Things To Consider When Making A World

Because tomorrow I'll be making a society for a new comic idea I thought I should explain how I go about doing that. Now to be perfectly clear I'm technically world building. But I think calling what I'm doing tomorrow isn't exactly building a whole world so I'm society building. I'll be explaining how I make worlds and then explain what I mean by society building. It's also good to know that "world-building" doesn't mean making a new planet. It means creating a reality different from our. Of course, in that reality you might not live on Earth, in which case you would need to build a new planet.

The only reason to build a world is to give a story a place to live, when the story wouldn't necessarily fit into the world we already have. So to start I always look at what my story needs. Usually this isn't too hard to figure out. If the story takes place after the apocalypse, you need an apocalyptic world. If it's about a wizard that fights trolls, it will probably be in a medieval land. The story is key to starting the world-building process. My rule of thumb is only make what you need. If you have a cool detail about your world, don't shoe-horn it into your story. But if the story has a neat little factlet, make sure that it makes sense within the world.

The next thing I consider is my characters, or more specifically how my characters fit into and react to this world. What are these characters in this world instead of any other one? Plot makes a story cool, but characters make a story real. In my comic "Nuclear Family", I have five main characters. Each react to the world in a different way. Sage wants to fix, Millie wants to keep it from destroying itself, Grit wants to figure it out, Meredith wants to fit into it, and Oliver wants survive it. They all live in the same world, a world that's been blown to hell but nuclear war and god knows what else. I had a thought about fossilized cities. That lead to fossil bombs which lead to the idea for a character who's parents were fossilized.

The last thing I do is put everything together with the little details. How do people live? Who rules? What are the settings like? Things like that. By the time I get here I usually have everything pretty much nailed down. Sometimes building worlds aren't that involved, sometimes it get's extremely detailed. at the end of the day you just need to have fun with it and it will turn out cool.

Fight The Future

Today I started writing a script. No preparation, no outline, just a thought. And what sparked this thought? 711 of all things. You see, I have a love of post-apocalyptic fiction. And a hallmark of the apocalypse is scavenging what's left. 711 is a great place to start, especially if it's right next door to you. I was just waiting for my chicken tenders to be ready and usually when I do that I prepare for the apocalypse by seeing what would earn it's weight in my backpack. That got wheels turning and when I got home I started writing.

The basic plot is about a guy who has to travel across the country to find his girlfriend after a nuclear attack. The attack happened two weeks prior and everyone that survived has been holed up since then. It's definitely a work in progress but I like where it could go.

Best!

Unnecessary Amounts Of Television

That's what i should have called this blog. I just looked over at my TV on DVD shelf and realized that I have way too many shows, at least for any normal human. I have 186 seasons of 80 different shows. That seems to be a lot. In fact, I've run out of room on my shelf. I need do some pretty clever rearranging soon. and I need to get a shelf. All the rearranging in the world won't fit ten pounds of shit into a five pound bag. Check it out to the left.

I haven't even watched it all. Right now I'm trying to knock out Castle and The Colony by my lonesome. I can't watch season 3 or 4 of Digimon until my friends want to, because we Digimarathon them for eighteen straight hours, which is brutal when four in the morning rolls around. My roommate/bff and I are trying to watch the entire series of X-Files, of which we're on season 2 (We'd be done now but we accidentally took a year off. Oops). I started watching Season 4 of 24, 1 of Mad Men, and 1 of Monk over two years ago but I decided to watch other things instead and never got back to them. Yesterday I bought three seasons of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, completing the set (plus, they were under $15 each. Where else am I going to find them for that cheap?). On top of all this I really want to re-watch Veronica Mars, which would only set me back more.

I have a big problem. I understand that. I'm out of control. But I love TV. Some day I'll be able to get whatever I want and It'll be a tax write-off. That's going to be a great day.

Best!

So much for that 'One blog a week' thing

I realize that just two weeks after the last post, I'm finally getting around to posting. But since I hate blogs that's every post is "sorry for not posting" I won't apologize, I'll just try to keep the promise starting today.

First off: I went to Astronautalis on Wednesday. It was absolutely amazing. That guy is something else. He raps about the battle of Trenton and diving bells and being a con-man in the early 20th century. And his freestyle is so good I can't really explain it. Go here to hear some of his music.

Second: I'm writing yet another comic. This one is surprisingly fun. I started out with less than an idea and now I'm working with an artist on it. It's pretty exciting because we're making the story together instead of me saying "Here's a thing I thought up. Go draw it.

There is no third.

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The First Day Of The Rest Of My Career

Starting today I'm am no longer an aspiring writer. Today I am a writer. I've got a gameplan and everything. I'll walk you through it:

• Starting monday I'll be putting in 40 hours a week of writing. At least 20 actually writing and 20 or less plotting.
• If I don't the urge or inspiration to write, I will anyway, inspiration be damned!
• I will constantly be developing new ideas, (not a problem for me) but not at the expense of current projects.
• I'll be pursuing any opportunity I can (This I've already been doing, but I needed another bullet point).

So that's my game plan. At least partly. I've got some irons in the fire and hopefully soon I'll have a lot more to talk about. Lastly, I wish I could draw. That would be sweet.

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Pantsing

I'm going to try to do a blog at least once a week for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, I'm not that interesting and I tend to take all the inspiration I get and funnel it into other projects I'm working on right now. But that's okay because of a wonderful process known as "Pantsing", spelling may not be accurate. Pantsing is process of writing wherein you just type and type and type until things make sense. It comes from the phrase "flying by the seat of your pants." I hope it's working.

Some weeks will be small updates, a la this one, where I just tell you what's going with me, the blog, or whatever. Others will be fairly lengthy and will more than likely cover many different topics. Sort of like the last one "Fantasy Lantern Draft". This doesn't mean that I'll only post once a week. Sometimes I might post more but I wouldn't put all those eggs in that particular basket just. See you next time.

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Fantasy Lantern Draft

DC Comics is having a huge crossover event right now. Without boring you with the details I'll just tell you that it focuses on the Green Lantern Corps and the other six lantern corps fighting off the Black Lantern Corps. Each corps is a different color (according to the ROYGBIV color acronym) and each color represents a different emotion (Red=Rage, Orange=Avarice, Yellow=Fear, Green=Willpower, Blue=Hope, Indigo=Compassion, and Violet=Love). There was recently an article on Comic Book Resources about a Fantasy Lantern Draft. Basically people all over the internet are picking people from all different fandoms to make the perfect lanterns. The rules are simple: for each corps you pick one person from all of comics (or in this case anywhere). Below is my draft and my reasons for why I picked them. I also hyperlinked them for your convenience.

• Red: Jakita Wagner. Jakita likes anything that keeps her from being bored. Rage is anything but boring. She throws herself into every fight with a smile on her face and song in heart. Sure that song is "Murder Train" by the Foreskins but hey, whatever. She's not necessarily an angry person but she gets caught up in the moment very easily and that would be enough to turn her into a Red Lantern. Runner Up: ALL CAPS JEFF MOREIRA.
• Orange: Jack Horner. Jack's entire motivation, through out both his series and Fables, has been money. And sex. And fame. Basically the things that any and all greedy people want. He's the quintessential orange lantern. He save the girl; it's only because he wants to get some. He helps break out a fellow prisoner; he expects him to take Jack to treasure. It never ends. That's why he's be a great Orange Lantern. Runner Up: Howard "The Weasel" Monague.
• Yellow: The Grinning Man. This one is extremely personal. I have never, never, been more afraid than the night I stumbled upon the Grinning Man. The thought of him terrifies me, the accounts only make it worse. He's a mysterious figure seen in New Jersey and Virginia who appears and terrifies people. Read the accounts, you'll be afraid too. He's the perfect Yellow Lantern. Runner Up: Angelus.
• Green: Buffy Summers. This one was hard. Originally I had her as a Blue Lantern, because she inspires hope. But then I thought "In the end all Buffy has is Buffy. And that's enough." Green Lanterns are in a similar position. Buffy has shown that she can lead and has more willpower than anyone else ever and I will fight you if you disagree. She's my hero and I get a little protective. Sorry. Runner Up: Elijah Snow.
• Blue: Gordon Freeman. This one was easy once Buffy was cemented in the Green Lantern Corps. He's known through out the entire Half-Life universe as the "One Free Man." He inspires people to resist the combine and fight back. But most of all, he gives people hope. And that's kind of a requirement for this gig. The best part is he does this without saying a single word. How's that for stoic? Runner Up: Link.
• Indigo: Doctor Who. The Doctor, more specifically the tenth doctor feels great compassion for every single creature throughout the universe and throughout time. That's a lot of people and things to care about. In one episode he has to basically put these four terrible people in a never-ending torture loop. He doesn't want to but he has to. In another episode he saves a group of monsters because he's the Doctor. And he cures people. Runner Up: John "J.D." Dorian.
• Violet: Midnighter. I know what you're saying (well, maybe not actually you but the proverbial you) "How come the gay guy is the pink lantern?" Well, over-sensitive liberal character I made up for this example, it because Midnighter is more in love with Apollo than anyone else I could think of. He's done crazy things for and because of love and I think that more than qualifies him to be a violet lantern. Runner Up: Kitty Pryde.

So there's my draft. I'll be tweeting them all tomorrow in a smaller, 140 character bursts.

Best!