Shard Twenty-Three - Creative Convolutions

Been a while since I wrote a new entry. Funny how those "I'm going to write at least one entry every week" resolutions so very rarely work out.
But time is irrelevant for my purposes here, so let's move along, shall we? Today I'd like to...

...well, I'm not positive what I'd like to do today here, but the one theme stuck in my head is "creative process", so let's see where that one leads.

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The creative process is an odd thing; while lots of people share similar methods of expressing that creativity, the very nature of the beast is that everyone goes about it in a fairly unique manner. Sure, lots of artists might play music while they work, and let it inspire their results. But what are the chances that they all share the same way of hearing that music, gathering the same inspirations, applying those inspirations?

I'll stop myself before I launch into a philosophical ramble. I'm here to talk about my own creative process, of course, so let's get down to business.

Now, I've already outlined my creative process in terms of my visual artwork, and mentioned my creative processes in general a bit here-and-there over some of my other entries, but I'd like to get into more detail today on my storybuilding process.

Like most of my artistic work, I'm self-taught in storybuilding; as a result, I really don't know much about how other writers and storytellers construct their stories. So I'll try to avoid calling my own process "odd"; it certainly feels like it's an odd way to do things, but what do I know? It's the only process I've seen in practice.
Anyway, that's enough explanation; I'm putting off actually writing about writing.

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My Fragmented Infinity storyworld is, ironically, quite fragmented. With a plot that centers around a main character who can traverse worlds, it has to have a lot of worlds to traverse, of course. And these are worlds filled with yet more unique characters, odd traits, quirky customs... not to mention stories and plots all their own.

My process tends to start with an inspiration. Sometimes I think of a character first; this is the most common occurrence. Maybe I had a weirdly interesting dream, or I just heard another story, and suddenly my mind's whirling with ideas. Sometimes I even just stumble upon a character design while I'm working on something else; at least one character of mine has been inspired by an artwork I made. (it was a contest entry, and the focal character was just a generic, unnamed young man; I ended up getting attached to the idea, and decided to expand on it.)
So now I've got a character, but he (or she) has no place in the storyline, doesn't live anywhere, probably doesn't even have a personality yet. Sometimes these little fragments just end up getting discarded, or filed away; there's no point in shoving them into a story they don't belong in. But sometimes they just slot right into pre-existing holes in the story, or even make their own holes.

I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself here, so let me pause for a moment and explain something a bit.
My storyline, as a whole, doesn't start at the beginning. I tend to dream up plot points from the middle, the end, the start, all in random order; true, it had a starting point all along, but the plot itself wasn't always connected to the story. (if that makes any sense whatsoever.)

This is how these odd characters slot in, sometimes. Until fairly recently, I had a bunch of storyline worlds, each with their own characters, and I had Jio and Anji (my two main traveling characters) connecting it all together. But they weren't connected particularly well. The plot started with Jio arriving on Vynaiocc, meeting Anji, and after a certain point, taking off to a new world. But which one they went to first was entirely up in the air. I didn't even have a purpose for the story; there was no goal. (this is the part where I consider my creative process to be odd.)

But you may notice, I did say "until fairly recently".
Fairly recently marks the entry point of another character, but one I'm keeping fairly secret for the time being. No, that's not quite right; it marks the entry point of a big chunk of the plot, and the new character sort of came attached with it.
I won't go into much detail here, partly because it's still a working process (even some of my major characters have gone through changes over time), and partly because it's such a big part of the storyline.

The main point here is how it all fits together. In a timeline, my storyline's creation is all over the board; plot points come in, characters appear, but wait, these characters are from even earlier in the story; they affect the plot, which leads to new plot points, which leads to new characters, which suddenly connects two parts of the plot that were previously floating about aimlessly.
It's like a jigsaw puzzle, but oddly, one with multiple configurations and more pieces than it needs.

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And what is my ultimate point? The moral to this entry? I'm not entirely certain. I mostly just wanted to get some thoughts out my head. But I suppose there is some advice I can leave you with.

As a creator - be you an artist or storyteller, or even a self-titled "normal person" - never discredit yourself for using a seemingly odd process. The only important thing is that it works for you.

And in case you were wondering, when all is said and done, yes. I do believe my odd process works for me.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Twenty-one - Getting The Fires Started

The whole storyline process for Fragmented Infinity is starting to feel more like a buildup than a rolling start, but hey, even an illusion of progress is better than nothing at all, right.

More and more details are getting fleshed out, but as before, the story itself is still in the starting gates. Something's bound to burst soon, either the metaphorical gate, or my head. I'm hoping for the former.

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As I add more and more to the story, I've been finding the naming process to be especially intricate; while it's easy enough to just start naming everything, if you do it without regard for the setting, you lose so much of the understory.
Especially in Fragmented Infinity, keeping a common theme for each seperate Shard (world) is proving difficult, but surprisingly rewarding. One particular one is quite recent; the world itself is still unnamed (until recently, it's mostly been centered around one of the characters, with the world more of an afterthought). With a new character finding his way into this world, I found a lot of pieces falling into place; suddenly the art direction seemed a little more solid, and the "feel" of the world got a bit more flavor to it.

My naming conventions have always been centered around foreign languages, and generally involve some butchering - the more the better - ranging from my first names, created using "engrish" (Jioruji Derako, Anjiru Deruku), to my Vynaiocc world (this one was based on Greek, "translating" Greek letters to similar-shaped romanizations). As I've added more and more worlds to Fragmented Infinity, I've found myself needing to get more and more creative; for example, the world of Thera is party based on the latin "Terra", and also happens to be an anagram of "Earth" (fitting, for a world that is essentially a parallel version of our Earth).

I suppose I should give this rambling a point; some advice for the aspiring gods and goddesses of their own fantasy worlds.
Don't discount a name for being "too strange"; you'll often find these to be the best of the bunch. Even if you don't use a name like this, it can lay the foundation for a more fitting name.
One thing I've read (a bit of advice for writers) is, don't underestimate your readers. The world today is a smarter and smarter place; give your readers some credit, they probably can wrap their heads around even the most unwieldy names.
Certainly, if it's something nobody can feasibly pronounce, it'll be less memorable; if I could go back and change one part of my storyline, I'd probably work harder on my character names (Jioruji Derako is already a little too well-defined for me to change now, though). But if the name fits, wear it. I mean, keep it.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Twenty - Pieces Coming Together

Gasp. I haven't updated my blog in a long time.
Haven't really had a lot to share, actually. I do a lot of smaller updates in my deviantART journal, so I don't leave much left over for here. But with any luck, starting now - or soon, at least - I'd like to keep this blog a little more up-to-date. And perhaps a bit more focused; it is named after my Fragmented Infinity storyline, so why not dedicate the blog to some behind-the-scenes information on that?

To make it sound a little more enticing, let's call it "inside the mind of a budding storywriter" instead of just behind-the-scenes. I've been having an amazing experience thinking up my stories, as well as a rather frustrating one. Seems like an interesting topic to work on.

So to sum it all up. The blog, from here on out, will focus primarily on my experience working on Fragmented Infinity, as well as my occasional personal updates.
I'm working on writing the story, as well as making visual art based on it; digital paintings, 3D models, you name it. And on top of all that, I'm currently redesigning the Fragmented Infinity website.
So all in all, there's a pretty wide scope I'll be able to cover here. Assuming someday this story ends up being a success, I'll be quite happy to have the journey documented. And hey, if it ends up a failure, it'll be a good lesson of what mistakes to avoid.

Hopefully it turns out well!

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So, lets jump straight in to the topic, shall we. (No reason why I should wait until the next blog entry to get things started.)

I've been finding inspiration in such strange places lately...

Anyhow, a recent example of strange inspiration is a design for Jeni Senka. I've played around with possible weapons for her for a while now (I don't know how long it has been since I created her), but a katana-style sword is the idea I keep coming back to. (At one point it was a sword with a hinged blade; I appear to have lost the envelope I doodled it on.)

Quick scenario buildup. I've been working on a few visual art projects recently, one of which is an image of Jeni. Outfit design as been a major focus; I've got Jeni's body style roughed up in 3D using DAZ|Studio, and one small accessory I added was a small knife holster on her ankle. The rest of the design will probably see a good number of zippers and military-looking straps and belts.

Jeni's ability, which is currently named "Shadowcall", has also been fresh in my mind lately. When she was created, Jeni had a carbon-copy of Jio's Shadowmeld ability; the ability to "meld" into shadows. (for the purposes of this ability, shadows are more than a simple absence of light, it is a substance all its own.)
But having two characters with the same ability seemed, for the lack of a better term, just redundant. So I set about making her ability different, yet the same; in its final form, where Jio can become incorporeal shadow, Jeni can instead make shadows physical. The reversal makes her style entirely different, while still maintaining a strong connection with Jio's Shadowmeld.

Long story relatively short: after watching an episode of an unrelated anime (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun), I jumped on my bed and pretended to swing dual swords. (totally normal.) After a moment of studying the differences between backwards and forwards sword stances, it somehow all came together into Jeni's final weapon design; two swords, her primary being a mechanical katana (the mechanical part is still in a rough form, but aside from that, it's a normal blade), with her secondary being a mere sword grip and hilt, which she keeps in that knife holster on her ankle. Combined with her Shadowcall ability, the sword grip simply channels her ability to create a shadow blade, in roughly the same katana-style sword as her mechanical sword.

Explained like this, it seems to come together in a roughly logical fashion, but in context - the image has been in the works for a few days, the ability was worked out a few weeks ago, and the final design came together in a five-minute brainflash - to say it was a shock for me would be an understatement.

If I had to give this story a moral, it would be

"When life's got you stuck, jump on the bed."

...wait, that doesn't sound right at all.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Seventeen - Behind-the-Scenes: Fragmented Infinity

Okay, I'll admit it. I completely forgot about my blog. I have no other excuses for my lack of updates. I'll try to make it up.

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Alright, since the blog is more or less named after my Fragmented Infinity world, I suppose it's only natural I put a few Fragmented Infinity-related entries in here. There's really nothing to be a fan of yet, but perhaps someday when the Fragmented Infinity story is up and running, it'll have fans. And they might like to dig through old blog entries for some behind-the-scenes peeks.

To those of you reading this in the future, this one's for you.

(and those of you in the present can enjoy it too, especially if you like hearing about all the projects I start and don't finish.)

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Lately, I've been focusing a lot on character design. creating characters is a hobby of mine, you could say. It's mainly why the Fragmented Infinity world has so many important ones.
Now, the Fragmented Infinity website (linked above) has a Characters section in there. But due to my lack of updates there, most of the pages are empty. (They're there, just devoid of information.) So for those of you who are interested in characters, let's make this entry a nice little character primer. A bunch of characters are "finished", and only missing bits and pieces of information.

let's just do some main characters for now...

Jioruji Derako (Jio) is my main character. The star of the series, although the spotlight is also shared with Anji. Jio's also based off of me to a certain degree, although he's decidedly more impressive then I am.
Jio's also a very dark-minded character. While I've entertained some rather dark and moody thoughts myself, I'm nowhere near as impassive or silent as Jio is. This is the point where Jio stops being based off me, and takes off on his own path.
Jio starts the story as a very militaristic person, very repressed. A main point of the story is his transition to a more outgoing, open personality; how big of a transition this is will have to remain a secret until some of the story is released.

Anjiru Deruku (Anji) is the second main character in the story. Jio's the first one in the story, but when Anji shows up shortly afterwards, she takes over a good chunk of the spotlight.
Unlike Jio, Anji is quite outgoing and open. She's gone through a lot in her life (much like Jio, again), but she's not dealt with it in the same way; she'd much rather be optimistic, as opposed to becoming withdrawn. And for the most part, optimism works for her.
Anji and Jio make quite a connection early on in the story (although that's a big part of the plot, so I'll not spoil it). Anji ends up having quite an impact on Jio's life thanks to this connection.

Jeni Senka (Jeni) is a third "main" character. She doesn't appear in the story until a good while later, but she's a favorite of mine; very like the Jio we all see in the start of the story, she's quite dark and cold as well. I don't have many other details, unfortunately, but hopefully, I'll be able to get a picture of her drawn soon; like I said, she's a personal favorite.

Alice (Alice) is a final major character, who doesn't show up until a good deal later (after Jeni shows up). I actually haven't figured out what part she'll play in the story, but she will play a part; she's got quite a link with Anji right off the bat, and I hope to play off this as the story progresses.
Alice is the newest of my characters, and she's somehow managed to just straight up into an important spot in the story (Jeni was meant as a side character, and only later gained a bigger role). I'm personally interested to see how this pans out; these sorts of things tend to play themselves out in my head without much intervention on my part, so even I'm not sure how Alice will fit in the story. I feel like she'll mark an important part of it, though.
Alice is also likely going to get a picture done earlier then some of the other characters, but she's also not very developed appearance-wise yet. That'll change, though.

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At the risk of lengthening this entry (which might be seen as a good thing), I'd like to cover some of my Fragmented Infinity projects.

...Of course, the story itself is a project. I am trying to work on that one.

One major thing I'm working on, however, is character reference pictures. General profile images; a casual side view, paired with a more dynamic front pose. The images will let me show off the characters (much easier then describing how they look), and it will also double as a reference and designing tool for their outfits.
Right now, I'm already started on Myrkr's image, with Jeni and Alice most likely going to follow. Lysa, Nott, and Lemja (the other three faeries) will probably follow.
...oh, that's right. I forgot to mention Lemja. She's new. I'll have to go into more detail on her some other time.

The other project is one I've mentioned before, and posted in-progress shots of.
That one's still in progress; it's temporarily on hold, while I work out the details of Jio and Anji's outfits. That's pretty much the only thing holding it up, however.
It's gone through a few changes since the last update I showed off, and it's even been colored in a few spots, but I'll save the WIP shots for a little later; I'd mainly like to show off the outfits, once I get some of that part done.
All in all, it'll probably be quite a good picture, once I finally finish it.

And that's about it, I believe.

See you all next time.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Sixteen - Still Alive

Ah, how wonderfully that "let's post at least once a week" deal worked out, eh. Last entry was what, over a month ago?

Apologies. Let's try to get some updates rolling...

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Well, in some personal news, I've cleaned my room a bit. "But Geo," you say, "that's not special at all! Lots of people have rooms, and most of them clean them every so often!"
To which I'd have to respond, firstly, that you shouldn't say such things so carelessly; think of all the people who don't have rooms to clean! For shame.
And secondly, this is mildly special, if you've ever seen the state my room is generally in; even now, post-cleaning, I have boxes of random stuff piled around the bed, cards on everything, and dust on everything else.

But yes, aside from that, it's not all that special. I just wanted to mention it. Moving on...

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My Fragmented Infinity storyline has actually made some progress recently; almost an entire chapter's worth of writing is saved on my computer now, although unfortunately, it's almost all of the final chapter in the Vynaiocc arc. So it's sort of the end of the start of the story (I'd like to think the story doesn't really start until that point).
Of course, it's a huge spoiler in the storyline, and offers absolutely no insight on the backstory whatsoever, so I can't even preview it for anyone. But it's still a bit of a milestone to actually have that much of the story written down. Even more of a milestone in the fact that I haven't felt an overwhelming urge to completely re-write it yet. Could I have possibly gotten it the way I wanted on the first try? We'll see.

However, this does help cement the story in place a bit; I have the part leading up to the part I just wrote, finally coming into focus; that will introduce three new characters (one of which was originally a main character, then a side character, then cut from the story, and now re-introduced as a side character again). We'll also see some good "action" sequences perhaps. Not sure how well I can write a fight scene in there, but we'll find out.

Horay for writing stories backwards.

But once that is in writing, perhaps I'll have something I can preview for you all, eh. If not, I'll at least be able to get the start of the whole story going; then we might see some actual released story for your reading pleasure. (or displeasure.)

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On the subject of artwork, I've got my main Fragmented Infinity character group shot coming along well; the project's sort of on pause currently, as I try to finalize Myrkr's outfit, but the picture is far enough along that it will be finished eventually. (too far in to quit now.)

I've also got a basic style set up for general character pictures; these pictures will eventually be finished for every character's profile page on the Fragmented Infinity website. None of them are done yet, but I've gotten started on them; the nature of the images makes them a little simpler to make, so I'm hoping they won't take too long to get underway. Jayael (a character from farther along in the story) seems to be the closest one to paper so far.

A few non-F.I. artworks still on the back burner as well, in various stages of completion; I might have to get one of those finished up if I get totally stuck on my F.I. artwork.

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And a final note on my guitar status, for anyone who's curious. (if I remember correctly, it was the main subject of my last entry.) I still wouldn't say I can actually play the guitar, but I'm certainly closer then I was last month; I can do some simple chords freestyle now, although I haven't gotten the hang of strumming single-strings consistently yet. (fret finger positions are tough to get, and it's hard to strum just one string without hitting the adjacent ones.) But hey, I'm getting a feel for it. I don't expect to become any sort of rock star, but getting some basic rhythms and tunes memorized doesn't seem far off. And chances are, if I get into music creation, I'll be doing a lot of digital work with samples, so that could work out great.

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That's it for now. I think this entry came out a little long, but that might at least make up for the month of silence a little bit.
I'll try to stay more active from now on. No promises, but I'll certainly try.

Keep an eye out for some more artist features, by the way. I'll be doing at least one more soon, I hope.

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ĜЄΘ.>