Long day today. Filming a story that isn’t turning out the way they hoped. It makes me wonder what you’re supposed to do when things don’t quite go the way you hoped.
I suppose flexibility needs to be a part of your plan when you go out to film this kind of stuff. The story you hoped for may be out of reach, but another story is always waiting. Was that vague enough? Yeah, I don’t know how much I can share about the shoot I’m on. Still, it’s been an adventure, emotionally, physically, and culinary. Be excellent to each other.
0 Comments
I never noticed it, but writers, news crews and, now that I’m experiencing them, film crews have something in common. They all have to be experts on stuff they may no personal experience with.
Perhaps it comes from the needs of a storyteller, but their circumstances all require a degree of expertise in order to succeed. I recall from my news days that my poor reporters had hours between getting assigned their story and talking about it on television. Within that time they have to research, find contacts, interview them, and the footage has to be pieced together into multiple packages to air multiple times that same day. I really feel for reporters who get their facts wrong or misrepresent their topic. Most certainly don’t mean to. Likewise, I’m watching a film crew desperately try to find local areas that for their idea of “desert.” Unfortunately, where there’s people, there’s unlikely to be Hollywood deserts with cow skulls and saguaros. People need food and deserts are good places to turn into farms. Where do you balance the line between showing a desert and showing what’s actually out there? And, of course, if my Knowledge Bombs have taught me anything, it’s that us writers want to explore the world, but we can’t always uproot ourselves and experience everything firsthand. Fortunately, we usually have the luxury of longer research time than film and news, but still, improper research sticks out. A lot of care has to be taken to properly represent people, places, and cultures you’ve never seen. Dftba. I never expected I’d be standing in the center of a wrestling ring holding aloft a title belt. I never expected I’d be hanging out in Amsterdam. I never expected to film news for Las Vegas and capture video of Mike Tyson saying “Let’s go, disco!” And now I didn’t expect I’d be crewing for a sports documentary outside Phoenix, Az.
I guess you just need to be flexible in life. You never know what opportunities will present themselves. I have my book nearing completion, a short story almost done, and just to keep things exciting, perhaps an even grander adventure after that. I know now what I want to do in life. I know what I want to accomplish. But if I wasn’t flexible, I wouldn’t have gotten the strange and wonderful opportunities to do things I never realized I wanted to do. Be Excellent to Each Other UPDATE: Flexibility means I just ate some fried whale blubber. It comes in trickles, but when it does come, I am eager to take it in. I am talking, of course, about beta reader feedback!
My betas have given me some great feedback, the most important that I need to stop worrying about word count and start worrying about the story. I've been cutting and editing so much that I'm starting to lose some of the connecting threads. So far, no one seems to mind the length, and several are asking for more details that my older drafts had in them. So... I guess I'm going to polish it as best I can and hope that the content, not the size, will dictate whether agents want to pick up my story. I really, really want to see this story published and I think my desire to please agents and publishers may have overtaken my desire to tell the story properly. None of the betas seem to mind the length, so I've decided I need to dive back in and flesh out the parts that are a little bare bone. Also, I got the best compliment so far from one. I was told the series might make a good anime. Or even a video game. My life is nearly complete. DFTBA First off, just a little update. I'm going to be working with a film crew for a sports documentary all next week, so updates will be short and sweet. I'll be doing everything over my cell phone, so you'll have to forgive the lack of depth for the next week. With that out of the way, it's come to my attention that I somehow forgot to do an in-depth review here on Chronicles of Nyanya. Or at least, I can't find the review in my archives. If someone sees it, let me know. Until then, I'll just have to give it go (again?). So... what can I say about this thing? It's not a bad game, but you should know from the from the start that it's an RPG Maker game. That doesn't mean it's bad, but that does put a hard limit on the capabilities of the game. Still, I'm impressed with what the makers of this game were actually able to do within the confines of such an engine. So what is Nyanya? This is a silly RPG with a metric crap ton of cat puns. Please, don't think I'm being hyperbolic here. From the names to the plot to the world to the freakin' screen commands, everything is a cat pun. Everything. EVERYTHING. If that's your jam, you're in for a treat. If not... er... the story's not bad? It's a typical party-based RPG. All the mechanics are there: assign weapons and accessories, level up, engage in turn-based combat. But despite the humble engine and middle-range graphics, the game manages to still do a lot of interesting, unexpected things. Focusing on the game play, they've managed to create a lot of interesting puzzles that I didn't think the RPG Maker engine could do. There are very creative uses of the mechanics to make slider puzzles, level puzzles, and ice puzzles. Combat is much like any classic-style RPG, so expect to buff you party, attack with magic, refill your mana with potions, and build up special moves. Let's look at the biggest part of the game: aesthetics. I've mentioned the cats. I haven't mentioned them enough. All the houses are cardboard boxes. The walls, too. Balls of yarn as magic missiles. Milk for your potions. The main character follows the Path of the Red Dot (laser pointer if that was too subtle).Their gods worshiped by rubbing against their statue legs. It's a little fun, at first, but it grows old quickly. With all the cat puns coming at you a mile-a-minute, it's sometimes hard to actually know what's going on. The puns are so vague, you don't always know what a spell is supposed to do or if an enemy is actually dangerous. Do you like pop culture references? After the cat puns, that's everything. And even those are painted with cat puns. From Batman v Superman jokes to cat cameos of every anime hero from the last decade, it never stops. Again, whether that's good or bad is completely up to you. For me, it was a little fun, then quickly became a series of continuous face-palms. If you get past the puns, the story is... okay. It's predictable, but at the very least is does change based on decisions you make. You play as Catair, the cat assassing from the Order of the Red Dot. She starts the game as a young kitten named Purr, but after her village is destroyed by Orcats (Orc + cats) you have a time skip and the game begins proper. Even with what I've told you, the game still gets stranger. Sweet bread based livestock, furniture based enemies, slippery kitchen floor based puzzles, they're all there and that's just the tip of the punny iceberg. Your job is to gather a group of adventourers (yes, that's how they spell it) and help end a war. You'll travel from land to land, speaking with people there and changing the game based on dialogue trees. Treat someone nice, they might help you later. Turn away assistance from another and they may abandon you at your time of need. In the end, there are variable endings for each character, for what it's worth. You can even catch and raise your own pet sweet roll that will grow into different forms depending on how you raise it. The game isn't bad. It's limited and maybe overdoes it on the puns, but it's playable. I admire the work that went into the game and how they were able to stretch the RPG Maker engine to do some things I didn't know it could. Still, it's definitely not a game I'll be going back to. I've seen it, experienced it, enjoyed it to a certain degree, and now I'm done with it. But if you like it, the new game plus and the alternate endings could certainly help with replay value.
The game does a lot to hide it's limitations, stretch the engine, and entertain the player, but it's also predictable, maybe a little too cheesy, and especially in the beginning, a trudge. Still, there's fun to be had and if you can get it on sale, I say grab it. What do you think of when you think about monsters? Maybe something like Dracula? Or perhaps something more ancient and ungodly like the Lovecraft abominations? Heck, maybe it's Elmo. Point is, there are a lot of ways to envision monsters, to the point that the term really needs defining. Today I want to talk a little bit about pure, classic, unadulterated monsters.
To help clear up my thought process, this means no humans that are terrifying or capable of incredible evil. The reverse, strange creatures that are aware of their role in life and somehow deft their nature. I'm talking about mindless, horror machines. Things that can be unequivocally called monsters. With all that in mind, what makes a good monster to you? Honestly, the first thing I think about are dragons. There's a wonderful hypothesis about the genesis of dragons in human cultures, something that attempts to explain why varied people from across the globe with no really interaction with one another all dreamed up the same creature. It's not the lame explanations like "dragons were real" or "clearly they were dinosaurs." Summing things up, we have some leftover parts in our brains from when our ancestors were simpler mammals. Stuff that helped us stay alive. Stuff that's still there and can mess with our perception. There's a part of our brain that triggers specifically for snakes. There's a different part that triggers for birds of prey. And there's one last part that triggers for large cats. These were all things our various ancestors had to deal with and avoid. Being afraid of them meant your stayed away and thus lived to spread those genes. And you know what happens when you mishmash those three fears together? A large cat, something with teeth and claws, a snake, long and venomous, and a bird of prey scouring the skies, looking down on your tiny mammalian ancestors? You get a freakin' dragon! Dragons are perfect monsters. They draw on instinctual fears that reside within us. They represent something higher on the food chain than us. Something we can't hope to defeat with our natural skills and armaments. Now, this isn't to say I don't think there are other good monsters that are more modern or subtle. I'm big fan of Slenderman and half the stuff out of the SCP Foundation is pure gold. But these are designed monsters. Good monsters, but they took a long time to form in human consciousness and half their terror comes from the modern day interpretation of them, from how our world and society work and how disrupting that can lead to something terrifying. But dragons, no, they coalesced on their own from our most basic and primal fears. Creatures swooping down on us, fire burning us, snakes slithering through to envenomate us, and large predators stalking and eating us. It was a natural and inevitable monster. We didn't create them, our very biology did. Or so the theory goes. DFTBA I am a writing hypocrite. I constantly talk about the virtues of plotting and give details on how to plan. I have a copy of Scrivener (software to help you plot and plan your novel). I have stacks of stick notes laid out to denote scenes. And yet, I'm having a ball discovery writing my latest short story.
Now, some people call this "pantsing." I don't because it's stupid. But summed up, discovery writing is just writing and seeing where it goes. Letting your characters tell you the story, so to speak. I'm not such a romantic as to believe that my characters are telling me the story, but I am finding that, on occasion, if I just writing and let the reaction from instantly and naturally, I'm not as concerned about making stuff fit the plan I've made. This isn't to say that I haven't plotted out my short story. I most certainly have. I just haven't written it down as a proper outline. And, to honest, I wouldn't even be mentioning this as a topic today except that I accidentally discovery wrote over the last couple days. You see, I had the plot lined up a certain way and I assumed that meant I would need certain characters. I came up with the basics for them (they were tertiary at best, but still needed) but didn't delve into anything. Then I started writing. Everything started flowing naturally and before I knew it I had blasted past the part of the story I should've logically introduced these characters. And the plot hasn't suffered for it at all. I've found different and arguably better ways to unfold the plot and I think it's working out fantastically. What's weird about it is when I first noticed I forgot to include these characters, I stopped dead. I was convinced I couldn't finish the story as it was. I was going to have to go back, rewrite everything, and I was so distraught. But while relaxing, listening to music, and trying to think out the plot, I realized I didn't need them. So... maybe discovery writing isn't so bad. And maybe what I was doing wasn't typical discovery writing, but it falls within it on a technical level. Either way, I have to concede that there is a time and place for in-depth plotting and letting your imagination run freely and without constraint. Don't forget to be awesome! Ah, 'Murica. Today is a wonderful day to reflect on my country and think about what it means to be American. What this country stands for. Now, we live in very turbulent times so I'm not going to make this political. It doesn't matter which side you voted for, today is a day to put that aside and accept that we are all Americans. I will instead focus on this: I think the absolute best way to understand your own country, to gain an appreciation for it, flaws and all, and to open your mind is to step outside of it. I spent half a year studying in the Netherlands, an experience for which I am eternally grateful. I fully intend to travel again, to stay in more exotic places for even longer. None of it is because I have a dislike of my country. Quite the contrary. You see, if you only know one way to live, if you only experience one way of doing things, you'll never have anything to compare it to. Sure, we see on the news that this country is doing something terrible or that country is hard on its citizens or some other country is conducting social experiments that would never happen here. That's just filtered news. No matter how pure the intent, it's filtered through someone, perhaps many someones, personal biases, their writing or presenting styles, and whatever restrictions their superiors may impose on them. I am a journalist, so I have no ill will toward the media, I love them and completely support their work, but there is no substitute for direct, personal experience. So my humble advice for any American who wishes to better understand and love their country is this: travel. If you can afford it, cross an ocean. It's well worth the experience. If not, we have two perfectly lovely neighbors to the north and south. Do you know how Canada's politicians are elected? Do you know what districts in Mexico are divided into? And if you can't do that, then remember, this is a huge, beautiful country. At the very least, try to move around the US itself. From one coast to another there is a world of difference in culture. We are a beautiful mixture of ethnicities and traditions that sample from across the world. Whatever you choose, just make sure to travel. Get out of your comfort zone. See that even the most simple things can be done a thousand different ways. And by doing so, learn to appreciate your home, your own culture, and your own traditions. Please. Be Excellent to Each Other. ((Obligatory "Murica, brother!" ))
I had to check my notes twice before I made this post. That's interesting in two aspects for me. First, I've done so many of these Paladin Playlists that I need to keep them in order, and also that I haven't shared this one earlier. When I stumbled across this song it set an immediate tone, as most of my playlist does. Someone trying to reevaluate their relationship with God. Someone questioning their faith. Someone pushing forward. Now, my novel has a lot to do with one's relationship with God. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's as close as you can get without the novel actually being about that. Let me stress this point: the novel isn't about religion. It's a novel where religion has to be addressed. And there's just no way to do that without someone questioning their relationship. Now, while this song hasn't directly influenced any single scene within The Paladin, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have an effect on the work as a whole. It's raw. It's someone baring their soul. It's vulnerable. It's beautiful. So please, enjoy Tyler Glenn's Midnight. Be Excellent to Each Other A question for all the writers out there: how many abandoned works do you have lying around? As I'm waiting for more feedback from my betas and considering what I should write next, it occurs to me that I have several abandoned works waiting patiently for me to return.
I've talked about my high fantasy story on the blog before. It, along with the several offshoots it has, have been waiting for years since the idea of The Paladin came into my mind. I guess The Paladin just felt like a better novel, like something that could actually garner attention. Beyond that, though, I have several others and it's starting to bother me a little. I have a children's story that came to me one day when I was waiting at a crime scene. Yeah, I had a lot of weird stuff happen when I was a new photographer. Point is, I was so excited about it that I actually wrote the first chapter on my phone. I love it and I think the concept is really cute, very simple, and I could knock the whole thing out in a month or two of writing. But there are other things begging for my attention! I have two screenplays I wrote in college that I've wanted to adapt into a novel. One's more of a series of short stories that never really found and ending, but the other is a long drama filled with mystery and suspense. Oh, and let's not forget that on top of all that, I still have that fan fic I swore I'd finish. I mean, I feel really silly even admitting that I have one, but there are people that are still messaging me asking if I'll finish it. I feel really obligated. But that fan fic isn't going to get me any closer to financial security and a life of writing for a living. So what do I do? How about you guys? What have you abandoned that you swear you'll get to some day? DFTBA |
Matias TautimezKeep your eyes open for my debut novel, The Paladin. Archives
January 2023
Categories |
About the Author |
Contact |
|