Progress . . . and Ninjas!
Okay, finally got some editing done. You'd be surprised how hard it is to work on something you've already written, even if you've been meaning to. I know what I want to accomplish with my revising, but I don't know how it's going to happen, at least until it does. My characters always come out too cheerful and well-rounded. There's no drama, or anger, or hurt feelings. Mostly just cooperation and goodwill. It makes for really boring reading.
But I have to try. Now to just add some annoying character quirks, an extra dark sub-plot, and an early villain appearance, or maybe a death, and it should all work out fine. It wouldn't be so bad if a lot of my characters didn't already have a lot of backstory to make them strong now, in the present. Of course, I could just write about what they've gone through, but . . . then that would be a different story. Just have to dig until I find their weaknesses.
So, about these ninja . . .
I've been reading The Adventures of Dr. McNinja lately, so it's no surprise that these sneaky little Irish bastards would have invaded my dreams too . . .
I know that the dream I was having transitioned from something else, and I'm pretty sure it was influenced by a number of other things. One of them was my recent trip to Everland, which is partially to blame for some of the setting, as well as Stratholme from my WoW days, even bits and pieces from I,Robot, which was on television the other day.
I was traveling with something, I think an artifact or book, or even just a story I knew, and these ninja were trying to steal it from me. Or kill me, or both. However I had friends with me. There was this big guy who reminded me of Thor a lot. Not the comic book Thor, but more a cross between Norman from Mighty Max and Santa Claus. There was also a guy who looked like Irenicus from Baldur's Gate, and someone like Whitebeard the Wizard from Where's Waldo. No pirates though. Oh, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, I think. I was a normal enough kid.
Anyway, this story starts out in a city much like any you've ever seen. Or perhaps it was an amalgamation of every city. I know I've been in it before, and a good number of my dreams take place there. I was talking on the phone with someone, not sure who, but I knew I suddenly had to do something, so I started out. Along the way I start noticing these shadowy things, which I take to be spiders, because I always see spiders out of the corner of my eyes in my dreams. Probably a manifestation of my arachnephobia, or something else dealing with my subconscious doubts. Anyway, after a while the resolve themselves into ninja who I start fighting off. And I'm pretty good at taking down the foot soldiers and basic thug ninjas. No match for my dodging skills and Jackie Chan-esque improvisations. But eventually they start to get smart, and we all know that a smart ninja is a dangerous ninja, so I end up in this bar. It reminds me of the one in Big O where Roger talks to this robotic piano player. Anyway, I make it through the bar and pick up a few people to help me fight the ninjas, and then ensues a very Matrix/Scooby Doo fight/chase scene through endless corridors and apartment buildings.
Somewhere along the way we come out into this picturesque little town that resembles Everland, and I'm fighting these guys. By now I realize I'm holding whatever they want in my hands, and that they're not getting it. And the ninjas are starting to run out of easy to beat henchmen. There's a trio of better than average ninja that start popping up with regularity, and like in Power Rangers or something, they sit in the background and order different groups around, not really doing much but surveillance. Eventually, we (and by now I've got a group of eight or nine guys on my side, both genders) force a showdown between these three and about 80 sub-ninja. We're on a semi-destructed/constructed building. There are beams, broken down walls, and a bridge stretching across most of the sky above us. It's got to be about twenty lanes across and it goes over this skyscraper we're fighting in.
So we fight. I'm basically fighting with my hands full, and I remember that I just don't kill people. So I've basically knocking over guys here and there and running around playing pop goes the weasel or something. The closest I come to actually killing anyone or doing permanent damage is holding one ninja down to keep him from biting me(!) while one of my friends, the big Thor-like guy, smashing him in the face with a big ass hammer.
Shortly after this I get woken up by the alarm clock. However it was one heck of an adventure, and I think we won. At least I know whoever was supposed to get the thing I was carrying got it, and everything was safe again. I just wish I could remember more of the dream.
Maybe I'll get to go back to it tonight. Then I could see what happens next. I always view my dreams as continuing sagas that I get to experience now and then. Most of them are related in some way, like in the same time, place, or general story-line. More than enough of them involve fighting or some type of quest. Very few of them are vague. Not enough of them are scary. As a kid I never really was terrified of my dreams, because once I realized I was scared I also realized it was a dream and I wasn't scared anymore. More and more I wish for nightmares before I go to sleep so I can see where my mind goes when I'm not aware of it. More than one story or D&D session came out of it. Not to mention most of my creative writing papers in college.
G'night, and awesome dreams.
But I have to try. Now to just add some annoying character quirks, an extra dark sub-plot, and an early villain appearance, or maybe a death, and it should all work out fine. It wouldn't be so bad if a lot of my characters didn't already have a lot of backstory to make them strong now, in the present. Of course, I could just write about what they've gone through, but . . . then that would be a different story. Just have to dig until I find their weaknesses.
So, about these ninja . . .
I've been reading The Adventures of Dr. McNinja lately, so it's no surprise that these sneaky little Irish bastards would have invaded my dreams too . . .
I know that the dream I was having transitioned from something else, and I'm pretty sure it was influenced by a number of other things. One of them was my recent trip to Everland, which is partially to blame for some of the setting, as well as Stratholme from my WoW days, even bits and pieces from I,Robot, which was on television the other day.
I was traveling with something, I think an artifact or book, or even just a story I knew, and these ninja were trying to steal it from me. Or kill me, or both. However I had friends with me. There was this big guy who reminded me of Thor a lot. Not the comic book Thor, but more a cross between Norman from Mighty Max and Santa Claus. There was also a guy who looked like Irenicus from Baldur's Gate, and someone like Whitebeard the Wizard from Where's Waldo. No pirates though. Oh, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, I think. I was a normal enough kid.
Anyway, this story starts out in a city much like any you've ever seen. Or perhaps it was an amalgamation of every city. I know I've been in it before, and a good number of my dreams take place there. I was talking on the phone with someone, not sure who, but I knew I suddenly had to do something, so I started out. Along the way I start noticing these shadowy things, which I take to be spiders, because I always see spiders out of the corner of my eyes in my dreams. Probably a manifestation of my arachnephobia, or something else dealing with my subconscious doubts. Anyway, after a while the resolve themselves into ninja who I start fighting off. And I'm pretty good at taking down the foot soldiers and basic thug ninjas. No match for my dodging skills and Jackie Chan-esque improvisations. But eventually they start to get smart, and we all know that a smart ninja is a dangerous ninja, so I end up in this bar. It reminds me of the one in Big O where Roger talks to this robotic piano player. Anyway, I make it through the bar and pick up a few people to help me fight the ninjas, and then ensues a very Matrix/Scooby Doo fight/chase scene through endless corridors and apartment buildings.
Somewhere along the way we come out into this picturesque little town that resembles Everland, and I'm fighting these guys. By now I realize I'm holding whatever they want in my hands, and that they're not getting it. And the ninjas are starting to run out of easy to beat henchmen. There's a trio of better than average ninja that start popping up with regularity, and like in Power Rangers or something, they sit in the background and order different groups around, not really doing much but surveillance. Eventually, we (and by now I've got a group of eight or nine guys on my side, both genders) force a showdown between these three and about 80 sub-ninja. We're on a semi-destructed/constructed building. There are beams, broken down walls, and a bridge stretching across most of the sky above us. It's got to be about twenty lanes across and it goes over this skyscraper we're fighting in.
So we fight. I'm basically fighting with my hands full, and I remember that I just don't kill people. So I've basically knocking over guys here and there and running around playing pop goes the weasel or something. The closest I come to actually killing anyone or doing permanent damage is holding one ninja down to keep him from biting me(!) while one of my friends, the big Thor-like guy, smashing him in the face with a big ass hammer.
Shortly after this I get woken up by the alarm clock. However it was one heck of an adventure, and I think we won. At least I know whoever was supposed to get the thing I was carrying got it, and everything was safe again. I just wish I could remember more of the dream.
Maybe I'll get to go back to it tonight. Then I could see what happens next. I always view my dreams as continuing sagas that I get to experience now and then. Most of them are related in some way, like in the same time, place, or general story-line. More than enough of them involve fighting or some type of quest. Very few of them are vague. Not enough of them are scary. As a kid I never really was terrified of my dreams, because once I realized I was scared I also realized it was a dream and I wasn't scared anymore. More and more I wish for nightmares before I go to sleep so I can see where my mind goes when I'm not aware of it. More than one story or D&D session came out of it. Not to mention most of my creative writing papers in college.
G'night, and awesome dreams.