the ramble dump

Things to do this October (starting with the biggest priorities):

• Finish the first bit of Starcustard Chapter 5.


• Make a proper start on the Chapter 2 rewrite of The Aberration.


• Get some ideas for Project CAM down in ink.


• Write City of Anarchy Chapter 3.

Labels: city of anarchy, project cam, starcustard, the aberration

# posted by Chris @ 9:06 PM 0 comments

Now that I've turned my attention to the second chapter of The Aberration, I've been thinking about the character Mike, and how he'll be changing. Then I started thinking about how he came about in the first place, and how he's 'evolved' so far to become what he is now.

August, year 2003. I was reading the blog of a Mr Michael Gerber (the guy who wrote the Barry Trotter books), and on this blog he had provided an email address. So I emailed him. Oh yes, email him I verily did.

I asked him if he would answer some questions for a certain website called Kommingle, which didn't actually exist yet. There were twelve questions in all, only two of which were what would be considered conventional in an interview of this kind (although 'Have you ever been attacked by an old lady? If so, how did you cope?' was one I was particularly proud of). To my astonishment, he actually replied, answering every single one of them. Which was probably a mistake on his part, because I then went into Creepy Fan Overdrive and the consequent emails didn't stop. He was always really nice and friendly about it, but I must have annoyed the hell out of him.

In October, as an act of both creepiness and boredom, I wrote a short and very pointless story, which featured him, his recently released book (The Unnecessary Sequel), and a certain rabbity individual who'd been in several equally pointless short stories since I'd stopped writing the Halo spoof, Bananas and Laxatives. To summarise: Master Beef browses the shelves of the music and biography section of a bookshop looking for books on the Beatles*, and comes across The Unnecessary Sequel. He appears to take offence at its very existence, and then exits the shop, avoiding the roaming Potter fans as they cast spells on various things. He tracks down the location of the author: the Atlantic Ocean.

Michael Gerber is sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on a sofa, attempting to sell a drug called the Essence of Whoot to a pair of pug dogs. The sale is successful, and the pugs sail away in a large boot. Then Beef arrives, having got there by being fired out of a cannon. Beef's infuriation gives way as he then asks if he can be in Mike's next book. Then it ends.

The character Mike in The Aberration borrows from MG his general friendly demeanor, and over time this morphed into a non-confrontational, very polite character who'd really prefer it if everything that was happening to him wasn't doing so (a bit like MG remaining friendly even though I kept sending him emails). I made him a stand-up comedian based on an idea that he had been exiled from his home country for writing controvertial material (toilet-humour filled parodies, like MG), and his stand-up name, Mr Mike, is how I occasionally addressed MG when sending him my latest exciting message. I discovered a few months ago that the name Mr Mike has already been used by comedian Michael O'Donoghue, so that's not going to be reappearing in the rewrite. (In a second 'interview' I did with MG last year, I asked him if he would ever consider doing stand-up. He replied, 'God, no. I am much too shy.')

It was in this short story that the whole idea of Mike having crazy hair originated. I gave him long, purple hair as a joke because, as I stated in a footnote, I had no idea what the author actually looked like. In the court case in the Kommingle version of Chapter 3, Judge Tubby addresses him by his full name, Michael Jerblarg, which is just a hasty mutation of MG's name because I needed to give him a surname and couldn't think of anything else (I haven't decided yet whether or not to keep this surname for the new Fat Man version).

So anyway... Mike in The Aberration isn't a fictional version of Michael Gerber, although that's sort of how the character started out. Less so now more than ever, as his character continues to 'evolve' as time goes by, and, as I may have mentioned once or twice, there are going to be quite a few changes made in the near future too (least of all his nationality change, from American to British). But it just goes to show, characters and their various quirks can come about in so many different ways. This is probably one of the more unusual.

* Beef's supposed Beatles fandom came about when I was planning the sequel to Bananas and Laxatives. I'd recently heard the song I Am The Walrus, and wanted to include a talking walrus (that introduced itself with that very song name) in it. Making Beef a big Beatles fan just followed naturally. It just so happens, by complete coincidence, that Mike Gerber is a huge Beatles fan.

One of the early ideas I had for The Aberration was Mike and Beef staging a huge Beatles tribute concert as a massive diversion, allowing the others to sneak into the bad guys' headquarters and cause lots of trouble. I don't know how that would have really worked, but it seemed a good idea at the time. Agaffa's Miss Darley, having made a cameo appearance in the Kommingle version of Chapter 2 as an unpopular stand-up comedian, was going to return as the hilariously dreadful performer occupying the stage until Mike and Beef arrived and took over. Why so many people would have come to see her in the first place is something I hadn't quite figured out.

I didn't continue with the two characters' Beatles fandom in the end, mostly just out of forgetfulness. I think the song I've Just Seen A Face would fit perfectly at the end of the first chapter, though.

Labels: agaffa, halo, the aberration

# posted by Chris @ 10:25 PM

Lots of good stuff for you today (I was intending to get this posted on Friday, but... well, it's still Friday in Official Chris Time).

To start of with...




...some Starcustard concept art of Hepthazard, the spacestation. It is very, very big.

Amelia has also sent me some nice ideas for the Fat Man site design. We've discussed a few things and have come up with some neat stuff that will hopefully be possible, but we don't know yet.

Secondly, the first two chapters of City of Anarchy, with Chapter 2 being brand-spanking new. I know it's a little on the short side, but it's been a big last-minute rush to get everything finished for this update. I meant to get some of it done earlier on in the week, but after I've finished all my schoolwork, I'm always too tired to do anything else.

Now... this next thing is what this update is really all about. I've talked about it so very much, and now it's finally time for you to actually read the first bit of it.

I present to you... the NEW... The Aberration Chapter One: The Tramp.

All improved and refreshed. :) I think the old Kommingle version is still up if you feel like comparing the two.

DeviantArt will be where I post any updates of my independant projects until the site is launched.

And to finish off this rather spectacular update (by my standards, at least)... an announcement.

I will be teaming up with Holly Heuser, Michael Achtzehn, Sam Draxler and Amelia 'Aliens' Chesley to bring you the ambiguously named... Project CAM. All that remains to be said is: watch this space.

Labels: city of anarchy, project cam, sketches and doodles, starcustard, the aberration

# posted by Chris @ 12:29 AM 3 comments

In English class today, we were asked what we thought was more important when it came to creating a good story: writing from experience, or what the teacher called 'freefall imagination'.

I think 'freefall imagination' certainly describes my personal style of writing better. When the teacher was trying to explain what she meant, she told us that science fiction books with their huge concepts and ideas would be an example of where freefall imagination was prominent. I guess it's science fiction of sorts that I write, but I don't think it's just that which makes it so freefall. I love completely crazy and insane concepts, especially when I can just about pull them off and still make an enjoyable story that's not too confusing. I like to create worlds and chains of events that are almost always on the brink of chaos, and I want the reader to feel like they've been grabbed by the collar and pulled in after me, to enjoy the plummet and to hit the end at full speed having not been able to stop, to take a moment to recover and think about what just happened, and then to say, 'Woah...'. Whether or not I'm actually successful at this is another matter. This is, though, definitely what I aim for.

The main argument for writing from experience being more important would probably be because it helps make your story more believable, and it can help give your characters depth. Freefall imagination is definitely what's needed when it comes to spaceslugs and cannibal drag queens, but maybe the crazy ideas I have for characters are based upon certain traits I've seen in people I've met in real life. There's no way you can create a truly interesting character with more than two dimensions without basing them on something you've encountered in a person you've met, seen or heard, even if the character has these aspects greatly exaggerated. And a good story does need interesting characters. The same goes with how believable situations you put your characters in are. And if you're going to give your story some moral or philosophical message... well, you're going to have to have lived your life and arrived at them yourself before you start dishing them out.

I think it depends on what kind of story you're writing. In my case, freefall imagination is extremely important, but I think writing from experience is equally as important, especially as I try to include a lot of humour, a lot of which comes from characters, as well as amusing concepts.

The life experience versus freefall can apply to other things, too. Like art (I've just been talking about it to Holly, and her art is definitely freefall).

Which would you say is more important for you?

Labels: boardfic, starcustard

# posted by Chris @ 9:23 PM 5 comments

'My very very long summer was not nearly long enough,' said I. 'Floaty Wise Thing, do I have to go back?'

'Would you really rather stay here, going nowhere and doing nothing with your life?' asked the Floaty Wise Thing.

I pondered this for a moment. Then I said, 'Yes.'

The Floaty Wise Thing looked at the journey ahead. 'It doesn't look that bad.'

I sighed irritably. 'It is the worst metaphor I have ever experienced,' I said. 'And what are you supposed to be, anyway?'

'A thing that is floaty and wise,' said the Floaty Wise Thing. 'I thought that was obvious.'

'Pfft,' I said. 'And I suppose you're going to abandon me again?'

'Look,' said the Floaty Wise Thing, a little testily, 'you can't have a metaphor for examinations where there's a Floaty Wise Thing at your side! That's called cheating.'

'Pfft.'

'Let's get going,' said the Floaty Wise Thing. 'I'm in a bad mood and don't feel like talking anymore.'

'What's that a metaphor for?'

'Shut up.'

Labels: floaty wise things

# posted by Chris @ 6:47 PM 9 comments