Author's Notes #6

Last night, I went about assigning faces to some of the characters so I could see them clearly in my head.

And I made one major change - I changed Curt's name to Corey.

Why do Authors make changes like this that seem arbitrary?

Well, in this case, I changed this character's name because he was going to be a major character, if not the major character. And going around with a name like Curt, kinda made the character a bit more macho than I wanted him to be.

I wanted a character that desperately wanted to play in the NFL but was too small, not fast enough, etc. Not that he's a wimp or anything, just not the extreme athleticism needed for professional Zingball. So he's taken a job in the back office to atone for his lack of ability.

Corey just seemed a better fit.

I'm also rethinking Raqi's name. Though I love seeing it visually, I'm pronouncing it "Rocky" and it's making me think of a woman I used to know who went by the name of Rocky. I want a genderless name for her, to embody the frustration of having the athleticism to play professional Zingball, but not allowed because she's a female. She'd rather be an EMT and use all of her athleticism, than to play Pro-Am ball and outshine everyone on the field.

Any suggestions?

Author's Notes #5

Main Characters:

Drew West was one of the greatest Raydars that ever lived. He was an inner defending, with most of his career defending the center and most valuable goal. Now he's retired and he goes to every game. His daughter Raquel Sumner (Raqi pronounced Rocky) grew up playing Zingball with her brother, but because there are no Major Zingball League women players, she decided to become an EMT instead of playing the Pro-Am or Minor leagues. Her husband, Rich is also an EMT.

Drew West's other offspring, Curt works for the Raydars and recently was promoted to Acting Liaison to Fans. It's a temporary position, one expected to be filled by a loyal inner member of Braun's (the new owner). In the meantime, Curt reports directly to Tsunlei Tong, the V.P. of Media, who reports directly to Haverhill, the V.P. of Operations. The new ownership of Raydar seems to be more concerned about remaining owners and creating bigger profits for their associated companies who work with the Raydars organization. (Braun owns a line of facial/hair products that have the Raydars as spokesmen; Haverhill is an ex-CEO of a line of sports drinks/sportswear)

Curt works with Nik, who works for ISC, Interleague Sports Channel and is their exclusive sports reporter on the Raydars. Only the Raydars has an exclusive sports reporter and he gets a lot of his information directly from Tsunlei Tong, which pisses off Curt because he sees part of his job as the one disseminating information to the public. Nik's wife Tessa works for another network, BNN Business News Network, and she reports on Major Zingball League business - endorsement deals, etc.

The person who sits next to Drew West's season tickets is Stacy Tuttle. She's also an old Raydars fan, having watched West play in his first season many years ago, from the same seat. She loves what the old Raydars stood for: honesty; good, clean fun; honor; giving no quarter. This new Raydars with all its accompanying glitter and commercialism, she's not too sure of, but she still loves going to the games, partially because of West's company. She shares her season tickets with her nephew, Jimmie, who sometimes dabbles in the black market with Raydars pirated gear.

Minor Characters:

Russell Grant was the previous owner of the Raydars, extremely popular. He believed that what was good for the fans would ultimately be good for the businesses associated with the Raydars and as a result, his tenure as owner lasted 10 years. He disappeared for a while after he stepped down, because he realized that the organization would be extremely different and he didn't want to really witness it.

Minnie Ehrle is the League Liaison - she's the one who works with the other leagues to coordinate games with the smaller leagues, etc.

Jermaine Ryker is a Reverend who attends every game. He is a Shonite, who believes that their religion is the only way to enlightenment and anyone who doesn't want to be enlightened should have their days darkened forever.

Franklin Hirogi talked tough prior to the events of 2/28 but what he saw that day changed him forever. His path may be more surprising than most.

Dirk Haverhill is the V.P. of Operations, the actual head of the Raydars operation.

Tsunglei Tong is the V.P. of Media and he's the one who's in charge that the fans vote in Braun every two years.

Eugene Winston Braun is the current owner of the Raydars and a Shonite. He is pretty much a lamebrain, but because he is the son of Eugene Faulkner Braun, people voted for him.

Author's Notes #4

The premise of the story:

In an alternate universe, there are no governments, there is only the league. (I NEED to come up with a name for the game)

City-nations sprung up around the games and leagues and around 50% of the world's population is involved with the league. Fans have been known to identify so strongly with their team that they bleed team colors, one thing a bush league team intends to find out.

Small teams belong to the Bush League (should come up with a different name), larger teams to the minor leagues and if your city-nation is fairly large and prosperous, it may get into the major leagues.

Of all the teams, the White Raydars has the biggest fan base, the largest stadium, the best equipment and is often the envy of all of the other teams especially since they win the championship about 7 out of 10 times. Other teams in the major league includes the Sunrisers, the Royals, etc.

Many teams in all the leagues suspect (and know) that the Raydars bully and kind of cheat their way to being the best but because of their economic status, the smaller teams have no way to get out of their own predicaments except maybe through sabotage or outright violence.

This is the environment the story is set in.

The Raydars, along with a couple of other teams in the minor and major leagues have something unusual about their constitution. These "V-Teams" as they're called, allow the fans to vote in who the owners are and usually have term limits for ownership. The "H-Teams" are more hereditary. These teams usually have been around for centuries, with each owner handing the team down to his/her offspring. As a result, those teams usually have smaller fan bases, since the base can't vote for changes to the team.

Author's Notes #3

Escalating Descent is basically a sports/fans metaphor for what has been happening the past 6 years here in the United States. Since this is an Alternate Reality type story, I had to create a sports that would be played in leagues all over the world.

Here is the sports (I still need to come up with a title):

Games are played on a LARGE elongated octagon (width around 75 yards, length around 250 yards) field that has glass walls up to 25 feet surrounding the entire field. On each end of the field, there are three walls with holes for goals and targets painted around the holes. The field is divided into three sections: home inner section, outer section and visitor inner section.

Each game will consist of 5 Quints, that has 3 Runs each. A run is 10 minutes with 3 minute break between Runs. A quint is therefore 30 minutes (or in total with the breaks - 39 minutes).

Goal: To score with one of the two balls in play by throwing the ball through one of the goal holes or hitting the painted rings around the hole.

Scoring: 10 pts for goal through center hole, 5 pts for goal through side holes. 5 pts for yellow inner ring around center, 3 pts for yellow inner ring around side holes. 3 pts for white outside ring around center hole, 1 pt for white outside ring around side holes.

Teams will be made up of 25 players with another 50 as backup players. Of the 25 players, 5 will play inner defense, 8 will play outer defense and 2 will play versatile defense (able to go anywhere except opposing team's inner section). 2 will be shooters (they have a lacrosse type stick) and 8 will be protectors.

Defense can kick the ball, use physical force against other defenders and against protectors but cannot touch the shooter. They can, however go for the stick.

Protectors can only go against other defenders.

Shooters can bounce the ball off the glass walls, but the ball cannot touch a person, nor can the shooter use the stick to defend.

Shooters are the only ones who can score.

Injuries on the playing field do not get a time out. Medics have to run out into the action, pull their guy out before a replacement can be sent in.

Well, what do you all think?

Author's Notes #2

What a night it's been. I managed to create 15 characters, semi develop two on-going plots with many possibilities for sub-plots, create a whole new sports and created this website. Not a bad night's production, eh?

Oh, I wanted to test out colors for this background. Here goes:

The Quick Brown Fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The Quick Brown Fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The Quick Brown Fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The Quick Brown Fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Author's Notes #1

If you own a Mac, and you are a writer, go check out Jer's Novel Writer right now! It's an outliner/database/word processor rolled into one AND you can jot notes in either the note section or the margins.

I'm loving using it so far.