Well, as the year moves along, one hing that always becomes and issue for me is research. I mentioned in my last post that it can be a pain in the ass. trust me, it can be. It's always worth it when I find what I need to continue my work, but it also has the issue of slowing my work down.
One of the biggest issues for research on my end is figuring out what makes the most sense to use. For example, one of the works I'm developing is vampire-related.
I know, I know. Who hasn't done vampires at this point?
But when it comes to the undead, there is thankfully a multitudinous amount of stuff to pick and choose from. However that's a double-edged sword. Because there is a virtual sea of stuff to pick from, culling it down to what i absolutely need can be a genuine mess to overcome.
It gets worse when you're looking into stuff that's more recent and almost purely in the realm of pop culture, rather than gleaned from mythology. Because at least with mythology, you can deviate wherever you want and just claim you're slapping your own take on it. With myths, everything old can be new again. Look at Marvel and DC and their various reinterpretations of classic myths for a great example on this.
For something akin to say, giant robots, that's a harder nut to crack. Why? Well, the giant robot genre is still comparatively young. And then there's the issue of "real" robots vs. "super" robots and the like. Because there are tropes and structures that are almost completely built into either sub-category. Trying to make something new out of it isn't impossible. But it does come back to bite you if you think you're just going to waltz through that minefield unscathed. Though I suppose fans will get on your case on any genre if they're passionate enough about it.
In any case, I hate to do a title reference, but I keep feeling like for everyone step step forward, I end up five steps behind on the research lately. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the further I go on this new project, the farther behind I get on the overall information I've gotten. I may have to break a bit further from classic material and just go my own way.
