As I write this, it is bright and beautifully sunny outside, so.... maybe?
I want to be able to emerge from my home and write on my front porch again; absorbing the sunlight and only be pale instead of ghostly. I want the sunlight to give me the energy to actually DO some writing. I've been slacking off lately.
Originally, I was going to have "Peeping Tomcat" done and edited before I posted even the first chapter. That way I didn't have to worry about it. I didn't have to think about it. I was then going to take the fourteen weeks I took posting the chapters to write the sequel "One And The Same". That way I could flow straight into that story once done with this one.
I haven't even written out the outline for OATS yet. However, I DID watch "You've Got Mail" while folding laundry the other day in order to help get ideas.
It didn't help as much as I had originally thought.
I forgot that the bits I needed - how Joe convinced Kathleen to fall for him and want him to be NY152 before the meet-up - only took up the second half of the movie, and even then it was only about 20 minutes out of a two-hour film.
On top of that, doing a straight crossover-like fanfic would result in an AU story.
For those who never saw the movie, or the movie/play that inspired it: Joe and Kathleen became internet pen-pals. Neither knows the other's name or what the other looks like. They were careful to not give any specifics about their lives aside from the fact that they both live in New York City. They still created an intense friendship and bond that evolved into love. They decide to meet in person. Joe sees Kathleen waiting for him and is instantly distraught because Joe and Kathleen have been bitter business rivals up to this point. He ends up standing Kathleen up as his internet persona NY152, but still tries to engage her as Joe. It doesn't go well. Yet, he still knows he's in love with her. He just needs her to give Joe a chance to realize that he IS NY152, and the man she loves.
So, he starts an elaborate plan. He smooths things over as NY152, apologizing for "standing her up" at the meet-up, and rebuilding the bond and friendship. He then "bumps into" Kathleen as Joe and tries to start up a friendship, apologizing for running her out of business and trying to help her figure out what to do next in her life. Eventually, Kathleen trusts Joe enough to admit that she has a romance going on with someone she met over the internet. To build the friendship more, as well as to see what Kathleen truly thinks of NY152, Joe starts making fun of her pen-pal. They joke, but Kathleen stays adamant that NY152 is the love of her life.
Once Joe knows that Kathleen is positive that there is no one else for her but NY152, and after he and Kathleen have created a true friendship, he tries asking her out to see what she'd do. He - as NY152 - had already set up a second meet-up and date with Kathleen, and Joe purposely asks for a date on the same day. Kathleen is visibly torn, because she has grown to care deeply for Joe, but still desperately wants to finally meet NY152 and can't think of being with anyone else. She eventually turns down Joe, though still visibly upset by her decision, and heads to the meet-up with NY152 instead.
While she's waiting for her pen-pal, she hears a man call out for his dog Berkeley. NY152 had previously mentioned that he named his dog that, and so this is clearly the pen-pal's way of indicating that he is NY152. Excited, but a bit confused because she recognizes the voice, she turns to the run away dog, and sees Joe chasing after him. She starts crying over the flood of emotions realizing that the two men she has fallen for are actually the same guy, that she's been with the love of her life for weeks, that he used to be her hated rival, and he clearly knew who she was and was purposely playing with her. It was a LOT to take in, and none of it is expressed verbally, but Meg Ryan did a good job conveying it with facial cues.
Anyway, Joe walks over to her, tells her not to cry, and she chokes out that she was hoping NY152 was Joe.
*Wipes brow* Whoo, bit of a lengthy recap, but there you have it.
So, the big thing to point out is that as ShopGirl and NY152, Kathleen and Joe have hidden civilian identities. Making these the equivalent of their superhero identities. They only "meet up" briefly - for Joe and Kathleen it is whenever they have a moment to email back and forth, and for Adrien and Marinette it's whenever they need to save Paris - they know nothing of each other's civilian/personal lives, they don't even know each other's names, they don't know what the other looks like - to some extent with LB and CN - and they promised to not share any personal details, so they connected without truly knowing one another.
However, if the superhero personas are supposed to represent the email addresses, then a direct adaptation would mean Adrien and Marinette would be the bitter rivals, and that Adrien would have to try to build the bridge towards friendship while playfully trying to chip way at Marinette's love for Cat Noir, only to be happy he failed, but also happy that she ended up wanting CN to be Adrien.
In other words, this whole thing predicates on Marinette first loving Cat Noir and only tolerating Adrien, which is the opposite of canon. If I had Marinette figure out that Cat Noir was Adrien first, and had her try to encourage Adrien to want Ladybug to be her, then it would work fairly well. However, I'm already en route to the Big Reveal in Peeping Tomcat being Adrien knowing about Mari. Can't switch gears now.
Also, I'm a firm believer that Adrien DOES already have a crush on Marinette, but it's just overshadowed by his love for Ladybug, and the poor fourteen-year-old can't pick up on the "lesser" love he has for his friend. Whereas, Marinette is so blinded by her infatuation with Adrien that, while flattered and maybe a bit flustered by Cat Noir's flirting, she doesn't seem to really have a romantic interest. He's more of a flirtatious ego boost that she considers a best friend. So she'll take a bit more convincing to fall for CN.
And there's the rub. I need her to fall for the person she doesn't really know. So this is going to be a much looser adaptation than I originally thought.
For "One And The Same" I need Cat Noir to be Joe and Adrien to be NY152. Marinette's crush on Adrien will be solidly known either by the end of "Peeping Tomcat" or right at the beginning of "One And The Same." I haven't figured out which yet. But Adrien still knows how Ladybug, and therefore Marinette, feels about Cat Noir, and doesn't want her to love CN just because he's Adrien. He needs to know that she loves both sides of him, just as he'll figure out that he loves both sides of her before the close of PT.
It will be Cat Noir playfully picking on Adrien, to see Marinette's reaction to it. It will be CN who will "bump into" her, in order to build up the friendship. So, OATS will probably be exclusively MariChat with a small sprinkling of LadyNoir, depending on if I can figure out how to get CN to knock his civilian half down a few pegs while dealing with LB. It could also potentially have a lot of Ladrien as Adrien and LB interact similar to NY152 and ShopGirl in order to keep up that bond.
There is a LOT I need to think about, and I'm so far behind already! Gaaaah!
On top of that, I don't know if I'll be able to get ahead of the eight-ball. I'm struggling with the current chapter, and it's only going to go down hill from here.
The chapter I'm working on has Adrien reflect back on the four days between chapters two and three. However, the flash-back montage ends in spying on Marinette yet again post Mimicker attack. Between his reflection on what he learned about Marinette via his spying and what he discovered that night after the Mimicker attack, Adrien has an epiphany about the fact that Marinette isn't all that different than Ladybug. Little does he know.... poor kid.
So, this is kind of a major turning point for Adrien. It's the start of him slowly realizing that he DOES have a crush on Marinette, and possibly even love her, which then tears him apart because he's now in love with "two woman" - as far as he knows, at least.
The problem is the seemingly awkwardness - at least, to me - of the "flash-back" bits of the upcoming chapter. I'm such a linear writer that any sort of recollection of the past seems weirdly written to me. I also have to have Adrien recap four nights and the significance of these nights while still leaving space for that current night, all while not going overboard on the size of the chapter. It's a task, to be sure.
The seventh chapter I think I'm fairly okay with, so I could try to use NEXT week to get ahead, but that still leaves me with the second akuma attack issue.
Yep. STILL haven't figured that out. I did much more work on Masketeer, but I'm seriously starting to think that he doesn't work with my current story and that he has to be stashed away for some future fanfiction project. Leaving me to start from scratch yet again.
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| Tanuki Facebook sticker by Yanare Kuby |
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| Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books by Bryan Lee O'Malley |
In the meantime, I think I'm doing fairly decently by myself. Let's check out this past week's 24-hour stats!
That last one nearly made me cry. I was just so stunned and humbled by that review. I mean, me!? Just... AAAAAH! Amazing feeling! No matter how many good reviews I get, and how few bad ones, it is always - ALWAYS - so encouraging to have someone tell you how much you're doing it right.FFN: 546 views, 2 faves, 4 followers, and 3 reviews
AO3: 130 views and 1 kudos
DA: 32 views! 24 of which were for the new chapter. I also got 2 new faves, both of which were for the new chapter, too.
Total Results: 708 views, 5 faves, 4 followers, and 3 reviews
The reviews this week were:
1. The battle was really fascinating! I hope to see more fights soon.
2. I really enjoyed this!
3. A story with intriguing plot, perfect characterization, AND great writing? I’m in heaven :) keep up the great work! Can’t wait for the next chapter!
"Intriguing Plot"?
"Perfect Characterization"?
"Great Writing"?
The fact that people see all three of those elements in my story just makes my heart swell.
Qbbie, if you are somehow a reader of this blog, know that I want to just glomp you so bad!
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| Tohru glomping Hiro from the Fruits Basket anime Original manga by Natsuki Takaya |
Oh well. Once again I thank those of you who are here because you are truly interested in the silly things I say. My true readers. I love each and every one of you.
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| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
Also, a special shout out to my poor mother. She doesn't really get fanfiction, so she is always very confused when I both talk about it and write it. She also can't stand horror/suspense/thriller/gory stories, but I pretty much exclusively wrote that in middle and high school.
In other words, my entire life my mother has known I have writing talent, but I think I have yet to write anything that falls into her reading comfort zone. Still, the dutiful mother that she is, has read - or at least attempted to read - everything I've ever written and shared.
Most notably, this weekend while we were talking to celebrate her birthday, she asked me to explain FFN to her so she could read PT. I also had to pronounce Kwami for her, and explain that too. I'm hoping she's now all set. We'll see what a non-fan of "Miraculous Ladybug" thinks of my story.
LOVE YOU MOM! AND HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!
So, can we all just stop for a moment and give my mom major props? Her and Hubby are my rocks and my biggest cheerleaders when it comes to my writing. Shortly followed by Chibi and my one uncle.
Love you!!!!!
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| You guys rock! Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
As of this posting, my current weekly stats for week five of "Peeping Tomcat" are as follows:
I'm so glad I did well with Mimicker!!! I hope to do just as well with whomever my second supervillain is. And THIS right here - this review - is why I struggle for so long. I want to make sure the end result is "right" and fitting for the show.FFN: 787 views, 4 faves, 6 followers, and 4 reviews
AO3: 191 views, 4 kudos, and 1 bookmark
DA: 35 views and 2 faves
Total Results: 1013 views, 10 faves, 7 followers, and 4 reviews
The latest review:
1. I really liked Mimicker! She seemed like an akuma that would be on the show!
Also, with the followers I gained this week, I have hit over 100 followers on just FFN alone! Now, it's not much in the grand scheme of things. Over on FFN, the most followed story has over THREE THOUSAND FOLLOWERS! It's a completed story, and I guess I now have to check it out if it's that popular!
Quite a few Miraculous stories have over 1000 followers. So, having only 100 is kind of small peanuts. However, for a relatively unknown author within the fandom to have over 100 followers in just over a month is so cool!
I'm going to focus on that.
But I'm sure you guys know that I don't JUST have the latest chapter of PT to share. At the beginning of the year I promised myself that I'd post something new each month, excluding the chapters of my WIPs. So, to stick with that, I went ahead and worked on a "character study" short for Elymoxa.
"No Need To Daydream"
So, there you go! Two different things to read this week! Bonus? "No Need To Daydream" is less than 750 words! When do I ever write anything that short? So, go. Read. Let me know what you think.
In the meantime, I really need to get cracking on the back two-thirds of PT. Catch you guys next week!
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| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
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