For instance, I didn't realize that Jowy's Pixie had updated her blog with three new posts since I last checked - which was about two weeks ago! What makes this miss even more embarrassing is that one of those posts was a review and promotion for "Peeping Tomcat"! Quite the rave review no less!
I was basically tearing up by the time I was done with the read. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that people find MY work so fantastic. I'm so used to being blown away by other authors. It's weird when I'm the one who's blowing people away.
Anyway, if you would like to see what Pixie thought of PT, you can check out her full review here:
Fanfiction Review: Peeping Tomcat
And while you're there, don't forget to check out her other blog posts. She has an episode review for the Miraculous episode Anansi, and I'm sure the latest episode Sandboy will get a review soon. If you would prefer to avoid spoilers, she also has insight on the inspiration of her own ongoing works. Seriously. Check this girl out!
And since I'm taking this time to promote other people anyway, I have a grand announcement for "Leather and Lies" as well.
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| Sorry, I know that red font can be hard to read. Here's the text: "A criminal profiler searching for her cousin. A biker concealing a deadly secret. One wild ride full of passion, deceit, and danger. Coming October 3rd." |
You can snag your paperback pre-order on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
If you prefer the ebook version, the above links work for that as well. You can also pre-order the e-book version on Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play.
I pre-ordered my copy. Have you snagged your own yet?
Oh, and if you're over on Amazon anyway, you should probably go ahead and follow her author page. I mean, why not? I did.
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| You can get to her page by either clicking on her name on the "Leather and Lies" page, or you can just click this link. |
Or, if you prefer, you can also follow her on Twitter...
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| Her handle is @AuthorCStraub, in case you can't see it. |
Alternatively, you can also follow her on Instagram, BookBub, or GoodReads. I mean, a little more than a week before her book goes live. Now's the time to jump in and check out her work.
Alright. Enough promos for everyone else. What have I been up to this week, aside from slacking off.
Well.... I'm still chugging away at my non-linear writing.
Last week I talked about the few scenes I wrote already for "One and the Same". Well, based on initial guesses on size of the story, let's say that the "asking for Marinette's phone number" is probably about the sixth or eighth chapter. Then the All-Is-Lost full confession from Chat Noir is probably towards the end of the story; about chapter 16 or something. Then I jumped back to the second chapter or so as Adrien recapped the plot of "Peeping Tomcat." I then jumped ahead again to about chapter eight or ten - somewhere about mid-story maybe - for the scene where Chat Noir realizes Marinette is in love with Adrien.
Well.... now I'm at about chapter four as I tried to figure out how the MariChat friendship could have started. I was so nervous about this scene. It seemed so daunting and Herculean. How could I organically get Chat Noir talking to Marinette outside of her Ladybug costume while keeping his promise to no longer spy on her?
Surprisingly, the pseudo-chapter was fairly easy to write. We'll see how much survives the editing stage, but right now the important thing is that it is on paper, so to speak. I have something to work with. Actually, I have 4400 words and 8 pages worth of "something to work with".... so... yeah.... there's that. I already know that major portions of my "Chat Noir Finds Out About Marinette's Crush" scene needs to now be reworked since I used that info in this earlier chapter instead. That's what the revision process is for though, right?
My focus right now is to get this fanfic rough draft written. I'll fix things after the fact.
To use a phrase that became a meme joke in my former production job: "Fix it in post!"
At least I'm still going. I'm still not really sure how to start with the akuma supervillain attack, and I don't know how to finish, or most of the middle. On paper, it seems like I don't have much of anything figured out. Yet, I keep thinking of neat scenes I'd like to have in this story, and I just follow that train of thought.
I usually write start to finish; figure out where I was in the story so I can better understand where I'm going. Life is linear, and every past experience and decision affects the current experience and decisions. How can I properly write later scenes without knowing the earlier ones? How do I figure out the emotional affects?
Then, last year, I was challenged by Mouse to write a story in reverse, which was exactly what I needed for my Trish and Devon fight scene one-shot. I knew how the story needed to end, but I wasn't sure how to get there. Knowing where everyone needs to emotionally and physically be by the end of the story, I worked backwards. How did they get to that state? Then how did they get to THAT state? And I just kept diminishing emotional levels, or just shifting them. I took away wounds and fatigue to see how they got that beaten up in the first place. I then figured out how I needed to start; to set up the events of the story in the first place. I kept going from one end to the other: rewind more from the ending, or write linearly from the start. I met up in the middle, more-or-less, and then polished things up as I connected the two halves. It worked.
I'm now doing a similar thing with "One and the Same." Just.... in a more extreme sense. I'm jumping all over the place, but this method is actually working for me this go. So I'm running with it. I'll use NaNo to write the bridging scenes, and/or organize the scenes into an actual plotline.
In the meantime, we got another new "Miraculous Ladybug" episode on Monday, and another one should be coming up next Monday. October is actually supposed to be a very full month with supposedly a new episode every Monday. Seems fitting. The first episode of the season came out late October. Zagtoon is probably trying to rush through to the end - something like five or six more episodes to go - so the second season doesn't last TOO much longer than a year.
A year per season wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't only 25 or 26 episodes long...or if we didn't have to go full months without a new episode.... or if the episodes were actually released in production order so that any semblance of a story arc and/or timeline could be preserved.... or if we got a new episode after it's teased, instead of what we have now which is about three promos for three new episodes, but none of them are going to air for another month. So we're sitting on potential spoilers via trailers for WEEKS before we figure out what it all means. The fandom is freaking out about that quite a bit. That, and the fact that the last episode in a three-part series is supposedly airing before the other two are even done being animated....
This show's production is a bit of a mess right now....
Anyway, my point is that the new influx of the last few episodes, and then the release of the full season on Netflix perhaps by the end of the year will be great insight, reference, and inspiration for this story.
It also really helps that I got such a great review from my writing group for my "Adrien Recaps PT" pseudo-chapter. One member suggested that I try to tie in the headcanon I created with "Build Your Own Luck" somewhere in the story so The Bracelet has even more meaning within OatS. I'm pretty sure that was the only suggestion I got. The only critique was the overuse of the word "my" in the first paragraph. That member is quite the stickler for unneeded repetition, so she's developed quite the radar for that sort of thing. I tend to hate repetitiveness and redundancy as well, so I'm grateful she was able to find something I didn't.
Other than that though? One member just said "yeah, I liked it".... so I'm not sure if she just felt out of her element with fanfiction critiques, or if she legit had nothing really to say that everyone else didn't already mention. The member who suggested the tie in with BYOL admitted that fanfiction, and superhero teens drama, aren't his cup of tea, but he enjoyed my story. I drew him in and gave him plenty of images make sure he understood what was going on. The last member - who was the second to comment, actually - also gave me a rave review.
This really excited me since the group didn't seem all that excited about me reading the Peeping Tomcat chapters at the beginning of the year. So either I improved in my writing, their views/feelings on fanfiction changed, or I've talked about this fandom and series of stories for long enough that I wore them down. Either way, I'm glad they're enjoying it now. I even got asked to bring in more of Adrien as Chat Noir samples next time. Yay!
Oh! And speaking of wearing them down? Well DFL sent me an email about a week ago. She discovered that a theater within a decent driving distance from our homes is going to have a performance of the "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir LIVE!" musical.
I- I didn't even know this was a thing!
Love what you love, kids. Don't worry about what others think, as long as you aren't hurting anyone.
Okay, well I'm late enough with this blog as it is, so I'll catch up with you again next week. With any luck I'll FINALLY be back on my normal schedule.
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