Sadly, while I did find the last pedestal, I was too late and wasn't able to get the secret ending. Oh well, I'll try again next week.

So! Since I'm so utterly bored (and can't think of a design for Takatu's sword yet), I figured I'd write this thing.

Hmm, where to start... Well, I guess I'll start with advantages and disadvantages. Some good things are that I get to do pretty much whatever I want with characters and environments. It's like you're a puppeteer and the characters are your puppets. Environment is a large factor in writing, because even when and/or where they are can affect the plot and what happens to them. I could make a tree do something exciting if I wanted to.

Another advantage is the ability to create new characters. Sure, the Toa Nuva are fun to write about, but by adding in creations of my own, and involving them with official characters, I can make their interactions something never seen before. They can be good or bad (i.e. Krakua--Toa Nuva, or Takatu--Toa Nuva).

While on the subject of creating new characters, the great thing is you can mold them anyway you want using their personalities. Kopaka will always be cold and anti-social (which is actually more fun to write about than you'd think), but considering Krakua never had anything official in the way he acts, I had to make up my own personality for him.

For heroes, like Toa, they are in general heroic. But you can make them be so different. For example, in the prequel, I plan on making Schattenu carefree and reckless as a Toa (oop -- did I just slip out a part of plot?), and not really as one would imagine a hero, say, for example, like Lhikan.

Then there's villains. Oh man, do I LOVE making villains. Once again, I could make them obvious villains with big plans of domination, or I could make them sort of shadowy, sometimes to the point where you don't know who they are until they reveal themselves (which is REALLY fun to do). Villains, I think, can be some of the most complicated characters one could dream up.

Disadvantages: If you do what I'm doing and stick with multiple story elements that are official, you do limit yourself. I mean, you can't really make Kopaka real friendly or Tahu a quiet thinker. However, these limits can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you're doing. It's always good to set limits anyhow so you don't go overboard and make the story not believable.

Another is that while fun, it is (at least for me) very time-consuming. I usually spend a couple hours on end writing one single chapter. I don't really spend time writing more than one chapter at once, and I only write once every couple of days.

One other fun thing is, especially with Bionicle, creating powers for your characters. Take Schattenu, for example: I give him the ability to "teleport", for lack of a better word, through shadows. For example, if he needed a quick escape, he can run into a shadow and disappear, only to reappear out of another on the other side of the island. What it's like and what he sees when traveling between those shadows I'll leave up to you guys to imagine.

Adding on to natural powers (or artificial), it's just as fun to make new mask powers for those characters who wear Kanohi. Throwing out another prequel plot piece: I've given Toa Schattenu the Mask of Chameleon and his female friend, Scintilla, the Mask of Elasticity (think Elastigirl from "The Incredibles").

In my opinion, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and I think writing is fun. I also use published works (mostly novels) as reference and inspiration, which I recommend.

Well, there's your little "Inside a Writer's Mind" thing. Hopefully you've made it this far and haven't died of boredom. If so, I hope you enjoyed it. Now for dinner.