My Blog, Talking 'bout My Blooog.

I want to talk about my blog in my blog today.  Time for something a little zen.  I wanted to discuss why I post the way I do and how it's been benefitting me.

As you know, after I blog about my adventures on Earth I begin blogging about my space-faring adventures.  I been using these logs as a scratchpad for my authory thoughts.  It's literary practice like a flat stone to sharpen my knife, a decoy to practice my latest moves on, or an experience rich area to level up my RPG hero.  Even without input from an outside source, I still have learned quite a lot.  Just looking at what I wrote I see things that I like and things I thought would be good but weren't so great.

I'll list a few things now, starting with planning.  I've found that if I concentrate on planning out the story then I tend to rush through the events with not enough details.  Planning is good and keeps me on a clear path, but I've found that fictional writing is much more an emotional process than a logical one.  If it feels right, then go with it.

I found that you can make "special effects" with words.  I used this counting in the background to add emotion to my fight with Jack, and I really liked that.  I'm going to try and experiment with more "text effects" in later posts.

A character from FLCL, Nauta, made a cameo in an earlier post.  I liked the idea, but I totally messed up Nauta.  I didn't capture his character.  One of the problems was I didn't describe him well enough, but the biggest problem was the dialogue was all wrong.  One of my weak points is giving my characters more character in their dialogue.  I'm not entirely sure what I should do.  I guess I should add some frequently used words to each person's unique dialogue.

I've been trying to write with an exponential curve of detail as I progress through each post.  I start out with just the important stuff from the events leading up the main event.  Then I describe the main event with moderate detail up until just before the climactic moment.  Then I spend a lot of detail on the climax leading up to a one-liner.  I think this is a good structure for episodic writing, maybe all writing.

Things I'm planning on doing?  I plan to include some in-depth character bios in my next recap post maybe with pics.  I plan on incorporating a little poetry into my posts.  I've seen it done in some books I've read and I think it might help.  I plan on trying to tie my posts into posts from a couple of days ago.  Like maybe I'll describe a stoplight in one post that I use as a weapon in the next post, etc.


I was eating dinner in my campus dining hall today and it was kind of crowded.  A guy walks up and sits down across from me at my table.  This wouldn't have been strange if it were one of the longer tables, but this was a small four person table.  The guy doesn't say a word and just sits down and starts eating.  I thought about making a comment to break the tension like, "Kinda crowded tonight."  Then I realized that if I wanted to sit down at someone's table, I would ask first.  So I decided to let him talk first, but he never did.  It was really awkward, I think it was his fault.

And then...

The writhing, winged, tentacled monstrosity continued to stare us down.  I tried to avert my eyes.  The terrifying visage of the beast was like a train wreck, you had to keep looking at it.  Only this was worse.  The sight of the being slowly began to peel away your mind and drive you into eternal nightmares.

"Try not... to look... directly at it, Ash."

After managing to avert my eyes, I grabbed Ash's trembling chin and forcibly turned her head from it.  She tore herself away and pushed aside my helping hand.  I explained the plan.

"This is a Cthulu, a small one."

"A Cthulu?  I thought there was only one."

"There used to be, but things happened and now there are plenty of them.  I can fight it, but it will only distract it.  It feeds on the anger of battle.  The only thing that can truly stop it is complete calm and confidence."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I'm going to drill this thing into the wall.  While we're arm wrestling, I need you somewhere else.  Get out of the mech, go to a dark corner of the cavern and..."

"Out of the Mech!?"

"Find your happy place."

I opened the hatch on the mech.  The writhing tentacles crawled into the hull.  I slammed on the controls and drove a drill right into its center.  The drill began spinning.

Spinning.

The sound of the drill squishing the monsters guts was satisfying.  The monster wasn't really hurting though.  He was just trying to get me riled up and it was working.

"Go, go now!"

Ash bit her lip and jumped through the opening and began crawling to the back of the mech.  I continued to work the drills.

SPinning.

The monster grew bored of crying in agony and reached inside the Mech with its huge clawed hand.  Tentacles protruded from the palm of the paw.  This thing has tentacles all over it.  I drew a sword in one hand while still holding the mech controls in the other.  I rose the sword above my head and twirled it a few times...

SPInning.

...and brought it down on the claw.  I cut off one of the fingers and the hand retracted in false pain.  He was good.  The bloodlust was strong now.  I could feel it...

SPINning.

...welling up inside me.  What was taking Ash so long?  Moments felt like minutes, seconds like hours as the drills continued to spin.

SPINNing.

The monster stared at me with his eye of insanity and reached in and pinned me against the wall with his other hand.  Tentacles crawled up the sides of my head feeling around beneath my eyes.  I felt my head...

SPINNIng.

...aching and sadness, fear, and pain began to fill my whole being.  It drug me out of the mech, helpless to fight back, and towards its abyssal mouth.  Ash couldn't do it, her fear, for herself and me, would keep her from stopping it and this was going to be my final mission.

Then, I felt N.O. rushing up inside me.  I felt the asteroid that surrounded me, drifting, flipping over and over in the comsmos.

SPINNINg.

I think I actually heard the monster chuckle.  He sensed my N.O.  Actually, he was waiting for it.  He was going to absorb it for himself.  I couldn't stop the power.  It came to me like falling unconscious but backwards.  I was waking up and I couldn't stop.

SPINN...

"STOP!"

It was Ash's voice.  My N.O. faded and the monster stared straight at it.

"Put him down."

The monster moved as close as it could to Ash without touching her and she didn't even blink.

"Now."

The monster obeyed reluctantly and then began writhing in a real pain.  It began to shrink.  Not only did it shrink, but it began to take on humanoid form.  It finally reached the form of a young woman with long hair.  It was hard to tell with only the light from the mech, but it looked like her hair was... green.

"Captain!  It's Lee."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Erfworld

Quite some time ago, I was recommended to read a webcomic called Erfworld.  Having finished Book 1, I thought I'd post my thoughts.

Erfworld is a land ruled by the conventions of table-top gaming.  Wars are fought in turns and movement is measured in hexagonal grid spaces.  Lord Stanley is surrounded by enemy forces with his capitol as his only remaining stronghold.  In a last ditch effort to save his kingdom he orders that a warlord be summoned.

Parson is fat, sweaty, minimum wage earning nerd who regularly plays table-top games.  Summoned into Erfworld he is tasked with winning a losing battle.

The artwork is very well done.  This comic features a super-deformed style of drawing found in some japanese comics.  The lines are clean and the colors are well done with some added graphical effects now and then that improve the presentation.

The story has average pacing, not as slow as most web comics but still slower than commercial comics.  The author does a good job in keeping the tension rolling.

The best feature of this comic is the constant allusions especially to internet culture or old TV shows.  The author works them into the story solidly and makes them regularly.  The comic can be pretty funny at times, mostly there's little humor or a sort of dry humor.

I only really have one small complaint.  The author seems to really enjoy the system and world he made with this comic and has extended sections discussing these topics in detail.  It can be very dry and is mostly unimportant.  However, the author does a very good job of setting this information in a different style.  I found that if the information was too boring then I could simply skip over it without missing much story.

I have yet to read the summer updates that add more to the story and the author has yet to start on Book 2, but I believe I will continue to follow this story, it has caught my interest, it might catch yours.

Today it rained cats and dogs.  I got soaked on my way to business writing and flood warnings were given on several of the schools parking lots.  I did go out after class and retrieve some valuable information for deferring some of my loans.

And then...

I pushed off of the ground and floated to the cockpit of the mining robot.  I motioned Ash to follow.  She hesitated, clearly not liking the idea, but decided to follow.  I began tinkering with the controls.  I knew how to operate similar mechs but I had never used one of these before.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Relax baby, I never know what I'm doing."

She wasn't reassured by this fact, but sat back for the ride.  The cockpit was designed for one, but it was large enough for Ash to sit on the dash.

I activated the magnetic walking system and began pushing the thing down into the asteroid.  The lighting was damaged and flickered in most places.  Eventually there was no more left.  The metal walkway continued forward and the robot walked across it as if it was the surface of a planet.  The robot had head lights that lit the path right in front of us, but the walls remained mostly dark and the abyssal path ran towards the center of the asteroid.

The dark tentacles of something monstrously large reached out towards the robot from the darkness.  Ash screamed despite herself.  A shiver ran down my back.  I had seen that shape before and I don't like to remember it.  The monster retreated deeper into the darkness of the asteroid.  I turned to look at Ash holding her hands over her mouth.  She took her hands away to reveal a nervous smile.

"Well, I guess that's that.  No Lee, we should head back and try somewhere else."

"Ash, that thing is here for a reason.  They don't just take up residence in any abandoned asteroid.  We should check this out."

"Listen Keelhaul, as a space adventuring female I have a natural aversion to tentacles and I'm not going to support a decision to go further in."

"You wanna get out and walk back?"

The blackness of the tunnel was complete without the head lights of the mech.  That thing was clearly ahead of the vehicle, but it wouldn't be the most pleasant walk back to the ship.  This was going to be challenging.  I had never had the advantage of a giant mech when I fought one of these last time, but I knew that most people wind up dead or worse after encountering these beasts.  It was guarding something and it was likely related to Lee.

"No Cap'n.  Full sail."

The mech continued laboring towards the center of the asteroid.  The complete lack of sound due to the vacuum of space only made this excursion creepier.  The walls of the asteroid were porous.  Most of the holes were too small for a human to crawl through, but some were large enough that the mech might be able to fit in.  Suddenly the walkway ended, but the cave continued forward.

"No, no no, nooo.  I am not getting out and walking."

"Don't worry greens, this thing can still manage without the walkway.  It's just a lot more challenging to steer."

I activated the thruster system and the robot began drifting into the black abyss.  The tunnel ended opening up into a large cavern filled with natural columns.  Far deeper into the center of the cabin I could make out a light.  I adjusted the robot and came to a stop in the cavern to think about how to proceed.

Thump.

Something hit the mech from behind.  My adrenaline rose over 9000.  I twisted the mech around with the thrusters coming face to face with a monstrosity indescribible with words or pictures.  Writhing tentacles twisted from various places on his body, especially from what one would assume was the face.  A giant eye centered on the gruesome for stared into my very soul with a twisted scowl that screamed hatred, fear, agony, and confusion.  His bat-like wings spread so far apart that the lights of the mech could not even illuminate them completely.  His skin was not colored, but rather was black.  Blackness that could not be penetrated mixed with blackness not so strong that seemed to at least reflect some of the light from the headlights.  The eye was green, red, and many other colors, colors that seemed to fade and appear at random.  Yet these colors were not real, if you stopped concentrating on the eye it became the same blackness that formed the rest of the beast.

"W-w-whaat issit?"

"What isn't it?"

Until next time fellow pirates.