Painful Week

This week didn't go well.....

I am still trying to figure out that second akuma attack chapter. So far, I came up with about four potential akumas, but none of them would work with this story. At least I have something for other fanfics. So, silver lining, I guess. Doesn't help with last week's goal though. Meh.

I've been trying to "research," as it were, other akuma options. I watched a few episodes again to try to remind myself how the akumas are already used canonically. I also spent about four hours flipping through fanart and fancomics, as well as read about five different fanfics, to try to see what others do for their akumas. I know I did this already back around November, but with potentially new stories, I was hoping I'd have better luck. Sadly, it's the same now as it was then: virtually no fanfic writers attempt to have an akuma attack.

Most ignore them completely. The writers that acknowledge them tend to just deal with them "off screen." Only a small few actually have Ladybug and Cat Noir fight akumas, and when they do, the akumas don't seem very canonical. It's fine, that's what fanfiction is for, but it doesn't help me try to come up with something more "true-to-show." Most fanfic-original akumas are either generic superhero villains, such as a wolf-man who is out to protect the stray dogs of Paris, or they are complete fanservice, such as a slighted lover who is now playing cupid and forcing people to fall into intense lust with each other; creating random make-out sessions in the street. Or the akuma is a complete political statement, such as a guy who gets angry about being "friend zoned" and tries to force Marinette to fall for him, claiming to be the "nice guy" while borderline sexually harassing our brave heroine. Sadly, I have yet to find an original akuma that feels like something Zagtoons and/or Thomas Astruc would actually create. So my week of research hasn't been much of a help in that regards.

I did find a few new writers that I'm now following, and one or two new fanart/fancomic artists that I'm keeping an eye on. In that light, the research was a win, I guess....

On top of the lack of inspiration or proper guide, I put myself on bedrest most of the week. Apparently, I'm now an 80+ year old woman, because I threw out my back while picking up a piece of paper this week. Yup. I was moving a bunch of heavier things around the store with no problem. Then, fast forward about a half our, and I bent down to pick up a piece of paper the delivery team left on the floor. Somewhere in my bending down and standing back up I pinched a nerve or pulled a muscle or something. My lower back has been throbbing all week. I've been slowly cutting back on both pain killers and time off my feet as the week progressed, so I know it's healing, but it still kept me sort of laid up.

Normally, especially because I have a laptop, you'd think I would get MORE writing done, since I can't really do anything else, and I'm in one place anyway. However, I've been sleeping more than I would like to admit. Probably my body trying to heal. The pain, or the meds to dull it, also kind of fog my head. That, plus the lack of progress in my research, really kept me stumped.

What it DIDN'T keep me from is reading. That's been my main distraction over the past week: reading Ali Luke's second book Oblivion. While someone like Rick Riordan either stays equally good or falls into an uncharacteristic slump, Ali definitely improved on an already great writing style. I have been completely drawn in, and have to purposely stop myself after x-chapters or x-minutes, otherwise I would devour the whole book in one sitting. Not great when I'm trying to savor the stories, and I also would fall further behind if I just avoided everything with reading.

I have more-or-less been doing precisely that anyway, though.

"Should I write?"
"Yeah, open up the file."
"I can't think of anything."
"Give it another five minutes."
"I think I'd rather read more Oblivion, perhaps that will inspire me."
"Oh, okay.... I'll write later..."

And yet later never arrives. Does it ever?

At least I have the fun privilege of being able to fangirl about a book and its characters with the actual AUTHOR of said book. So, that's cool. She seems to get a kick out of my gushing about her work, and I'm having fun being able to freak out to the person who WROTE THE THING I'M FREAKING OUT ABOUT. That's just awesome to me.

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

Another silver lining? I DID write/edit this week. I just polished chapter ten a week early, and then jumped over to chapter twelve to polish that one up too. I didn't do nearly as much writing/editing as I would have liked, and it was all for the "wrong" chapter(s), but it was better than no writing. Right?

OH! And speaking of which, I did manage to get something written before the close of February! About two hours before writing group, I went to take a shower. Man, I'm loving how my mind can wander in the shower - one benefit of my hair being so long it takes darn near ten minutes to wash! - because, much like the instant realization of the Lucky Charm I wanted to use for my one chapter, I also came up with a story for February.

I haven't played "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" yet, and it's been a little while since I've seen Hubby play it. Yet, that was precisely what popped into my head. I was trying to figure out an akuma, and somehow Link the silent protagonist, and his canonical reasoning for it in BotW, were what came up. Remembering the plot/canonical facts and events in BotW, presented via Link's lost memories and Zelda's diary, I wanted to show Zelda rage at Link for staying silent.

I practically had the whole thing written in my head as I showered and dried my hair. Managed to just barely get it poured out onto the page by the time it was my turn to read at group. My chapters for "Peeping Tomcat" are long. I will never get ahead of my posting schedule since writing group is only every OTHER week. I was excited about my BotW fanfic, written vaguely enough that it could be mistaken as original work. So I decided to not read any more "Peeping Tomcat" at writing group, and read that instead.

Granted, we only had about five minutes left of the meeting by the time I was done reading, so we couldn't really afford long critiques, but I did have a lot of people comment about how they enjoyed it. How it COULD have been original. How powerful and emotional it was. How a lot was said in such a short amount of time.

Why can't I write like this all the time? With such succinctness?

Anyway, since I wasn't sure if it would still be considered fanfiction to everyone, I went ahead and posted the story on fanfiction and original works sites alike.

"One Last Hope"

On DeviantArt     On FanFiction     On FictionPress   On Archive Of Our Own

The story has received only one review - "Good story obviously" - and a small collection of faves since it went up last Wednesday. By far not one of my most well known pieces, but I'm still proud of it. I think I'm most proud of being able to keep Link's, Zelda's, and Ganon's names out of the story so that it CAN be reworked, with only a little bit of tweaking, into something original. I might have to think about adjusting it to fit a Gyateara story someday.

I have yet to read a continuous, multi-chapter, WIP at writing group, and it bums me out that I had that opportunity with "Peeping Tomcat," but I think it's best for me and the other members if I just stick with these short one-shots and pick up generic critiques on my writing voice that way. We'll see where I go from here.

The big thing is to get back into writing my own stuff; to continue work on "Peeping Tomcat," but the struggle is kind of real. My one co-worker has had a family emergency that has kept her out of work all last week, and it looks to be keeping her on leave this week as well. So I haven't really had a day off except for Friday when the store was closed due to over three feet of snow in less than 24-hours. I also don't have as much down time at work as I thought I would, or I would normally get with said co-worker, so not much writing has been going on there.

I hope it's just the first week - maybe two - of the month that's shot, and not the whole month itself. I'm going to try to finish the writing challenge strong. Cheer me on, won't you? It helps.

Stuck in a Winter Wonderland

This week was.... um.... interesting. The Northeast of the US got hit by "Winter storm/blizzard Stella" last week. The majority of it came down last Tuesday, cancelling my writer's group meeting. It also meant I had all day inside. A day where I could get away with not doing laundry or other errands because I was snowed in. It wasn't my fault. I wasn't being lazy. I just had no choice. A guilt-free day to ignore adulthood.

As Judy Reeves wrote in "A Writer's Book of Days":

Snowbound

(or The Serendipitous Effects of Bad Weather on a Good Writer)

There's six feet of new snow, and outside your window a gauzy shroud of white obliterates any horizon....

Let's just say that, for whatever reason, and through forces outside your control, you're homebound for the day. Consider this a gift. You've been given a writing day, free and clear.

This is a day for snugging in. Think of words like warm, fuzzy, cozy. Brew up some cocoa; hot, spiced tea; coffee with warmed milk. A few cookies or some buttered toast won't go astray. Build a crackling fire or, lacking a fireplace, encircle your nest with candles. Get your notebook, your favorite pen, and settle in.

Warm up with a five-minute writing... then maybe a ten-minute writing.... Refresh your coffee or tea, give the fire a poke, and encamp yourself again. Release all constraints of time and begin another writing session. Continue writing one of the pieces you've already begun, or start fresh.... Instead of stopping after fifteen or twenty minutes, keep going. When you come to what might be a stopping place, don't mark a period on the page but instead put a comma and keep writing. Or begin again with a connector such as then or however or instead of or but and allow the pen to begin its meanderings anew. Write as long as you want. Let this be a leisurely session; there's no schedule to keep, nothing to do instead of write.

Well, we only had about three feet of snow; not six. Maybe that's why I didn't spend the day writing. I spent it cleaning the apartment. Still a productive day, right? I did do a lot of reading, and I did write for at least 15minutes in the evening as I FINALLY got around to responding as Trish over on the X-Future boards. Only kept me like three months....

Not the most inspiring way to use a snowday. Hubby and I watched movies, snuggled warmly in the living room. I did some cleaning. I watched him play more "Breath of the Wild." I did some reading. I finally got around to filling out the official character sheet for Jynna. I still need to officially write up her backstory so that Hubby can approve, and then I can write that out on her character sheet as well.

Then, Wednesday, I had the fun of doing this for most of my morning:

Fun, right?

More cleaning commenced inside once I was done unburying myself, my work, and my in-laws. No reading was done, but I did get another prompt finished. Poor Lia has been off on the sidelines for a while. I've written about the yet-to-be-fully-formed Elymoxa the Gnome. I've had two stories to help me get into character with Jynna. Amara re-emerged for a short. I even had the umph to write Trish's part on the X-Future boards. Willow I've had some posts on the boards before the game died off. Lia? She's been kind of quiet, but she piped up a bit on Wednesday. That was exciting.

It was also the last thing I wrote for the week.... From Thursday on it was all about playing catch-up, on work, on the last of the remaining chores, on the errands I couldn't do in the snow, etc.

I'm not sure what's up with me this winter. I just don't have the drive and NEED to write like I did last year. I'm not entirely sure how to fix that, either, which is the truly sad thing. My exercising and waistline have also fallen to the wayside, if that is any indicator. Something about winter, even a mild one like we had - minus last week's storm, always makes me want to hibernate on the couch.

Now that it's officially spring, maybe I can get myself back on track. To try to start the trend, I actually took the time to type up a couple more of my writing prompts. I'm now up to January 7th.

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

Progress is progress, I guess. At least writing wise I'm up to January 18th. Not much better, but still... Hubby's going to have to go "full grounding" and send me to our room as well, not just swipe my computer. I still don't seem to be getting anywhere that way.

Well, while I'm trying to get my footing again, here are my January 6th and 7th writing prompt works:

"Quick Thoughts on Time Travel"

On DeviantArt           On FictionPress

This one is super short at only 562 words. Not at all what I was intending when I read the prompt, but I "trusted the pen" and ended up with a micro-essay, as it were.

"Nature Can Bite Me"

On DeviantArt           On FictionPress

An actual narrative, but this one is still only 829 words. I finally have another flash to send to Ronoxym. We'll just ignore that I wrote it back on February 9th.... Doing so well on those writing New Years Resolutions, guys!

Budding Theorist

I should have never doubted Legend of Zelda. Yeah, it's a distraction, but it's also inspiration. It always has been. One of the reasons I love the game series so much.

For those not indoctrinated in one of the most debated topics of the fandom, one of the first things most fans do when a new Zelda game comes out is try to figure out where it fits on the overall timeline of Hyrule, the kingdom that the vast majority of the games take place in. The debate was eventually quelled when the book Hyrule Historia was published as a be all end all canonical listing of the history of the series, as well as a way to fill in gaps between the games.

This thing is kind of large, just google Hyrule Historia Timeline

if you want a better look.

After the timeline was published four games were released: First was "Link Between Worlds" which told the players that it takes place after "Link To The Past", and the next two - "Hyrule Warriors" and "Triforce Heroes" - aren't generally considered canon. Well, at least "Hyrule Warriors" isn't because it isn't by the Legend of Zelda team. "Triforce Heroes" might be canon since it's an official Zelda game, but it's kind of a joke-story compared to the others so.... *shrug*

Anyway, my point being, after the official timeline was released the only game that has question marks around its placement in the timeline is the newest installment: "Breath of the Wild." There was "word of God" confirmation from the game developers that it is intended to take place post-Ocarina-of-Time, but beyond that, we don't know which timeline it falls into. As of right now, as shown above, there are three timelines/alternative realities. One is known as the "Downfall" timeline, due to the downfall/defeat of Link against Ganon, and the following downfall of all of Hyrule. One is known as the "Child" timeline, due to Link, with all of his memories of defeating Ganondorf, returning to his lost childhood. The final is called the "Adult" timeline, the original timeline where Link, as an older teen, defeats Ganon, but is then transported back in time, creating the "Child" timeline. Lately, perhaps due to "Breath of the Wild," there are theories of a "unified" timeline where events bring these three realities - Downfall, Child, and Adult - collapsing onto themselves to create just one reality/timeline again. A lot of people are placing BotW as the first major event post-unification; perhaps the cataclysmic event that started the events of BotW were the same ones that collapsed the timelines into one. Others are creating a fourth timeline, one where Link refuses to leave the Adult timeline; what was done was done, Zelda doesn't need to send him back to live his childhood, they should just all work together to rebuild from Ganondorf's rule and destruction. There are fans who are placing BotW on this new perceived timeline.

Then there are those, like me, who are trying to keep with the three established timelines. Although, not many conceived of the "Downfall" timeline prior to the Hystoria's release, due to everyone assuming each game was won; therefore Link triumphed over Ganon. If "Ocarina of Time" could create an alternate reality based on Link failing, why can't all the games? It gets complicated if we think like that, so we'll leave that decision to the developers.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that there are vast debates going on right now trying to figure out where BotW falls in relation to the other games. I personally have watched about a dozen different theory videos of people arguing what timeline, or at least showcasing the arguments for each timeline.

It seems most agree that it takes place in the Child timeline sometime after "Twilight Princess"; most likely after "Four Swords Adventures" too. However, there is some conflicting evidence that points towards the other timelines. This is probably why the Unified Timeline theory is gaining traction.

What does this have to do with my own inspiration? Well, I'm one of the nutjobs who has a Timeline Theory. Sadly, I don't have the tech to create a video like everyone else seems to be, but I do intend to write out my theory at least. It may not be groundbreaking. It may not really have new insight that the other theorists haven't already stated. It may not be read by more than my friends and family - and even that will be slim pickings based on who is a Zelda fan.

However, I am determined to write it, especially after Fan Theory Enthusiast - one of Hubby's best men - Goob suggested that I go full throttle. The game itself is massive; far more so than any previous Zelda game. Hubby has been playing nearly every chance he could since it came out on the third, and he's still maybe 3/4 of the way through the game, if that. So I'll still have to do some research, and borrow a lot of information from other theorists and Let's Play videos to get information I personally haven't witnessed yet.

It's not really much by way of story writing. It's more theoretical essay than narrative. However, I still do need to find the proper words to convey my thoughts, far more so than a video theorist who can use visuals to assist. I also need some creativity to explain why certain elements make sense. For instance, some Adult Timeline theorists point out that two prominent intelligent species - the Koroks and Ritos - are only ever previously seen in "The Wind Waker" which falls into the Adult timeline. Downfall Theorists use the existence of the more primal species Lynel for the same reason: they only appear in games that fall in the Downfall timeline. They also point out that the Master Sword - Link's ultimate weapon against Ganon - is always in the Temple of Time/Hyrule Castle in both "Link Defeats Ganon" timelines, but always in the Lost Woods in the Downfall timeline. Guess where the Master Sword is found in BotW. So, if I truly believe that BotW takes place on the Child timeline, I have to be creative with my explanations of these discrepancies. I think I have most of them figured out. My last major snaffu is the placement of the game on the Child timeline. Logically, it has to take place after "Four Swords Adventures" for the 10,000 years and then additional 100 years to take place. However, the Temple of Time from "Ocarina of Time" is in better condition - although still in ruin - in BotW than in "Twilight Princess" even though BotW should be quite a few millennia after the events of TP.

If any of you are Zelda experts - or just hardcore fans such as myself - please feel free to chip in your two cents in the comments section below.

Regardless of your feelings about Zelda - in which case, sorry if it wasn't very favorable prior to reading this post - I hope we all can agree that writing up my theory, and the crafty, creative, problem solving it involves, is only a positive for my writing. At least it's getting the wheels turning.

I also finished up another prompt yesterday. Sadly, I'm still only about half way through the January prompts via "A Writer's Book of Days." However, even a little writing is better than the no writing I was doing before. So another win?

I still don't have anything to share with you this week. As I mentioned on Thursday, I was visiting family this past weekend, so I was kind of "unplugged." Which means I didn't even take the time to type up the already-written prompts. I then spent Sunday evening and last night doing more research for my theory instead of typing up my writing.... whoops. I'll try to get on top of that for next week. Considering how much snow is falling right now, I know I'm not going to be out of the house for any reason other than writing group, and I'm fairly certain that's going to be nixed too. I should have plenty of free time today then!

Finally, I'd like to give a shout out to Ronoxym and Cyhyr; celebrating their second anniversary today. What a day to do it! Ron, drive home safe, and you two enjoy some snuggle time to keep warm in this blizzard!

Where is the Darn Reset Button!?

A day early, but whatever....

I'm not sure what happened last week, but it didn't involve writing. It's probably one of the reasons why I wasn't so focused on getting this post written on time. Even now, it's a bit of a struggle to write this instead of hiding somewhere doing something else.

I'm in a rut, or at least I was, I'm still debating if I'm still there. Something snapped this week that just drove me far away from putting word to paper. I'm still not sure what it was.

I could blame it on not feeling well this weekend, but that only really qualifies for Sunday and late Saturday. I could blame it on having to work this Tuesday - why I didn't have the post up - so I could have this weekend off. I could blame it on the fact that Hubby and I got the latest Legend of Zelda game "Breath of the Wild." A game that I desperately wish I was playing instead of writing this, if I'm honest.

In fact, I could probably blame most of my laziness the past week on Breath of the Wild. I just get sucked into the massive world: how pretty it is, how strategic you need to be, how it calls for you to be creative in the ways you advance the plot. The problem with blaming Zelda is that it came out on Friday. It still doesn't excuse my writing neglect the rest of the week.

I just fell completely off the horse in February. I didn't even complete reading one book; although I did complete it last night. Even with the "Two hours of watching something; max" rule for Lent, I couldn't get myself to refocus so far this month. Yes, we're back to my greatest downfall: focus. I either have none or way too much.

It wasn't Lent, but my husband who helped reset me, or at least attempted to the other day. He's now taking my computer away for an hour or two and forcing me to sit with paper and pen. It didn't help me with writing this post on Tuesday after I was done with work, but it did help me actually write two prompts on the same day for the first time in I can't recall how long. Having my computer privileges revoked didn't help me type up more of my already written prompts, but it did help me finally finish reading my book. It didn't help me with the past two weeks, but it did help me with the past two days.

So, thanks, Sweetie. It's because of you that I'm typing this instead of getting sucked back into Hyrule. You always know how to get me re-centered. Love you.

Now, as I just mentioned, I don't have anything new for me to share due to it still being in my notebook. However, I can now share my update on my reading challenge:

Challenge by Reading Books Like a Boss

Again, I don't have "Ready. Set. Novel!" checked off because I haven't completed the book. In fact, I haven't even done any new activities out of it, sadly. I'm focusing on just catching up on the writing prompts thing. Along those lines, I'm now working on reading through the "March" chapter of my copy of "A Writer's Book of Days." I have to say, I'm getting quite a few notes throughout.

The pink and yellow tabs are locations of her prompts, but the rest are key
bits of advice that I go back to reread.

Now for me to actually get myself to FOLLOW the advice.....

As for the latest book that I added on for February's read? Well, ABC used to have a long-running show that ended this past season: "Castle." For those who don't know the main premise of the show, it was about Richard Castle, a crime/mystery/thriller author, shadowing Kate Beckett, a NYC homicide detective, as a means of research for his new novel concept. The pairing worked so well that even after his first book was long-since published, he continued his ride-alongs; now a pseudo-consultant to Beckett's team while also becoming close friends with all in the department. Well, since the titular character was a novelist, ABC thought it would be great marketing if the viewers of the show could actually read the books that Castle wrote throughout the series. Thus the Nikki Heat book series came to the real world. Each year when Castle's book dropped in the show, it also was released in the real world, and actually hit real world New York Times Bestseller lists. Even after the series got cancelled last year, at least one more Nikki Heat book is set to be published this May.

The real fun thing about these books is that they are completely "Richard Castle" books. Nathan Fillion, who played Castle in the series, is shown on the dust jacket as the face of Castle. The dedications and acknowledgments are completely in-character for Castle, although the latter does break the fourth wall a bit by thanking the main cast of the show, as well as the show runners, via first name only. Probably the best thing about how in-character the entirety of the book series is? I've tried for years, and I STILL can't find out who the ghostwriter was. I cannot find mention anywhere as to who is the true author of the Richard Castle books, and even during book tours and signings, Nathan Fillion would go as Richard Castle. Wonder if he's still going to do so now that the character is behind him. I guess I could find out when the latest - and possibly last - book comes out in May.

Anyway, I mentioned back in February, when I started reading the book, that it's a bit of a floater. "Heat Wave" is the first book of a series, which is why I currently have it as "start a new series" even though I have read this book before; I haven't read the others yet. All the books in the series have Nikki Heat's silhouette on the cover, so "woman on the cover" could be used. The majority of the cover is red, so it could bump off "Ready. Set. Novel!" if I wish. Finally, the titles are all plays on Nikki's last name, so I guess it counts as "Name in the title."

I decided to stick with the rolling ball and pick up the second book in the series. I'm not sure if I should read through the remaining four books I own - there are eight Nikki Heat books in total once the new one comes out this year - and just count them as extras, or if I should use them to fill in those "floater" categories for the challenge. Either way, I'm going to try to knock out "Naked Heat" this month. I'll figure out where to put it later.

Now that I'm getting my reading back on track, I really do need to do the same with writing. Yes, I wrote two prompts on Tuesday, but yesterday I didn't write anything, and today I only wrote this blog post. I did contact Spink, and we're going to try to set up writing dates. Sure, the bi-weekly writing group meetings are great, but we only read what we already wrote. The group sprints we did in November really helped me stay focused, and I think I need that again. So, I'm going to try to set up a "date night" at least once a month where Spink and I will meet up for a few hours and do little more than writing sprints. Between that and Hubby "grounding me" until I've written something, I might actually get traction again.

We'll see how well it works while I'm visiting my family for my sister's and my godson's birthdays this weekend....

Also early, but you get the idea....