This week, I’m happy to share that Ellen (the writer-half of PixelTwister Studio) and I have come up with an amazing script. It’s meant to tease out the idea behind the book, so it shares part of the you find a body and a revolver with a “pick me up” note opening hook, but it’s also broad enough to get the entire concept across in only a minute or two. If you haven’t read the book/don’t know what I’m talking about, you can check out the first chapter for free using the amazon “look inside” function on the MURDERED product page.
The gist goes something like this:
You’re in Brazil for Carnival when you turn down the wrong alley on the wrong night…”
Meanwhile, Jeremy (the artist-half of PixelTwister) has been busy building the world of the trailer. As part of that, he sent me a sneak peek (which I’m also happy to share with you!) of the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) statue that watches over the iconic Rio de Janeiro skyline.
Without further ado:
Boom! Annnnd that’s now my desktop background.
Sorry to tease you all, but I had to share my excitement. The trailer is coming soon! So don’t forget to subscribe 😉
In this blog post, I’ll offer an update on CYP#3, SUPERPOWERED, and talk about an exciting new book trailer in development.
But first, how about a click-bait worthy image?
Awesome Image by Jenny Parks. Check out more cat culture at: jennyparks.com/
Okay, onto the awesome on the horizon.
SUPERPOWERED is coming along! Not quite as quickly as I’d have hoped (moving from California to Colorado slowed me quite a bit), but good news for CYP fans! I’ve finished the major storyline, and I’m about 1/3 of the way through each of the other two, so let’s call it 5/9ths done. Soon you’ll get to play around with three different superpowers and be a force of good or an agent of evil in all three! I’m having a helluva lot of fun writing it, which usually means you will too as the reader. Get excited!
As I approach finishing the book, I’ve been thinking about how to market it. The book trailer for INFECTED has proven a very successful means to share the first book in the series, so I figured that might be a good idea here too. What’s that you say? I don’t even have a book trailer for my second book? I thought the same thing! So first I’m making a trailer for MURDERED.
After some research, I recently partnered up with the dynamic duo behind PixelTwister Studio to create a “killer” book trailer (get it?).
They do amazing work with “dynamic typography” (text used in creative ways) and blend that with animation to come up with some rather compelling trailers. After having seen the new teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, I’ve seen firsthand just how successful this technique can be. MURDERED is their first mystery/thriller trailer, so they’re equally excited about the project.
Stay tuned and subscribe (there should be a little box over on the top-left, right?) for updates on the project, and very soon, the trailer itself. I’ve already started working with the team at PixelTwister, but I couldn’t help but give my readers an update! I’d love to hear from any who share our excitement in the comments below. Until next time….
This post was originally published on author J.P. Choquette’s blog after she contacted me and asked if I’d go a bit into the process of writing interactive fiction. I liked the essay so much, I wanted to make sure my subscribers got to check it out, so you’ll find the full piece below. You should also check out J.P.’s website, she brings a great many different voices together and it’s worth a perusal.
Reigning in Parallel Worlds
by James Schannep
The main characters in INFECTED choose to wait out the zombie apocalypse inside their home, boarded up and barricaded, with enough supplies to wait out doomsday. They also leave the city in search of fellow survivors and greener pastures. Oh, and they also become zombies themselves.
No, my characters are not schizophrenic (and neither am I!), they just exist in parallel worlds.
What do I mean? Click Your Poison books are gamebooks—wherein you, the reader, choose how the story progresses. Each CYP title has three unique storylines and over fifty possible endings. Because of this “many possibilities” quality to interactive fiction, different readers will experience different outcomes and have a rather different reading experience from one another. It’s my job, as the author, to keep all these parallel worlds straight.
The problem is, every decision expands the storylines; sometimes familiar to one another, but other times they become drastically altered. Their worlds grow too large to exist solely within the confines of my head! I literally can’t keep them all straight; not by memory alone. So how do I do it? Just like in the real world—I use maps. Almost on a daily basis I’m forced to pause, stop writing, and think, “Wait, is this person dead here? And does this other character currently hate you or love you?” That’s when I check the maps.
Level one is my world map: the outline. In any novel, you need a beginning, middle, and end, with a logical pathway through the three. At the most basic level, the outline keeps the overarching plot on track towards the eventual destination(s).
Level two, interstates and roadside attractions: the chronology. Here I’ll keep a chart in Excel. Important plot points form the x-axis (time) and major storylines/characters form the y-axis (events). This helps me know which events happen at what time.
Level three, city streets, dark alleys, slums and shortcuts: the flowchart. This is my bread and butter. Without the flowchart, none of the other maps matter. The flowchart tells me, if you make decision A (attempt to play dead to avoid zombies), it will lead to outcome B (get eaten!). Often times the path will change slightly and I’ll have to go back, edit the story, and change outcomes. Without the flowchart, that would be impossible. Below, you can see a rough scrap from my latest CYP book as an example.
Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “Easy reading is damned hard writing.” If my process sounds excruciatingly difficult, good. My job (in addition to keeping the parallel worlds straight), is to make it look effortless inside the story. Your experience making decisions as reader should be smooth and clean, despite the complexity and ambiguity of the actual decisions themselves.
The real test of all this behind-the-scenes planning is your experience. So go ahead, dive into INFECTED and see if you have what it takes to survive the zombie apocalypse!
I’ve had this image in my head for a few years now, and as I’m writing a superhero book this year, I thought it an appropriate time to post on my blog for Patriot Day.
Now, I’m not normally one to reminisce or to be filled with sudden bouts of patriotism just because it’s a holiday. I spent nearly a decade in the military (9/11 was a big reason I joined), so I probably see these days of remembrance a bit differently from the general public. However, as part of writing SUPERPOWERED, I’ve been analyzing the nature of what it means to be a hero on just about a daily basis. Maybe that’s why the sacrifice of our first responders and soldiers has hit home a little more this year.
I’m not sure how many of you have seen the above picture before; probably quite a few. But take a look at it again, and maybe give a few seconds to consider what it means to put a total stranger’s well-being above your own. On my more cynical days, I tend to think the simplistic “Women and Children First” should be updated to “Cancer Researchers and Nobel Laureates first” but there’s something powerful in putting value in another human being, simply because of that shared humanity. You don’t have to make the ultimate sacrifice to be a hero. Everyday heroism can be just as inspiring. And today, I hope to inspire a few of you to make a difference in everyday life.
Here’s how:
A while back, Amazon introduced their Smile Program. Basically, whenever you shop on Amazon, if you enter “smile” instead of “www” in the web address, you may select a charity and Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchase to that charity (at no cost to you). I use The Wounded Warrior Project for my purchases and I encourage you to do the same! This may only be a small “thank you” to those who’ve sacrificed their health for our freedoms, but if every Amazon shopper chooses to use the Smile Program, it can make a powerful difference. Obviously, there are numerous other ways to support charitable organizations, or even volunteer in your community, but I do most of my bookselling on Amazon so I wanted to help spread the word on this program.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank those of you who read my blog and books. After my time in the military I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and it’s truly a gift to be typing away at my dream job day after day. I can’t say it enough: I’m only able to be a writer because you choose to be a reader! Thank you!
So, I’ve been devouring a ton of superhero material lately as I work on my third Click Your Poison book. As such, I recently watched TMNT in theaters, and yesterday I watched The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on DVD. These were hands down my two favorite cartoon franchises during my childhood, so in a way, I couldn’t help comparing them. But since one is currently in theaters and the other just now available for rent, many of you might have missed a little something I picked up on:
The two movies have the exact same plot.
It should seem obvious, but SPOILERSwill follow. Now then, let’s examine the similarities:
Our heroes, Peter Parker and April O’Neil, are both awkward young dreamers with moviestar looks who work for the local news.
Each of their fathers were tragically murdered when they were children, too young to realize that Dear Old Dad was actually destroying his own scientific work (mutating animals) once he realized that the corporation he was working for had nefarious plans for his bizarre experiments.
But fear not! For our heroes will discover old video footage (in the form of ancient video blogs that never made it to the internet) which clears dad’s name. Oh, and we learn he destroyed all but one tiny specimen that grew up to create a wise-cracking superhero (team).
That’s when our heroes must turn against the corporation they once thought was their friend, and face off against the latest in mechanized exo-suit technology.
The differences? There’s no Giant Pizza-Eating Spiders in one, and our Human Hero was not bitten by Radioactive Turtles in the other. Although, that would make for an amazing mash-up…
Why do they have the exact same plot? Good question. Let’s examine the possibilities.
Could it just be a giant coincidence? Yes, it could be. Parallel Development does happen. In fact, a friend of mine is doing a kickstarter for his graphic novel featuring little known x-mas legend, Krampus, only to learn there’s a Krampus movie in the works. PS — you should totally support the project, it looks awesome! (/end_friend-plug)
Could it be that there’s nothing new under the sun? That there are only so many variations of a story you can tell? Sure, could be. I know of the notorious Seven Storylines, but even so this seems a bit too similar.
Could it just be Hollywood Formula? AKA, (Repeat What Works = Money, where x = x and Money = Everything) Last couple of years the formula was “Hey villain, why not intentionally get yourself captured?” See: Latest Bond movie with Javier Bardem, Batman movie with Bane (and Joker prior to that), Loki in The Avengers, and KHAAAAANNN in the latest Star Trek.
My money’s on door #3. What do you think? Does it even matter? Or is it only story-perfectionists like me that care about/even notice this stuff? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Comment below and don’t forget to subscribe to the blog.
I’ve had the relationship between creativity and exercise on my mind for a while now. From moving to one of the Top 10 fittest cities in the US, to an article that I just can’t get out of my head about famous creatives and how they spent their days. The blog Info We Trust designed some pretty fantastic visualization of that data, gleaned from Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. Check out my favorites below.
KEY:
But rather than making my a personal pinwheel of productivity, mapping out my own eccentricities, I simply analyzed my “ideal work day” and explored how to go about being more productive while maintaining a certain level of activity. In addition to writing every day, I usually take morning walks and try to work out most days. During the occasional afternoon run or swim, I often come up with some of my best ideas. I once found myself sprinting home so I could write down the twist ending to MURDERED, afraid I’d forget the burst of inspiration. Yesterday, while mowing the lawn, I came up with the plot for a pretty fantastic Sci-Fi horror film (I’ll let you know if it ever makes it to the big screen…).
Okay, so the relationship between exercise and creativity is long documented. So what? Well, here’s the problem with that daily segmented wheel–it’s finite. There are only so many hours in the day. But what if I could combine the act of walking and writing?
Enter the treadmill desk.
The plan is to walk while writing, researching, editing, and marketing. I just purchased a walking treadmill and raised one of my desks to accommodate. I’ll start off slowly, with sitting breaks, but I’d like to get up to several miles of work by the end of it. What do you think? Am I onto something or just “spinning my wheels”? What’s your secret to productivity?
Check out a video on “The Desk of the Future!” below:
Today, Batman turned 75 years old. The Caped Crusader’s impact on pop culture is undeniable, especially as one of the few “everyman” superheroes that can stand their ground amongst those who might otherwise seem like gods.
In honor of the Dark Knight’s birthday, I wanted to share an update on my own cape & cowl project, SUPERPOWERED. As the third Click Your Poison book, you’ll be Mercury City’s scourge or it’s redemption with your own set of super-human abilities. After a move to the Denver metro area, writing life has been a bit hectic, but I’m back chasing criminals down dark alleys and inventing new ways to take over the world. Right now I’m looking at a fall/winter release.
How about a birthday present? Below you’ll find a raw and unedited sample of SUPERPOWERED where you’re able to save a damsel in distress just like good ‘ol Bruce Wayne himself. Minor Spoilers follow, in that it reveals a bit about one of the three powers you can inherit in the book. This comes from a scene where you’re playing darts at a bar, right after you discover you’re able to affect the darts’ trajectory with the power of your mind…
…a crash from behind draws your attention back to the bar. There’s a couple deep in argument, and a broken pint glass on the floor. It’s the girl from the shuffleboard table and a man who must’ve arrived just after you.
“I said, ‘no!’” she shouts. “Leave me alone or I’m calling the cops.”
“C’mon,” the man says, just before clamping a meaty hand on her bicep.
“You’re drunk and embarrassing yourself. Shut up!” he continues, trying to pull her away. Despite his accusation, it’s he that’s slurring his words.
“Leave her alone,” you find yourself saying.
The whole bar stops to look at you.
“You—you heard what I said, and I suggest you go now if you don’t want any trouble.”
Despite the man’s imposing size and his dock worker’s strength, you’re feeling confident. The man pushes the woman off to the side, then steps towards you. It’s obvious from his body language that the time for talk has passed.
He brings a fist the size of your head in towards you and you duck in for an uppercut to his abdomen.
Here’s what would have happened before you got your powers: Your blow lands harmlessly against his barrel chest, while his own strike connects to the side of your head. He then proceeds to beat you senselessly while everyone watches, thinking, that’s why you don’t get involved. If you’re lucky, the bartender will tell him that’s enough and he’ll drag his woman from the bar, leaving you bloodied on the floor.
Now here’s what actually happens: You use the same blend of physical and psychic movements you’ve just been practicing with the darts, except now you don’t hold back. Your fist connects with his ribcage, and then your mind blasts him away, sending the hulking man over the bartop and smashing against the shelf of alcohol. You just knocked him back fifteen feet, most likely shattering his ribs and possibly collapsing a lung.
“Are you okay?” you ask the woman.
She nods, terrified. Tears and mucous stream past her tremulous lips.
You look around the rest of the bar and all the patrons shrink away from your gaze. The bartender puts a shot on the counter for you and says, “On the house.”
Like a boss, you down the alcohol, give the man a knowing nod of thanks, and leave the bar.
I know, I’m late to the party (or early if we’re talking DVD release!) but EDGE OF TOMORROW was easily my favorite big budget action-er of the summer. It was funny, exciting, creative, and thrilling. Until the last five minutes. Skip past the spoilers if you haven’t seen the film.
MASSIVE SPOILERS FOLLOW
While I wish I’d seen the movie as a Monet Experience (I mean, how much more intense would that opening 30 minutes have been if you didn’t know he was coming back after death?!), that wasn’t my main gripe. With few exceptions (CABIN IN THE WOODS comes to mind) a movie’s ending can make or break the experience.
First, a quick re-cap, just to refresh your memory. Because you’re not reading this if you haven’t seen the movie, right?
Cage (Cruise) loses the ability to “reset the day” after a blood transfusion, which he had gained via Alpha, so he and Rita (Blunt) mount a final attack against the Omega with the stakes at an all-time high. What results is a brutal, hard-wrought victory where both our heroes die. That is, until the Omega’s blood seeps into Cage’s lifeless body and the day resets before anything bad has yet happened, but somehow the Omega is still dead in the past, so Cage is able to greet Rita with a smile and offer the audience a happy ending.
Bullshit Hollywood rewrite, I thought.
So I went and read the 2010 screenplay ALL YOU NEED IS KILL by Dante Harper based on the novel of the same name by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and…wow that was different. As in, huge changes to the plot such that the different endings had nothing to do with one another. No help there.
Then I found the answer I was looking for in the unlikeliest of places: an internet comment thread. Such occurrences are usually reserved for your birthday, when the planets are aligned, after you’ve just found a four-leaf clover sitting atop a head’s-up penny–so I’ll count myself lucky.
Allow me to paraphrase the new, improved version of the ending:
When Cage killed the alpha on the beach, he didn’t share its abilities, but instead (and here’s the key) he stole them. So that particular Alpha can never come back again. It’s dead. Off the timeline. No longer even existed. Which is why we don’t see it on the beach again when he resents the day time after time. That’s point #1.
Point #2. The ability sends you back roughly 24 hours, but you only awaken the last time you gained consciousness. Which, in this case, was after he got tased and woke up.
So….when Cage later loses his resetting ability, then goes and fights the Omega, it’s still the day before the beach invasion. When he steals the Omega’s ability, it gets erased from existence. He dies much earlier than he ever had, and time resets roughly 24 hours earlier — which is BEFORE he gets tased, and instead he wakes up in the helicopter.
And the Omega is gone because it ceased to exist.
RECAP: He steals the ability from two different aliens, erasing each of their existences in the process. And he dies at two different times, so the “reset” sends him back to two different times as well.
Now the happy ending makes sense. Oh and Cage is now immortal, haha.
END OF MASSIVE SPOILERS
So, what do you think? Can a disappointing ending ruin a whole movie? Are you the type that clings to story logic or will you overlook some faults if you’re given a happy ending? Did the new ending work for you? Let me know in the comments below!
Introducing the “Freebies” tab. See it up there at the top? Feel free to give it a click. Or, if that’s too much effort, here ya go: CLICK ME FOR FREEEEEEDOOOOOOMMM
There are three (well, four, kinda, you’ll see) stories for perusal free of charge. If you’re a die-hard day-one fan, you may have seen these before, but it’s my hope to periodically add something new from “the vault” and open it up for public consumption.
That’s it; blog post over, have a great day. Hope you like ’em!
While hauling my earthly goods from California to Colorado, I listened to the audiobook version of The Martian by Andy Weir. I was intrigued by the self-published success story, and decided to give it a go. You should too, it’s a fantastic book. Here’s a blurb, paraphrased from the Amazon product description:
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, [astronaut Mark Watney] finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive…. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?”
My wife and I loved the central character so much, we started saying I was Mark Watney-ing whenever I’d creatively solve a problem around the house. It’s the new MacGyver-ing.
Now then, beyond a simple book recommendation, I have a theory about the book. Very, very minor spoilers follow. As someone who hates spoilers, trust me, you’re fine.
I originally described this book to friends as, “a near-future where we’ve started manned missions to Mars,” but upon further reflection, I’m going to update that stance. It’s not a near-future, it’s an alternate-present. All the technology for these fictional Ares missions currently exists. The only problem is that we haven’t spent billions of dollars on space travel and Mars research.
Here it is, my theory on The Martian: In the story-world, the September 11th attacks never happened. Instead, we spent all of those billions of dollars funding NASA and manned missions to Mars.
Think about it. There’s never a mention of a terrorism. There’s never a mention of 9/11. There’s never a mention of tightened regulations, security, or a slashed NASA budget. The world comes together on a cooperative level with such ease, it fits the political atmosphere of an America that hasn’t been at war for well over a decade.
The Martian takes place in a parallel universe where there is no Global War on Terror.
For those who’ve read the book, I’d love to hear what you think about my theory, or if you have any theories of your own. Do you think it’s an alternate-present where there was no recession either? And if you haven’t read the book yet, don’t forget to check back in once you do!
Level three, city streets, dark alleys, slums and shortcuts: the flowchart. This is my bread and butter. Without the flowchart, none of the other maps matter. The flowchart tells me, if you make decision A (attempt to play dead to avoid zombies), it will lead to outcome B (get eaten!). Often times the path will change slightly and I’ll have to go back, edit the story, and change outcomes. Without the flowchart, that would be impossible. Below, you can see a rough scrap from my latest CYP book as an example.
Author James Schannep 