Chamber #3: The Plot

When I began the story, I needed a connecting point that begins the story and connects everything together. I already knew I was going to write six books to tell this tale with the six book being the end of the story. However, I needed a device to connect everything together. And what brings people together more often than anything else?

Death.

The opening scene has three individuals pointing their guns at each other while a fourth individual, a friend to all three of them, lies dead on the ground in a pool of blood. The trust between the friends is broken because one of their own is dead. Nobody knows who fired the fatal shot, but anger is clouding their judgement. They're angry, frustrated, and not thinking clearly, and any sudden move from any of them could lead to a bloody massacre without anyone finding out anything.

And I won't even reveal who the killer and the victim are until the end of the fifth story. I plan on giving all four characters perspective and their own insights about their lives up until the moment one of them died. The victim also has his or her perspective about their lives up to the final moment of their life.

I know it may sound gruesome, but this story could be fun. I know who dies. I know who the murderer is. I know why he or she murdered the victim. This is the whole reason I wanted to tell this story in a novel form rather than a comic form.

Chamber #2: The Setting

There are many characters in these stories. However, the most important character isn't human, nor animal.

It's the city of DeRizin Heights.

The settings of any story is probably the most unrecognized character. Heck, people don't understand how important the location usually is. For example, imagine The Simpsons if it took place in Arlen, Texas rather than Springfield. The duality of Bedford Falls and Pottersville helped George Bailey realize that life was worth living. There's a reason why Marvel uses New York City as a backdrop rather than, say, Miami Beach.

DeRizin Heights is a city that was partially inspired by my own homebase within the Seven Cities of South Hampton Roads, Virginia. Ever been here? It's beautiful. It's a harbor town. A growing metropolis. A working class town. A military stronghold. A farming community. A fishing town. A summer destination. A historical region. This is truly a place I'd like to retire to whenever I retire from something.

Yeah, DeRizin Heights is NOTHING like that. Sure, the city is a metropolis, but it has ceased growing decades ago. Developers won't even come into the city anymore. The major league baseball team, once the pride of the area, has relocated across the country in a beach community in Florida. The corruption is deep in all aspects of society, from city hall and the police to the three major crime syndicates that control what goes on here, from the packing factory. There are a few beacons of light here and there, but it has to be seen within cracked, smoky, stained windows. The light will shine before the story's over.

DeRizin Heights is a working class town. If you're not on the city payroll or a member of one of the three syndicates, you're likely working in the fish cannery near the harbor, the iron works right by the railroad yard, one of the downtown pubs, up high in the skyscapers behind a desk, or down beneath the streets in the sewer lines.

The sun rarely shines on DeRizin Heights, mostly because the city is blanketed by monsterous skyscrapers. Colossal buildings made of granite, stone, steel, and glass that look like demonic talons rising from the earth. Each of the syndicates own a building to front their "legitimate" businesses. Afterall, they have to maintain a reason to remain in the "city of decay," a less-than-loving moniker given by the local media. There's just something about this city that makes all of them want to stay.

DeRizin Heights is a living, breathing entity within this story, and it'll be the one that evolves the most during the duration of this tale.

*bang*

The First Shot: Why THIS Story?

The first thing any writer must contemplate in writing a story is why do you want to tell THIS story.

Why do I want to tell this story?

Well, the answer is twofold. I want to tell this story because I want to challenge myself by writing a mature crime story and I want to see if I could actually create a story that is truly different.

The second answer is going to be hard to accomplish. Afterall, there have been many, many stories about criminals with ambiguous agendas that blur the line between good and evil. I mean, come on. The late 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century has given us many tales like these. With shows like Cowboy Bebop, The Sopranos, and The Shield as well as movies like Pulp Fiction, Training Day, Kill Bill, Sin City, and Layer Cake, the thin line between good and evil has been radically blurred. The story is about five different characters; three hitmen (two of which try to live a normal life), a hardened cop who's actually one of the least corrupt in the city, and a crook, fresh from prison, trying to change his ways but getting in way over his head.

I've mostly written stories about superhuman champions, alien worlds, fantasy warriors, and supernatural beings. This story is purely a crime fiction story. Nothing that can't happen in real life will happen in this story. Well, there are a few things are unbelievable here (one of my characters can make a weapon out of anything, even a drop of water). I've never really told a serious, mostly dramatic tale. The very first scene has one of the main characters dead of a gunshot wound to the head and three of the characters aiming a gun at each other. This is perhaps the most important scene in this story, which will be seen from from the perspectives of the five books, including the actual murder in book five. There will be numerous deaths. There will also be sex, violence, and profanity (heck, I might even make up a word or two), a very mature story to tell. It'll also make you think, but not too hard. Every character does what he and she does for a reason. They're human, which means they have their strengths, weaknesses, and flaws. Nobody's perfect, just like in real life, and it's a rarity to see it in a book.

This story will be something I hope people will enjoy, which is why I want to tell it instead of keeping it in my head.

*bang*

A Work-In-Progress

Let me get some pleasantries out of the way.

My name is Jeff, and I'm a writer.

I've been writing (and drawing) comics since I was a little kid. Heck, I knew how to read when I was two. Didn't talk much until I was like five, or so my relatives tell me. I created characters based on things I've read about or imagined in my ever-perculating head.

I wrote this one story back in the summer inbetween second and third grade. I brought it to school and read it to my class. That was weird. Anyway, my third grade teacher took my story and never gave it back to me. By the beginning of the new year, she was gone, never seen again. I guess that she was my first real crush and my first heartbreak too.

(see, if this was TV, this is where the audience would say "Awwwwww.")

But I wrote more and more stories, focusing on superheroes because, well, that's what I dug the most back in those days. Big time Spider-Man and DC Comics fan right here. Created a multiverse, then I created a timeline. Even my class superlative photo back in high school (I was voted Shyest Male Student [I plead the fifth on any discussion about the subject]), I posed with a banner of my heroic characters. After college, I discovered the public domain and originally wanted to use those characters in a separate continuity. However, the more I wrote about them, the more I felt that these heroes of the past should be tied into the omniverse of the present, thus, the reason why I felt I needed to make a story bible for that entire omniverse, one world out of many created by me.

Yes, I'm a cartoonist, graphic designer, and illustrator as well (that's what I got my degree in), but truth be told, I feel that I'm a better writer than an illustrator. I'm not perfect by any means, and to be honest, I have doubts, which is why I've been reluctant to do anything like this before prior to now.

In fact, a lot of people only know me from the ramblings about animation I've been doing on my "real" website for almost eight years. As much pride as I feel, and the accomplishments and some semblance of respect I've gotten as a result of my work on the site, that's not who I really am. That's not the kind of writing I wanted to do, but since people tell me I'm pretty good with it and sound like I know what I'm talking about, I continue to write on. I'm an opinionated guy, that's what I do.

But a long time ago, I actually gotten a chance to write a little fiction in the form of my contributions at C'inyex. It was a fantasy thread which evolved into its own popular forum for some time. I kind of added a bit of humor, chaos, and a bit of steampunk elements into the story as well as a few characters and elements I'm proud of (the couple Arcturus and Carina the Bold and the enigmic Afterthought as well as Xylvan) and will eventually bring them back in one form or another. I've also been working on another story partially inspired by the mecha/anime/rebel shows I've been watching on TV and DVD. That evolved from a simple adventure story into a tale of corruption, religion, insanity, and friendship in the midst of troubling times. I began my story in 2000, but elements from the news began to mirror what I wrote and envisioned.

This "gangster noir" story I'm writing is much different because it isn't something I'd normally do. It's not a tale of clear-cut good versus evil. Characters who are, in our society, deemed "good" will also do some awful things. Those who are categorized as "evil" will also show a bit of nobility, honor, and goodness. It'll probably be one of the most interesting projects I've worked on in a long time. For starters, I don't think I want to turn it into a comic book/graphic novel. It'll work out fine, but I think this is an occasion where the typed word would make more on an impact than an illustration. Plus, I do tire of wordy comic books myself, and this is a dialogue-heavy story.

It's a lot like me, a work-in-progress still in the warm, liquid goo phase.

*bang*

Introducing Dreams in Gunmetal Black

I've been writing the story bible of my super hero universe for about six months now. I've learned that I have well over 250 original characters on all points of the world. I know who they are, I know what kind of world they live in, I know where they can go to grab a bite to eat. I know what kind of beverage they can drink. I even know what they can watch on television.

Everything is set, or at least it was until I got involved in talking about one particular series they could watch. It was an adult-animated series (I mean adult as in mature, not adult as in "walkachicka-walkachicka") about a group of friends finding love and fun in the midst of all of them on opposite sides of the law. It felt like a cross between The Sopranos, Sin City, and Romeo and Juliet with a blending of, well, not Friends, but something with that kind of chemistry without being so vanilla. Sadly, this once again proved a theory I talked about on my website that there hasn't been an original idea since 1967.

The more I developed this story, the more I asked myself "Why aren't I really writing this story on its own rather than just a small part of a large universe?" So, I put the superhero story aside and began working on this "gangster noir" story. No superpowers. No invulnerabilities. No clearcut "good versus evil," because, despite what Rand said, there are shades of grey in everybody. Everybody has their reasons for doing what they're doing. It's not always pretty, but it's probably the most "real" story I have ever written.

For the first time in a long time, I feel truly energized by something I'm actually creating. Probably because it's not giving me a headache like the network-oriented articles I've been writing on my own site for years (man, just when I think Cartoon Network is going in the right direction, they continue to make that right turn at Alberqurque instead of that left).

This will be the place where I'll talk about the progress of this story.

*bang*