Finals are still going. I won't be available until next weekend.

Also: there are comments I'm going to reply to as soon as I have something to show for myself on the essay front.

There's a really huge, ugly fly in my room. It's driving me crazy.

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Fiction meme, stolen from demonlord_lover, minerva_one, and five or six other people.


What's the last thing you wrote?
An original short called "Samsara." Or, the opening paragraph to my English essay.

Was it any good?
I liked the story, but that doesn't mean it's good.

What's the first thing you ever wrote that you still have?
Somewhere, buried underneath as much junk as I could find, is a binder full of story snippets I wrote when I was twelve. The story bears a mysterious resemblance to Final Fantasy IV.

( Et cetera... )

I just read the best Saiunkoku story ever:

Bara Hime and The Steamed Bun Spirit

Seriously - read it. It's awesome! And perhaps slightly traumatizing in the good way. XD

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Started playing FE: Radiant Dawn this weekend after I recovered from Thursday. Got to chapter five, encountered Rafiel, and now I feel kind of irritated that I don't get to keep him yet. I wish I could find the illustration of the first encounter. He's pretty all the time, but that was a nice painting. ;_;

It's really easy to overuse Sothe and Nolan, and I'm not sure how long I get to keep any of these characters. Ilyana shows up again, I know that, or maybe she stays with the group the whole time? Who knows. Didn't want to waste money on a strategy guide, but it might be more helpful than an online faq, since the Wii isn't in here.

Anyway. This game begs for fan fiction. There's so much potential in the racial divide, and the national conflict! I hope people have written for it.

Strangely, this game makes me want to draw more than write. Like, I have the most awesome Art Nouveau idea I want to try with one of the herons, and I have that unfinished drawing of Sanaki sitting around. It's weird. I wonder what the difference is between the games/anime that inspire fiction versus art.

Finished work:
- The Business End of Illusion (Inu Yasha - 248 words)
- The First Sign (original - 498 words)
- Testament of the Magician (original/historical - 1968 words)
- Beneath the Snow (Inu Yasha - 249 words)
- Samsara (original/historical - 846 words)


Stories I didn't get to finish:
- Untitled: Dragon's Heart (Saiunkoku - 234 words)
- Glance Reviver #7: Dreamwalker (Valkyrie Profile - 726 words)
- Optique: The Five-Pointed Star (Inu Yasha - 4289 words)
- Untitled: IY Kakera #10 (Inu Yasha - 1123 words)


Too bad I don't get to count critiques. I'd have sixty pages extra.

... Well. Aside from homework, I got remarkably little done this week. ashlin's visit was a lot of fun - expensive and exhausting, but fun. She's one of the few friends from high school I've kept in touch with, and hanging out with her reminded me of how nice it is to know someone well enough to be completely comfortable with their presence. Too bad the cat didn't feel the same way. Poor kitty.

The internet connection went down a mere hour after she left, naturally. No online therapy for me. ;_;

To make up for lost time, I'm going to try to write tonight. It feels so weird to have not done so for a week. It'll have to be fast, though, because I need to have an essay draft for Tuesday. (Screw April, man. This is ridiculous. Everyone got together and played "How many major projects can we fit into one month? =D" over here.) This will include watching "The Big Sleep" and "The Maltese Falcon" multiple times. Not much of a burden according to some, but everything can get tedious after a while, even when you like it.

What to work on, though? There are two IoM projects I could work on (the unfinished Judas/Raeger arc, or Claira and Ashlin), Ebony Silks or IY Kakera (which I really should start - so sue me, I was working on background information), and Glance Reviver #7, which has been started but obviously not finished. The BPAL themes need help too. I may have to ignore strict canon concerns for now and just write it. I don't remember how many scenes there were with Shouka after Shuurei first left for Sa Province in season one, and there's no time to watch. I wish someone had a really detailed episode guide.

Heh, now that I've decided to remove Optique from the weekly theme circuit, I suddenly have all of this time to think about what I'm doing. That's never a good thing. :P This new chapter is giving me a lot of trouble. The pieces and background are in place, but last week I realized how little I considered the tactics my villain will be using, and that's very, very bad. I don't know of any mythical figures that are quite like this guy, so my job is to make something up that would fit into an Asian myth if you compared them without being a carbon copy of someone like Mansairaku (from Otogizoushi, which is as close as I've ever seen to what I want to do), and that's not easy. It might be easier to tailor him after canon villains, but I hate to be repetitive.

I should watch Otogizoushi again.

I should also scan a few things from my shiny new goodies. The Saiunkoku manga has some nice frames for iconage, especially of Seiran. And, though it's traumatic, of the old men. Long live Shou Taishi? Not like we have a choice. :P

My experience of Sakujun was hate, loathing, and an appalled sort of fascination. But is it because he's hateful, or because I watched the Sa arc knowing what was going to happen before he showed up on the scene with his alternate persona? The entire time he was calling himself "Senya" I was pissed off at him for being such a liar. :p And then later, I was kind of mad at him for his underhanded manipulation of Shuurei's emotions, especially near the end.

So, a few questions.


1. Was Senya's identity given away by his blatant resemblance to the other Sa brothers?

2. If you've read the novel, is his identity more of a mystery? (Even if I hadn't known who Senya was, the hair kind of gave it away in my opinion.)

3a. If you didn't know who Senya was supposed to be, did you like him and/or feel shocked when his real identity was revealed?

3b. If you did know, did you dislike him at any point?

4. Do you think your opinion would be different in the opposite situation?


Sakujun is a difficult character for me because my knee-jerk reaction is to hate him for what he did, but intellectually I know he's not a bad character. In fact, he's a really interesting one. If I wanted to analyze him, I could have hours of fun dissecting his motivations and arguing with myself about his sincerity versus his selfishness, his hedonistic tendencies, his absolute bastard move at the end when he told Shuurei about the poison... et cetera.

He makes me so mad. XD I avoid re-watching the Sa arc because of him. It's crazy.

I guess I could also ask if you think he has any redeeming qualities, except that I know he does. He is, after all, a product of his environment, and sometimes he actually does nice things. So I don't know.

Readers with Credentials - basically, the OP dislikes the attitude that concrit needs to come from someone a writer trusts, either because they've written before or, I guess, because they know the person. She reads this as a dismissal of concrit from people the author doesn't know/trust.

As a writer who has said that in the past, I'd like to say now that concrit from anybody is welcome if they want to give it, but I'm not obligated to use your ideas. If they don't mesh with the story the way I see it, then I - since I'm the one writing it - will make my decisions based on what does fit.

In my case, I want critique from people I know because it's easier to discuss the story with them. People that know me are also familiar with my stories, my writing style, and the way I think. They are also less likely to be offended if I ignore something based on the paragraph above. I can trust them to be mature. It has nothing to do with whether or not the person is a good writer.

In fact, as a writer who sucks at giving critiques, I can say with confidence that being able to do the writing has nothing to do with constructive criticism. The two do not necessarily hold hands.

I don't understand the issue. If you feel comfortable enough with your reading ability that you're willing to review someone's story with some helpful suggestions and they're open to critique, then you have "credentials." In that case, if it annoys you when you're ignored, then stop giving unsolicited criticism.

So, I have to agree with others who think prologues are often misused and probably unnecessary most of the time. I remember reading the Wheel of Time and wondering why the prologue for book 7, for example, wasn't just titled "Chapter One," because that's what it was. (Or, maybe it was chapter whatever for the last book, only for some reason it didn't make the cut!) The prologue to the first book was completely irrelevant.

They seem to work best when they're telling a contained story of some kind, which usually involves a myth or historical event in fantasy, but I think it's more interesting to learn about your story's gods the hard way. Personal preference, of course. And mythical openings tend not to work for me because the focus isn't really the legend - it's the epic story that comes after, which might reference the legend now and again. If that's the case, why write it like a fable? Very few writers are actually good at that kind of language. (Tolkien, Pullman, and LeGuin come to mind. Jacqueline Carey tried, but it really depends on how far she's taking it.)

Maybe this is also personal preference, but if you're going to write a creation myth, shouldn't you put a lot of effort into it, and then make sure it's absolutely relevant to the story at every possible turn? (Carey did do this, but she was also reinterpreting LOTR.) Mythology is about the human psyche. If the world has a body of legends, reality and myth should mirror each other. It should be an integral part of your characters.

Sorry, digression. But it's something I've been thinking about. I think I like world-building more than writing the fantasy itself. Writing myths and history is really fun.

In any case, a complete story doesn't really need bookends. But I said they have a use, and they do! ...kind of. What I'm thinking of is more appropriate for an appendix. Or endnotes.

Instead of banging your head on the keyboard because your readers don't understand your reference to Cain and Abel, why not just tack the original story onto the beginning of your own? Problem solved! Sure, it lacks grace, but it gets the point across, and you can't be too obvious with the majority of readers. I can't tell you how many hundreds of emails I've gotten for my websites asking questions that were answered at the top of the page in question. People can't read.

This would work best, of course, if your story revolves around said myth. I like doing that. I'm also pretty pretentious.

Your smarter readers will think you're being a) stupid and obvious, or b) snarky, which I admit is the downside to my wonderful plan. But we're talking about the cream of the crop, here.

I am not bitter. It just came to me on the train the other day when I was squished against the window by the person sitting next to me. What this says for the quality of the idea should already be apparent!

Personally, I like a bit of subtlety with my fic, but we don't all get what we want.


ETA:
I'm SO kidding about the last part. I promise. :P

I would like to put forth a few controversial opinions:

Waffles are much better - dare I say exquisite? - without butter, syrup, or other extras.

Likewise, cold pizza is a pleasure to be savored. Leftover chicken does not need to be reheated. Tea is always better loose instead of bagged. Sweets are better with less sugar.

Breakfast Hot Pockets say they use real egg and cheese, but once you freeze such, it ceases to be anything but filler.

Hm.

Dragon's Tears (from BPAL's Ars Draconis collection) is a piercing, floral scent that reminds me strongly of Sea of Glass, which is another aquatic. I'm guessing watery scents equal flowers, and frankly I'm surprised they work so well for me, when oils that are supposed to be floral make me gag.

Ladon was too strong for me, but it definitely smelled like apples. Too bad. I love apple scents! With dragon's blood, I guess that's just too much. They're both pretty dominant.

seta_suzume is kicking my ass with those BPAL fic entries. ;_;

I was hoping my Dollmore order would come in today, but alas - I have to wait until next week. From now on I'm going to make/buy boy clothes for Morgan. They suit her better.

Hmmmmm, okay, Google tells me missiles were invented in China around the thirteenth century. Maybe Ginkotsu gets a pass after all. For a few minutes there, I thought the anachronism had reached a new high in this series. :P

Yes, that is the first thing I thought of when he was blowing up the forest.

Actually, this trio of DVDs - dealing almost entirely with the Band of Seven - is the first time I can remember firearms appearing in the series. Maybe I'm forgetting something? That really caught my interest though.

I haven't read as much fan fiction as some, but I've noticed a trend in what I have read, regarding the existence of youkai in modern Japan; either they exist in hiding, or they've been destroyed, or they've managed to blend in with the human population. When people decide youkai were overpowered by humanity, they usually blame modern weapons.

Fair enough. My opinion is very similar. But how, people! It's the how that's so interesting, and that I never see outside of my imagination. A fic that explores this exists somewhere (how could it not with such a huge fandom?), and I have to find it. Alt pairing fics aren't the best place to look for an epic like that. It's just that I'm a bit afraid to branch out after my previous attempts.

Anyway.

I'm also morbidly fascinated in the execution of the Band of Seven. Am I weird? It's dramatic. Intense. I mean, they were cornered and beheaded. Seven against an army. There's something I'd like to see, but it's probably too bloody to put into a TV show.

Jakotsu is pretty funny. I'm not sure where people get the lovable fashion designer version in their fics, though, because he shows sadistic tendencies and a certain lack of intelligence in the anime. XD Fashion designing involves some creativity, and I wonder if Jakotsu has what it takes.

The fanon version is my preference though. Funny how that works. He turns into Jakotsu-channeling-Nuriko, and I love Nuriko. He's probably the only part of Fushigi Yuugi that I still like.

Gah, I need to sleep. And do homework. And laundry.

Lately I've been hanging out with my old screen name again. I'd forgotten how many people ping me when I do that. So:

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday? Don't bother. Those are school days, and I'm drowned in homework if I'm home at all. Friday is really my only day off, as the weekend is also spent doing homework.

Don't take it personally if I don't answer. Either I'm not home, or I'm not feeling social. There's a lot of stuff to take care of this semester and sometimes I just don't feel like talking.