Work on Oz

[breakinglight11]

So the Latin midterm is taken at last, and I think I did pretty well. Glad that's out of the way, that was a ton of studying. Got to write some bullshit for my internship now that I really should have taken care of this weekend, but other stuff was more pressing to get done, and it kind of slipped my mind.

In slightly more interesting news, I have finally done some significant work on a new larp idea. As I'm sure you all know, I'm a big fan of taking classic stories and retelling them with a new spin. Much as I did with Alice in Wonderland, my current idea is to adapt the Wizard of Oz. I'm thinking of making it sci-fi, and I've actually made a bit of decent progress on the story.

I want it to be appreciably different from Alice. As proud as I am of that game, I think it's a bit typical of how I work-- it's dark and moody, and most of the story comes from the examination of what people do when they're in pain. And of course I made it goth, which I'm sure you all have come to closely associate with me. I want Oz to be less buried in angst, with a complex, engaging story that facilitate the inter-character interaction.

I do worry that I'm a much stronger creator of compelling story and characters that are motivated by pain. Also, something that Bernie pointed out to me recently also makes me think-- part of the reason why Alice was so strong and why it meant so much to me is because of how much of myself I poured into it. While complete fiction, I drew upon a lot of my own feelings to try and get inside the head of the NPC that drove the story. It was powerful because it came from somewhere deep. I worry that without that deep personal connection, the end result will not be as powerful. I will just have to work particularly hard to operate outside my comfort zone and make the story not rely on my old crutches.

Looking forward to a conversation with lightgamer this afternoon before I have to go to my internship. I think it might do me some good.