Saving

I had wanted to share one of my short stories on this blog but when I went to find it I realized that I hadn't saved the file, I had only printed it out. Though it's annoying since I'll have to re-type the entire thing I'm still glad that I have a copy of it. Back when I was younger I received a piece of advice and now I'll pass it on to anyone out there who is interested in the arts- SAVE EVERY THING YOU DO! It doesn't matter if you never get published, or if your art never gets shown, it's still a good idea to save all of your work in one place. Years ago I was very interested in drawling. Each day I would come home from school and I would draw characters from my stories in my notebook. I wanted to be a comic book artist. All of those notebooks are stashed in my closet now, from my first attempt to draw to my most recent. Though I no longer wish to make a profession of it I'm glad that I kept all of those things. It makes me happy to see how much I was able to progress in those few years.

The same principal is true for writing. Even if the piece sucks, or if it's not finished, or if you have no idea where you were heading in it, just save it somewhere. You have no idea when you might want to go back to those characters and ideas, or build on them. That, and it's a lot of fun going through old works. You get taken back to a time when you thought differently about things and, no matter how embarassing it is, it's nice to pay homage to your past self.

Writing for your audience

With any piece you're working on it's important to keep your audience in mind. Who exactly do you intend to read your work? Friends? A professor? Children? You must maintain a balance between staying true to what you wish to say and what your audience wants/ is expecting to read. For example, I recently was writing a review for a play that I had seen. This was a class assignment, and the professor to whom the review was to be given had directed the play in question. Now there were some major things wrong with the play that I noticed but I certainly was not going to be the one to say them- I value my grade. No matter what they say the messenger always gets shot, right? Still, I have an honest/ blunt streak in me that's very hard to ignore. So, using the prettiest, nicest phrases possible I praised the play for its brilliance and tossed in some subtle criticisms.  In conclusion, be careful of your word choice especially when there's the possibility of your writing back firing on you.

Due Preparations for the Plague

I read this book last year and recently came across it when I was cleaning off my book shelves. Aside from being a homage to Camus' "The Plague", "Due Prep" is a commentary on the interconnectedness of human beings and the brilliance that we can display in the most desperate of times. The book begins with the artistic and mysterious introduction of Lowell, one of "Due Prep's" many protagonists. He is bequeathed a duffel bag filled with confidential files and tapes after the death of his distant, ex-CIA agent father. The book goes on to follow Lowell as he discovers the horrifying truth of the what really happened to flight 38, the plane his mother was on prior to her death. After much backtracking and other character examinations "Due Prep" enters a section called the "Decameron" in which the reader learns the fate of several characters who were taken from the flight by a radical terrorist group. This section, though horrifying, is one of the most touching, well written pieces of literature I've had the privilege of reading. The characters- though faced with death- each sacrifice themselves in a way that they either buy more time for the others who are trapped, or inspire the others to not give up hope.

Though "Due Prep" is an amazingly well written book it is difficult to find and criticisms of it have been harsh due to the premise of terrorist antagonists and CIA cover ups. However, I would recommend this book to anyone who asked.

Day Dreaming

The other day I had a really neat moment. As I was driving to school I was thinking of my stories. Now, you may think this would be a bit dangerous but I assure you that, being the experienced day dreamer that I am, I was quite capable of paying attention to what was going on in my head and on the road. Anyway, as I was driving I had a really neat moment where the world in my head and the real world seemed to mesh together. I was driving around a bend and there were leaves falling towards me. They seemed to slow as I was getting closer to them and, almost, I could see them falling in the field that my characters were sitting in. I'm not sure what else to say about the moment other than that it was really neat haha...

Unexpected Inspiration

Inspiration for story ideas can really come from anywhere. It was over the Summer that I got the idea for the story I'm working on now and it was unexpected to say the least. Not to pull a Stephanie Meyer ( creator of Twilight, who I have little respect for), but I had an unusually vivid dream. There was a nation at war with unknown, unseen enemies. The creatures were so overwhelming that the nation was forced to ask for aide from a neighboring empire that had conquered all of the other nations around it. I've never been very good at describing my stories but, as I was having this dream, it was like a movie was playing. The themes of the story, the character relationships, and the overall tone were all played out (and consistent) to the end. Most surprisingly I remembered everything when I woke up and, with filling in some holes here and there, I had a book that just needed to be written. So, as long as you're willing to pay attention to it, inspiration can come from the oddest places.

Games that are Narrative Based

A while back I played a game called "Indigo Prophecy." The main story line gets a bit convoluted towards the middle, but the way in which the story line drives the game play is truly an interesting experience. The game begins with your character, Lucas, committing a murder. Lucas wasn't in control of his body at the time though, and when he is back in control he has a corpse at his knees and evidence to his involvement all around the scene. As Lucas, you must hide the evidence and then escape the scene. Then, after you've escapes as Lucas, you take control of the two cops who arrive at the scene and with them you must find all of the evidence that you hid as you were playing Lucas. The game progresses in this way until the end, making you play a game of cat and mouse with yourself while trying to uncover the truth of the murder.

Dialogue Trees in Video Games

In the last decade one of the greatest developments I've seen in video game writing is the use of dialogue trees. A dialogue tree allows the player to respond to a NPC (non-player character) in nearly any way they would want. For example, your character approaches an NPC who seems angry. Your character will have a number of ways to respond to said NPC, from politeness to violence, or in between. These dialogue trees are most commonly seen in American RPGs, role playing games, such as Fallout 3 and Knights of the Old Republic. What really makes these dialogue trees interesting is when the way your character acts actually influences how other NPCs react to you. This not only makes dialogue trees fun, but it also allows customization into your character's personality.