last chance for one last dance

Character Quiz

*stolen from Kendra, who stole it from me, who stole it from someone I don't remember*

I decided to pick my fave 5 "main-ish" characters cuz yeah. Too many. :P

A. How old are you?
Will: 18
Fenwick: 24
Alice: 17
Chad: 17
Callen: 20

B. Height?
Will: 5'10"
Fenwick: *tries to look at himself* *fails* Is it important? People always describe as tall, how's that?
Alice: 5'3"
Chad: 5'8"
Callen: 5'"9

C. Do you have any bad habits?
Will: I'm often too quiet for my own good, apparently. *Bundai hits him over the head*

Bundai: "Also you completely FAIL at life!"

Will: Yeah. Sigh.

Fenwick: *nervous laugh* Who've you been talking to?

Alice: Some people think sewing all my own clothes with velcro fasteners is one, but I tend to disagree. I dunno, Chad, what ARE my bad habits? *winks at him*

Chad: I'm your bad habit, Alice.

Alice: rofl

Chad: My bad habit is saying insensitive things outloud before I think.

Alice: That was deep.

Chad: That's just the kind of guy I am. *grins*

Callen: Mine would be similar to Chad's....but mostly just speaking my mind to whoever's around with no thought to the consequences.

D. Who’s your mate/spouse?
Will: N/A? *blinks*
Fenwick: None. Don't have....time.
Alice: Pffft, ask me in ten years.
Chad: That long?

Alice: What?

Chad: That's...a long time.

Callen: When I meet a nice girl like Evayne, only not her because she's my brother's betrothed, I'll let you know.

E. What’s your hairstyle?
Will: long-ish black hair.
Fenwick: long, straight, brown, tied back.
Alice: Dark brown, frizzy, in a ponytail.
Chad: The color varies depending on the week. Currently white, long-ish, straight.
Callen: gold-brown, short. Not to be confused with my brother's, whose is gold-brown with light gold high-lights, and is longer.

F. Have any kids?
Will: No.
Fenwick: *uncomfortable* No.
Alice: These are weird questions. How about it, Chad?
Chad: Uh, what? Not for at least ten years.

Alice: That's a long time!

Callen: Not until I meet the right person.

G. Favorite food?
Will: My grandpa's noodles.
Fenwick: Whatever's available.

Alice: CHEEZITS!

Chad: CHEEZITS!

Callen: Too many to choose from! I have a weakness for cream pie, though.

H. Favorite Ice cream flavor?
Will: Chocolate chip

Fenwick: Pardon?

Alice: Rocky Road

Chad: Rainbow Creme!

Alice: You realize that tastes EXACTLY the same as vanilla?

Chad: Yeah, only you can taste the artificial coloring.

Callen: What's ice cream?

I. Killed anyone?
Will: Not yet. I mean, no! I'm not planning to, just...Bundai keeps saying things like, "one of these days..." Creepy, really.
Fenwick: Yes, unfortunately. But only when necessary, or...Yes.

Alice: I'm trying REALLY hard to ignore Fenwick's weirdness, but it's not working out too well for me. Are Dane and Marly okay with this guy??? Oh, right, question. I have not killed anyone.

Chad: Yes. One. *shudders*

Callen: Yes, but never because I wanted to.

J. Hate anyone?
Will: Sharon.

Fenwick: Yes. Sandaro, and...others.

Alice: Yes, I hate Dane. This is all his fault.

Chad: Uh, yeah. Dane. Dang, that kid's annoying, bringing us all here.

Dane: WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT? THIS IS NOT MY FAULT!!!!

Callen: My mother, sometimes, but don't tell anyone that. Also Sandaro.

K. Any secrets?
Will: Not really. *shrugs*

Alice: You're like the most secretive person I know!!!!

Will: I'm just quiet, geez.

Alice: YOUR ENTIRE FREAKING PERSONALITY IS A SECRET, FOOL!

Fenwick: Yes, but surely you don't expect me to proclaim them all right here?

Alice: I don't understand if this is a yes or no question or what.

Chad: My lab teacher never found out I was the one who put his gerbils in the principal's office. Heh.

Callen: I'm really Carth. Haha, just kidding!

L. Love anyone?
Will: I'm looking for someone to love.

Fenwick: I'm trying to love someone.

Alice: I'm trying to show someone I love them.

Chad: Hey, me too!

Callen: Not in that way.

M. What is your job?
Will: Student? Spearman-in-training?

Fenwick: Seer.

Alice: Super-leet-madam-of-doom?

Chad: Riiiight. Student for me.

Callen: Prince.

N. Are you a boy or a girl??
Will: boy

Fenwick: Um...man?

Alice: MAN! I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN!

Chad: I am such a man.

Callen: I am of the male gender. Shouldn't this question have been first?

O. Family?
Will: My family is dead, but my foster family is Sharon and John.

Fenwick: None.

Alice: Yes, several brothers and parents. I mean, parents and several brothers. I have two parents.

Chad: Yeah but I forget and Steph is too lazy to go check.

Callen: My mother, Queen Hishaysha, and brother, Carth. Various uncles, aunts, cousins, etc....

P. Best Friends?
Will: Not really.

Fenwick: Ha!

Alice: Chad

Chad: Alice.

Callen: Carth.

Q. What was the most surprising moment in your life up until now?
Will: When we came to Altera.

Fenwick: When I realized some people actually are capable of love.

Alice: When we came to Altera?

Chad: When my parents told me I was going to public school instead of private.

Alice: Are you for real?

Callen: When my father died, I suppose.

R. Where would you rather be?
Will: Nowhere, really.

Fenwick: Anywhere else, doing anything else.

Alice: home!

Chad: With Alice.

Callen: Away from Evo and all these psychopaths.

S. Ever wish to be something else?
Will: Yes, now I'm getting my chance.

Fenwick: Every damn day.

Alice: Not really.

Chad: No.

Callen: YES!

T. Ever kissed anyone that's not a family member?

Will: No.

Fenwick: Not yet.

Alice: Yes.

Chad: No.

Callen: No.

They gonna rip up your heads, your aspirations to shreds

The 30ks are very ill this year. As in, they are NOT doing their job, which is, namely, to make the whole process fun again. They're freaking trying to KILL ME!!!!

Luckily, My Chemical Romance has stepped in, and is repeatedly saving my life.

*snuggles with My Chemical Romance*

*realizes what she's doing*

I don't even LIKE that band!!!! But whenever they come on, I'm like dang, let's do this thang!

"thang" being the novel, of course. *stifles laugh* Not...other activities. 

"I've had a LONG day, I've had BLOODY enough!"

I think I'm going to run into certain wordcount predicaments.

Wyrd, I'm pretty sure, is going to need a lot more than 50k. I've cut back on a lot of the stuff I was going to include (to be added later) but it's still going to be hairy. For instance, all I did yesterday was write this epic social-state dance/feast event. Eesh. MUST HAVE FULL STORY ARC!

Meanwhile, A Good Son is trying to end itself. Not quite yet, but it's coming. I feel it in my bones. And it's hard to deal with. See, at the beginning of the month, I figured I'd go through FF7, AC, AND DoC, but then a week or so in I figured I better restrain myself to just the first two, partly because at that point the wordcount was taking a while to get anywhere plot-wise, but also cuz I had ZERO inspiration for what should happen during DoC. I mean, I'd have to, like, make EVERYTHING up!!! lol! No but seriously....the only things I c ould think of would be something involving Hojo, only problem is none of my MCs would interest Hojo in the slightest, so there would be no conflict, and hence no story. And FF7 is already freakishly observor-ish, I'm not doing that with DoC too. Wow yeah I am RAMBLING! Just a peek inside my psyche right now. Oh, right, so in conclusion, I'm pretty sure I only have about 10k worth more of AGS.

Another peek into my psyche:

I started having conversations with radio stations today. First I delivered obscenities to NRQ and STAR because they were on commercials, then I switched to MAGIC to hear FREAKING CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

Me: "SHUT UP! YOU STUPID STATION! I REFUSE TO LISTEN TO YOU!"

*switches to the classical station in a huff, and still yelling at MAGIC*

*realizes she's yelling at MAGIC*

"Oh, sorry, I was yelling at MAGIC...I have nothing against you, really."

*has a realization*

"But if YOU start playing Christmas carols with flutes and violins, I WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE HEAD!"

.....

Yeah.

But it's all we got now!

Ugh so I wrote my entire wordcount for yesterday (about 3800) entirely between the hours of 7 and half past 11, pm. This used to be my prime writing time, back in the day when I normally stayed up till 2, but nowadays that is my LEAST coherent time for my brain. Whew. It was epic, to say the least, but I got 'er done. The day's wordcount, that is. Today it all starts again....

Wyrd: 31,805

A Good Son: 29,000 (not even joking, ON THE DOT)

Question of the day: Should Callen be a good dancer or a bad dancer?

Random observation of the day: It is really, really fun to make Cloud seem like the "bad guy".

That is all.

"And if I perish, I perish."

Wyrd: 30,008

A Good Son: Something over 27k

So I've talked about my moodiness with my novels, have I talked about my paranoia and feverish commitment?

I'm barely managing to keep up with my words right now. Wyrd is something that I do not let myself go to sleep without writing, but A Good Son takes second place so if I have a good writing day, I catch up a little, and if I have a bad writing day, I fall behind again.

Despite my ability to keep reasonably within goal, I have this freakish fear that ANY TIME NOW I'll just suddenly collapse and not be able to write for a week. This is scary because I really do like both of the ideas for these novels, and I know if I give up this month, I either won't return to them or I won't return to them for a long, long time. And I don't want to let them get dusty! MUST FINISH THEM! Hence my feverish commitment.

I am so moody with my novels. I'm back to having a lot of fun with both of them, despite kinda hating their guts. It's a REALLY complex relationship.

But one thing I am amazed by is how little word-padding I've done this month. O.o Maybe it's early days yet, but I haven't launched into any Shakespearean sonnets at all! Shocking! I have employed somewhat epic chapter titles and some preliminary stuff in A Good Son (as well as the mudkip letter) and Wyrd has an extra part to Will's dream that probably shouldn't count, but that's really it. Less than 1k, for sure, all told. I'm pleased. :)

Wordcount:

Wyrd: 26,687

A Good Son: 24,065

Should be at 28,334 today. Eesh.

"I apologize. This time you get the truth."

Oh yeah so I didn't do a report on yesterday. :D As you can see by the word-meter over there -------------------->
I am all caught up on Wyrd!! Yay!!! I tried to write some of A Good Son but didn't get very far. :( That story is dragging me down. Dia isn't even DOING anything, and that's the whole point. *slaps Dia around a bit*
Ah....better.
Wyrd I like, amazingly enough, but they've accomplished virtually NOTHING! Except history lessons. And boring traveling exposition. And a spoon-death. :D
So my goal for today is get Chad out of this post-trauma deal he's landed, make everyone friends, and get them closer together, physically. LOL!!! And that whole sentence was totally PG.

I need to go write or die now.

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"They kiss! Why, that looks so unique!"

Wow I totally failed at writing yesterday! I only accomplished 800 of A Good Son. O.o

So I've decided for today, my goal is to write yesterday and today's worth of Wyrd (because that's the one that MUST be finished this month), as well as the amount of homework I need to do, which is....read 50-ish pages and write a response. Oh and finish math, cuz a couple of those problems I do not remember learning at all. Heh. But that's my brain rebelling against math.

Anyways, hope everyone's doing well in their novels, better than me. :D

And yes, I AM listening to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. :P That movie is on drugs.

"Why, I've never had so much fun."

I've decided that Wyrd has a shocking lack of magic and an excessive amount of nodding. A Good Son is just boring. :D Except for a couple of good parts.

Words:

Wyrd: 21,595

A Good Son: 20, 101

Body Count:

Wyrd: 2 (lots of injuries as well)

A Good Son: hundreds and hundreds, no one named yet though

My level of enjoyment (out of 10):

Wyrd: 5/10

A Good Son: 7/10

And I've just REACHED the 20s!!! *cries*

Here's to a week of hell.

"Okay, so you're good."

A Good Son:

18,045 / 50,000 (36.1%)

20,005 / 50,000 (40.0%)

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Total wordcount for today: 4365

Straaaaaange things are happenin to me

Here's my WIP soundtrack for A Good Son:

Credit Song from Last Order
Somnus from FFXIII
The Reason by Hoobastank (Rufus)
My Confession by Josh Groban (Rufus)
Sally's Song from Nightmare Before Christmas (Dia)

I just discovered Sally's Song last night and it's freakishly perfect for Dia. :D FREAKISHLY.

"What do you think we found? Nothing. Nothing at all."

So I've gotten to the point in A Good Son where I'm not entirely sure what Shinra was doing at the time. I had to hit the online research again. Trust me, it's HARD to find good info on What Shinra Was Doing while AVALANCHE was going around trying to save the world and completely botching 90% of the time. :P
Anyway, I found this hilarious article talking about how Rufus is the real hero of FF7. :P Total BS, although they did have some good points, and this bit cracked me up:
"Rufus arrives for the Jenova Reunion. Then that sleazeball Cloud gives his father's murderer a means to annihilate the whole world, all the while begging Hojo for a kind word. Rufus hasn't the faintest idea of what to make of this, so he saves his enemies' lives and decides to figure it out later."
Hahaha classic. Totally true, too.

DED

Wyrd: 16,094
A Good Son: 13,600

Wordcount goal for today:
Wyrd: 18,334
A Good Son: 15,600

Hard game. I'm not sure whose idea it was to write 100k this month, but I think they should be dragged out and shot. I'm so sick of staring at Word documents. Despite that, I love both of my stories and refuse to stop on either one of them, for fear they'd never get finished. O.o

Order your fine horses, be with them at the door

I am on freaking fire. Metaphorically, of course, not literally. But yeah, I still love both of my stories. Well, mostly. ;)

Wyrd: 13,299 (I need to do my writing for this one for today, but it shall get done! I've got time)
A Good Son: 11,509 (where I wanted to be today, I WILL catch up!)

I think it's really interesting that I can get into Will's head REALLY easily (in Wyrd) but all the other characters in it I have a really hard time. Will gave me 400 words waking up and getting out of bed, and another 400 in a super epic dream he had. But yeah. All of my characters in that novel are kinda...sitting around. They need to do something. Meanwhile, the characters in A Good Son seem to never NOT be in a helicopter, rofl, unless they're having a phone conference call with ppl who are IN helicopters. :P Nice.

I also got to write a drunk scene today. :D My life is fulfilled.

Wyrd: excerpts

These are the two excerpts I've posted on my Nano profile so far:

Excerpt #1:
They met in darkness. They always met in darkness. There was safety and security in it, and anonymity.
“It is today, then?” a voice asked, when the shuffling sounds of gathering bodies had subsided. “There is no doubt?” The voice was deep, aged and rich, like a wine that has been left in a cellar for centuries.
A second voice answered, this one much more gravelly, but just as serious. “Yes. The Seers have confirmed it. They will come together today, and be brought here.”
“Very well,” the first voice said. “Our plans cannot be changed after today. Is everyone in agreement in our planned course of action?”
There were murmurs of assent all around the gathering place.
“Make sure they are properly welcomed,” the first voice said. “It is now in motion, and cannot be changed.”

Excerpt #2:
That night Will had a horrible dream. He dreamed that he stood in the middle of Illea Forest. The trees were on fire around him. Animals raced past, along with green men he assumed were the mossinae. Will felt the heat of the flames on him, but he wasn’t on fire…yet.
He turned in a circle; somehow he knew there was a cause to the blaze, and if he could only find it and put it out, it would stop. Behind him stood Chad, Alice, Dane, and Marly. Marly was gathering animals in her arms, trying to protect them from the fire. A huge mountain lion was beside her, but just staring, unable to help. Dane was waving a piece of cloth, pathetically small, at the fire: he seemed to think he was trying to put it out, but instead it only flamed higher. Meanwhile, Chad and Alice were simply holding on to each other and staring above them.
Will shouted at them; shouted at them to stop what they were doing and look around, to find what cause, but none of them would listen, or none of them would hear.
So Will turned away from them, and ran into the forest. He searched high and low, but couldn’t find anything. He ran and ran until his lungs were bursting, until he fell to his knees, trying to breathe but breathing in only smoke and sparks. He stared at the ground.
Suddenly he became aware that there was a picture, apparently beneath the ground: men and women moving and talking. He couldn’t hear what they were saying. Each of them was dressed in black, dresses and long tunics, all made of black materials. They spread in a circle as he watched, and started doing something with their hands: exactly what, Willcouldn’t tell. His half-understanding threatened to drive him mad with curiosity.
“What are you doing?” he screamed. “Stop! Can’t you see? You’re burning it all! Destroying it all!”
But just as he could not hear them, they could not hear him.
Will suddenly felt a burning sensation, in his right shoulder. He looked at it, annoyed, to see that a piece of burning material had landed there, and was lighting his clothes on fire. Will jumped up and tried to brush it off, but the fire spread, from his shoulder all over his body, filling him with a writhing, fiery agony. Will screamed and screamed, feeling himself withering to nothing…
And then it was as if he was nothing, and merely watching. A million images passed in front of his eyes, as if he were watching the deeds of millions over a span of centuries. He watched a man, dressed in black and silver and wielding a long silver sword, pierce another man, old and fat, through the stomach. He watched another man, also dressed in black, but wielding a huge sable sword, kill armies and lay waste to countries.
Will’s head hurt from the stream of images: he wanted to clutch himself, to make it stop, but he could do nothing. He was nothing.
He woke up in the darkness of Bundai’s house, clutching his head, drenched in sweat, and his shoulder on fire with pain. Will curled up in a ball, wishing he could forget.

Quizzes (normal post below this one)

What Your Love of Nerds Says About You

No doubt about it, you're a bit of a geek. You're a bit offbeat in an appearance, but you're still real cute. You don't care much about what other people think. You're too busy doing your own thing! You're definitely one of a kind - and in your case, that's a very good thing.

What Does Your Favorite Candy Say About You?

What Your Cute Monster Says About You

You're the type of person who stands out in a crowd, even when you're trying to blend in. You are honest in your character and appearance. You don't pretend to be someone else. Your inner demon is sorrow. You tend to get depressed easily. People think you're cute because you're rebellious. Your uniqueness is charming.

The Cute Monster Test

You Are a Vampire

You are charming, sensual, and even a bit manipulative. You can't help but get people to do what you want. You have sharp senses and a strong predatory instinct. You go after what you want, without mercy. While you have the heart of a killer, many people are drawn to you. You are elegant, timeless, and mysterious. You are the ultimate fantasy object.

Are You a Vampire or a Werewolf?

Abandon thought and let the dream descend

Welcome, ladies and gentlespoons, to the horrific literary time of HORROR, commonly known as Week Two of Nanowrimo.
It begins today, and I'm already scared.

So far, though, Nano has gone pretty well for me. Similar to last year, in that I'm writing each day's allotment and then quitting. I'm fairly into my novel/characters, although they're a little boring and will, of course, get worse this week. But I shall prevail!!!

Wordcount: 11,655 (Wyrd)
6,984 (A Good Son)
Sanity: Holding together, but getting some chinks
Sugar consumed: Let's not talk about that....
Bodycount: Hmmm good question...for Wyrd, only one guy has died. I thought a bunch of guys got killed by the mountain lion, but since the mountain lion is technically like an official of the government, that wouldn't be too good...so they just got kinda mauled. For A Good Son, it's like....ridiculously large and no one anyone cares about except for Jed and Sinthy.

Say it if it's worth saving me

I am a little paranoid of myself now, after an event that happened today.

Okay, so remember how I said there was a set of male twins in my math class, and they looked EXACTLY how I imagined the set of twins in my Nano novel would look like? Well, since then, the RL twins have either corresponded to certain aspects of their character-versions (Callen and Carth) or I've used aspects of their personalities for the novel versions.

Yesterday I was planning the death scene of one of the twins. I had been deliberating if I was actually going to kill one or not, so I was trying to decide how it would happen.

When I came into math class today, one of the twins wasn't there. O.o And not only wasn't one of them there, the one who corresponds in my head with the twin whose death I was planning was the one missing!!!!

Unfortunately, I am not on speaking terms with the IRL twins, otherwise I would have run up to Michael and been like "OMG WHERE IS TEH MARTIN????" As it was, I almost did. O.o

So I think I will not kill the twin for now, just so in case anything happens to Martin, I won't feel guilty. O.o

"You're a hard woman to seduce." "Thank you?"

See Stephanie, in the remnants of her Halloween costume, ready to start Nanowrimo 2008!



See Gaia, looking shocked at Stephanie's audacity (also ready to start Nano)!!!



See Connor, daring to interrupt Nano!



See my box, containing my Inner Editor!

"Hey, thanks. Nice, er, house. Any idea why those guys were trying to kill us?"

I'm definitely gaining momentum with my novel, I'm pleased to stay, although I haven't gotten ahead in word count at all. I met Agmin's family today :D and I learned he had a wife. Which made sense. :P But yeah. She's nice. :D hehe.

I also went to my first Eugene write-in today, and it was pretty fun, although I missed my Ottawa buddies, like Index Card Guy, and Sketchy Yaoi Girl. ;) There was major differences from the Ottawa write-ins I went to. The Eugene people treat write-ins more like social events: I only got 500 words written! SHOCKING! If I go again, I'm just going to have to be impolite and ignore the talk. I made a sweet box for my Inner Editor, though, out of playing cards, and got lots of other goodies. :D The people were pretty fun, anyway. :D

Oh, and when someone asks you what's happening in your novel at that moment, and you're able to say a mountain lion is massacring a bunch of guys....it is a magical moment.

Fenwick is made of freaking awesome.

WHAAAAT-IIIIIVE DOOOOONE

So I like Linkin Park, so whut???

GREETINGS! I am following way too many blogs, I decided. Sorry guys, but there's no way I can read the plethora of Nano-related blogs flooding my browser! :D I am reading my favorite people, notably Snazel and Beyond the Event Horizon.

Anyways, the novel is going well for me, I guess. I was SUPER excited about Nano all during October, but then November 1st I was kinda.....erghhh about my novel. But now, the inspiration is back! I haven't been able to write all that much, meaning I'm on target but I was hoping to get to 5k or so this weekend. I like making buffers. Ah well.

And I know I'm being a total flake about Cheron, but I've cut him out once again. So if Fenwick doesn't immediately appear schizophrenic, he will be. He will be. I'm really enjoying writing Fenwick, though, which I didn't expect, and I realized he WOULD work for Cheron's roles, so yeah, there ya go.
My five teenagers I am not so pleased with. Well, that's a lie, Alice and Chad are fun, but the other three are so unnecessarily emo I can't even talk about it. I'm considering skipping ahead a bit so I can get them into Altera that much faster. :P Oh yeah, remember how I asked whether I should name the world Altera or Evo? I decided on Altera, but the capitol city is Evo. ;)

The difference between outlining/planning a story, and then actually sitting down and writing it, never ceases to amaze me. :D Various bits of my story keep fleeing to faraway lands, but luckily, I retain a semblance of a clue of what I'm doing. :D

I've introduced the five main people, and Fenwick, because he's the lucky possessor of the prologue. I realized I might as well introduce some semblance of the "badduns" early on too, so that's what I'm going to do next, only in an extremely vague fashion. Vague...good word, that.

1,645 / 50,000 (3.3%)

I won't go home without you

Wow so I had a major breakthrough yesterday. I was having major problems with Dane and Marly (previously Malory), because they were both super-boring, and I couldn't figure out their character-arcs or anything. But THEN! I realized that I was trying to force them to be the main 2 of the main 5, and they really weren't, and then Will piped up and said the story was really all about him. And I was like "duuude yeah it is!" So I still have the 5 main peeps, but centering around Will now, and everything makes soooo much more sense.

I love it when things like that happen. :D

The Mossinae (made up species from Nano novel)

The Moss-men are sentient creatures living most in the woods and sometimes the swamps. They look like humans only covered with moss and with green skin. The moss is short and fine like hair on their faces, necks, hands, under their arms, and between their legs. The moss is thicker and more tangled (like real moss) everywhere else, in particular on top of their heads and down their back like a mane, and on the front of their torso. Their eyes are various shades of green, with no whites. Females are slimmer and more graceful than males, but otherwise they look the same. They're herbivores. They're very shy of humans, but some of them are very comfortable in cities. In cities, they act as interpreters for their kind, as well as traders. They only wear clohes when around humans.

AGHHHHH A WEEK UNTIL NANOWRIMO!!!!!!! WARNING! WARNING! ALERT!! GO INTO DEATHCON! EXECUTE!

Hi. I....am having problems. I am rapidly losing inspiration for my Nano idea, which I have still not planned out completely. I DID go to the coast today and was a little rejuvinated by seeing a mossa under every tree. I'm still excited about my mossa character, who has at last been named Agmin. He'll be great. OH Chester has been renamed Cheron, and Fenwick is a completely different character. I forgot to say that...at whatever point that happened.

I have a copy printed of HHNF, and I've done a lot of research, so I'm kinda prepared to dive back into editing that. The Stranger will go on a hiatus next month. :( Sowies. I wish I could've gotten myself to write ahead enough. Alas.

kthxbai

So I love how I didn't work on any of my writing projects during the summer (except the Stranger, a little, in July) but now that school has started I'm working on no less than three, simultaneously: Hell Hath No Furies (editing second draft), Nano 08 (planning and prewriting) and The Stranger.

I still need to finish my Nano outline but I finished the rest of the researching I needed to do for it today. So I'm plunging headlong into the second draft. It's scary in there. O.o

I've got ep. 8 for the Stranger done, which is good, as I posted 7 on Friday. I'm partway through 9. But I'm scared that I'm going to get really stuck soon cuz this whole Atlantean story arc is kinda tricky and messy and lots of things will be different.

Nano 08 planning is really turning nasty. I need to sit down for a couple hours and force myself to bash out the rest of the outline. Maybe if I told it aloud, like I was telling a story, that would work. Hm. Hmmm.

"Final count: 42." "Not bad for a pointy-eared Elvish princeling!"

I myself am sitting pretty on 43. ;)

But no. Final count is 20. The Stranger episodes, that is.

I finished figuring out what I'm cutting and adding for the rest of the series, and if all goes well there will be 13 more episodes in all. I'm not reposting the Pip meets the LS, and there will be five episodes after the current "ending" episode, where they have the showdown with King Rufus. The original series had 13, so I'm feeling pleased. I'm also guesstimating the entire thing will be about 25,000 words when all is said and done. Anyone want to preorder a Lulu? :P Jk. 

"He doesn't work by the usual rules, and I don't think you do, either."

Friends, Romans, countrymen! Tis a mere two weeks until the epic adrenaline-fueled catastrophe known as NaNoWriMo begins! :D

I'm about halfway through my outline, but I haven't worked on it for almost a week. Eesh. I keep toying with the idea of simply deleting Mal and Dane (basically melding their characters with Chad and Alice) but I decided the pros do not outweight the cons of that plan. So five teens it shall remain.

There should be a new Stranger episode up today. It will happen. I mean, it's written, I just haven't edited it much at all. Also, new DAMDLs? Hopefully. I'm several episodes behind with those.

Good luck with Nano-planning!

[title quote from Eight Days of Luke]

Cover-licious

So I was going to show you my new-and-improved Nano cover and realized that I had improved versions of the other two covers I made, too, so you get all three again! :P Btw, I'm an expert on making and messing with silouhettes now, so.....fyi.

Wyrd (all stock)

Calamity's Child (copyrighted images to Square Enix and Shiroinekosama)

The President's Secretary (copyrighted images to Square Enix)

Tonight's Big Question

"You're missing the Big Question."

"What's the Big Question?"

"Will you get a drink with me?"

-Billy and Sally, "Blink", Doctor Who

No, actually, the Big Question is:

Should the world in my Nanovel be called "Evo" or "Altera"? I like Altera better but it reminds me of a LOT of other worlds, especially Terra, the be-all end-all name for Earth, everywhere. "Terra" is Latin, btw, for "earth."

But speaking of names of things, my Nanovel is called "Wyrd." No, it's not a respelling of "weird." No, I did not rip that off from Christopher Paolini's Ancient Language. And no, it definitely does NOT mean "magic (an annoying definition of the word which I have seen popping up more and more frequently)."

"Wyrd" is an Anglo-Saxon word for "fate" and fate is a big theme in the novel. Plus I love dead languages. :D

I said I'd post my full synopsis here when I wrote it, so here ya go (I use Evo here but whatever):

What is fate? What is destiny?

Five teenagers are about to find out, as they are launched from present-day of our world to another world entirely.

It is called Evo. The king has just died. Crops are failing. The weather and the animals are acting bizarre and dangerous. The mossinae say the earth trembles, and the Changers say their powers are becoming unpredictable. Most important, the Seers say the teens’ presence is what is causing Evo to unravel, because their wyrds (fates), do not belong there. But how did the teenagers come there, and why?

Finding themselves unwelcome by almost all of the inhabitants of Evo, Dane, Malory, Will, Chad, and Alice not only have to learn how to survive, but also discover just what their fate is, in time to keep both worlds from ripping themselves apart…

So yeah, comment with your preference: Evo or Altera?

they say that a hero can save us

So I managed to spend a couple hours this weekend pre-writing for Nano. :D I was pretty productive, although I mostly worked on the "other world" and its characters. If I haven't mentioned it, the main story revolves around 5 teens who get launched into another world. No one knows how, or why. Yeah, it's been done. But I'm gonna do it DIFFERENTLY! Plus I've always wanted to, so it should be fun. :D But yeah, I've got a cool other-species that I'm pretty proud of, called the mossinae.

The real world characters will have to wait for a spare moment this week, or this weekend. But that's okay, because they've had more work done than the rest. LOL sounds like plastic surgery.

Here's the soundtrack as it sounds now (Chester is still in here cuz I'm still trying to figure out what to do about him.....names in parentheses means it's that person's themesong):

It's a Disaster by Ok Go
Anywhere Is by Enya

Uninvited by Alanis Morrissette (Malory/Chester)

Ways & Means by Snow Patrol (Chester-omg this song fits him so well, it's SOOO creepy!!!)

Hero by Nickelback (Will)

Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse (Dane)

How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20

"Hates you with the fires of a thousand suns. And that's a direct quote."

I put up more DAMDL reports (YES! I actually did what I said I'd do, and immediately! :P) as well as the next Stranger episode (ep. 5). Enjoy.

I also made a fanfiction LJ account, because I hate hate HATE FanFiction.Net. So. Much.

Anyway the link is here. Calamity's Child will probably end up on there soon.

Included in the LJ's first post is my "FanFiction Statement of Faith" which I'll put on here for you:

I believe Good Fanfiction should:

1. Be well-written, without (for the most part) spelling and grammar errors, and possess good mechanics.

2. Keep consistent to the world and characters of the fandom, unless it is AU (Alternate Universe).

3. Be interesting and, if not unique, have a special twist or different facet/perspective on a character, plot, or other aspect of the fandom.

4. Be entertaining! :)

"Always" is the Greek word for "Always."

So I really need to put up more DAMDL reports. I apologize for the lack of them. But know they're my #1 writing priority right now, even more so than planning for Nanowrimo.

Speaking of Nanowrimo, I think I'm cutting Chester. I wanted to put him in the novel because he's been stalking my brainwaves for a month or so, but the roles I wanted him to fulfill are kinda having problem because a dude with his.....er....hm...talents? and personality just can't really do what I want him to do.

SO his plot-roles are being replaced with Fenwick, a character I cut earlier and am now putting back in. :P The prob with Fenwick is his personality is a total 360 from Chester's so I'm trying to reorder my brain now. :P But it'll work out.

Now I g2g do homework...and then DAMDL!

towers they may crumble, dreams may not come true

Soooo the Stranger contest didn't work out too well. Despite having a large-ish show of interest, I ended up getting only one entry. ;) The one entry was by my excellent friend, Snazel. The story is up on her deviantART. :D Go give her some love, it's a fun story. I'm going to try and give her an honorary sort of prize. Just not sure what. As for the contest, perhaps I'll try doing it again sometime. Or not.

In other news, two of the characters in my Nano 08 novel are IN MY MATH CLASS! It's a truuuue story. Really freaky, actually. I have a set of twins in my novel that are princes, actually, and their father has just died so no one really knows who the heir is. Something like that. Anyway they're only like tier-3 characters, but the guys in my math class look JUST like them! Crazy.

Ok must go work now.

the rest is still unwritten

REMINDER: entries for The Stranger contests MUST be in by midnight, September 30th, that is this Tuesday.

Awesome "How to" for short story writers: http://willesdenherald.blogspot.com/2008/02/common-faults-in-short-stories.html

Cover for Calamity's Child (all images from FFVII: Advent Children, except for SHC, by Shiroineko-sama).

And in the end, when the darkness takes you...

EDIT: Forgot to credit my images! Shocking behavior! The first cover only uses a stock photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net. The second cover has three images from Final Fantasy V: Advent Children, and one image is a fanart by sora-ko on DeviantART.

Covers!

First, my Nano cover.

It's kinda boring, but as soon as I know more of what's going on in the story, I'll make another one.

Second, a cover I made for an FF7 fanfic which I haven't even begun. :P It's just an idea at this point. But you never know, it might exist someday! Speaking of fanfics, I was thinking of making an LJ for the purpose, because I hate fanfiction.net with the power of a thousand suns, and it would be fun to upload a drabble now and then. And NO, I do not want to use my DA for the purpose....:P

Anyways yeah I might make a cover for Calamity's Child, too, but.....I dunno, my enthusiasm for that project is at a fantastic low. Part of my problem, I think, is when I discovered Shiroineko-sama's Freya. She looks EXACTLY like my character....they are different in personality and in background, too, I think, but still too similar to make me happy.

Anyways! Good luck preparing for Nano! I'm off to hike along the Mckenzie river???? :P

They eat fate for breakfast!

O.o

I'm a little terrified. Not gonna lie.

I've had several characters pop into my head in the last month, and each time it happened I wrote down a sentence or two and saved them for Nano. So now I have this epic list of characters, which keeps growing cuz i keep realizing i need someone for such and such role......the world, whatever world it is, is forming around them, and the plot is coming into view from the fog....

But. I'm still clueless, somehow. Like what are all these people doing, how can I possibly develop ANY of them, what are they trying to accomplish, etc, ad infinitum. I guess I'm just feeling overwhelmed with the information flooding into my brain. I have to figure out how to incorporate all the elements crammed in my brain, OR get enough sense of what's going on to know which elements/characters I can cut.

Whew. What I DO know is there IS going to be Newfoundland dog in here somewhere....y'know, the big black ones. He's been lurking around for a while, it's time I put him in a story.

Oh yeah, I also know the title of this post is going to be the unofficial tagline for my story. ;) It ocurred to me, and it amuses me, so I shall keep it.

Spread the Nano Joy!

Pep talks!!

Dang check them out!!! Impressive list, I must say. Although I also must say I've always enjoyed Chris Baty's pep talks more than the official authors saying "Gj! keep going!" Baty's kinda classic, and funny too. If anyone wants me to forward his pep talks from 2006 to you each week, just ask!

Oh, yeah, so if you didn't know yet, the new Nanowrimo site launched early! Cuz they love me. Yep, it's all about me: they did it just for me.

Now all I gotta do is decide what I'm writing so I can put up a synopsis.....

this life hasn't turned out quite the way i wanted it to be

Heh so Jasmine mentioned Hell Hath No Furies the other day, which shamed me into working on editing it again. To that end, I went through the library catalog in quest of helpful books. I totally scored. Well, I think I did. I'll have to wait to see them until I know. But there's a "food and feasts in ancient greece" book, as well as a "historical atlas of ancient greece." Both of those cover my two biggest problems: food and terrain. :P I got a bunch of other ancient greece books too in case those don't cut it. But I think I'm good. :D

"I need to speak with your father about this game."

Wow I had forgotten that coffee shops were so magical. I haven't really spent any large amount of time in one since Ottawa, but yesterday I had to wait for Megan to go have a meeting with a prospective employer so I went into "Fine Grind Coffee" downtown. I got very inspired about the Stranger while there and managed to finish episode 7, as well as think up the DAMDL reports, which are very entertaining for me to write. Hopefully they'll be fun to read. But I thought I should give a little foreshadowing to some stuff that's going to happen later in the series.

Episode 8, here I come! Please comment and tell me whether you think it should still be called the Dread Fog Monster, or if I should come up with a different monster name/inspiration.

I just love making more work for myself....

You know what's crazy hot fun?

Combining three versions of the same story, which happen to be from three different points of view. Confusion and Complication ftw.

PS-look for some pretty fun "The Stranger" news on the site tonight or tomorrow. OH right and there'll be a new episode up tomorrow as well.

Price you gotta pay when you break the panorama

I don't have a whole lot to say, just wanted to post on here.

Stranger ep. 2 is up tomorrow!!! w00tage!
I'm persevering in continuing to write ep. 7 or whatever I'm on now....it's very sticky going but I'm getting there. :)

I'm having major problems deciding what I'm doing for Nano. Which is a bummer, because I want to plan it out before the month begins, to help lessen the stress of trying to write a novel with school and a job and life. Planning out last year's helped a lot, I think, and I'd like to the same thing again. But that requires me figuring out what I'm doing by October, hopefully.

I'm not sure what this has to do with writing, but "Dani California" has been playing on the radio a lot recently, and it's now imprinted in my brain as The Death Note Song, thanks to all those DN previews at the theater. *le sigh*

Yippity skippity

I've got some fun stuff for y'all.

First of all, I was going around on the Nano forums, getting myself hyped (and actually, like, reading posts AND replying to posts! GASPAGE!), and I saw this subject title:
"PLOT BUNNY PROCREATION? HOT DIGGETY DOG!"
Me: "Oh. Yes."
I go to the actual topic, and this is how it starts out:
"I went for a long walk and my crazy plot bunnies bred epiphanies!"

Yes, that is awesome slapping you in the face.

Moving on to other awesomenesses, here's a video:


And here's the blog I found it at, which is a fun writing blog as well:

summonerchild

"I am a HORRIBLE sinner!"

So Numair spilled his guts to me last night. O.o That was rather a shocking development. And now I feel bad, because he had a HORRIBLE life!!! O.o
It wasn't just overflow from my emotional state, either, cuz I was feeling pretty good (albeit tired) when I wrote it.
Anyway. Hug a Numair today!

mebbe i can do it if i put my back into it

I've been noticing more and more how much I rushed the original LS series, and it's kinda tragic. There's sooo many things I was going to explain further, or explore further, or go back and add to before posting, but I never did.
Example: The nickname of "Lonie" (in ep. 4, I think??). That was never going to stay. I was going to go back and change it to something more apropos and funny, but never did. Now I have the chance to not only change it, but give an explanation for it in an earlier ep.
That's just a small example, but there's lots of other stuff too COUGHmacanasnameCOUGHnumairsbackgroundCOUGHCOUGH.

In other news....Hm, there is no other news. Oh, actually yeah. Nanowrimo has Tshirts to match their hawt new mugs now. :D So now I want both. :P

We are forsaken, there's no time anymore.

Tis the season to begin thinking about Nanowrimo, I guess. :P Kendra mentioned thinking about it on her writing blog, and today I was thinking about mine as well. I *think* I'm deciding between two ideas. They're both fairly complicated, and neither are brand-new stories to me, so I tried outlining them a bit. One of them I got a very basic but complete outline for, the other I just kinda stared at the page, whimpered, and closed the notebook. :P I was doing it on break at Homesource anyway, so I got back to work. ;)

Anywayz, good luck to anyone else who's thinking about it! I'm going to start serious botheration on October 1st, so plan to have your Internet and phone lines broken if this is offensive to you. :P

PS-Within Temptation is SO going back on my nano playlist this year.....that stuff is GOLD. "Forsaken" ALWAYS gives me shivers, no matter how many hundreds of times I listen to it. O.o

Official LS/S Contest info

The Stranger/The Lone Stranger Contests!

Fanfiction: Parodies or serious are all welcome!!! Have to involve The Lone Stranger world and/or characters in some way. Word limit is 200-1000.

Fanart: Any art relating to The Lone Stranger world and/or characters.

T-shirt graphic: A graphic that any LS fan would be proud to wear. ;)

Prizes: Free T-shirt featuring the winner of the graphic contest and possibly some other goodies.

You may enter a submission in all 3 categories, if you wish, but not more than one for each category.

Due Date: September 30th, 2008
You can submit before this date, but nothing will be judged until October.

Any questions?

head spinning couldn't find my way round

Nanowrimo 2008 Mug

You wanna know what that is? That is awesome slapping you in the face.
I. Want.
:P

Also, check out Wordle.net for hours of entertainment (not even joking).

And, for all you left-handers out there (oh wait...:P), here's a neat article: Fountain Pens for Southpaws

This love has taken its toll!

I have five episodes of The Stranger done, but I'm a bit stuck now. I *think* I'm going to have to split up Episode 4 of the old series, making it Episodes 6 and 7 of the new. Must ponder!
I was also thinking the bounty hunters I mention early on maybe should get their own episode...that might be fun. But no plot is popping helpfully up as yet, so bleh.

I'm also pondering on some fun LS-related stuff to do. Like what do y'all think of fanart/fanfiction/tshirt graphic contests? If we get a good t-shirt graphic I was thinking the prizes could be, yes, free tshirts!!! :P Any interest? The fanfiction would probably be limited to 200-1000 words, to make it easier all around. I don't want to read a lot of epic fanfics, partly because of time, partly because they'd probably be better than the original. ;)

Another writing survey

1. Your genre(s)?
Fantasy, mostly, or a weird mix of normal with sci-fi and fantasy. I've TRIED writing normal stuff, and I got the weirdest story ever. So. I've given up on normal for now.

2. How many books have you completed?
Technically....well.....2? I really don't know what Tasliri counts as-holy cow something huge just fell past my window...um...freaky?

3. How many books are you working on right now?
LOL I just did a post on this earlier so I won't list them all again.

4. Are you a linear or chunk writer?
Linear. My brain is too organized for chunk writing, although I do attempt it once in a while.

5. The POV you're most partial to?
3rd limited or omniscient. 1st is fun because you really get in their head, but then you're stuck with the one character.

6. The theme that keeps cropping up in your books?
Hmm....really attractive main characters? Blarg. Also snark, happy endings, and I realized today that somehow TWO of my big projects have vampires in them. ???? I hate vampires. So I don't even get it. BUT they're not important parts of the story. And they don't glitter. So I can live with myself.

7. How many days a week do you write?
Seven in November. :P I blog almost every day, but "real" writing happens twice a week, usually.

8. What time of day do you get your best writing done?
Evening.

9. Who are your mentors?
CHRIS BATY! :P No just kidding he's just inspiration. Mrs. Nissila I counted on a lot in high school. Gaia's a lot of help, but not really a mentor?

10. Who are your favorite authors to read? (different from mentors)
Oh here we go: Tolkien, Fyodor Dostoevsky, CS Lewis, Jane Austen, Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Diana Wynne Jones, Hilari Bell, Terry Pratchett, Cornelia Funke, Elizabeth Pope, Jasper Fforde, Ursula K Leguin, William Shakespeare, Kevin Crossley-Holland, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

PS-I added a blogroll on the right with my fave writing blogs.

What's in YOUR writing kit?

YOU try typing "Pierrfindelsson" twenty-seven times, and see if YOU don't hate all Elvenkind at the end.
One more episode finished!

And now, for fun, something I found on someone else's writing blog.

What's in your writing kit?
1. My laptop, Shinra. Every writer needs a computer, either their own, borrowed, or stolen. AlphaSmarts are for noobs.
2. Notebook: these vary depending on how ah feel when I get a new one. My first writing notebook was a huge green spiral, the second one was a huge sparkly green composition one, and now it's a nice unlined moleskin.
3. Unlimited supply of Papermate pens. :P Pencils are for noobs.
4. Vincent, my hot-rod-red Zune.
5. Earbuds.
6. No Plot? No Problem! Because it pwns.
7. MLA handbook: for editing only.
8. Copious amounts of chocolate.
9. Copious amounts of root beer.
10. Post-it notes for scrawling random ideas onto.

Everything matters if anything matters at all

ohmigosh this week basically ALL of my writing projects have all JUMPED me at once. They all insist THEY are the most important and need to be finished first. O.o It's really kinda freakish and rather scary.
But I'm firmly sticking with The Stranger for now. I want to make sure to have 12 episodes done BEFORE Nano so I have enough to post one every week, and I doubt I'll want to write them in November.
Once I get at least 12 episodes done, I'm not sure which I'll work on, exactly. My Nano project has changed once again :P but never fear, I wrote down everything important I thought of for Third World. I know, I've got to be the flakiest amateur writer ever, but there's just SO MUCH TO GET DOWN! I don't know which to do first. :D
You want the EPIC list of all my ideas that I REALLY REALLY want to do? You do? You don't? *glares over at the corner* Well, too bad, you're going to get them all ANYWAY!
1. Finish Jano-I like it the way it is now but it's too short. So I need to add a sub-plot or something.
2. Finish Hell Hath No Furies-basically I'm a loser and STILL need to research a lot of the technical aspects. Wah.
3. Tasliri-I've actually got a PLAN for this one, which I won't divulge here. Muahaha. But because of that, it's still on my "possibly WILL get done someday" list. And actually I'll give you a hint: this should actually be listed as two items. *horrified screams ring out*
4. The Missing Door-I've got like 10k done. :P But I love it so it will happen.
5. Dimension Tournament-omg love this story so much, IT WILL FINISH
6. Seven Sprites-I'm not sure if anyone's read this besides me. Hm. Well, it's been one of my most fun experiences, but very unfinished as well.
7. The Stranger-4 episodes done, gah I'm such a loser!!!
8. FF7 Fanfic-OH MY GOSH I'm SUCH a loser. But yes, I am still hoping to finish this.
9. Third World
10. HHNF sequel-planned out.

Oh and I got one of those fold-out portfolios to hold all my loose writing-related papers! It's all brown and blue and pretty. I lurve it.

my library is my dukedom

I have four episodes of The Stranger officially done. Which seems so little for the blood poured over it, but it'll do.

More importantly, last night, trying to distract myself from thinking about my wisdom teeth extraction this morning, I FINALLY thought up a plot of sorts for my Third World story. Yes, I've been wanting to write something based on the whole epic joke for forever. I don't have a plot, per se, really, but I have several characters, several scenes, lines of dialogue, and I know at least a sub-plot will be assassination of TW's ruler.

Yep. I'm pretty excited. I think I might save it for Nano, though.

It's like an explosion in a sequin factory!!!

I can't even put into words how hard it is to write new ANYTHING for the lone stranger. I mean....he's my man! ;) He's become such a legend in my own head it's like messed up for me to add or change or ...do anything!!! AHHHHH! *tears out hair*

But's it's crazy fun at the same time. I missed these characters and stories SO much, and I LOVE poking fun at the genre. I dunno, more than anything else I've ever written, I think the LS-ness will stick with me always. *realizes what she's just said* Gah I'm so cheesy!!! *facepalm* ;)

Anyway yeah, so having problems attaining to my mental standard of perfection. Not that anything I've written has ever been close to perfect, but I'm not even content with my best. I just keep thinking, "ergh, too much dialogue" "too much backtracking" "too much random crap."
I'll survive.

"I'm seein' art walking right out the door here!"

EDIT EDIT: Ramy is now colored. What can I say, I have PROBLEMS!
EDIT: The Loreli one is now colored :)

A couple of drawings of my characters, which I drew last month and just uploaded today:

Loreli-chibi version

Ramy

Enjoy my horrible drawing skillz. :P But aside from that, the drawings are how I see the characters.

"Gotta go. My parole officer needs to use the computer."

So I don't know if Ramy can like oranges anymore because I heard a wonderful story this last weekend about how they used oranges in someone's health class. So. Hm. Usually health classes are all about bananas.

Anyway, The Stranger is going VERY well. I have 3,393 words written for it at this moment, which doesn't seem like that much but I'm putting quite a lot of work into those words, and I'm happy with them, which is a big deal for me. At the moment I'm having problems because my Creative Advisor hasn't been in touch and it's making me feel a little insecure.....but hopefully that will be better soon.

An exclusive look at: Ramy

I was bored and thought it would be a good opportunity to try and figure out exactly who Ramy is....maybe then I'll be able to write him better. I also put him through the Mary Sue litmus test and got a 27: which ain't bad, IMHO.

1. [[What's your character's name?]]
Ramy.

2. [[How old is he/she?]]
Older than he looks. He's around 50 and looks 27.

3. [[Is your OC a boy or girl?]]
He's a MAN!

4. [[What's his/her race?]]
"A native of the Denlands." Basically means he's part of a particularly long-lived human race, for reasons not explored yet. Gosh, I can't explain EVERYTHING!

APPEARANCE

1. [[If this character were to suddenly become part of the 3D world, and ended up in a heavily-populated area, how many stares would he/she get?]]
Not many. Maybe some from silly girls.

2. [[Is your character considered normal in his/her own world?]]
Yes.

3. [[What would be his/her most recognizable feature(s)?]]
His amazing sense of fashion. "Let's, let's face it."

4. [[Would you consider your OC as attractive?]]
Yes.

PERSONALITY
1. [[Temper?]]
He's a lot calmer than he used to be, but he still gets righteously indignant rather often.

2. [[Does your character ever get depressed?]]
Sometimes, but not in general.

3. [[Leader or Follower?]]
Neither. I'm pretty sure he's incapable of leading anyone, and even more incapable of following anyone.

4. [[What is the main aspect of his/her personality?]]
His apparent shallowness.

HISTORY
1. [[Did your OC have a family of any sort? If so, are they still alive?]]
No family for him! I think they're all dead, or he didn't really know them in the first place.

2. [[Is your character out on his/her own? If so, why?]]
Yes. See, there's this thing where he's been convicted of several murders.....

3. [[Has he/she encountered any traumatizing events?]]
Again, the murder thing.

4. [[What was probably the best time in his/her life so far?]]
Back in the day when he worked for the travel agency.

ROMANCE
1. [[Single?]]
Yes. Like I said, he's kinda incapable of being with people.

2. [[Had your OC developed any romantic relationships?]]
Nope. He tried. Once.

3. [[Virgin?]]
I'm pretty sure....well...I dunno. LOL! Ramy, you little rascal!

4. [[Does your character like flirting?]]
Only for a purpose, ie, perpetuating his shallowness, getting into somewhere he shouldn't be.....

SYMBOLISM
1. [[What animal would you associate your OC with? (Sorry, no creatures of myth and legend allowed!)]]
A DRAGON! Oh, dang, no mythical creatures...lol jk he's no dragon. Hmm.....a cat? Probably, yeah. Only without all the tongue-cleaning business.

2. [[Musical Instrument?]]
This is a weird quiz.....hmmm....probably something like a clarinet.

3. [[Element?]]
I always get confused with elements, so I'm going to assume we're going with earth, fire, water, and air. Out of those, Ramy would be fire, or maybe earth.

4. [[Planet?]]
Like symbolically, or home? This category is symbolism, right? Right. So......well....hm....this is kinda hard. Probably Pluto, alone and cold, but totally awesome. Oh wait, Pluto isn't a planet anymore! Dang it.

MISC.
1. [[Do you draw your character?]]
I did once.

2. [[Do you write about him/her?]]
LOL well yes, yes I do.

3. [[Do you use him/her in any rpgs?]]
No. I didn't really think about it. Oh good grief, who has time, anyway???

4. [[What other ways have you appreciated your OC?]]
I....made him...a wallpaper? :P

RANDOMIZE!
1. [[Is your character wanted for anything?]]
Yeah, remember the murder thing? :P He's wanted for at least one murder, soon to be two more, along with a few manslaughter charges.

2. [[What are three weaknesses in him/her?]]
1) quick to distrust people and make rash decisions regarding them
2) As I said above, he doesn't normally get angry easily but when he does bad things happen.
3) He doesn't have a problem with black-market goods. Is that a weakness? I can't really think of another one.

3. [[Strengths?]]
1) One of the most hardcore Travelers alive.
2) Very intelligent: has great skills with technology
3) The few people he's gotten close to in his life he is VERY loyal to, even if he's not on good terms with them, he wouldn't hurt them.

4. [[Does your OC drink or smoke (etc.)?]]
I think he drinks. I'm pretty sure. I haven't seen him do it, but I'm pretty sure.

5. [[What's one quirk about him/her?]]
He loves oranges.

6. [[Does your character have any phobias?]]
Traveler-phobia: he avoids other Travelers. Cop-phobia?

7. [[What could you do to get him/her into a blind rage?]]
Tell him you were one of the dudes on the phone. He'll get it.

8. [[Does your OC like chickens?]]
Everyone likes chicken. Wait, do we mean to eat, or just in general? He's not an animal person, so no.

THE FINAL QUESTION
.Q. - What would you consider your relationship with your character to be like?
Uh. Is this like a personal life question, or like what parts of me are like him? We're pretty close, you know, *cough* we're like this &. Hahahaha yeah okay not funny. He's VERY fun to write. I'm not really like him, except for maybe that he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve unless very very provoked.

"Precipitation aside..."

I am having wayyy too much fun with The Stranger. Hahahaha and do NOT take that the wrong way. It's all very PG.

Haha no but seriously. I've written....two episodes and parts of two more. YAY! And I've been talking to Gaia about it a lot so the inspiration keeps coming!! Lots of joy and happiness. I love the lone stranger. True story.

So if YOU were the leader of a goblin legion, what would YOU do with your life?

Sir Spamalot

Your Inner Muse is Thalia

You are most like this playful muse of comedy. Life is all about laughter to you, and you're a natural comic. You make people laugh until their sides split. And you're always up for some play time!

What Muse Are You?

Well that's....good. Although I'm trying to think pure thoughts about "play time."

You Are Punk Music

You've thought long and hard about what mainstream society has to offer... And you've pretty much decided that most normal things aren't for you. You're creative, expressive, and likely to do things yourself. You are a rebel and a fighter. You'll defend your point of view to anyone.

What Kind of Music Are You?

Yeah that's pretty true. Although sometimes I wimp out on the last bit.

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Those last two bits are INSANELY true. You'll never know how many times I edit my posts. :P And I really DON'T care who reads my blogs or how many people.

Affliction and Recovery

My writer's block, which has stubbornly persisted since mid-May, has been successfully banished!
For now.
But yeah, I wrote a whole four pages last night before sleep, and I'm dying to do more. That hasn't happened in rather a long time.

*squee*

TTFN!

2008-2009 Writing Project?

You saw him fight armies single-handed.
You saw him rescue princesses and defeat dragons.
You saw him conquer every villain of his land, stereotype or not, cliche or not.
You saw him win the hand of his love, and make up with old flames. You saw him befriend pirates, work with mages, sail the seas, fight monsters-
But what if you could see it all....again?

The Stranger
Coming Fall 2008
He wants your soul. Or does he?

After planning this, I realized Nanowrimo is in a few short months. Will that help this, or hinder it? Guess it depends on whether I make it a novel rather than a serial.

Project: To Hell and Back Again?

Dionysus and Ariadne have been on my mind a lot lately so today I started working on some research and prewriting for the rest of their story. There's quite a lot left to tell, I have to say.
But I have two main problems that I'm encountering. One, okay, say that the all-powerful Greek gods wanted to take out a human. You know, under the radar, basically assassination. Would they do it themselves? Or, if they didn't, who would they send? Am I allowed to make up a character for that? Haha if I AM, that'll be hawt. If I'm not, I really need to find this assassin of the gods. Two, I have no idea who Perseus is. I mean, I know who he is as in who his father is and what he did and all that....but personality-wise, no clue. It's also going to be a challenge to make him a decent chap without making Dionysus a jerk. I mean, we all know he is a jerk, but he can't be too much of one. So yeah. Perseus will be hard.
But otherwise, I'm looking forward to getting back into that story. There's a lot of good stuff to come. And who knows, maybe Adrastus will make an appearance.

Oops

I forgot to post a wrap-up for Penredux. *shame*
Ending wordcount: 12,235
Feeling of Failure rating 9/10
Characters created: 8
Will I eventually finish?: I hope so. I think so. Yes?
Bodycount: 2

I'm gonna avoid the cliche, I'm gonna suspend my senses

Whoops, realized I haven't posted much on here lately. I actually haven't been on the cp that much lately, much less writing. I have written, some, but I am still cursed with a horrible lack of motivation (besides the whole Jasmine-is-going-to-kill-me bit), inspiration, and love. :P No love for this storyyyy. And I just have a ton of things on my mind that pushes all fun out of it. Bleh.

And then, inspiration strikes!

Wordcount: A bit over 11k.
Wordcount I SHOULD be at: liiiiike 26k? Or something ridiculous? I have less than HALF what I should have. Not...good....and it should be fine, cuz I just have to do 3k a day, but....I haven't managed a 3k day yet. :P

Ramy....is still wonderful. And I fitted a "real person" in, as per the dare. I think the only dare I haven't done is the shiny jewel of doom one....hmm...and I bet I could do it. Maybe I'll do that today.

Hey...that's a good idea.....dude......"Suspected cause of death: Shiny Jewel of Doom!!!"

Because all the cool kids are doing it

My 100th post!!!
Here's official descrips of my characters, both for my records and cuz Jas already did it. :P

Tara Vale: My supposedly main character but she's as boring as hell so far. She's small, blonde, idealistic, described as "naive" by those who don't "get" her, a Christian, and she has wicked aim. She's Blackburn's partner and has a tendency to do things by the book. And that's all I got on her. Sad, isn't it?

Vad Blackburn: I find it fascinating that when it's from Tara's point of view, she's called Tara, but when it's from Blackburn's, he's called Blackburn, not Vad. I guess just to show he isn't a people person. :P He looks like Tony Stark. I'm sorry. But he does. However, his personality is stoic, somewhat brooding, serious, thoughtful. He's pretty brilliant, as he's an agent AND a technician. He's also got some tragedy in his past, we don't really know what. Yay!

Ramy: I can't say much about him as he's one of the mysteries of the story, but I can say he has most of the funny lines, has excellent fashion sense in my opinion, and is suspected of destroying agency property and assassinating two agents. Junior agents are told to avoid him, senior agents are told to detain him. :P And he has no known last name, that's not a mistake.

Director Fors Evinteen: Don't think about his name too hard. Just don't. This guy is possibly even more personality-less than Tara, but he WILL get one. I have deemed it so. So far he's been your basic director-of-agency template, and I DON'T mean in a Rufus Shinra type of way. Although, who knows, he might turn out like that.

Falkner: Yes, I have yet ANOTHER dude named Falkner. This guy, though, is pretty funny and I *think* he's a good guy...although with this story I know only a little more than any intelligent reader will. :P Anyway he's an agent, he shows Tara around initially. I'm not sure if he's going to come back.

Petria: What's with the Phoenix Requiem vibe, anyway??? I guess I like the names. This chick is in charge of supplies and gear and such nerdy things....she's good with gadgets and has those big black-rimmed glasses.

I even fell for that stupid love song....

OKAY!!! Okay. Okay! Ohhhhhkay!!!!

*ahem* Hi. I haven't written anything siiiince...Sunday. Yeah. Um. I really have no excuse.

BUT!!! (haha I said that in my last post, I remember) I have not given up yet! I refuse to lose. Re. Fuse. I haven't lost before and I don't believe I'll lose now (super duper bonus points for whoever can figure out what quote that is modified from!!!). I have a plan. I just gave up the whole-catching-up thing cuz that obviously isn't happening....I wish I could have pulled off a couple of 5k-days though, that would have just made everything so much easier. But yeah, so I'm just setting a new day-by-day wordcount for me. It's 2,270. Which, all things considered, isn't too bad. Now if I can just force my fingers to move in word.....

I hear it's flowing with milk and honey

I totally failed at writing yesterday. *sigh* I did write some, but only like....300 words or something. WAHHH!

BUT! Today and tomorrow we'll be in Portland, so that's four hours of driving. I plan to write a LOT longhand in any and all moments free.

*must....catch up...*

"What can I say? I'm a talented individual."

I think I did fairly well on my attempts at all my goals yesterday. They DID get to Kiffon, but only just. I got to 5500 (not 6k) and incorporated several dares. All of them but one, actually: the shiny jewel of doom. Since Ken's Indy Jones comment about that one, I can't think of anything I can use a jewel for besides some washed-up Indy plot. :P Dang it. Plus I can't get my inner editor to write something as cliched as a powerful magical jewel. *kicks inner editor in the pants* Ah, refreshing.
I also managed to put my MCs in peril, which was severely lacking. I'm pretty revved for today, cuz...well yeah, I kinda made myself stop at a cliffhanger yesterday, which was an excellent idea.
So I have this pad of paper on my desk, and whenever I had a thought about future events of the story or plot points or character points, I would give a loud cry of EUREKA (Actually not, because that's a dumb word....more like a loud cry of "YAAAY GOOD IDEA!") and grab the paper and jot it down. I now have like seven of these papers covered all over in tiny writing.
That's all for now, I'll probably be back later. My goal for today: break 8k.

"Hey guys, you know what a really good book is?" "SOKKA'S INSTINCT! Wait."

Well Tara now has her leet gear. I had to go back and write her getting it because I forgot. *shy* But she has it now and all is well. Have I mentioned that the agency has a completely dumb@$$ name???? It does. "It's not scary, and I'm embarrassed to say it." It also has a horrible acronym. Basically I need an entirely different name, but considering my average level of inspiration for this project, it's a miracle it even has a name besides "the agency."
Wait. Maybe that's a good idea....
Speaking of names, the director of "the agency" needs a name-rewrite as well. *facepalm* I took the "streets I know in Ottawa" theme a little too far.....
I realized Blackburn looks exactly like Tony Stark. I haven't actually WRITTEN his facial description, but he does in my head. Weird. Especially because their personalities are POLAR OPPOSITES!!! *le sigh*
I have almost 3k written, and my goal is to have 6k by the end of today. It's time to do some catching up, ladies and gentlemen. My plan for doing that is incorporating all of the dares so far issued. *nods* And I want to get my Team at least as far as Kiffon, story-wise.

"The idea of you fighting a Jedi is ridiculous

Well I'm finally getting into my story, which is good but kinda late. Not TOO late, though!!
I also figured out a lot of what's going to happen in the upcoming chapters, which is good. Before, I had a vague idea of where the plot was going to end up, but absolutely no idea on how to get from point A to point B. I still have no idea, but I can see the ground in front of me. I've also successfully introduced all three of my MCs, with a couple of minors to boot. The twins have disappeared: they were in planning stages to be part of the main team, buuuuut it doesn't make sense for them to be anywhere. So...they might show up later. OR they might be the poor cannon fodder I have lined up for later. :P But probably not, I like them alive.
I still love Ramy.
And YAY for foreshadowing!

It had "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters on the cover.

Wordcount: 1,435
Wordcount I SHOULD be at: technically 8,333, but since we have 31 days I could get away with being at 6,667.
Scenes: 2!
Characters introduced: 2 main, 1 minor who hopefully I will never see again, hahaha.
Good quotes: zero.
Music: Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack and Mozart. :P Neither seems to be helping.

I officially love Ramy. I can't decide about Tara. And I'm excited to meet Blackburn. :D
Something mildly interesting: a lot of history and random references are making it into this story. I mean, fictional history for my world(s). It's kinda strange. So far we've had "temporas" (objects that have something to do with time and world-travelers like to have them...that's all I know so far), the "Dagand Fiasco", and various other worlds that I have no idea what their significance is.

Wow I'm useless

Haha I keep trying to write and, therefore, keep distracting myself with other things.
The above is something I made in photoshop to procrastinate. He's the only character I've actually introduced so far, and he's not even a main one. Well, I don't think he is. I can't remember where I got the background, but the two artworks are by (you guessed it) Ramy on Deviantart.

"Do we really have everything under control here?"

PENredux:
Title: The Missing Door
Wordcount: 1,051. Hm. Hm.
Scenes: 1!! Yay!
Characters introduced: 1 main dude, well I think he's a main dude, and a random guy. And lots of expendables. *rubs hands together*
Bodycount: At least one dude fell into a dark chasm of nothingness. It was pretty awesome.

I am totally failing this month. BUT! We have an extra day, and it is only May 3rd, after all. :D

More than ever hour after hour work is never over

Decided to pull out the good ol' Daft Punk to help me get energized. It's not working. Crud.

I keep staring at my blank document, but nothing's happening. Maybe I'm expecting the Holy Spirit to guide my fingers again: I dunno.

Where is it situated? In a bazillion million worlds, none of which I've decided on except for Earth. :P

When is it? The future. I think. Or it's in a parallel universe and I can just make up a time like year 1457 of the Kradian Age.

What are your characters' names? I *think* Tara Vale, something Blackburn, the Vanier twins, and Ramy. Which/any of those are villains is pending. *shrewd eye at Ramy*

What's the title? omg I can haz title plz? So I hear you like titles?

What is the major character forming event? Well, there's this door, see, and it's....missing? bahahahaha......
Do you even have a plot?Um, yes! Well, I mean, kinda...it's just a little rough....sketchy....completely absent except for a strand in my brain......

I may appear fragile, but I am in control!

May starts TOMORROW! A month full of doom and laughter! Tears and sarcasm! 1,667-word-days and sugar!!!

Am I ready? Hell no.

I did fiddle around with my characters last night, mostly appearance-wise. I figured out how the agency's uniform looks, what kind of equipment they have, etc. I also realized there is another character. He was kinda hanging out on the world-pathways waiting for me to notice him. It's kinda silly though, because now I have five MCs, only one of which is female. Should one of the twins be a girl? *ponders*

I also have the first scene briefly sketched out, but really...as far as most of this plot goes I have a complete blank. It's kinda scary. Well. I'll just remind myself of the quote that the rough draft is for finding out what your story is about. *nods*

girl descrip

"She was walking in front of me on Rideau, chattering away to her boyfriend. The first thing I noticed about her was the black-edged, bright teal star tattoo, right on her left shoulder-blade, where these things often are. It was about the size of a silver dollar.
After drawing my attention, she continued to fascinate me. She was thin, short, and sauntering. Yes, sauntering, I’m using it as an adjective. She had short dark hair drawn up in a pony-tail that stuck out behind her.
She was wearing faded black jeans, held up by a black metal-studded belt, along with a black tank top. A bright purple bra strap was trying to escape on one side. A lime green Puma bag was slung over one shoulder, with a black hoodie, in turn, slung over the bag. The hoodie had black stars printed on it."

What kind of personality do you think a girl like that would have? I'm thinking of using her for Dimension Tournament.

You look at trees and label them just so

Hm I haven't posted here in a bit. I haven't really written anything besides approximately 33-handwritten exam papers. :D I'm rather proud of those, but still. I did write a paragraph about the weather here...I don't think I've ever talked/written/cared about the weather as much as I have while living here. Very strange.

My title is from Tolkien's Mythopoeia poem.

Pants are an illusion. Like death.

OMG ONLY ONE PAPER LEFT!!!!!

Actually I already finished my lit paper, I just need to edit it. Vigorously.

But we also have a lit presentation. I have....3/5ths of it done. :D It's actually really amusing....I'm happy.

I've got about three chapters written of the previous story....I'm very stuck. What kind of weapons would come out of pockets? *falls into deep thought*

Anyways, almost done with this!!

Your name is Clay? Can I call you Dirt for short?

As usual, my muse hits me hardest when I'm at my busiest.

Despite having no time whatsoever just now, when I attempted to do the whole writing-a-bit-each-day thing, my muse decided that I should start a whole new story!!!!

It's a great story, as they always are at the beginning. Sigh. Well, I'll just try to have fun with it while I can. One thing I find fascinating about it, is the names. They're definitely not the usual kind of names I use....they're goofy. Not leet at all. You wanna know what one of my two leads is named? Guess. Haha no seriously, guess.

Varesh Elm.
That's right.
Varesh.
Elm.

Double-yoo. Tee. Eff. The only explanation I have to offer is that I was thinking about Varnish at the time, and Elm just seemed to go with it.

It's time my enemies shared my dread.

For those of you who know the Tasliri story, just some fun. Found these excerpts of "interviews" I did with the characters in my files. I'm somewhat amused that I didn't find the rest of the Ramos/Zarcael interview interesting enough to save.

#1:
Me?: So, Captain, how do you feel about being an albino? Does that bother you?

Ramos: Excuse me? I’m NOT an albino. I have blue eyes, see?

Zarcael: I’m prettier than you anyway. Admit it.

Ramos: I get the girl. Ha.

Zarcael: ....

Ramos: Pretty boy...

#2:

Me?: And we’re back to interviews between two fictional people. Joining us today is the beautiful Salya ji’Eluim, working under the pseudonym Tamila Olem, and Cirx Mordan, hawkfriend and smuggling extraordinaire. Thank you for joining us, Your Highness, sir.

Tamila: honored to be here.

Cirx: Yeah, honored.

Me?: What is your view on death?

Tamila: If someone brings about the death of someone else, it must be avenged. I will not be responsible for anyone dying.

Cirx: it comes to everyone. I hope to die at peace with my life, in the cause of something good.

Me?: What do you think of Zarcael?

Tamila: he’s a good man brought up in the wrong place.

Cirx: He’s a brilliant commander who causes trouble for us.

Me?: State your opinion on freewill. [dang this question is hilarious to me]

Cirx: We get dealt a hand and no matter how good or bad, we have to deal with it as best we can. We have a choice to make every day, and we can’t blame the morality or lack of on surrounding people or circumstances.

Tamila: I agree but sometimes we are driven to a very hard choice. It sometimes seems as if there is no choice: we must do this. But that is just our nature speaking: it would be unnatural to do anything different.

Me?: What’s your favorite color and why?

Tamila: Crimson. It’s bold, daring and fiery! Uncompromising.

Cirx: Blue: as big and clear as the sky.

Me?: What is your most prized possession?

Tamila: Possessions are unimportant. But my most needed is my sword.

Cirx: My spear. Very handy.

Me?: You’re not being honest, C.

Cirx: Ok, ok. The lady’s locket.

Tamila: You are a man after all!

Me?: Most important person in your life?

Tamila: Ramos. He’s always there for me and knows the whole of me.

Cirx: Ghent is my constant companion. But a person? I’m more of a loner.

Tamila: Yeahhh we’ve noticed.

Cirx: Don’t hate, ma’am.

Me?: What do you consider your occupation?

Tamila: Reluctant commander.

Cirx: I’m a jack of all trades, eh? Smuggler, trader, merc, master of fast communication…

Postscript:

Me: "So does this mean I get to call you Master Cirx now?"

Cirx: "You certainly can."