Come. Come walk with me...
So, as per usual, Friday was my weekly update of Peeping Tomcat. It was my second-longest chapter to date. At least, within this story. Clocked in a little over 7200 words, and with barely any dialogue in it, I was getting nervous that this would be my weakest chapter.
I was stressing out and a bit panicked as I spent all of last week trying to edit the chapter. Trying to chop it down. Trying to add dialogue. Trying to make sure I wasn't repeating myself - either by repeating something from earlier in the story, or stating something better used later in the story.
As I got closer and closer to my breaking point, I got a new review on my AO3 publication of PT.
DeathBunnii: Really love the way you write Adrien's POV and thought process.That was exactly the review I needed at just about the exact time I needed it.
The sixth chapter was pretty much exclusively Adrien's POV and thought process, at least for the back half of the chapter. Having someone telling me that I did that well really helped me get excited about the chapter again.
I still think this is the weakest of my chapters because of how little dialogue there is on the back half, but it's such a crucial chapter as well, so I'm proud of it.
The rest of Friday went by, and I tried to not fixate on the number of hits, faves, follows, and/or reviews I got. It was hard, especially since I didn't really have much of an alternative distraction. Soon enough, though, it was 8:30am on Saturday, and it had been 24hours since I published the latest chapter. Check out these stats.
As a point of reference, these were my week-long stats for the previous chapter "Mimicker":FFN: 672 views, 2 faves, 6 followers, and 1 review
AO3: 221 views and 9 kudos
DA: 12 views and 1 fave
Total Results: 905 views, 12 faves, 6 followers, and 1 review
The new review:
So close to guessing the truth and he still misses!
Real quick about last week's stats. I gathered up 88 more views and one more follower on FFN between my update on Tuesday and my posting "Parallels" Friday morning. On AO3 I got another 36 hits and one new kudos in that same time frame, plus Bunnii's review. DeviantArt dropped off with only five more views, but that random spike is still cool.FFN: 875 views, 4 faves, 7 followers, and 4 reviews
AO3: 227 views, 5 kudos, 1 bookmark, and 1 review
DA: 40 views(!) and 2 faves
Total Results: 1142 views, 11 faves, 8 followers, and 5 reviews
Point is, check out the number of views, faves, and followers I got for the entire week after I posted "Mimicker" versus just the first 24hours after posting "Parallels". Cool, huh? I think I really am picking up steam!
Now, let's check out how I've done for the rest of the week thus far.
Normally, I like to update these stats for the moment I post this blog. However, I'm going to keep them as the stats I had the moment I wrote this part of the post. Mostly because, at the moment I'm writing this, I have exactly 7400 views of "Peeping Tomcat", and I think that's so cool!
Anyway, between my posting at 8:30 Friday morning until my writing this bit at 8:30 this morning - so, exactly 96 hours since posting - I had the following stats for this week's update:
I've already surpassed what I did last week! Heck, just FFN alone basically surpassed the entirety of last week! But I really want to focus on my reviews for a moment.FFN: 1174 views(!), 5 faves, 13 followers, and 2 reviews
AO3: 293 views, 12 kudos, 2 bookmarks, and 1 new review
DA: 15 views, 1 fave, but no comments
Total Results: 1482 views, 18 faves, 15 followers, and 3 reviews
The new FFN review was:
this was really great to see Chat being so reflective about his hobby[sic]
The one new review I received on AO3 was on Saturday evening. And it just made my week.
Kuro22: Dude, seriously, I feel like there isn't enough people telling you how well-written this fic is.I usually HATE first pov fics but this one is....simply so so good????? I really love the train of thought you build, the pace of the fic and, even with no dialogue, we readers feel drawn to this story.
I am very much looking forward to future chapters, thank you for writing this and sharing it with us!!!
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| I know, this looks strangely worse than the actual meme pic... |
That opening line is what killed me: "I feel like there isn't enough people telling you how well-written this fic is."
I was excited for the 26 reviews I have received between AO3 and FFN. I was happy to receive the 5 reviews I did have over on AO3. I don't want to diminish from any of them at all. But the sheer fact that this person felt that I deserved more love just made my heart swell.
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| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
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| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
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| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
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| Ya-Ya Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
Anyway, as much as I loved Kuro22's review, and as much as it made my week, and as much as I keep going back to re-read it to try to get me psyched for the next chapter, I also feel guilty about loving this ONE review so much.
For instance, the other review I got, over on FanFiction.Net, after that initial 24hours, was by cassy1994. It was done roughly at the same time: Saturday night. I don't want to dismiss that person's review, because Cassy has been commenting on nearly every chapter of PT. Seeing this person's name pop up time and time again, proving that I have faithful readers, also means the world to me.
In truth, every review does. Even one of my first ones that corrected a bit of my grammar. I learned something. I improved. It was the definition of a constructive criticism.
Then there are the "simple" ones that are a brief "I love this" or "Please, keep going" or "I can't wait until next update!"
These reviews make my heart swell as well. They truly do. They humble me. They reward me. They push me to keep going. They remind me that people DO like my work. The simplest words mean so much, because it means my work moved someone enough that they felt compelled to tell me so.
So, while I'm gushing over Kuro22's review, I feel guilty about not doing the same with my other reviews. I don't want to take any of those reviews for granted. I don't want to de-value a single one.
It takes a surprising amount of effort to take the time to write a comment/review on someone's story; even the "simple" ones.
So, if you are one of my readers who has left a review, know that they each touch my heart and I am grateful for every last one, no matter how long or short or well written or jumbled English it is. Heck, I may not know exactly what to make of it, but even those goofy "AKDSKFOSHEHS!!!!" type reviews are welcomed. It just means I somehow moved you - or broke your brain - to the point of not coming up with something comprehensible, but you still felt compelled to tell me so.
Okay. Enough gushing, I think. Let's get back to my writing.
Namely, those stats!
I just want to point out how much they have jumped since that initial 24hours after updating.
Normally it just kind of peters out after that first burst. However, this week it seems to still be going strong, which is awesome.FFN: 502 views
AO3: 72 views
DA: 3 views
Total Results: 577 views
I think part of that might be because the latest episode of "Miraculous Ladybug" finally premiered. That 14th episode that was supposed to come out two weeks ago on Disney UK? Yeah, apparently there was some sort of scheduling miscommunication, and instead it premiered on Disney Spain this past Saturday. It nearly simulcasted with the English dub though, so English speakers didn't have to wait too long for a version we could understand. Although, I do admit that I tried REALLY hard to remember ANYTHING from the six years of Spanish I took between middle school and college so I didn't have to wait for the English translation.
Man, I hate my brain sometimes. Could never really comprehend Spanish, even after all that studying. Add in that I haven't taken a class in about 15yrs....
Anyway, as I theorized before, I continue to believe that new episodes completely spike potential fanfiction readership, even if said fanfic doesn't relate to the latest episode.
On top of that, though, and possibly the reason my AO3 readership is finally starting to slowly grow, I have revived my Tumblr account.
Surprise, surprise. I'm LycoRogue on there as well.
Inside the Tree Trunk
The blog title relates to an old D&D character of mine: Pamela Sheppard, AKA Ariana Snow. Ariana had a nymph admirer who happened to be the high priestess of Ariana's goddess. So, Ari flirted back with the priestess, and the goddess rewarded this (?) by gifting her a magical tree trunk by the nymph's pond. Ari could use a special knock to open up the trunk and use it for storage of her most treasured items. Figured it was basically what I'd be doing on Tumblr.... Minus the special knock.
I don't post anything original all that frequently, but I'm trying to become fairly active in the Miraculous fandom. I reblog frequently. I like more frequently. I try to comment as often as possible.
I then realized, when one of the people I follow promoted the latest chapter of her story, that I'm an idiot and should TOTALLY promote PT on Tumblr. I've also noticed that more and more Tumblr bloggers post/read fanfiction to AO3 than they do to FFN. So, when trying to decide which link to use to promote PT, I went with the AO3 link. Get more people to find me there.
I think it's been working. At the very least, six people have liked the post I shared promoting my story. Maybe that's six more people who found PT that wouldn't have otherwise. Well.... five more people, the sixth one was ChibiSunnie, and I know she's ready to read the story once she has the free time again.
I'll have to keep remembering to promote to Tumblr. Try to garnish more traffic that way.
But wait, because we're not through yet!
Chapter 7 needs a bit more polishing here and there, but was more-or-less ready to post weeks ago. So I was able to use the past few days to focus more on my future writing than focusing on editing this next chapter.
First up? I used that Snowflake Outline method created by Randy Ingermanson to start figuring out "One and the Same" finally.
I have to admit that this sequel to "Peeping Tomcat" is going to be a bit more complicated than I originally thought, now that I'm plotting it out.
First of all, I can't tie it to "You've Got Mail" as directly as I originally thought, as I mentioned last week. Secondly, Ingermanson's structure suggests "three disasters and an ending" for story structure. It would be the equivalent of the concluding conflict of Act I, the mid-Act-II conflict, and the concluding Act II conflict: the climax. Then the ending, in Ingermanson's version, is the entirety of Act III.
Coming up with these "three disasters" is proving tricky. I was thinking of having Cat Noir confess that he knows who Ladybug truly is in an attempt to get her to let him reveal who he is to her. It doesn't go well, obviously. The snag though, is I don't know if I want this to be the climactic conflict just before she finds out that Cat Noir is Adrien and is thrilled that she no longer has to be torn between the two men. Because in "You've Got Mail" and even the original "Little Shop Around the Corner" there is a LOT of conflicting emotions in the concluding reveal of who the female lead's pen-pal is. One of those emotions is the sudden realization that if NY152 was Joe this whole time, then when she was talking about NY152 to Joe he was lying to her by not admitting that was him. It also means that he knew who ShopGirl was that whole time and also didn't say anything.
Do I keep that reveal for Marinette? Do I take that part away by having CN admit that he knows who she is? Do I keep it at the end of the story so Marinette has to process that CN knows who LB is AND process that CN and Adrien are the same person all within a few minutes of each other? OOOOOOOr, do I make that my "second disaster" in the middle of Act II? Have her "hate" Cat Noir the way Kathleen hated Joe, so that the re-connect and friendship build also heals the trust between them? Is that too much? Rebuilding trust while also building a romance? I mean, it was done in "You've Got Mail"....????
GAAAH! I'm not sure how I want to attack this story. I might have to switch over to fixing the Devon/Trish battle story instead of flowing directly from "Peeping Tomcat" into "One and the Same".
On the other plus side, I think I've FINALLY figured out my second original akuma attack for chapter 9 of PT.
The show "Miraculous Ladybug" has a lot of nods to pop culture. There are the (not so) subtle nods to classic Hollywood monsters: zombies, King Kong, Invisible Man. Homages to other Hollywood blockbusters: RogerCop instead of RoboCop, a scene where Pixelator asks for Jagged Stone is nearly shot-for-shot from The Shining, the Gorizilla episode also had a near shot-for-shot recreation of King Kong on the top of the Empire State Building. There's inspiration taken from fairy tales, myths, and legends: Befana, Santa Claus, Greek sirens, Cupid, Sapotis. The hints of Marvel and DC comics are also evident: Ladybug is Spider-Man, Cat Noir could be equated to the same-named Black Cat from the Spider-Man franchise as well, Alya's original superhero idol was the American comic book hero Majestia who resembled both Supergirl and Captain Marvel, Dark Owl is supposed to be Batman, and I could probably even equate Hawk Moth with Mr. Freeze from the Batman franchise. Finally, even TV shows/video games are parodied: the bots in Ultimate Mecha Strike III are all pulled from pop culture, the mech attacks mimic those of 90s fighter games, and Kung Food's outfit resembles Goku's from the Dragonball Z series.
With all this pop culture referenced throughout the series, I figured "why not use more from comic books?" I've seen plenty of cartoons that have a villain trying to fight as a voice for nature/Mother Nature/the Earth, etc. However, in just about all of the cartoons I've seen this trope, it's always a female character sort of taking on a role as the avatar for Mother Nature. It works. I get it. Also, females tend to be named after plants more than males, so coming up with names like Poison Ivy is easy.
Well, I wanted my second akumatized villain to be a male, to balance things out since, while males seem to get akumatized more on the show, female akumas seem to be super popular in the fanfiction/fanart. Anyway, I figured "why not have a male equivalent to Poison Ivy?" Having an environmentalist become akumatized and try to return Paris "to nature" was fairly simple, and won't need as much backstory or resolution as a lot of my other ideas. I could give the original citizen a quick nod and introduction in chapter 8, and then have the battle in chapter 9, and try to nod back to him in later chapters, like I'm trying to do with Louise.
In truth, the "post-akumatization" for Louise and this new akuma probably won't really come up, but I'm trying because fans want to know these guys are okay. That's one of the critiques of the show: that not everything that caused the akuma in the first place is entirely resolved - or at least shown as resolved - by the end of the episode.
Anyway, I've got the skeleton of this male Poison Ivy started. I gave him the name Michel, because it seems distinctly French, and no one seems to have used it yet. He's going to be in his early 20s, possibly still a college student. I have his powers mostly figured out, as well as his costume. It's going to be gloriously Power Rangers/Sailor Moon like. I just need to figure out his supervillain name. Not many poisonous plants lend themselves to a male persona. The top runner right now is Mandrake. Mostly because it has the word "man" in it, and "Drake" is a masculine name. However, compared to the other akuma supervillain names, "Mandrake" seems awkward. I'll have to workshop it a bit.
Whoo! This blog post is just going on forever, isn't it!? I told you I had a good week.
I should probably get back to writing my fiction, though. And I'm sure you've given me enough of your time already this week. So, until next Tuesday!
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