Some general information regarding Seven Spirits Unite

This fiction was started on

Saturday, November 05, 2005

This fiction was finished on

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Where and how did you come up with the idea for Seven Spirits Unite? 
    Why, by watching the Seven Samurai of course! After seeing Akira Kurosawa's amazing film, I immediately thought, "Wow, I want to do a story based off of that! That would be amazing." The story idea came more to fruition when I thought, "What if I had seven RP characters from different role-players, sort of a hero's gallery?" 

What inspired you to sit down and write it? 
    When I actually got seven people to agree to let me use their characters for this. To me, I think people had more fun by watching me do different spins on characters they were familiar with, than me making up seven characters for it, which is what I was going to do. 

What is your favorite genre? Why? 
    I don't really go by a "genre" when I read or write, I try to spread across genres. I love fantasies, sci-fi, drama, comedy, western, film noir, and detective genres. Basically, if you can tell me a compelling story with great characters, I'll love it. 

What book, movie, or video game do you think is the best example of that genre? Why? 
    Well, I listed several genres, and you don't want me going on and on about this. It will take a LONG time. Also, in many cases, I can't pick ONE definitive example of a genre, there are so many good examples. 

Who is your favorite author? Why? What book do you think is that author's best? 
    In the same way I usually don't go by genres, I usually don't go by authors, rather by strength of story and characters. Two authors I do find myself consistently reading are Brain Jacques, author of the Redwall novels, and Ian Rankin, writer of the Inspector Rebus novels. Jacques' best I'd say is probably Mossflower- it's a great tale with likeable, well-developed heroes, a really well done atmosphere, and one of the better, if not the best villain of the series: Tsarmina. In Rankin's case, it's hard to choose. The real draw to those novels is Inspector Rebus himself; Rebus' wit and character make for an excellent read every time. 

Are any of the characters in Seven Spirits Unite based on anybody you know online or in real life? 
    In the case of the main heroes, you'd have to ask Ricky, Atomic Toucan, Snowguy, Thalzon, Trauma Advocate, Nerikuro Shino, and Elec. They'd be better able to say where their characters came from or were based off of. 
    Now, as for the villains, they're both villains I borrowed from previous stories. Rochester's name is definitely symbolic: it's the name of Jane's love interest from Jane Eyre, a book I cannot stand. Therefore, Rochester's name will always be used for antagonist by me. His personality and fighting style were originally based off of Raphael from Soul Calibur 2, but I think he's taken a bit more of a bloodthirsty turn than Raphael. 
    Morcate is the name I saw on the back of a kid's tee ball jersey. Thought it would make a good character name, and he naturally became a villain. (Probably because the name Morcate, at least to me, make me think of death. Probably because of the Spanish verb for death.) 
    Rion, Yohan, and Marcus are based off the villagers they represent from the movies (Rikichi, Yohei, and Manzo). Both Shelby and Romero, in name only, are based off people I do know. 

Did you learn anything while writing Seven Spirits Unite? 
    How hard it is to properly develop seven very different personalities, while balancing the time they all appear in the story. Even then, I feel I may have short changed a few characters in development. You definitely learn to appreciate every scene you write. 

Did you ever get writer's block while writing the story? How did you overcome it? 
    Oh, God, did I ever. You all should remember the times I did, too, because I usually would apologize profusely for the times I did have writer's block. Sometimes, I had no choice but to just persevere, but other times, I found it helpful to re-view my source films, Seven Samurai and Magnificent Seven, for inspiration. 

What was the hardest scene to write in Seven Spirits Unite? 
    It was definitely hard to write some of the development scenes in the middle, because it was at this point I was trying to change things so it wouldn't be a direct rip-off of the films, and sometimes figuring out HOW I was going to do that proved some difficulty. Raahj proved to be a difficult one to write scenes for, because in the movie, his counterpart- Shinchiroji- wasn't given much, so I had to come up with a LOT for him. Ditto for Hisaye and Hirasanaka, because their counterparts- Gorobei and Heihachi- have shorter parts than the others in the film. 

What was your favorite scene to write in Seven Spirits Unite? 
    It's REALLY HARD to pick one...but if I absolutely had to pick ONE...Eowyn and Hisaye's final lines to the graves of the four. It serves as an emotional cap to everything, I think...the elation of victory...the pain of the losses...the uncertainty if you'll ever find happiness...there's so much that rides on that scene. I think you'd agree, the last post is more tying up loose ends. This scene is what you might consider a true ending. To me, nothing more summarizes the story's bittersweet tone than Eowyn's "And hopefully, that will be enough." 
    Other scenes that stand out as memorable is the whole final battle and subsequent duel between Raika and Rochester, the first battle which ends with the village pushing back the bandits and Safri getting injured, and the introductions to each of the seven. 

How different is the story from the source material you based it on? 
    In quite a few ways. I'll do this by listing the seven as well as their counterpart, and how they differ. 
    Eowyn/Kambei: Eowyn's significantly younger than her counterpart, but still old enough to not be naive. However, she's still at the age where she becomes far more emotional attached than Kambei does. Kambei reacts to a friend's death only for an instant before he's back to business, Raahj's death affects Eowyn much more deeply. 
    Hisaye/Gorobei: I also think I get Hisaye far more emotionally evolved than her counterpart. Of course to do that, I had to borrow a story element from Kikuchiyo of Seven Samurai. Still, it's the first time in any adaptations where someone directly refers to a family member, or loss of a family member, as an influence on them, which I thought was important to do. Hisaye's also more critical and withdrawn than her counterpart. 
    Raika/Kikuchiyo: Kikuchiyo for the better first half of Seven Samurai is the comic relief of the film, far more goofy than mad. Raika follows more the path of Chico from Magnificent Seven... mad from the start, and her introduction is more based of Chico's to reflect this. A duel does not occur in either film between a hero and the bandit leader, but I thought Raika and Rochester's level of obsession with beating each other warranted that. 
    Raahj/Shinchiroji: Man, Shinchiroji didn't give me much to go off of, that's for sure. Raahj is exceedingly more critical and untrusting than Shinchiroji. Shinchiroji's loyalty to Kambei is more unconditional friendship, while Raahj feels likes he owes Eowyn a debt. This stance allowed me to have Raahj make an important discovery for himself, and an equally important sacrifice. 
    Macero/Katsushiro: Macero, Macero, Macero. How different your path went than Katsushiro's, and how much I liked the fact that it did. Katsushiro has a love story with Manzo's daughter in the film, which I nuked for two reasons. 1: I am NOT about to write a minotaur make-out session, with Macero being a minotaur, and 2: I didn't want to focus on a love story anyway. So Manzo's daughter became a little girl, and a small friendship forms. Macero is far more willing to defy Eowyn and do what he feels he must, whereas as Katsushiro would NEVER do such a thing with Kambei. Macero's story also does a little more with finding his soft side under his rough exterior, whereas Katsushiro's is more about making a man out of the prancy little rich boy. 
    Hirasanaka/Hehachi: I left out a crucial side-story involving Rion/Rikichi (mostly cause it would've been very hard to recreate in writing) which factors in Hehachi (Hirasanaka's counterpart), so I was left to figure out a large portion of Hirasanaka's development myself. I ended up borrowing quite a bit from Lee's development in Magnificent Seven- they're both warriors concerned with their survival who find themselves willing to make a huge sacrifice. Hirasanaka's more open and willing to talk about her problems than Lee is, which makes her death quite bittersweet. Hirasanaka's also more compassionate, even willing to defend a wounded bandit from Raika at one point. 
    Safri/Kyuzo: Other than their weapons of choice, Safri's and Kyuzo's main difference is how their development concludes. Kyuzo coldly wants to just hone his skill, where Safri reaches an almost Rochester-level obsession with defeating a rival. In this, Safri is also more willing to show his heart's desires than his counterpart. 
    Other differences: The villains get a LOT more face-time than the film, the villagers get less (oops). The film has a more negative view on the villagers, but both the story and the film come to the same conclusion: the villagers are this way because they have no choice. Also, four of the seven in the story are female, whereas in the films (both) all seven are male. 

If you were to go back and rewrite Seven Spirits Unite, what would you change, if anything? 
    You can never go wrong with a little more character development. Maybe if I could've put in more. 

Do you have any final comments you'd like to say about the fiction? 
    I cannot thank the seven of you enough for allowing me to use your characters, and I cannot thank all of you who read it and enjoyed it enough! It was a great, fun experience, demanding, and ultimately rewarding.

    Seven Spirits Unite is a really good fiction. I personally enjoyed seeing my character, Eowyn, used by somebody else, and Matthias did a great job with her, as he did with the other characters he used. He wrote everything really well, and kept the story riveting as always. Bravo, Matthias.