<–The State of the Writer: 6/25/17 The State of the Writer: 7/9/17–>
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: 266,754
Prior Word Count: 267,254
Word Difference: -500
Status: Editing
Progress: 3rd edit of Chapter 10
It amazes me how the smallest change to a story can have a momentous effect, and I’m not even talking about tweaking a plot point. Deciding what Sephiroth was going to do with his coat in one scene means I have to make sure the text following abides by that decision. When he was wrapping it around Aeris, that means the cuffs of his shirt are more accessible, but if he’s wearing the coat, she’s probably not going to be able to unbutton them, unless the stick out past his coat, which they don’t because the coat covers his wrists. One little change and you have to ensure that what follows reflects that.
I was too tired for two nights in a row, so I wasn’t even able to work on it, but when I finally sat down to edit, I realized it wasn’t going to be quite as difficult as I suspected. There are parts of the scene where she has her hands on his black shirt, and I initially thought “How the hell am I going to change all of that?? I need to rethink the entire scene D:” Then I remembered that he could just unbutton his coat and everything would be much easier *headdesk* This is why you don’t edit tired or drunk.
Unfortunately, since I’ve made significant changes this time around, and I may make more since I’m also rethinking the nightmare scene I wrote later in the chapter, I’m going to have to do a 4th edit. Usually though, by the time I get to that point, it’s just a read-through so long as everything flows properly. Let us hope.
Note on the quote (hooray for the rhyme!). There were quite a few “simple” terms I had to look up in order to figure out how to describe them to a person who’d forgotten due to trauma. “General” was one of those terms. It’s funny how you have a working knowledge of what something means, but when asked to describe it, you often balk.
Quote: “What does ‘general’ mean, master?” She ran her digits along his thumb.
The sigh lifted his chest as she shut her eyes, gently moved by sorrow’s breath. “It was my once designation, little flower, a very long time ago. A general is…the highest ranked officer in…a military operation.”
Project: Book Review
Title: A Court of Mist and Fury
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Status: Drafting
I only set this up this weekend and wrote a few words about how this book forced me to eat crow. It’s the first time I’ve ever read a series where the second book not only made me rethink the first book, but also endeared me to the series against what I felt about the initial novel. I’m glad I listened to my friends Kat and Megan (whom I promise I haven’t forgotten about your email! It’s still sitting in my inbox, and I’m not ignoring you D:) and continued on with it, because I would’ve missed out on a great journey whose ending still remains to be seen in A Court of Wings and Ruin, which I’m right in the middle of.
I am deathly afraid that someone very important isn’t going to survive, and I’ll be heartbroken if I’m reading the signs right. I hope Maas is one for mostly happy endings, because frankly I’d love to see Rhysand and Feyre become High King and High Queen of Prythian after Hybern is overthrown with the other High Lords deferring to them.. He is the most powerful High Lord the world has ever seen, and there are many other reasons why they’d make the best rulers. They’ve both seen the other side of things, and that gives them the best perspective.
Project: Book Reviews
Title: Various
Status: Planning
I’m now ten reviews in the hole. I finished (or DNFed) a shit ton of books in the past few days, so I added even more to my backlog. In order:
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (in progress)
- Saga: Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples
- Saga: Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples
- Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
- Saga: Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
- Elijah Dart by Jonathan L. Ferrara (DNF)
- An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
- Nightshade City by Hilary Wagner (DNF)
- Talon by Julie Kagawa
- Saga: Volume 7 by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples
I’m off work tomorrow and Tuesday, and I’m not doing a goddamn thing in terms of going on. I did that yesterday and today. Tomorrow is time to sleep in, clean the litter boxes, take a walk/exercise, maybe clean the living room, and play catch up again. I may set up my Xbox Live account, and I need to figure out if me and my husband can share a PS Plus account, because I don’t want to have to purchase my own, but I don’t want to have to have him sign onto my PS3. Yeah, I know this is the State of the Writer, but I’m a writing gamer/gaming writer; there’s really no separating it. It’s very possible that my love of video games inspired my love of writing, since I’ve been writing since the age of six, but I’ve been playing video games since the age of three.
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: 6/25/17 The State of the Writer: 7/9/17–>
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
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Depends on what you’re trying to do. If one of you has a plus account on a system the other can use everything else the plus person owns, but the plus person will have to do the downloading of the thing on their account first.
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So I’d be able to access what he has on plus through my own PS3? That’s pretty much what we’re trying to figure out. I bought a bunch of games through it on his PS4 for the PS3 (at the time I didn’t realize they could only be played on the PS3), so they’re probably accessible through *his* PS3, but the whole reason I bought my own was so I could play the system whenever I wanted in the other room. I *was* going to just move his system, because he doesn’t play it, but he was being stubborn about that. I mean if I have to, I’ll get my own PS Plus account, but since he already has one, I wouldn’t think I’d need to, and I could just piggyback on it since we live in the same house.
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Ooh on 2 different ps3s? Hm. That might be a bit trickier. Looking it up briefly, Supposedly this can be done too but it’s going to require some messing around with accounts.
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Aw thanks for looking it up! Yeah, that’s my worry. I don’t think you have another person on your Plus account, but it’s weird because if I sign into the store, I can get his discount.
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In regards to the PS Plus account, I have my own profile off my husband’s but I cannot do anything online without purchasing my own PS Plus account. 😦
Don’t solidly quote me on this but I’m pretty sure I’m correct. I wanted to try my hand at Call of Duty and had to get a free 3 day account to play. I’m really glad I didn’t buy it because I suck at that game. 😛
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That’s what it is. I have a profile on my husband’s, too. Damn, looks like I might be getting my own. I’m wondering if I can move my stuff from his to mine now though.
Do you want a copy of it anyway?? Did I ask this already? Let me now if you do, because I’m not a fan of warfare games or FPSes (I, too, would suck at it lol).
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Enjoy your two earned days of doing nothing. Sounds like paradise!
I know video games definitely inspired me to write! I have fond memories of my Grade 1 teacher telling me to write about something other than Yoshi’s Island in my little journal thingy, or she’d take points off. The damn oppressive bureaucrat didn’t respect video games…
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Doesn’t she know that David Tennant did nothing but write Doctor Who fanfiction for his papers, and now he IS the doctor. *rolls eyes* Freaking dream crushing teachers.
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Well now I have my own website where I ramble about video games as much as I want. Take that teacher whose name I don’t even remember now!! 🙂
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Talk about how NOT to get yourself remembered or remain relevant :p
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You’ve got a lot of upcoming reviews I’m really excited to read! 😀
My boyfriend went on a Saga shopping spree and wound up buying volumes 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 so I binge-read all the way up to seven when I stayed with him for the holiday weekend. OMG, so damn good!! It practically killed me not to be able to read volume 7 before we had to head out for 4th of July festivities. (He says I’m terrible because I always read his comics before he even gets a chance to.) lol
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9 more to go D: I just posted one tonight, but I have so many more. Granted some of them are DNF so they shouldn’t take *as* long (theoretically).
Speaking of reviews, I have two Saga volumes next on my list hehe. Ack! I can’t wait until you read 7. I”ll keep my mouth shut until then.
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Woo!! I could read Saga reviews all day, every day. lol It’s such a fun series to talk about! 😀
Good luck with all the review writing. You’ve got this!! 🙂
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There’s a Saga wiki! Since sometimes it’s a while between me finishing a book and reviewing it, I might forget some detail I didn’t take a note on. I keep meaning to proofread the Volume 4 review I have in my drafts, and things just keep coming up *grumble*
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Oh yeah, a Saga wiki would be fantastic for looking up some stuff for your review. I know what you mean, I just read them but since I binge read them a lot of the events blur together for me. I have to be really careful as my boyfriend reads it and talks about it so I don’t spoil anything by mistake. I came really close when he was talking about vol. 2’s cliffhanger. I barely caught myself. I would have felt terrible. lol Good luck with the review proofread! Can’t wait to read it. 🙂
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It really does blur together no matter how many notes I take, and I think my reviews are more just me gushing over how much I love the series lol. I’m okay with that though :p
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Haha, yeah, I think that is a fair thing to do when reviewing Saga. 😛 How could one not just gush about how great it is? lol
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Aw, please don’t worry about the email thing! I’ve been so busy/distracted myself that I am way behind on my communications. 🙂
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I actually replied on the 4th 🙂 Since I was off that day I had some time.
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Ack, I’m so sorry! Will get back to you asap.
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No worries! I’ve been absolutely swamped with emails lately. I’ve pretty much given up on catching up lol. I just go through what I can, check the blogs I can, and answer what I can when I can.
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