Echogems's Blog

Just trivial bits and pieces about my “Echo.” series.

Like…
-Did you know Elijah once looked like THIS:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gems_8369/2859164865/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gems_8369/2859993628/
Oh the horror! An Elijah tanned, butch and uggggggggllllly XD Luckily I decided to tweek him in bodyshop!

-Addison is the most smiley sim ever. In photoshoots she always has to smile. Even in the scenes where she is saying goodbye to Elijah or getting angry about something, I point the camera at her and BAM: there she is grinning up at me. The face overlay hack is no match for Addison Marley XD

-Sal’s eyes are described as ‘light brown’ but actually I’m not so sure. I made Sal in bodyshop a long time ago and I think there are two versions of her so in some photos are eyes are brown and in others.. well not so much brown as grey >.<

-Addison's and Elijah's kiss was supposed to happen as early as chapter three and it wasn't -in my head- a farewell kiss either. Originally Elijah was going to turn up outside her apartment and it was more of a 'pinned against the nextdoor neighbours wall' kinda thing… lol but then I stepped back and thought that seemed stalkerish and really weird considering A) he shouldn't even know where she lives and B) she only just met him. Which is why chapter three is the 'human's only' chapter.

-Gary Bell’s dog, Benbow, is named after the tavern ‘Admiral Benbow’ from the book Treasure Island. I’m currently obsessed with all things pirates XD

-I came up with the title "Echo." near the end of chapter one. I really love the word 'echo' because I think it sounds so mystical and almost fragile. I mean echoes aren't really anything of substance, not even a sound of its own just a phantom of what once was and I think there is something quite sad in that. Also the fullstop on the end is my own kind of 'grammical oxymoron' which I realize is not a technical term at all. Basically the word echo implies continuous but a fullstop gives it an end… so there lies the oxymoron, you can't end something if it continues and you can't continue something if you end it. A contradiction =P
Oh and the most awesome oxymoron ever: “so foul and fair a day I have not seen.” ~ Macbeth, Shakespeare.

-The title of each chapter -you may have noticed- is like a progression. Since "Echo." is wrapped around Addison's and Elijah's growing romance I thought it fitting to show the progress of rainfall, since Ardente is after all a demi-god with control over Earth's rain.

-What are demi-gods? Well, they are the children of gods (or goddesses) who have been given the gift of immortality. Since the gods are everlasting, they have naturally had many lovers and many children but not all of these are given powers. Ardente is one of the rarities whose goddess mother granted him this gift of immortality. He has two half-brothers and one half-sister who are also immortal like him, but there have been many thousands of half-siblings (i.e. they have different mortal father’s) over the ages who Ardente has seen grow old and die. The same can be said for the other demi-gods and demi-goddesses.

-I wish I could include more stuff about the gods and goddesses in Echo. but it wouldn’t be exactly relevant to the story. In any case here is the ‘family tree’ of those gods and goddesses who created the Earth (note there are many, many more gods but they created other universes so I’m not so bothered about them).
Aquitan (goddess) – her prized creation is water and her prize son is Ardente.
Dawn (goddess) – she created fire and used it to make the sun. Light is her gift to Earth and her most recent immortal child of the Earth is Dirigen.
Igodus (god) – strong and unyielding, Igodus fashioned Dawn’s light and made thunder strike down from the heavens. He has many immortal children but his favourite it has to be said is Axel.
Oriel (goddess) – a truly beautiful goddess, Oriel kissed the Earth and gave it air. She has the lightest touch and appears often on Earth. Her daughter, Kintess, is the most like her with her breeze playing in the hair of many young lovers.
Prissant (god) – A prouder god than some but one that, perhaps, loves the most faithfully. He formed the Earth and gave life to the trees and beauty to the flowers. His daughter, Nis, is the oldest of the demi-gods/goddesses.
Athenigh (goddess) – She was the sister of Dawn but has not been spoken of since ancient times. Curiously Athenigh, the once immortal goddess, lives no more. Only her night sky and shining stars and moon remain of her…

- “Echo.” now has its ending. Originally chapter eight was going to hang on this really awful cliff-hanger and end the first (of three) volumes. The first volume was designed around water (because the dominate demigod is Ardente) but the second volume was going to be more about Dirigen so fire would have been its theme and the last volume was going to be Earth. Nis, who is now not even going to be introduced in the story, had a key role to play as the demi-goddess of all things earthy But now Echo is ending in just eight chapters and I’m much, much happier with that decision. If fact I think the ending works way better now than how I was intending before.

- The complete volume one of Echo – with its eight completed chapters – sits in Microsoft Word in a grand total of 48,359 words. That amounts to 60 pages. On average each chapter is about 5,000 words (the longest chapter being chapter six at 6,860 words and the shortest being chapter three at 3,971 words) and is typically 7 pages each.