For those of you with a World of Warcraft addiction…  a World of Warcraft movie is in development. Writer, Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) is wielding the mighty quill of scripting to craft a suitable story set in the Warcraft universe with Director, Sam Raimi (of Army of Darkness and Spiderman fame) at the helm.

Regarding the project, Mr. Raimi is quoted in a recent interview with MTV:

“We would choose… something that encompasses lands and characters and storylines, and we would be true to it. But our story may or may not be about one of those central characters.”

“We want to be really faithful to the game. We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a ‘World of WarCraft’ adventure. Only obviously it’s very different ’cause it’s expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture.”

“[The hope is to properly capture] the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents. I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.”

There are no casting nor in-depth story details as of yet, but if you’d like to know more or follow the progress of the movie… then check out this page > http://warcraft.moviechronicles.com/

The highly anticipated Star Trek MMO has officially entered into Closed Beta Testing. This puts Atari/Cryptic right on track for a Q1 2010 release.

You Are the Captain

Explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations in a vast, expanding universe. Establish contact with new races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will influence Star Trek’s future. In the year 2409, Star Trek Online exists in a timeframe beyond even the latest movies, so everything you experience will be brand new, but still based on all the fiction you love.

To learn more about STO… here is a link to their page > http://www.startrekonline.com

How goes the writing project? I’m very glad you asked… I’m happy to say that I’ve made some good progress with my planning and am looking forward to writing the actual meat of the story.

First. The generic profiles for the primary characters have been written. The only thing remaining is to finish writing the in-depth history and background for all characters. This includes the supporting and fluff characters I plan to use in my little world.

Second. Research… research… research. Or in my case, stick your head out of the window and look around. You would be amazed at the number of story ideas that pop into your head when you simply open your eyes and ears.

Third. I still have some writing to do with regard to HOW my world works. I’ve given you a glimpse into my world via a story excerpt released in an earlier blog.

What a weird world I’ve got in my head… I mean, who knew that Pixies are the real power working inside of a light bulb?

NOTE: The name of my female lead, Sarah Kimball, has been changed to Elizabeth Angel. It’s a nice sounding generic name that fits into this world nicely.

That’s all for now. It’s back to work for me.

The main plot line for this project is coming together nicely. It’s still going to take a while to “Git ‘er done”, but it’ll be a good read when I’m done.

I’ve been having a problem with one of my teeth and was prescribed some happy pills for the pain.  Funny things tend to happen when you are under the influence of pain killers. With that in mind, please enjoy the following:

Alexander Harper and his partner, Rodney Crane, enter Shinji’s Sushi House.  “Konichi-wa, Alex-San, an’ konichi-wa, Rodney-San.”  The owner, Shinji, greets the two detectives, waving them over to a large booth near the window.  Alex signals a waitress by holding up two large stubby fingers.  She smiles and silently carries a carafe of warm sake and two cups on a small tray to the table.

“Konichi-wa, Shinji-San.  How’s business tonight?” asks Alex.  Shinji muses, “Not too bad. I s’ink with you as a reg’lar customer that I will have few’a problem… from now on.”

“Well, that’s good ta hear.  You jus’ let me know if ya be needin’ any more help.”

“S’ank you, Alex-San.  I make you a special sushi su’plise tonight. I s’ink you will rike it.”

“Shinji, that sounds delicious!”

The owner bows and heads for the kitchen.

Rodney leans closer to Alex and quietly asks, “What with the funny accent and the broken English?”

“What me?”

“No, not you. I know you’re from Scotland and you can’t help but talk that way.  No, I mean, Shinji. What’s with the …I s’ink you will rike it… nonsense?  I thought he spoke perfect English.”

“He does.”  Alex looks around the restaurant for a moment then replies, “It must be for the tourists.  Look over there, I’ve never seen those two in here before and there is another two over there and…”

Rodney say, “Ok, ok.  I get it. If he wants to play Charlie Chaplin for the…”

“That would be Charlie Chan, not Chaplin.”

Rodney waves in surrender, “Whatever. If he wants to play to the tourists, who am I to argue? Besides, for some reason he seems to ‘rike’ you and that means we get this stuff for half price.” Rodney grabs a cup of sake and lifts it to take a drink.

I hope you are enjoying the craziness rolling around inside my head… 

Let’s see if I can give you a mental image of our heroes; Alex Harper and Rodney Crane.

Alexander Harper and Rodney Crane are detectives.  Alex stands just over eight feet tall. His hair is jet black; it is slicked back over smallish ears and held tight in the back in a ponytail.  Alex’s skin is smooth with a slight green tint that brings out the color in his piercing green eyes.   He is in excellent physical shape… for an Ogre.

Rodney Crane, on the other hand, is completely average for a human.  In the beginning, he was angry to be assigned as Alex’s partner, but quickly grew to admire and respect him.  Alex proved to be intelligent and efficient, and his large stature certainly helped close a few cases, too.  Of course, intimidation was never a factor in those instances.  Really.

Trust me when I tell you that every primary character in the story will have a COMPLETE background written to help me craft a story worthy of their inclusion, and most importantly… worthy of your time as my audience.

Regarding my note about Sarah Kimball (as a primary character)… More than one person has stated that when they hear the name “Sarah Kimball” that they think about Arnold’s “Kindergarden Cop” movie. So, I think I need to change that before I get too far.

That’s enough for today. I’ll talk to you later.

This blog contains an excerpt from my latest project. I don’t have all of the prep work for the story completed, but I simply could not resist sharing this little passage with you.  The following gives you a glimpse into my world. Enjoy!

The sun has set and the few remaining rays of daylight are waning quickly.  George, already late for his rounds, exits a dimly lit doorway and trundles down a short sidewalk away from his house.  He stops at the edge of the street under a darkened street lamp and shifts a strap across his shoulder.  Standing almost seven and a half feet tall, he is still considered to be short for an Ogre.

George reaches up and carefully removes a thick covering from the top of the pole without the assistance of a ladder and shoves it into his bag.  Briskly, he shakes the newly exposed bulb and squints as a bright light begins to shine inside.  The bulb is framed with a thin wrought iron cage in order to protect it from damage.

Satisfied, George moves on to the next pole.  He repeats the same ritual and shakes the bulb.  The light begins to shine like before.  As he turns to attend to the next lamp, the bulb behind him shatters, sending shards of glass to the ground.

In one quick motion, George whips around and snatches the cage from the pole.  Irritated, he says, “You’re starting to piss me off, wee one.”

A tiny voice erupts with anger; “You can’t do this to us. We have rights, you stupid Ogre!”  Glowing pixie dust flies from her fluttering wings and slowly drifts to the ground. The dust pops, and sputters with flashes of light as the little pixie stomps her foot inside the cage.

“I can’t help it if your Union Representatives don’t know how to negotiate. You’re stuck in this job for another … uh… three years. So quit yer bitchin’, Pixie, and do your job.”

Just for the record… the above passage may not be copied, transmitted, reproduced or otherwise distributed without my expressed permission.

As is true in any story (if it’s to be taken seriously), the writer MUST perform a few simple steps when writing.

#1 Develop the characters that will appear in the story

#2 Create a situation that you want to explore

#3 Make sure your characters react to the situations they are involved in honestly

I am currently in the middle of executing step #1. The protagonist in my little world is a Detective by the name of Alexander Harper. He has issues, but is happily married and is making his way in the world.

The villain isn’t fully fleshed out, yet.  However, once his profile is complete I will most likely have worked out my first major plot line. Having a working plot line will help me finish step #2.

I am planning approximately seven or eight more primary characters and another dozen or so supporting characters. One of the primary characters is a Self-made Businesswoman by the name of Sara Kimball. I haven’t decided whether she will assist the protagonist or the villain. I’ll just have to wait and see how she reacts to the situations into which I place her.

That’s all for right now. More to follow…

Over the last few years, I have become more and more prolific. I didn’t realize this at first, but it’s true. I have become a writer. This revelation would not be so unbelievable except for the knowledge that I absolutely HATED anything to do with writing or English when I was a high school student.

Oh don’t get me wrong… I have raw talent and my teachers told me so. The problem is that I had no desire to waste my time putting pen to paper to perform some lame writing exercise cooked up by the board of education. Today, it’s a different story… I have a computer. Yay!

Peer pressure (namely from my wife, Cheryl) lured me out of my cave and turned me into more of a social person. I have developed many friends around the world and continue to make new acquaintances almost every day. This situation has given me a voice.  I went from fantasy role-playing, to social networking on Facebook and Twitter and found that I needed breathing room… I  discovered BLOGGING.

Honestly, I never thought I’d need this much space, but here I am.

I’m not going to try to say everything that’s on my mind in my first post. I just stopped in today to say “Hello”.