Monday, July 18, 2005

Writer's Block

Fun Fact For The Day:
Did you know that if you search for "Twisted Comma" or "Ghostopia" in Yahoo, this beauty you behold before your eyes comes in second on the list of results? Same goes for "Ghostopia" in Google! Strangely, "Twisted Tales Blogspot" bears no fruit.
That was your Fun Fact For The Day, brought to you by Monday!
Moving on.
Sigh...another three weeks or so since the last story-progress Writer's Block, guess this'll be the rate I can muster at the moment. Story's really taking its own sweet time to unravel too - always a fine line away from draggy - but I'm betting on it being well built up.
And what has the cook served up since our last Writer's Block? I'm pretty pleased with the whole "break-in" scene - it didn't open up any logic loopholes, it had enough helpings of excitement to keep things going, and we got more insight on Nelson. Kat too, if you count the claustrophobia thing. You never know, it might be a major plot device later on. But FYI, the whole idea only came as I was writing it!
You know, the most difficult part of "slogging" (as opposed to blogging) is that it really "slogs". Already I have almost the whole skeleton of the story in my head, but I can't write it all in one shot. Of course, updating daily would be the ideal solution but nahhh...I have trouble even keeping to a schedule of brushing my teeth twice a day. So, I have no choice but to constantly further the story in little spurts, while the whole thing bubbles and boils in my head most waking moments. Seriously - most waking moments! I must be going crazy!
On the upside, the story can only get better after so much editing and re-editing. You could say slogging is the ultimate form of not rushing through a masterpiece. A classic example of a good story delivered prematurely has to be "Insanity". Hmm, hmm, hmm...a thought just crossed my mind. We are still lacking a fourth story, after all.
A little low-down on where the characters in Ghostopia stand now, from a character development point of view:

a) Darren - For a dude with the story told through his eyes, he's revealing fairly little. Yeah, he's timid around girls, he's clueless about Ghostopia, but there's gotta be more. Needs a serious tune-up after the break-in.

b) Kat - At this point, Kat's biggest selling point has to be her intruiging past - which leads to my utmost fear that it'll all be a letdown. Gotta be careful not to over-exaggerate her qualities, otherwise she'll turn into a caricature, not a character.

c) Nelson - A glimmer of hope came for Mr. Monotone Sidekick when Kat revealed that Nelson had old ties with the Ezisa. Needless to say, this history will be the cause of many conflicts of beliefs-slash-taking sides as the Escape From Ghostopia draws near.

d) Mortie - Gotta love his value as a "throwaway" character. He isn't so pivotal that the story can't do without him, but yet he has enough spice to become a very instrumental character. Meaning: I could kill him off to "create impact", or polish him into a powerful...I dunno, villain? Lots to explore here.

e) Fletcher/ Scarlet/ Todd/ Amelia - Also throwaway characters a few notches below Mortie. It would be very difficult to delve into the backgrounds of all four characters - if I were to elevate anyone, it would most likely be Fletcher or Amelia. Otherwise, they'd be good as props, "killing-for-impact" subjects, or anonymous followers.

f) Spooks - Probably need a Spook head honcho to give a face to the battle against Spooks. Throw in some incident that'll make the Spook community take notice, and we've got a bunch of dastardly antagonists nicely gift-wrapped.

g) Emily - Somehow I can't let go of her, eventhough I'm still scratching my head on how to get her involved in the story. Maybe it's because she could be the perfect key to adding more depth to Darren.

Yup yup yups, that's all my weary fingers are gonna dish up to your teary eyes. And one last thing...it's official! Barring a shocking end to the story in the next Chapter, Ghostopia will surpass Blogspot as the longest story yet!
A smiley, the only way fitting to end this edition of Writer's Block: %^)

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