The State of the Writer: 10/16/22

<–The State of the Writer: 10/2/22         The State of the Writer: 10/30/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 2


Project: Story/Series
Working Title:
The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress:
Working on language details

The last few weeks have been spent figuring out surname naming conventions for different groups with regards to marriage.  Since I work better when I have examples to use, I had to make up last names for said groups, and those last names had to make sense in terms of the groups’ cultures/background.  I do like that in working on one worldbuilding aspect, I can solidify others.

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy VI – Part 4 Music and Conclusion

Start Here

<–Part 3


Music

Final Fantasy VI has one of the best soundtracks of not only any Final Fantasy, but it  also easily tops the video game music charts.  It’s what got me into VG music and had me making separate save files before certain scenes so I could listen to Nobuo-san’s masterpieces over and over again.  This was decades before game music was readily available (I’m dating myself…and why wouldn’t I?  I’m awesome!), and even when they started publishing it on CDs, they were still hard to come by as imports and also very expensive.

FFVI was my introduction to the concept of the leitmotif, which is a  short, recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, or idea.  It’s usually credited to Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, but he’s not its originator nor did he himself use those terms (also Wagner was a proto-Nazi i.e. would’ve been a Nazi if Nazis had existed, so I kind of put him in the same wheelhouse as H. P. Lovecraft in terms of shitty but sadly relevant, but I digress), and Nobuo-san (who is delightful) used such a concept masterfully to not only give each character in the game a theme, but also tied certain themes, like Locke’s and Celes’, together.

Let’s start with the beginning “Omen,” though, which is the piece that plays as the game loads.  It serves as a nice bookend to “Dancing Mad,” the final boss music, and both songs are reminiscent of Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” (and I’m talking about more than just the famous opening) with that Gothic church music motif.

Lots of YouTube links incoming:

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy VI – Part 3 Story Analysis

Start Here

<–Part 2                                                                                                                                                         Part 4–>


Story Analysis

Final Fantasy VI is a tale of two sides, a common theme in the series, those sides being Celes and Terra; ice and fire; general and slave.  But deconstructing the dichotomy shows how even the former was in bondage long before she was imprisoned in South Figaro.

Final Fantasy VI has long been lauded for numerous things, but a major facet of this praise centered around it being one of the few games of that era to have a female MC, and VI boasted two.  While it can be argued there is no main character, since VI allows the player to pick and choose who to include (within reason), rewarding them with extra scenes if certain people are brought along, the World of Balance and World of Ruin beginning with Terra and Celes respectively is not mere happenstance.

Both parts of the game begin with protagonists whose names mean “earth” and “heaven” with the first focusing on the mundane realm of war and political machinations until it culminates in the heroes literally miles above the ground on a floating continent.  The second half then features with a character whose moniker refers to the celestial realm gathering everyone together in order to cast down a false god and restore the balance of earth and heaven.

As above, so below.

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy VI – Part 2 Story Synopsis

Start Here

Part 3–>


Author’s Note: I was going to include the Story Analysis here, too, but that would’ve made this section way too long, defeating the purpose of breaking up the review anyway.


Story Synopsis

World of Balance
After the War of the Magi reduced the world to a scorched wasteland, magic (the equivalent of WMDs in our world) ceased to be.  People forgot it ever existed ,eventually rebuilding with technology, which is why Terra, born with the gift of magic, is a major catalyst for the narrative and the reason her existence is such a game changer for the resistance.

Terra Brandford by Amano on black background

Terra Branford by Amano

The story opens with the fore-named without one (it’s literally ???????) and two imperial soldiers, Biggs and Wedge (eternal Star Wars reference) looking down on the mining city of Narshe.  Narshe is significant not only for narrative purposes, but also for being the one town found in a mountain crevice.  The only other such places are caves or dungeons.  The soldiers and the unnamed girl are riding what’s revealed to be Magitek Armor, granting them untold military prowess, which quickly explains how the Empire conquered so much of the world.

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy VI – Part 1 Introduction and Gameplay

Final Fantasy Reviews

<–Final Fantasy V                                                                                                           Final Fantasy VII–>

This is the part of a long-term project to play and review/analyze all the Final Fantasy games.  Whenever possible, I will play the original version, but in cases where it’s not available and/or there are time constraints, I’ll use a port and/or watch a Let’s Play, both of which contingencies will be indicated in the review.  Ideally, I will attempt to play a portion so that I can remark more accurately on the gameplay experience.  These will be long-form reviews with detailed plot analyses, so please be wary if you do not want spoilers.

Author’s Note: This took me over two years to write and edit, and it’s over 25k words, which I think is way too long for one post.  I love longform reviews, but I find them difficult to read in one sitting, so I’ve broken this up into parts with links to each.


Final Fantasy VI was my first Final Fantasy, and like the game narratives themselves, one could say I began them in media res.  When I first saw the ending at age fourteen, it was so joyful and full of promise the excess (at least for a time) rubbed off on me.  While I hold up Final Fantasy VII as my pinnacle narrative, that’s (partially) because I revel in grief.  Before that and other tragedies, FFVI represents what could have been.  Trauma muddles your memory, especially when what comes to pass happens around the time your age changes, and Final Fantasy VI makes a sharp, almost mocking, delineation dividing childhood and forced maturity, a line between hope and despair.

Final Fantasy VI Banner

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The State of the Writer: 10/2/22

<–The State of the Writer: 9/18/22         The State of the Writer: 10/16/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 1


Project: Story/Series
Working Title:
The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress:
Updating background information on Scrivener

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to work on next.  I’ve finished the pages for the major characters, and I made one for all the pronouns in the Rava language (I had a spreadsheet already of course).  I’ve been trying to work on better organizing the Pinterest boards since things seem out of sorts, and I’m also updating the name pronunciation guide and term glossary on Scrivener.

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The State of the Writer: 9/18/22

<–The State of the Writer: 9/4/22         The State of the Writer: 10/2/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0


Project: Story/Series
Working Title:
The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress:
Updating background information on Scrivener

I finally finished torturing my MC along with completing the history of the world/kingdom I suppose.  The latter is kind of split amongst several Scrivener pages since it has to do with a demographic as well as several characters.  I may wind up compiling all of the notes into one history document.  It might help me figure out some loose ends, too, who can say.

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The State of the Writer: 9/4/22

<–The State of the Writer: 8/21/22         The State of the Writer: 9/18/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 1


Project: Story/Series
Working Title:
The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress:
Updating background information on Scrivener

By SilviaMarti (Deactivated DA Account)

I decided my male MC wasn’t suffering enough, so I made things worse before they got better?  I can’t really say better.  It’s more just less bad?  Or probably more eventually you get used to the pain.  Anyway, I ran into another slight snag in needing to know what’s going on in the background, so I’m working on that right now.  It’s actually making the series title more relevant so I can’t complain.

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The State of the Writer: 8/21/22

<–The State of the Writer: 8/7/22         The State of the Writer: 9/4/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0


Project: Story/Series
Working Title:
The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress:
Updating background information on Scrivener

“The Sorrowful Lord”

I’ve spent the last week or so thinking up new ways to torture the above character, my poor main, “dark angel” Uriel. I’m very much a “make them suffer for their happy ending” type of writer even after the happy ending, because happiness doesn’t last; joy is a lie, and all shall end in despair.  I even wrote a poem about it, buuuut I’m not willing to share that yet haha.  After I finished writing about how I was going to torture him, I had to sign off for the evening, because it cut a bit close to the bone (…also literally).  There’s self-mutilation for reasons that would make anyone sad.  This was all in service of bridging the gap between my first novel and the WIP.  I had notes on it, but more details needed to be fleshed out.

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The State of the Writer: 8/7/22

<–The State of the Writer: 7/24/22         The State of the Writer: 8/21/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0


Project: Story/Series
Working Title:
The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress:
Updating character pages on Scrivener

This might be a bit bare bones this week because you have a grumpy TSN.  I stayed up until six this morning watching small animal vlogs and I didn’t wake up until seven so I’m cranky, hungry, sore, and out of sorts.  Anyway, let’s get this done.

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