<–The State of the Writer: 4/16/17 The State of the Writer: 4/30/17–>
A weekly post updated every Sunday 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: 267,782
Prior Word Count: 268,990
Word Difference: -1208
Status: Editing
Progress: 3rd edit of Chapter 9
I briefly considered this for the chapter cover picture, but Aeris looks way too carefree, as you’ll see/understand when/if you read the chapter.
Last night I stayed up until around 3:00 writing summaries for all of the chapters up to and including 9, because AO3 has a place for chapter summaries, and I thought that would be nice to do. Now, it’s just a matter of updating all of this information here, on tumblr,, and on Deviant Art. I’ve also done some tweaking of earlier chapters, so I want to repost those with the updates.
There will more than likely be a fourth edit of Chapter 9, because I’ve done some significant fixes, not story-wise, just in how it sounds/flows. It’s truly amazing how you can edit something numerous times and still miss things. Whenever I do more than just change a word or two per paragraph, I always want to go back through it one more time to make sure it goes over properly. I suppose I could change my editing methods to go back through what I edited the day before (which is how I did The Serpent’s Tale), but in all honesty, I haven’t found much difference in the number of errors I find or the time it takes. Each edit does become easier in terms of I do more reading-through than editing each time, but editing reading is still different from regular reading.
Quote: “Couples, master?” Aeris asked, and Sephiroth frowned then to consider.
“Yes, it means two people who are together.”
“Are we a couple then?”
His brow furrowed deeper. “I suppose we are, my Aeris. I protect you and ensure you’re safe, and…you make me incredibly happy.” He blinked once, gazing down. “You bring meaning to my life, little one…” The Cetra sighed as she leaned against him and her smile tore the threads of his heart.
Project: Game Review
Title: World of Final Fantasy
Status: Drafting
Current Word Count: 3462
Prior Word Count: 2499
Word Difference: +963
I added in information about the actual battle mechanics, which I forgot to do when I first wrote the Gameplay section. I also made significant progress on the Story section. I don’t know why the hell I thought it wouldn’t be elaborate. This is Final Fantasy! The Wikipedia entry on it specifically leaves much to be desired. It only gives bare bones, so I’m hoping my memory can fill in the blanks. I want to e able to talk about it in my special long-winded way, so I need to lay down the story adequately enough to do so.
I was going to work on the review before doing this update, but I’m one sleepy Narcissist today. I had an awesome outing yesterday with two of my old coworkers who were kind of my old managers, too lol. We went traipsing around the King of Prussia mall ending up right back at the place we originally had breakfast for coffee and dessert. If you ever have the chance to have a honey, vanilla latte at the Grand Lux Cafe (or anywhere I suppose. Starbucks probably makes something like that) TAKE IT. So good. After mani/pedis, we parted, but decided that a bimonthly reunion wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. Since I’m an introvert, it’s refreshing to have people who don’t drain my energy. I left tired, but in a great mood, but the former meant I had to skip another event that night. Alas, such is life.
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: 4/16/17 The State of the Writer: 4/30/17–>
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
Pingback: The State of the Writer: 4/16/17 | The Shameful Narcissist Speaks
That’s a very cute picture of the Great General and amazing flower girl! Based on what I’ve read in your epic story so far, I already agree that she seems too carefree in that pic though. She has been through so much 😦
Honey vanilla lattes sound awesome! I’m glad you had fun with your old buddies. That’s how I can tell who my true friends are – the people who don’t drain my IRL NRG 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everyone has been so astute with that! I could see that being a picture for Northern Lights, but not this story. Way too many terrible things have happened. Maybe in a hundred more years?
It was soooo good. I might go back there this Friday and get another one. I can probably talk my brother into going to brunch lol. it’s so true, and it’s not like I dislike people who drain IRL NRG, it’s just that being around lots of people all the time is like going on multiple FFBE quests :p
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really love the phrase ‘tore the threads of his heart’, very evocative.
I completely relate to being able to read something many times and still miss obvious flaws. If I read aloud then I am better at seeing typos, but problems with pacing or characters being inconsistent I don’t spot until some time has passed. I once read a Jodi Piccoult book, where one of her main characters changed his entire job half way through the book without explanation – I guess she just didn’t spot the mistake, that makes me feel better about all the goofs I do. 🙂
I’m not sure I’m going to risk a honey vanilla latte, it sounds like the kind of thing I would end up drinking until I feel sick, and then want another one half an hour later – I have enough of that with icecream 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! In my head I’ll often imagine characters like that with literal black threads holding their hearts together. It’s a pretty cool gothic image. There’s a few times I’ve envisioned them or someone else sewing up the wounded heart, which is just a wee bit morbid hehe.
It really does encourage the whole beta reading idea, I’ll say that, because someone else will be able to pick up on things you just consistently miss. I read aloud, too, and it is much better at catching things. You pay more attention when you read aloud an actually look more a the whole word unless with regular reading.
Whoa…that is a major editing miss hehe. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I missed the transition when things are that blatant.
It was so damn good. Way sweeter than I’m used to though. I can drink coffee black though I prefer one sugar packet and a little bit of cream, and you’re not the only one with an ice cream addiction :p
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ice cream is good! 😀 I didn’t know it was called beta-reading, is that reading aloud? Very useful. 🙂
Love the gothic imagery – sewing up a wounded heart, brilliant!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh! Beta reading is when you get someone else to read your work before you publish it. Sorry for the confusion! I don’t think the reading aloud has a name per se. I think it’s called beta reading in the same vein as beta testing. That way you have some fresh eyes on your work and they can potentially pick up things you might have missed. I used to swap with my one friend, and we’d give each other feedback.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aha! Thank you for clarifying 🙂 . Friends who write are very useful for that – I’d be sunk without it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seriously. That other perspective has helped me out so many times.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the picture… It does seem like it would go with a much different iteration of the Sephiroth/Aeris pairing, though. I can’t wait to read the next chapter!!
Me? Oh, I’m finishing the (final!!!!!!!) edits of my thesis, and catching up with my blog posts. I’ll also eventually be starting to edit my play again, to see if I can get it good enough for a community theater to put it up!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those were my thoughts exactly! I could see it in my prior story Northern Lights where she’s much more carefree, but not this one.
Yay! Congratulations! You must feel much more relieved now that the goalpost is in sight. I swear catching up on blog posts is like another job hehe. I’ve been behind myself for some reason. I usually can clear them all out by the weekend, but I was busy on Saturday, and just that one day behind means I’m still behind. Then today I came home from work and took a nap, so I just finished posted my weekly gaming update. Adulting is hard.
Good luck with your play! That would be amazing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The State of the Writer: 4/30/17 | The Shameful Narcissist Speaks