The Journey You Sadly Missed

Well contrary to yesterday’s hopes, I never coloured Lonyo. I got on with some of the writing for Laythan's path. Its amazing to think that all I’ve got left of it is a few thousand words. And its weird to think no one here has been along for the journey. It won’t be al that long till I start on the illustration and concept art for it!
But writing the peak of a story takes time and a lot of care so it’s still going to take some time. At this stage on 93713 words I think it’s fair to predict that Laythan's path is going to be 100000 words give or take a thousand, providing I don’t add any more scenes. Then will come the lengthy process of editing and fine tuning...

I think since none of you were really invited to be a part of this path its only fair that I say a few things about it that you wouldn’t know.

Firstly, I should say that all of my stories seem to revolve around the value of human lives and this one is no different. In fact I'd say it really becomes one of the main themes. After all it’s not an easy question; imagine if you had to determine its worth? 
The other main theme is also common to all my stories and is, somewhat predictably, friendship. It's difficult to take on establishment or make a big difference with no support so all the characters in this visual novel and all my other fiction keep their friends close like family. I think D'rosk is going to be the only semi-exception because he is, by and large, a loner. 
Even the music I listened to during the writing of this path suited the friendship theme. Many of you will have heard of With You Friends by Skrillex (if not, go have a gander). It’s been somewhat like a theme song throughout because it has no distracting lyrics, is mellow enough to write to and has the nostalgic feeling that comes with lifelong friendship. It hasn’t been inspirational as such but it’s been apt.

On the subject of music, this path was the very first story I ever worked on that wasn’t inspired by a vast array of music. In the past I have listened to opera, metal, rock, dance, Spanish rnb and all sorts to inspire plots, characters and character relationships. Artists such as P.O.D, Josh Groban, Soilwork, Within Temptation, and Hans Zimmer have so far been the driving force behind all my work until this one. Because I was put on the spot to come up with something, it was created through the age old process of spending too long thinking in the shower. It took all of 20 minutes to come up with the basic idea. Unlike a lot of writers I don’t come up the solution to a story first. I play it out as if I was the reader and look for the loopholes I've left behind.
Anyway, rather than music inspiring a story I found the story was driving me to find new songs that would suit it. That way I could listen to them while I wrote and stay in the right mindset. The previous song is the first example. Another two (rather embarrassing) examples would be Power and Warrior by a newly debuted kpop band called B.A.P. Ignoring the desperate attempts to sound cool and the dodgy dancing, I think its obvious why both of these felt right to listen to. Power in particular has some nice futuristic sets which fits quite nicely. Out of all the things I listened to, When They Come for Me by Linkin Park was the best fitting. It helped me visualise the characters and some of the action scenes more clearly, and not just for Laythan's path but for all of them.

So apart from themes and music there’s more that you've missed. I did a few biro scribbles on an old school book I found under my bed and it sort of helped things along a bit so I thought I would share one with you.

This one was a quick squiggle I did when I was thinking about Laythan and what I was going to do with his design. I was picturing him wondering around the festering streets, blending in and keeping a sharp eye out for useful contacts with his hood up and his face hidden. It’s nothing special but it did sort of give me a kick up the backside about getting his design sorted out once and for all. (His design can be found on the character page). There were a few more of these (if you look carefully you can actually see the faint marks of one that the scanner picked up on the other side of the paper). And one of them actually helped me to figure out a solution to a specific predicament the characters faced. So for any artists reading this - never underestimate the importance of a 2 minute biro scribble!

Anyway, onto the next subject - While I was making this path I had a bit of a dilemma. I kept realising I wanted to add more and more scenes (and I still do) however, I wasn’t sure how many was too many. For now it's looking to be roughly the same length as the 3rd Harry potter book, which to me seems a good length, but after putting a lot of thought into the matter I decided I simply couldn’t care less. What matters is that the story flows and each scene is high quality and enjoyable. Any writers out there should remember it’s not the word count that makes a great story.

As to the Visual Novel itself, I think Laythan's path is my favourite. However I think I'm biased because it’s the only one that’s near completion. There’s a high chance Rheeven's could surpass it. And that doesn’t count for anything because D'rosk’s is still hazy and could turn out to be the king of all stories... who knows? So ignoring my biased views on the matter I think this story was nothing more than a shell when I first began writing it. It was just terrible. It lacked any emotion, real setting, and good characters and there was nothing to make you really care what happens. But I really started to get involved it and suddenly I really cared for the characters and the dilemmas they faced. I started writing in some tension and atmosphere, though only a little because that’s what the art is for. Still, I think it really made all the difference. Now I can really believe in the worlds they live in and the people they meet and I feel like I'm involved in their journey.

So those are a few things you might not have known. There was a lot more but I won’t bore you with the whole thing!