Showing posts with label HeroScape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HeroScape. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Script Frenzy Fail Diary

Those who have read my blog posts from last April know what I like to do while participating in Script Frenzy: document the day-to-day of the event. So I took a ten minute time-out each day to quickly write a blip about my journey. Join me on my trip towards failing Script Frenzy... *sigh*

APRIL 1ST - A Sunday, therefore it was spent sleeping. I attempted to finish Character Creation for the D&D game I talked about; that way I would be all set for the next game session. However, every time I went to read the books for research I passed out.


APRIL 2ND - Hubby and my 6month anniversary! It was also Monday which means Cyhyr and her boyfriend were visiting for game night. With massive cleaning still needing to be done on top of everything... yeah.... no writing done again. FUDGE!

APRIL 3RD - Failing continued when it came to Script Frenzy. I opened Celtx and saved the file. Does that count? However, I DID spend about two hours working on my latest chapter. Granted, it was mostly spent editing and re-writing portions I already wrote and sent to ChibiSunnie for beta-ing, but it was still SOMETHING!

APRIL 4TH - Woke up to find the latest newsletter from Aliventures. Since it's a newsletter and not a blog post I can't link it. This then resulted in my Setting Goals blog post in order to relay all of it over.

APRIL 5TH - I wrote about five pages of script before getting stuck. I HATE exposition!!! Switched over to my fanfic and hit the 11,000 word mark! Super, crazy-long chapter. It's about 19 pages long. Not done yet, but I'm getting closer. At least I'm accomplishing SOMETHING, even if it isn't my script. Chibi reminded me that I wasn't much farther last year, and so I'm not quite at the Point of Panicking yet....

APRIL 6TH - Cleaning commenced for Easter weekend, plus I still needed to take care of the in-laws' kitties while Hubby's parents are still on vacation. At about 2pm, Hubby and I got kidnapped to the local college by his BFF. I ended up running in to Makonraiba. Since I couldn't work on my own stuff anyway, agreed to beta the new opening to his story. Better than before. Finished off the day with the first actual D&D session with everyone. Just wish a troll that was in the college common room we were all in would have stopped his elitist BS about how "his" way to play D&D was infinitely better than our way... I'm normally not violent, but I was about to show him my own "Ol' Betsy and The Five Avengers". Anyway, no writing was done.

APRIL 7TH - Yeeeeeeaaaaaaah... was lazy and watched X-Men: Evolution with my hubby all day... Day 2 of absolutely no writing.

APRIL 8TH - EASTER! :D Started off the day with some VeggieTales movies. Then over to take care of the kitties while making dinner at the in-laws' house. Then trucked everything up to my sister-in-law's house. After a few hours up there, we came back down to the in-laws' house to again take care of the kitties and clean up after using Mom-in-law's kitchen. Went home and passed out. Spending the holiday away from home means a third day of no writing. I'm such a slacker!

APRIL 9TH - First day on the job! The meat/cheese slicers didn't remove my fingers, so it's a start. Also, it's easier for me to actually, oh, I don't know... write? Easter holiday weekend is over, and Hubby literally smacked my butt in order to get me back to work. I had about two hours before Cyhyr got out of class and came over for the weekly get-together. Her boyfriend was already here when I got off of work.

APRIL 10TH - Hubby and I went in to work at the same time, but I worked an hour less than him. Therefore I spent an hour in my car working on my story in the backseat. Once I got home I didn't accomplish much more since Hubby's obsessive X-Men: Evolution watching suckered me in as well.

APRIL 11TH - FINALLY finished the chapter and sent it to Chibi. It was on time too! Granted, I originally wanted to have the chapter published by Easter, but I still made the week goal I established in my last post. So there is nothing left to stop me from getting back on track with Script Frenzy... except for work having me stay an extra two hours to cover a call-in.... when I've only worked there for three days!!!! Good thing I'm a quick study! @_@

APRIL 12TH - Got edits back from Chibi, but I had some follow-up questions, so the chapter wasn't completely ready for posting. I then used the 1/2 hour between when I got off of work and when Hubby did in order to work on... gasp... MY SCRIPT! I also finally started talking in the Script Frenzy forum since the region leader was commenting that no one posted anything there since April started. Only managed to get a few more paragraphs done - not even a full page - before my script writing halted. Hubby's BFF is going through a romantic crisis and so we spent the rest of the day trying to cheer him up. At least it was for a good cause...

APRIL 13TH - My day off! Cool! I was all set to use it to really punch through with the script writing. Hubby would be at work for 5 hours, so I'd be completely uninterrupted. Then I got a call from the landlord. We're renting the house on the month-by-month basis. It's a super sucky way to do it, but we couldn't afford the extra $100 a month for the landlord to write us a lease... HATE our landlord. Makes no sense, you'd think with a lease it would be CHEAPER, but whatever. Anyway, while we're renting the house he also has the house on sale. The deal is he gives us 24hr notice of a showing, we have to be out of the house during the showing, and if the house is sold we have two months to find a new place to live before we're evicted. Goody, right? Anyway, the landlord called to inform me that there'd be a showing 9am Saturday and again 11am Sunday. So my day off to write turned in to a day off to clean - something that's been neglected with all the writing and random visitors.

APRIL 14TH - Virtually no writing done yet again. Not only did I have to work, but I also wasn't feeling well, so I spent the day watching TV with the hubby. His BFF again stopped by. He seems to be getting better with each visit, and it was fun talking about X-Men for about an hour. Still need to write about 45 pages... awesome! :P

APRIL 15TH - Well, originally wanted my chapter up by now at the latest, but I DID say it would be up by "Tax Day".... and technically that's April 17th.... So that's two more days to work on edits from Chibi, figure out how to rework the epilogue, and get this thing posted. Since I was waiting for edits from Chibi, I used my "Well, I'm up dropping Hubby off anyway, might as well write" hours to FINALLY work on my script. Only wrote 9 more pages, so the page count is 13 instead of the 50 it's SUPPOSED to be, but at least I didn't give up completely on this project.

APRIL 16TH - Work, people over, quick last-minute edits to the chapter, and sleep. Not a very productive day for writing. Plus side... In-laws came home so at least writing-time won't be taken up by take-care-of-kitties-time....

APRIL 17TH - IT'S UP! IT'S UP! MY FRIGGEN CHAPTER IS FINALLY UP! Also, I got out of work before Hubby again, so I was able to punch out another page or two of the script before he got off of work. But the main thing was that I got my stupid, forever-long, chapter up! Whoot! Now to find time to do my Author's Notes blog post..... But first, more of the script.

APRIL 18TH - Super bad day at work. Craziness, working with employees I haven't previously met, working 5 out of my 6 hour shift before getting a break... oh yeah, and a dehydration-induced migraine. Got home, crashed for about 2 hours, spent the rest of the day drugged up on pain killers and curled up on the couch trying to get my head to stop self-destructing. Went to bed at like 10pm! Plus side.... I have a nice review for my chapter already. :D

APRIL 19TH - Day off. Desperately needed to use the free time to clean and write! According to Script Frenzy's webpage I can still make the 100page count by the April 30th deadline if I write 8 pages a day! Let's see what I can do. My major problem is that I picked this plot because it was based on a game Hubby and our friends were playing - so I figured I'd get re-inspired each week. Of course, we switched gears and played OTHER games during the Monday Visits - or Hubby's BFF steals everyone to his lake house.... So no cheating, I have to do this plot completely on my own. :P I did manage five pages, but I'm stuck with all the combat I need for the script.... :P

APRIL 20TH - Work and house guests, as per usual. I am completely and utterly stalled with this script. I am just not inspired. With 10 days left I'm struggling between forcing myself to at least ATTEMPT to write - I mean, I DID put everyone on hold for Script Frenzy - or to just wave the white flag. I'm only up to 20 pages. Hubby suggests that I just stop, but I signed up for this, could I really be a quitter? I'm not even 1/2 way to were I was last year and I was supposed to have LESS distractions this year. In fact, if it weren't for my lack of willpower to walk away from my husband watching the TV for like 7hrs straight I WOULD have been about on par. I'm actually super upset about this. I had it all planned out. I had it all strategized better than last year. So why can't I write?


APRIL 21ST - I got about three pages done throughout the day. Pathetic really, but I'm forcing through. I haven't even gotten to the main plot of the story, it just doesn't want to be written. I feel drained whenever I attempt - it's like forcing a fatty to run a mile every day. Still not sure if I should just quit with only a 1/5 of the story written, but I'm still pressing on. I did attempt a real effort this time. Hubby had some friends over right after I was done with work. I attempted to be a good hostess at first, but they started talking about Magic: The Gathering and they might as well speak Klingon. So I sat in the living room for like five hours while they talked and played Magic. Every time I attempted to write I couldn't think over how loud they were. *sigh* I was too tired to do my normal 2am writing session while Hubby is at work. Maybe while he's sleeping throughout the day.


APRIL 22ND - I set up a playlist to try to keep me pumped. I stayed in my bedroom - AWAY from the TV. Hubby's asleep downstairs, so I had no sounds distracting me. And I'm spent the day fighting the urge to just play Mario 64. *sigh* Why does this script suck so much!? With the distraction of The Lorax fanart to celebrate Earth Day, I was only able to crank out another four pages. Plus the new Blogger format sucks. I want to go back to the other way. It didn't feel as sterilized and it felt more user-friendly... I can't stand websites changing their layout when the old ones work perfectly fine. Pwah.


APRIL 23RD - My day off was spent LITERALLY playing out the main battle sequence that really catapults the plotline. I broke out Hubby's Heroscape, built the "set", placed the "actors" in their positions, and then played out the battle the way it would happen if it were just a normal game of Heroscape. I then documented the fight and managed a nine-page battle sequence. Epicly long for the beginning of a movie, but I'm just going for page counts at this point in the game. Got up to about page 40. Goody, I'm making REAL headway now.... :P

Plus, can  you believe it kept me FOUR FRIGGEN HOURS to set up and play the battle sequence? I think the most annoying part was that I wanted a casualty of war, but the character I created to be that casualty just WOULD NOT DIE! I even started him off with 1/2 the health as my other characters, but every time I tried to kill him off he ended up surviving! The main characters, on the other hand, would have each died like 4 times if I didn't "fudge the rolls"... in other words, when the character would have died in game I just added more injuries to their script counterparts. *sigh* Nathan, you will forever be my epic NPC that WOULD NOT DIE! :P

APRIL 24TH - My first 8+ hour day of work since I quit Subway almost exactly 7 months ago. I was supposed to get a break, a lunch, and a second break. But it kept so long to get to my first break that by the time I got back from lunch I only had about an hour left of work. In other words, my legs got REALLY tired. Plus I had to be up and at work at 7am - another thing I'm not used to anymore. So even MORE tired. And I FINALLY got my hands on a copy of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.... only for my Hubby's one friend to call and interrupt the movie... and then his mother stopped by and interrupted again.... and then a different friend called and interrupted a third time. The damn movie kept almost 3hrs to watch! :P I attempted to write, but my mind was so burnt out I couldn't think of ANYTHING. Why am I failing Script Frenzy so hard core!?


APRIL 25TH - Cleaned like a boss in the morning, nearly killed myself by scrubbing with too much bleach, and then - when I was sufficiently tired out - I went to work. It. Felt. Like. The. LOOOOOOONGEST. Day. Even Hubby said I felt like I was away FOREVER. It was only a four hour day.... Anyway, Hubby had a buddy over by the time I got home. I cleaned some more, and then Hubby's BFF came over and the four of us watched TV shows and played Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I have five days to go. 60 pages. Mom's coming to visit for her birthday this weekend. I should just give up. *sigh* I won't wave the white flag, but I'm not actively participating anymore. Not like I really participated at ALL this year. Shouldn't have even bothered signing up. Such a waste. I should have just continued with my beta reading and waited until next year. I didn't think I'd have many distractions, but I didn't take into consideration the power of snuggling up to my hubby while watching endless hours of TV.... *sigh again*.... I super duper really need to find a quiet place next year.....


APRIL 26TH - Super Duper Cleaning Day part 2. I scrubbed EVERYTHING down... the counters, the floors, the bathrooms, the refrigerator, the dishes... I was a cleaning BEAST in my attempt to get ready for Mom's visit. In my cleaning furry I did manage to pull something in both my back and shoulder.... so the evening after picking up Hubby was spent watching movies and icing everything down....


APRIL 27TH - MOM'S BIRTHDAY!!!! While she was driving up to visit I was at work. I actually worked long enough to get a lunch this time, so I brought my netbook along. I did manage to work on the script a touch more, but I got interrupted by the HR rep who was practically begging people to sign up for her wellness program through the store. *sigh* I got maybe two more pages before I had to stop. I continued work, went home, Mom showed up almost right after - I wasn't even out of my work clothes yet - and we spent the evening with Hubby's BFF playing games and introducing my mom to the wonders of Netflix. We must have started and stopped about five different TV shows, we'd get about ten minutes in and she'd go "Oh, does it have *INSERT SHOW NAME HERE*?" Oh mom.... Happy *2nd birthday. :D


APRIL 28TH - Another long day of hanging with my mommy. We hung out at the house chatting for a little while, then we went to go eat, and then we took her to Hubby's BFF's house; which is up a mountain and on a lake. My mom LOVED the view. I didn't think we'd ever get her to leave his backyard. There was an awkward moment when Hubby told his BFF that we were kidnapping him, he replied that first he was going to shanghigh someone on to the lake in his canoe, and then Hubby flipped the canoe - on purpose, of course - when pushing it off the shore... causing the BFF to be drenched head to toe in his regular clothes, almost losing his keys in to the lake, and without any clean clothes to change in to. He later thanked my husband for allowing him to "go commando" since the only pants he had left were his swim trunks.... why wasn't he wearing those originally!? Anyway, Mom stopped repremending for the horseplay and we headed back to our place. More movies and games before BFF's roommate picked him up and Mom headed out to her hotel room. Then it was a few brief hours of sleep before Hubby needed to go in to his overnight shift at work.


APRIL 29TH - Well I pretty much waved the white flag on the whole script thing. Mario 64 was calling my name - too bad I couldn't really play because the cartridge is slightly goofed up and you can't read anything... Either way, I miss playing video games, it feels so long since I've done so.... Instead of my normal 8hr writing spree while Hubby was at work, I ended up spending about 4hrs reading a loooooooong message from my beloved Chibi and responding to her in an equally long manner. She did cheer me up a little by reminding me that just because I didn't hit 100 pages and got the "Won Script Frenzy" badge or whatever, that doesn't mean I "failed" either. I set out to do something that no one else I know set out to do. Granted, Cyhyr's boyfriend wanted to do it this year as well, but he opted out because he knew he didn't have the time to make the commitment. I did have the time and I wasted it, but at least I made an effort. That's something, right? And I DID manage to accomplish at least one writing goal this month: POSTING THAT DARN FANFIC CHAPTER!!! Speaking of which, I think I might have to do a blog post about 50 Shades of Grey....


APRIL 30TH - Fought with my bank, social services, my other bank, and the electric company. All before work. At work I got my break two hours in to my six hour shift. Which is beyond stupid, and resulted in mild dehydration that cramped up both legs. My legs are swore, I'm laid up on the couch, my back is killing me, I'm tired, and there is really no chance of me even THINKING about the script. So there you have it. I officially ended Script Frenzy with a lousy 40 pages. Super lame. 


And thus the month is past, and so is Script Frenzy. I got back in to the rhythm of daily chores during the weekend my mom was here, so I'm hoping to keep that up. I also STILL have to do the wedding thank you letters - because I'm THAT much of a loser. But all-in-all  hope for the next fanfic chapter at least structured before June.


So here I am, back from the hiatus and ready for more writing! Yes, I'm bummed about my poor turn-out with Script Frenzy. However, I now know that I need to be stronger and not only take an internet hiatus, but let Hubby and his friends know that I can't have visitors over April. I also think I'm gonna try a graphic novel script next year, but I could also convert my story in to a movie script if I'm done with the story by then.


Anyway, moving on to my Author's Notes post. Hopefully that will be my return to Sunday Blog Updates.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

A Time Out for Setting Goals

Boy am I bad at this "Leaving the Internet so I can Write" thing. I'm actually posting blog updates more frequently now than before I was "on break"... *sigh*

Anyway, I woke up this morning and found the latest Newsletter from Aliventures. It really helped me out and I wanted to share that with you, my readers. Originally, I was going to just put a sentence or two blurb about it for a mid-month update post on what I've been doing daily... much like what I did last year for Script Frenzy.

However, what started as a simple "this is what happened today" grew in to an actual informative blog post! Since I don't really ever have those, I figured I'd go ahead and make it a blog post all of its own!

Silly Ali Luke and her wonderful ability to just spark something in me! :P

OK, here is my reteaching of what she came up with in the newsletter. Full credit goes to Ali and Aliventures.

First off, make a quick list of five things that make you feel happy/excited/thankful. It is a great way to destress as you focus on all the good in your life right now. Alternatively, you could dance around the house singing "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music"...

Now, these don't even need to be things related to writing, they just need to make you happy.

Here's mine:
  • FINALLY having a job after 6months unemployment
  • Actually getting back in to steady writing
  • EASTER!
  • My husband's cats actually purring when I pet them! See, the cats are still at my in-laws' house, but we were taking care of them while the in-laws were on vacation for 2 weeks. The one cat doesn't like me touching him at ALL, let alone wanting me to pet him and actually PURRING when doing so! I think I'm making progress!
  • Nice weather finally back! Especially since the first floor of my house is basically one large open space, having the windows wide open with the sun pouring in just FLOODS the room with light! No better motivator for writing/cleaning/working out.
That was a fun little exercise, right? If TinkerBell sprinkled pixie dust on you right now you'd be able to fly off to Neverland, correct? Good! OK, now on to the main exercise of the newsletter. Setting up goals for your writing. Having goals, deadlines, or what-have-you will help you focus, and help make sure that writing isn't pushed off to the side while you work on your remaining laundry list of chores and obligations.

First off, come up with your lifetime End Goal. For me it is actually one of three things:
  1. Become a professional writer that is popular enough to work solely on writing while at home.
  2. Become an accomplished screenwriter either for a successful TV series or for multiple blockbuster movies.
  3. Become a professional film editor that is again established enough to be able to work from home.
As you can see, my true End Goal is to be successful enough to work from home. Probably because I would really love to be a stay-at-home Mom, but still have a professional purpose in life.

OK, now that you have your End Goal, let's look at the three mini-goals you'll need to set. These babies help you really stay on track when heading towards a long-term goal. They also give you a sense of accomplishment as they keep going successfully by.

For example, when I was a high schooler in need of braces, I didn't look at the two-year end goal. Instead, I broke it down to 24 months. Sure, it SOUNDED longer because there were so many of them, but months go by so quickly that the month count ticked away easily. Before I knew it, the two years were over! Setting goals that come and go quickly on your way to a much larger goal much farther away really helps encourage you.

Anyway, Ali's suggestion for manageable small-goals is to look at what you want to accomplish THIS WEEK, and then THIS MONTH, and finally THIS YEAR.

A week from now, what do you want to accomplish? What goal do you want to meet before the month is out? What would you love to be done with before midnight on December 31st? Set these goals for yourself so you know where you're heading, and reset them as they pass.

These are my goals.

THIS WEEK:
By Wednesday, April 11th I want my latest fanfiction chapter done! Preferably, done and published by Easter, but if it is at least done enough to send to ChibiSunnie to do the final beta-reading so that the chapter is up by the 15th; I'll consider this goal met!

THIS MONTH:
Actually complete Script Frenzy this year! By April 30th I want to have a 100page script staring back at me from my computer screen!

THIS YEAR:
I want to be able to finish my fanfiction before I hit the In-Progress-For-Two-Years mark. If I DO surpass two years for this story, I want to at least have the darn thing complete before 2013 ticks in.

If you are truly meticulous, you can break these down even more.
What is your Bucket List to check off BEFORE YOU DIE? What do you want to accomplish in SIX MONTHS? What would you like done before the end of THIS SEASON? What goal do you want to hit before YOUR BIRTHDAY? What is your to-do list for TODAY? Make your list of milestones as broad or as tight as you need to stay on track, just make sure to not overwhelm yourself. Also, make sure your goals are appropriate for the time you allot yourself. Be it writing or losing weight, the key is pacing so you don't burn out and hate attempting for that next goal.

As for me? I'll make two more goals for today before saying goodbye.
  1. Stop making blog posts when I should be working on my fiction!
  2. Either get up to my Script Frenzy word count, or get the next section of the chapter to Chibi for editing.
Now, off to accomplish these goals!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

One Last Go Before April! *Tear*

Well, no comments yet on the "New Font vs Corsiva" debate. This week I'm trying out Caligraffitti and Corsiva is the font of the blog title, so you can get a reminder of what the original blog font is. However, I think Caligraffitti might be harder than Corsiva to read. Any thoughts?

As for writing, well, I finally got over that stupid head cold that had me laid up for most of last week! Monday was spent in a cleaning storm to make up for the week-long house neglect. Then it was spent playing the Heroscape RPG my hubby came up with. There was also some kidnapping of Hubby's best friend involved. Tuesday brought a beautiful, lightly cool breeze that reminded me of mornings at Cape Cod. The sun shone. I wore a T-shirt. Did I spend this gorgeous day outside writing? Of course not! I couldn't find my sunscreen, so I instead spent the day with the windows open and playing Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and pretending the breeze from outside was the breeze coming off the Waterworld-like environment Link sails through.

Then came Wednesday! Wednesday brought the temptation to again sail Link around the Wind Waker map, but it was instead spent, drum roll please... WRITING! YAY!

I have been a bit frustrated with my chapter, and even more upset that it will be nearly a YEAR since I last updated! Seriously!? A year!? And what's worse is that I need to get this baby done by March 31st since I'll be again on hiatus over April while I work on my script.

I needed motivation, hard core. I needed someone who would poke me and say "where's the chapter?" I needed someone to help me work through the kinks that make me look at this chapter and go "meeh". I needed a Beta.

So Monday - while taking a quick cleaning break - I sent the first half of my chapter to ChibiSunnie. Even with her crazy-hectic schedule she's already sent me some edits. Which of course reminded me that I had three stories I need to beta-read for: CartoonLover16, DarkAngel1326, and Devious.Editor

Anyway, once I had those edits back out on their way it was time to finally get back down to business with my own story. Man, I love how much Chibi helps me out. She doesn't even really need to say anything anymore and I become inspired!

CHIBISUNNIE, YOU ARE INDISPENSABLE TO ME NOW!

Which reminds me. Like she hasn't already helped me get back in to loving to write this latest chapter... She also finished up her first picture in a series of fanart for my story!!!! She's planning on making a picture for each chapter. She seems a bit upset that her schedule won't allow her to make the pictures all that quickly, but GIRL, it kept me a YEAR to update! So don't fret over two months. You'll catch up in no time.

Without further ado. Chibi's picture for the first chapter:



*Happy Dance* Dude, I am SO pumped right now! *Runs off to work some more*

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

*Pokes head back in* Whoops, forgot, I have more to tell you!

I snagged something from the blog StoryFix. The blogger Larry Brooks had a series written up for National Novel Writing Month and I decided that A) this could really help with my fanfiction and B) I could totally use these tips for Script Frenzy. So I glanced through it and then supplemented with two more posts: The Three Dimensions of Character Development and The Single Most Powerful Writing Tool.... I then supplemented the supplements with a blog post from Procrastinating Writers. The blogger Jennifer Blanchard created an actual questionnaire-like check list derived from Larry Brooks' book about the Three Dimensions of Character. I tried out the check list by using the one character who has become like a secondary personality to me: my Dungeons & Dragons character Amara. I was able to fill the whole thing easily! So next up was filling one out for all eight main characters for the Script Frenzy concept! *sigh* I have THAT to do as well as filling out the questionnaire presented in "The Single Most Powerful Writing Tool..." and finish this blasted fanfiction chapter! This is going to be a hectic seven-day run before Script Frenzy starts up next week!

Which brings me to a bit of sad news. If any of you followed me last April, you know that I try to avoid the distractions of the internet throughout April. This also means I spend all my writing free time working on my script - especially since I think Mondays will still be used for Heroscape RPG, and so that's one less day I have to write. On the plus side, I'll get more material for my script every week, so hopefully there won't be any cases of Writer's Block. I'm also FINALLY finishing up my stint of unemployment, so I'll have even LESS free time to write than I already do. All of this brings me to my sad announcement: I won't be doing my regular updating on Sundays starting next week. I HAVE to concentrate on writing the script as well as the normal household chores.

That isn't to say that there will be NO updates in April. I might sneak a mid-month post in to let everyone know my progress. I'm just saying, don't count on the weekly updates until May comes around. Kinda sucks too, now that I finally have a rhythm going. So, farewell, my beloved readers, until May 6th swings around. And don't forget to either follow me via blogger, sign up for the RSS, or sign up for email alerts so that you don't miss any random April postings! Alternatively, you can check out my facebook page. I post update announcements there too.

I love you all and shall miss you! It's gonna be a long 30 days! On the plus side, you should have a 20 page chapter to keep you warm and snuggly while I'm gone.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Helpful Writing Hints and Script Frenzy Prepping

Well, this was the week of laziness again! I FINALLY finished up Mekonraiba's story edits. It was a touch rough-going, with all the grammatical errors and all, and so it was a constant start and stop process. I do think he has a very nice - although perhaps a touch cliche - story brewing in his head, he just needs to know how to better express it on paper.

A person by the name of CartoonLover16 had posted on DeviantArt this week. Seems he's writing a Helga-centric fanfiction with a lot of focus on Helga's interaction with her family. He asked for any advice from the "die-hard fans" to make sure a "casual" fan such as himself didn't miss anything in canon. I then sent him a dissertation about my biggest Hey Arnold! fanfiction pet peeve - Helga's parents portrayed as physically abusive monsters that couldn't care less about their daughter. This is far from true if you pay attention to the show. I didn't mean for my response to him to be so long-winded but... well... check back on last week's post and.... yeah.... On the bright side, he seemed to find it helpful, and a couple people commented that they agreed with my agitation over the falsely pigeon-holing Bob and Miriam as "flat, Disney-like, evil villains". Another bright side is that I might write an essay on the subject and post it on DA, but it's unlikely that I'll do so in the near future.
Downside? CL16 now wants me to help beta for him as well. So I used his story to further procrastinate the writing of my own.

As for the writing of my own story. I had every intension of working on it Thursday. I even opened the document - an accomplishment in and of itself - and read back through the first half of the chapter I already had written. I did some tweaks and some edits to polish it up a touch. And then promptly stopped to go play Doodle God...

I am mildly comforted about my procrastination after reading an article I also sent to the self-doubting DarkAngel1326 as well as my fledgling Mekonraiba. Just in case you are also a writer, I'll leave this riiiiiiiight here....
Eight Secrets Which Writers Won't Tell You by Ali Luke. Part of her blog Aliventures. She also has another one of her blog posts linked in this one. I also found it reassuring.
Oh heck! Just go ahead and read everything she has on her blog. I know I'm now following her. It is all inspirational and reassuring and has helpful tips. So if you're a writer I strongly suggest checking out Aliventures.

There HAS been a side task that I've been working on - plot conception wise. Those who have been following me - or at least my FanFiction writing - might recall my month-long hiatus throughout April last year. It was so I could participate in National Novel Writing Month's sister-event: Script Frenzy.

A review on last year's premier attempt at Script Frenzy:
I greatly enjoy the fanfiction writer Rachel Cabbit - from whom I got this writing-update blog idea - and read on her blog that she was participating in NaNoWriMo. After seeing a few more people on FF and Facebook comment about participating, I looked in to maybe doing the same. While on the NaNoWriMo's website I discovered that there was a sister program that occurs every April. Instead of attempting to write a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th, Script Frenzy's goal is a 100 page script between April 1st and April 30th. The real draw for me was that while NaNoWriMo tries to encourage writers to go solo, Script Frenzy was alright with collaborations. I had written easily two-dozen scripts in college as well as scripts while working at a production company for three years. At the time, I was actually more comfortable writing script than I was writing prose. Also, the next NaNoWriMo would be the month after my wedding - and we all know how crazy that month turned out. Writing a script, with a partner, long before my wedding and move all seemed like winning arguments, and so I signed up. Not knowing what to script, I decided on writing a fan-version of what I believed The Jungle Movie would have been like if Nickelodeon had greenlighted the second Hey Arnold! movie. Based on hints the show's creator Craig Barlett "leaked" over the years, I set forth to ask the fandom what they thought, as well as if anyone wanted to help collab with me. That's how I met my darling ChibiSunnie! The movie was epic, and overwhelming. We got past the half-way point in our page count, even if we only barely got in to the second act of the movie. Finished with 63 out of the 100 pages, and not even half-way through the plotline. Boy, do I need to go back and edit that thing! I kept meaning to last year, but never had the time to work on it further.

Well, it's that time of year again. At first I wasn't going to participate again this year, simply because I haven't done much work on my fanfic since LAST Frenzy. But then Cyhyr's boyfriend told me he wanted to try Script Frenzy for the first time this year. I wanted to be sort of moral-support for him by also working on a script right along side him. We could then talk about how far we have gotten, if we were ahead or behind on our page counts, whether or not we ran in to a wall with the plot, etc. Cyhyr herself might even participate. Since I would actually have a writing group this year I just couldn't resist. Again, I signed up.

Now the issue was figuring out before April 1st what it was I wanted to script. I worked on TJM last year, and so I couldn't really work on that again this year - as much as I'd like to. I've been obsessively watching the English dubbing of an anime called Ouran High School Host Club lately. I loved the show when I watched it in Japanese a few years back, and I'm remembering how great the show is now that I'm re-watching it in my native tongue. I briefly considered writing a movie continuation of the series, since where it concludes leaves quite a few loose ends. I soon dropped the idea since I haven't read the manga the series is based off of, and so I don't know if there is a more satisfying finish to the written version of the series. Then the leading idea was to take the Hey Arnold! A Midsummer Night's Dream crossover plot bunny, and write it as a play instead of prose. However, I really wanted to write something original this year - as much as I love fanfiction.

While I muddled over what to spend next month writing about, my hubby dug out his old Heroscape game. As much fun as it was to play the game as it was intended, being the Dungeons&Dragons-obsessed group that we are we try to convert EVERY game in to a form of LARP or D&D. So, Hubby wrote up loose rules and we're beta-running a campaign he created using a merger of D&D and Heroscape play mechanics. It's quite enjoyable!

Well, one morning it hit me! I could TOTALLY script out the Heroscape campaign. Hubby came up with a very loose introductory story to explain why the characters are where they are and doing what they're doing. He never really mentioned what could happen or what the end-goal is, so I could easily create one. There is also a subtle feel of a manga Hubby and I have been reading lately - Psyren - and so I could pull in elements from that manga. The recent ads for the movie adaptation of the book The Hunger Games has me looking at elements from that, the Japanese story Battle Royale it supposedly "ripped off", as well as re-reading Steven King's story The Long Walk - which both stories could have easily been inspired from.

So now I have a basic idea of what I'd like to do for the script, but I'm still a little iffy on what the actual DRIVE of the story is. Thankfully, my beta reading this week has helped me there too. As I said above, Mekonraiba does have an interesting story concept, and so some elements from his story may creep in to the script as well. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to mind at all. Yay! I might be all set for Script Frenzy. Now, to actually WRITE MY FANFICTION before I use Script Frenzy to procrastinate further.

Before I leave, I want to comment on a weird happening that I noticed this week. My Update Day is Sunday. Granted, a few times I've been late and I've updated on Monday or Tuesday. And there was that one time I posted on Friday to comment on my Valentine's Day story. However, for the most part I try to keep my update days on Sunday.
And yet, on Tuesday at 2pm my time and again at 9pm, and then one last time at 1am Friday, I had eight hits on my blog. It's so weird that my blog was hit up eight times on multiple occasions, on non-update days! XD Who are these people!? They are awesome-sauce and I wish to glomp them!

OK... NOW I'm off to write.

P.S. - I forgot to mention I have a new link on my side bar. Actually, it's replacing the deceased "Arnold Forums" link - since there IS a forum attached. The new Operation Ruthless website opened this Friday! It is a site dedicated to educating the Hey Arnold! fans of The Jungle Movie as well as informing everyone how they can help convince Nickelodeon to revive the project. It is just such a cool place to hang out and we're all like one big happy family! YAY! So check it out! Even if you don't want to help revive TJM it's still cool to see what we do and talk about the show we all love!
Well, technically I have TWO new links since I also added Aliventures... Seriously, check it out if you write AT ALL!

OK, for realsies... I'm leaving now!