The Watch – Shifting the Tone and More

If you haven’t read up to The Watch – Part 200, please avoid this article because there will be spoilers as I talk about the story’s future.

During the events of The Watch – Part 200, Sebastian fails to rescue his best friend, Tom, and his girlfriend, Amy, from the mad scientist, Zaylor. They’ve been both been separated and transported to an unknown universe. Sebastian’s character has changed drastically from someone who used to be a nervous wreck all the time who barely left the house. The Watch, the most powerful device in the universe, has granted him incredible power and has unlocked so many possibilities, including his inner-self. He’s much more confident, and as a result, is able to stand up against those who anger him, including the mad scientist, Zaylor.

Sebastian’s character development is always a mystery to me. I know who he is, but how he transitions from who he was to who he’ll become is unknown to even me, which has given me ample opportunity to experiment with the story. Without given too much away for the future, I want to put Sebastian to one side for the moment and focus on Tom and Amy’s adventures in the other universe. I want to focus on developing their characters for the next 100 parts: The first 50 will be from Tom’s perspective, and the next 50 will be from Amy’s perspective. Where’s Sebastian? Looking for them. Sebastian will be absent for the majority of the next 100 parts, only briefly appearing in two parts. I’ve focused entirely on Sebastian for the past 200 parts, and if I want the story to continue, I need to change perspectives to keep it fresh. I also want to explore new avenues, and I don’t mean inserting parts that don’t fit into the story, but rather explore what happens when you’re stuck on an unknown world, in so many unfamiliar situations, and literally have no way of getting back. Amy and Tom do not have The Watch, so they can’t just hop back home in less than a blink of an eye, they’ll have to wait for Sebastian to come and get them, whenever that’ll be. That also means changing the tone slightly as well. I’ve done that gradually during Parts 151, to 200, so when it explores some dark areas, it won’t feel unnatural to the story.

Starting from Part 201 - to be released on Saturday, I won’t be going too dark. I never intended to make it too dark, but I always knew it wouldn’t be as light-hearted as it has been from beginning to end. Exploring a slight shift in the tone is inevitable when two characters don’t have The Watch.

When Sebastian does come back and, we shift back to his perspective but it won’t be so light-hearted as before, it’ll certainly be different, but not so different it’s unrecognisable. It'll be fresher. The last thing I want to happen is for the story that I love writing to go stale not only for the reader but for me as well.

I would like to thank each and every one of you who have read the story. I’m extremely grateful that anyone is paying at least some attention to something I’ve written. I’ve said this so many times before, but I’ll say it again because it’ll never stop being true; I’m blown away that there’s people out there taking time out of their day to read these posts. Knowing that there are people interested keeps me motivated – I just hope to keep you motivated in reading the story by developing the characters and the tone.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)