Evolution of Literature

This is another blog that I am completely shocked that I have touched earlier. Writing has been used since the beginning of man, but the use of it has drastically changed over our time span. Don’t believe me, let’s take a trip back in time and see where writing really started.

I am going to start all the way back with cave man. Yes cave art isn’t considered a form of writing but I consider it literature for one main reason. It tells a story. Cave art tells us the story of our ancestors before us and how the communicated.

The first form of writing is dated back to about 3200 BC in Mesopotamia. Back then writing was mainly used for trading and writing down events, but mainly trading.

A few thousand years later (I don’t have an exact date but you can probably google it) writing finally evolved into something new. Writing now was mainly used for treaties, keeping track of history, organization, and yes writing music. Yes writing was a thing back then, they didn’t have electronics to make the music for them.

Finally we get today where writing is used for everything from proving that you were the one to buy something, for writing treaties, keeping track of our history, organization, and still writing music. But then we got something new the computer. The computer has really gotten rid of the necessity of actually writing things down.

So there is the very basic evolution of writing and how it has changed over the years. And as you have seen writing really hasn’t changed a lot over the years. The only things that have changed are what we have written down and where we keep track of our writings.

I do apologize that this is a very short blog, but about half way through writing it I realized that I didn’t really know a lot about the subject that I was writing about, so hopefully I can try to make up for it in the next blog, and liked I had promised you in the last blog I stop my series track. Let’s just hope that doesn’t star back up, (that may or may not be a use foreshadowing) (hint hint). So I will see you guys in the next blog.    

Making Lore

Ah, it is finally time for my true nerd to show through. Today I am going to be talking about lore in literature. This blog is mainly going to be a Q and A about what is and how to use lore.

Q. First off since I know a lot of my readers aren’t nerds I will have to explain what exactly lore is?

A. So in layman’s terms lore is basically the back story to what you are writing.

Q. Secondly, what exactly can you use lore in?

A. Lore is mainly used Video Games, but I have also personally seen it in books, movies and comic books.

Q. Now what do you actually use lore for?

A. Well lore is mainly used for things that don’t fit into the main story, or other ideas you have.

Q. What is considered lore?

A.  Lore can really be anything, extra characters you could put in your story, backgrounds that you couldn’t fit into the main story, or even whole universes that just couldn’t fit in to a single story. So lore can really be anything that didn’t fit in to the main story.

Q. How do I write lore in to my story?

A. This is kind of a multiple step answer and it really depends on how much lore you have for your story. If it is just a very small amount I have seen a few authors just put in the back of their books, or with video games I have seen them put them in random papers around your map. Now if you have a lot of lore and I mean a lot you can do a few things. You could write a completely different story based on the back story that you created, or the other thing I have seen authors and video game creators both do is create like a book of lore for their stories. These are usually written like survival guides written by your main characters. The main thing with lore is that you want to make sure your lore is easily accessible, but not directly written in your game.

I know there is many more things I could write about creating lore, but I can save that for a rainy day. But I promise this will not become a direct series, if I were to da another one it won’t be for a while.      

Copyright Pt 3

So just so you guys know I just got back from a Show Choir vacation/competition in Nashville, Tennessee, and I am basically dead so do not except a lot of quality from this one. But speaking of show choir I am now going to talk about forms of copyright that you may not have thought of. (If you do not know what show choir is I am going to most likely covering the subject in a future blog).

So with show choir we have to pick all of our own music to preform, only problem is to preform that music we have to pay a thing called ROALTIES. For those of you who don’t know what those are they are basically a form of copy right which makes sure that you are giving money to the creator of that song., which is a good thing. So why did I mention show choir? Well I just got back from a thing called show choir nationals, which is where the best show choirs around the country come together and compete. So what the big deal?

Well we placed 6^th out of 22 team, which is amazing, but there is a small problem. The team that beat us for fifth place didn’t pay royalties for the music they used, and they got caught, but after it was only after the awards they got caught. So what happens now? I here you all asking behind your computer screens. Well they will most likely be sued and have to pay the royalties and a fine, that’s it. That is all they have to do. (If this wasn’t a high school blog this and the next few sentences would have a lot more color to them). Seriously, there trophies don’t get taken away, they don’t get banned from competing, they just have to pay money, and that is it.

I personally feel that there should be more done, if a school is caught breaking copyright, then just paying money that trying to get out of. But what do I know I am just a teenage boy sitting behind a computer screen. So I am going to ask you. What do you think should happen to the school? Should they just pay the money and be done, or should there be more? Go ahead and answer down in the comments. I would love to discuss it with you guys. 

Copyright Pt 2

Welcome to part 2 everybody, and just to warn you now there will be a part three to this but it will actually not be related to other 2 in anyway except for the subject matter of copyright. Now with that out of the way let’s get back to me ranting about copyright.

If you are just now joining us I would recommend going back to part 1 and reading that first. With that out of the way let me answer the questions I left you with from the last part. No I don’t believe that YouTube should get rid of their copyright system.

Now don’t get me wrong YouTube’s copyright system is one of the worst things in the world, but it is necessary, let me explain. Even though YouTube’s copyright system is worse than getting stung by a thousand hornets there is a reason for it. Copyright is used to help protect its user from those people who are breaking copyright law, so yes it can actually stop people from making money off of someone else’s work that they didn’t have permission to use. So yes copyright is a good thing, it helps people make sure that they get the credit (and money) they deserve, and it doesn’t need to go away, but YouTube’s copyright system does still need a little help.

And when I say little help, I mean a lot of help, and when I say a lot of help, I truly mean that the old system needs to be completely thrown out the window and completely re-worked. Instead of having a completely automated system who has to guess if people are breaking copyright, maybe YouTube could get a certified team that actually looks for people who are breaking copyright laws. Or even better keep the automated system but get a team together to help out those small time YouTuber’s, who get falsely claimed of breaking copyright and get there videos back. Or help brand new YouTuber’s who may not understand copyright yet, and didn’t know that they were breaking copyright law and just help them fix it.

See YouTube there is a way to fix your copyright problem. I respect that you at least have a copyright system in place, but come on YouTube, you should know by now that your copyright system needs work. So now we finally move on the part 3 of copyright. 

Copyright Pt 1

Hey guys, so today we get to talk best and worst thing in literature, copyright. Copyright, a two sided coin, both evil and good, dark and light, peace and hate, it can be force that helps people and a force for to destroy people. Today specifically I am going to talk about the place where copyright is most debated, the internet. And where in the internet is copyright most debated, YouTube. (I am going to get so much hate for this one).

So personally I have started up a YouTube channel to get my musical talent out there, (No there is no link to my channel, I will not stoop that low, if you would like the name ask in the comments) but I have run into a small problem, copyright. See I do drum covers, so I am required to use music, but whenever I put out a video I get flagged for using copyright. Which doesn’t really make sense to me. You see drum covers are considered parody, which is protected under fair use of copyright. (This has been a huge thing on YouTube recently so if you want to learn more about the situation going on over there I would recommend just doing a search on YouTube for it, a lot of people have covered the subject a lot better than I can). So why am I getting flagged when I am not breaking copyright?

Before we even get into that I should probably explain what copyright is. For those of you who don’t know, copyright in layman’s terms is basically a system used to protect people who create things from other people are trying to steal their ideas. But there is a minor problem when it comes to YouTube and the copyright system, it’s completely automated, so there is no human interaction. So the problem going on at YouTube is basically, people are placing false copyright claims on other people’s work (which I have had happen) to steal their ad revenue (the way YouTuber's make money). Which is very harmful to those content creators. And since the system is automated, it is almost impossible to refute that claim.

So is copyright one of the worst things in the world? Should we just out right get rid of copyright? You will find out in the next part of this not at all dramatic blog post. See you then. 

Depression in Literature

So I know I said that part 3 would come today but this is something that completely trumps part 3.

Depression is one of the hardest subjects to talk about when it comes to writing so this blog is going to be a lot different than my normal ones. My high school have suffered a severe tragedy with one of our freshman committing suicide. So I am deciding to dedicate this blog to her.

Like I said depression in literature is one of the hardest subjects to tackle, so it very rarely used in most forms of writing unless it is a biography. So why is depression such a hard subject to talk about? Well because it effects a lot of us. I personally went through a phase of my life where I was basically extremely depressed. And I know a lot of other people have gone through that same phase. But if it is such a common emotion, then why don’t authors use in writing more? Well that is because depression effects everyone differently, so if an author wants to try to make their character more relatable by giving them depression, it is really hard for people to relate because yes they may be going through the same thing but most likely in a different way. That and not a lot of writers know how to write a book where one of the main characters is depressed.

So that is why I believe that authors don’t really use depression in writing. But before I end this blog I actually want to talk seriously about depression and suicide. Look if you guys out there are suffering with depression, don’t just stand by and do nothing about it keeping all of your emotions bottled up. Go and talk to someone please, I know from experience that keeping your emotions locked up like that is not healthy for you at all. Secondly let’s talk suicide, look in no matter what the situation, suicide is not the answer. I don’t care what you may be feeling, it is not the answer. There is so much more to live for and there are people out there who care for you. So before even thinking about trying, think about what will happen to the people who actually care for you.

Video Games and the 4th Wall

Again this is not a book review on some made up prequel to the amazing book the 5^th wave, (you should really read it though) this is us talking about the 4^th wall. If you haven’t read the last blog, or are just joining us I would really recommend going back and reading the last blog because I am not really going to be doing any explaining of what the 4^th wall is. This blog is mainly going to be about how video games are able to use the idea of breaking the 4^th wall.

Last time we talked exclusively about Deadpool, the mercenary with a mouth whose superpower is being able to break the 4^th wall, and use it to his advantage, which is why he is my favorite comic book hero, but so many other forms of literature do the same thing. Let’s start off with one of my other favorite forms of 4^th wall breaks video games.

Video games do this kind of stuff all of the time, whether it is giving you tutorials on how to play the game, to one or two side comment’s to the player about the game. But the granddaddy of 4^th wall breaks in video games has to come from Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid on the PS1. This boss basically reads your memory card and tells you what games you have been playing recently and makes fun of you for playing them. If that isn’t crazy enough when the boss fight starts the game reads your button inputs then tells the boss to move out of the way from being hit. The only way to beat this boss was to get up off of your couch, walk over to you game console, unplug you control from control port one then plug it back into control port 2. I thankfully did not play this game as a kid but I do have a lot of friends who did, and this boss fight, was so creepy and mind shattering that a video game character was able to basically read everything you did.

So yes video games are kind of like the like the idea of Deadpool, which is the reason why a lot of people like it is because it does something completely different. The next and final blog of this series will actually talk about all of the other forms of literature that use the idea of breaking the 4^th wall.