Note [#0002]

 

All images found on Pinterest 

_______________

2/11/25

I’m wondering if maybe the ‘Others’ should carry certain characteristics to the planet they’re ’inspired from,’ give them a reason to match more with the other side of things. For some reason the more I try to think of them, the more they start appearing more puppet-like in my mind, I think that’s mostly because of the little boy’s plushies; not sure how I really feel about that since I don’t know what their dimension is really like right now.

Also I keep calling them the ‘little boy,’ but in my mind he’s at least around 10, which isn’t necessarily ‘little,’ he’s just the youngest out of the cast so far.

When it comes to the little boy, I keep thinking of him and a possible life for him; he’s probably going to end up being an orphan/adopted; yeah, yeah, typical. But I’m not sure I want to think about what makes him different in terms of the other dimension and try to connect it to family relations. Plus, I don’t *normally* go the orphan route, I often try to incorporate actual parents into things (well actually, Cristin doesn’t have parents and Kasi’s gone without any most of his life….. that’s different though, that’s culture things); plus, he’s still going to have plenty of adults in his life. I imagine he’s one of those characters that most people know. I like the idea that he’s what you would normally see as the ‘weird’ kid, but he’s so friendly and approachable that most people know him, and most people like him. Okay, probably not everyone, but you get the point.

He enjoys talking to people connected to the dimension the most because he has a bit of a telltale sign on how they are feeling; he also just finds them interesting.

_____________

Tossing around some names because Mark Harvey can’t be the only one:

Codey means “helpful”, that might be a good one for the little boy

But I already have a Cody lol

Maybe Corey? Uuh, the meaning doesn’t really match. But do I care that much?

Sonny?? I don’t think I’ve used that name before, I feel like it might match his vibe lol

…

Switching to another; Mark’s friend.

Maybe Colin, I think I like the sound of Mark and Colin

Colin Desmond?

Colin P. Westforn…

Colin Gray….

Mark Harvey and Colin Gray? 

Hmmm

Mark Harvey and Christopher Gray?

Chris. Mark and Chris?

Mark and Anthony

Anthony Gray

Donovan?

Mark and Don

Mark Harvey and Donovan Gray

Don, Donny and such

Okay.

I’ve gone back to Colin

Colin Gray it is.

…

Little boys friend:

Iris Chamberlain

Easiest one so far

Troublemaker:

 

Winter?

Nickolas

Nicholas

Nicholas Finn

Nicholas Finnegan

Winter Finnegan?

Maybe Nicholas can be his brother

…

Sonny Cooper?

Eli?

Maybe just Eli?

Eli Cooper.

Elliot Cooper

I dunno, Eli almost makes him sound too young

Jaime?

I do think the possibility of the three of them being named Sonny Iris and Winter funny tho

I might do it just because of that

…

Mayor:

Mayor Amberose

Mayor Cathleen Amberose

…

Teen girl 1:

Jennifer Halloway

Teen girl 2: 

Monica McKinley 

Why are the girls so much easier 

___________

Iris is the daughter of someone who works for whatever police or authority is in the Fishbowl. She looks up to him. She follows Sonny around as he does random stuff, likes to feel like she’s “protecting” him. She’s probably 16-17 yrs old.

Winter lives at a building that is part coffee/tea shop and part apartment. His grandmother owns it. His older brother co-owns it and honestly does most of the work. Winter is 14.

“Come on Sonny, literally all you do is hunch over this mound of yarn; what are you even making with it? Another one of your freaky little toys?”

“Actually yes, this one’s for Winter, it reminds me of him.”

“Oh for crying out- give me that.”

She pulls on the string of yarn and the stitches unravel.

Sonny stares at the twisted unraveled yarn.

“Oh, well now it reminds me of you.”

___________

2/12/25

Thinking about the ‘Others’ again, I’m still having issues with them; I’m just not thinking about them, which is normally a telltale sign that something’s not working. I think I need to figure out some things to build off of, problem is I don’t really know what I want right now.

So say this is a pocket dimension, akin to the Land of Odd. The creatures that live in this dimension are connected to, I’ll just say ‘actual people,’ and they represent different facets of that person, normally pertaining to their mental images and feelings about themselves. I know I don’t want them to be human looking (they’re probably going to be human*oid,* just not ‘human with a few none human features’ if that makes sense. Part of this is because the Oddities are already very human-like with other themes, and I want something different. Plus, I’ve always wanted to make a few characters with vastly different proportions and stuff. Something to keep in mind is that Sonny makes little crafty versions of them, though he obviously takes lots of creative liberties with it.

I also know that it’s going to be a similar world to Odd in the sense that most things don’t make sense for anyone who wouldn’t be originally from there. This is the place where all the weird stuff in this story comes from after all. 

Each ‘Other’ is going to have at least two versions of themselves based on their ‘person.’ The original plan was for one to be what the person wishes they were like, and the second to be how they see themselves, but that’s going to be both extremely specific and constantly changing, so that’s probably going to just be the core theme; and more so than not the two versions are probably going to be opposites of each-other.

I think one of the main things I need to work out is how exactly that dimension works in terms of plot; and I know that sounds kind of strange considering there isn’t really a plot, but let me explain.

So the main world is very simple in terms of plot, yes? The characters in there are really just going to be going about their lives in probably a comic strip like fashion; and I wish for that to continue. Now me knowing myself there’s a big chance something’s going to randomly click in my mind one day and suddenly, wow, look at that! A plot! But that’s not something I want, it’d kind of mess with the vibe. Now at first I figured I’d just use the ‘Others’ dimension as something I can pull all my plot making tendencies into, that way I can still create a plot of some sorts for this story while keeping it out of the Fishbowl. Problem is I’m not sure I really want that right now; what plot is there to be had in a dimension where not much makes sense, you know? A plot normally involves something that implies that there is both a start and an end, right? Or am I just thinking through this too much…

Let me explain this from another angle. Right now, there are two different dimensions centering roughly around different versions of said characters. Now what are they doing in one world? Normal life. What are they going to be doing in the other world? I don’t know right now, and that’s what’s causing the traffic jam of inspiration for that world. I can’t just have two versions of a story where both of them go through the same things. 

In the Land of Odd, the Oddities are often just doing random shenanigans. The thing about them though is that they have an underlying purpose for the things that they do. Not the specific things they do… who knows why they do those things. But they don’t just spend their lives visiting each other and being consistent nuisances wherever they can. They do so simply as a way of waiting; waiting for their next visitor. And that’s what they actually do things for. That’s their purpose. As messed up as it is, it’s what keeps their dimension spinning and working.

Now am I saying the ‘Others’ dimension needs some other side to it that sucks people in to their inevitable demise? Nope, not in the slightest. What I’m saying is I need them to having something they do that drives them. Their own inbuilt “plot” that keeps things happening in a world that otherwise doesn’t make sense.

Now can I technically create something of this sort by connecting it more to the Fishbowl? Yes, yes I could, but that’d be really counterproductive to what I’m wanting to accomplish with this.

The worlds aren’t supposed to be that connected, it’s as simple as that; and yet it makes things so much more complicated as well.

Basically, I’ve gotten nowhere, how fun.

[END]