Writs
(noun, singular writ)
1. (archaic) that which is written, writing
These are assorted things I've written in English and Finnish.
I can switch between required levels of formality and styles with ease especially in Finnish. I naturally prefer my own voice of course, which is often ironic or sardonic, post-modern with intertextuality, references and relations that may seem nonsensical at the first glance, sprinkled with sometimes far-fetched puns where appropriate or more correctly, where not not-appropriate (instead of inappropriate). These can all be cut with ease if the situation calls for more serious tone, a dry press release or a piece of writing in someone else's style.
My forte is splintered and non-linear storytelling, and I love and am pretty good at writing dialogue with all the umms, ehms, mumbling, sentences that end prematurely and topics being absent-mindedly smashed into one, just like in real life. I am well aware this doesn't always work in writing, and understand well enough when it doesn't to change the style, but there you have it.
This is telling, by the way, instead of showing, which is usually considered to be better when talking about writing. Both have their place though, and I can't expect people to read thousands of words worth of text to properly show my style. So quick and dirty it is.
Store page copy
(for video game Aurora)
(2022)
Writer
Aurora is a first-person puzzle game that features physics- and phase-shifting-based puzzles.
I wrote the copy based on the original design direction.
It’s been a life-long dream of yours to work in the off-world tech industry and finally you managed to get your foot in the door. An internship at the Aurora Industries orbital lab station!
You were so excited you forgot to pack your lunch.
- Navigate your first day on the job, learning the basics of AIPS (Aurora Industries Phase Shift System) and the harsh reality of scientifically advanced corporate hierarchy
- Solve puzzles based on light and the shifting phases of reality
- Think outside the box, then inside the box, then the other outside of said box
- Remember the time when your biggest problem was the lunch you forgot
You can download the game at https://tsarom.itch.io/aurora
The Work
I was supposed to take a bigger part in the development of Aurora, but couldn't due to the schedule. I was able to make my mark by writing the store page copy.
Lessons I learned
If the project scope had been larger the store page copy should have been a bit more thorough, but I feel like I was able to pack enough gameplay info, lore and hooks in such a short description.
Elidomaista!
(In Finnish)
(2019-2020)
Writer
Advertising agency Elido's blog. The topics dealt with current matters in connection with services of advertising agency and how those services can offer solutions, with an entertaining angle. Lots of obscure pop culture references.
I planned and wrote a blog with an almost-weekly release schedule.
“Uskottavin tapa ennustaa lienee kristallipallo. Mustekalat ovat sympaattisin.”
The posts written by me are signed with name: https://blogi.elido.fi via Wayback Machine, archive.org
The Work
I planned the future topics and wrote the posts. I was also responsible for the illustration for the posts.
Lessons I learned
It's really hard to come up with a fresh topic each week and make it entertaining for wide array of readers.
Also, that I'm not a journalist. But that's something I knew already.
Mana Arcana
(for video game Revenant)
(2022)
Writer
Mana Arcana is a take on Major Arcana card deck, completely unrelated to the actual Tarot deck. Revenant is a 3rd-person stealth-ish game with Samhain / Halloween theme. The player must sacrifice three villagers to appease an eldritch entity on the harvest festival night, and the correct means of each sacrifice is assigned by a correlating Mana Arcana card selected at random from a pool of eight. Each card has an accompanying lore snippet.
I designed the contents of each card in writing and wrote the accompanying lore snippets..
The player would only ever see the lore text. Everything else is for the artist(s).
General: all the cards feature identical border, which will be colored matching the color of the villager meant for the sacrifice
Means of sacrifice: Hanging tree
Card name: The Hanging Tree
Description: A huge crooked tree with many branches, high up on a rock, corpses hanging from the branches
Lore: "The fruit glisten in the last light of the long day of labor, ever ripening. We all gnaw the roots of the tree.
And the roots, they gnaw us."
Means of sacrifice: Chopping block
Card name: The Penitent Man
Description: A monk kneeling in prayer
Lore: "Guilt is a neighbour that becomes your kin, settles in, sits at your table, breaks your bread for you.
All shall be forgiven, none forgotten."
Means of sacrifice: Breaking wheel
Card name: The Spinning Wheel
Description: An old hag spinning yarn with a spinning wheel, small devils tugging and pulling threads everywhere
Lore: "The wheel turns for evermore, spinning and twisting the string of subsistence. The Spinner watches over all, ever vigilant.
Interminable is the tug and pull."
Means of sacrifice: Bonfire
Card name: The Burning Effigy
Description: A crowd is watching a colossal man made of straw all ablaze
Lore: "They shatter their idols and break their bonds, now hark the mobile awake in fervour. Who can discern a saint from a sinner?
Fickle is the smouldering ember."
Artist: Niina Keränen
The card descriptions
General: all the cards feature identical border, which will be colored matching the color of the villager meant for the sacrifice
Means of sacrifice: Sacrificial well
Card name: The Abyss
Description: A lanquished man falling into dark abyss
Lore: "If one stands on the precipice for too long, the Darkness will find a way to seep in. Drip by drip, word by word.
Only fools open the welcoming door."
Means of sacrifice: Quillotine
Card name: The Severance
Description: A devil ripping a tapestry in half
Lore: "Understand the one who can talk in tongues, for theirs is the view of the tableau unerring. See the patterns in the weave.
Threads. Torn."
Means of sacrifice: A cliff with sharp stakes below
Card name: Fall from Grace
Description: A host of angels falling from the heavens, below a wildfire clearing whose still standing trunks are sharp stakes
Lore: "Hear the trumpets of a retreating host, a battle lost on the plains of Aidenn. See the punishment drawn in blood.
A fading memory on the wings of ash."
Means of sacrifice: A cage (this is one of those hanging metallic cages)
Card name: The Wicker Basket
Description: A wicker basket full of fruit, bread, etc (compare to cornucopia, but basket shaped)
Lore: "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the tome immutable. Prosperous perish anon, or dwell to see the bottom of the horn.
Dismiss the revel in abundance."
Artist: Niina Keränen
You can download the game at https://story-games.itch.io/revenant
The Work
I wrote a text design for each of the cards for the artist to work from and instructed the artist on any questions they might have. If I recall correctly, the only question in need of an answer dealt with the ornamental borders.
I wrote the accompanying lore snippets to go with the cards.
I also worked on the game as a team lead, designer and did some quick and dirty 3D modelling, but these are outside the scope of this entry.
Lessons I learned
I'm used to instructing artists with visual mockups in addition to words, so it was pretty cool to use only writing, let the artist go to town, and still get pretty much exactly what I was looking for.
Unfortunately due to time constraints, the lore texts never made it into the game and the card visuals had to do all the heavy lifting. Fortunately the team had very skillful artist whose work could hold its own.
A bit of self-indulgence, but I'm considering designing the whole pack, however many cards that is, to be used in future projects and maybe even to be used freely by others. Everyone's tired of the old "oh no she pulled the Death card, but did you know the Death card doesn't actually mean death but change and transition" trope with plain old tarot deck.
Tulen kaiku
(In Finnish)
(2016)
Writer
Tulen kaiku - tarina Talven valtakunnasta is a Christmas story that's not about Christmas, a web novella originally published in 15 parts.
I wanted to tell a Christmas story with all the familiar-feeling Christmas traditions and myths but as if Christmas didn't have Christian origins.
”Kyllä. Karhulle pidetään peijaiset, muussakin tapauksessa kaatojuhlat mikäli on metsästetty suuremmalla joukolla.”
”Niitä ei alun perin pidetty voiton vuoksi. Jossain vielä ehkä muistetaan, mutta kauan sitten niitä pidettiin siksi, ettei kaadettu kantaisi kaunaa. Että sen henki lepyteltäisiin. Ja että eläin palaisi takaisin metsästysmaille. Niitä ei pidetty metsästäjien vaan metsästetyn kunniaksi. Ja vielä sitäkin ennen... Niin kuin täällä vieläkin.”
Viima otti vettä kuuppaan mutta laski sen takaisin.
”Kun sinä menit eilen illalla tovereinesi yötaloon, minä suuntasin Talvipuun valkealle. Suuren ja muistoja vanhemman Talvipuun leveän lehvästön alla pidetään aina suurta nuotiota, johon saavutaan kaikkialta erämaasta ja Talvikylästä tervehtimään toisia. Siellä istutaan tulen ympärillä ja kerrotaan tarinoita niin että muut kuulevat. Tarinoita jotka ovat tapahtuneet. Tarinoita jotka pitää muistaa. Mutta niitä ei kerrota pelkästään muille. Ne kerrotaan Tulelle. Minä kerroin, aivan kuten Tuisku ja Loska ovat kertoneet leirinsä nuotiolla, miten metsästimme sen peuran jota sinäkin söit. Nyt se peura ei unohdu. Sen tulen kaiku kuuluu yhä. Eivät peijaiset olleet karhunkaatajalle vaan karhulle. Tekemisistään pitää ottaa vastuu. Ei kunniaa.”
”Siksikö Talven sanotaan antavan anteeksi?”
”Ei meissä lopulta ole niin paljon eroa, eläimissä ja meissä. Me rakennamme pesämme eri tavalla ja käytämme työkaluja. Me olemme hiukan eri tavalla itsekkäitä ja anteliaita. Mutta lopulta me olemme kaikki samaa. Ja lopulta me kaikki hautaudumme tuhkaan odottamaan viimeistä aamua.”
“Yössä Talven lapsista tulee tuhkaa. Sinä olet yhtä vähäinen.”
A novella published online.
Read on original release platform: http://tulenkaiku.blogspot.com/
Download as pdf: http://www.fallen-brothers.com/puiseva/uploads/Tulen_kaiku.pdf
If the length of the novella feels too long but you want a more detailed reading sample, I'd recommend the chapter "Roihu". But it's a novella, not even 26 000 words. Have a cuppa. Take a break.
The Work
I wanted to write a Christmas story that's not about the Christmas we know, but about the things that Christmas is about and what it would be about if it didn't have specifically Christian influence. I wanted to recontextualize familiar traditions, concepts and phrases about the midwinter festival in a fantasy environment, in which keeping the fire lit through the longest night of the year is a matter of life and death and the March of the Three Kings is a series of battles in a faraway conflict.
The story was heavily inspired by the stories I've heard of generational trauma originating from the Christmases spent on the front lines in wars involving Finland.
Lessons I learned
I learned that I can write interesting enough story to hold at least one reader who usually doesn't read.
I also learned that you can (accidentally) write two contradicting descriptions of a single fantasy tree and no-one bats an eye. The description(s) is not relevant to the plot, so I can't blame anyone but myself.
There are two or three scenes I wish I'd written more clearly even if they don't seem to cause much confusion even in their current state.