N.B. Austin's Blog, page 12

Here’s How The Walking Dead SHOULD End… But Won’t (Opinion)

This is a post that’s been a long time coming. I would say that as much as Breaking Bad, Fargo, and Game of Thrones inspired a love for story-telling within me, so too did The Walking Dead. However, unfortunately it was mostly for the opposite reasons…

Don’t get me wrong, The Walking Dead as a concept is brilliant. A TV series is, in my opinion, a much better fit to capture the extended sequence of events that would play out in a zombie apocalypse than a movie. On top of that, the first couple seasons of the show/comic book had some fantastic themes that I loved.

The Good

Waking up to the end of the world – the thought of being in a coma or some other form of unconsciousness while everything you once knew is changing around you is terrifying and is what immediately drew me in to the story. Not only that, but the marital complications between Rick, his wife, and his fellow-officer best friend, are what make for drama at its finest. Now this was all in the comic book, so no credit to the show for trailblazing, but I will say that I actually preferred the mirrored version of this concept in Fear the Walking Dead. In that series, the character instead wakes up from a heroine binge. To me that managed to make for an even more intriguing start–and that’s before you consider its incredible portrayal by actor Frank Dillane.
Group conflict and the question of trust  – this point should be mentioned with an asterisk because it’s also one of the downfalls of the show. Initially though, the idea of factions is a really cool one. It may or may not be popular opinion, but I thought the Governor’s conflict especially was very well done. To me he was a very real character, who contrasted Rick but only enough to clarify a protagonist. At times, this struggle blurred the line between man v. man and man v. himself as Rick desperately tried to maintain the humanity the Governor lost. There are other examples of course, but this was the one I thought the most well done.
“I know the solution” *fingers crossed behind back*  – another point I’m up and down about, but in terms of character motivation it’s cool to see characters who lie about having information on the source-of or solution-to the outbreak. It seems a realistic concern and the series did a good job of developing the situations where this issue arose.
Ragtag group of diverse allies  – the fact that people from all different walks of life and with different skill-sets are forced to come together is definitely a strong point of the show. The bonding between them is what makes it run, especially for the characters who have been there from the beginning.

Okay, now that I’ve pleased the people who’ve managed to remain rabid fans of this downhill mess of a show, it’s time to tear it to shreds. Sorry that I’m not sorry ahead of time . . .

The Bad

The writers think kids are idiots  – the children in both TWD and FtWD make decisions that are unfathomable in many instances. At times it really seemed like the characters’ intent to screw their own people over just because they were going through puberty was even greater than the writers’ intent to create drama in the plot. And I understand they are young and would make mistakes, but in an apocalypse those mistakes should be more out of fear than being spoiled brats.
Endless groups of “main” antagonists  – in terms of the comic book, this is understandable and fine. The comic can go on for hundreds of issues and different types of groups makes sense. That being said, for the TV show I’m just lost as to why I should still be investing in someone like Neagan this late in the series. Not only does this clown lose an entire dimension of his character without the R-rated language of the comics, but it just doesn’t feel different enough from the Governor, or as emotional… more on why that is in my final point.
The zombies are not a really significant threat – they just aren’t on the show. It’s way too easy to kill them for these people and their close calls seem mostly forced.
There is no real backstory on the breakout – to me a zombie story needs a “how did this start” and “how will this be cured.” Over 8 seasons there’s been zero hint of either. While I do like that their are liars who pretend to know the answers, there needs to also be more to explain why this is happening. Also, a tremendous downfall of this writing is how many holes there are in the outbreak science. Here’s a tip people: you already discovered that wearing blood hides you from the walkers, SO WHY THE HELL AREN’T YOU ALWAYS WEARING BLOOD?!? Because it would be the end of the series? Then don’t introduce the concept at all!! >:( Also, Michonne’s original plan seemed to solve that issue too, but somehow no one thinks to take advantage of that kind of knowledge?
Dale – every interaction attempted-old-sage, actual-drama-queen Dale has ever had: “Character X, what’s your plan?” … *ridiculous uncertain face* … next scene with character Y, in confidence … “Hey Character Y, did you hear Character X’s plan? What are they thinking? They clearly are out of their mind.” … *ridiculous worried face, same as ridiculous uncertain face* … “Oh, do I have a plan you ask? Uh, no.” … next scene with character Z, in confidence … “Hey Character Z, isn’t character Y out of their mind?”
Last but actually the most significant, poorly executed cliffhangers – cliffhangers–when done right–can be the focal point of a show. The Neagan bat scene cliffhanger was the worst execution of this concept I think I’ve ever seen. I won’t even go into all that was wrong with it because it’d take an entire separate post. Nevertheless, this was an atrocious slap in the face to fans and I haven’t seen an episode since.

So like I said, this show is a big reason I got into writing. The reason being that I looked at all these things that bothered me about it and said to myself, “who the hell am I to criticize without coming up with some kind of better solution?” Well, the following is my solution. Keep in mind while reading, I am mostly saying that this is the direction I believe the show should have gone around the time of season 5/6 and it is based on where the writers had taken it to that point. If you don’t like it, that’s fair and if you’d like, feel free to question my judgement endlessly like that piece of shit Dale.

How The Walking Dead SHOULD End…

Since the zombies are no real threat and it feels like their importance decreases more and more as the show goes on (issue #3), this should be made into an advantage. Starting with season 5 or 6, the zombies should decrease in airtime until they are nowhere to be found in the final war between Rick and Neagan.

Why?

Because TWD has taken the stance that the biggest threat to humanity is humanity itself (issue #2). This a great theme, but it needs to end somewhere to avoid the repetition the show now suffers from. So end it with the biggest, baddest villain of them all–we’ll keep it as Neagan for the sake of it–facing off with a man who has by now become something he never wanted to become in Rick. This will allow us to actually understand more of why the villains do what they do, by blurring the line of compare/contrast with Rick.

Side note: also, don’t waste an entire season (looking at you, season 6 writers) building up to a memorable scene from the comics that you don’t even show (issue #6). Did I mention how infuriated that made me? -_-

Okay so Rick and Neagan have made it all about killing each other and there are no zombies . . . now what?

Now they fight to the death like everyone wants, especially the show’s writers because that’d be, “totally epic and cyoo.” (Eric Cartman voice) And it would be, except the war to end all wars should result in the deaths of everyone around them–except the two of them. There needs to be consequences for the fact that neither of these leaders can be competent or reasonable enough to work out some kind of mutual deal to survive the zombie apocalypse. Especially since they are too blind to see how little of a threat the zombies even are (and if I had it my way, not a threat at all).

So they all just . . . die?

Yes, they all die and Rick/Neagan will have to live with that. The twist will be that when the fighting ends and the two realize what they’ve done, the U.S. military will be sweeping the area. The commanding officer will be as shocked by the carnage as the two culprits are to see a functioning military unit. When Rick tries to get some kind of explanation, he will be told of the discovered origin of the virus, along with the revelation that the last traces of said virus were wiped out over a year ago (issue #4). To me, this would be a shocking, yet satisfying ending which would make sense with the direction previously established by the series.

Also, the good news is Dale was already dead (issue #5) and so too would be the dumb kids already written (issue #1), so there would still be a glint of hope for this new world with likable people and more intelligent children.

Conclusion

This has been my light-hearted, though also honest opinion on The Walking Dead and how I believe it should end. Overall TWD is one of the most popular shows of all time and I know there are dedicated fans of the comics and show who would defend the story to their grave (which they likely hope to one day rise from). The good thing about art is that it’s fair to interpret it from a subjective lens so thanks ahead of time for respecting my opinion as much as I respect yours if you disagree.

I appreciate the read and hope you’re enjoying the Civilands series!

How to Get Your Story Read on Wattpad (Guest Post by C.G. Laflamme)

I’m so excited to be hosting my first ever guest blog post!

Crimson River Preview – Chapter 1 – The River White (Pt. 1 of 4)

In the spirit of my newfound love of Wattpad, I figured I would also post a preview of Crimson River here on my blog! Chapter 1, “The River White,” is broken up by point-of-view into 4 sections. The below is the first section, which follows a young girl named Jeannie Morrell. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1 – The River White (Pt. 1 of 4)

Jeannie Morrell stumbled through the thicket that morning more than she ever had previously. Though her thirteenth birthday had only come and gone about a month before, she was far more familiar with the forests of the Riverlands than most. Still, whether out of fear or fatigue, her short, lean legs continued to fail her. With each misstep, she felt the men drawing closer in their pursuit.

Weaving meticulously left and right through the towering, snow-covered trees, she pressed on. She could hear the hounds just behind her; they crashed through the forest, chasing her as the men at their backs cheered them on, yelling obscenities with a drunken furor. The group was so loud and vile that it was nearly impossible for her to tell the men apart from the barking dogs. With each wide trunk she passed, she considered stopping to try and hide, but she knew there would be no hiding.

Her pale, frostbitten cheeks stung with the same fiery bite of the flames that had engulfed her home earlier that morning. The scent of the smoke remained with her. As painful as those reminders were, she promised herself that they would stay with her and fuel her revenge.

As the voices began to grow clearer, she suddenly burst through the tree line and emerged upon the banks of the River White. Though she had never crossed the river at this time of year, she plunged ahead, willing to do anything to escape the men behind her. Her first step into the freezing water was slow and excruciating, but she knew the consequences would be far worse otherwise. With the white caps of the current crashing upon her, Jeannie furiously swam her way across the river.

Once she exited the water, the winter air produced a chill she could no longer ignore. She swiped at her short, brown hair, which was plastered to her wet face, and gathered the skirt of her soaked, baggy dress, ready to launch into another sprint.

“There’s only one way this ends child,” a man shouted across the river.

They were upon her.

Jeannie whipped around, her dress throwing droplets of water around her in the process. She quickly counted eight men and four hounds staring at her across the bank. The group was standing behind a tall, thin man who was clearly the leader. The men continued to holler at her, the dogs echoing them by barking viciously in her direction. While those behind the leader appeared to be nothing more than filthy farmers, the leader was dressed quite elegantly. There was, however, no disguising that underneath that thin veneer of wealth he was one of them—the ugliness of his face and his lack of hygiene matched that of his men.

Jeannie stood frozen as her mind gathered all these details, ready to continue running but too horrified to make the first move. The leader silenced his eleven beasts, a dark grin on his face.

“You don’t have to meet the same fate as the rest of your Morrell horde, my dear,” he continued through tobacco-stained teeth. “You see, my family shows graciousness to those who surrender without too much trouble; crossing this here stream though? Now that’s something I’d consider to be far too much trouble. Why don’t you come back on over here and we can discuss said graciousness?”

Smoke rose in the distance above the trees from where the Morrell home once stood. Shivering, teeth chattering, Jeannie tried to ignore the tears that began to fill her eyes.

“There was no graciousness shown to my family, and I know there will be none shown to me,” she cried. “Why should I trust any member of the Keagan Gang after what you monsters have done?”

The leader took a step forward and looked down at the bloodstained double barrel that he cradled like a child in his arms.

“My dear, sweet, little bird!” he shouted back. “I’m not entirely sure you know who you’re speaking to. I’m not just a member of the Keagan Gang. I’m Keagan blood. My name is Walter Keagan, first cousin of the William Keagan, and if there is any fish big enough in our humble little pond that might keep his word it is I. That mess back there at your home, it was just a misunderstanding. But you better believe that I would not intentionally harm a precious little lady like yourself.”

“Well, Mr. Walter Keagan, my name is Jeannie Morrell, daughter of Adonis Morrell, and you’ll have to carry me kicking and screaming back across this river if William Keagan ever wants to see me!” she declared, surprising herself.

She never knew she had such courage in her until that moment, but she didn’t have time to think on it as she turned and ran.

As she darted into the trees on the other side, she heard Walter Keagan’s parting shot: “Can’t say I’m completely upset with that response, little bird! Now, boys, let’s hunt!”

*

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed , get the FREE in e-book or the paperback on Amazon .

Also, let me know what you think in the comments below!

Jeannie’s Song: When the Shadows Run

Today is a HUGE day!!!! I am so thrilled and proud to say that you can now find below a full, extended version of the song Jeannie Morrell sings to herself in chapter 3 of Crimson River!

I never would have thought that I’d be able to blend my love with music with my newfound love of story-telling, so it brings me great joy to have been able to put this together.

Hope you like it and hope you’re enjoying the Civilands series!

 

Verse 1 :

When you sound the call, with spirit true,

I swear I’ll hear that sound in you.

And when you run, with a head and a start,

From shadows that would break your heart,

My love you’ll see my light shine through,

Those shadows chasing after you.

So even when the black night hums,

Still don’t look back, the sun will come.

No don’t look back, the sun will come.

Chorus 1 :

What you’ve seen, see once again

You will find, find what you’re missing

And the voice that I’ve left will be heard with the songs of the wind.

Still won’t leave you then.

Verse 2 :

Will you focus up, ignore their stares?

Watching from the trees, they’re so unaware.

The forest calls, the river coos

Inside you have an answer too

My love this storm will, dissipate

A hurricane you’ll anticipate

So even when you hear thunder’s drums,

Still don’t look back, the sun will come.

No don’t look back, the sun will come.

Chorus 2 :

What you’ve seen, see once again

You will find, find what you’re missing

And the voice that I’ve left will be heard with the songs of the wind.

All the time, time that we spend

Making sense, of what we’re given

May you break down the dam, let it bleed so the healing begins

Still won’t leave you then.

Outro :

So even when the black night hums,

Still don’t look back, the sun will come.

No don’t look back, the sun will come.

August Autobiographic Author Audit

“Is August really almost over already?”

I’ve heard that question repeated a bunch in the past week and I’m just as surprised and/or in denial about it as any of them. On the one hand, football and hockey season is right around the corner! On the other hand, how can 2017 already be more than halfway over!?

Seeing as how this is the case though–and considering that I am officially 1 year into my author journey–I figured this would be a good time to update my progress on all fronts.

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Manuscript Writing – I’m currently in the line edit phase of book 2: Crystal Eyes and still on track to release on 11.01.2017, or possibly even a little earlier. I’m also working on a short, prequel story that I’ll be posting on my various channels. It will feature Dominic Turner and the working title is The Illusionist’s Tale. Extremely excited about both and can’t wait to publish!

Script Writing – While this has taken just a bit of a backseat to manuscript writing and platform development, I am making good progress so far on episode 1 of the series. It has been really fun to learn screen writing and translating the book into a screenplay. In a way, it’s almost like writing another story entirely. More on this in the future once some other processes wind down.

Amazon – I recently did my first giveaway on Amazon and ran it alongside sponsored product advertising, which resulted in 40 copies moved over what was essentially a weekend. With my strategy here being to get as many copies of Crimson River read (and hopefully reviewed!) before the release of Crystal Eyes, I considered this move a win.

Wattpad – I’ve wanted to provide a full update as a follow-up to my post about starting off on Wattpad, but I’m still giving it more time to learn the ropes. For now I’ll say that I’ve really enjoyed the creativity of so many users on this site and the community around sharing stories! I think this is a great platform for getting reads, feedback, and just finding like-minded people in general. Like I said, more in-depth details to come, but so far so good.

Goodreads – There’s still a lot for me to learn about how to effectively leverage this site. I did recently get a new review, a couple of “to-read” designations, some new friends, and joined some lists. While I am making progress there for sure, I know there’s still so much more ground to gain. I think, like anything, it will be a slow accumulation over time–especially since this is a social media for book reading. For now though, I’m going to try to focus more on the groups, making friends by reading along with those who have similar interests. Like with Wattpad, I will probably provide an end-of-year progress report and, “what I’ve learned,” post for this site alone with more progress.

YouTube – As stated in my first Enter Civilands video (in all honesty, my first real, solo YouTube channel video EVER) I’m thrilled to be getting started on there. Not only is it a fun way to connect with people by getting passive face-time, but being involved with film of any kind is quenching my screenwriting thirst–even if only in a small way for now. Talking about a world I built and love makes it even better

YouTube Channel Introduction!

In this video I discuss what kind of content my YouTube channel will include, a bit about me, and a brief intro to the Civilands story!

Special appearance by my guest/co-host/dog Luna

Inspiration Behind the Series Pt. 2

Happy Thursday August 17, 2017 and welcome to the Enter Civilands blog

Inspiration Behind the Series Pt. 1

To start, I want to welcome you to the first post in my new segment Enter Civilands. In these posts I’ll discuss all things behind the Civilands Series, including character bios, information on the world, and additional bonus content.

Today we begin with what inspired me to write this series. Since there’s so much that goes into the inspiration and it’s also something that expands/shifts over time, I’m going to make this itself a multi-part post.

So for my first influence in this wild journey: Game of Thrones (the TV show).

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I have very much been an enthralled beneficiary of the television renaissance we’ve experienced in the Netflix era. Shows like Breaking Bad and Fargo shaped my understanding of high quality plot and character development.

That being said… the Game of Thrones series–which I made my way through in about as unrealistically short a time period as anyone who watches it–was what first planted the seed in my mind that I wanted to be a story-teller.

So many characters; so many plot-lines; so much world-building; and all of it tied together with such expert care in a way that’s shocking each and every season. This is the kind of entertainment that you don’t simply consume, but you live right alongside the characters and feel their struggles like they were your own.

This is so much the case, that I actually saw a tribute video the other day which was made for Jamie Lannister. We’re talking about a character who begins the series by pushing a young boy out of tower for catching Jaime sleeping with his own sister! Yet he’s praised. Why? Because he’s portrayed in a way that is entirely human: flawed for certain, but also, at the core, not all bad.

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All these things heavily influenced my work on the Civilands Series in the following ways:

World building – Civilands focuses on the fight for control and power in the mysterious Murrieta Territory. The territory spans the entire western half of the continent of Duresia, separated from the growing, pre-industrial cities of the eastern half, by the north-south Chorisma River. While there is no iron throne yet constructed in this newborn expanse, the theme of several distinct players remains and keeps the stakes increasingly high as they fight to build their own.
Not “good and evil,” but “human” – As mentioned, this is what Game of Thrones does best. I truly believe that the large majority of people mean to do good, even if they don’t understand how to do it. They’ll make mistakes or be overly greedy, but they will usually have a reason to do so in their own minds. And yea, occasionally you’ll get a maniac like Joffrey, or Clovis Keagan in the case of Civilands, but even these deranged characters are that way for a human reason. We may not forgive them for their actions, but we need to understand their pain as much as the pain they inflict on others.
The fantasy element – This was an area of extreme inventiveness for George R.R. Martin, especially mixing a world of zombies with a medieval type fantasy. In my series, the native V’ahani and Tokali clans’ superhuman connection to the land was a layer of complexity I thought interesting to explore. In American history, by contrast, Native Americans were over-powered in terms of technology. Leveling the playing field a bit through this wrinkle in this new world was my own fantasy element and one that will continue to develop as the series progresses. While Daenerys has her dragons, Latera stands tall with the V’ahani grizzlies.
Twists, twists, twists – Realistic, believable ones though, which drive the plot forward. I can’t expand here on Civilands for obvious reasons and I won’t spoil GoT either. But this show taught me the value of delivering the unexpected and at times when those watching/reading are least ready for it. So buckle your seat belts and prepare to gasp!

If you made it this far or even skipped to here, thanks so much for joining me

Happy Monday! 08.07.2017

Happy Monday to all and to all a good week

Cooperstown, NY

Today I entered my first Wattpad contest, which had the following prompt:

Your challenge is to create a 500-word short story about a time you felt successful, despite the odds being stacked against you.

Below is my submission! It’s a true story from my baseball days and forever a great memory. The lesson–which I hope is perfectly clear and has guided me ever since–is that hope is never lost until you decide it is. Enjoy!

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11 years ago, baseball was my entire life. The diamond was the place I could escape and create and battle alongside my brothers. In a lot of ways, what writing does for me now, baseball did for me then.

My favorite memory from my days playing that game is also one that taught me a lesson I’ll carry with me throughout my life.

During the summer of 2006, the coach of my travel team assembled a group of players to go to Cooperstown All Star Village to play in the national tournament there. Teams from all over the country came to camp out and play ten games for the chance of winning it all.

For the first few games, we cruised by and won each contest—that is, until we played the team from Texas. Consider that my first experience of everything being bigger in my future home-state.

These boys definitely had the size on us and since we were deep into the tournament at this point, we were running out of options at pitcher. So, despite my not being a go-to choice, it had to be me that would be thrown in against the big Texas bats.

If you think that’s the extent of the hill we had to climb though, you haven’t even heard about the first inning . . .

Without getting so much as an out, my pitching debut in Cooperstown began by giving up two three-run home runs AND a grand slam. So at 10-0 by the bottom of the second, consider the odds to have been officially stacked.

As you can imagine, at this point my confidence level wasn’t all that high. My teammates couldn’t have been thrilled either, though they’d never show me that and kept supporting me throughout. In my mind, our championship run would be ruined and it was all my fault.

Enter—my dad.

Once I was back in the dugout, head in my hands, he approached me from behind the chain link fence. Instead of giving me some kind of epic speech though, what he told me and the teammates by my side is that he bet one of the fathers on the Texas team a beer that we would still win the game . . .

Cue my eye roll, my teammates’ hilarity, and the understanding that even now we were still in this game because our heads were back in it.

What came next wasn’t just a thrilling comeback, but a 20-0 onslaught in which we made a statement that this tournament was ours. The game ended 20-10, and from then on we kept our foot on the gas all the way to an undefeated National Championship title.

In the end it taught me that there’s always hope if you want something bad enough.

Perhaps most importantly though, my dad got his beer! And even though I was only 13, I understood just how sweet it must have tasted.

Thanks for reading and if you liked it, feel free to go vote in Wattpad here!