Month: March 2016

Question of the Week: 3/27/16

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 3 Comments

<–Question of the Week: 3/20/16          Question of the Week: 4/3/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

What did you do for Easter?

People…this is without a doubt the most slap-dash, impromptu, half-assed question I’ve posted so far.  It’s currently 10:00pm where I am and I just remembered I didn’t post a QOTW.  It’s been really rough for me these past few months between my unknown sickness (eh not so unknown anymore.  Nothing serious, don’t worry, but I think there’s some shuffling of doctors so I haven’t heard back with what I’m supposed to do, and I haven’t had time to contact them myself) that causes chronic fatigue and dizziness (among other things), and in the fugue of that trying to finish The Broken Rose (see here), I’m a goddamn mess.  So the question is not one I had planned, but I figured it is (Western) Easter, so there you go.

I did nothing special.  Grocery shopped, which wiped me out so I fell asleep on the couch for a few hours while Futurama played in the background (all hail Netflix ya’ll!).  Growing up I was forced to go to church where the best thing about that was my Easter outfit.  We also had to memorize and recite an “Easter piece,” which I assume was a Bible verse, but it’s been years so I can’t quite remember.  I do know I was very good at it.  Memorization is a forte of mine if I concentrate, and I have an especially good auditory memory, which is both a blessing and a bane.  Currently, I’m sitting here eating Easter candy, which my in-laws graciously gave to me via my husband who went over there for Easter dinner.  I didn’t feel well (mentioned above) so I stayed home and did the grocery shopping, which (again see above) wiped me out.

Hopefully, next week I’ll have question worthy of your time, and when I’m finished my never ending story, I’ll have more content that’s the same.

What did you do for Easter?  Do you have any particular Easter traditions?  Did you have memorable ones from the past?  Do you keep up with them?

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 3/20/16          Question of the Week: 4/3/16–>

Question of the Week: 3/20/16

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 5 Comments

<–Question of the Week: 3/13/16          Question of the Week: 3/27/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

What is your favorite tattoo/tatoos?

Hands down my favorite tattoo(s) is this combination.

IMG_7953

Ignore my messy house and my husband’s feet

All of my tattoos refer to Final Fantasy VII (and the planned future ones will as well).  The larger symbol is the Tree of Life, which I’ve spoken extensively about in numerous essays, and the VII is, um, a VII; no explanation needed there 🙂

The VII on top of the Tree reminds of this minimalist art of FFVII. 

The long “nave” beneath the VII and the windows along the side are a shadow of the shape of the Tree to my ridiculous mind.  I of course see it, but that’s because I also know the significance the Tree of Life has to the symbolism of the story.

picstitch

I currently have five out of the seven tattoos I need to get.  The other three (besides the two above) are a 7 on my other (left) wrist, an ankh on my chest (the same one Sephiroth has on his armor…so not just any old ankh) and the Midgard Serpent around my left ankle.

The remaining two are the words “Ne me mori facias” beneath the 7, and one wing on my right shoulder and down my arm.  Yes, I love Final Fantasy VII that much.

What’s your favorite tattoo/tattoos?  What future ones are you planning?  How many do you have and (if you’d like to share) what’s their significance?

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 3/13/16          Question of the Week: 3/27/16–>

 

A Brief Update

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 3 Comments

I’m still spinning the yarn and winding the threads. I’ve thrown myself wholeheartedly into The Broken Rose in a desperate attempt to finish it before month’s end. I am at a critical part that is leaving me very drained. It’s extremely intense and lush with violence but I’m trying to sew beauty in. 

Once the story’s complete I’ll be back in force with more essays, metas, and more. Once edited, Rose will also be posted with every warning under the sun. This is the reason I never fault authors for taking what many think is too long of a time. 

Question of the Week: 3/13/16

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 11 Comments

<–Question of the Week: 3/6/16          Question of the Week: 3/20/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

What is your favorite musical?

I know I’ve been neglecting this blog, dear followers, but I’m really, really pushing to finish The Broken Rose by the end of this month.  Plus my life has gotten weirder and busier as always.  So there may just be quick questions of the week until this arduous task is done.  I’ll be throwing myself back into reviews, essays, and editing blog posts again very soon.

This is another easy question for me.

I fell in love with this musical in high school, and even though I’ve never seen it live, the gothic/romantic motif shaped many portions of my life and still bleed into the flavoring of the stories I love.

While I have not read the ponderous tome penned by Gaston Leroux, I have read the adaptation by Susan Kay.

It has been years so I plan a reread, but if memory serves me correctly, I highly recommend.  The story gives background the musical leaves out to lay a greater foundation for why the elusive Phantom is a sympathetic character.

My favorite song is without a doubt “The Music of the Night,” which could be considered the Villain Song, but it comes off as far less nefarious and more of a longing for connection/validation.

While the aesthetic of the 2004 movie was gorgeous, I was not a fan of the actor who played the eponymous phantom.  His voice was not right for the part in the same way Russel Crowe’s was not apt for the 2012 Les Miserable.

Obviously no one will sound like Michael Crawford, but they could’ve at least found someone who was operatically trained.

I would love to one day see the musical on Broadway, but until then, I have selections from it on numerous playlists, and it helps fuel quite a lot of my writer’s energy.  The lush vocals and sweeping strings never fail to send chills down my spine.

What is your favorite musical and favorite song in said musical?  If you’re a fan of Phantom, what’s your favorite song in that?

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 3/6/16          Question of the Week: 3/20/16–>

Question of the Week: 3/6/16

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 14 Comments

<–Question of the Week: 2/28/16          Question of the Week: 3/13/16–>

The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same.  Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation.  Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all.  Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!

What kind of scenes are your favorite to write?

Quick question this week because I’m really pushing myself in these next few weeks to finish The Broken Rose.  I will definitely bring back more in depth questions once I’m finally done, but until then, these are going to be quick, though I would love more elaborate responses in the comments  🙂

I love writing fight and romance scenes (“Fucking and fighting it’s all the same”).  They have a similar energy and verve.  I always wait until I have a good amount of time to spend on any battle or sexy time scene so that I can stay in the mind frame of it the entire time, though I generally will end scenes on a “high” note of sorts with a question or something that needs to be immediately resolved once I get back to writing.

The current build up right now in TBR is to, well, I can’t say a “fight” scene; it’s more like a massacre.  Afterwards (but not immediately) there is going to be sexy time scene, though  immediately wouldn’t be far-fetched since battle tends to get one’s blood up for such an event.

What are your favorite scene to write and/or read?

I look forward to your answers in the comments!

<–Question of the Week: 2/28/16          Question of the Week: 3/13/16–>

Full of Grace – FFVII: Aeriseph – Updated

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

The video has been updated!  I finally got around to fixing the end.  I felt the pictures were far too clumped together.  I’m still not fond of the credits, but I’m trying.  I hope to learn Sony Vegas soon so I can improve my slideshows and start making actual AMVs.

The old video has been deleted from YouTube, so the link now goes to the new.  I hope you enjoy!

 

As mentioned prior I often have songs for scenery and scenery for songs, and Sarah McLachlan’s Full of Grace just fit perfectly into the end of Northern Lights’ Chapter 14.  Every time I listened to it, I could see nothing but images of our fair couple fluttering through my head, and I finally sat down and figured out how those images would manifest.  It took me a week and a half to garner them all; that was the longest and most arduous task, matching picture with lyric.  I won’t bore you with the process, but I will say that Windows Live Movie Maker wasn’t nearly the beast I thought it would be (though I was a little annoyed by the issues with the credits).

Either way, the deed is done, the video is made, and here it is.

This is the first but hopefully not the last.  I’m thinking of making one with Sephiroth and his true mother Lucrecia.  It…will be heartbreaking (like the soon to be posted Chapter 25…at least for me.  Don’t click if you  haven’t read the previous 24 chapters since this is the last one), and the song in my head for this is Candle on the Water from Pete’s Dragon.  I wrote a scene in my original novel with this song as inspiration, and it was about the main character and his mother…in a way.

Don’t judge me too harsh for any amateur mistakes.  I’m sure my editing skills will grow better in time.

The Light of the Truth

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

I’ve been working hard on finishing The Broken Rose and have had little time to spare for aught else.  What this means is that I have garnered even more responsibilities and obligations!  I’m currently co-admin of a Facebook fanpage of my favorite OTP and was talked into RPing (role playing for you non-nerds) on there.  It’s like round robin writing to be perfectly honest.  Enjoyable, inspiring (I have more ideas for more FFVII fanfics now…things I do not need: more writing ideas), time consuming, but flattering.  I appear to be very good at this or so I’m being told.

Anyway, I squirreled away some time to make this macro within the same heartbreaking “mother” theme that seems to be all I can churn out lately.  I will have to refrain from such activities very soon.  My melancholia is worsening as the days go by, and it’s harder and harder to keep from slipping completely into despair without reminders to the same 😦

The Light of the Truth*sigh* The top picture brings up FFVII’s heartbreaking what if, its tragic irony (one of the many).  I can’t deal with that right now.  “What ifs” are raw as a unwashed wound, and I need to remain useful now.

I don’t have a source on the top picture, but the bottom one is entitled Heavenly Assassin and is located here.  Alas I do not have an artist name for it.

The quote is from Northern Lights and happens at the climax of the story, which I shall not give away if you haven’t read.  It is far too important of a realization to ruin with my boorish words.

Disclaimer:  I did not create and do not own any of the images featured in this post as also fore mentioned above.  If you are the owner and do not wish for me to use them, please let me know and I will remove this post.  If you are the owner and would like credit, please let me know, and I will update the post with that information.