Writer's Block

And here comes your regular Writer's Block, where I once again assume the persona of some bloke posting stories on the net.
Hmm...an issue crept to my mind, one which I should bring up before someone else does. I've noticed that my stories have all so far been VERY Western-influenced, and that can't be altogether a good thing. Blame it on a steady diet of Enid Blyton and R. L. Stine, but all of a sudden I feel ashamed that my definition of a good story this far has been how close it imitates the works of both authors. At certain points of "Ghostopia" I even cringed at how blatantly I was fashioning Darren's life after your run-of-the-mill all-American high school drama.
So what the heck, I will throw in some Malaysian-isque elements in my next story. (Hopefully this won't equate into the odd bunga raya here and there, baju kebaya, wau, congkak, and the like.) 'Cos I sure don't fancy myself as one of those who sees our homeland as a conservative Third World country festering with greedy Chinese, lazy Malays, and Indian thugs. Nope. I might be a naive kid sheltered from the "real world", but I don't ever believe in hating something without understanding it completely. Of course, you'll never understand something completely, which is precisely why you shouldn't hate! HAH!
Brakes, please. We're supposed to be talking about the story, aren't we?
Again, Chapter 51 sees a new scene starting, with Nelson confronting Mortie. There's potential here for a ton of mysteries to unravel, and lots of light shed on characters. Kat's background should be looming near, possibly Mortie as well. Just figuring avenues of making that happen, rather than them getting faraway looks in their eyes and blurring into flashback mode. Without giving too much away, I've already woven some twists here and there to make things "fit". Nothing too spectacular however, don't expect a Sixth Sense bang.
Allow me to dish out a line I haven't used in ages: We're inching towards the climax. I haven't figured out the ending yet, but already there're plenty of paths leading there I can see. The character settings are still a teensy-weensy vague, but we'll soon find out who the good guys and bad guys are. Ooh, EXCITING~! And the sooner the better, I say. This story's been hogging my blog for near six months now and it isn't gonna stop anytime soon. As a result, readership has dropped - reCAPPENINGs or not, no way anyone new's gonna stay tuned to a story already 50 Chapters in progress.
No worries on a ham-handed ending though, it ain't happening. Even if by some chance it does, I've already planned on re-writing this story WHILE the next one is in progress. Many times I've run through the backbone of the story on my head, and it does impress me. Like I've said, the stories posted serve as drafts for better stories, and I'm gonna take this one and shine it up reeeeal nice.
Of course, some little flaws that'll have to be fixed:

a) Not having Darren die so quickly at the start. It was quite a waste, really, seeing that it could've served as an introduction to him of sorts. As a result, he limped all the way in the race of character development, and we're still having a hard time buying him and his thing for Emily.

b) Another option would be to switch back and forth between Darren's, Nelson's, and Kat's lives, eventually leading to their respective deaths. Downside: a lot of the intrigue of the new characters would be gone.

c) Doing away with the story told solely from Darren's point of view. Stiffling, monotonous, and makes it seem more like a narrative than a story. Not a major mistake, but I don't quite like it.

d) Something feels weird about the Ezisa so easily accepting Darren into their ranks, seeing that they're a secret organisation. Again, not a logic loophole, but things would be much better if it was made clear.

e) And, uh...still not really sure what this is about, but Nelson's too wimpy a name for a gangster. Maybe Francesco? Valentino? Giordano? Hahahahha.

And...we're done. Term breaks are here for me, technically, so stick around as I attempt to spend my time constructively! By rambling on with the exploits of Darren, of course. ;^)
Have a nice day!