07 October, 2019

Intro - Rook's Astral Shift

Intro posts are the first post in a given story framework.

I plan on modifying traditional TG media ideas to my own liking. Borrowing Morpheus' "The Great Shift" and Gensabi's "Having a Blast" universe for my own framework, "The Astral Shift".

6 comments:

  1. Hi. I saw your post on my blog and copied the url and came here. So, this is the first thing I've read of your work.

    First off, you're a good writer. The story was told well.

    Secondly, I'm glad that my stuff partially inspired you. Thanks for that.

    Thirdly, giving the old tropes a new twist is a novel idea and many have tried over the past few decades to do just that. It's not easy to do, and I caution you on it.

    For one, some might think you're linking what you wrote to the Great Shift just for the name recognition. It might also confuse people who follow the official Great Shift rules and canon of sorts.

    Way back in the early 2000s I did do a couple capped pics set in different capper's universes but it was mainly to parody them. Why? Because the genre was flooded with such captions and most were literally the story equivalent of one sentence. Quantity over quality.

    That's why I generally abstained from those universes. I made myself use my imagination and creativity to come up with my own stuff. Admittedly, I always hoped stuff I created would gain popularity and be used by other cappers...but until recently that was about 20 years of nada.

    I've read so many Great Shift capped pics over the years that in this age of blogs and tags or labels I never click on that one because it's always predictable as to what happens.

    Maybe it's gotten so big now that nobody even cares about the rules of the Great Shift Universe. I dunno. I don't like rules so I just did my own thing and whatever happens happens.

    Also, very Ghostbusters like imagery. Very containment unit explosion. I liked that.

    You did give credit where credit was due, but the best advice I can give is just do you. Let your own creativity take flight. Be unique.

    While others keep retreading over the Great Shift, Medallion Of Zulo, Madame Olga, Spells R' Us, Bikini Beach, FOSE (which I did captions with that premise predating that, but oh well), MAU, and Costume Guns forge ahead with new and wild ideas that'll keep your works fresh, interesting, and captivating so that who knows? Maybe one day new cappers will be inspired by you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for commenting! I was thinking of using a unique name, but couldn't think of a name I liked enough that got the point across that it is similar to the Great Shift. I wanted it to be clear that it was a similar phenomenon to the Great Shift, I just think these rules are a bit more interesting.

      Because I've only made two captions involving The Great Shift (one is unreleased) I will just change the name to the "Astral Shift." I like the idea of astral projection and the manipulation of souls, there's a lot of fun stories to have around it, and I think I have a good idea on how to connect this "astral shift" universe to astral projection and the like. I think it would be fun to have running "rules" between my stories on how souls work, etc.

      Astral projection isn't a TG-specific idea, it's more of an open source concept like wizards and witches. I plan on using some TG tropes when I don't want to focus on the mechanism behind the change, but I very much enjoy coming up with those mechanics myself so most of my stories will have that. I too detest uninteresting one sentence captions.

      Thanks for the advice! I hope you feel better!

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    2. You're welcome. Astral projection is a free for all concept with roots in ancient religions and practices such as Buddhism. The Astral Plane is a good source for long distance mix-ups too.

      Things like enchanted jewelry and stuff are all fair game. Create your own names and backstories for fun and flavor.

      I was a bit afraid people might try and link my Blast idea to the Shift, but I made sure it's very different. The Great Shift was an automatic jumble with no rhyme or reason to who became who. Mine focuses on being a disembodied consciousness and unfortunately the weather can affect your aim, already existing ghosts can take bodies too, and in the end mostly it's up to the individual to decide whether to go in or stay out.

      It might be fun to have running rules for awhile, but sometimes, especially in the long run, rules can be a hindrance that can limit your creativity. If you get a good idea that goes against your own rules I'd suggest still doing it anyways.

      Rules are meant to be broken, boundaries crossed, and dividers shattered.

      Never underestimate the power of irony. The one Great Shift capped pic I did? If I remember right I had two characters from Married With Children swap in some way then not long after they swapped the Great Shift happened and actually swapped them back!

      I admit though it does get hard making up different change mechanisms from time to time. The old tropes in general are reliable and well understood.

      I mean, even giant space spiders that eat souls but if killed while sucking souls out of multiple cocoons at once and the souls return to the wrong ones would even get old after awhile if done a lot.

      Key point there is anything can happen. Sci-Fi, magic, mysticism, folklore and legend. Heck, werewomen used to be a thing too.

      Any genre can be used in TG fiction. Though I don't think people like historical zombies. I forget how I worked those in, but the Marilyn Monroe zombie thing was a flop. And zombies of Oz. One day I'll make it work. Maybe.

      The key though is to have fun.

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    3. I completely agree, I plan on shedding rules whenever it piques my interest. Most of the fun comes from unique situations, not the same situation repeated over and over. I plan on using a set of rules until I grow bored of them.

      I view this blog as a place to share a fun, kinky, hobby.

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    4. That's good. I have to admit I've been less about the unique ways in the last few years. It just gets harder the longer you go on. I've been doing this for 18 years. That's why I think about retirement from this often.

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