<–The State of the Writer: 12/17/16 The State of the Writer: 12/31/16–>
A weekly post updated every Saturday discussing my current writing projects and where I stand with them. This will include any and all work(s) in progress (WIP) be they creative writing, essays/analyses, or reviews of any type.
Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 277,252
Prior Word Count: 277,650
Word Difference: -398
Status: Editing
Progress: Third edit of Chapter 7
I really hope I finish my edits of Chapter 7 this week as I’m running out of pictures. This one isn’t exactly the hairstyle I describe Aeris having, but it’s the closest I could find. The little Cetra’s is just one set of braids at the forelocks with a ribbon behind the crown, which is amazingly difficult to find, and I have no idea why. Googling “Renaissance braids” netted me the image above, but I know I’ve seen the hairstyle I’m going to describe in the quote below many times before. I always equate it to movies set in Ireland or Scotland where they wrap braided hair around the crown from the forelocks. You’d think there’d be a ready name for this, but alas there isn’t.
I will probably be doing a fourth edit of Chapter 7 since I do significant changes with every pass through. I generally edit until I’m only making minor tweaks. If I do anything major, I have to go through it again to ensure it all flows well, and last night I wound up stopping at a place where I must’ve cut a part out, but I didn’t sew the tattered ends back together *headdesk*
I’m not sure if I mentioned this last week, but someone on Deviant Art started reading and favoriting this story there. In her comment on the “Warning and Foreword,” she mentioned she was a rape/assault survivor 😦 The pressure for me not to fuck this up has increased exponentially.
Quote: He braided her hair, twin ties at the forelocks, wrapping around her crown. A bright blue ribbon adorned at the juncture where the two plaits became one. Both flowed down the waves like deep diving fish in the brightening chestnut mane. Aeris wished her hands could fly half so fast or remember the dance to bind, but they were still clumsy and held to her crown could only recall coldest chains. Sephiroth tried to reteach using his silver locks, but her fingers just slid through smooth silk. She forced her tears back in futility, and he kissed her, lamenting the past.
I’m not even going to pretend I’m working on any other writing project until the new year. There’s too much going on, and I’m just way too tired with too little time. I’m working on this while doing laundry, and afterwards I have to make cookies.
So I’m just going to say Merry Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas for tomorrow for those who celebrate, and Happy Hanukkah for those who celebrate!
What are you currently working on? Is it a creative writing project, essay, review, or something else? Have you just started something new or are you wrapping up a long term project?
<–The State of the Writer: 12/17/16 The State of the Writer: 12/31/16–>
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
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Sometimes when searching we will not be able to find and as soon as we stop the things find yourself!
Happy holidays to you 🙂 as for the creative things, currently focussing on my flat afterwards we will see 🙂
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That seems to be the way it seems to work!
You, too! They go by so quickly especially now that I’m an adult.
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Merry Christmas Adrienne!💁🏻🤗🤶🏻🎅🏻🎄☃️
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Merry Christmas to you, too, Kim!!!
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That hair! ❤
I've been re-reading TBR already, heh . . . It was a really good de-stresser after finals and before hectic travel.
I hope you've had a lovely Christmas Eve! Happy holidays!
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I love that hairstyle! I just can’t believe there’s no name for it. Like I said, I always think of Celtic culture whenever I see it because movies set in Ireland or Scotland tend to have both men and women pull that off. Since I have two long haired characters, I have to use it 🙂
I’m hoping to get out Chapter 7 by the end of the year. Aw, I’m flattered it’s interesting enough to reread. De-stressers are always good after finals (I like sangria).
Merry Christmas to you and yours, too!
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I love that hairstyle! It is odd that there is no real name for it. The editing process is quite a beast to tackle. I always get a few “WTF was I thinking?” moments when I look over my stuff, haha.
The Broken Rose covers a very difficult subject that not many authors are brave enough to write about. I’m so glad to hear your work has touched someone who went through a similar traumatic experience. No pressure! Your work is amazing so far, and comes from the heart. Just keep it going and I know more people will connect with your story.
Cookies sound tasty! 🙂 Yay for multitasking. Merry Christmas!
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Right?? I have to look for it by association, which makes it so difficult to find. The WTF was I thinking moments seem to come more often the deeper I go. I really have no idea why the hell I didn’t bother to tie those two parts together, and I’m hoping I can figure out the best way to do so. Thankfully, I email myself the story often, so I can always review an earlier, unedited version to see what it was originally.
I always ride the line between wondering if I should be talking about this (I should. I know it inherently) and whether and whether or not the medium is appropriate. Like are people going to get judgy for me “preaching” through fanfiction, but then I think about how it’s an AU world where I ask “What if?” and I also inherently know it’s valid.
I just made another two dozen! Not that I need any, but the dough WAS just sitting in the fridge…
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That’s another thing that scares me about editing. What if I actually make things worse and forget what it was prior to my meddling? I know you’ll find a great way to tie things together. I like your method of keeping earlier unedited versions of your work.
I really think you should be talking about this too, and a fan fiction is a great medium for it. Survivors of such brutal acts in the real world need a story to relate to, and not many stories with this difficult subject matter exist. People will honestly get judgy for just about anything. No matter what you do, some idiot out there will criticize you for it.
Now I can’t stop thinking about cookies. You had no other choice! That poor dough needed to fulfill its destiny.
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Save a copy of the original so you can always go back to square one! You won’t make things worse, and you can always refer back to it prior to editing. It’s always a good idea to keep several versions. I’m super paranoid so every time I wrote, I emailed myself. I’ve lost work before and that’s just devastating D:
It was one sentence lol. I needed to add in one sentence to fix things. I think i was just too tired when I was looking at it before.
I agree. I think it’s because I’ve heard so much flak about fanfiction, which is utter crap. It’s really just another “what if” situation, and it’s not like Aeris wasn’t threatened by AND subjected to violence in the game, nor am I the first person to have that particular violence happen to her.
Omg it’s so true. I mean this is just proven by existing on the internet. There can be a post about how adorable kittens are, and some idiot in the comments will say something utterly vile. I remember I was looking at an article about the British royal babies George and Charlotte, and it was just pictures of them. Of course there was some negative nonsense, and it’s like, I get that you don’t like the monarchy, but Charlotte is like two months old! How are you being this vile to an infant?? Grrr, humans make me grumpy.
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Wise advice! I would be completely devastated if I ever lost any of my work. I don’t even what to think about it 😦
Woohoo! I love easy fixes. I find that sometimes I just need a break from things I’m working on in order to think more clearly. Does this mean Chapter 7 is coming soon? 🙂
Midgar is a cruel place! It’s not a stretch at all that something so heinous would happen there.
The British royal family is quite capable of stirring the hornet’s nest here. Canada is still technically part of the monarchy, and a lot of angry people want to cut ties with them completely. There’s a reason I refuse to look at the YouTube comments section anymore. Even a video about kittens chasing string can have several flame wars going on. These silly humans make me grumpy too…
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I’m hoping today that I will get my review of The Hero of Ages done and posted. 🙂
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Yeah, one of my favorite parts of the holidays finally coming to an end is that life begins to return to normalcy, which means more time for projects like writing! 🙂 I’m pretty much in the same boat as far as realizing the holidays were just too busy to get as much writing done as I’d like to. I wound up just kind of brain storming and writing plot points here and there as they popped into my head during the past couple weeks. Here’s to lots of writing in 2017!! 😀
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Brainstorming plots is nothing to sneeze at! I’m working on an end of year wrap up/new year planning post. If I say/write it, I’m way more likely to do it 🙂
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Nice! I look forward to reading it. 🙂
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