Writing Helloween Thirteen (Pt. 2)

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When coming up with a power for the main villain I wanted it to be something brand new to the series. If this is the last bad guy you see, he'd better be memorable. I had it narrowed down to either metal manipulation or blood manipulation. With metal manipulation, the bad guy would be able to control the shape and consistency of any metal he touches. He'd also wear metal bracers or gauntlets that he could morph into spikes, claws, blades or long sharp wire tendrils. He'd have similar capabilities to the T-1000 in Terminator 2. I ended up going with the blood manipulation power because it helped solidify the plot and it fit in perfectly with the overall horror motif. It also had an interesting mechanic that if he used his own blood as a weapon, he'd naturally want more of it to play with so he'd end up collecting it over time and storing it to use later. Specifically the idea for Helloween Thirteen being a game show came from the video game Silent Hill 2. In the hospital level while you wait in the elevator, a bizarre transmission comes over your radio. It's literally a game show with a host that knows your name and asks you questions. It comes out of nowhere and leaves with no explanation for ANYTHING. The challenge is completely optional. The correct answers correspond to a combo lock on a mysterious box in the hospital. If you get it right, you get a big stash of supplies. If you get it wrong, you get seriously injured. It was just one of those really odd and disquieting moments in a video game that stuck with me.
I wrote the actual game Helloween Thirteen to resemble a twisted version of a cadet's military training as described in the first chapter of the book. The game can be thought of as an obstacle course with a linear path through several challenges to an eventual finish line. Things like the presence of eggs, the fact that Travis dresses up like a private and relies on his training to accomplish specific tasks creates a scenario akin to a nightmare which has incorporated elements from his own reality.
Inspiration for the climax came from Hard Target. Hard Target is an action movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme which I've seen twice in my life. Once when I was probably ten or younger and once when I was 23. That's a big gap. I remembered absolutely nothing about the movie except the name and the climax with the Mardi Gras floats.
 
Six is killed in the way that Angela from the first book was originally supposed to be killed. Angela's cause of death was changed because I didn't think it fit the scenario even though I really liked it. I'm glad I got to finally use it.
Are Six's powers magic?
 
I really want to say no because I've written all of the previous books as if magic doesn't exist in this universe. This is a science universe where things that would be considered paranormal in our universe are more or less explained and controlled. So what is magic? In pop culture it's basically an unseen power with little or no explanation behind it that can be tapped into with a set of steps in some form of a ritual or discipline. Well isn't that unseen power basically what ether is? But ether is pretty much established as a rule or an ambient force of nature like plate tectonics or the Earth's magnetic poles. 
Then there's the aspect of Six using elements from magic books to enhance his innate abilities. That means one of two things. If I declare that ether is definitively science then Six has made a hybrid of science and magic by controlling ether manifestation through these old world spells. Or it means that these "magic spells" have graduated from magic to science because they were true all along and were actually based around the user being an ether channeler. That opens a whole new can of worms. 

Red Eye is an antagonist archetype commonplace in slasher movies and survival horror video games who is relentless, much more powerful and seemingly indestructible compared to the protagonist who can only rely on stealth and quick thinking to stave them off until an eventual showdown. Red Eye has the clothes of Jericho Cross, the eyes of a T-100 terminator, the concealed weapons of Baraka, the bandages of the invisible man, the ‘personality’ of Jason Voorhees but inspired mostly from Mr. X. (If you get all of those references, I’m impressed.) 

In Helloween Thirteen, Travis is in his early forties but has the body of about a thirty year old.

Influences and inspiration for Helloween 13 include Silent Hill, Saw, Die Hard III, Hard Target and The Game.Trinity is the first female not to be deliberately named after a video game character. Instead her name begins with ‘Tr’ just like her parents’ names. 

If Six were a Batman villain, he would be a cross between the Riddler and Calendar Man. 

The boogeyman that Trish makes up to scare her daughter is essentially Bobby Barrows, AKA “Scissorman,” from the Clock Tower video games.

The general scenario and quote “You miserable pycho!” from the scene where Travis comes across all of the eggs in the burning building is directly transposed from a scene in the cartoon SWAT Kats. In the scene, one of the protagonists is riding a missile through the sky launched by the episode’s villain. He knows in order to make the missile inert, he simply has to cut the red wire. When he opens the panel on the missile, he finds that the interior seems to be nothing more than a mass of red wires.

Writing A Fistful of Ether

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Me: And with that the whole story is told. All conflicts are resolved and everything is wrapped up in a nice neat package.

Brain: No it isn't. What happened to Trish?

Me: She went home and lived out a mediocre life. Not everyone gets a gold medal at the end of the day. 

Brain: You developed her character and then left her high and dry at the end. She wasn't even included in the climax. Also you're completely ignoring the other problem.

Me: What other problem?

Brain: Precisely my point. Also do you realize that the way you ended the second book just created a whole new blank canvas?

Me: But I don't WANT to do another book.

Brain: Wait! Wait! You know what you could do? Sci-fi western!

Me: Well that's... Damn you.

So there I was again at the end of a book but still left with a setup that was much too enticing to not persue. This time however, I didn't have a giant backlog of story waiting to be written or an inspiring song to spur me forward, just a character that I liked and a nagging feeling that there was still more to do. And that sci-fi westen scenario... Trish went from side character to supporting character to singular main character. She gets to have her own adventure in a brand new scenario.

The idea for the third book, (not the setting,) was originally for a prequel to the first book, centering around a younger Travis in his military life prior to defecting to Apex. Trish was just as easy to cast in the roll since the two have things in common and very similar backgrounds. I still wanted Travis in the story as not quite a supporting character but more like a secondary character. It's about both of them but it's still primarily her story. From square one in the first book I fostered some kind of relationship between them because I liked the way they interacted. It's a sort of a Léon: The Professional kind of way. There was always some kind of hierarchy separating them but in A Fistful of Ether, they are finally equals.

I had characters that I liked and a setting that I liked but what's the conflict besides all of their personal baggage? One of the questions I asked myself is, What's next for ectos? Are they being run out of town with torches and pitchforks yet? (Maybe for book 5... Somebody please stop me.) I've imposed a sort of guideline on myself for creating sequels. My thought is that the series is about ectos. The books need to have ectos doing ecto things and the next book should also one-up the last book in some way. The mythos that I've created needs to be updated and expanded. There needs to be something new that's never been seen before. In the first book the whole idea was new because the world hadn't been established prior but it was more or less Travis' double soulbond that was the weird thing that broke the rules. In the second book it was the living ether computer which could do nearly anything virtually and even had influence over the physical world. So what's new this time? What if you could bottle up ether and give it to the masses? What if it could be made ten times more powerful? What if it fell into the wrong hands? Well, wouldn't that suck? That conflict will do nicely.      

Several western movie themes and clichés are present in the story such as a sheriff, a hired gun, a town reliant upon a mine, a burlesque saloon, running the law out of town and poisoning the water supply.

While trying to develop a plot that I liked, one passing concept was that Travis was actually hired by the antagonists which would pit him against Trish in a very emotionally conflicted scenario.

Travis’ dead man’s pseudonym 'Victor Stanton' is a reference to Arch Stanton, the name on the grave next to where the treasure is buried in the movie the Good the Bad and the Ugly.

Van makes a reference to Charles Bronson, who was the star of Once Upon a Time in the West; also the star of the Death Wish franchise mentioned by Andy Merrick in the first book.

Trish Merrick shares the nickname "Blondie" with Clint Eastwood’s character "The Man With No Name" which is also referenced in the name of Zack’s drink.

Baxter the ice cream man was inspired by Billy Corgen in The Smashing Pumpkins music video for Today.

The Warren Brothers were inspired by Kane and Lynch of the same titled video game and the Macdougall Brothers from the Outlaw Star animated series.

The Warren Brothers are constantly in conflict with one another. Incidentally, their ecto powers are fire and ice.

Teflon appears in the overall story timeline the moment Trish develops a crush on Travis. He dies when the crush is finally realized.

The working title for the book was 'Psychotropia.' The joke working subtitle was 'A Sirius Incident.'

Writing Hard Reset (Pt. 2)

The first book of the series was almost named Soul Machine in reference to the Lamassu computer. The name is referenced by Andy's emulation in the second book.

This is my favorite of the four books. It has my favorite cover. It has my favorite antagonist setup. I love the idea of a computer so powerful that it can actually affect the minds of people around it and even their physical surroundings in a merging of reality and the virtual realm, where almost anything is possible. It has my favorite chapter, 'Dreaming in Digital.' It's like a lucid dream where the dreamer has total control. It almost felt like an experimental writing assignment and it ended up being something truly intimate, surreal and disturbing. It showcases the tragedy of the tragic villain which I always prefer over the random bastard villain.

The whole story is told in three main perspectives, all three experiencing their own trials in a robot apocalypse scenario. We have the impromptu command center where high ranking Apex officials are pulling strings to minimize damage done by the villain and ultimately formulating a game plan to stop her. There's the villain who basically gets to sit back and fool around, watching everyone scramble. Then there are the people in between. The three transients who are just trying to figure out how to survive on the streets in the chaos.

This was a good chance to show off Travis' military training and leadership. I don't know about others but I think it's really cool to see ANYONE applying their professional knowledge no matter the situation or the profession but especially military training in a crisis. Trish knows where to get weapons. Solomon is an expert on vehicles and has a trump card power. All three characters have their own personal back story chapter mostly highlighting the issues they're dealing with.

Solomon's story is interesting because it shows the corner of the ecto lore that I hadn't really gone over, what it's like to actually become an ecto. How exactly does it all work?  

But of course I like Trish's story the most. From a writing standpoint, the thing that makes her appealing is the fact that she's a kid and easily the youngest character. Her perspective and experiences are by nature going to be radically different from most others in the story so it gives a much needed balance. When you force a kid into an adult dominated situation it has the potential to become like a comedic relief. Kids do stupid things and there doesn't need to be a reason for it. It gives me an excuse for silliness which I always want because it's no fun being serious all of the time, even when the world is ending.

I remember when I was younger and went to my friend's house. He lived next to a creepy abandoned house that still had all of the former owner's stuff. He'd tell me bogus ghost stories he made up about the place and then we'd go jump the backyard fence and screw around with whatever we found over there.

I had another friend who lived on a ranch near a creek and the woods. One time after the sun went down, we went outside, got on quadrunners and split up to go look for mountain lions. Why in the hell would anyone do this?

Yet another time I was at a friend's house with another friend. It was 2 AM and we were hungry so we rode bikes to the nearby McDonald's. It was a ruralish area. The restaurant wasn't open. Some cops pulled into the parking lot and told us we were out past curfew. Not one of us even knew a curfew existed. It's not like the idea of a curfew was unfounded since we had just come from TP-ing someone's front yard tree about 20 minutes prior. The cops escorted us home, idling slowly behind our bikes. Then they woke up my friend's parents. They were extatic. Never got in trouble for the toiletpaper though. Again, a completely senseless act. What was the point? These kinds of things are important to remember so that when you're children do the same, you don't try to remove them from the gene pool for the good of humanity. This was the kind of content that I tried to recall when writing Trish.  

Writing Hard Reset (Pt. 1)

There was never any preconceived idea of making a whole series of books about this. The thought of making a sequel occurred to me towards the end of writing the first book. All I really needed to go off of was the short part in the first book where Jill mentally assimilates with technology and the song Electric Eye by Judas Priest. Really, I could have titled the entire series with Judas Priest songs. Book one: Screaming for Vengeance, Book two: Electric Eye, Book three: Hell Patrol, Book four: The Ripper. See? Remember how I said that the only way to quell inspiration is to create? Well it goes both ways. Creation also yields inspiration in an annoying perpetual cycle.
 
The character Trish who was originally only mentioned in the first book ended up getting her own chapter in the first book. I liked her and wanted her to get more "screen time" so I made her a supporting character in Hard Reset.


Hard Reset resembles a loose cyberpunk adaptation of the Wizard of OZ with no Scarecrow. I didn't start it intending it to be this way but once I noticed the similarities which were uncanny, I couldn't help but steer it that direction. Trish, (our Dorothy) is living in a life where no one understands her. She wakes up after a huge disaster and finds that she's now in a strange land. On her new journey, she meets Travis, (the Tin Man) and Solomon (the Cowardly Lion.) Once I saw the parallels, I purposefully wrote Solomon as this character. It was nice because before that I wasn't sure where I was going with his development. He is unwittingly searching for courage. Travis' "heart" that he doesn't have is Dr. Mills. Trish is trying (or being forced) to go home to her parents. Her new found dog who's name tag says 'Otto' is an anagram for Toto, who is of course the dog from the wizard of OZ. Jill, (the wicked Witch of the West,) is constantly watching them on their journey and occasionally popping in to harass/try to kill them. It's not until the protagonists meet Skip, (OZ,) the hacker behind the curtain that they are helped/sent to the witch's castle in order to kill her. And in the end, everyone gets what they need.

Other sources of inspiration include a couple of episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. In one episode, the primary enemy turns out to be essentially a computer virus which is slowly infecting their computer systems. They can slow it but they can't stop it. Should the virus assume total control, it's the apocalypse. I like this episode for two reasons. One is that it is a sudden death crisis scenario. There is a finite amount of time on the clock and if you can't figure out how to beat the bad guy before that, it's over. It creates an immediate and constant sense of urgency. Characters have to think fast but can't make mistakes. The second reason is that it's an unconventional kind of battle. The soldiers that are always relied upon for offense are practically useless and the technicians and desk jockeys are suddenly thrust onto the front line in a role reversal.

Writing Soulbond (Pt. 2)

(Highlight the invisible text to read spoiler trivia.)

One of my most favorite music videos is the video for Elektrobank by The Chemical Brothers. It's one action scene played out and synchronized to one song. It's not just action to music though. There is a story surrounding the video, a context. This girl in the video has put in a lot of training to get to this point. There's obviously a heated rivalry between her and one of the other top competitors. The girl's mom shows up late to her routine. The viewer never sees the development or the cause behind any of these plot points. It's like we're missing the rest of the story. It's like we're watching the climactic scene taken directly out of a feelgood sports movie. This is the closest emulation of what the original Soulbond movie idea was, that I know of. The fight scenes I spoke of. They would look just like this.

I've already explained that I've come to terms with not being able to do a movie. But as a holdover from the original idea, the chapter titles are all appropriately picked song titles; sort of a book soundtrack. 

The song ‘Replica’ by Fear Factory is the title of the chapter where Andy fights a replica in a factory.

Coming up with a good character name is one of the most difficult things for me to accomplish. If left to my own devices with no help, I tend to come up with bland names like Andy or Travis. In the past I've pulled names from the phone book and famous baseball players. When I started Soulbond I immediately needed help again. I decided I'd go with a theme and I ended up sticking with it the whole way through. All female characters' first names are lifted from video games, specifically horror video games. Why? Because. The only exceptions are Trish and Misty whos' names come from outside the horror genre.

The character Laura Marks is inspired by two pain in the ass instructors I had in art school. One instructor in particular was so impossible that I was convinced that there was no way that you could show her anything you did and leave a generally good impression. She could critique the Garden of Eden. She'd give it a C+.

In the first draft of the book there were no nanobots, murder/AID side story or cannibalism. The character Trish only existed in mention.

The four codename tarot cards drawn in the debriefing all accurately predict their respective characters' immediate futures.

A dullahan is a type of ghost forced to carry its severed head. It is also the last name of the Quantech CEO who was shot in the head.

One of the biometrics specialists at the AID is named Michael as a self reference from several bad short stories I wrote in high school. They were all completely different in genre but somehow shared a recurring character of the same name. (I told you how hard it is for me to come up with good names.)

There are several movie quotes and references throughout the book, many of which come through Andy. The quote written in gold in Andy’s tomb is from Bladerunner.

In the movie Equilibrium, Christian Bale shoots his partner in the head through a book of Yeats poetry. This is referenced in the first chapter of the book.

VEO, though never explained in the book, stands for Violent Ether Outflux.