Blog Update

Posted on June 9, 2013 by fakedtales

BLOG UPDATE

 

Once again I regret not providing more short fiction to this site, but there have been many irons in the fire. I have narrowed my work to four core projects to follow, as I’ve mentioned in some places, but not all. So here is how I’m doing with each of them:

 

NOVEL #1 – PLAY DEAD

On Friday I hit the two-thirds point of proofreading the novel. I think I’ve had one, maybe two pages without any red marks on them, which is a whole lot more than I thought I’d have.

After I completed the first part of the book, I’ve felt that it has improved vastly. When I go back through the book for the edit, I’ll see what that means.

I had to explain the premise of Play Dead to my father and his girlfriend last weekend and in giving the synopsis, I was shaken up by the end. Hopefully this will happen to the reader when they reach these parts, because otherwise I’m even more unnecessarily vain than I thought.

So my progress this week is reaching page 191 out of 285.

 

NOVEL #2 – LIGHTNING

My main work with Lightning’s new draft has been in my notepad, “Darling Killer”. I’ve laid out the new chapter division, decided a main family’s surname needs to change, an organisation needs to change and started on some language rules with a character who’s a strange visitor from beyond the stars with a backless medical gown and a gun.

 

WEBCOMIC – EXPLOSION HIGH!

The webcomic has taken the back burner this week as I’m working on the layout of strips for the second arc. I found a piece of paper with one of the crudely-drawn (by me) strips loose in my bag, so I’m wondering how much content has gone missing there.

 

ALL THE DAMN BLOGS

I’m pleased that my fourth project was ‘all the blog things’ as my duties have now expanded.

My comic reviews are still going on over at Google Plus, with my pick of the week being linked to in the Comic Book Community’s coverage of the week’s comics.

For D+Pad I’m repeatedly getting my arse kicked by Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, a game I’m enjoying but might have given up on if not for the review. I’m also preparing to laugh myself to death when I hear Microsoft’s speech.

Then there’s the new blog. In the week I was invited to join Hooting into the Abyss, written by my friends who were all part of the Guardian Gamesblog. It’s a blog which deals with tabletop gaming, so I’ll be adding RPG and board game reviews (both of which I’ve been meaning to break into) there.

It’s found at www.hootingintotheabyss.blogspot.co.uk.

My review of the addictive little card game Love Letter will be posted there in the next week, as will a piece on Fiasco.

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Fire Emblem Review

Posted on May 1, 2013 by fakedtales

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Just a small update. After a couple of interesting games which intrigued me but weren’t deserving of a good score, we have Fire Emblem: Awakening.

This was a game I declared dibs on for reviewing duties and luckily so as my colleague Ray Webster picked it up and we kept messaging each other about our character choices. When I politely told him that I’d laid down the dibs first, he was fine with that, saying that his review would just be a giant picture of the character, Sully.

My review’s a bit longer than that, but the tl:dr version is “buy this game if you have a 3DS”. My flatmate went one further and bought a 3DS specifically to play this game. It’s worth it.

The full review is here. I hope you enjoy.

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A Pair of Video Game Reviews and an Update!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by fakedtales

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I was kindly sent two review copies of games and in the last two days they’ve been posted at D+Pad Magazine.

My first was for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. Castlevania’s a series where I know way more about the games than have experience playing them. It was a lovely looking side-scroller which got me all wistful for Metroidvania games. Luckily the 3DS store also had the very first Castlevania for sale so now I’ve the first and most recent Castlevanias!

I’m also surprised that I’ve found myself missing the 3D on the 3DS after playing a bunch of old DS games. It’s weird, given that it’s a total gimmick, but it does still look quite interesting.

The second review was more difficult, for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I feel bad for the review score that I gave it, but it’s totally justified in the piece. A gorgeous (kind of) game with some interesting (and frustrating) mechanics. It was great to sink my teeth into, but so strange and so stuck in its ways that my enjoyment often felt blocked. In my flat it became known as, “Chorey McChoreson, the most chory game ever.” I should stop naming inanimate objects.

WRITING UPDATE!

I forget if I’ve mentioned here, but there has been a layout of an Explosion High! strip sighted. Things are going a little slowly, but as two full-time workers with a bunch of life events going on, we’re going to have a slow start.

I’ve started a stricter (in theory) timeline for proofreading Play Dead. It’s 285 pages long (I finally went through the proofreading copy and added page numbers) and I’d only read 20 pages. To get through the next 265, I have to proofread 9 pages a day.

I’m on Google Plus! Find me there and you’ll see weekly round-ups of the comics I’ve picked up. See my inability to manage my own standing order! Marvel at my bedroom carpet in the background of the review photos!

LIFE UPDATE!

My campaign of “20% More Awesome” is happening bit by bit. I’ve left my old job at Lloyds Banking Group, and even though I miss my old colleagues terribly, I don’t miss the commute or Haywards Heath. That alone is a pretty damn awesome thing, like at least 2-5% more awesome all by itself.

I’ve been trying to do a thing a month, like a couple of Rock Band nights at mine with a bunch of people, a couple of film nights. Now I need to arrange some outings to help my anti-hermit stance. Not sure what yet.

Oh, and soon there’ll be a couple more pieces on this site, not just fiction, but a little bit about my problems with owls. Yes, owls.

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Dulcie St. Clements & Astronaut Jones in… Spoiled Meat!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by fakedtales

I’ve been meaning to start up on the Terribleminds flash fiction contests regularly, to provide content here and be able to flex my creative muscles. I’ve had ideas for the last few week’s worth of contests, but they always go by and I don’t get them written in time. At some point I may flesh them out into proper stories.

This week, I have managed to write a piece of flash fiction for the contest. The contest was to write a 1,000 word story inspired by random clicks on the fantastic site, “They Fight Crime!”

My random result was, “He’s an obese zombie astronaut with nothing left to lose. She’s a sharp-shooting blonde socialite in the wrong place at the wrong time. They fight crime!”

The idea I came up with was a combination of strange pulp adventure and stereotypical buddy cop action drama. My proofreader Steve said of it, “you deserve to go to hell for all the terrible… pulpyness…”

So without further ado, here is Dulcie St. Clements and Astronaut Jones in… Spoiled Meat!

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Joe Danger Touch! Review and Update

Posted on February 24, 2013 by fakedtales

On the D+Pad Magazine site, I have my first ever iOS review for Joe Danger Touch!

This is late news, but I completely forgot to link to the review. Soon on D+Pad there will be my initial views on the PS4 show last week, along with those of the other journalists on that site.

 

In other news, I’ve started proofreading Play Dead. I’m not instantly disgusted and hateful of it, so that’s good. I’d say how far through, but I forgot to put page numbers on the proofreading copy. I’ll sort that out soon, too.

I have a tumblr at fakedtales.tumblr.com and Explosion High! has a currently empty one at explosionhigh.tumblr.com. In unrelated news I don’t quite ‘get’ Tumblr. The Magnificent Mike Armstrong has been a great help with sorting out the technology side of things, as well as doing some amazing designs of core and supporting characters. I may have been hasty in saying that EH! would be good to go by the end of the first quarter, but now it’s looking like mid-year is more likely.

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Killed by Death… of a Franchise

Posted on January 13, 2013 by fakedtales

Back before NaNoWriMo I wrote a couple of film reviews, one good and one bad. I then forgot completely about them, and have finally posted the first review up at Killed By Ghosts, the horror movie review site I run with my brother.

This review is for [Rec] Genesis, the third part of the amazing [Rec] series. Sadly, out of the two reviews I’ll be posting, this is the bad one.

Rec3Title

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After NaNoWriMo…

Posted on January 10, 2013 by fakedtales

I’ve ordered two physical copies of Play Dead. One for a proofreader and one for me.

The current plan is that I’ll go through it with a red pen, rip it apart, dissect what worked and didn’t, make a full pile of scene cards (I added a bunch compared to the stack I had before, and might change the order a little). Some of the voices will need a few tweaks to make them more distinctive and I need to sort the accent out.

This month will be scripting Metal Made Flesh #0’s new draft, the fourth, I think and the start of the proofreading. After that, I’ll be spending I think about three months rewriting the novel, splitting it into three mini NaNoWriMos. Then proofread, then edit.

And then I’ll repeat it until the book’s done. Hopefully it’ll be done this year and I can do the same with Point of Departure, my first book.

Writing a novel is a long game…

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Twenty Percent More Awesome

Posted on December 31, 2012 by fakedtales

2012 has been an odd one. My original resolution was to write a little less, then improve my work and social lives. Instead, I have managed to do the exact opposite, having written far more than I have in previous years, having actually got potential comic projects off the ground, but at the cost of finding a better job and watching my own social life disintegrate before my eyes. I’m in a job with good people, but it’s the opposite to the kind of work I want to do and doesn’t pay enough to live and travel there any more. The relatively small social group I have are moving apart, getting on with their lives while I continue to write alone in my attic, or a coffee shop, living the writer’s dream. Kind of. I have written a novel this year, hopefully my best yet, and the writers I met in NaNoWriMo are shaping up to be a fantastic group of people to hang out with.
2013 will be different.
I was at an old friend’s party where I knew very few people, and one of those I did went on a drunken rant about the exact same thing. She was feeling isolated from her old friendship groups and like she had not achieved anything. I decided at that point that 2013 will be better. I have declared it to be so. The good thing about the human mind is that we can affect our moods, change our perspectives and through willpower make things better or worse for ourselves. Since reaching this decision about 2013, I have been telling people about my plan. I don’t know how I’ll measure it, but if the year will be at least 20% more awesome, then it will be a pretty damn fine year ahead.
I will lose weight.
I will be more sociable, hopefully arranging some kind of event, no matter how small, each month.
I will find a better job.
I will have my comic and webcomic published.
I will start dating again.
I will be more than the attic-dwelling hermit that 2012’s version of me was.
I might get a top hat.

Already, I have a novella half-written, a first draft I’ll be editing of Play Dead, a comic to make with Simeon Aston, a webcomic with Mike Armstrong which should be out in the first quarter of next year. I have a party planned for January, and a brand new PC which will actually work, unlike my last one. It’s all lined up and I’m ready to take the shot.

2013, I’ll meet you soon enough, then I’ll crush you, drive you to your knees and hear the lamentation of your women.

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Wrapping Up 2012: Comics

Posted on December 27, 2012 by fakedtales

Here’s my first look back at my experience of the popular culture in 2012. We’re starting with the year in comics.

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My Tools

Posted on October 31, 2012 by fakedtales

 

It’s almost time for NaNoWriMo 2012. I’m excited, and a little nervous.

These are the selection of tools I’ll be using for the month, going clockwise from the top:

* My netbook. The Netronomicon. It’s getting on a little now, and decorated with last year’s NaNoWriMo stickers from my lovely MLs. The charge isn’t great and I no longer have MS Word, but it’s where the work gets done.

* Coffee. My lifeblood. If I’m not drinking coffee, I’m probably not awake.

* Scene Cards. I’m adding to these all the time, but they’re my rough guide to the book. The blue cards on top are my character continuity notes.

* iPad. It’s a fairly new addition. I’ll be getting a keyboard for it soon so that I can type in a more portable way.

* The Magnificent and Horrifying Lugia. He’s standing in for my iPhone, used to take this photo. The iPhone is used for fitting music, for keeping my schedule and for any research I can find out in seconds. If it takes longer, I write “>>>” to go back to.

* Back to School Pad. The project’s set in a school. I felt it was fitting. I keep character studies, location guides, notes, rough scenes, lines of dialogue and any media to check out in here. I also have a list of common baby names from 1997 for any extras.

* Pens. I collect these like my brother does lighters. I either have a million or none. Luckily it normally borders on the ‘million’.

* Whisky. Because I’m mortal, I’m a writer, and I have needs, damn it.

 

In addition to these tools, I have people who will help me:

* Steve. The webmaster of Faked Tales and proofreader. He’s normally the first person to tell me when I’ve gone insane on a project.

* Alex. The proofreader who gives the fastest hit of information and knows all the terrible things I watch so he knows if I’m skirting too close to any other media.

* Graham. The gun nut. One of the nicest human beings… with a ton of knowledge about firearms. Really useful for this project.

 

So now, finally, I am ready. In eight hours I’ll be getting ready to set off for work, to write on my commute, my lunch break, my commute back and then the hour before the NaNoWriMo party. I can’t wait.

Thanks to everyone who’s followed me, who’s read the articles, and to my wonderful helpers. I’ll still be making a few posts here, especially to tease my post-NaNoWriMo projects. I hope you’ll stick around, and I hope you’ll have an amazing NaNoWriMo!

Charles Etheridge-Nunn

Writer of Play Dead, NaNoWriMo 2012.

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