Author:
Hello! Dear reviewers and readers! This is an extra stuff to explain all the possible questions that you may have in your minds while you are reading this small tale of mine. Now first off, I would like to say that the title of this story was once "Growing Wings". Yet, due to another known author published a book that also called "Growing Wings"; I have no choice but to change my story's title to "Flying Wings of Dreams". I also like to say, as I have already mentioned before, thank you to everyone who has actually read my story and reviewed it AND gave thoughtful feedbacks. The story started out as a small inspiration of mine, and then somehow it grew bigger and stronger in the end. I also didn't expect anyone to review it at all, but I guess the title of the tale had really captured many people's attentions and interests.
Let's start answering some of the comments of my awesome reviewers, shall we? "spunkie-girl" got the first comment on my story, stating that she likes it, and I'm happy to see that. Yes, to answer her curiosity, I borrowed the name "Tobias", made some changes, and turned it into "Tobieaz". Since I love Tobias in Animorphs series, I got half of the inspirations from there. The other half is actually from "Wings", by Bill Brittain, a short novel that I actually ordered from the bookstore. It's quite beautiful and some of you can try and read it if you have time. So yeah. Blending all these into a giant meat grinder, there's the story: "Flying Wings of Dreams". "ionlyliveindreams", too, has the same inquiry about Tobieaz's name.
"Silver Eyed" asked about how to pronounce Tobieaz. It goes something like: t-oh-bee-aah-zzz. It shouldn't be that hard. Just follow the letters and try to pronounce them.
"Eric Sai", "Innocent Evil", "latheoftime", "Jon", and "Fade to Black" have all pointed out the major flaw in all of my stories: grammar. Yes, I admit that I have a bad grammar. To be honest, I'm Asian but I've been writing and speaking English for well over ten years. I consider myself more of a Canadian than an Asian dude. So yes, I do make grammar mistakes. In fact, when I read over what I've written before just a minute ago, I immediately spotted several mistakes both in wording and plural/noun etc. Sadly to say, I cannot change the way I write. What I usually put down in a Word document is from my brain, in real-time state/environment. I am still trying to become better though! By reading tons of books. Oh yeah, and my primary language is Mandarin. Yup...
"ionlyliveindreams", I believe, is the only one that actually noticed the blue jay bird in chapter five because it's cute. Haha... Actually, that bird symbolizes friendship, hope, and freedom. Yes, I do put many symbolisms throughout this story since the themes that I am trying to portray are about the humanity, the way how our society works, and lots more. So if you would just read each chapter even more carefully, you will start noticing them.
"Xandra" has stated that thirteen years old shouldn't be playing Hide-and-Seek. Actually, I've known many who still played that game even when they were fourteen. Seriously. As well, to me, I think that thirteen years old is still capable of playing a game like Hide-and-Seek. Good insight though!
I was really intrigued when "Chaotic Child" reviewed and said that (not realistically of course, I hope) he didn't want to be a human anymore after reading the horrible things that had happened to Tobieaz. To be honest with you, there were times when I really doubt my existence as a human. Okay, being a human has many benefits and comforts. True, I give you that. But after seeing how we literally slaughtered each other through wars, hatred, jealousy, etc, and damaging our own environment over and over, is it really worth being a human? Sometimes I even wonder if being a wild animal is better than being locked inside a cage of advanced technology and society. "Chaotic Child"'s comment really made me think at that time. Heh.
"Sano-kun" and "Winged Tiger" have really complimented me, and same with all of you! Yay! Actually, all I want to do is write a beautiful story where the world I create is alive and fill with creatures unlike before. That's the only reason why I have spent so much time on writing descriptions for all of my recent stories. I don't consider myself as a good writer. This is more like a hobby. I want to publish one of my stories though, just to see if people really like it or not. Thanks guys!
"Soul of Eternity" said it very well in one of her reviews on "Flying Wings of Dreams". She agreed that Rohene is right about life is precious. This is another theme that I want to show in this story: life is the only thing that you will ever have and you won't get it duplicated. If you give up on life, it's over just like that. I'm surprised that some people really noticed these small parts. Lol. Sometimes I put in weird stuff just to see if people can notice them or not. It's very, very interesting when you read back the reviews that you have over the months and refer to the things that you have written before. You'll see ideas and conceptions that you cannot possibly imagine. Awesome job guys!
"spunkie-girl" saw another small theme that I placed in chapter fourteen. She said: "... this is the first time I've noticed it, but Tobieaz is a lot like Drizzt Do'Urden, from the Forgotten Realms books. He finds a good home, but sooner or later it's taken away from him." Great job. In this small section of the chapter, I wanted to tell everyone that life isn't a rose garden. You get something, you lose something. You cannot always be lucky and be comfortable for the rest of your entire life. It's just not possible. For Tobieaz, his life is just unfortunate. He finds a good home, and then he gets kicked out of that good home. He gets this peaceful place, the next thing you know, he gets pushed out of that peaceful haven. It's life. You have setbacks all over the road that you are walking on. Am I making any sense right now? Lol...
"ionlyliveindreams" reviewed in chapter eighteen: "... I swear my heart skipped a beat or two just before he jumped away from the blade..." Did you know that the blade itself is a symbolism as well? I leave you alone to think about that.
All in all, every single one of these reviews is truly magnificent. Absolutely astounding. So many insights, so many different opinions, so many variety of questions about my story. If only I can get more of these wonderful people to review... LOL. The ending of the story may be sad, but with the setting that I've made, this is the only way to go. If I allow the protagonist to have a good and happy ending, then it won't seem realistic at all. After all, who else would want to be alive when you are completely devastated and destroyed both physically and psychologically?
Well! That's it for now! These are all I've got to say to the world. Now if all your attention can shift to "Alien Nation", my next, huge epic, then this whole thing will appear once more. There are still more hidden themes and symbolisms in "Flying Wings of Dreams" and even more in "Alien Nation" that I haven't talked about. Try and find them, then digest them carefully. You will find out that they are actually quite true and unique...