today i got some columbian food in the back of a haunted mall how was everyone else’s day
ok i will tell the tale
so im taking this spanish class, spanish professor wanted us to go out to eat to practice. im all prepared, i punch in the address and drive 2 the place. turns out this place isnt really a restaurant so much as it is a small habitable zone at the back of a vast, empty mall
there was dead silence and darkness. 90% of the outlets were shut down and blocked off
it was 2 o’clock on a Saturday, but this mall was COMPLETELY barren. an air of powerful curses hung in the air. none of the escalators were working, i had to hike up one like stairs
of course once i got to the restaurant i had a nice time and some p good food and a guy with a saxophone serenaded us with covers of pop hits
my freinds, it was surreal
so my plans got really mixed up today and i decided to revisit the cursed mall while i was in the area! it seems things have gotten even stranger
for the most part, it is still the creepy empty mall it has always been. but this time even less stores were open, even the columbian restaurant was closed.
the food court, which was slightly open before, was utterly barren, and for some reason slightly sped-up mexican sounding music played over the completely empty venue
this was a particularly strange outlet, where instead of the remains of a store, there was a neatly set up classroom in the display window
Here we observe how goggles work around the head! If you have any recommendations send ‘em in here or my personal! Keep practicing, have fun, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
There is such a thing as your antagonist being too
over-the-top. There’s a possibility that they can become static or
one-dimensional if you don’t understand why they’re the protagonist. Not many
people in the world are evil for the sake of being evil. There’s usually a
reason behind what they’re thinking and feeling, so try to explore that with
your own characters. Remember, the antagonist is usually the hero in their own
story.
Focus on background
Knowing your antagonist’s personal background should add
more dimensions to your story. Do they have a family? Is there something
specific that happened that shaped them? Understanding where each of your
characters came from and how they came to be the way they are will really help
add depth. Your readers will begin to see what makes them tick.
Know what they want
Antagonists have wants and needs, just like any other
character. You should always know what your protagonist wants if you want to
drive the story forward and the same can be said for your antagonist. What are
they searching for? Why do they want to stop the protagonist? Do they want the
same thing as the protagonist? This will help you figure out your conflict.
Is there someone they
care about?
Knowing what your antagonist cares about will reveal a lot
about them. Sure, sometimes mindless
unstoppable villains are exciting, but it doesn’t work for every story. Smart
antagonists that care about something are usually more enticing. You can make
them a bit more humane if you reveal what they care about. Do they believe what
they’re doing will actually save the world? Do they think they’re doing the
right thing? Consider these questions.
What do they think
about the protagonist?
It’s not necessary for the antagonist to absolutely hate the
protagonist. Sometimes it’s more interesting if they respect each other or if
they already have a relationship. Do they think the protagonist is completely
wrong? Do they understand their point-of-view? Knowing what your antagonist
thinks will help form a realistic relationship between the protagonist and
antagonist. It will help you shape your story into something better.
Mankind left Earth, but there was nowhere for them to go. In a lonely castle of a spaceship, they crowned a King.
There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies, Hamlet says. He leans against the smooth glass window, the darkness of space outside swallowing him whole. Horatio turns his face up to the stars. I hope you’re right, he says, there better be
When the old King dies, they send him floating into nothingness. Horatio knows that an eternity ago, humans used to let their dead sail the oceans upon burning ships. King Hamlet’s death shroud smells of rust and hot metal when they reel it back in.
The Elsinore IV is not a prison, but a step outside means death regardless. Sometimes the ship rattles and shakes. Sometimes, the starfields outside are so dense that even if prime galaxy time indicates it is deep night, the sky blazes.
Do you think there’s anyone still out there? Hamlet asks one day. Horatio doesn’t have an answer.
They get their answer when the King comes back to them as a constellation, dots of light stitching him together just outside the observation deck.
Claudius sits in the bridge and prays to a supernova.
Ophelia wires an escape pod to take her far away. The little ship sputters, jerks, and all the rest of them can do is watch her spin further and further away. When she is nothing but another blazing star amongst the rest, she opens the hatch and steps out, arms spread out wide, hair spilling out before her. The cold vacuum of space is all that lingers between them.
When it is all over, Horatio sits against the wide window port and wonders if he is the last human alive. The deck is painted with blood. In the end, it wasn’t even space that killed most of them.
Inspiration Haven 