The Scarlet Group! 

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

The Scarlet Group! 

The Scarlet Group! 

Hi Amethyst and Poinsettia, here is our make a friend group! Any creative endevours occupying your spare time at the moment? I discovered conlang calligraphy script a few days ago and it's gorgeous! I reeally want to make my own! What kinds of books do you like? I'm excited to get to know you both!

submitted by Flamarestii
(March 14, 2023 - 1:56 pm)

Hi Flamie!! Yay, we get to talk more with each other! :D

Yep, I'm deep in creative endeavors... I'm writing two novels at once, which basically means I'm working quite a lot on one, and very little on the other ;) And I'm going to try to start or join an RP in Kyngdom as soon as I finish figuring out what it's all about, and in a few days our magical horses RP will start, so I'll be working on writing stuff for that too! Conlang calligraphy script sounds wonderful. I've tried doing ordinary calligraphy several times; it's so much fun. I love the feeling of creating elegant letters and words. Illumination can be fun too, have you ever tried it?

Books... I love all kinds, basically! Except I will NOT read anything that's at all dark or gory, which means I don't like a lot of young-adult novels - but other than that, I'll read anything! I especially like fantasy and realistic fiction as a rule, but I tend to like particular authors more than particular genres. Some of my favorites are Elizabeth Enright and Michael Ende (you may have seen me talking on the CB about Momo, by the aforementioned Michael Ende, which is like one of my favorite books ever - it's fantasy but with a little bit of realistic fiction mixed in, and really fun to read). I also like C. S. Lewis and O. Henry and Rudyard kipling and...but I'll stop there. What books do you like to read?

Another question: what kinds of music do you like?

I'm excited to talk with you too!

submitted by Poinsettia
(March 14, 2023 - 9:27 pm)
submitted by TOPestii, excited!
(March 15, 2023 - 6:52 am)
submitted by top
(March 15, 2023 - 9:11 am)

You're writing two novels?! That is so awesome! Do you mind telling us what they're about? I have lots of smaller stories that I work on at different intervals, but I'm not very far with any of them. I'm excited for the RP! And interested in Kyngdom too, but it's so complicated! I have not tried illumination, but it sounds interesting. 

I don't like reading violent things either, and you're right, I haven't gone in my library's young adult section for several months. I feel disappointed that novels catered to our age group tend to be so gory. I like C.S. Lewis too. I've read all the Narnia books except The Last Battle, which is on my everlasting reading list for this summer. I love Lord of the Rings and The Green Ember. Also, have you read The Penderwicks? It's realistic fiction but one of my favourite books/series ever! I don't usually read sci-fi, but last summer I read a novel called The Last Cuentista that was actually really good as well. I'm currently reading James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small. And in English we're reading Macbeth! Have you read any Shakespeare? 

I like soft-sounding songs, lofi, elvish lullabies, movie ambience, and a little pop music. Idk, my tastes vary with my mood. I don't like jazz or rock though. I play clarinet in band and used to play piano, but not so much anymore. One of my irl friends plays cello, which I think is such a pretty instrument. Do you play an instrument? 

submitted by Flamarestii, study hall
(March 15, 2023 - 9:54 am)

Whee hello! This should be fun :)

Hmm, creative endeavors... some, mostly writing of course (I do not know how I would occupy my spare time if I didn't write). Recently I'd been having some writer's block, but by now, LUCKILY, I've gotten rid of that, and am writing up a storm as a result ;) It's so hard to finish writing one novel before this perfectly wonderful idea for another one comes along and you feel as if you have to drop your first one and write the other one, and so you do, and then you run out of ideas for the second one and have to go back to the first one... And oh gracious, I definitely sympathize with having a lot of smaller stories going at once.

Anyway, I also do some calligraphy - I don't go in so much for illumination, which looks pretty but takes a lot of work, but I do just do things like copy poems I like with calligraphy. I sometimes draw, when I get around to it (which isn't often), and play some ukulele, which is quite fun. Ha, I'm like your friend - I also used to play piano, but by now that's sort of faded out of my life, somehow.

Books books books. My favorite topic. The Chronicles of Narnia! Whee we must be kindred spirits, Flamie! I <3 <3 <3 the Chronicles of Narnia - they're on my list of Possible Favorite Books, which is probably saying a lot for me. And yes, I've also read all of them except for The Last Battle, which I was planning to read sometime this summer! It's an interesting coincidence that you are too :)

Ah, YA fiction. *shakes head sadly over the degeneracy of the times* Almost all of it does tend to be terrible, doesn't it? Which is sad, because I find that there is a lack of really good books for teenagers. The books you mentioned sound interesting! I would recommend all the ones Poinsettia mentioned, and also the Cherry Ames series by Helen Wells, which is about a nurse and all the fascinating adventures she somehow gets herself into, and any books you might be able to find by Elizabeth Gray Vining - they're pretty hard to get hold of, but really interesting, well-written historical fiction, written basically for teenagers but not gory or boring (being from a while ago themselves), which is nice.

Ooh All Creatures Great and Small! I've never read the books, but I would like to. What did you think of the ending of this season of the television series based on them?

And... this comment is getting pretty long so I should probably stop. I'm looking forward to talking more with you! :D

submitted by Amethyst, Arendelle
(March 15, 2023 - 5:25 pm)
submitted by Topsettia
(March 15, 2023 - 8:33 pm)
submitted by Topsettia, again
(March 16, 2023 - 11:16 am)
submitted by Topethyst
(March 16, 2023 - 1:53 pm)
My school got a half day because of impending weather, so I'm out for the day! And my Biology test got postponed until Monday, which is good because I haven't exactly studied yet. Oops. 
We three must be kindred spirits; I feel like we have so much in common already! Thank you for the book recommendations, both of you! They will all go on my everlasting reading list. 
Amethyst, that thing you said about writing one story, then getting another idea, then running out of ideas is like my life! I'm always doing that, and I never finish anything! It's extremely frustrating! My whole closet is full of notebooks with old stories. It's good that you got over your writer's block, though. Some days I can't write at all, and then I get that rare day when I write like 6 pages and feel really good about myself. So elusive, the writer's flow state ...
I've only seen the first season of All Creatures Great and Small, so I don't know how accurate it is. You should read the books, though, they're hilarious!
Ukulele sounds fun. I got to play one in sixth grade I think.  
So you both said you like guinea pigs on your forms! Do you have any guinea piggies or pets in general? I would like to get a rabbit, but I don't have any pets at the moment. Bye for now!
submitted by Flamarestii, no school
(March 16, 2023 - 2:52 pm)
submitted by wilt thou not top?
(March 16, 2023 - 3:39 pm)
submitted by TOPestii, :)
(March 16, 2023 - 8:38 pm)

Here I am :) Gosh, threads in DtE do go down quickly, don't they?

A half-day! How nice! Poinsettia and I are homeschooled, do we don't get half-days because of weather, though sometimes our family goes out somewhere just because we all feel as if we need a break. That doesn't happen too often, though, and at the moment I think we're both a leetle bit behind schedule :/

Closets full of notebooks... I know how it feels. There's almost all of a shelf on one of my bookshelves jammed full of notebooks, some of which have a lot of finished stories in them and some of which have only a few that I got actually got around to finishing. In one notebook I actually started, and didn't finish, exactly fifteen different stories... Oh well (it was when I was starting to get my writer's block, as you can probably guess) And oh yes, the thing of not being able to write for a while, and then writing a lot all at once, has certainly happened to me too. I feel as if I just let my inspiration build up for however long it takes, until I can let it all flow out.

So you write in notebooks too!!!! It seems as if nowadays a whole lot of people just write stories on the computer, but I find that absolutely uninspiring. On a computer there's just a blank page, and you type for gracious' sakes, while notebooks have lines, and margins, and you can actually write, and in general I just find it much nicer. Furthermore, on a computer you can never be sure if you're going to delete something by mistake :0

Ah, guinea-piggies - Poinsettia and I did have a guinea-pig once, but she died - three years ago already?! No. Two and a half - two and three-quarters - er - two and seven-eighths - no, actually just two years and a few months. Her name was Cookie, and she was adorable :) We got her when she was very very small, and she used to like to sit inside her food bowl. Do you have any pets, or have had any?

How come this comment is enormously long again? Oh well.

submitted by Amethyst, whee! :)
(March 17, 2023 - 4:01 pm)
submitted by Topethyst, I hope this works :)
(March 17, 2023 - 7:06 pm)
submitted by Topethyst, whee it did! :)
(March 17, 2023 - 7:07 pm)

Hi again :)

Yep, I'm writing two novels! The first one (the one I'm not working on so much) is about a woman (Alyssa) who runs a horse-riding school, and the challenges she faces with her students. It's actually a sequel to another novel I wrote years ago, about Alyssa's experiences when she attended that same school as a girl. It's fun to come back to the same setting and characters after so many years :) The other one, which I'm working on a lot more, is a romance set in one of my imaginary countries. I got inspired for it when I was thinking about Alexander the Great and wondering whom he married, so it's very slightly based on him, but other than that it's All My Own Invention. I'm adding in some political intrigue, because I always like stuff like that; right now the heroine's home country is in grave danger from another neighboring country, although she doesn't know it.

Yeah, I'm also really disappointed that I can never find any interesting books for my age range. I tend to just read older books (like from the 1940s), some of which are quite well-written, and books by well-known authors like Dickens. I haven't read the Penderwicks series, but I have read some Shakespeare! Every year, for school, I read a play of his. So far I've read The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and The Merchant of Venice. And I haven't actually read Macbeth, but I've seen a live performance of it, which was lots of fun. It's such a good play!

I play piano and ukulele, but I don't do it so much anymore; I really should get back into it. It's really fun. I agree that cellos sound lovely! I think some of my favorite instruments to listen to are flutes and fiddles, though. Do you have any favorite instruments?

Whee, getting your biology test postponed sounds great :)

Running out of ideas happens to me too, I must say... although more often it's not so much that I don't have any ideas, as that I just lack the motivation to put them down on paper and make them into a story, especially toward the end. Idk, I used to finish most of my stories, but a while ago, like Amethyst, I went through a Stagnant Phase (which I'm done with now, thank goodness) and now I have a couple of notebooks with unfinished stories...

Pets. Hmm. Amethyst told you about our dear departed guinea pig :/ Officially we don't have any pets, but there are lots of wild rabbits in our garden, mostly in the spring and summer. Sometimes we get to see a baby or two and they're so CUTE. They're quite tame, too, once they get used to us. So they kind of count as pets... I hope you can get a rabbit soon! They do make good pets and they're so sweet and fluffyyyyyy

My favorite animals are horses, and I saw from your form that you like horses too! Do you have a favorite breed?

submitted by Poinsettia, age immortal, Narnia
(March 18, 2023 - 4:02 pm)