TPA 27

There's a place Stephen King and Lovecraft know that I don't. A place where they mix the normal with the paranormal and create this, this THING where the reader believes in the supernatural. By establishing the normal and slowly racheting up the tension and keeping with the pace the reader starts to believe. Take Star Wars for example, because why not. We start with a fight in space and a princess giving these documents to a pair of droids. The ship the princess is on is captured and the droids bump into our protagonist Luke. Because the scene is so well-shot and the dialogue is good and the acting is believable, we accept this as the norm for Star Wars. There's a war going on and there are clearly good guys and bad guys. With Luke we see the common man in this world, a farmer. But he's got a bigger destiny. And we can accept the droids, the ships in space, the man in the black mask who breathing is creepy, but then we're introduced to the Force and that's where things go crazy. Obi Wan explains what the Force is and even gives Luke a cool laser sword. "But," you say, "I don't believe in the Force. I don't know what that is." The movie tells you that the Force is real and says "look, I have proof." Obi Wan uses his powers to tell these guards that "These aren't the droids you're looking for." And little by little we see Luke and our own faith in the Force grow until we believe it when he uses it to blow up the Death Star. It's amazing how a story-telling gets us to believe in something. It's like telling a lie and building it up little by little. 

So, I'm thinking of how I do that with my Cain story. I need proof, something that shows that a death will replace a life. Something that shows the cycle of hate that can't be broken. So how do I demonstrate it? I was thinking of having two animals fight and one dies. Then the victor is killed by another animal in revenge and the dead one and the new victor walk off together. I guess that might work. I was thinking of having my two characters bond over the protagonist saving the girl from a machine but animals might work better. But I think I can dod better. I need to brain storm some more with my friend. There needs to be physical representation of what my story is about for it to click. And I need to get the reader to connect with the protagonists on a personal level. The reader needs to feel my protagonist's hate and need for revenge. Like boiling water threatening to spill over. Anger is like that I think. Stephen King has plenty of metaphors and little hints for horror but I just don't pick up on them. Maybe I will later.

Right now, I'm playing a game called "Persona 5: Royal Edition." The Persona series has alwasy dealt with personal (pun intended) issues of kids in school mixed with monsters and mayhem and all kinds of stuff that doesn't exist in the real world. But I think it makes you believe because it's fun to play. In terms of gameplay it's fun to defeat monsters while pulling off a heist. I plan on playing that game again and taking notes because all the stuff I've been doing with Gleipnir is missing the aspect of school. Most of the story takes place outside of school and it almost makes it pointless for the characters to be students. 

I've been visiting a site called Royal Road to see if I could get some help with my writing. The problem is that most of the writers there want to write...fluff. I don't want to say "garbage" but it's the same isekai, overpowered main character stuff I see all the time. It's great that people want to write but is it really that hard to write something that isn't isekai-based? I like isekai books too, I'm a fan of Rising of the Shield Hero and The Familiar of Zero but I don't consider them real writing the same way I don't consider candy to be a real meal. 

I'll write more later.