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mobile edition| Lynx Klaw |
Author has written 6 stories for Pitch Black / Riddick, Teen Titans, and Fairy Tales. Lynx Klaw Welcome to my literary retreat! About Me: First off, I’m Lynx. (This message brought to you by Captain Obvious) There are ten parts to this profile. Book Interests: The Sholan Alliance Novels by Lisanne Norman Comic/Graphic Novels/Manga Interests: Batman Anime/Cartoon/TV Series Interests: Armitage III: Poly-Matrix OAV Movie Interests: A Few Good Men Videogame Interests: Armored Core Series Author Status: NEWEST - 04-14-12 You see, my computer was having some major troubles. Internet connections were apparently okay, but I couldn't download or upload anything without it corrupting. Youtube and other streaming video sites were failing to load their videos and often the video would stall and fail whenever it did manage to play--and that would happen repeatedly every few seconds, requiring me to refresh the page just to see a video. I couldn't manage file transfers on AIM without them failing (at 99%, no less! Gah!!). In short, my computer was going FUBAR on teh internetz. It might have been my network card, it might have been the OS, or it coulda been any other number of things. Whatever the case, I needed to really fix it. So I spent a good, long while backing up all my files. My PC is custom built, I should mention, and thusly there's no manufacturer I can simply ship it off to and make them fix it for me. So this was all on me. I wiped the machine down to the ground--wiped the OS, deleted the hard drive's partitions, even flashed the BIOS back to factory standard. I brainwashed the bitch. So, I reloaded my clean Vista 64 onto it. Well... I went about updating the thing, but something went wrong again! An update kept failing... and then several more updates continued to fail. After my dad and I sat down with it for a full day trying to figure it out, we finally gave up. I wiped the PC ... again... And this time, when I reinstalled Windows, things appeared to be working just fine. The updates went by fairly quickly and I'm enjoying my PC once more! However... it was utterly void of all my usual programs! So I've been reinstalling the programs, but some of them had updates to make to them. Newer versions were out on the net that I needed or wanted. That took time, too. I still don't have all the programs I had before, sadly. I'm still striving for some of them. In addition, there's the matter of my games. I haven't installed as many games as I had last time. I don't want to drag my system down. For now, my saved games and other game installers are on the 500 gig external hard drive that I use as my back-up (my computer uses a 1 TB hdd). Now... here's the bit that's important to you guys! My stories are not currently transferred over to the PC, yet. All my writings are still on the external hard drive. I got Win Word loaded on here, but I've been holding off on transferring anything over. I wanted to wait and see if my PC could take everything I needed/wanted on it without any conflicts or problems. So far, it's been going swimmingly. File transfers work, streaming videos work, downloads work... Things are looking good! I have declared the testing phase is over and I now feel that my PC is stable enough to put things back on it without fear of it spontaneously crashing on me or necessitating me to wipe it and reinstall Windows a third time. Even though I haven't been posting updates here on FFnet, I have still been working on my stories! Turns out that, in Chronicle of Darkness, Chapter 26 is done... and I'm looking at 27 and thinking it will be done soon, too. As 27 is reaching the 30-page mark, I'm thinking of splitting it into 27 and 28. You may be asking... 'Why aren't I getting 26, then?! Post it, you OCD bastard!' ...Well, I've been thinking about it, honestly. I may just do that. 26-28 are looking to be a three-part ending to the Third Arc of my story. I should just finish up 27 and post those two... then settle for finishing up 28 as I go instead of waiting to post the whole three-part thing together. I'm going to look through things and see what it takes. Here's the catch, though (I know, you were thinking you'd get away with everything, weren't you?)... I've got NEW content for many of the previous chapters. I'm pretty much done tweaking them (for now). I did all my editing in the Master Document. I type everything in one, big Word document (meaning that my .DOC file is about 460 pages long). I need to replace the old stuff in my individual Chapter documents. Then I'll be uploading those to FFnet. Catch number two: this one's not on me! FFnet loves to butcher Word documents. I don't know why, I've never questioned them on it. I do know that I usually have to go through each of my chapters carefully and sort out any issues it has. Usually, that means taking out Curly Brackets ( {these things} ) and replacing them with Number Sign ( # )... which I think blows; my story looks much better with the curly brackets around Com-messages. Another thing that, in the past, it has hated with a passion is the em dash ( — )... and that meant replacing it with the less definitive double-dash (--). That grew old really fast. It's possible FFnet simply hates objects that are too long or too curvy; I've had issues with it deleting the tilde ( ~ ) before. It also lacks any fondness whatsoever for centered text (I swear, it's just being finicky when I press the Center Text button); often, I've wondered if I couldn't just go into the HTML and fix it--I can and would do that... I'm fair with HTML. By the way, if you don't see anything in parentheses, that's because FFnet sucks and it got rid of the example items I was speaking of. ...So at worst, you'll see exactly what I mean, and at best, it means FFnet hates me less than I thought... and possibly means less formatting for me! We'll see what happens when I press "Update Profile" While I'm doing this, I do believe I will go through my master document and through my individual Chapter files as I replace them... and start adding in "--" or the like; because I've noticed just clicking the Horizontal Rule Button tends to have... adverse... effects on my story formatting. I've also been looking for an excuse to change my document to 12 pt space After Paragraphs. Things look neater that way. It's bound to make my CoD Master Document rather large... but it will be much more legible. I type most of my Teen Titans stories with 12pt After Paragraphs, these days. CoD predated that tendency, so if I'm gonna go at this thing for its revamp, I might as well go the whole nine yards. You know what I'd like? INDENTS. But I'll take what I can get. Just keep in mind that, with as much text as I have to go through, it will likely take me about two or three days to go through ALL my chapters and format them for FFnet. And now... MOAR! I have a surprise for you. No, not a fake surprise--a real surprise, with tragic consequences! It's a new plot-bunny. A Portal 2 fic! It's ChellDOS (I'm guessing you're not surprised... but feel free to waddle your way over to the story when I finish it). I've named it "Mute Surrender." I must say, if you finished both Portal 1 and 2, then you must really, really love to Test. I'm sure you will enjoy this one. For science. You monsters. Anyway... now you know what's going on with me and what everything's going to take. I'm gonna see what I can do about tying up 27 and shifting things over into 28... then post 26 and 27. I hope you'll bare through this with me. I'm just glad to have a working PC, now! See everyone soon! EDIT - Wow, somehow my profile got some weird editing copy-pasta junk from where I was editing CoD. Well, that's fixed. Carry on! I will update this profile yet again once I have all my file over on the PC's hard drive and I begin the whole CoD formatting. Right now, it's gonna be a waiting game as about 300 Gigs of data comes over USB from the external hard drive. NEWER - 12-31-11 / 01-01-12 That said, I am also the proud owner of the F.E.A.R. series, and recently got Batman: Arkham City. I've owned and beaten Arkham Asylum, I've plenty of games to keep me busy on the side. That said, when I first started Pandora, I'd no idea I would springboard into ideas for Hope while I was playing FEAR 1... And as I play through FEAR 2, I'm realizing that many of the ideas I had were darkly mirrored there. It's strange--right down to the psychic amplifier (or telesthetic amplifier, as the case may be in FEAR 2). I haven't beaten FEAR 2, but I've been working at it. I'm close! I go for thorough exploration and completion. I am OCD about looking everything, discovering everything, drawing my own conclusions and conjecture... just running about in a world and finding explanations to questions I have that are not provided in the game. My friends and I have long discussions about such things. This is a game that easily provides plenty of material for discussion. So I look forward to playing it and discovering FEAR 3's stuff after I'm done... Hope is an interesting character and I'm not sure where she would fit, if she would fit anywhere at all, in my fanfiction. I'm actually considering tossing her into The Vampire Spirit universe, my original Vampire story. I think both Pandora and Hope would find a nice home there. I just need a few fleshed out details... I might even be able to spin Senka in there. That trifecta will definitely suffice when I get Senka in good hands; she'll be the fulcrum upon which things turn, but isn't truly the most important character. Senka is another character I created a while back. She's not nice or even all that good. She was raised from birth as an assassin for an ancient Arab, nomadic tribe leader--his name was Zulfiqar. Zulfiqar was a power-hungry bastard who was amassing said power fairly quickly, what with Senka eliminating competition in such a way that could not be linked to him. Senka was the silent string he could pull. Zulfiqar's daughter, Saray, was not quite as power-hungry or conceited as her father. In fact, she was quite demure. It was fate's hand that brought the two women to meet. Saray knew nothing of Senka's profession or that she worked for her father, but they began consorting. Later, they became lovers. When Zulfiqar discovered this, and to allay fears of other tribes that the unknown assassin really was his agent, he sought to cover it up by ousting Senka as the assassin and condemning her to death. Senka, in fits of rage at the betrayal, accused Zulfiqar of the treachery--herself being only the instrument. Zulfiqar put her through an Ordeal by Fire, to discover the truth--and even when a hot, branding knife cut her tongue, she continued to curse Zulfiqar. Fearing her words and her cursings might bring preternatural misfortune to him, Zulfiqar had his wisemen craft a cursed dagger... and stabbed her, trapping her soul within it. Senka was tossed to the sands, so that the accursed object and its darkness would not linger in Zulfiqar's tribe. It was later found, as these stories go, and traded hands, was lost, and found again many times. Senka remains trapped in the dagger, freed only in total servitude to her masters throughout the millennia. She is bitter, and quite possibly insane by now. Many of her past wielders have died, usually by her conniving. Though consigned to servitude of those that wield the dagger, she is still capable of a staggering level of subterfuge. Who can heal her mind and free her body? Perhaps no one, but her part to play in Fate is not yet over. While she has lost all faith and hope, Hope has not lost faith. With Pandora and Hope driving towards an event horizon, there's no telling what the end result will be. The world may only watch and pray that Hope does not become jaded, that Pandora not become a tyrant, and that Senka pulls herself from her hate. I'm considering this to be a latter story arc that could take place after the major events of The Vampire Spirit; wherein Melphast, an Arch-Demon (though unlikely an Arch Lord), attempted to subjugate and corrupt the Mortal Realm's world of Earth. The book or books involved in this are going to be quite lengthy... but the universe I'm building has much to offer. And there's still the matter of various Wers and the Falkenrath family's story. Yes, in my stories, Werewolves will be present--and there will be no fursplosions. All tastefully done; the good stuff you've come to like about Wers, with my personal signature twist of lore. I don't really want to go into too much detail--I'd be typing all day at that rate--but one of my main characters is a Japanese girl of 14 years who had a run-in with a rogue Werewolf. After being trampled and slicing her forearms on its open, panting maw, Amaya makes an astonishing recovery. Everything seems miraculous... until her first transformation. After a panicking run, Amaya winds up in an entertainment district, where she is discovered by a nightclub called the Prowler's Den. It is no ordinary club, and Hitomi--its owner, a Wereleopard (more accurately, a half-Wereleopard)--takes her in until Amaya can change back. Afterward, Hitomi sits down with Amaya and her family to help them adjust... And, to keep an eye on her, provides Amaya with something of a job at the Prowler's Den. The P.D. is an exclusive club that allows supernaturals of all sorts, provided they don't cause a ruckus. Hitomi is not just the owner of the site; when her father (he's the Wereleopard) still owned the site, before passing it to her as he expanded the franchise into new locations around the world, she worked for her father as a bouncer. Hitomi, in her obvious position of leadership, and the other Wers (though not strictly Werewolves), make up an odd, mixed pack for Amaya as she deals with the changes in her life as she grows. Enough on Amaya and Hitomi. On to the Falkenraths! The Falkenraths fit nicely into the "average" Vampire's world in The Vampire Spirit. While TVS itself deals with the elite of the Vampire's warriors, the Trackers, the Falkenrath storyline deals with a family--not entirely made of Vampires, mind you--of Vampires and their introduction to Allie. Allison Durant is an artist in your average city. She's fairly successful and life is good. Well, it was before she found herself being chased by thug Vampires (unscrupulous Vampires known by upstanding Vampires as "dregs") for their amusement before the feed. They corner her in a cemetery, but lose her when she runs into the the Falkenrath Family cemetery, which adjoins the rest of the cemetery. This plot of land is off limits, the dregs well know, as the Falkenrath family is an esteemed and old family that does not put up with ruffians. Allie winds up under the temporary care of the Falkenraths as she realizes she's been thrown into a world she's only perceived in books and movies. Vampires--real? Well, it seems so... and Corinna Falkenrath, who prefers the name 'Cory,' has taken it upon herself to befriend Allie. With the veil of the world peeled back a bit more, Allie will have to make some decisions about how to deal with the new elements that have taken interest in her life. So... Hope, Pandora, and Senka; Amaya and Hitomi; and Allie and the Falkenraths. Tacking those three chunks of the world into TVS will make for a rather expanded universe, but that's fine with me. What else is there? ...Ah, yes! I've been looking over my Teen Titans stuff--most recently, the bits involving Jessie, Abigail, Mara, Falcon, and Sabi. These are all within the continuity of To Catch a Raven and No Laughing Matter. I've been making tweaks and additions to scenes here and there, fleshing out ideas, and just generally getting a better understanding of the world and the characters' interplays. I couldn't be bothered to list all the things I'm doing with the various story arcs. It's just progress made. My first priority, however, is to finish CoD's Chapter 27. That remains the big thing, so I'll deal with other stuff afterward. Anyhow, that's me for now. Sorry that I've been quiet, but things have been busy over here what with holidays, trying to finish this chapter, and getting tons of useful stuff from the FEAR series. I'll keep working, that's for sure! EDIT - 01-12-12 - Just finished FEAR 3. ...Just... Wow, okay. That's a screwed up series. When I said they were a dark mirror of my ideas? I didn't quite mean that dark. This last game really dug for the gold of gruesome with Fettel's ending. Taking in the series as a whole, I'm pretty glad I went the way I did with Pandora and Hope--which is overall less depressing! NEW - 11-15-11 When I finish that, it's going to be uploaded with 26. So you'll get not only the revamped chapters 1 through 25, but 26 AND 27 together. Not that I'm going to force anyone to read through all 400-something pages, but I would recommend going through the story just to see what's been added. I know it's been a damn long while since I've updated, but with so many stories and my Obsessive Compulsive attitude toward not posting what isn't finished and polished... that makes it difficult to actually put out stuff when I'm not done. However, I've come up with two, maybe three RaeJinx stories, fleshed out some aforementioned ones, and even plotted out a few Kim Possible ideas. Yes, I know, I know nothing of the KP universe, but the ideas won't stop coming! I should really stop reading so much Kigo... but it's not going to happen. My Diablo II idea has also gained yet another facet, with the whole Forgotten Tower quest; I've woven more history into the whole Countess thing and I feel it's compelling. Though the Countess is dead, the Tower's cellar levels remain inhabited by something. Our heroes--Dari, Heather, and Rajani--now find themselves in those very cellar floors. What awaits them down there, amidst the death and decay? Andariel isn't the only one back from the dead and causing a fuss, now! I also came up with a new Hunter-Zoey mini-idea... but there's no real plot around it--just a scene; a particularly raunchy scene at that, so no dealing with that idea until it's beyond PWP. Speaking of L4D2, I've done some in-depth planning on A Mercy Killing, and now AMK is pretty much ready to finish whenever I get the zombie-writing-bug again. Recently, I've been watching AMC's The Walking Dead--and it's wicked awesome! BTW, I hate Shane. Sorry fans, but he's a lying, selfish dick. On a scale of -10, 0, and +10... he's resting at about -7 or -8 for me. I'm so close to Shane-bashing it's not even funny. But you need some unlikable people to make the drama happen--and let me tell you, the drama is absolutely wicked! It's realistic and doesn't feel slapstick. The number one reason I hate dramas is because I can never get into them; they always seem fake. This feels like a true take on zombie apocalypse. McZombies, I'm lovin' it. ZomWay--Eat Flesh! Okay, okay--stopping, now. On a side note... I got the FEAR collection. Oh, my God, the ideas I've been having. I've revamped one of my characters--a villain of mine I've had for ages in the role-playing setting--and decided to use her as a springboard for another character. Pandora (yes, she's a character in CoD, but CoD's Pandora is nothing like Pandora DeMikke) is a supernatural creature that has the power to emit a black, viral smoke whenever she uses her voice. Anything she drinks becomes pitch black and contaminated. The smoke has a limited range of about 15 yards, and after that its effects (even in water) become inert. What does this viral smoke do? Well, it enslaves the will anyone who inhales, imbibes, or has it contact open wounds... and they become willing servants of hers. Pandora isn't the same Pandora of Greek mythology, but she is looking for the fabled "Pandora's Box"--which is really a jar. This Pandora of mysterious origins has taken it upon herself to right the wrongs of mankind (what the Greeks attributed to the ancient Pandora). The jar holds great power... and thus is just what she needs to fix things. And yes, she is altruistic in her endeavors--but enslaving mankind to do it kind of defeats the purpose. But hey, she's a villain character... After her capture by the International Paranormal Agency, and subsequently her escape... and then her recapture... (Yes, she was a nuisance.) Normally, there wouldn't have been a recapture; I usually RP her having escaped. However, for the sake of my new idea, they finally catch her and just locked her away. She was too dangerous to let her gather another will-enslaved force. This is where FEAR spawned ideas. I continued down this line and had the IPA suffer the loss of its Chairperson. The Board of Directors subsequently appointed a new Chairperson--and she decided to open a new project. It would utilize a clone of Pandora--a controllable asset where Pandora could not be cowed. Project Hope was a stunning success, with a powerful psionic girl. Hope was helpful and relatively innocent. Things were going well... Or, they were, until Pandora sent a telepathic 'Hello' to Hope. For a while, nothing came of it--but then Hope decided to say 'Goodbye' to the IPA. Now Hope is lost--literally and possibly figuratively if the worst should happen. Will Hope become another Pandora? Will Hope free Pandora? Nobody knows exactly what Hope's goal is... and it terrifies them. Okay! That's enough of Pan and Hope. I've rambled pages of this to my betas already and... yeah. But hey! If you wanna hear more about any of the topics in these status updates, just PM me! I'm actually going to tackle more of Chapter 27, now. I was hoping to have it done for a Halloween update, but it didn't happen. I'm aiming for a Thanksgiving or Christmas update, now. We'll see what happens! OLD - 10-03-11 I filled most of my free time with distracting games and talking about my stories with betas and fellow writers. My stories are never far from my mind, if not constantly at the forefront. There's lot of interesting stuff rolling around in my head, but I only work on one focal point at a time, which makes the plethora of ideas I usually have quite difficult to manage. I came up with a new a couple new idea for stories, but I haven't been capable of doing too much with them--either in getting the ideas down or anything. Nevertheless, I'll give you a quick rundown of them so that they aren't coming out of the blue or the like. The first idea is based on Diablo II (and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction). It features one of the young Rogues from the Rogue Encampment and Andariel, who--by great Necromantic power--has been bound into a physical body and soul. Though not Human, Andariel has been granted an existence no longer linked with the Burning Hells. However, the destruction of the World Stone has brought back the unimaginable, and the Three Prime Evils have been resurrected. To protect her new life, Andariel will have to oppose the very Hells with which she was once aligned. With no memory of her past life as the Maiden of Anguish, how can young 'Dari' triumph over such odds? The second idea is another RaeJinx. It involves a classy gentleman's club, wherein one of their dancers has disappeared due to some form of Demonic abduction. Nobody saw anything and the electronic surveillance didn't pick up any clues, either. How? And why is this happening? To answer that and find the missing girls, Raven is called in to deal with the Demonic problem. To do this, Raven makes an astonishing decision: she's going under cover. So... those ideas and CoD have been rattling around. To my minuscule credit, I now only have one scene left to complete before the latest chapters of CoD are uploaded. I'm looking forward to bringing it to you, but my ability to write is mostly depending upon outside influences. I'm doing my best to mitigate that, but I refuse to simply ramble out some half-ass script. As always, I'll endeavor to bring everyone quality writing. I don't really care how long that takes me, but it's coming along as best I can manage. I'll try to keep up with my profile entries more, as I really hate that I went 'off radar' for a few months with no warning. Anyway, that's me for now. Maybe in time my mood will improve. I'm sorry that this isn't a longer note or with much awaited news of updates or the like, but that's the way life works, sometimes. Until next update. OLDER - 07-04-11 With that done, it’s update time! I’ve got some really good news! The latest chapter of CoD is (truly) nearing completion. It’s likely going to be chopped up, because as of now it’s 34 pages and has only two—that’s right, two—more scenes left before I’m done! I’ve been writing on the latest stuff recently, trying to get everyone a new chapter or two so that they can see I’m actually doing something... heh. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made. I’ll keep going at it and I think you’ll enjoy where it’s going. In addition, I’ve come up with two or three more future scenes for CoD. There’s a ton of fleshing out of future arcs going on, and I’m enjoying every moment of it. I had a small bit of scene added to a little Kim Possible plot bunny. I’ve never watched the show, but the fanfics have spawned ideas in my head so... yeah, best to at least get something out of it. Tentatively titled “Old Wounds.” That one’s not likely to see light of day anytime soon... but it’s fun to think about every now and then. My friend got me Terraria out of the blue and now he’s got me addicted to both that and Minecraft—I swear, he wants me driven to total distraction with videogames. Heh. Even so, I’m buckling down and getting into the meat of things, now. Also, I have a bunch of reviews to answer for Practices in Patience—I haven’t forgotten about my reviewers! I’ve just been preoccupied writing and gaming, but your reviews are very much appreciated! I’ll be sending out more personalized responses to my reviews soon, as I like to keep up relations with my readers. Well, I’d best get writing if I want to get things done. I’ll keep everyone informed! OLDEST - 06-07-11 But fear not, I have not been idle! “Key to Happiness” has grown some, and is nearing the latter end of its plot. While I haven’t made much headway with Chapter 26 of “Chronicle of Darkness,” that’s actually not because of the games! My mind’s been stuck in the future, recently. Last time I mentioned I had two scenes written for the future of CoD; happening in future arcs. Well... that’s changed. I now have one scene all skeletoned out with lots and lots of dialogue for the Sixth Arc. That one’s gonna rock! I won’t say much, but I will say that it has everyone’s favorite, creepy Doctor—Sorin cel Rau! Furthermore, those two scenes I’ve mentioned in the last update? I’ve titled them part of a “Loose Ends” series. That’s a part of the stories where I’m tying up the plot and ending the story. I’ve added yet a third to this group. The Loose Ends scenes take place in the Ninth Arc—so very end of the story. Lastly, I have recently come up with five—that’s right—five scenes for the Necromonger Arc (that’s the Seventh Arc). I know this is frustrating for readers, but my mind’s been all over the place and I figure if I’m going to write randomly, I might as well write within the story I already have down. Okay, last thing on the list right now is the newest story. It’s just a short thing, under 1,000 words (total: 765) that struck me. The idea hit me and I knew it was short. The thing is actually a challenge sort of thing... not a major challenge, just something I wanted to try. It turned out pretty well, in my opinion. It’s a RaeJinx and contains something of a departure from my usual writing style. That’s okay, though—that was the point. I’ve gotta add this tiny sucker to the list of stories. It’s complete and a oneshot, so there won’t be any further chapters or the like from that. It was merely a slight veering from my focus on other things. Anyhow, that’s it for now. I’ll probably put up another update at the end of this month just so I don’t foul up my updates’ spacing anymore than usual. Heh. HISTORY - 04-30-11 If you look at it that way, CoD 26 is either 75 percent finished... or 150 percent finished (putting me a good ways into 27). Take your pick. I know lots of people have been waiting for this and it has been a year since my last update. There’s simply been so much going on with the plot—ideas springing up, details being hammered out—that Chapter 26 itself has been sidelined a LOT. Include in all this my other ideas—the various plots for Teen Titans and... Hell, everything—look at my Writing Status section to see what I mean! I have tons of story ideas in mind and I can only write where my current interest lies. That being said, I have been making slow progress with 26; every time I tell people that I’m working on it, I am. A paragraph here, a page or two there... It’s slow, but sometimes the best I can do. The past two months have been best for me. That is not only because of the wealth of ideas I’ve come up with for other stories, but for the sheer fact that I’ve written about 15 pages of material over the past two months in CoD alone. Comparatively, I’ve probably written about 40 pages of skeleton material. I needn’t tell anyone about the 90-page skeleton outline I have for “Slave to Fortune,” I’ve mentioned it often enough. So if you count things like that in my total, I’ve probably written a good 200 pages since I put CoD’s Chapter 25 out. Then there’s that whole thing with “Key to Happiness” and the language, which I’m enjoying. Follow that with Minecraft and Left 4 Dead 2... potent, addictive distractions they are. And to sum everything up, I have my “Chronicle of Darkness Playlist.” I now have 41 songs... though I don’t know where I’m gonna fit the latest song. Amusingly, I’ve decided that I want one more song to complete my playlist. That’s right; I want 42 songs comprising the CoD Playlist. I am doing my best to work through my writer’s block and usually writer’s block only provides me with other story ideas. That’s why I have so many. You can be sure that 26 is in progress. I never forget about it or set it aside, either. The Chapter 26 document is ALWAYS open on my task bar. It, the CoD master document, and usually two other stories (sometimes three or four) constitute my usual Word files. Currently, the documents I have open are CoD master, CoD 26, a future scene for CoD, Key to Happiness, and a document that will likely become the basis of Abigail Torres and Mara Roth’s story (I mentioned them as characters in a sequel to the unwritten “No Laughing Matter”). Hm... So my focus currently seems to be in the Riddick and DC universe. I’m okay with that! Anyhow, that’s me for this month. I hope everyone can be a little patient with me. I’m trying to complete so many things, I’m not quite sure how I’m even making progress... but I am, even if you’re not seeing it. I plan to keeping working until I can show everyone the fruits of my labor. Thanks to everyone who’s been sticking with me! HISTORY - 03-27-11 First thing first: made a bit of progress with Chronicle of Darkness’ Chapter 26, but I’ve not found that flow necessary to write with it for the current scene. I need that mood for it, which is actually hampering things just a tad. Eventually, I expect to just sit down, start writing, and see what comes of it. I’m kind of annoyed with just waiting around for the flow; I’m gonna go out and find it, methinks. Second, I’ve been making more songs with my trial version of FL Studio. Granted, my songs are nothing super special, but I feel they carry the mood well. My songs are simple and, as I am using a synthesizer program and don’t have all the bells and whistles (or experience with their utilities), mostly techno with undertones of rock or classical music. My betas have responded positively to most of the songs, despite my novice hand at music. I’ve got about 48 songs, but so far, only 35 of them have made it to the CoD soundtrack. Some of them just don’t really fit. My latest two songs I’ve not added to the sound track... not because they wouldn’t fit, but because I can’t think of an appropriate area to put them in relation to my plot. Every track in the CoD soundtrack relates to a part of the story... so my recent stuff might not make it in, if I can’t think of a character, place, or event that they seem to fit. Nevertheless... Currently, the soundtrack is currently 35 tracks, which amount to 4h 5m 18s of music. The tracks vary in length from 2:44 (the shortest, but my favorite) to 17:08. The longer tracks aren’t common, but neither are the short ones. Most of my stuff rests in the 3 to 8 minute range. I hope you’ll enjoy it when I get around to posting. Third, I forgot to add one of my stories. “Huntress”—tentatively titled—is a Left 4 Dead story featuring Zoey. For more information, you can check out January’s post (01-21-11) below, in the fifth and sixth paragraphs. I’m going to add that to my Writing Status section. Lastly, I’ve been playing Minecraft a lot and I hit a point where I needed to break from it. Therefore, I picked up Left 4 Dead 2 again and I’ve been enjoying No Mercy and the new Cold Stream Beta! Even though it’s still in beta, it’s awesome. I applaud his use of motion physics with water, lighting, and slow motion. Very cinematic! I can’t wait to see the finished product! So anyway, that’s me for this month. HISTORY - 02-28-11 I’m writing on Chronicle of Darkness again! That’s right! Chapter 26 is underway! I’ve got the writing bug back for this particular story and I’m making headway as best I can. It’s slow, mostly because I’m writing from an awkward series of POVs. I suppose it’s not a spoiler to say who features in the chapter, but I won’t give you specifics on the scenes. For that, you’ll just have to wait. I was writing from Zimmy, Kristen Rileigh (that’s Rach’s mom, if you didn’t remember), Terry Chen (one of Zimmy’s mercs; formerly of Toombs’ team), and Vincent Tachygnic (Jack’s therapist). Barring Zimmy, these are not POVs that I normally write. The ‘camera angle’ felt weird. But I got through those! I’m now heading into the main character chunk of my story—and a major event that I’ve had planned for almost three years. I hope you like it, it’s gonna be wild. I’ll grant, it’s not super important in the overall scheme of things. Certainly, it’s action packed... and it will lead to many other things, however it’s not one of those ‘ZOMG’ revealing moments. Just some action that I’ve put down in my head. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love it. I’ve got skeleton and finished product for a large portion of the chapter. There’s not much left but to connect the dots between scenes. Zimmy, Kristen, Terry, and Vincent’s scenes are final product, but Jack, Riddick, and Rach’s scenes are all skeleton and loosely defined. Regardless, I’m plugging away and I’m finally happy with CoD’s previous chapters. All I have to do is chop the revised master document into individual chapters... When I am finished with 26, everything gets replaced. So if you see an update soon telling you of a new chapter and Glossary for CoD... and you wanna reread stuff to get back into the story? There’s new stuff! Enjoy! I’ve been talking with my betas and there’s a lot of new stuff going on with CoD; I’ve rethought previous plots—they’ve gained depth and detail. The future of the story is very well charted at this point, it’s just going to take time to get there. The things I’ve been discussing are way far ahead... things concerning Necromongers, things concerning the last Main Character, things surrounding events in Arcs 6 and beyond. To note, We’ve just finished the third Arc—and each Arc is roughly 150 pages. So figure the things I’ve been talking about with my betas are somewhere between 300 and 450 pages in the future. Next up, I’ve added more stuff to Slave to Fortune. It’s a pet project that I’m slowly tweaking to perfection. There’s also Key to Happiness. I do stuff here and there on them for breaks during CoD. Recently? I’m addicted to Minecraft!! Being quite OCD... something that gives me a perfectly square world to build and dig and craft to my heart’s content? Dear God, they shouldn’t have. It’s still in beta, but it’s fun as all Hell! So if I’m not writing... you can probably blame Minecraft. Next change... let’s see... I’ve decided to give a full year of updates in the Author Status here. I may not even delete old posts anymore—I’m not sure. I like the old posts; sometimes they remind me of things I’ve forgotten. Regardless, I’m gonna stop deleting these things and just let the updates scroll... my profile page is gonna get long. After this, I’ve also decided to finally update my WOMP and Writing Status sections. You’ll notice that there are a ton more stories in the Writing Status section. That’s because I finally got around to listing all the stories I’m working on (both actively and those on hold). So now you’ll finally get to see the descriptions of stories I’ve been talking about here in the Author Status section! Also, the Writing Status section is going to change in order. Nothing major; just alphabetizing the stories. This post isn’t as long as the others before it, but that’s okay... I’ve been busy with other things, namely writing. I’m sure everyone would prefer I write more rather than post these long updates. Heh. Well, that’s all from me for now, check out the sections, you’ll see what’s new! HISTORY - 01-21-11 Happy Merry Belated Solstice, Chrismahanukwanzakah, Festivus, and New Years! A lot has been happening, lately. My personal life took a very busy and involved spin these past two months and I’ve found myself alternately rushed and lethargic. I’ve had a bunch of doctor’s appointments... ophthalmologists, neurologists, dermatologists... Eck. And that’s on top of everything else. On the topic of doctors, I just recently had a minor surgery. It was only a small excision just to the upper right of my right shoulder blade. It’s stitched up and moving my arm is a pain, both literally and figuratively. I get the stitches out next Thursday (the 27th). I am not a happy writer/gamer at the moment, because pain distracts me from using the keyboard and mouse. God, I’m sore. I haven’t heard back from the doc about whether or not the thing was cancerous, either. It’s another wonderful thing I have to worry about. Even so, I’m continuing to write. I’ve been kind of scattered these past two months, and my writing reflects that. I got a random story idea and ran with it. It’s a RaeJinx idea, and it’s coming along nicely. CoD has been hard to write because I haven’t been able to focus on it with everything always throwing me off. I just want some time to look at my story, recap it briefly, and get written what I want written! They’re not complicated scenes, but I’ve created so many characters for so many stories, that when I don’t get a chance to immerse myself in the story, the scenes sometimes feel forced and fake. I need time to slip back into “Riddick-mode” to write. Obviously, I’ve been in a very odd place, stuck between “Left 4 Dead” and “Teen Titans” gears... To that end, I have written a good chunk for my stories “A Mercy Killing” and “Slave to Fortune.” The new story I mentioned? It’s not really new, it’s just now getting written, though. It was previously known as RaeJinx idea 5... but now it’s titled “Key to Happiness.” I have 25 pages of KtH. Slave is at 89 pages, though most of it is skeleton description and dialogue. AMK is at 80 pages. Currently KtH and AMK are the ones that are growing, as I’ve had several ideas and such for both and I have the flow to write them. I hate getting distracted like this, especially when I prefer to focus on other things, but I can only write as the muse provides the desire to write. CoD isn’t being abandoned—I want to write it, but my frame of mind has to be right for it. Typically that means I just plan out the scenes more and more. I’ve been doing research on fights and the various fights with Jack and Riddick are steadily growing and becoming more detailed and choreographed. So I’m not being idle with the story in any sense of the word. On a related note to distractions, I actually came up with a second story for Left 4 Dead. I won’t say much about it, because I’ve only spoken about it with one of my Betas. There’s nothing written down on it, but I’ve spun out a few scene-ideas here and there in conversation... The story features two characters as the main story, but the other original survivors (Bill, Francis, Louis) remain heavily involved with everything. The two main characters are Zoey and Chicago TED! Now, I know there’s not much said about Chicago Ted, save the things you can see scrawled on walls. I read a ... ballad or something about him on a wall of a fan-map. It gave me ideas. The main plot of the story deals with one concept: Hunter-Zoey. No, that’s not a pairing! Yes, I’m aware that Zoey is considered an immune/carrier/whatever. But I’ve talked with my Beta long enough that I’m sure I can easily swing it. The pairing is Zoey/Ted... and it’s yuri. Ted is a guy, you might say... but I’ve an answer for that, too. No, I won’t ramble it all here. If you’re really interested, give me a PM and we can talk about it! Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait on this one. Anyhow, I did consider a Witch-Zoey as her special infected status, but I already have a Witch in “A Mercy Killing.” I read some Hunter/Zoey pairings here on FFnet and found a few to my liking. Those, in combination with my interest in a Hunter-Zoey, spawned this idea. I thought of a title for this, and I decided to go with the stereotypical title... mostly because it fits the whole of the story—TED, Zoey, and plot. I’m tentatively calling it “Huntress.” Unfortunately, since I don’t have anything written down, I can’t even give you an idea of how much plot there is—it’s all in my head. Okay, so let’s backtrack a bit. Have you ever read one of those “love-witch” stories? If you don’t know what I mean, I’ll explain. You have an obvious (typically anime) OTP, but they’re oblivious to one another or too stubborn to get together. For example: Inu-Yasha and Kagome. The sexual tension between these two could burn down Inu-Yasha’s forest. Anyhow, things get to a point where you just want to... to throw them together and make them get together. Cue the “love-witch.” This is typically a mystical person who is making some kind of virgin sacrifice... To this end, the love-witch captures the OTP and holds them in a cell or dungeon... something like that, as the virgin (usually female) is the chosen sacrifice. Normally there’s a time limit on it—like the spell that will kill the virgin will be cast at dawn. So the chivalrous person (usually male) offers a solution: if the virgin is no longer a virgin, the spell will be broken! You see where this is going? Yeah, I’ve read a bunch of these in my time lurking across places like MediaMiner, FFnet, AFFnet, and other random fanfiction sites. I always thought it was contrived... It is, too; it’s one of the easiest ways to add a little plot to a PWP lemon. It gives the illusion of plot, when really it’s just an excuse. As I am wont to do, I like setting the “typical” on its ear. I work sideways to a plan or theory. If someone says, “That doesn’t work!” I look at it and find a way to make it work. It’s as much about making a mind-fuck as it is deriving my own amusement from making such a thing. Welcome to “Key to Happiness.” This story took the “love-witch” idea and twisted it. Paper-thin plot? From me? Hah, I don’t think so. I actually sat down and thought up an involved plot and reason for everything. Furthermore, I used it as a springboard for other ideas. As some of you know—if you’ve checked my WOMP section—I have a few novels in the works. I have a Demonic element to one of them; there are summonings, deals, powers, magic... all that good stuff. Well, “Key to Happiness” is a RaeJinx, as I said. I’ve tossed Jinx and Raven into a room with no escape. But then I thought—one room? Screw that! I’m gonna make sixteen. Then I realized I was going to be going heavily into magic. If anyone ever wondered about how I view magic working in my stories (the things Jinx and Raven do, typically)... that’s why I said KtH was a springboard. I used it as a speaker-piece for my magic system. No, it’s not just a boring exposition on magic... I made sure that there’s plenty of yuri and plot to keep the story interesting. Wanna know something funny? Because this story involves Demons, I thought of a scene that has the Demonic language. This gave me pause—I don’t have a Demonic language. ...So I made one. Do you have any idea how involved it is to make verbs and tenses? Screwy gerunds and infinitives and modal verbs. Gah! Well, I’ve gotten a pretty good head start and I have the grammar down for this! This language mixes Latin, Spanish, English, and a bit of random personal likes regarding grammar and sentence structure. Why, you may ask, would I do this for a simple fanfiction? That’s easy, I told you this was partially a springboard story. While providing everyone with delicious yuri and an amusing plot, I will also be furthering my research for my novels. By the end of this, I’ll have a language for the Demons in “The Vampire Spirit” and a reasonable and believable magical system. I dislike making magic a science, but I think there should be some particulars! So “Key to Happiness” will give you a glimpse of how I put things together... all to a backdrop of a lesbian get-together! Honestly, could it get any better? Well, it does! I mentioned sixteen rooms, right? Yes, yes, I did. This “love-witch” dungeon thing has three rooms and a main chamber awaiting Jinx and Raven. ...But what about the other twelve rooms? Heh, well, that would be for the other people! That’s right, it’s more complicated than just one pairing. I’ve been able to make not one, not two, not three... but FIVE pairings for this story. Actually, there’s six, but that’s getting ahead of myself. With five pairings, even if I finish this RaeJinx part of the story... I can always go back and add in more story—tell the same story from another POV, another pairing. If you’re wondering: Yes, I already decided on the five pairings. I won’t tell you what the others are besides RaeJinx, but I will tell you it doesn’t just take all the Titans and pair them up. I felt that would be too obvious. Hmm, I’ve rambled on quite a bit about KtH. Well, it is what’s on my mind. So there. Finally, I have another bit of news for you. I’m sure everyone who read “To Catch a Raven” knows about my planned sequel, “No Laughing Matter.” Well, I’ve also thought a lot about it. I’ve also come up with three characters. Their names are Marcus, Mare, and Abigail. Now, I know I haven’t told people much about NLM in the first place, and that’s done on purpose. Here’s what I can tell you, though: “No Laughing Matter” was long and involved. There was a lot of plot to deal with. It got to the point where I was slightly overwhelmed. In NLM, I introduce a character named Jessie. I can’t say much about her without spoiling a good chunk of NLM. Needless to say, Jessie plays a big part in NLM. Unfortunately, the more details I wrote down, the more I realized that there was no way I could fit this into a reasonable story. I’m honestly not trying to make NLM into another “Chronicle of Darkness.” As I was writing NLM, I came up with Marcus, Mare, and Abigail. They started their own little arcs in the story. However, the more their arcs grew, the more I realized that they were pretty much all their own stories! So I stopped planning NLM, in a way. Now I have something like three stories. So the continuity will look something like “To Catch a Raven,” “No Laughing Matter,” Marcus’ story, then a story with Mare and Abigail. A little bit of exposition on the characters, now... Jessie, well... I already told you that I can’t really tell you much about her without spoiling this or that. She occasionally suffers from Fridge Brilliance and is probably best described as Malkavian, at times. Uh... I’ve probably said too much already. Heh. Moving on! Marcus. Ah, he’s an interesting character and unashamedly random. You see, he’s a Satyr. I’m not going to pretend to explain it to you, I haven’t figured it out myself. I just had a Satyr named Marcus, all of the sudden... and he was doing stuff in Gotham. Things got involved. So there you go. There’s a whole big story about him making his life in Gotham and the complications that entails when you’re not... normal. There are gangs, mafias, Batman, drama, and spaghetti! Yes, there’s lots of spaghetti. Mara Roth, a.k.a. Mare. Mara was a good girl, but she was a Metahuman. She lived a relatively quiet life and things seemed to be going well for her. Unfortunately, her powers messed with her nice little family life. After that, it was off to the foster home. Nobody really wanted to take in an obvious Metahuman... but that all changed one day, when a man said he would like to help. His name was Jonathan Crane—things didn’t end well. Mara now resides in Arkham Asylum. She’s in the minimum security section, because she’s a good girl. The story is about her life in and outside the asylum, as well as her explorations of Arkham. Abigail Torres... Hm, what can I say? She’s an engineer. She’s always liked tinkering with things. She didn’t have much of a social life; she always spent all her days in her family’s apartment or in the complex’s pool. Abby wouldn’t even go out onto the street—into public. She was home schooled, and eventually got her Master of Engineering degree... She somehow managed to get a job, even if she did worry about being in public. Then her apartment burned down; her parents are still alive, but they’re in the hospital. Responsible for their care-taking and now without a home, she has to do the best she can with what she has. By the way... do you like reptiles? Mara and Abigail’s stories intertwine. In fact, I’m not entirely sure that Mara and Abigail’s story doesn’t occur at the exact same time as Marcus’ story. Regardless, they’ll be two different stories. So that puts the TCaR universe’s continuity at four stories. Obviously, the last two stories—involving Marcus, Abby, and Mara—are more in the realm of Batman than Teen Titans. ...So to give the fans what they want, there’s always Falcon and SABI. What do you mean, “I’m losing you?” Look at the August 2010 post! ...You can’t be bothered? Oh, very well. Falcon is a superheroine in her own city; she’s not part of the Justice League and really has nothing to do with the Titans or Batman. Falcon has a problem, as a superheroine, namely Sabi. What is the SABI Unit? It’s a technological marvel; its name stands for “Self Aware Bio-Droid Interfacing Unit.” Fortunately or unfortunately, Sabi is the least of Falcon’s crime-fighting worries. There are other villains to put down in her city... and when those villains start showing up in Jump City, it attracts the attention of the Titans. The Titans send a small group to Falcon’s “jurisdiction” to see what’s up with this seemingly quiet, little city. The group consists of Raven, Jinx, and Changeling. What will they discover and how will things go when they meet not just the fellow crime-fighter, Falcon, but the (in)famous SABI Unit? If you want to know more, then you’ll have to check out August’s post. Now, if you include Falcon and Sabi in all of this... then there’s five stories. See why I decided to chop up NLM into bits? So... yeah. That’s pretty much everything that’s been running through my head, lately. There’s just a ton of ideas flowing and intermingling. I hope you’ll enjoy these things when I get around to writing them. In the meantime, I need more Tylenol... my shoulder is utterly distracting me with its sharp twinges and dull aches. I really don’t feel up to updating the WOMP and Writing Status sections, right now. I might when I’m feeling better. Sorry for the outdated stuff. Anyway, this update is four and a half pages long. I think I’ll end it here. EDIT - 01-23-11 - Just removed the bandage for the first time. They sure took a nice piece of me; the cut is 2 inches long and has 11 stitches. ...And holy Hell does it itch! Carefully scratching doesn’t seem to stop the itching, it just comes back a few minutes later. Daaamniiit. T_T HISTORY - 11-29-10 As far as progress goes? I have 10 pages written across two scenes. The first one is 8 pages, the second scene is a short one at two pages... but it leads directly and seamlessly into another scene that will be longer... The two scenes are split by a group of 3 scenes I have not yet written—those three scenes will be the major chunk of this chapter. I’m estimating between 15 and 30 pages of story to come off of those scenes. So tack that onto a chapter already 10 pages long with more to go... that could well breach the 40-page mark. If it does? I’ll split it and you’ll get two chapters back-to-back. However, I DO have my preferred length. So if the second part only reaches 10 or 15 pages, I might want to put 5 more pages on there before sending it off... in which case, they might not happen so back-to-back. I know, it’s a little fuzzy. I just don’t like putting up 30-page chapters; I prefer 20-page ones. I accept 15 and 25 pages. However, I refuse to post anything less than 12 pages and try not to post anything over 30... So that’s why all the “chapter math.” I should mention that not everything I’m writing in CoD is in Chapter 26. I have been writing other future scenes as well. Everyone seems to enjoy the fighting scenes; they like the choreography and such that I put up. I’ve been told that my story was slowing down, because I was building a lot of preface plot for future arcs. The building is done and the action is here. It won’t be cooling down for a while. So about those fights? I have fights for both Jack and Riddick planned. Lots of fights. Jack has 17 fights written; there are two or three more fights... yes, I just told you that Jack has almost 20 fights! Imagine that, huh? Hope you like that... because that’s just half the equation! I haven’t even started on Riddick’s fights! But just what am I talking about? How did they manage to get into so many fights? Well, I can’t tell you. That’d be a spoiler. But I do have fights to show you! These scenes aren’t coming up immediately, though. Soon, I promise... but not in Chapter 26. Right now, however, there’s another chunk of action. Are you tired of reading about fights with fists and melee weapons? ... I didn’t think so, but how would you like to mix it up a bit? I’ve got some new styles of violence for CoD, fights you haven’t seen but I’m sure you’ve thought about. Really sorry for being so vague, but I don’t wanna spoil anything. Heh. Okay, next thing on the agenda: What do you think of Vincent Tachygnic? He’s with the Riddick posse now and it looks like he’ll be there for a while. It’s time to see what this guy’s really made of. How does a therapist work in the face of adversity? I’ll tell you this much: he’s no Paris P. Ogilvie. I hope you’ll enjoy his presence aboard The Gift of Nyx! My other stories have also gotten a few edits to them, but I’m more focus on CoD than I am uploading all those chapters with edits. Most of it is minor stuff, anyhow. Mercy Killing and Slave to Fortune remain strong interests... but it’s high time I put some more Riddick out there for public consumption! You’ve no idea how much I’ve talked to my betas about various stories and CoD in particular. I’ve found problems with character backgrounds, flaws in plots, and various other things... I’ve fixed a ton of stuff that, unfortunately, you’ll probably never read or hear about. I’ve added quite a bit to the history—going as far back as 27 to 33 years ago. What happened back then? ...I’m not saying just yet! Yes, yes... I know I’m teasing you with this stuff, but at least I’m also cluing you into some backstory yet to be told! In the end, here is the plan: Chapter 26 (26 and 27, if I reach the max page cap) may be finished for a while before it’s posted. Why? I want to post the revised chapters along with Chapter 26. I want this to be something of a “grand re-opening” of CoD. So... I’ll be writing. Hope to see you all there! HISTORY - 10-31-10 This month has been mostly about proofing “A Mercy Killing.” I’ve played a lot of Left 4 Dead 2; a lot of No Mercy and a lot of The Sacrifice campaigns, versus, scavenge, etc. By the way, I love the new mutation “Bleed Out Versus.” It really sets a frantic pace for things and makes you feel appropriately worried about zombies. It’s mad fun. Sooo... yeah; playing games has been a means of research. I’ve been through AMK a few times, and I’m on a deep read-through right now. I’m almost to the end. I need to get more of the uncommon commons in the story to fit the L4D2 No Mercy port... that means CEDA agents in the hospital and, in the upper construction floors, some Construction Workers. It’s just another layer of realism I want to put in there and until just a few minutes ago, I’d forgotten about the CEDA agents... that’ll put some minor additions here and there. I am also going through “Chronicle of Darkness” more, too. I have made yet more edits and minor additions through my reading. If you wanna know where I am? I just finished Riddick’s first talk with Urchin—the one where he first ‘hires’ Urchin as a good eye. I really don’t have a lot to say about CoD, honestly. I’m just plugging away. There are noticeably fewer edits that need to be made as I approach the end of my story and the unfinished Chapter 26 section. Once I get there, I’ll be back into the writing phase! Also, I’ve mentioned in the past that I enjoy my stories as much as my readers. I love writing them, but I also enjoy reading them. It may sound narcissistic, but it’s not—well, not entirely. The stories are exactly the way I like things; I write the stories mostly because nobody else has written them exactly the way I want to see it done. I read “To Catch a Raven,” “Bluff,” and “When Opportunity Knocks” somewhat regularly. Sometimes it’s just a scene here or there, sometimes the whole thing. It’s the same with my unfinished ideas, as well. Regardless, I read them and sometimes I find mistakes or things I think could have been done better. Because they’re my stories, I can do something about it—not just leave a note in a review. I can fix things; so I do. Yes, that means that there are edits to TCaR, Bluff, and WoK. I’ll eventually get around to uploading the changes. Most of them are nit-picking minor things—grammar, spelling, clarity, etc. So for everyone who loved the stories the way they were, nothing has changed. It’s just literary improvement. Next to mention is “Slave to Fortune.” I continue to proof and add and tweak here and there. It’s a growing story, but I don’t think I’ll be throwing in other scenes into it. I’m pretty happy with it and I just want to write it. I’m still working out the particulars of my vague start. I have the antagonists down, but I need more of a back story—as only the main antagonist, Miles, has one. Furthermore, I need to figure out the events/action that leads to the Titans being captured... since that’s where my story starts. Beyond that, a good chunk of it is in my present tense style of skeleton writing. All of it needs to be changed to past tense and expanded into full story mode. Thankfully, some scenes are already in past tense and fully expanded, dialogue and all. Those ones are just something I won’t have to bother with later, thankfully. Not much else to say on that. So... that’s progress and improvement on six stories! I’m pretty glad to see these things shoring up and solidifying. It’s slow progress, especially when I split my attention, but I feel like I’m making progress. When you throw L4D2 into the mix... well, honestly it’s easier and the rewards are quicker to kill some zombies than writing a story, which is time consuming but the effects are longer lasting. Games are a capable distraction, I know, and I’m trying to re-balance them with my writing else I’ll never get anything done. Heh. For those paying attention, you’ll note that I’ve added another heading to the Author Status. It used to be only four panels: Newest, New, Old, Older. It’s now six panels, giving you a full half-year run down of my activity. I figure people would like to know what I’ve been doing in nice little half-year chunks. It also satisfies my OCD in having a Newest, Newer, New, Old, Older, Oldest listing—three in each. At this time, I am not going to update the WOMP section. The edits I’ve been doing have not been anything dramatic and I really don’t feel like going through my stories and checking word counts. It gets tedious and I’d rather save that for when I’ve actually added substance to my works, not check for an additional 12 words across 400 pages or something. Also realized that I never put Lain up as an anime interest... it’s been added in the list of interests above. Portal has been added to the games list! (Now you’re thinking with Portals!) Well, there you have it: October’s activity. See you next month, where there will be cake! No lie, my brother’s birthday is coming up. The cake is totally not a lie... Think about it, have I lied to you—in this update, at least? For those interested in cake, please assume the party escort submission position. I hope you will join us, [Subject Name Here]. If you don’t, you will be... missed. HISTORY - 09-24-10 The story itself, though still not complete, is over 80 pages. Now, today—right after I finish this update—I am going to add in a chunk of dialogue I wrote and continue writing on it, since I now have an idea on how to work the whole of the scene. It was just a substantial chunk of speech and I didn’t exactly have a place for it or means of making it fit without seeming non sequitur. I’m writing this now to get it out of the way so I can focus on writing parts of the story. The word count for “Slave to Fortune” will change in the WOMP section, if you’re reading this moments after I updated (it’s about 17:00 EST as I type this), after I add in that scene. So, for those that actually watch my stories grow there, that will change soon; you might not even see the “before” word count—depending on when you check the WOMP. I’ve been talking to my betas about a few things with CoD, as well. I have something worked out and I’m happy. Minor problem/concern is now fixed with my story. The only bigger problem is this: there’s another Riddick movie coming out. I’ve known this for a while, but let me explain the problem. Even though I’m basically rewriting the TCoR movie with the expanded universe I wanted (so much so that we haven’t even reached Crematoria or brought in the Necromongers yet), I hear that the Riddick movie will deal with Underverse. I had already planned out Chronicle of Darkness clear to its end—and that included my own take on Underverse. I am all about continuity; as I was writing CoD, they put out Assault on Dark Athena. I got the game, played it, and found interest in it. The problem it presented was that it happened BEFORE my story; that added a chunk of history into my story that I didn’t even know about! So I had to go through my story and check it for anything that Dark Athena might have contradicted. Well, it did change some things with Johns and Riddick in the history, but nothing to really screw with it. Afterward, I was like... “There are a wealth of characters in this game!” So I now have people like Revas and Lynn and Dacker and Jaylor and Sad Eyes... Most of them are dead—so that relieved me of having to figure out if they have anything to do with current plot. So what is my problem? I like to incorporate and stick close to canon as much as possible. Granted, with TCoR, many things change... but the layout of Crematoria and the history of the Necromongers that you see in the TCoR novel? I use that stuff! I pay attention to the layout of areas so I can write better. I watch the movies and pause them so I can look at the scene and then go talk with my betas about it. We theorize and figure out how to swing it and make it realistic and logical. If my Underverse doesn’t jive with the upcoming movie, some things might change in my story. Nothing major, I’m pretty sure. Granted, this movie comes after TCoR and thus has a whole “already retconned” status kind of attached to it... However, just like TCoR, I’m going to watch it and tear it apart for all its good bits. If there’s more information on Furyans or planet Furya or Furya the Killer of Men or... anything, really? I’m going to use that to add to the lore of the Riddick universe in my story. I just hope it doesn’t quite contradict too much. I DO have an Arc of story dedicated to the Necromongers, after all. Likewise, I should mention, is that Valve is putting out more Left 4 Dead content. This one is the Sacrifice. Leading up to it, they’re also giving a web-comic (downloadable in PDF, bless them!) with backstory on our lovely four survivors! What’s the problem with this as it relates to “Mercy Killing”? Yes! You’re correct, I did give some backstory on Zoey. Well, Zoey and a bit with Francis—but Francis’ stuff is the least of my worries. Zoey’s backstory came out in Part 2 of the comic, and I’m looking at that and going “Oh... yeah, I’m gonna have to change some stuff there.” The good news is that it makes Zoey tougher; a scrapper and a crackshot with a rifle. The bad part is that her parents weren’t as I envisioned them. For one, Zoey’s dad is apparently a cop or guard. Likely a cop. And he was pretty cool about Zoey dropping out. It was her mother that was all... y’know. Furthermore, they lived in an apartment and that was where Zoey watched zombie movies (likely with her Dad sometimes)—not in a dorm room (with other students). All in all, the L4D comic content for Zoey isn’t really a big, huge dent in my story. I have maybe four lines of dialogue dealing with her backstory and I can just... rewrite the dialogue. The core of the idea hasn’t changed, so I’ll be fine. What might make a dent? They went to this military compound called Millhaven. It has soldiers with gas masks and junk... and you learn more about the infection and “carriers.” That threw a whole new dimension on my story. The survivors in my story reached a safety zone. Only, to look at it in the comic, they didn’t quite get there... and moreover they can’t go there because they’re carriers. No worries, though... I’ve already fixed most of this! The main problem is that they’re adding in The Sacrifice campaign! Now, someone dies in there—you get to choose, I heard. Now, since all four of my survivors made it to this safety zone... Obviously, I’m going to have to change a few things if I include The Sacrifice into the lore of Mercy Killing. I’ve already worked the comic’s Millhaven thing in there. I’m pretty sure I can swing one more campaign no matter the difficulty. Beyond those three stories, I have another story called “What Jinxes Do.” A few days ago, I had an idea for another RaeJinx idea... So I started rambling it out in an IM to one of my betas. The plot bunny got hopping and soon I was crossing it over—using “What Jinxes Do” as a premise, a backstory. So it became the sequel to WJD and I decided to label it “How Jinxes Work.” I was pleased. Check the WOMP for this new story’s stats! What else? Hm... I’ve been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead 2. I’m extremely enthusiastic for the new campaign. They’re porting No Mercy to Left 4 Dead 2! I hope you get to play the original survivors on it, too. L4D1 characters are deeper, I feel. Their emotions are more realistic—and I like the voice acting better. They sound appropriately scared and use humor to lighten the mood appropriately. In L4D2, it sometimes seems like they’re just joking through the whole thing. I can’t really take the characters seriously; it kinda screws immersion. Meh, whatever. Alrighty... I’m gonna update the WOMP, now. Check back later for an update on the new length of “Slave to Fortune.” EDIT - My apologies! I got to writing, then I got to playing Left 4 Dead 2... I completely forgot to update the WOMP! It’s fixed. “Slave to Fortune” now sits at 35,417 words; that’s 86 and a quarter pages. Now, it’s a quarter past 3 AM and I’m heading to bed. Heh. HISTORY - 08-27-10 I came up with a few scenes for Slave to Fortune and No Laughing Matter. I’ve saved them away, for when I’ll write them. Also, I came up with a great start for a new TT fic idea, but it still needs a middle and ending. It’s a RaeX story. I also have a lot going on in my life at the moment, so that’s intruding on my proofing and writing. Bleh. It sucks. Moving on from that... I came up with another original yuri story. It could work in the DC Universe... and I have considered a Titans crossover into it—to the point of making it a side-story for No Laughing Matter. I’m not sure if I will. It’s a strange romance between a super-heroine named Falcon and a Self Aware Bio-droid Interfacing unit... also known as “Sabi.” Sabi, with cold, logical fact and a budding personality matrix, feels that the city (and much of humanity) is broken; these “biologics” are not fulfilling their primary function. Instead, they sabotage the system. Sabi’s a bit overbearing and feels that she should correct this mistake. However, her means are typically totalitarian overlord style. At the same time, Sabi admires Falcon for a biologic unit functioning within normal ranges, even within the corrupt system that produced her. She cannot bring herself to kill Falcon, even though the super-heroine has stopped her from forcefully “fixing” the system and the city it governs. Rather than fight intensely, Falcon reasons with Sabi. Reason is something Sabi can admire, and Falcon uses logic against the android to halt what most people consider her “evil plans.” Sabi has too much respect for Falcon and not enough data to counter the super-heroine’s arguments. Sabi doesn’t understand this irrational, illogical “human choice” and it vexes her. Sabi embarks on a mission to understand Falcon’s insistence that any solution to “fix” the system never remove human choice. Her mission, her journey will bring her closer to understanding humans and—she hopes—bring her closer Falcon. In this story, the SABI unit faces such questions as: What is human choice? How does it work? What is the proper balance between free will and maintaining order? How do emotions influence human choice? What is love? What does it mean to be in love? ...Can a machine love? I typed out a very vague run-down of this story. It wasn’t in any kind of real story form or even a rough draft. It was just a series of events; “This happens. Then this happens.” The sentences were short, to the point, and more of a cliff-notes version for the plot. And yet, there was a lot to this sucker. The paragraphs began to amass... and the document is 24 pages long! If I made a skeleton of this thing, it could possibly go past 100 pages. Pft, the thing could be a novel. I’m not quite sure I’d want a novel out of the FalconSABI story. I think it’s a tad overdone as a topic; the whole “I, Robot” thing. Mleh. Nevertheless, it’s an idea that wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t have a title for it... so I’m going to tentatively label it “The Eye of Horus.” It’s now listed in the What’s On My Plate section. The WOMP needs to be updated again, I think... but right now, I don’t have the energy to go through all my stories and see which Word Counts have changed. Also, I probably should put up that new RaeX idea I had, but I still need to put it in a document and see how long it is and... yeah, don’t feel up to it at the moment. Of a random note: DeviantArt has made me a Kigo fan. Some of the stories I mentioned taking up my time are Kim Possible stories of Kigo pairing. I like them... despite never having watched a single episode of Kim Possible. Normally, I don’t read stories if I know nothing about the fandom. I just can’t stand not knowing. But I also have no desire to watch Kim Possible... ... but I do so love the Kigo pairing. Hmn. Ah well. What can you do? It’s yuri! You can’t just... just ignore it! Okay... that’s what’s going on with me this month. So... yeah. HISTORY - 07-31-10 So... here it is. I have been carefully reading through Chronicle of Darkness. You all know this from previous posts. I’m now just after Daedalus; they’re heading to Nemaeus 4, now. The Daedalus Arc had some fixes, including more logic bombs—one of the characters once again walked through The Gift of Nyx in a way that was impossible due to its layout. That was fixed. Some minor errors in grammar and spelling have been made. Some clarifications on some vague sentences will help readers when I post the fixed chapters. It’s really just tedious, but I’m also enjoying reading through my story again, getting inspiration and remembering things I wanted to do with it and things I had almost forgotten about. I’m around two-thirds of the way through my story, so this proofing will be over soon (relatively speaking) and I’ll have redone chapters! Also, I’ve been expounding upon “Slave to Fortune,” lately. It’s grown and the skeleton is looking more and more complete. I am very pleased with this. Slave to Fortune is becoming a favorite of mine. It kind of came in stealth, under the radar and surprised me with how interested I am in its somewhat unique plot. It’s almost finished, in terms of scenes I want and the flow. Soon all that will be left to do, as with many of my ideas and skeletons, is to turn it into a full-blown story. Recently, I watched The Illusionist. I’ve seen it before, but I’ve been meaning to watch it again. I enjoyed the movie and Edward Norton’s performance in it. While watching it, with thoughts of “Slave” and CoD in my mind, I somehow came up with a new idea. I thought, for a moment, that I would never be able to focus on yet another idea... But I said, “Screw it, I’m just gonna sit down and do it.” And I did. In a few hours, I wrote 15 pages, revised it to 18. The dialogue was done in skeleton form—nothing else was. That meant I could just write everything in full detail, breeze through dialogue without slowing down, and finish. It was nice and when I turned the dialogue into story-format, it finished at 24 pages. The new story is called “When Opportunity Knocks.” It’s a short but sweet RaeJinx story, like most of my little plot-bunnies. It’s done right now and I’ll be attempting to post it sometimes today—probably in the evening, though. I’m dead tired and plan on sleeping most of the day away. I updated the What’s On My Plate and Writing Status sections with updated lists and word-counts and all that good junk. I’m making progress, so never fear! I’m not idle, I haven’t forgotten about the stories, and I’m not giving up on them. I hope that “Opportunity” will keep you entertained while I toil at these projects! Eh, on a smaller note, I got an idea for a Gargoyles story a bit ago; it’s untitled, but the OC is “Andraste.” It’s a Demona-centric fic. I’m still working at it; toying with it in my head. I don’t have much, but it’s in the WOMP section, anyhow. If anything comes of it, I’ll let you know. But that’s not all! I came up with some more ideas/scenes for “No Laughing Matter” over the time. Not forgotten, either... it’s just growing and amassing itself. I’ve been doing lots of research into the Batman, Batgirl, and Titans comics, so I’m getting a better picture of how I want to do things. As TCaR and NLM are set in a sort of hybrid world between the Teen Titans cartoon and the Comics (which I haven’t read), getting an accurate view and figuring out what I want to include and how I can include it. It’s not exactly easy. By the time I’m done, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good idea of where I rest with it. Furthermore, I came up with a Rae/Gar idea. Yes, you must be shocked—me? not writing yuri? I promise, it’s not the end of the world. This one’s titled “Prurient.” It’s in a rough idea format, not even a skeleton... but it’s something I tossed around in my head, then I told one of my betas about it. He said it sounded interesting. We both agreed that it needed more work to stand on its own as a story, but we both liked the idea. Also, I went through TCaR a bit ago. I read it often, honestly. I find mistakes here and there, sometimes. I’ve made some minor fixes to it. Eventually, I’ll get around to posting the fixed chapters. Almost all my fanfics have changed in size due to me having read most of them again and finding mistakes and the like. I guess my stories will just continue to improve until I just can’t make them any better. It’s my perfectionist side. Now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to throw a monkey into the gears. Sorry, I couldn’t find a wrench—but that’s just as good, right? Well, a little messy, but so’s this! A while back—months (maybe a year) ago, now... I came up with two fanfic ideas for the Bible. I hadn’t really thought much about them ‘til I was doing my word-count check for all my stories and noticed them just... sitting there so innocuously. Heh. One is a Lilith/Serpent romance idea that features them as outcasts and the parents of all supernaturals upon the earth. The other actually deals with the Anti-Christ; it’s a story that portrays the AC himself as a victim of fate, doomed to begin the end times—sucks to be him. I was pretty much cackling throughout both sacrilegious ideas. ...I’m not going to do anything with them unless they somehow become part of other stories. I’m just going to let them sit there and amuse me—and probably enrage some extremist televangelists. Other than the writing stuff and watching The Illusionist, I have also been playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the Ultimate Sith Edition. I haven’t beaten it yet, probably ‘cause I spent a lot of time leveling. I maxed myself out with runs through Raxus Prime and Felucia. Is it wrong that I enjoy throwing Shaak Ti around by her head tentacles? Meh, whatever. I think up a lot of stuff all the time. My mind never stops working out new things. I used to role play a lot; I have tons of characters I used to play in AOL chat rooms. To this day, I still make up new characters from time to time even though I don’t really have any place to play them. Sometimes they work their way into my stories. One’s already going to debut in No Laughing Matter... in fact, is the co-star of NLM! But enough about her. I’m going to tell you about a couple characters and their stories. You might see them in a future story. As we speak, I’ve almost half-way managed to fit them into No Laughing Matter. Dunno if I will, though. I might just make a side story for the both of them. The first character is Mara Roth (no relation to Raven as Rachel Roth, though). Mara is a young woman who is disturbed by a series of events in her life. The most notable two events are the cause of her parents’ psychological breakdowns and her abduction by Scarecrow from her foster home. Mara is a Metahuman, capable of secreting chemicals from her body for a variety of effects (hence Scarcrow’s interest in her). When Mara escaped from Scarecrow, she came out of the event a bit... off. She now resides in the low-security wing at Arkham Asylum; she is not considered a criminal or villain, but too disturbed to function well in society. Her story involves her exploration of Arkham and the discoveries she makes... and about her rarely successful attempts to leave the asylum for one reason or another. She’s a nice girl, at least, if not sane. The second character is Marcus; I’ve yet to decide on a last name. He... is a Satyr. Where did he come from? What’s he doing in Gotham? Well, these are questions not easily answered. God knows Marcus would love to know! The young boy is found by a small family in the Bowery and raised by them. He helped out in their family restaurant—out of sight, of course. It wouldn’t be safe for a Satyr, knowing the general opinion of Metahumans and non-”normals.” Now he’s 20 years old; he’s a full grown Satyr and life has gone well. All he wants is to be left alone and happy with his family. But in Gotham, that’s no easy feat. With gangs, the mafia, super-villains, and the Batman... how can Marcus keep himself hidden away? The answer, quite simply, is that he can’t. Beyond those two, I’ve been picking at a few ideas for Star Wars, heavily inspired by the Star Wars: Force Unleashed game. I’ve got two or three characters and a good bit of history on them. I’ve linked them together into one big plot. Caedra Duskai is a young Twi’lek and a Force user from thousands of years ago, frozen in carbonite in a series of strange events. When she is rescued, she will see the advancement of the galaxy in ways she had never imagined. She will soon have to ally with two women from the present day; another Twi’lek Force user—self-proclaimed a Grey Jedi in exile—and her lover, a young female Jedi Knight who “pulled a Bindo” and joined the Grey in her exile. These unlikely three have a destiny together; the Jedi Council—what is left of it, anyhow—has need of them. However, their very presence tests the limits of Jedi philosophy... When the cards are down, will they be more aid or hindrance? Alrighty, then! Enough teasers for that stuff. This has just become a rant, so I’ll end it here. That’s a good chunk of what I’ve been doing with my time. If you have questions or comments, feel free to PM me! I’ll talk your ear off, if you let me. Heh. EDIT - There ya go! “When Opportunity Knocks” is now posted! Enjoy! Editing Levels: Level 1 - grammar/spelling changes. Any changes made at Level 3 or above will be given a short description. Writing Status: Batman: “Batwoman” Edits: Reference Material: “Quinn-tessential” Edits: Reference Material: Chronicles of Riddick Series: “Chronicle of Darkness” Edits: Reference Material: Fairy Tales: “Once Upon A Time: Little Red Riding Hood” Edits: Reference Material: Gargoyles: “Andraste” Edits: Reference Material: Hellsing: “Styrian Countess” Edits: Reference Material: Left 4 Dead: “A Mercy Killing” Edits: Reference Material: “Huntress” Edits: Reference Material: Legacy of Kain Series: “The Librarian; Or, A Scholar’s Tale” Updates: Edits: Reference Material: Teen Titans: “Alternative Solutions” Updates: Edits: Reference Material: “Bluff” Edits: Reference Material: “Demon’s Curse” Edits: Reference Material: “Erkala” Edits: Reference Material: “Hard Luck” Edits: Reference Material: “How Jinxes Work” Edits: Reference Material: “How to Steal a Girlfriend” Edits: Reference Material: “Just My Luck” Edits: Reference Material: “Key to Happiness” Edits: Reference Material: “Lucky Break” Edits: Reference Material: “No Laughing Matter” Edits: Reference Material: “Playing the Game” Edits: Reference Material: “Practices in Patience” Edits: Reference Material: “Prurient” Edits: Reference Material: “Slave to Fortune” Edits: Reference Material: “Spurious” Edits: Reference Material: “Subversive” Edits: Reference Material: “To Catch a Raven” Edits: Reference Material: “Too Close for Comfort” Edits: Reference Material: “Umbral Admiration” Edits: Reference Material: “What Jinxes Do” Edits: Reference Material: “When Opportunity Knocks” Edits: Reference Material: What’s On My Plate: This is absolutely everything I am doing at the moment. Sometimes an idea strikes me, but then merges with another. Other times, I just give up on the idea. Then there are times when things pester me so badly that I have to write out a rough outline for the story. These rough outlines can be of any size; it depends on the length of the idea and the detail I give its outline. In short, NOTHING in the “in progress” sections should be taken for absolute. If an item disappears from one of the “in progress” headings, do not be surprised or angry, because I will not care. “TITLE” - FANDOM - PAIRING - (LENGTH OF DOCUMENT) Finished Fanfiction: ~“Once Upon A Time: Little Red Riding Hood” - Fairy Tales - LRRH/Wolf - (2,548 words) Finished Original Fiction: ~None Fanfiction Works in Progress: ~“Quinn-tessential” - Batman - Harley/Ivy - (1,898 words) Original Fiction Works in Progress: ~“Blue Wolf” - Original Fiction - Taylor/Renée - (15,185 words) | |||||||
1. Practices in Patience reviewsA daring drabble of short shoujo-ai, showing shameless but refined RaeJinx. Ripped out and wrapped up, posted and presented to the patient public. Herein a joyful, jaunting Jinx jumps the gun to rile Raven, the rare and radiant maiden. Enjoy!Teen Titans - Rated: T - English - Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,105 - Reviews: 15 - Published: 6-7-11 - Jinx & Raven - Complete2. When Opportunity Knocks reviewsIt has been five years since the Titans formed. Jinx has decided to let Raven know how she feels; all she has to do is walk up and knock on Raven's door. That should be easy, right? Jinx/Raven one-shot!Teen Titans - Rated: T - English - Romance/Drama - Chapters: 1 - Words: 13,828 - Reviews: 20 - Published: 7-31-10 - Jinx & Raven - Complete3. Bluff reviewsJinx wants a relationship with a Titan. Raven is her best candidate, but the odds are stacked against her. When you can't win honestly, sometimes you have to bluff. Jinx/Raven one-shot!Teen Titans - Rated: T - English - Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 9,145 - Reviews: 16 - Published: 4-17-10 - Jinx & Raven - Complete4. Chronicle of Darkness » reviewsEvents after Dark Fury totally rewritten. TCoR my way. JackRiddick. Jack remained on Helion. After five years, Riddick returns... this sets a series of events in motion that neither could have foreseen. Rated M for language, violence, adult themes, etc...Pitch Black / Riddick - Rated: M - English - Sci-Fi/Adventure - Chapters: 26 - Words: 286,928 - Reviews: 174 - Updated: 4-4-10 - Published: 11-21-075. Once Upon A Time: Little Red Riding Hood reviewsThe story of a girl whose life is not very happy. She runs to the forest after her mother and runs into a helpful wolf-girl. Shoujo-ai!Fairy Tales - Rated: T - English - Romance/Fantasy - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,739 - Reviews: 7 - Published: 3-10-10 - Complete6. To Catch A Raven » reviewsHow do you catch a Raven? Well, if you don't know, then Jinx does. It helps if you have a plan. Let's see how Jinx did it... Jinx/Raven.Teen Titans - Rated: M - English - Romance - Chapters: 5 - Words: 45,031 - Reviews: 100 - Updated: 10-1-08 - Published: 9-26-08 - Jinx & Raven - Complete
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