Peter Laurent's Blog - Posts Tagged "progress"
Inspiration, homages and a Progress Update
Enough about the marketing already!
Ok.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but throughout The Covert Academy, there a quite a few little winks and nods to other popular media.
It's like those sayings, "Stealing from one person is plagiarism, stealing from many is research," and "If you're going to steal, steal from the best."
That's not to say I've ripped off other people's work. It has merely inspired me to write my own.
However I can not resist including homages in my book to some of them.
(Very minor spoilers below)
There are a couple obvious ones, such as: invisibility (Harry Potter's cloak, the One Ring from LOTR etc.)
the super suits (Halo, Crysis, Iron Man and many many others)
Then there are many smaller homages, like Joshua saying "I'm making this up as I go." That is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
How about "assuming direct control," which is from Mass Effect.
There are more, can you spot them?
I am a product of my media consumption like many others. My all-time favourite book and movie is The Lord of the Rings. I'm a huge geek!
It's not just media that is inspiring though. I traveled to Chicago in 2010 and seeing the layout of the city inspired me to set much of the book there.
I enjoy reading about futuristic technology. The Nyctalopia is very loosely based on the HyperSoar by Preston Carter from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I can't remember where I first heard about it but the concept has always fascinated me.
(Minor spoilers over)
As for book two, I haven't started yet! Yes, this blog is a great way to procrastinate.
I've been going over my notes from early 2012. They are way out of date, and much has changed since writing the first one. The core ideas are still there, but it has gotten much more complex.
At the moment I'm updating old character bios and writing new ones for new characters.
It's exciting. Part 2 of a trilogy is often my favourite.
Time to get back into it!
Cheers,
-Petes
Ok.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but throughout The Covert Academy, there a quite a few little winks and nods to other popular media.
It's like those sayings, "Stealing from one person is plagiarism, stealing from many is research," and "If you're going to steal, steal from the best."
That's not to say I've ripped off other people's work. It has merely inspired me to write my own.
However I can not resist including homages in my book to some of them.
(Very minor spoilers below)
There are a couple obvious ones, such as: invisibility (Harry Potter's cloak, the One Ring from LOTR etc.)
the super suits (Halo, Crysis, Iron Man and many many others)
Then there are many smaller homages, like Joshua saying "I'm making this up as I go." That is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
How about "assuming direct control," which is from Mass Effect.
There are more, can you spot them?
I am a product of my media consumption like many others. My all-time favourite book and movie is The Lord of the Rings. I'm a huge geek!
It's not just media that is inspiring though. I traveled to Chicago in 2010 and seeing the layout of the city inspired me to set much of the book there.
I enjoy reading about futuristic technology. The Nyctalopia is very loosely based on the HyperSoar by Preston Carter from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I can't remember where I first heard about it but the concept has always fascinated me.
(Minor spoilers over)
As for book two, I haven't started yet! Yes, this blog is a great way to procrastinate.
I've been going over my notes from early 2012. They are way out of date, and much has changed since writing the first one. The core ideas are still there, but it has gotten much more complex.
At the moment I'm updating old character bios and writing new ones for new characters.
It's exciting. Part 2 of a trilogy is often my favourite.
Time to get back into it!
Cheers,
-Petes
Book 2 - Progress Report
Hello dear reader,
I've just passed the 40k word mark on book2! Yay!
I feel like this next book is a marathon, but I know it will be worth it in the end. It is far more epic than The Covert Academy (which was 65k words).
But being a bit longer, there is time to explain lots of little details in the universe, including most of the main characters' backstories and how they became the way they are. And some of the future tech has cool explanations of how it could work in real-life (so it's not confused with magic!).
Between juggling my animation jobs (that iPhone game should be coming soonish... all the art is now finalised at least!)
and writing Scout's Honour, I've made it "almost" to the half-way point of the story. So I'm right on track for my goal of 80-90k words. I'm very pleased with this so far!
Now to lock myself away in my mancave and get this 1st draft done!
Cheers,
-Petes
I've just passed the 40k word mark on book2! Yay!
I feel like this next book is a marathon, but I know it will be worth it in the end. It is far more epic than The Covert Academy (which was 65k words).
But being a bit longer, there is time to explain lots of little details in the universe, including most of the main characters' backstories and how they became the way they are. And some of the future tech has cool explanations of how it could work in real-life (so it's not confused with magic!).
Between juggling my animation jobs (that iPhone game should be coming soonish... all the art is now finalised at least!)
and writing Scout's Honour, I've made it "almost" to the half-way point of the story. So I'm right on track for my goal of 80-90k words. I'm very pleased with this so far!
Now to lock myself away in my mancave and get this 1st draft done!
Cheers,
-Petes
