When Characters Take Control What happens when characters take control of your narrative? This is a familiar situation for many writers. It can be frustrating when the characters just walk all over your carefully planned outline. Our plans and early drafts are how we really get to know our characters and that means that things…
The RAAS system and thyroid hormones play an essential role in managing metabolism, blood pressure and fluid balance. These hormones regulate electrolytes, water retention and metabolic rate. RAAS The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system involves several organs and plays an essential role in maintaining blood pressure. A drop in blood flow to the kidneys activates the RAAS to…
The ‘stress hormone’ cortisol is extremely important for managing and regulating the body’s response to stress. Cortisol regulates metabolism, the response to stress and the immune system. The adrenal glands release cortisol, regulated by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland in the brain. Adrenal Glands The paired adrenal glands live just above each kidney and…
Endocrinology for writers is the new Monday blog series for March. Endocrinology is the study of the system of hormones and signals the body uses to manage its functions. It’s a complex subject and many people find it confusing. I’m here to help try to make it easier to understand. Why will this help writers?…
Cutscenes Games have many ways to tell you their stories. Most RPGs and narrative games open with a cutscene to introduce the inciting incident and give some background. Dragon Age Origins opens with the history of the darkspawn and the Blight. Fallout games open by telling us about the bombs and how people survived in…
Beginning at the End – Setting the Scene Welcome to my in-depth review of Episode One of Fallout. The first episode of Fallout on Prime has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Obviously a lot of the audience will be fans of the game, that’s a given. However, there’s going to be a lot…
Lore And Codex Entries One method of indirect storytelling in games involves finding bits of lore in the world. Examples include notes or voice recordings. Books, journals and emails on computers as well. This lore is not essential to the story, only giving background and additional details. This makes the world seem more real and…
How To Start A Story Today we’re going to look at Fallout’s inciting incidents, and how to motivate players and characters to follow the plot. The most important part of the beginning is the ‘inciting incident’. An event that sets your protagonist on the road to the main plotline. These can be major or minor…
Creating Creatures? Here’s a Few Tips Creating your own creatures? Flora and fauna are an essential part of worldbuilding for any writer creating their own universe. There’s a lot to consider, and of course you need that suspension of disbelief to keep your reader invested. Things that make no sense will be jarring, so you…
What is Mary Sue Syndrome? The term ‘Mary Sue’ is one that has been used to describe a character archetype that is too perfect. It originated in the Star Trek fandom in a parody fanfiction. It is an archetype that is especially common in fanfiction. Essentially it is a character, usually the primary protagonist, who…
