Author Archives: Sam

Preparation is Key

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I’ve a feeling that this October blog challenge may just turn into a string of posts talking about NaNo or writing in general. This blog is not my first blog but it’s the first one to survive and be semi-consistently updated. I achieved that by giving it a focus which has pretty much just been video games with a few TV/Film reviews thrown in. I don’t exactly have a readership to alienate, and I guess if writing takes it’s rightful place as my main focus, then it’s no bad thing. Only time will tell for sure.

Anyway, today’s topic is going to be about prep work. Now personally I am terrible at prep work when it comes to anything. A few months ago I decorated my house and partway through the prep work I got impatient, I just wanted to dive in and start with the painting already. I have a similar flaw when it comes to writing. I want to dive in and start writing before I’ve finished the planning. I would not recommend this.

There are a lot of different techniques out there when it comes to planning your novel. What works for me, won’t work for other people. Some writers like to plan every last detail, others just have a general direction and write whatever comes to mind. There’s no right or wrong. However, in this post I’ll obviously just talk about what works for me.

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Minipost – My NaNo Survival Kit

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A friend of mine posted in the “NaNo Survival Kit Anyone?” thread, on the NaNo forums, which I won’t link to as the forums are getting wiped next week. They wrote a long list of all the things they had been gathering ready for November, everything except planning their novel apparently.

Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to write today, I know it’s day four and I’m already having trouble – this is a bad sign – but at least I’m forcing something out. It’s a minipost and it’s on NaNo which truth be told is consuming more and more of my thoughts as the days go by. Last year it was NaNo and I should have been looking forward to it and I kinda wasn’t, this year I think I’m making up for that meh of last year.

I don’t want to jinx myself but I’m cautiously optimistic that my brain can be retrained. It’s had a couple of years of only thinking about TV, which is probably why last years NaNo was so painful. However, everytime I start thinking about Stargate I’m forcing myself back to asking questions about my novel. I’ve actually managed to quasi-concentrate on that the last couple of days. True I’ve been working as well, so my hands have been busy doing repetitive production work which has perhaps helped focus my mind. Who knows but hopefully I can keep it up. I would like a solid plan this year. Last years fell apart about 500 words in (ok that’s an exaggeration but not by much) and it was brute force that finished it. I don’t want to do that again.

Erm, ok I just seriously got off topic. Back to the survival kit, what do I need/want to have in November.
– Previous years winners t-shirt. I have 4 of these now but only 2012 and 2013 are comfortable to wear as I may have possibly … erm … /hides … put on a bit of weight. Let’s kinda gloss over that and just say winner’s t-shirt to wear during writing time.
– NaNo sweater as I get cold and if I have to cover up my winner’s t-shirt it needs to be with this as a sign that I’m writing. I actually change for a writing session. I suppose it also makes for a visible “do not bother me” sign.
– My NaNo travel mug. I would like a proper mug but they didn’t do them when I bought this one and then the only mug they had in stock last year isn’t dishwasher safe. Anyway I like to have my coffee in this, bonus it stays hot for a long time if I forget to drink it and it’s portable.
– NaNo poster on the wall. There is a sort of theme here. I like to surround myself with NaNo paraphernalia, as if to say “yes, it is that time of year” as it’s like decorating for Christmas, only NaNo is a ‘holiday’ I actually like. I won’t be able to put this up this year as we’re selling the house, so I will have to do without.
– Apocalyptica playing on iTunes. It’s mostly instrumental and it’s also like a film score, only without that mental link to any specific film, so it works like a soundtrack to what I’m writing. Plus I only listen to this when I’m writing so I have a mental association, this is playing, I need to be typing.
– A solid novel plan, preferably bullet pointed scenes, so I can check them off and know what’s happening next. This actually forces me to write some days as I don’t have to think of what to write. This is part of the reason last year was so painful, I didn’t plan properly. I can add scenes in as I go if something needs to be put in, but I need my outline.
– Trillian running for the OA IRC chat. I don’t talk much but I just love having it open. Some say the OA crowd puts them off, as they can’t match up, well just by soaking up the atmosphere I’m inspired to try harder. I doubt I will ever join their ranks, though I would certainly like to, but they kept me going to 50k last year and I needed that.

That might be it actually; NaNo paraphernalia, a solid outline, music and OA chat. Pretty much all I have to prepare for the ‘kit’ is the outline so NaNo prep is in full swing. I really need to do a better job on the plan than last year.

Not much of a post today. I will try and think of a proper topic for tomorrow but at least I actually wrote something, maybe if I can force myself to write something everyday this month, then I will do the same for NaNo, rather than taking weeks off and crazy catch up which is not a good way to do it. Some kind of routine would be better.

The Meaning of NaNoWriMo

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I first heard of NaNo in October 2007, just days before that years event began. It was on The Fanlistings messageboard. I’d always loved to write but I’d become a bit of a “one day” writer. I would occasionally write some notes on a story but I would never actually start writing. NaNo has a specific quote which targets the “one day” writer, it was enough to convince me. After all, on the surface, what NaNo provides most is a deadline.

I ‘failed’ that first NaNo and at the same time I didn’t. I only wrote 20k instead of the 50k that the challenge sets but I wrote 20k, that was 20k I didn’t have before I chose to try NaNo. Even more than that the reason I only got 20k was because the story I was writing fell apart around me. I learned a lot from the ‘failure’ and so really it wasn’t a failure, as there was a lot of progress.

I won’t lie and say that it was a revelation, that failure and success could be the same. When it comes to writing I understand that but when it comes to applying that to other mishaps in life, well they just seem like total failures. However, NaNo is different, it’s special. I’ve said a few times that it is my favourite time of year and that is true. Every year after NaNo I resolve to try and keep the NaNo spirit throughout the year, so far I’ve failed but the best thing about NaNo is it comes round every year, I can always try again.

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Is Warcraft Worth It?

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The Grumpy Elf recently wrote a post where he asked the question “Is Warcraft Worth It?”. For him he said it was, as he played far more than 15 hours a month, so the ratio of dollars spent to hours played, was very favourable. He said that his price point, was that if it was $1/hour, or less, then it was worth it.

I commented on the post, and I think that I probably didn’t make much sense. Basically what I was trying to say is that on a pure numbers basis Warcraft might be worth it, but does it feel worth it? With that in mind, I thought it would make a good basis for my post today. Have to write about something after all.

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Stargate Worlds

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Note: This was written in September. I was holding the post in reserve but with the challenge I’m just posting it now.

There have been a number of attempts at making a video game based on the Stargate series. For one reason or another all of these attempts ended in failure. Part of the attraction of a game like Marvel Heroes is running around Avengers Tower, or the Shield Hellicarrier. Likewise with Swtor, the environment is very recognisable. It’s like diving into and becoming part of your favourite universe.

Don’t get me wrong the IP isn’t enough, the game has to stand on it’s own. I tried out Star Trek Online, played for half an hour and deleted the game. I didn’t like it at all, it wasn’t fun and being Star Trek based wasn’t enough.

Anyway, there was once an MMO in development based on the Stargate IP called Stargate Worlds. There’s few if any details about it, though it did get far enough along in the dev process that there were screenshots to be seen. However, this post isn’t about what Stargate Worlds was, or might have been, it’s about what I would have done, or would do if MGM rang me and said “design an MMO based on Stargate”. Much like how I’ve spent time thinking about how I’d develop/reboot the franchise, I’ve thought about how a game would work.

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NaBloPoMo – October Experiment

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I blogged more in September than I have in a while and I only wrote six posts. However, most of those fell at the end of the month so when my friend asked me “what are you doing?” and I said “writing a blog post”, it seemed like I was doing it a lot. They asked me whether writing a blog post helped me with my main goal of writing fiction. I didn’t know what the answer was. I think I said something about it at minimum being good practice for NaNo, as the typing would exercise my hands.

However, I thought about this last night, so yes this is very much a spur of the moment idea, and I wondered if maybe it would help with writing generally. It’s NaNo next month, my favourite time of year, and as I do every year I hope that I will turn a corner. I want to write, I need to make time to write, I need to make myself write even when I don’t want to. I won’t get anywhere if I don’t.

In the past I once started a fanfiction to ‘warm-up’ for NaNo, as I hadn’t written since the previous November. That fanfic got abandoned at October’s end and hasn’t been touched since which I hate, I don’t like leaving things unfinished. How about a different way to ‘warm-up’? If I make time to blog everyday then it’ll be good practice. It’ll also force my brain to actually think, something it needs help with.

I have a blogpost I was holding in reserve. As once I got a few ideas, and updated a lot, I thought that I should slow down, pace the updates a little better, so that they wouldn’t all get used up and then this blog turn into a ghost town again. However, the challenge is to “blog everyday”, not “write multiple posts in one day, save them up and post them each day”. Although admittedly the latter is usually how I approach NaNo. I get a good headstart, then I take a couple of days off, then I write some more, then I take a week off, then I have manic catchup days etc. which isn’t a good way to write. Routine would be better, a commitment every single day to making progress. So I won’t hold that blogpost in reserve. This mini-post will count as today’s entry, and the larger full entry will just get posted.

30 more days left in October, 30 posts. That will certainly give my brain something to think about, especially as half the reason this blog has been so quiet for a while is lack of post ideas. Still it’s an experiment, we’ll see how well it works.

The 2015 Advance Pack

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Marvel Heroes is a free to play game but nothing in life is free. I wrote a post some time back talking about how I personally felt I got more out of the game, by spending a little. So it’s no secret that I’ve spent money on this ‘free’ game. I think I may also have said in that post, and if I didn’t then I’ll say it here, that I much prefer this free to play, spend what you want business model.

What you pay and when is entirely down to you. The choice is yours, if you choose not to pay anything then all the content is still available. You can play the game from here until it shuts down (which is hopefully a long time from now) without spending a dime, or anything more beyond your initial investment if you choose to pay something. Contrast this with Warcraft where you have to pay for the game, then keep paying to access the game. If you don’t keep paying then you are shut out, unable to access what you have already paid for.

Anyway, recently Marvel Heroes announced their second Deluxe Advance Pack for the upcoming year. I bought the one for this year and I’ve been really pleased with it, so getting this next one was an easy decision. In fact bizarrely for a ‘free to play’ game, my biggest regret with Marvel Heroes is that I didn’t discover the fact that it existed until launch. As I definitely would have been interested in the Ultimate Pack, that was one hell of a deal.

That’s beside the point so back to it. There’s this thread on the Marvel Heroes forums where a poster basically says that they don’t like the 12 heroes chosen for the pack. It could have been a good thread where people posted their ideal pack, but given the aggressive and negative tone he took, it was more of an attack than a fun “what would you have liked?” thread. So I didn’t respond to it but it made me wonder. I like the pack as it is, but if I’d been a Gaz dev having to choose the lineup, what would I have picked?

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Minipost – Guild Wars 2

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I looked at Guild Wars 2 before it was released. There was a lot of hype about it and I was curious. A friend of mine was really interested in it and couldn’t wait for release. However, my curiosity wasn’t enough to overcome the barrier to entry. I had no idea if I would like the game, there was no free trial and a hefty box price. So I decided to wait until there was a free trial to see if I liked it before I paid for it.

That was a good call.

I know the game was released two years ago. There have been a number of free trial weeks and offers during that time. However, this week starting today was the first one I learned of in time. I started to download the game yesterday and it took hours. I should check actually how much hard drive space it requires as I had to leave the PC on overnight in order to download it, it was only at 60% when I went to bed. However, it was completed this morning and the trial began so I logged in.

What did I think?

Well for my birthday in May friends of mine had bought me the original Guild Wars. They love that game and wanted to share it with me. However, I didn’t like it. It reminded me far more of Diablo than it did of Warcraft and not in a good way. I found the combat unintuitive and strange. I didn’t like the UI and the graphics, well it is an old game. I thought that Guild Wars 2 being much newer would be better, well it wasn’t.

For anyone that liked the original Guild Wars then I’m sure that Guild Wars 2 felt familiar and comfortable. I didn’t like Guild Wars and after playing Guild Wars 2 for just half an hour I was sure that I didn’t like the new version any better. The graphics are improved but the movement is the same jerky, smooth (I’m aware that’s a contradiction), unconnected, headache inducing. The combat is the same, I can’t get into it or understand it. The UI is the same mess, unfamiliar and unwelcoming.

I know I should probably give it more time but those first 20 minutes are important. There’s a developer feedback thread on Marvel Heroes forums asking about how to improve those first 20 minutes. Where people either become fans or get put off the game altogether and that is absolutely true. My first 20 minutes of the Warcraft free trial saw me buy the base game, and expansions and set up a subscription. Now Warcraft has a lot of problems as a game, don’t get me wrong but it was the first real game I played. I wasn’t a gamer when I was introduced to Warcraft, everything was new and strange but it was also comfortable. I could work it out, it made sense and it flowed well in a way that Guild Wars just doesn’t.

The free trial of Guild Wars 2 continues for another week but I doubt I’ll login again. I’ll delete the game from my computer and put a big mental cross next to the game. There is nothing about it that I like. I’m glad for the opportunity of the free trial as my curiosity has now been satisfied. Guild Wars is not for me and never will be.

Agents of Shield: The Second Season

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Let’s be honest Agents of Shield had a pretty rough first season. If it hadn’t been for the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which changed everything, then the show might not have picked up and might have never been renewed.

However, The Winter Soldier did change everything, the show did go from strength to strength culminating in one of the best season finales I’ve ever seen. It was renewed and the first episode of the second season has now aired and wow, what a season premiere. It definitely picks up from where season one ended, determined to put Agents of Shield on the map as an incredible TV show.

Spoilers under the cut. You have been warned.

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The importance of secondary characters

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I finally got the DVD set for Stargate: Atlantis. I posted about it on twitter and listed some of the characters that made Atlantis great. I then looked back at my tweet and realised something. Only one of the characters mentioned had ever been in the credits, the rest were just recurring guest stars.

There’s this TV show Alias. I’ve mentioned it a few times I think as it proved inspiring for this novel I’ve been attempting to write for years. However, one of the points about Alias that I always laugh about is that it’s a hard show to actually watch. The headcanon I have for Alias works much better than the actual show. Why? Because I loathe the main characters. I can not stand Sydney or Vaughn.

Obviously I like the main characters in Atlantis but that doesn’t stop me from sometimes wishing that the secondary characters got more screentime, and a little more respect. There’s a running gag in Atlantis that no-one likes Zelenka and I don’t understand why. He’s a genuinely nice guy, a good scientist, a loyal friend, has none of Rodney’s arrogance. He gets the job done but no-one likes him or trusts him. It’s because he’s a secondary character, they can make fun of him and we’re not supposed to care – but I do care.

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