Ask a Question of Me

Serris · **Reply #100 on:** November 19, 2010, 09:45:18 PM

What is your inspiration behind Far Away Home?

Caustizer · **Reply #101 on:** November 20, 2010, 10:17:41 PM

One night while writing Rise of Storm Tide, I thought to myself :

"What's something the gang hasn't done yet in their movies..."

And then after some debating on Volcanoes, fires, landslides, tornadoes and so on I eventually settled on the trivial solution... just going far far away to places beyond the horizon. That is really the premise of Far Away Home, searching for a place we will some day reach where we are perfectly happy.

Mirumoto_Kenjiro · **Reply #102 on:** November 29, 2010, 11:20:40 PM

What do you find most interesting about Ontario?

Caustizer · **Reply #103 on:** November 30, 2010, 01:15:45 PM

Ontario is a very big place with a small area of land taken up by towns and cities and the rest being mostly untamed wilderness.

What I find best about Ontario is that the 'back words' region also known as Muskoka is only 2-2.5 hours away from Toronto so many Canadians have a practise where they go 'up north' for the weekend to their cottages to relax, swim, go boating, or even have cottage parties.

Ontario has major contrast in the two seasons of Winter and Summer. In the Summer we get hot nice weather and trips to the cottage become very frequent, while in the winter the entire place is covered in snow and snowmobiling and hockey become very popular.

Snowmobiling is where we get together with friends and family on 'sleds' and go cross country through fields, over frozen lakes, and see absolutely amazing scenery. 'Back woods' diners suddenly become bustling joints if they are located on a main snowmobile trail, with dozens of sleds filling the parking lots and curbs.

In the winter everything freezes over, so shinny (aka pickup Hockey games with no equipment) on ponds, lakes, and rivers becomes really common.

Overall I would say the most interesting thing about Ontario has to be the contrast in the seasons and the second-homes we have up north in the wild woods.

Caustizer

Pangaea · **Reply #104 on:** December 19, 2010, 12:59:01 AM

Do you see (or consider there to be) a lot of parallels or similarities between yourself and the character of Glide?

Caustizer · **Reply #105 on:** December 19, 2010, 11:53:29 PM

The best answer to this would probably be yes and no. Perhaps Glide has some elements to him that admire, and he best represents the character I would likely play in the story, but there is an unkindness to him that does not represent me at all. The quality I envy about Glide is his strength of personality and ability to win a fight with just about any other wingtail thanks to his constant training (this is developed in "Into Black Sun").

However, I think his unkindness is a good manifestation of all the 'bad' that there is in the world that LBT really ignores. One of the scenes I really like is in 'Journey Through the Caves' when he starts intimidating Chomper, only to feel bad once the sharptooth starts to cry. In my mind, this is truely the bridge between the childhood innocence portrayed in LBT and the reality of life in that age. Glide (and myself) learn in this part that sometimes it is necessary to bring forth the good things and exclude the bad to make the world a better place.

One thing I REALLY wanted to do but didn't get the chance was for the gang to start singing, and Glide put them down mid-song to bring to light just how stupid of an element in LBT it is. There was even a point where I wanted a 'Real' song done by Gentry and Thylo to prove they had the talent to vibrate the Sonicron, but ultimately that was cut too because songs in text form suck, to put it bluntly.

I think that the most interesting development to come for Glide in the story is when he finally finds a mate (no spoilers!) since his tastes seem to echo mine - the attitude that 'I have more important things to do then chase after girls'.

Caustizer.

Amaranthine · **Reply #106 on:** December 25, 2010, 11:43:05 AM

MERRYCHRISTMAS!!!

The Chronicler · **Reply #107 on:** December 27, 2010, 09:30:11 PM

I recall you mentioned that you had not yet read my first fanfic, "Quest for the Energy Stones", because by the time you joined GoF, I was already almost done writing it.
When do you think you will get an opportunity to read it?

Caustizer · **Reply #108 on:** December 29, 2010, 04:47:44 PM

The best answer would be whenever I have some time, and my interest is peaked. I have a tendancy to only focus on certain areas online and over time this means that some things get almost entirely abandoned. I've read through about half of your current chapter for the second story, but holiday events thus far have conspired against me. I'll post my review as soon as I feel I my thoughts about the chapter are strong enough to put into words, as posting one now would mean I haven't read half the chapter.

Pangaea · **Reply #109 on:** January 31, 2011, 02:24:20 AM

Whoa, has it really been a month since your last question? :blink: I ought to remedy that…

In the early stages of Far Away Home, did you come up with the idea of a dinosaur species more technologically and politically sophisticated than the others driving the plot (and pertinent plot devices such as the Eye of the World) before you had decided/received permission to use the wingtails as that species? Or did you first get the idea to use wingtails in the story, and then devise their society and their influence on the plot?

Caustizer · **Reply #110 on:** February 02, 2011, 01:21:44 PM

At the start I knew I wanted to do a story with Sky. As a character I wanted him to be a dignified 'teacher' that knows a lot about a lot of things, but has a multitude of secrets and personality quirks that mean he can be unlikeable at times.

For instance, in many chapters Sky is heroic and an excellant leader (such as the gas clouds in Misty Valley, rescuing the gang from Tyrus, and protecting Glide from the sharpteeth) but sometimes he does things that the readers don't understand or might consider somewhat mean (like ignoring Ruby, not telling anyone about the sharpteeth in the forest, and trying to ditch the gang in Verdant Valley).

The ideas for the wingtails came after I had decided what I wanted to do with Sky. I figured if Sky was somewhat of a representitive of this race, they would have to be highly intelligent overall and quite dominanting to have a body of elders that could exile him. The idea for 'glass superweapons' came as a completely seperate idea that eventually was combined with the wingtails.

In order to make the story interesting, I wanted to have 2 seperate and approximately equally threatening groups of enemies. Eybron and Tyron are both evil in different ways, and have different methods of inflicting suffering upon the good dinosaurs. To that end, the sharpteeth would simply expand on what they know best - taking over territories and coming up with a way to make their food come to them while Eybron would be fairly tame until suddenly he explodes to the top of the 'most hated' list.

Caustizer.

Mirumoto_Kenjiro · **Reply #111 on:** February 05, 2011, 04:26:09 AM

Who are your greatest inspirational idols?

Caustizer · **Reply #112 on:** February 06, 2011, 09:21:01 PM

I don't really have any idols per se, simply because I want to be my own person and be guided by my own feelings and instincts. There are a few people though whom I admire, including Steven Hawking and Phil Collins.

Pangaea · **Reply #113 on:** February 06, 2011, 10:12:06 PM

That reminds me, did you ever get the chance to meet Stephen Hawking at your college?

Caustizer · **Reply #114 on:** February 07, 2011, 02:20:37 PM

No he left prior to most of us arriving back at school in the summer. I think he was only there for a conference with our physics proffessors.

Pangaea · **Reply #115 on:** February 08, 2011, 12:07:47 AM

Sorry to hear that.

Caustizer · **Reply #116 on:** March 08, 2011, 05:42:49 PM

I just heard the news... looks like Stephen Hawking is coming back to University of Waterloo next September. I might actually get to see him this time!

Pangaea · **Reply #117 on:** April 04, 2011, 04:59:40 PM

Quote from: Caustizer,Mar 8 2011 on 04:42 PM

I just heard the news... looks like Stephen Hawking is coming back to University of Waterloo next September. I might actually get to see him this time!

That's awesome! Good luck on that!

Did you have any April Fool's pranks played on you this year?

Caustizer · **Reply #118 on:** April 04, 2011, 09:29:36 PM

Nobody would dare pull an April Fools prank on Glide... he'd kick the snot out of them

Actually no I didn't surprisingly, but one of our professors tried.

Pangaea · **Reply #119 on:** May 13, 2011, 09:54:16 AM

Here's a question pertaining to Far Away Home:

What made you decide to split the gang up and have the halves become involved in such divergent plots?