Atoll you that it was going to be good

It’s that time of the week already?  Time flies at a rate of roughly 60 second per minute.  It is also worth noting, that despite having already had multiple posts this year, this is the first time in a while that I have had to write something from scratch for this blog.  Pressure!  Now, there are a lot of things that I could talk about e.g. my holiday to Italy, Christmas or Valentine ’s Day (Single again!) but these will come later.  No, this week I am going to talk about two steps forward that I've took this week, aimed at helping me achieve my goals (including the revealing of Project Atoll).

However, to do that, let us think back to the past: back before I donned a shirt and tie; back before I moved to Nepal; even back before I wrote my long list of goals.  I’m talking all the way back to first ever blog post I wrote.  Don’t worry, I’ll give you a second to go back and refresh your memory.

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Ok, now if you recall to that first, poorly written post, I mention that this blog was created to cover my four goals in life, the first being to live in Asia.  Now, for those of you who are particularly astute, you will be thinking 

‘Robbie, you’ve already completed your goal!  Congratulations, now where is the champagne?’  

Well, hold that champagne cork!  If you fast forward to another blog entry I wrote much later, I then narrowed that down to ‘visit/live in Japan’.  At which point, you are now thinking:

‘Robbie, you visited Japan!  Let’s break out the party balloons and the nibbles!  You did it!’ 

Well now, you’re quite right.  I did achieve that particular goal but don’t break out the Gouda just yet.  Having visited Japan, it has strengthened my resolved to actually live in Japan sometime in the future (Just in case the last 6 blog entries didn’t give you the clue – Ed) and as such, I should probably make an attempt to learn the language.  So, this is step forward number 1:  I recently purchased a language pack to try and learn spoken Japanese (I may hold off on written Japanese for a while).  Alas, it is via KGB deals, so I have to wait until the deal ends to dowload it but once I receive it, I will say sayonara to my lack of Japanese language (Awful – Ed).    

So, onto the main event.  The headliner.  The big reveal.  Other cliché phrases.  Yes, I am talking about the reveal of Project Atoll.  But before I do that, I would like to apologise about the clues from last week.  In hindsight, I do not think that anyone would have got them other than me, which kind of defies the point, though I never said I would play fair.  Anyway, here it is:

Project Atoll

As you may or may not know, one of my life goals is to become a writer/director and also to create an anime series.  In fact, many blogs posts ago, I even revealed a project I am currently working on called ‘Where the Wolves Wander’ but in moment of reflection, I realised I was trying run before I could walk.  You see, my plan for this particular series is for it be a huge universe, not just a short series: the Star Wars of the anime world, if you will.  I aim for it to have multiple spin-offs, a deep and rich back story and for it to be available across multiple mediums, which will be difficult to achieve as my first project.  So, I decided to start a little smaller, with either a visual novel or short manga series which I have started working on, to help get a foot in the door.  The general idea is to examine the isolation that people can feel, especially as an ex-pat, but also to examine the journey that people take trying to achieve their goals.  Here is what I have so far:

Premise

 

The story begins with a young man travelling to Hong Kong from the UK for a new job, and follows him on his new adventure.  Despite enjoying himself to begin with, as time goes on, the new culture begins to affect him and he starts to become more isolated and depressed, withdrawing from the world. 

Whilst this is happening, a young lady and her band are practising as an instrumental band but decide they need a vocalist to move ahead.  Eventually, she overhears the young man singing a fairly depressing song in his apartment and starts trying to convince him to join the band, eventually succeeding.

After he joins, they begin to style him into a visual kei star and they start to promote the band further.  He also starts to pursue a girl that he works with, who had caught his eye when he moved.

Setting

Hong Kong

Special effect  (if visual novel)

As he becomes more withdrawn and depressed, the world around him slowly loses colour until it is grey.  When he first meets the Rinoa Fell, she is shown in a blinding vision of colour and then as it subsides, is the only colour in the room.  As time goes on, colour is slowly added back to the worl.  This only occurs when he is involved, colour is normal for other characters.

Main Characters 

Curtis Trate – Young man, 22, moved to Hong Kong for an internship with the European Embassy.  Shy

Xin na Shae – The young lady whom works with Curtis.  Very shy

Rinoa Fell – Guitarist for a visual kei style band and neighbour of Curtis.

As you can tell, it’s still in a very rough form but I am going to write up a schedule so that I have something a bit more concrete to work towards.  I generally plan for the writing to be done in a couple of months and, to be even more optimistic, the drawing to be nearly finished by New Year.  To this end, I’ve started scoping out artists who might be able to help but I don’t plan to recruit anyone until I’ve got something a little more concrete.  I've also been chatting to someone who has designed visual novels before to try and get a little advice as well.  As a form of incentive, I plan to reveal key pieces of information on my blog as well, so you all can kick me into action if I’m not working fast enough!  Well, there you go!  Feel free to contribute, critique, laugh or ignore!

Pick of the Week

Sun Jar - Ok, this week I am going to recommend the Sun Jar, an innovative and useful tool, especially for people who live in areas with loadshedding.  Now, I was given this for Christmas from a friend (thanks John!) as I currently live in Nepal, a country that currently receives 12 hours of loadshedding a day, recently down from 14.  The premise is simple: you put the jar in direct sunlight, it charges the battery and when you need the light, it switches on.  Simple and effective!  In my case, I use it for when my battery runs out and I'm left in the dark but you can use it however you want!  Want to save a little bit of money on your electricity bill?  Buy a couple and use them when it gets dark.  Want some ambience in your garden?  It's waterproof so you can use it outside, plus it can turn on automatically when it gets dark, so you don't need to go outside!  You store pickle, jam and medical specimins in jars, so why not sunshine???  Buy it now!

Music of the Week

Another easy choice this week, as the song has been stuck in my head all week.  Imagine Dragons - Radioactive, enjoy!

So, that's it from me this week.  Again, any comments or advice on Project Atoll is more than welcome!  I might even have a little more substance for you next week!  Finally, if you're interested in helping or can draw (or know somebody who can), let me know!