Elijah David

My friend Mirriam  recently blogged about her top ten on-screen characters, and I was inspired by it despite not having seen most of them in action. Here, in no particular order, are my current* top 10 on-screen characters. Captain America/Steve Rogers (Marvel Cinematic Universe) – Steve Rogers is the man I wish I could be – so devoted to his ideals that nothing (not HYDRA, best-friends-turned-assassins, or even bullies on the streets of New York) can stop him from defending and realizing those ideals. He isn't perfect, but he strives to hold himself to his code of truth and freedom, seeking to punish bad guys and save good guys – and maybe even redeem a few of those bad guys along the way. He's not afraid to confront those he disagrees with, but he never quite crosses the line into showing disrespect (unless he's dealing with Tony Stark, in which case that's the only way to be heard). Merlin (various works, including Disney, Hallmark, BBC) – Merlin is my absol...

Currently Reading: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud, Dune by Frank Herbert Currently Writing: Merlin book 2 "When we read, we start at the beginning and continue until we reach the end. When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out." -- Vickie Karp Beginnings are hard. I'm starting the second book in my Merlin quartet. Technically, I have half a draft written from NaNoWriMo 2013, but there are portions of that draft that aren't going to survive this one, including the beginning. It just wasn't gripping, and some of the characters' circumstances changed between edits of the first book since I wrote that half-draft. Despite starting in a different place, this draft's beginning is not so great, either. I'm not worried about getting the beginning of the book perfect on the first draft. That didn't happen with the first book, and I shouldn't expect it now. It will be easier to rewrite the beginning chapters when the middle...

Currently Reading: Poems  by C. S. Lewis                                 Even This I Get to Experience by Norman Lear                                 The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud Currently Writing: Poem-a-Day challenge for National Poetry Month                               draft 3 of Merlin Book 1 (previously SOMEDAY) Where does inspiration come from? I mean, of course, where does the inspiration for art (whether written, musical, or visual) originate? As a Christian, I believe that all inspiration ultimately comes from God. As Creator of the universe, He is the source of creativity and therefore its muse. That isn't to say that I think all art is God-breathed in the way Scripture is, but I expect it's a differenc...

Last time , I wrote about my definition of a true hero and some examples of characters who aren't true heroes (at least in the stories that we have of them). Today I want to talk about someone who is. I'm going to choose Bilbo Baggins because his status as hero was what started this exploration. Let's look at the first half of my definition of a hero: doing the right thing even when the easy path is open or something you've chosen in the past. The shining moment in which Bilbo does this is when he is in the goblin caves with Gollum, wearing the Ring and holding the sword Sting. Bilbo knows that Gollum would kill him without a second thought if their situations were reversed. He also knows that Gollum has already been a threat to his life. Yet, Bilbo determines not to kill Gollum if he can avoid it. He chooses to see Gollum for the pitiful creature that he is, and that pity goes on to not only keep Bilbo's own soul untainted by murder but to inspire Bil...

Recently, a friend of mine posted that about a revision of The Hobbit in which Bilbo was gender swapped. One of her main issues with this is that instead of creating a new female hero, the reviser simply did damage to one of the few true male heroes in existence*. She listed the three true male heroes she has encountered as Bilbo Baggins (of The Hobbit ), the Doctor (of Doctor Who ), and Agent Coulson (from the Marvel Cinematic Universe). Obviously these are all fictional characters, but the conversation seemed to be concerned mainly with fictional characters rather than real-life heroes. This post will be following in the same vein. In reading her post and the ensuing discussion, I started to think about heroes I had watched or read. I also began to wonder about my own characters and whether I had written any true heroes of either gender. That thought led me back to something I had written in a previous discussion on heroism with another friend: Heroism is a)...

Currently reading: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban  by J.K. Rowling                             Gathering Blue  by Lois Lowry Currently Writing: Revisions/editing/2nd draft of SOMEDAY (the first book in my Merlin Quartet) I'm in the middle of rereading two series that have impressed me with their stories in the past: the Harry Potter series and Lois Lowry's Giver Quartet. (Technically, I've only read what was previously the Giver Trilogy , but Lowry has written a new book in the set, Son , which I wanted to read after the others since it has been years since my first reading of any of them.) Rereading these books after some time does odd things to my experience of reading them. First, it makes me examine whether they deserved my attention and praise in the first place. Because I am reading them for a second (or in the case of PoA, third or fourth) time, it's quite likely that they did d...

Currently reading: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (I've been reading this for more than a month, and I'll probably be reading it for another two or three months.)                             Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson Currently Writing: Thesis revisions ("My Friend the Fish" is next up)                             "Joseph Psalm" Mike DiMartino, one of the creative minds behind Avatar: The Last Airbender  and The Legend of Korra , has started writing a blog , and I have been inspired to come back and make another entry here. One of my friends recently asked me if I had been doing any writing lately. Normally, this would be a silly question. A better query would be " What have you been writing lately?" The truth is I haven't been writing much at all due to my thesis defense later this semester (a little over a month f...