greylagwriting

[greylagwriting]

hot take: there need to be more invisible man stories

Like, even though The Invisible Man is considered a classic horror movie along with Dracula, Frankenstein, etc invisible men aren't nearly as prominent in pop culture as vampires, werewolves, etc

By invisible man I mean "person who is invisible, but not by choice and/or is permanently stuck that way", as opposed to characters like Sue Storm or Violet Parr can can go invisible at will.

And it's a shame because there's so many fun ways you can spin it. My favourite is "Abbott and Costello meet the invisible man", where the titular man is a boxer. There's a scene where Costello is trying his best in the ring while the actual invisible boxer takes out his opponent.

Also there's the "science gone wrong" take on the actual invisibility, but I also think "naturally born invisible" is interesting too

[greylagwriting]

it's storyteller saturday....

and I have a new wip. Feel free to ask questions, etc

The premise:

The year is 2023. A pair of obnoxious but unsuccessful ghosthunting YouTubers have just found their ticket to fame and fortune: an actual ghost by the name of Quapphideus.

Well, he's actually an invisible man from a parallel "Halloweentown" dimension, but same difference. With his help, they set about filming the most convincing "paranormal" activity the internet has ever seen.

Quapphideus' sister, a partially invisible woman by the name of Zaranzibayar, is determined to figure out what happened to her brother, and ventures into the strange, magicless world he's fallen into...

Tentative title: Pseudonormal activity

[greylagwriting]

Where's writeblr at?

Since I'm working on a comic/graphic novel (and will be posting an intro eventually) I want to start getting involved not just in artblr but also writeblr!!!

If you like/write about these, please interact so I can find you!

Demons, fae, & other supernatural creatures

Portals & dimensional travel

Superheroes

Complex fantasy worldbuilding and religions

POC (especially black) characters

Family dynamics, found family, siblings

Zuko-worthy redemption arcs

Especially if you're making graphics novels/comics!!! I want to follow you!!!!

If you like/write these things, you'll also like my wips!! Which I will introduce... eventually... *sweats*

[greylagwriting]

A sub-plot for FtLoM I've been thinking about is the "other Kat" line.

Basically, in another, parallel universe, Haemundus kills Madeline because he delights in seeing Kat's suffering. Kat begs Dismodat to "do something". Something, in this case, is Dismodat sending Kat to the "main" universe where Madeline is still alive.

"Main" Kat, of course, isn't too happy about seeing "other" Kat showing up to try and make a move on her fiancee

[greylagwriting]

once again I've made a cast of characters without a properly-defined setting.

Quapphideus (exact spelling of name subject to change) is an invisible man and alchemist that lives in a sort of halloweentown world, where magically mutated humans and animals are the norm. His experiments in a secluded tower have led to him to a strange world of extremely sophisticated machines and physics at odds with every law that he knows - earth! Here, he decides to ply his trade at illusions, becoming a prestidigitationist once he learns that the laws of alchemy and physics where he comes from are different than in his own world.

Quapphideus' invisibility is due to microscopic crystals in his hair, skin, and eyes. These crystals bend light "around" themselves, resulting in a human that is completely see-through. In earth physics, this is impossible, but Quapphideus' body literally operates according to a different set of rules.

It's useful to note that his teeth and the inside of his mouth are still visible. His internals are, too - if he were, say, cut open for surgery, his organs would be visible.

Quapphideus' mission in life has been to engineer clothing that is as invisible as he is. He's succeeded a few times... but he always ends up losing his invisible clothes.

Zaranzibayar is Quapphideus' sister, an invisible woman who is a bit different from her brother. Every part of her is full of light-bending crystals, and completely transparent... except her teeth and bones. At first glance, she appears to be a walking skeleton.

More serious than her brother, Zara is a botanist that experiments with mutating plants and crops to create bigger and better produce.

The Handbeast has no other name. It was created when Quapphideus experimented upon a severed human hand (don't ask him where it came from). The size of a horse, the Handbeast walks on stumpy legs sprouting from where the wrist would begin, with digits pointed skyward.

A silent but helpful companion, the Handbeast allows Quapphideus to ride it around. He sits in the crook between its thumb and forefinger.

The Handbeast feeds off solar energy, needing nothing more than a good sunbath to sustain itself.

[greylagwriting]

we should draw more robots with horns

[greylagwriting]

Storyteller Saturday Strikes Again

All of my original fiction is "top-down", which i define as characters first, then building a setting around them, often changing said setting dramatically over the years.

I find doing "bottom-up", beginning with a world/setting and extrapolating up from there, to be much harder. Probably why all but one of my WiPs are set in more or less reality.

I think a rundown of how easily a story could be adapted into a different time or place would be fun.

For example, SoFTS is set in the late 90s/early 80s America. The setting is completely mundane (ie based on real life) except the supernatural (in the form of vengeful spirits) exists. Even then, there's only one example of said spirit (Gogo), and come to think of it, Gogo could very easily be a human. It wouldn't change any of the overall themes.

The date, however, is kind of critical. It wouldn't work as well in the modern day because of advances in forensic and computer technology. Plus the fact that psychics nowadays aren't quite as Big as they used to be.

FtLoM takes place in 2010 (idk why that specific year, but anyway). The only non-mundane thing are the four eldritch creation gods, and even then, it's not a case of them having been around for eons. When the story starts, they've just arrived in the main characters' reality. This is, of course, one story which depends on the supernatural elements. I still think it's a compelling idea at its core (a spoiled rich boy is forced to either pass a college class or pay for his own tuition), though the mechanics of the eldritch gods and their acolytes is central to the story.

Neither time nor place is quite crucial to the story, really.

Villainized takes place some indeterminate amount of time in the future. I personally imagine this to be 30 years or so, but the exact date doesn't particularly matter. The only difference from reality is that aliens exist, but have only very rarely visited earth, as it's a protected planet. Time, here, doesn't really matter.

Red Planet Demolition does depend on both its timeframe and its setting — namely, the distant future in which humanity has colonized Mars. Since that's, well... where its set.

I guess the vasic plot could still work on modern day earth — it is about two tech companies going to war, basically — but it wouldn't be quite as fun.

[greylagwriting]

Storyteller Saturday Strikes Again

All of my original fiction is "top-down", which i define as characters first, then building a setting around them, often changing said setting dramatically over the years.

I find doing "bottom-up", beginning with a world/setting and extrapolating up from there, to be much harder. Probably why all but one of my WiPs are set in more or less reality.

I think a rundown of how easily a story could be adapted into a different time or place would be fun.

For example, SoFTS is set in the late 90s/early 80s America. The setting is completely mundane (ie based on real life) except the supernatural (in the form of vengeful spirits) exists. Even then, there's only one example of said spirit (Gogo), and come to think of it, Gogo could very easily be a human. It wouldn't change any of the overall themes.

The date, however, is kind of critical. It wouldn't work as well in the modern day because of advances in forensic and computer technology. Plus the fact that psychics nowadays aren't quite as Big as they used to be.

FtLoM takes place in 2010 (idk why that specific year, but anyway). The only non-mundane thing are the four eldritch creation gods, and even then, it's not a case of them having been around for eons. When the story starts, they've just arrived in the main characters' reality. This is, of course, one story which depends on the supernatural elements. I still think it's a compelling idea at its core (a spoiled rich boy is forced to either pass a college class or pay for his own tuition), though the mechanics of the eldritch gods and their acolytes is central to the story.

Neither time nor place is quite crucial to the story, really.

Villainized takes place some indeterminate amount of time in the future. I personally imagine this to be 30 years or so, but the exact date doesn't particularly matter. The only difference from reality is that aliens exist, but have only very rarely visited earth, as it's a protected planet. Time, here, doesn't really matter.

Red Planet Demolition does depend on both its timeframe and its setting — namely, the distant future in which humanity has colonized Mars. Since that's, well... where its set.

I guess the vasic plot could still work on modern day earth — it is about two tech companies going to war, basically — but it wouldn't be quite as fun.

[greylagwriting]

After watching uh... 8 seasons now of Columbo, I find myself wondering what it would be like if he was in SOftS.

Charlotte would pretty much ignore him, assuming he's just some dumb, bumbling guy that couldn't possibly be a threat to her. Gregor would take him more seriously, but not be worried about him. Until Columbo pops up unannounced and Gregor starts to realize oh crap, maybe this guy isn't as dumb as he seems.

[greylagwriting]

There's a big high-fantasy wip that's been circling in my head for forever, but I've put a satisfactory plot to it. Central characters:

Douza Ev, a jovial man that was the doctor of his hometown before it was catastrophically destroyed.

Xathandua Vek, a necromancer from Ev's village. He seeks power - even that from the dark reaches of magic - to find and take revenge on the creator of the catastrophe.

Endurance XVI, a minotaur prince who does too much partying and not enough training to be king.

Shika, a goblin princess who failed to establish her own colony and now drifts uncertainly.

Cacetym, a sylvad (anthro tree, basically) fire mage with a bad temper.

[greylagwriting]

How's Dexter handling the hand tremors and minor seizures?

Fairly well, once he started medication for it. His other powers — cool electrical stuff, primarily — outweigh the downsides, in his mind.

[greylagwriting]

iiit's storyteller Saturday

[greylagwriting]

How close are Johannes and Dexter? Have they known each other long?

Fairly close. Johannes claims to go to another school, but hangs around with Dexter during extra-curricular activities. Dexter doesn't have many friends, and the ones he does have never spproached him first.

Johannes approached Dexter a few days after he obtained his electrical powers. Dexter senses there's Something Not Quite Right about Johannes - he's terrified of cameras and sometimes seems to forget he has arms - but only finds out Johannes' true identity after Berl-Zig attempts to abduct Dexter again.

[greylagwriting]

Got a bucket of random lego for christmas and there's a minifig covered in zodiac symbols in it. I looked it up and apparently it's Zodiac Master, a Batman villain. From a wiki:

"The Zodiac Master is a masked supervillain who made his presence known in Gotham City by accurately predicting a series of disasters, all of which he secretly orchestrated. Having duped most of the city, he then offered his services as an underworld consultant, using his supposed astrological skills to foretell the outcome of various proposed crimes."

...I swear to God I had never heard of this character before creating Charlotte Tann (who basically has the same idea, but she's a medium instead of a tarot reader)

[greylagwriting]

How did Tessa convince Berl-Zig to make all those robots?

Blackmail, plain and simple. Tessa is well aware that Berl is wanted by the law. She's also aware that alerting the earth authorities to Berl's presence will open up a huge can of worms.

As I've mentioned, earth is a protected planet and off-limits to alien lifeforms. Other alien species are in a sort of coalition, and have a general agreement to not involve earth in their dealings.

The fact that Berl-Zig is on earth at all is a bureaucratic headache: IGLE was torn, because on the one hand, Berl shouldn't be there, but on the other hand, sending a law enforcement agent to arrest her would be violating the earth sanctity treaty.

Berl-Zig wants absolutely nothing more than to fly under the radar and perform her experiments in peace, so Tessa holds that over her head.

[greylagwriting]

also it's storyteller Saturday so feel free to send me asks about the cast of Villainized

[greylagwriting]

The Characters of Villainized

@sapphic-story here's the superhero-esque wip i've been working on

Tessa Raczkov A.K.A Tessaract

An ordinary young woman living in Walton, Georgia, Tessa was abducted and experimented on by the alien known as Berl-Zig at the age of 20.

Berl was testing out a "dimensional transposer", something that would let the user move through the fourth dimension and effectively teleport. The experiment was interrupted by IGLE (Intergalactic Law Enforcement), and Berl-Zig dumped Tessa back where she found her before fleeing.

Prior to this, Tessa was pursing a career in genetic research, but was feeling oddly unfulfilled. When she came to and discovered she essentially had superpowers, Tessa was ecstatic - being a superheroine was one of her childhood dreams.

However, the novelty quickly wore off once Tessa realized there wasn't a point to being a superhero when there were no supervillains to fight.

When Berl-Zig returned to Earth to check up on her "project", Tessa convinced Berl-Zig to stay and continue experimenting on earthlings. She had the grand idea of letting Berl-Zig create another super-powered individual — one that would become Tessa's arch-nemesis.

Her superhero identity is Tessaract (meaning a fourth-dimensional cube). Her abilities consist of opening tiny wormholes that essentially allow her to teleport herself and other objects. She has also been training in many martial arts, primarily karate.

Berl-Zig

An alien from one of Jupiter's smaller, unnamed moons. Berl-Zig resembles an octopus with a single, yellow eye and two large sacs where a normal octopus' eyes would be. Berl can inflate these sacs with a lighter-than-air gas, allowing her to float. However, her home moon's gravity is much higher than Earth's gravity; she'd be squashed flat on this planet. As a result, Berl-Zig inhabits a large, pressurized suit, as seen below.

(Image created by dall-e)

Berl-Zig is a somewhat stuffy academic type that, while generally respected in her field of quantum mathematics, is not entirely happy with the lack of attention she receives from her peers. She has a bit of the old "unethical mad scientist" vibe.

She was quietly working on a very involved project relating to very small-scale wormhole generation on living beings, but the organization sponsoring her cut the funding unexpectedly.

Teleportation is a well-known area of science among Berl-Zig's species, but it's always used in technology. Her research is to create a living being embedded with teleport tech that can use it on the fly.

Looking for a cheap source of experimental subjects, Berl-Zig went to earth and abducted Tessa to perform experiments on (as mentioned above). Earth, however, is a protected planet, so its flora and fauna are off-limits for tampering with. IGLE tracked Berl-Zig down and interrupted her experiments.

She evaded their grasp, and eventually returned to track down Tessa to resume her experiments.

By this time, Tessa had realized she needed a supervillain to oppose, and ended up cajoling Berl-Zig into creating a self-replicating robot army to besiege the city.

Her home base is a very large, cigar-shaped spaceship "parked" over the middle of Antarctica to shield her from prying eyes. Her suit is fitted with a device that allows her to travel to and from the ship via teleportation.

Panoptica

Panoptica (the all-seeing eye) is one of Berl-Zig's creations. It's a cyber-organic creature best described as a giant virus fused with a closed-circuit camera network. It resembles a massive blue slime mold draped around a complex system of wires and servos.

Essentially, a tiny bit of Panoptica can detach from the central body and infect a host. It moves to the occipital lobe of the brain - the part responsible for processing vision - and essentially beams visual information from the host to the main body and the camera network.

Basically, it lets Tessa and Berl-Zig see through the eyes of the host, giving her an unlimited amount of unwitting spies.

(The small bit of Panoptica eventually breaks down and is destroyed by the host body, as with any virus, but causes no noticeable symptoms)

Replicatrons

Another invention of Berl-Zig's. They are spherical robots about 6 feet in diameter, created for the sole purpose of giving Tessaract a villain to fight against. They possess a limited version of Tessaract's teleportation tech, allowing them a very short-range teleport.

They're made of a special alien alloy that can be easily reformed and recycled. When Tessaract destroys a replicatron, the others gather up the scrap and return it to Berl-Zig's headquarters, where it's reassembled into a new robot.

Eeyahide A.K.A Johannes Fend

An alien from Jupiter's frozen moon, Europa, Eeyahide closely resembles the cryptid known as the Fresno Nightcrawler. He is a silicon-based lifeform, practically made of a glass-like material. Little more than a pair of tall, opaque "legs" topped by a floating sphere, Eeyahide possess an extremely potent suite of psychic abilites. Telekinesis is one of them, but he can also project illusions into the minds of other creatures. When a human looks at Eeyahide, they see another, normal human being.

(This doesn't fool cameras, though.)

His alter ego is Johannes Fend, a highschooler who hangs out with Dexter (see below). Eeyahide is part of IGLE, in the division equivalent to Fish and Wildlife Services. He is hunting down Berl-Zig, as she's been breaking intergalactic law by experimenting on earth creatures.

Dexter Kizunga

A 17-year-old highschooler, Dexter enjoys track and field and drawing comics. He was abducted by Berl-Zig, as part of operation "make a supervillain for Tessaract" and fitted with technology that essentially allows him to generate electricity much like an electric eel.

The electrogenerator also gives him increased strength for short periods of time, but has also induced hand tremors and minor seizures.

Dexter doesn't know where his newfound powers came from, but he enjoys them. A kid who seeks out adventure and danger, he has been attempting to play vigilante and fight the strange robots that also showed up around the time he obtained his powers.