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horizon-forbidden-sheesh · 4 months

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Writing Process: Timelines & Trackers

Okayyy, so I've written about the drafting process in detail. But along the way, logistics problems tend to pop up that can't be solved in words alone.

Mostly, it has to do with knowing exactly where someone is or what someone is doing at the same time as another character I'm writing. For instance, when does Alva get back to the Base? How long is she there before Aloy shows up?

I didn't always take detailed notes on this during my first play-through. And after I abandoned my Scrivener file, (more about this here ⚙️) I decided to refine my timeline.

I already had a great foundation based on my first play-through and my New Game+ speed run. So, I started fresh, with a new game file and good old fashioned pen & paper. I'm still working through this as I write. (Just finished the Scorcher side quest!!)

*This is in a Master-size (A4) Leuchtturm notebook, in which I'm working back-to-front. I prefer purple pen and grid paper always.

Yes. I know. I am a psycho. As I mentioned in the Preamble, gaming timelines are a special interest. 💁🏼‍♀️ Plus, I build client-friendly Gantt charts for design projects IN MY SLEEP. So, taking my timeline from paper into Spreadsheet status felt like a v natural next step.

💡I started with a weekly at-a-glance, mostly because I needed to coordinate when various characters arrived back at Base:

Why yes, I am tracking Zo & Aloy's periods. Because there is no single, magical herb you can take to stop pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I dig this trope! It's important to discuss family planning, and our genre is ✨fantasy✨ after all. But I can only suspend my disbelief so far, and there are other ways to get around this, which a Matriarchal society would probably be clued in on.

💡 This quickly evolved to a daily at-a-glance once Kotallo made it to the Base:

This spreadsheet helped me IMMENSELY as I was writing chapters 13, 14, 16, 17, & 19! Basically any time Aloy & Kotallo are not in the same location. Knowing what Kotallo is doing at the Base while Aloy is off mid-adventure has been super important to make sure their Focus calls work and feel natural.

Likewise, knowing exactly what day Erend returns, and how long they have before Aloy gets back all helps with continuity and flow.

Other Things I'm Tracking:

💡Datapoints. The whole point of the GAIA Gang is that they're sorting through the data Aloy collected during the events of HZD. And since that was an absolute whirlwind year for Aloy, I'm thinking her files are a fucking shit show—and almost none of the people sorting through them even know how to read. 😵

So, I started by accumulating all the files by location. I am assuming they're probably geo-tagged—if not, they're at least assembled in order of pick-up, which would mean they're ordered by Aloy's general location at time-of-discovery anyway.

*I crossed them out as I moved them to the next spreadsheet tab...

From this hot mess, I figure that Zo, in her infinite wisdom, took one look at Aloy's files and went, "Oh hell no."

💡Here's the way I imagine Zo organized her playlists, much to Varl, Erend, & Kotallo's relief (Meanwhile, Alva re-filtered everything, and discovered entirely new metadata categories, obviously):

The most important detail here was time!! Most of these are like 1 minute long... but 1 minute in the game is like, 20 minutes IRL. So you've gotta figure the GAIA Gang is back at Base binge-watching an entire docu-series, while simultaneously learning how to read (and procrastinating with hours and hours of bodycam battle footage).

No wonder they're always busy when Aloy shows up!

💡 And yes, these are all tabs on a single spreadsheet:

💡 "Population" is literally just a mess of numbers & formulas as I try to figure out how we went from ~20 E-9 Cradle inhabitants to multiple tribes in the span of ~700 years.

I mean in 3041 we're prolly sitting at like... maybe ~15k in the U.S.?

*On second thought, that Oseram number is probably higher.

Anywayyyy, as fun as a blank page is, my brain really does work best on a grid. The process is totally intuitive, and I create the necessary docs as I go, the same as I would for any client or project. Sometimes, you need to explain things in a way so everyone is on the same page, and I find spreadsheets invaluable in that regard. (Y'all should see my wedding planning spreadsheet, lol.)

This whole process has helped me to find what works for me, and writing fanfic is truly preparing me to write my own original works. What I've discovered is that spreadsheets are part of my flowstate. They bring me a deep sense of peace and they help me to stay on track and oriented while I'm in the weeds.

🖤 Really, I want to come back to something I said in my second 'Process' post: Do what feels natural. Everyone is different. If being 'organized' steals your joy, don't do it. Stay messy! Whatever! Who cares? The most important part is that you find your flowstate.

I found this old Hindu saying while I was copywriting for a Chinese Medicine client, and it really stuck with me: "There are a hundred paths up the mountain, so it doesn't matter which path you take. The only one wasting time is the one who runs around and around the mountain telling everyone else that their path is wrong."

I'm just here documenting my own path up my mountain. And part of me thinks that it's all incredibly self-indulgent and cringe, but hey—when has blogging ever not been?

If you've read this far, I'm grateful. It's all a bit shouting-into-the-void out here, especially when you're this deep into a niche that moved on a while ago. But I've always loved a slowburn. (And if you do too, you might consider reading The Marshal.)

xo, Sheesh.

#hfw #horizon forbidden west #kotaloy #The Marshal #the making of #writing process #writing tools #writing advice

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raedas · 4 years

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Ooo my time has come! (I don't mean to overwhelm you with this just I finally have someone who wants my theatre recommendations! Yay!) I think there's a word limit on these so I'll try to say as little as possible.

Alright so if you like Hamilton definitely listen to Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. Like Hamilton it's completely sung through and the songs are absolutely amazing. The cast is so talented and beautiful too (Denée Benton is an absolute angel). Please watch any video you can get of it too the design is gorgeous.

My personal favorite musical ever is Heathers. Like, it will forever be my favorite. Barrett has such a powerful voice and the songs are so, so good and catchy af. It was also the musical that got me into musicals-

And of course I must mention Newsies. Newsies also has a proshot on Disney+ like Hamilton and oh my fucking god don't even get me started on how talented the cast is. Like, the choreography for this musical is insane and they pull it off so well. Jeremy Jordan/ Jack Kelly (his character) is... Perfection. Absolute perfection. The songs are so powerful and, again, the dance skills of this cast is *chefs kiss*.

Next up, Six. Please listen to Six. It's a pretty short musical too which is great if you're like me and have attention issues when it comes to watching and listening to stuff. Believe me as soon as you listen to the first song you WILL be hooked. It's a very upbeat musical aside from Heart of Stone. It's about the ex-wives of Henry the 7th or whatever his title was. But like, the wives are a pop group now- it sounds odd but it's really great.

Waitress is another one I'd definitely recommend. I don't want to repeat myself and just say "it's great and it's amazing and-" again and again so I'll just give you a warning: She Used To Be Mine is one of the saddest and most powerful musical theatre songs you will ever hear. Be warned.

Oh and let's not forget Beetlejuice. This is an extremely popular musical rn and for good reason. It's super upbeat and fun while also having some dark themes. Alex Brightman is just, god I've already used all my good description-y words haven't I? He's a really, really good human being and preformer and I adore him, alright? Alright.

Oklahoma! Is a classic that I really liked. I mostly listen to newer musicals but I really loved Oklahoma!. I'd recommend the 2019 revival if you are listening for the first time. It has a very classical vibe that's also really sweet if that makes sense? Idk.

Hadestown. This is another long one but god is it one of the best musicals of this (last) decade. It's very jazz-y and the songs can be both catchy and make you want to dance or beautiful and make you very, very emotional. Sometimes both! + it has Amber Gray in it so duh of course it's great.

Dear Evan Hansen. This is a VERY popular musical similar to Hamilton's popularity. It's not my favorite since most of the songs are quite slow and not too memorable for me personally but Sincerely Me and Good For You are absolute bops and I'd recommend the musical just for them alone. It has a powerful message about mental health that I know resonated with many people but again, wasn't my thing personally although you may definitely like it.

Hairspray. I'm pretty new to this one but I adore this sixties sound. It's also a very, very upbeat and dancy type musical. There's a couple different recordings of it so it really depends on which you like more. I loved the movie soundtrack but some people prefer the original Broadway show or the live version. Who knows.

Wicked. This is another kinda classic kinda new show that's extremely popular. Basically it's about the Wicked Witch of the West and that's all you need to know before diving in. This wasn't my personal favorite although I did really like it. Popular is a bop and Defying Gravity is one of the most powerful songs (vocal wise) I've ever heard, ever. It was an enjoyable watch that's for sure and I loved the characters.

Oh how could I almost forgot Book of Mormon? This musical is harlious, genuinely. It's a satire musical about Mormons to put it simply but it's also so much more then that at the same time (kinda). Besides it's satirical parts it also has some really powerful songs and lines. Mainly - I Believe. Like,, I love this song, so much. Andrew Rannells has such a good voice also have I mentioned Josh Gad is in this? Because he is. And I love it.

Alright I've been writing this for like, 13 min now I should stop but I must mention Mean Girls. You know what I was saying about Defying Gravity earlier? Well, Mean Girls the musical has it's own version of a powerful vocal song and it's World Burn. I've listened to that song more times then I can count now and I'm still amazed every single damm time.

Quick mention, I'm listening to Spring Awakening rn and this musical is so beautiful I love it.

Anyways, here's my recommendations! 🎵

w o w this looks like it took a while so thank you!!! i might just jump the boat (is that an expression? i don’t think it’s an expression but in my 7 AM brain it made sense) and listen to some musicals soon :))) (ill def listen to one on this list)

also, congrats on sending the longest ask I’ve ever seen!!!! 😂

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motherstone · 4 years

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I want to discuss something...

Clearly, this map alone could generate a goldmine of backstory fanfic and lore... And at least, show a bit of Stonekeeper culture

1. Mother Stone Chamber

Where I'm kept. Obvi. Interestingly, Vigo's dialogue in The Last Council states that the human settlers found it and buried it under Cielis, their first city. I do wanna cast doubt on this, I do believe it's just a propaganda that Cielan authority fed their people. Cielis was after all, helped build by Elves.

2. Stonecutter Alcove

When I first read this, I wasn't quite sure what they meant by Stonecutter. Now, I realized that this is where they cut off a bit of the Mother Stone, and bestow it to a newly recognized stonekeeper. I wonder if it functions the same way as the Temple of Kings in Gulfen, where old kings are buried and new kings are crowned; if this is where new stonekeepers are instated, and where criminal stonekeepers have their stones shattered (if that is even possible, considering killing a stone is nearly impossible w/o killing the person? But apparently stones die when the stonekeeper perishes. I dunno).

3. Guardian Tomb

Where dead Guardian members are buried, clearly. I wonder at the start of the war, did the Cielans desecrate the Elven tombs there? Because The Cloud Searchers show that Elves actually used to be part of the Council and many are citizens of Cielis, and thus likely had Elven Guardians as well buried there, but were eventually casted out or executed.

4. Stratus Cistern

If the cistern is their water supply... Where does the water comes from?? Maybe they have a machine that gets it fron the atmosphere or whatever. I just wanna say that not blocking any of the falls was dumb af. I mean yeah, aesthetics yaaas, but look at all those water wasted. The name comes from types of clouds, which in this case, Stratus, meaning "layered".

5. Hexagon Field

Or as I call it, the shittiest security measure for an object of astronomical importance. But this is a kid's series so maybe I can forgive.

6. Stonekeeper Cathedral

Now I have no idea why we have a Cathedral here, because it's exclusively er, a religion thing. Catholic-thing. But maybe, stonekeeping is a religion?

7. Colossal Halls

Exactly what it says here. Big ass halls. Maybe, Colossi walk through it.

8. Transpore

Transportation spore. Or maybe, they're just trans. Trans rights.

9. Alto Cistern

Once again, going along with the theme, this cistern is named after clouds, the way Cielis is French for sky. Altocumulus, to be exact, meaning "High heaped".

10. Nimbus Cistern

Nimbus is another type of cloud. It just means precipitation.

11. Robot Mines

In The Prince of the Elves, many bots were thrown ovee the edge by the Elves (for some unexplained reason? It'd mean the Elves have already conquered Cielis to be able to do that. So why would Max need to infiltrate it discreetly to kill everyone in authority and steal the Mother Stone? Now that I think of it, I do believe Max just went buckwild killing everyone. And then gets to the Hexagon Field, realizes he needs another stonekeeper. And a loud "Fuck!" echoes through the Colossal Halls. And thus, the unnecessarily complicated plot of fooling Emily when threatening her family already worked to get her cooperation). I do think this is a leftover that managed to stick from Kazu's initial manuscript for this book, where Cielis had a whole army of robot slaves to work their city. Anyways, I've said this before; Cielis was never the good guys.

12. Colossus Workshop

Where the Colossi are made. To be honest, I wonder what that corralled Colossus mech and rotted corpse doing in one cistern? How did it get there? Based on my research, the body is probably there for at least 5 years or more.

13. Transpore

It's there!

14. Crystal Grotto

I have no idea what I would say about this. Except it's a cave. With crystals. Probably the one Emily and Max went into when they first got into the tests.

Additionally, Cielis has an underground area. You probably wouldn't think this is significant, but I do think it's one proof that it was built by Elves, because Elves love building stuff not only on the surface, but to also operate underground (Lucien Underground was built by Riva's father, who used to be an architect for Cielis; the Elven Resistance built their base underneath Frontera). Also, Cielis has a very similar design to Valcor, except its outline is more sophisticated and clean. It's layered, and the colors juxtaposes each other (Cielis heavy on whites and blues, Valcor on blacks and reds), and they have those... Whatever those are that look like walkways sticking out of them.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this!

#motherstone meta #amulet series #kazu kibuishi #the last council #prince of the elves #the cloud searchers

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