-
So I was thinking the other day that all the Big Recent Video Game Titles I can name come with DLC. It seems like a foregone conclusion now that if a game has a big budget and release and all that good stuff, a few months later, it’ll get some. It’s not even limited to souped-up weapons or alternate outfits anymore, either. Games like Mass Effect and Dishonored give us entire mini plot arcs, where a different character becomes the protagonist, or your character solves a side conflict.
My question is, has anybody ever seen this happen with books? Not like that, not like paying an extra five bucks for a text file of the secret epilogue chapter or anything. But where a writer went back to a world, and told smaller stories from the same place - stories that weren’t necessary for understanding the original plot, but added color to the universe and were fun in their own right.
Because I really love my noirverse, and there are more stories I could tell in it beyond what I have planned. Inhabitants of retro-future LA whose lives have nothing to do with the murder mystery surrounding Ada & Co., or side characters that would make the story too slow and complicated if I tried to flesh them out more. The problem is I wouldn’t have enough content for them to make them quote-un-quote ~*novel length*~. They’d just be short stories.
So yeah, aside from The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner [‘cause I’m already aware of that one,] have you ever seen examples of this kind of companion content?
06/05/13 @ 01:05pm
tagged as
■ writing
■ sometimes i try to be motivational
■ try being the operative word
I’ve seen a few people having writing anxiety on here lately, and I propose a little… warm-up.
Pick some guilty pleasure scene, kink, plot point, style choice - whatever - and remove the guilt. Write something you would want to read, in the way you would like to read it. I don’t care if you’re writing Arcade fucking the guy from Teen Wolf and narrating like Anastasia Steele. You’re not going to show this to anybody. You’re going to remove all outside pressure for it to be this or that way by not letting it reach the outside.
You do, however, have to sit with it - alone - until you like it. Edit it. Extend it. Rewrite it. But you are not allowed to walk away from the thing until you are satisfied. Until it makes you happy, instead of filling you with shitty, poisonous self-loathing. You don’t have to adore it. You don’t have to think it’s worthy of being published. But you have to think that the time you put into it was better than giving up.
16/04/13 @ 11:54pm
tagged as
■ writing
■ inspiration
■ creativity
■ leslie goes deeper
■ long post
In June of 2012 I listened to The Prince of Egypt soundtrack, and envisioned a prelude to Bioshock. I was about as good at animating as I was at quantum physics, but I wanted to share the vision with others. All seven minutes of it, no matter how long that took me.
So I started storyboarding.
In late January or early February, I put up the last part. I finished it.
Around the same time, I heard the Fallout Big Bang was happening. People suggested I sign up as an artist. I insisted I sign up as a writer.
It went up on fanfiction.net yesterday. I finished it.
The point of these examples is not to assert myself as a genius. I’m the opposite. I sweat bandoleers of bullets to finish two dinky projects, and whatever attention they may get is going to be on luck, not merit. But the experience of seeing them through to the end was more valuable than anything else I’d learned in a long time. And while I’m not there yet, I’d like to think it took me a long way.
But having done that now bums me out about one thing, and that’s that I know talented people who haven’t. Abandoned novels. Abandoned comics. Stories that have stewed in development hell for years, turning to vinegar as the writers foster self-hatred and increasingly consider giving up.
I know why they do it. I did it. To a large extent I still do it. I’m here now to tell you how, two times, I beat it.
15/04/13 @ 03:17pm
tagged as
■ writing
■ anthony
■ arcade gannon
■ fallout
■ fallout: new vegas
Day 7: O Caesar, Where Art Thou?
Author: nihilnovisubsole
Artist: legendaryarmor
Setting: Fallout: New Vegas
Characters/Pairings: Implied Arcade/M!Courier + Elder McNamara, Lt. Romanowski, Francine Garret
Disclaimer: The Fallout series and all its settings and characters are © Bethesda Softworks.
Warnings: Violence, asphyxiation, allusion to a past rape
Summary: In the middle of long, hot Mojave summer, Arcade’s love for proverbs grabs the eye of a stranger. A taciturn orphan feared for his strength, Tony’s tracing a medallion found on him as a baby - and he needs a Latin translator to help him follow it back to The Fort.
But as they forge deeper into Legion country, the truth behind Tony’s birth becomes self-evident - and ugly. Burned by the sun and the dark heart of his origins, will Tony rise above his blood? Or will violence run in the family?
Story: fanfiction.net
Art: tumblr
In case you were wondering about that project I kept alluding to!
As with putting up the last part of The Promised Land, the real satisfaction is in seeing it finished - in not having to look inside your own head to find your ideas. I’d wanted to give Tony a story for a long time, and the structure provided by the Big Bang was a golden opportunity.
Anyway, this is the first writing project of this size that I’ve ever finished, so I’m gushing like a first-time parent. Happy reading!
13/04/13 @ 11:00am
tagged as
■ poetry
■ stick to prose leslie
■ writing
■ personal
■ who am i kidding all of my poetry is embarrassingly personal it must make people so uncomfortable
I’m in a skyscraper, in the hallway of an upper floor. Red panels on the left wall. White tiles on the floor. Glass to the right, with a view of the city below.
21/03/13 @ 05:14pm
tagged as
■ four 4 u ader
■ hard boiled angels
■ noir
■ dialogue
■ ada
■ ellory
■ writing
08/03/13 @ 04:05pm
tagged as
■ YES THIS IS THE CROCK I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR SIX YEARS
■ graphics
■ writing
■ 45f
writing projects that leslie needs to finish § 45 fathoms
In the middle of the North Atlantic is a little island that survived a flood. Frozen in time and set in their ways, they’ve never seen outsiders - and outsiders have never seen them. But this only makes sense, since they’re the last people on Earth. They were yesterday. They will be tomorrow. And that’s just the way it is.
Or is it?
After seventeen-year-old Asher finds a woman washed up on the beach, he finds they don’t speak the same language - and that there are people who would kill to keep the island from knowing about her. And when murders and horrific acts of vandalism strike the island town, it’s too much to be coincidence. With the help of an impoverished fisherman, an infamous recluse, and the mysterious woman herself, Asher dives deep into the island’s dirty laundry - and becomes the figurehead of a rebellion against ignorance.
03/03/13 @ 08:55pm
tagged as
■ poetry
■ stick to prose leslie
■ writing
■ it's fantastic how personal these are getting
■ ~*fantastic*~
24/02/13 @ 07:04pm
tagged as
■ poetry
■ stick to prose leslie
■ writing
■ been on a kick with these lately CAN YOU TELL
the dissonance of the young
19/02/13 @ 02:07am
tagged as
■ poetry
■ stick to prose leslie
■ writing
■ tw: self harm
■ WRITING IS A MUSCLE GUYS
dermis
12/02/13 @ 11:56pm
tagged as
■ writing
■ short story
■ original fiction
■ header image is not my art obviously
A few days ago, a friend and I were talking about just writing for writing’s sake. Putting some junk down on paper. And I thought, why not.
The title comes from a Chinese fable that dates back to the early 400s. In a time of political unrest, a wayward fisherman discovers a hidden utopia, where the people are kinder and more peaceful than the outside world.
“It’s official,” I hear from behind the newspaper. “Booker’s the favorite to win.”
“Christ.”
“I mean,” he conditions, “I don’t know. Maybe my taste is all in my mouth.” He sets the paper down and shakes his head. “But I just can’t figure what the Academy sees in him.”
“I dunno how the Academy sees anything with its head that far up its ass.”
A chuckle. “You’re funny.”
“No I’m not.” I return the milk to the fridge and sit across from him with my cereal. “I just swear a lot, and say what nobody else will.”
“Well, doll.” He pauses for a sip of coffee. “Maybe that’s what humor is.”
writing projects that leslie needs to finish § the dispatch (pas entendu)
When contract killers Thermidor and Riding Hood are injured on assignment, their organization - The Society - decides they need a break. They’re dropped at a lavish villa on the Amalfi Coast - neither knowing who the other is, or that they’ll be there. Needless to say, it’s an awkward start. But they figure if they can learn to live with each other, they can still have a quiet recovery.
And then the comm line goes dead.
In the ensuing weeks it becomes obvious that The Society’s not coming back for them. Out of work and stranded in the sleepy little town, they feel they’ve suddenly lost their purpose. As self-exploration begets exploration of each other - and tensions rise to a boil - the real question becomes clear: Were they ever there to recover? Or are they their own next targets?
23/01/13 @ 05:34pm
tagged as
■ graphics
■ writing
■ artie
■ kostya
■ sasha
■ the house of the samovars
writing projects that leslie needs to finish § the house of the samovars
Reporter Arthur Gillespie has a nose for others’ business, and when he hears that an enigmatic Russian is moving in next door, he’s the first on the scene. And it’s not long before he discovers that Konstantin is no ordinary immigrant. He’s one of the Soviet Union’s most brilliant neuroscientists - a national treasure, defected with his daughter Sasha.
But Arthur’s not the only one to notice. The country is deep in the Second Red Scare, and Konstantin’s research looks too good to be true. When the accusations start raining, they pour - and when the government gets word, they decide Konstantin’s time is up. As Kostya fills in his life leading up to the story, Arthur and an older Sasha document the web of paranoia - witnesses to the biggest espionage trial since the Rosenbergs.
| So as many people have, I've discovered your blog through your wonderful tutorial on suits, and it has helped me greatly. After that, I've trawled through your blog and have now fallen in love with you and your characters. I just wanted to ask exactly how would you go about researching on a topic for your stories/tutorial, because they seem so detailed. Stay Gold! | ◤ |  Anonymous |
“fallen in love with … your characters”
bring the smelling salts (◑‿◐)
No, really. This is a cop-out answer of me, but the kind and the extent of research I put into something depends on what the project is. My main manuscript relies on a lot of a priori stuff I learned growing up, but I still boned up on boat types, trawling techniques, and that little, stupid “what fish are in the North Atlantic” crap that you know some nitpicker will notice. You just know.
Going off that, I’ve known for a long time I wanted to do a story that would require knowledge of Soviet Russian culture. However, if you know the first thing about it, you’ll know that it’s complex - and much of it not really guessable if you’re American. I realized I couldn’t do it on my own, so I got school on my side. I studied the language for two years and wrote a research paper on The Master and Margarita, which was set in the decade I was interested in. The Russian department here has since gone to hell, and I’m a little lost as to where to research next - but I’m glad I got out with as much learned as I did.
[Fun fact: Kostya was the product of a science GE. I was taking Brain Dysfunction and couldn’t be fucked to study, and I realized I needed a motivator. So I made a neuroscientist character - that way, when I was studying for the class, I was researching for him.]
For hitmanbbs I’m reading about guns and some history of organized crime. For my new project I’m re-reading Steinbeck. I guess there is a common thread after all, and that’s reading - reading anything and everything you can get your hands on, even if it’s only tangentially relevant. No knowledge is wasted.
I’m now going to undermine my whole post and confess that I did the suit guide on Google. Clearly I wasn’t planning on as many people seeing it as they did.