Chapter One.

Aaand I'm back to look at my first chapter! But hold the phone, or rather in this case, hold the comment box! It seems I have a few things to respond to first - And unlike any normal, rational human being who'd do so through the comments system, I figure I might as well do it here - Cause let's face it, who reads the comments anyway... (except me..).

Nyergruds: I love you too. ;) I hope I can continue being insightful and not sink into a trend of depraved, pointless ranting (too late for that, I think) or self-promotional ego-masturbation. I think you'll agree there's very little chance of the latter, but it's always fun to use the word masturbation in a sentence. :)

Matt: I won't bite you - But I will answer some questions! On Grey - You got me on both counts. Grey was always, in my mind, at least an offshoot of the staring role of many an abduction tale. So yeah, his name from my point of view reflects that - His name from the crew's point of view is more down to lazy imaginations and the fact that his skin is grey. :p And yep, Assimov is drawn from the Science Fiction writer, I'll be honest and say I haven't read much of his work - Though it still seemed to fit quite nicely. As for the Zebes part... Well, that's for another chapter. :D


Chapter One - A wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Blind Visions, Chapter One.

I'm gonna be honest here - I really do not like this chapter. At all. Well, tiny little bits of it - But I think it's wrought with silly little mistakes that irritate me, and one great whopping flaw of judgement, namely using Tyrus as the POV. Now at this time, as I said in the last blog, I'd given this a good week of thought. I knew what Tyrus was, but I don't think I knew who he was, and this really shows in this chapter. I knew I wouldn't be using him as a POV again, but don't think I took into account how his loyalty to Gen would come to shape his personality as the chapter progressed. Considering everything else we've seen of Tyrus since, I think this is completely off key for him. To my mind, is far too brash and jaded, especially with his rather casual swearing that we never see again. He also used far too many stupid metaphors, but I blame that one on me still very much being in a Jim Castro style mindset at the time. I mean, that really is his specialty. On the other hand, I rather liked "...just to drive the point into the spaceport", but have little love for the rest. Unlike Jim, Tyrus doesn't have the attitude to carry it.

This is the first inkling we get of Tyrus being a 'pet', which is a fine concept but brings about problems that really make me cringe with this chapter. When I wrote that, I thought people wouldn't take it literally. I had this notion that people would see it as him being sarcy. And I think that's what I thought was the case as well, I say this because the little bit we learn about Tyrus' background here really doesn't stand up to what we learn later on. It's very unlikely that Tyrus would remember anything of his home planet, which leads me to believe the idea of Tyrus actually being a pet was only added as an after-thought by me. Most likely because of a comment Matt made highlighting it and saying that it was cool. On the upside, there's a pride to Tyrus in this chapter we don't see often these days, 'It had high ceilings, and I could walk tall and proud - Afterall, nobody was born to walk on their hunches.' is another of my favourite lines - And pretty much sums Tyrus up, in my opinion. Made to walk tall, but so often dragged down by his surroundings. In more ways than one.

That being said, as bad a portrayal as I think this is of him on my part, there are some other enduring character traits that can be gleaned from it. The first one being that he really does come across, even this early, as Gen's voice of reason. The way he deals with the carrier, and brushes off the captains request not to deal with them shows a level of common sense that Gen doesn't have. While Genalyn is, to a point, very wrapped up in herself and her own private dramas, Tyrus really does come across as somebody firmly rooted in practicality and the reality of the situation they're in. Even though I've just spent two paragraph slagging the way I wrote him off, I have to say the rather blunt way Tyrus talks to the reader really does hammer this idea home. He doesn't try to sugar coat anything, he tells you straight out that they work at the increasingly shit end of the stick, so much so that respectable people don't want to be seen with them. Possibly ironic given later revelations, but hey!

The contrasts with Genalyn are quite nice throughout, really. It's really fun to just look back and make them, the relaxed way in which he takes drugs (compared to Gen's complete space-out later) is one of my favourite parts of this chapter, but the real big difference here is the exclamations he uses. Whereas Gen has her goffs, Gods and rhazzards, from Tyrus we get the our first taste of the Order of the Suns. I've always pictured Tyrus as a casual believer - He's as much of a worshipper as somebody who says 'God damnit!' is a Christian, but he believes. Whereas Genalyn clearly doesn't. It seemed natural really - Lizards are cold blooded, they thrive on the sun, so why shouldn't they believe it's a God? It also goes to show the kind of power the logic of the Order has over people, even somebody with the amount of common sense as Tyrus can get sucked in. This is one of my favourite things about the Order - It's not really that far-fetched. You can't dismiss what you clearly see in the sky every single day of your life, afterall. But more on them later. :p

Still hanging around Tyrus for a bit (I'll move on soon! I promise!!!), the sheer height of him is of course one of his main attributes, but I still feel I made far too much of it in this chapter. That's understandable, as are all of the negativities of this chapter, considering I wrote it really not knowing what I was doing, or where I was going. I thought it was important to stress the fact that Tyrus... Wasn't human. And not only is he inhuman, but he's also huge and intimidating. Looking back, I think I certainly made the wrong call there - Especially when it seems like he's practically worshipping the ceiling. On the other hand, there were some really good bits to come out of this, including the way his legs move. His anatomy really comes through there, as his legs are far more flexible than they should be. I imagine Tyrus as this hulking, great blue dinosaur - Only with legs that kind of tuck away under himself, taking a considerable amount of height off him. This is why he can actually fold his legs under his chair so well. I did this because... Well, mainly because I wanted him to be able to go anywhere. Imagine this, the crew are captured by a band of small, space pirate vessels...

"Hm... Captain, not to worry you but... Where is Tyrus?" Asks Grey, to which Genalyn replies.

"Oh, he knocked himself out trying to walk through the airlock, we had to leave him on the Dagger."

Maybe not the most sound reasoning, but I think it's cool. Of course, the one advantage of this that I haven't got across yet is just how fast Tyrus is, I mean, the guy's practically spring loaded... But hey, maybe for another day!

Right, enough about him - Let's get into the surroundings. I probably won't mention them much throughout my blog, but this one is special, mainly because it actually had some thought put into it! I won't lie, this bar was heavily inspired, as much of the early story was, by Serenity. Specifically the bar where River goes fruitloop hatstand and cuts everybody up. I really liked that, you felt as though it really was filthy. Like it was a place that low-lives would actually go. Not like Mos Esley, which frankly, looked really sterile - But there was another element that really took me, and that was how vibrant it was. It managed to be dingy, and yet bright at the same time and I really wanted to capture that. So I set up this place that smelt of shit, blood, piss, etc. Where all the low-lives, prozzies (I admit, I do love that word!), stigheads hang out and filled it with fluorescent lighting. It lines the roof, the chairs, the table, the bar - All different colours, all glowing violently. Kind of like one, long acid trip that never ends. But there's a twist in this that sets it apart from it's Serenity counterpart (aside from lacking the rather surreal and out of place Japanese animations), and sets the tone for the story at large - It's a mockery of a temple. Really, I imagine this place to be like a cross between a gambling den and a cathedral, with it's high, arched ceilings. I remember I had this grand vision of the ceiling before I wrote this, as this great, steepled thing with a tube of fluorescent lighting running down where the two arches meet and then, up those arches there would periodically be more tubes of several different colours running up to join them. Garish? God yes. But I thought it was pretty cool. :)

As for Carriers, I think that idea was probably inspired by my good friend Wesforce's long running Shadowrun based (uh, kind of) RPG. Reading the description of the carrier, he is pretty much a made-to-order Shadowrunner. And I like that, there's just something about the more respectable types mass-producing knock-off scumbags to deal with the real scumbags that appeals to me... Hell, the idea amuses me now more than it did then. I reckon we're going to have to see a return of the Carriers, sometime in the future. :) Things like Eye Glaze is something I intended us to see more of too, but as with so many things in this story - I just haven't found the right opportunity to fit in.

Speaking of which... Stigs. What are stigs? Why haven't I told you in the story yet? It's just been a matter of me not finding a place to explain. I'm not sure a character just randomly launching into a biology lesson in the middle of something is appropriate. That being said, an opportunity might arise, so unlike many stigheads around the universe, I'm hesitant to spill their guts for you all to see here. I guess if enough people are curious, I'll let you all know next blog. :)

In other news, I thought of a brilliant ending yesterday. A truly, truly genius way to go... Of course, I'm not going to tell you - And might not even follow through with it (given the way this shifts and changes like the tide), but what I will say is this... It'll be a happy one for some.

But for now, I'm outta here! As always, questions and comments are appreciated. :) 

Blind Blogging - An Introduction.

So, here it is. The ultimate Blind Visions companion. But why, some of you might ask? Well, mainly because it's the longest thing I've ever written. And really, that level of commitment from me is... Startling. I'm more inclined to do very short, usually three to five part stories. My last attempt at an epic, double figure spanning story was Red Over White. Which unfortunately folded because I was trying to be too clever and run far too many plots at once, one of which was going nowhere. A bit like how Taxdodger fell in on its self, when I tried to introduce a long running plot. I think what makes Blind Visions stand out, and secures my interest in it, is that really... I never meant for it to be as long as it actually is.

But more on that later.

It's also something very different. Something not tied to my fictional world of Lutonopolis or the RPG that spawned it. It's my own, and I don't have to worry about anything I type within it having an impact on anything else. I also feel that, due to how long it's actually been running - There are several little stories and insights that I thought would be interesting to tell. Ever wondered exactly what a Stig is? How a certain character came into being? Which chapter I physically printed out and ripped apart because... Well, it was fragging awful? Stick around. I might tell you. :)

So with that said and done, on with the show!

Blind Visions, ain't no reason - For action!

The actual creation of Blind Visions is a pretty interesting thing for me to look back on - Mainly because I'd never have imagined it would get as long as it already has. Even now it's hard for me to comprehend the size of the bloody thing. And I'm nowhere near finished, I always feel like I'm still lingering around at the beginning - Just about to get into the plot, but never quite getting there. Of course, right now I've been derailed by another plot, but I digress.

So it's the 9th of May, and I'm sitting there with a blank wordpad document in front of me, with an urge to write something new. No super heroes, no paranormal gubbins - I'd watched Serenity not very long ago, and as a fan of Science fiction/fantasy/whatever anyway - I wanted to try my hand at it. And I had an idea in mind. So I started writing.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't that simple. I tend to do very little hard planning for my stories, usually my initial plotting involves a solid two-three days of thought. Seriously, I'll sit awake at night, or when I have a little bit of time on my own and just think. This is how a lot of chapters are done as well. Sometimes I'll scrawl down little bits of dialogue too, unfortunately there aren't many of them lying around for BV. Most of what I did actually went on the end of the story document on my computer, and then got obliterated after the chapter was finished - I'll try and save them from now on. ;) Although, I did find this little gem whilst routing around:


1. Find job.

2. Introduce ship, crew, religion.

3. Fly about a bit, introduce Herman and the concept of the newborn Emperor.

4. Attacked by Chemical giant Herman used to run, Captain and Grey taken - The rest escaped in the hilt.

5. Captain sent down with the miners, hilt forced to land on strange p[lanet.



Captain:

Tyras

Kassyn

Grey

Barthollmew?



As you can see, my foresight is far from 20/20. And for those of you wondering, Barthollomew became Peter and Genalyn was actually the last name I came up with for the core crew. I was originally going to call her Genesis, but really, that name had too many implications attached to it. It made her sound bigger than she was, and more importantly - Sounded rather gimicky. Genalyn was something I came up with playing about with this original idea, trying to get it to sound like something more appealing and like an actual name. For a long time, Gen was also the only character with a second name - Mainly due to my chronic fear of last names (I cheated with Peter and gave him a rank!). The name Tumbler originally came from the idea of Herman being the head of this massive, universal chemical giant - The original idea was that he actually changed his last name to Tumbler because it was the name of the containers they used to contain the chemicals. But really, I figure it's become more appropriate to Gen now, given that she's an alcoholic and drinks out plenty of her namesake. :)

As for the other characters, um, fairly simple process of naming really. Tyras because... Well, he's a freaking dinosaur. I thought I might as well have his name riff off Tyrannosaurus Rex, and thought Rex was a bit *too* obvious. Although, in hindsight, would make him sound more like an actual pet. Hm, missed a trick there! Of course, it morphed slightly to Tyrus as I thought that it rolled easier off the tongue and, ultimately, sounded better. Grey is another obvious one, as he's physically Grey. I think this one was more an act of laziness from my part that I tried to justify by promising myself that sometime in the future this was going to be revealed as just a nickname the crew had devised for him. I eventually delivered on that one. :) I remember Kassyn being quite a tricky one to come up with - But rest assured, I did come up with it with that terrible, terrible pun in mind! It's interesting looking back, she's the sweetest, most harmless character on the ship... And yet, she has 'Syn' in her name. Not intentional, really... Just something I noticed. :p

As for Peter... The original idea was to give him a very normal name, to make him stand out from everyone else in the story. The basic idea was that he was going to have a name that wouldn't be out of place in this day and age, whereas everyone else was going to have silly names like... Well, Genalyn. This philosophy has actually driven me to some pretty zany extremes when it's come to naming some of the characters, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Bartholomew came about as a misunderstanding, as I was originally going to name all the members of the Order of the Sun after characters from the Bible. The irony being, of course, that they see anybody who even incites the name of the old 'Gods' as a backwards heathen. I was pretty sure there was a Barthollomew in the bible - But eventually, after a little research not turning up any obvious examples, I chose to call him Peter after one of Christ's disciples. Simon and Philip also followed this principle, as no doubt several others will.

When I started out, crazy as it seems, I only envisaged this as a five-six parter. I thought, 'Right, introduce Gen. Introduce Peter. Get em all on a ship for a chapter or two, discover the Emperor on some backwards planet and - Hooray! The end.' Really, I'm glad that never come to pass... In fact, I don't think it *could* come to pass even if I'd wanted it too. I underestimated the strength of the characters I was creating, and I certainly underestimated the vastness of space. I might not have utilised my environment much in the story, with most of it featuring the crew on a series of different spaceships, but the thing I realised very quickly is... You can't just zip from one end of space to the other. It wouldn't feel natural, and it certainly wouldn't help the flow of the narrative one tiny bit. Flights through space are, I imagine, a long, boring affair - Which is probably why there's so much idle chatter in BV. I've always wanted to make the chatter much more idler, kind of in the Tarantino vein of things... But never seem to get around to it. I think when push comes to shove, I always substitute that idea for actually trying to push the plot forward... And to be fair, there's enough of the story already - Without having any idle chapters lingering around!

That's about all I have to say on the initial stages of BV, if there's any questions you want to ask - Or anything significant that you feel I've left out, feel free to gimme a shout via the comments system. :) In fact, really - Any feedback is apprciated. This is a pretty big undertaking, It'd be nice to know that it's worth it!

Oh, and as a side note, for anybody wondering exactly where the title of the story comes from, It's actually stolen a homage to this funky little number from the nineteen eighties. I know the video quality isn't great, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the story at large, but just in case anybody was curious. It was mainly a piece of laziness on my part, I couldn't actually think of a title - And am loathe to post things as 'Untitled', so I chose this because... Well, the story had a blind character in it. I tend to do this a lot, in fact - I bet a good half of my stories are named after songs, at least. ;)

Righty then, until next time - This is Aies signing out! :)