Wait, Christmas is HOW Close?

Goodness is it nice outside. Like, "I kinda want to go sit on the porch to write this post" nice. Well, it is a bit overcast and dreary, but temperature wise for December, it's nice. Actually, even though it's flurried almost daily for a week or so, which would normally TOTALLY put me in the Christmas mood, the actual temperature has been fairly mild. Probably why I still feel like I have a full month before Christmas, instead of just a handful of days.

Anyone ready for the holidays this year? Because I certainly am not.

The month kind of flew by for my writing as well. I went from writing daily to barely writing at all. It could still be NaNo Fatigue, or mild depression from my computer problems, or just generic Holiday Funk that's making me kind of apathetic this month.

Either way, the year is almost out, and I'm trying to prep myself to kick even more writing butt in 2018. I do think my writing productivity and focus increased this year, and I hope to increase both again next year. I may not have turned out quite as much this year as I did last, or even as much as I would have liked to have published. However, I think that's because I learned Quality over Quantity. I want to make sure my stories are more polished and complete. I was kind of happy with the September incarnation of "Peeping Tomcat" and could have posted as I wrote, as I used to do. But it grew, it expanded, it evolved, and it's evolving still. The story I want to tell in the mode I want to tell it isn't quite there yet, but it will be if I keep working it. Past Me wouldn't have given the story enough time. I think this decision shows my growth in a nutshell.

Speaking of evolving PT, I realized the reason why I'm stunted is because I'm writing a novella while thinking in show form. I could do what I did with "Hey, Arnold!" and just write my novel. I'll write everyone in-character and have the same basic feel and tone of the show; call it a day. Nearly every review I receive for my HA fanfictions say basically the same thing: "I feel like I just watched an unaired episode." For me, that's the highest praise for a fanfiction writer. If it feels like it could be canon - not that it's so good that the reader WANTS it to be canon, but the reader feels like the creator actually was involved - then I did my job perfectly.

I feel like I'm in that right spot for PT. I feel like I have the characters pretty spot-on, and I feel the over-arcing plot has the same tone as the show would. Still, for me it doesn't read like it's canon. It doesn't feel like it could be like an hour-long special or something. There are so many "Miraculous Ladybug" stories out there, especially since it's basically aired globally within weeks of each other. I have a LOT more competition for readers' attention. I want to make sure my story stands out somehow. Having it flow like the novelization of an unaired episode is how I want to put my stamp on the Miraculous fandom. I just can't get the rhythm down, and creating akumas is WAY harder than I gave it credit.

So, I'm trying a different tactic. This week I started sorta rewriting PT one more time. This time in Celtx. For those who don't recall or don't know, Celtx is mostly a script-writing program. One that I used back when Script Frenzy was still a thing.

I figured I could shift things around better in script form. I know that the general rule of thumb is that it takes a minute to act through a page of dialogue. It also takes nearly as long to read through the description of an action as it is to perform it, give or take. Which leads to the timing rule of roughly "one minute per page of script." This is basically how the industry figures out in the scripting process if they need to add on or cut in order to get the finished product within the desired run-time.

Anyway, using this rule, and knowing that the typical episode of Miraculous - minus the opening and end credits - is either twenty or twenty-one minutes long, I can try to get a better rhythm for my story.

True, I will never get my story to fit into the equivalent of a 20-min episode. In truth, it never should, given the in-depth problem I'm working on within it. However, as I mentioned, I could maybe get it to feel like it's an hour-long special or a multi-episode story arc. I have at least two akumas plotted to be in the story: one per "half hour" of the tale.

I know that my story should take longer than twenty-some pages per half in script form, but I know now what I'm aiming for. I want each half to feel like it's even pacing. I don't want to go overboard with the story either. If I only have two akumas but the script version of PT is over 100 pages long then I either need to cut or I should add in more akumas. This is an everyday - or nearly everyday - challenge that Ladybug and Chat Noir have to face, and I don't want that to be forgotten just because the focus is on the Will They; Won't They of their relationship. No offense to the beautiful and brilliant fanfics I've already read in this fandom that do skim over akumas - I believe it's because they really are SUPER hard to convincingly create - but, as I mentioned, I want my signature in this fandom to be how "true to form" I am. That means having the proper allotment of time dedicated to LB and CN fighting akumas.

I also realized, as to be expected with this story given how introspective the plot is, that there isn't that much actual action or dialogue. The majority of the story is "Marinette does a thing, Adrien secretly watches her do the thing, he reflects on how cute she is doing the thing and how she reminds him of Ladybug, and then Adrien freaks out about comparing Marinette to Ladybug."

That's it. That's the plot. Fun, right?


In script form I can physically see where the dialogue/action dips off. The beauty of film/TV/stage performances is that the audience typically can't get inside the head of the characters. They have to rely on communication clues. This character is huddled in the corner, arms crossed, foot resting against the wall, head turned to not look exactly at anyone, and grumbles anything he says. You don't really need me to dive into his head to let you know what he's thinking, right? Add in more info like the girl we saw him crushing on earlier chatting up another guy, and Corner Dude flinching every time he hears her giggling in her conversation. You've got a better picture, right?

Well, I need to remember that I don't need visual media for you to know what's going on inside a character's head simply from context clues. The more involved bits, like Adrien's confusion on his feelings for LB vs Mari, or even his realization of how similar Mari and LB are, can probably still be inner monologue, but his "OMG OMG OMG, do I like Marinette!?" freakouts can be shown instead of told. I'm usually really good at that, but I relied too much on inner monologue this go.

I think I was trying to sort out Adrien's feelings myself first, and so I need to reign myself back in now that I think I have it figured out.

So.... script form should help me out with remembering to Show not Tell so much. Once I have it all figured out it will be time to switch BACK into novel form, and filling it out more with descriptions. Script form, I can just add in the wryly for my own notation, and then fully express it within the prose of the novelled version.

For example:

PLAGG
      (whining)
My aching body. I can't move a muscle.

can then become

Plagg floated onto my bed and sprawled out on my pillow. "My aching body," he whined, "I can't move a muscle." I ignored the fact that he said it while dramatically resting a paw across his forehead and rocking side to side like a fainting Southern Bell.

Wrylies, or Parentheticals as they are technically called, are a bit frowned upon in professional scripts because it's a case of "tell; not show" in order to sort of "direct from the page" instead of having those wrylies implied by the surrounding content. However, as notations and cues to myself, I think they are the perfect move.

We'll see how this tactic works. In the meantime, I'm still going strong on my reading challenge. I finished off "The Ship of the Dead" yesterday, and I'm off to find a book set in the future for my next slot to check off.

Challenge by Reading Books Like a Boss

My dad used to be really into sci-fi, and since I now own most of his books, I figured it would be kind of easy to find something set in the future. Problem is, most of his sci-fi is from the '80s. In other words, they WERE set in the future, but we've passed the year the books were set in.

For example, I could skip over finally reading "2001: A Space Odyssey," and even the sequel "2010: Odyssey Two," in order to read the third in the series "2061: Odyssey Three." I'm sure it's fine to start with the third book in the series.... right?

Hubby has wanted me to read the Shadow series of the Ender's Game universe, but they focus on the character Bean, and I HATED that kid when I read "Ender's Game." Hubby assures me that his characterization is redeemed in the books focused on him because you learn his motivation and whatnot. Perhaps I'll cave and give it a try. I did end up loving "Speaker for the Dead" the most out of the Ender books thus far, and Hubby told me that one was his favorite too. I should probably trust the spouse, huh?

Alternatively, I still have all of Zebey's books from when she moved and attempted to donate them to the library. There are TONS of books based on the game series Halo. Hubby suggested I try grabbing one of those. My thing there, though, is that I never got into the fandom outside of watching Red vs. Blue, and so I don't know how lost I'd be. I also don't know what order I should read them in, or if that matters.

I'll give it today to find something to bring into work with me tomorrow to start my home stretch. I'll let you know what I picked.

In the meantime, for those of you who are just finishing up your celebrations:

For those of you who will be celebrating in a couple of days:

I apologize, I couldn't find anything nice that wished a happy Saturnalia.

And for those, like me, who will be celebrating on Monday:

I'm sorry if I missed your holiday. These are the main ones I know of. Please let me know what you celebrate in the comments below so I can include it next year.

Happy holidays, everyone! May your season be bright and joyful!

August Will Be New Script Frenzy Month!

First off, a quick call out to my nephew whose birthday was last week:

Love ya, sweety!

Alright, back to business. Sorta.

I slacked off this week. I didn't even remember to check-in over at Writers’ Huddle for the summer writing challenge. I've been stalled because I can't seem to figure out where to go next with my story, and so I've been avoiding it all together.

On the plus side, I'm about 2 days ahead of my schedule to finish reading "Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer" on time. I keep teasing Ronoxym that Magnus is just a blonde-haired Boston version of Devon. The more I read the story the more I feel it's true. I find it so amusing that Rick Riordan and Ron essentially came up with the same character. On top of that, it's not like Ron was influenced by Riordan, since Devon's been around for over 3 years before Magnus Chase was printed. At least 2 years before Magnus was introduced to the public.

Speaking of Ron and Devon, Ron's still chugging away at his super Alternate Universe one-shot. Since in this reality Devon is an actual, psychotic Brotherhood member, Ron just writes that he's "Arson"; his Brotherhood code name as well as Street name when he was homeless. It's hard for Ron to even refer to this evil version as Devon, which is interesting. Anyway, he's been writing at least a little bit each night this past week; checking in with me on his progress pretty much daily. Hey, at least ONE of us is writing, right?

I'm excited to read it. He just finished up the first draft last night, but he says he still needs to go back and rework it since he doesn't think he got Trish right in the first half. Still.... EXCITED! You don't know how hard it is for me to continue writing this instead of hopping over to Google Docs to give the story a read through!

Now me? I think yesterday I finally broke my mental block. I gave up trying to figure out the opening scenes. I know more-or-less what I want to happen, but I just can't get the details. So, I allowed myself to just jump to the next scene I DO know the details. It's such a simple thing: allow yourself to NOT work linearly. Yet, it was exactly the sledgehammer I needed to get past my mental block.

I couldn't get very far before doing actual work at - gasp! - work! However, I at least decided to just write up an outline. There won't be a natural stop like in a novel or movie, but if I more-or-less know where I want to go in this "season" - as it were - of the comic then it might be easier for me to fill in the blanks. I know I want to follow the Devon storyline, so I'll write that up first. I'll then go back and put in the character arcs for Chayse, Willow, and Lia. Then probably go back through again to sprinkle in the redone Marvel-Canon characters, as well as Lucas and the concept of the Challengers of Heaven.

I feel like I'll be going back through my James Patterson MasterClass notes for this one. That, and any I make during my next class! For a birthday gift - BTW, Happy Belated to me!!! - my mother bought me another MasterClass for the second year in a row! This time it's screenwriting by Aaron Sorkin; best known as the writer for "The West Wing", "Sports Night", and "A Few Good Men". Such great timing! I start seriously working on a comic script and MasterClass sets up a screenwriting course that started THIS WEEK. Like, I'm one of the first people to ever take this class! So exciting!

A friend of mine is also beta-reading "Glitches" for me and is planning on giving me his notes later today, so that's just as exciting. We already discussed the pitfalls I managed to pick out in my obsessive read-throughs. So, I'm waiting to see what else he could advise me on. I mean, he already gave me one or two really good notes on things I never would have thought of myself due to the subtlety of it.

So, no, I didn't really do anything this past week aside from avoidance and obsessing. However, now I have all the tools I need to get me pumped again. I'm sensing a writing comeback. Okay, so I don't know HOW good of a comeback this SPECIFIC week will be, since Spink's wedding is this weekend, and so my free time is pretty booked. Still, August is looking GOOD.

I'm apparently also very modest....

Devon, Devon Everywhere...

I have been mildly more productive this past week! Still not up to my 21 pages per week I keep aiming for, but there have been some days that I've gotten my daily 3pg quota in, so there's that. I think I finished the week with like 10 or 11 new pages in my script. I'm not sure if the pacing is nearly as good as how I started, but that's why I hate writing fight scenes. I'm just so bad at it. Also trying to balance four different personalities equally is tricky. Still, I chug on.

In truth, I probably could have hit my daily goal this week, but I've been unofficially distracted by something. See, my husband and I have been going out on walks for anywhere from an hour to three nearly every night after work. It's great exercise, but it keeps me from doing things at home, like cleaning and writing.

Oh, let me get more specific. When I say "my husband and I have been going out on walks" what I mean is that I race after to follow him while he goes on Poke-hunts. Yup. He's a full-fledged trainer with Pokemon Go! As is about 80% of the world, it seems! Works for me, it gets us out of the house and exercising. Something that pretty much hasn't happened since we got married. Plus, we get to socialize - which this butterfly also hasn't really been doing as of late - and I've probably seen more of the town in the past week than I have since I moved here five years ago!

Also, it's fun to have complete strangers call across the road "What team are you on?" and either cheer if Hubby's on the same, or playfully boo if not. We get to meet our neighbors as everyone gathers to discuss which pokemon were found where, and give each other tips. No one is anxious or awkward. You just lean in close and show off your phone as you chat; complete strangers jumping into the conversation to either ask a question or answer one. Such a phenomenon. I love it!

So, even though I myself am not much of a pokemon fan, I'm still loving Pokemon Go and what it's done for both the community and my husband's health. And, in extension, my own health. I just wish Hubby didn't want to "hunt" for three hours at a time! By the time we come home from work, eat, and then hunt, I'm not home to do my own thing until about 10pm. Not much writing done then. So, I'm still on the "write at work" train.

It's good, except for my days off where I try to play catch-up on chores since they've been neglected for these Poke-hunts. It also cuts into my writing time when I actually have customers to wait on so that I can get money at the end of the week! Yay, money! So, it's kind of a given that writing is second or third priority in the time I have to work on it. I need time where it's first priority. I need to restart my writing hour.

So, I'm thinking, go out with Hubby right after dinner and "hunt" with him for an hour, then give him a kiss, send him on his way, make my way back home, and then write in silence until he comes home. Or, at least for an hour, because who the heck knows when Hubby will actually come home! I get my exercise and time with the husband, and then my alone time, while he continues hanging out with friends, exercising, and training to be the very best.

We'll see next week if I manage to pull that off.

As for this week? Well, as I mentioned, I did get nearly a dozen pages written, so that's something. Granted, it's mostly dialogue, and so the pages fly by pretty quickly in scripts, but it's still something to read to my group tonight.

I feel like I really need help with this story, so I'm going to try to be brave enough to actually take the spotlight. Normally I go "eh, I'll read today, but others might need more help, so let them go first." Tonight, though, I might be like "HELP!" to make sure I can actually have time for feedback.

My issues? Well, for one, the info-dump exposition section. I don't know if I should cut it all, cut most of it, leave most of it in, or just go ahead and leave it all in. So, there's that. Then there's the fear that the action scene isn't as intense in the second half as it was in the first. I dunno, I'm better at emotional turmoil than I am real-world issues. Maybe because I find those fairly easy to either deal with or overcome, while emotional issues can last forever if not conquered. At least, that's my personal belief.

Anyway, my third issue is that I'm hedging on "Neo-Wolverine's" name again. I started with Mateo once upon a time, but when I did my character reworks last summer I landed on Dominic. As I'm writing, though, I keep getting this nagging thought to go back to Mateo, so I'm going to workshop that a bit tonight, I think.

I'm also stalled on the actual plot now. I was so focused on building the world that "Glitches" takes place in that I never really figured out how to drive the characters to the main plot points I'm grabbing from X-Future. As of right now my first main catalyst is Devon meeting Pyro - or Iggy in my version - and wondering about his heritage. I feel like I need to build up Devon first. Let the reader see him with the other "Glitch" kids for a bit; get a feel for who he is. Then throw the curve ball at the kid. That way he's a sympathetic character when he's going through his inner conflicts. That way his relationships with Chayse, Lia, and Willow are well established. So, how do I do that? How do I go from point A to point B? What elements of those first few months of X-Future can I grab? Or, what scenes can I create to bridge the gap?

Until I figure that out, adding more non-padded pages to my script is going to be hard. As it is, I'm done with my opening action scene, and need to figure out what comes next. Deciding to go with Dominic or Mateo might help because at least then I know who the heck is talking to the kids in the next scene. I dunno. I'm hoping for some guidance from the group tonight.

Worse comes to worst, I now have a new writing buddy via email correspondence. Ali Luke now plays match-maker for anyone over at Writers’ Huddle who wishes for a writing buddy. It's mostly to hold each other accountable so we don't slack off with writing, but it's also for encouragement and direction. Atlanta and I already seem to be a fairly well-matched pair both in where we are in our writing as well as what sort of genres we enjoy reading/writing. We decided last night that we'll email back and forth three times a week, and so if I still feel like I'm floundering after tonight's meeting I'll have to hit her up next.

She's not my only writing buddy, lately, though. Seems Ronoxym had the writing bug bite him again. Something about a bit of role play I did as Trish on the forums. He's working on an AU X-Future using both of our original concepts of the two characters. Ya know, before Devon and Trish went "Pfft. Yeah. Okay. How about no?"

In other words: Evil Devon with the Brotherhood and his romantic companion Trish. COMPLETE alternates of our current incarnations of those two, but hey, if it's getting him writing again I will wait with bated breath for him to finish and share. I may have also been nagging him about it daily for the past three days or so....

I've been thinking a lot about his writing lately, and he'll most likely not have any time in the near future as Cyhyr gets closer and closer to her due date. So, I'm going to nag and poke because I'm excited to see what he comes up with! I promise I'll avoid steamrolling it like I did with Please, Let Me Explain. Another reason why I'm nudging him back into writing, especially writing Devon. Perhaps it will get him pumped up enough for us to get back on track with PLME, but we'll focus on one thing at a time.

I dunno. I've been in a big "Devon Kick" lately. I've been meeting more and more "Devons" in real life. I've been working with him as a main character in Glitches. Ron has been excited about his Devon/Trish story. And I'm FINALLY starting up Magnus Chase: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan. I know, it's hard to figure out the connection there, but exchange Devon's Brooklyn accent and brunette hair for a Boston accent and blonde hair, and you essentially have Magnus Chase. I asked Ron if he also saw the similarities when he read the book, and it seemed to be a bit of a bashful "yup." I find that amusing since Devon was created presumably years before Magnus, since the forum has been around since 2012.

First "Girl Meets World" and now "Magnus Chase".... great minds think alike?

Anyway, yes, I STILL haven't heard back about Sandy's first book returning to the library for me to borrow, so I needed a plan B. Hubby finished "The Sword of Summer" so now I'm good to go with it. I was originally planning on waiting until September so I can flow straight from that to the sequel that comes out in October, but you work with what you get. Since the book is intended for kids in their early teens, it's a fast read. Each chapter is only about seven pages or so, which also makes it easy to stop whenever. I can charge through about 30pgs per day easily. So I should be able to race through the story before the end of the month.

Whoo! Two books in one month! Roughly 15 days reading each! Go me!

Alright, well, it's a LOT later than my noon update time now - stupid chaotic morning - so I'm off to get some other things done today before my meeting. I'm excited and hope to have some positive updates for next week!

Questions Plague My Life

A full week of just the new job is under my belt. It turned out to be a weird scenario in which it's equal parts great and horrible for my writing. I've become lazy, and instead of still getting up at about 7am in order to write and have ample time to get ready before work, I've opted to just stay in bed and snuggle my husband for that extra hour before whining about having to climb out of the covers in order to start my day. I need to work on this. Otherwise, the "write first thing in the morning" concept is a complete wash.

Work is either Feast or Famine; Flood or Drought. While it could also arguably reflect on the basic concept of a Commissions worker, I mean customer flow in this case. I hope that's ALL it refers to, actually, for obvious reasons, because even with just one or two customers a day my coworkers are still bringing home at least $400 paychecks. Not much more than minimum-wage, but still more than what I was making at the retail job.

Anyway, my point is that we'll go about five out of our eight-hour day with no one in the store and virtually nothing to do but sit and wait. The other three-hours, while sprinkled throughout the day, could then have about seven people show up at once. It's a bit insane.

While it's a bit jarring to have a writing flow - or reading, since it seems to be the only way I'm getting my books read from now on - interrupted abruptly by a customer, the fact that I have so much time to think and write is pretty cool.

The other downside is that, aside from dialogue that I can quickly scribble down more-or-less the way the conversation flow would be, I'm not a fan of writing out prose by hand anymore. There's something textual about writing on a computer. I know most writers probably think in the reverse, that there's something special about writing by hand. However, for me, when I get into something I type with fury, and I can get my ideas down fairly quickly. I can't write as fast as I can type, at least, not if I want to be able to understand my handwriting when I'm done. Plus, when I'm in my writing furies I tend to grip my pen or pencil super tight with my excitement. It literally pains me to write something I'm excited about if I'm doing so on paper. The pen/pencil digs into my finger, my knuckles and wrist cramp up, my shoulder tightens, it's not a fun experience.

So, when my Handy Dandy Netbook isn't available, I tend to stick to bulleted lists and Q&A. By that, I mean I write out all the questions I have about a project, and slowly try to tick away at a possible answer. It may lead to more questions with more answers and so on and so forth, but it help build the story.

At the end of my week, I had a pile of bulleted lists and Q&A sheets, but no actual writing. I truly don't know if I should call the week successful or a dud. Especially since a lot of my scribbles were for a D&D plot that was again derailed by my darling husband this past Sunday's game, and the rest of said scribbles were me just remembering where I was in creating the X-Future reboot.

Yup, back on that again. I was actually a bit embarrassed with how the Contessa story turned out. While Phfylburt ended up enjoying it, he had the same concerns I did with the story, and nothing else. What was the point in reading it to my writing group if they, like Phfyl, were simply going to critique the same issues I already had with the piece? Even if they had advice on how to fix it, I'm really not planning on ever going back to it.

So, when all was said and done, I ended up whipping out an old X-Future Snippet to read: It Is So On!

It received mostly good reviews. There were also some valid critiques that I never thought of before, so thanks to the group on those. There was also one main thought among the group: I do really well with mostly dialogue writing. I have to admit, it is my strong-suit.

One of the newer members - she actually signed up last year and disappeared over the winter; kind of like me over at Writers’ Huddle - even asked if I thought about writing screenplays. I admitted that it was one of the things I went to school for, unofficially. She also commented on the fact that I talked about wanting to do a graphic novel when the meeting first started. She stressed that maybe that's the path I should stick with, since, while the prose is still good, it felt like it really wanted to be more visual. I was also informed that if the script is written well enough, a publicist would pair me with an artist, so there's that. Kind of makes me want to try my hand at the X-Future script again...

In truth, it REALLY wanted me to try my hand at the X-Future script again. If I wasn't working on the now-moot plot for my D&D campaign, or doing ACTUAL work, I was trying to hash out more of the world-build for X-Future's reboot. One of the other responses that I got to "It Is So On!" was that I didn't necessarily need to give the group the verbal lead-in of "these are the children of X-Men/Brotherhood mutants living at the Xavier Mansion, these are their powers, and this is the plot lead-in as to who these people are and why they're at each others' throats." They felt it was fairly stand-alone, and that it didn't automatically scream out "X-Men Rip-off." Then again, most, if not all, of those in attendance don't really know comic books, and if they do the knowledge is from the Marvel movies....

Point is, it was encouraging to hear them all tell me to stick with these characters, and to try my hand at scriptwriting some more. True, most of them are novelists, but there are a few poets in the group, and it would be exciting to everyone to have a screenwriter added to the mix. I just need to figure out how to read a script aloud for critiquing.... seems awkward.

Now, the downside to these critiques is that I've come to realize that I'm not exactly the best at prose. I mean, I've always known I wasn't the BEST, but how much I need to improve is a lot more than I originally thought.

I don't like big blocks of text. You probably picked up on that since most of my paragraphs, while probably capable of being grouped together more than they are, are only about five sentences long. My dislike of large blocks of text, which, to me, seem daunting, boring, and slow down the read, leads me to also break up dialogue. I may write mostly in it, but I can't have a monologue go on. How often does that happen in real life? I mean, come on.

The issue, however, is that I don't just have other characters interject to keep the dialogue short and quick, I also have the character put in physical pauses. She'll say something, pause, and then continue her thought, but in that pause she moves. People do this all the time. Who stays still? Ninety-percent of communication is non-verbal. People give facial reactions, shift their weight or position, fall into a physical tick like playing with a ring or tapping a foot, or they gesture with their hands or even their whole body. We are constantly in motion, and I showcase this in my writing.

To my writing group, and perhaps every reader I've had, it's a bit excessive. While they admitted it may move smoother on paper than it did verbally, they were beginning to lose track of where people were in the story. Willow was sitting, then standing, then sitting again. Then she wrestled with Nys a bit, and so Nys was now sitting. And they get up into each others' faces before pushing the other down into a sitting position. I can understand how this can be a bit overwhelming to mentally keep track of if there aren't any actual visual cues to follow.

I think in images, and so I'm constantly blocking out my characters' movements; keeping mental track of who's moving, and how long it's been since a character last moved. Constant flow. Constant movements. It may make sense in visual media such as comics, movies, TV, or plays. Probably doesn't make sense in things like prose.

Writers are supposed to find some happy medium where their dialogue SEEMS realistic, but edits the realism down so it's a bit easier to read and follow. For instance, count how many times you say "um" or "like" or "uh" or anything along those lines. I'm sure you do so more frequently than you think. What about misspeaking? Using the wrong word? Being repetitive in your speech? Losing track of where you were, or being interrupted, and so you start the sentence over again? How about stuttering?

Now think of how many times you witness any of that honest-to-God, true-to-life speech in novels. Not much, right? Unless it's crucial to the characterization or plot, or in some cases, joke, all of that extra stuff that we naturally mentally weed out of conversations writers have to consciously weed out of their dialogue. I tend to leave a bit more in than most to give it a sense of realism other writers don't have, but apparently that's not the best writing option....

Point is, while most writers just have to edit down reality to make their dialogue SEEM real without the mundane and convolution of actual speech, I need to do the same thing with the non-verbal. True, people may move a lot while talking, but it's probably best if I just let the characters talk and let the reader picture whatever movement they want.

It's going to be tough for me, though, because if a writer doesn't specifically state that a character moves, I barely picture movement, and so limiting myself will be tricky.

Coincidental to my decision to try my hand at scripting again, Phfylburt gave me a challenge - due this upcoming Saturday - that seems right up this alley. Namely, an All Dialogue challenge.

Phfylburt: You have to write a scene in which two siblings steal money from their parent's wallet....The entire thing must be done using only dialog...The scene should show them setting up for the miniature heist, performing the act, and the getaway. It is entirely up to you if they get away successful or if they crash and burn. No limitations on the length, so you don't need to worry about that.

It definitely feels like a fun project, but, as per usual, I haven't started because I'm stuck in my own head. Ask most writers and they'll tell you that the ideas are the easy part, it's the execution that's hard. The actual writing of the thing. While my numerous incomplete projects can attest to that, at the same time, I feel like I may be meant to be a ghost writer, because for me the execution is the fun, exciting, easy part. It's those damn ideas that keep me blocked.

This challenge for instance. I haven't started because I need to figure out more information:

• What age are the children?
• Are they even children in the colloquial sense? Or are they already adults, such as in their early 20s?
• What sex are the siblings? Both girls? Both boys? One of each?
• Will their sex affect how they perform the theft, or why they need the money?
• Which parent are they stealing from?
• Why are they stealing?
• Are both siblings willing parties?
• Is one manipulating the other? Are both being blackmailed/hazed into the stunt? Is this a dare?
• How much are they stealing?
• What makes them think they'll get away with it?
• WILL they get away with it?
• What danger(s) might they come across on this mini-heist?
• How do I portray that via only dialogue?

I think I get too far into my own head. I did the same thing with Phfyl's "Link breaks the silence..." prompt and the "Write [a]...backstory for a random person you saw..." prompt. Backtrack further and you have the Writers' Group prompt of "Salesman/saleswoman, New York City, and Where is the time capsule?" Generic ideas that let my mind wander are actually really tough for me. If I were instead given something specific like "A Vietnam Vet is startled awake by his wife he nearly choked to death via PTSD-induced sleepwalking" and asked me to write the scene, I could do so fairly easily. My only questions would be "what triggered the act?" and "Has this happened before?" but I could more-or-less figure those out quickly.

Maybe that's why I stay with my crutch of fanfiction writing. Everything is more-or-less spelled out for me already. The environment, the characters, the personalities of the characters, and the basic idea of the antics they get into; the way that world works. It involves very few questions that I need to answer, and so my mind can just focus on the writing.

Honestly? I have no clue how to work on this tripping block so that my mind doesn't go into overload when I'm forced to do something original with little to no direction. Hell, even my main writing question proves how much guidance I need: How Do You Figure Out What To Write About For Your Manuscript?

I can't get anywhere in my writing because I don't even have an idea for a manuscript. One college friend has a basic story idea about young adult twins that just went off on their own in New York City. Keeton in Writers' Group obviously has her story concept of "Buster Keeton" and working around that. DFL in the same group has her pre-historical, "age of Babylon" story. Red stumbled upon her murder-revenge psycho story via a writing prompt that stuck with her. And the man that now comes to the meetings - let's call him PI since that's his profession - has his spy mystery novel.

It's weird to go to group meetings and have everyone else read a new part of their manuscript, asking for help on it, and I'm just reading random stuff that I wrote. None of it connects to each other. None of it - like Contessa last week - really, truly matters to me. They're just exercises to work my muscles, not the actual marathon I'm training for. It's rough not really getting much feedback on what I read in group, and even less helpful when the critiques I do get are on things I'm either never going to continue, or never attempting again.

The concept of me being a natural script-writer though.... that was a good bit to point out....

Joy. Look at me, finding yet another writing hurdle, and no clue how to overcome it. I don't even know if it's worth going to Writers' Group or jumping back on to the long-abandoned Writers’ Huddle and commenting about this roadblock. This realization that I can write with ease, as long as I have a very specific guideline handed to me, whereas actually coming up with plots stumps me for years on end.

Maybe I could become a James Patterson co-author...

In all seriousness, though, what could anyone possibly say for advice if I did decide to ask them? Aside from "keep practicing" or "Yeah, I've been there" or "Which is why writing is tougher than people think" what on earth could anyone say about my issue? If/when I figure this out on my own, what could I possibly say to the next struggling writer?

I know part of it is "Wait for a story to grab you so tight it won't let go and you HAVE to write it," but how much longer do I wait? I've wanted to be a writer since I was, like, nine or something. I went to college to become a writer. I had set out to have my first piece published by the time I was about thirty. Fast forward almost two years, and I still don't even have that Grand Manuscript Concept to work on. If I just passively wait for a story to hit me, when will I get that inspiration? This year? Next year? Five years from now? As I'm telling my kid a bedtime story? When I retire and can spend all day just thinking about stories?

I can't wait for inspiration to strike, because every day that passes I fear a bit more that I'm not supposed to be doing this. Which is a painful paradox, because the only reason it pains me to think that I'm not a writer is because I'm obviously a writer! It doesn't keep me up at night to know that maybe I'm not some great athlete. I KNOW I'm not some great athlete. I came to terms with that when I was in elementary school. I KNOW I'm not a great artist, and so, while I lament not being able to draw what I see in my head - would make things a lot easier for me - I also don't fret over my pathetic stick figures. My heart ACHES at the concept of dying without ever publishing anything, which PROVES that I'm supposed to be doing this!

Yet, that paradox continues. My perpetual struggle of days passing me, making me think that I should give up because I'm not cut out for this, quickly followed by an ache and welled up eyes at that prospect; proving to me that I HAVE to write. I just need to figure out what.

The eternal struggle: What

What am I good at writing? What genre pulls me in the most? What characters in the ether are calling for me to bring them to life? What story will both be fun for me to write, and for someone to read? What story do I have inside me that hasn't been told already? What in/about the world do I see differently than others?

I'll add these questions to the ones above about Phfyl's challenge, I guess. Suppose I should try to see if I can answer some of them, at least, the ones for the challenge due on Saturday....

Categorizing My Glitches

Well, here we are at the half-way point of this year's Script Frenzy. I am both happy and not with my progress. On the one hand, I'm back to writing relatively regularly, and I've been really forcing myself to work through some major world building in order to write this script. On the other hand, this figuring out, researching, and comic scripting learning curve has almost halted my actual writing. Here it is, day 15, a week after my last update, and I'm only up to nine pages.

NINE

For those not keeping track, I was up to six last week. In one week I've only added three pages. Go. Me.

It's been tricky, especially when trying to figure out quick visuals to explain a relatively broad and intangible concept. For me it would have been easier with actual video to capture more essence while a voice over was talking. As opposed to one snapshot of the visual I want with a toneless caption attached.

This is one of the reasons I gave up my idea of becoming a director. I'm much better as an editor. If you give me a variety of shots I can easily pick out which one is the best option. I can watch movies and comment on the angles and camera position and how the shot is either perfect, or how I'd be able to change it to something more impactful. Yet, I can't come up with the visual on my own off the top of my head. To me, without any outside help, everything in my head more-or-less plays out like a stage play with a few reaction shots thrown in. It's all sort of one-note. So, it's hard for me to work on this comic.

On the one hand, I am very particular and protective of my mental imaging of what's going on. I need to be meticulous with how the environment is laid out, the costuming of the characters, and exactly what the characters look like - right down to the exact placement of each hair. But angles? Where the mental cameras are set up in comparison to the scene? From what direction and how close the audience is while they are looking in? I'm terrible at figuring that out.

Probably why I'm better at prose. I can just dump the scene on the reader's lap and THEY can mentally picture all the intricate angles that would make up the movie adaptation.

So, you can sort of see my dilemma when it comes to storyboarding a comic book. I want to micromanage how everything works; resulting in the poor illustrator being no more than my extended hand since my own isn't talented enough to execute the visualization I want. At the same time, I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to dramatic angles and the like, and I would want to give the illustrator all the creative freedom he or she desired in order to figure that stuff out without me.

An annoying paradox, and one I'm glad I don't have to deal with quite yet. I mean, I don't even have the first book written yet, and I'm no where near finding an illustrator. Heck, I'm no where near inquiring for an illustrator. So I guess I can iron out those details some time in the future.

How about the parts that I did manage to iron out already?

Do you recall once upon a time when I showed you fine folks this gloriously jumbled mind map?

Well, one of the main things I did this week was go through and reorganize this mental ramblings in to a bulleted list. AH! The glorious bulleted list to help categorizing my Glitches all the easier.

Originally, the point of organizing the above mess was so I could easily create a simple chart while continuing to explain what Glitches are to the reader. With more thought, I think it should be presented more as a lesson to one of the new Glitch recruits who has no clue what he is. Similar to the categorizing presented in the movie "Push" - which is where the category concept first came from anyway.

In "Push" the character Chris Evans plays knows he's "different" with his telekinetic abilities, but it's Dakota Fanning's character who informs him of the multiple different categories of superhumans; categorized by the villainous Division organization. Generic clairvoyants are "Watchers". Psychometrics - people who can gather the history of an object via touch - are "Sniffs" since they can "sniff" out a person they're looking for. "Shadows" are people that can block clairvoyancy - such as Watchers and Sniffs - by "hiding" the presence of themself or those they are protecting. Telekinetics are "Movers". Psychic healers - capable of completely healing any injury with only their hands - are "Stitches". A person who can cause amnesia - either erasing just a small memory or someone's entire life - is a "Wiper". "Bleeders" emit high-frequency sonic blasts that can rupture blood vessels; hence the category name. The name of the movie comes from the most powerful category of superhumans: Pushers. They are powerful telepaths that can implant false memories/feelings/loyalties in to someone's brain and force them to bend to the Pusher's will; even go so far as to kill a loved one or commit suicide.

There's one last category of superhuman from Push, and one Hubby and I enjoyed so much we gave the power to Willow's father Jacob: Shifter. A Shifter is more of a minor telepathic ability. They can take an object and make it temporarily appear to be something completely different as long as the basic structure is the same; essentially tricking the eyes as long as the other senses - mainly touch - don't interfere. For instance, the Shifter in the movie took Monopoly money and made a waitress believe it was actual currency. He couldn't, on the other hand, make her believe it was a diamond necklace because the weight and shape wouldn't match the illusion.

Funny side story, this is how Willow's and Chayse's fathers - Jacob and Gambit - met each other. They tried to swindle each other, but found each other out and became fast friends instead. I'm still not entirely sure what Gambit did to try to manipulate Jacob with his hypnotic charm speak, but I know that Jacob tried to con Gambit with a Shifting illusion.

Kind of makes me wonder about Shawn though. If Jacob can create illusions on a small scale, and Willow can make them on a grand scale - obviously inheriting her father's powers - than how did Shawn's mutation manifest  as electricity? Maybe Jacob's wife Meryl has a secret of her own?

Sorry, I went WAY off track there....

Point is, Hubby and I loved the idea of classifications of superhumans - who are basically mutants, let's face it - that he helped me categorize my Glitches too, but I only have five categories as of right now.

I have them called "Species" of Glitch. Then each species has the differing types of powers within it categorized further in to "Classes". Yes, in true Scientific Classification the terms are reversed and have Order, Family, and Genus in between. I debated using the true Scientific Classification method; categorizing all Glitches in to one Family - and possibly find the word Glitch derived from for the family classification - and then break the main power sets in to Genus, and then break the powers down further in to species.

Perhaps I'll have a few scientist characters argue that point. However, the classification is both militaristic and media-based, and so it needs to fit more with what SOUNDS better. It's easier and rolls off the tongue better to ask what species and class someone is, instead of which genus and species.

Another reason for the smallest category being "class" instead of "species" probably has something to do with me being a D&D nerd. I have a lot of characters whose powers are all subsets of one main category. Willow, for instance, can create illusions - which is one subset - and she has telepathy - which is another subset - and she is telekinetic - a third subset. There are Glitches that can only fit in to one of those categories; having one doesn't automatically mean you can do the other two. Because of this, Willow "cross-classes" in her powers. Like I said, I'm a D&D nerd.

Then you have someone like Chayse whose main power is his ability to manipulate kinetic energy - which is a power within one main category - but he also has the physical mutation in regards to his eye color - which technically puts him in to another main category as well. Since he's a mix of two different species of Glitch, he's considered a Hybrid. Now, I COULD switch Species and Class around to the more Scientific Classification formula, but I like the idea of multiple Glitches being able to Cross-Class - otherwise known as "Multi" - but only a few are actual Hybrids. If I were to switch the categories the percentages go the other way.

Speaking of titles for people within categories, let's lay out on the table what I figured out. Keep in mind, long-time readers probably already know this since I came up with these titles over a year ago when I created the above mind-map. I haven't really altered much of anything since then.

Okay, so there are five main Species of Glitch:

1. Beasts are those with physical mutations. Those that can still pass as human are "Norms", whereas those that are more animalistic or otherwise can't hide their mutation are "True Beasts" or "Were-Creatures"; depending on the severity of the mutation and how cruel the person is who's throwing around the term. Chayse's eyes make him a "Norm Beast".
2. Minds are the other main category that sprang up at first. They are the psychics; mostly telepaths or telekinetics. Illusions also fall under this category, and so Willow and her father Jacob are Minds.
3. Evokers can manipulate the four elements as well as light, darkness, and energy itself. Shawn's ability to use electricity, Chayse's kinetic manipulation, Penumbra's shadow fighting, Trish and Devon's pyromancy, and Ripley's water-crafting are all Evoker powers. In fact, as you can see, the majority of the X-Future casting are Evokers; which is one of the reasons I briefly toyed with the idea of converting the story in to High Fantasy and have them all elemental-specific mages. Lia is one of the most powerful Evokers by being a cross-classed Multi with both fire and earth to create her lava powers.
4. Tweakers manipulate DNA. This has a WIDE array of applications and has probably the largest listing of classes; although Evokers are close given the multitude of elements they manipulate. Lia is a Tweak Evoker Hybrid due to her ability to convert her blood and organs in to lava, and the rest of her body in to obsidian. Her father Jamie is also a Tweaker - which is why Lia's a hybrid - due to his ability to create clones of himself. Devon's shapeshifting also makes him a Tweak Evoker Hybrid.
5. Finally, there are the Mages. They manipulate physics and the fabric of space/time itself. They are probably the most powerful Glitches, although most of their abilities are only basic in nature. Teleportation, clairvoyance, and probability alteration - based on the Marvel canon characters Nightcrawler, Destiny, and Domino, respectively - are all Mage abilities since they alter reality itself. Someone like Scarlet Witch, Pixie, Magik, and the X-Future character Lincoln are all a special class of Mages known as Sorcerers since they can effectively force themselves to both cross-class AND cross-species by saying spells to focus their Mage abilities.

Like I said, someone who has multiple power sets within the same Glitch Species is considered "Cross-class" or a "Multi". Therefore, Lia would be militaristically classified as a Coating Tweak Fire-Earth Multi Evoker Hybrid. Bit of a mouthful, but it sends the basic message of what her abilities are. Lia herself may introduce her powers by stating "I'm a Tweak Evoker hybrid. I'm a coater and fire-earth multi." Others, like Chayse, may focus on the main power of being an Energy Evoker, maybe going so far as stating Kinetic Energy Evoker. He's technically a Beast Evoker Hybrid due to his physical mutation of neon-lime green eyes with black sclera, but he focuses on trying to pass for human. So he'd most likely ignore the Beast classification.

Now, in my reboot, Chayse's ability to phase is similar to DC comic's superhero The Flash - he moves fast enough to pass through the microscopic air pockets in between the cells of a solid object. Chayse does so by manipulating the kinetic energy within his own body until it speeds up enough to phase. I may change this, though, because it seems to be a LOT of effort for something Hubby tends to have Chayse do a lot.... If I do convert it back to Hubby's X-Future version of Chayse, than Phasing is a Tweaker ability. This means Chayse is a Tweak Evoker Beast hybrid - again, because of the eyes. I haven't decided on a term yet, but being a hybrid of 3 or 4 different species feels like it needs its own name since it doesn't happen that frequently. A super powerful mutant in the Marvel world is considered "Omega Class". So, I think a multi-hybrid needs similar treatment.

Right now, though, I only have the terms "Transcendent", "Ultimate", and "Supreme" Glitch. All seem a bit over-the-top in classification. Especially when the person is like Chayse and would be a typical Hybrid if it weren't for that dip in to Beast territory.

Now, there is a "mythical" or "theoretical" classification of Glitch; think of it as Super Sayian or my version of Beyond Omega Level. It is equally idolized and feared by both humanity and Glitches. Basically, it's a person who is born as a hybrid of all five categories. The terms I have so far for this classification are: "Godling", "Demigod", or simply "Demi". This breed of Glitches is feared due to how massively powerful they could become; a possible uncontrollable force that could enslave the rest of the world - human and Glitch alike.

For those who have kept up-to-date with Marvel comics, my 5-species hybrid Godlings would be at about the same power level as Hope Summers; and is equally thought of as either savior or oppressor.

Because of this, Godlings - if ever discovered - would be fought over as the greatest weapon/driving force of any given extremist group.

• My X-Men equivalent would want the Godling to demonstrate that even the most powerful Glitch could cohabitate peacefully with humanity.
• Brotherhood equivalent would want the Godling as a way to cement Glitch superiority over humanity; taking on the new term Preternaturals - similar to Magneto's Homo Superior - for the mutants.
• Hubby's created extremist group Challengers of Heaven would want to use the Godling as a weapon to ethnically cleanse the world of all normal humans so that Glitches/Preternaturals were the only humanoids left on Earth. Much like how Homo Sapiens survived while Neanderthals became extinct.
• Purifiers equivalent would want to utilize the Godling as proof that Glitches are dangerous, and that the only way for humanity to survive is to exterminate all mutants.

At one point we had a subplot on X-Future - that never really played out - with similar stakes in regards to Crystal's ability to nullify mutant powers.

• The Brotherhood wanted her as a way to suppress opposition from the X-Men.
• Military wanted her for the same reason as The Brotherhood, but on a grander scale. They wanted to recreate her powers so that all law enforcement/soldiers could subdue mutants.
• Shamed mutants wanted to experiment on her in order to find a way to "cure" themselves.
• Human scientists wanted her for a similar reason, but this "mutant cure" would be a way to eradicate them, even the ones that enjoyed being mutants.
• The X-Men wanted to squirrel her away; essentially imprison her - in not so many words - in order to keep her safe from the others that wished to weaponize her. At the same time, she felt they were using her as The Brotherhood would; to suppress attacks from other mutants. The justification being that she was keeping the other students safe.

Anyway, I got a little off topic again.

I made a few other decisions in regards to the character rewrites. I don't recall if I said so, but Amara "Magma" Aquilla - whose name I still have to rework - is now a Hawaiian Fire-Earth Multi Evoker. She still has her lava powers - which is where Lia gets hers - but she won't be able to take on lava/fire form like she does in the comics. Instead, she will have heatproof skin - which explains her ability to SWIM in lava without it harming her - as well as specialized lungs that allows her to filter out the damaging poisonous gases and ash that coincide with volcanic eruptions. She'll probably be similar to Storm's canon backstory: a girl capable of manipulating the elements in order to bring safety to her small village, and she's idolized for it. Might not go as primitive as Storm's African tribe that actually worshiped her as a minor goddess, but same basic principal after Amara stops a volcanic eruption from destroying the town.

Basically recreating the one Amara-centric episode of "X-Men: Evolution", but having Amara live on the island instead of just visiting while on a cruise.

I'm sure I've mentioned months ago that Jamie's new name is Cody. Still haven't figured out too much more about him; like a new last name.

As for Chayse's family, Remy "Gambit" LeBeau - still needs a name change - is going to be Australian, and only has his Hypnotic Charmspeak power along with heightened agility. Chayse's kinetic manipulation is now inherited from his mother Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde, whose new name is Margaret [Insert Last Name Here]. It's a start....

Since Gambit is going to be Australian, and I don't want too many foreigners from the same place - plus, I wanted to switch it out for the rewrite anyway - Pyro will no longer be the resident Aussie. Flame-red hair and a fiery temper? Seems Irish to me! I was hesitant at first since we already have Tyler and Crystal from the Emerald Isle, but seeing as neither of them will probably make the Reboot cut, I figured shifting St. John Allerdyce to the opposite hemisphere would be a good choice. I'm a bit weary of the fact that I'm keeping the character really close to the original, though. Anyway, I still need to give him both a new name - one a bit easier to pronounce if you're not born in Australia and see it all the time - and a new codename. There in lies the biggest problem, one I faced when creating Trish and one I equally faced when I tried to have Willow come up with a good codename for Devon.

THERE ARE SO MANY FIRE USERS IN MARVEL CANON! Just about all the good fire-based codenames are already being used. The three mildly good ones were scooped up by Trish and Devon. Yes, I said THREE. Trish is Lighter. Then Devon has 2 - his Brotherhood and street name was Arson, but his X-Men codename was Scorch. So far all I could think of for Pyro's new name is Dragon, Salamander, and Flame.

James "Logan" Howlett, AKA Wolverine, is still going through a few rewrites as well. I was thinking of making him Native American, but I think I'm now really leaning towards Latino. I have also been fixated on the name Rafael - Spanish for "God has Healed" which is fantastic since he's keeping his rapid healing power. My only concern is the possible mental connection to a certain Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle with a similar name. Especially since both wield 3-pronged metal weapons - Wolverine's three adamantium-covered claws and Raph's sai - and have notoriously bad attitudes. It's a work in progress, but maybe the TMNT connection is WHY Rafael feels right for the character.

It's all still just a work in progress. One I really should get back to now that I finally have a day off again, and Hubby and I finished off the Netflix Daredevil series.

Now, if my laptop would just stop MASSIVELY lagging, I would be in business...

A Minor Focus on Scripts and Other Creativity

Before I get in to the rest of my week, I'd just like to point out an amusing little tidbit about DarkAngel1326 's first installment in her "Stories from the Winds of Hillwood" saga. In my review I playfully accused her of stealing the plot to my two-part story "I Caught You A Star". Well, after my blog post last week, she contacted me to let me know that she had no clue what ChibiSunnie and I were talking about when we commented on the story similarities. It turns out that DA had never read my story! It was just a major coincidence that I wrote a very similar one for V-day two years ago! She has since read the story....
So fret not, Dear Readers, DA thought up her plot all by her lonesome. Just another case of "Great Minds Think Alike".




Also, if you haven't read her story yet, here's the link again: "Stories from the Winds of Hillwood"

I'm not going to lie, I both didn't really do much creatively speaking and did do a lot creatively speaking.

At the beginning of last week a coworker signed up to join the X-Men forum RPG that Hubby runs. He brought his wife and a friend of theirs that they used to play with on a different X-Men RP. So now we have three new players and it's gotten me and Hubby excited about the game. Creativity is starting to flow again for this universe. I can't wait to officially start back up, in the meantime it was fun to re-read what already happened as well as read what the new players have to say - as well as see the cool backstories they each came up with. The coworker and his friend have their characters both speaking with British dialects, so it will be interesting to try to understand the slang they use. Worse comes to worse I guess I could always ask Ali Luke to translate for me.




On Wednesday I had this strong desire to waste the large majority of my morning getting a full plot bunny farm out of my head. Plot bunnies for more stories!? Sadly, no. They were different concepts for a multitude of fan-made music videos using footage from Hey Arnold. Much like my Plot Bunny posts I have here, I wanted one for my FMV ideas. It didn't seem appropriate to include here, so I posted it up on DeviantArt.

The rest of the week was wasted in many hours of Kirby's Epic Yarn. I didn't even do my normal 7hrs straight on Facebook.

However, aside from a small bit that I need to ask DA, Chibi, and possibly even AngelBlood666 for some advice on, I'm more-or-less all set to FINALLY get to working on my next chapter of What Is Truly Meant To Be. I have four days until the end of the month. Even though I've written full stories in 24hr periods, I really don't want to end up doing the same thing for a chapter for this story. People have dedicated too much time and emotion for me to try to rush it. That being said, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to keep up my New Year Resolution to update monthly. However, considering I used to take anywhere between three and ten months to update, posting a new chapter every OTHER month is still an improvement. We'll see how it goes. I swear I'm not intentionally slacking on this.

Another reason why I might alter my resolution to every other month is that next month starts bi-weekly writing challenges with the Hey Arnold group. These aren't competitions; instead they are like the daily challenges I did back in July. I'm not entirely sure if I'll be participating in all of them, but I'm going to at least try.

The following month is then April! For those who have been following my blog for a little while, you already know that since two years ago April is Script Frenzy Month! It's basically the same thing as NaNo, but it's writing a 100pg script in 30 days. It's even run by the same organization: The Office of Letters and Light. At least, it USED to be run by the same group. Sadly, Script Frenzy didn't get nearly the same reception as the other writing programs that OLL hosts and so they regrettably had to drop the program. What really saddens me is that I didn't have money to purchase any merchandise for the 2012 Script Frenzy and now it's not available for me to ever get....




However, Script Frenzy shall live on in my heart and April will still remain the month where I get crazy and try to write a full script in 30 days. Since it isn't an "official" Script Frenzy I will cheat a little bit this year. Instead of writing a script from scratch I'm going to use the opportunity to work with Chibi to finish up the fanscript for Hey Arnold that we started during our first Script Frenzy.

If you want to have Script Frenzy live on in your hearts as well you could use this golden opportunity to build up your portfolio! Maybe you could even enter one of these contests that Chibi found this week!

The clever girl managed to find a few contests that networks are hosting in order to bring in new talent to their writing staffs! How awesome is that!? The deadline for the Nickelodeon one is this Friday, so it's probably not a possibility for anyone, but it's an annual contest so you might as well get started for next year, right?

Anyway, here's the list. It's also in my Handy Links page - which was updated with a few other websites as well, thanks to DA!
Nickelodeon Writing Program
Disney/ABC Television Writing Program
NBC Early Career Program: Writers On The Verge
WB Writers' Workshop

If you like the idea of writing for a production team and need a bit more help on the actual formatting and the like, you can check out the free-to-download writing software Celtx. I use it for every Script Frenzy and I LOVE the program. There are so many fun toys you can try out! I also have some information on that Handy Links page in the same category as the writing programs listing.

Cleaning and Brainstorming and Championship Games; Oh My!

So, yet again I failed at my Sunday is Update Day thing. The worst part is that I've actually been waiting to blog this week. I have so much to talk about I almost posted on like Wednesday or Thursday, but I was afraid that I wouldn't have anything else to write on Sunday.

And then Sunday came and nearly went without a post. Just so that my three readers wouldn't get confused I ended up posting a "placeholder" just to prove that I really WILL update every week - even if it's with filler....

Here's my list of excuses:

1 - A friend has become my Jedi Master in the world of "Super Couponing" and my weekends have been pretty full with THAT training.... It kept me SIX HOURS to clip all the coupons she gave me last week. And Sunday it kept me all day to organize the five-inch-thick stack of coupons. Why did it keep me a week to organize the coupons I clipped? Well, reason 2....

2 - It's cold outside and my husband's LARP group still wanted to have our monthly session. And so, knowing I had a week to clean, I agreed that we should have the game at our house so we didn't have to do the session in the local park. Now, had I but kept up with my New Year resolution to keep with a cleaning regimen there wouldn't have been a problem. However, I was distracted with Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword lately. So it kept me all week to clean - but everything was neat, reorganized, and I unpacked a few more boxes in time for the Friday game. So.... yay!

3 - My favorite American football team the New York Giants were playing in the championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. This nailbiting game in the rain was a true Battle of the Defenses with both teams going in to overtime with 17points each. Nearly ten out of the fifteen minutes of overtime passed before the Giants finally called their kicker in for the game-winning score; sending the Giants to the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. When I had given up on the stack of coupons I was going to finally blog, but I just couldn't keep my eyes off of the TV long enough to write something worth-while.

4 - I then had every intention to blog after the game - but I was too tired. And I was going to make up for it by finally blogging yesterday. However, I spent the first half of the day running around STILL trying to find a job. And then the second half of the day was spent sleeping on the couch with a bad reaction to the soup I bought from Subway. I should have just gone for the sandwich.....

Well, here it is, Tuesday, and two days late on the update. But update I still shall!

For a while I wanted to jot all my Plot Bunnies down in one spot, maybe even have my readers comment on which story they'd like me to try out first. However, I keep having legit things to blog about and so the Plot Bunny post got pushed to the back burner... as it is again this week.

Originally, I was thinking I'd actually blog about the Plot Bunnies; since I was still in my rut with the chapter that has been plaguing me for about eight months. Then my script writing buddy ChibiSunnie came to my rescue! The girl that said she'd Beta for me about two months ago never got back to me. I think I overwhelmed her. In fact, ChibiSunnie, who knows first hand how extremely anal about details I can be, still chuckled about being overwhelmed by everything I had bouncing around in my head. Thankfully, due to our co-op during Script Frenzy last April, Chibi knew how to handle the three-pages of info I gave her and really helped me work through a lot of my issues.

My big thing was that I shot myself in the foot. Since the twist at the end of my one-shot-turned-chapter-one was a surprise even to me, I didn't have the entire backstory thought up. Then I had an issue with the chapters surrounding Helga's Sweet Sixteen in which Helga and Arnold got back together when I didn't want them to. And so Arnold not knowing the Chapter 1 twist seemed odd. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how Arnold didn't know. Thankfully, talking things through with Chibi super-duper helped.

BIG HUGS TO YOU CHIBISUNNIE!!!! :D Thanks so much for the help!

So now I can get my butt back in gear, finish my chapter skeleton, and FINALLY get to writing.

Since Chibi worked hard to draw me a beautiful Christmas Postcard as a gift and I didn't even think of making anything for her I told her I'd write whatever fluff she wanted for Valentine's day. So that means I have until February 14th to not only write this chapter that's been haunting me since LAST February, but also write Chibi her fluff. Time to get crackin'!

A little hint on what Chibi would like for Valentine's Day this year - Arnold and Helga weren't the only ones who dreamed what married life would be like after Rhonda's origami fortune teller matched them up....

Yet ANOTHER thing involving ChibiSunnie is that she's currently sketching out a scene from each chapter of my story!!! She already has a pencil sketch of the break-up scene from the first chapter and the Helga-in-the-junkyard scene from the second chapter. I'm so excited to see them finished up, but she's back in school so it might be a while before she inks and colors them. Once she's done I'll have to post them here!!!! I'm so excited that I'm going to get illustrations for my story! I'm still in shock that my writing was able to inspire someone enough for them to want to draw my "powerful scenes" - as Chibi puts it.

My last bit of news is the excitement I'm getting when I realize that people are not only reading this blog - 31 views when I last updated - but people are ALSO finding and reading my stories on FanFiction! January 8th is the only day I haven't had at least ONE person read my stories - which is amazing for me since there have been months where there were more days where no one found my work than days when at least one person did. Having a continued readership when I haven't posted anything new since early November is just shocking to me!

Not only have I had a steady flow of people reading my stuff, but every story I've posted has received one or two new faves this month! The fact that people are still finding my work just amazes me to no end! Perhaps it's because Delaroux and DarkAngel1326 both post me as their beta in their Author's Notes.... It would make sense if that were the case....

OOOh, speaking of DarkAngel1326, I have been beta-reading for her new prose works. I'm so proud of this girl! She's so open to criticism and seems to really appreciate the help. The only thing else I have to say about her is if I were to suck at poetry as much as she claims she sucks at prose then I'd have a poetry book self-published somewhere....

OK, so Lunar New Year was yesterday, so maybe Reboot Resolutions Take 3 will be effective! We'll see next week, depending on whether or not I actually post on time. Perhaps finally a Plot Bunny post, or perhaps it will be pushed back one more week because I'll actually have more story-related news! I sure hope the latter is true.

*This would be where I have a cool signature post-closing line if I were creative enough to think of one.... can I use "See ya, Cowboy" until I think of something????*