All Hail, Google Maps!

Living in Columbus Ohio doesn't help tremendously with writing a story about running around in the various areas of New York City.  But technology comes to save the day again with Google Maps!  It is technology like this that basically saved me an expensive trip to the Big Apple to wonder around aimlessly in search of some locations for my story.  With the online mapping tools of today, I can search the city quickly and pick out anything from general locations to specific buildings for the characters to live, work, and kill each other in.  Obviously all of the business names I used were created for the story but they exist on real street corners in real neighborhoods.  Online mapping tools like this helped find the locations for these places and even provided with story elements.  For example, looking at the map, there really are bushes running along the eastern side that Wolf uses to hide behind when checking out Sollozzo's Restaurant.

So, as part of my behind-the-scenes series, I bring you the locations of New York City that I used via Google Maps:

- LOWER MANHATTAN: Mr. Cove's office (Two Bridges), Antonio's Italian Restaurant (Lower East Side), Cuore Blu (near Washington Square Park and NYU), Jim's Place (SoHo):

- THE BRONX: Sollozzo's (David's ransom drop point), an Italian restaurant in the Bronx, is at the corner of Colonial Rd & 71st St across from Owl's Head Park.  Carnine's warehouse (where Jill is being held) is just North of the Belt Pkwy.

- QUEENS: The Father's base of operations (Premiere Shipping) is an office in a warehouse in Queens at the end of 44th Dr

- CENTRAL PARK: by Turtle Pond for the sunrise at the end

Have a nice weekend!

NYC: Update #8: Finale!

So, this is it! The grand finale of I Love NYC! (Or basically draft #1.)


Updated
Like you'd read anything else beside the final chapter at this point! I didn't even want to go back and update anything! I did some formating changes to the document though.


Added
Chapter 14! I'm not giving anything away for the final chapter! If you've been reading this long, you wouldn't want me too anyway! Chapter 14 was probably the hardest chapter to write of the entire story; it is kinda long, there is a lot to wrap up, and I wanted to word everything just right (for this story and those to follow) to give adequate info without giving too much away.


Another Decision
As much as I'd want to get back into it and add a few things, I'm also thinking about the next instalment of the Saga. I've also been thinking about going on to write Seven Days (pt. 1) instead of Aftermath (pt. 2) next so the remainder of the Saga will be in order. I can only imagine what you may be going through and having to wait for the continuation of events in NYC so long anyway. So, these past few days, I've been thinking about Seven Days, looking at notes and thinking about characters and such... that's where I'm heading.


And no, I'm not planning on starting anything next week. I am planning on taking a few weeks off. I'll still be posting here on the blog with more behind-the-scenes stuff on NYC over the next few weeks. And I'm beginning the planning process for Seven Days so hopefully I'll start the serial by July (at the latest).


Hope you enjoy the complete NYC!

I'm not Mean, I'm an Artist

You've all come on this journey with me thus far... do you trust me?  If you're still reading the story (NYC) and this blog, you're probably enjoying it, so realize that I wouldn't steer anyone wrong or take advantage of that trust or anything sinister like that.  But also realize there is a bigger plan here than just this one story and everything that needs to come out will.

[Also, don't forget what I said about the context of the story in the post: Why so Tense?]

The Variant

As I mentioned earlier, John August is a writer I follow on his blog.  Well, he recently wrote a short story called The Variant.  I've read it and it is amazing and very well written.  Whether you like my stuff or not, you need to check it out!  If you're apprehensive about it, there is a sample version which is basically the first half.  Please take some time to read the entire page for all the options on purchasing if you like the sample.  But for $0.99, it's worth anyone's time to at least try it out.

0utR1ght's Apartment

As we close in on the end of NYC, I thought it would be fun for me and interesting to all of you for a little behind the scenes on what went in to the story.  So, in posts over the next few weeks, I'll bring some of it out for you.

A month or so ago when writing the scene in Jim's apartment, I felt I needed more detail of it so that I could accurately place characters and move them around in the space.  So, being the artist I am, I drew the layout of it.

Hope you like it!

PS: So was there any doubt in your minds that I'd end chapter 13 there?!

NYC: Update #7

Wow! Only one more chapter to go! I'm so excited right now. Aren't you?! No point in beating around the bush, here's the info for this week.



Update
Chapter 12: Update Wolf and Elle's conversation pertaining to motorcycles with a bit more detail and updated info on The Father's warehouse.


Added
Chapter 13: Wolf and Elle execute their plan to get Wolf in to see The Father and set things straight. (Didn't want to give too much away!)


Chapter 13 was another fun one to write. I had a good time with it because it's Wolf doing what Wolf does best.


Heads Up
Once I finish chapter 14, I would like to be the first one to read the entire thing all the way through. So if that delays the relase a day to two, then that's what I'm going to do. I'm sure you all understand. My excitment is so high for it right now, though, that I might rush to get it done sooner rather than later, in which case you'll get the final chapter on time next Thursday. We'll see.


Have a good one!

Other Influences

Of course, movies are not my only influence in my writing.  I also enjoy music, reading, drawing, TV, etc.  So I thought I'd get into a little more detail on a few of these things.

Reading

I'm currently reading The Chronicles of Narnia (in order) and I'm on part 4.  Books like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Narnia have all been useful in developing a long running series and character arcs.  Others like Fight Club, Survivor, and the Dexter series are useful in finding the details of your story and writing a gritty world where not so nice things happen.

Music

I like a lot of music and usually have something going while writing.  I pretty much like every genre except Country.  Mostly, though, I listen to rock (in all its glorious forms) and I dabble in alternative, techno, rap, and some R&B.  Songs are almost like mini stories in themselves.  So you may find refrences to song names or themes in my stories but these are much harder to catch unless you're familiar with the particular song or band.

Life's Little Details

They say that you write what you know.  That's mostly the case.  While I'll never be a Marine Scout/Sniper; I can only imagine what that's like.  Sure, I can do research (watch a lot of movies) and try to think of what they might do in a given situation, I'll never really know.  Where I'm going with this is the details.  The details of a story are what you get from your own life.  Like the birds fighting story in NYC actually happened to me and I couldn't believe it when I saw it happening right in front of me.  I gave the story and some of the reaction to Jill for the story.  Maybe there is a person at work with a weird quirk or you saw someone at a restaurant that spoke a weird way or something.  Those details and the little things of life become details in my writing.  And those details are what fill a story out, giving it context and a life all its own.

Movies and Me

One thing you'll may want to know (or already know, for some) about me is that I really like movies.  A lot!  I watch about 250-300 per year, I've watched 8 in a single week and as many as 3 in one day.  Along with my liking of movies, I tend to quote/reference them a lot.  (Didn't you catch the reference in the title of the first post?!)  Also, as you're reading NYC, I'm curious how many references you'll catch.  First person to correctly guess a particular reference gets 2 points.  And for a really obscure reference, 5 points!

Here is a list of Movie Related sites I frequent:

Ain't It Cool News: http://www.aintitcool.com/

Coming Soon: http://www.comingsoon.net/

John August's Blog: http://johnaugust.com/ (Screenwriter of Go, Big Fish, The Nines, etc)

What's the point?

Since I like movies so much, they are a big inspiration for me.  The stuff I'm writing in The Wolf Saga is stuff I'd like to see on the big screen.  I do read a bit too, but movies are just more economical for me as far as my time goes.  Perhaps someday the saga will make it to the big screen but for now I'm happy just writing it and telling a story.  It doesn't take a Hollywood studio to write a novel.

Ideas for the Future

- Perhaps at some point in the future, I'll post my "Movies Everyone Should See" list.  These are not necessarily my favorites, just a list of movies I think every body should see.

- Another possability is a weekly recap of movies I've seen recently.  It'll probably be a list of what I saw, when, and what I thought about it.

Necessary Distractions

So, I was running a bit behind this morning when posting while rushing off to work and I didn't have time to comment on the new chapter.  So, I figured I'll do it now.  And I'll try to remain as spoiler free as possible.

In the chapter, basically, Wolf meets up with Elle at The Father's warehouse and they discuss various options for getting in.  I really enjoyed writing this chapter; it kinda surprised in how fun it was.  The fun for me was coming up with the job names (most of which I did while drinking at a bar a couple weeks ago!) and the various reasons why each couldn't be done.  Leaving out select info, inferring things about certain jobs, and showing reactions to certain jobs were all the thrills that made this a memerable chapter to write.  With a lot of things in my writing, there are many referances to movies, music, and even real people.  How many did you catch?  (Perhaps a later blog post will detail where all the names came from, if there is any intrest.)

Heavy dialoge chapters like this one (see also: 3, 6, 7, & 10) are typically ones that I dread doing and procastinate a bit but once I actually start writing it, it flows easily (sometimes) and I tend to come up with more than I had planed.  Fortanetly, there is only one more to go (14)!

Well, I hope you're enjoying the story!  Have a good one

NYC: Update #6

The end is in sight! I can see it as it is all coming together in my mind! I'm so excited! Like last week, there are hardly any updates, just another chapter. And after thinking about more, I am definitely focusing on just the end and I'm not going back and re-reading stuff and catching things I want to update. My main goal now is just to finish and I'm almost there. As I've said before, there are some plot points I want to add after I finish to help fill out the story and the context in which it takes place a little more but I already decided to hold off on those until I finish. But I am thinking about them and trying to decide where the best place for the additions is going to be. Anyway, for now, I hope you enjoy this week's new chapter.



Updates
Character List revisions: A few characters were moved to different sections to be more accurate. (And a little SPOILER: the one character on the list we haven't meet yet will be making her apperance in Chapter 14.)


Added
Chapter 12 (Distractions): Wolf and Elle discus their options for getting Wolf in The Father's warehouse.

Text NYC to 24713

Not a huge thing here but someone mentioned the clumsiness of texting and inquired why David would be doing it. And to someone who doesn't do it a lot (which describes this person), I can certainly see the issue. For example, I can't really see my Dad texting at all. (No offense, Dad.) He would rather just pick up the phone and talk to someone. Now, I'm not a huge text-er, but I do it a bit and it certainly has its uses. Often times, when talking on the phone, other things come up and then before you know it, you've been on for twenty minutes. A text message is a quick way to ask a quick question and get a quick response. The reason David does it in NYC is for that exact reason. Also, it's more efficient than the dialogue to accomplish the same thing.


For example, in chapter 2, Wolf texts Jim that he's ready. I didn't need a phone call for Jim to simply reply 'okay.' The text message without a response implies (hopefully) that it's something David and Jim have been through before and have already worked out so Jim doesn't need to respond unless there is an emergency. David knows that it'll take Jim a few minutes to do his thing and he's clear (unless Jim notifies him otherwise).


Perhaps in the future, I'll update this part of the story to include a type of 'evolution' of texting. Something that seems less clunky yet is just as easy to use and accomplishes the same goal. Any ideas what this might be? I have one but I'm curious what you guys think.


(I just made up the number in the title, so please don't text anything to it.)

NYC: Update #5

Another week, another update. I hope all of you are enjoying it and are left eagerly awaiting the next chapter each week! So for this week, we have a new chapter but there weren't many updates. Perhaps I'm close to happy with everything up to this point or that now that we're closing in on the ending, I'm focusing more on finishing than rereading previous chapters and making updates. Although there are a few plot points I want to include after I finish (like what's happening in World Events and some tech additions/updates). Anyway, here's what's new this week:


Updates
Chapter 7, 8, & 10: Added the current times to the various chapters. Very small updates, just a quick mention in each of the chapters. These may be tweaked later but I wanted to provide some idea of when things are happening and reinforce that the entire story is taking place in one night.


Additions
Chapter 11: David finds a safe place for Jill to stay (the best one he can think of) before heading off to wrap up the business of the evening and has a medical professional look at his wounded leg.


Enjoy!

May Day Update!

Out of the blue (and coincidence with May Day, or close enough)... and on the heals of all the other updates Thursday, but here you go! I had the thought yesterday that it would be useful to make a list of the characters in the story to help keep track of everyone. Then I thought it would be nice to provide this to all of you. So, I updated the NYC doc and you can see it there (at the end). The list is complete, showing everyone in this story (including two we haven't met yet!).


Spoiler! (sort of)
The list does show two characters that have not been introduced yet so don't read it if you don't want to know who is coming up. But I didn't go into much detail in the list as far as who these people are and how they're important to the story. I'll update their info accordingly when we meet them in the story.