May 21st 2013

Well… what can I say? Unfortunately I’m going to have to pull an excuse from Kakashi and say “I got lost on the road of life.” Classes have burnt me out though and I officially had to take a break after two years of constant classes or fail out of pure exhaustion. So the next nine weeks are completely dedicated to writing and work. My joy, my love, and hopefully my life after I graduate. If it makes anyone feel any better I actually got severely distracted with my own original novel which is well on its way to being written. It’s been rough drafted and seven or eight chapters completely written so I’m pretty proud of it so far. I’m confident in my characters development because everyone on fanfiction seemed to really enjoy the original characters I created such as Antea, Syne (if everyone hates the villain I did a good job), Traux, and Guruko (yes Kishi owns him, but since he didn’t do anything with him I had to create his character before writing). None of these characters are in my original work so don’t try to look ‘underneath the underneath’ with them. I will let you in on a little secret though… each of the stories I wrote use techniques I wanted to practice for my original piece.

APS: I needed to see how I could handle a large cast of characters and if I could give each enough of their own time and personality.

AC: I wanted to experiment with animal/human relationships. If I couldn’t pull off a reasonable and interesting relationship between them then my book was doomed.

SS: I used this story to approach different writing styles. Flashbacks at the beginning, drawing angst out by going back in time before bringing a person back to the present at the end of the chapter, letters between scenes. I experimented with having a child’s point of view. It’s also practice with a subtle underlying bigger plot. Stay Standing was also practicing narrowing the field. As I’m sure people have noticed in APS and AC I tried to do too much, got too excited, and had the protagonist experience every problem under the sun. I still plan on finishing them but I think I can do it better now that I’m a better writer. Stay standing has two focus points: Ron’s illness and the wormtail criminal. I’m very proud of how I pulled it together and didn’t go everywhere with the damn plot. That was my greatest weakness and I feel like I’ve conquered it with SS.

And as for Stay Standing in concerns to certain Private Messages... No, you really don't have to inform me that Ron isn't perfect. I'm very well aware of that fact thank you very much. Am I aware that he can be a total ass? Why yes dear I truly do know. Half the time throughout the books when Ron is being an ass I'm right there reading along going 'tell 'em what's for!' While I do not have Ron's temper I certainly have his pride and thought process. I think females are far too overdramatic for their own good (generally speaking. And yes I'm aware that there are many out there who aren't over dramatic, but generally speaking). As a girl myself with four younger sisters it honest to god sickens me how they can allow little hurtful words to completely crush them into a blubbering messes. It makes me angry when they expect you to act a certain way, be a certain way for society. Most of all it hurts to be told over and over again that your opinion doesn't matter, what you say doesn't matter, just shut up we don't want to hear your opinion from your entire family. Several scenes involving Ron were nostalgic, but not in a good way. To see him fighting back against the mantra of 'your opinion doesn't matter,' that Hermione shows through the books is heartwarming. Ron's attitude of 'Even if you hate my opinion, hate me for my opinion, you are going to hear my opinion. I won't let you quiet me' is awe inspiring. To have so many people around you, even your own friends, pretty much say that they don't want to listen to you, to give you a chance and then to step up and say 'Hey... you can't treat me like that. I'm not going to be quiet because you told me to. Even if I don't have shit to say I'll make something up just to stop you from having your way' is just plain kick ass. I think that's my biggest problem with Hermione. The way that she ignored Ron and treated what he had to say as if it was nothing even though she was supposed to be his best friend. That really bothered me. I mean... I'm sorry but if we genderbent them. Hermione and Ron... who would be in the right then? I guarantee that it would be Ron because he'd be a girl then and his opinion needs to be heard and how dare you try to silence her every chance you get? Despite the fact that they both say hurtful things people uhh and ahh for Hermione because she runs away crying. I can't respect someone that puts someone down for their opinions and says such hurtful things yet when the tables are turned and Ron calls her a name she goes crying in a corner playing the victim. I. JUST. CAN'T. DO. IT. Hermione's a great character, but people are so gung hoe for her and unwilling to see both sides I feel as if I have to be a radical Ron's Perfect fan just to have a chance in the discussion.

As a thank you to everyone whose still looking for updates I plan on having two chapters of Stay Standing out by the end of May.