The most frequently occurring theory of classical elements, held by the Hindu, Japanese, and Greek systems of thought, is that there are five elements, namely Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and a fifth element known variously as space, Idea, Void "quintessence" or Aether (the term "quintessence" derives from "quint" meaning "fifth").

In Greek thought the philosopher Aristotle added aether as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the stars cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.^[1]

The concept of essentially the same five elements were similarly found in ancient India, where they formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, particularly in an esoteric context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element to describe that which was beyond the material world (non-matter). Similar lists existed in ancient China and Japan. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of sensory experience.

(Credits to Wikipedia. For more info go to www.wikipedia.org).

In 2006, I really don't remember the month nor the day, I walked upon a book called "The Prophecy of the Stones" written by a young french author named Flavia Bujor. At that time I've being thinking highly of not only writing short stories and fan fics, but also trying out for longer things..."How about my first novel? But of what will it be about?" I told myself. I read the first chapter of this french novel before finally deciding to buy it and take it home with me. I read it and the plot, the characters were so lovely and it was all so well organized and well-thought of...it was a nice story...it even made me cry (I highly recommend it!). "Could I possibly have the guts enough to do this?! Create a character and explain in details it's personality, the place it lives, the place it visits with such detailed handwriting?" The more I got intrigued, when I later found out that Flavia was barely 13 years old when she started writing this book and it took her SIX months to do so. And now she's a high school student (well, when they translate the book from french to english...right now she must be in college, I presume.) and has her book published and translate it in God knows how many other languages besides english! I thought "If this girl could do this...at 13 years old...why can't I?!"

What I really love about Flavia's story it's the originality within it; for starters, I've never heard a book that was based upon gemstones. She inclines the story on three stones: Jade,Opal and Amber...three very different girls whose destiny is the same in the end and together they must save her home realm, in the end they throw away those differences and share a super strong bond of friendship that really makes you want to call out your best friend right after you're done with the book and tell her you love her no matter how much they fight or how far away she is (yes, I think I did that...really don't remember but I can see myself doing so. I tend to get overly emotional).

I then, started thinking what other 'natural elements" they haven't used or I haven't read about and were turn into great books and that's what hit me "natural ELEMENTS". I never read about the four elements: fire, water, earth and air and an idea started to develop and sooner than I thought I had a plot and I really started to like it. At one point I did surrender, cause I wanted it to be so perfect that I decided to re-do the whole thing again and look for meaningful names and decided on using latin as my back-up language when it came to naming the charaters and places and so for them to have a meaning with the plot of the story. 

I'm still making a lot of progress with this story and still want it to be perfect that I tend to fall in "writer's block" a lot of times, but I know I'm not giving up on it. Even though there's being books, anime, series, movies made upon this subject now (a lot of people whom I've had time to talk about this story, have told me it looks in particular to the story of cartoon series, Avatar)I still think what makes it original it's the true meaning and hardwork behind what it's like to make a great story...

So, I really give all you writers that are barely starting... I advice you to not be discourage and to really believe in yourself in what you're writing, even if it turns out to be "crappy". That's how everything it's at first, but you can later 'perfect' it in your own way! Never give up on it! Continue editing and re-editing until you're satisfied with it! Ask for the opinion of someone you truly trust and tell them what they think about it!

I hope this words really help you cause for me, they meant everything to believe in me and that I could actually write something worth reading about. So, come on! Grab a pen and big block of paper (or computer whichever you like best, heh) and join me and more others on the self-discover of what it means to create worlds within this world and how to make others join you in it!