The Science of Writing a Comic Book

First full week of Script Frenzy done, and I did kind of meh.

To be fair, this opening week was filled with craziness. Namely, Easter. I maxed out on hours the past two weeks and this week is yet another max work schedule. It's nice for the money; not so much for the free writing time. The obvious increase was to prep the store for the Easter rush, and now for the "OMG, it's actually nice outside!" rush.

I just as obviously didn't do any writing on Easter itself. Focused more on the meaning of the day, getting dressed up, eating good food, and spending some time with the in-laws.

Which leads me to yet another reason why this past weekend was crazy:

My niece's 2nd birthday was this weekend; Easter, to be exact. My in-laws wanted to make sure the sacredness of Easter wasn't overshadowed by her birthday, and so they celebrated it the day before. An adorable Hello Kitty-themed party. My sister-in-law even added red food coloring to the boiling water when making pasta salad so the bowtie pasta came out an insanely vibrant pink! So cool.

Best part is, I finished her present in time! Sadly, I missed getting pictures of her and her father playing with the toy - I think her dad had more fun with it - she seemed super excited. I don't know if I ever saw ANYONE as excited to see something I crocheted for them, so that was awesome. A blanket and pillow within her first year - eh, they're not toys and she was young, so I get why she wasn't excited about them. A giant giraffe for Christmas? Well, she was a bit overwhelmed with gifts, but she still didn't seem all that thrilled with it. This time, though, this time she instantly started playing! I think I'm finally figuring out this kid.

The girl LOVES trucks. I blame her dad. ;)

Now to figure out what to make her for Christmas....

All of this craziness doesn't mean I've slacked completely though. I DID write this week. Not nearly as much as I would have hoped and not nearly as much as I needed to be "on track" to hit 100pgs before April 30th, but still.

First of all, writing a script for a comic book - at least the way the Celtx program has it formatted - is a lot trickier business than I originally gave it credit. I can't just create panels and Celtx will automatically spill over pages like it would if I were writing a screenplay or a novel. In other words, I can't just create panels until I run out of juice for the day and then look back and go "Oh cool, five pages today. Sweet."

No, no. I have to calculate EVERYTHING. How many panels do I want on a page? What size/spacing will these panels be? Do any of them overlap? Is there a series of about seven super skinny panels lined up right next to each other in the middle of the page so the action moves quickly? Yup, that means I have to think of the pacing while doing this too.

It's way more involved than a description of the image I want with some dialogue or caption boxes. I have to plot out so much more. It is taking way more time than I originally envisioned. Because of that, I asked for help from the two people I felt knew the most about the subject.

Phfylburt is my walking Marvel/Comic Books Encyclopedia. He loves the medium, and knows so much about both the stories themselves and the structure of them. Imagine you don't really know how to write a good book because you have only read a couple a year. Now imagine one of your friends plows through about three a month and has done so for years. It seems logical to believe that said friend knows the structure of novels inside and out. He's read good ones and bad ones and best knows what formulas are the most successful, which are the most creative/inventive, and which are becoming stale. This is the exact reason why writers should be avid readers as well, so they can pick up on this structural knowledge. Sadly, I don't have the money nor the access to plow through hundreds of comics in order to prepare for this project. Although, in retrospect, I could have done some research for free via webcomics....

Anyway, the other expert I contacted is Chopfe. He's worked as a comic strip artist for newspapers for a little while now. Plus he has a few comics that he posts on his DeviantArt account. He actually DOES this for a living, or at least for some cash on the side. If any of my friends would know how to structure a comic, it would be him.

Well, as it is with most forms of art, the method of getting to the end result is highly individualized depending on the artist. It's also a lot easier to create a comic if you are both the author and the illustrator. Chopfe is one such creator, and so he just needs a rough outline of what he's planning on doing, and then he just goes from there. He doesn't really describe what he's going to draw, nor does he plot out the panelling. He just does it and sees how it ends up. A lot of comic book creators are like that. It's similar to my theory of "Medium" writing. Much like how I only have a vague outline of the story I wish to tell, and then I act like a Medium for my characters. I let them work through me to tell their story. Well, non-script comic book creators do the same thing, except instead of just letting their characters speak through them, they also allow the characters to take over their hands in order to SHOW their story as well.

There's also teams of writers and artists that have complete faith in each other. The author just needs to write a script closer to a screenplay - vague descriptions of environment, action, and character design - and then trust the illustrator's creativity to fill in the blanks and bring the story to life.

Visually speaking - mostly because I SEE my story unfold in my head as I write it - I'm a bit too much of a control freak. I'm a complete "Director" writer when visuals are included; I did the same thing with other scripts. I may let my characters "improv" but when it comes to specific actor looks, set design, and costuming I am a highly involved "director" with my mitts in everything.

On the other hand, I love to purposely NOT give minute details on my character designs when asking friends to draw fanart/commission art renderings because I'm curious how they imagine my characters given the way I describe them in my works. Which is why Willow in particular doesn't quite match my typical image of her in ChibiSunnie's Christmas card for me a few years back.

I love Willow's hair like this, though. <3

My version of Willow		My version of Chayse

She got surprisingly close to both Chayse's design and Willow's X-Men uniform design...

My point is this. On the first day of attempting to write a comic book I only managed to write ONE page in over an hour of work. And that ONE page had almost 700 words! Most of them describing exactly what Willow, Chayse, Devon, and Lia are all wearing and what they look like - from color and cut of hair to the shade of skin/eyes - as well as some detail of the urban cyberpunk world they are running around in.

On my second go I decided to shift all the character description - minus their age and basic build - to the notes section of Celtx. Once I did that the word count dropped by about 200! Still a BIT wordy for a five-panel first page, but much better to have about 475 words than nearly 700...

I was able to blow through the next couple of pages easily enough, although I DID do a bunch of going back and editing. Unfortunately, much like NaNo, the point of Script Frenzy is to go for speed over quality. To get the story out of your head as fast as possible in order to hit the goal and keep you in the flow of writing. To instill a new habit of daily writing; given that habits take six straight weeks of never faltering in order for them to stick. You're not supposed to edit during that month. Not supposed to delete anything - which is how I somehow managed to rewrite the same three paragraphs right after each other when I did NaNo a few years ago. Editing is for December and beyond. Or - in this case - May and beyond.

So, all of my editing is slowing me down more than the learning curve of writing a comic already did. Still, I strive to get things right the first time. Since Script Frenzy itself doesn't technically exist any longer I'm just using the month as an excuse to write. Screw getting to that 100pg goal before April 30th, as long as I write SOMETHING daily and keep up a moderately steady pace.

Still, I am a bit disappointed that I'm only on about page SIX when I should be around page 26 by the end of the day. TWENTY PAGES BEHIND. Sheesh.

Well, along with the learning curve of "How do I plot every detail out!?" when it comes to creating comic book pages, I'm also doing far more research than I had intended. I knew I was going to need to do some research while I write; I ALWAYS research WHILE writing. I never plot out nearly far enough ahead of time to get all my research done before I start. I really need to work on that.

Anyway, I've been researching things like comic book layouts. Then when I transferred the character descriptions on to the notes section of Celtx I noticed I could also include reference pictures. I got lost for a while because of that. Finding out the difference between combat boots - what Devon wears - and work man boots - what Chayse wears while on missions. I knew that Chayse wore gloves similar to Gambit's - who only has the middle and ring fingers on his gloves - but I needed them to be different and "real world" so the design wouldn't scream "GAMBIT KNOCKOFF" so much. So I spent some time researching 3-fingered gloves; I knew I had seen some in real life SOMEWHERE. I found out that archers wear 3-fingered gloves to protect the drawing hand from cutting on the string. That's cool to know, but the look didn't really match what I had in mind - only the thumb and pinkie bare. I thought "bowling!" but that was back to being too close to Gambit's gloves, and the fabrics didn't seem right. Finally I landed on exactly what I was picturing: billiard gloves! They cover the thumb, index, and middle fingers to protect from friction while using pool sticks. Next up was trying to find ones that matched my mental image of what Chayse wears.

Once I was done wasting about an hour or so researching different actual items that would work as the characters' gear I got stopped by a technical question. Similar to the Fullmetal Alchemist character Roy Mustang, Devon has gloves that create sparks that he could then use to grow in to a legitimate flame he could manipulate. Not wanting to COMPLETELY rip off the manga/anime Fullmetal Alchemist - although Ronoxym swears he didn't even pick up on how much the anime influenced Devon's creation - Ron had Devon's gloves have a bit of flint and steel sewn in to the pads of his fingers. That way when he snapped the flint in the middle fingers would strike the steel on his thumbs and create the spark. While I'm still not 100% convinced this has legitimate real-world applications, considering the X-Future world takes place around 2050 I can pretend technology increases to the point where "fire starter gloves" can be realistic. I mean, there are those gloves specifically designed to work with touch screens, so is it really such a stretch that materials such as striking flint and steel could be incorporated in to gloves over the next 35 years? Eh, it might make more sense to follow a page from FMA and just say the gloves are made from a special fabric.

Either way, my technical issue came up when I had Devon pivot on his hand as he tumbled across asphalt. Granted, without Devon purposely trying to ignite the spark it's not all that harmful to have his gloves spark in such a situation, I still wanted to know IF they would spark. That's when I realized that the whole flint and steel fire starting kit works because the sharp flint chips off a very fine layer of rust off of the steel - so fine the red coloring isn't visible. This chipping off of the protective rust coating exposes the steel - more specifically the iron inside the steel - to the air. Iron can spontaneously combust at temperatures as low as 70-degrees, which is why the newly exposed steel sparks - combusts - as it quickly tries to reform the protective rust covering. It's sort of like our bodies healing our skin.

So, if Devon did scrape the steel thumb of his gloves across something other than the flint on his middle fingers the sparks COULD still fly and allow him to use his powers, but only if the steel was scraped to the point of flaking off the outer protective layer. I'm not sure if a skid across asphalt will do so, but I just opted for "no". Maybe with further research or the encouragement of my future artist - whomever that ends up being - we can have his thumb spark a bit. It would be a could visual, and like I said, the sparks would be harmless without Devon's help to ignite them - or some other pyromancer.

Not quite done with my scientific research for this project - although Devon's fire use ended the opening scene and ended my second day of actual script writing - I had to figure out my next section of the story. Namely, the set up of the world for the reader.

Even more specifically, I was going to give a brief history of evolution and how that "created" the mutants - Glitches in my story - and then the political repercussions that lead to "Kitty" creating the orphanage and "Logan" creating the arcade.

I still need to rename just about ALL of the X-Men canon characters, as well as come up with names for both the orphanage and the arcade. I also need a name for "Logan's" elite group of Glitches that are tasked to protect the orphanage; in other words "the X-Men." Plus, I need to rename "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" in to something original and sort of vigilante/street gang sounding.

I have a LOT of naming to do... good thing I'm so good at it...

I'm getting off topic here. Back to the other scientific research. As I mentioned, I wanted to start by giving sort of a refresher course on evolution, which meant I needed one myself. Image wise, I was going to do the generic image the mass populous imagines when thinking of evolution: either the fish that grew legs and became the first amphibian, or monkeys becoming humans. Problem is both images are horribly false in what evolution actually is.

Humans did NOT evolve from monkeys/apes/etc. Which is why the Creationist argument of "If we evolved from apes why are there still apes?" is kind of the equivalent of asking "If you are part of this family tree why do you have cousins?" See, apes and humans evolved separately and equally from a shared ancestor. Somewhere down the line some "missing link" gave birth to two different defects. One grouping of birth defects mated with each other and eventually created a new species. Humans evolved from THEM. The other group of defects mated with each other and created another new species that eventually became apes and monkeys and chimps and the like. The original species we were jointly birthed from eventually died off.

So, it's not a matter of This Fish grew legs and then generations later the tail shrunk and then more generations later lungs grew beside the gills and eventually a primitive frog emerged. So, no, raptors did NOT evolve in to say an ostrich. However, an ostrich became it's own species after a certain birth defect in a past species became prominent in that grouping. Another way to think of it is to think of dogs. Some grey wolves were surprisingly docile compared to the rest of the pack. They were the omegas, the bottom rung and almost the equivalent to slaves or second-class citizens of the pack. Humans took these omegas and kept them as pets. They bred docile wolves together and ended up with more docile cubs in the litter. After generations of breeding docile wolf pups together resulted in more and more docile litters until being playful and friendly became the dominant gene. Same was done with wild cats and foxes. Every pet is just a docile descendant thanks to - in a way - man-made evolution.

Alright, enough with Evolution 101. The point here is showing how evolution works in simple paneled pictures is a lot trickier - and near impossible - than I originally planned. I debated on how scientifically accurate I want my story, especially since Science and History were my two worst subjects in school. They just never clicked with me for some reason. Still, I am an obsessive fan of realism, even in fantasy. If a person can read my High Fantasy or Sci Fi story and go "wow, cool, that could ACTUALLY happen" then I'm good to go. Otherwise I'm too worried that the History and Science buffs will give up on my story due to unrealism. I mean, I'm sort of that way whenever I see video production or writing depicted incorrectly in books, movies, or on TV - although how TV and movies can possibly manage to screw up portraying how a show/movie is made is beyond me....

I'm off topic again, sorry. I know I've been rambling a bit here... It's just been a lot that I had to take in this week, and I guess I just wanted to share all of my hard-earned knowledge with SOMEONE. Back to my point, I swear.

After a day or two of debating and further research I finally gave up on true accuracy. Instead I decided to opt for how evolution was presented by the fathers of the theory: Darwin and Lamarck. Basically, I went the Natural Selection route. The original idea of evolution - the one most people think of and the one that creates the most tension in both the X-Men and X-Future worlds - is that a birth defect turns in to a survival advantage. The ones that survive pass on the gene that allowed them to survive while those who don't have this advantage die off. Thus the advantageous birth defect becomes the species' norm: boom, evolution!

It's best showcased in Lamarck's view on why giraffes have such long necks; an image I decided to use in the comic book. Lamarck envisioned giraffes to originally be built more like horses, but the low grass they would graze on was in too short supply to feed the population. While most starved there were a few that were born with slightly longer necks and were able to use this advantage to reach tree branches; finding a new food source. As the species became flooded with longer-necked offspring - due to Natural Selection - these low-bearing trees became overfed on as well and the same problem as with the grass came about. Thankfully, more longer-than-normal necked giraffes were born and found yet higher branches. This increase in neck due to necessity - needing harder-to-reach food to avoid competing with other animals - continued for generations and centuries - maybe millenia - until the modern-day giraffes came to be. Since nothing else can really reach their main food source there is no real need to evolve any further. So the longer-than-normal necked giraffes don't out-live the shorter-than-normal necked giraffes. The shorter-necked giraffes don't die off and the average neck length stays the same throughout the generations.

There is a very important reason why this particular view - while dated and quite possibly not ENTIRELY true - is best suited for a story about mutants. Mainly because it shows why average humans are terrified of the idea. Not only are they defenseless against the powers of the mutants, but they are essentially Neanderthals to the mutants' Homo Sapiens. Eventually the higher-evolved humans will survive while the lesser will die off - just like the shorter-necked giraffes that starved to extinction. Marvel itself plays off of this by having the character Magneto refer to mutants as Homo Superior; equating them to the next evolution of man that will overtake Homo Sapiens just like Homo Sapiens overtook the Neanderthals.

I lost a bunch of you back there, didn't I? Well, no worries, I'm done with my science lectures. Boy, I should come up with a little Professor LycoRogue icon to warn you guys before I do stuff like that again.

Well, I guess I wasted enough of everyone's time here. I should get back to writing my comic book. I need to finish up the evolution history. I hope to also have some names figured out by my next update. Poor Phfyl is going to have walls of text to wade through in the upcoming week, I just know it....

Playing Massive Catch-up

Soooooooo, this week has been so crazy I legit lost track of what day of the week it was. Wednesday came and went without my notice....

I feel like I've been non-stop for over two weeks now. The days have flown by so quickly I didn't even really have time to write. Thankfully, I changed that yesterday, but I'll get to that later.

Obviously, I didn't manage to write a blog post to replace that placeholder. Which means I'll have more to talk about today, right?

Let's start with why I even had a placeholder last week: the concert and my work presentation.

Let's start with Hubby's early 30th birthday gift for me. We went to the Monumentour with Paramore and Fall Out Boy. It was fantastic. I had such a blast, but I also worked the morning of the concert so I was on the go from about 6am until 1:30 am the next day. CRAZINESS! I was so tired I was NOT in the mindset to write a post in time for my normal noon update. I debated writing later in the day - after I woke up - in order to get SOMETHING posted. However, I had work that evening and I was still zoned out, so the placeholder was written.

The other reason I had no time was that work presentation. Not entirely sure how well we did. The way these presentations work is that each year a group of employees spend an extra hour a week trying to find ways to improve their individual store, or come up with an idea that could help better the chain as a whole. The first year I was a part of this project, we created a safety video to show during job orientation. Last year I BSed my way through raising employee morale. This year we threw together a last-minute presentation about what I have done throughout the year to improve wellness in the store's employees. Things such as moving the employee smoking section further from the store to keep non-smoking employees/customers from second-hand smoke, providing sunscreen for the employees that spend the majority of their shifts outside, providing things such as puzzle/activity books in the break room to help destress employees, and talking to the new-hires about the wellness program so that they know it's available.

So what I was doing since that last actual update was figuring out how to present these changes: taking photos, making a power point, writing out a script for MadDog24 to read off at the presentation, making hand-outs, etc. All while working long days at the store. By the time last Wednesday hit I was - as mentioned - exhausted and still needed to put on the finishing touches on everything to make sure we were ready.

Thursday was the presentation. We had to get up fairly early so that we could make the hour-plus trek to the building where the presentation was being held. We then watched other presentations - which were unbelievably boring compared to the previous two years; it was insanity - before giving our own. Once all the stores gave their presentations the managers in the sectioned off zone - so this would be about 15 stores - would then vote on who they think did the best job both on the presentation itself and with the improvements they did for their store. The winner is announced and said winning store moves on to present to the region and then possibly move on further to present to corporate.

The safety video went on to present to corporate, but we didn't win over-all. It was nice to win our zone though. Last year's pulling-this-out-of-my-butt presentation ended up getting us second place in our zone. This year we weren't informed where we were in the standings; we just know we didn't win. Oh well, at least it's over, our manager is happy with what we did, and we can move on.

Hubby already has a fantastic idea for this upcoming year, and we're going full-steam right out of the gate. Considering the previous three years more-or-less consisted of "[Lyco] throws something together in about three days before the presentation while [Hubby] plays tech-support so she doesn't throw the computer out the window," we're already off to a great start.

Now, once we were done with the presentation and we knew we weren't moving on to the "next round" - as it were - I had every intention of writing my actual blog update for the week. However, it was also the first day I could just sit and mellow out. So I did. Total zone out.

Then came Friday, and the start of Hell Week as the store dealt with the chaos that is "Preparing for the Fourth of July" shopping craze. We were non-stop! My manager's favorite word was "brutal". Every time I turned around he'd be muttering that word. Heck, this past Wednesday I went in to work and literally the first thing he said to me was "Brutal" as he shook his head.

Work. Has not. Been fun.

Everyone's hot and cranky and overworked and the customers are rushed.... it's just bad all around.

So whenever I wasn't at work I was pretty much asleep, or staring blankly at whatever was in front of me. Even now, after having a two-day "vacation" from work, I still have to focus on keeping my eyes focused. It's pathetic.

Want to know what helps with the focusing?

I HAVE MY NETBOOK BACK!!!!!!

My father-in-law is awesome. He totally Frankensteined the thing back to life. Actually, he had it set for me a few months ago, but he needed money from us in order to buy a few more components. Eventually he gave up. He knew how much I needed this thing back and how hard-up we've been, so he used some of his own scratch and we'll pay him back. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough extra to buy a new battery for the darn thing, so I have to keep it plugged in at all times. I can't let it off charge for even a second without it instantly shutting down. It's like a teeny desktop that way.

Still, I have it back and that means I'm writing this while lounging on the couch! Whoot! Perhaps this means I can actually get my butt in gear and get back to things like Writers’ Huddle or beta reading.

OOOO speaking of which. I'm redoing the writing group thing. Originally I was trying to keep it local in order to keep it off-computer; save my eyes and all that. Plus, I already have an online writing community with the Writers' Huddle. However, the local group didn't last long for a handful of reasons. True, I still have the Writers' Huddle, and so having another online community seems a bit silly, but this is with all of my online besties; none of which really have the spare change to join in Writers' Huddle.

So we're off to start up our own mini-group. Obviously the local peeps are free to join in, but this go around it will be me right along side ChibiSunnie, DarkAngel1326, AngelBlood666, Chopfe, Delaroux, Phfylburt, and introducing my one buddy from high school. I haven't found an online-presence for her yet, so I'm gonna use her Girl Scouts nickname for the time being. Everyone wave to Stargazer!

She's so excited. As far as I know she never really thought about writing too much before, but she recently took a writing course and loved it. She enthusiastically sent me a message about how she's now thinking about attempting to write a novel. I instantly threw out that I was trying to start up this online group and asked if she wanted to join. She happily accepted.

Now, to get my butt in gear and start up the group.

The only other writing update I have is that after over a week of the board being stalled out, I finally got around to getting Willow to do something. It's not much, but at least it's SOMETHING, right? I also went a bit hard-core on world building the X-Future reboot. Still haven't locked on to a definite environment idea, but I'm still coming up with possibilities; seeing which one works best.

Forgive me if I've mentioned this before, but I don't recall touching upon my latest roadblock. Although the actual world that surrounds X-Future isn't all that important - as long as the teens can somehow have these powers in some shape or form it doesn't matter if it's fantasy, sci-fi, horror, historical, futuristic, etc - but what IS important is the Xavier Institute. The fact that these kids with powers are all together in one closed environment away from normal humans. The fact that there's a rival "gang" as the main antagonists, and the fact that each group wants to get to potential "new recruits" first.

However, I fear that even if we do call them "glitches" instead of mutants, having a boarding school for these glitches to voluntarily be at just screams "this is blatantly the Xavier Institute and these guys are clearly X-men-like mutants." Even with terms changed and not really using any of the Marvel-owned characters, there's that real fear that Marvel could pick up on the "rip-off" and try to shut the story down. Either that, or any readers will be turned off by the fact that this is "fake X-Men".

Will the fact that the most basic environment structure is more-or-less straight out of X-Men turn away readers, or bring more in due to the familiarity of it all? Will it be obvious that it started off as an X-Men fanstory/role play? Will that matter?

I mean, I got drawn in to Order of the Stick because it was obviously a D&D campaign. Rich Burlew still makes TONS of D&D references throughout the strip. Do I feel cheated that he didn't completely create his own world? No. However, he also isn't pretending that he did, where as us changing everything except for the basic concept of "a school for mutants and the rival group they battle" feels like we are trying to pass our story as entirely original when it isn't.

So I'm stumped, do I just go for it and re-name the institute and be done with it? Or do I try something different?

I thought that maybe humanity forced these kids in to mutant-only schools; getting back to the X-Men social commentary roots about segregation. Phfyl threw out the idea that they're all together because of refugee/internment camps or reservations; again creating a social commentary on the American treatment of Japanese Americans in WWII or Native Americans throughout our country's history. The only real problem with these segregation/racism concepts is the idea of recruitments. There wouldn't be any X-Men vs Brotherhood recruitments. Everyone would be forced to go to these places, so a nice chunk of story would be lost, while a whole new one would emerge. Said new story would mostly have people rooting for the Brotherhood over the X-Men. The Brotherhood would be the group fighting back against this oppression while the X-Men would patiently bide their time while trying to show normal humans that not all of them are dangerous; that they can be just as productive parts of society as anyone else. I would think more people would cheer on the Brotherhood for trying to stand up for their kins' rights, and get irritated with the X-Men for not doing anything; content with their lot in life.

No go.

I then thought back to recruitment. If I wasn't going to use a school because it would be too obvious, what other options would I have for children to have a choice in whether or not they wanted to join one group or another; or any at all? Where else do children come together in groups?

That's when I looked to Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson universe. He used "summer camps." Most of the demi-gods in his stories would still live at home and go to school like a normal teen; spending their school year trying to stay under the radar, but also knowing enough to fend off monsters if need be. Then they would all come back to Camp Halfblood for more survival training over the summers. There were even some demi-gods who either had no place else to go or were so powerful they couldn't go a day without a monster harassing them. These teens just stayed at camp year-round.

It was a fantastic idea and a great twist on the Xavier Institute problem. However, it would still be a blatant rip-off if we turned the institute in to a summer camp. Sure, it may not be AS noticeable with the rest of the world having a vague X-Men feel, but you still have teens with specific powers and facing daily dangers all gathered at a camp. Anyone NOT thinking X-Men going in to the story will most likely think Demi-gods. We now have the same issue as we did with the school idea.

But how else do teens gather in one place and live together? I was thinking "mutant slums; they all just live near each other" but this then goes back to the segregation issue.

I bounced back to the fantasy idea that Phfyl had a little while back. As much as I love the cyberpunk world we were creating - and I loved the idea of mutants being called glitches, and they were each categorized in a pseudo-cyberpunk category - the fantasy world just seemed like a better fit.

We could go back to the idea of the schools, but have it be mage guilds instead. It was enough of a trope inside magical stories for it to just feel natural instead of stolen. Teens going to a guild/school to learn how to master their birth-given powers? That could be any number of things. That could be D&D. It could be the animes Fairy Tail or The Familiar of Zero. It could be Harry Potter. It could be the video game Fable. The list goes on, but those are the things that first pop in to my head when I think "school for mages".

Sure, since it's a trope it's a bit played out and "safe"/"expected", but at least it won't jar our readers by having them go "wait a minute... isn't this like...?"

I could just save the "glitches" and categories idea for the world Hubby thought up a little while ago.

Yesterday I pitched the following idea to Hubby and Phfyl as a way to have a fantasy/steam/cyberpunk world where the "mutants" are now all mages.

The mages started off as a small few for whatever reason (TBD) and were praised as heroes and saviors against the dangerous creatures (insert generic fantasy creature here; ie - dragon, goblin, ogre, etc). Citadels were built as homes for these mages and the cities sprung up around them so that the mages were at the center of the communities and capable of saving the city at a moment's notice.

As the threat of creatures waned and the reliance of the mages simply became a generational norm, the mages became power hungry. They became tyrannical rulers over the non-magic citizens and warred among themselves.

An industrial revolution became necessary for the non-magics to be able to compete at all with the mages. In the end, they were able to dethrone their magical dictators.

Mages were cast out of society and they created communal homes for themselves by way of guilds hidden in wooded areas surrounded by the few remaining creatures that they once saved the non-magics from.

Humanity still feared mages, but more and more were being born among them. Some were slaughtered instantly when their powers were discovered. Some were cast away, letting fate decide if they could survive the creatures of the woods in order to get to the mage guilds. Some were found out by wandering mages; undercover and unknown to be magical among their neighbors. These sleeper mages were tasked to whisk the newly discovered mages safely away to the guilds.

Some mage guilds were embittered by how their ancestors were cast out, and how their kind is currently treated. Their goal is to make mages the supreme rulers once more. (Brotherhood)

Other guilds wish to just be left alone; to live in peace away from the humans. (Morlocks)

Then there is at least one guild who wishes to show non-magics that mages are the same as them. Just as some humans are just "evil" and do things like kill and fall to corruption, so do mages. However, just as most humans are NOT inherently cruel and evil, neither are mages. Therefore, mages should be treated just as non-magics (I really need to think of a muggle-like term). Most are decent human beings, but discipline and punish those who deserve it. (Obviously this is the X-Men)

Finally, you have the guild that just wants to see the world burn. (Challengers of Heaven)

The actual world will be based as a fantasy world. However, instead of the typical medieval England atmosphere that most fantasy takes place in, the world will have a cyberpunk look. Now, I'd like to still restrict human technological advancement a touch, so this fantasy cyberpunk world has one more twist: Steampunk technology.

So, this is a fantasy world with Steampunk technology but a Cyberpunk look.

These tightly packed cities around abandoned mage citadels are dark, gritty, and filled with corruption in order to fill the power vacuum.

However, this overpopulated environment just screams out to the youth to not just become another number. They struggle to show that they're still an individual, not just a member of the human herd. So they wear bright, vibrant colors to stand out against the dark, gritty environment. They stylize their hair and dye it bright, unnatural colors. The advertisements are the same. Businesses struggle just as much to stand out against their competition, and so the billboards and other advertisements are just as bright, and vibrant.

Hubby's a bit hesitant on the cyberpunk still sneaking in. He thinks just the fantasy/steampunk will be enough. Phfyl hasn't commented yet.

If we do decide to go this route, it changes the way Devon does a crucial bit of research before setting off on his own. Plus I still need to figure out the rough mechanics of the magic. So I'm still trying to figure out the whole "teens grouped together" thing in order to keep them mutants instead of mages.

If you have any advice on the subject, feel free to drop it in the comments below.

And now to conclude I'd like to throw out that Chibi has started up her own blog a few weeks ago! She's still nervous about her writing, so I'm sure I'm going to get a response along the lines of "How sweet of you to promote my blog, but now I'm super nervous about what I post..."

Fret not, dear Chibi. My readers are kind, and I'm sure they'll enjoy your work as much as I do.

So, go ahead and check out her work. Don't forget to let her know what you think of it. Even if it's constructive criticism, us writers love the feedback so we know how to improve.

You can find her here on blogger at Philothea Ponderings.

Now, if I can get some of my OTHER writing buddies to update their blogs. Yes, there are four of you I'm staring down right now.

Here's to a calmer week and some actual writing! Catch ya next week.

Birthdays, Apologies, Vamps, and a LOT of Pictures

I had a TON of online buddies with birthdays this past month! Sheesh! September is BIRTHDAY MONTH apparently!

So let's pause a moment to give quick happy birthdays to the following:

• Chopfe
• DarkAngel1326
• Ronoxym
• ChibiSunnie

And sort of Duchess's little sister FMA:B since she was born this year at the beginning of the month. She actually shares a birthday with Chopfe.

Alright, so maybe that isn't a TON of people... but it's still a lot after months of no birthdays at all.

And since we're talking about my online buddies, AngelBlood666 has two new chapters up for his collection of the 30 Day Writing Challenge from last summer. He's now up to 26 out of the 30; better than my 14.

Final updating note on my buddies? Omnibladestrike just sent me his second chapter to read. This is pretty big. He's only done that once before. He usually gets so self-conscious about his work that he just sticks in an endless loop of reworking his first chapter. So the fact that he has finally moved on is fantastic, and in and of itself shows how much he's grown as an author. So big thumbs up there.

Now, if only I could just sit myself down to beta read for him and Chibi....

Gah, I miss having a netbook/laptop. I love my desktop, but computer chairs are so uncomfortable. I get a lot more relaxed and in the writing mood when I'm reclined or laying in the grass. Also, if I weren't tethered to the desktop - which is in perfect sight of the TV - I could remove myself from distractions so much easier. As it stands, I have to blast music through my headphones to drown out the TV and/or the talk of visitors playing MTG with Hubby, and then I have to try to angle myself so that I don't see the TV in my peripheral.

Although I can usually write while like that, I found it's increasingly difficult to beta while sitting at an angle to the computer and with music blasting in my ears. It's equally hard for me to proofread my stuff. Add in the fact that I'm getting sadly close to blind, and well...

Here, let me explain. I much rather prefer contacts to glasses. I look better in contacts. I don't have to worry about things in my peripheral being blurry since they are outside the range of my lenses. Plus, after a decade of almost exclusively wearing contacts, the extra distance between my eyes and the corrective lenses of my glasses is just enough to give me this weird fish-eye-lens feel that makes me a touch dizzy and kills my depth perception.

Problem is, like I said, I'm closing in on "blind." Without any corrective lenses of any kind I have to be within about five inches of something to see it clearly. Once your eyes get that pathetically bad it is impossible for contacts to be made in small enough increments to truly correct your vision. So, I can either stick with the prescription I have now which is a touch too weak, or go to the next level which would be majorly too strong.

Obviously I'm sticking with the touch too weak. This means I'm good for most sight purposes, but when it comes to reading something I have to be about two feet or so from it - depending on the size of the font, obviously - and items in the distance aren't as clear to me as they would be with 20/20 vision. To my guestimation, I'd say I'm at something like 15/20 vision. It's pretty darn close to corrected, but not quite there.

Add in the fact that I'm pinching pennies right now, and so I can only afford the contacts as opposed to the rough estimate of $200+ for new glasses. Ah, glasses. THEY can be made with small enough adjustments that they could get my exact prescription need and I'd be at full clear vision again.

Anyway, the reason I bring all this up is similar to why I brought up the whole desktop thing too. The way my desk is set up my monitor is probably about 2feet from my face, so it's at the edge of my clear vision with my contacts. Add in the normal eye strain of staring at a computer screen for too long. This results in me either adding a lot of stress on my neck and back as I lean forward to read, or really putting a strain on my eyes as I try to focus. Either way, it's literally painful for me to read at my computer too long in one sitting.

So, I apologize to Chibi and Omni for not being the quick-turn-around beta I vowed to be while coming up with my New Years resolutions. I apologize to my fellow members at the Writers’ Huddle for once again disappearing from the boards; it's just hard to read what conversations have been going on, let alone join in. I also apologize to AB666 for not reading/commenting on his chapters lately. Finally, I apologize to any other author whose story has been sitting in my inbox for weeks/months on end. Same goes for the three or so bloggers that I follow and haven't read in ages.

And since I'm here apologizing anyway, I might as well add in that I'm sorry that I don't have a chapter update for you guys this week. Normally - so it seems - I would therefore not have a blog update, but I figured if I wasn't going to give you guys a chapter I might as well give you this, right? Besides, I do have something else - aside from the above - to talk about.

This week has just been rough at work. A LOT of my co-workers have been getting sick now that school started up again. In other words, school started, kids went back to school, the increased socialization within a confined space is causing these kids to catch each others' colds, said sick children are now bringing their colds home to their parents, and they in turn bring the sickness to work. Yay....

We're pretty short staffed to begin with, and on top of that a lot of my co-workers are college students who now have a very restricted work availability. So now that people are dropping like flies with these stupid illnesses, the few of us with open availability have to fill in the gaps. I personally gave up my day off today - as well as shifted my Friday and Saturday schedule a little to open up some hours for me to work before hitting overtime - in order to cover for someone.

When I'm not dead tired at work I'm home cleaning the apartment. Either that, or once more getting suckered in to my husband's siren-song of snuggling on the couch while binging on hours of anime. The meal of the week? Black Butler II, and now Fairy Tail.

Side note: I LOVE Gray!

HAWT (ironic for an Ice Mage...)

Grrrrowl... ;)

I LOOOOOVE watching him enter this stance in the anime. He looks so awesome! *swoon*

*Ahem* Right... I'm married... to an actual man, not an anime/manga character....

I was semi-creative this week though. I swear!

So when I wasn't dying at work, cleaning, or wasting my life by watching hours on end of anime, I actually had the vampire LARP this past Friday. It's been MONTHS since we last played, so it kept a bit to get back in to character.

I then couldn't get her out of my head. Yay, insomnia!

Anyway, the character I'm talking about is my most recent: Neghya. Yup, name "stolen" from online buddy Neghya.

She is for our Sabbat game; simply, very violent vampires who wish to rule over Humanity as farmers rule cattle. If one were an X-Men fan I'd say - very loosely - that Sabbat are the Brotherhood of Mutants to the Camarilla's X-Men. They are chaos to Camarilla's order. They also have a sort of bastardized mock Catholic Church set up to their society's standings. It's complete with such positions of stature as Bishops being the most powerful vampires to rule over a city or borough, and packs within said city who each have their own Priest that performs rituals every night and Abbots who protect their haven.

All that aside, Neghya's story consists of living in a dystopian present in which every man is more-or-less out for himself. There are little to no "heroes" among Man any longer. Vampires and other supernatural creatures control nearly everything from the background, still hiding supernatural existence from humanity. In this dystopia Neghya is a 25-yr-old runaway who has taken on a nomadic lifestyle for the past decade, more-or-less. One night, after working a shift at a New York City bar, she comes across a strange man. I have yet to work out enough of her backstory to know how she pissed him off, but I do know she somehow came upon a ring that is of great importance; although The Bard has yet to bring the subject of the ring back up and so I have no real clue of its significance. Anyway, she either won the ring off of him by besting him in some card game - probably though rogue-like cheating - or she just plain stole it off of him.

Either way, she had the ring - along with more of his valuables - and he wanted it back. Not only that, but he wasn't about to be bested by a mere human. He is from Clan Ravnos; originally the Gypsy Kings of the vampire world, now a nearly extinct race of common rogues, thieves, murderers, and delinquents. Being outsmarted by a human was NOT an option. So he took his revenge on her the best way he knew how, but more on that in a moment.

The real draw for me to play Neghya was that I'm still learning how to play Vampire: The Masquerade. We have games so infrequently - and the rule books are so convoluted in describing how to play - that I never really understand what to do or remember key points that any vampire character should know. We set Neghya up as a newly-embraced vampire. The first role play session I had with her she didn't even know what she had become. She was terrified after killing a homeless man and draining his blood. Hubby's character Javed found her and took her in as his surrogate Childe. There were some humorous moments when she mocked the most powerful vampire in NYC because she didn't quite comprehend yet that not only were "those creatures from TV, movies, and preteen novels" real, but she was now one of them.

Since Neghya is still trying to wrap her head around the concept that supernatural entities do exist and that she's no longer human, she's also learning the ways of the Vampire. This of course means that I can goof up during game sessions and then blame it on Neghya "not knowing". Win!

The story diverged a bit from Neghya's original storyline; mainly because it wouldn't be fair to the other players if the whole game was centered around her. So, for game purposes, she's just a new recruit being thrown in sink-or-swim style during a massive war between the Sabbat and the Camarilla for possession of NYC. We're about to hit the conclusion of this war as we played out the beginning of the final battle this past Friday.

If I were to turn this in to its own World of Darkness fanfiction, Neghya's story would consist of her tracking down her true sire - the Ravnos - and take her revenge on him. There is unbridled hatred for this man, and Neghya wants to unleash her full fury on him. Fair warning, though, if I were to actually write out her story - a thought I toss around every now and again - it would have to be a mature rating and the first chapter alone would be greatly disturbing.

See, the Ravnos' revenge on Neghya was to "take everything that makes her who she is"; in other words, the most violently forced embracing he could think of. The whole thing was about dominance over her and stealing as much as he could from her. Poor thing is stripped down and shackled to a dumpster in a side alley behind the bar she worked at, is violently raped while being sliced open so he could slowly drink her blood while inflicting as much pain as he can, and then is turned in to a vampire just before he rips out her insides so she could survive the torture of it.

Jack the Ripper had nothing on this creep. In fact... maybe he once was Jack the Ripper...

When I started roleplaying as Neghya we knew that she was raped before being violently turned in to a vampire, but we didn't have the specifics. After Friday's game I guess Neghya wanted me to have the specifics.

I tossed and turned while having the most random bout with insomnia; something I've only suffered from maybe half-dozen times in my life. As I lay snuggled against my husband I couldn't turn off my brain as I witnessed the entire brutal scene of Neghya's embracing. I heard her Sire's voice as he berated her, screamed at her, threatened her, and mocked her. I heard her pleas for him to stop, forgive her, and spare her; I then heard her cries of agony. Actually, it's no wonder I couldn't sleep with such torturous visions playing out in my head.

At about 2am I caved and went to the desktop to type. I didn't get every single word or nuance, but I have more-or-less the entire vicious act written down now. Then during my break at work today I had Neghya's response to this vile deed. There is a trick that vampires can use on each other. Camarilla forbid its use - it's an executionable offence - but the Sabbat embrace it. In fact, Hubby's character Javed has an obsession with it to the point where he will frenzy if he is allowed the opportunity to do this feat and then it is denied him.

This action is called Diablerie; a heinous act, akin to vampiric cannibalism. One vampire drains another of his blood, and once the victim vampire is completely dry his very soul is consumed by the feasting vampire. Javed just taught Neghya how to diablerize a vampire during Friday's game. Now that she knows this trick exists, the extreme power and ecstasy it brings, and the complete irreversible death it causes; she's figured out how she'll enact her revenge. I have that whole scene written out too.

So, alas, there is no new X-Future chapter for you guys to read; almost exclusively due to me spending nearly two entire days watching anime with Hubby. However, I WAS creative over the weekend at least. Plus, I managed to get over my hurdle of "I can't torture my characters"; at least with poor Neghya. I think it's mainly because she was able to more-or-less recover from it. Same with Amara. I was able to torture her, but she also more-or-less recovered.

From what I hear, Hubby's co-storyteller - whom I idolize for his ability to create such compelling characters and side-stories - is thinking of doing something major that would result in a complete annihilation of one of his characters' personalities. I nearly cried when I heard that! And the guy hasn't even DONE anything yet. He's just THINKING about it! Man, to be so cruel and cold to one's characters after making everyone else fall in love with them!? That's talent.

So, while I sort out this whole mess of "can I truly torment my characters for the betterment of their development/the story?" I'll also debate writing out Neghya's story while I actually work on the next chapter of X-Future. Unless I'm called in to cover for more sick co-workers, I should have my scheduled two days off in a row this week. With any luck I can accomplish some writing on at least one of those days.

Wish me said luck!

First Official Week of the Challenge

Yup, late again. I have a semi-good reason though. This past weekend Hubby wasn't scheduled for his normal overnight shift. In fact, he had Sunday completely off! Since we don't normally have a weekend free like this we decided to live it up! Besides, it ended up as a psuedo-birthday party for me! YAY!

I had my tiny apartment filled with pretty much the entire X-Future gang!
Ronoxym, Omnibladestrike, celestialTyrant, The Bard, along with Joyce's player NovaNight.

We also had three special guests:
Hot Hands who plays Liam and Tyler, his wife Chimera who plays Sasha, and their baby daughter Duchess.

Now, this is a HUGE thing for me. Today I turned 29 and I have NEVER been able to transition work friends in to out-of-work friends before. NEVER. I've had a ton of super close friends at work, but we never broke that awkward border of hanging outside of work.

Normally I can't stand these "Keep Calm and Carry On" memes,
but I really am 29 today so I caved!

Anyway, Hubby and I met Hot Hands at work and we started talking about the X-Men role play. He and his wife joined and we became closer friends at work with the forum as a way to hang out "after work". Soon we were chatting literally outside our work and at one point decided to take the conversation to a Chinese restaurant a few doors down. This Saturday was the first scheduled "hang out" though, which is awesome!

Problem being that there is NO WAY our apartment is baby-proof. I spent all of Friday just sprinting around my house cleaning and organizing to try to make it safe for Duchess as best as I could. I somehow forgot about the cutlery in the kitchen...

I didn't think she'd get to that.

Duchess is MAD advanced, man! Like... she's not even one yet and she's walking with no problem! I spent the entire time chasing after her so Chimera didn't have to worry, and could get a day break. I love Duchess though, and she seems to love me back, so it works out. I just didn't anticipate her picking up the bottles of Sunny D that are like half her weight, and then trying to hide some of my notebooks in with my knives!

And Chimera is pregnant! Two little girls this smart running around her house!? I do NOT envy her!

Girl, if you're reading this, STOP TAKING THE OMEGA-3 VITAMINS! GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE!

Especially since Duchess didn't take a nap the entire time they were visiting - which was from about noon to nine at night - and yet she STILL woke up at about five the next morning!

Anyway, enough side-tracking.

Why is it that I'm two days late with my post?

Well, as mentioned, I had a full house on Saturday, and most of the people stayed for a WHILE. Hubby and I didn't fall asleep until 3am! That, plus work, plus cleaning my house all Friday meant no writing before Sunday. Then Sunday came and went without me posting since CT spent the night and he more-or-less had control of my computer all day.

So blame him.

I was then going to post yesterday - in fact, this whole post was WRITTEN yesterday - but I got snagged again. I like to keep people's anonymity in regards to my blog. That's why everyone I talk about - aside from Ali Luke who purposely promotes herself online, as well as other professionals who do the same - are mentioned through online personas alone:

• DarkAngel1326
• ChibiSunnie
• Ronoxym
• Omnibladestrike
• etc...

This is why for the longest time Ronoxym was listed as "Devon's Player" until he let me know what his online persona was. Problem being that neither Liam/Tyler's player nor Sasha's player HAVE online personas. It kept me a day to figure out what to call them and their daughter when I reference them here. And you guys should all know by now how awesome I am at naming things...

It works though. Because now I can show off the birthday presents that DA and Chibi made for me!

First up is Chibi's card to me. She wanted to write me something, but since I told her that I've been slacking on my online reading since it's sorta hard for me to do so with my desktop she decided to go for the card instead. Regardless, I love it! So friggen cool!

Me in the world of Legend of Zelda. Thanks, Chibi!
I love the Steampunk Hyrulian me!

Next up is the picture that DA drew of me. She used the cartooned versions of me that I post on my main Facebook page as reference, and I love it!

I look so cool Anime-d up like that! Love it, DA!

Apparently DA is also working on something in conjunction with AngelBlood666. I'm excited to see what that is!

On top of everything else, DA, Chibi, and Chopfe have each written such sweet things about their fond memories of being friends with me! All three of them made me cry today! Not cool, guys!

Another benefit about being a few days late is that I can also talk about the first week of Ali's Summer Challenge over at Writer’s Huddle. As I mentioned last week, there are two parts to the challenge. Part one is to reach your weekly goal. For me it is to write two recap posts for the events that happened over in X-Future. This way people have an easier way to keeping track of everything plot wise. Part two is to participate in the simple challenge that Ali comes up with.

This week's extra challenge? To incorporate the word "baby" in our writing this week. It was inspired by all the buzz going on about the British royal pregnancy.

I guess I sort of succeeded since I mentioned that Duchess was a "baby girl" and that I wasn't able to "baby-proof" my apartment at the beginning of this post. How convenient, right? I'm gonna also see if anything for the recaps needs the word baby as well.

How about you guys? I know that DA has been feeling guilty about not doing much writing lately, even though she's been out of school. So she's unofficially joining in with the challenge. She's attempting a mind-boggling 8000 words per week - in comparison, Ali is attempting 3000 words a week for her sequel to Lycopolis. Although, 8000 words is still less than the rough 1666 words per day of NaNo.

I wish DA luck in her journey and I'm curious as to how she's fitting "Baby" in to her work this week. As I am with you guys as well. Any other writers in the crowd? Did you guys want to unofficially join as well? If you do and end up successfully completing the challenges feel free to drop a link in the comments so we can check them out too!

Now, I'm off to re-read the forum so I can get started on my recaps for this week.

The Hundred Post Trek... finally....

For my Mom who is celebrating 18yrs Cancer Free!
CONGRATULATIONS, MOM!

WOAH! Three week hiatus!? What the heck happened there!? I in no way intended to just stop posting anything in June! Holy Crow!

Honestly, I just haven't really been feeling "writing" with all the craziness going on at work this month. Add in that I wanted to do sort of a "recap" of the past 100 posts I had on this blog - as a sort of celebration of the milestone - and the fact that it kept me about nine hours to do THAT.... well....




So, sorry, guys, that the "temp post" lasted for so long!... Yeah, that's REAL temporary... *sigh* It seems to be part of the new trend this year....




Anyway, I had a presentation for Corporate back on the eleventh, and so that Sunday and Monday were used to finish up preparing for that - which is why I didn't have the post in the first place three weeks ago. I also had this training program on that Wednesday. So even though my Tuesday and Wednesday work days were more-or-less easy days, they still took up too much time for me to work on my blog post to take that temp post down mid-week as intended.

Thursday was my day off that week.... and it was spent doing everything but what I wanted to do... damn socializing.




Friday and Saturday was back to the old grind stone. That Sunday I TRIED really hard to get this post up. I swear I did. But, as I just stated, it was a much larger undertaking than I originally realized. So I worked on it for about four hours before passing out, and then just didn't have time to get back to it. The rest of the week was spent between more crazy hours at work and taking care of Hubby who had this real bad stomach virus. Add in that we've been VERY SLOWLY role playing the X-Men prom over on the forum all week - as a way to celebrate the game being a year old - and well.... *shrug*

Last Sunday was again found me working on this post for hours on end just reading all the old posts and figuring out how to best highlight them. Still, I wasn't able to get the post up in time, and it had to be pushed back one more week. Monday found just about the entire herd of our friends - minus poor Omnibladestrike - invading the apartment the majority of the day. The rest of the week was split between work, cleaning, and packing to visit my Mommy to celebrate being Cancer Free for 18yrs!

So how about we do what I should have done nearly a month ago... HAVE A FLASH BACK POST! YAY!

The first weekend of June marked my 100th post in this blog!
And then I celebrate it by not updating for nearly a month....

Anyway! To honor the milestone of 100 posts, let's take a look back through the past few years, shall we?

A little over a year ago I hit my 50-posts milestone and did pretty much the exact same thing I'm doing today. So, if you'd like to see how my blog started and how the first half went, you can read all about it here.

Let's move on from that point, shall we?

I'm actually surprised that even with my disappearance in April as well as numerous "temp posts", that it kept me only a little over a year to write the second fifty posts needed for this milestone!

Really, not as much changed over the second fifty posts compared to the first fifty. My blog, I believe, has more-or-less come in to its own. However, there was one major change.

The addition of a new page.

Before I get to that though, let's go back through the past year, shall we?

June 2011 and my fifty-first post had me talking about my love for my devoted readers, my realization that I could actually make money with fanfiction, and an increasing bond with Ali Luke which includes becoming Facebook buddies! YAY! I also discovered that I had won a Hey Arnold writing contest. It would be the only one I won this year, but it didn't stop me from entering every one of them. More on that later.

I also started tweeting about my blog updates, as well as making sure to post announcements on both my Lyco Rogue and main facebook accounts. Really focusing on promoting myself and my blog. Because of this I saw a spike in readership. In fact, while I was still at only three followers back in September, I now have seven listed and I know at least three more who read this blog regularly but aren't following me through Blogger itself. So, if you're one of those people that started following me since last June, I thank you for sticking with me and a super belated "welcome".

I think the most important part of last June was the creation of a major part of my life. Both my inspiration and my distraction when it comes to writing. The thing that takes over most of my life and has been present in nearly every blog post that I've written since.

The X-Men Forum RPG Hubby created: X-Future.

The RPG has distracted me from working on What Is Truly Meant To Be - sorry about that to my faithful readers - as well as also opening up so many new dimensions to my writing. It has turned me in to a slacker - never updating any of my stuff - but also a more productive writer; having me either constantly on the forums continuing the story there by interacting with others, or inspiring me to write little side scenes while I'm away from the computer. It has introduced me to four very different personalities by way of my four characters Lia, Willow, Trish, and Crystal. It taught me how to better work with an ensemble cast of characters, as opposed to my three in WITMTB; out of which I only really seem to focus on one at a time. I've also started to "hear" the characters in my head.

The obsession with the forum also resulted in many lost hours on both DollzMania and Photoshop in order to design each of the characters created for the game; mostly because I have a hard time picturing the characters as anything other than the people playing them. The past two weeks Hubby gave me yet ANOTHER means of creating a visual representation of the X-Men forum. Admittedly, this is another reason this blog is so late, as well as why everyone was at my place on Monday. Hubby recently purchased the Xbox360 game WWE '13 where there is a VERY comprehensive "custom wrestler" creator. As of this post we have created:

• Chayse - Hubby's main character
• Willow - My secondary character who has more-or-less taken over as my main one
• Ripley - One of Hubby's secondary characters
• Lia - My main character who's quickly falling behind Willow
• Trish - My Brotherhood of Mutants character; my most complicated and tied favorite with Willow
• Warbash - One of Hubby's Brotherhood characters who surprisingly turned out VERY charismatic in the game... that needs to be translated over on to the forum...
• Screwdriver - Hubby's main Brotherhood character
• Graham - Another of Hubby's main Brotherhood characters
• Devon - Cyhyr's fiance Ronoxym's main character who switched to the Brotherhood
• Nys - Devon's traveling companion who begrudgingly joined the Brotherhood to stay with him
• Oswald - Ronoxym's secondary character who is still with the X-Men
• Hunter - One of our friend's characters
• Joyce - Another friend's character
• Colette - celestialTyrant's new character. Yes, he's cross-playing.
• Penumbra - Another of Hubby's characters
• Luke - Omni's character

I think that's everyone..... We still have like 8 more characters to create, and possibly three more NPCs that aren't used all that frequently.... So... about 2/3rds of the way through them??? It's fantastic, but I've killed so many days with this! It takes at least an hour to create each character since you can completely construct their face and adjust the size of just about every individual body part: chest, stomach, legs, toes, neck, etc.

And then once they're created, you can customize the outfits, the entrances, the theme song played during the entrance, and the move sets they use while wrestling.

Anyway, I'm off topic. Back to recapping the past year. See? Even now the forum derails me!

So, sticking with the same post as the introduction of the forum, I had a new kind of Plot Bunny post. I listed a huge Plot Bunny Farm of ideas when it came to Hey Arnold-themed fan-made music videos. I haven't touched an editing system since I completed the video for work - more on that in a bit - so no progress there, but it was still a bit of non-X-Men creativity. And, to be fair, I did have three story plot bunnies at the bottom....

The second half of last June saw two things. One: The start of car troubles that didn't get taken care of until March. Two: Me obsessively watching Gambit clips from all the different X-Men cartoons, as well as collecting Gambit/Rogue fanart online. My true obsessing over the forum really started when Hubby used Chayse to woo Lia; resulting in me getting the same butterflies as when he started courting me. Whenever I had a crappy day at work, or felt inadequate about my writing, or just felt "blah" for whatever reason, I could just hop on to the forum and get all warm and fuzzy. It totally is my drug!

Finally over to July and the Daily Writing Challenge. Every day of July there was a new Hey Arnold themed writing prompt and 24hrs to write a story based on said prompt. I only managed the first 14 days, and even then there were a few that I didn't quite hit. You can find the anthology of the challenges here. Eventually - whenever that would be - I plan on going back and doing the challenges I missed.

Well, even if I never completed the DWC, it did help me break through writer's block that had been clogging up my story for a little while. It was nice to get back to writing and enjoying it. Reading all the positive feedback on both Fanfiction.net and DeviantArt.com really helped push me to keep going. One of the people who routinely gave the positive feedback - aside from my two biggest fans ChibiSunnie and DarkAngel1326 - was someone who found out about me because DA was his Beta Reader, and I guess she talked me up. Thus I became friends with the equally awesome writer AngelBlood666. Sadly, much like me, I don't think he's updated anything lately. I should check in on that. He was awesome at coming up with really crafty stuff for his challenges. Don't believe me? Check them out.

July also saw an influx of fanart of.... well... ME! Chopfe - who was CartoonLover16 when I posted last year - had tons of fun drawing fanart of my LycoRogue online persona. As much fun as it is to get Chibi's fanart of my story, it's mindboggling to get fanart of myself.




The second half of July saw a lack of inspiration. As I already mentioned, I wasn't able to finish up the daily challenges because life became crazy preparing for my birthday - which was kind of epic because it was the first time I received gifts from on-line buddies! You guys all rock!

But back to the lack of inspiration... People stopped posting as frequently on the X-Men game, which cut short a large portion of my writing. Add in a Safety orientation video that I edited for a corporate presentation at work - boy was THAT fun - sprinkle in some life drama, and I just got behind the writing 8-ball with little hope of getting back out when it came to regular writing.

Instead, August saw me continuing with no inspiration aside from a few blips on X-Future. Although, I did start seriously thinking about somehow adapting the game in to a story - be it webcomics or prose online novels or the like. It would be a thought that would turn in to an urge that increases each passing month. Eventually I'll do something about that nagging thought....

I did also start expanding my number of fandoms by rewatching more and more X-Men cartoons, and then Extreme Ghostbusters, and finally finding a large fandom-mash-up story I had come up with back when the Xbox game Fable first came out. On top of that, I participated in another Vampire: The Masquerade roleplay. So I had to create a new character for that. There was a LOT of brainstorming going on in August. Just.... no actual WRITING.

After a month of not really doing ANYTHING productive by way of writing, I just gave up and cracked open my copy of Lycopolis that Ali sent me. It was an enjoyable read, even if it did confuse me a touch. Once I finished it I made sure to add a review on her book's Amazon page.

Having not written anything for nearly two months had gotten to me - which I guess goes to show that I AM meant to be a writer if I get so depressed when I just don't write anything. *shrug* Anyway, my first "emo-post" of the past year wasn't intended to be such. I was commenting about how great it was to see DA and Omni writing again. I then mentioned CT giving me a novel adaptation of a cartoon I used to love. From there I somehow managed to turn all "What if I never make it as an author?" Not sure how I got to Self-Doubt Central, but there it was. I was then FLOODED with messages on facebook and on my phone to try to cheer me up. The massive influx of "You can do it!" resulted in my next September post: A thank you note for you guys, my readers.

September found me again beta reading after a season-long hiatus from the task. It was through this activity that DA introduced to me - and then I you - her original story idea entitled Of Blood and Honor. Throughout the months since, I have commented on her advancement on OB&H. I've also commented on my confusion, curiosity, excitement, and envy of her actually "hearing" her characters as if they are separate people talking to her. I have recently discovered what that's like - but that's another thing I'll bring up in a little bit.

Along with introducing you to DA's original fantasy story, I also introduced you guys to my world of Gyateara, or, as I called it back then, my massive hybrid crossover story. One last introduction that occurred in September was for my D&D character Amara. Both Gyateara and Amara would get a few more mentions in my blog as the year clicked along.

Aside from working more on Amara's backstory - a project that had been in the making for nearly as long as I had been with my husband - September brought yet another distraction. So, there was X-Future and all things X-Men in June, my birthday and more X-Men in July, Hubby playing Persona 4 took up a lot of August, and now September leading in to October was being taken over with the anime Soul Eater.

October was also Hubby and my first year wedding anniversary. Thankfully, DA started up her own blog, so my readers could read her posts while I was on vacation. I also received an un-official anniversary gift from Ali by way of her gifting me a membership to her online writing community Writer's Huddle - which just so happens to be in open membership again for anyone who wants to join. It's been a fun community and I really need to spend more time there, as well as do more than just hang out on the forums; even if they are very helpful. Chopfe had also offered for us to collab on a webcomic, but I never figured out what the story would be. Whoops....

But, all-in-all, October seemed to be at least moderately productive, at least, when it came to PLANNING things. Executing them on the other hand.... Well... it kept me all month of brainstorming to get my Halloween Writing Contest entry done. So many starts, stops, rewrites, and all out starting-from-scratches. But, even with all the chaos, the entry was done. That's all I really cared about. If you want, you can read it here.

November was my first ever attempt at National Novel Writing Month. I gave myself three goals:

1. "Win" NaNo by writing a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and 30th.
2. Post at least one chapter on this blog every week so you lovely folks could see my progress.
3. At the very least hit Half-Nano by getting to the mid point of 25,000 words

I accomplished the second two goals at least....

• Week One
• Week Two
• Week Three
• Week Four
• Final Week

I finished NaNo with 25,360 words and seven chapters. The story isn't getting much love, but it's a super rough draft due to the hurried writing of NaNo, so it's to be expected. If you're curious, you can check out "The Race For Destiny" here.

After all the writing I did in November, I didn't do much in December. Instead I focused on two non-writing projects. The first being working with Chibi on a Hey Arnold animatic music video for the Maroon 5 song "One More Night". This project ended up being sort of short lived because of the second thing I was working on all month: Crocheting Christmas gifts.

I also got a very encouraging letter from my uncle; sadly, he seems to be one out of only two of my family members who seem to routinely read my blog/writing. Or, at least, only two ever SAY ANYTHING about my blog/writing.... Oh well. Point is, he was excited about getting published himself, and so he passed along the book with his chapter in it, as well as a few positive comments about my NaNo story. Hey! I found at least one person who read it!




The new year brought in new distractions by way of the video games Kirby's Epic Yarn and the Professor Layton series. It also brought in a list of resolutions; of which I haven't kept ANY of them.... crud....

Well, okay, so I sorta-kept some of them. I did hold a two-month long Weight Loss Challenge at work, so both Hubby and I lost some weight and are TRYING to eat healthier.... it's not working too well, but we're TRYING... that counts, right? I've also been writing more steadily thanks to the forum, but more about that later.

The rest of the resolutions?



Yeah... little to no hope on those...




January did have another plot bunnies post as I tried to figure out what to write for the Hey Arnold Valentine's Day writing contest. Thanks to Chibi, that list of like 30 options was narrowed down to my Brainy Daydreams story idea I went with. My issue was then trying to figure out EXACTLY how the daydream would work. I spent at least one week packing to move to a new apartment and figuring out exactly what I wanted to write.

Along with attempting to finish up the story for the writing contest, finally finishing my chapter for WITMTB after working on it off and on since July, and trying to stick with the new resolutions, I also started up that Handy Links page in January. It was brought on when I was looking for crochet patterns over December for all of those Christmas gifts. I kept finding blog pages that were nothing more than link archives for other places that held the actual pattern. If there was something like that for crocheting patterns, why not one for helpful tips for writers?

Quick special shout out to both Chibi and DA for sending more links to add to that Handy Links page! Thanks a bunch, ladies!

Anyway, I haven't really gotten any feedback on the new page - most likely since I haven't updated it in like three months - so I'm not too sure what everyone thinks of that new page. I'm assuming it's appreciated. If you have any comments or criticisms, just let me know in the comments section. Super duper thanks.

February Hubby and I moved in to a new apartment, I had my sister-in-law's baby shower, and my netbook died on me. So I've been stuck with working exclusively on my desktop since then. I think this is part of my problem when it comes to writing motivation and my blog posts being delayed.

I can no longer hide in my room, or go outside to enjoy the weather, or run to the library or some other distraction-free area. The new apartment also doesn't have a hook up for our washer and dryer, so we have to go to the laundromat. So that's more time where I COULD be working on SOMETHING, but no portable computer hinders that ability. I also find I write better when I'm comfortable: aka reclined/lying down. I can't do that at the desktop. So, here's hoping for a new netbook for my birthday, or Christmas, or for our anniversary. Either that, or I somehow get a better job so I have the money to buy one myself.

Anyway, aside from Chibi helping me punch out that WITMTB chapter - after a nine month wait - she also helped me finish up my writing entry for the Valentine's Day contest. It's not as beloved as my other stories, but it's probably because it's a Brainy+Helga story with Arnold as the villain. Regardless, I enjoyed working on it and think it's a fun read.

Although I believe I DID improve on my scores from the Halloween entry, I still didn't place with my story. Chibi, on the other hand, received second place for a second time in a row! Not too shabby for someone who had only written those two fanfictions.

Her 2nd Place Halloween story can be found here.

Her 2nd Place Valentines story is posted here.

After finishing the Valentines Day contest entry I got to work on my latest chapter of WITMTB; ya know, in order to maintain the whole "Update once a month" resolution I had set for myself. Well, although I had the chapter plot scripted out before the end of the month I have YET to actually WRITE it. 

Fantastic.....

However, just about Valentine's Day itself I received a HUGE boost to my writing. For the first time ever I witnessed someone posting about MY story in the Hey Arnold facebook group! She was asking others what stories they were reading and then she mentioned that she was reading WITMTB and that she'd highly recommend it! Cool beans! Now, for me to get back to using this positive feedback as MOTIVATION TO WRITE! Sheesh.....

In the meantime, talking to both Omni and DA about their respective world buildings in February, I was re-inspired to work on Gyateara more; as well as make it the world that Amara's story would be based in as well - just on a different continent. Sadly, that motivation to world build died quickly when I realized just how horrible I was at naming things. It was pathetic! Oh well, I'm sure I'll pick it up again once I have free time to do so....

At the end of February a coworker and new friend signed up for X-Future with his wife. The new players/characters as well as the new desire from these people to play resparked the life of the game. No one had posted in months at that point. Hubby had instituted a 2yr time skip and no one really knew what to do. Having these new players completely revived the board and the game. It also got me back in to my obsession. Worse/best part is that at least the coworker is just as addicted as me when it comes to the boards, so I always seem to have someone to interact with; making it even harder to leave the game alone.

March was odd in the fact that I was both massively stuck behind writer's block once again, and I created one of my favorite and most complicated characters: Trish.

She was birthed from me obsessively listening to "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)" by Fall Out Boy. She was originally created so I had a character who wasn't so reserved and restrictive of her pyrokinetic powers; as well as a foil and possible Brotherhood romantic interest for Devon. However, as I created her she slowly became more than just a fun new means to still interact with Devon. She became the first character that I ever wrote who actually "spoke" to me. Like, this girl legitimately ARGUES with me. It's fascinating, intriguing, and a bit weird. Now I kind of understand what Delaroux and DA meant when they said their characters were constantly talking to them.

Her backstory was the longest and easiest for me to write because it was like hearing her telling it to me. Then, when I tried to set her up as a playful romantic interest of Devon - who ended up unofficially getting Nys instead - Trish turned in to a psychotic who actually despises Devon and is instead in love with Devon's father. It's to the point where I mentally pictured a scene where Trish tried to lure Devon in - to of course literally backstab him - by flirting with him and Trish REFUSED! I pictured Devon on a couch and Trish curling up next to him and playing with his hair. As soon as her fingers ran through his locks once, Trish jumped off the couch, shuddered, and started yelling "Eww! Ew, ew, ew! I- I can't! Ug! I think I just threw up a little. I can't. This is so gross. I need a shower," and then stormed out.

I had a slightly similar instance while working on The Race for Destiny in which Connor randomly explodes with this anger I didn't know he had and storms out of the scene; leaving me staring at the screen and going "uh... Connor? I kinda need you for the rest of the story. How the hell am I supposed to work you back in????" However, Trish is almost like an actual voice that I hear.

March, however, also had Willow start "talking" to me as well. With the forum being restarted, Willow was just a lot easier to use to interact with everyone. She became my main character and she drastically developed throughout the month's play. This all accumulated in "The Week of Feels. One of the players killed off his character and it hit Willow a LOT harder than I thought it would. I spent a full week of almost non-stop writing just working her through the pain and anguish of losing the friend, and then finding out that a family member could be a villain, and that she has feelings for Chayse - who also had feelings for her, but was still dating Lia. 

The apartment was quickly filled with a chorus of me and Hubby yelling "What are you doing!?" to our characters as we wrote, but they totally took over. We were like weird mediums for these characters to just flow from our brains to the screen with no filtering. It sort of freaked both of us out as we realized our characters were both "real" and "separate entities". 

Either way, it was a massively fun time for my writing as the writer's block was torn down and I wrote daily!

It was because of how much fun the writing was, plus getting at least four people - including myself - either choked up or crying while reading everything I wrote, that my nagging thought of converting the game in to a story became an overwhelming desire. I started and stopped about five different projects I have in the works, but I do plan on finishing all of them at some point.

I WILL eventually have:

1. A thread set up on the board where each post is sort of "Last time on..." to highlight the key things that have been going on. This way new players or players that have been away for a little bit know what's currently going on and what the main plot points were without having to spend HOURS going back and reading EVERYTHING.
2. A prologue written explaining the world of X-Future; what we deem Earth-11616. It's a merger of the Marvel classifications of the X-Men Evolution continuity of Earth-11052 and the main comic continuity of Earth-616
3. Write out Willow's tale on the boards as prose
4. Write out Lia's tale on the boards as prose
5. Write out an anthology of scenes that I've written for the X-Future characters; not necessarily focusing on just one character.

Another fun thing in March was my introduction to my favorite character on the forum: Lincoln. He's awkward, geeky, and has a split personality that we recently found out is named Darwin.

Final thing that occurred in March was Cyhyr starting up her own blog as well. So, if you haven't done so yet, you should totally add both hers and DA's blogs!

Here they are once more:
DA's blog
Cyhyr's blog

April brought with it the birth of our adorable niece! I haven't really done much writing since then....

What I HAVE been doing is crocheting like crazy to try to finish a baby blanket for the kid. She might get it before she's five...

 April was also when I first started being able to FINALLY role play as Trish on the board. It's been a fun ride with that one. There are a lot of times where Ronoxym will be visiting and we both start glaring and yelling at each other as Trish and Devon. It's a fantastic interaction.

Here is sort of what goes on in my apartment:

Me: I can't have her do so on the forums, but just know that Trish is flipping you off so hard core right now. Double deuces.

Ronoxym: Yeah? Yeah!? Well, Devon's doing the same thing right back, sister!

April also had my characters so talkative - mostly Trish, but whatever - that I had written a few little scene snippet one-shots. I haven't done so yet, but another item on my list of things to do is create an anthology of these scenes so you guys can get a look in to these characters, I have a writing outlet, and a way to get further in to the psyche of my characters with stories done off-forum.

I also helped beta-read a quick one-shot for Delaroux, had Cyhyr help, and then became terrified of having Cyhyr beta any of my stuff! Holy crow, that girl is just....

So, the end of my solitary April posting I did a bit of emo-writing again, commenting about my concern about whether or not I'm cut out to be a professional writer.

May was mostly taken up with me pretending to participate in an online writing class.

Holly Lisle hosts an online course on "How To Write Flash Fiction That Doesn't Suck". I found out about it through a fellow member of Writer's Huddle and decided to give it a whirl. And by "give it a whirl" I of course mean, "didn't really participate at all".

 

Anyway, seems that Holly restarts the three-week program after the end of each one, so this is a constant thing that people can participate in. If you want to try it out but it's not open because it already started, give it a week, or two, or the full three, and she'll open it back up again. Even if I didn't actively write anything for the course, the information is still good. I recommend it. 

Anyway, so May was me messing around with that as well as me having the realization that my one side-character Crystal could be a super major catalyst for plot/character development in the game. Hubby's still working on the details, as well as whether or not my realization will come to fruition. Regardless, it was fun concocting that plot device and really get the gears going. 

WHOO! That's pretty much it! The journey thus far. Does this long post help make up for the month hiatus? MAAAAAAYBE?

Anyway, I did notice on my trip back over the last 50 posts that I haven't accomplished a few things and I need to work on that...

1.  I never did post that "inspirational" post I commented on back in like February/March. I'll have to get cracking on that.
2. I never did post Amara's backstory. I really need to have Hubby look over it so I can post.
3. I never finished ANY of my X-Future ideas and should work on finishing at least ONE
4. I never did send those wedding thank yous.... I had them all done by the year anniversary and then something happened, they got shuffled and I misplaced them before mailing them. I then wrote a "Christmas Letter" explaining everything that happened our first year of marriage and apologizing for not sending the thank yous. I had intended to send the thank yous with the letters.... and then things again got shuffled and misplaced. Then we moved and the letters are all blocked towards the back of our spare room we will EVENTUALLY turn in to a library. Trick is finding the time to finish unpacking so I can get to the letters.... I'm such fail.  
   

So, here's hoping I have appeased you readers with this hour-long read, and perhaps I'll get back to my weekly updates again.

 

Hopefully.