Niall Teasdale's Blog, page 9

Violet and Letters

On Monday night, I was looking for something to watch and I finally got around to watching Violet Evergarden. I kind of knew what I was getting into when I decided to do it, but damn if it wasn’t even more affecting that I thought it would be. If you can make it through the thirteen episodes of the main series without at least wanting to blubber like an infant, you have to hand in your humanity membership card.

Violet Evergarden is probably best known (in the West) as an anime series produced by Kyoto Animation. It was based on a light novel of the same name (except in Japanese) by Kana Akatsuki and illustrated by Akiko Takase. It tells the story of an orphan – Violet – raised as a living weapon to fight in a war and never really socialised. She’s essentially a sociopath without the negative aspects; she can’t empathise with others because she’s never been taught or shown what emotions really are. She loses her arms in the war but her world seems to have some fairly crazy technology because they manage to replace her lost arms with fully functional metal ones. Having known only life in the military, Violet now sets out to make her way as an ‘Auto Memory Doll,’ essentially a ghostwriter for the many people who can’t write or those who want a letter written that they don’t have to skills to write themselves. Violet has to learn emotions and empathy in order to do her job, and that’s basically the journey we go on with her as the series unfolds.

That dry synopsis does not do justice to the rollercoaster ride you go through when watching this series. Apparently, the novel handles the sequence of events differently, which is a bit of an issue for the series. In the novel, you uncover Violet’s backstory slowly; she starts out as a letter writer with metal arms, and only as the story progresses do you uncover why she is as she is. The series frontloads the backstory, at least to some extent. The first three episodes have Violet collected from hospital and set her up in the role of an Auto Memory Doll. Only in the third episode do we get a hint at the way the rest of the series will largely play out.

Most of the episodes in the series are technically told from the viewpoint of one of Violet’s clients. Violet is hired to write something for someone, and we are shown how she overcomes whatever hurdles she has to in completing her contract, how she develops as a person in doing so, and how what she does affects those around her. Simple, right? Nothing new. Stories of personal development are two-a-penny. True enough, but when you combine the writing, the animation, and the soundtrack, Kyoto Animation have elevated Violet Evergarden into a true masterpiece of emotional manipulation. I hate it when characters are given thorough development and background just so you’ll empathise with them when something terrible happens to them. That’s one of my pet peeves with season three of Overlord. I should probably hate Violet Evergarden, but the manipulation doesn’t seem forced this time and it will get you in the feels every single time. Episode 10, in particular, will pull out your heart, stuff it in a blender, and reduce it to mush. I’m tearing up writing this because it’s giving me flashbacks. One of the reviews I’ve seen online said (paraphrased), ‘What it took Clannad forty episodes to do, Violet Evergarden can manage in twenty-three minutes.’ Clannad is one of those famously tear-jerking anime I refuse to watch. I guess I was kind of suckered into Violet…

Anyway… It’s pushed me to try to make this recurring idea I’ve had work. I want to write a book about a truly inhuman character; a character who doesn’t think like a human. Violet’s not really like that, but that’s the story I wanted to make work after watching it and I might have figured out a way to make it work. We’ll see. It’s going to take some development. The current working title, by the way, is Professor Orson’s Mechanical Daughter. So, make of that what you will.

And if you’d like to have your heart torn out by a cute anime girl with metal arms, Violet Evergarden is available on Netflix in all regions (I think). Look for the ‘Violet Evergarden Collection,’ which includes the series, a 35-minute ‘special’, and ‘Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll,’ a 90-minute movie. There is also another movie which was put out in cinemas and will hopefully turn up on Netflix eventually (though having read the synopsis on Wikipedia, I don’t think I want to put myself through that!). I do recommend watching at least the main series and the special unless you really do only read my books for the action and sex scenes. But have a box of tissues nearby when you do.

Titans Art Dump

As it turns out, I didn’t do as many images as I thought for this book. Still, you’ve got almost all the major characters rendered. The only ones I have of Joe is the basic character reference (which is nude, and I avoid posting those) and the cover image. That was an oversight. Anyway, I hope these are useful/enjoyable. Click on the image above to see the gallery.

Titans

Titans is now available for purchase. Post-apocalyptic superheroes.

SmashwordsAmazon (ASIN: B09682VSB1)

Mutability

No post, I just wanted to have a post called ‘mutability.’ It’s a great word.

Okay, so I lied.

First news: Titans will be coming out a week early. Since I never said when it would be coming out, this could be considered not-news, but hey, it’s a week early! Exact date will depend on circumstances, but expect it early next month, like very early next month.

Second news: UNO may get bumped in favour of the fourth Death’s Handmaiden book. I’m not absolutely certain about this, but I’m a little stuck for the middle of UNO and I had a sudden urge to write DH4 (along with a couple of bright ideas which filled in some needed gaps). Planning is happening. More when I know for certain.

LitRPG fans Take Heed: Your chance to influence a book

Okay, so I seem to have decided to go with UNO as my next book. I have a basic plot worked out, sort of, and a setting, sort of. Then I thought… What if?

Most LitRPGs I’ve heard of are based around a fantasy setting. LitRPG-style anime is the same. UNO is also currently a sci-fi world hosting a fantasy game. Magic and all that. I could go with a sci-fi game. Well, a fantasy-sci-fi game. We’d be talking Outriders, Destiney, and Borderlands rather than Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, or, for that matter, D&D (which shall be forever damned for introducing the idea of levels which video game designers think are required).

I’m asking for input. Now’s the time for a change in setting. I haven’t put finger to word processor. Everything is fluid. I don’t even have solid character designs done yet because I’ve been working out the game mechanics. (Even if I won’t focus heavily on those, I need to know how the game works to make this ‘realistic.’)

What do you think? Stick with the fantasy tropes? Go with something a bit different? Let me know what you think in the comments below! (If this was YouTube, I’d ask you to like and subscribe. Thankfully, it’s not.)

How far we’ve come

Today, I bought a pack of toilet rolls at my local supermarket.

Last year at this time, there was a security guard at the supermarket, just to keep the toilet rolls safe.

We have certainly come a long way in a year.

The Series List

Someone asked for a list of what series will be progressing from here and what won’t. So, here we go. Keep in mind that this is my thoughts on things now and my thoughts may change. Also, the ordering is based on chronology, more or less, which may make little sense.

Thaumatology: I keep making plans for another book, but after all this time I don’t think it’s going to happen. Unless I get a brilliant idea, this series is closed.Aneka Jansen: Similarly, I don’t think there will be another Aneka book unless I have a revelation.Ultrahumans: I’ve gone almost as far as I can with Cygnus & company. There’s to be one more book which wraps up various threads, then the series will end. The book I’m currently working on will fill the superhero genre slot.Unobtainium: I have plans for a third book. However, these things are hellish to write, so don’t expect them to appear very regularly.Fox Meridian: There’s one more book in this series, then, for personal reasons, I’ll be bringing an end to this series. The Tatsu Yamada books will fill the cyberpunk/detective genre slot.Princeps Venator: I do currently plan to continue this series, but not soon.Misfits: One more book, when I get to it. No idea when that will be.Twilight Empress: Two more books to write, but I’m stalled on the second one. Another tough one to write.Death’s Handmaiden: Will continue.Tatsu Yamada: Will continue.Reality Hack: I have plans for a second book, but I’m having trouble getting it started. Consider this a solo until I actually get the second book out.The Zanari Inheritance: Is probably not going to continue.The Vanity Case: I started a second book. It may get finished sometime.The Eyes of the Huntress: Probably not going to get a second book.Gunwitch: Rebirth: A second book is possible, but I have no idea when. I do know what will happen in it, which is a positive sign.The Girl Who Dreamed of a Different World: Plans for a second book. Not sure when.Age of Atlantis: Return: Plans for a second book. Not sure when.The Empress’s Mage: There’s a second book when I get there.

Sign of the Dragon Art Dump

There’s now a dump of character art available on ArtStation. Click on the image to go there.

This took a little longer than expected because I discovered I’d never done an image of Nakano aside from my character reference. He’s a man in a suit; apparently I never thought to actually render him in a suit because it’s just a suit. So, he gets a portrait where everyone else is full body, and I rendered it just for you!

Sign of the Dragon

Sign of the Dragon is now available for purchase.

Smashwords.Amazon ASIN: B08ZYR4RVRUSUKCADEAU

Links added a little late due to being out getting shot full of science juice.

Vertical Tabs

This has nothing to do with books. It just interests me. You have been warned and can stop reading if you’re not interested.

I use Edge as a browser (mostly; I still use Chrome for Google maps and translate). Recently, they added a new feature: vertical tabs. So, questions:

Is anyone using them?Why?What’s the point?

The last one may need clarification. I tried out vertical tabs. For those unaware, this takes the tabs out of the title bar and puts them in a vertical strip down the right side of the window. So, what this does is make the viewing window for your web page smaller. As far as I can tell, you gain nothing. Can anyone tell me why you would want to use this feature? I just can’t see it. With the tabs in the title bar they effectively take up no space. Is it to do with wanting several hundred tabs open at once? Help!