A Sad Goodbye

This week started off kind of mediocre and then just went completely sideways by the weekend.

The oppressive heat finally broke some, so I used my newfound energy and waning distaste to movement in order to clean my apartment a touch. In the process, I stumbled upon the remaining notecards I had used to outline "Peeping Tomcat" before taking on the challenge of NaNo. You can see my discovery and my more detailed thoughts on the find here:
First Stages of "Peeping Tomcat"

The long and short is that I love being able to look back at what “Peeping Tomcat” once was, and seeing how it evolved from that first outline. It just reaffirmed that just because you have an outline doesn't mean you can't also follow where the story leads you. You can have the freedom to let your characters lead the way, and still be surprised by your story, just like you would as a “pantser.”

The outline just gave me a roadmap of where I started, where I want to end, and more-or-less how I wanted to get there. If I didn't know where I was going with a story I could go to the outline to be re-inspired. Even my little pantser heart did something similar with "What Is Truly Meant To Be". I have a full “playlist” of songs I want to use for the story and in what order I want them, along with a brief explanation as to why that song and what I want it to say within the story.

The other great thing about the notecards is that I could rearrange them until I was happy with the story it told. I could replace notecards as well. In fact, the reason I did the notecard outline in the first place was because I had three different directions I wanted to take PT, and I couldn't organize the differing plot lines in a way that I could easily compare them. Notecards on the kitchen table was the way to go for me. I could see how the story splits, and how it could come back together for the key plot points I wanted to use regardless of the direction the rest of the story went.

I was re-inspired when I found the notecards. They worked real well for PT, and I'm currently stalled in my outlining of “One and the Same” because I'm not sure in what order I want certain plot points. So I bought myself a new stack of color notecards so I could color code my outline scenes.

Having all the supplies I needed, recovered from my frantic writing thus far into the year, and inspired to get back to working on this sequel, I figured I'd have a very productive weekend. I thought I could have the starting of an outline to share with you guys.

Then everything fell apart, so to speak.

After over three years of battling Stage 4 cancer, my mother-in-law passed away this weekend.

I feel like this is where I should do a long, heart-felt speech about how great she was and how much she'll be missed, but I've already done that so many times on Facebook. I'm kind of drained. Plus, you guys come here to read about my writing progress.

Still. She did a lot for us, and she had a lot of love and spunk in her heart. She will be missed.

Image found via Google Image
Edited and cleaned up by me

We're all as fine as can be expected after her passing, but obviously none of us are in the mindset to work on anything we normally would.

So the writing stalled.

Instead, I went full-throttle with reading, and ended up finishing “A Spell for Chameleon” yesterday.

Only 3 books left! What should I put in that last slot?

There were still Tolken-esque parts where the characters got a bit too introspective or philosophical, or Anthony himself went into intense detail about the environment. One of the characters met about half-way through the book was very much the overly-intellectual trope. The type where he presented a simple explanation or reason for something – an explanation that made sense and was quickly accepted by both Bink and me as the reader – but then the character went into philosophical reasons to reaffirm the concluded explanation. I guess this was to showcase his great intellect and that his reasoning was infallible. Even the more intelligent and observant readers couldn't poke holes through his theory.

It was exhausting to read it, though. The character was indeed charming, and you did understand Bink's conflict on whether or not to trust him, but when he droned on... I started skimming.

I do praise the fact that scenes, events, and characters, that just seemed to be random occurrences and companions that Bink stumbled upon, all ended up legitimately having a more severe role in the overall story. The fact that they seemed random while reading threw me off, but it also made it feel more natural. Not everyone you meet or everything you go through is going to have a long-term affect on your story; your journey; your life. At the same time though, knowing what I do with story structure, if these people or events didn't leave a lasting impact on Bink's over-all story, then why did we need to know about them? So that bugged me. Therefore, it was satisfying to see how everything sort of tied together.

The first half of the story definitely read more like “The Odyssey” in which Bink is just going through random events and meeting random people on his long journey to find what he's searching for before returning home.

Then the tone switches. It becomes a romance and political drama and fantastical story of survival and a tale of self-discovery.

So, while I like the pacing of the first half better, the seemingly random plot threw me. And while I preferred a more structured second half, the one character's constant over explanation, and Bink's continuous introspection, sort of droned on here and there. If only the pacing of the first half continued into the second, and if only the first half had the more structured story as the second.

All-in-all, it was a good read, and a lot of the concepts within the story will most likely stick with me; some crafty thoughts on fantasy worlds. I'd say it's a solid 3 or even 3.5 out of 5.

Now to find another book to read before “Leather and Lies” comes out in October. Either that, or start up “Atlas Shrugged” again and hope I get it done by the time LaL is published. I'll let you know what I decided on.

Changing gears slightly, while I've been stalled in my writing, Spink has actually started up her writing again.

She had a vivid dream that gave her quite the inspirational spark for a novel-length story. It's her first attempt to write something so long, so we've been spending a lot of time brainstorming. Her hubby has been helping out a lot too. She read him her first synopsis of her story, and he asked her a LOT of questions to try to add more depth. She then answered those questions, finding more in the process. Eventually, she came to visit me, and I asked even MORE questions. Slowly but surly she's fleshing out more and more of the story. Her world building is becoming more complete. While I'm still confused on what to do with my own work, it was exciting to help her come up with plot points and rules to magic, and even character motivation.

I just wish I could do the same for myself.

Ya-Ya Facebook sticker
by Birdman Inc

Another side note, one that will hopefully help with getting me back into the mood to write “One and the Same.” Now that I am done with “Peeping Tomcat” and he can read it all in one sitting if he wishes, Shadow wanted to first get into “Miraculous Ladybug.” While I had hoped that I wrote the story in such a way that you didn't have to know the show to enjoy PT, it became evident via my attempts to read at writing group that fanfiction is best enjoyed by people who know the source material. So I showed Shadow the first episode with some apprehension.

I know from my own experience, and from the experience of some of my friends – ChibiSunnie and Spink – whom I attempted to share the show with, that the first episode is mildly confusing. It's as if you missed some episodes already, because the episode plays just like all other ones: with the unspoken understanding that the audience already knows what is going on.

The concept is easy enough to deduce, and by the second episode you, as the viewer, get your sea-legs and can navigate the show a bit better. However, that first episode is a bit jarring as you try to figure out the rules of this world and the dynamics of these characters. It is also super cheesy, as I routinely note. It's great for me, because I live for 90's-era-style cheesiness thanks to the benefit of Nostalgia Glasses. The show reminded me of Power Rangers and Sailor Moon, and so I embraced the cheese.

Having forgotten that Shadow LOVES Power Rangers - to the point where I've only watched Mighty Morphin' and I think he's watched at least four more seasons beyond that – I feared his reaction to the show, and indirectly my love for it.

Hubby seemed to get my love, although he perhaps didn't share it. At least he now saw two or three episodes - along with whatever he sees over my shoulder when I'm watching season 2 online – and perhaps understands my rantings and ramblings a bit better. God bless the man for listening to me go on and on about the show. To be fair, I listen to him go on about Magic: The Gathering, so... fair trade?

Anyway, Shadow fell in love with the show almost as quickly and as intensely as I did. He watched a couple of episodes on his own at home, and then invaded last week. We spent about three or four hours marathoning more episodes, with some fanart and fan jokes scattered throughout. Just whatever gems I found on my computer or could quickly access on Tumblr. I also introduced him to fancomic dubbing, mostly through one of my favorite voice actor: Princess Sakura Serenity.

He's loving it all and gobbling it all up. Someone as obsessed about something as I am!? Yes, please! You can't stop me now! Perhaps, once he's done reading PT, I can use him as a sounding board and potential beta. I love that Chibi and Cyhyr offered, but both ladies are so busy with school work that I'd hate to impose. Shadow decidedly has more free time to just sit and read, although he does seem to hate getting a story in bites, so I'll definitely have to make sure OatS is complete before I pass it along.

Maybe I'll use him as a story-structure beta, and then over to Cy for line edits, if she's still interested.

But I'm putting the cart before the horse. First I need to write the outline to know where I'm going with this story.

Writing has always been my escape before. My way of relieving stress. And sometimes, ironically, my source thereof, but ignore that. Maybe focusing on writing is what I need right now.

I also miss reading something at writing group, so perhaps I'll have to think of starting up daily writing practices again, or start up my Glitches world build once more.

The snafu with the group, as much as I love them, does seem to be that they're only great at critiquing ongoing original prose. For my one-shots they don't seem to know what to say. When I talk about world building, character creation, or generic outline, in order to get pre-writing insight, they seem equally unsure how to comment. They are just downright dumbfounded when I go into fanfiction territory.

I probably won't have anything to read yet again tonight, but we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm going to take care of Hubby and sort out my OatS outline. Until next week.