<–Question of the Week: 8/7/16 Question of the Week: 8/28/16–>
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!
Would you live in the world of your favorite fandom?
My favorite fandom is Final Fantasy VII, and my answer is a resounding, “Hell no.” What’s ironic is that one of FFVII’s major draws for me what that despite it being a World Half Empty (due to humanity’s machinations) at least you knew what would happen after you died. Now granted going back to those parenthetical machinations of humanity, even your afterlife might be cut short since the world’s souls are being used to fuel a greedy empire/corporation. This is the fodder of High Octane Nightmare Fuel on many levels. So even though FFVII is my favorite, even though I love writing about it, and even though Aeriseph is my OTP,, I’d have to take a rain (or a Mako) check on living in that universe.
If I did have to choose a Final Fantasy world and locale in which to reside, I’d have to go with FFIX and the Lindblum Theater District.
Look how quaint
Oh who are we kidding? It may be shameful, but I’m still a narcissist. I’d take up residence in the Grand Castle, but maintain a place near the theatre so I could leisurely catch a show.
It should be noted that I’d also never inhabit the world of my second favorite fandom ASOIAF. It’s not even my hundredth choice, and I’d take VII over it any day.
Warning: Graphic picture below.
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Gee I wonder why?
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At least FFVII has an afterlife. With Song your only real chance is to be resurrected by a follower of R’hllor. Otherwise you just die or become a wight aka glowing blue eyed slave for a nefarious and hive minded entity seething in the north.
…okay so it is like VII.
Would you inhabit your favorite fandom’s world? Why or why not? What factors would dissuade you from or encourage you to do so?
I look forward to your answers in the comments!
<–Question of the Week: 8/7/16 Question of the Week: 8/28/16–>
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
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Hmm, fantastic question. I would not want to live in Westeros lol. There are however, a few urban fantasy worlds I wouldn’t mind living in. Like the Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson worlds.
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I’ve heard of Kate Daniels but haven’t read her yet. She’s the author of Bitten, right? Haven’t heard of Mercy Thompson at all!
Yeah, Westeros can Wester-go.
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No, Kate Daniels is a series by Ilona Andrews and Mercy Thompson is a series by Patricia Briggs. Both at urban fantasy with strong female leads and non-stupid love triangles and no unhealthy romantic relationships. The world building in both is fantastic, Kate Daniels more so than Mercy Thompson.
Moon Called is the first Mercy Thompson book.
Magic Bites is the first Kate Daniels book.
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I did know that I promise. My one friend swears by the Kate Daniels series, and I’ve read a little, which made me throw the first book on my list. Hm I’ll have to look at Patricia Briggs. I’ve heard of her, but I don’t think I have any of her work on my TBR list.
Okay..just added Moon Called to the list. It reminds me of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series! That’s a world where the fey live alongside of humans and the main character Merry vies for the throne of the Unseelie Sidhe. It was pretty good at the start of the series, but the problem with Hamilton (and this manifested in both this and her Anita Blake series) is she abandoned all plot for porn. Now I’m not averse to some erotica, but when you start out with strong characters/character development and a good plot, and it just descends into hallway sex while being chased by a monster, I have some things to say.
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I’ve read LKH and Mercy Thompson isn’t really anything like the Merry Gentry series other than the fae living among humans. (I totally agree on all your points about LKH’s writing. I’ve given up on it.) Definitely give it a shot, I like it WAY more than Merry or Anita’s stories.
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It’s funny…I was on LKH’s page and one of her fans asked a question about how she takes all the negative reviews (we are NOT the only ones who’ve noticed), and she replied that she didn’t read any of them. I…I don’t know. For me I never want to think just because I’m famous that I can just churn out less than stellar stories. That really bothers me especially as a non-published writer who reads other non-published and indie published writers and sees how good some of them are. It’s like now that you’re established you don’t even have to try and you don’t. I always want my work to be up to par and the best I can do even if I ever become a big name. Like I write fanfiction, but I scrutinize that in edits just as much as something original I want to submit. I’m putting my work out there because I want people to read it and love it, not just for the prestige based on a name. I never want to get to the point where I know my writing game has slipped, and I don’t bother to read reviews because they no matter due to fame. It seems like a spit in the face to fans. I get it if you’re legitimately being trolled, but not all bad reviews are trolling; some are legitimate critiques. Ah sorry for the rant hehe.
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THIS. These are some of the reasons that I HATE Stephen King. I feel like he doesn’t even try anymore. He just shits on the paper and of course it gets published.
If I was a writer, I would like to think that I would have the same integrity as you do. I’d feel so honored that people wanted to read my stuff, why half ass it…EVER.
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Yuuuuup Stephen King is definitely one I’ve heard of who does this, too. THIS is what I mean by selling out. You can make it big and still maintain your integrity as a writer, and I get deadlines. I know they exist (not for George R R Martin obviously, but I a prefer that because I want the books to be good), but it’s a slap in the face when you just expect people to buy your books based on your name.
It’s the same thing Squeenix does, but in the video game/Final Fantasy world. They think because the first 10 or so games in the series were phenomenal and groundbreaking that that will just carry them, but many feel the quality of the stories has gone down now that they can do fancy shenanigans with graphics whereas in the early days character and plot line were all they had.
Like honestly whenever people read my stuff I’m so flattered. I NEVER want to lose that and expect they’ll just love everything I write based on the name alone (if I get a name), and I want the story to live up to their expectations. Fans are the reason people have celebrity. I think a lot of famous people forget that. It’s not the matter of listening to the trolls as in LKH and King’s place, but valid critiques should at least be considered. I also dislike “Well I’m a best selling writer. I don’t care what they think.” Dude! How do you think you became a bestselling writer?? I’m not saying you listen to every troll out there, but…ugh sorry I’m just ranting now lol.
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Lol. I think you and my husband would end up talking FFVII for hours. I’ve heard those exact same complaints from him.
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FFVII is one of the major reasons I started blogging! I needed a place to put down all my ideas since many of my friends just stare at me blankly lol. I get INTO it because it’s the first game series that I can talk about like I talk about books, which are my first love! Complex plot, motifs, et al, but a lot of people don’t realize that you can totally tell a story using the medium of games, which is silly. You can tell a story using any medium, and that doesn’t diminish the tale.
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My husband calls video games, books that you can play. Which is a valid description I think.
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Your husband is a brilliant man, because that’s exactly how I see them. You can tell him your random WordPress blogger friend said that 😀
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I will!
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Hello, I just nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award. Click here for details.
https://moviereviewsandotherstuff.wordpress.com/2016/08/21/the-sunshine-blogger-award/
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I actually saw/read the post before I even saw this notification! Thank you so much! I’m super flattered, and I”ll reply appropriately to this before the end of the week 🙂
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You’re welcome. 😀
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Obviously the right answer is Icicle Village in FFVII. Think of all the snowboarding!
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Hehe I’d be more interested in seeing the northern lights ♥♥♥
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I suspect they’d be quite good at Icicle Village
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The FF9 universe is beautiful so I wouldn’t mind living there. That said the place does suffer from entire cities getting destroyed by bad guys. Maybe I would be better off living in a harem anime, where girls like plain guys such as myself 🙂
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Out of all of the FFs I think IX would be where I’d choose to live. FFVIII isn’t terrible, and they seem to have gotten technology under control, but like all the other games in the series it’s plagued by war…which isn’t dissimilar to our world so there you go!
Haha omg yes that is a common anime trope, isn’t it? The last harem anime I saw was Tenchi Muyo.
I wanted to post what fantasy world I’d most want to live in, but I honestly don’t know. FFIX is my pick for the FF series, but there’s another comment about Hyrule, which wouldn’t be too terrible either!
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I definetely wouldn’t want to live in FFVII’s world, but we’re not treating Earth so well, sadly… I still haven’t played FF9 yet! If you think my backlog list is bad, you should see my list of games I want to buy lol.
I guess I’d be living in the land of Hyrule since Zelda is my favourite series. As long as I get the Triforce before Gannon, and then maybe overthrow Zelda and take her castle, I think I’d be quite happy there. Sitting beside Lake Hylia would be very relaxing after a hard day of adventuring. I’d never want to run into a Like Like or a Redead though… Those things still creep me out.
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Ah I love Legend of Zelda! I was listening to music from that on my ride into work. Aaaand the Song of Storms just came on my phone. There’s this lady who does awesome arrangements of songs from nearly all of them. I’ll have to send you links when I’m on my computer.
Redeads are terrifying even in Wind Waker, which is supposed to look more cartoonish. It doesn’t detract from the horror. Ugh that scream 😫
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Zelda’s music is so memorable. I’d love to hear that. I liked the song that warped Link to the Fire Temple the most.
That big loud shriek, and then Link is hopelessly frozen in place as they shamble over… So horrifying! They seem like they’d be more at home in a Resident Evil game.
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Sure! One channel is RebeccaETripp, and she does amazing remixes. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCem6BWKNlfJepFHuM2ad8FQ
She does this epic Twilight Princess medley that’s one of my favorites. https://youtu.be/F7C1LWjenbQ
Then there’s probably the best version of Kakariko Village I’ve ever heard by Zzyxal (no clue where they got that name from, but they’re phenomenal). https://youtu.be/3ql5SwmZzYE
I couldn’t agree with you more about the redeads. That didn’t seem to belong in a game for children :O
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Thanks for the links. She does all kinds of great stuff! I’ll have to subscribe.
The name that seems like it was created by mashing a keyboard definitely made an awesome Kakariko Village song! It sounds so epic.
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Doesn’t it though? That’s my favorite version of K Village. I love that you can hear the other theme woven in there, too.
Talking about this reminds me of more game music wizards hehe. There’s this guy who does “melancholy” remixes of all the Final Fantasies (I discovered VII first https://youtu.be/pfE-EY2zZaY ) I save all of these because it’s great music to listen to while writing/editing. I forget where I read it, but apparently video game music is specifically designed to help you think…which makes sense if you’re trying to figure something out.
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Another one I’m subscribing to. I never thought about video game music being designed for that purpose. It makes sense. I listen to a lot of video game song remixes when I’m writing.
Besides game mixes, I’m finding electronic music in general to be really inspiring lately. I wrote so many pages just listening to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfzGd9W9sUI
I find certain songs can really awaken my creative side. Writing just isn’t as fun without epic music blasting in my ear.
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Yup game music is sort of my staple for editing tunes, though I can’t listen to certain songs like One Winged Angel, because it’s *too* epic lol, and the beat disrupts my concentration. Also I immediately start chanting in Latin, and since I’m usually writing FFVII fanfiction anyway WITH Sephiroth it’s like VII overload hehe, but more ambient songs are great. Speaking of “great,” did we ever talk about Kate the Great/Erutan? I recall mentioning her recently, but I don’t recall with whom.
I’m listening to the song right now! It’s got a sort of space travel vibe to it. I can imagine a spacecraft zipping through the cosmos, maybe there’s a battle or two hehe.
I wrote a fight scene for my original novel while listening to Nightwish’s “I Wish I Had an Angel.” So good for that. For writing I definitely like music blasting, but for editing I tend to like it a little quieter/more ambient since I often read aloud or I need to concentrate for those intricate corrections.
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Oh One Winged Angel is the most epic Final Fantasy song I’ve heard! When the choir kicks in near the end I always picture that move where he summons his devastaing attack from space. The first time I fought him it was truly an “Oh !@#$!!” moment. The second most epic FF song for me is the final battle in XIII-2, but I know you haven’t played it yet. No we haven’t talked about Kate the Great/Erutan. I’ll have to ask Google who that is.
It does sound “spacey” now that you mention it. I was writing action scenes when I was listening to it, lol.
Nightwish definitely has some inspiring music! I listened to them a lot when I was in college. When I attempt editing, I have to tone it down a bit too. I get distracted with epic music easily…
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This is the song that brought me to tears when I first heard it. https://youtu.be/1-as6Kbcj4c
She puts words to The Flowers Blooming in the Shadows from FFVII, and I’m just undone. I haven’t listened to any of her other songs yet, but I saw that she has words for IX’s Rose of May, too. Her voice is ethereal.
I used to listen to the Final Fantasy station on AOL Radio before it disappeared and I’d heard a lot of the music from FFXIII (not XIII-2 though). Like all other Final Fantasies, the music is exquisite, though I wasn’t huge on XII’s soundtrack, but there’s still always at least one to five songs that I adore.
I can write scenes with the fast paced music, but I have to edit with quieter ones hehe. Because writing the action is more just getting the words on the page and editing is puzzling out how they should fit and figuring out what the hell you did in the writing phase.
I loved the days of Tarja with Nightwish. The other singer is okay, but Tarja’s voice was perfect and made them truly opera metal. I honestly wondered if Nightwish was ever inspired by Final Fantasy because so many of their songs line up with motifs in the game (and boy are there a ton of AMVs). They do have that song that’s a Disney reference Fantasmic so it’s not TOO farfetched, but then again I know FF motifs to the core so it’s not hard to see them at work in other places!
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Oh wow… That is beautiful but incredibly sad. I know what to listen to if I need some inspiration for emotional stuff.
I agree, Tarja’s voice is irreplaceable! I can see their songs fitting in Final Fantasy games. Another awesome voice for me is Amy Lee from Evanescence. I’ve been inspired by many of their songs.
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Bring Me to Life was the very first FFVII AMV I ever saw! There’s a special place in my heart for that song, and I love and still listen to Evanescence. I even like the duet work she did with Seether, and then their inevitable after breakup song “Call Me When You’re Sober” hehe. She does this version of “Freak on a Leash” with the singer from Korn. I definitely get Final Fantasy feels with Evanescence. I think it’s a late 90s thing to be honest. That dark, melancholy, possibly apocalyptic time, but “Holding My Last Breath” is so reminiscent of Aeris I’m surprised I haven’t found an AMVs of it.
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Bring Me To Life is an amazing song! I also loved that version of Freak on a Leash. They also did their own live version of Korn’s Thoughtless, which I found to be very powerful.
One of their very first songs sends chills down my spine, and it feels like it belongs in a Final Fantasy game. There are no vocals in it, but it is still quite epic to my ears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVka-Nvwn4
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Ahhh! Yes I know this song. It’s got those whispering children at the end of it (or maybe that’s on the extended version I found), and I can definitely catch the Final Fantasy vibe in it. My conspiracy theorist senses are trying to convince me that there was some inspiration in this midst. Evanescence is from the late 90s as well hmm…
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were already AMVs for this song out there. I actually find some of the most epic songs to be completely wordless.
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Ugh, tough one! I am still not too happy with how my life is like but I want to see if I can make it work one day BUT given the chance to live in a Pokémon world or Walking Dead, both definitely sound quite exciting to me even though I probably would get bitten quite fast, I would like to try both!
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Well the Pokemon world would be cute! I would definitely nap with a Snorlax. Those guys are adorable. Have you seen the gigantic stuffed ones they’re selling now?? I want one so badly, but they’re like $500 :O
I haven’t watched the Walking Dead yet, but I’m already avoiding the Game of Thrones world for zombie reasons among other things lol.
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