1-11 Thoughts (FINALLY)
This is a blog post talking about 1-11, if you haven’t read it yet, do so here. If you want to give criticisms for this section of the story, you will be able to post in the comments here! Really, you’ll want to read this one.
Finally, 1-11! I’m only a little bit less than two weeks late to the delayed date that I said this was going to come out! Wow, I’m bad at this! There’s quite a bit to talk about for this chapter, as it is both the climax of the arc while also being the “real” start of the story! Arc 1 up until this point has been… well… I’ve said that point enough, so I’ll leave it for the Arc 1 Thoughts blog post.
First, let’s talk about the mind merging 1-11-1. That sort of ‘‘‘psychological horror’’’ chapter part was really new for me, but the main goal for it was to be a memorable and confusing scene. I know for sure it’s confusing, which typically means it’s a little memorable, right? The lack of chapter title until 1-11-2 and warning message was supposed to be cryptic enough to maybe get you guys in the mood for that type of stuff. I really don’t know if I made the mark for good horror or not (probably not) but I hope you guys liked it or at least found it interesting to read. As usual, I hope you guys give me feedback for this chapter, but this chapter part matter especially, since I want to know if it felt like a waste of time or not.
Next is everything of The Liberators of Society, and hoo boy… is there a lot here. It sort of goes without saying that these guys will be major players throughout the rest of the story. They’re my favorite of the entire cast that you guys have seen so far. With Isaac and Messa I always felt like I have to constantly prove that these characters were worth following, but with these guys, I feel like I’ve created some damn cool characters from the outset. They’re supposed to be a “Hero of their own story” type of villains. Now, some may argue that if these characters are so much more interesting and that they’re the hero of their own story, then why don’t you just tell their story? Wouldn’t that make for a more interesting story? Well, I don’t want to spoil the exact contents of their backstories, but let’s just say that the villains they fought in the past are just as generic as the leader of the hotel. (Someone who I literally haven’t even given a name yet) Their characters aren’t really that interesting until after the world ended, everything before that is just… backstory.
Oh yeah, I should probably talk about the semi-twist climax. After all, I kinda hyped up the leader of the hotel, then just killed him offscreen. Well, his place in the story was really to be a simple villain that’s only there to set up a simple plot forward while Isaac and you guys are spending most of your brainpower in understanding Psynesis and such. I didn’t feel obligated to write a generic racist villain because him getting off screened by the actually interesting antagonists to show off their overwhelming power was simply a better and more unique use for his “character,” if you can even call him that, since he never shows up.
Finally, let’s talk about 1-11-3. Most of this chapter part is to establish the viewpoint of The Liberators of Society, since I really want to establish them as characters with a lot to say for themselves. It’s one of those scenes that you come up with early on and you’re constantly excited to work on it when it finally comes. I think I did a really good job with the introduction of these characters. But of course, if you disagree, or you have any suggestions to improve it, then you can feel free to write in the comments!
Talking about the other major thing to occur in 1-11-3, Elizabeth is dead! Except, no, she isn’t. This wasn’t a fake out death to try and trick you guys, but I’m curious if you genuinely did think she was dead. After all, she didn’t have a custom font, so she was clearly a minor character. But that isn’t the case by the end of 1-11-3. I wanted to pull a reverse of what I did in 1-7. For those who’ve read my other blog posts, you may remember when I said that Lina (the 1-6 minor antagonist) was originally going to be a major character with Messa’s ability, but I ended up not wanting to include her. Well… I sort of backpedaled on that decision. I was originally going to have Elizabeth actually be dead making her a sort of “tragic” character, since she was so close to redemption. But also… she was only around for a chapter. I think I did pretty ok with her character during that time, but not enough for people to feel legitimately sad if she died. At least, probably not. When I took a moment to really sit down and think about what I could do with this character, I noticed that I simply couldn’t pull off her death in a dramatic way, while also noticing that the concept of a bystander turning hero, or even just… something a little better is a pretty good character arc idea, so I decided to let her live in hopes that the cast doesn’t get too big. Although the next arc may cause some problems in that development, but I think I have a pretty good plan to try and circumvent that.
As per usual, be sure to post any comments here talking about the chapter, and sorry for taking so long for me to upload this post, turns out I have way more to say about this chapter than usual!
