Mood:  rushed

I'm almost done with "Link's Adventure"...

This screenplay has been a very... different experience. Bottom line is that I think it's been more... 'emotionally draining' than almost anything else I've ever written. Whether it's the best thing I've ever written is debatable; it's quite good, by my low standards... but...

...geesh...

Anyway, LA will be in the neighborhood of 220-240 pages long (hopefully on the lower end...), making it almost half as long as Ocarina of Time; that's a damn-good thing, in my opinion. It is... what to call it?... "more thematically complex" than "Ocarina", but it isn't really easy to compare the two: LA and OoT are two drastically different types of stories (though they both be "sword and sorcery", yes...)

Confidentially: I said I wanted a trilogy, didn't I? I honestly don't know if that'll ever happen, in truth. If I ever wrote the follow-up Zelda story ("Triforce of the Gods") it would return to the tone of "Ocarina" much more than anything (ie: a more traditional, good-ol' 'adventure story'). I leave the door more than open enough for it (just how in the hell does one use "Dhise Slaighre", anyway?) but... still...

I just don't know, that's all.

I think I'm almost ready to go back to TYPERS, after all, and if I do leave this Zelda storyline unfinished... well... I could potentially live with that...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:26 PM MNT

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Mood:  cheeky

I always do a little background reading when I'm writing (although, truth be told, I tend to read much, much more when I don't write),  and our good friend Joseph Campbell has come foremost into my mind lately...

...ever heard of his Monomyth hypothesis?

Yeah, pretty basic stuff, right? And, like most topics in a Psychology 101 class, anyone could probably figure this particular trend out by themselves, even with a raging concussion.

Anyway, here's Campbell's take regarding almost every single 'Hero's Quest' in literary and mythological history:

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

...really? Is that really the push-to-shove, bare-bones summary of almost every high-fantasy/adventure quest story ever written?

Yeah... it is...

Is that the push-to-shove, bare-bones summary of the plot to The Adventure of Link?

Yeah... it is...

So, is that the push-to-shove, bare bones summary of the plot to my adaptation of the game: "Link's Adventure"?

Yeah... ish... and no...

Any time you've got a story burning a hole in your head (pardon the rather graphic analogy...) it's usually a fine thing. All the better if, at least by your own reckoning, you can possibly add something to the genre. "Link's Adventure" is a high-fantasy questing adventure story- at its foundation, at least- but with a (somewhat macabre) twist that I like to think can compliment the conventions: in my story Link's quest doesn't just provide him with the 'victory' he needs to grant a 'boon' to his princess back home, but it also serves the dual-purpose of exposing a few... uh... 'things'... about himself that he is forced to take to heart upon his return home. Bottom line? This story does end well, but it does not end happily.

...don't wanna really give anything away at this fairly early juncture, mind you, but even though I haven't come near the end of the story yet I already have one of the screenplay's last lines firmly entrenched in my head. Link says this in response to a certain "running line" that has appeared several times in the scrip so far. His final reply, given at the end of the story, goes like this:

"I'm not a hero... I'm just a knight."

There's a difference, you know. Heroes are pillars of chivalry; they can always be counted on to save the day for anyone in need.

And knights? They can be counted on to save their charges' backsides...

...and they can, and will, do whatever is necessary to do that. They can, if need be, run right over a bystander or two in order to do that. 'Heroicism' and 'Devotion' are nowhere near to being equivalent as descriptive terms go...

...and what does it take to learn that lesson? I dunno, exactly, but the journey to learn that lesson would certainly be one hell of an 'adventure' in itself, wouldn't you think?

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 7:52 PM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

I'm gettin' myself a serious case of Zelda-fever, I think...

Well: at least one can't accuse me of not following the source material at least a little bit (Ha! Try parsing that sentence, why don't you!)

The red line is Link's tentative path through the "Threadbare Lands" (ie: where his eponymous 'Adventure' actually begins and ends). Everything I've changed around is all glow-y and outlined.

With all the requisite flasbacks to his 'pre-adventure' time over in North Castle, I think that particular path gives me just enough material to work with...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:48 PM MNT

Updated: Saturday, 19 December 2009 1:53 PM MNT

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Mood:  irritated

Not to at all condone violent behavior, but around my place something like this would actually be grounds for justifiable homicide...

...or at least one hell of a mitigating circumstance...

On a Zelda note, I'm finding the whole beginning of 'Link's Adventure' to be MUCH more difficult to get down than 'Ocarina of Time' was. A lot of 'Ocarina' just flowed for me, and there was a whole lot there to work with. With 'Link's Adventure' I've got much fewer characters to work with and a lot more difficulty trying to figure out how to arrange everything temporally (most of the story is told in layered flasbacks... a warning sign of 'questionable writing' if there ever was one, yeah, but there's a good reason for it, I think...)

Or maybe not... I'll see if that's the case when I'm deeper into it...

...although by then I may need some heavy-duty waders...

...or a snorkle...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 10:51 PM MNT

Updated: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 10:52 PM MNT

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Mood:  chatty

More Zelda-ish artography...

I wanted to jack some art depicting Link in order to show that "my" Link will have a little heterochromia in the next story: I think he should have a slightly reddish hue in his left eye due to certain events that occurred back in "Ocarina". It's a continuity thing: something I caught last-minute while storyboarding...

...and I changed the tunic color: I don't plan for Link to really be "a fan of green"...

Does thunderbird look scary, you think? Yeah, not so much. Not at all how I'd envision the creature, should it ever be put to film. Not a problem: I don't have to worry about that happening anytime soon...

On an actual film note, I'm starting to kinda worry about this whole Avatar thing. With its ultramassive budget and... well... frankly strange incorporation of CGI (I've seen the previews: the technology is reaaaaaly close, but it isn't there, yet, I don't think) it has a very 'green' look to it, if that makes any sense. I think it's kinda an uncanny valley thing, and if I were investing in a project like this I would think it to be something of a gamble...

...Fox certainly has a hell of a lot of chips set on it, too...

Alternatively, of course, Avatar might be the ultimate blockbuster this year, who knows? And if it turns out to be certifiably made of awesome then I, of course, will change my tune. Again: who knows? 

Well, we will, soon enough, I suppose.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:25 AM MNT

Updated: Saturday, 12 December 2009 1:24 AM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

Pretty funny...

I'm not gonna spend any time raggin' on the Twilight franchise. The several dozen pages I've read have convinced me that the overall writing is not particularly good (and the dialogue, one of my pet peeves, is severely lacking, IMO), but in this Meyer woman's defense she's at least got herself a good 'mythos', or backstory, upon which she's building her world. She's a clever thinker, I think...

...just not such a clever writer...

...eh...

I figure, push-to-shove, that if I had the choice I'd be a writer more bereft of overall ideas than general storytelling ability... and I think I am, actually. Not that I'm unimaginative, mind you, but a good imagination is only a very small part of worldbuilding, after all, and putting the blocks together into a 'suspension-of-disbelief-granting' yarn ain't at all easy. For an ADD-driven neurotic like me the concept is more than difficult. From what I've heard of her 'Twilight' backstory, this Meyer woman has a rather clever knack for something like a good backstory...

...that, and for getting lonely, bad-boy-wanting twenty-to-thirty-something women to crave a little vampire/wolfboy action...

But I digress...

Making me think of myself, again, I chuckle at my penchant for such a thing as videogame fanfiction. Bereft of an overall idea myself, I think that in my defense I do a good job of really running with other people's stuff. I don't think we'll EVER see a term like 'literary fanfiction' used with any semblence of seriousness (nor should we, perhaps), but personally that's more what I see my hobby as being... again, push-to-shove...

...but then don't all fanfic-writers, I'm sure?

In the end, though, you gotta do what you love, and I do love what I do. Writing is a craft, after all, and practice makes semi-perfect, so even if my hobby is a little... well... meaningless, I think it's important to remember that, in the far long rum, it actually isn't.

Again, practice makes perfect, you know.

And in that vein (no pun intended) maybe Miss Meyer's next book series will have a little more well-honed writing to go with its well-placed imaginitiveness.

If that were the case I might even be willing to bite.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:29 AM MNT

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Mood:  energetic

Yeah, no updates here for a month and ten days. Exceedingly lax of me, I suppose...

Truth be told, Shane's currently working on getting into Law School (yeah, I know...). The whole application process is daunting, to say the least. Last week I heard that I've been accepted (!) to one of my first-choice schools, at least, and while I'm not totally finished with all my applications that news is something of a relief. I'm still waiting for word on my first first-choice, though...

...and the worst part is that I probably won't hear a peep from them for another 10 weeks or so...

Anyway, with my day-job, and all, my spare time has been somewhat... uh... nonexistant. But now that some of the pressure's off me I'm in a somewhat more creative (and capricious) mood. Just yesterday I wasted 100 bucks applying to Legal Nirvana (because why not, right?) and I'm shooting high in all things.

Given that I'm still on sabbatical from TYPERS (and I am, at the moment), I'm in the process of continuing my 'Legend of Zelda' screenplay series.

...didn't you know I had a triology in mind? No?

Huh...

Well, I had so much fun with Ocarina that I'm chompin' at the bit to go a little further. Next up, you ask? (and even if you don't, I'm gonna tell you...)

Yeah: the game itself is actually called 'The Adventure of Link'  but I prefer the possessive nomenclature for some reason. Also, I prefer to keep the 'The' out of the titles' names (ie: 'The Legend of Zelda: The...' seems a little redundant, to me at least).

Incidentally, I steal others' artwork all the time, but seeing as how this time I took someone's art and didn't even bother to modify it a lick (ie: that really neat-o background) I'll officially give credit to this guy, who actually made the scenery I saw fit to rip-off.

'Link's Adventure', in keeping with the tone of my 'Ocarina' screenplay, is again going to be a somewhat darker take on the Zelda franchise, but in the end I don't think it'll be quite as dark as 'Ocarina'. This is a psychologically 'different' Link we're talking about, too: the brooding, vengance-addled "Pale Rider Link" from the previous story never actually comes into being, given the timeline changes in 'Ocarina', and I plan for this story to pick-up about fifteen years from where 'Ocarina' left off (ie: the "re-child-ized" Link and Zelda are... uh... "re-grown" into young adults).

Thematically the story will deal with the consequences of one having a 'knight's' devotion to a cause or (in this case) a person, and the unpleasantness that can result from confronting, headlong, the sacrifices one makes for that devotion. I don't plan for Ganon to make any appearances in this story, in keeping with the game, except for a possible 'post-credit stinger' tacked on to the end. The most 'visible' enemy in the story is going to be, undoubtedly, The Thunderbird (as if the skull in the artwork didn't give that much away) but it is not, by any means, the primary antagonist. I plan for Thunderbird to be a certain kind of... well... 'force' that someone... well, someone 'else' is using for their own purposes. And Link won't be carrying 'Dhise Slaighre' around this time, either: he needs to become a master to use the thing properly, after all. This story helps explain one of the steps he takes to becoming such.

I won't go too much further into this, but suffice it to say that my idea for the identity of Dark Link is rather original, if I do say so, myself...

...even if I'm re-using a certain deceased character from my 'Ocarina' screenplay...

...hmmm: maybe I've said too much, already...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:06 PM MNT

Updated: Friday, 20 November 2009 2:30 PM MNT

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Mood:  chillin'

It's raining pretty hard where Shane is, right now, which is good, since my area's been in the MOAD (mother-of-all-droughts) for some time now.

During that time I've resisted the urge to bust-out an Ocarina and play the 'Song of Storms' on it...

Oh, yes: and my Ocarina of Time screenplay is finished, too. All 408 pages of it...

READ IT, if you're so inclined (.pdf formatting, so's you know)

(well, at least I had the courtesy to include scene bookmarks...)

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 5:53 PM ADT

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Mood:  caffeinated

Makes you wonder why characters with half a facial disfigurement are so very common in genre literature and films, huh?

I'll never say I'm above cliches (cause I ain't, obviously), but I suppose its that wonderful visceral reaction you get from the character in question: an aria of beauty and a nocturne of beast clashing together in one amelodic screech (visually, I mean) to rival even that annoying "Murder" song from Psycho's shower scene.

...right: few things could top that, but a two-faced character does play up to some very cheap, readily available and deep-seated archetypal sentiments in an audience.

In my own defense, though,my own Antithesis doesn't ever really appear as pictured above anywhere in TYPERS: the rendering is just artistic liberty, 'natch, but it plays into the same semi-tired cliche we've seen time and again. Why is it trotted out so often? Well.... 'cause it's effective, I must say.

Actually I find the picture contrast up there amusing, too: if I were to ever describe Antithesis in one sentence (and using only two derivative descriptors) I would say thats he's "a cross between the Joker (not that one: this one...) and the T-1000".

...honestly, though, I do get annoyed that it's always the LEFT side of the face that's always disfigured... see, being left-handed myself I really take offense at such blatant stereotyping-

...ah, wait... I did it too, didn't I?

Eh, forget it...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:51 PM ADT

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Mood:  cheeky

Well, out with the old and in with the new...

I recently updated to Firefox 3 and haven't noticed much difference (except for that annoying 'bookmark star' on the address column).

That, and the fact that all the, oh, 12 or so widgets and add-ons and whatnot I had on the last version of the browser no longer work (hell: why would they? I mean, was this update supposed to be better, or something?)

Well, Firefox still beats IE, 'natch (except on those damn sites that 'require(s) Internet Explorer 6 or later...' to function). That's casting a narrow net, ain't it? May I ask why anyone would limit their internet commerce to users with only one type of browser?

Maybe 'cause they think that it's Firefox that's unreliable...

'Ungraceful', maybe, but not quite unreliable, as such...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:18 PM ADT

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