August Goals Revisited, September Goals, and The Stranger Soundtrack

August Goals:

• Finish third draft of HHNF: Completed!
  
• Finish roughing and editing the last episodes of the Stranger: Just about finished! I just have to rewrite the epilogue cuz it's crappy. :) Episodes 1-20 are on dA and Soul Collectors. I haven't posted 21 yet.

September Goals!!!!

• Add more scenes to HHNF, re-check facts, pay attention to time of year/weather. :) After I do this, I think I'll do a fourth draft to make the writing style consistent (Thanks to Snazel for helping me with this). But the fourth draft will have to wait until October, at least, because I also want to:
  
• Finish the rough of The Other Country (my 09 ScriptFrenzy)! This story is just for fun, but once I finish it I might end up polishing it or, GASPAGE, changing it to prose. I've decided script-writing isn't for me. But still want to finish this.

For the last, er, three episodes of the Stranger I listened to a LOT of Linkin Park (urgh, let's not do that again) but I was amazed at how appropriate the music was for the Stranger and especially for what was happening in the story. Cuh-raze-ay. So this is the Stranger's soundtrack so far:
"In The Shadows" by The Rasmus
"In The End" by Linkin Park
"Somewhere I Belong" by Linkin Park
"Hit the Floor" by Linkin Park
"Easier to Run" by Linkin Park
'Faint" by Linkin Park
"Leave Out All The Rest" by Linkin Park
"What I've Done" by Linkin Park
"Breaking the Habit" by Linkin Park

Various peeks at "The Stranger" final episodes

There are four remaining episodes. Two of them I've finished and the other two I've outlined. The titles of these episodes are:
THE STRANGER and the Dark and Mysterious Fortress
THE STRANGER and the Dark and Mysterious Dark Lord
THE STRANGER and the Struggle for His Soul
THE STRANGER and the End

One character you'll meet is Arden, one of the agents. I wanted to have him in the story a lot, but it's not working out. He would have been the leader of the agents who attacked the good guys in "Unraveling of Mysteries" but the Stranger got too bloodthirsty there and I didn't want to kill him off. He's the most badass, violent, and loyal of the hundred. ^_^ I kinda love him. He's a short half-elf, half-human. His soul-collecting weapon is a scythe. He doesn't let any of the other agents use a scythe because it's his trademark. ^_^ He's kinda egotistical that way. He has no redeeming qualities except a certain protectiveness for his men, whom he views as his possessions (a trait he gets from the DAMDL, of course.).

Look for the new episodes soon. :D

Soul Collectors

this was never the way i planned: not my intention

I'm just about done with The Stranger: Episode 19. I still feel like it's too self-indulgent and not humorous enough, so I'm going to keep bashing on it today. I have four days left of August to rough and edit the remaining two episodes. Yes, I'm fairly sure that there's only two more episodes after this. I'm still annoyed I couldn't make it a perfect 20. Stupid agents taking too long to die!!!!

The good news is I ironed out the remaining issues in my outline. ^_^ So I know exactly what's going on. I say that a lot but I rarely mean it, have you noticed this??? But this time I mean it. Any problems that exist, I am unaware of them and will not discover them until I'm in the midst of writing. And by that time it will be TOO LATE! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Or I'll just revert to the classic "Rocks fall; everybody dies" plan.

EDIT: Now with photos!!!

The draft of Episode 19, modeling my old drawing board that I unearthed today (now I can say, "Back to the drawing board" even while writing, and it'll be true! Win!!!):
And from the back:
Next up, the proof copies of my two Nanowrimo wins, from CreateSpace. I'm not going to publish through them, but it was fun to get the copies. ^_^
And from the back:

I should know that you're not gonna change

I am technically done with the third edit of "Hell Hath No Furies." However, it's still absurdly short, and I'm trying to decide if I care. Haha. And, if I do care, what I should add. I've considered adding a sub-plot with Adrastus and Minthe, but I feel like that would make the story unfocused. Ya know??? Also, if I gave THEM a sub-plot, wouldn't ALL fourteen of the Athenians want one??? Haha. My beta-readers want more of the gods. Again, I kinda feel like that would make the story unfocused.
I'M TOO CONCISE AND FOCUSED DAMMIT!!!!
Athena and Eros could get more scenes, but I feel like they'd be repetitive. Zeus and Hera could get some scenes, perhaps even a scene with Hades or something.

I have two questions for the comments:
1. Do you like including a lot of sub-plots in a story? Either the kind that are actually very connected to the main plot and only show this at the end, or just the kind that are about people or things nearby the main story.
2. How important is weather to you in a narrative? Do you include a lot of it, do you care, does it matter?

Nanowrimo '09 Thoughts

Here are my current ideas (only four!!! shocking!!):

• The Missing Door: I only have about 10k written on this story, even though I love it and want to finish; but what I have was written last year so I wouldn't feel bad just scrapping and starting over. EDIT: It's a sci-fi/mystery/thriller in a universe where people travel from planet to planet through teleportation devices called doors. Yes, one goes missing.
  
• Eros and Psyche retelling: something like what I did with HHNF. As much as I love the Eros character I've developed, I really have no other ideas for what I would do with this story, or really much inspiration for it. Snazel wants it a lot, though. ^_^
  
• HHNF sequel: This would center around the battle with Perseus, Ariadne's death, and Dionysus' quest to get her and Semele back. I've been wanting to do this since December 07. Lolz.
  
• Drem Escalion: This story takes place in Wyrd's universe, and is a first-person story about an infamous character in Altera's history. I don't have a whole lot sketched out for this story but I would also love to do it. ^_^ EDIT: Drem is known in "Wyrd" for betraying the country, starting a war, killing some people.....basically I'm going to tell the story from his POV, where he tries to explain what he did and did not do, and why, since there a lot of truths and lies in everything he's accused of.

I meddled in the future, in all possible futures...in the end they created me.

I've managed to trap Macana and the Stranger in a completely impossible situation. I made the mistake yesterday (orrrr the day before?) of writing out a fairly comprehensive outline of the rest of the story. It took me 15 minutes of staring at the screen to come up with ANY way for them to win, and the way I wrote is just absurd and cheesy. Although I suppose the heart thing that saved them last time was cheesy too.
So, of course, I sent off the whole thing to my professional "Stranger" consultant (well, not technically pro, but she's pretty amazing ^_^) and we've been batting ideas around since then. We're at the point where the metaphysics are exploding my brain, and I'm considering more and more just killing off BOTH of them. >.> But since the story is (supposedly...it started out this way) a humorous parody of fantasy, I think killing them both off would be rude. *gives Lint a significant glance* I've actually been comparing the Stranger to Lint a lot lately, actually. They both started as just random, silly things for fun by people with few skills and then just turned into epics. ^_^ I think I'm just as self-indulgent as Lint's author is, anyway. Oh, and I DID start writing the Stranger before I read Lint, btw.

HHNF is being edited. :) I'm still doin' it! Go Go Go! That's really all I have to say about it.
Actually, I've been remembering how much I fail at weather. I don't mean I fail at describing weather (although that's entirely possible). I fail at even mentioning what is going on outside when characters are outside. And in HHNF, when they're outside MOST of the time, I think this is kinda necessary. I meant, this time around, to decide for certain what time of year it was, what weather the area would be getting, and insert at least MENTIONS of this at appropriate places. I've been mostly forgetting to do that. ^_^ So I'm going to do a "weather-round" when I'm done, I guess. Just waltz through and sprinkle some weather. Oh my goodness I am so lame. XD

the sky was thick with crows

Wow so one of my favorite writing bloggers ever posted out of the blue today!!!! She hasn't posted since Nano, I think. Anyway it made me happy so here I am. ^_^

Still working on August goals, despite all the distractions being flung my way!!! Summer is almost over. :( Very tragical.

I have the rough done for the next Stranger episode but still need to rewrite it, and I have (I think) 3 more episodes after that? So I need to get on that.

Hell Hath No Furies is coming along...slowly....This is the third edit and I think I'm going to put it in a dark box in a dark corner somewhere and never look at it again. ^_^ I don't think it's good enough to even attempt publishing and I don't think I could ever get it into shape for it. Which is okay, I just want to finish this edit and put the thing to rest.

I've got him monologuing now, chaps!

I'm going to start again on HHNF tomorrow. >.< I am! It's true. I shall. I'm finally done with all the crazy reading for my class, so I have a bit more time. Although my sister and her new fiance are also coming tomorrow, sooo who knows how crazy that's going to be. :D
Ummm but I have been working on the Stranger a lot! I didn't write anything new today, I mean further chronologically, but I edited two episodes (which are now up, btw) and I've kinda squared away on how I want to divide the rest of the episodes. I'm sad cuz I thought I was going to be able to pull off an even 20 of episodes, but I've had to add one, and I'll probably have to add more. :) I have three more for sure, and one of those will very possibly sprout like five. hahaha. Yeahhhh.

I have yet to touch HHNF this month, but The Stranger is going well. ^___^ I've written, well, okay, I've only written about 2k but I'm TRYING, okay? XD
Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep (been suffering from insomnia lately), I suddenly had one brain-wave after another about stuff that is going to happen in the Stranger. It was hilarious, just all these things previously I had no CLUE about (like, for example, who the DAMDL is or what he/she/it is trying to do....oh yeah, and if the DAMDL was a man, woman, or creature) were suddenly all falling into place. At first I was like, "Yeah, okay, remember that for the morning." but after around the 10th epiphany I just got up and started writing it all down. ^__^
So, in conclusion, I totally know everything now. EXCEPT where the Stranger's soul is. And also, how they're actually going to BEAT the DAMDL now that I've made him/her/it freaking invincible.
*shakes head*

Also, is it just me or has Numair been wittier than normal, lately? I didn't intend to make him the go-to man for comic relief, but that's kinda what he's doing. *glowers at Numair*

not thinkin' bout tomorrow, singin' sweet home alabama all summer long

My fellow writers (specifically Snazel, Merc, and Sparky) are shaming me with their productiveness, so I'm going to make some GOALS! Lolz! And totally complete them. So without further ado:

AUGUST GOALS (look, the letters are all large and friendly!):

• Finish The Stranger roughs for the remaining episodes
• Finish the third edit of Hell Hath No Furies
• Keep up with homework ^__^

After that, if I'm a good girl, I can work on DT. <3

I have written over 1,000 words today, though, it's true. I have this enormous assignment for my children's lit class. Basically we have to read 20 books and write up summaries and answer a lot of questions for each one (this is aside from all the normal writing and reading assignments for the class). It's just absurdly epic. Anyways.