Writing Dystopias is My Dystopia

Well, I did it... sorta...

I got one out of two of my "secret projects" done last week! I actually got it done "on time" no less! Whoo!

Generated by Bitmoji

I had neglected to include two very important shout-outs last week - ChibiSunnie and Ronoxym - and that was mildly strategic in order to try to avoid my "secret projects" getting sniffed out. But sniffed out they still were. It was actually a touch obvious if you were in the know as to what was up this past week.

So, a bit delayed since their birthdays were last Wednesday, but...

Generated by Bitmoji

As Chibi guessed - hoped? - my "secret projects" were writing a short story for each of them as birthday gifts. Of course, I didn't think to start working on them until something like Sunday evening, because I'm brilliant like that.

After doing my normal Tuesday Errands Runaround, I figured "I don't have writing group tonight, so I'll write instead!" Which was perfect, except I did NOT anticipate that finishing up Chibi's story would take me pretty much right up until midnight. At that point, I figured "meh, why wait for a decent hour when she's a night owl anyway?" So I finished my edits, formatted for the various different sites I post to, and published her story after midnight so it was appropriately on her birthday.

A quick promotion on my FB page, along with a "Happy Birthday!" to accompany it, and I was all set on her gift.

It focuses on her favorite Fruits Basket character Momiji. It is set post-manga, so it does have spoilers for the series, please be warned of that. Which is why I'm wondering if I should read it at group tonight or figure out something else. The rest of the group wouldn't care, but I wouldn't want to spoil anything for Omnibladestrike since he hasn't read the manga and is watching the anime reboot with me.

Either way, if you would like to check out my story, you can find it in the usual places. The title is mildly spoilery???? and the reviews I'm sharing do talk a touch about spoilery elements... so I'll just go ahead and throw this here real quick.

Generated by Bitmoji

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

"Is She Your Mama Too?"

On FanFiction       On ArchiveOfOurOwn       On DeviantArt       On Tumblr

The story is a little over 5000 words, so it's actually one of my... erm... "shorter" pieces of work? Also, there could be some elements that don't quite make sense without knowing the full story, but considering the nature of this one-shot, even non-fans of the show should be able to follow what's going on.

All-in-all, I guess there isn't really much love for a Momiji-centric story in the greater Fruits Basket fandom, because the story hasn't had much traffic or love. However, the love I did receive was as wonderful as usual.

Nearly a week later, here are my stats:

FFN: 52 views, no faves, no followers, and 4 reviews
AO3: 58 views, 5 kudos, no bookmarks, and 2 comments
DA: 22 views, but no faves or comments

Total Results: 132 views, 5 faves, no followers, and 6 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 9 notes; 8 likes and 1 reblog

Reviews:
  1. Oh, Momiji. I adore you! So sweet and kind! I love that he is getting to reconnect with his family... especially with Momo.
  2. Awwww! I wish there were more stories where Momiji is reunited with his mother and sister... This story broke my heart in all the good ways and I hope you make more! Maybe a few Sunday brunch stories where they bond? Thank you!
  3. What a great story. That bunny deserves his family and glad he's getting it back
  4. Please show Momiji moving home again
  5. Smart little Momo! I love this! Momiji gets the happy ending he deserves.

Two of those reviews are of course the glorious ChubbyUnicornMama and MalcomReynolds. The three others were by three unregistered FFN readers: one that went by Momiji, one listed as Guest, and the final was Anon. I have no clue if those are all different people, but it's cool that 3 non-FFN members both read and enjoyed my story enough to leave a comment.

Generated by Bitmoji

Finally - but really, firstly, since she was the first comment - there's the glorious squeeing of Chibi about her gift.

Chibi: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D AAHHHHHHH you're so sweet to write me a story for my birthday, especially one that gives Momiji his happy ending!!!!!! 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 HE DESERVES HAPPINESS AND I'M SO GLAD YOU WROTE IT FOR HIM!!! :D :D :D There is a puddle of tears on my desk now because it was so sweet and touching and made me so happy that I cried at multiple moments in this! Even if this is different than how I personally imagined them reuniting/finding out that Momiji in their family, I absolutely LOVE the way you wrote that and can 100% see it being the way it happened!! :D Momo's reaction to finding out he really is her brother did fully match my headcanon, though, so eee that was so great to see!! :D Also I love that you found a way to include Hatori (my 2nd fav of the zodiac and 3rd fav character from the series) and put in a nod to how he was like a father-figure to Momiji. 💕 Haha I love your reasoning for Momiji's dad's name because when I saw it my immediate thought was "Ah like Tuxedo Mask!" and then followed by "How great, she made sure to give them all M names! :D " XD So your actual reasons were my thoughts when I read that. XD And yes, I think you did a wonderful job capturing everyone! ^_^ Eeeeeeee happy Momiji with his family and I love the open-ending indicating wonderful moments spent together as they get closer! ^_^ 💕 AHHHHH THANK YOU AGAIN THIS TOTALLY MADE MY DAY!!!! :D 💕 :D 💕 :D 💕 *sends you all the Fruits Basket hug stickers*

I am more than happy to write you something, Chibi! You deserve happy stories and happy endings as much as your boy Momiji!

Generated by Bitmoji

I'm glad I did well by Momiji, and that she enjoyed the story. That's really what matters.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

OKAY! SPOILERS OVER NOW! YOU CAN START READING AGAIN IF YOU SKIPPED THE LAST PART!

The long and short was that I was glad I managed to get Chibi's story done in time for her birthday. Ron's on the other hand????

I love the guy. He's my brother. He's my Wonder Twin.

Did you know that the Wonder Twins have (had?) a new comic book run?

However, post-baby, and especially post-starting-overnight-shifts, his schedule and mine are sort of off-set from each other. He's generally only online first thing in the morning when I'm getting ready for work and can't really pause to talk, and he's either asleep or at work when I'm available. And, in truth, I could try to call him more often than I have in the past - all but neglecting phone conversations and text messages for months now - but it's rare that he picks up, and rarer still to get a call back. So I sort of.... gave up?

Sadly, it's just a time in his life where we can't really connect frequently - which suuuuuuuper sucks, btw - and so I've sort of.... lost track as to what he likes.

I know it's things like Supernatural and Dr. Who and playing video games like League of Legends or Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy or Octopath Traveler. He enjoys reading stories like Ready Player One or Lord of the Rings or The Hunger Games or A Song of Ice and Fire. He also enjoys playing role-play games such as D&D, and LARPs such as White Wolf's various World of Darkness games involving werewolves, vampires, changelings, and/or mages. He also, at least used to, play a more "standard" High Fantasy style LARP within the Realms setting.

"That sounds like you still do know a lot about him and what he likes," you might be saying.

HOWEVER.....

I don't really follow any of those fandoms - with the exception of watching the Game of Thrones TV series and loving Ready Player One - so I don't know them well enough to really create fanfiction for them, at least, not fast enough to have a story ready for him by his birthday. I could have tried to study any of those to see if something jumped out at me, but I felt like it would take too long and I'd miss his birthday....

*ahem*

I MAYBE could have written something based on Fire Emblem: Three Houses since I watched Hubby play it, but I wasn't sure how far Ron had gotten through the game, I don't know his character ships, and I don't know if he was given different canonical information through his playthrough than Hubby got, since the two of them started with different houses.

Also, I'm not one of those super salty fans about the conclusion of Game of Thrones so I didn't really have any story ideas coming from that. Plus, I don't really know which characters are his favorite or what storylines he'd like told....

Waving the white flag, I contacted Cyhyr Monday night to see if she had any suggestions for me. She did, and got back to me super early Tuesday morning, so I had most of Tuesday and Wednesday to write. As long as the story was done before midnight on the 18th, I'd be "on time" with the gift.

Exceeeeeeept, her suggestion was

Cyhyr: [He] is really into hunger games-style YA dystopia, and would likely appreciate any original attempt in that direction. 😉

Okay. Cool. I've consumed a fair amount of dystopian stories myself. I enjoy The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner and Ready Player One and Divergent and even The Lorax. I've also read Nineteen-eighty-four, and mildly enjoyed it. I also was mildly enjoying Atlas Shrugged before I lost track of the plot. I do need to go back and read it again with a notebook on hand to keep track of everything.... In high school Brave New World was one of the few assigned books I actually happily read through, instead of trying to track down the SparkNotes on it. I enjoy movies like The Minority Report or The Island and video games like Beyond Good and Evil and Mirror's Edge.

Like. I get it. Dystopian stories are popular for a reason. I enjoy them too. Buuuuuut.... that doesn't mean I can write one.

I had no clue how to write an original dystopian story, and I had no plot bunnies from any of the dystopian stories I've consumed, just waiting to be brought to the light. I spent most of Tuesday just wondering what to do with that suggestion.

Then, on Wednesday, as an attempt to figure SOMETHING out, I decided to use an old online RPG that never really got off the ground.

Hubby's one friend, way back when nearly every Millennial had a GaiaOnline account, wanted to start up a play-by-post game in the Gaia forums. We created our characters, and used a companion link to the site in order to build an avatar of our character for the game. Meanwhile, the friend created this awesome backstory.

A planetary colony was deserted by Earth when the efforts to terraform their patch of the planet - maybe Mars, maybe some fictitious planet - resulted in disaster. The red sand of the desert surrounding the colony overtook any greenery they managed to grow, and then a disease swept through the humans, causing all of them to die in early adulthood. I can't recall if it was age 20, 25, 30, or 35, but somewhere in there. I want to say closer to age 20 though, because the whole concept was a sort of Lord of the Flies sort of child-run society. And it wasn't just a matter of dying mysteriously of disease in young adulthood, it was rapid aging post-puberty or something, so a 25 year-old had the body and mind of a 70 year-old.

Anyway, my character was Artemis, but, since she hated the idea of women being culturally strong-armed into getting pregnant sort of ASAP in order to keep the population going before the rapid aging kicked in, she went by Art or Artie and passed for male for as long as she could manage. Since she's still ten and hasn't hit puberty yet, it's a lot easier for her to pass as male. It IS tricky to bathe and use the bathroom since the privacy is fairly minimal in this colony, but she manages to find work-arounds so that no one sees below her waist when disrobed.

I really liked this character, and tried to rework her for another friend's RPG a few years back. That RPG also never got past the character building stage, however. I think Artie is cursed....

As a means to gift Ron an original - kinda sorta since I didn't do the world-build, so it's also fanfic? - dystopian story, I attempted to revive Artie once more. I spent most of Wednesday writing out Artie's story. I actually kind of enjoy what I did with it, and the details I came up with to better flesh out the vague desert, industrial-revolution stylized colony, and the child-run world/society Hubby's friend first came up with. I might actually have something to put in the "original content" bin besides Gyateara stories and Glitches.

However, about 5pgs into the story, I realized I have no plot. Art talked about the alien planet, how humans got there, and why everything is so desolate. She talks about how a 19yo is one of the oldest members of the society, and already a mother of three. I haven't gotten to the Big Reveals of the disease that kills off the adults, or that Art is actually female. And yes, she does think of herself as cisfem, she just hides it to avoid being turned into a premature baby-maker, especially since she doesn't see herself as ever wanting to become a mom.

My point is, it's perfectly fine to use five pages to world-build and establish the Status Quo.... for a novel. On the other hand, it's probably not a good sign for my "short story" to be five pages in, and my protag has only woken up, made her bed, and headed off to collect some eggs for breakfast.

In the end, I simply filed Artie's story away for "maybe a novel someday." Although I'm terrible with speculative fiction, so who knows if I'll ever circle back to it. I mean, it's "bad" enough that I'm attempting to write a futuristic pseudo-cyberpunk story for Glitches. I just don't know enough about science and natural human progress/societal evolution to properly write speculative fiction; not without extensive research, at least....

Yay... I'm so good at that....

Generated by Bitmoji

With my main attempt at coming up with an original dystopian YA-style story flopping, I tried figuring out another. One that could fit better into a short-format. So I hopped onto Google and searched for "dystopian writing prompts" and scanned, and scanned, and scanned. I must have gone through over 200 prompt ideas. I was starting to see multiple websites pitching the same prompt idea. I don't know who originated most of them, but a LOT of websites would post verbatim without citing each other, so... weeding through those prompt ideas was fun.

When nothing really sparking any inspiration, I tried hitting up good old Tumblr. I usually see some sort of even mock dystopia writing prompt there. For instance, a few weeks ago I saw one joking about a Divergent-style society where everyone takes The Test at a certain age - like 14 or so - and the result of The Test determines what sect the person belonged in. What was the suggested Test? Eating cilantro in front of the whole city, and letting everyone know your thoughts.

I don't think I'd be able to come up with a short story based on that, but stuff like that ends up on my Tumblr dash all the time. Along with those Tumblr stories where someone writes up a story outline Fairytale style, where the main plot beats are explained, and a wayward line of dialog or two sneaks in, but it's also read/told in less than 10 minutes. If I could find one of THOSE, perhaps I could expand upon it.

I spent about six or so hours - off and on - sifting through Google hits and Tumblr posts. I even tried searching for dystopian short stories I could read online in order to get a better feel of the overall structure.

In the end, I came up empty. I've been thinking about this dystopian short story "challenge" - as it has become - all week. Still got nothing. So, I think I need to wave the white flag and ask Cy for more help on the subject.

Normally, I'd say "well, there goes that idea. At least I wished him a happy birthday, that counts, right?" and move on. HOWEVER, this happened to have been Ron's 30th birthday, so I wanted to put in the effort to make him something special to celebrate, and to let him know how much he still means to me even though we don't really chat much.

I just.... I would feel like a one-trick-pony if I wrote him yet ANOTHER Devon-centric story, but I just might have to cave. We'll see. I'm kind of determined now to write him SOMETHING, even if it ends up becoming a weird super-late-birthday/early-Christmas gift by the time I'm done.....

So, yeah. That's been my struggle this week. A great high of "I got Chibi's story done and posted right after the day switched to her birthday, and she loved it! yay!" to the low of "well... shucks... what the heck am I going to do to celebrate Ron hitting his 30s?"


Also, as a side tangent, I spent most of last night sifting through Amazon for potential steampunk costume items for Halloween this year. Hubby found some nice things after going years of not finding anything large enough for him in brick-and-mortar stores. He had a few things also picked out for me a few weeks back, but none of them would have fit, so we hit up a Spirit Halloween store on Saturday.... and... still nothing fit me... so back to Amazon last night.

Aaaaaand.... holy smokes do I need to get back in shape... or at least.... A shape? Because most of the skirts cap out at 35" (~89cm) around, and I'm roughly 44" (~112cm) .... Also, to fit my 44" waist and 50" (~127cm) hips, I'd need something like 7XL corsets.... which fit a 52" (~132cm) bust size... and I'm only 44"....

Nothing like being too large to fit into 6XL costumes to make you feel good about yourself.

I was able to find an assortment of options - after scouring Amazon for about... how long is an American football game? Four hours or so? - and I'll have to see if I can narrow them down into a nice costume without breaking the bank. But still... not cool. I know I'm overweight, but there needs to be some nice costumes for us plus-sized people too, ya know! The fact that this is Hubby's first Halloween costume pretty much since I've known him? And I've been having major costume-finding struggles after gaining weight?

FATTIES LIKE HALLOWEEN TOO, YA KNOW!!!!!

Generated by Bitmoji

*ahem*

Anyway, I should probably get to figuring out that story for Ron. As well as figure out what I want to read at group tonight. And I still have to do my usual Tuesday Errands Runaround... so I should probably get started on all of that.

Until next week!

Generated by Bitmoji

Buckle Up, Kiddies

Guess who was actually bit by the writing bug this week? Like... seriously bit.

Koko Facebook sticker
by Hanasake Pictures Inc

You might want to grab a snack and a drink, maybe even get that bathroom break out of the way, because this is going to get to my "epic" length yet again with this one. So... get comfy.

Generated by Bitmoji

Last Tuesday, I ended up reading Love Taps at writing group. The most agreed upon comment? I could re-name the characters with Western names, ditch the reference to The Zodiacs, and the story could stand on its own as original content. Much like with I Don't Care, I feel like my "mostly original takes on what-ifs of these characters' lives" could very well be original content. The trick, however, is that I doubt I could really go anywhere with such a single short story, and since I won't really be able to picture these characters as anything other than their canon concepts, I fear I wouldn't be able to expand upon these stories as legitimately original works.

Point is, I feel like my group is really trying to push me to write something original already. I appreciate the confidence in my writing. I just- I dunno. I have the vaguest of concepts for Glitches and some sort of Gyateara-based fantasy story. I just don't have any actual plot ideas, and my story about Jolene's past is long and meandering and more for me. I honestly don't expect that to ever be picked up by a publisher.

Would I like to write something original? Heck yeah! I'd LOVE to have an original idea that grips me. One like a pre-historical fantasy about what life was like during the construction of the Tower of Babel, or a pre-9/11 tale about a CIA agent who has to protect his great-grandmother from South American assassins seeking revenge for her involvement in WWII, or a standard fantasy about a snarky teen whisked away from his home and must find a way back while realizing he has magical powers because he's secretly a member of a long-thought-lost race. Or, a story about a "family" of clones trying to live a normal life while the scientist that created them tries to track them down to either exterminate or further experiment on them. Or a low-fantasy story about a foreign bodyguard battling with her harsh past while protecting her refugee princess who is trying to survive a coup against her family, or another fantasy story about an exiled member of a secret angelic race as she tries to survive as a simple mortal long enough to get back home and force her way back into the society. Or maybe a story about a man fighting against reality itself as his Dementia worsens, his only comfort is the small collection of fellow nursing home residents that sort of strong-arm a friendship with him. Or even an anthology of short stories about a silent-movie star who is secretly immortal.

Don't they all sound amazing? They are each so unique. I- I got nothing. I may come up with compelling stories with original plot ideas, but they are all based on pre-established worlds and characters. Without those? Without my saying "What if?" while looking at the world or the characters? I have nothing.

At best, I'm a really good parrot. Always have been. My drawings were doctored copies of other images I saw. My stories are fanfiction. My original content is derived from fanfiction. Gyateara originated from a combination of the world of D&D and the video games Fable and Legend of Zelda. Glitches is a re-masked X-Men story.

I am an imitator. I don't know why, but I am completely unable to start from zero. I ALWAYS, in all forms of artwork - yes, crocheting things included - have to find a base, and then manipulate it for my own purposes. When I first started writing, I tried to mimic my writing voice off of that of Stephen King's.

True, in the end, I do adjust and adapt until I have something unique. Yes, all artists have to LEARN by mimicking others' work until it evolved into their own original style. I get that. I do. However, while I feel like I HAVE found my writing voice, I don't know if I've evolved enough to come up with an original "off the top of my head" story.

I'm not able to see a black-and-white painting of a mysterious man in the woods in winter, his back covered in arrows as the man stumbles through the snow, and think "fantasy story about a teenager who is secretly a member of a lost race of magic users."

I can't see the limited information that archaeologists have on the ancient civilizations around the time of the Tower of Babel, and think "what if they were telepathic, and telekinetic, and were able to travel via 'flying' rugs - flying because of the limited telekinetic powers?"

In a more mainstream sense, I can't look at Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology and think "what if the gods in these myths were real, and still had demigod children/avatars in modern society?" Or wonder about a teen who became a mob-boss within the world of the Fae. Or imagine a new take on the Battle Royale with Children concept to create a new YA distopia story.

My wheelhouse is fanfiction. I thrive on building off of stories left by the original authors; angles and potential the author might not see. Heck, I wanted to write a whole anthology of stories off of the character Lincoln from our X-Future RPG. That was one of the main reasons I was so emotionally distraught by the player killing him off. I loved the character, sure, and I saw it was the beginning of the end of playing with that guy, who was such a masterful wordsmith. However, the biggest gut-punch to me was when he said he was bored with Lincoln, because I had see soooooo many different story routes and potential that he didn't.

I don't need true AUs where one of the villains is actually a hero, or one of the heroes started off as a villain, or everyone works at a coffee house, or a magical show is retold as if it weren't magical, or a non-magical story is told in a fantasy setting, etc. I just need the SLIGHTEST divergence from the source material. I need to explore the "what if Character A did option B instead?" and create split timelines. I need big gaps in time, leaving me to wonder "Yeah, but what happened between Scene C and Scene D?" I need moderately vague endings that tie up enough loose ends to be satisfying, but still open for enough interpretation for me to wonder "what happened next?" Or mysterious character or world-build backgrounds that give enough information for a foundation to be constructed, but the rest is completely unknown.

I thrive there.

So, while I do very much appreciate the faith in my writing, and the encouragement to write something original so I can be published in an effort to make a profit - as much as I would LOVE to be paid for my writing - I truly don't foresee that happening in the near future. Not unless I can find a way to market my fanfiction. Not unless I can find a way to become part of the writing team for my fandoms.

And, considering my main fandom is produced in France and I don't know French, and my other main fandom right now is an already completed Japanese comic - a manga series - that is being re-adapted - quite faithfully - into an anime, I highly doubt the "become a writer for the fandom" is very plausible.

Generated by Bitmoji

Wow, that got mildly depressing, didn't it. Sorry. Didn't mean to. I was just trying to point out that, regardless of talent, perhaps some writers just aren't meant to write original content. Maybe I'll look at the world some day, and it will spark an original "OH! What if...?" buuuuuut, I doubt it will be any good if I try to force it.

Instead, I'll focus on the more minor milestones, such as the amount of writing I did this past week.

Yep, getting back on track here.

So, Wednesday I woke up, and I realized that Friday was not only a full moon, but also the 13th. We haven't had a Friday the 13th in about a year, I think? And I felt it deserved to be celebrated, as it were. A full moon on a Friday the 13th? I mean, come on. I think I saw somewhere it was the last time a full moon would fall on a Friday the 13th in like 30 years? I don't know how much I trust internet facts, but if it is true, all the more reason this past one was special.

I knew I'd be able to break out my Friday the 13th Facebook banner I did up quick last Friday the 13th.

Screen shot from Miraculous Ladybug episode "Pharaoh"

I could also use my "matching" profile picture from my original fanfic fandom: Hey, Arnold!

Screen shot from the incredibly appropriate
Hey, Arnold! episode "Friday the 13th"

That wasn't enough though to mark how special this date was. I wanted to write a story. I wanted to write a story centered around my favorite black cats. Originally, that was going to be a Chat Noir-centric story, but I couldn't think of anything to really focus on him.

I could go the usual MariChat route, but that would focus more on their relationship than on him specifically, same with a LadyNoir story. Then I thought I could write a story where he's actually the hero in an akuma attack. Sure, Ladybug still has to be okay enough to use her Lucky Charm, and capture/purify the akuma, but it was Chat Noir who actually took the villain down; much like how LB has taken the villain down by herself countless times.

That required me thinking of an akuma though. So... NOPE!

Blue Cat Facebook sticker
by Kangaroo

As I spent most of Wednesday morning brainstorming Chat Noir stories, knowing that I had less than three days to write the thing, I suddenly was struck with "Why does it have to be Chat Noir?" You know who else is a black cat for this thematic story? How about the kwami that powers up the superhero?

Plagg from Miraculous Ladybug

It is very rare for a story to be told completely from the perspective of one of the kwamis. Also, Plagg is one of my favorite characters from the show. On top of that, my attempt to come up with a second chapter for Painfully Close in order to tell Plagg's POV of the "Puppeteer 2" episode was a complete fail that went nowhere. My favorite cheeky black kitty needed some more love from me. And I knew exactly what I needed to do for Friday.

I announced it as "Plagg Appreciation Day" and spent the second half of Wednesday, part of Thursday, and the morning of Friday writing and editing a one-shot told from Plagg's perspective.

"Breaking Monotony"

On FanFiction       On ArchiveOfOurOwn       On DeviantArt

I also attempted to post the full story over on Tumblr, but apparently I hit a word cap I didn't know existed? So I was only able to post a sample there, and then linked to those three other locations.

It's been doing fairly decently for a story that doesn't focus on Marinette and/or Adrien. The stats as of this morning:

FFN: 213 views, 14 faves, 6 followers, and 3 reviews
AO3: 284 views, 21 kudos, 3 bookmarks, and 3 comments
DA: 17 views, but no faves or comments

Total Results: 514 views, 35 faves, 9 followers, and 6 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 8 likes

Reviews:
  1. It is a happy Plagg Appreciation Day, thanks to you
  2. Another fantastic story!!! I do love the "Day in the Life" idea and can't wait to see that! Happy Plagg day!!!!
  3. This was really cute 😊
  4. This is so freaking cute! I love Plagg! Your take on how the kwamis power the suits is fascinating, and I love it!

The other two reviews are a bit too long to try to keep in my stats box.

Of course, I had a lovely review from Taurus Pixie.

Taurus Pixie: You're a genius for posting this story on Friday 13th! Very apt! When I saw that you had written another more kwami based story, I got super excited! You nailed the last one that you did, and I'm always interested in learning more about them and the way that they view things. Especially Plagg since he's my favourite, lol.
      This was so much fun! Watching Plagg's perspective on everything was hilarious, especially whenever Marinette was around. I can totally see this being Plagg's actual thoughts in the show. You kept him so in character, and that just made this story even more amazing, especially since Plagg is always one of the funniest characters. I loved this so much!
      Happy Plagg Appreciation Day!

My final review was, admittedly, a bit awkward to read with all the cat puns threaded throughout, but the over-all intention of the review was sweet, so I'll share that too.

pinksakura271: Furist off the title is great. The summary is fun. Thank you fur thiss one-shot. True it's as Kagami once told Adrien: "You always do what's expected of you." In 'Frozer' when fencing she cutely taunts him "predicable" Adrien/Kagami would be adorable together romantically. I furrey much apurreciate that this is Plagg and hiss Cattastic Kitten centred instead of their female Bug counterparts. (Sweet Smile)
      Right on Gorilla, doesn't truly bodyguard Adrien. Definitely more of gentle giant of a babysitter/chauffeur. But downplayed or not any happiness given to Adrien Plagg (and MYSELF) apurreciate and apurrove com-paw-letely. Huh Adrien stating "mix things up, how about no Camembert for the day" of course Plagg would claim hiss Kitten crazy or evil. (Giggles) Adrien not noticing he makes Clumsinette more nervous boo-hoo it's not paw-issble.
      DUPAIN-CHENG IS BEING RIDICULOUS ABOUT IT ALL! Plagg's thoughts on hiss Sugarcube always wonderful. I swear those two Bugs don't apurreciate their Cats very much, compared to how the Cats treat them it's seriously infuriating. - She was so close, and yet insanely far. - oh Plagg connected story of both you and your Kitten's love lives... INSUFFERABLE IDIOTIC INSECTS they are! Them eating lunch very sweet, Plagg truly knows Adrien deserves so much better... furom honestly everyone around him.
      Always a misconception... Plagg's influence over Adrien isn't so keen. Seriously Tikki shut up, yes their business is serious. - I don't guide my owners the way you do with yours. - Again Tikki SHUT UP! What kind of accusation is that huh?! But unlike your Bug, Plagg's Kitten needs to BREATHE as Cat Noir. Casual purrlease he's endearing, besides Tikki Marinette DOESN'T truly understand Adrien nor Cat Noir so can you talk Tikki?
      I love your idealism of Plagg and Adrien coming together to become Cat Noir. It's highly horrible Kitty is Bug's shield willingly. Getting hurt, brainwashed, or filled by an akuma all on her behalf... it's sickening to watch sometimes. Plagg liking Kagami hanging with Adrien is great. Yes it's true she as similar to Nathalie but it's NOT bad at all. Right Marinette needs to mature to see Adrien as just another teenager/friend.

Generated by Bitmoji

Phew! Did you got through all of that? I want to finish up by giving a shout out to those four reviewers who had short comments. It seems unfair they go unnamed when the longer reviews get those quoted lead-ins. So, big thank you to AO3 readers Hilzabub, MyPandaEatsBroccoli, and my repeat reader MalcomReynolds. And over on FFN, thank you for my faithful reader ChubbyUnicornMama. Love each of my readers and reviewers so much!

Generated by Bitmoji

Do you need to take a quick break? Run to the bathroom? Refresh your drink? Grab a new snack? Because I'm not done yet!

Yes, I spent three days trying to put together a Black Cat themed story for Friday the 13th. However, that day ALSO brought about a pivotal episode for the Fruits Basket anime.

The infamous True Form episode. When I saw the character Kazuma the previous week, I knew True Form was coming, and boy howdy was I trying to prepare!

Kazuma Sohma in
episode "You Look Well..."

I was NOT prepared enough. I nearly sobbed the whole episode. I was wiping tears a good ten minutes after the episode was over.

Then I watched it again the next day with Omnibladestrike. I wasn't crying this time, but my heart still hurt so much. Knowing the full story really adds extra daggers to the episode. The subtly, the foreshadowing, the allusions to past events we aren't privy to yet. The writing is soooo well done, and the subtle reactions characters have? The slight shift in weight, or the faint glares, or the mild looks of panic? All of them MEAN something. These characters are so much more real because the animators took care to know each character's full story, and animated those subtle reactions. The ones that make second watches - once you know the full story - all the more powerful.

This show is amazing. I love it so much!

Well, I couldn't go two back-to-back days of watching the episode "Let's Go Home" without some Kyo angst leaking into my brain, apparently.

Saturday night, I went to bed, drifting to sleep, with an angsty Kyo story drifting to the surface of my mind. Sunday morning, I remembered nearly all of it. So I went ahead and wrote it up.

Surprisingly, it's actually less than 500 words! I can do that on the rarest of occasions, I guess! To be fair, the "story" is a letter from Kyo to Tohru, so it's going to be short. Also, a LOT of the context comes from knowledge of the show. More importantly, knowledge of the full manga, because a big reveal in the 20th manga - out of a 23 manga series - gives further context for a lot of what Kyo wrote in the letter.

Still. It was written, and it was posted fairly early Sunday.

"Unsent Letter"

On FanFiction       On ArchiveOfOurOwn       On DeviantArt       On Tumblr

Even with a revival of the fandom with the 2019 reboot of the anime, it seems the overall readership is a bit lower than that for the ML fandom. Either that, or I've become a more established ML fanfic writer than I give myself credit for.

Unsent Letter doesn't nearly have the traffic my other stories have, despite it being such a quick read comparatively. Maybe I went too far in the opposite direction, and people are assuming it's not worth reading BECAUSE it's less than 500 words? Or maybe people are still recovering from "Let's Go Home" and can't bother with Kyo angst right now....

Regardless of the reasons for the lower readership, I still love what I did with this bit, and I'm proud I was able to write something I consider complete in less than 500 words. And it's not like the story is completely ignored. I did get some nice reviews at least.

FFN: 42 views, no faves or followers, and 1 review by ChubbyUnicornMama
AO3: 96 views, 14 kudos, no bookmarks, and 4 comments
DA: 16 views, no faves or comments, but included in the group For-Fruits-Basket

Total Results: 154 views, 14 kudos, no followers, and 5 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 12 notes; 10 likes and 2 reblogs

Reviews:
  1. My Poor Cat Angsty Cat Boy 😭😭😭 You can't even tell him it'll all work out okay in the end because he'd never believe you ='(
  2. Dork. Just let her love you.
  3. Waaaaahh this is so sad! T_T T_T T_T But it's also so beautifully written and so perfectly in-character!!! ❤❤❤ It really feels like it could have been one of those monologue-style chapters!
  4. [CENSORED] ow rip my soul out next time please
  5. Aww... poor kitty. Another one I would adopt! (I'm assuming this is from Kyo to Tohru)

Thank you to my reviewers: inheritanceofgeek, MalcomReynolds, ChibiSunnie, iSpitonFire, and ChubbyUnicornMama. You all rock, and it makes me smile whenever I see your comments.

Now, if ALL of that wasn't quite enough yet, don't worry, I got you covered.

While thinking so much about Plagg and Plagg's perspective of things, I also thought about the fanfic trope of Adrien discovering who Hawk Moth truly is. I personally feel that if that canonically happens, it's the start of the end. There shouldn't be to much storytelling left in the show past that point.

However...

HOW-EVER!

What if it were PLAGG who discovered Hawk Moth's identity? I don't know if it's enough storytelling potential to stretch past a half-season; full-season probably at most. Even so, it is fun to think about.

For my full thoughts on the matter, feel free to check out my Tumblr post about it:

What if Plagg found Nooroo

Yet another plot bunny to add to the pile, but if anyone else reads my post and wants to run with it, I strongly encourage you to do so. Please just link me to the story once it's up. I'd love to see what you came up with!

As of this writing, the post has 16 likes and 4 reblogs, so maybe someone out there WILL write a story based on that idea, or draw a comic about it. I'd love to see. I'm EXCITED to see. I WANT TO SEE!

But if it goes nowhere with someone else, perhaps I will conquer it myself.

Old Billy Mays meme I won't let die

I have a "secret project" currently in the works, and a second one I need to further brainstorm for. I'm going to try to push to have at least the one up in time to share it with you fine folks next week. The other... might take a touch longer, and I should have REALLY thought about starting it last month or something. We'll see how it goes.

Plus... ya know... periodically poking away at One and the Same....

Writing is becoming a bit of an All-Or-Nothing sort of thing for me, huh? At least my Muse did indeed wake up! Thanks to anyone and everyone that poked her awake and sent her my way.


Oh goodness! I STILL haven't talked about the stats of I Don't Care!

Well, it's been weeks since I published it, so I no longer have the 24hr or 1st week stats I normally share. I'm sure I could figure out things like faves/kudos and reviews by going back through my emails, but I won't have number of hits and the like. So I'll just go with what I have currently.

FFN: 77 views, 6 faves, 4 followers, and 5 reviews
AO3: 45 views, 5 kudos, 1 bookmark, and 2 comments
DA - Chapter 1: 15 views, 2 faves, but no comments
DA - Chapter 2: 21 views, 2 faves, but no comments

Total Results: 158 views, 13 faves*, 5 followers, and 7 reviews
  *both faves of both chapters on DA were by the same 2 people; so it would only be 1 fave each if they read on other platforms.

Tumblr Notes: 3 notes; 2 likes and 1 reblog

Reviews:
  1. This was fantastic! Please, spoil me more!
  2. Whoa! It's stuff like this that makes me want to get a tumblr account. *sigh* great job! (review of chpt 1)
  3. I love seeing Gabriel as human. A little awkward, but human. (review of chpt 2)
  4. I officially love this! To think that there was once a normal man there, though this explains why he would become hawkmoth (Emilie seems really nice and worth risking Paris for)! Thanks for writing and stay Miraculous!

Real quick, first of all, that first review was commenting on my Author's Note on how I'm "spoiling" everyone by uploading 2 chapters at once. Secondly, the review commenting about the Tumblr account was responding to me stating Chapter 1 was a Tumblr Exclusive one-shot for over a year before I decided to expand on that world and make the multi-chapter fic. Those reviews were by the fabulous MalcomReynolds again, as well as the lovely ChubbyUnicornMama, and yet another repeat-reader Chat-and-ladybug.

As for the three remaining reviews? First up was my long one over on AO3.

lckychrm: aaaaaaaaaaa Ii am so happy that you decided to make this a multi chapter story!! It was a great surprise to log on tumblr and find this!! 😊 I’ve read “A stranger in a white dress” back when you posted it and it was amazing and now you continued it and it is even better!! I loved it so much and it’s hilarious how Gabe and Emilie always meet at a party 😂 and how you inspire yourself for each chapter with a different song!
    I can’t wait to see what you’ll have in store for them! I really like your writing!! 💕:’)))

It is so exciting for me to know that I have someone who read my work on Tumblr, loved it, and followed me over onto AO3!

And just this morning I was greeted by two lovely reviews from Taurus Pixie.

First up, her review of Chapter 1: Stranger in a White Dress

Taurus Pixie: Oh my stars! This is such a good idea! I've always been curious as to what exactly Gabriel and Emilie's relationship was like, as well as how they met. Gabriel obviously felt very close to her and was almost obsessively in love with her. This seems like such a plausible way that they could have met! You managed to create such an intense chemistry between them and almost make me view Gabriel in a different light. Until I remembered he was Hawkmoth and is downright abusive towards Adrien.
    But that just goes to show how overall amazing your writing is! This could very well be what Emilie's personality is actually like. We certainly know that she was quite fiery and passionate as implied by Gabriel. I think you captured that really well. Anyway, I'm off to read the next chapter! This is so cute and romantic! Excellent work!

And now for her review of Chapter 2: Alone at a Party

Taurus Pixie: I couldn't help but laugh at the wardrobe comment since the characters in the show hardly ever change outfits. Also, I've only just noticed how amazing your cover art is. Maybe I'll have to get some tips off you on how you make them, because they always look fabulous. But anyway, back onto the proper review.
    Emilie is so funny, and their interactions are so cute! Once again, I can so totally picture them being like this! There is so much mystery that surrounds them! You are super talented at writing romance, and I only wish that I could write moments as magically as yours. The chemistry between them once again felt so real, and it all feels incredibly realistic. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but your writing always feels so incredibly canon, as if you are an actual writer of the show.
    I'd be totally down for a third chapter if that's what you want to do, but there's no rush. This is such a sweet story, and I once again bow down to your amazing talent. Thank you for sharing this idea with us! It's so amazing!

AAAAH! Pixie, you are a sweetheart! Thank you for the encouraging words about how true-to-show I remain. Also, to get back to those two faves on DA, one of the users - paul7067 - actually started following ME after favoriting those chapters. Clearly Paul wants to make sure to not miss any other Gabriel/Emilie action from me. How exciting!

I mean, yeah, in the big scheme of things, this is probably my least-popular ML story, but it IS about humanizing Gabriel Agreste, and most of the fandom would rather throw tomatoes at him than grow sympathy. So, I get it. This particular story won't be most of the fandom's cup of tea. Which means the love I HAVE received just means that much more to me. So, to all of you who have read, favorited, left kudos, bookmarked, and/or followed I Don't Care? Know that I love you lots!

Generated by Bitmoji

Also, one last shout out to DA user Constance-Truggle, who has added I was Thinking of You, Acting Weird, and Build Your Own Luck to both their generic favorites and their "Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir" folder. I love seeing my work getting love on DA.

Generated by Bitmoji

I'm reaching the home stretch. I promise. I know this particular blog must be quite exhausting to get through. Thank you for following me this far deep down the Rabbit Hole.

I know there was more I wanted to touch upon with regards to my overall readership - I have dozens of emails stockpiled so I have the stats on-hand - but I'm not going to try to shoehorn it in when this blog is so long already. Maybe next time....

I also wanted to comment about the song I've been obsessing over this past weekend, but again, that will be dog-eared for next week, I guess.

So instead I'll finish up with a heads up that the latest chapter of Discordant Sonata by EdenDaphne is live. So, if you're following that story alongside me, be sure to check out Chapter 11: Cambiare.

Also, over the weekend, I stumbled upon a lovely story about Ladybug and Chat Noir whistling to each other. It's such a great concept, especially when they use the whistles in battle and as a way to warn each other that they're near.

You Know How to Whistle, Don't You? by Aikori_Ichijouji

If you prefer, you can also find the story on FFN.

Seriously, it's fairly short and so sweet. Plus, I just love the unique concept.

Okay, it's now past my noon update time, so I need to jet. I wish you all a great week!

Catch-up Week

Once again, I am on my front porch, enjoying the sunshine before noon, and I'm chilled. I have a sweatshirt on, and I'm thinking of running inside to get a lap blanket. Possibly also some dry shoes, since I'm wearing the breathable workout kind, and didn't think about that before stepping in dew-covered grass.

Point is, I'm yet again cold in the morning, just as I was last week. Oh! And speaking of last week, apparently I complained a bit too loudly about the sudden cold snap, because it was like 95-degrees (35 C) out post-1pm. And Wednesday was a "just step outside and you'll instantly sweat" kind of day. And then back to cold and "should we turn on the heat?" on Thursday. Us humans really need to stop screwing up Mother Nature. Her random chills and hot flashes are killing me.

BACK ON TOPIC!

I.... didn't really write anything this week. I didn't even really think about writing this week. It was 100% take a break from writing and catch up on other things week. It was also "holy hand grenades! Socializing!" week.

I literally had someone over post-work until roughly 10pm every night; Monday through Saturday. It's hard to write anything when you're hosting. Also, my netbook is definitely on its last legs, making writing anything while at work a bit tricky as well. I'll get to that.

To start, here was my social breakdown:

• Monday: had two friends over so we could all watch Steven Universe: the Movie on Cartoon Network together. Hubby put out a lovely spread that filled our entire card table. We had left over brie and fruit for days. I still haven't gone back to the brie yet as I'm making my way through the fruit.
• Tuesday: I didn't have writing group, but I did have draft for my fantasy (American) football league. I also had an exhausting and frustrating time of getting my pizzas from Pizza Hut for the draft. Ended up having to auto-draft my first 3 picks, because THAT'S what you want to do... I don't know what was up with that night crew, but... they were bad.
• Wednesday: I ended up kidnapping Rozsavaria. She was supposed to come over to watch a simple 20min cartoon with me. Then we watched Nintendo Direct, and she borrowed Hubby's Fire Emblem amiibos for her copy of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and we just watched YouTube videos for hours on end.
• Thursday: The weekly meet-up with Omnibladestrike. It was also the season opener for football, so after "pre-gaming" with some episodes of the anime Eyeshield 21, we switched over for actual football. Omni isn't much of a fan, so he and I casually chatted with the game on in the background, but he ended up heading home before the game ended. We may have to see if switching to Saturday hang-outs work better during the football season....
• Friday: I had Wolfhearted over to catch up on Miraculous Ladybug episodes, and... well... that took way longer than I intended.... I'll explain in a touch.
• Saturday: Hubby's one friend who had moved out of the area was back for the weekend. The friend was still over by the time I got home from work, so we played a game of Mario Party on the Switch, then got dinner, and watched various YouTube videos. Mostly Outside Xtra stuff. Also, while the rest of the world is watching Critical Role - we really need to get into that... - Hubby and I have decided we need to catch up on all the Oxventures. The storyline(s) might not be as emotional, but the OX gang certainly feels like our playgroup.
• Sunday: FINALLY! A day of just me and hubby. It's great to be social, but when it's a sort of all-or-nothing situation like we always seem to be in, it gets exhausting to not have time to do anything around the house, or even just chat with my spouse; one-on-one. It was the first Football Sunday though, so we mostly caught up on online stuff, watched the games, and vaguely chatted about random things that happened at work this past week. It was a total veg day, and I managed to get some more of my Ocarina of Time playthrough in. I now have the first two Spiritual Stones.... oooooooooooo.

So. Yeah. I don't wake up early enough to get anything terribly productive done before work. Then I went to work. Then at 6, when I came home, I entertained until roughly 10pm - sometimes later, sometimes a touch earlier - each night. I didn't have much true down time.

It was fun. Don't get me wrong on that. I loved each night hanging out with people. However, if my friends would be so kind as to maybe... spread out... your hang outs with us? So that maybe we don't go a full month without seeing each other, and then EVERYONE WANTS TO HANG THE SAME WEEK?

Speaking of.... I still haven't organized a good time to hang out with Cyhyr and Ronoxym. I need to get on that. I miss those two.

As for why things went a bit long when Wolfhearted came over? Well....

When we watch ML we pause in order to take time to react without said reactions making us miss the next bit of action or dialog or whathaveyou. There was some pausing while we watched "Reflekdoll" so that 20-some minute episode did take closer to the full 30minutes it would have been if it aired on TV. But then. THEN we watched "Desperada" and... well...

Let me get this out of the way first. I loved the episode. It was a good episode. It was a bit facepalm-y, mostly with Marinette, but it was a good episode with a wonderful villain and soooooooooo much to unpack. Plus... it had Luka. I love me Luka episodes. But it wasn't JUST a Luka episode. It was a sorta... Ladrien? Episode? Kinda? Anyway, I wanted to throw out the disclaimer that I DID enjoy the episode. That I appreciate the episode. That if you also enjoyed this episode, then yay.

HOWEVER!

HOW- EVER!

It was a RAGE INDUCING episode. For me, at least. I just.... I couldn't with Marinette in this episode. The way she completely and utterly forgot about Luka the second Adrien was in sight? Like? WHAT!? The way Ladybug actually allowed emotion to overpower strategy? NO! No, bad Marinette!

Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Also... I was never really much of an Adrien and Luka shipper before. Sure, in Luka's introduction episode they MAAAAAAY have looked at each other for a second or two longer than most felt was comfortable and appropriate for a platonic relationship, but I thought the fandom was grasping at straws. I was fine with it. If you are a Lukadrien shipper, you do you. You're not hurting anyone, and if you like that ship, you carry on.

HOWEVER. Holy smokes! Either there IS something there, or the writers are just leaning hard into the ship as fan service, or the animators don't know what they're doing. BECAUSE HOLY BI-ENERGY, BATMAN! It was making me wonder if Luka truly did love Marinette, and Adrien love Ladybug. Because... man. I still don't ship it; I still think canonically it's not supposed to be there. However, after that episode, I can see what the shippers see, and frankly, neither boy needs to deal with Marinette's unnecessary drama. I'm nearly on board the Lukadrien ship.

Luka, honey, precious son of mine, you are beautiful and wondrous and you deserve so much better than Marinette's chaos.

Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Nagaru Tanigawa

Also... speaking of "do the animators truly know what they're doing"... does.... does Luka know Marinette is Ladybug? Because there are parts of that episode where it had me wondering if maybe he does. And... I'm losing my mind over it!

Like I said. There is a LOT to unpack after watching the "Desperada" episode. Even potential hints at Jagged Stone being the secret father of Luka and/or Juleka. Like. There is a LOT of romantic energy just bouncing all over this episode, and my fanfic-writing shipper-heart has no clue which direction to go in. I'm STILL trying to come to terms with what the heck it is I watched.

Most of the fandom seems focused on the 25,913 times thing. I won't say more than that because of spoilers, but, that's the main story people seem fixed on. I get it. I kinda want in as well. At the same time though, there's the whole Annika and Jagged Stone were former band mates - and perhaps more than? - route that I could follow. Or the "does Luka know?" route. Or the Lukadrien ship route. Or the "Luka deserves better than what Marinette is doing" route. Or I could write fluffy Lukanette fanfic to heal the hurt that episode caused. I mean, that seems to be the second-most focused on story idea post-Desperada.

Other fanfic story ideas I could run with includes the "Plagg feels abandoned" route. Again, I won't go into details for spoiler reasons. There's also the curiosity and point of view of Kagami. There's Desperada's perspective. There's the psychological damage that episode most likely caused. There's the potential after-math/PTSD from the episode. There's.... there's a lot. And I can't seem to zero in on one concept that I feel strongly enough to write about before I see another potential thought via tumblr posts. I just... I feel like this episode NEEDS something written about it, but I can't pin down what. That might be part of the reason I didn't write this weekend.

I DID kinda-sorta write this week still. Just... nothing fictional.

As I mentioned at the top of this post, my netbook is on its last legs. I've had the thing for probably about 10years now. Not bad for a dinky thing I got for $200 as a post-Christmas clean-out special at Best Buy. Sure, it did die on me a few years back, and I went roughly a year without it before my father-in-law was able to revive it, but that's still quite a long time to have any sort of computer. Let alone such a cheap one.

Say what you will about HP, but that HP Mini was well worth its price.... aside from the irony that a NETbook seemed to always have problems working on the interNET. Oh, irony....

For the main purpose I need the netbook, though - namely, to have something small I can easily slide in my purse, and have in order to work on my writing - it was splendid. It will be a sad day when I officially retire the poor thing. But retired it must soon be. The battery died a few years back - as one would expect with the amount of times I use the thing and how many years I've had it - and I had to buy a replacement. Then the charging cable wasn't working anymore and I had to replace THAT. Now, the actual charging port isn't working properly. I have to get the cable juuuuuuuuuuuust so in order for the netbook to recognize that it's plugged in. I feel like those old shows and cartoons where a character has to mess with the "rabbit ears" antenna for the TV, and ends up in a weird position they then have to hold for hours so the rest of the household can watch a football game or something. I mean, check this out.

I nearly taped the cable in place, because if any of it shifted even the slightest bit, the netbook no longer registered being plug in. Also, yes, part of the "magic" positioning IS having the netbook ajar like that.

I can't wait until I have the money to replace this thing, as sad as that day of replacement will be. The HP 11" Stream seems to be the descendant of my HP Mini. Anyone have any insight on this computer? Is the Stream good?  Or, at least decent for less than $200? I was also looking at Chrome books, but it looks like you can't put any actual programs on the thing, and so it's kind of useless offline. Does anyone know if the Stream is the same way? It looks like it runs normal Windows OS, so it should be functional offline, right?

Anyway, as you could imagine, it's kind of hard to actually work on my netbook when I have to charge it. So my ability to write while at my job has been limited. First World Problems, right?

Instead, I've killed time when work is slow by going through old emails via my phone. Mostly notifications of reviews on FFN or AO3. I truly do try to respond to all reviews/comments on my stories, but I had a backlog since July. I spent this week going through them, and I believe I responded to everyone. If I somehow missed your review/comment on any of my stories, please know that I did read it when you posted, and it made me smile. Thank you for reading.

Generated by Bitmoji

Feeling motivated after catching up on those reviews, I figured it was time to catch up on blogs I've neglected to read for MONTHS. One of which is Aliventures by Ali Luke. She was always so helpful with my writing before, but I just didn't have the energy to... learn... anything??? I guess? I still have to backtrack through the blog, but I DID read this week's update: What to Do When Your Writing Isn’t Working Out How You Hoped

As per usual, Ali manages to write a blog post that perfectly fits my writing crisis for the week. Thank you, Ali!

There are other blogs I've been ignoring, such as Rick Riordan's writer's update blog. However, the one I really wanted to focus on was catching up with Taurus Pixie via the Pixie's Chronicles and episode reviews she posts to her blog.

I was a machine the other day. I just tore through a month or so of updates, and my responses - especially to her episode reviews - tended to be so long that I needed two or even three comments to post everything I wrote. Now, the comments section for Blogger only allows about 4000 characters - not words; characters - per comment. So in the big scheme of things, none of my responses were THAT long... but... they were still LOOOOOONG within blog comment standards.

I managed to catch up on the August posts, and I think half... maybe most of?... her July posts. Only about 12 more to go through. And the Pixie's Chronicle and episode review she posted this weekend.

Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku

It's good. I got this. Pixie doesn't seem to mind that I sort of ghosted, so there's no rush or obligation to go through everything. Still, I want to. I enjoy knowing what's going on in her life. Also, her reviews of the ML episodes are a fun read. I just need to set aside more time to read things.

I also need to set aside time to write again. If I don't read my Bitterblue smut, I only have one thing left for me to read at group tonight: my Kyo and Tohru story. I mean, technically I could also read Painfully Close, but that story requires them knowing the episode "Puppeteer 2" and so I'd have to explain that. And the fanfics I read at group which are the most grounded in episode and canon specifics seem to get the least feedback. I think they're not sure WHAT to critique, especially since they don't know the episode(s) well enough to know what is the show's and what is mine.

So I don't think I'll ever read Painfully Close at group, and I don't know if I can PG Sparks for a Moment enough to read at group. Maybe? I mean the actual smut is only about 3 paragraphs out of the whole 3400-word story....

Point is, I'm running out of material to read at group, so I need to crack my whip. I need to see if I can finally get One and the Same situated. Which means more reading since I neglected my studies of 4-Act story structure vs 3-Act story structure. Maybe having a different breakdown of events will help. I think the big problem for me is that my 2nd act seems to be largely "MariChat bonding fluffiness" without any sort of drama. At least when I did a similar thing in Woven Heartstrings, the MariChat relationship didn't remain the core of the story. The idea of the Love Square having a good Christmas, Marinette not being awkward around Adrien, Chat Noir trying to find the balance of being able to gift something to Ladybug without potentially burdening her with his love, and Adrien's relationship with his father all were subplots that... wove together... to become the full story.

There was still drama there: what are the feelings Marinette is now feeling for Chat Noir? How will Adrien's Christmas be like with his father? What will everyone gift each other? How will Ladybug react to the scarf Chat Noir is crocheting her, and will she ever be able to wear it? Will there be an accidental reveal as Marinette wears the scarf Chat Noir made her? How will Adrien react to Marinette's gift? Will he have one for her? What is Marinette doing, talking with Chloe? There's not MUCH drama there. It's not a will-they-won't-they, or will-they-save-the-world, or will-Adrien-figure-out-his-father-is-the-supervillain level drama. Still, even with the much lower stakes, there still IS drama. There are still questions left for the readers; calling for them to come back for the next chapter.

For my current work-out of OatS, that isn't there. I need to figure that out. I need that act 2 drama so people aren't just getting fluffy chapters. Not that fanfic readers MIND getting those....

However, at least for my major projects, I'm trying to truly use fanfiction as training. I'm TRYING to write something as professionally as I can. I'm already going a bit non-traditional with my back-and-forth 1st person POV final chapter(s). I want to have the rest of the story structure be more traditional.

Here's hoping my Muse finally wakes up from her sunbathed summertime stupor and actually helps me figure this out. If anyone sees an ivy-covered minor-goddess around, direct her back to me, please?

Until next Tuesday.