A new modder?

[Uilleonn]

Hello, I want to be a modder for your project as a writer. I thought I can specifically work for the storyline of quests and dialogues but I can write literature as well if wanted. I, as an admirer of Elder Scrolls series, am interested in deepening my knowledge in the Lore, but I can't say that I am qualified enough to work in that area yet. So, basically, I am really interested in this project and I want to do my best to help the project, this is why I want to be a modder.

[Haplo]

A good place to go to learn more about lore is The Imperial Library, found here, in case you didn't already have it:

http://til.gamingsource.net/

Uilleonn e-mailed me somewhat recently, and is interested in working with the Lit. section of TR, at least. He gets a + because he has pretty good grammar and spells things pretty much correctly.

Uilleonn, try writing a little short story (one to three paragraphs, or longer if you wish) on something specific to ES Lore (meaning simply within the game's believability: no cars or guns etc.) so that people here can get a feel for your strengths and weaknesses. (And so I can see, as well )

[Lintewathion]

yea Til is deffinately the place to go, they rule, they even have transcripts of all books and notes and whatnot.those guys are where i go when i need to look something up

[Uilleonn]

Here's my story. I would have added footnotes or something like that for the Lore information in the story, but you guys probably know everything I'm talking about right? Alright, here we go.
**************************************************************
It was a dark, rainy night in Caldera, streets were mostly empty. A man, known to few people as Scar and not known to others at all was one of the few people in the street. Scar was feeling pretty content, his pockets were full of gold, and he knew much more were going to be transported to his distant home in the Imperial City. Scar was a shady figure; he wasn’t the kind of guy whom you would approach when you saw him in the middle of the night, even if you were his best friend. He was wearing a ripped mask. This mask was not for his protection, it was for hiding his hideous scar that was covering half of his face, indeed seeing his scar was a reason enough for this man to murder. He was also known to show his scar to his victims.
Scar took a wet piece of paper which was losing its ink. He could still see the address of the inn he was supposed to go. After wandering in the streets for a while, he found the inn called ‘Bread and Bed’. It was a nice, warm place, run by an Imperial. Scar quietly approached the guy who was already looking suspiciously at him.
“How can I help you friend?â€Â￾ the innkeeper asked with a grumbling tone in his voice.
“Hello there, I’d like a beer first.â€Â￾ Scar replied warmly. “Far away from home eh?â€Â￾
The innkeeper looked carefully at Scar, and noticed that Scar was an Imperial. Scar blinked his only visible eye, as the other one was not seen behind his mask. The innkeeper gave him a big mug of beer.
“Here you go.â€Â￾
“Thanks, listen I’ve got some questions. What was your name?â€Â￾
“Xabeliel Ekaran. What’s yours?â€Â￾
“My name’s Feliel Dimrill.â€Â￾ Scar lied. He had just made up that name. Since his childhood, he was able to lie to anyone instantly and while looking directly at their face.
“What do you do?â€Â￾ asked Xabeliel.
“This and that, it changes... You can consider me as a skilled laborer.â€Â￾
“Ah, let me guess; are you one of the new master miners?â€Â￾
“That’s close, but not quite true. Actually I am visiting a friend, and I heard he was staying in this in.â€Â￾
The innkeeper nodded restlessly.
“I guess you want his room number or something like that. So, who is this guy?â€Â￾
“Oh no, I already know his room number. What I will ask you to do is not to let anyone else in that room, is that alright with you?â€Â￾
“Well, that depends...â€Â￾
Scar smiled. He took a handful of gold coins from his pocket, and put the money in front of Xabeliel. The innkeeper quietly took the money.
“Ah, a true Imperial you are Xabeliel! Don’t worry, our paths will cross again, until than, goodbye!â€Â￾
The innkeeper nodded his head, this time he was pretty happy. When Scar quietly moved to the rooms, Xabeliel had already started counting his money.
Scar walked to the room 12. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.
“For once, I wish someone made my job easier.â€Â￾ he murmured to himself, and he started to pick the lock. He was really good at lock picking, he was swift and silent, and after he few seconds, he had gotten the door open.
The room was big but it was mostly empty. No one seemed to be inside at first glance but an experienced eye could see that the bed wasn’t empty. Scar took few steps inside; he was moving silently and carefully. He confidently took his mask off his face. In his next step he suddenly drew his bow and an arrow and turned back. The door was closed; a dunmer wearing fancy armor was holding a crossbow at him.
“You are good.â€Â￾ Scar said coldly.
“So are you, but not good enough. Who sent you to kill me Scar?â€Â￾
“You know me?â€Â￾
“You are famous, one of the best assassins. Now, who sent you? House Hlaalu or the Imperials? Or are you working for the Morag Tong? I can say from your outfit that you are not one of the Dark Brotherhood.â€Â￾
“I’m freelance, and I was hired by the Imperials, but the assassination might have been planned with the House Hlaalu. You must have known about the dangers of coming here Farak, House Redoran is not wanted in Caldera. Your house might claim this city, but when it actually comes to getting it, you will be stopped. They must have heard that you were good, and they hired the best to remove you from the game. But why do you care now? You are going to be dead in a few minutes.â€Â￾
“I disagree, I’ll shoot at the same time, we have equal chances.â€Â￾
“Don’t be ridiculous, my bow is a lot faster than your crossbow.â€Â￾
“Yes, but you will be dead too, you can’t possibly shoot an arrow and dodge from my bolt at the same time.â€Â￾
“Maybe, maybe not...â€Â￾
“Look, if you want us to kill each other, I am ready to die for my house. But this is quite unnecessary. We can agree, you see, if it is money, I can give it to you.â€Â￾
“It’s too late for that my friend.â€Â￾
“I see... I saw your face and your scar... But someone must have seen it for you to get that name... or did you start calling yourself ‘Scar’ after you got it?â€Â￾
Scar didn’t answer. Instead, he went back to old memories in his mind. His Scar was his old mentor’s final gift to him. As a young murderer in the Dark Brotherhood, Scar was trained by one of their best Silencers after he killed his mother’s lover in cold blood. After his training he killed for many times, serving his masters well and he became an Eliminator in the Dark Brotherhood ranks. At this point, his mentor had understood that this young man was eventually going to face him for his rank so he had decided to ambush his former student. A mysterious figure had told Scar that his former mentor was going to kill him, but Scar’s arrogance had made him face his former master in unequal circumstances. Scar was the best, and he had managed to kill his mentor, but he had to pay the cost of his arrogance. He could still remember his mentor cutting half of his face. Scar wasn’t fast enough to dodge the attack and kill at the same time when he faced his mentor.
“So, what do you say, Scar? Shall we make peace? I can forget about your face, I have seen worse.â€Â￾
Scar looked with a secret sorrow in his horrible face and he fired his arrow at Farak. Before being fatally wounded in the head by the arrow, Farak managed to send a bolt from his crossbow towards Scar, but the experienced assassin calmly rolled to his left side, dodging the bolt successfully, and he stood up with haste.
“Never again...â€Â￾ he said with a loud and clear voice. He wore his mask and walked out of Farak’s room...

[Haplo]

I'll look at this hopefully tomorrow if I can, at the moment my computer is in about 30 pieces.

[Xui'al]

Nicely done. Grammar and spelling is very good, only a couple of minor changes are necessary.
Couple of minor things:

-I am under the impression that Hlaalu and Redoran are fighting for Caldera, with Hlaalu currently holding it. I don't understand the purpose of the murder.

-Calling the protagonist "Scar" is okay, but for the other names use our lovely
[url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/?p=modding_data/ngen]Name Generator.[/url]

[Uilleonn]

Xui'al, thanks for the commentary. To answer your questions, yes, House Redoran is trying to get the city from House Hlalu & Imperials, the victim is a member of the house Redoran, and the assassin is recruited by the Imperials & House Hlalu who are against this Redoran agents activities. Oh, and by the way, thanks for the name generator, I had no idea=))

[Haplo]

I'll do this in fragments, as I have time: (Edits in BOLD)

It was a dark, rainy night in Caldera, streets were mostly empty. This past sentence, I think you should change 'Caldera, streets' to 'Caldera; the', because as it is, it seems like a fragment to me, or just an awkward phrase.

That was a very short edit, shorter by a lot than I intended, and sorry about being so slow, it's just that I'm trying to do this from a Macintosh, which I haven't used in years, so I'm still getting used to it's way of doing everything (and font/text is really small on Macs, too). Hopefully by this time next week everything will be ship-shape again.

[Uilleonn]

Please take your time, I know how hard using a Mac engine computer can be=))

[PoHa!]

Personally, I think the name "Scar" seems a little too cliche...

There are some places which could be better. Mostly, places that state things too clearly, like:

Scar was a shady figure

This mask was not for his protection

and

He was also known to show his scar to his victims.

just to name a few in the first paragraph. Stating things such as sorta take away from the flow of the story. Try to work them into the story with descriptions instead. "Show, don't tell" was something I remember from some High School writing class, and I think it applies here.

So instead, you might have something like:

A worn figure walked alone on the weatherbeaten cobblestones of the street. A patrolling guard eyed him cautiously from a distance, though when the figure stopped and looked over his shoulder, the guard turned away nervously. The figure's ragged cloth mask did little to keep his face warm, just as his clothing seemed as if they did little to protect him. The wind blew, and for an instance, the guard saw the figure's face out of the corner of his eye. The figure quickly hid his face once more, but the guard had already sprinted to an alleyway to relieve his sudden sickness.

But that's just an idea, and may not be entirely what your going for; that's just my thoughts...

[Uilleonn]

What I was trying to do was to protagonize this villainous character, so I was trying to get the reader a little bit in his head, so he knows he looks a little shady, he knows his mask wont protect him and he knows that he will kill anyone who had seen his face. So I was trying to give the things in this characters mind that are really alien to everyone in his world and alien to the reader as well, in an easy way to the reader to show that they are simple thoughts for the character. It didn't really work though, you are right. I really appreciate the criticism, the revision and English being my second language, I couldn't even dream to write like that. I bow to superior talent.

[Shicoco]

Ok, your story is excellent, you seem to be a very nice writer indeed.

Now, I will suggest some ways in which you could possibly improve your writing, and I will also discuss what I liked about it.

But, before I go on, I will state that I am going to suggest ideas on ways to improve this piece of work, but I would not call it criticism, for I try not to criticize on other's work. With my following words I am not putting myself above you in any way. There is always something any person can improve upon, which is why I will ask you to feel free to leave comments on how I may improve anything in my showcase.



Ok, so basically, there are three parts to writing stories, poetry, etc. First, a writer must think of ideas, preferably unique ones, on what their writing is going to be about (for those of you who do not write, it is not always easy to think of what your next piece of writing is going to be about). Second, a writer must find a way to organize all of these ideas and thoughts and turn it into a structured plot. And then comes the writing, where the writer must write out the plot, while wording it in a good manner and putting structure to the sentences, paragraphs, et cetera.

For the "first" part of writing, I think you did excellent (just my opinion). Your idea for the plot was marvelous. It was very interesting, and not boring in the least. 4.9999 stars out of 5 (because there is always room for improvement).

Now for the "second" part of writing. Again, it was excellent. Strong plot, very organized, very nice. You didn't not go too much much into detail (too much detail can easily turn a good, interesting story, boring), yet you put enough in there to explain everything and make it more interesting. Let me just say that I think you put just the right amount of detail and such in your story. If this wasn't a short story, I'm sure somebody could have made a movie on it lol.

Ok, the third part is the only thing I really would like to express my thoughts about. This part has to do with spelling, grammar, sentence structure, et cetera.

For the most part, spelling was perfect. Spelling actually does not matter anyway, we have people called proofreaders and editors. Even if you had poor spelling, it would not ruin the story.

Ok, I do think though, that you could improve your grammar a little.

Scar was a shady figure; he wasn’t the kind of guy whom you would approach when you saw him in the middle of the night, even if you were his best friend.

The first part of this sentence is excellent when it comes to grammar. But you should edit that last part, where you say "best friend". This is not bad grammar at all, but it is a different type of grammar compared to the first part of the sentence. It is generally not good to change your type of grammar or tone in the middle of the sentence.

For instance, Judy Blume and R.A. Salvatore both have excellent grammar, but they are as different as an apple and an orange. You wouldn't mix and match their stories, because their writing styles are different (though if the two authors do get together some day and write a book, I'd like to read it lol).

So how about changing "...even if you were his best friend" to "...even if you were a good friend". Look around your story, and see if you can make other improvements of this type.

Since his childhood, he was able to lie to anyone instantly and while looking directly at their face.

Ok, you and I both know that you can make that sound much better. I won't give any suggestions though, because I know that you don't need any. Try to make that sentence (as well as a few others like it) sound a little better. Other than that, I truly like that unique idea in this sentence. Some guy being able to come up with a lie on the spot and spit it out while looking that person in the eye. Now why didn't I think of that?

One last thing, some of your sentences are a little clichè.

So are you, but not good enough.

Need I say more on that?

That will be all. I think that you are a very good writer, and I notice that you have interest in three things: Dialogue, quest/storylines, and literature.

Also, a good way to improve all writing skills is to read! If you like The Elder Scrolls, check out R.A. Salvatore.

Now, what you need to do, is write some more, post it, so these moderators can see your excellent writing ability, and make you a modder.

Good day.

[Uilleonn]

Shicoco, first of all, thanks for the commentary, it did put a big smile on my face=)) I always thought that nothing can improve without criticism or we can say commentary to make it a more likable term. Every opinion is indeed valuable for me.

Okay, I rushed this story a little bit and I didn't even make a correction because I wanted it to be raw.

***********************************************************
So how about changing "...even if you were his best friend" to "...even if you were a good friend".
***********************************************************

For this, I will look through the story for tone changes but what I tried to do in this specific example was to underline the degree of friendship. I'll probably change it because now that you said it, I don't really like how it sounds either. I might reconstruct the sentence; make it something like 'someone very close to him.'

************************************************************
"Since his childhood, he was able to lie to anyone instantly and while looking directly at their face." Ok, you and I both know that you can make that sound much better. I won't give any suggestions though, because I know that you don't need any. Try to make that sentence (as well as a few others like it) sound a little better. Other than that, I truly like that unique idea in this sentence. Some guy being able to come up with a lie on the spot and spit it out while looking that person in the eye. Now why didn't I think of that?
************************************************************

Yeah, you are absolutely right on that one. I will change stuff like that. As for the idea, I must say that it isn't actually original: If you read Huck Finn, that boy can lie at that instant. Mark Twain showed that in his book instead of telling it, Huck was in bed with his gun I guess, and his dad didn't want him to have the gun for some reason so he comes and asks "What are you doing with the shotgun?" and Huck had just woken up and he looks directly at his dad and says something like this "Oh, I heard a sound at night and grabbed the gun" which is a lie. So I thought this was an interesting characteristic, and considering Huck’s past, it gives a lot about the character and what he had gone through.

***********************************************************
One last thing, some of your sentences are a little cliché.
************************************************************

This is true. As I said, I did rush this up a little bit; I will make those dialogues better. I am planning to make a good revision for that story very soon. After that, I will work on a longer story.

Oh, and I am familiar with R.A. Salvatore, indeed I am a big fan of the Dark Elf Trilogy, and I really wanted to read the rest of Drizzt’s adventures or other books by the author but I never found the chance. Hopefully, sometime in the future, I will read Salvatore again.

Again thanks for the commentary; it was really helpful and cheerful.

Good night...

[Shicoco]

Ok, your welcome. Let me just say that I do not like giving or receiving criticism. Criticism does not help in the least.

Ok, yeah, my idea for a way you could have changed the sentence was not all that great, but it was more to give you an example.

And I knew I heard that somewhere. I have unfortunately read Huck Finn as a summer reading project, and now I remember. It might not be original, but it is certainly not a cliché.

And it did sound like you were in a hurry lol.

Check out the Legacy of the Drow by Salvatore. More Drizzt, very good series (my favorite). Drizzt is cool, but I like Guenhwyvar more . He's a loyal, six-hundred pound killing machine lol. Who could ask for more?

Keep up the great work, later.

[Uilleonn]

Lets call it constructive commentary then.

I have unfortunately read Huck Finn as a summer reading project

=))

a loyal, six-hundred pound killing machine lol. Who could ask for more?

Drizzt is a lucky guy indeed.

Later, thanks again.

[Uilleonn]

Here's my first correction/revision of this story.
**************************************************************
It was a dark, rainy night in Caldera. Streets were mostly empty. A man, known to few people as Scar and not known to others at all was one of the few people who were outside at that moment. Scar was feeling pretty content, his pockets were full of gold, and he knew much more were going to be transported to his distant home in the Imperial City. There wasn’t anyone near him. Even the guards didn’t want to approach this shady looking man. Actually, he wasn’t the kind of person whom you would approach when you saw him in the middle of the night, even if you were really close to him. He was wearing a ripped mask covering half of his face which made him look even worse. He knew that if someone was to hit his head, the mask wouldn’t protect him by any chance but he didn’t care about this fact. What the mask was hiding was the only thing important for Scar. He sometimes thought before going to bed in quiet yet beautiful nights in his lonely home that what he was hiding behind the mask was the real him. He couldn’t let anyone else to see the real him, therefore his mask was actually more for the protection of people he interacted with without the intention of killing them.
Scar took a wet piece of paper which was losing its ink. He could still see the address of the inn he was supposed to go. After wandering in the streets for a while, he found the inn called ‘Bread and Bed’. It was a nice, warm place, run by an Imperial. Scar quietly approached the innkeeper who was already looking suspiciously at him. Others were too drunk to notice this newcomer.
“How can I help you friend?â€Â￾ the innkeeper asked with a grumbling tone in his voice.
“Hello there, I’d like a beer first.â€Â￾ Scar replied warmly. “Far away from home eh?â€Â￾
The innkeeper looked carefully at Scar, and noticed that Scar was an Imperial. Scar blinked his only visible eye, as the other one was not seen behind his mask. The innkeeper gave him a big mug of beer.
“Here you go.â€Â￾
“Thanks, listen I’ve got some questions. What was your name?â€Â￾
“Audeius Siruliulus. What’s yours?â€Â￾
“My name’s Furipp Abitius.â€Â￾ Scar said. He took a huge sip from his beer and than he smiled. He had just told the innkeeper a lie, at that instant. He had made up that name right at the second the innkeeper asked him his name, and told it in the next second. Telling such lies were like blinking his eye to Scar, it had always been like that. He didn’t even think about all that, even for a second. After taking his sip, he looked at the innkeeper.
“What do you do?â€Â￾ asked Audeius.
“This and that, it changes... You can consider me as a skilled laborer.â€Â￾
“Ah, let me guess; are you one of the new master miners?â€Â￾
“That’s close, but not quite true. Actually I am visiting a friend, and I heard he was staying in this inn.â€Â￾
The innkeeper nodded restlessly.
“I guess you want his room number or something like that. So, who is this guy?â€Â￾
“Oh no, I already know his room number. What I will ask you to do is not to let anyone else in that room, is that alright with you?â€Â￾
“Well, that depends...â€Â￾
Scar smiled. He really loved the idea of greed; it made his job much easier. He took a handful of gold coins from his pocket, and put the money in front of Audeius. The innkeeper quietly took the money.
“Ah, a true Imperial you are Audeius! Don’t worry; our paths will cross again someday. Until than, goodbye!â€Â￾
The innkeeper nodded his head, this time he was pretty happy. If he had understood Scar’s last remark, he would really have a reason to be worried but he was more concentrated on the bag of gold he had just received. Of course, he didn’t know that he was the only person who could identify Scar. He didn’t know that there was going to be a murder soon in his inn. He didn’t know that Scar was going to return to take his life later that night. He was just looking at the bag of gold in front of him. When Scar quietly started moving towards rooms, Audeius had already started counting his money.
Scar walked to the room 12. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.
“For once, I wish someone made my job easier.â€Â￾ he murmured to himself, and he started to pick the lock. He was really good at lock picking, he was swift and silent, and after spending few seconds, he had gotten the door open.
The room was big but it was mostly empty. No one seemed to be inside at the first glance but an experienced eye could see that the bed wasn’t empty. Scar took few steps inside; he was moving silently and carefully. He confidently took his mask off his face. In his next step he suddenly drew his bow and an arrow and turned back. The door was closed; a dunmer wearing fancy armor was holding a crossbow at him.
“You are good.â€Â￾ Scar said coldly. Dunmer looked at the man in his room; he looked at his hideous face, torn by an incredibly huge and disgusting scar. This man only could have been one person.
“Scar...â€Â￾
“You know me?â€Â￾
“You are famous... One of the best...assassins. Who sent you? House Hlaalu or the Imperials? Or are you working for the Morag Tong? I can say from your outfit that you are not one of the Dark Brotherhood.â€Â￾
“I’m freelance, obviously you don’t know much about me and I was hired by the Imperials, but the assassination might have been planned with the House Hlaalu. Actually I have reasons to believe that it probably is. You must have known about the dangers of coming here Tadaves, House Redoran is not wanted in Caldera. They might claim this city, but when it actually comes to getting it, you will be stopped. They must have heard that you were good at what you do, and they hired the best to remove you from the game. But why do you care now? You are going to be dead in a few minutes.â€Â￾
“I disagree, I’ll shoot at the same time, we have equal chances.â€Â￾
“Don’t be ridiculous, my bow is a lot faster than your crossbow.â€Â￾
“Yes, but you will be dead too, you can’t possibly shoot an arrow and dodge from my bolt at the same time. Nevertheless if a fight is what you wish, let it happen; but not like this. Let us draw our swords and fight like men. At least let us make sure that the victor leaves this room alive.â€Â￾
“This would be too risky.â€Â￾
“I see that you are confident on your dodging skills, but I say it still would be risky for you. Both us can die here at the same time. This would be wasteful. I am ready to die for my house with my honor. I am a warrior; I am not an assassin like you. I do not fear death and therefore I do not sneak on people. But even for me, this death is unnecessary. We can also reach an agreement. If money is what you want, I can give it to you.â€Â￾
“First of all, you are the one who drew the crossbow.â€Â￾
“I did that exactly to avoid a situation like this. I was not expecting an assassin.â€Â￾
“Secondly, it’s too late for an agreement.â€Â￾
“I see... I saw your face and your scar... But someone must have seen it for you to get that name... or did you start calling yourself ‘Scar’ after you got it?â€Â￾
Scar didn’t answer. Instead, he went back to old memories in his mind. His Scar was his old mentor’s final gift to him. As a young murderer in the Dark Brotherhood, Scar was trained by one of their best Silencers after he killed his mother’s lover in cold blood. After his training he killed for many times, serving his masters well and he became an Eliminator in the Dark Brotherhood ranks. At this point, his mentor had understood that this young man was eventually going to face him for his rank so he had decided to ambush his former student. A mysterious figure had told Scar that his former mentor was going to kill him, but Scar’s arrogance had made him face his former master in unequal circumstances. Scar was the best, and he had managed to kill his mentor, but he had to pay the cost of his arrogance. He could still remember his mentor cutting half of his face. Scar wasn’t fast enough to dodge the attack and kill at the same time when he faced his mentor.
“So, what do you say, Scar? Shall we make peace? I can forget about your face, I have seen worse.â€Â￾
Scar looked at the noble Redoran warrior and saw the guilt of a lie in his face; the only thing Scar thought he could never ever have. With a secret sorrow in his horrible face, he fired his arrow at Tadaves. Before being fatally wounded in the head by the arrow, Tadaves managed to send a bolt from his crossbow towards Scar, but the experienced assassin calmly rolled to his left side, dodging the bolt successfully, and he stood up with haste.
“Never again...â€Â￾ he said with a loud and clear voice. He wore his mask and walked out of Tadaves’s room...

[PoHa!]

Hey there again!

Here are some things I noticed:

He knew that if someone was to hit his head, the mask wouldn’t protect him by any chance but he didn’t care about this fact.

To me, this doesn't read right. It seems a quick idea that's been stretched out too long. Perhaps something more along the lines of "The mask wouldn't protect him from a blow, but that mattered little to him."

Things similar to that are the only things that I personally dislike about this story. Otherwise, I think its quite nice.

Sorry for not mentioning this earlier, but you should note that there is a moratorium on Morrowind specific books. I would suggest, however, that this could use a slight edit, and be placed in a town in the Hammerfell province, and Hlaalu/Redoran be replaced with Forebears/Crowns. Or, this can be for a different province, or you can stay with the current setting. Or... I don't know... I'm confusing myself now, and that's not good.

[Uilleonn]

I actually wrote this story only to show my style, but I will make a second edit after I get more reviews/comments and I can make it so that it would fit the Hammerfell province. I will have to make a little lore research for that, because my Hammerfell knowledge is limited. Why I chose to make this story in Morrowind was because it is probably my favorite province, and the one I know most about. The second story I will write is going to set in Solthsteim and mostly Skyrim and hopefully it will be something that can be used in the game.

[Haplo]

I have unfortunately read Huck Finn as a summer reading project

=))

Die. "Mark". "Twain".

[Shicoco]

I wrote that

[Uilleonn]

That's why it was in "quotes". Mark Twain is apparently not popular here=)) But the bright side is, English Class did teach few useful things. Just a few...

[Nanu]

Oh, don't remind Nanu Ra about Mr. Twain, I have bad memories.

[Shicoco]

Samuel Clemens (aka 'Mark Twain'), is racist, etc., but his stories are good, he has a good technique, etc...

[Uilleonn]

Yeah he is kind of an under-cover racist. I don't think his technique is that good, it's fine but when you compare it to guys like Goethe, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gorky, Steinback, Orwell etc. he isn't really that good. That's just my opinion of course. Some of his stories are pretty creative some are just plain boring. Again, just my opinion.

[Haplo]

I don't think he's racist, I think he just writes how different races were viewed. When he was alive, blacks were treated poorly like that, and the word 'nigger' was bandied just as commonly among whites then as it is today among blacks.

Unless of course we're talking about different things.

[Sload]

I think reading to the end of Huck Finn shows that he isn't really a racist.

[Shicoco]

Ok, his writing technique is good, even though you might not like it. I don't really like Clemen's technique that much, but it is really good and solid.

For example, I don't care too much for country music, but I will admit it is music, and it takes a lot of talent to play/sing.