Update 7 - Shifting Perspectives & Slow Burns

9/5/24
The consistent schedule! The consistent schedule is real!
Welcome back to another blog post, this one right before college starts back up! Thankfully, with how my schedule is structured, I should still have time to write and update this blog! it may take a bit to get use to though, so expect the next post to be around the end of the month!
As for Role Players, this chapter highlights a few interesting notes I wanted to point out about the story, so let's get into talking about it!
ROLE PLAYERS CHAPTER 8: THE SAPPHO AND THE FREEDOM
(Forewarning: these notes about the chapters are spoilery, so read the chapter first before coming here!)
As I highlighted last chapter's blog post, Sappho is a realll big asshole in universe and out, and this chapter is used to set up the basics as of 'why' he does the things he does. His view of 'freedom', and how his lack of personal connections is a good thing is something that I intend to bring up more throughout the story, as it applies to many of the characters, alongside being a large part of Sappho's character. This chapter is the start of the exploration into the concept of freedom, hence the title.
This however, is also where I'd like to address the second thing that comes with this chapter. You may have noticed that although this chapter contained a dinner time with voting as an option, no one in the cast attempted to vote anyone out. Galan's rolling in his grave right now.

This is a very important part of the story as well though, I made the writing choice to allow there to be days where no one votes, just because otherwise I would have no time to develop all of the characters. Each cast member has a story to tell, and with the inclusion of these days where no one dies, I plan to make it a point to use chapters like these to develop characters and help the reader learn more about them. That way, the activity and dinner chapters don't feel like a waste, just because no one died, since instead, you're getting to know the cast before they get voted out.
There are a lot of challenges with this concept of days where no one dies, but I assure you that the story is planned in a way to never feel like it's dragging its feet with the pace because no one dies. Each death will (hopefully) feel impactful not only because you know the characters, but also change how you view others, knowing their connections with one another.
There are many stories I wish to tell withing Role Players, so I will try my best to make the journey to those stories as entertaining as I can!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
With the next chapter of Role Players being a break chapter, I play to focus most of my efforts in between blog posts updating the middle of Bring Your A-Game, one of the other stories on this site. I've been meaning to fix it eventually, and now with feedback from friends, I feel confident in being able to adjust it to read better. Once I get that done, I may write a blog post about it, depending on how large of an update it is (and how long it takes), but regardless I'll keep you posted on how things are going!Until Next Time,
- Josh

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Week 1 - Hello Again!

6/7/23
Hi there!If you’re on this site, chances are that you already know me, but just in case, I’ll dish out the introductions. My name is Josh! I’m a computer programmer/writer, and I’ve been jumping around from media genre to media genre, doing whatever I love doing and trying my best!This time around, I’ve jumped into the rabbit hole of becoming an author, which has been my obsession for the last 3 years (And I don’t see myself hopping to another genre anytime soon)!Before now, I was a game developer, who worked on a group of Five Nights at Freddy’s fangames about Treasure Island (Don’t ask), but even during that, I had written an entire story for the characters in the fangame, so the seeds of writing were planted waaaaay back then.Now you may be thinking to yourself, ‘Yeah this is cool and all but why have a website to talk about this?’, and the answer is simple. Back during my fangame phase, I made ‘monthly’ updates for the fans to stage caught up to date with what I was working on. They were insanely fun to write, and I recently found myself yearning for it again, which leads us here!This website is going to be a place for me to post ‘weekly’ update posts on any and all of my projects, where I’ll share snit bits and BTS information about them!Since this is the first post for this though, I’ll give you all a list of things that I’m working on, so that you have more context for future posts, so here we go!1. Bring Your A-Game
My current novel project, which is already almost finished!2. NK
A narrative discord RP that my friends and I are working on for a server that we’re in, has to do with zombies!3. Role Players
My slated next novel project, I’ve got a shit ton of ideas for this one, so I gotta finish BYAG fast!4. Carol
A short story collection of personal anecdotes from myself! The first collection is finished and published on Amazon, and I’m working on a second one now!Those 4 are my current projects that I’m working on, and I apologize to any of you who enjoyed my games, not seeing any listed on here. Game development is TOUGH, and I’ve learned through the years that it’s not my forte, however there are some smaller game ideas that I may or may not try out in the future, so stay tuned!But that’s about it for this update post, and gosh, does it feel good being able to do this again. I hope if you read this, you stay a while! It’d mean the world to me, and motivate me to get stuff done!Until Next Time Though,- Josh

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Week 2 - Back from Cryosleep

10/1/23
Hi there!Hopefully if you've read the first blog post, you'll understands why I said these would be """"weekly"""" blog posts, sometimes I either forget to make an update, or don't have anything interesting enough to say! (I'm lying, I'm just lazy)But I haven't been slacking off the ENTIRE time I've been gone, I swear! For starters, I finished writing my second ever novel, Bring Your A-Game. It took about a year to fully complete, and I'm excited that it's finished! I'm currently looking for agents to represent me and the story to potentially get it published, so here's hoping one of them likes it!On the come down from finishing BYAG though, I moved into my first ever college apartment, struggled to live for a few weeks, and played a shit ton of Hollow Knight, all while slowly crafting my next story idea in my mind palace.I don't have a lot to share about it at the moment besides the base premise, and the main character currently, but stayed tuned for (more frequent I swear) updates on it!The story follows a reality show called 'Role Players' in a world where the entire population has proof that there is some kind of afterlife after death. The reality show takes 10 random fans in the barren world left after knowledge of the afterlife came out, and brings them in to play the roles of themed characters. (ex. theme is fish, so characters could be flounder, or seahorse)The aim of the game is for the 10 "Role players" (see what I did there) to try and deduce each others true identities, to get them voted out of the game, until there is only 1 person left, who is crowned the winner.There's a lot more to the plot than just that, just I don't want this blog to turn into an essay, so I'll share more info in the next post. In saying that though, I DO want to introduce the main character for Role Players, who is a little goober named Camellia!

She's a super big fan of the reality show, and has been watching it ever since she was a kid, so getting accepted into the game is like a dream come true to her! She thinks that her super fan knowledge will give her an edge in the game, but she has no idea what she's truly getting into by getting accepted into the game.Cam also has a lot of information to share, but again, blog post, not an essay. (I've got enough of those to write as is!)So as a final update for this post, I want to give you all a look into the contents of Bring Your A-Game, mainly because I want to know what you all think! I've added a link to the first three chapters onto my home page, feel free to give it a read, and let me know what you think by sending me an email, I'd love to hear your thoughts!That's all I've got for know, but I promise I'll start updating more frequently, you deserve it!Until Next Time,- Josh

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Week 3 - Cooking Up Designs and Ideas!

10/10/23
Hi there!A part of me can't believe I'm writing another update so soon, but I'm feeling in the mood to write a blog and procrastinate on story planning, so here we are again! (The real reason is because he finally beat Hollow Knight and has nothing else to do)In the days since I last posted, I've actually been pretty diligent with development for Role Players, which as stated in the last post, is my next story idea! Most of the time has been spent designing and working on the characters, as that's a key part of the planning aspect for me, since I can plan events and themes around the characters, and mold their chemistry around each other, if that makes sense.Out of the cast of 10-11 characters that will be involved in the in universe reality show, I have about 7 of them fully designed, but only about 3 of them have full personalities so far; Camellia from last post, and the two I'll be introducing in this post, the first of which being one of the main antagonists planned for the story, Cercis.

(That's pronounced [Sir-Sis] by the way.)As you can see, Cercis is a religious woman with absolutely 0 malicious intentions! She's been a character I've had on the backburner for a while, but could never find the right place and time to use her, until now. She's ALSO one of the hardest characters I've had to design for Role Players so far, simply due to her color palette. Her and all of the other cast members all share a common theme, and that theme comes with colors that each character's design should include in some way, and Cercis' has been by far the hardest to implement so far. I'll get back to you on her once her design is finalized, but just know that in a world where the afterlife is confirmed to exist, you can only imagine the powerup that would give to religions.Second, and last on the list of new characters is the first character I actually finished the design for, and one of the more recent of concrete additions to the cast, Tigridia.

(Pronounced [Tie-grid-e-uh])Tigridia is planned to be one of the people working with Cercis during their time in the reality show, and a minor antagonist of the story as well. He has the most things planned out, with a backstory, themes, and major events worked around him, one of which being my personal favorite idea for the story so far!His addition into the cast also aided me in coming up with a theme for the reality show itself, being the question of, 'What is strength to you?' Each character in the cast has a different answer to this question, and it's a reoccurring theme that's planned to come back time and time again in the story! I don't have every character's answer to the question yet, but Tiger (yes that's my nickname for him) would respond to it by saying, 'Strength is the ability to hide your emotions, personality, achievements, your entire self away, until the perfect moment, regardless of how difficult it may be to do so.'What is the 'perfect moment', and why is that the definition of strength to him? I dunno, find out in a few months when I get to it! Tigridia, Cercis, Camellia, and all of the other cast members have their own personal answer, and their own reasons for having them, which I will try to explore in detail for everyone before they get 'voted off', so please stay tuned to find out all about them!That's all for this update post, hopefully I can keep up this flow of somewhat weekly updates, and hopefully you enjoy reading them!Until Next Time,
- Josh

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Week 4 - Almost Done Cooking!
(i swear)

10/31/23
Hi there!Happy Halloween! The last few weeks have been busy for me, since I started up a new job and got slammed with homework, but even through all of that, I was still planning Role Players in the back of my mind, which is what I'm gonna be talking about today!Most of my brain power in the last few weeks has been focused on designing the rest of the main cast, and giving them all distinct personalities. Doing so has also helped me figure out some events and ideas that I want to include in the story, since as I stated last time, having all of the characters laid out allows me to mold the story around them, and find ways to connect them to each other!For today, I want to show off two more characters, who have been more or less fully developed with designs and personalities. The first of which being Linnaea!

So it would be a miracle if she actually made any alliances.The second cast member I want to talk about today has a bit higher chance of success, and his name is Borealis!

(Yes like Aurora Borealis)Borealis is one of the most recent designs I've made, and he's one that I'm particularly happy with. His mask is actually an animated screen, with the eyes moving around to match Borey's mood. Where his mouth would be, there's one of those sound wave things that you see on music videos, that moves whenever he talks, and displays subtitles of his words on top, since he doesn't like talking very loud, but wants people to understand him still.In terms of personality, Borey also believes in the 'Strength in numbers' idea, however unlike Lin, he believes that you can only trust people you truly KNOW, and that it takes much longer than the amount of time a season of Role Players goes on for to get to KNOW someone.So needless to say, he's a loner for the most part, and he doesn't seem very adamant on winning the game either, so it begs the question of why he's even in the game. However, someone in the cast sets their eyes on him early on, and manages to get on his good side somehow.Who is it, and how did they manage to crack his shell? I dunno, gimme a few months to write it down!

That's all I've got though for now, hopefully by the next update, all of the characters will be designed and fleshed out, so I can start planning out the story beat by beat, since I can't wait to share it with you guys!Until Next Time,- Josh

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Update 5 - The Slow Simmer!

8/2/24
...
My god the last blog post was in October
...
WELL I'M BACK!
While the time between blog posts has admittedly been long, I have many reasonable excuses to give! From college, to work, to family, to writing, the only one I'm focusing on today is that last one! I've been writing like a madman.ROLE PLAYERS UPDATE
As you may know, Role Players is the newest story I've been working on since I started writing these. Thankfully, in the near year I've been gone, I finished up all the work that needed to be done for the story's planning. All the characters have been designed and written out, and all that needed to be done was to start writing the story itself! I've attached the quick designs I made for each main character below!

Some of these faces are ones I've shown off before, and some are new, but all ten of these characters are main contestants in Role Players! Most of the information I've shared on the contestants you all have seen is still true, although I have altered around personalities, motivations, and backstories to better fit the narrative, so if there are any changes between what's said in a blog post and the real story, that's why!
For the story writing itself though, you may have noticed, but there's now a page on this blog for Role Players. There, you can access and read what's current finished for the story, for free! There's also a page for the story I wrote before Role Players, which is Bring Your A-Game. It's a fun paranormal thriller, and also free to read!For Role Players though, only six chapters currently are written. I have (mostly) the entire story planned out, and from the looks of things, it's gonna be a much longer story than anything I've written before. But I am motivated to put all my thoughts to paper, and I am especially excited to write some of these chapters in the faaaar future, so I have faith that I'll finish this one!
For each chapter I finish, I'll make a blog post on here to commemorate, and give comments on the chapter, or anything else going on in my life!
I have a schedule now that I'll try to follow as best I can, where I give myself 15 days to finish up a chapter, so look for a new blog post every 2-ish weeks! On that note:ROLE PLAYERS CHAPTER 6: FIGURES IN THE DARK
Fun fact about this chapter, since Google docs doesn't allow for individual pages to have different background colors, I had to manually add a black background as a png on the doc for this and the next chapter. It's inconvenient, but the effect it gives the hide and seek activity is worth it!
Other than that though, this chapter serves as the start of a few character journeys in the story, most evidently for Monsella and Eileen. I wanted to be able to explore their backstories early, without giving away anything major about them, and I think I was able to do that nicely here! I also tried to make the switching perspectives in the chapter flow as naturally as I could, and with how quickly they change, I wanted to try and give each POV change a purpose, so hopefully I did good!
Currently my favorite characters to write are the Linn, Borey, and Conny trio, and Cercis. I love writing goofballs and overthinkers!CLOSING THOUGHTS
It's good to get back into the swing of writing blog posts again, and hopefully we can track the progress of Role Players as a story through these, chapter by chapter! I'm ready to start that slow simmer, and i hope you'll be there to watch!Until next time though,- Josh

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Update 6 - Google Docs Shennanigans!

8/11/24
No way, we're actually getting consistent????
We are! With the new soft deadlines I've been giving myself, it's helped me manage my time better and allocate time for writing Role Players and these blogs! Even once college starts back up in September, I'll try my best to keep this updated as frequently as I can!
Speaking of updates, let's get to it!
ROLE PLAYERS CHAPTER 7: SAFETY IN THE DARK
Fun fact about this chapter to start, initially I wanted to have this activity run for only one chapter, but with how much I had to write for the shifting perspectives and hiding spots, I had to split it into two! Figuring out where to split the chapters was hard, but I think I picked the right spot in the introduction of the 'safe floors'. It was between that, and the moment in this chapter were Cercis runs into Sappho.

This little menace is one of my favorite parts of writing this story, alongside the most time consuming. If you've read the story up until this point, you'll know that Sappho just kinda does whatever he wants, even on the page itself, leading to some margin comments from him, interrupting lines without any indication, and generally breaking every writing formatting rule.The fun comes in when I have to actually implement that. Sappho antics have to be meticulously added in on google docs as a separate drawing and placed where it needs to be, and honestly it's always fun trying to think of newer ways for him to break the rules, since it comes as a test for me to find a way to do it on docs!
Speaking of which, the black backgrounds for the hide and seek sections also fall under this umbrella, since docs doesn't allow individual pages to be different colors. Well I showed them! It IS possible! This story will be a test of endurance and creativity on my part, so I hope I can continue to make it fun to read and digest!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Sadly, with the faster pace of releasing chapters, it means I have less to talk about on each blog post! I've been looking into ways to get these stories out into the world more, so I'm hoping to share the information on those once I have them ready! The one I'm going to be preparing the earliest will be a newsletter for anyone who wants to be notified whenever a new chapter/blog post comes out! That, a contact page, and maybe an FAQ page should be good, then after that, I'll start advertising!
I'll update on progress for those things next time I come around, which should be by the end of the month!Until Next Time,
- Josh

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