Elizabeth Jane Morgan

For three weeks in August, my church was running a pencil drive, asking the members to donate pencils, erasers, and crayons. They wanted them for a program I highly support: donating writing supplies to lower income elementary schools to take home to do their homework. The church member in charge of the drive is a retired teacher and the students love her. They asked her when the nice church people were going to give them pencils again.

I donated to the drive. A little over a year ago, I thought it would be cool to have pencils designed for various different holiday. I ended up with 570 pencils. I used two and one was a dud, the only dud I found, but they just weren’t the quality I was looking for. I talked to the woman hosting the pencil drive and explained the 567 remaining pencils weren’t as high a quality as she preferred. The moment she heard they were holiday themed, however, she excitedly told me she would take them, that the children would love them.

I wasn’t the only one donating pencils. There was a whole basket full of them. I saw two boxes of 600 pencils each and another box of 1,250. They were separated out last week by volunteers and they had enough for 588 bags to distribute to the students. They were even able to donate over a thousand to another school.

As for the holiday pencils, she told me that she had separated those out and had given them directly to the front office. The teachers will be able to go in and collect the pencils for the relevant holiday and pass them out as prizes. I hope the children like the pencils. It’s a wonderful way to help out the community.

*Spoiler Alert*

If anyone ever asked me what I knew about Star Trek before this month, I would have said Tribbles and that Red Shirts tend to die. Now, I know more. My mom has fond memories of watching the original series with my oldest brother, so I went out and got a DVD box set, to surprise her. We’ve been watching the first few episodes.

So far, all I’ve seen three episodes, “The Man Trap,” “Charlie X,” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” I can see why my mom and brother like the series. It’s pretty good. The plots are concise, the character’s actions make sense, and there’s a real sense of humanity as the crew of the Enterprise explore the galaxy. On the other hand, it’s obvious that most of these alien worlds are actually just film sets. But that’s fine. It gets the show a certain charm that modern movies and shows can’t replicate. They did the best with what they had and I respect them for that.

As for the three episodes I saw, “The Man Trap” was my favorite, while “Charlie X” was the weakest, in my opinion. “The Man Trap” sees Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy visiting a planet where a researcher, Dr. Crater, and his wife, Nancy, are researching the area and are the only humans. McCoy used to date Nancy and he’s stunned to find her looking exactly the same as she did twenty years ago. Kirk, meanwhile, sees someone completely different when he looks at Nancy. Another member of the crew, a random background extra, sees yet a third woman. The extra dies in mysterious circumstances. He appears to have lost all the salt in his body. It turns out that Nancy actually died a year ago and a salt vampire has shape shifted to look like her. She needs to feed on people’s salt to keep herself alive. In the end, McCoy is forced to kill the salt vampire when she attacks Kirk. It’s a really poignant moment where McCoy chooses his friend over a creature that looks like his ex-girlfriend. I appreciated the struggle the characters went through, especially McCoy. They didn’t want to kill the salt vampire, since she just wanted to live herself, but they had to make a tough decision for the sake of the crew.

In “Charlie X,” we’re introduced to a seven-year-old boy named Charlie. He has been stranded on a mostly deserted plant for fourteen years, since he was three. A passing ship picked him up and transferred him to the Enterprise, since Captain Kirk is heading for a nearby human base anyway. Charlie gets a crush on a female crew mate named Janice Rand and tries to impress her, but she tells him that she’s not interested. Charlie starts to display psychic powers that he gained from the planet and the non corporeal beings that live there. He can do whatever he wants. He makes a few people disappear, including Janice, and he even turned one girl into a lizard. Charlie takes over the ship when Kirk begins to reconsider taking him to other humans. Charlie is stretched to his psychic limits when Kirk orders all systems on, overwhelming Charlie. Kirk takes by control and the non corporeal beings come to take back Charlie, reversing all the damage he caused. This episode was all right, but Charlie got a bit grating after a while. His big thing was that he was a hormonal teenager with no sense of anyone else’s feelings. Combined that with his powers and he was understandably unstable.

I felt “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was very similar to “Charlie X.” It felt more personal to Kirk, though, so that’s why I rank the episode slightly higher. Kirk is looking for traces of a destroyed ship that was lost two hundred years ago at the edge of the galaxy. He and Spock find a beacon from the ship. My dad said it looked like a trash can on legs and that is an accurate description. It starts beeping and Kirk calls everyone to the bridge. On the way up, Kirk and Spock are joined by Kirk’s old friend, Gary Mitchell. Despite being Kirk’s friend, this is his first and only episode. They reach the bridge and we meet several of the department heads, including a female psychiatrist named Dr. Dehner. The beacon included damaged ship’s logs from the previous ship. When Spock listens to them, he hears a garbled message about extrasensory perception, or ESP. Kirk decides to fly through the space cloud showing the edge of the galaxy, but the Enterprise is zapped by electricity from the cloud and they lose all main power, switching to backup power. Gary and Dehner are both temporary knocked out and Gary’s eyes turn glowing silver. In the sickbay, Gary begins to notice his new psychic powers and he likes them. The department heads, except for Dr. Dehner, warn Kirk that Gary is becoming too unstable and they must either kill him or strand him on a nearby deserted planet. Kirk doesn’t like it, but decides to leave Gary behind on the planet while a ground crew works to restore the Enterprise’s power. Gary breaks free and Dehner, whose own psychic power is now revealed, leave to take control of the planet. Kirk follows and they fight. Dr. Dehner decides to help Kirk, ending with both hers and Gary’s deaths. Kirk returns to the now powered up Enterprise and logs a report that both Dehner and Gary died as heroes. This episode was a bit too similar to “Charlie X” for me, but I still felt sympathy for Kirk at the lose of his friend.

Overall, I liked the three episodes I’ve seen. It’s clear the production team making the original episodes were passionate about the show. I like both Kirk and Spock and I can see why they’re the main characters. I did find it interesting that in all three episodes, the antagonist stalked the corridors of the Enterprise, whether it was the salt vampire, Charlie, or Gary. I thought there would be more time spent on the planets, but the Enterprise seems to be put in danger quite often. They are also pretty casual about death. Background characters seem to die all the time and the main characters just move on. According to the DVD case, there are seventy-six more episodes to go. I’m curious to see where Kirk and Spock’s adventures take them next.

It’s been four years now since I rescued my cat, Jenny, from behind some grocery store shopping carts. She was such a small ball of fluff when I found her and now she’s a beautiful adult cat. I’ve always wondered what Jenny’s story would have been, if she could talk. I really want to know how she got there and what it was like for her hiding behind those carts. So, I’m planning on writing a story about Jenny’s experiences, told from her point-of-view. I can only speculate on some of it, but I think I can paint an accurate picture over what happened. I don’t think it will be longer than a novella, but if it’s any good, I might see about publishing it. I’m a big cat lover and I believe Jenny’s story highlights much about the struggles those poor stray cats and dogs must face on a daily basis on the streets. I’m just glad I got to Jenny in time and was able to give her a good home.

Last week, I finished the rough draft of my third book, Silver Storm. It’s the end of my trilogy, so I’m really proud of myself for getting to the end of the rough draft. Now, I just need to edit. Below, is the current opening for Silver Storm. Enjoy!

A long time ago, when Alsmora was new, there lived a good king. His name was Nicholas. Everyone prospered under his rule.

But there was a darkness across the valley.

In the nearby mountains, there lived a dragon, a terrible black dragon. Black as midnight. Trapped in endless slumber by a trio of good witches. But everyone feared the dragon would wake again.

Nicholas ruled his people for ten happy years, with no threat of the dragon.

One day, Nicholas was taking a walk in the castle gardens, when an astonishing sight met his eyes. A young woman stumbled out of the trees at the base of the mountains. Her dress was torn, her hair was a mess, and she appeared close to collapse.

Rushing forward, Nicholas caught the woman as she fell. Her eyes were closed and she seemed unconscious. As he lowered her gently to the ground, her eyes fluttered open and she gasped.

“Nithe. The terrible dragon, Nithe, is waking.”

She slipped back into unconsciousness.

Nicholas took the poor woman back to the castle. For three days and nights, she slept. Nicholas waited anxiously outside her door, concerned not only for her well-being, but also her cryptic words.

On the fourth day, the woman stirred. Nicholas rushed to her bedside.

“Where am I?” she asked.

“Elton Castle,” Nicholas answered. “I am Nicholas, King of Alsmora. Who are you?”

“Serena, Your Highness. I must warn you. Nithe is waking!”

“Calm yourself, Serena,” Nicholas said soothingly. “Nithe hasn’t woken for a hundred years. What makes you think he is now?”

“Because I have seen him,” Serena said. “I am a sorceress. Recently, I felt a magical surge coming from the mountains. When I went to investigate, I discovered that the dragon will wake in four days, on the morning of the solstice.”

“That’s today. I’m sorry, Serena, but you’ve been asleep for three days.”

Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to respond, when the ground began to shake. Nicholas and Serena both turned to the window. Outside, clearly visible, was the peak of the mountain. A black dragon had landed on the top and roared.

“He’s back,” Serena whispered. “We’re too late.”

My favorite genre is fantasy. I’ve always loved stories involving magic, kings, queens, knights, and dragons. My second favorite genre is the cozy mystery. My parents love the genre, so there’s always been plenty of cozy mystery books around the house. It’s for this reason that I’ve been considering writing a murder mystery book.

I’m only in the initial planning stage, but I’ve learned that I can’t be a discovery writer when it comes to a murder mystery. My normal style is to write where the story takes me, with minimal planning. Planning is definitely needed for a mystery. I have to become an architect writer, otherwise I won’t be able to keep the characters or clues straight. So far, I have a list of characters: two main characters, a victim, and four suspects.

I think it’ll make a good story. All it needs is time, effort, and research. Most of my characters will have professions I’ve never had, so I will most likely have to interview people in those positions. I’m looking forward to it, since it sounds like a fun new experience.

I’m hoping I can write this murder mystery at the same time as Silver Storm. However well I do on a cozy mystery, my first love is still fantasy. No matter the genre, though, I love writing. We’ll just have to see if I’m writing about magic and dragons or detectives solving a crime. I hope I’m good enough for both.

How many is too many characters? That’s an important question any author must ask, before they start writing their story. If you have a lot of characters, only there for the sake of being there, then your story will start to feel bogged down, drowning under the weight of too many characters. The reader won’t be able to keep track of them all, let alone the author knowing what to do with them. On the other hand, you don’t want too few characters that your world feels sparse and empty. Think of extras in a movie. If the romantic leads go into a restaurant, you want extras to be seated at the various tables. If it’s just the two main characters sitting in an empty restaurant, the audience will be distracted, trying to figure out where everyone went.

So, how do you maintain a balance? That’s up to the author to decide. When it comes to main characters, I’ve found through experience that you’ll want three. These are the central characters around which the entire story revolves. Penelope, Mag, and Artie play off of each other and the other side characters I introduce to move the plot along and enrich the world. As and inexperienced author, I once tried to write a scene with twelve main characters. All they were doing was talking, but I struggled. I was determined to have each character say something before I moved on. The result was that I was assigning random dialogue to random characters, even if it made no sense for them to say it. I scrapped the scene pretty quickly.

The only way an author can gauge if they have the right balance of characters is to start writing. I’ll often start a scene with several characters, but then start dropping them as I continue. They’re not bad characters, but if they add nothing to a scene, then I either have to rewrite the scene so they have a purpose or rewrite it without the character.

The crucial part of this process is to write. People talk a lot about character development in a story. We want to see our favorite characters learn and grow. The same can be said for authors. If we don’t develop our craft, we’ll never become better writers. In order to help our characters be the best they can be, no matter how many you decide to put in the scene, we must develop the knowledge, skills, and determination to get out there and write. Be brave and make mistakes. You’ll never know unless you try.