![]() Hopefully, during my second pass, I can make the ending as suspenseful as I envisioned it being in my mind’s eye when I had the original idea and wrote out the Rough Draft for the story. These are two places that I most definitely need to revisit as they rob the ending of much of the suspense that I envisioned for the end of the story. The fight scene was massively cut down and the choice was effectively taken from the main character by a discussion in an earlier scene–if she does it, then she loses all support from her team. The ending was supposed to feature an elaborate fight scene and “will she/won’t she” choice. I think I did well on the character, but I want to add in more sensory details, more setting, and fix the ending. When I finish it, I will return to Unhallowed for the 2nd Draft. I’m working on the 1st Draft for another project now. Still, as one can see, the fusion of different genres can, if done right, infuse the Old West/Wild West with some much needed originality in the storytelling and setting (which is what I hope to accomplish with Unhallowed). Cowboys and Aliens was attempt at such a fusion that didn’t quite work–the title, in typical Hollywood misguided fashion gives an indication why. They can be Science Fiction stories as well. I think that if there is a resurgence in popularity for the Old West/Wild West, it will come from the Weird West genre.Īlso, Weird West stories don’t always have to involve Fantasy and Magic. Not to mention there is at least one RPG that is devoted to the setting ( Deadlands). I think there are at least 3 different Wild West/Weird West games in development (and one of them is actually called Weird West). As such, more inventive stories in the Old West/Wild West are seeing a spike in interest. As noted in an older blog, the Western as a genre is pretty much dead (for now, especially in movies and TV), but with rise in popularity of the Red Dead Redemption video games by Rockstar, the Western is actually seeing a bit of a resurgence. Well, let’s not overlook the fact that Weird West stories are cool □Īlso, on a more serious note, Weird West stories are enjoying a moment. America (and Americans) say one thing, but do another, and to me, that’s a problem that I’ve been seeing for a while now and major failing that we need to solve. The fact that there were multiple high profile cases of social injustice as I was writing this story, just galvanized my desire and need to write it. ![]() I noticed a discrepancy in which the way America articulates its values and the ways those values actually get realized when we go to war–in my mind, they are two different things, and I wrote this story to explore that idea. Now, people may see this as political, but I recognized this much earlier based on the way in which America has conducted its wars in the 20th and 21st centuries (remember, I minored in History). As we have visual evidence from the past two months (May and June 2020), the American Justice System says that it stands for justice, but what many people involved with it actually try to dispense is vengeance. Vengeance means “punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong” (again, fact-check me). ![]() Justice means literally means “just behavior or treatment” and/or the “impartial adjudication of laws” (google it to fact-check me). Much of the theme around this story has to do with the idea of Justice vs Vengeance. The main character’s name is Arizona and she is an African American woman who becomes a “gunslinger” (one who is Hallowed) in the parlance of the world to fight the evil of the Unhallowed. It’s official title is Unhallowed, and it is a Weird West story (a fantasy story with magic and the like mixed with tropes from the Old West - American West). I’m sure it needs a lot of work, but I like the way it turned out (except for the end, but I’ll talk more about that later in the post). On Monday, June 29th, I finished the first draft of Project Arizona.
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