I've been working with a beta reader on the Twilight Chronicles: Dawn manuscript, and the experience has been positive. I managed to find someone who understood what I'm trying to do with the story and is willing to do line by line editing, which is so vital for me because it gives me a better idea on how people dissect my writing.

I've also made some changes to plot and cleared up plot inconsistencies I apparently didn't pick up on through the many re-writes I've made to the story. She has also pointed out areas the story is weak in, so I can fix them.

Sadly, I doubt any of the improvements will make the manuscript accepted by agents. I've come to this realization when so many agents rejected the query letter or they rejected the first chapter (which I'm very, very sure has no errors that should cause anyone to automatically reject it).

I'm considering self-publishing through Lightning Source. I've been unable to get into contact with the artist who drew the cover I commissioned years ago, so I'm going to see if I can find another artist to draw the page illustrations. The book really needs to be like a Japanese light novel in order to find the audience I'm going for and if I'm going to self-publish it, I'm going to make sure it's done right.

In other news, I've been converting the d20 SRD documents into a tabletop RPG based on the novel. It won't be compatible with d20-- it uses d6 die and I've greatly simplified rules for things like grappling-- but it'll be familiar enough that anyone who has played d20 should pick it up easily. A side benefit from writing the RPG is that I can have an organized place for information about the novel: the spell names, how magic works, information about kingdoms and locations, etc etc. I don't expect the game to become popular, but if anyone likes the novel they might enjoy the RPG book simply for the story background information included in it.

As for me, writing an RPG based on the story has helped me solidify some of the details about the world, and I can use the RPG to help me decide what direction to take the sequels in and ensure they are consistent.

I will say this though; I'm so bloody tired of designing massive games like this. It takes so many hours and so much research. I spent four hours today just trying to find the right German words for a couple magic spells because I got it into my head that this school of magic should use German words for spell names.

The last time I did anything this huge was when I designed an entire MMORPG for a company I formed with some friends-- and then during the alpha testing, half the team made ridiculous demands and acted like drama whores and everything fell apart. My only comfort this time around is that I get to put my name on the front cover and once I've done my job, no one can interfere with it seeing the light of day.

(I've actually incorporated a lot of that MMORPG project's game world into the Twilight Chronicles world)

I'll most likely release the gamebook as  PDF file, and if it is successful, POD hard copies through Lightning Source. I'm not even going to bother trying to find a publisher for this because I don't think I'll sell that many copies to begin with.

An 'Allan Burger', which is what my father called a cheeseburger hamburger with an egg cooked into it. It's the most delicious hamburger in the world.

I suppose I'll also have a gigantic chocolate milkshake, and a side order of jo-jos (fried potato wedges) and fried chicken hearts. No need to worry about calories when you're gonna die.

Let me count the ways.

#1: I can never use you to type up blogs ahead of time so that I can take advantage of your spell-check and grammar features. Every time I copy text from you and then post into a blog form, a bunch of gibberish is the result.

#2: Every time I copy and paste text from one of your documents into another, the indentation of several paragraphs is changed. These changed paragraphs seem to be determined randomly. It is quite irritating. A 100 page document becomes a 104 page document because of the changes.

#3: You seem to believe "laying" and "lying" are the same words, and sometimes tell me that I'm incorrectly using them. When I want someone to be telling lies, you tell me they should be laying down.

#4: Your help file is unhelpful. The search feature is able to locate everything except what I want to know. It took me half an hour just to figure out the small blue question mark hidden at the top right of the screen is the button for accessing the help menu.

#5: The new user interface is more complicated than it needs to be. I was happy with the simple drop down menus and popups. Why does everything need to be in a frame? Every time I try to find a feature, I feel like I'm Indiana Jones trying to solve a puzzle by randomly pushing hieroglyphic buttons to see what happens.

#6: You appear to have lost the ability to embed images into documents, not just link to them. At least, the help file doesn't make any mention of where this function went. This makes it harder for me to write my encyclopedia project.

#7: I had trained your predecessor to recognize the correct spellings of a wide range of mythological characters. Now I have to train you. Blah.

#8: While reading through my manuscript, I continue to find errors that I am absolutely positive that I fixed on a previous edit. Seriously, what the hell?

#9: In one document, you told me 'dieing' was a real word. It was not until I posted that paragraph into another word file that I realized I misspelled it. Why do you have no consistency with your spell check feature?!

I ended up purchasing you because my other hard-drive is incompatible with my new motherboard (SAS!) and I didn't have the Office XP CD anymore. As soon as I am able, I'm going to replace you with 2007, or whatever will be the newer version when I'm able to afford another word processor. Perhaps even Office XP if that one sucks as much as you do.

From the blog article "Harry Potter and the Evil Adverbs",

"She doesn't need to tell us that Aunt Petunia said something "snidely" to Harry or that Mrs. Weasley said something "anxiously" as she was looking for others on a busy train platform. We know enough about the characters she's created and the scenes that she's set that we get it. In fact if you think about it, using adverbs is rather insulting. It's as if Rowling doesn't think her readers are bright enough to catch the subtleties she's written. You're also not giving yourself enough credit, Ms. Rowling. You don't need those nasty adverbs. See compliments above."

As best I can gather, the only problem some authors have with using adverbs is because of that single sentence, and that idea has nothing to do with the author of the work they are reading, and everything to do about themselves.

What kind of self-righteous jerk reads a book and tries to judge how the author perceives the reader by how they've written the book? What does that really have to do with anything? That's isn't reading a book with the desire to read the story. That's reading between the lines and trying to find some fault with it. How can you enjoy a story if you won't allow yourself to?

The purpose of adverbs is to make writing descriptive. That's why they exist in the English language and are commonly used. Writing should not be an interpretive experience where the reader is free to imagine the world without any clearly defined description. Trying to argue otherwise is to say you don't want to tell a story at all.

I don't care what great writers disagree with me about the usefulness of adverbs. Stephen King and Mark Twain are great writers and they have written great stories, but they are not the gods of the English language. Nor is J.K. Rowling. What they are is authors who have successfully written books and built large fanbases, and to ignore that many millions of readers like adverbs while simultaneously declaring the use of adverbs is "bad writing" just because so and so says using some words in the Engish language is lazy, is just silly.

There are sentences in Harry Potter books where the humor wouldn't have came through if those adverbs weren't there. That humor is important in the story-telling. The adverbs are used to give the world an almost cartoon feel, which is an important element of the world building. The characters are exaggerations, a kind of caricature. There is something very, very entertaining about observing those kinds of characters and that should not be underestimated, especially in books written for children.

I came across a blog entry by Anna Tambour titled Adverb Apoplecstacy and I agree with the majority of what she has written except I do think one hundred years later, people will still be reading Stephen King. They'll probably still be making films about his books too.

Stephen King is a good story-telling and there is no arguing that. The point is only that one author's eccentric style and method for writing should not be applied to all stories everywhere, and I think Mr. King would agree with that. Despite the use of adverbs, he's a fan of the Harry Potter books too.

I hate showing my writing to authors, especially unpublished ones.

I blame creative writing workshops and books for this. When every writer is using Self-Editing for Fiction Writers to determine how to structure their manuscript, will the resulting story be innovative or homogenized? I lean toward homogenized.

It is often said "You must know the rules to know how to break them." I think this is bullshit. The reason? These "rules" did not exist when J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings-- which is why his work goes against a large portion of these style rules and was not harmed by them.

The Unwarranted Hate Against Exposition (often labeled "Infodumping")

Infodumping (a term that sounds derogatory since the word 'dump' brings to mind trash and fecal matter) is always bad, says the thinktank of creative writing workshops and books today.

All information should be slowly spread throughout a story, never in "large chunks". Don't make anything you write too wordy. Purple prose is always silly. Writing shouldn't look like poetry, one of the oldest forms of story-telling in the world.

Nevermind that a large portion of The Time Machine uses infodumping in narration. People don't like to read it, they just like to buy it and tell other people to read it.

We should also try not to use too many big words in a single paragraph, because literate people are stupid and can't understand sentence structuring more complicated than Dr. Seus.

I imagine if Tolkien tried to submit his Fellowship of the Ring manuscript today he would be strongly encouraged to cut out entire chapters and nearly every bit of backstory Gandalf speaks would need to be re-written into some kind of action-packed sequence. The story probably wouldn't even begin with Bilbo's birthday parties, since the scenes lack intensity. The first chapter also wouldn't skip forward twelve years on the second page, because that is "backstory".

The current thinktalk would want the story to begin with Gandalf sweeping into Frodo's house and throwing the ring into the fire. "That's where the story really begins," they would say.

No, that isn't where the story begins.

The story begins where Tolkien started the story, and it fits an established pattern for starting stories; "The Call to Adventure".

What is The Call to Adventure? It's a model from the monomyth theory of storytelling (the monomyth being a model that examined mythological stories to find similarities). It involves the protagonist beginning their adventure and leaving behind the "mundane world". It includes the need to establish the mundane world so the differences between it and the "world of adventure" are clear.

This is the problem with applying models when you don't fully understand them. "The Call to Adventure" seems to have been taken at face value without actually understanding what the label means.

"It says 'adventure', so that must mean the story must start right when the adventure does!"

No, that isn't what it means, at all.

Normally, the mundane world needs some establishment.


The problem I see is that many writers today are using cookie cutters on works of fiction that they got from some agent or author's blog, book or writing workshop in an attempt to homogenize the story. They do this under the impression it will "get them published", since similar stories like that have been published.  They are told to dislike certain narration techniques because of what a small number of people like and dislike, and ignore what everyone else likes.

However, if Tolkien followed their style rules, the flavor of his novel would be changed. It wouldn't read the same. It's difficult for me to believe a novel with a different flavor would produce the same amount of popularity. It is doubtful it would be as timeless as it is today.

J.K. Rowling breaks some of their style rules in her first Harry Potter novel. According to the current thinktank, the book should have started out "where the real story is". Applying their model, The Sorcerer's Stone doesn't start with Dumbledore and McGonagall talking about the backstory involving Voldemort and Harry's parents. Nor would it have a point of view from Uncle Verne and his distaste of all things abnormal.

According to the modern thinktank's model, it would start with Harry Potter receiving a letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, and then whisk him off on a magical adventure into a new world, with nothing of the muggle world explored or described.

I believe much of the flavor of the story would be lost if Rowling took their advice. Harry Potter may not have been as successful if she did that. In my opinion, it is because of the detailed and often humorous "backstory", or "character chit chat" (which doesn't really move the story forward but nevertheless makes the story interesting and funny) that makes it a wonderful read.

By watching the films, you can see the detrimental effect of applying this kind of cookie-cutter to the Harry Potter stories. Entire characters become removed or merged. Plot details are left out. Personalities change. Well written, entertaining and funny chapters that give important backstory get chopped into a single infododump of dialogue that still manages to leave important details out.

(The Harry Potter and Lord of the Ring films have managed to be decent films despite the alterations. Other films based on books, such as Eragon and The Seeker, have not been as fortunate.)

In the case of the first chapters of Book 1, the "backstory" they would cut out is actually the establishment of the mundane world Harry is leaving behind. It happens at the start of every book. It's formulaic, but rather successful because it establishes familiarity for the reader, creating a bond with a non-existent person.

We live in the mundane world.

We all want to leave the mundane world.

When a character leaves a mundane world and entes a world of adventure, we the readers leave the mundane world and enter a world of adventure.

Yet, the current thinktank believes every story should start 'in medias res', in the middle of action because all readers today have the attention spans of a water flea. (What a negative opinion to have of the people you want to buy your books!)

Not to say that you can't start a book in the middle of action. I'm just saying that shouldn't be the only acceptable way to start a story. I often get the feeling some stories could have greatly benefited from exposition at the start, before tossing the reader into some foreign world where they have to re-read sentences in an effort to understand what the hell is going on.

Exposition isn't bad.

Exposition is what makes The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy funny, interesting, and original.

The Star Wars films start with an infodump. Audiences don't seem to mind.

Silly Lists That are Ultimately Meaningless

Not long ago, there was a thing with agents at one of these writer's conferences where agents talked about what makes them stop reading.

In order to illustrate how petty some of their comments are, I've linked to books these agents would have rejected if they really used these guidelines:

10. Overdone description that doesn’t move the story forward

All Harry Potter Books REJECTED!

Lord of the Rings REJECTED!

Heart of Darkness, REJECTED!

Stephen King's It, REJECTED!

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, REJECTED!

9. Spoon-feeding the reader what the character is thinking

Moby Dick, REJECTED!

8. Having the characters address each other repeatedly by name, as in, “John, let’s go!”

Of Mice and Men, REJECTED!

Journey to the Center of the Earth, REJECTED!

7. Introducing a character with first and last name, as in, “John Smith entered the room.”

The Picture of Dorian Gray, REJECTED!

Emma, REJECTED!

Sense and Sensibility, REJECTED!

Around the World in Eighty Days, REJECTED!

6. Beginning a story with dialogue

I'm not sure why this was mentioned. I'm sure they are out there, but I can't recall a book that opens with dialogue, so there can't be many of them out there.

5. Opening with a cliché

What is cliché and why is it necessarily bad?

Is it cliché to begin a story with a piece of fictional writing, as was very popular throughout the 18th and 19th century, as shown in such works such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's 'A Modern Prometheus' (aka Frankstein) and Johathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels?

What about the current trend of starting stories in the middle of action? That could be cliché .

The Iliad starts with a prayer to the Muses, which was a popular way to start stories in Homer's age. Is that cliché? Does that mean The Iliad is bad?

A Wrinkle in Time opens with the ultimate novel cliché: It was a dark and stormy night. Yet more than thirty years after it was first published, I still find reprints in bookstores.

4. Yanking the reader out of the action with backstory

A Tale of Two Cities, REJECTED!

Les Miserables, REJECTED!

Oliver Twist, REJECTED!

Lolita, REJECTED!

3. Not giving the reader a sense of place or where the story is going

The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, REJECTED! (seriously, Huck breaks the third wall at the start of the story!)

2. Characters are MIA until bottom of page 2

20,00 Leagues under the Sea, REJECTED!

1. Telling instead of showing

See my comments on exposition above.

Many of these works are considered important pieces of literature that have had a huge impact on human culture. Who is to say that there will not be future stories written in similar ways that could have great impact on our culture? The idea that these masterpieces might be rejected for silly reasons and not given their time to shine is a scary one. What stories are we, the public, missing out on because of a handful of fickle people who aren't reading stories but checking to see if they conform to a narrow list of pre-determined criteria that goes well beyond spelling, grammar and punctuation and into a sea of pet peeves that are not backed by market research?

If anything, market research proves their opinions are wrong.

There are agents who reject manuscripts where dialogue doesn't start within two pages. I supposed these agents would have foolishly rejected Stephen King's It, which has no dialogue until the bottom of the third page.

Because this is the year 2009 and not 1754, you'd think by now we would have realized homogenizing writing makes writing bland and uninteresting to read. Aside from correct spelling, punctuation and grammar, there should be no clearly defined laws on how to write a good story. There should only be loosely-defined techniques that have been used to create stories, and the author should be free to use these techniques in any combination they like to tell their story. That is how new techniques are discovered. That is how timeless stories are created. Do you think Jane Austen was concerned about whether repeatedly writing the first and last name of characters would distract readers? A better question should be, "Should Jane Austen even have cared?".

It has been said that writers need not please everyone, only the person buying their story. When I hear someone say this, what they are implying is the publisher is the person purchasing their story, but I disagree: if you want to have any longevity as an author, who you should be pleasing is the typical reader who doesn't know anything about the many theories of writing stories, and is only looking for an entertaining piece of literature to occupy their time.

When I read a story, I apply a Zen philosophy to my reading: I do not think about how I would have written the story. I do not check to ensure it conforms to what I read from a creative writing guide book, or heard some agent talk about.

I only focus on the words the author wrote on the page.

I can recognize stories that follow the currently popular  thinktank model, but usually only after the fact.

I don't enjoy the cookie cutters. I have a hard time forgetting that I'm reading a book because they lack detail, or don't provide enough, or just sound too similar to one another.

A good book will transport you into another world, if you'd only let it do so.

It's hard to be transported to another world when you are too focused on comparing the paragraphs to one model of writing, and dissecting it bit by bit, never experiencing the work as a whole like it was intended to be.

These cookie cutter books read more like a film screenplay and less like a novel. Screenplays do not often list many details because the medium is different-- much of the detail will be shown in what the camera captures. Describing anything in detail just wastes paper and makes it harder for the production crew to do their job since they have to wade through words to find the bare minimum details they need.

Novels are different-- you must build the environment in the reader's head.


You could try to make the argument that what worked for past authors will not work for current or future authors because the English language has "advanced"-- but has it really? How has it advanced? Structurally, it is the same. We have some new words and new cultures have given us new dialects of speaking these words, but the language itself and how it has been used is precisely the same. Are we so arrogant to think that the way we write today is so superior to the way our forefathers and foremothers did? Even when those older works are more widely read than the newer stories written by the modern so-called "creative writing experts"?


I said at the beginning of this essay that I hate showing my writing to other authors. The reason is because I rarely encounter authors who can forget they are authors, and just read a story like they did when they were a child, before they had ever written a story themselves.

Authonomy had the right idea.

So did Tokyopop.

They both created Web 2.0 sites where users could submit their work and this work could be reviewed and voted on by others.

But here is the problem with their Web 2.0 projects:

They don't encourage readers to read and vote on the work they like.

Authonomy is marketed at aspiring writers. It's not marketed at people that just want to read stories.

Tokyopop is marketed at people that are fans of other Tokyopop licenses, and the user submitted stuff is just on the side, and hardly the focus of the website. The editors don't pay much attention to it.

These web projects could actually be the greatest thing in the world for publishers and agents. Publishing does not have to be so hit and miss when they have access to market research. It's really easy to gauge whether a writer has the ability to reach an audience if their work is online and other users can vote on it.

Anyone who gets a large followship should be scouted out by agents and publishers-- even if you aren't super crazy about their work.

This is my biggest grief with the traditional publishing model, where small numbers of people decide what is marketable and not marketable:

It's not about you and your personal likes and dislikes.

It's never been about you.

It's always been about the readers who actually purchase the books.

Readers are capricious. Just because they bought Twilight doesn't mean they want to buy every vampire love triangle story that comes out.

Just because they bought Harry Potter doesn't mean they want to read every story that has wizards in it.

Just because they bought The Da Vinci Code doesn't mean they want to read every story about a Holy Grail / Jesus cover up.

A new novel costs roughly the same as a movie ticket. Can you imagine if the film industry produced and theatrically released twenty PG 13 werewolf or vampire films every year? Do you think audiences would watch every single film? Or even half of them? No? Then why on earth would you expect this same consumer group to buy every urban fantasy vampire or werewolf story you churn out? Doesn't that seem kind of silly?

The biggest selling point is probably not what is in the story, but the voice and style of the author. Neil Gaiman is a great example: he writes in a diverse number of genres with a wide range of subject matter, and his readers nearly always buy his work.

I mean, let's be reasonable here: if someone attracts a readership of a few thousand people, they probably will sell a few thousand copies if the book isn't ridiculously priced: (hint: paperback first editions are our friends. Save the hard backs with full page color artwork for books that actually succeed in the market). This is a much better system than the current one, where everything is so hit and miss because they don't have a way to "test readers" en masse.

But the trick is getting the average reader to go to the website, not just aspiring authors. Writers look at stories in a different way, and tend to be over-analyzing things. Readers are just looking for a good story that appeals to them. That's why Harry Potter wasn't taken seriously until an editor handed the manuscript off to his eight year old daughter: the target audience.

It's really not too hard to see what can convince readers to read unknown writers online.

Fanfiction sites have been doing it for years.

This is what you do:

Idea #1: Fan Fiction contests: You convince a few of your authors to allow fans to write fan fiction short stories in a contest to publish an anthology of this fan fiction.  Obviously, you work out a deal with them so that they get a % of the royalty. (Do not tell me this cannot be done. George Lucas has been doing this for years with his Star Wars franchise, and I know Star Trek fan fiction anthologies are officially published.) The stories that receive the most votes will be picked up by editors, edited professionally like any other story out there, and then published together in one book. You could even have the famous author who created the original material comment on each chosen story and give their thoughts about it.

The established franchise is just the hook to get the readers to the website. The rest requires giving them a reason to keep coming back to the site, and that is where the contests comes in.

What the contest does is give readers a reason to go to a site like Authonomy and read work by unknown, potentially publishable authors. What is the reason: interactivity. Their votes cause a book to be published. There is something really rewarding about knowing your actions have made a difference in the universe, even if it is just getting a book published; especially in an industry where readers rarely get to have any real decision power in what kind of stories come out in bookstores.

Now, since authors on Authonomy are able to upload several stories, when readers find one fan fic they like, they can read the other stories by the same author. That is how you can introduce them to these new works.

You can't just do the contests as a one time thing. There needs to always be a contest happening. Major publishing houses have a large number of authors, so this shouldn't be a problem. Chances are it is in their best interest because their original books might find new life when fan fiction authors create renewed interest in the franchises. I once created a fan game for Castlevania and it encouraged a few people who had never played a Castlevania game to play the actual Castlevania games. This does work.

Idea #2: Shared universes. It doesn't even need to be an established franchise, just some consistency. Aspiring authors can organize this among themselves, all uploading shared universe stories and linking to one another's stories on the website, so fans can read through them-- and also be introduced to the other stories the author has uploaded.

Idea #3: Reward readers for reviewing and voting on fiction.


Each time they submit a review, they receive some points.

Once they have a certain number of points, new features are unlocked for the user, such as different emotes or accessories for their digital avatar (Some very popular internet message boards, like Gaia Online, do something like this).

This encourages the readers to be active in the community.

(Naturally you need mods to ensure people aren't just uploading crap to get more points, but you should have mods for any online site anyway.)

There's probably more ideas to improve the model, and none of it is going to be too innovative: a lot of the stuff I've proposed has been done before. The only thing is that it hasn't been done correctly and with the intent to discover new talent.

So last month I finally had the muse to put the finishing touches on a YA fantasy I submitted to agents and publishers a few years ago. Originally, it was a novella because I personally prefer to read novella stories, but I was encouraged to expand it to at least 60,000 words. I had to re-write some of the book in order to expand the plot to that word count minimum and now the story is roughly 64,000 words-- and probably better for it.

I also had the difficult challenge of trying to add more romance to the book. This was challenging because due to a tough breakup and the death of my grandmother, I haven't exactly felt like writing about anything cheerful in a couple years. This is really what prevented me from completing the book, but one day I guess my heart felt more healed, and the writer's block ended. I finished what needed to be finished within a week, then spent another week proof-reading it and fixing dozens of grammar errors.

I've sent out queries to agents, but I haven't had much luck. I keep being rejected, often without my pages being read since many agents only want to see a query and nothing else. It's tragic because I've spent a good number of time researching agents and trying to learn about them. Only two have requested a partial; one by email and the other by normal mail (?), which is kind of silly to do in this modern age. Is it necessary to spend 15 dollars sending a partial manuscript to Europe when I could just email an attachment for free? It seems kind of rude to expect that. The point of obtaining an agent is to sell your books and make some money, not waste several hundred dollars trying to appeal to agents. I've already wasted money sending out my novella by mail back when few agents accepted email queries.

Then again, there's a lot of rude behavior occurring with agents lately. I haven't been keeping up with the traditional publishing world over the years, but from all the blogs I've been reading, they are starting to get kind of full of themselves with things like #queryfail on Twitter and their ridiculous lists of what makes them reject queries. They aren't doing it to "help authors". They are doing it because they've bought into their own hype and forgotten who writes the books that earn them money.

If you want to give feedback to authors, do it during the correspondence you have with the authors. Don't turn it into a public spectacle on Twitter so you can market yourself to more unpublished authors by using unpublished authors, because that is really what you are trying to do; taking something we might have spent weeks drafting to get our books looked at by you, then you turn it into a form of entertainment and ridicule.

What are agents again? Former editors from major publishing houses, correct? People who basically use the personal connections they have with other editors to get manuscripts into their hands since publishing houses cannot afford to hire people to read slush when they give hundreds of thousands of dollars to unpublished authors advances-- all the while allowing bookstores to "return unsold copies" when if all the publishers just banded together and said "No, we won't take back perfectly good books and pulp them into paper." that practice would end and maybe just maybe bookstores would try harder to sell more books and less chocolate bon-bons and flavored coffee.

Is agenting a talent, or is it simply being in the right place at the right time? I was originally under the impression as former editors, they could not only provide easy access to current acquisition editors but also help an author polish their manuscript-- which takes talent. Instead I read about how several agents encourage their clients to write fads or transform their stories into something else entirely-- including adding homosexual romances when originally there was none there. (Not that gay lit is bad, but why would you encourage an author to add lesbians to their story to make it more marketable? That seems kind of immature and perhaps even agenda-driven) .

That's surely not why I want an agent. It's not about getting the best deal in town. It's about getting a decent deal, period-- which for me means that my books have actual shelf-space in libraries and stores, not just websites. The whole point of writing is so others can read it. The point of publishing is to not only make somewhat of a living from writing, but to get your work read by as many people as possible.

I don't know why some agents are turning into internet celebrities when the traditional publishing model is pretty much failing in the current market, and the only thing that seems to be succeeding is ebook Romances (a genre that will always succeed as long as there are single people or people in terrible and love-less relationships who need escapism).

I don't want to paint all agents with a broad brush but if the majority were doing their jobs correctly then you'd think the market would be thriving in more than just one niche genre. A quick look at Amazon's bestseller list for children shows that, right now, many are books based on upcoming movies, some coloring books, and with a few exceptions, the rest are Twilight or Harry Potter clones-- indeed, several actually are related to those two franchises. I know there is more books being published than that, so why is the film industry seeming to be the only one able to mass market children's books online?

I first researched print on demand years ago when Lulu.com first came out, and I was under the impression POD might only be a last resort for non-fiction works with very niche markets, like textbooks or cookbooks. I am very surprised to find that fiction is selling, but after reading all these blogs, I am no longer surprised.

Traditional publishing editors and agents are completely out of touch with consumers.

Observe Authonomy, which is a HarperCollins owned website not unlike Tokyopop.com where users can upload their own manga, fiction, videos and artwork-- sometimes getting the attention of editors. For the past few years my fiction on Tokyopop has been the most popular on the site, and currently has 17,926 views. (The second most popular fiction has 8,031 views). I have like a few thousand fans, and my profile currently has 50,000 something views-- it keeps increasing every day, and I haven't been active there in years. (kinda weird that my profile has so many views. I suspect the fiction views get reset every year to give others a chance, but since I don't pay much attention to the site anymore, I don't really know)

Yes, it is true that when Tokyopop first released their website, I used a simple networking tactic to get young readers: I just contacted them individually and asked if they would read my work. But I only did this for the first week, and I couldn't have messaged more than a hundred members. All of the other views have been a result of other people recommending my work to their friends. 

I had the idea in my head if my work was popular with the Tokyopop fanbase, Tokyopop would consider working with me to publish a series of light novels. Unfortunately, when I contacted a Tokyopop editor about it, I was told they are only interested in publishing novels from people like Joss Whedon and Stephen King. That was 2006. Now that it is 2009 and Tokyopop has experienced some financial difficulties, I cannot say I'm surprised when they employed editors who had unrealistic expectations and were ignoring potential right under their own doorstep.

I mean, I wouldn't have even asked for an advance against royalties. I just wanted a publisher who would be able to reach the audience I want to have, which is young people who enjoy humorous and action-packed stories since that is what I write. Tokyopop has their hands in their market because they publish manga and anime, and I mean, if you know anything about the tween, teen and twenty-something market, you know that's what a large portion of the most literate among them are consuming. Just consider there's a con somewhere in the US nearly every weekend, and since I've interviewed hundreds of the con attendees in my documentary work, I'm convinced this is where the YA market is going. You can already see a few publishers licensing light novels for North America, and I've discovered hundreds of fan translated ebooks of light novels online.

Anyway, back to HarperCollins. They had the right idea with Authonomy until they changed their concept from "online slushpile" to "make your own POD book". I'm sorry, but if I'm going to POD a book, it'll probably be through Amazon's Createspace. The reason is simple: I'm not exactly rich and can't afford my own pseudo-publishing company with ISBNs to be registered with Lightning Source, nor can I afford to buy a bunch of my own books and mail them out. Lulu.com seems to have gained some pricing issues with their books, and every other POD solution offers packaging deals, among other things I can't afford.

eBook publishers are peculiar creatures. Maybe if you aren't tech-savvy enough to create a PDF file and upload it to Createspace, you need someone else to figure out how to list an ebook, but I don't see a reason to do that. The reason you want a publisher should be to get your book into bookstores, since they have all the connections and money to make that happen. If you just want to release your work as an ebook, why get a publisher who isn't going to give you an advance anyway? Why share profits with them for doing what is actually fairly easy? I don't really understand. Marketing wise, I don't see what they can do that I can't do myself.

I titled this entry with "Rejection Blues" and there is a reason for it. Even though I know some very rough chapters of my story has a fanbase and that the polished, full manuscript would likely sell a few thousand copies if I self-published, I really want to be traditionally published. I have a couple reasons for this.

1) I want a dedicated editor to help me ensure my writing is up to grammar standards. I am constantly finding errors in my manuscript with each read, or something that just doesn't sound right. I have a strong belief a second or third opinion would improve my writing and ensure each book I write has a consistent level of quality.

2) I have a habit of coming up with ridiculous ideas without concern to how these ideas might be misinterpreted by others. This could be because I'm Agnostic, and I'm not as touchy feely when it comes to religion since I view all of it as mythology that is free game for creating new stories. Yet, I don't exactly want my books to end up in a library book burning conducted by the latest "Christians Against Everything" mob because my stories aren't intended to make people angry. I could use an editor or agent who can tell me such interesting things like how putting crosses on the shields of evil knights might get my book on a ban list, because that honestly didn't occur to me until someone pointed it out.

3) I'd really like my books in bookstores so I can do author readings, signings and things like that which allow me to connect with readers. I very much enjoy traveling and meeting new people. That's probably why I like filming documentaries.

4) The stamp of approval from knowing you are a published author and your books are available every where. This probably dates back to when I was in grade school, spending my recess breaks in the school library. I'd really like to have my books on the shelves with other stories I loved as a kid, so another kid can find them and maybe they too will be inspired to dream of worlds that don't exist, or learn valuable life lessons, or be entertained, or whatever it is people will get from my books.

5) Marketing is super time consuming. I know this from experience with my webcomic. I'll likely always do some marketing for anything I create, but it's nice to have a support system of people to help you market your product, and I cannot afford my own marketing department right now.

As the query rejections pour in, it seems less and less likely I'll be traditionally published. It's kind of killing the creative vibe I had going, because as soon as I finished my first novel I started writing a second one, and I was writing about a 1,000 words every day for a week. Now I haven't been able to write for the past week, and even though only one agent has even read a partial, I wonder if my writing is any good.

Which is stupid, because the one who read a partial said,

“It made me think (in a positive way) of numerous novels, TV series and
movies from the past, but it definitely has its own character, and it's a
pleasure to read. I think you're talented, and I really think you might have
something here: humorous, fantastical, pop cultural.

Unfortunately it's not something we could handle here. But I would urge you
to persevere; I feel sure you'll get some serious attention elsewhere, and
with the right agent I think you could find a publisher for this.

Good luck."

But it makes me wonder why, if I'm talented and my work did what I intended it to do, was I not good enough for representation? Is it because my work doesn't conform to a current fad? Left with no other idea on why it is rejected, that is the only conclusion I can arrive at.

My target audience seemed to like the rough draft pages, so I should be able to become at least a mid-list writer, which would be fine for me.

The kill to my creativity is really what annoys me. Maybe it isn't even worth being traditionally published if it means having to pull myself out of self-doubt, especially when the majority of agents and publishers are going to judge your entire 60,000+ word manuscript that took you months / years to write based on what amounts to 60 seconds of jacket copy-- if the agents even read the queries, that is. I've read many agents use interns, which implies college students searching queries for a very specific set of key words (and if the Wal- Mart and Borders YA book shelves are any indication, I suspect "vampires", "werewolves", "fairies", "love triangle", "urban fantasy"  and "female protagonist" are among these key words).

Reading the "recent sales" section of agent websites is equally depressing. It's hard to tell a difference between some of the titles, even though some are by different authors. It appears very fad driven and unfortunately for me I do not write supermodel chic lit or love triangle urban fantasy with jacket copy that could easily be mistaken for a new Anita Blake novel. (Are vampires and werewolves really that fucking interesting? There's thousands of mythological creatures out there that I find way more fascinating and I'd like to write about)

Don't get me wrong, these could all be very well written stories, but I'm just not interested in those kind of stories. I imagine there are thousands of people like me who are not.

Let me give you a good example: while I have not read all of the Harry Potter books, of those I have read, I have enjoyed a lot. This doesn't mean I want to read another story about an orphan boy who becomes a wizard, magician or whatever, in a pseudo-Victorian period world that involves a struggle against an evil wizard.

I actually think evil wizards are kind of cool, and would make excellent protagonists. If J.K. Rowling wrote a book from Voldemort's point of view and followed him on his dastardly journeys, I'd probably buy it because even though it takes place in a familiar world that has now become cliche, you know the experience is going to be different. Children's fiction heroes tend to be very limited in what they can and cannot do. Like Paladins in Dungeons and Dragons who lose their powers if they dont act in a chivalrous way, heroes have rules regulating their behavior in order for them to maintain "hero" status, and that makes them predictable. Villains don't have these rules and are therefore interesting because they could do anything!

That's really why I'm writing my Twilight Chronicles books with a traditional children's hero who is possessed by an evil demon king. This gives him the best of both worlds, and makes the struggle of good vs evil a little more interesting since every time the hero falters against the villain, he does something terrible and the reader gets to see the demon king go ballistic from his point of view. Plus, not to brag but my demon king is the Super Sayian of demon kings, capable of "final boss" levels of evil. I can give my hero god like powers when the demon king takes over, but every time that happens the demon king does something spectacularly evil and that isn't desirable for the hero to allow, so he can't overcome all his problems by relying on the demon king's power.

In summary, traditional YA fiction publishing seems aimed at imitating the success of another author by publishing stories that might as well be unofficial sequels, and I'm leaning to the conclusion my story won't see the light of day unless I self-publish. After the last of the rejections come in, I'm going to hire an artist to draw 40 full page black and white illustrations to go with the excellent cover I already have. I'm convinced that in order to appeal to the current YA demographic, you need to show them some Japanese manga artwork because that is the style they are consuming in comics and animation right now. Besides, light novels are just cool, and I think three full page illustrations per chapter is a good number. My book will be viewed differently than other POD books because I'll have presented it as a Japanese style light novel, and since light novels are becoming read online right now, that is good company to be associated with.



I dunno, maybe I'm mistaken about how agents are operating, but going by what I'm reading online, it seems the traditional model is dying and agents will go with them, and that's tragic because there should be more to an agent and author relationship than securing a massive advance deal from the agent's publisher buddy.

It's been a long time since I posted here. I should give some sort of update.



To make a long story short, in the past year I moved to Michigan, studied film production at a community college, lost my girlfriend, filmed a documentary, made a couple short films, become a "freelance" game designer for a game developer, and moved to Virginia so I could share a pad with my younger brother.

That sounds like it's been quite a year, huh?

Anyway, my Evil Ronald video. This is a prank I pulled on a McDonalds last summer and put up on my Youtube account. I thought I'd start using this blog more and put up some of my funny videos.

Why would I do that?

Well I guess because I can!

There is a funny story about this video. This prank is the most popular video on my account right now; it is significantly more popular than the videos I actually spent a lot of time and energy into creating, such as a live-action version of my webcomic, Deathfist Ninja GKaiser.



And even my cheesy Sin City-style horror film hasn't gotten much attention either,





Hell, even my Cosplay documentary isn't as popular as the evil fast food mascot prank,

Cosplayers Documentary


I've been trying to think of what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I'm not fully utilizing the power of internet marketing as much as I could, or maybe my artistic vision just isn't any good. It could be a lot of things, really, but I'll tell you what annoys me the most right now: I tried to take out a $10,000 dollar loan so I can get a decent editing system (A Mac Pro, with the Final Cut bundle) and some shooting accessories, and was turned down....so right now, I can't do any editing since I can't just walk into the school and use their computers to edit anymore.




I'm looking for ways to make money off my videos so I can build a "make more movies" fund. I hear AdBrite is good, so I thought I'd test that out with the evil Ronald video, but the website went down right as I posted this blog entry up. That is certainly no good. I've also sent several requests to join the Youtube Partner Program but they have turned me down every time.

I get the feeling I'm missing something though. Anyone out there have any bright ideas?

Wow I'm being featured on the front page of Tokyopop.com as a 'Tokyopop Pop Star' because people like my writing. I have to say, I'm very surprised.

The Monomyth Structure in Japanese RPG games

By Jim Freedan

For most of my life I have studied the form of Japanese computer roleplaying games intimately.

Or I should have, anyway, because I’ve been playing them almost religiously for 13 years. And like any real RPG gamer is certainly aware, there is a basic plot structure for a console RPG game that leads to certain clichés, and these common plot occurrences are most noted in documents like ‘The Grand List of Roleplaying Game Clichés’

However, if you look below the surface of these clichés you will notice there is a great deal of symbolism intertwined into the plot structure.

As I see it, the plot formula of the stories is extremely similar to the ‘Monomyth’, or ‘Hero’s Journey’ theory of mythologist Joseph Campbell, as spelled out in his book ‘A Hero with a Thousand Faces’.

However, the Japanese console RPG differs from Campbell’s formula in one key area: while the monomyth is usually structured as a journey to one place and then a return trip home, the Japanese games do not usually have this kind of ending.

Instead, the game is a trip from one ends of the world to the other, with very little returns backwards at all. Rarely does the hero go back to living in the mundane world after they have journeyed across the world and defeated the Ultimate Embodiment of Evil.

For example, in Chrono Trigger, Crono begins the game as a teenage peasant but at the end of the game, he is married to the princess and heir to the throne.

In Lufia II, Maxim begins the game in a backwater town as a monster hunter; at the end of the game he sacrifices his life to save the world.

In Lunar: Silver Star Story, Alex begins the game in a small town and ends the game beginning yet another adventure with his girlfriend Luna.

And even if the hero does return back to their hometowns, they do not return to the same lifestyle. Sometimes the world itself is completely different. This is observed in many of the Final Fantasy games, especially 6 and 7.

Additionally, Campbell’s monomyth revolves around a sexist Freudian philosophy involving the importance of maternal and paternal figures in the hero’s life and journey. This is rarely an issue in Japanese RPG games—instead the focus is on overcoming vices and immoral behaviors. This is represented by the antagonists character / bosses of the game; many of them are based on the Seven Deadly Sins, and their defeat by the hero is symbolic of the hero’s ability to conquer these temptations in themselves.

In short, when you peel away the layers of the plot structures you are left with a story about morality, and about growing up to become a productive member of society rather than a bane to it.

What follows is what I believe is the basic plot formula used to create these games, whether consciously or unconscious known to the story scenario writers or not;

Act 1: Departure / Separation

(Note: With little exception, Japanese console RPG videogames normally start at The Hero’s Introduction or at The Call to Adventure.
All character’s named ‘Hero’ with a capital H are characters that have no cannon name in the storyline, and the player must select a name for them)

The Hero’s Introduction (Starting Point #1)

The story begins with the player’s introduction to the hero in the hero’s daily life. He or she is going through life as all the other pedestrians of the world, and is usually performing some kind of errand or working at a job. While some of these jobs may seem unique, compared to the upcoming quest to destroy the Ultimate Evil, these tasks are rather mundane.

(Tidus plays Blitzball, Final Fantasy X; Fei helps with the wedding preparations, Xenogears; Will leaves school to go play with friends, Illusion of Gaia; Cloud performing his mercenary work, Final Fantasy 7; Maxim hunts monsters, Lufia II; Jack tries out for the Knights, Radiata Stories; Hero becomes an agent of the Empire, Suikoden; Ramza leads his first mission, Final Fantasy Tactics; Crono goes to the fair, Chrono Trigger; Cornet goes to the forest for Inotium, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure; Alex prepares for the festival, Lunar: Silver Star Story; Cecil leads his airships to attack Mysidia, Final Fantasy 4)

Some symbolic attributes are bestowed to the hero to associate them with mytholical archetypes or specific characters.

For example,

The hero normally has special otherworldly qualities about them that separate them from others in their village, such as natural-talent with weapons or magic.

(Terra, Final Fantasy 6; Maxim, Lufia II; Alex, Lunar: Silver Star Story; Dart, Legend of Dragoon; Cornet, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure; Rena, Star Ocean 2)

He or she may also have special lineage, either related to a legendary hero or descended from otherwise famous people. He or she may have a special title, such as a Knight or Captain of a military force.

(Ramza, Final Fantasy Tactics; Hero, Lufia; Cecil in Final Fantasy 4; Dart, Legend of Dragoon; Ryu, Breath of Fire; Randi from Secret of Mana; Gustave, SaGa Frontier 2; Claude, Star Ocean 2)

He or she might also be a wanderer or mercenary.

(Butz, Final Fantasy 5; Cloud, Final Fantasy 7; Maxim, Lufia II; Dart, Legend of Dragoon;)


He or she might be an orphan, or was raised by only one parent or other close relative, usually of the opposite sex than the hero is.

(Crono, Chrono Trigger; Dart, Legend of Dragoon; Cornet, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure; Will, Illusion of Gaia; Jack, Radiate Stories; Ryu, Breath of Fire 2 and 3; Will, SaGa Frontier 2)

Unusual hairstyles are very common trait of the male hero, and may be based on contemporary descriptions of the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Mushashi, who was said to have wild, untamed hair that struck terror into his enemies. It may also be a symbolic link to the Monkey King Son Goku, another very popular Japanese hero who is wild and rebellious. Another possibility is the long unkempt hair is representative of the wild flames of Fudo Myoo, a patron saint of Buddhism that destroys delusions and guards wisdom.

(Cloud, Final Fantasy 7; Crono, Chrono Trigger; Sora, Kingdom Hearts; Zidane, Final Fantasy 9; Randi, Secret of Mana; Gustave, SaGa Frontier 2; Hero, Legend of Mana; many Dragon Quest protagonists)

This chapter serves to introduce the player to the character and let them get an idea of their personality in a safe environment. This personality will gradually change over the course of the adventure, symbolizing the growth from child to adult.

We may also be introduced to the primary love interest of the hero in this chapter.

(Cecil and Rosa, Final Fantasy 4; Cloud and Tifa, Final Fantasy 7; Sora and Kairi, Kingdom Hearts; Jack and Ridley, Radiata Stories; Crono and Marle, Chrono Trigger; Cornet and Prince Ferdinand, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure; Hero and Lufia, Lufia; Alex and Luna; Lunar: Silver Star Story).



The Call to Adventure (Starting Point #2)

The hero is almost always unwillingly pulled out their mundane setting by some kind of catastrophe. He or she is put into an unfamiliar setting, and must now decide what to do with their life, for there is no going back to the mundane world they once lived in.

(Marle is pulled into the Time Gate and Crono goes to save her; Chrono Trigger; Serge is pulled into a parallel dimension, Chrono Cross; The Princess is kidnapped and Ramza must save her; Final Fantasy Tactics; The Heartless invade Destiny Islands and Sora is pulled into another world, Kingdom Hearts; Agents of Shinra attack and nearly wipe out AVALANCHE, Final Fantasy 7; Ryu’s village is destroyed, Breath of Fire)

If the character is not pulled out of the mundane setting because of a catastrophe, then it is because they have been sent on some quest, usually by some important and influential character, such as a king or a deity.

(White Dragon Quark sends Alex on a quest to find the other dragons; Lunar: Silver Star Story; Randi is guided to withdraw the Mana Sword by the ghost of his dead father, Secret of Mana; Link is asked by the Great Deku Tree to defeat an evil curse, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time; Cecil is sent by the King to deliver a package to a village of Summoners, Final Fantasy 4; Link is sent on a quest to save Princess Zelda by his dying uncle; Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)

Supernatural Aid/ The Mentor / The Bonds of Friendship are Established

A guide, or several guides may appear, almost always in the form of an ally. They help the hero transition into their new life and offer support. Bonds of friendship are essential qualities that are formed in this chapter, and they will be tested throughout the story.

(Kain and Cecil, Final Fantasy 4; Terra and Locke, Final Fantasy 6, Maxim and Iris, Lufia II, Fei and Citan, Xenogears; Tidus and Auron, Final Fantasy 10; Randi and Knight Jema, Secret of Mana; Crono, Lucca and Frog, Chrono Trigger; Serge and Kid, Chrono Cross; Cloud and Aeris, Final Fantasy 7; Sora, Donald and Goofy, Kingdom Hearts)

The Crossing of the First Threshold

This is the first test of the hero’s ability to complete the quest. They encounter a difficult obstacle that must be overcome in order to proceed further. This is normally represented by the first real boss battle of the game, but sometimes it is an encounter with the primary antagonist or his /her representatives.

After overcoming this challenge, the hero has gained more confidence in him or her self. A minor quest has been completed.

(Crono saves the Queen’s life and restores the timeline, which resurrects her descendant, Princess Marle, Chrono Trigger; Randi defeats the Mantis Ant to save a friend, Secret of Mana; Link defeats the prison guard and rescues Princess Zelda, Zelda: A Link to the Past; Cloud fights a part of Jenova in Shinra headquarters, Final Fantasy 7; Sora seals the keyhole in Traverse Town, protecting it from the Heartless, Kingdom Hearts)

Alternatively, the character might fail in this challenge, which sends them on another quest for redemption.

(Fei tries to save the village using the Gear, but the village is destroyed anyway Xenogears; Gustave is exiled from his homeland because he has no magic power and cannot draw the Firebrand, SaGa Frontier 2)


The Belly of the Whale

Having overcome / failed the first obstacle, the hero proceeds into the new world to begin his or her adventures. This is marked with a farewell to the world they once knew.

(Alex leaves his home island to journey to the main continent, Lunar: Silver Star Story; Sora leaves Traverse Town to journey to other worlds, Kingdom Hearts)

The hero may also have their first experience with rejection. It is common for the people of the mundane world to become afraid of the hero for their otherworldly qualities once they have become known. In these situations, the hero will be banished from the safe world they once knew, and cannot return.

(Randi is banished from Potas Village for drawing the Mana Sword, Secret of Mana; Fei is banished from Lohan, Xenogears; Hero receives the Soul Eater Rune from Ted and the Imperial Army tries to kill him, so he flees; Suikoden)

Act 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials

Now firmly in the new world, the hero is repeatedly challenged with mental and physical obstacles that must be overcome. These obstacles are often tests or side-quests, where the hero must help others by performing tasks no one else is able to perform, thus ‘fixing’ the problems of the world. Performing these tasks helps the hero build strength and wisdom.

(This is any number of quests that appear in the game, which the hero must do to advance the story, but may not have anything to do with the primary quest they are on. This might also involve side quests)

While on The Road of Trials, the minor antagonists the hero encounters will represent temptations he or she must struggle against and overcome. Many times these antagonists will be the embodiment of one of the Seven Deadly Sins; Pride, Greed / Avarice, Extravagance/Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth. Others sins to be avoided are corruption and mis-use of authority.

This is either symbolized in every boss that appears in the game, or by the quest the character is on when the boss appears. For example, there is almost always a quest involving the freeing of a kidnapped female character that has been kidnapped by a male character (Lust), or capturing a thief that has stolen something (Greed), or someone that is tormenting innocent people for sport (Gluttony).

The defeat of these embodiments of sin and vice in battle is symbolic of the hero’s ability to resist the darker temptations that, as a mortal, dwell within his or her heart.

The Great Tragedy

This is a variation on the Refusal of the Call, and it normally happens mid-way through the story.

The hero will fail to protect something that is deeply important to them, or to perform the duties of the quest, and a villain will win a significant battle. The hero will suffer in anguish over their failure.

(Sephiroth murders Aeris in front of Cloud, Final Fantasy 7; Kefka destroys the world, Final Fantasy 6; Agahnim sacrifices the seven princess’ and unseals the Dark World, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past; Sora fails to prevent Kingdom Hearts from being unlocked by Ansem, Kingdom Hearts; Will witnesses his Aunt Nina die to save him from the Egg, SaGa Frontier 2; Crono is killed by Lavos, Chrono Trigger; Several cities are destroyed by the Sinistrals, Lufia II; Alex fails to save Luna and all the Dragons from Ghaleon, Lunar: Silver Star Story)

The Ultimate Boon

The hero will eventually overcome their sorrow, determined to make amends for their mistake. The hero’s resolve to succeed becomes infinitely stronger. They find themselves able to do things they were previously unable or unwilling to do, sometimes represented in special powers or objects they now are worthy of using. They look at themselves and the world differently.

(Alex becomes the True Dragonmaster, Lunar: Silver Star Story; Crono’s friends resolve to resurrect Crono by using the Chrono Trigger, Chrono Trigger; The Dual Blade chooses Maxim; Lufia II; Cloud confronts his past and accepts his true identity, Final Fantasy 7; Ryu gains his Final Dragon form, Breath of Fire)

Act 3: The Road’s End

The Final Battle

The main antagonist of the story, the “Final Boss”, will represent all of the Deadly Sins, thus being the final test to overcome. This is particularly obvious in stories where the main antagonist is the Ultimate Embodiment of Evil in the world.

(Ganon, Legend of Zelda; Chaos, Final Fantasy, Sephiroth, Final Fantasy 7, Kefka, Final Fantasy 6, Lavos, Chrono Trigger, Sin, Final Fantasy X; Sauron, Romancing SaGa; The Egg, SaGa Frontier 2; Myria, Breath of Fire 1&3, Zeromus, Final Fantasy 4; Ansem in Kingdom Hearts)


The Ending / Mastery of Self

Having completed the main quest of the story, the hero has mastered him or herself, having completed the main quest, becoming a pure being. They are now able to do something they were not able to do before.

(Maxim sacrifices his own life to prevent the Sinistral’s floating castle from crashing into main continent, Lufia II; Gustave dies while luring a large army of monsters away from his men in order to protect them, SaGa Frontier 2; Lavos is defeated and the End of the World is avoided, Chrono Trigger; Link defeats Ganon and uses the Triforce to undo all his evil, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past; the Returners defeat Kefka and liberate the world, Final Fantasy 6; Alex defeats Ghaleon and uses his love to bring Luna back from the darkness, Lunar: Silver Star Story; Cloud defeats Sephiroth in a battle of minds, preventing Sephiroth from resurrecting inside him, Final Fantasy 7)

The world is now able to move on and rebuild, and the hero is able to become a teacher or inspiration to the rest of the world. The hero ceases to be a mere mortal, instead gaining immortality by becoming a mythical legend that inspires countless people to resist the same temptations they did, thus improving the world.

------------

Comments are appreciated. This document is a work in progress.

Intelligent Design

An explanation for why this is here.

This way when those genuinely seeking information start Googling, they'll get to the right place.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7820333450116505275&q=shingo

I found this pretty amusing

Thunder Cats Outtakes. Lion-O and Mum-Ra cursing like a storm.

Oh, yeah~!

http://www.claws-and-paws.com/thundercats/

College is totally boring. So boring that instead of studying, I've been playing Kingdom Hearts again. This time I'm going to actually make that Ultimate Weapon and reach lv99 so that when I go to fight Sephiroth, I dont get my ass handed to me repeatedly.

Losing is teh suxorz.

On the plus side, I have recreated LoneStar's Space RV from Spaceballs using gummi blocks. I made a few adjustments however; namely, the addition of 3 gun cannons and 3 laser cannons. My Space RV kicks so much ass ,the first time I flew it I laughed like a maniac for a good ten minuetes while I oblivated EVERYTHING in sight.

It's official.

The most awesomely bad Playstation knockoff in the world is a "PrayStation".

I guess it doubles as a shrine.

You know, I just realized something today.

Demon Kings are so much cooler than Paladins, Clerics, Thieves, Ninjas and Pirates.

Thats why in every RPG, it takes about 6-12 Paladins, Clerics, Thieves, Ninjas and Pirates to defeat the Demon King. Not the Demon King's Army, just him.

They have to gang up on his ass and battle him for like an hour in order to defeat a Demon King, and if they make just one wrong move the Demon King will pwnz their asses and send them back to the save point.

Therefore, Demon Kings are argueably the strongest single entities in the entire universe, and cannot be defeated by just one person; other than another Demon King of course.

That makes them cool.

I had only 1 class today (Yoga) and the latest episode of Bleach isnt subbed yet, so I decided to spend the past five hours reading Wikipedia entries on video game stuff (Nintendo, SEGA, Atari, Mario, etc). It was like re-living the Console Wars all over again. It's funny, when I was a kid I use to "ooo" and "ahhh" over all these systems. Apart of me wishes I could be excited about something like that again.

I suppose I should savor this free-time since once college actually picks up, I might actually have homework to do(blah).

Then, there is always the off-chance that GKaiser might become "super-awesome-horribly-popular" soon, and I'll be floaded with interview requests and fan-mail. Oh yes, and win the lottery.

Well, I can always dream can't I? :p

I'm bored of City of Heroes.
I shouldnt of re-regged for 3 months, I knew I'd get bored within a few weeks.
I will admit though, my Invunerable/Super-Strength Tanker "Mr-T" clone is a helluva funny toon.

I toy with the idea of designing a real GKaiser themed video game (as opposed to the craptastic one I made with Game Maker and MS Paint). It'd probally be a parody of Castlevania, Mega-Man, Final Fantasy, Metroid and all the other games I loved as a kid. And it would pwnz.

Corpse Bride is suppose to come out this weekend, I'll probally go watch it.