<–The State of the Gamer: 9/9/21 The State of the Gamer: 10/7/21–>
<–The State of the Reader: 9/8/21 The State of the Reader: 10/6/21–>
Title: Something from the Nightside
Series: Nightside
Author: Simon R. Green
Date Added: July 1, 2017
Date Started: August 27, 2021
Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 48%
I DNF’d it the day after I posted my last SOTR. It was the cliched “two women characters who obviously hate each other” that did it for me (which makes me look like a hypocritical asshole, but it’s why I’m planning a major overhaul of my first novel so…). It’s such a problematic trope on so many levels and was just the icing on the tombstone for this book. I did check the reviews before I made my official decision and found a lot of my own critiques there. I’m at the point now where if a piece of media does not spark joy, I’m not spending more time on it.
<–The State of the Writer: 9/5/21 The State of the Writer: 10/3/21–>
Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 770
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: +94
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1
What? Drafting progrress?? An increased word count??? WHAT???!
While I didn’t fulfill my goal of drafting Chapter 1 on my two week vacation, I did at least make progress, and there’s actually a lot more done in the background. Even though I added less than 100 words, I did a lot more work with the world-building, organization, and micro-outlining. I’m also having an extreme amount of fun writing the dialogue for the main character Maya and her BFF Caemlyn. It’s this friendly, flirty banter that’s hamstrung in the beginning by the MC’s anxiety about something happening tomorrow. I’m very adamant about showing as much as possible, so I’m trying to have his reactions to her perceived grumpiness reveal that this isn’t their typical dynamic. I’m also being a presumptuous prig by doing this sort of metatextual foreshadowing (I implore you to try using that in a sentence without sounding like an elitist ass lol), and I just hope it works out. I know drafting is just supposed to be about shoveling the sand into the bucket for castle building (editing) later, but I have to make sure I”m laying the groundwork for exactly what I want to build with maybe some surprising embellishments. I do feel like I can move forward now and continue drafting (when I have the time/energy), and I actually look forward to it, too 🙂
<–The State of the Gamer: 8/26/21 The State of the Gamer: 9/23/21–>
Title: Tales of Vesperia
Series: Tales
System: Nintendo Switch
Date Started: May 23, 2021
Date Finished: September 4, 2021
I can’t sing the praises of this enough. It was so damn good. I loved how while following many of the standard JRPG tropes, it was still unique. The critiques I have about it are minor, few, and mostly have to do with the inability to organize your items lol. While the high probability of missing side events, sub-quests, and optional items is high, this isn’t a dealbreaker, and apparently, they addressed that in later titles.
<–The State of the Reader: 8/11/21 The State of the Reader: 9/22/21–>
Title: Something from the Nightside
Series: Nightside
Author: Simon R. Green
Date Added: July 1, 2017
Date Started: August 27, 2021
Media: eBook/Kindle
Progress: 48%
My interest in this has unfortunately waned the more progress I make. It had your stereotypical, trope-y, PI stuff, but I loved the way it was written. Green really captured that “hard-boiled detective” feel (even though John Taylor insists that’s not what he is). It was immediately reminiscent of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, which if you know me is…not really a compliment. I read the first and second books in that series quite a few years apart and when I got through the latter, it left a really bad, misogynistic taste in my mouth. This novel has some problems with that, but it’s not really my major issue (yet). The vibe I was getting from Taylor was more akin to John Constantine and less Harry Dresden, but I have some issues with how quickly the romance angle gets underway. I always worry I’m being a hypocrite with that since it can be really hard to know when to switch when you’re doing a sort of Enemies to Lovers thing, but here it just seems really contrived, and it’s dampening my enjoyment. I actually started reading this because I wasn’t enjoying the Le Guin book as much, and now I’m having a similar problem. I’m going to keep pushing through. I’m about halfway done, so hopefully I can finish it.
<–The State of the Writer: 8/22/21 The State of the Writer: 9/19/21–>
Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 1
I did some serious brainstorming/notetaking over the past few days, fleshing out one of the side characters. Even if it doesn’t find its way into the story, I like to have a robust background for as many people as possible. I might work on more today, since I still have some creative juices left for it.
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