It's pronounced lahn suh and it is the Mandarin word for my favorite color. Take a guess which one.

Age: Young enough to know better, too old to care...er, um, something like that.

Location: Tracking down my wily muse.

Hobbies: Plotting to take over...something...with my evil genius Sukiovic.

Favorite Animes: Rurouni Kenshin (Red hair. You gotta love red hair!) and Naruto. Hyuuga Hinata is my absolute favorite Naruto character with Neji and Gaara (again red hair, notice a trend?) tied for second and a host of others coming in third. There are a spattering of other Animes I like but these two are my favorites.

Favorite Author: Robin McKinley. I have yet to read one of her books and not like it. I can't say that for anyone else.

Favorite Poet: Sara Teasdale. Her style is similar to mine.

If you see one of my stories on another website, it has been posted without my permission.

January 17, 2011

Ugh, a new year. The well is still dry, but I'm not one to give up. For the time being every one seems to be entertaining themselves with re-reading my work. A new Awards site has popped up and while I'm not one for promoting or endorsing, since Ikigai has been nominated I guess I have to tell you where to go to get info for voting if you're into that kind of thing. http://community.livejournal.com/biasite/ run by bittersweetXromantic. I made a poll too so please check it out. Maybe the results will help nudge my muse into action again.

June 28, 2010

I've decided to try the 100 Themes Challenge presented by 100ThemeWriters on DA. It's stirring up some ideas and I've completed two of the challenges (of which I am doing in chronological order). I'm still debating if I should post them individually or wait until I've completed them all before I start posting. You see, true to form, my muse likes things to be long and complex so that each challenge/chapter are interconnecting into a novel. I'm concerned that if I post them as I write them, continuity could be lost and important plot details mentioned early on, forgotten in later chapters. If I manage to complete this, while it will be 100 chapters, word length will fall right in between The Possession/Obsession and Ryukaze. So far the chapters are averaging a little over 1000 words a piece because I'm struggling to get anything down. Hopefully down the line, my muse will perk up and a few chapters may be longer. I'm posting my progress on my DA page if you care to look.

I drew a picture of the Chibi Gaara my friend gave me and one of Sasuke's eye twitch. Check them out if you want. I've also taken to messing with the occasional fractal digital art.

Deviantart page: http://qwitch.deviantart.com/

A little advice on what to avoid in your summary:

-Anything saying: What if/what happens when (ie: When such-and such or so-and so does "something" what happens if/when yada yada yada) This is seriously cliche.

-Anything telling you exactly what happens in your story. (ie: So-and-so did this and became this..."something" happened and now so-and-so does or is like this, etc.) Tempt readers with a little mystery, not the complete rundown.

-A summary that is 90 percent author note. If you want to tell people about changes you made, do it in the actual author note and use your summary to entice them to come in.

-Anything explicit. FF forbids anything exceeding a G rating from being in the summary and there are a lot of young eyes on this site. Please respect that. If you aren't certain if what you want to write qualifies, consider if you would ever hear or see it in a Disney movie like 101 Dalmations or Cinderella. Instead of saying your story has "sex", using "mature content" works just as well and is less offensive. This is a community site after all.

-All caps. They only hurt the eyes and make you appear mad or desperate.

-Misspelling and bad grammer. If English isn't your first language, that's understandable. You'll only learn by trying. But remember (everyone) if you really want people to read your work and enjoy it, there is no excuse for spelling simple words like "was" wrong. Taking the time to check your spelling shows you love what you are writing and believe it is worth the attention, thus others will think so too.

-A bunch of garbled sentences thrown together (like pieces of conversation not directly linked). This only creates confusion, not interest.

-What?! (ie: What?! So-and-so did "this"?!) Again, seriously cliche (and annoying in my personal opinion) and falls in line with telling people exactly what happens in the story.

The purpose of a summary is to pique someone's interest so they will take a look at your story. Use a touch of mystery and suspense. Make the reader wonder, "What's the story behind this tidbit?" Writing a summary is like baiting a fishing hook. Use a rubber worm and you might get some lucky bites, but not enough to land the big one.

Lanse on Writing:

--Write what you know. Use an emotion or an experience of your own and give it to the character.

"We read fine things, but never feel them to the full until we have gone the same steps as the author." -John Keats

--Let the character BE him or herself. Don't force them to meet your expectations and they will write the story for you. If they refuse to cooperate, you need either a new plot or perhaps a different set of characters. Often I start a story with one character in mind and find another better suited for it.

"I am not at all the sort of person you and I took me for." -Jane Carlyle

--The average reader has an attention span of 30 seconds. So make every word count.

"Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found." -Alexander Pope

Anyway, here are the picture links (some of them are of my orignial character Ari who seems to have quite a following) for my stories. I also send out a big hug to my adorable fans and chibi shy shadow readers for their support. It would be relatively pointless for me to post these stories without you guys threatening me with kitchen utensils.

Ikigai

Art work for multiple chapters by akai-sora (Keru-Arashi on DA): http://keru-arashi.deviantart.com/gallery/#Ikigai

"Carrying You" colored by vegetapr69: http://vegetapr69.deviantart.com/art/SasuHina-Carrying-you-colored-105174068

"Ikigai" by MaliaNyla: http://malianyla.deviantart.com/art/Ikigai-132707616

"Ikigai-2" by MaliaNyla: http://malianyla.deviantart.com/art/Ikigai-2-146682357

"Ikigai: Mud Be Gone" by Not-Anonymous: http://not-anonymous.deviantart.com/art/Ikigai-Mud-Be-Gone-147929322

Ryukaze: Dragon Wind

Watch the Sunset: Ryukaze by lori286787 http://lori286787.deviantart.com/art/Watch-the-Sunset-Ryukaze-124748056

(NEW) The Breath of Dragons by UlurNaga http://ulurnaga.deviantart.com/art/The-Breathe-Of-Dragons-206015165

The Chill of Winter

2 - Love by JohnnycakeEDR http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/45644311/

The Possession/The Obsession

Lost Ari through Kaiba's eyes by Sweetbriar: http://www.mad-as-sin.com/art/ari_obsession.png

Ari's moonlight dress by Sweetbriar: http://www.mad-as-sin.com/art/ari1.png

The contract wallpaper: 1024x768 by Sweetbriar http://www.mad-as-sin.com/art/the_possession.png

800x600 http://www.mad-as-sin.com/art/the_possession6x8.png

Ari in the rain by Sweetbriar: http://mad-as-sin.com/art/ari_rain.png

Ari's Moonlight dress by meheeners: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/meheeners/gaia/AriMoonlight.gif

The Possession chapter 24 On the Wings of a Dragon in manga format by Aoi Dragon: http://aoidragon.deviantart.com/gallery/#_browse/scraps--2

Ari's Moonlight dress by lori286787: http://lori286787.deviantart.com/art/Ari-s-Moonlight-124738312

Oni

Oni by Manta-Rae: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/31877335/