Ryeli's Blog

A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Scott Barry Kaufman This was such an interesting video to watch! I've never really liked standardized or IQ tests, so this take is especially nice to hear. I find that people are worth more than a test score and are more valuable than just a number. Some people test poorly and are going to test poorly no matter what. Does this make them less intelligent? Absolutely not. I don't think measuring intelligence in the form of tests is a great idea. I agree that it should take into account the child's goals and passions. That leads them to have better engagement and will connect better to the material they're learning. Copyright is Brain Damage  by Nina Paley It's really cool to hear how she went about creating "Sita Sings the Blues" because I watched it for reading notes one week. I remember being amazed that she had created such a beautiful movie and that it was also free to watch! Seeing this video, I can understan...

I wanted to take a moment to do a brief moment of research for my project! For my next story, I'm looking at Sita's swayamvar. I know how the story goes, but I want o make sure that I'm using the terms correctly! I don't know a lot of background information for a regular swayamvar, so I'd like to start there. Wikipedia describes a swayamvar as a wedding ceremony that led to the bride choosing her groom from a list of potential suitors. This sounds like the set up for a fun dating show to me! Swayam in sanskrit translates to self. and var or vara means groom. The lady gets to decide the terms here and then it is told to neighboring kingdoms! The potential suitors then come flocking, hoping to meet her standards by completing the task that she and her family have chosen. The Ramayana uses this to help show how strong Rama is. Because none of the other suitors were able to string the bow and he was, it further emphasizes his power against the others. My sources fo...

Source:  EmpoWord  by Shane Abrams Right off the bat, I enjoy the opening words. "All we are is stories, in the end." Everyone has a story to tell. It's deeply entrenched into everything that we do. Our own personal narrative is a story of its own! Using this approach, I find it easier to tell stories that I create, so I liked that advice. I find if I am having difficulty connecting events together, I try to think about my own life and how I could make it happen more organically, more natural. I liked their depiction of how to plot a timeline. I find that I often have a hard time with that myself. It seems straightforward, but it can be difficult if your plot and characters are complex. It's much simpler to lay it out and go from there. Some things don't always have to be so complicated. It will also help you expand on each singular event and flesh out the details in a more concise way. I am neither clear or concise in anything that I do, but this would help. ...

Gonna use this time to do some character research for my storybook! It might be nice to find some ideas and have them laid out so I can have an idea of the way I'm going to portray each of them for the sake of consistency! Shiva- Our "detective." There to keep the meandering bow on target. He's a god, so he's pretty powerful, obviously. My intro characterized him as fairly sarcastic and ill-tempered. Everything I've read about Shiva and the gods in general, lead to this characterization as well, so I don't think it's too off the mark. He has his moments of sincerity, though mostly I'd like him to be sarcastic and irritated because it works well with the energy that Pinaka puts out. We love a comedic duo.  Deadpan Snarker - I like that for him. He's sassy. Angry Dance - Rudra Tandava... probably shouldn't make him too mad.  Pinaka- The broken bow, kind of ditsy, but well-meaning. It is very much an opposite to Shiva. They don...

Writing can be hard sometimes. It's nice to know that there are places to turn to for free advice! Jon Winokur's website,  Advice to Writers , offers a helpful space filled with tips and tricks in the form of quotes that other writers have about overcoming their own writing weaknesses. I found the interview section to be the most helpful to myself. It goes more in depth with the writer and is able to more fully process what they're talking about. Mercedes Lackey I resonated with this interview a lot. I love storytelling, a common theme amongst most of the interviewees. Mercedes made up stories whenever she could, just for fun. Being creatively inspired at such a young age reminds me of myself. What I liked most about this interview was Mercedes' response to writer's block. She doesn't believe in writer's block, it's simply your brain telling you that your story direction wasn't meant to be and that it might be time to change it up! I think this is...