Unwashed hoards of the Internet, I have returned from the ink mines with a message!
Z-Day Part II is about halfway through the first draft (Hint: Moar zombies) and the time has come both to cast my eyes back to the beginning of this intrepid enterprise. Thusly, I have come to a glorious revelation, brought to me by the red eyed gods of late night editing.
When you get to the end, the beginning is confusing and shitty. From the beginning, the ending is confusing and shitty.
I blame this on two things. First, the middle is mushy and doughy, like a third grader with a candy bar sticking out of his flapping mouth hole. Second, the ending was written almost a year after the beginning. The message had gotten lost by the way side. Parts are good. Parts are bad. Parts are repetitive. None of the parts connect very well with the other parts. There are things worth saving, and things that must be cannibalized to make better things.
There are issues. Toby, for instance: he’s not a character, he’s furniture. Like the raven from OotS, he is often forgotten for long periods of time, only appearing when it’s convenient. ‘Oh, right, there’s also a baby.’ Removing him means a significant rewrite. But making him important enough to keep would be an epic level pain in the ass.
And Pinkie! The Director’s cut makes her so much cooler than she gets to be in the ‘official release’! She’s bitchin’ fun to write, and her perspective adds a whole dimension completely unexplored. But none of her material can be conveniently added. It’s just me and Pip shootin’ the shit.
Jon and Mouse’s little heart to heart has been rewritten three times, and still doesn’t say what I want it to. And when you hook it to the intro of Part II, there is no flow, even though it’s only a few minute gap. It’s a total disconnect.
Enough bitching. Get your gimp masks ready, baby, and make way for the Editrix.
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