Life at an underground game company.
Castiel
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Home page: http://www.doublecluepon.com
Posts by Castiel
Advice for Writers
22 months ago
I hope all you American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I know I did. It was wonderful to go back home and see my family and my pets! But most of all – the weekend signaled the end of my Fall Quarter at University… So that means, I SURVIVED FINALS. \(^o^)/
I wish I had that much dedication...
I took three screenwriting courses this quarter. I know – I’m a masochist.
And tugging in the back of my mind was the fact that Emerald Kingdom was waiting for me. I felt so bad that I hadn’t written anything for the story in days.
But I’m here now and ready to go!
So I’d like to give you guys some advice to fellow writers that I’ve discovered while on my little hiatus. I was aiming it more for screenwriting advice, but luckily most of these overlap for all kinds of writing!
1.) Write every day. I know it can be a little tricky, especially if you have work, school or both – but it is crucial. I made a promise to myself that I would write at least a page or two every night before bed whether it is for my classes or for some short stories to keep the creative juices flowing. NaNoWriMo is a good example of having a deadline with a certain amount of content that needs to be reached per day. Did any of you participate? Leave a comment and tell me how you’re doing!
2.) Keep going. This one can be a little hard to get one’s head around, especially if you’re so passionate about your project. It’s so easy to keep going back over the pages you’ve written and keep editing. But guess what – you’re not going anywhere! Keep typing and just finish it. You can always go back later. Trust me, you’ll end up rewriting the first ten pages of your story before you realize you don’t even have an ending and your deadline is tomorrow. And you’ll probably edit your whole thing about one hundred times anyway; so just spare yourself the agony. Speaking of agony…
3.) Hurt your characters. From watching many of his productions, Joss Whedon has an unspoken rule: “If your audience likes a character, kill him. Or at least maim him.” Probably the most recent example of this is in Game of Thrones. Oh man, do people get trampled in that show. But I always come back for more. That’s what’s so great about it! As Kurt Vonnegut said, “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters are, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” Without that, the characters aren’t challenged and they don’t grow. If you’re not feeling particularly evil that day, you can always hurt them psychologically or emotionally. You have my permission to ruin a character’s life. d(^.^)
4.) Raise the stakes. Things need to happen in stories, if you didn’t already figure that out. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, something always has to happen. In each little “chapter” that I write for a character, I make sure there is some sort of conflict that the character has to overcome. It creates a little mini-movie that also builds the character’s personality. Without that, I can’t make things worse and worse for the character to overcome in the grand scheme of things and then become something different at the end. Without raising the stakes, my characters can’t change – they, and I, become complacent.
5.) READ. Author John Green said, “I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you’re trying to be a writer because it’s the only apprenticeship we have – the only way of learning HOW to write a story.” Read good books; read bad books; blogs (Look, you’re already ahead of the game!), articles, friend’s stories, scripts – just do it! You’ll learn what to do, what not to do, and how you would do it differently. Hell, read John Green’s Paper Towns while you’re at it! It’s one of my favorites.
Andromeda's best writer is Bleepblurp of the Ninth Sector. High five, buddy!
So there you have it! It’s a little short, but you’ve got the general idea. But don’t take just my word for it. After all, the best advice doesn’t come from anyone else but you. You can look up so many articles on how to be the best writer in the galaxy but it will never teach you what you can learn yourself.
Today’s question of the day is as follows:
What are you reading lately? I need some new stuff. I really should read A Song of Ice and Fire, though…
See you soon!
<3 Castiel
P.S. You might want to be on the lookout for a special sneak peek into the first chapter of the story with a little bit of art to go along with it! ^_~ More info on the way!
You would expect the writer to come up with a clever title…
16 months ago
by Castiel
in Double Cluepon
Hi guys! Castiel here. Long time no update!
I’ve been pretty swamped with work (three jobs – what the eff am I thinking?!) and school (the official term hasn’t even started yet, but I’m sitting in a classroom – what the eff am I doing?!), but I’ve been managing to update a lot of the story.
Probably the greatest threat to my sanity right now is writer’s block. It’s a pretty mild case of it, which can be treated with an anti-psychotic and a case of Skittles, but it’s still frustrating nevertheless. The writer’s block in question is not so much as a symptom of not knowing what to write, but instead it’s not knowing how I want to put it on the page. One of those, ‘the words are there but they just seem so… BLAGH’ instances.
So – I’m going to take you through a journey of how I write! Maybe when I do this, I can grab my muse by the throat and shake her til something comes out for when I continue to write tonight. ^_^
First and foremost, I plan plan plan. As a screenwriter, I have a knack for visualizing something in a cinematic style and then transferring that scene to the page. Since I’ve moved into my new place, I’ve got my own room for the first time since I’ve moved out to go to university. Huzzah! However, since Emerald Kingdom is so complex in its characters’ relations, I can’t wait to turn my room into something like this:
A room for Dean Winchester to brood sexily.
That. And a crazy person wall of course! With yarn connecting relevant pages and all! Before that gets done though, I need to keep all of these things in order for the character’s voices to really find themselves on the page. I need to have my characters have a specific goal in each scene. Something they want. They either achieve it or they fail, even if it’s the smallest most unimportant scene. Even if nothing seems to be happening, I have to know what will happen next.
Secondly, I gotta have my music. I have such a weird taste in music from the bubbly Japanese pop, to the classic rock, to the Broadway musical. But when I’m writing, especially for all of my stories – I gotta have my movie soundtracks. It kind of sets the mood and puts my mind’s eye within the story, as if I’m giving it it’s own score. I have even made quite a few character playlists which I listen to if I’m in a rut.
But the soundtracks are usually from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Serenity, Code Geass, etc… Whatever it is, it has to be wordless and epic! After all, John Williams is the man. Otherwise, if it has words, it usually ends up making me dance. Which no one wants to see, ever.
Next, I need to have a routine. My best writing time is usually in the wee hours of the night or first thing in the morning on the weekends. I’m not bogged down by thoughts of what I need to do during the day and I’m not bothered by distractions. I can just sit in my bed and just do what I know best. I also need to have iChat open, or else for some reason I just feel like something’s missing. All great writers have said that it’s important to have a routine because it encourages creativity in the comfort of the predictable. I find that to be quite true especially since most of my day is hectic and insane.
After that, I usually focus on what kind of emotion I’m trying to convey. Most recently I had to kill off a character I liked – but most importantly, another character loved him. (This is for another story. But don’t worry, there will be much death in the game too! ^_^) While I was writing from her perspective about her love’s demise, I had to put myself in her shoes and watch the scene unfold from her eyes. I usually draw from personal experiences to depict the emotion felt by the characters and then heighten it. It ended up being quite taxing because I get emotionally exhausted after writing such scenes. My boyfriend needed to give me a big hug after writing that.
Finally, I just need to put everything down and let my fingers fly. It sounds easy, but it can be quite difficult. I always get mad at people who say to me, “Oh, you’re writing a script? It can’t be that hard.” I get all Hulk-ified and I come close to throwing a table across the room before I manage to say, my words dripping in sarcasm, “Thank you for your input. You’ve been extremely helpful.”
Your soul. I want it.
All said and done, there’s a lot more that goes into my process – such as practice, revision, and even more revision. But I’d rather not bore you guys any longer.
So here’s your question of the day: Do you listen to music while you work? What bands do you listen to?
<3 Cas
A Guide to Characters and So Can You!
26 months ago
by Castiel
in Double Cluepon
Hi all! Castiel, here!
As my first post, I wanted to talk about, drumroll please!: CHARACTERS!
This is my face right now. XD
I had the task of reading through about 150 pages of pre-game story that had been developed before I came on board. This was filled with the stories of all 26 (main) characters, their origins, and their interactions with each other. Now, let me preface this by saying that the previous writer put his heart and soul into his creation, and I admire him for that. He was really dedicated to his work and I can tell that he loved these characters. However, there was one main problem with what I read…
Nothing happened. At all.
Yep, did that too.
As a screenwriter, I know the basics of creating characters. And good ones, to boot. A character needs motivation, drive, and want. As the great Kurt Vonnegut says, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” The simplest act of wanting something speaks volumes about the character himself. So when nothing happens in a story, that usually means that character doesn’t have a goal, which in turn leads to bore-fest. Now, I’m not saying that’s the case for ‘everything ever in existence ever…’ because there are of course outliers, particularly done by those who are the greatest writers of our time, but I’m generalizing this for our purposes.
Compelling characters have goals and that’s what drives them forward. Indiana Jones wanted the Ark of the Covenant. Luke Skywalker wanted to learn the ways of the Force. Neo wanted to kick the pants out of Agent Smith. The key word here is: ‘want.’ See where I’m going with this? Characters with goals make things happen!
So, after pulling my hair out about what I was reading, I spoke with Azrael and decided to do something drastic. This wasn’t a matter of me editing the piece, make it coherent in the timeline, or fix names of characters that we didn’t particularly like…
I was going to rewrite everything.
My muse was going to murder me...
What I wanted to do was start from scratch. I wanted to focus these characters down and give them clear goals that would either showcase their good, bring out their bad, and a lot of both.
I absolutely love the idea of female characters being the main focus of the story. They’re real people, rather than just sexy clothes on a two-dimensional character. I usually write from female character perspectives and I’m super psyched to stretch my legs in this massive world. So none of that is changing.
I have modified a lot of character origins, however, and I’ve established new familial ties between characters that changes the dynamic drastically. There will be more drama! *laughs manically*
Now I’m not really allowed to talk specifics, but I can give you a general example of what I’ve done. The following link gives fantastic examples of characters with great arcs and what can happen when characters have no personalities whatsoever, I can’t say it any better.
Let me refer you to the gloriousness that is RedLetterMedia’s “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review (Part 1 of 7)” In it, Plinkett details what specifically went wrong with the prequel, and he hits the nail on the head with what I experienced in my readings as well.
This genre of sci-fi and fantasy is specifically hard to write, especially when trying to emulate the greats like Tolkien and Herbert. We need some character to kind of represent the audience – asking the same questions that the audience is, introduce the audience to the same new world that the character is experiencing, and giving the audience some kind of normal person to relate to. It allows for the viewer or reader to stop asking, “Who are these people and why should I care?” and have them start asking, “Where the hell can I get more?”
I'm a... Wait, what?
If the audience gets confused, you’ll lose them – like that. And they’ll never come back.
I completely reworked the entire interaction between some of the characters, giving the reader the opportunity to step into the shoes of a character and just let go.
Another thing that I needed to change was the idea of a protagonist. I have always loved the idea of ensemble casts, but I think this story really needs to focus on one person that will help lead the readers through the journey. This just allows for the reader to have a helping hand through the world.
I’m a huge fan of Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero’s Journey” and I was heavily inspired by the events that transpire in the stories from his work.
Okay, maybe a little lecture.
All in all, I want to make sure you guys are as involved in this as possible. I always want to have you guys in mind and I don’t want to let you down. As for the story, the reader needs to explore the world just as the characters do. It’s part of the magic of reading. It’s also the magic of movie-making! As well as game-playing! And when I get this story done, maybe you will all be able to read it in the future.
Hopefully everything I’m trying to do will work out for the better.
And I think I’ve bored you all far too long for now, so I’ll sign off here. ^_^
I’ll update every once in a while to keep you guys current with where I am in the story. Hopefully as we get closer and closer to release, I can actually give you little bits and pieces!
So I’ll leave you with a little question so I know what you guys are interested in: Who is your favorite cinematic character?
Mine is Indiana Jones. Gotta say I have a thing for the adventures. ^_^
<3 Cas
