Play Review: Frankenstein

(Pictures edited from Pixabay, I normally use my own photos, but I thought this looked cool. 😉 )

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of my favorite novels, so I thought I would watch both versions of the play that Benedict Cumberbatch and Johny Lee Miller starred in. The London National Theatre's YouTube channel posted this 2011 production because of the quarantine. The actors interchange roles each night. I only got to watch one version of the play and I hope I will get to watch the second someday. The London National Theatre is posting free plays here each week.

I watched the version with Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein, and Johny Lee Miller as the creature. I thought I should write a blog post about it, and compare and contrast it with the book. In my review I talk about what I liked about the play and what I may have done differently if I were to direct it.

     
                                                         The Trailer: 

                                                       You can also watch it here

 My thoughts on this telling of Frankenstein      

 In Nick Dear's version of Frankenstein, when it was adapted to the stage, Dear decided to cut bits of the story either because of the amount actors were able to memorize or because of the length of the play, which couldn't probably be ten hours long. They had to shorten, and convert the story to play form, and Dear had to decide what creative liberties he wanted to take.

One dramatic difference in the play was that unlike the book, the monster and Victor were not in the play completely evenly. I thought the characters would have equal stage time, considering the fact that the actors switch roles every showing. However, the director's interpretation seems to be focusing on the monster's side of things, as opposed to portraying Victor and the monster equally. The book though told through the point of view of Victor, has many chapters featuring the monster's point of view.

Mary Shelley's novel was told from Victor's point of view looking back, and realizing his mistakes, while the play is told in the present tense, and Victor tends not to be as regretful for his actions. As Victor is telling the story in the book, to Walton who rescued him, and Victor refuses to give any information to him about the creation of life because he "will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I was, to your destruction and infallible misery" (79). This shows that Victor at least cares and knows that his actions have consequences, but that realization is because he went through a long turmoil, and lost everyone in his family including his wife, Elizabeth.

Victor in the play is ruthless and careless, and not regretting his actions. I do believe this matches up with the Victor in the present tense, as opposed to the Victor telling the story in the book. Though the Victor telling the story, may have been biased, he included what the monster had told him, which is something that present tense Victor would not have done. It felt like in the story that Victor at least was trying not to make the same mistakes again.

The play does not gloss over Victor's grave robbing for resources to create the monster and the monster's wife. Victor "pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to the lifeless clay?" (82-83) Many of his toils to find the secrets of life and grave robbing are mentioned throughout. Even when he is in Scotland Victor gets horrified looks from people when he asks them to rob graves, and in his monologue about finding the creation of life he mentions it, but says he can't reveal the secrets. (This is a clip of Johny Lee Miller playing Victor in the version I did not see, but these are the same lines that Benedict Cumberbatch spoke in the version I did see):

You can also watch it here

This pays homage to his conversation in the book.

In terms of focus on the monster, the play did a good job with shifting to his perspective and telling the story in the way the monster would have experienced it. Since a majority of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is related by Victor even though includes the monster's point of view, the playwright had to take creative liberties to tell the monster's entire side of the story. Because of this, the play opens with the scene where the monster comes to life, rather than with Victor and his process of creating the monster. In the play the monster is first shown as coming out of a large egg, which almost gives him a human and yet inhuman birth, being fully grown at birth is not a very human thing to have happen, however, we are familiar with a human egg. In the novel it is never exactly told how Victor brought the monster to life, so people had to use their own imagination regarding that subject.
I feel the play pays attention to what Mary Shelley's words, as the monster ventures out and a "strange multiplicity of sensations seized [him], and [he] saw, felt, and smelt at the same time" (184). The audience is shown how the world is overwhelming to the monster, and lights flash around the stage, and he knows not the rules of the world as he ventures out. The play stays true to the book in memorable details such as when the monster accidentally steals food from people without realizing that he is doing something bad, or when he doesn't know his own strength and accidentally kills William (Victor's brother).

The trial of Justine is an important part of the book, showing that someone Victor trusts is wrongly convicted as a murderer for a crime the monster committed. Victor doesn't say anything in fear that he will look insane, and this event affects both the monster and Victor badly. It is a complex emotional moral moment in the novel and it is left out of the play. Shelley writes that the monster was regretful that he killed William, because the monster had wanted to become friends with William because he thought William "was unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity" (268). However, this plan backfires and the monster ends up killing William. After William's death and Justine's execution, both of which troubled Victor, Victor begins to become more and more depressed and often in the present tense he "suffered living torture. It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would be the death of my two fellow beings: one a smiling babe full of innocence and joy, the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that makes murder memorable in my horror." (139) Because Victor feels regretful and depressed over the two loved ones he has lost due to the monster, Victor wants to spend more time alone and as a consequence his family becomes worried about him. Because of the elimination of this sequence from the play, with only the monster feeling  regret now and Victor feeling none, the audience is more inclined to feel empathy towards the monster and hatred towards Victor. In the play instead of being regretful, Victor is upset that his studies are interrupted.  Omitting the trial makes the story go from being morally gray to black and white, not allowing the audience to make their own choices of which character or characters they agree with.

However, I thought a neat choice was made to the scene when Elizabeth was killed by the monster. The reader does not know how Elizabeth felt in the novel but here, she pitied him just before he killed her. This adds depth to the monster's side of the story. In the novel we don't get to know if there was any conversation going on between Elizabeth and the monster, or if it merely was that she was killed not knowing who killed her. In the play Victor says that he created life, he only says to her that he has "one secret, Elizabeth, a dreadful one; when revealed to you, it will chill your frame with horror, and then, far from being surprised at my misery, you will wonder that I survive what I have endured" (368). He never gets to reveal her the secret in the book and as far as we know in the book, the monster never gives her this information either. So, I think the choice in the play to have Elizabeth feel empathy towards the monster, and interest in Victor's science, was well done. It makes the side of the monster's story more complex.

Another change to the story centers around the characters of Agatha and Felix, who are not siblings, but husband and wife in this version. In the book there is a much more involved story surrounding another woman named Safie, who Felix was in love with.  To strengthen the monster's part of the story the playwright chose to enlarge the character of Agatha and Felix's father, because he probably didn't want the monster monologuing the whole time. In order to create dialogue the monster had to be friends with Agatha and Felix's father. The old man is also changed from a minor character into a major character, and like Elizabeth had much more affect on the plot in this version than in the book.

The character of the old man became a mentor to the monster in a more personal and significant way in the play. In Shelley's novel Felix, Agatha, and their father were all mentors, the monster admired them, but didn't ever directly talk with them. The old man assumed the monster had been through a war when they first met in the play, so he was less afraid of him. His reaction was very different than Felix's and Agatha's, who shunned him because he looked frightening and showed the type of human nature that had hurt the monster before.

The scenes involving the old man and the monster follow the book, but create a dialogue between the two characters where there was none before. So,  the old man directly teaches the monster "Paradise Lost"  rather than the monster learning by himself to read from Safie's learning of English and finding the "Paradise Lost" later.  This is a neat change, but very different from the book, because the monster has an actual friend and teacher. Later in the play the monster directly references "Paradise Lost" in front of Victor, and Victor understands the quote immediately and was surprised that the monster knew about it. Since the play is somewhat abridged they had to show that the monster cared about classic literature, and that he had learned from that. And since this isn't Victor recalling what the monster said him, and instead the monster in the present having things happen to him, it had to be shown that the monster was learning in a short span. 

Unlike the book the wife of the monster was directly discussed with the old man, there was a small dream sequence of what the monster wanted her to be like. Since this was mainly focused on the monster, we get to see what he wants most in life, and that he wants someone like him.

Later in the play the discussion between the monster and Victor (this is again the version with Johny Lee Miller as Victor Frankenstein) was very similar to what the discussion was like in the book: 

You can also watch it here

One line taken directly from the book is from the scene when Victor tries to kill the monster, and the monster cries in response "you accuse me of murder and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature." (180)  This quote becomes even stronger in representing the director's point, because it comes directly after Victor tried to physically kill the monster in this portrayal.

With the monster's desire for someone like him, the audience is asked to empathize with him, because he wants a friend, someone who won't turn him away. For he has "never yet seen a being resembling me or who any intercourse with me. What was I?" (225) Because of his wonder, of where he was, who he was, we, the audience, want him to be loved by someone. So when he makes the deal with Victor, we hope it succeeds, we hope Victor decides to bring the new creation that is to be his wife to life. The monster feels lonely, so perhaps now in the time of being quarantined we are empathizing with that too right now even though the play itself was performed nine years ago. But we, too, like the monster haven't really gotten to talk to people like us, so we, too, are lonely and longing for someone to be with and love. It is something about human nature that makes us not want to be alone. 

By choosing to tell the play from the monster's point of view, we, as the audience, are supposed to cheer the monster on. Had it been told from both perspectives, I believe there might be an empathy perhaps towards both characters (Victor and the monster). The audience is now supposed to see Victor Frankenstein as the obstacle, so when Victor breaks his promise to the monster we as the audience are angry at him. 

My only critique with this version of Victor Frankenstein, was that perhaps he wasn't as complex as he was in the book. I always saw both Victor and the monster as equally complex characters with motives that made sense. For the most part the director decided that both characters and audience should be disgusted by Victor to the extent that the audience might be booing at him. When I read the book (which is very different from the way in which the director and screenwriter read it), I saw them both as similar people, who had motives that opposed each other. The monster wanted to be loved, but Victor didn't want to love the monster and was afraid of the monster. I didn't really see one character as worse than the other, I saw them both as characters who had been through a lot and made decisions that they regretted. They were both morally gray, but in the play I feel like the monster is good and Victor is bad instead of having there be blurred lines in between it. 

Benedict Cumberbatch (and I am sure Johny Lee Miller too, though I never saw his portrayal) did a good job of making the audience not like him. His character was always hiding, and ran away from the monster in disgust, he paid little to no attention to Elizabeth and turned her down when she asked to help him with his scientific work, and he robbed graves. In a lot ways the play made Victor's character pretty unlikable. As a director and a screenwriter I probably would have gone in a different route when directing and writing both the roles of Victor and the monster. 

At the end however, the story didn't feel completely finished. The last scene in the play left the story as Victor and the monster were traveling across the world running off into the unknown, but unlike the novel they don't die at the end on stage. There was a small moment where it seemed like Victor was going to die or was dying, but it turned out not to be the case. Instead we were left with a small cliffhanger. To me the story felt unfinished, and while the ending of the novel is sad, it is sad to illustrate a point.  To leave the play with no conclusion feels dissatisfying. It would have been better, to tell the story from the monster's point of view, and then show the ending how the monster would have experienced it. Mourning the loss of Victor would be very powerful to see from the monster's point of view. Though it was hinted at a little in the play what this would be like, that the monster couldn't live without Victor, because Victor was the creator of him and he was the monster's purpose for being alive, it never led to this sad conclusion...Which left me wondering, "is that the end?" because it really didn't feel like it.

When coming to this play I was expecting a play that would tell the story from both sides (Victor and the monster) instead, it ended up being a retelling from the monster's point of view. It was a very good one, and emphasized the monster's part of the story. I can see other versions of the story being told as well, given that people interpret Frankenstein in very different ways. If I were to do a play version of Frankenstein, my take or takes on the story would be very different from this director's, or even if you (the reader) were to, I'm sure yours would be different too.

                                                               

  My Thoughts on the costumes, props and sets 
The sets were amazing, they created moving sets that went below or underground, while actors were directly sitting or standing on them. The train is one prop worth mentioning also, given that London National Theatre provided a clip of it:

You can also watch it here

Overall, the play had a very metallic feeling to it. It emphasized more of the science in the world instead of contrasting Victor's scientific research with nature. In the novel a majority of Shelley's writing involved Victor describing the landscapes and usually they were of importance and showed something of the current situation. I can see that the director's choice was to focus on the science of the story, because most of the sets (and even sound effects) had a mechanical feeling to them. They also projected what Victor was doing on fabric when he was creating the monster's wife, rather like a shadow puppet in that way. I believe this was supposed to add wonder to what he was creating, for we would never see him directly do his work on stage.  The sets themselves were amazing! And I imagine all the other sets by this company will be equally as amazing. 

                                                           My overall rating for the play is: 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have you seen this production of Frankenstein? If so which version did you enjoy watching the most? 

-Quinley

Quarantined Characters (Part One)

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

But Soft, What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks? (A Performance from Act II Scene II)

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.

You can also watch it here

  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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What character or characters would you want to play in Romeo and Juliet? 

What's your favorite monologue from it? 

                                                 -Quinley

I was in the Middle of a Tornado!

“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 on my 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 also listen to it here

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! :) 

-Quinley

There and Back Again (Part 3): Ghosts, Eerie Lullabies, More Magic and Tess's Powers.

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: 

Bayu Bayushki (Russian Wolf Lullaby) 

performed by Ashley Serena

You can also listen to it here

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) 

And since there may actually be psychic main characters (more about that later), I think that it would be a neat idea to use these powers. And use the opportunity to have my Fantasy questers have a séance, or to even introduce a ghost side character.

Tess's Magic (and other magic in the world)  

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: 

Enchanters performed by Ashley Serena & Ignis

You can also listen to it here

Things that the group of sorceresses supports... 

Good Magic 

(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.

Redrawing My Old Paper Dolls #1: Fairies and Shapeshifting Rulers

Greetings everyone!

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, since they 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. 

Here is the colored version: 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which character is your favorite? Do you have a favorite redraw? 

And if you could have the power to shape-shift into any animal, what would you turn into? 

-Quinley