:
(Which includes fairies' magic, elves' magic, magic performed by sorcerers & sorceresses, etc.)
Shapeshifting
(Shapeshifting has rarely been used in a bad way, except when you turn someone into an animal against their will, but the group is all for shapeshifting).
Potions
(On and off, it really depends on the type of potion you make)
Psychics
(Some of the sorceresses in the group have psychic abilities, so it would be very difficult to be against that (it would also be very hypocritical), and besides, it has been useful.)
Things that the group of sorceresses is against:
Evil magic
(Witch magic. They are unaware that someone has used it for good, and that seemingly
evil magic can be turned good or at least gray magic).
Necromancy
(There is a some moral issue here, which is rather controversial (in Tess's world) about whether or not it is alright to raise the dead and make them alive again. (Several philosophers have debated it, but they came to no good conclusion))
Monsters
(Ogres and trolls aren't exactly considered to be people by this group. From what they see ogres
and trolls seem to have a very animal like reaction to anything and therefore don't deserve the respect that elves or fairies would get.)
Things the group has not yet decided on...
Intermarriage between species
(Even if Ariel supports it, the rest of the group isn't sure what to think of it).
And there are few other things they haven't decided upon, I just don't know which ones they are yet.
What are some of your favorite ghost stories? Do you have a favorite eerie lullaby/song you enjoy listening to (for the enjoyment of the eeriness)?
-Quinley
P.S. Some upcoming posts in the near future are a rewrite of a story I posted in 2017 (set in the same world as this novel), and a monologue from Romeo and Juliet spoken by Romeo. (Though I don't know when exactly I will post the monologue, since it still needs to be filmed), but be sure to keep your eyes open for those.
I thought it would be fun to do some redraws of my really old drawings, which were actually in paper doll form instead of in a sketch book. I thought it would be a neat project to tackle. I noticed that most of the paper dolls were characters I made (though I can't remember their names). Which is interesting given that I may now have a whole bunch of new characters to use in my drawings, animations, character interviews, short films, and novels. Most of the characters who I am going to redraw are probably going to be girls, due to the fact that I didn't draw boys until very recently. Back then if I did draw boys they were usually bearded or had a mustache. I was very young and I guess it was my only way to show that a character was in fact a boy, and not a girl. :)
Let's begin:
The first drawing, I want to redraw is a green fairy character. I assume the character was either another character who was turned into something by means of magic (there is tons of shapeshifting in my stories old and new) or a villain in the stories. Her appearance is unusual, so I am very unsure which of the two it is. But I thought it might be interesting to turn her into a character that always was this way, or perhaps has some cool shapeshifting ability or something that comes from the species of fairy she is. (Perhaps with her having the shapeshifter ability, but not the villain part).
(Image from wikia, https://goodomens.fandom.com/wiki/Crowley
(warning: if you decide to put the link into your search-bar, I should warn younger readers, that there is swearing in the show so there will be quotes from the show with swearing in them in the article. I just wanted to warn you)).
So when I looked back at the character, herself, her eyes reminded me strongly of Crowley's eyes from Good Omens, especially since her eyes were not fully yellow and had had white around them, even though I highly doubt that this character is a snake demon with a love for the band Queen. (But who knows, she might actually have a little Crowley in her).
(Image from wikia, https://darkcrystal.fandom.com/wiki/Deet?file=The_dark_crystal_2018_deet_via_netflix.jpg)
And her skin color and ears and everything reminded me strongly of Deet from the Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, sincethey seemed to have a similar design.
So next after thinking that she looked like a mix of Crowley and Deet, I began redrawing her, and adding in details that weren't there before in the original while keeping the essence of the original.
Here is the uncolored version:
Unlike the original, I decided to give her leaf wings as it seemed to fit with her personality.
Here is the colored version:
I have yet to come up with a name that suits her, but we will see what happens as I develop her more.
The next drawing is of a prince, who can turn into a peacock at will. (Or maybe it's not in his control...I can't remember which).
Since, he had facial hair to show he was a boy, and since I know how to draw boys now, I thought I would give him more of a slick-back look and have a little perhaps of hair jelled hair (as he would care about his appearance, like the children's book version of peacocks do).
I took my new ideas for this and put it into the redraw. Here is the uncolored version:
Here is the colored version:
The whole idea where peacock feathers made eyes all over his shirt was actually taken from Greek Mythology, as Argus had eyes all over his body. And since Argus seems to suit this character now, I am going to call him Prince Argus. (Who turns into a peacock, ironically). Speaking of that, I decided to redraw his peacock side...
The reason why the feathers are so colorful in comparison to a normal peacock is because when I was younger, I grabbed a whole bunch of markers to draw the feathers. However in terms of characterization he says it is because he isn't a "common peacock" and that it makes it easier for servants to find him amongst the "common peacocks." (He will probably hate me saying this but if your ruler has a personality of a peacock and rules the kingdom in a vain way, there is likely to be a revolution. Once he is overthrown, since every ruler seems to have a shapeshifting ability, the new president will have one too. The question is what animal they would turn into? )
(President Athena in human form)
To answer my own question I made a character that wasn't a redraw. This character (whose name is President Athena) is the one who takes the place of Prince Argus. Since there are a whole series of princes and princesses who can shape-shift into animals (and whose outer appearance suggests the animal they shift to), I think it would be neat for there to be a president who can do that. She can shape-shift into an owl. The reason I chose to do an owl as the form she shifts into, is that (even though this a stereotype of animals) the owl is wise and the peacock is vain. And because of this, I wanted the animals to show the true natures of their characters. Also, an owl is less colorful, while a peacock is more colorful. With the color differences I was trying to show that Argus is more in it for himself while Athena is in it for the people, therefore wears more reserved colors.
(Athena in owl form)
For her animal form unlike Argus's flamboyant feathers and such, she has her eyes to show that she is human. Owls don't have green eyes, so you can tell that she isn't a normal owl.
But back to redrawing...
Here is another fairy. This one unlike the last is not green, but is wearing a really vibrant pink:
I began redrawing the paper doll. This is
the uncolored version:
This is the colored version:
I gave her ripped pants and blue lipstick. I don't really think that the ripped pants were in the original sketch, but this is how it turned out. But I wanted to make sure that there was still a hint of blue in her costume.
This one is another two-sided paper doll:
I am not entirely sure what her character background is. She was probably a princess of some sort. (Though unlike the others she doesn't appear to be able to shape-shift).
So, I began redrawing the first one and catching the details of her patchwork dress and everything:
She even appeared to have a snow white like collar, but it didn't really fit into the redraw.
This was really fun to redraw, because I had a lot to work with.
Once I finished sketching it out, I colored it in:
Since there seemed to be a little orange mixed in the middle with the blue top, I figured I'd add it in somehow. I also added in some details that weren't there in the original (the dots in the middle of the dots on her dress and the dots on her hat).
Then I began redrawing the flip side. It was much more rainy on the flip-side, perhaps to show her change of mood. She also had a change of outfit which appeared to be a raincoat. Her outfit was less detailed on the flip-side, but I decided I would add in some details anyway.
Greetings Travelers,
I thought I would make a post about world-building, and about censoring and criminalizing
something in your Fantasy world, Science Fiction, or dystopian world as this is an important issue in our own world, and it helps to think about the issue in as many ways as you can and not just black and white.
So let's begin: **warning: spoilers ahead for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, an episode from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager called "Random Thoughts," and an episode from the series Star Trek: Enterprise called "Stigma." If you haven't watched or read these, read the post with caution or go and read and watch them before continuing**
One should keep in mind when criminalizing something in their fantasy world or science fiction world for that matter that no matter how hard your society tries to stop people from doing whatever they want them to stop doing, that they won't be able to get rid of it completely. As an example in All is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again, the country where my characters live and where their story starts has rules against modern medicine and tenchology hence why they have not developed as quickly as they could have. The reason for this is fear because something like what happened in the Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein happened causing fear and making people resort to using natural medicine and using mesmerism in place of drugs. And people have made sure that technology is safe before releasing it to the world. However, even if I like this form of censorship for my world (as a writer of it), I cannot say that everyone else in the world or that the people outside of my world who are reading my book will be okay with it. In fact I am sure there is a black market for different types of drugs in my world where people put new drugs that are potentially dangerous and untested there and models of the technology and the blueprints for the technology is also sold. The reason why this is all happening, though, is that if one makes something illegal, anything, people are likely to go and buy it or do the now-illegal practices that the government told them they couldn't do.
This in fact has happened many times in books, movies, and TV shows.
In Star Trek: Voyager there is an episode called "Random Thoughts" where to even think a bad thought is illegal because it will cause crime. The reason being the people of this planet are telepaths. They can read each other's thoughts and read non-telepath's thoughts. And to have a bad or violent thought in that world would affect people enough for them to kill someone or commit another crime. This seems like a reasonable law since we see the world represented as a safe haven, and a beautiful place. However, when B'Elanna gets wrongly accused for releasing a bad thought the punishment is a little
severe. They say she must remove the thought from her mind, and they would do it in a way that could potentially damage her brain.
(image from wikia, https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Random_Thoughts_(episode)?file=Engramatic_purge.jpg)
As the crew investigates we are led to find out that there is a black market where people sell bad and violent thoughts for the pure enjoyment of it, because "outlawing violent thought hasn't made it go away. All you've done is force people to share it in back alleys." (ep. "Random Thoughts") and the people who are doing it don't really care about the consequences of what they are doing. But they do it anyway because the government made it illegal, or just because they have an addiction to it or they want to, or they feel incredibly pressured by society and want some freedom to make mistakes. There could be a million reasons as to why one would do something illegal.
An addiction to the thing can also be a reason as to why someone would do something, even if it is something they themselves decided was prohibited. In The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll did not want to go back to being Hyde, yet his body forced him to, because it was unbalanced after he had tried to separate the two sides of himself and also disrupted the Yin and Yang balance of his body and soul.
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde_(character)#/media/File:Jekyll-mansfield.jpg)
Around the time that Jekyll stopped taking the drug he looked sickly. Utterson came to see him and he had "his death-warrant written legibly upon his face. The rosy man had grown pale; his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older; and yet it was not so much, these tokens of a swift physical decay that arrested the lawyer's notice, as a look in the eye and quality of manner that seemed to testify to some deep-seated terror of the mind." (pg. 27-28) Jekyll's addiction to the drug forced him eventually to take it against his will, despite the fact that he set up a rule himself not to take it. When he felt an urge to do it, it was because he was "seized again with those indescribable sensations that heralded the change; and I had but the time to gain the shelter of my cabinet, before I was once again raging and freezing with the passions of Hyde. It took on this occasion a double dose to recall me to myself; and alas! Six hours after, as I sat looking sadly in the fire, the pangs returned, and the drug had to be re-administered." (pg. 67) Either way, if something is outlawed by oneself or by a society, it doesn't mean the addiction, the need, or something else along these lines will not come in and break the rules that have been set up.
However this issue isn't black and white at all, and no one should view it that way, because it has happened throughout history as well as happening in TV shows, books, and movies.
Outlawing something, whether it be a religion, medicine, books, etc. has happened many times throughout... The Nazis outlawed books that they disagreed with and deeply censored them, even burning them as well as deeply hurting and killing people who were Jewish. The British in the 18th century censored Americans' letters to one another which caused the Americans to create their own postal service. King Henry VIII caused Catholics to have to hide their religious beliefs and some were forced to create a safe haven in their home so that when people came looking the people who were of that religion would not be noticed. Recently the book, Harry Potter, was almost taken off the shelves (and some people have succeeded in getting it removed) because some people were scared of the ideas that the book presented. Not every time that something is censored means the thing itself is evil, or that the people who are doing the now illegal thing are evil. It is often the censors that are evil.
We should also keep in mind that censorship can be really hurtful to people because it can also be used as discrimination against people they don't agree with, which is seen in history, but also represented quite well in another Star Trek episode...
When T'Pol from Star Trek: Enterprise in the episode "Stigma" unwillingly participated in a mind-meld which was illegal (and considered dangerous in her time-line), the Vulcans were not willing to give her a cure or a treatment for it and looked down on her because of it. It was illegal in their minds, and also uncivil. T'Pol even comments in the episode about how unfair the discrimination is by saying "There are no rules telling you to oppress minorities" (Ep. "Stigma")
The problem about taking censorship or criminalizing something lightly in your stories is that you can really hurt people who have indeed gone through similar things and felt discrimination because of it, so you do have to also keep in mind the hardships of it and how it may force people to hide who they are.
In any case no one should take censorship lightly. As a creative artist you have to be wary of that because people like us have been censored throughout history. And one day it could be our own writing that is censored, which is a scary thought, but you have to keep it in mind when writing a story involving censorship.
As for writing about censorship in your story, you probably want to bear these thoughts in mind..
1. Is the world censoring something potentially good? and why? 2. Do I view the thing that the world sees as potentially bad as bad as well? And why? 3. How does it affect the world now since the thing is censored? and why? 4. Does it affect a minority or a majority? and why? 5. Does the censoring of the thing, hurt a group of people's belief systems in any way? and why? 6. Does the censorship support another group of people's belief systems? and why? How and why did the thing get censored or turned illegal? And why?
7. What happens if the thing gets uncensored or becomes legal? 8. What happened to get the thing to be censored or to become illegal to begin with? 9. Are a majority of people going to be upset at all if the thing is uncensored or decriminalized? 10. Was the thing harmful in any way? Or was it something people deeply cared about? 11. What happens if someone breaks the law? Is it a harsh or more gentle punishment? 12. Does this censorship or criminalization remind you of any historical events or event? 13. Does society hurt or make fun of the people who do the censored or illegal thing? Are the people who do the thing a minority? 14. How do people hide that they do the thing? And is it possible to hide? 15. if people are banished for doing it? What stops other people from protesting? 16. if people get killed for doing it? What stops protests from happening? And does the fear of getting killed motivate people to continue doing it? 17. Do any of your characters do the illegal thing? And why do they do the illegal thing? 18. if your character doesn't do the illegal thing is it because of religious beliefs or something else?
I hope these world building questions are useful. Feel free to copy and paste them into whatever you are using and answer them. Last time I made character developing questions I realized there weren't enough for myself or for an another person to think deeply enough about it, so I added more this time for world-building. Enjoy!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How does your Fantasy or Science Fiction world's censorship affect the world? And what is the censorship exactly, what is the government censoring?
-Quinley
