Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Inspirations: Pokemon

    I'm sorry for the delay in writing this first update. Certain circumstances have kept me busy but I hope everything shall be calm for a moment. I hinted a while back that I wanted to go over the many inspirations for Neostriker. The first one I will cover is the one that began the long chain: Pokemon.
    Neostriker began it's life as a Pokemon clone. Back when I was very little, Pokemon was absolutely amazing. I believe I went through about 3 different variations before I finally arrived at what would become Neostriker. I remember how I would play Pokemon Blue over and over, and even though the series was banned in my house, I still managed to watch some of the original TV show. These glimpses would unlock my imagination as I would pretend and design more "pokemon" and play with them.
    The first little monster that I recall designing was based off a fox plushie I got as a kid. Now those who read Shining might realize that the first neomon that is friendly happens to be a fox-type. Coincidence? Anyways, you may also have noticed how there is not much you could say is inspired from Pokemon throughout the book. That is the case because, as I said before, it was banned in my house. Eventually I didn't care and I decided to move on to other series for inspiration. So even though Neostriker began it's life with heavy Pokemon influences, I eventually moved away and decided it best not to keep it. There is more to the story, but I feel like it's best to save it for later.

Until Next Time,
J. D. Nyle

Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Future of Neostriker: Shining and Fanfiction

    Can you believe it's all done? When I wrote the story over 5 years ago, my intent was just to have fun with it. I didn't care so much about it back then, but as I developed it more and more, I became very attached to this story. It was a fine tribute to the many things that developed Neostriker as well as being a good tool for developing the series. There a few things that I didn't put together until I began writing David's story, but when I look at it, I can't imagine a better way of making it all fit together.
    You may be wondering about the ending for the book. I personally think it is a fitting ending for the major themes of the book. Before I had a sentimental ending, but it turned out less than satisfactory. The current ending may make some people question what was and what wasn't, but that's fine. I originally intended the book to be a complete story to stand on its own, but as I got closer to the end, I wanted to leave an opening that I would allow me to write the sequel I had planned. However, the sequel that has been in my mind for the past 5 years is not right for a book. As much as I want to write the story, I believe it would be best as a movie or TV show. It's something that needs to be seen. As a result, I'm holding back on writing that story for now and focusing on developing the Neostriker Universe.
    I don't know how long it will take before I am finished with my next book, but I can tell you it will take place at the beginning of Neostriker. That's right, it will be partially about Xagem, the character I made which began my development of Neostriker as a whole. I have been planning this story for years, but I wanted to finish Shining before I started actually writing, mostly for practice. In the meantime, I intend to be publishing a mini-series called Legends, which will contain many short stories concerning the characters in my next book.
    Now back to Shining. As I mentioned before, many series were inspirational in my development of Neostriker. Before, I simply copied what I saw. It wasn't until I had a lot of practice with it that I began to transform it into something new. I shall be honored if my series will be the same for others. Therefore, I am encouraging fanfiction for the Neostriker: Shining world. I only ask that you do not write about the beginnings of Neostriker as that is my next subject. I actually have about 7 stories planned, and most of them are hinted in the story. I do hope I will have the time and talent to write all of them eventually.
    The plan to encourage fanfiction was actually part of the intent when writing the ending to Shining. I want people to feel okay with misunderstanding something occasionally, because misunderstanding something can actually be inspiration to the imagination. Neostriker is full of things like that. An example would be Saiber Armor. Yes, I know what happened and what didn't, but I also like playing with the idea of certain things changing. There is actually one thing I would like seeing changed that would make things even more interesting, but I also believe it's time to move on from Shining.
    Now to encourage fanfiction even more, I would like you writers to send me your fanfiction. That way, I can publish them on this blog for everyone to read. If I find something objectionable or controversial, I may edit it for protection of my story and characters. I actually had a very controversial chapter in the early drafts of Shining, but it betrayed the idea of creating a simple story for everyone to enjoy. As a result, I prefer to keep things simple and good while the controversial topics can be for another series.
 
Sincerely,
J. D. Nyle

Update 5/16/15: Currently not accepting fanfiction. I still encourage it, but at the moment I want to focus mostly on the new novel. I will start accepting it again in the future so keep on writing.