Passion choked the flower...

Is there such a thing as a crossover that crosses over too much?

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:18:53 GMT

Okay. So a few months ago I was thinking to myself about Hagaren Country.

My thoughts as I was slamming my head up against the wall and the courser was blinking on a blank Word page: "How the hell did I ever think that this crossover could work? The story lines are just too different! There's nothing, nothing to crossover here! What am I going to do?!"

And now I've read Chaptire 173 of TRC. I have some new thoughts:

"There's too much that crosses over in these stories! How am I ever going to keep it all straight??"

You may think it's a good thing when two stories that you're rabidly obsessed with share many, many plot points and make themselves rife for a crossover. But it can actually be kind of a burden because now I just don't know how I'm going to include them all into the story without bogging the whole damn thing down with similarities. It could so easily begin to read like a huge jumbled mess of coincidence until it doesn't even make sense anymore.

It would also make the whole thing horribly plot-driven. And that makes me shudder. I need emotional, meaningful relationships to develop between characters, damnit!

But, it does look like this will be one plot-driven story. I'm going to try really hard to push some character interaction in there, but I see it happening only during those "resting" periods after the action has died down a bit. Bahhhh. That can read so fake.

But yay for trying out new modes of writing! I get to work more on those fight scenes (which, truth be told, I wasn't too fond of the fight scene in chapter 5...)

Okay. Bedtime! My thoughts shall be a-churning with ideas for later chapters.

...I'm way more excited about this then I should be.

Okay, Now that I've Got that Out of My System...

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:04:45 GMT

Bleck, bleck, BLECK!

Chapter Six of Hagaren Country is killing me. I hate what I've written in ways that I could only possibly describe with hellfire raging around me. I wish I could crumple this Word document into a ball and toss it the hell out.

But, alas. I can't. And simply deleting the file wouldn't be nearly satisfying enough.

It's just that the minor characters (so minor they don't even have names) are talking way too much! STOP TALKING, DAMNIT! We don't need to know everyone's freaking life story! No one cares about you! And you--you're dead! So why do you matter so much!

Okay... Now I'm talking to them. Make it stop!

I need some talent and I need it now.

If you hear a story about a foreign girl running around Japan randomly ripping up papers for no apparent reason and finally had to be locked in a mental institution for the rest of her life raving about how characters who are supposed to be dead just won't shut up... Yeah, that'd be me.

Well, back to it.

Well, well, well.

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:14:51 GMT

So I'm all settled here in Japan. If you really want to know more about my day to day life in this little town, visit my other journal. My boring little life has certainly gotten more interesting in the past few months...

Anyway. I finally got myself all caught up on the Tsubasa manga. I suppose I let so many chapters go by before I check it because I don't like to torture myself by reading the chapters week to week. Of course, if I really didn't like torturing myself, I wouldn't read it at all! But, hey, that's what I get for having a personality that causes me to obsess at the drop of a hat. I'm sure there are many people out there who can relate. *shakes fist at brain*

I was afraid that reading more of Tsubasa would damage my brain and totally collapse any ideas I had for Hagaren Country but, surprisingly, the latest chapters have actually given me ideas to work with! Really, I'm shocked. This doesn't mean I'm totally satisfied with the CLAMP universe now, but thank God I seem to be latching back onto the storyline. Maybe being in Japan in helping. Heh. I certainly have more help with translating the chapters...

With that said, chapter five for Hagaren Country is pretty close to being finished. It's a whopping 17 pages long right now and I'm adding more all the time. It'll probably be around 22 pages by the time I'm finished. For being just a regular chapter, that's a lot. My longest chapter for this fanfiction so far has been a mere 12 pages. So, yes, it seems my penance for waiting months between chapters is writing more. Woo!

I've also been working on chapter four for From Time to Time. It's nowhere close to being done, but MAN I crack myself up with this fic. Sometimes if I've had a bad day, I come home and read the beginning of this chapter. It always makes me laugh. I don't know where this puts me on the scale of conceit, but I just can't help it! Torturing Syaoran apparently makes me extremely happy and even almost--dare I say it?--giggly. I don't care if the rest of this fic never sees the light of day, it will always be my secret little obsession.

Okay. So putting all that aside, in non-fanfiction news, I've joined an English writing club here in Japan that should prove interesting. Yay! At the very least it'll give me a reason to start writing seriously again. I have so many stories sitting on my hard drive that just need a little bit of tweaking before they're ready to send out. This club should provide me with the motivation to pick those stories back up and finally polish them. There's a couple that I'm particularly proud of. Sheesh, I need to work on them! Why haven't I?

Oh right. I've been writing fanfiction. -.-

Well, that about does it. Man. I planned to be in bed by now and instead I'm going to stay up and write more fanfiction. This is either really sad or it's kind of scary...

Crackfics and Ann

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:56:39 GMT

I don't do crack very well. By crack, of course, I mean the fanfiction term crackfic: "A fanfic in which concept is so out there, one wonders what the author was snorting when they wrote it. Sometimes deliberate, sometimes just WTF?" From Time to Time is most certainly a crackfic, but it doesn't have that hectic, crack-y quality that's come to be expected with those kinds of fics. It's one of the things I get most upset with myself for: my inability to write something completely off-the-wall. Everything has to have a logical reason for being, everything has to be explained. People can't just appear out of nowhere, things can't happen without solid, explainable reason. These are good skills to have in order to write "serious" fiction, but I fail when it comes to comedy or even amusing fanfics. I just can't do it! Grr!

One of my attempts at a crackfic was a House/Tsubasa Chronicle crossover. My best friend and I were talking and came up with the concept. We laughed so hard while talking about that I said, "I have to make this into a fic!" However, when I actually sat down to write it, it became a lot less funny. My tedious narration and character description got in the way and bogged the whole thing down.

I'll probably never, ever finish this and I feel like I've aborted something beautiful.

House Country
“We’ve arrived in a new world!” Mokona exclaimed, bouncing on Syaoran’s shoulder.

“Where are we now?” Kurogane said. “Not that I knew where we were before, so we may be here as well as anywhere.”

“Hm…” Fay said. “Well, this sign here says ‘Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, New Jersey.’ So I’m guessing that this building we’re standing outside of is a hospital in Princeton, New Jersey.”

“You can read that sign?” Kurogane said, staring at the jumble of characters.

“For the sake of scene-establishment, yes,” Fay confirmed.

“You guys…” Syaoran breathed, looking around. “This world is really strange.”

“I’ll say,” Kurogane said, looking at people as they walked past. “Everyone’s arms and legs are like stubs! They don’t even reach their knees.”

“And everyone’s so chubby and short,” Fay remarked.

“The sky’s not blue enough,” Sakura said, staring up. “It barely hurts my eyes at all.”

“We don’t blend in here very well…” Fay said, catching the stares in their direction. “We should probably lay low.”

“Right,” Syaoran said.

“Oh…” Sakura breathed, her eyes drooping.

“Sakura-chan, are you alright?” Fay asked.

“I’m… I’m alright,” Sakura said.

And with that, she fainted. Syaoran went to catch her, but the strange too-strong gravity somehow pulled her down faster than he could move.

“That’s not what I meant by laying low, Sakura-chan,” Fay said, shaking his head.

“Holy crap, that girl just went down like a sack of bricks!” a man cried from the crowd. He rushed over to her, bringing a surge of on-lookers with him.

“Oh my dear God, look at her! She’s skin and bones! Her waist looks like it’s about to cave in on itself…”

“She must live on the streets. Look at her clothes. They’re all tattered and threadbare…”

“She looks like a good-for-nothing gypsy.”

“Her skin looks nice and firm, though. She smells good, too.”

Syaoran nearly choked on his own spit. “Hey!”

“Someone go into the hospital and call a doctor!”

“No, really, it’s okay…” Fay tried to tell everyone. His voice was lost in the din. “This happens quite a bit, actually. She’ll be fine in just a moment.”

A few feet away, Greg House was next in line at a gyro stand where he’d been waiting for nearly half an hour. He usually wouldn’t stoop to paying over eight dollars for a piece of pita bread and goat meat, but he wasn’t about to have hospital cafeteria-style sloppy joes for the third day in a row. The person ahead of him, however, had stopped ordering to stare over where all the commotion was taking place.

“Well, crap,” House said and wandered over to where the huge group had gathered. “Can’t even order a gyro in this place without an emergency.”

He pushed his way through the crowd until he got into the center.

“Out of the way, Albino. Your condition isn’t life-threatening,” House said as he shoved Fay out of the way with the butt of his cane. “Give the girl some room, people. I’m a doctor. And a very hungry one at that.”

“She’ll be just fine, sir,” Syaoran said, looking at the man. “She really doesn’t need any help. She’s not sick.”

“Chronic fainting spells, malnourished complexion, severe weight-loss…” House said. “Sounds like the very definition of sick to me.”

“Okay, so she might be a little sick…” Syaoran admitted. “But there’s nothing you can do to help her.”

House’s eyes flashed and he smirked madly. “Sounds like a challenge.”

Attendants and a doctor from the clinic came running out of the hospital. They stopped short when they saw House, however.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” House said, rolling his eyes. “Take her inside. Put her down as my patient.”

The attendants rushed forward with the gurney and lifted the still-unconscious Sakura on top. The doctor shuffled back inside, looking dejected.

“Jesus, she weights practically nothing,” one attendant said.

“It’s like she’s going to float away,” the other commented.

“Yes, she’s been known to do that once or twice,” Fay said.

“Wait! Where are you taking her?” Syaoran said, running after the gurney as they wheeled Sakura inside.

“This is called a hospital,” House said, indicating the building with a box-like motion of his hands. “It’s where sick people go to get better.”

“She’s not sick!” Syaoran yelled after him.

“She’s sick,” House said. “We’re all sick. Some are just more visual about it than others.”

Sakura disappeared from view as the doors to the hospital slid shut.

“And you three owe me a gyro,” House grumbled as he limped inside after the gurney.

—House theme plays with Mokona inserted into the opening credit scenes at odd intervals.—

“Differential diagnosis, people!” House said, hooking his cane on top of the whiteboard. “What is the prognosis for chronic fainting?”

“Uh, House?” Foreman said. “Why are we doing the differential in the patient’s room?”

He looked over to where Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fay were all standing next to Sakura’s bed where Sakura lay, still unconscious.

“Because it’s funnier, duh,” House said. “Now, come on, focus! What’s up with the fainting?”

“She’s allergic to salt,” Cameron said.

“Her Saltine levels were normal,” House said. “Next!”

“Sarcoidosis,” Foreman said. “It attacks the lymph nodes, which in turn wreaks havoc on the fainting center of the brain.”

“Too Hollywood,” House whined. “Anybody else?”

“She needs a biopsy,” Chase said, his hand on his chin. “Of the livah!”

“That’s… a treatment, not a prognosis, but what the hell. Let’s go for it,” House said. Then he sighed. “Come on, people! Think sicker!”

All three doctors looked at each other before chiming, “It’s lupus!”

House nodded. “Okay. Lupus it is because I don’t want to be here anymore. Start her on broad-spectrum antibiotics and red and blue spectrum antibiotics just to be safe.”

And so ends my brilliant idea, never to be finished. See what I mean about the crack-yness? It's just not funny this way. It's times like these I wish I wasn't so literary. I feel bound by my own rules!

What a Character Wants

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:14:05 GMT

I've been told that one of the best things about my fanfiction is how close I stick a character's personality. Really, I'm flattered, but this is one of the toughest things for me to achieve. Whenever I write up a string of dialogue, I try to picture the character saying the words. This is kind of difficult since most of the characters I write about speak Japanese, but I have a trick for that, too. I picture the character in a scene from the anime and then I place subtitles of the dialogue I'd written on the bottom of the "screen." If it seems natural, the dialogue stays. But a lot of times I have to tweak it. Sometimes I have to toss it altogether and write something more appropriate. *sigh* This happens a lot more times than I'd like to admit.

It's even tougher with crossovers, as I've discovered in recent weeks. How would the characters from one show react to the characters to another? You have to take in several factors: personality, likability, social tendencies, and, most importantly, motivation towards a common goal, but for different reasons. I believe the last thing is what makes a good crossover work. Well, no this is true for all stories, original or fanfiction.

See, your character has to want and want intensely. When you set out to write a story, you should know what that want is. It can be something physical and simple like money. Or it can be something not-so-physical like freedom. The best plots come from a vague goal that must be achieved through physical means. For example, if your character wants money, you write a story about him setting up a bank heist, playing it through, getting into a hostage situation, and then getting shot by the police. Okay, good. That's good. But, what if your character wants his sister to be healthy? Well, how is he going to do that? He needs money. So now the plot involves him setting up a bank heist, playing it through, getting into a hostage situation, talking to the hostages about his poor sister, then getting shot by the police. Wow, that's a much more dramatic story, no? The goal your character wants to achieve is what should make him interesting, not necessarily the skills he already has. The goal should be difficult to achieve easily and the road to it should be filled with small setbacks and triumphs. This is what brings a character into three dimensions and at the same time creates a marvelous tension.

And then, of course, the best story is one in which all your characters want different things from the same set of events. Now, this is where true conflict and great stories some from. Go ahead, think of any story. Think about the main characters and what they want. Notice where the intensity reached a high point in the story and it's probably where the characters started realizing that their wants were changing or they feared their wants were never going to be fulfilled.

Of course, a good story has to have a lot more than a good "object" of desire, but it's a great place to begin, especially if you don't know where you want your story to go, or you have a character you like, but don't know what to do with her. Give her a reason to live and she'll start breathing for you. The worst stories are ones in which the character's wants are too vague or even too concrete! "I want power" is never a very good reason for a main character to go off on an epic adventure. "I want power so I can remove the curse that's turned my sister into a slug," however, is. "I want power so I can remove the curse that's turned my sister into a slug in order for her to assume the throne and make me the king of the neighboring continent so I can bag the beautiful princess who lives there," on the other hand, may be pushing it. And that's one of the reasons why some stories and movies can get so damn complicated. This, incidentally, is also why I can't stand soap operas.

Anyway, if you haven't noticed, I've been rambling and haven't made any point whatsoever! And, unfortunately, I really... have nothing to rectify the lack of a point. Sorry.

Names Must Mean Something

Wed, 30 May 2007 04:44:40 GMT

Now I have decent titles for the chaptires in Hagaren Country. Yay! I started naming them a few days after Chaptire.III was posted.

I just wanted to mark this auspicious day. :D I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner...

Chaptire.IV is now in the works! Yay!

Chaptire III of Hagaren Country ,Up!

Mon, 28 May 2007 05:39:44 GMT

Wow. I can't believe I actually followed up on an update goal.

Chaptire III of Hagaren Country here.

Yay! It's a little on the short side, but, meh. I am so done with this chapter. It's BORING, even though it really had to happen. I can't wait for the next chapter. It should certainly prove more exciting. Sakura's going to show her power off a bit and I have a good fight scene in mind.

Whoa. Okay, I just realized that I've never actually written a fight scene before. This is going to be a whole new experience for me! Can I possibly pull it off??

Yay for challenges! I'm even more excited now. :D

HagaKuni Update Soon?

Mon, 28 May 2007 03:37:32 GMT

I got a good five pages written up for Hagaren Country last night. Yay! So right now Chaptire III is nine and a half pages long. And since I like my chapters to be at least twelve pages, an update should be coming pretty soon. Hopefully I can crank out a few more pages tonight, proofread, and send the thing off. :D That would be a giant monkey off my back. I can't believe it's been since November that I updated this story. -.-

I guess the main problem's been this damn character introduction. I hate it so much!! Why can't they all instantly know each other, damnit?! And one of the most frustrating things about it is the way that everything has to be reveled so slowly. I mean, I could have all the characters sit down around a campfire and spill their life stories, but it's so fake and no fun to read. So I'm trying my darnedest to make all this interesting and lively, but I'm still worried it'll read like filler. Bah.

Anyway... I'm done whining. I'll get back to writing because, really, I love it so. :)

Preview of Chaptire III

The sun was nearing the top of the world by the time the group reached the limits of Central’s outer borders. The desert sprawled out before them, stretching far into the wavy distance.

“Hyuu,” Fay whistled. “Would you look at all that sand.”

“It’s a desert, you moron,” Kurogane growled. “It’s made of sand.”

“It’s so bright out,” Fay said. He shaded his eyes as he looked toward the sun. “And rather hot.”

“It’s a desert!” Kurogane said. “What were you expecting? Snow?”

“The landscape is so barren, too,” Fay said, cracking a grin.

“It’s a desert!” Kurogane roared. “A DESERT!”

“Careful, Kuro-sama,” Fay said. He wagged a finger. “You’re going to waste all your desert energy.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kurogane said, thumping his chest. “I have plenty of energy for anything.”

“Sounds exhausting,” Fay said.

CLAMP Continuity

Fri, 11 May 2007 00:38:54 GMT

I've been kind of disenchanted with the Tsubasa Chronicle series lately. I don't know what it is, exactly, but I think it has to do with the way the CLAMP world works. It's way too random and often seems like they just make up physics and rules of the universe as they go along. I mean, I realize that it's kind of hard to make up solid rules in a world where anything is possible--but that's the problem. Some things should just not be possible.

I mean, when the main character is stabbed through the heart because of a curse that seems like it's been pulled out of CLAMP's butt, I'm pretty much giving up on the plot. Isn't there any other way Sakura could end up in that tube we saw in the beginning?? The answer: yes! There are about a billion ways and, let me tell ya, the one that played out would've been very near bottom of the list. Also, Fay is a vampire (um, how did that even happen??), but we haven't seen any evidence of that for chapters. And I've so lost track of all the eye popping and betrayals. Seeing Sakura get stabbed didn't move me in the slightest. I blame CLAMP for my complete descent into true desensitization. This is probably because there was no doubt in my mind that she'd live. Where's the tension? The suspense? Out the window with CLAMP.

I suppose I want to be able to at least take a wild guess at the next plot point, but with CLAMP, even my wildest, completely untethered fantasies don't even come close to what actually happens. Continuity? Cause and effect? Nah. CLAMP's above all that.

Needless to say, I'm also feeling disenchanted with my TCxFMA fanfiction--only because the TRC series has gotten so off-the-wall insane crazy. I mean, to be honest, I don't even know what's going on with that manga anymore and I thought I could follow anything after Haibane Renmei (which is a great series, by the way). Maybe this is the danger of writing fanfictions for series that haven't ended yet.

I want to keep going with Hagaren Country, but to do so would require me to revert to a simpler time in TRC before the craziness and then remake later plot points to satisfy my own plot line. And I don't know how I feel about that. It kind of feels like blasphemy. I mean, isn't there some sort of by-law about not messing with specific plot points in the Fanfiction Writer's Handbook? Sure, I played with plot lines of CCS for Never Mind Me, but that was an A/U so I had an excuse. This is not supposed to be an A/U, so I wonder if I have the luxury.

Well, in any event, I think I'm going to go ahead with what I have planned. If everyone ends up hating me, so be it. At least I'll amuse myself with the fact that something could've made sense with CLAMP--even if only a little.

Here's to hoping for a new chapter of Hagaren Country soon!

From Time to Time Update!

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:07:23 GMT

Long time, no write.

Seriously, though, life's been crazy. I was accepted into the JET Program so I'm leaving for Japan on July 28th and living there for an entire year. Most of these last two semesters have been spent doing stuff for JET. Also, this is my last semester of school and I've been terribly busy participating in a number of contests, competitions, and generally having a good time before I'm done with college.

I'll graduate May 5th with a Bachelor's in Creative Writing. That's right: I wanna be a writer. ;P

Anyway, I'm mostly making this entry because I've updated From Time to Time. I'm now on Chapter 3. I don't know what the next update will be, but I'm already working on it.

See you on the flip side... (ug, I'm so cliche!)

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:11:59 GMT

APRIL FOOLS!!

haha bet you didn't see that one coming! ;p

School's out for the... winter.

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:47:25 GMT

So today begins the short four weeks of no school. That's not nearly long enough after the difficult Fall semester I just survived, but I'm grateful for whatever time I get. My next semester will be nice, though. I'm taking five classes (the most I've had in two years) but they're not difficult. In fact, two of them are crap classes that I'm only taking to meet some exit requirements. I've heard that, if you have the intelligence of a squid, you will ace the course. This is good because with another semester of straight As I may qualify to graduate with honors.

But, really, I'll be happy to graduate period.

I plan to spend most of the break catching up on all the series I've had to put aside during the semester: Pita Ten, Tsubasa Chronicle, xxxHOLiC, Full Metal Panic, .Hack//Sign, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (random episodes from seasons 7 and 8 I've never seen), Code Geass, and some random movies like Cars and Who's Camus Anyway?. I finished up season one of Heroes already (damn that's a great show! I can't wait for next season!) and, of course, I'm still following Medium and House week by week. Can you believe House won't be on again until January 14th?! Gah! *throws things at Fox* Medium, too, is suspended until the 3rd. Why??

Also during the break I'll be writing. Chapter three of Hagaren Country is in the works, but the beginning is very weak and I don't like it at all. However, the general storyline is coming together nicely. I think it'll be very interesting in the long run. I'm having a great time with chapter three of From Time to Time. I really, really love this fic. It is so much fun to write and I crack myself up with some of the stuff I come up with. The chapters are incredibly long, though, so I don't think an update is coming for a while. Hopefully one will come out before the end of the year though for one fic. That's my goal.

In other writing news, I'm writing an original novel version of Never Mind Me. The storyline is slightly different and I've added several more characters to my own version than what is in the fic version, but I like it. Also, since I am free to pull away from the CCS storyline now, the characters are really fleshing out and growing their own personalities. The "Sakura" character, in particular, is way different. I'm only on the second chapter, but I like where it is going. There will be a lot more humor in my novel than in the fic and I'm trying to remove some of the hard-core angst. ^^ My goal is to finish it--edited and all--before the end of 2007. I'm excited about it.

I also submitted a story to The Atlantic Monthly for their annual student writer's contest, but I don't expect to hear anything back from that. It's the first thing I've ever sent out and, although the story was far from bad, I don't think it compares with some of the stuff that is sure to come in. Wouldn't it be awesome if I won, though? Not only would I get $1,000, but I'd be published in The Atlantic Monthly. This is certainly something I have daily daydreams about. ^^;;

I'd better get going. I work tonight until 6 and then I'm coming home to watch Heroes with my little brother (he's catching up on the series too. He's on episode 8). Hopefully I'll work in some writing time before bed. But tomorrow I have free all day and I plan to spend most of it writing. That and cleaning my room while watching MST3K. ;P

Yay for no school!

Love Me Some Crack

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:51:04 GMT

School... Ug! I'm so over it at this point. And yet I have so much more to do, especially this weekend. Thanksgiving break is next week though, yay! I plan to spend a lot of that time catching up on Heroes and finishing Who's Camus, Anyway? Ahhh sweet, sweet relaxation.

Of course, I'll be writing too.

Everyone has been so wonderful regarding comments to Hagaren Country. I get all warm and fuzzy with each one. There hasn't been a bad one yet and they're mostly very detailed about what the reader liked best. It's rare for me to get simply 'pls update!' and it makes me happy.

I've been trying to review more lately too, especially those who take the time out to review me. However, I run into problems when they're writing fanfiction about series I know nothing about. I want to be in-depth with my comments, but I can't do that if I have no idea what's going on.

Ma, C'est la vie ne?

Right now I'm working on Episode 3 of From Time to Time. Although Hagaren Country is much more popular, I love FTtT. That's not to say I'm not putting my best foot forward with HC (I have some big plans for the future,) but FTtT is my first semi-crack piece and so I'm partial to it. I think with the next few coming chapters, I'll see just how crack I can get.

But first I need to get school out of the way! Bah!

All Summer

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 06:08:44 GMT

Okay. I've finished chapter two of It is Time. And when I update, I'm going to rename the title to From Time to Time. Ah, that's so much better, isn't it?

This chapter is 26 pages long. o.O It looks like although I expect the series to be on the shorter side chapter-wise, the chapters themselves might come out a little long. That's because I plan the chapters to be very episodic. That is, each chapter is intended to be a single "episode". Within each chapter, a leap will be started and completed.

hehe yes... I've given this way too much thought for a "just-for-fun" piece.

I think the opening to the chapter is excellent and very funny. Also, it hints at some things that I have planned for later chapters. I'm worried about what I've done with Eriol's character, though. He's just not very... Eriol. But hopefully I can change that in subsequent chapters. I never was one for character introduction.

Anyway, as soon as I can get this proofread, I'll get it out there. I'm so glad to have finally completed something. Even if it did take me all summer...

Now the only thing to work on is chapter two of Hagaren Country. It's certainly coming along. I hit major writer's block around getting the two groups to meet, but after that it started flowing better. I can't promised an exact date of completetion (school starts on Monday), but an update should be on the way soon.

Here's to hoping, anyway.

Social Albatross

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:14:03 GMT

I haven't been writing lately. Why? Because somehow, someway, I've been slowly developing a social life (*dun dun duuuuuun*). As a writer, this is a debilitating habit to contract--almost on the same level as a musician going deaf. Seeing as how I have even less free time than normal during the summer since I've taken on more hours at work, having a social life makes it extremely difficult to get into a writing groove. Take yesterday (Saturday) for example. Usually, I'd sit around my apartment with a bag of carrots and thirty gallons of Crystal Lite and cherry Pepsi, writing my little heart out. However, I spent four hours yesterday down at the boardwalk with my friends eating a lot of really, really bad (but delicious) food. ;P Then we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and then we came home and talked about it for another two hours. I finally crawled into bed at 2am without even booting up my computer once during the day. This is very rare for me, but it's been happening more and more often.

The good news is that one of these friends is leaving Tuesday to spend two and a half weeks in Tokyo with her Japanese boyfriend (let's all take a moment to hate her guts... haha I'm just joking--sort of). This will free up a lot of social time since she's one of the main reasons I'm so "out-and-about".

I'm not saying that I'm sad that I'm making friends, but I haven't found the right way to balance social time and writing time. I've always been a loner, so suddenly finding myself with all this stuff to do is kind of daunting and rather... draining. I don't know how you socialites do it! I can barely keep track of five friends--let alone five-hundred like some other people I know.

Anyway, I've been just writing bits and pieces of stuff lately (including some really, really, really bad stuff for Hagaren Country that no one will ever see lest they want their brains to explode). Episode 2 for It is Time is, literally, paragraphs away from finished, but I just can't find the right flow of action to get the words across. Hagaren Country is coming a long very slowly. I know this is the one that everyone is clamoring for, but I just can't push it along. So, I'm going to finish up this chapter for IiT and then I'll focus all my energy on Chaptire.II of HC. And, until I hit some major writer's block, I'll alternate between the two like that until one of them gets finished.

Well, that's the plan anyway. Who knows how it'll work out?

It's a good life.

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:44:13 GMT

I don't have much to say other than: School is finally out. That means I can get back to writing fanfiction. *waves little flag*

Nothing is quite ready yet, but an update to It is Time is coming soon. As I mentioned before, I now have a complete storyline for it from beginning to end. I've haven't written an outline yet, but I will just as soon as I get chapter 2 written up. Oh yeah, and I'm changing the title to Time and Again. Doesn't that sound much better? I read it off a book at the library and got all frustrated that I didn't think of it first when I noticed that there are a lot of novels with the same title. So even though I didn't come up with the title myself, I feel justified by the fact that I probably won't be the last one to use it either. Anyway, the second chapter is coming along nicely, so look for an update soon.

Hagaren Country has been kind of neglected in the light of my strange Quantum Leap obsession. I don't have a solid plot yet, but I do have an idea for the next chapter. It certainly seems to be the most popular out of my current stories, so I'll work hard to update with that soon too.

Well, that's all I have to say. Now it's off to write before work. :D

Taking it Hard is Not the Opposite of Taking it Easy

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:25:26 GMT

School is over in little less than a week. Yay! That means I can get back to work on my fanfiction. ;P Man, I am such a dork.

But I've also been taking this Creative Writing class, so I've written a lot for my portfolio. I've come up with at least two very solid stories that I'm going to continue to revise. I also revisited an earlier story that I worked on heavily in this class and... I think it's about ready for publication.

Eep.

Can you consider yourself a writer even if you never get anything published? Or do you need a certain amount of items published before you're a writer? Or does one only need the motivation and a certain number of hours spend writing a week to be a writer? Anyone have any thoughts on this? My take: I've considered myself a writer for the last five years. But besides winning one award in high school, I've never been recognized officially as a writer.

Anyway, I've worked a bit on the second chapter to It is Time, but I haven't even touched Hagaren Country since I wrote that first chapter months and months ago. :P But summer is coming for me very soon and I'll have plenty of time to waste on frivolous fanfiction...

And watch House.

Okay, back to homework. Yes, it is 10 in the morning, but I'm up doing homework. >.

Woe is I

Wed, 17 May 2006 15:02:04 GMT

So summer classes have started. I'm in Summer A, which is the "excellerated" summer program. Meaning, instead of having a semester that lasts a normal 10 weeks, Summer A only lasts 5. I would rather shoot myself than take a normal summer semester though since that would mean I'd only have three weeks of summer vacation, however it's a lot of work. I mean a lot, a lot. And trust me when I say that I can handle a big workload...

I just don't see any time for working on fanfiction.

It's so painful, but I'm not going to be able to touch a story until this semester is over. Not if I want good grades in my classes, anyway. ^^

Sorry people! But, hey, maybe I'll be able to settle into a routine and I can start back up earlier. You never know...

But, for now, don't plan on seeing an update for me for a while.

Damn it. T.T

She Does Fanfics... and More!

Sat, 13 May 2006 18:02:31 GMT

So... I posted It is Time. I hope everyone likes it because it just may end up being my next big project. I don't expect it to be as long as Never Mind Me, though. Maybe... 10 chapters. There are only so many CCS characters, after all. But I have a plot for it now, isn't that great? Yeah, it all came together while I was taking a shower. At least I have a goal in mind...

Uh, so the other stories are getting posted soon, one probably tonight. The Boondock Saint one. The first chapter is not quite finished, so I have to work on that, but I think I can have it done by 2am. For some reason, I always write better when it gets dark. *shrug* Maybe it's because it's not so hot at night. Damn this Florida weather! Tomorrow the high will be in the upper 80s... right around 88 or 89. And it only promises to get hotter as the summer progresses. Blarg!

Anyway... if the Boondock Saint one doesn't go up, then the FMA/TC crossover will since I have chapter one all written up and ready to go. It's cute, but very uneventful, I must say. The Boondock Saint one certainly has more action. I'm going to try to write more on it now.

Also, wish me luck in my first real-life writing endeavor. I got a great idea for a children's book and I'm attempting to write it up. This one will definitely go off for review by the end of the year. (That was my New Year's Resolution: get something published. I'm trying!) I'm really excited about the idea, so that should help with my motivation. Also, I want to get something published before I'm out of college so the sales can go toward paying off my student loans. T.T I don't have a mountain of debt, but it would be nice to have some outside money coming in besides my regular paycheck when I'm suddenly alone in the world without governmental assistance.

So, yeah. That's the plan! But you all know me and plans... ;P

Wow, Really?

Tue, 09 May 2006 06:51:59 GMT

It seems I got the most "votes" for It is Time. That was actually quite surprising since I didn't expect anyone to really like the idea at all.

So expect the first chapter for It is Time to be posted sometime this week. All the stories I mentioned will follow soon after, most of them being posted during the weekend.

See you then!

Next!

Sat, 06 May 2006 15:36:56 GMT

Okay. Here's that list. I have most of the first chapters written up, but they need some tweaking before I post them. But I'm having trouble trying to decide which one to seriously start preparing for posting.

Idea One: Hagaren Country: This is a Tsubasa Chronicle/Full Metal Alchemist crossover. I have the first chapter all written up and it looks very interesting. This fic plans to be nearly as philosophical as NMM, but the novelty of watching Ed interact with Mokona and Mustang trade words with Fay is what this fic is all about. Also, the two stories really seem to sync up nicely around the feather. In the FMA world, the mysterious power of the feather amplifies alchemic ability, thus Ed and Al are very interested in it. The only downfall would be that I don't have a solid plotline yet or an ending. So I think I might end up rambling for the first few chapters before the action really starts up. Looks very promising, though. I just wonder if I'm the only one out there who adores both FMA and TC...

Idea Two: Untitled: This is a fic I got inspired to write after watching Boondock Saints, but you don't need to have seen the movie to get this. Syaoran and Eriol are best friends and live together in a one-room flat in some major city. They're tired of all the crime sweeping the city, so they become vigilantes. Meanwhile, Sakura is an FBI agent who is following their case and Tomoyo is a field reporter dealing with the media sensation. I have some cute ideas for it, mostly evolving around cute banter between Syaoran and Eriol, but I'm largely without a possible plot. In all honesty, I'll probably post the first chapter and then leave it to rot. ^^;;

Idea Three: It is Time: haha... Okay, this is the one I was hinting at a few entries back. I have this secret, ungrounded love of a very old 80s show called Quantum Leap. God, I love that show, despite its horrible plot and really crappy ending. But I also love CCS. So, what's a girl to do? Remake the plot of QL with CCS characters, duh! So yeah... it started off as a silly way to pass the time, but I'm actually very proud of this first chapter. The story is about Syaoran (of course) who is a quantum physicist that figured out a way to travel through time. Sakura is dead in his reality and the government wants to pull the plug on his experiment. So, before the project is finished, Syaoran uses the machine to go back in time to save Sakura. However, there is no way to bring him back or control where he "leaps" to in the past because no one ever got around to that little detail. Also, the trip fried his brain and he has amnesia. So, basically, the story has a weirded-out Syaoran skipping from time to time by... get this... trading bodies with people. Yeah, you read it right. The way Syaoran's time travel works is by leaping from life to life along the timeline. So, yes, that means Syaoran is going to become many CCS characters-- even the girls. Eriol also plays a major role here as the one person that Syaoran can communicate with from the future. Eriol is projected as a hologram by the connection in Syaoran's brain waves, so no one can see or hear him but Syaoran (and little kids and animals, but that's neither here nor there). Anyway, it plans to be extremely OOC, wacky, and there could even be hints of slash. ;P I don't expect anyone to really like this as much as I do, but I'll post the thing and let you all decide for yourselves. You can throw tomatoes at me then.

Idea Four: Teach Me How to Fly: So we're back to the legitimate fic ideas. ^^ While I can never completely get away from my urge to explore the philosophical, this story plans to focus much more on the relationship between SxS than even NMM did. It's about an acrophobic Sakura (the only OOC trait she has in this fic, I promise) who wants to conquer her fear by learning to fly a plane. And, lo and behold, the only instructor available is a bitter, cynical Syaoran. But he's an aviation genius and certainly qualified to show Sakura how to fly a little one-engine plane. But she can't help but be intrigued by Syaoran's stand-offish nature and, as their lessons continue, Sakura starts hating him less and less. I think it'll be very cute, though I wonder just how much fluff I can choke down. ^^

If one of those stories sounded particularly interesting, please tell me and I'll make an effort to get it up faster. Otherwise, Idea Three is coming down first. ^^ But I promise that all of them will be posted sometime soon. :) Woooo...

I'm going back to bed. ;P

The End: Never Mind Me

Sat, 06 May 2006 07:57:48 GMT

It's funny that just a few hours ago, I didn't know if I could update within the time I promised. Anyway, it's all over now. There's only one this left to do:

Rant. And rant I shall.

This surprisingly successful experiment into the inner reaches of my working mind has taught me a lot about myself, such as what I believe in and how exactly my thought process works. It has been quite a long road, but I definitely feel like I’ve gone somewhere. This is my very first completed work and, even though it’s a silly fanfiction, I’m pleased with how it turned out overall. Although I think it’s much too tied into the CCS universe to stand alone as an original work, it’ll be one of those things I can always go back to for inspiration and something I’d be proud to show to anyone who’s willing to read it.

It's certainly not flawless. But if I was going for flawless, I would have never updated. I'm so anal. I spent three days rearranging the words in a single line of dialog. No kidding.

There are things about this story I regret, like no Meilin or Nadeshiko. Somehow they just didn't fit into the story properly and I didn't want to simply throw them in there and do to them what I did to Yukito. I did have specific scenes planned for them when I first started writing, but they seemed kind of pointless once I tried to integrate them into the narrative. Maybe someday I'll post all the stuff I cut. For example, I had a scene all written up where Syaoran meets a 70-year-old Meilin and I assumed he would end up living with her by the end of the story. It was heartwarming in theory, but I it really didn't make much sense and seemed especially awkward because of how much Meilin was infatuated with Syaoran in the anime. In the end, I just went with the Wei course and felt much more comfortable with my decision in the end.

Another thing: this story took a completely different turn from the very first vision I had for it. My initial idea was to make it somewhat comedic. I was going to have Syaoran fall in love with Sakura before he even became human. And Sakura never got sick in this early version. Syaoran became human only so he could get the chance to make Sakura fall in love with him. It was kind of a twisted "Little Mermaid" tale: if Syaoran could get Sakura to fall in love with him before the new moon, he'd be able to stay human. Then I had Naoko and her Ghost Hunting Club always after Syaoran because they suspected his origins. I was especially thrilled with the idea of Eriol and Tomoyo subtly helping Syaoran out while he kept trying to keep his secret from everyone.

But, as I was writing the first chapter, I almost immediately switched the mood from comedic to philosophical. It was funny how it happened, actually. By the time I was done with the first chapter, the plotline had evolved into what I have now. But you can tell in those early chapters how I was trying to set up a vague kind of comedic overtone. It didn't come through very clearly, but I was already suspecting that I wasn't writing the same story I'd originally set out to write.

Interesting.

Sheesh, it's been a long year. I never, never thought for a moment that it would take over a year to complete this darn thing. But I guess I would have finished sooner if I had been able to just focus on writing. Alas, school and work slowed me down considerably, as did family, friends, video games, TV, anime... Having a life beyond writing is very challenging. ^^

I have several new fanfictions planned, so stay tuned. Actually, I'll be posting a list of what's to come right here very soon-- just for the hell of it.

But, for now, I need sleep. Goodnight!

Never Mind Me: Complete

Sat, 06 May 2006 04:52:42 GMT

Well, I'd like to document the exact moment that I finished Never Mind Me.

Yes, it's done. :D

I'm going to take a shower, proofread this monster (even though I always miss something), and then post it. Hey, I actually kept my word for once! You're getting an update in the time I specified. Whoa... There's a first time for everything, I guess.

Let me know what you think. :)

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Fri, 05 May 2006 01:12:56 GMT

I'm getting very close to the end of this chapter. I have one more scene to write and it shouldn't take very long. At least, it better not take very long. *shakes fist at brain*

I daresay there will be an update this weekend. ;)

I'm slightly worried about the reaction, though. I got extremely philosophical-- it's way more serious than a fanfiction should be. Also, the ideas aren't as focused as I'd like them to be. It turns out that there were a lot of loose ends to tie up and it took a lot of writing to do so. As proof, this chapter is 31 pages long right now, promising to be more like 40 pages by the time I'm totally done. To give you an idea of how long that is, the longest chapter I've updated with to date was a mere 26 pages. That makes this chapter about 1.5 times the length of my longest chapter.

However, there's nothing I want to cut. And, in the end, what goes in and what comes out is my decision and I refuse to let it be effected by the fact that it might not "go over well." If I want to be all philosophical and deep, I will be! I just don't think the story would be complete without this stuff, so it's staying. I apologize in advance to the people who only want to read fluff and find the plotline confusing enough already. ^^;;

Alright, enough ranting. Must write. Look for an update very soon, everyone.

*here's hoping*

Kicks.

Mon, 01 May 2006 04:51:48 GMT

So ff.net has finally stopped snubbing me. I was able to log in for the first time in quite a while. Yay!

However, that doesn't mean much to you guys since I haven't quite finished chapter 22. I'm struggling with several lines of dialogue that I just can't seem to get right. It's not that it isn't perfect, it just doesn't express what I'm trying to get across. And I keep going around in circles-- the characters end up talking about the same stuff over and over again. Grrr! And now with exams here and summer classes to being soon after... I wonder how much longer it'll take me.

I've also been working on a couple of new fics to help me through my writer's block. One, in particular, was a major surprise. I started writing it just for my own enjoyment, but it's quickly becoming very interesting. I think once I get NMM done, I'll post it-- if just for kicks. It's certainly... interesting. I know I'm being vague, but I kind want it to be a surprise. I don't know why, though. ^^;

Okay, I'm going to sit down with my fic until I can't keep my eyes open. Here's hoping for a visit from the inspiration fairy-- like, now.