Category: Writing

Posted in Game Reviews, Writing

Games and Development

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

8a500bfef7a18b89fc3a68b5409a6ab0A couple of things happened this past weekend and they were all good. I had family visiting and they took up all of my time. It was nice to take a break from work and everything else. I got to show them around the city and enjoy the zoo.

There are two huge pieces of news that I want to share or maybe three. Well, they aren’t huge per say but I still consider them big news.

First, my review on Crickle has been posted. You can find it here. Basically, it’s like Scrabble but on mobile and you can play it by yourself.

Second, I have joined up with a group of developers and programmers, artists, composers, etc. (all minor league here) to develop a game. I’m helping out with world building, setting, characters, dialogue, etc. You know, plot and the other fun stuff. We had a meeting this Saturday that never really ended. The planning is still going on.

I do have to say that it’s exciting that I get to work with so many other people. While I’m the ‘writer’, it’s nice hearing feedback and other ideas from everyone else. It’s been a while since I have worked in a group. For now, we’re just naming the setting and a few other things. I realize that writing for a game is way different than writing a story but despite that, I’m looking forward to the experience.

Lastly, I will say that I have finally built my desktop. Over the course of like six months, I have bought every part to build it and today I was able to pick up from the store. Now, I have a faster option to surf the web. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for my laptop but I needed an upgrade and my desktop gave me that. Well, I’m still keeping my laptop but it’s nice to have another option.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Writing

Camp NaNoWriMo

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

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It’s the start of March but Camp NaNoWriMo is just a month away and I’m debating whether or not to participate. While I’m still revising and editing Phantom Blade, my NaNoWriMo project, I can’t help but feel like I should write as many stories as I can this year. It’s not exactly a New Year’s resolution but I always promise myself that I need to write more and not to quit.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a lot of ideas swarming in my head. All of them have be jotted down in my idea notebook. A handful of them have almost everything planned out to write the novel. So it begs the question, should I put revising aside and write a new novel ( and start on my writing goal) or should I continue revising and finish up Phantom Blade?

A part of me thinks this is one way that I’m subconsciously trying to put off revising and editing. It’s a fine line that I’m navigating here. It’s not like I’m going to just keep writing and never get any editing done but I also want to keep my goal. If I do plan to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo this year then, I need to start organizing the story now. During that time, I can still revise and edit so that won’t be an issue.

So what’s stopping me? The usual. Doubt. Afraid that I’ll quit midway. Or that I won’t like how the story will turn out. Every fear that I have when starting a new story. I also feel like I’m somehow abandoning my other stories. In part, its true but on the other hand, I always go back and work on them.

Another goal of mine is to become a published author. At this point it feels like I won’t ever become one because I keep wanting to write other stories. Sure, I’m getting a novel ready to send out to agents. I’m just waiting for my last beta reader to finish with the feedback before seeing what I need to change and sending it out (This kind of feels like I’m making excuses).

I’m torn.

Posted in Resources, Writing

Map Making

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

For the past week or so I have been drawing some maps for my fantasy stories. These include: Crimson Queen and Blue Moon. Blue Moon is more of a story that I have been working on the lore and the background story of how the world came to be once the story starts. I haven’t really started writing the novel yet because there’s so much and I need to make an outline for it once I figured everything out.

I will say that I have written a movie script for this idea. Actually, it all startes out as a movie idea and, as time went on, I began to realize that it would be good as a book series. 

So, overall, I’m not saying that I have never drawn a map of lands/worlds before. I’m just saying that it has been a while and they’ve never been so detailed before. How did I mange to do this?

For starters, all I used was a piece of paper and a pencil. Nothing fancy. I’m not an artist, I can’t draw but I do know the name of the town my story takes place in and a few more details. For example, there’s a river near town and a cave. I started off small. Well, it also helped that I had a world generator but more on that later.

Creating a map for Crimson Queen had me going back to the planning section. I needed to create a layout of the town but that wasn’t too difficult. I focused on the main points in town like the church, the Major’s mansion, and enforcement office. From them, I added all the other pieces. The buildings weren’t perfect and I didn’t create any floor plans but I knew where everything was.

After the layout, I zoomed out and focused on the surrounding areas. I added trees, a river, farm land, the cave, and even neighboring towns. Thanks to the map generated by the world generator, I was able to use set my towns on the map and be done. 

At least now, not only do I have notes on the distance betweens towns and those details, but I also have a visual aid. Sure, it might not be perfect but no one but me is going to see it. Plus, making a map makes the world come alive a bit more. 

Posted in Game Reviews, Writing

Progress

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

I used to publish my blog posts on Fridays but now I think it would be better if I do this at the start of the week. That way, I can write about my progress during the week and over the weekend. However, with my schedule in choas, I don’t have a definite day. It has been difficult to get back into the habit of both writing a blog post and working on my stories.

While I have been revising my NaNoWriMo novel and Crimson Queen, a wattpad story I finished last year (?), it hasn’t been as much as I hoped. However, I will say that rushing a revision never did me any good. As long as I don’t stop, everything should be good.

On a happier side note, another one of my game reviews has been posted. You can find it here. While this isn’t on a weekly basis, at least I got a few articles out there. So far, that is good enough for me.

As long as I continue to go forward and, though it’s at a slow pace, I can say that I am working towards my goal. In the meantime, I just got to keep reading, revising, writing, and beta reading so I can help other improve and improve myself too. 

Posted in Writing

Changing the Plot & a possible Multiverse?

Posted on by Kassandra Carrillo

I’ve started to plan out the plot for Phantom Blade. After taking a peak at the story that I wrote, I realized that I had to change the plot. The one I currently have is good but I think it n…

Source: Changing the Plot & a possible Multiverse?