Writing

The State of the Writer: 5/20/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 4/22/18          The State of the Writer: 5/20/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 6

Book Reviews: Master of Crows by Grace Draven – 5/7/18
Tags: The WIP Tag – 5/8/18
Game Reviews: Paper Mario Color Splash – 5/10/18
Awards: Mystery Blogger Award #4 – 5/10/18
Book Reviews: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #1) – 5/16/18
Book Reviews: The Diamond Tree by Michael Matson – 5/19/18

It was a productive two weeks 🙂

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,336
Prior Word Count: 261,419
Word Difference: -83
Status: Revising
Progress: First edit of Chapter 5

Quill pen with shadowI made some good progress in these last two weeks and am currently halfway through the first edit of the 5th chapter (that is a lot of numbers).  I think once I finish this I’ll be able to continue with my regular editing and posting schedule…after I consult my checklist of course 😉

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The WIP Tag

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The Tag Catch Up Project continues.  I’ve also been deleting some of the older ones that I wasn’t directly tagged in that are sadly out of date (like one for 2017.  I’m seriously that late, alas), so there’s less to get through, but you know a narcissist like me can’t resist talking about her own writing so here we are.  This was found on Pretty Deadly Reviews, which consists of a duo of bloggers who are both very pretty and very deadly exactly as they claim.  I’m glad they left this tag open for anyone to snatch up.

I’m working on several thing as most of you know, but for this I’m going to use the original novel I started working for NaNoWriMo 2017.  I’m hoping the more I write about it, the harder I’ll try to figure out when I can actually work on it.

1. What is the working title of your book?

The High Archon.  It was originally called The High Lord, but the character who owns that title is much more than a lord (high or not).  I usually figure out a title before I start writing, but this one might possibly change since the story’s focus is technically on another character, but the titular one is important, too.  I’ll make that determination when I start writing.

2. Where did the idea come from?

This story is the reason I wrote The Broken Rose to go into overdrive on the horrible paradigm I needed to write about, but the characters have been with me for a very long time.  They’re from the first novel I wrote that’s still unpublished just in slightly different roles.  I love to shuffle around character roles and motifs.  It gives me something familiar to work with in different settings.  This may also be why I love writing fanfiction so much.  Creating “what if” situations for familiar characters is an enjoyable mental exercise.

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The State of the Writer: 5/6/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 4/22/18          The State of the Writer: 5/20/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 4

Tags: 10 Things That Make Life Worth Living – 4/24/18
Awards: Liebster Award #4 – 5/3/18
Tags: The Writer’s Tag – 5/3/18
Book Reviews: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau – 5/5/18

Two tags and one award out of the way means I can check three things off of that combined list.  The book review took so much longer than I anticipated, and I now want to do a book to movie comparison.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,419
Prior Word Count: 261,491
Word Difference: -72
Status: Revising
Progress: Third edit of Chapter 3

Black and white drawing of Aeris/Aerith

No source available

I might be done this revision sooner than anticipated.  I was trying to remember why the hell I’d decided to do it anyway, and thankfully I was smart enough to leave myself a checklist of what I wanted to update.  It seems as though there were portions of the beginning I wanted to change for better accuracy.  This leads me to believe the chapters after 4 may not really need an update, though I am finding I’m doing more refined editing as I go through.  which is never a bad thing.  I’m hoping I can convince the perfectionist side of myself that I don’t need to go over the first 10 chapters (again) with a fine-toothed comb, but she’s a stubborn bitch, so I hope she can be persuaded.

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The Writer’s Tag

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In my continuing trek to catch up to all the awards and tags on my list, we come to this Writer’s Tag by The Writing Hufflepuff.  I wasn’t specifically tagged in it, but she was gracious enough to open it to all who desired, so I saved the link and managed to get to it before a year had passed.

What genres, styles, and topics do you write about?

Dark fantasy ruins

Dark Fantasy Ruins

I write dark fantasy and paranormal romance for both original stories and fanfiction as most of you already know.  My prose is as purple as the indigo in a rainbow, but I think much of the critique around that has to do with stylistic choice.  I grew up reading and loving eloquent descriptions, which now form the basis of my own writing.

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10 Things That Make Life Worth Living

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Update: I was also tagged in this by Gamers United, so I wanted to include a link to that lovely blog, too 🙂

It’s not a year yet since I was tagged in this by Athena from AmbiGaming, so I…win?  Not that there’s a contest hehe.

Anyway…I believe other bloggers were calling this “10 Things That Make Me Happy” or “10 Happy Thoughts,” but I don’t think that’s appropriate for me.  I’ll try to explain this as best I can, and I hope people won’t see it as something negative or needing pity, but I don’t really do happiness.  Like, I’m not a happy person.   Now granted, if you ever met me (and of course if I never told you this), you wouldn’t suspect it in the least.  I’ve been told I’m very pleasant to be around, which is because I tend to not be social on my bad days. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy things in life, nor does it mean I don’t feel things intensely (oh the feels are strong in this one); it’s more like the things I do, I do because they make me feel fulfilled and accomplished like I’m doing something.  I write because if I don’t, I won’t be able to get the stories, essays, metas, analyses, etc. out of my head.  I blog because I have things to say and the internet allows me to have my own place to say them.  It also gives me a medium to display my writing.  I play video games because they make me feel like I’m accomplishing something, and I can write about them.  I read because I love stories (yes, it really does all come back to stories/writing).  I do things that are enjoyable because I’d be less fulfilled and sadder if I didn’t do them, but I can’t say they make me happy, but that’s okay.  I don’t know if this is a common trait of people with depression or if it’s maybe an INFJ thing, but the binary of happy/unhappy is fallacious and harmful.  Here’s the Oatmeal saying it far better than I ever could.

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The State of the Writer: 4/22/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 4/8/18          The State of the Writer: 5/6/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 2

Book Review: The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare – 4/21/18
List: Games Alive – 4/22/18

Ugh…the Games Alive list posted in February because I accidentally published it back then before it was completed.  I forgot WordPress keeps the original publication date unless you schedule it.  I was wondering why the hell I wasn’t seeing it recently.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,491
Prior Word Count: 261,548
Word Difference: -57
Status: Revising
Progress: Second edit of Chapter 3

My hunt for this picture’s source revealed that this is not technically one of Sephiroth, but rather of someone else who shares similar features.  I think it looks a great deal like him with blue lilies in his hair, so I’m going to allow it.

Something very interesting happened to me recently.  I received a contact from someone who thought I was the author of The Broken Orrery, the best written fanfiction I’ve ever read, written CymbelinesHalo.  It’s been over a year since she updated, and the message I received asked if I was the author as they implored me to please remedy this.  I was quite flattered that someone had mistaken me for this writing genius, but I had to set the record straight and inform them that I was the author of Northern Lights (TBR isnt on Fanfiction.net; it’s way outside of their draconian censorship stipulations), and I, too, was waiting with bated breath for TBO to be updated.  They haven’t gotten back to me, so I hope their disappointment wasn’t too heartfelt.

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The State of the Writer: 4/8/18

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 9 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 3/25/18          The State of the Writer: 4/22/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 3

Game Review: Rakuen – 3/27/18
Book Review: Dweller by Jeff Strand – 4/7/18
Game Review: What Remains of Edith Finch – 4/8/18

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,548
Prior Word Count: 261,564
Word Difference: -16
Status: Revising
Progress: Finished first edit of Chapter 3

I finished the first (re)edit of Chapter 3 this week.  I think one more should do it before I move onto the next.  It’s funny.  I was a bit frustrated this weekend because I cleaned a bit on Saturday, which led to a 3-4 hour pass out, but apparently making these posts every other week means I yield more progress hehe.

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