thelake

Today's question is: can a book be truly, 100% original?

I was reading The Hunger Games (HG) yesterday and my brother came up to me, asked me what it was about and immediately after I told him the premise he said it was "a total rip off" from Battle Royale (BR) which is a thriller book written by Koushun Takami in 1999. It even has a movie.

When it comes to comparing book plots to their earlier "friends" I've been in both of the groups and I almost always stand corrected. Take Twilight. The fandom and blind love for the books and characters put me off most of the times, but I can't deny the fact that I couldn't stop reading the books and immensely enjoyed every page. I used to be a hater. I told each and every person I know that it was done in Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Buffy and Angel, starcrossed human/vampire couple bla. bla. bla. But come the fucking on, myself, you can't just judge a book by its cover. Literally.

So one day I sat down, I managed to obtain the first book of Twilight saga and I enjoyed so much that I hated myself for it. I'm a writer, too, I write so many stuff that is similiar to all kinds of different, very well known works and I was completely wrong about Twilight.

Same thing happened with BR and HG today as well. I found Battle Royale and opened up the book and after a couple of pages I realized how those people who blindly called HG "a cheap rip off" were wrong.

( Comparisons, rants, questions, etc. etc. No spoilers though. )

A few months ago I sent a picture with Star Wars's general plot points striked over and names and places were replaced with the ones in Harry Potter's. It's so easy to say something was ripped off from another thing if you squeeze the big picture into the smallest frame and consider the general points. Please don't do that, be open minded and look for differences in books instead of trashing it for its similiarties to an earlier work.

I have to go home now, I don't know where this sudden rant came from, but I had to write it down :))

When speaking aloud, you punctuate constantly—with body language. Your listener hears commas, dashes, question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks as you shout, whisper, pause, wave your arms, roll your eyes, wrinkle your brow. In writing, punctuation plays the role of body language. It helps readers hear you the way you want to be heard. Careful use of those little marks emphasizes the sound of your distinctive voice and keeps the reader from becoming bored or confused. . . . [Punctuation] exists to serve you. Don’t be bullied into serving it.

- RUSSELL BAKER

Oh man, I'm so tired...

Work;

I've been working overtime almost everday this week (even on weekends) and work is still not over. I'm taking the whole day off for my driving lesson tomorrow (it'll be only an hour, but who cares? I can take a day off whenever I want.), but I'm still worried that I will have to come back here for some final touches. It's 5:35 pm and we're still waiting for an approval to deploy the project.

I can go on and on about this evil project and be the ultimate tl;dr person, but I won't. It's just... I'm so tired.

Not sad though, I feel 100% accomplished, which is what I love about my job.

Family;

I cried over my bitchy attitude towards my dad on Sunday, but we talked on the phone on Monday and he was happy, so we both got over it without a fuss. I'm happy about that ♥ I hated failing with the driving so I took my hatred out on him, I won't make that mistake again. I should punch my brother instead, at least he can punch back. Also he can drive better, so he deserves a punch. After 24 years, I can't believe I'm jealous of my brother because he drives better than me. *facepalms*

Friends;

My oldest college friend S is visiting next week. We'll probably meet this Sunday. I missed her, really. I don't usually long for their presence in my life, but lately I miss my life in college, so it'll be refreshing. I wonder what color she dyed her hair this time :)

Also I'm planning on getting together with glenien before she leaves for her holiday in Venice ♥ I want to visit Europe, too! *woes* (awakencordy, I'm not even asking you, I know what you're dealing with right now...)

Writing;

I only outlined some stuff, but no actual writing happened. I hope I can accomplish my goals for the challenge in writingfun. You should join!

Other;

I hope it won't rain on Saturday. Driving in rain is 192983947574 times harder. D:

I've been sneaking around like a ghost for a while now, decided to update because I have bunch of stuff to say...

1. Started writing another novel. I didn't finish the one with angels yet, but I had to write this one because I fell in love with it once I wrote down a general outline. It's about a regular girl who lives in a future world (post-global warming) where every human being has special powers, but she doesn't. It's a very upbeat, romantic, fun thing to write! I usually go with 3rd person in my books but this time I'm sticking to 1st person and it.is.amazing how much insight you have over your character! I should have done it a long time ago. Actually I did it once, but my tense was off. I'm never good with past tense, I'm going with present tense right now and it sounds delicious while reading! ♥

2. I'm waiting for my fall TV shows to start! I'm still watching Alias, but I'm not that fast anymore. I still have 3 more episodes to finish season 2. I still love it though! I've always been a bit intrigued with Slone, but now that I know who he really is, I can't stand him omg.

3. My brother's been watching a one-season comedy series called The Class and he insists that I watch it. Have you guys watched it? It looks funny enough.

4. My dad and brother wants to go visit our grandparents in Izmir, but I don't want to. First of all, it's too hot over there and 6 people in a single house that has no air conditioner whatsoever is torture. I could have put up with it if I was 10, but I can't anymore. Second of all, I have to deliver 2 projects next Monday and I don't want to request vacation time. I'm saving those vacation days for the week of Ramadan Feast. I guess we'll end up sending only my dad to his parents, but still very uncertain. My family loves last minute decisions.

5. Ramadan is here by the way. I'm not fasting, but it's still a very special season for me ♥ and there is warm "pide" for dinner everyday, who can say no to this? But for the first time in my life I was annoyed by the drummer guy during suhoor (meal before dawn during Ramadan). It's a tradition to have drummers walking down the streets and waking people up for suhoor. They're not like rock 'n roll drummers LOL. One drum, one man, random beats (or at least I think they're random).

6. I've just ordered Tap & Gown from Amazon. It was out in May, but I kept postponing it. Today I decided I can't wait any longer so after several clicks I did it. (I keep my "one click order" option closed, it's too tempting!) Amazon says it'll arrive between 8 - 15 September, but I'm expecting it much earlier. UK and Turkey aren't that far apart! :))

7. I have no seven. I'm out of stuff to write about. I can only say that True Blood was very boring, hence no squee on my flist. First 3 minutes were yummy though >:)

Oh look, nowgold, I'm listening to your song! :D

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

— Ernest Hemingway

The original short short story and the inspiration for this website. In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway’s colleagues bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words. They paid up. Hemingway is said to have considered it his best work.

http://www.sixwordstories.net

Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

torigates gave me: GLEE, writing, HIMYM, Angel, Mean Girls

( This is so fetch! )

I didn't write as much as I wanted to this week, but I can always read articles about writing, right?

Here, I'll share some of them with you too, since I have so many friends who dream about being a writer someday *happy hopeful sigh*

( 10 fun to read articles about writing! )

Accomplishing something, anything is always good for the soul.

( Why I am depressed so much lately... )

My stomach itches. Interesting.

1. I feel like I'm in school today, and since it's Friday, I want to be lazy. THUS, I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING RELATED TO WORK. I don't care. And it's good for my eyes too! B-)

2. Our department has just changed and become a Research and Development (R&D) center for the whole company. It sounds cool yes, but we're sitting on the tip of our chairs, waiting for people to come and inspect our work and knowledge any time of the day! Our boss has been walking around and telling people what to do, what to say whole day :)

Thank god I know exactly what I'm doing and since I'm doing it all by myself, my coolness points are off the roof haha! I just need to understand what exactly the company is doing in terms of R&D.

3. I'm going back to being lazy all over again! Oh life, you're so grand... I'm taking notes about my characters in my latest story. I've always wanted to do a kind of "About the character" section on the website, maybe I can manage it this time, who knows.. It's fun to think about different kinds of stuff about the character like he/she is an actual person ♥