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.....