Word Coded: The Maze Runner

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By Unknown 4:32 PM author, book reviews, christmas, james dashner, jingle bells, love, minions, novel, quotes, romance, sci-fi, science fiction, short story, The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

By Unknown 8:59 PM book, fantasy, Gally, gladers, horror, james dashner, love, Minho, movie, mystery, Newt, novel, quotes, runner, sci-fi, science fiction, The Maze Runner, Thomas, writing, young adults

Do you enjoy writing science fiction story, or perhaps reading sic-fi books? Because I, myself is a fan of sci-fi writings. One of my favorite sci-fi book is The Maze Runner, and I am sure that if you are a sci-fi fans, you have heard of this book. The Maze Runner - followed by "The Scorch Trials" - is a trilogy written by James Dashner. The movie had came out a two months ago in the cinema on September 19. In this post, I will be reviewing the The Maze Runner book.

Be careful for spoilers.

I read 'The Maze Runner' book two years ago when I was in my early senior high year. This is one of the books that I enjoyed reading. The Maze Runner is under the genre of "sci-fi", dystopia and young-adults fiction. The story tells about the life in a world where diseases had come to kill many people on earth and some of the people who survives were put into trial by a department called WICKED. The trials basically involve the survivals to be put in a big maze where they have to find ways to survive and answers regarding the maze.

The book began with a male teenager named Thomas who lost his memories and found himself in a big box that brought him to a place called 'The Glade' located in the middle of a giant maze populated by young male teenagers. Thomas met new friend there, including Alby - the first person who lived there, Newt - the person in command after Alby, Minho - a runner, 12 years old Chuck - the youngest boy who lived there, Gally - a Glader who didn't trust Thomas, etc. Everyone in the glade has a role/work. The roles there range from being a runner to a cook. (Runners are basically people who explore around the maze.)

As the day continued, Thomas learnt about the Maze and how things work there. The box will come once a month to deliver new kid and once a week to bring the Glader supplies such as clothes and foods. In the next morning, Thomas also learnt about the "Grievers
" - how their stings would sometimes help in bringing back memories during the process of the "Changing". So, everything was fine and great, until the next afternoon (after Thomas came) when the box came up, delivering another newbie. A girl.

Everyone was confused the moment the girl arrived. In that moment, she as well called "Thomas" although Thomas didn't remember anything about her at all (after his memories are erased.)

It was since Teresa (the girl) came that everything changed. Teresa had been saying that she knew Thomas and that They were the one who did all this, did all the cruel things to the Gladers, that they were once part of WICKED.

As days passed by, Thomas was able to achieved his goal in becoming a runner. This happened after the case when Alby and Minho are left outside in the maze for the whole night with Thomas - who actually violated the Glade's rules. During the days when Thomas run, he was able to learn lots of things about the maze. One day, Minho and him as well found a way into a Griever's hole after seeing some dead griever going not hat direction and never coming back.

On the other side, days after Teresa came, the box stopped sending supplies. The maze's wall stopped closing and one night, grievers were all over the Glade - the night when Alby got stung. It was also around these days when Thomas found out about his telepathy skills/power that allowed him to talk to Teresa in his mind.

As Alby went through the "changing", he had been developing a bit of hatred for Thomas through the some bit of memories that he could have back. By this, the next night when the griever are back to the Maze, Thomas purposely stung himself to one of the griever so that he could as well have some of his memories back.

During the Changing, Thomas was able to grab some of his lost memories back although, still not much were there in his mind. Using his memories and Minho's findings from what he did everyday (exploring around the maze), Minho, Newt and Thomas led half of the gladers out of the Glade while half - who is in Gally's side, stayed in the Glade. Thomas believed that their exits lied on the Griever's hole.

Along the journey, some of the gladers didn't survive when fighting with the griever and less than half made it throughout the deadly beginning. As the gladers went deeper into the Griever's hole, they finally found a machine that allowed them to input a code into a screen, which turns out to be useless as they could just press on a button that allows them to stop the maze (if I am not mistaken).

After pressing the button, the griever's hole opened them an exit that leads to a quite large room filled with people. As the gladers stood silently, a woman and a man then walked towards them, which later the gladers found out to be Gally. Under the control of the creators (as what Gally said), Gally aimed to shoot Thomas but Chuck was the one hit instead as he moved in front of Thomas, protecting him from the deadly bullet.

Soon after Chuck's death, a group of rescuers came to bring the Gladers to another place where the world seemed to be more colorful. There, everything seemed fine almost perfect.

The Maze Runner is a book I read two years ago. I would recommend this book to people who loved Science-fiction, dystopia and mystery. Along the story, tension are in most part of the plots and the story made you wonder a lot about the ending. When reading the book, it took me quite long to finish the first half of it as the book's opening and introductions are not that catchy to me (perhaps because the introduction is too long and not much actions took place).

My favorite characters in the story are Minho and Newt. I find Minho really cool since the first time he was introduced. Among all the many reasons I liked Minho, the most distinct one would be his straightforward nature and the aloof (but in a friendly way) behavior he possessed, which impressed me the most. Personally, I really don't like Thomas the first time he was introduced because he reminds a bit of a "whiner".

Overall, The Maze Runner is a great book to read. There are lots of scientific imaginations that will draw your interest further to the science-fiction world. Elements of sci-fi are also used well throughout the story. This was probably the book that draws me first to the science fiction world before The Hunger Games series. I like how the author includes lots of imaginative ideas esp. about the maze and grievers.

Below is a map of the Glade.

These are words discovered by Minho and Thomas after seeing the patterning changes that the Maze walls made.

“Just see for yourself in a minute. The Runners’ll be back soon; then those big walls are going to move until the gaps are closed.”

“You’re jacked in the head,” Thomas muttered.

He couldn’t see how the mammoth walls could possibly be mobile—felt so sure of it he relaxed, thinking Chuck was just playing a trick on him.

They reached the huge split that led outside to more stone pathways. Thomas gaped, his mind emptying of thought as he saw it all firsthand.

“This is called the East Door,” Chuck said, as if proudly revealing a piece of art he’d created.

Thomas barely heard him, shocked by how much bigger it was up close. At least twenty feet across, the break in the wall went all the way to the top, far above. The edges that bordered the vast opening were smooth, except for one odd, repeating pattern on both sides. On the left side of the East Door, deep holes several inches in diameter and spaced a foot apart were bored into the rock, beginning near the ground and continuing all the way up.

On the right side of the Door, foot-long rods jutted out from the wall edge, also several inches in diameter, in the same pattern as the holes facing them on the other side. The purpose was obvious.

“Are you kidding?” Thomas asked, the dread slamming back into his gut. “You weren’t playing with me? The walls really move?”

“What else would I have meant?”

Thomas had a hard time wrapping his mind around the possibility. “I don’t know. I figured there was a door that swung shut or a little mini-wall that slid out of the big one. How could these walls move? They’re huge, and they look like they’ve been standing here for a thousand years.” And the idea of those walls closing and trapping him inside this place they called the Glade was downright terrifying.

Chuck threw his arms up, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know, they just move. Makes one heck of a grinding noise. Same thing happens out in the Maze—those walls shift every night, too.” Thomas, his attention suddenly snapped up by a new detail, turned to face the younger boy.

“What did you just say?”

“Huh?”

You just called it a maze—you said, ‘same thing happens out in the maze.’” Chuck’s face reddened. “I’m done with you.

I’m done.” He walked back toward the tree they’d just left.

Thomas ignored him, more interested than ever in the outside of the Glade. A maze? In front of him, through the East Door, he could make out passages leading to the left, to the 36

right, and straight ahead. And the walls of the corridors were similar to those that surrounded the Glade, the ground made of the same massive stone blocks as in the courtyard. The ivy seemed even thicker out there. In the distance, more breaks in the walls led to other paths, and farther down, maybe a hundred yards or so away, the straight passage came to a dead end.

“Looks like a maze,” Thomas whispered, almost laughing to himself. As if things couldn’t have gotten any stranger. They’d wiped his memory and put him inside a gigantic maze. It was all so crazy it really did seem funny.

“His heart skipped a beat when a boy unexpectedly appeared around a corner up ahead, entering the main passage from one of the offshoots to the right, running toward him and the Glade. Covered in sweat, his face red, clothes sticking to his body, the boy didn’t slow, hardly glancing at Thomas as he went past. He headed straight for the squat concrete building located near the Box.

Thomas turned as he passed, his eyes riveted to the exhausted runner, unsure why this new development surprised him so much. Why wouldn’t people go out and search the maze?

Then he realized others were entering through the remaining three Glade openings, all of them running and looking as ragged as the 37

guy who’d just whisked by him. There couldn’t be much good about the maze if these guys came back looking so weary and worn.

He watched, curious, as they met at the big iron door of the small building; one of the boys turned the rusty wheel handle, grunting with the effort. Chuck had said something about runners earlier. What had they been doing out there?"

Excerpt From: James Dashner. “The Maze Runner.” iBooks.

Clarke's Three Laws

By Unknown 8:10 AM art, book, books, fanfics, fantasy, hobby, laws, love, photography, quotes, reviews, sci-fi, science fiction, technology, The Maze Runner, tumblr, writing

Everyone knows of the fact that Science built up laws, like Newton's Three Laws, which are found in Physics. But, what about Science Fiction? Does Science Fiction has any Laws in writing it?

Sci-fi is all about imaginations and reality, and thus, it has been a concern for most sci-fi authors, esp. the beginners, in creating the plot of their sci-fi stories due to the restriction of scientific theories. Although science fiction authors are just writers creating some imaginary scientific ideas using the presence scientific theories, however, science fiction writer could be classified as "creative scientists" as well.

Using the current science theories, sci-fi writers' job is to make plots of stories that uses both imagination and science set in the future. As a result, they are the one who as well helps professional scientists invent new, creative images of science that might be used to invent some thing useful in the future. Sticking away from the realistic world, sci-fi writers tend to reach the impossible whenever they write. They often go beyond the border of realism in order to find out something beyond the idea of possible science theory. As a result, most science fiction writers are actually scientists in their own world. The difference between them and real scientists is that they believe the impossible can be achieve and that there's nothing that limit them from it. Their belief also lies to the fact that without reaching the impossible, people wouldn't know whether an idea will work or not. Therefore, this is a point where some well-known sci-fi authors introduced their own law.

Science Fiction is similar with Science, both has their own laws in order for things to work. Science fiction Laws are predictions produced by some sci-fi authors which fulfill and support the ideas created in science fiction writing. One of the most popular Sci-fi Laws is Clarke Three Laws.

Arthur C. Clarke was British science fiction novelist, futurist and explorers. "A Space Odyssey" is one of his most notable work, which is later made into a movie series in the year 1968. All Clarke's Three Laws were introduced in his essay called "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" - a part from his book titled "Profiles of The Future" (Published in 1962).

Written as follows are Clarke's Three Laws:

Clarke's Three Laws suggest the view point of Sci-fi writers in writing Science Fictions and generating Sci-fi ideas. It is after Clarke's own unique thoughts toward fictional science. Implying from his laws, Clarke believe that the "impossible" will never be discovered when someone just stick to the possible. His thought of science fiction suggests that Sci-fi is the way of creating and exploring the impossible before real scientists do. As for his first law, he contradicted the what real scientists said about the impossible, which he think could be achieve through some imagination and the most important Science Fiction. He is as well implying that when writing science fiction story, there's no need for the authors to be restricted by the theories scientists made because in creating a sci-fi story, the author is the scientist in this case. So, as a scientist, he/she has the ability to build his/her own theories (under the circumstance that the theories has to be logical, reasonable and imaginable).

"Clarke's Three Laws" is one the most popular laws of Science Fiction. But, he wasn't the only one who produce some sci-fi laws. There are as well other sci-fi writers who created some well known sci-fi laws, including Niven's Law and Gibson's Law - two laws that built a connection with Clarke's third and fourth law.

Science Fiction Into Practice

By Unknown 3:23 AM aliens, book reviews, dystopia, fan fictions, james dashner, Minho, movie, mystery, quotes, sci-fi, science fiction, short story, story telling, The Maze Runner, transformers

It is simple to think about the characteristics and elements of Science Fiction. But, how are you going to bring them into practice?

Well, this will be the topic for this post.

How to write a good Sci-fi narrative?

It is clear to most readers' eyes that Sci-fi involves what people called Utopia and Dystopia. Classifying this two features of Sci-fi deeper, "Chain of Sci-fi Elements", the first step to a good Sci-fi stories, would be obtained. "Chain of Sci-fi Elements" is basically a base that formed Science Fiction. It is written in the form of "what if + theories + reality".

(To easily remember this, I think of the word "wither" from "What If + THEories + Reality. So yeah, wither, a word with negative connotations but useful in Sci-fi .)

Having known the basic elements of Sci-fi, writers have a good chance to start their story. At the starting point, a good Sci-fi writers would list down all his/her ideas regarding the plot they are creating using the Sci-fi Chain Elements. This could be in the form of questions, bullet points, etc. always beginning firstly with the elements "what if". A good listing would involve complete data of the story, esp. if you are creating your own world such as its geography, laws, living things, etc.

Example of the "What-if" Mode:

What if cars can fly?
What if humans are mutants?
What if the earth is not round?
What if humans can teleport? or can walk on water?
What if time machine exist and time could be altered?

When the listing is done, the second step could be pursued which involves applying scientific theories to your planning and ideas that will made up the plot of the story. It is important to remember that a good Sci-fi plot doesn't only include theories but logical theories, something that your readers find in between the line of realism and imagination. Creating a world where humans walk upside down will make the reader goes "What!", resulting them to lose interest in reading the rest of your story.

Furthermore, following your own laws would be a very important rule in writing Sci-fi stories. This proves your complete understudying regarding your imaginary world in which the readers might see positively. A world where human can fly with technological wings would be ridiculous if the people in it fall in air. The same thing applies, a world where gravity is 0 would be weird if its people walk on the ground. By this, here, the writers have to stick with their own rule and follow them.

After applying the second element into the story, the last element would be added to secure the invention of the imagination as well as the plot. The element "Reality" allows you to compare your world with the world humans are living at this period. As a result, the goal of Sci-fi story is dug out here, which is "Dissociation." A good question to ask oneself as a Sci-fi writer would be "How alike is my imaginary world to the world I am living right now?". If the imaginary world created is so much like the realistic world, Sci-fi readers would find the story unappealing.

In letting the readers know more about your world, you might want to include some background information about it such as how the world is formed and why does it work that way, how things work and how your characters interact with each others and to things. However, putting these information in one big paragraphs or chapters or listing down facts and laws about your new world wouldn't make your story a good Sci-fi Narrative. This step could be achieve perfectly through out the plot by telling the activities of your characters and describing your imaginative world physically and theoretically through your characters.

Example:

Describing how your world look like:

“They stood in a vast courtyard several times the size of a football field, surrounded by four enormous walls made of gray stone and covered in spots with thick ivy. The walls had “to be hundreds of feet high and formed a perfect square around them, each side split in the exact middle by an opening as tall as the walls themselves that, from what Thomas could see, led to passages and long corridors beyond.”

Excerpt From: James Dashner. “The Maze Runner.” iBooks.

Describing one of your character which is a monster:

“Thomas shrieked before he could stop himself, jerked away from the window—but the thing 54

bounced backward, leaving the glass undamaged.

Thomas sucked in two huge breaths and leaned in once again. It was too dark to make out clearly, but odd lights flashed from an unknown source, revealing blurs of silver spikes and glistening flesh. Wicked instrument-tipped appendages protruded from its body like arms: a saw blade, a set of shears, long rods whose purpose could only be guessed.

The creature was a horrific mix of animal and machine, and seemed to realize it was being observed, seemed to know what lay inside the walls of the Glade, seemed to want to get inside and feast on human flesh. Thomas felt an icy terror blossom in his chest, expand like a tumor, making it hard to breathe. Even with the memory wipe, he felt sure he’d never seen something so truly awful.”

Excerpt From: James Dashner. “The Maze Runner.” iBooks.

Describing how your characters interact and history of your world:

“The woman looked back and forth between Thomas and Teresa, then let out a sigh. “It’ll take a while before you get your memories back, if ever—we’re not scientists, we have no idea what they did to you, or how they did it.” Thomas’s heart dropped at the thought of maybe having lost his memory forever, but he pressed on. “Who are they?” he asked.

“It started with the sun flares,” the woman said, her gaze growing distant.

“What—” Teresa began, but Thomas shushed her.

Just let her talk, he said to her mind. She looks like she will.

Okay.”

Here, it is clear that the writer's imaginary world started when a disease called "The Sun Flares" occurred. Also, the readers are able to see how the characters posses the power of telepathy.

Excerpt From: James Dashner. “The Maze Runner.” iBooks.

Lastly, to improve your understanding further regarding Science Fiction, reading Sci-fi books is one of the best activities you could do. Others include imagining other worlds, predicting the future, build a deeper understanding in scientific theory and inventing some laws you think might be unique to a universe.

"While science fiction often addresses contemporary issues, that doesn't mean you should scour today's headlines for ideas. Current events become old news very quickly. Instead, let ideas come to you by keeping your mind in "what if" mode as you experience the world around you. Be well-read but also widely read, in fiction and nonfiction, in news articles and magazine features covering a broad spectrum of topics (not just those relating to science and technology). Use television news programs and documentaries as a springboard for "what if.""

Writing World. Science Fiction: The Literature of Ideas. Last Modified: 2003. http://www.writing-world.com/sf/sf.shtml.

Something about science fiction...

By Unknown 7:42 AM animation, book reviews, maze, movie, mystery, novel, quotes, runner, sci-fi, science, short story, space, story, The Maze Runner, world war z, young adults

Reflection - Last Post

The Maze Runner

Clarke's Three Laws

Science Fiction Into Practice

Something about science fiction...

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The Maze Runner

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Dissociation

The Line Between Sci-fi and Fantasy

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