Good morning, everyone!
Darrion here!
Now a while ago I wrote up a little post about the Watchmen Files before it was thought up to the end where it was completed. Since I'm experiencing the symptoms of writer's block, I thought it would be nice to have this backstory to the story for you guys to read.
Oh, and don't forget to check out our new website
here if you missed the last post about it!
Here it is! The Origins Watchmen Files, File One.
Almost a year ago,
there were no Krugers, no Bartons, and no Watchmen. There was just a
simple thought of an (almost) teenaged me.
That thought came
from the notion that Willow and I had only made up fantasy genre
stories. We had the Star Wars fan fiction, the Lord of the Rings, The
Hobbit, and other stories, but nothing in our time or world. I found
that curious and wondered why we didn't have one.
With that in mind, I was going through my magazine of
Rolling Stone Collectors Edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
On page twenty-four there was a picture of Thorin staring off into the
near distance, looking majestic as always, and on page twenty-six, there
was a picture of Fili and Kili. Kili is, of course, trying (and
failing) to replicate his uncle with a mysterious sort of look, though
it came off as stalkish, he still looked much like his uncle in that
instance.
And then it struck me. "Hey, these two look a lot like each
other! They could even be the father and son I was thinking about using
in that modern story..." And so they were cast! Unbeknownst to me, they
really didn't look much alike at all and I would later sort-of-regret my
casting choices. But that's who they became, and I never changed that.
The father/son team had to have a name and a purpose, of
course. I had been thinking about super power like abilities, but I
didn't want to make it cheesy and comic-bookish. So I turned to one of my
favorite movies, Captain America: The First Avenger. I found out that
Richard Armitage, who played Thorin in The Hobbit, also played a
character named Heinz Kruger, who was a Hydra agent in the first Captain
America movie. Which of course called for another family movie night in
which I was particularly eager to watch my cast member in another film.
The movie itself generated lots of ideas for me. What if I grew
the story off of it? With Hydra agents and everything? That would mean
S.H.I.E.L.D., but I wasn't very interested in using them. I wanted
something new, something that I made up myself. That called for another
group, someone else who was also protecting the world from the forces of
Hydra.
I came up with some names, one was 'The Protectors' (nagh, not
original enough), another was 'The Gate Keepers' (much better! I like),
and the last was 'The Watchers' (that one was growing on me, but it was
too much like other peoples books so I added another shortly), or 'The
Watchmen'.
Then I did a quick look up on Pinterest of Aidan
Turner, the yet unnamed character and found a few pictures that were
completely fine and decent (later I would discover what exactly he has
been in and would totally freak in a negative sense). But not having a
Pinterest board to pin it to and knowing that it would get lost in my
bookmarks, I made the mistake of downloading it onto our computer and
into Willow's picture file (since we shared one), thinking that she
wouldn't ever find it (ugh, the stupidity).
Well, later I went through baby names and found the name
Mason. I liked it very much, and Mr. Turner looked like he would fit it
fine, so I dubbed him Mason Kruger, without thinking about the fact that
Mason isn't a particularly German name.
And then Willow went looking through old picture files. I
mean, who does that anymore? She called me over to the computer which is
in our living room in a suspicious and accusing tone of voice. I was in
trouble. She tapped her foot and asked me why I had a picture of a guy
(and of Aidan Turner, more specifically). I confessed. You see,
my plan was to develop the story on my own and tell her about it when it
was ready, which wasn't right then. But that's not how it went. After that, it
was okay. She didn't think I was being creepy (which is correct), so
she didn't bug me much.
Knowing that in every story there had to be a supporting
character, I found Dean O'Gorman, who played Fili, Kili's older brother
in the Hobbit. Since they were in may of the same shots together, he was
cast in the supporting roll. Later I had three names which I could use that I was debating between,
Chad, Chris, and Conner. It was hard, but I ended up using Conner, and
the last name McKee was added later when I asked my mom about Irish and
Scottish last names. We had the last name McKee a while ago on her side,
so that was a nice thought. Conner McKee it was.
Doctor Kruger's name didn't come for a while, since I
didn't like many German names at the time. I had determined that the
family was German and that they were descended from Heinz Kruger,
therefor his last name was Kruger and he had to have a German name,
unlike Mason who was more American.
Ava came about kind of half-heartedly, as an add-on of
sorts. An adorable little kid was always a must in any book, right? But
she couldn't be too closely related to them, she had light brown hair,
not so dark like theirs, and I wanted Mason to be an only child. So she
became his four year old (which I later changed to six) cousin who was
being taken care of by my protagonist, Mason.
Mason's situation with his parents being divorced, living
on his own, taking care of Ava, and having a Super Soldier Serum in his
blood came later too, but eventually it was generally in order.
I finally picked a name for the group, calling them 'The Watchmen'
since Willow wanted to use the 'Gate Keepers' for something else. I named the
soon to become series, and 'The Watchmen Files' was born!
Then I finally named Dr. Kruger. After going through a few German baby
and most popular names with no avail, I found one that I could live with
from a book. Doctor Hans Kruger was established (the middle name Jürgen
would be added later, though I had no idea how to pronounce it, it just looked really cool).
Everything was going pretty swell. But then I tried to start.
Writing it was a nightmare! I couldn't get it right. Not like the
wording, but I didn't care about him really. And if I was going to write
this, care was the one thing that I needed. So there he was, getting fired and
attacked by Hydra and I didn't really feel for him.
That ended quickly. I quit, and just started a board on Pinterest (which was called A Modern Story at the time and was later changed to The Watchmen Files)
where I could accumulate ideas to use later. My friend in real life,
Ammelia G., commented and asked about my story and we talked it over,
which was helpful, but not enough to break my writer's block.
I pinned and soon caught the attention of a certain pinner who I
didn't even know at the time: Megan Jane. Actually, I'm pretty sure it
was the first time that she commented when she asked about my story. She
was super nice about wanting to read up on my story, and I had actually
been hoping that no one would notice and ask about it, because it
wasn't ready at the time. But she seemed interested in it, so we
conversed and I checked out her boards and found she had a similar
story. I encouraged her to make a blog (and she did!), later to publish
the finished project on paper.
It got me all interested in blogging and
Willow let me back onto her story blog, The Call, which was previously called 'Many are Called but Few are Chosen'.
I started a personal blog and everything was fine. Someone
else commented and asked about the story, and I soon came out of my
shell and brought up the empty draft on the computer.
Again, nothing seemed to work. I had added two characters, Jason Gray
and Warren Jones (the latter of whom I would soon exterminate from the
first file but insert into a later one), but I couldn't start it right. Then I decided to move it
back from the moment Mason got fired to that morning. Poof! Writer's
block gone! Adorable Ava started us off and it all came naturally after
that.
I had gotten to about the fifth chapter and Willow
encouraged me to put it on the blog. I decided to commit to this thing
and do exactly that.
So on Tuesday night, September tenth, 2013,
I did an introduction post, character profiles, the back of the book
and such. Then I posted the first chapter of The Watchmen Files: File
One.
Six comments (and another later on) was huge for me! It was so cool how people liked it, even though it was different.
I charged on from there, writing a full book of twenty-four chapters,
an epilogue and an extra add on which I still don't completely know what
is! It took me eight months and nineteen days, but on May 28th (that day
was a Wednesday, unlike the first chapter which was posted on a
Tuesday), 2014, The Watchmen Files: File One was completed.
It is the first real book I have ever written from the beginning to the end, and also the first one finished on our blog, The Call.
I did have help, of course. Willow read over the chapters before I
posted them, and readers gave me their opinions on both the blog and
Pinterest.
Without the readers, this would have never happened! Thank
you guys so much for all of your support through the good and not so great times, it's been great! I'm glad I
could entertain you and brighten your days a little with this story.
I also learned some things from this little adventure. I dove
deeper into my faith, and learned lots about the fictional world of
Marvel.
I thank God for giving me the experience and
life that I have now. I certainly struggled in the beginning, and had a
hard time deciding to actually write, but it eventually worked itself
out.
By the end of the book, the characters became very real to me. Sometimes (scratch that, all of the time),
I wish they were real. If I saw Mason on the street, without a word, I
would go up to him and give him a hug. Not romantically, but like a hug
you would give to a close friend. Because that's sort of what he is,
really. A friend. A made up one, sure, but that's what he is to me. And
it saddens me to know that someday I'll forget about him, about this
story. He'll fade away into obscurity, out of memory.
But today, they're here. And for now, I'll keep the memories
associated with this book close to my heart and say thanks to God for
them.
I hope all of my readers will remember these times fondly as I do.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
to
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Always Watching,
Darrion
