Amount

Guns of the Highlands

24 Jul 2013 18:22 - 24 Jul 2013 18:25 #32434 by Woodclaw
Guns of the Highlands was created by Woodclaw
Hi guys these are a couple of notes about my last story.

First of all I've to thanks again Njae, Cam, Pans, Highlander and Fats for helping me.

Aside from that I want all of you to know that this was actually meant to be the first half of my Workshop entry, but it's biggest purpose was to introduce certain characters, whose importance wasn't as apparent, so I decided to publish it as a stand-alone piece and I think it works pretty well.

Also, "Guns of the Highlands" share the same continuity and narrative universe of "Closure Hour" , if you want you might try to guess how the two stories might be connected (those who know please don't spoil it).

That's all for now, enjoy.
Last edit: 24 Jul 2013 18:25 by Woodclaw.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Dru1076

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Woodclaw
  • Woodclaw's Avatar Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Administrator
  • Administrator
More
25 Jul 2013 04:29 #32439 by castor
Replied by castor on topic Guns of the Highlands
I like world war 2 stories. Big area in comics you get of course things like Captian America or Sgt. Rock.

However the best thing i can say for this is it has a good feel of a kind of story that you would never find in a comic. You manage to work in a Superheroine into actual world war 2 story which is rare. Its
obviously fantasy but you do really get a sence of reality.

And while obviously world war 2 is a setting you do a good job of making it your own lived in world without resorting to much to Exposition. I might have liked a little of it but had the great was how it seemed like you where just dropping into battle.

You do a good job of making saltaire human, something i think while obviously you where trying with Closing Hour kind of was lacking. At everystage she seems the ultimate badass and about to die which is a good way of aproaching war stories.The fact that she was scared really sells it.

Good luck and hope to read more. I do think your a talented writer

Castor

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Jul 2013 21:54 #32450 by Woodclaw
Replied by Woodclaw on topic Guns of the Highlands

castor wrote: I like world war 2 stories. Big area in comics you get of course things like Captian America or Sgt. Rock.

However the best thing i can say for this is it has a good feel of a kind of story that you would never find in a comic. You manage to work in a Superheroine into actual world war 2 story which is rare. Its
obviously fantasy but you do really get a sence of reality.

And while obviously world war 2 is a setting you do a good job of making it your own lived in world without resorting to much to Exposition. I might have liked a little of it but had the great was how it seemed like you where just dropping into battle.

You do a good job of making saltaire human, something i think while obviously you where trying with Closing Hour kind of was lacking. At everystage she seems the ultimate badass and about to die which is a good way of aproaching war stories.The fact that she was scared really sells it.

Good luck and hope to read more. I do think your a talented writer

Castor


Thanks for the compliments Castor.
I have to say that a lot of the action was actually inspired by reading Dan Abnett's novels rather than ww2 comics. I admit that I skippef a lot of the explanations, but I considered them superfluos since the setting is well known enough.

I'm glad that I was able to convey the sense of "still human". In Closure I tried to do that but the scene wasn't probably the best

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Woodclaw
  • Woodclaw's Avatar Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Administrator
  • Administrator
More
26 Jul 2013 04:10 #32455 by castor
Replied by castor on topic Guns of the Highlands
By 'explination' i mean the stuff with her back story. Shes just a kind of superhero in world war 2-it reminded me of say the opening of Saving Private Ryan which had the same tactic. Hell most War movies usually don't get to the battle until the second act.

I get the sence that you have this worked out and your going to get to them, but you started off with a bang. Its easy in superhero stories to start with the 'metor' and work forward. You've got it started well. And managed to make an intresting story.

Also giving a reread i also like how you did a good job of presenting Saltaire through diffrent perspectives-ordinary soldiers, her eniemies, old friends and also her self. Through eachs shes diffrent-which is something that makes the ubergirl genre intresting.


Castor

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
26 Jul 2013 13:24 #32458 by Woodclaw
Replied by Woodclaw on topic Guns of the Highlands

castor wrote: By 'explination' i mean the stuff with her back story. Shes just a kind of superhero in world war 2-it reminded me of say the opening of Saving Private Ryan which had the same tactic. Hell most War movies usually don't get to the battle until the second act.

I get the sence that you have this worked out and your going to get to them, but you started off with a bang. Its easy in superhero stories to start with the 'metor' and work forward. You've got it started well. And managed to make an intresting story.


I didn't work too much on those elements because they weren't important for this story (matter of fact I haven't figured all the bits of Saltire's origin yet). I wanted this story to be more about other elements, rather than the usual origin.

The idea of jumping straight into action was due to the setting. I'm no military expert, but a few friend that were in actual operations described their military service as "a long waiting with small moments of combat here and there", in general putting the reader directly into the action allowed me to skip some very tedious bits and go stright for the interesting parts.
Given that I'll probably include some of the tedious bits in other stories.

castor wrote: Also giving a reread i also like how you did a good job of presenting Saltaire through diffrent perspectives-ordinary soldiers, her eniemies, old friends and also her self. Through eachs shes diffrent-which is something that makes the ubergirl genre intresting.


This was actually an unintended (but very welcome) side-effect. I choose to use multiple points of view because I wanted to showcase battle from multiple sides and show that Saltire couldn't win all by herself, but needed help.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Woodclaw
  • Woodclaw's Avatar Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Administrator
  • Administrator
More
26 Jul 2013 14:49 - 26 Jul 2013 14:55 #32463 by The Highlander
Replied by The Highlander on topic Guns of the Highlands
I love you his story turned out, glad I could help you work on it. You did a good job with the accents on your own, none of them really feel overblown of caricatured. I didn't know you were a Dan Abnett fan, I have to admit I've copied his style for quite a lot of actions scenes in my stories. I've also used the technique of jumping straight into the middle of a battle at the start of a story, before taking a few steps back to explain what is going on. I don't think you missed anything by not going into Saltire origin, the reaction of the highlanders when she shows up and the brief mentions of her abilities thought the story give a good outline of her on their own. I also loved the comments about her supersenses being overwhelmed by sudden loud noises, something a lot of authors don't pay much attention to.

While I was reading this story I got a very strong 'Captain America' vibe, that idea of someone who is slightly more powerful than the ordinary solders around them, but capable of intervening at a key point to tip the balance in their favour. Most of the Germans came across as very 'human' as opposed simply being unpleasant stereotypes. I think there was only one serious nasty German featured, and snipers are often fairly sadistic anyway. It was also good to see all Saltire's human side, particularly after the first battle when she experienced combat fatigue even with all her powers. I'm defiantly a fan of Saltire, and I really hope you write more stories about either version of her.
Last edit: 26 Jul 2013 14:55 by The Highlander.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
26 Jul 2013 15:06 #32464 by Woodclaw
Replied by Woodclaw on topic Guns of the Highlands

The Highlander wrote: I love you his story turned out, glad I could help you work on it. You did a good job with the accents on your own, none of them really feel overblown of caricatured.


Coming from you I think this is really a compliment.

The Highlander wrote: I didn't know you were a Dan Abnett fan, I have to admit I've copied his style for quite a lot of actions scenes in my stories.


More of Gaunt's Ghost fan actually.

The Highlander wrote: I've also used the technique of jumping straight into the middle of a battle at the start of a story, before taking a few steps back to explain what is going on. I don't think you missed anything by not going into Saltire origin, the reaction of the highlanders when she shows up and the brief mentions of her abilities thought the story give a good outline of her on their own. I also loved the comments about her supersenses being overwhelmed by sudden loud noises, something a lot of authors don't pay much attention to.


In all fairness, with the Big Blue it's assumed that his invulnerability help him there. It's a bit more present in Daredevil, but not nearly enough.

The Highlander wrote: While I was reading this story I got a very strong 'Captain America' vibe, that idea of someone who is slightly more powerful than the ordinary solders around them, but capable of intervening at a key point to tip the balance in their favour.


That was the general idea. I've always found strange the idea that metahuman intervention in major historical events boiled down to some kind of "balance of terror". I could understand if their exploits were under some kind of cover, limited to commando-style missions and such, but often they're too flashy of a character to do so (even if most of Captain America's WW2 stories boil down to this).

The Highlander wrote: Most of the Germans came across as very 'human' as opposed simply being unpleasant stereotypes. I think there was only one serious nasty German featured, and snipers are often fairly sadistic anyway.


Thanks again. I was hoping to get this element to come trhough somehow.
The choice of making the sniper a sadist was actually very random. I wanted to include a rather negative character and have him take the spotlight for a bit, so I had little choices, either the sniper or one of the tank crew, which was a lot harder to do.

The Highlander wrote: I'm defiantly a fan of Saltire, and I really hope you write more stories about either version of her.


Either version?
What do you mean?

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Woodclaw
  • Woodclaw's Avatar Topic Author
  • Offline
  • Administrator
  • Administrator
More
Time to create page: 0.058 seconds