Journal entries tagged "Writing"
An opening scene
The boy looked uncomfortable, and his forehead was starting to shine. His shirt collar was hanging down inelegantly. Who wore a green shirt anyway? He was cute, obviously a romantic fool, but he wouldn’t last two more minutes.
“This is a nice place,” he said with a hesitant smile.
Look me in the eye, the girl wanted to reply as his eyes returned from examining the surroundings to staring at her lips. Instead, she nodded. Why had she accepted his invitation?
“And it’s nice that they allow you to take your pet with you.”
The girl’s thoughts went straight to Artemis, the animal nested on her lap. She felt Artemis stiffen, and she stroked her on the neck to soothe her. It was inevitable that people would mistake a firnex for an unintelligent pet, probably thinking it was a simple fennec fox, but speaking with so little tact and by repeating a bland adjective demonstrated stupidity.
A poem for womankind
Our world is like a garden,
Eternally in blossom
The saplings grow,
The flowers bloom,
And no plant can be forgottenThey come in all colours and sizes,
A feast upon the eyes
As I walk among them,
As if in paradise,
It is I that each one mesmerisesAt first glance all I see is beauty
Superficial and yet so true
I draw closer and see
What they shall live to be
And behold them in all their gloryIt is like being close to a phoenix
Or an angel whose heart is pure
When they shine like the sun with goodness,
With a smile any ill they will cureBetween passion and admiration,
Both in doubt and feeling too sure,
I cannot help respecting and loving them,
These beings with the power to lureWhat would the world be without them,
With no such treasure to discover?
If we live, if we die,
These words are no lie:
We exist to serve these women.
Re: Enquiry A8992bc8-1114EE
Persecuted, shunned, hunted down like prey. No longer human, no longer living, just a curse to be wiped off the face of this planet, Stradio.
A monstrosity, that’s what they are. Freaks of nature.
This is their story, this is their tale. This is their suffering, this is their pain.
Arpia – version 1, at 171,060 words
The day has finally come where I can say the following: I have finished writing Arpia.
I never imagined it would happen, but I have indeed written the last words of the full version 1 of the Arpia novel (version 1 as in “the parts that haven’t been revised three times already will be revised, and I’ll then revise the entire thing”).
As such, the Arpia novel page has been updated, and I’m in dire need of reviewers for the whole thing (I already have some reviews for part I [the first half], but you can never get enough reviews).
If you are therefore interested in reviewing the novel, letting me know what doesn’t flow, what is amazing, what is awful, do drop me a line by using the contact form.
To get some of you intrigued (hopefully), here are the very last lines of the novel:
One mind pondered a question.
“Is she ready now?”
The answer came from the second mind.
“We shall consult with the Shroud.”
If you know who the Shroud are, you’ll get easier access to the novel for review.
Master Thesis: Use of Comparative Law in European Law
I’m very proud to present you all with my newest creation, one on which my whole year depends: my Master Thesis, or “Mémoire”.
For our Master in Laws degree in Belgium, we are required to write a 60-page paper. For me, the subject was the use of comparative law in European law. In other words, it’s all about whether the European institutions draw inspiration from the laws of Member States when creating their own law.
Clocking in at 63 pages (81 pages with the cover, table of contents and bibliography), my Mémoire analyses in a first stage whether in general, the European institutions make use of comparative law. In the second part, I analyse a number of different, recent acts, to determine whether the use of comparative law has had any influence on the act’s content.
Now, I won’t recommend reading this if the general idea isn’t remotely interesting to you.
If on the other hand the idea piques your interest, rest assured that I have tried to make the content fully accessible to people with no knowledge of law (well, at least the first part – the second uses a bunch of legal concepts).
So, if interested, you can view/download/print the PDF document: Use of Comparative Law in European Law.
Note the “Peter A. Craddock”, to avoid confusion with the other Peter Craddocks of the world.
French spelling buried by the Académie Française
Spelling is the most visual part of a language, because it is used to create visual representations of words. When at school, children learn to spell correctly, according to the language of a country or region. In Britain, children are taught British English (theoretically, anyway). In the United States, kids learn US English. In Belgium, they are taught either Dutch or Belgian French. And so on, and so forth.
However, this transmission of spelling knowledge from generation to generation does not prevent a language from evolving. As such, new words are added, and with time, certain spellings change as well. The difference between American and British English is a very good example, where history led to the creation of two different standardised (standardized in US English) spellings.
It is only when codified that spelling becomes nigh immutable. After that happens, change is met with virulent reactions.
Read the rest of this entry »
Unbidden, doubt creeps in
With 10-20.000 words to go, the Arpia novels have reached a stage I might consider “critical”: 160.000 words are set in ink, and therefore about 90% of the writing is fully done, not counting the “revision 1″ phase half of the writing still has to undergo.
It’s strange to think that I’ve been working on the Arpia novels since the summer of 2005, over 3 and a half years.
What is even stranger, however, is the fact that I never seemed to ask myself one specific question until now: is it book-material, i.e. is it any good?
Comics and bandes dessinées
Called the “9th Art”, the comic art is something everyone is bound to have encountered at least once in their lives, especially in a country like Belgium, which is considered to be the home of the comic strip.
I grew up with the Belgian “Bande Dessinée” and with a few British comic strips, so I thought I might as well compile a list of those comic strips which shaped my youth… and will probably continue to shape my adulthood.
Hope returns to Culuria
Returned to writing some of Arpia. Long day, so I deserved it.
Five days went by, and life returned to Culuria, despite growing doubts about the fate of Argoal and Fezzan’s team. Parmil took the girls out to each open exhibition or cinema she could find. Though no one was sure what to expect of the future, the present seemed bright enough not to be afraid.
Just before three in the afternoon in Yubenia, a message was spoken out in the speakers. Parmil and the girls stopped walking in front of the Bardrien Memorial Park entrance and listened carefully.
The Hogun are dead
It is done. It is over. The Hogun are dead.
It was probably Arpia’s greatest battle, and many perished, on land and in space. Yet, in the end, against all odds (approximately), Arpia prevailed.
You don’t know the Hogun?