Writing

The Broken Rose: Chapter 13 – A True General’s Task

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The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 12                                                                                                                                 Chapter 14–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.
CHAPTER ARTWORK DISCLAIMER:  The featured artwork is of unknown origin and source.  it has been slightly altered in appearance and to include the chapter number and title.  all rights belong to the unknown artist.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.

Aeris recovers from her newest ordeal under the general’s unwavering care.

Aeris leans against Sephiroth dressed in black who holds her from behind as they both gaze to the left. Both of them look happy. Chapter 13 – A True Genera’s Task appears in the middle left.

Aeris slept more often than not and dark dreams returned to torment.

“I have you.”  She’d hear, low and assuring, as strong arms tightened around.  Her hand was couched in one large and warm, long fingers curled over to shield.

“I’m still here…”  She’d whisper as he kissed her brow and promised his rose it was true.

With so much sleep, Aeris was terrified to forget a day in her persistent count, but Sephiroth. knowing what it meant to her, always made sure he kept track.

“What day is it, master?”  She’d reach for his hand, which he’d never deny his rose.

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The State of the Writer: 12/30/18

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 12 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 12/16/18          The State of the Writer: 1/13/19–>

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

Finished Projects: 2

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 256,067
Prior Word Count: 256,065
Word Difference: +2
Status: Editing
Progress: Chapter 13 Second Edit

Sephiroth braiding Aeris's hairIf things go well, I should have the second edit of this chapter by the end of this week.  I don’t think I’ll need a third.

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The State of the Writer: 12/16/18

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 9 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 12/2/18          The State of the Writer: 12/30/18–>

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

Finished Projects: 3

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 256,065
Prior Word Count: 255,520
Word Difference: +545
Status: Editing
Progress: Chapter 13 First Edit

I know it’s not Sephiroth’s hand she’s holding in this picture (not nearly big enough haha), but it’s still a black leather covered one with wrist guards and we’ll just go with it.  I added in the cute nail painting scene I wanted and ran through a first edit of it yesterday.  I’m still in the first edit overall so I may change some things when I go through again, but it’s going, and that’s what matters.

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The State of the Writer: 12/2/18

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 9 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/21/18          The State of the Writer: 12/16/18–>

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

Finished Projects: 5

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 255,520
Prior Word Count: 255,753
Word Difference: -233
Status: Editing
Progress: Chapter 13 First Edit

I made more progress on editing this story than I did on writing the one I’ll discuss below, but such is life.  I have a brief scene to add to Chapter 13, but preliminary assessments tell me it’s not going to be too difficult to edit and get out.

I still need to post the last few chapters on Deviant Art.  It’s the most difficult site to put fanfiction on, though.  They don’t make it easy, which is a shame.  I also need to make sure I have the permission of any Deviant Artists’ artwork I might have used, which is another complication of the site.

Project: Story Audio Recording
Title: Northern Lights
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Status: Preparation
Progress: Planning Chapter 1 recording

I am super excited I finally finished and posted the blurb.  That only took me six months #lolsob  I actually did two versions.  The one that’s up on YouTube now and another one with licensed music that I haven’t bought the subscription for yet.  It’s…kind of ironic I suppose that I have the one with copyrighted music posted (and I hope it’s considered fair use since I gave credit and I’m making no money off of it), but not the licensed.  I plan to use the site (EpidemicSound.com) for the audio recording, but I think I’m going to wait until after the holidays to purchase a yearly subscription.  What’s nice is you can download their music prior to purchasing the license to try it out, so I’d be able to put it into the recordings, but of course I won’t actually post that anywhere until I have the proper permissions.

I have a full recording of Chapter 1 on my phone, but I’m going to do another one with my better microphone (Yeti for the curious).  If my voice behaves, I’ll do some recording on Tuesday.  Right now it’s not that great, and I know it’s because of my asthma medicine.  I’m going to try gargling with salt water tonight.  If I have to, I’ll avoid taking the one med on Monday in hopes I have a voice to work with on Tuesday.

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original Novel
Current Word Count: 2408
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1/Setting up the foundation

Picture Source (Upper Left) – Autumn Fairy by JanainaArt
Picture Source (Bottom Left) – Rose in Blood by Kawaielli (Deactivated Deviant Art)

I spent NaNoWriMo plodding through the first chapter of this and I’m still not finished.  Every story I write presents a new challenge, and for this one, the main characters/love interests don’t meet until about halfway through.  I wanted to give a glimpse of the main character’s life before the horrifying inciting incident because, while readers will have a visceral reaction to the attack, it’s much worse if you know the person and what they were like beforehand and how it devastates them afterwards.

Maya is a confident and talented young woman who’s been aware of her “destiny” all of her life.  While being promised to the de facto ruler of the world might be a bit daunting, it’s never frightened her, because she lives in a world with no precedent for such.  But after the inciting incident, her point of view changes drastically.  While building the foundation is a bit boring for me (and I’ll need to brutally edit to make sure it’s not boring for any readers), it’s essential to laying the groundwork for her character prior.  At least I have a lot of this earlier part physically written down from last year’s NaNo attempt, so I have some guidelines to go on.

I’ve included drafting this into my schedule along with editing TBR and working on the audio for NL.  We shall see how it goes!

In Progress

  • Game Review: Final Fantasy V – Now that NaNo is over, I’ve put this back on my schedule.  I’m hoping to have it out before the end of the year.
  • Final Fantasy Character Assessment: Kain Highwind- Since FFVII and FFIX characters are out until I replay, I’ve made some progress with Kain’s.  I’ll probably do a switch off between IV and VI unless I attempt to tackle one of the four from V.

Yes, I’m back.  As fore mentioned NaNo wasn’t as productive as I would’ve like it to have been but that’s the way it goes.  Now that it’s December of course I’m going to be busy with holiday shenanigans, but I’m going to try to keep up with writing anyway.  Editing TBR is honestly the easier project in that category since I can just sort of hop in when I have some time and go over a paragraph or two.  Drafting a story takes more because it’s the act of creation, and while audio recording might not be as cerebral, it requires much more set up and a quiet space.

How was everyone’s November?  If you’re a fellow Stater, how was your Thanksgiving?  We still have leftovers lol.

<–The State of the Writer: 10/21/18          The State of the Writer: 12/16/18–>

The Broken Rose: Chapter 12 – Ways and Means

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 9 Comments

The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 11                                                                                                                                 Chapter 13–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.
CHAPTER ARTWORK DISCLAIMER: THE FEATURED ARTWORK FOR THIS CHAPTER IS ENTITLED aerith AND WAS CREATED BY THE Extraordinarily talented hatori0322.  THE PICTURE HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY ALTERED IN APPEARANCE AND TO INCLUDE THE CHAPTER NUMBER AND TITLE.  ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE ARTIST.  LINKS ARE INCLUDED FOR BOTH THE ARTIST’S PAGE AND THE WORK.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.

Aeris must make her biggest decision since her rescue two months ago.

Painting of Aeris/Aerith.

Painting of Aeris/Aerith. She is looking wide-eyed off to the left with very red and slightly parted lips. She has a large red rose in her long brown hair. Her eyes are a huge and vibrant green. The background is lighter green. Chapter 12 Ways and Means is in the upper left corner in a slightly darker green than the background.

Sephiroth wandered around the kitchen with his phone couched in his right hand.  Heavy boots made no sound on the floor though his hair whispered against his coat.  He could silence that, too, if he so wished, but there was no need for stealth now.  During his hunt, he’d thought of his rose and how she slept safe and secure.  He did not smile to not crack the mask, but emerald filled the darkest corners.  No monster that evening could stand a chance against a righteous protector’s wrath, and the Great General only wished it was Midgar that burned within his sight.  Not yet, the reckoning will come at its proper time. 

Continue reading →

Northern Lights Audio Recording: Blurb

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 13 Comments

It took nearly six months and it’s less than a minute, but I finally have a blurb/teaser for my Northern Lights Audio Recording project.  I still have some kinks to work out in regards to music.  There are songs I’d love to use, but since many of them are copyrighted, it might get a little hairy on YouTube.  I suppose we’re going to find out, since I made two versions of the blurb: one with copyrighted music and the other with music I’m going to buy the license for.  This post will contain the former (I haven’t purchased the license yet) and more favorite of the songs.  I’ve used it in my videos before.

Music

Artist: Enya
Song: As Baile

Images
  1. Sephiroth by Toximancy (Deviant Art Non-Active)
  2. Sephiroth Holding a Snowflake by Unknown Artist
  3. Sephiroth by RobasArel (Deviant Art)
  4. Sephiroth Dissidia by Sephy321 (Deviant Art)
  5. Sephiroth Sama by elsinrostro (Deviant Art)
  6. Sephiroth from Crisis Core screenshot
  7. Lucrecia from FFVII screenshot
  8. Lucrecia Holding Young Sephiroth by Unknown Artist
  9. Dandelions by Pchoppy (Deviant Art)
  10. Final Fantasy VII Aeris by Felix Liu

Now all of your curious people know what my “recording” voice sounds like 😀

The State of the Writer: 10/21/18

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 11 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/7/18          The State of the Writer: 12/2/18–>

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

Finished Projects: 3

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 255,753
Prior Word Count: 256,723
Word Difference: -970
Status: Editing
Progress: Second edit of Chapter 12

If all goes well, I might be able to post Chapter 12 before I go on my November NaNoWriMo hiatus.  I’ve added everything I needed to the chapter and am currently doing the second edit, looking for any proofreading or flow issues.  So far things look pretty good.  I’ll probably do a third edit since I did make some changes, and I like to go over those with fresh eyes.

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