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 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*

We've been smoking funny things

In an effort to keep from cutting myself in class today (I jest, but only just), I did a freewrite of thoughts about DT. Basically before today I have a very VAGUE idea about who the "good guys" were, and an even vaguer idea of who the bad guys were. But now, ta-da! I have a lot of it figured out. Not all the details, of course, but I know where I'm going. XD
One thing's for sure, I'm going to have to develop Miranda a heck of a lot more. I knew I was going to, eventually, but it wasn't so much necessary as satisfying my curiosity. ;) And no, Miranda is *not* a planet, you crazy Browncoats.

HHNF is at a standstill for lack of any sort of kind-hearted feeling toward it.

The Stranger is progressing, but I decided I can't post any more episodes until I reach the end, because there's too much madness and I'm not sure how I'm splitting it up.

Things will not calm down. They will, in fact, calm up.

Work on the Stranger continues! At a belabored pace. I'm so amused at how confused I am now about the last few episodes. There's sooo much that has to happen, and not really any of it can be assigned to one episode or another? So I don't know if it should just be a massive four-parter or what. :P I've written quite a lot, I just can't really decide where the episode should stop. Soooo yeah.

In other news, I have to write a fairy tale for my children's lit class! *excited* It has to incorporate a few elements from a list that we were given, and has to have some sort of a moral lesson. I haven't really gotten inspired yet but I'm going to do some freewriting today and see what happens. I know I'm going to use a prince, possibly not as my hero.

I am, therefore I fail. ;)

I started writing the next Stranger episode today, and realized I could NOT, because I screwed up about five things in the episode I just posted. Soooo I'm pulling the episode for now until I can fix everything. *shakes head* I think I was asleep when I reviewed my continuity checklist for that episode. :P

Hahahahaha funny story, too! I realized (in class today, good grief) that I could totally write a spin-off series and call it, "The Stranger: Atlantis." That made me choke back a laugh in class, let me tell you. I'm NOT, of course, because...that would be stupid, plus I really just don't want to write that much about the destiny-obsessed crazies over there.

"That's the dramatic warning I was expecting."

"Ohmigosh, no wai!"

I wrote today! I totally did! And it wasn't for school, or blogging!
I finished the next episode of the Stranger. It needs a lot of editing, though, cuz it's too long and really rambling. :P I'll try and work on it later today, I guess. After this one, there's only 3 more! Yay! I HAVE to finish by September 6th, because there is NO way it should have taken a year to do the series. :P Let's face it.

I have to go do stuff now, but then I'm going to force myself to come back and edit some of HHNF. I want to finish the third edit of that before the summer ends. *fierce* I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

your intellect is undermined by your insufferable levity.

I am making progress on the Stranger at last! I have an extremely rough and over-long draft for the next episode. Bleh now I just need to rip out its guts and replace them with something approaching readable. Go me.

it's the fear-fear of the darkness growing inside of me

I woke up this morning and realized a new episode of The Stranger was due today. Lolz. So I ran through the final edit and it is up HERE. I'm pretty excited about this episode. It's the first one past how the story has gone before, and we meet a lot of people in it, some who will be important later, some not. :P

Of course, now I have to hurry and finish 17 in time for next Friday. The next episode is just a mess, probably because I'm trying too hard. :)

Day Two of Screnzy was rather disappointing. I hate every word that I wrote. I'm regretting the massacre in scene three. Ah well! Keep going, wot?

For years I've been telling myself the same old story

I'm reading a fantastic book by Annie Dillard called The Writing Life. It's completely fantastic! Seriously, all writers reading this blog, you should check it out. It's only a bit over a hundred pages, but it's great. 

Here's a couple of brief excerpts:

"To comfort friends discouraged by their writing pace....

Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in six weeks; he claimed he knocked it off in his spare time from a twelve-hour-a-day job performing manual labor. There are other examples from other continents and centuries, just as albinos, assassins, saints, big people, and little people show up from time to time in large populations. Out of a human population on earth of four and a half billion, perhaps twenty people can write a serious book in a year. Some people lift cars, too. Some people enter week-long sled-dog races, go over Niagara Falls in barrels, fly planes through the Arc de Triomphe. Some people feel no pain in childbirth. Some people eat cars. There is no call to take human extremes as norms."

(about Jack London):

"In subsequent years, once he had a book of his own under way, he set his alarm to wake him up after four hours' sleep. Often he slept through the alarm, so, by his own account, he rigged it to drop a weight on his head. I cannot say I believe this, though a novel like The Sea-Wolf is strong evidence that some sort of weight fell on his head with some sort of frequency-but you wouldn't think a man would claim credit for it."

Meanwhile, I finished the episode I was working on, and am working on the next. This one is giving me Numair-esque difficulties: Numair is just a hard POV to write!!! He won't let me leave him, either.

"Here's to Poosh." "To Poosh!"

When it rains, it pours. I've finished the next Stranger episode and will post it next Saturday, probably, although it's rather short so I'm going to need to do something about it. It was WEIRD rewriting this one, which is the rewrite of the one where the Stranger gets his soul back. This time, it ends QUITE differently.

The episode I'm working on now, by contrast, is turning out really LONG so I might have to chop it in two. He's visiting more places from before, and several new characters dropped out of the sky (think dragons and historians). Also, an old face will be reappearing. Four locations so far have to be visited. All of that adds up quite a bit in wordcount. I sometimes question myself and wonder if I should just write a novel about the whole business, but I don't think I could do it. Not in a way I'd be pleased with it, anyway. I think the Stranger will just live perpetually in my consciousness and bother me, insisting on being rewritten every few years. :P

"It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."

At LONG LONG LONG LAST, the fourteenth episode of the Stranger has arrived!

http://www.freewebs.com/soulcollectors/index.htm

http://bahnree.deviantart.com/art/The-Stranger-Episode-Fourteen-116656536

Lulz. I'm so made of fail. But there it is.

Spring Break has begun and at last I'm getting back into writing fiction, which is lovely. I wrote some of the Alec Horsemaster madness last night, which was fun.....that story is SO erratic, inconsistent, and hilarious, it's great. I kinda thought I'd practice writing his character, though, since he's going to be in ScriptFrenzy. I'm not counting on winning ScriptFrenzy at this point. I'm just going to do my best. But I have characters popping into my mind. Alec is the advisor, Bahnree is the dictator, Conrade is commander of the mercenary forces (A-B-C theme, yeah? Lulz) and Danner is another character. I'm possibly going to have a villain character named Zeugma, which is the ultimate Latin geekery, rofl. Anyway the villain will either be Zeugma or Evan's communist regime and Eric's republic will be the enemies. But probably Zeugma will be the villain and Evan and Eric will just be characters for comedic exploitation. Should I keep their real names, or give them aliases? I dunno. 

So yeah, enjoy the Stranger. I'll try to update DAMDL this weekend too.

"Titus, it is your DENSITY!"

I am a literary failure at the moment. :D

I have been writing. Some. A little. Well, okay, mostly papers and crap for school. But I HAVE been working on The Stranger, a tad, although obviously still not done with the next episode. So much for every Friday, but I did pretty good for a while.

The truth is, I barely have time for LIFE, much less blogging and reading and writing and watching the Office (the power of that last one, alas, must not be underestimated. I have become one of Them).

The point of this post is mostly to say I AM alive and still love writing just have issues with 17 credits and work.

The other point of this post is a book-gush. Nyeh. I received Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake for my birthday (the 27th) and have read, wow, a whole 33 pages! This is admirable taking into account the whole time issue, mentioned above. But wow, the book is DENSE! Definitely gives me flashbacks to Charles Williams, just for sheer density.

I scribbled down a few notes as I was reading, mostly characters, cuz there are a LOT of them with strange names. I don't like any of the characters yet, amusingly enough, although judgment on Steerpike is pending and, as I said, I'm not that far in. But the awesomeness! The first paragraph is GOLD: "a certain ponderous architectural quality", "arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven". The main word of the book so far seems to be "ritual."

I realize this is nothing even close to a review; I'm mostly just proclaiming my STRONG GOOD FEELINGS for the book so far. :D

Over and out.

Just: Stay there, don't hurt anyone!

Haven't posted since December 21st! Shocking behavior, really. I hope Christmas went well for everyone who reads this (and everyone else, lulz).

Writing. Haven't worked on HHNF for a week or so, which is really silly...but I'm just really feeling the need for a break. School starts next week: I am both super excited and super NOT! Sigh.

I HAVE been working on the Stranger. It's up to 12 episodes, and 13 is finished but needs to be edited more. I am SOOO excited about the DAMDL arc. Wheeee!

I saw "Australia" yesterday and had like a million plot bunnies attack me from that movie...I feel so-so about the actual movie, but I spotted some great ideas in various elements of the film. I also appreciated the fact it was set in Australia: not many movies get that setting, which I think is a waste.

State of the Stranger

Meant to post this yesterday, but blogspot decided to hate me.

I decided that I should get an early start on the next "Stranger" episode, since I'm almost at the end of the episodes I have to rewrite and will have to begin writing completely new episodes soon enough. :P I'm getting spoiled. I think it would be good if I could get all the rewrites completed before Christmas break ends. After that, I'm hoping I'll have enough done ahead that I can get the completely new ones done thoroughly in a timely manner. :D I'm exciteddd about...the Stranger. I'm excited about explaining what really happened to the poor guy, and about showing what happens to Numair and Jahara after the Stranger ditches them, and, and....:D I'm actually having a hard time coming up with character designs for the DAMDL agents. I mean, I know who they are and who they're working for, but I'm not sure if I should parody them off of something else fantasy-related or make them completely new people/things. Decisions, decisions.

"Man, Ariadne's name is like Tylenol!"

Two new episodes of "The Stranger" up today, as well as an all-new DAMDL Report! Wootage! I feel like an elvish warrior. Now I can go party in good conscience.

(only one more Atlantis episode to go. *happy dance*)