Red Dead Redemption 2 - NEWS - Trailer, Gameplay, Screenshots? (Episode 2)

Fleshing Things Out

Fleshing Things Out

I mentioned in one of the first posts in this little blog thing I've got going on, that I intend for most of my characters to be interesting, and have their own background, no matter how much they contribute to the story. I've started doing that some more recently. I bought a nice notepad and a few pens and have spent the last few days seeking free time to jot some things down.

Starting with the most influential people in the story, Lawrence and Louise, I jotted down their ages, where they were born, who they're affiliated with and who they're antagonised by. On top of that, their interests and disinterests were written and explained to give them a more personal feel for when I'm writing. After those two were done, I started out on other members of the story, some in not so much detail but I kept a minimum of age, place of birth and who they work with and against throughout.

The reason why I'm so interested in doing this, is because I believe one dimensional characters can be boring. Naming someone Harry for no evident reason, and giving them some filler dialogue has to be less interesting that a first name and second name, and knowing exactly in your mind what that person would be like in reality, which will in turn influence their speech and mannerisms.

Another large reasons for it is because I feel I'm a rather good at having empathy for people, and can easily move into the minds of characters, and as I'm only young and aren't likely to come close to some of the experiences dealt with in the book, fleshing people out helps me put myself in the situation and get things written correctly.

At the end of the day, I'm doing this because it's fun, and anything that can improve the writing and embrace the fun of the project is a yes from me.

The New Year, The New Goal.

Anyone who's somewhat interested about this project may have realized that I haven't written one of these little blog articles in a little while. I can't remember when the last one was but I know it was well before the New Year rolled in. The truth is, when we hit November I sent off what I had of the book to a few friends and asked them to give me their honest thoughts about, which will have been the second time that's happened.

I believed that if I left the project alone for a little bit I'd come back fresh and new with a new perspective on what I'd already written. It was a bit of a risk but I started writing again on the second and I'd like to think I'm writing more efficiently and better than I was before. The story still seems to feel like it did before I left it for a while, which means even after some time to brew it still maintains some quality.

So. "The New Year, The New Goal" title suggests that I'm doing the whole new year new me bull crap, which in actual fact I don't believe in doing that. I don't believe that you should reinvent yourself at the turn of a new year, but I do believe in improving on the person you were over the last year and refining yourself as a result of the events that occurred in the previous year. For me, I like to set goals that will test me, and also be achievable. This year's is the book.

I intend to have a first draft written up by the end of March, and I'll be writing most evenings for at least an hour at a time. I know roughly how long I want it to be and I know what I want to happen throughout. All I need to do now is make it happen.

I feel a lot of people come up with a lot of ideas that they'd like to implement, and that's brilliant, but it's pointless if you don't enable yourself to actually DO what you want to do. Which is why I don't reinvent myself, just improve who I am as a result of previous experiences.

I hope you had a good New Year, and I may have new articles out every now and then. At the moment, most of my time is actually spent writing this book instead of writing about this book.

Cheers,

-Rue

I love my characters

I Love My Characters

Lawrence and Louise were placeholder names. I put them there because it's what just popped into my head, I started with Lawrence because that's what I wrote about first, and I knew I wanted there to be a lovely lady for him to be coming back to. The name sounded good to me at first, and I rolled wit hit. It wasn't until I looked back after the first chapter that I decided I couldn't bare to change their names. Why? I'd become attached to them.

It happened real quick. The idea of two thieves who'd been separated for five years that had just got back in contact grasped me, and within the first chapter it's evident that there's an incredibly strong connection between the two of them, and trying to envision something different or fiddling with that seemed wrong to me. Not only that, but when I was out and and about thinking up the story that these two were going to go down, I started developing their character traits and fleshing them out. Cocky, sweet, erratic, erotic, smooth and a whole long list of traits started coming to mind and I started visioning them in different scenarios. Scenarios that may have taken place several years before we jump into the story, and some that could take place several years after.

The more I get involved with this project, the more I take it seriously and the more emotionally connected to it I become, I just want to throw it out for everyone to read and hopefully enjoy. I've started talking about it more openly over the past few days, several people in my area are away of this project, and I've started embracing an online following for it, which seems to be proving positive. I don't believe however that what I want to achieve is easy. I feel like I should push for digital self publishing, but something's pulling me towards traditional publishing, which is were the proper challenge comes to fruition. I've started doing my research and I'm putting the feelers out there. It'll happen.

Thought I'd just have a short ramble about that. =) 

An Introduction To Steve Francesco

An Introduction To Steve Francesco

Steve Francesco is a man of large build, at about six foot two and rather stocky you'd want to think twice about a bar fight with this one. Steve grew up in the city and was bullied somewhat at school, his grades were relatively low but that was a mistake that wouldn't hold him back. He's smart and ambitious, but most of all cunning, and when you wrap those traits up with resentment and anger, you can get an incredibly dangerous mix.

It wasn't long before Steve realised that the city wasn't his playground and he did some odd jobs, earning what he could before departing for the countryside towns, where he'd reside for several years, making connections and doing what he could to impregnate his presence on the communities that were around him. He'd become well known and he found with popularity came the ability to earn more money. One day, a man approached him about some work that wasn't strictly speaking legal, and the businessman within kicked into gear, realising he could profit from leasing people out to work, acting as an agency. This is where a fair amount of his money would be made.

As his popularity grew, so did his following, so more people signed up as protection for hire. Most of this came in the form of night club work or bar doormen, but the larger jobs were in the cities. The business that was growing brought him some attention that was unwanted, and he moved houses several times in a few years.

Steve had acquired everything he'd always wanted, except for two things. A wife and revenge on those who'd bullied him in school. The revenge came a little later, but the wife came much sooner than he'd thought, when one Louise Raina rolled into town.

An Introduction to Lawrence Murray and Louise Francesco

An Introduction To Lawrence Murray and Louise Francesco

I want to take this time to give a brief break down as to what this book's actually about, because the more I mention it on social media sites and to friends/co workers, the more the question "what's it about" pops up. I understand that and have been happy to answer such questions mainly, but there's been one problem. I've not actually vocalised or written out a synopses for the book yet, because I've not needed one before; therefore, I'm unable to describe it well enough. So, I figured I'd come out and write a piece about the background of the story and give you an introduction to one of the character's I'm starting to love.

Lawrence Murray is a man in his mid twenties who for many years has been a thief, jumping from place to place on the globe every so often to make his way in the world as best as he can. He does this because the idea of a nine to five in an office makes the lining in his stomach spin, and he's able to move around as he pleases, taking what he needs to survive and live in the open air. On the odd occasion he'll stay at a small hotel for a while and get to know some locals, then he'll get bored, take his fill of goods and move on.

You may ask, how doesn't he get caught? Lawrence is good with disguises and creates different characters depending on his situation, so his identity is hidden when he's in public, and then he performs his work at night so he's relatively out of sight. For a couple of years he was alone in his journeys, until one day he came across a girl of similar age, called Louise Raina, who was attracted to the somewhat cocky attitude Lawrence set forward. There was an instant connection between the two, and Louise shared the ideology of a life in the open air and decided to join Lawrence on his travels, where the two would work together and become relatively skilled in their art. Over the coming years they'd bond closer and closer, when an untimely argument splits them apart and Louise is lured in by the charms of another man.

Lawrence is forced to move on without her, even though mistakes had been admitted by Louise and she begged him to stay, but things got incredible complicated and Lawrence moved on, even if it was against his will. For five years he roamed England, drowning himself in remorse and anger, digging himself into a deeper and deeper state of depression. We pick our story up when he decides he's going to go back for Louise and see just what's up and whether or not she even remembers him. The story follows their attempt to free Louise from a tyrant of a husband, who's abusive and vile to her but well connected in some dangerous industries. There will be violence, there will be risks, there will be thievery and there will be some unexpected twists in their plan.

That, is the basis of my story and I'm getting more and more emotionally connected to it the more I write it; and I strongly believe that there are people who would enjoy it when it's finished. The text above shouldn't give anything away that's in the book essentially, it's a backstory and a catching up let's say to bring you up to speed.

Feel free to share this post around to anyone you think might be interested in this kind of story, so they can then dial themselves into my twitter or whatever for when it eventually gets published. I'm looking into a couple of different publishing methods and I can say now when it's done it will be available to buy somewhere, so keep your eyes peeled. I want to be one of the first gaming YouTubers to be a published "author". ;)

Cheers,

-Rue

Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper - 14/11/2013

We are nearing the last month in the year and in the games media scene it starts getting busier just after the summer, and throws itself into action all throughout the rest of the year, so I'm busier than ever at this stage and haven't been writing as much as I've been thinking about writing. I'm trying to not let it slip off of my radar too much though, as I'm at a more crucial point now.

It's hard for me to come out and say just how much of the book has been written as a fraction, or as a percentage because I seriously don't know how long it's going to be. I know where roughly where I want it to end, what happens near the middle and all that, I just need to figure out how I'm going to get there. What I'm currently writing is likely to sit about a third of the way through, and it's a big chapter, the first chapter I've come across that's required some serious thought. I think the reason for this is that the rest of the chapters are lying down some ground rules for the characters, and showing you a little bit about who they are and what their stories are to some extent, and this next part of the book is the first time where they all start intertwining in such a pretty big way. There's a couple of plots running at the moment and I don't want there to be another one, because I feel having two plots currently twisting around each other like rope is deep enough.

As the chatper is more demanding than the last few, it requires me to use my head even more, thinking of creative ways to play the scenes out and getting it to a stage where there's no massive holes in it, and it'll probably take a bit of time. So when I'm writing I want to have a clear head and not be constantly thinking of something else, or have a distraction near by meaning I can only sit down for half an hour. Up till this point the rest of what I have has been written in a fair few, two to three hour sessions and I'd like to keep it that way.

I also keep reminding myself that this isn't a job, and it isn't work, this is for my enjoyment and there's no reason to rush it. So keeping that in mind I continue to keep digging deeper and letting the creative juices flow. We're virtually hitting winter now so I'll have an excuse to stay inside.

-Rue