A New Chapter Awaits!......editing.....

Goodness! I've gotten about 200 hits since last week! I never get that many hits! So I guess that means everyone is appreciating the new Handy Links page. I'm glad. I really hope that page helps you guys out.

If you haven't noticed yet, I have a new page: Handy Links For Fellow Aspiring Writers. There will be more links added to it as I find them, and when I update the page those fancy "New" icons will then only be by the links added that day.... I'll also try to remember to comment about any updates in that week's blog update.

Sure, now I have no clue who's reading my actual blog and who's just hopping by to get some helpful tidbits for themselves, but part of me doesn't really care. Yes, it would be fantastic to have more readers. Yes, it would be wonderful to know more and more people care about what I have to say. Yet, I kind of like the idea of helping fellow writers out more. One of the reasons I find beta-reading so fulfilling. So if you're enjoying the links - and if any in particular are helpful - don't forget to leave some comments. Same goes for if you find a helpful link that I don't have listed. Shoot me a comment so I can add the link. :-D

As for my own writing news, well, it's been a bit of a struggle but I managed to finally finish my chapter! ChibiSunnie now has it for beta-reading and she should get her notes back to me by tomorrow-ish. With any luck and massive determination I should be able to polish it up and manage to post by Thursday! So, those of you who have been waiting since friggen APRIL for my latest update, you shouldn't have to wait much longer. Also, I'm hoping this year I'll break this supposed cycle of writing monthly until May/June and then waiting almost a year for a new update....

I'll talk about it more in the author's notes of the latest chapter, but my issue this time was the format I locked myself in to - the chapters each based off of lyrics of a song. I had a spot where the chapter felt like it naturally wanted to end, and it was an exciting chapter to write up to that point. I actually had it written by the beginning of July if I can recall properly. So the update would have been MONTHS ago except for one major issue - the point where I had stopped left about half of the song lyrics untouched. So I avoided, and struggled, and worked on other writings, and beta-read, and looked for a new place to live.

Thank god I decided one of my New Years Resolutions would be to update once a month. That deadline really pushed me the last two days. That, and letting you guys know that the chapter would be sent to Chibi by today.... I was still stuck and didn't like how I was ending the chapter. I even remembered the advice "If you're bored writing it, the reader will be bored reading it" and wondered if I should bother with the "missing lyrics". I was actually dreading writing the ending of this chapter, as well as nervous that the advice would be true and everyone would find the chapter dragged out and the ending anti-climactic.

I was staring at the chapter like it was a school paper I waited until the last minute to write. I just wanted to do ANYTHING else but work on it - including cleaning and packing. What made everything worse is that my poor netbook pretty much died on me. The battery doesn't hold power for more than about 45min and there's something wrong with the fans not starting up with the computer so it auto-shuts off as soon as I turn the thing on. So I have to go through a dance of turning the computer back on repetitively about five times before it actually stays on, and then transfer everything over to my desktop so I could actually use the files saved on the netbook. It was tiring and drove me insane. All the more reason I wanted to avoid working on the story that was saved on my netbook.

Thankfully, Chibi helped me through it. She motivated me and gave me mini-breaks every once in a while as she asked me for advice on her drawing entry for the Valentine's Day contest. So thank you once again, Chibi, for helping me get back in to writing.

And speaking of the V-day contest, now that the chapter is almost out of the way I just need to focus on packing and moving this week and by next Sunday I should be able to start up on my contest entry. YAY, more Brainy writing! He's not in my latest chapter at all, so it will be fun to get back to him.

Finally Got The Ideas Flowin'

Last week I was excited to have a story concept set for the Valentine’s Day contest. This week I spent most of my days wondering if I had to go back to the drawing board. This was the Halloween story all over again. I had ideas bouncing around in my head, but I couln’t get any of them to develop in to a full story.

A week of talking back and forth with ChibiSunnie as well as scribbling notes down whenever I was on a work break resulted in me still not having a clue what to do with Brainy fantasizing about him and Helga. Everything I thought of either felt cliché or it had already been done in the show.

There were long battles with myself...

Helga’s trying to make it to Wrestlemania?

She and Harold already had that adventure in “Buses, Bikes, and Subways”.

Helga’s late for class?

Eh, she wouldn't really care about that.

What if Helga’s breaking in/out of the Sunset Arms?

Again?

Alright, this is a reoccurring thing, so not too many originality points, but it could work. It's sort of a show running gag.

Obviously she’d be attempting to stop Arnold from finding out her secret, but what would be the cause of her predicament this time?

Her book of poetry she writes about him?

Already happened in “Little Pink Book”.

Her locket with his picture in it?

Arnold found that in “Helga’s Locket”.

She confessed her feelings and then regretted it; hoping to snag back the proof before Arnold got to it?

Oh, you mean like the answering machine message in “Helga Blabs it All”?

What if she wasn’t aware that she was going to confess?

I get it! Like in “Helga Sleepwalks” when she broke in to his house to confess while she was sleeping!

How about someone else making the confession?

Because that would somehow be different than a parrot reciting Helga’s poetry to Arnold in “Helga’s Parrot”…

What if an actual person blabbed it? 

Everyone knows that Brainy knows her secret, but if he’s the hero – and if he hasn’t said anything by now – there’s no way he’s the one who’s going to say anything. 

Phoebe obviously knows considering the amount of times they hint at it in the show, but what would drive her to tell Arnold? Does he suspect and is badgering Phoebe about it?

Dr. Bliss is yet another who obviously knows, but she’s sworn to secrecy thanks to Doctor/Patient confidentiality. Besides, what would cause her to talk to Arnold about that anyway? 

Same goes with Mr. Simmons. He’s a smart enough man to know the poems Helga submits for class are about Arnold, but why would he ever say anything? 

It’s possible after the “Helga’s Boyfriend” episode that Stinky suspects that she likes Arnold, but he never really says anything the rest of the series, so it’s also quite possible he didn’t put two and two together. 

Lila knows because Helga told her in “School Play”. She’s a possibility since she’s at least a child and not a close enough friend of Helga’s for it to feel like a betrayal. Maybe Lila feels she’s helping those two finally get together? Maybe it’s a way to direct Arnold from crushing on her anymore? If I’m ignoring the FTi confession scene from the movie, can I also ignore that Arnold drops his crush on Lila at the end of “Timberly Loves Arnold”?

Then I thought of a rival, a thorn in Helga’s side that surpasses Lila…. Helga’s older sister Olga. Sure, she doesn’t seem to know about Helga’s crush on Arnold – or really anything else about her sister’s life for that matter – but what would happen if she found out? Clueless Miriam found Helga’s bubblegum shrine to Arnold in “Arnold’s Hat”, and Olga seems to always help out with the household chores, so what if Olga was helping her mother by putting Helga’s clean clothes away and finds another of the Arnold Shrines? What if she stumbles upon Helga’s poetry? What if Olga goes to check in on her Baby Sister while Helga’s sleeping and finds the locket?

For a little while I ran with the idea that Olga discovered Helga’s secret and, in an attempt to help out her kid sister, decides to let Arnold know about the crush. Helga could somehow find out and panic. Then Brainy’s to the rescue in stopping Olga and keeping Helga’s secret safe.

Three problems:

1 – How does Brainy permanently stop Olga from telling Arnold?

2 – Why can’t Helga do the same exact thing?

3 – Why would Brainy fantasize about keeping Helga’s secret safe? If he kept her secret safe she’d be eternally grateful to him and fall for him – if it were a true fantasy – and if so, Arnold finding out the truth would be a moot point since fantasy-Helga doesn’t feel that way any longer.

So, if it’s illogical for Brainy to fantasize about helping Helga by stopping Arnold from finding out her secret, what could Brainy help her with? Back to the drawing board...

At the very least, brainstorming how Brainy could save the day – using a real-world problem like in that The Big Bang Theory scene I posted last week – gave me that “Olga finds out about Helga’s crush” plotline. I think it could become a really cool “Olga and Helga Redefine Their Relationship” story. Plus, I’ve wanted to write an Olga story for a while. At least now I have a plot idea for that Olga story.

Oh, the Plot Bunny Farm is filling up fast! I might have to do another post about them all!

So as of Thursday I still had no clue what I was doing. I tried to switch gears by listening to my Valentine's Day playlist. I hoped that - much like how I get inspired to write chapters for my story - one of the songs will speak to me and inspire a story for the contest. I also started rewatching episodes of the Disney Aladdin cartoon series.

Inspiration hits in the weirdest ways. I landed upon a comedic love song entitled "Skullcrusher Mountain" and that really got my juices flowing.

Certain elements of the Aladdin cartoon also inspired me, but if I were to relay what parts over to you I'd give away some key points of my story.

Point is, I think I've finally figured out my Valentine's Day competition story! Whoot! I'm still going with Brainy fantasizing about Helga, but it will play out almost like a cheesy 1960's melodrama cartoon a la "Wacky Races" or "Dudley Do-Right". Let's just say that Arnold - in his "Eugene, Eugene" villainous persona Lawrence - portrays the singer in "Skullcrusher Mountain" with poor Helga as the captive woman.

Now that I know what I want to do with my Valentine's Day story I can finally concentrate on how I want to finish up my latest chapter for What is Truly Meant to Be. This way I can stick with my New Years Resolution to post a new chapter every month. Best part is, I think I FINALLY know where I want to go with that too.

So for the next 11 days I'll be working on WITMTB as well as packing to move in to the new apartment by February 1st. Then, once February rolls around, I'll use the last 8 days of the contest working on this Brainy story. If I could get the Halloween story done in one day, having over a week should be simple! Especially since the hardest part - figuring out the plot - is already taken care of!

Hopefully, by next week I'll either have my latest chapter done, or at least finished enough to send to Chibi to beta!