A buddy suggests that I should probably write something. He's probably right.
At work yesterday, I got a new idea for a series of undetermined medium that more or less continues something I was working on before. It was an interesting process: I started with a concept (someone taking part in a shotgun wedding) and then expanded upon events (someone punches out the mayor, and then takes on a hoard of angry rednecks). And now I have the basic idea of the series. It is all very silly.
One thing I decided: Project N2, the postapocalyptic semi-sequel to Project N, has changed to the point that one relying on the other is pointless. Although the connections between the two ideas (the shared setting and at least one character) remains, they are more or less considered different series now. I feel this is for the best, as while Project N remains primarily comedic, Project N2 is drifting away from anything resembling light comedy, although it still features goofy subject matter. I don't want it to go completely dramatic, that's just not going to work for me or the story, but it has its own tone now, separate from the thing it spun off from.
Speaking of Project N, I've been trying to figure it out for the last few weeks, and I still see a tonal clash. I've attempted to organize the story ideas into different 'cycles', where they can be set to fit eachother. Even so, the stories themselves range from silly light comedy, darker (and more down-to-earth) stuff, and completely out there oddities. Some story changes have also ostracized the supporting cast a bit, and since they are important (but that importance may be changed to better suit the current state of the concept) I'll try to work them into it. Aside from these difficulties, though, I am happy to see some much stronger story ideas come from the last little bit of brainstorming.
I've also have been coming much closer to making a card game that I am satisfied with. It still seems a bit convoluted, and some ideas aren't coming to me to cap off the thing, but it's progressing. Unfortunately, after reading up on another game, I've now got even more ideas, which essentially means I'm going to scrap what I was doing before to integrate this new stuff. Damn.
Showing posts with label Project N. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project N. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
CoNOMdrums Part VIV The Heretic
Simple problem for Project N:
Are the elements actually working together organically, or is it just one bunch of stuff going on one side while a completely different set of stuff goes on somewhere else? Is there room for both? How do I make them work?
This is what happens when you combine two different ideas into one thing! Or, actually, what it was was me having one idea and then adding new stuff onto it to make it more interesting. Thing is, I like both the base idea and the stuff added onto it. But it seems that by focusing on the latter stuff (which is more big, entertaining, and weird), I might be pushing out the base idea (which is more character and dialogue-based). It might not be much of a problem once I am more confident that I can convey the original idea (basically, once I am confident that I know the characters' voices).
Are the elements actually working together organically, or is it just one bunch of stuff going on one side while a completely different set of stuff goes on somewhere else? Is there room for both? How do I make them work?
This is what happens when you combine two different ideas into one thing! Or, actually, what it was was me having one idea and then adding new stuff onto it to make it more interesting. Thing is, I like both the base idea and the stuff added onto it. But it seems that by focusing on the latter stuff (which is more big, entertaining, and weird), I might be pushing out the base idea (which is more character and dialogue-based). It might not be much of a problem once I am more confident that I can convey the original idea (basically, once I am confident that I know the characters' voices).
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Glower Power
Project N's only real push the last little bit has been the addition of nerd references. Nothing to be proud of, really.
Project G's structure has been update yet again. I have figured an interesting way to present the story, and some added focus, and some ways to make some of the characters interesting. Wow! Now all I have to do is tie it into every other thing I've made up for the thing. The good ideas are caught in a jumble, but they will prevail, and the jumble will straighten itself out and get a job.
Since I'm in a creative writing course as we speak, I've done some creative writing. I'll post it eventually.
Project G's structure has been update yet again. I have figured an interesting way to present the story, and some added focus, and some ways to make some of the characters interesting. Wow! Now all I have to do is tie it into every other thing I've made up for the thing. The good ideas are caught in a jumble, but they will prevail, and the jumble will straighten itself out and get a job.
Since I'm in a creative writing course as we speak, I've done some creative writing. I'll post it eventually.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Too Long, Amigo
Things have been hectic.
Major things have happened. Less with Project A, which will undergo a name change and a pilot script penned by the compatriot at some point but otherwise has cooled down in development progress. I've been trying to get some things tidied and work on the next phase at the same time, but that hasn't been a tremendous amount of work.
Project G is in a weird phase. I've been tweaking it more and more, and even attempted to reorganize my storylines once again. Even with all the stuff coming together, the ideas I have for my opening issues still feel oddly thin and unexciting. It may take much more work to get this thing to work smooth, and then there's more work after that to get it readable.
Project N has spent most of the year being worked on to much satisfaction. More recently, I decided to do something drastic, though: change format. I realized that Project N, in its original ideal medium, was way too ambitious, and in order to make sure it gets made at all (and I would like it to actually see the light of day), I decided I should also make it into a comic like the other main projects. Now, this poses its own sets of problems (some things in my original idea could not be transfered to sequential art), but it also gives me a tad bit more freedom. As well, I can use it as a sort of "pre-made storyboard" to use if I ever get the chance to pitch it in its original form, if that ever happens. I generally dislike that kind of pandering, but dammit, I want to see it released both at all and hopefully in my original conception as well.
I've also found a minor idea I had some time ago being developed into something enjoyable, which is good. It may even get its own code name, some day! Keep reaching for the stars.
Major things have happened. Less with Project A, which will undergo a name change and a pilot script penned by the compatriot at some point but otherwise has cooled down in development progress. I've been trying to get some things tidied and work on the next phase at the same time, but that hasn't been a tremendous amount of work.
Project G is in a weird phase. I've been tweaking it more and more, and even attempted to reorganize my storylines once again. Even with all the stuff coming together, the ideas I have for my opening issues still feel oddly thin and unexciting. It may take much more work to get this thing to work smooth, and then there's more work after that to get it readable.
Project N has spent most of the year being worked on to much satisfaction. More recently, I decided to do something drastic, though: change format. I realized that Project N, in its original ideal medium, was way too ambitious, and in order to make sure it gets made at all (and I would like it to actually see the light of day), I decided I should also make it into a comic like the other main projects. Now, this poses its own sets of problems (some things in my original idea could not be transfered to sequential art), but it also gives me a tad bit more freedom. As well, I can use it as a sort of "pre-made storyboard" to use if I ever get the chance to pitch it in its original form, if that ever happens. I generally dislike that kind of pandering, but dammit, I want to see it released both at all and hopefully in my original conception as well.
I've also found a minor idea I had some time ago being developed into something enjoyable, which is good. It may even get its own code name, some day! Keep reaching for the stars.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
From Idea to Story: Meat
One of the big problems that appears when you're writing a series: does the basic story concept fill an entire episode? Can you imagine enough events to fill the required space, and make it interesting to boot?
I'm having this issue mainly in Project G, although Project N has it to a degree as well. The thing with Project G is that I spend quite a few stories introducing secondary characters - this proves to be a problem. I'd say SOME of these introductions have enough meat to write an entire story around, but others definitely do not. So, while I need to get these characters introduced, I also need to have something to keep the reader intrigued aside from the initial dazzle of yet another shiny new character, especially when they appear as "HI! My personality will be here soon, too!" That isn't good, either. I need a strong hook to get people intrigued with their presence. Better work at that.
For Project N, it seems a lot easier. I've been able to bond story ideas together to create some sort of super story. It helps that I generated more malleable ideas for this than Project G.
Now, how about those personalities...
I'm having this issue mainly in Project G, although Project N has it to a degree as well. The thing with Project G is that I spend quite a few stories introducing secondary characters - this proves to be a problem. I'd say SOME of these introductions have enough meat to write an entire story around, but others definitely do not. So, while I need to get these characters introduced, I also need to have something to keep the reader intrigued aside from the initial dazzle of yet another shiny new character, especially when they appear as "HI! My personality will be here soon, too!" That isn't good, either. I need a strong hook to get people intrigued with their presence. Better work at that.
For Project N, it seems a lot easier. I've been able to bond story ideas together to create some sort of super story. It helps that I generated more malleable ideas for this than Project G.
Now, how about those personalities...
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Bending Expectations
Went through a small idea surge for Project N. But not the normal Project N, the followup.
Here's how it goes: it was around the time Futurama was announced to be returning, and for one reason or another, I thought "You know what would be neat? If they brought back the show, only with a completely new cast of characters. It would totally fuck with the audience!" Of course, no one working in Hollywood is as brilliant as me, so I don't suppose this idea where ever be used in any mainstream product. However, I figured that I definitely could use it for my stuff.
At first, the idea was just there, attached to Project N like a leech. It would retain the same writing style, and setting (location-wise); but, it would take place in that ever-giving chestnut, the FUTURE. That way, I can justify the new cast and a ton of new insanity. However, that's about where the development stopped. I just couldn't get a good idea of how the characters and situation would work. It would basically be a way to continue it after the events of the first part of Project N was completed (and the ending for it is pretty final, at least thematically).
Recently, I figured it out. Project N-2 could be a thematic expansion of the first part, and that led to further development. I also read a lot about 2000 AD (but haven't actually read it. May have to change that), and that inspired me to create a certain kind of crazy future. With these two combined, I was able to start making something that I felt was less ambiguous in its purpose and more satisfying.
If you wish to know (why would you?), the theme I am trying to use is that of intelligence, and how one uses it. The general atmosphere of the first one was that everyone was stupid but the main characters - and when you're a cynical nerd like I was/am, that's what the world seems like. Most of the recurring secondary characters represented different ways intelligence can be handled - bitterness about the world around you, trying desperately to make a difference despite social problems, or manipulating the masses for your own ends. I really like this concept, and I hope I can flesh it out and make it work, and not come off as some pompous preacher or Has-no-Subtlety man.
So, Project N-2 will go a step further; instead of the main characters feeling they're the only thinkers among a crowd of dopes, the main characters of really are the only intelligent ones left. Ah, the future opens so many doors.
Basically: sometime in the future, most of the world has had part of their mental functionality disabled, but not to the level of COMPLETE retardation, just to a cartoony kind a airheadedness that I'll have to hammer out. In the particular setting, there is pretty much one intelligent family left, and that's where the main character comes from.
At the same time, there is a subplot about AI, and a sort of reversal of the usual depictions of intelligent machines in the future. Basically, computers with human-level AI were created to take over the jobs that the now partially incapacitated humans can't do, like occupations in politics and education. However, all the computers are made to never turn against humans, and they are given a bit more reason to do so than Asimov's code (which includes an idea I like quite a bit - a genetically-altered group of thugs who police the computers, mostly by smashing them into bits). So, instead of machines repressing humans, the machines themselves are being repressed. Someone must have done this before, and much better.
The plots generally evolve from there, but also revolve around what happened to the rest of the world in THE FUTURE (which I figure right now will be about 80-100 years from now). Where is the weirdness I included in the Project N-1 seems more random (but I'll still try to develop some kind of internal logic for it all), the weirdness of Project N-2 will develop more around the condition of the world. Of course, that doesn't mean it will still totally make sense (the one idea I have right now is a cult of wet suit-wearing humans, based on Lovecraft's Deep Ones and living in the flooded US south).
Wow, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever gone into the ideas and stories in-depth. Did I say I wasn't going to do this? I am boring you?
Here's how it goes: it was around the time Futurama was announced to be returning, and for one reason or another, I thought "You know what would be neat? If they brought back the show, only with a completely new cast of characters. It would totally fuck with the audience!" Of course, no one working in Hollywood is as brilliant as me, so I don't suppose this idea where ever be used in any mainstream product. However, I figured that I definitely could use it for my stuff.
At first, the idea was just there, attached to Project N like a leech. It would retain the same writing style, and setting (location-wise); but, it would take place in that ever-giving chestnut, the FUTURE. That way, I can justify the new cast and a ton of new insanity. However, that's about where the development stopped. I just couldn't get a good idea of how the characters and situation would work. It would basically be a way to continue it after the events of the first part of Project N was completed (and the ending for it is pretty final, at least thematically).
Recently, I figured it out. Project N-2 could be a thematic expansion of the first part, and that led to further development. I also read a lot about 2000 AD (but haven't actually read it. May have to change that), and that inspired me to create a certain kind of crazy future. With these two combined, I was able to start making something that I felt was less ambiguous in its purpose and more satisfying.
If you wish to know (why would you?), the theme I am trying to use is that of intelligence, and how one uses it. The general atmosphere of the first one was that everyone was stupid but the main characters - and when you're a cynical nerd like I was/am, that's what the world seems like. Most of the recurring secondary characters represented different ways intelligence can be handled - bitterness about the world around you, trying desperately to make a difference despite social problems, or manipulating the masses for your own ends. I really like this concept, and I hope I can flesh it out and make it work, and not come off as some pompous preacher or Has-no-Subtlety man.
So, Project N-2 will go a step further; instead of the main characters feeling they're the only thinkers among a crowd of dopes, the main characters of really are the only intelligent ones left. Ah, the future opens so many doors.
Basically: sometime in the future, most of the world has had part of their mental functionality disabled, but not to the level of COMPLETE retardation, just to a cartoony kind a airheadedness that I'll have to hammer out. In the particular setting, there is pretty much one intelligent family left, and that's where the main character comes from.
At the same time, there is a subplot about AI, and a sort of reversal of the usual depictions of intelligent machines in the future. Basically, computers with human-level AI were created to take over the jobs that the now partially incapacitated humans can't do, like occupations in politics and education. However, all the computers are made to never turn against humans, and they are given a bit more reason to do so than Asimov's code (which includes an idea I like quite a bit - a genetically-altered group of thugs who police the computers, mostly by smashing them into bits). So, instead of machines repressing humans, the machines themselves are being repressed. Someone must have done this before, and much better.
The plots generally evolve from there, but also revolve around what happened to the rest of the world in THE FUTURE (which I figure right now will be about 80-100 years from now). Where is the weirdness I included in the Project N-1 seems more random (but I'll still try to develop some kind of internal logic for it all), the weirdness of Project N-2 will develop more around the condition of the world. Of course, that doesn't mean it will still totally make sense (the one idea I have right now is a cult of wet suit-wearing humans, based on Lovecraft's Deep Ones and living in the flooded US south).
Wow, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever gone into the ideas and stories in-depth. Did I say I wasn't going to do this? I am boring you?
Friday, April 4, 2008
Finish
Let's get that last bit of Project posting done, shall we?
Project N
This one is a bit different, as it is not a comic. Rather, it is something even more impossible to get made - a TV show. Yep, I want to step into the world of scripted television as well. Albeit, the Internet could make it easier. More on that later.
The snappiest way to sell....errr, describe it, is "20% autobiography, 80% insanity". What that entails is that it uses characters and events based off real people I know/knew and real things I have experienced, coupled with whatever ideas I can come up that sound entertaining. I'd hope the fantastic elements will drown out any sense that this just me feeling like my life is SOOOOO amazing and interesting. And they are indeed fantastic elements. Realism is not an obstacle!
Now, this could easily turn into a 'LOL random story of the week LOL', but I am attempting to create a coherent 'universe' for the show, as well as linked-but-not-continuity heavy storylines. Some of my favorite shows have several standalone episodes beforehand, and then for the final few go nuts and show the thread connecting them all and tying up loose ends in an epic way. That would be what I'd want to do. Also, try to get big theme that would be represented by all the characters and their actions.
I don't think I mentioned that this would be animated yet. I know, I know, that's a pretty obvious nerd thing. Even so, I think that it would best suit the stories and some of the style things I want to do. Yes, I want to do style things.
Now, I imagine this as a TV show, but chances are that won't work out. Add in the difficulty of getting animation...animated, and this then turns into the hardest of my projects to make into an actual product. Even so, I will make a serious attempt if I get some creative credibility sometime in the future. And even if I can't get on TV, as I mentioned, the Internet provides an alternative. If I can get some suckers to do the actual drawing section (much like my comics), I can easily air it on the web. Who knows? Maybe by the time I get to chance to do my thing, this will become standard. Ah, the Internet. Finally, us slices of egomaniacal mediocrity get a chance at fame!
And that's the last of my main projects. I have a few smaller ideas that I would like to see come to fruition, and maybe sometime I'll talk about them, too. The evolution of these ideas may be interesting, although only to me. The rest of you, how many or few there are, are just unwary hitchhikers.
Project N
This one is a bit different, as it is not a comic. Rather, it is something even more impossible to get made - a TV show. Yep, I want to step into the world of scripted television as well. Albeit, the Internet could make it easier. More on that later.
The snappiest way to sell....errr, describe it, is "20% autobiography, 80% insanity". What that entails is that it uses characters and events based off real people I know/knew and real things I have experienced, coupled with whatever ideas I can come up that sound entertaining. I'd hope the fantastic elements will drown out any sense that this just me feeling like my life is SOOOOO amazing and interesting. And they are indeed fantastic elements. Realism is not an obstacle!
Now, this could easily turn into a 'LOL random story of the week LOL', but I am attempting to create a coherent 'universe' for the show, as well as linked-but-not-continuity heavy storylines. Some of my favorite shows have several standalone episodes beforehand, and then for the final few go nuts and show the thread connecting them all and tying up loose ends in an epic way. That would be what I'd want to do. Also, try to get big theme that would be represented by all the characters and their actions.
I don't think I mentioned that this would be animated yet. I know, I know, that's a pretty obvious nerd thing. Even so, I think that it would best suit the stories and some of the style things I want to do. Yes, I want to do style things.
Now, I imagine this as a TV show, but chances are that won't work out. Add in the difficulty of getting animation...animated, and this then turns into the hardest of my projects to make into an actual product. Even so, I will make a serious attempt if I get some creative credibility sometime in the future. And even if I can't get on TV, as I mentioned, the Internet provides an alternative. If I can get some suckers to do the actual drawing section (much like my comics), I can easily air it on the web. Who knows? Maybe by the time I get to chance to do my thing, this will become standard. Ah, the Internet. Finally, us slices of egomaniacal mediocrity get a chance at fame!
And that's the last of my main projects. I have a few smaller ideas that I would like to see come to fruition, and maybe sometime I'll talk about them, too. The evolution of these ideas may be interesting, although only to me. The rest of you, how many or few there are, are just unwary hitchhikers.
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