The Travel Log of a Story's Journey

I wanted to document the development of this story because I know that there is a point in the future that others will look back and see this--and appreciate the vision for what was yet to come.

[the-duality-scribe]

Help Desk

Considering there will be varied content on this blog, you may be after something specific. It is my hope that this post will answer any questions before you have them but feel free to ask about anything you’re curious about!

Also!--Here’s a link to the first chapter of Duality Dissonance:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZTpLpnzw1VUaUzQhhq8YdMGWu5-ZW98idnvWy9btM4s/edit?usp=sharing

It is viewing access only. My Kickstarter campaign will launch Monday 6/6 and one of the backer rewards will allow you to comment and make suggestions through to Ch 6.

Here’s a link to the Kickstarter if you didn’t find your way here from there:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dualitydissonance/duality-dissonance

                                    The Tour!

A few tabs:

-About the Scribe -That’s me!

-Silly Things - Extras! Maybe poorly drawn concepts by yours truly. 😁

-About Duality Dissonance - Book Blurb! Still under development. Feel free to make recommendations about it!

If you are looking for a specific post, then I suggest the Archive if the post isn’t recent. I have been adding tags to help you get to specific things so search by these tags if this is what you’re after! If you have used a tag in the past and it isn’t showing up, be sure to check back here because I may adjust the tags as the blog fills out!

#guide-posts that elaborate on things, to include story maps/layouts, and this scribe

#character-different posts about characters of the story

#errant thoughts-My imagination is full so sometimes things spill out. They land here.

#book of daniel-EV’s travel companion is full of quotes. Some of those make it into posts.

#schedule-uh...dates and such

#concept-the take away here is ROUGH draft 😁

#squirrel-It’s what you think. Sometimes, I get distrac--Squirrel!...wait-what was I saying?

#fans-Don’t speak too loudly around this tag. There’s an echo in there. 🤣

[the-duality-scribe]

Sloth Interview

This is a character interview with Sloth from Duality Dissonance. The interview takes place outside of the Sloth’s world and stops abruptly shortly into the session. It demonstrates issues that some of the other story characters deal with while traveling with this him.

Interviewer: Today, we’ll be going over questions related to you and your world so how about we start with your name?

Interviewee: I’m Sloth.

Interviewer: Well, how ab—

Sloth: Are you not going to tell me who you are?

Interviewer: Oh, I apologize. I’m Mortimer but feel free to call me Morty if you like.

Sloth: Great! Nice to meet you Monti. This is my main girl, Boomer.

Morty: That’s Morty—and Boomer?

Sloth: Yeah, but she’s not as picky as some people. She sometimes lets me caller her Boomerina, Boomy, Boomy-Sue…

Morty: You mean the boomerang?

Sloth: Oh, no. She doesn’t like that one. The others are fine though.

Morty: If we could get back to the questions—

Sloth: Oh, I don’t have any.

Morty: My questions sir…again, this is an interview. I’m supposed to ask you questions and you’re supposed to give me answers.

Sloth: Ehh, not much of a conversation if you’re the one doing all of the talking.

Morty: What?—Look, let’s just start again. Your name is Sloth. I’m Morty. So how about telling me something you enjoy doing? What interests you?

Sloth: Well, I’m pretty partial to not having uninvited—unannounced guests. Looking at you here Lamonte.

Morty: La what?—

Sloth: But I also like knowing the plan. Supposedly, we have one. That’s what Pops keeps telling us anyways—but I’m not seeing this -plan- that I keep hearing about. And it’s starting to get annoying.

Morty: Your Pops? Is that your father?

Sloth: No, that’s what I call our Leader. His name is actually Pride but this one time, he got pretty banged up—hurt his back and was all slouching because of it. I told him if I had to watch him keep hunching like that, I was going to get a backache as well. He tried to slug me then but…well you know, hurt back and all. Been calling him Pops ever since.

Morty: Well, what’s this plan supposed to be about? Can you tell me about what you know?

Sloth: What I know is that if a salesman-type comes to your door talking about saving the world, you need to get that in writing. I’m talking full disclosure here. I didn’t sign up for half the things they expect us to be doing. I mean, think about it Lennie—would you have agreed to fight indestructible monsters to save the world? They say they’re supposed to be -guardians- but I can’t say that killer sand monsters are any sort of guardian that I’d want guarding any of my things. Have you ever fought in sand? It gets -everywhere-. We’re talking serious chaffing here. I’ve gotten sand in places I didn’t know I had and that’s the real struggle Marky. It’s not the sand monsters, or the -plan- or even those rifts things—it’s the sand that bothers me the most—I mean seriously, I have the rashes to prove it.

Morty removes his glasses and rubs at his eyes, then checks his watch.

Morty: Actually, I just remembered about this other appointment that I have. Let me get my colleague to take over from here.

Sloth: Ha! Classic.

[the-duality-scribe]

Update Dissonance 6/24

I’ve been doing a bit of research on serial fiction lately and decided to post on royalroad.com I’ve submitted a request and it’s currently pending verification. I think this would be a great opportunity to tell the story in a different format but this won’t change my plans for working with my cover artist or my current plans on working with my editor!

I’ll update with any additional changes!

[the-duality-scribe]

Editor Reply

So some pretty exciting news. I sent in am inquiry and a sample to an editor and I heard back. Here's what I got back:

"Thank you for sharing a sample of your writing with me! It was a pleasure to read some of your work. Upon first glance, your novel, Duality Dissonance, strikes me as an engaging and well-developed read."

Pretty exciting stuff! Still working on revision but a lot of it is being rewritten due to character and setting development! There was a few really neat things that happened within the story this week. I had some interesting scene and character interactions that were only possible due to the previous developments! Looking forward to working on it more so I'm off to it!

Your Duality Scribe,

JT

[the-duality-scribe]

Dissonance Update 6/17

Yesterday, I worked on more revision and updated Lust’s character. There were a couple of things that I had to refine with him but I think he has improved. As I’m revising these earlier chapters, it’s almost like a mini rewrite, considering how much the character mannerisms changed later in the first rewrite. It’s not a bad thing, just surprising is all. I feel like the characters are even more developed on this go round.

I believe, I’m going to post some of my developmental process soon. I might make that first post tomorrow. I’m probably not the first one to do any of these things but I can understand the benefit and advantage of doing them.

One of my constant motivators is seeing poorly written, published things. I’m not paralyzed in perfecting my own work but I want to make sure that I’m not putting forth a flawed story. I’m being reasonable in my self criticism and I’m continuing to progress my writing and revision.

I’m about to hop into my work so I’ll meet you here next time.

Your Duality Scribe, JT

[the-duality-scribe]

Dissonance Update 6/15

I’ve had a few developments since the last update. I did complete the character bios of the 7 sins and they are posted. I polished some of the early chapters and sent them as a sample to my artist and to an editor that will likely be taking care of my project. 

This blog and any information about the story as of December of 2021, has all been related to the rewrite of the story. The draft was actually completed several years ago and I’ve been going back through the rewrite without referencing the initial work. During the rewrite, I could tell the story had improved considerably but it wasn’t until I started revising the rewrite that I noticed it still needed some more work.

It’s pretty crazy how different the story is compared to what it once was. A big influence was the addition of some maps but the even bigger influence was the objective view of beta readers. The thoughts and interpretation of others has been immensely vital to the current state of the story and I’m grateful to have received those wise suggestions.

I’m doing a little bit of research for today and likely tomorrow. There are a few character traits that I need to refine on one of the characters so I’m trying to get that sorted out. I plan to post an update every other day so you can expect the next one to be on 6/17, unless something particularly noteworthy happens!

Until then-- Your Duality Scribe, JT

[the-duality-scribe]

Character Bio-Lust

It goes without saying but there will be many that draw an immediate association of Duality’s characters to that of two animes:  The Seven Deadly Sins and Fullmetal Alchemist. I want to cover each of Dualities characters and contrast them against previous iterations of the sins in other storylines. I won’t spend much time on the anime characters though because you will likely be more familiar with them than I am. You can find my general overview of the Duality characters here:

https://the-duality-scribe.tumblr.com/post/684621069368377344/on-character

Duality Dissonance:

Lust is the last of the character bios and he is a bit of an odd duck in the story. We never see directly behind his perspective and he mostly keeps to himself. He doesn’t talk so a lot of the time he is just in the background somewhere doing Lust things. Pride somewhat baby sits him though because he can be somewhat impulsive in his actions. He doesn’t have anything physically significant other than a tattoo on his weapon wielding arm and speaking of weapons, he is the only character with a firearm. It is initially a large caliber handgun but it changes over the course of the story, growing more intense with the evolutions.

He often gestures or references things with either the muzzle of his gun or the projectile that is fired from it. This is made apparent when we are first introduced to Lust. Pride often tells him to “Stop helping” because his methods can be somewhat extreme and more than what is needed for the situation.

Some of the other characters get a bit unnerved by his intensity at times. He has a quiet, rebellious nature that Pride is often contending with. All in all, he makes the journey much easier than it could be so the party is appreciative for the role that he plays. It’s a bit harder to sympathize with this one due to how little he interacts with the others but I’m sure that people will find him interesting. His motivations are unique compared to the other characters. All of the other characters are wanting more of something but he is the only one that is wanting less of a thing…in fact, he wants to have 0 of a thing. It makes for an interesting dynamic and he has some interesting triggers that readers will get to discover along the way! :)

                                                   **************

The Seven Deadly Sins-Gowther:

Gowther (Lust) was an interesting character for me. I’m a bit stumped on what Gowther’s relationship to the sin of Lust is but the fandom page believes it has to do with knowledge. That’s kind of the trouble with the sins, in that most of the sins can be interchangeable. We covered how Merlin’s (Gluttony) sin was about wanting to consume all knowledge but the sin of greed could also be about gaining more than needed, as well as envy. In this anime, Gowther is very mater-of-factual and he does crave knowledge but I think it’s, more specifically, about desiring emotions and a greater knowledge of them. But again, desiring is also intertwined in greed, envy and gluttony so I’m not for certain on this one. Here’s a wiki with more information on Gowther:

https://nanatsu-no-taizai.fandom.com/wiki/Gowther

                                                  **************

Fullmetal Alchemist-Lust:

This version of Lust  dresses somewhat provocatively but her attitude isn’t of a sexual nature. She is considered to be more sadistic than the other sins and I think the lust sin might be related to inflicting harm on others. Like some of the other sins, she views humans with disdain, looking down on them. I know there are differences between the two anime versions but I’ll leave that to you to delve into if you want to discern the differences. You can find out more on this Lust here:

https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/Lust

                                                  **************

Duality’s Lust/Actor Similarity:

I have Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in mind for this character but that’s really from a lack of knowing of anyone more fitting. I really haven’t come across a role that aligns with his motivations. I’m sure there are some out there somewhere but I haven’t found him yet. Tom’s Loki is the only one I’ve considered close because of his manipulative nature. In addition to Lust’s rebellious nature, he also has a manipulative side that aligns with is motivation of wanting zero of a thing. That makes him a bit hard to characterize regarding his traveling companions. The largest notable difference between Lust and Loki is that desire to hear one’s self speak! Lol While Loki loves to talk, Lust does not speak. He still makes for an interesting addition to the journey and I look forward to everyone meeting him. Perhaps you can suggest a different actor’s character that you can see being in this role? As with the other character bios, it’s not really about a specific actor but how they portray their character in their various roles. Feel free to suggest who you think might be a good fight based on their past performances.

Interactive:

Lust is the only character here that isn’t able to interact with you due to his speaking thing—but perhaps you can interact by suggesting other actors from one of their specific performances?  As with the other character bios, it’s not really about a specific actor but how they portray their character in their various roles. Feel free to suggest who you think might be a good fit based on their past performances. Also, be sure to read the 3rd scene of the chapter 1 so you can get a better sense of how he behaves. That will give you a better idea of who might be a good fit for the character! Here’s the link for the Chapter 1 sample:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZTpLpnzw1VUaUzQhhq8YdMGWu5-ZW98idnvWy9btM4s/edit?usp=sharing

[the-duality-scribe]

Character Bio-Gluttony

It goes without saying but there will be many that draw an immediate association of Duality’s characters to that of two animes:  The Seven Deadly Sins and Fullmetal Alchemist. I want to cover each of Dualities characters and contrast them against previous iterations of the sins in other storylines. I won’t spend much time on the anime characters though because you will likely be more familiar with them than I am. You can find my general overview of the Duality characters here:

https://the-duality-scribe.tumblr.com/post/684621069368377344/on-character

Duality Dissonance:

Gluttony is an interesting character and he has some unique traits that none of the other characters do. His weapon is a long-handled, ball mace. Similar to weapons, he also has a large jug/flask that hangs from his belt. It’s similar to that it can materialize in the same manner that the other weapons can do so. Gluttony has a few things going on and I won’t touch on them all. One unique thing about him has to do with his vision. Physically speaking, he is blind but he still has a method of seeing. His vision isn’t a line of sight, it’s a sphere of sight and it comes from his smell. Now, he doesn’t know this exactly but he suspects that it is related to his smell because he can see the sphere affected by the wind. He doesn’t see the sphere itself, just determining the limits once some physical object is within it. His vision is actually something that happens in his mind but he can see only physical things within a sphere around him. This has both positives and negatives. He is able to see beyond walls and solid surfaces, seeing everything physical within the sphere but he can’t see things like light, dark, or color. Water can also be a problem because he can’t tell that it’s water unless it is moving. To him, it would appear as a solid surface.  It might be nice to see in the dark but this is also a disadvantage given that there is something that can happen during the night that he can’t see or get out of the way of. The sun and moon are also far too distant for him to see them directly. With that being the case, he has to rely on the others to help him avoid certain situations. This radius of his sphere is only around 10 yards/meters.

There are some that will immediately correlate this to Daredevil but this character trait came before I fell in love with the Daredevil series and it even came before Duality was a story concept. I don’t remember exactly where this next concept came from. It might have been something from a dream that I carried over as a thought experiment but I was actually thinking about someone breaking out of jail/prison and being hunted by the law. The trackers brought out a tracking dog and this is where this trait came from. I was imagining a dog smelling of clothing related to who they were searching for and I tried to imagine what went on in the the dog’s mind. I know this doesn’t actually happen the way I imagined it but I was picturing a dog, smelling the clothing and a physical representation shaping in his/her mind. So, to me, the dog constructed a mental image of whoever was being tracked and that’s where Gluttony’s trait comes from.

As far as Gluttony’s struggles, he feels he owes a debt and he can’t move past it. He wants to make up for something and that’s where his loyalty comes from. He is concerned about losing those important to him when he is not with them so he tries to stay by their side, to keep them safe as much as he Is able to. He also eats and drinks his feelings. He openly offers to share his drink with others but he doesn’t like to eat in front of others.

                                                   **************

The Seven Deadly Sins-Merlin:

Merlin kind of stumped me on being the sin of Gluttony. She is drawn from the same Merlin in the King Author stories and the best I can tell, her sin comes from her desire to consume all knowledge. She even uses magic to suspend her age in order to live long enough to learn EVERYTHING. She was a pretty interesting character and others might assume she would be Lust if they saw images without watching the series. She has a tendency to wear a lot of revealing clothing and doesn’t get embarrassed about things related to her physical self. She is a pretty interesting character. Here’s a wiki with more information on Merlin:

https://nanatsu-no-taizai.fandom.com/wiki/Merlin

                                                  **************

Fullmetal Alchemist-Gluttony:

There are no half measures with the Gluttony from FMA and he won’t be confused with Duality at all. In FMA, he has a childlike intelligence and behavior. He doesn’t have a need to eat but does so out of an inability to quench his insatiable hunger. He eats people, animals and even physical objects. He often asks the other homunculous if he can eat whoever they are facing or talking about. You can find out more on this Gluttony here:

https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/Gluttony#In_the_manga_and_2009_anime

                                                  **************

Duality’s Gluttony/Actor Similarity:

When I started imagining actors in certain character roles, Evan Peters was one of the first actors that I chose! Given that I did the draft for Duality several years back, Evan has been in this role for a long time. I pictured him before he was in American Horror Story or played as Quicksilver because the character that I imagined was actually in Never Back Down. In that movie, Evan seems to have a really animated mouth expressions and while that was part of it, it was also because of the type of friend that he was. He was very bright and cheerful, eager to support his friend. That says a lot about what Gluttony is in Duality. He is very loyal and his smile tells more than one kind of story. I look forward to others getting to meet him and I’m sure they will admire him as I have.

Interactive:

Feel free to comment and ask Duality’s Gluttony something you want to know. As I stated in the initial post on characters though, he may not give you the answer that you are looking for. His world is different from ours but he does have a limited knowledge of things of our world. Also, his answers will be based on his understanding within the first 3 chapters of the story and he won’t give you answers related to spoilers :) Enjoy!

[the-duality-scribe]

Dissonance Update 6/11

I’m still focusing on revision and that’s where my focus was yesterday as well. I’ve been trying to determine a better way to present this story and I think I came up with a solution this morning. I had been labeling the genre as Fantasy Adventure but the story actually overlaps many of them and I never felt like this was the best, most appropriate genre to label the story as. From here on out, I will be presenting it as Psychological Fantasy. 

When I was looking into agents, I read that you should include a statement on about what other story your novel relates to. One of the two novels that I mentioned was Lord of the Flies, which is Psychological Fiction. The more I read on this genre, the more I’m convinced that this is indeed the proper placement for Duality 😊

[the-duality-scribe]

Dissonance Update 6/10

The past couple of days were productive. I continued revising the early chapters and it was neat to see something else take shape during this trip through the story. One of the characters is a complainer and outright questions the reasoning behind some of the things they are doing. What became interesting about it is that the questions may be the very same ones that the reader is having 😅 I’m going to continue on with this in mind and try to influence him in being a voice for the reader! We’ll see how that plays out.

I’m also dabbling on reddit again. I don’t typically like getting involved in social platforms because honest conversations can go south pretty quickly. I am going to try and get more involved in writing communities though. I know there are others out there that can be a positive influence on Duality so I hope to come across a few of them 😊

I’m still planning to post the last two characters on Sunday and Monday but today, I’m still working on revising. I’m going to keep refining my schedule because I would like to work in some social media things but still limit myself so that I don’t get too sidetracked with them.

Welp, I’m off too work!

Your Duality Scribe, JT

[the-duality-scribe]

Character Bio-Sloth

Continuing with the characters and their comparisons to the Animes’ character motivations, today we’re covering Sloth. As a reminder, I’m mainly looking for character motivations that relate to the actual sin that they represent and I’m only going to touch on the Anime characters briefly because you are likely more familiar with them than I am and I don’t want to belittle a character you may feel strongly for. You can find my general overview of the Duality characters here:

https://the-duality-scribe.tumblr.com/post/684621069368377344/on-character

Duality Dissonance:

Upon meeting Sloth, he initially shows a laissez-fair mentality but as he gets pulled into their journey, he does get more involved by way of constantly questioning “the plan.” He never wanted to be involved but is led to believe that his way of life is threatened and if he doesn’t act, then all ways will be lost. He immediately displays a dislike for not knowing plans or intentions. He is sarcastic and often questions the reasoning behind the group’s intentions. He voices questions and concerns that the reader might also be having. He may come across as wanting to take shortcuts but he becomes confrontational when he believes he is being led by flawed logic or an incomplete plan. Sarcasm is usually the form his confrontation takes on. While he comes across as being very athletic, he is actually more inept than another might assume. EV is aware of this and is frustrated by that. Because of EV’s desires, he sees Sloth as having great strength but squandering it. Sloth doesn’t seek challenge. He desires to be and remain comfortable. Problems and troubles are for other people to deal with and Pride chides him for this. He is told that burying his head in the sand doesn’t stop the outside world from existing and if he doesn’t get involved, the progress of that world might roll right over him. Sloth is more complex than I initially gave him credit for. While he has moments where the rest of the group questions his usefulness, he does have a powerful journey which is made even stronger by his influence on the journey of others.

                                                   **************

The Seven Deadly Sins-Harlequin:

Despite Harlequin aka King aka Sloth seeming lazy by floating on a pillow most of the time, he is actually a pretty hard worker. He is called King because he was the fairy king and responsible for protecting the Fairy King’s Forest. At one point, another fairy assumes the identity of a human that was killing fairies for their wings. Under this assumed identity, the fairy began killing other humans. When it was determined that humans were killed by a fairy, Harlequin was imprisoned because one of his subjects committed these acts under his watch, therefor being guilty of sloth. Here’s a wiki with more information on King:

https://nanatsu-no-taizai.fandom.com/wiki/King#Personality

                                                  **************

Fullmetal Alchemist-Sloth:

There are some variances in FMA that I’m not super clear on myself so I’m just going to mention the Brotherhood version. I can see some similarities between the FMA Sloth and Duality’s. The FMA Sloth is the largest of the other sins and has a strength that he doesn’t often use to full effect. He complains about working, thinking and even views living as a chore. He also has the slowest regeneration abilities of the other homunculous. There is also a female version of Sloth in the 2003 anime that is an entirely different character. I included this version since it was modeled after the source material. You can find out more on this Sloth here:

https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/Sloth

                                                  **************

Duality’s Sloth/Actor Similarity:

I started imagining Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord as Sloth but there’s also some Andy from Parks and Rec in there as well. He is a bit of a doofus and is inept in several ways. Physically, he is more like Dante of DMC. He is physically capable of more than he commits to but the problem resides in him actually committing to things. His decisions usually revolve him taking a path of least resistance but he does grow and make changes as the story progresses.

Interactive: Feel free to comment and ask Duality’s Sloth something you want to know. As I stated in the initial post on characters though, he may not give you the answer that you are looking for. His world is different from ours but he does have a limited knowledge of things of our world. Also, his answers will be based on his understanding within the first 3 chapters of the story and he won’t give you answers related to spoilers :) Enjoy!

[the-duality-scribe]

Bonus Scene

I put some details in the start of this document. Essentially, this is something unique in the story but feel free to take a look and let me know what you think!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uwRQvY70GmS_CzRsO5OmajEkBCfxIt2zzb0HbPevXZA/edit?usp=sharing

[the-duality-scribe]

Dissonance Update 6/7

I had planned to take Tuesdays off but I need to work on a few story things today. I plan to have through chapter 6 revised by 6/11. That may become through chapter 7 because chapter 3 is pretty long. I was working on revising it yesterday. It was already a longer chapter but when I started developing the scenery and imagery, the chapter really filled out. I’ll have to find a place that feels like a natural break though so I’ll just have to see how that turns out.

On the bright side, I have no doubts this will push well into a six figure word count. As I was approaching the conclusion of the story, I was setting a goal to just push it above 90,000. I was leaving some <place holders> for scene setting during my progress and planned to circle back to focus solely on the environment. So my 90,000 goal was based on the current word count without really knowing how much the scene descriptions would fill out the story. After seeing the first 3 chapters grow the way they have...100,000+ is not going to be an issue. I don’t want to go far beyond that but it will still be a great threshold to break through.

I’m just doing revising today. Tomorrow, I will post Sloth. I plan to have Gluttony and Lust posted the following Sunday and Monday but if I finish revising early, I’ll post those characters early as well!

Wish me luck!

Your Duality Scribe, JT

[the-duality-scribe]

Character Bio-Greed

Continuing with the characters and their comparisons to the Animes’ character motivations, today we’re covering Greed. As a reminder, I’m mainly looking for character motivations that relate to the actual sin that they represent and I’m only going to touch on the Anime characters briefly because you are likely more familiar with them than I am and I don’t want to belittle a character you may feel strongly for. You can find my general overview of the Duality characters here:

https://the-duality-scribe.tumblr.com/post/684621069368377344/on-characterr

Duality Dissonance:

He is the largest of all the characters and has a spear for a weapon. All of the characters have their unique something going on and Greed’s unique thing is physical. For starters he has an unusual stature compared to the other sins. He has a human appearance but his arms and shoulders are more akin to that of a gorilla. For a while, I didn’t really get involved with his motivations and that caused him to me little more than a decoration that traveled with the rest of the party. I knew what his motivations were, I just didn’t allow myself to sympathize with them--but that’s not the case anymore.

Like every other character, he has information that the others aren’t privy to. There is a lot of compartmentalization going on throughout the story. This isn’t a malicious act, it’s just that his information relates to his desires and he protects things related to his goals, which includes information.

In allowing others to sample parts of Duality’s story, I’ve never really presented Greed as relatable and it is only recently that he has become that. His character evolved in later versions of the story and I’m eager for others to meet him. I always wanted to care for all of the characters in this story and now he has become someone that I am fond of.

                                                   **************

The Seven Deadly Sins-Ban:

Feel free to correct me on this but I don’t remember Ban acting very greed like as a character. Sure, he stole a lot as a kid to survive but that doesn’t strike me as greed either. There isn’t really a needly pursuit for abundance with Ban. There are artifacts that he pursues but I don’t recall any of them being for selfish reasons. Even in his pursuit of immortality, it is my understanding that he was doing so to live long enough for good things to happen to him. He even decided not to drink from the Fountain of Youth when he learned it would kill the Fairy King’s Forest. While Ban hasn’t actively influenced Duality Dissonance, so far, his character is the closest resemblance of any of Duality’s characters. His dress is similar to Sloth’s and his motivations are closer to Duality’s Greed than is initially apparent. Find out more here:

https://nanatsu-no-taizai.fandom.com/wiki/Ban

                                                  **************

Fullmetal Alchemist: Greed

I think Fullmetal’s characters stick pretty close to the sin they’re drawn from and Greed is no different. He is fueled by a desire to have more and actually wants everything because he doesn’t know what will satisfy him. While he acts independently from the other homunculous, he a sort of loyalty to allies, claiming that friends and henchmen are like possessions thus harming them is equivalent to stealing from him. There isn’t any close correlation between this Greed and the one in Duality. You can find out more on this Greed here:

https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/Greed#Personality

                                                  **************

Duality’s Greed/Actor Similarity:

I loved the first season of Altered Carbon and I relate Greed’s personality to that of Joel Kinnaman’s Takeshi Kovacs. If you haven’t seen this series, stop what you’re doing and go watch it but don’t do so while multitasking. There’s a lot going on so you’ll have to pay attention. In my opinion, Falconer’s physical presence in the 2nd season really diminished the intrigue of Takeshi Kovacs. He is disoriented in the first season by being displaced 250 years and has a brooding nature as he reflects on the loss of his lover and mentor, Falconer. For me, the story worked better when he was under the impression that Falconer was gone. Duality’s Greed boasts a similar brooding nature. He has someone that he reflects on and his actions are fueled by that reflection. As far as being around the other characters, he doesn’t respond well to people being overly direct so he can butt heads with Pride at times. Alternatively, he has something of a respect for would-be underdogs so he develops a fondness and concern for EV early on.

Interactive: Feel free to comment and ask Duality’s Greed something you want to know. As I stated in the initial post on characters though, he may not give you the answer that you are looking for. His world is different from ours but he does have a limited knowledge of things of our world. Also, his answers will be based on his understanding within the first 3 chapters of the story and he won’t give you answers related to spoilers :) Enjoy!

[the-duality-scribe]

Kickstarter has been kickstarted

Today is the day! I just launched the Kickstarter Project. Feel free to make your way there by the link below but if you made your way here from there....well ignore the link. I’d hate for you to get dizzy following links 😁😂

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dualitydissonance/duality-dissonance

[the-duality-scribe]

Character Bio-Pride

Continuing with the characters and their comparisons to the Animes’ character motivations, today we’re covering Pride. As a reminder, I’m mainly looking for character motivations that relate to the actual sin that they represent and I’m only going to touch on the Anime characters briefly because you are likely more familiar with them than I am and I don’t want to belittle a character you may feel strongly for. You can find my general overview of the Duality characters here: https://the-duality-scribe.tumblr.com/post/684621069368377344/on-character

Duality Dissonance:

Pride, Pride, Pride…I didn’t much care for this character for a while. To be honest, I know a lot of people that he initially reminded me of. For this reason, I didn’t spend much time following him around and it wasn’t until recently that I began to sympathize with him. He has a hard exterior and it’s often hard to get around to get close to him.

He is something like the alpha wolf in a wolf pack. He always takes care of himself first but he is also protective of his pack members. One of the sure fire ways to get on his bad side is to put those members in danger. While he doesn’t outwardly express this concern, it becomes apparent when individual members jeopardize the lives of other members.

He doesn’t like to waste time and likes it even less if he feels like you are wasting his. He’s always pressing forward and trying to get the others to follow suit. You’ll often hear him saying, “Let’s get moving.” Or “Stop helping.” Or “You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.” The latter is what he usually uses to get others to contribute by attempting to weaponize their guilt and use it against them. He doesn’t actively attempt to manipulate the others, rather, he only desires to help them see reason and realize it’s in their own best interest to follow his lead.

He has a stern way of calling the shots and not all respond well to his methods. He is the self proclaimed leader and does what he does to stay out in front and make sure everyone else is falling inline. While others may but heads with his methods, Pride earnestly believes that his way is the only way.

                                                   ************** The Seven Deadly Sins-Escanor:

Ole Escanor. I really like Escanor and I think he embodies pride well. The closer it gets to noon, the more condescending he becomes about the efforts of others in trying to defeat him. While his outward attitude does grow into more of a prideful behavior, I feel like his power is closure to something of Wrath. Maybe it’s just my association with the Hulk character but I feel like wrath is what should grow stronger as a fight goes on. With his power attached to the sun, it doesn’t have the same effect as it would someone like Vegeta who is also motivated by pride. Vegeta’s power usually grows or changes when he perceives his pride to being threatened. While I don’t dislike anything about Escanor, I think the motivations of Vegeta are closer to the motivations of what pride is. Anywho, here’s the wiki for Escanor:

https://nanatsu-no-taizai.fandom.com/wiki/Escanor

                                                  **************

Fullmetal Alchemist-Selim Bradley:

Selim is a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, not unlike King Bradley. He is condescending to non-homunculous and relates humans to something of insects. He resorts to petty insults in fights and doesn’t hesitate in sacrificing those around him to gain the upper hand in a fight. Much inline with being prideful, he underestimates opponents due to his own self worth. I am happy to say that I don’t think any of the FMA sins will be confused with the Duality ones. Lol Here’s a link to info on Selim:

https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/Selim_Bradley#Personality

                                                  **************

Duality’s Pride/Actor Similarity:

Imagining Frank Grillo as Pride is what really helped me relate to the character. Maybe it’s another reference to the move Warrior but I like that he does have this approachable demeanor in a lot of his characters. There is a kinship in his behaviors while still looking out for number one. The image is from Boss Level and in that movie he is blind to a few things that he doesn’t consider. Over the course of the movie, his perspective widens and he is able to see some things he missed. While his Boss Level attitude doesn’t quite align with the attitude of Duality’s Pride, it’s still reminiscent of Duality in that he is his own reason for not seeing something.

Ole Vegeta. I always like Vegeta and his character growth. Initially, I imagined Pride to be something of Vegeta but I could never really relate to him and make him approachable for the rest of the party. While, I continued picturing Vegeta, the character never really seemed very real for me.

Aaaand, this character is what crushed it for me on Pride. I never really considered Rorschach in Duality but as Frank Grillo allowed me to get closer to the character, I found some of Rorschach in his motivations and oh boy…things came off the rails. When you get to the point in which I’m referring, you’ll circle back to Rorschach and know what I’m referencing.

Interactive: Feel free to comment and ask Duality’s Pride something you want to know. As I stated in the initial post on characters though, he may not give you the answer that you are looking for. His world is different from ours but he does have a limited knowledge of things of our world. Also, his answers will be based on his understanding within the first 3 chapters of the story and he won’t give you answers related to spoilers :) Enjoy!

[the-duality-scribe]

Dissonance Update 6/4

So the Kickstarter Project was approved but I haven’t launched it yet. I plan to launch it Monday, 6/6. I want to finish Chapter 1 for a sample to post with the project. I’ve revised this chapter a few times now and when I introduced maps into the story, it called for some pretty significant revising. I’m about done with that though and I want to use today to proof the changes.

I didn’t make a full blown schedule yet but I did set some deadlines for certain things. Part of the Backer Rewards is access to the first 6 chapters so I need to push through that and get those out as soon as I can. I also want to have the Character Bios posted to the blog for those that choose to interact with them so those are my top two priorities. I’m going to suspend the alternating weeks of progress, revising, mapping until I get these two things done. Here’s what my deadlines look like: 6/4 Chapter 1 Revised 6/5 Posted Pride Bio 6/6 Posted Greed Bio 6/6 Project Launch 6/8 Posted Sloth Bio 6/11 Revised through Chapter 6 6/12 Posted Gluttony Bio 6/13 Posted Lust Bio

With those deadlines, I’ll have Chapter 1 finished by launch, through chapter 6 will be ready within a week of launch, and the Bios will also be posted within a week as well. I think that will be plenty reasonable for those things being done. I may have some of the bios completed before the deadline, I just don’t want them done after it.

Also, one thing I haven’t cared for on this platform is the lack of compartmentalization for different topics but I recently saw a way I can group the various topics. I’m going to go back through my posts and add specific tags so that the posts can be grouped. So if someone visits and is just interested in Errant Thoughts or Bio posts, they can go to archive and search for tags that will be assigned to those posts. I’ll also make a Guide/Key post and pin it so that it’s easy for specific things to be reached.

I think that’s all for now but I’ll also be posting a “Where does Duality come from?” post soon. I think that will be an interesting post.

Until then-- Your Duality Scribe, JT