Scratch Monthly [October Edition]

Hello everyone who reads this thing!

At the last minute I decided to do a little "Scratch Monthly" which is going to go over the entire month of October and lay out the stats as well as offer up something a little more interactive if anyone is willing to participate. Let's just see alright? This will also lay out the new posting schedule I had in mind, to accommodate better to my school schedule, I decided to change the days I post once more. I'll get into that more towards the end.

To start off, let me go over the statistics! For the Month of October, which is really the first month this blog has been running the story, the total amount of views was 313! That was from ten different countries.I don't know how other blogs play out, but that is really exciting for me. I've never had so many people read my work, I kind of said that in yesterday's special post. Though I wont go into much detail about that. So alright, we've met the basic main characters correct? We have Hiro, Michi, Norie, Kaz, Dare, Lei, Rey, Toru and Maki as well. The other characters [if I remembered to list all of the intended main characters above], are just side characters. I know there may be some open ends at this point, or some confusion in the time line of things, like, how long was Michi's dad missing? There is a kind of gap in there I thought. A lot of time between Michi and Norie's introduction was cut out from when they reentered.

I really don't know what people would think about the Kaz Michi scene at her house. I really thought a look at Kaz's other side might have been good...overall there is just so much I wanted to say about the characters themselves, but I couldn't get it all in without wanting to go off and introduce other key characters. Hiro is probably the hardest character for me to define. He has hopes for the future, so I guess you could say he is a bit wishful, but doesn't it seem like he's a loner too? I think if I could go back, I would explain more about the friends everyone has, I mean they all seem to be 'friendless' with a few exceptions. Hiro really didn't explain very much what his hobbies were, all we know about him is that he has a good heart [from what we can gather in The Hero's Journey right?] He also wants to write an autobiography of himself. That does seem a little conceited, but it isn't! It's because he's not very showy I think.

Michi isn't as hard to characterize. She is really kind of an airhead, but we don't get her special inner monologue during Connecting the dots part one and two. The main feature I was capitalizing on in her first chapter was that she is very detailed oriented, despite not really paying attention. She obviously values friendship, because she wants to help Norie. It seems kind of one-sided at this point don't you think? I think her greatest show of character was when she explained how she was being pinned down by her parents. If you think about that trauma, and how she's coped with it, it's like that stress had been put on hold yes?

Norie isn't hard to pin down either. She's outgoing and popular [though it wasn't really noted by Michi in those first two chapters with them]. She is the caring big sister, and I know my favorite part [in writing too] was when she connected with Dare. The fact that she's good friends with a delinquent, and even knows some of his friends by name says a lot about 'who she ways'. Perhaps sometime in the future you'll get a glimpse at that past? It's a teaser I guess but I have a lot more to explore. My number one Canadian fan said that something was up with Norie, and I wasn't sure what exactly she was talking about. I thought of Norie as a caring and loving person who wants to help people, but at the same time is ignorant of what she wants to do at times. [Really, I can't think of a time so far in the story where Norie did something for herself].

So now we have Kaz, right? His title called him a very lazy guy. Though he isn't like most lazy people right? It even said he worked hard in his younger high school years. The real thing is, he likes to think that he doesn't care about anything, and is super laid back to the point where you could call him lazy, but he has a job for goodness sake! Originally, I was going to have him as a sort of cheerful male character. In fact, the original Kaz was very excited during the robbery scene. I'm so glad that I took a step back and decided to go the other direction. Adding in his monologue about his sister and brother who live out of town. I was trying to get a sense of character diversity, and right now I feel like I've missed some important pieces. During the connecting the dots sequence, Kaz did hold onto some of that What the hell? attitude, but around Michi...or any girl his age, he becomes polite. Like I mentioned, I was kind of on the fence with the Michi sleepover part. But Kaz is going to shine as the I don't care-serious role and I think you'll enjoy watching him inside of the domes. [Honestly he's one of my favorites.]


Now here's the most consist character I have so far. The not-so-bad delinquent Dare. He's not bad because he helps people out, but he's kind of a free spirit. I don't have too much to say about him because he honestly doesn't have much of an appearance yet.

Lei comes in now, as this quiet girl who rarely says anything at all. I think aside from Maki's miniature appearance in chapter 2, Lei is the first of the somber female roles. There isn't too much to be said about her, but she really blossoms later on if I continue on as I have planned.

Next comes Rey, who also, doesn't have much to go off of. She's tough, definitely what I wanted. I wasn't sure if having every character in here have parent problems, or something like that teenage angst, but you know I think I did a good job. Hiro loves his parents, Michi wants to spend more time with them but have her own freedom, Norie's relation to her parents is unstated, Kaz misses his mom and has a poor relationship with his dad. We know close to nothing about Lei and Dare, and we know that Rey's father is very strict, and her mom is well you know. She wants to break free from her father, but it is also because of him that she is so strong you know? I have a lot of hopes for her.

Now onto Toru, who I was working on for a moment, and at first I was going to make a very serious young man who was very loyal to his father and the company, but instead I decided to make a really powerful character in him. Yes he is a skilled marksmen with a pistol [I'm afraid I don't know much about guns so I don't have any specs, everything I know is taken from movies which is probably bad.] Anyway. You'd hate this story a little if everyone was slowly figuring things out right? I didn't want him to be super smart, [in fact nobody is really super smart so far right?] But Toru does kick some ass. With a gun. He also has a gas mask. As far as the story is now, the only one who has any chance of winning is Toru I think, right? Dare may be strong, but I don't think that's enough to win. Anyway that's that.

Finally, probably the most mysterious 'main' character of them all. Norie's little sister Maki. We know that she is being threatened because of something in her past, and I have a feeling some of you dislike her character for being so...I don't know the word for it. Heartbreaking? She's only human right? Ha-ha, but I love little Maki. Notice how brave she is? If you read connecting the dots, and go back and read Rey's chapter, you'll notice that she's keeping face for now...

So that makes 9 characters right? I know I'm only ten chapters into this thing, but I was wondering if you guys could do me a favor? I want to know which of these nine characters are your favorites! Don't worry, it wont change my opinions about them or how they should be written, but here's how this is going to work. I'll give you guys an entire month, and we'll see if I get any votes at all. [As much as this blog has views, it still has zero comments] It makes me think that people are just randomly coming here without reading it. Still, I hope to get some votes. You can either send me at email at darkerthanryan@gmail.com, or you can comment here [please don't vote twice]. The last day to cast your ballot is November 30th then so you can wait and see if you want, but no changing your mind okay? You get three slots on your ballot, and it looks like this:

1. [This person gets 3 points to their vote]
2. [This person gets 2 points to their vote]
3. [This person gets 1 point to their vote]

See how it works? You don't have to vote for three people, but if you want to you can. Alright, I hope I get at least 5 votes. That will be my target.

Now to finish up the Scratch Monthly October edition [I am aware this is November already], I am going to post my new posting schedule.


Wednesday's and Saturdays.

So it's just shifted days. Chapter 11 will be posted Wednesday November 3rd.

I hope you keep reading! :)