News
2/19/08
Huh. Out of curiosity, I decided to try and write some Firefly fanfiction.
Turns out it came to me really easily. As in, more easily than anything else I've written. Ever.
I will study this further.
1/3/08
Well, time to update Ye Olde Profile.
I've been out of action for a couple of months. Its partially due to the usual holiday slump I go through, mixed in with a seriously hectic schedule. Between work, holiday preparations, family stuff, and the like, I've been too busy to write, and that's a good thing, because I really needed a break in my work. I'm coming back, though, so keep your eyes open and check you inboxes. Some good stuff and some badly needed updates are right around the corner!
Now, to address something else, and another reason why I was in a bit of a slump over the holiday season. In fact, three reasons. They go by the names of Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4, and Mass Effect. I've been intensely absorbed with these games, as all three have solid and inspirational storylines, and in Mass Effect's case, one that has ideas percolating in my mind. Writing ideas. Regardless, all three have generated new and really kickass ideas, and I'm considering following up on a few of them.
Zelda fans: working hard on the next few chapters of Ocarina. Link's on his way to the Fire Temple, but don't expect it to be an easy trip...
Also, for you C&C fans who are waiting for the next installment of Tiberium Wars, it may be a bit. I had halfway written the entire chapter when I suddenly realized that it...well, it sucked. So, I scrapped much of it and decided to rebuild it. But for the next chapter, expect some GDI action, complete with Orcas, 4th Battalion riding in to save the day, a look at naval warfare in the TW universe, and some good old fashioned Hoorah and Devil Dogs!
FFVIII fans: well, you've got a new fluff story to tide you over for a bit while I work on the next chapter of Gunblade: Reload. I'm about halway finished with it, and I'm working on the Granaldo battle in the Training Center right now.
Author Profile
So, who am I?
Aside from beig a moody, catankerous jackass (you have been warned) the pen name is Peptuck, a name whose origins are best left unsaid. My real name is Greg. I'm a 23-year-old American living in a place where the CIA hasn't checked for me yet. I'm a busboy who has way too much time on his hands, furthering an edumacation that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. I'm a tiny, slightly overweight college student majoring in International Studies, with a minor in Japanese, and I have a thing for writing stories. I have a personal love for action and the military, and am not afraid to admit that I like violence; just about all my favorite books, movies, and games involve quite a bit of it, though I'm still not sure how that copy of Harvest Moon or what those piles of SimCity games are doing on my shelves. Curious.
I'm a fairly prolific writer. A lot of what I write goes unpublished on the interwebs. I've got a dozen folders in my fanfic folder itself, and half of them are full of stuff that I likely won't ever put up unless I get bored or review-starved. Either that or I'll screw around on Wikipedia. If you see a Peptuck on Wikipedia, we are one and the same, though that guy is a bit of an asshole.
I'm a specialist in writing novelizations; in my personal philosophy, I try not to write a story in a particular fandom unless I've worked on putting some of the original content into written format, as this helps cement, in my head, what my particular interpretation of that content actually is. Thus, the slew of novelizations you see me working on are in a sense mental excercises to help me find how I write, as well as pleasant diversions and tributes to good, fun games.
My particular areas of interest when it comes to writing involve action and plot; a simple glance over most of my work will show that I tend to write either novelizations or plot-heavy stories that involve gratuitous amounts of violence - for heck's sake, Ronin has a villain who would impress even Alucard with his resilience. Despite this, somehow a fluff fic got in there. Must be all that sappy music I listen to.
A word on my writing style: I tend to be descriptive, and at times wordy. Its my belief that the writer should evoke images and paint a picture for the reader, and I have a personal dislike for stories that are too sparse. While I appreciate the power of imaginition, I often like to invoke specific images and concepts, which is why I am so descriptive at times. I try to strike a middle balance between description and imagination, but I try to err on the side of caution and go with description over imagination when necessary.
With that being said, I would also like to add that you won't be seeing over-the-top pretentiousness in my writing; I try to be direct and simple with my style, showing the reader exactly what is happening without trying to pretty up the material unnecessarily. It is a personal peeve of mine when someone says I should be writing like a certain author, because I am not that author. I learned that a long time ago while I was writing; I attempted to emulate certain great authors (R.A. Salvatore, Dan Abnett, Ashbear, Darren Shier, Stackpole, etc) only to find that I was more comfortable writing with my personal style over anything they did. I'm confident in my ability to weave a good yarn, though I recognize that while I have ways to go, I understand that I won't get anywhere by copying off another writer, and have to find my way myself. I am not Steven King, and I do not pretend to be; I am merely Peptuck.
Regarding updates to any fic I work on, and this is very important: I update when my muse says to. She's a weird thing, that muse. For example, right now I'm writing some freaky hallucination stuff for Oni, but that's after I finished a few lines of sarcastic combat dialogue as Cloud and Barret massacre Shinra soldiers in Mako. I write randomly and sporadically; this may be why I have so many spelling errors and why some people complain about me being repetitive; some paragraphs come together over six weeks of my forehead brawling with my keyboard, and that's while I flit between twelve different text documents like a hummingbird chasing flowers in a clothes dryer. Its amazing I get projects like Gunblade, Ronin, and Legacy finished. Regardless, updates are whenever something gets done; I try to adhere to deadlines, but I like deadlines because they make a funny sound when they zoom by. I write what I feel like writing and what my muse says I should be writing. That's why I updated Synthesis after a year of it sitting there on my profile page.
Some links, as this is train of thought and I might forget otherwise:
http://www.icybrian.com
- One of the best fanfic sites in the world. Go there, read the RPG fanfics, and rejoice, for they are all preapproved, wondrous bits of sexy, sexy goodness.
http://www.centragarden.net
- Site of Greenbeans' Sowing the SeeDs fanfic, a major inspiration for The Gunblade Saga.
http://www.military-sf.com/index.htm
-Military fiction/military sci-fi resource site. This site is an absolute must for anyone who wishes to writeproper, realistic and accurate military combat fiction. If you use any kind of military unit in your writing, from a squad to a division, the information here with vastly help you improve in your capacity to write accurately.
So, there you have it. I'm a moderately insane fanfic author who has way too much time on his hands.
The Soundtrack
Chris Ganale inspired this, by including track listings for some of his chapters, where he suggested certain themes and songs for certain scenes. I like the concept, and as I use a lot of music to help me imagine scenes, I figured I might as well make a listing of some of the tracks I've usedas themes forcertain scenes. This will primarily be focused on Chimera and Mako, as those are my current projects at this point.
You guys may note that achunk of this stuff is remixes; I've encountered some simply amazing remixes and online music; I've included links to those songs available free for download. Those off official soundtracks you'll have to buy or pirate yourself, however.:P
OCRemix.org - Gaming remix site. Anything with "OCRemix" as the album title can be found there. Great stuff, the guys there know their stuff.
Mothergoat.net- Mothergoat does Halo-inspired music, and his stuff is simply gobbsmacking amazing. If Mothergoat is the artist, go grab it here.
Dark Side of Phobos - Doom remix project. If "Dark Side of Phobos" is the album title, go here to find it.
Gh.ffshrine.org - Galbadia Hotel, an excellent site for getting otherwise impossible to find video game music, all free and legal. If I whip some obscure track for a soundtrack that's never been officially released, chances are its here.
Random stuff: I just passed a million words archived total in my stories. Wow, I have no life XD
FanFiction.Net - unleash your imagination
