Some Pocket of My Mind

It's a given that life will inspire me when I write. This is where I list and discuss those things from music, movies, books, whatever.

Current Project: I call it my escape piece...

 

 

 

 

Yeah, Deftones is the influence behind this new book.... 

Project on hold: Chasing the Dead?

Monday, December 10, 2007 - 10:32 P.M.

Although I don't have much at this time, I have characters and some scenes dancing around in my head that seem to point toward a story idea. All I've got to do is start with what I have and see where my imagination takes me.

As I thought about this story, I was listening to a certain song that instantly gave me the atmosphere I want. That song is called Cuckoo For Caca by Faith No More. I've just learned the lyrics to it, but the line where Mike Patton says, "You can't kill it!" made me think about trying to kill something that's already dead, which is a struggle that will happen in my book. This particular song felt like the theme of the story in a way, thus I felt it best described the feel of the last fight, the climax! So, in this list of songs here, I put in last.

This song just rings horror, even though I think my story will fall under the Dark Fantasy genre. This song pointed me to a scene where the antagonist of my story, whom I've got ideas about, but nothing set in stone, either gets the advantage in the story, or a major goal of his has been achieved. Either way, this song is all about him unleashing.

 

I don't know if electricity is going to play a major role in the story or not. Things are just building up in my mind, and I'm sorting ideas and throwing some away. I just thought the intensity of this song fit my story. Perhaps this is when one of the protagonists is going off. Yes, I'll have three protagonists.

 

 

Anyway, I'm already excited about this story, and I don't know what's going to happen yet. Like I said, I've got these scenes in my mind, and I'm certain the theme of the story is going to be redemption, but it's all subject to change.

Project on hold: Short Stories!

It's funny, because, as soon as I thought about what one of my short stories was about, I instantly thought about this classic game, Greendog. The dilemma behind this game is that a surfer crashes after riding a huge wave and when he comes to, there is a pendant wrapped around his neck and he can't remove it. To make matters worse, everyone that looks at him, animals included, go berserk and try to take him out. Yet, his girlfriend seems unaffected, thankfully. She's the one who tells him that he should go visit the Aztec ruins to find the answer. When he does, he collects these pieces of stone that are parts of an ancient artifact. In the end, it becomes a surfboard and he rides it lifting the curse.
The short story I'm writing is about a guy being cursed and people react similar to him like in this game, yet, instead of having a girlfriend who is immune, there is a girl he meets who helps him along while he is confronted by these large robotic machines asking him to confirm his ID code. Not knowing what's going on, he's forced to flee the robots when they attack him for not confirming whatever code they wanted from him.

Shakugan no Shana definitely surprised me. It's a story of a girl who has to battle power hungry beings who are able to take advantage of the life force people have to develop their own agendas for the parallel universe people can't see. So, in a sense, normal people are defenseless, except for the girl, who the main character, Yuji, eventually names Shana. When a person is "consumed" by someone from the parallel universe, they're dead, but a flame is left behind resembling that person in order not to disrupt the whole balance of life. The main character is one of those people who has unknowingly been consumed and is now nothing but a shadow of himself, and because of this, he learns about the horrible truth. However, he's able to keep going and fight with the girl because he carries a special device within him that allows him to be more or less immortal. Yet, this device also makes him a target. All the while, Shana is dragged from her usual temperament of being a warrior to learning feelings that she has suppressed. Thus, Yuji's incredible personality attracts her and this blends in with all the tribulations they encounter.

The short story idea that this anime inspired actually started from an alternate ending for the series I created in my mind. Yet, it developed and became a whole new story, including some of the original elements of the alternate ending, but twisting them in such a way that I created something new and different.
I kept the whole warrior attracted to the guy who wouldn't give up. I kept the idea that they fight together against things that normal people couldn't possibly deal with, even though, in my story, anyone can see these beings.

 

Project on hold: To sum it up in a phrase: it's a zany slice of life!

The Mars Volta have a song called Vacera Eyes, or something like that, and as soon as I heard it, I knew it had to be the theme song for my book. I've read the lyrics to it, and like divine intervintion, they appeared to have a hidden connection with the hidden theme in my book.

 

How lucky is that, huh? But the sound of the song, the rockin' sound, it has that upbeat yet I know I bad kind of sound that makes me think about how some of the characters in my book act. It also sums up the struggle and the battles the characters have to face.

This Anime, FLCL (Fooly Cooly) was the first bit of inspiration for my current book. Due to its zaniness and wacky action scenes, I'd have to say I could learn some lessons on fun entertainment from the creators of Gainex. The idea that the main female character is not from Earth relates to the main heroin in my book, though she's not an alien. The lead girl in this anime is spunky and driven whereas the male hero is jaded and reacts to the girl's actions as insane and troublesome at first, yet he falls in love with her. He understands her intentions and, despite his role as nothing but a tool, he brings everything to a close giving everyone a good ending. The girl didn't get what she wanted, but she was spared from a possible worse fate. The hero also narrates certain parts of this anime, expressing his boredom. The lead character in my book is narrating the whole time, just about, and even though he's jaded as well, he doesn't have to save himself from being a tool. He helps the lead heroin, but she's not as selfish as this girl in this anime. And yes, my main character's initial reaction to the lead heroin is much like the hero of this anime, but he grows used to things. This might be kind of strange to say, but this anime is actually a slice of life kind of story.

Also, the soundtrack to FLCL has the perfect downtown street walk feel, and that's thanks to a Japanese garage band named The Pillows.                                                                          

 Now this one, The Meloncholy of Harihi Suzumiha, I didn't know was going to affect me, until I watched it. Then, I knew that it had a lot in common with my story. It's another slice of life kind of story. In addition, its zaniness and upbeat attitude reflected a lot of what I wanted in my story.

 The big thing that my book relates to is that the main character, Kyon, narrates the story and gives his own observations during scenes. That's exactly what's happening in my book. The other factor is the characters and their special powers. These can be seen as magic or whatever, which is what my characters have, yet it's not seen as magic. More like abilities...which is expressed in my book.

 Welcome to the N.H.K. With this one, the whole slice of life drama feel fits my book, or at least I'd like to have that feel in my book. The main character, Sato, can relate to my main character through his apprehention to several situations and the girl brings him into them. His whole paranoia also works with one main section of my book, where paranioa plays out as the whole theme.

Les Claypoo's project fits the whole strange and zany, but eager feel of my book. It made me think of some of the chase scenes and a struggle between two particular characters. It even has a song that fit the mood of the last action scene.

Faith No More - King for a Day/Fool for a Lifetime

This particular song, "Get Out" felt like it covered the theme of my book, but in a different way than "Viscera Eyes" by The Mars Volta did. While Viscera Eyes was more symbolic, this one gets down to the literal boredom the main character suffers in the beginning, but find out that, just like Mike Patton says, "There's something bigger than me."

 Now with this one, Tekkonkinkreet, once I saw pictures of it, I knew little about it, but I just knew I would like it. So, I bought it and I loved it! In relation to my book, there's this whole faction against underground movements with the mafia and all this, and the almost supernatural abilities of the main characters to kind of float about, of fly, and survive landings from thirty foot drops. The characters in this one are excellent, and I love the writting. I hope to be able to bring my points and story across as good as that and with a powerful feel. The whole theme of the fight for this city is also a reflected theme in my book. In this anime, the main characters have to struggle with inner demons. My main character has that kind of battle, although it might not be as extreme as this anime.