User blog:Tanglefrost/Upolu- What will change, general questions, etc.

Hey guys!

So, after my Eyre Peninsula critique blog I did a couple of months ago, I've taken all your advice on board and I just wanted to give you a little heads-up of how this is going to be changed from this time around.

1. Less "Out-there" characters

Okay, I know a lot of you loved Elijah and Kris, but the big problem you guys kept reporting was that my characters were very difficult to relate to. So I am to fix that this season; I promise all my characters will be somewhat relatable!

2. More developed castaway personalities 

Another criticism I got was that my syntax was too similar, that a couple of castaways seemed generic and were difficult to tell apart. That was because I didn't fully develop every single character personality. I had some idea as to who I wanted each character to be but didn't take the time to fully create them in  a sense. I guess I had "first fanon excitement" syndrome, where I didn't think about my characters and just wanted to get it all underway. So that will change next season.

3. More Flexibility 

When I created the castaways in Eyre Peninsula, before I'd even sorted them out physical-wise, strategy wise, etc. I was biased in the sense that I wanted certain characters to go far. That's gone this season. I'm going to develop the personalities and strengths BEFORE I do the boot order.

4. Less loopholes

IDK if you've been able to tell or not, but I pretty much just winged a lot of my story in Eyre Peninsula. I planned the very basic of events but a lot was unplanned and I found myself creating storylines based on what I was writing in the heat of the moment. Sure the end things like Ituski & Kris's rivalry, Anastacia & Timothy's friendship & Raphael and Horatio's little thing were all planned, but a lot of stuff in there wasn't and I found myself getting into a lot of loopholes. One example being in A Perfect Facade, where it was raining in the immunity challenge, but by the time it was over, it was dry enough to start a fire... sheesh! This season will be more planned than the last, which I think was a result of "first fanon excitement" syndrome. There'll be no loopholes on my watch!

5. Shorter Episodes

I think one of the biggest problems of my first season was that the episodes were far too long. Case in point: I started Eyre Peninsula in APRIL and didn't finish until YESTERDAY. I am going to aim to give people equal air time again (sorry for those big on realism and editing but I prefer it this way), but I'm going to be more consise. Reading over Eyre again I found that a lot of the stuff I said in five lines could be pressed into two. So I'm going to squish it down a ltitle.

6. Challenges

Last season I actually physically wrote out a description of exactly what was going on, when, and who was performing at their best and worst. This season I'm going to take on the Erikmichaelpayne approach. The results will be presented in a table with a little highlights summary at the bottom, so I can still have boots based off challenge performances, but it'll save me and you a lot of time.

So that's it! Those are the major changes in store for the writing of Upolu. Is there anything else you think I should change or any concerns you want to raise? If so, comment them on this blog. Thanks!

If all goes to plan, Upolu should be started on Monday. :)