Let's Play The Yay-Boo Game!

Well, folks, it's everyone's favorite game show!

It's. The.....

GAME!

Here's how you play. You have conflicted views/feelings about a subject, and you go back and forth about the yay's and boo's of that subject. Ready to play?

This week's subject is: My Writing Progress

I finished Chapter Eight of "Peeping Tomcat" with a few days to spare before I needed to check in over at Writers’ Huddle. First week I wasn't just squeaking in at the deadline! YAY!

The reason why I finished Chapter Eight so soon was because, while the rest of my chapters average at 5412 words, my latest didn't even hit 1600 words originally. BOO!

Yes, there are three chapters that skew the results one way or the other, my longest chapter being the one about the akuma attack which clocks in at 7560 words, and my previously shortest chapter was the lead-in to Adrien and Marinette's pseudo-date, which was only 3062 words. Here's the actual break-down:

Chapter 1: Mistake - 6978
Chapter 2: Itch - 3967
Chapter 3: Opportunity - 3062
Chapter 4: Normal - 4876
Chapter 5: Mimicker - 7560
Chapter 6: Parallels - 6804
   (I'm still debating calling chapter 6 "Epiphany" instead)
Chapter 7: Confusion - 4639

I have since been able to go back and add more definition to the story though. YAY!

But it was for the seventh chapter to bring that up to the above 4639 word count.... BOO!

HOWEVER! Yesterday I was able to steal away some time to add to Chapter Eight's word count, bringing it up to 2139 words, much closer to my minimum. Plus, I'm not done reworking it yet! YAY!

I really need to stop worrying about how short this chapter is, though, because this week's challenge is a second akuma attack, and I don't even have a starting point for this akuma. BOO!

I DO have some of the interaction I want between Chat Noir and Ladybug thanks to the akuma, though, and that's the whole point of the upcoming chapter.
Added bonus: if the chapters "Normal" and "Mimicker" are any indication, I'll probably have to introduce the akumatized character and the distressing event in Chapter Eight, as a lead-in to the actual akuma attack in Chapter Nine. Which means figuring out the akuma attack for Chapter Nine will help bring up Chapter Eight's word count. DOUBLE YAY!

The big problem, though, is that I've been so focused on this project of "Peeping Tomcat" that I didn't even think of a short to post this month. Which means I only have today and tomorrow to write, edit, and post something new online in order to keep with my new years resolution of something new published each month. On top of that, I don't have anything to share here for the month, AND, unless I get at least the writing done today, I again won't have anything to read at writer's group tonight. DOUBLE BOO!

AAAAAAAAnd, there we have it! The conclusion of our game! Let's see the results:

YAYs: 5              BOOs: 5

Well, looks like it was a tie game! Each up swing had its fall, each cloud had its silver lining!

Thanks for playing the

GAME!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Okay, so for writer's group tonight, even though I probably won't have a new one-shot to read, I COULD start reading off "Peeping Tomcat" to hear their thoughts, add them to my betas' reactions once I send them the story, and see where I end up. As you saw above, though, each chapter is LOOOONG! But then again, isn't this the point of the group? To read off your WIPs and get reactions in order to better them? Sure, none of them know "Miraculous Ladybug", but don't I want opinions from non-fans to see if they understand the story? To make sure I'm explaining the scenes and episode events well enough that you don't NEED to watch the show to enjoy the story?

I'll see what I decide when I get there. If I'm one of the first to read, perhaps I'll just go full throttle and read off "Peeping Tomcat". If I have a new one-shot written, perhaps I'll read that to help polish it before posting tomorrow.

I'll let you know what I decided next week.

In the meantime, I finished my re-read of Lycopolis a couple of days ago.

I told Ali that, while my mind and world views have evolved since my first read, and I understand the characters better this go, I still had the following thoughts on each character:

• Seth is definitely the charmer he's supposed to be, but he's also a complete jerk, and it's masterful how Ali has him walk that line.
• Kay is a lovely heroine, but there's one scene late in the book where I always seem to scream because she's too timid! I get why she reacts the way she does, and I get why it's important to the overall story that she does, but, dang, girl! Move faster!
• Edwin just needs all the cuddles! He's portrayed as Goth, but he is by far more Emo than Goth. If Emo's wore baggy clothes to hide in instead of the skinny jeans, you'd have Edwin.
• Mark is my least favorite character. I understood him more this read than I did last; probably because I'm going through a similar weird 30-something "mid-life crisis" but for completely opposite reasons than Mark. He also started to redeem himself towards the end of the book, more so than I remembered from my first read. Still, I don't like him. I still think Hannah can do better....
• Hannah we don't really get much of outside her role as "Mom," either to her actual kids or to the teens in the book: Kay, Brandon, Edwin, and Robert. I like Hannah, but I don't really get enough to build a true opinion of her.
• Robert is another one we don't get much of, mostly because everyone else is from around the same area in England, and Robert is Texan. While I get his teenage/religious rebellion and questioning, I also think he's a jerk to follow Seth so easily.
• Brandon is still my favorite character. His aloofness is just so enduring to me for whatever reason. The fact that he thinks in numbers is fascinating to me, and I totally get his justifications for the numbers he assigns each person he meets. The characteristics do seem to fit both the people and, strangely, the assigned number. 

All-in-all, I want to see how Seth reacts post-Lycopolis, I want to learn more about Hannah and Robert, I want to see Kay become more confident, I want to see how Mark redeems himself and grows, and I just want more Brandon. Edwin just needs more love and cuddles. Man, I love broken characters....

I've been taking a roughly week-long reading break instead of getting a jump start on "Oblivion". Mostly because whenever I know I should be working on "Peeping Tomcat" I've instead been reading.... It's a seemingly wonderful excuse for procrastinating...

Come Thursday, however, it will be March 1st, and I'll be back to reading. I'll let you fine folks know how my opinions may change for each character. Ooooor, you can decide for yourself by going over to Amazon and buying the books.

Okay, this blog is now going to posting late. Stupid computer lag. Plus, I still need to figure out my monthly one-shot. So, I'll catch everyone next week!

Shoving That Boulder Along

I'm a day early, but Happy Valentine's Day to you all. Romantic, platonic, familial, communal, or otherwise, I hope you're feeling some extra love this week.

I would appreciate a little extra love from my Muse this week in order to help me catch up with "Peeping Tomcat".

My second week of the Writers’ Huddle Winter Writing Challenge went about as well as the first one. Prior to the challenge starting, I had the following break down:

1. Chapters 6 and 7 redone and ready for my beta readers by the close of the first week: February 4th
2. Chapters 8 and 9 set for my betas by close of the week: February 11th
3. Finish chapter 9 if need be, touch up on the mostly fine chapter 10, and start chapter 11 by close of the week: February 18th
4. Catch up week if I need it, but still have chapters 11 and 12 done by close of week: February 25th.
5. Chapters 13 and 14 by the end of the week: March 4th
6. Chapter 15 before I need to head to my mom's to visit my sister: March 9th

After the challenge started and I knew I had to work chapter 5 in as well, my new goals look like this:

1. Chapters 5 and 6
2. Ooooh kaaaay.... how about 6 and 7?
3. Chapters 7, 8, and start 9?
4. Here's hoping I can finish 9 and just quickly polish a few words here and there in chapter 10.
5. Shoot! I need to get chapters 11, 12, and 13 taken care of!
6. Race through chapters 14 and 15; taking no more than 2 days each. @_@

I have a feeling that come March 12th, instead of sending a completed manuscript to my betas, I'm going to just send the first half of the fanfic along with a detailed outline for the second half. That way they can at least start giving me notes so I can still have my story posted "on time."

Oh! That's right! I shared on DeviantArt, but not here. I have a tentative publication date of Friday, April 6th, or even late Thursday night so it's available all of Friday. With the help of my two betas Cyhyr and ChibiSunnie, I should have the first chapter polished and ready to go by that April publication date. Then I'll polish a new chapter each week, and post said chapter every consecutive Friday... or Thursday night, whichever one I decide on. If I can at least be far enough ahead in my edits/writing to keep up with this schedule, then I'll finish off "Peeping Tomcat" about mid-July. I'll then start posting "One and the Same" on a weekly schedule as well.

That means I not only need to be ahead of the game in my weekly posts for PT, but I also need to have at least the first few chapters of OatS ready to go. I have no clue how large that story is going to be, but, if it doesn't carry me to the end of the year, then it should at least carry me long enough for me to polish up that Devon/Trish battle fanfic. Then THAT will be my final post of the year. Given the plan of FINALLY doing the Varekai fan-novelization over this year's NaNo, since I pushed it aside last year, I should get that polished and set to go March/April 2019. That's quite a ways away, though, so let's focus on PT, shall we?

As I mentioned, Cy and Chibi both offered to beta for me. Cy is actually a Miraculer as well, so she's going to be my main beta reader for this project. Chibi hasn't had time to get into the show, and she's also pretty booked with her own writing and schoolwork. However, she's always been a beta reader for me, so she's keeping that hat on, as it were. Since she knows my writing style and voice, she'll help assist me with that. Plus, she's my gauge on how well people outside the fandom might understand and/or enjoy the story.

So, can we take a brief time out to thank these two ladies for taking what will probably be massive amount of time helping me figure out this story? Likewise, can we thank my writing group for dealing with my kooky fanfiction I bring every meeting? No one is ever in the fandoms I write for, but they are good spirits and let me read anyway. So, thanks, everyone, for indulging me.

Hacker Girl Facebook Sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Oh, speaking of thanks and indulgences, I actually co-won the raffle for the first week of the writing challenge. I've got an Amazon $10 gift card, and I'm itching for a book to spend it on. Anyone know if I can use Adobe Reader to read e-books I purchase off of Amazon? I don't have an e-reader, and there are a few people over at Writers' Huddle that have digital-only books up on Amazon. Although, it might be cheating a bit, using my winnings to support them....

Anyway, I joked that, thanks to the raffle accepting anyone who checks in, even if they don't hit their weekly goal, I got rewarded for not figuring out my story.

I guess that was the encouragement I needed, though, because I DID figure out the rest of chapter 5 shortly after. Actually, once I published last week's post, I hopped in the shower. I was barely in there three minutes when I figured out the Lucky Charm I needed to finish the chapter. Bam, just like that. It almost felt obvious. The rest of the chapter fell into place quickly after.

Problem was, I still had to work on chapters 6 and 7 this past week, and I didn't even start them until Wednesday since I wanted to get chapter 5 done first. I wasn't worried though, because chapters 6 through 8 were already written. I assumed I only needed to clean them up a bit. Much easier and faster than the "writing from scratch" chapters I had just completed.

I even stated in this blog a few weeks back, "at least chapter 6 is a fun one of Cat spying on Marinette yet again, so that one should be quick to revise/edit."

I then READ the chapter!

Good lord, it was bad.

It was obvious that I had written it about half-way through NaNo, and after the emotional and mental drain of losing the first half of my story. I was rambling; trying to get words on the page in a frantic attempt to catch up. I spilled everything from my head onto the paper. Adrien was trying to figure things out, and so I was too. It wasn't pretty. And it was long!

I.... uh.... I don't know if I improved it at all.

See, the problem with chapter 6 is that it would be a lot easier in a visual medium than a solely written one.

Chapter 3 starts five days after chapter 1; five days after Chat Noir accidentally spies on Marinette. Chapters 3 and 4 show Adrien's dynamic with Marinette. I try to keep it about par with the show in regards with Adrien's contradictory crush on Marinette. On the one hand, it's super subtle: more than willing to kiss her during a film their friends are taping, the constant need to call out her name to get her attention whenever he sees her, the constant touching of her shoulders, the glances he gives her later in season 1, the friggen SLOW DANCE in season 2, and even how he looks at the lucky bracelet Marinette gave him. It's easy to just look over everything as "he's just really friendly/comfortable with her" or even "he knows she likes him, so he's subconsciously flirting back." It's so subtle, it's kind of obvious that he doesn't realize he likes her. On the other hand, while the crush IS super subtle, it's just as much BLATANTLY OBVIOUS to anyone who's looking for signs of him crushing on Marinette. I point out the same reasons.

Anyway, my point is, chapters 3 and 4 of PT are supposed to set up that subconscious crush on Mari, so that late in the story, when he finds out she's Ladybug, the reader doesn't feel cheated that he realizes he likes her. The reader already knows this, it's ADRIEN who didn't, and struggles as he wonders if he likes her for her, or does he just like her because she's LB.

Chapter 5 is the akuma attack, which sets up the next chapter.

Chapter 6 takes everything that Adrien, and therefore the reader, learned from that day - chapters 3 through 5 - and applies it to what Adrien discovered throughout the week of spying on Marinette. These things combine to give Adrien the epiphany that Marinette and Ladybug are two sides to the same coin; Adrien not realizing how close to correct he really is.

It wouldn't work if he had this epiphany before chapter 3, and he wouldn't get it in chapter 6 if he hadn't watched Mari for 5 days already. Likewise, I can't really show the days in chronological order between chapters 2 and 3, because by themselves, the observations CN makes don't really move the story along; therefore, they aren't justifiable as their own chapter.

Which leaves revealing CN's week-long spying observations to chapter 6; making it a "recap chapter" as CN flashes back and "montages" the previous three nights. Because he's recapping each night, I can't really add any dialog without slowing the recaps down too much. Instead, each night is restricted to three or four short paragraphs. After the recaps, Adrien needs to have the epiphany that makes the chapter worth keeping in. He does this by using the information he gathered from the five nights of spying, and comparing his new view of Mari to how he views LB. This is more internal dialog since he can't talk to anyone about it, aside from Plagg, who is currently in the Cat Miraculous giving Adrien the power to be CN.

All-in-all, it was almost all show, virtually no tell, and there was no dialog, which just makes the whole thing jumbled and feel like it's rambling. I needed dialog, and I needed a better feel for the whole scene I was cutting down in the recaps. A way to know EXACTLY what would stick out.

So, I spent the week actually doing a LOT of writing. I wrote out the whole scene - from both Adrien's POV and Marinette's - for Adrien and Mari finding Alya and Nino after the akuma attack. I wrote the scene where they decide to forego the rest of their outing, and instead head home, complete with Adrien walking Mari home. I made sure to set the scene of Adrien asking Nathalie about showing Marinette's portfolio to Gabriel. I then wrote out what fully happened each night CN peeked on Marinette.

Once all that was figured out, I then cut every scene down to the aforementioned three or so paragraphs to recap. I also added some dialog this go, which helped a little. The whole thing still feels like a rambling, god awful, jumbled mess. However, it IS better than the original go. I'm sure I can cut down 6800 words to something more manageable....

Poor Cy and Chibi....

Even though I spent the whole week writing pretty much every moment I could steal away, I STILL couldn't catch up on my challenge goal. All because I'm writing a bunch of stuff that does help me better understand my story, like when I wrote The Birth of the Mimicker, but it doesn't add a single word to my actual story.

I did manage to finish chapter 6 by the close of the week, so yay to that. I just need to work on chapter 7.... and 8.... and create a second akuma attack for chapter 9... all before Monday. I can totally do this....

It's not like it kept me almost two full weeks to figure out an akuma, their powers, the Lucky Charm, and how the villain was going to be defeated... Simple.....

Eh, at least I'm keeping pace in my reread of "Lycopolis."

I should probably get back to working on my novel, though. But first, one last group hug with all of you.

I love each and every one of my readers, so thank you all lots for showing me love back! Happy Valentine's Day!

Hacker Girl Facebook Sticker
by Birdman Inc

Darn These Lucky Charms!

My posts are surpassing 100 hits again. I think the Miraculers are back. So.... Hi again, fellow Miraculers. You won't really find any new info on Miraculous Ladybug here, but you're welcome to stay.

Since I'm talking Miraculous anyway, I have to talk about "Peeping Tomcat." It's..... a slow process. Last week was the official first week of Writers’ Huddle's Winter Writing Challenge. By the end of the first week I wanted to have chapters 6 and 7 edited, revamped, rewritten, whatever I needed to do to have it set for my beta readers in March.

I'm STILL not done with chapter 5 though. I wanted that done before even starting the challenge.

It's the darn Lucky Charm! I just cannot figure out what I want to do for it! I mean, granted, it also kept me a while to figure out my akumatized supervillain, but once I figured that out last Monday I was on a roll. The rest of the chapter worked out fairly well. I was able to salvage some descriptions from the first go at this story I did over NaNo. I'm just stuck on what to do for a Lucky Charm.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Ladybug's main power that she uses to stop every akuma is called Lucky Charm. She's gifted an item that is used to stop the villain long enough for her and Cat Noir to retrieve and break the akumatized item; releasing the person from Hawk Moth's hold and returning them to their civilian form.

These Lucky Charms always force Ladybug to think outside the box. For example, she used a towel Lucky Charm as a makeshift hang-glider; a large packing box to trick a Santa Claus themed villain into thinking he was getting a present, which allowed LB to be close enough to snatch the akumatized item; a spoon as a makeshift fishing hook to tangle the villain and lift him off the ground; an oven mitt as homemade handcuffs; a shoe box as a projector promoting a show the akumatized villain wanted to stop; a power strip as a second yo-yo as she fought five attackers at once; and the foil inner lining of an ice cream bar wrapper as a reflective surface to see through illusions.

More often than not, she has to MacGyver her Lucky Charm into something useful, such as the aforementioned spoon being duct taped to her yo-yo which in turn was attached to Cat Noir's baton in order to make a fishing pole. The shoe box was combined with someone's glasses, a promotional poster for the show the akuma was trying to stop, and the headlights from a nearby bus. The oven mitt was combined with an already existing oven mitt, a belt, and a bracelet.

That's part of the power. Once Ladybug has her charm, she scans the area for clues, which flash in red with black polka dots. Once her vision gives her clues on what other objects she'll need to combine with her charm, she has to mentally put it all together herself.

The combinations she has to come up with in the second season are even more involved. She has to combine a unicycle, multiple rake heads, and Cat Noir's baton for the most recent episode. The one before that she simply gets a motorcycle helmet, and, thanks to her Ladybug Vision, is able to figure out that Cat's baton, three directional street signs, a bus, a bench, a tipped over motorcycle, and two light posts are all needed to stop the villain.

So, in order to stay true to canon, I need to think of something presumably useless for her to get as a Lucky Charm, and then figure out how it's obviously the only way to stop the akuma.

I CAN'T THINK THAT FAR OUT OF THE BOX!

So I've been stalled for two days now. I have a lot of the post-Lucky Charm Use chapter done, but I can only do so much. The way the akuma is stopped could affect small bits of the back end of the chapter. Plus, I'm missing a huge chunk if I don't have her using the Lucky Charm.

And this is just the first akuma attack. I have a second one planned in a few weeks, and at least two more for the sequel. How am I going to do this!? How can my brain not be this creative?

HOW DOES ASTRUC AND HIS TEAM FIGURE THIS OUT 26 TIMES PER SEASON!?

It's no wonder that just about every other Miraculous Ladybug fanfic I've come across has avoided akuma attacks. If they do have them in, they're fought "off screen" with the characters just reflecting back on them. Or, they do fight the akuma, but the fight "fades out" with a simple "Ladybug got her Lucky Charm, figured out how to use it, and saved the day" sort of thing. OOOOOR the even rarer, Ladybug doesn't even use the Lucky Charm to defeat the akuma.... which isn't really accurate at all, because without the charm she can't use her ultimate power of Miraculous Ladybug, where she restores everything to how it was prior to the akuma attack.

I have yet to come across a fanfic or fancomic writer who has attempted to actually think of a Lucky Charm and how Ladybug uses it. Am I the only one brave enough to try? Or have others tried, but failed so miserably that their stories aren't all that well known?

If you are in the fandom and have either read - fic or comic - a story where a Lucky Charm is shown and used, or if you yourself have written one, could you link me in the comments section? I won't steal the idea, but it might help to see how others accomplished this herculean task.

I wracked my brain so much that I actually had quite the interesting dream last night. Sadly, I've been up for a few hours now, so it's not as vivid as when I first woke up, but I was still too groggy to write it down then.

It started off as a Miraculous dream, with Adrien/Cat Noir and Marinette/Ladybug as the main characters, but as the dream went on they morphed into mutants. I think "Glitches" is feeling a bit left out that I haven't worked on anything original since July.

I just have patches now, but the dream started with the heroine being abandoned on a small and remote island. I'm talking super small, like only a couple miles long. Like if Manhattan was still uninhabited. It's a bit blurry now, but either she was abandoned there in an attempt to find an important artifact, or she was left there as bait for the hero who had the artifact, or she was left there in order to ransom the artifact from the hero. One of those three.... Somehow she gets off the island and back home, which looked a lot like Main Street of my home town. I'm sure my mother will have a field day knowing that..... Anyway, apparently before being left on an island, the heroine had roomed with someone else. Again, it's vague since the heroine started as Marinette, but she's living on her own with a roommate, so she's somewhere between 14 and 20.... Really narrowed things down, huh?

Either she made it home and was captured again, or she was "rescued" from the island by the villain, who, along with the hero, resembled Adrien? Either my mind couldn't decide what it wanted, or I'm dealing with an evil twin.... The villain is the same rich boy that Adrien is, but instead of being humbled and isolated by it, the villain uses it to give himself power and entitlement. So.... Chloe.... The villain is "gifted" the heroine by his mother, who is the true villain of the dream. The boy is also given a short sword, which I guess was the artifact the heroine was abandoned on the island for. The son used the sword to mildly sexually assault the heroine. Doing things like threatening to cut her clothes off - he doesn't - and sliding the blade across her exposed skin, which is quite a bit since the mother first forced the heroine to dress in a bare-back dress with long slits up the sides to help expose her legs. At some point, the villain falls asleep, but does so without attempting to first restrain the heroine. This is the part of the dream where I, as the dreamer, thought that maybe the kid was only doing idle threats to seem tough in front of his mom, but in truth, he's not bad. Perhaps he purposely "fell asleep" with the heroine free so she could escape without his mother realizing he let her go.

She steals the sword and races home, but the front door is sealed shut by the police. Yes, I know the police don't actually do this, but I dreampt that they bolted her front door closed along with posting a police notice. Anyway, she breaks in and sees that her house has been ransacked, and her roommate is missing, as is the stray dog they had taken in just before the heroine was brought to the island. Distraught, she wanders her house to try to find any way to contact help and figure out why the police think she's some dangerous criminal on the lam - as indicated by the police notice on the front door.

She finds her cellphone - don't know why it was left behind; dream logic - and tries to call her roommate to see where she disappeared to, is she safe? Before her roommate could answer, there is a whimper at the front door. It's the stray lab they had taken in prior to the start of the dream. Except, he has a couple of people with him. One is the heroine's roommate. Despite the rain, they look dry and pristine. The roommate, who greatly resembles Scarlet Witch from the X-Men comics, admits that she's a mutant and a telepath. They talk about how the heroine - who doesn't really resemble Marinette anymore at this point - is actually a mutant as well, and the roommate was originally there to try to watch over her like a secret guardian. She apologized for failing at her job of protector..... and that's about where I woke up.

I'm not sure what I can grab from this, but it was interesting enough that I might have to tap back into this dream in the future for story ideas.

Now, if my mind could help me figure out a Lucky Charm, that would be great. Either that, or it did, and now I have to figure out how Ladybug uses a short sword to stop a clone army and get visors off the villain..... and she has less than four minutes to MacGyver it all together before Cat Noir transforms back.


On the reading front, I'm nine chapters in my "Lycopolis" re-read, and I'm happy to be reading about Brandon again. I don't know why, but he's my favorite. He's just so quirky, and such an oddball. Maybe he vaguely reminds me of my husband in college? Hubby doesn't have the number thing that Brandon has, though.... Either way, I still say "more Brandon" and hope there is plenty more in the other two books.

I've figured out that if I read at least two chapters each day - an easy task since they seem to average at about five pages; quick read - I can finish the book with a week to spare in the month. Might be able to get a jump start on "Oblivion."

NuaNia Facebook Sticker
by PRANEAT

Alright, this is going to be dangerous, but back to Tumblr and Pintrest to see if other Miraculers have ANYTHING that might inspire me with this Lucky Charm thing so I don't fall even farther behind than I already am!

Starting the Winter Writing Challenge

Well, my writing schedule is already shot. I wanted to finish up chapter four of "Peeping Tomcat" by the close of last Tuesday, that way I could spend the rest of the week reworking my original akuma idea and have chapter five re-written. I would then be all set to start Ali's winter writing challenge over on Writers’ Huddle. Granted, I'm still ready and participating, but now I'm already a week behind where I want my goals to be. It's a good thing I foresaw this and worked in a "catch-up" week...

Chapter four IS done, but it kept me until Friday to do so. I then spent the weekend wracking my brain to try to rework my first akuma of the story. Originally, it was going to be Ms. Popular, a villain with an evening gown over the signature bodysuit. Her akumatized item would be her copy of Chloe's sunglasses, and in raising the sunglasses to expose her eyes, Ms. Popular would have a Medusa-like affect. She would have three "settings", as it were, where she could either freeze a person like Medusa, or she could project cattiness on women to make them fight each other, or she could make mindlessly faithful protectors out of men.

I still like the character design, even if I don't
like the character build....

All-in-all, I was never all that excited about this build. It seemed too complicated, too convoluted, and I had no idea how her powers actually worked. Plus, catty women and male protectors seemed a bit archaic thinking....

After tearing the build of this akuma down and starting from scratch, not liking where that went either, and repeating the process, I think I FINALLY have something I like. It kept about four different reworks, and about five days of constant ponderings in the back of my mind. I rewatched episodes, I listened to music, I tried looking up some akuma OCs others have created, I read Miraculous fancomics, and I tried to find a way to create something that felt like it fit in the Miraculous universe.

Finally, last night I decided to just take it slow step by slow step. All of the akuma supervillains got their powers and name based on why they had negative emotions. Hawk Moth uses the last few moments and reflects them back in his verbal contract. I needed that. Perhaps then I'd know the akuma better.

This worked wonders! Why didn't I think of this months ago!?

I still used my OC Louise Fabron, and she was still obsessed with Chloe. So, I started where Marinette and crew met up with Louise in the mall and told the story through Louise's POV. In "Peeping Tomcat" Louise gets irritated with Marinette and runs off. The next time we see her, she's already in her akumatized form with no true knowledge as to what happened.

So, I instead I used this writing practice to follow Louise to figure out what caused her to become so upset, what the akumatized item was, and what Hawk Moth said to her. The whole thing more-or-less took the path I was expecting, but also gave me more insight than I could figure out just trying to play everything out in my head.

As with Ms. Popular, Chloe is still the catalyst with cruel words causing the negative emotions that attracted Hawk Moth's attention. The copy of Chloe's sunglasses was still the akumatized item. However, now Louise has a villain name that sounds better and feels more at home in the Miraculous universe: The Mimicker.

Her powers are pretty neat too. I still need to figure out the other main components, though. Such as how Ladybug and Chat Noir figure out that the akumatized item is the sunglasses when they aren't being used as the main villain weapon. I also need to figure out what Chat Noir is going to use his Cataclysm power on, as well as what Ladybug's Lucky Charm is going to be, and how it's going to be used to stop Mimicker. So I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me.

In the meantime, though, the hardest part of coming up with the villain in the first place is done! Added bonus is that I liked it enough as a second teaser for PT that I posted it, which achieved my goal of at least one new thing posted each month! I also could potentially read it at group tonight. Whoo!

"The Birth of the Mimicker"

On DeviantArt           On FanFiction

I'm going to have to adjust my weekly goals for the writing challenge, but I'm still aiming for about one chapter a week, if I can't sneak in two. So my goal is to have this akuma attack chapter re-written by the time I head out to watch the Super Bowl at my friends' new place.

While I was wrestling with what to do with this akuma-attack chapter, even debating skipping over it and writing it last, after the rest of the story was figured out, I decided to fill my free time with my frantic reading of "Ender's Game" in order to finish in time.

It kept me the better part of six hours on Friday to do it, but I managed to finish re-reading in time to both get a book read in January, as well as return the book without having to renew it.

One down, about eleven to go....

I'm still taking issue with Card's timing inconsistencies.

According to "Ender's Shadow", between point A of Bean's arrival at Battle School and point B of the Bugger War ending, Bean aged from five to seven, possibly eight, there was a little confusion. So it kept around three years.

According to "Ender's Game", between points A and B of Bean's estimated arrival based on context clues, and the definite end of the Bugger War, Ender aged from seven to eleven, going on twelve. Which means the same span of time took four or five years.....

GAAAAAH!

Tanuki Facebook Sticker
by Yanare Ku

H-how!? There is a scene in "Ender's Game" between Ender and Bean that is copied over into "Ender's Shadow" almost verbatim. Which means Card HAD to have re-read "Ender's Game" in order to get it nearly exact. It's obvious that he also wrote down notes of key points in "Ender's Game" to reference in "Ender's Shadow", so how is it that neither Card nor his editor noticed that there are two years that just disappear in "Ender's Shadow"!?

I mean, I get it, in writing "Ender's Shadow" Card could have realized that things are more realistic or more dramatic if they happen in a slightly different timeline than he originally wrote. He had been writing for an extra decade by the time he penned "Ender's Shadow" and honed his craft more. It makes sense that he'd want to tweak some things.

BUT THE TIME FRAME OF ENDER'S GAME WAS ALREADY ESTABLISHED, AND FOR A DECADE!!!! No. Sorry, you deal with the holes you created or the slow pacing you had! You don't retcon everything! No!

Blue Cat Facebook sticker
by Kangaroo

On top of the time inconsistencies that were bugging me, Card completely messed with me when, during the last two chapters of "Ender's Shadow", he IGNORED WHERE A CHARACTER WAS! The character of Colonel Graff, in two different chapters, ends up being in two places at once if you compare "Ender's Game" to "Ender's Shadow".

NOOOOOOOOOO!

Dan from Dan Vs
Created by by Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson

All-in-all, both books are quite enjoyable. Just.... never do what I did. Never try to fit them both in the same timeline. It just doesn't work. PARADOXES!

*ahem*

Okay, I'm all better now. Sorry.

I have Ali's book Lycopolis at the ready to start on Thursday. I could always start today, or even two days ago, but I figured I could use the week down-time from reading to help me figure out my own story.

Reading is important to writers. It helps us grow and helps our minds wander and explore. However, it's not much help if it's used as a procrastination tool....

I just need to continue with the flow I created last night when I wrote "The Birth of the Mimicker" so I can stay on track with everything: avoiding zero-days, keeping up with the winter challenge, have "Peeping Tomcat" done by mid-March, have a new story posted every month, and keep up with my reading.

Wish me luck. Or, more accurately, discipline.

The Super Crossover Hybrid Story

Before I get started, did everyone see my big, old, love-fest, thank you note? I posted it during the week. If you didn't read it - or know about it - then perhaps you should take a quick moment to make sure this doesn't happen again! ^_^

On the right just under my wonderful Liebster Blog Award is a little section titled "Followers". There's only two of you listed right now, but there can be more! If you have an account with Blogger - or virtually ANY Google-owned site - you can use the little link there to follow me and make sure to not miss another post.

Don't want to go that route? Well right under "Followers" is the "Subscribe To" section! You can drop me in to your favorite RSS through there!

Not sure what an RSS is? No problem, just under THAT is "Follow By Email". This blog doesn't spam. It gives you an email notification whenever I post an update. Cool, huh? I know at least two people following me this way! ^_^

STILL not satisfied with these options? Well you can follow me on Twitter: @LycoRogue. Simple, right?
Or you can check me out on Facebook. I don't really do MUCH under that account anymore, but I DO try to remember to post statuses about my blog updates.

Has everyone found their favorite way to find out when I post? Is everyone going to find my Non-Sunday updates now? Super awesome sauce! ^_^ Moving on to the actual blog post now!
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So this week was filled with super-delayed beta reading, home maintenance projects, cleaning, work insanity, and all-day friend visits. Not to mention finishing off Ali Luke's story Lycopolis.

So I find out - super duper late - that Chopfe had a birthday this past Monday! So I have to REALLY get over this Writer's Block so I can write him a belated b'day gift. Worst part is that for a couple of months I've had something in mind that I was specifically waiting for his birthday to write.... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then I missed it.... *sigh*

BUUUUT speaking of birthdays! My lovely DarkAngel1326 had her birthday this week as well. So part of that super-delayed beta reading - as well as one of the things I beta-ed the week DA and OmniBladeStrike sent me stuff - was a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Hey Arnold crossover story. A story that AngelBlood666 wrote as his gift to HIS beloved Beta. So, sorry dude for getting the edits back to you so slowly, but YAY that DA loved the gift! ^_^

As for my own gift..... well..... *sigh* Writer's Block got me there too... so I "gifted" her the same thing I gave ChibiSunnie for Christmas. I told DA I'd write her ANYTHING she wanted me to. So now she's keeping this "One Story Coupon" tucked neatly away until she can think of something.

When it comes to Lycopolis, I highly recommend the read. I can't wait until Ali has books 2 and 3 done for the series! Check out my review on Amazon - it's the first one I've ever written, yay!

So now that I can't hide behind reading - although I DOOOOOO have a few more good books waiting to be read - I SHOULD start cracking down on my writing, FINALLY.

And speaking of which, since I don't have any new stories for you lovelies to read I decided to give you all a taste of that epic "BLARG, EVERY FANDOM I HAVE MUST BE IN THIS CROSSOVER" Hybrid story. I talked about this story last month.

The main portion of the story is a sort of an original taking place in the world of Fable. The world, as well as the "quest" that the story follows are both highly influenced by the Legend of Zelda series. Then I mooshed in elements and character traits/backstories from about six different games/movies/shows.

I've got InuYasha, The Vision of Escaflowne, Fushigi Yuugi, The Little Mermaid, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Tomb Raider. I'm sure there were more that I "stole" from, but this is all I could remember right now.

I don't really have the basic plotline of the story written down, so I'm going off of memory. The main storyline I was working with would be the plot to Fable.
Male Lead's family is somehow important in an overall plot of the villain; they get attacked; Male Lead wasn't at the house at the time and is now thought of as an orphan. The Male Lead is taken in by an academy built specifically to "train heroes" for the land. The Male Lead graduates and sets out on his adventures, whatever they be. Meanwhile, back on Earth - which is another world/separate dimension/parallel universe; haven't decided - Female Lead is taking care of her grandfather's old estate and comes across this weird stone platform in the woods. She somehow accidentally activates the platform and is transported in to Male Lead's world - I guess you can throw "Stargate" in with the above list.
Female Lead finds herself in an ancient platform ruins similar to the one she teleported with. She's then attacked by bandits that set up camp by the ruins. Luckily, the Male Lead was in the area and able to rescue her.
There is an awkward interaction when she tries to explain where she came from, and the Male Lead realizes she found a way to activate the Cullis Gate - a name taken straight from Fable, so I'll have to come up with my own. They then quest to find out how it is she was able to activate it when no one else could, and how to bring her home.
Meanwhile, her arrival is thought of as part of a prophecy and it triggers the arrival of the antagonist. His plans that he set in motion when he attacked the Male Lead's family can finally be completed. While struggling to find answers, Male Lead must now combat the antagonist's henchmen. As the story progresses the Female Lead becomes better at combat in order to protect herself, not rely on the Male Lead, and to assist the Male Lead.
The lead characters discover the legend of a powerful sword created by The Four Sisters and sealed away with the use of powerful gems - one of which was shattered and magically distributed throughout the kingdom. The Female Lead has one such shard as a charm on her necklace. The story transitions in to InuYasha with the new plot of tracking down the other shards of the jewel - don't worry, InuYasha fans, there's only about 15 shards and this part of the story shouldn't take too long to get through. I guess this is also sort of Legend of Zelda-ish since there are a few games where a Triforce is shattered and Link must find the pieces and put it back together - each time only needing 8 shards. Anyway, they must track down the shards for two reasons. The first is that the sword the jewel locks away will help defeat the villain. The second is that the jewel will be powerful enough to send the Female Lead home.
Throughout their travels to find the shards the story again goes to the Fable story line where the Male Lead starts to uncover the truth about his past and heritage and why he - and the Female Lead - are so important to the antagonist.
The story reaches its climax and the True Villain shows himself. Much like any good Legend of Zelda game, the main antagonist is simply the puppet of the True Villain. The Leads must work together to defeat this evil and again bring peace. Then the Female Lead uses the jewel to activate the Cullis Gate. I have yet to decide if A) The Female Lead goes home, B) The Female Lead decides to stay with the Male Lead, or C) The Male Lead decides to go with the Female Lead to Earth - forever leaving his world behind. There are a multitude of animes - some of which I used in my hybrid - as well as Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess that have this ending, so we'll see where I go with it.

I know, there didn't seem like there were too many Legend of Zelda moments in there even though that's the secondary story I'm working with. Most of the elements I "stole" end up in the details - mostly centering around the sword and the jewels. The Male Lead also has the traveling companion that Link has in most of the games - manifesting itself in the most renowned form of a fairy.

Along with the Find The Shards quest that is prominent in Legend of Zelda and InuYasha, the other main InuYasha detail is that the Male Lead is a half-demon. I don't quite recall why I went down that route or if I'll keep that characteristic.

The other animes/movies/games that I listed show up in the character builds of the Leads, Antagonist, True Villain, and the Male Lead's mother - whose backstory is important to the plot.

As I warned you guys, this post is getting epicly long, so I'll finish up with an excerpt I wrote detailing the legend of the sword. This part is a near-blatant rip-off of the Legend of Zelda Hyrule/Triforce Creation Story, so I'll have to tweak that I think. In this excerpt I named the sword Destiny, but I'm going to change that to something less lame/cliche eventually. :P

According to Gyatearian faith, the Four Sisters - Dryea, Maynor, Krysum, and Alrea - created Gyateara in turn. The eldest sister Dryea, Goddess of Power, used her burning touch to rouse the land into creation. Her sister Maynor, Goddess of Wisdom, cooled the molten lava by pouring water into the world. The third sister Krysum, Goddess of Courage, made he newly formed continents green by producing plants.

The world was fresh, new, bountiful, and breathtaking. But there was no one to appreciate it. That was when the youngest sister Alrea, Goddess of Love, molded creatures out of the land. Using what her sisters created, she gifted her creations with each of her sisters' blessings. Finally, she breathed upon them all with her warm, gentle breeze and Gyateara was populated.

Once their work was done, the Four Sisters gifted their creations with one last token to guide them. The Sisters forged Destiny and left it in a case; locked and waiting for its true owner. Each sister then gifted a jewel - a key - to their favorite creature, hoping one day that Destiny will belong to the one they all favor equally.

With their final gift bestowed, the Sisters departed from Gyateara in order to look upon the world from afar. The Sisters left in a loud thunderclap and blinding explosion. It is said that those who can find the precise spot the Sisters left Gyateara - and possessed one of their jewels - will be able to follow them to a new world.

Does this story seem interesting at all to you guys? Should I bother working on it some more? I know that once I'm done with it I'll just redraft the whole thing and keep redrafting until the story drifts away from the fanfiction and becomes original. In the meantime though, what do you guys think? If you want I can "leak" more information about this story in future posts. Just let me know below - or via Twitter or Facebook.

Originally, I was plowing through Lycopolis fast enough that I thought I'd be able to do a full review of the book in this week's post. However, I got stopped by a couple of wonderful emails this week. DarkAngel1326 is back to writing! YAY!

She sent me her latest chapter of Keep Love In Your Heart, as well as a prologue to a new story she's working on. She's struggling with deciding on what to do with the new story. She knows how she wants it to grow, but isn't sure it will be able to do so as a fanfic. Yet she's still not confident enough with her writing to give up the "playing in someone else's sandbox" crutch. Can't say I blame her; I have the same struggles. Anyway, I'm trying to encourage her to just take the leap and make this new story an original. We'll see how that goes.

So if you read DA's stuff - and all of you should, it's awesome! - please give her some encouragement!
**SIDE NOTE: DA's b'day is this week! Whoot! I wish I knew what to do for her birthday. I mean, the girl got me three amazing gifts.... Must. Think. Of. Something!**

Speaking of encouragement, Omnibladestrike also sent me something this week! If you're having difficulties remembering him, well, he's my IRL buddy who's writing an original fantasy tale. It's been a bit of a struggle, and he's restarted the story about seven times now. But I'm sure Ali Luke can reassure him that most great novels are like that. She even commented SOMEWHERE that Lycopolis is a far cry from the original draft.

Anyway, he sent me his new prologue. It kept me a while to get to it - crazy week, plus beta reading, plus what I'm going to talk about next - but I have to say I'm quite impressed by what he has. Yes, there's still some polishing that needs to be done, but in comparison to past drafts, this one feels like it's by a completely different author. I'm amazed at how much he has grown during his "Gah! I can't write!" self-discovery hiatus.

So let's also throw out some mad props to Omni! You go, dude! And trust me, we WILL get your story to a point where you'll be proud to show it off!

Aside from getting back in to Beta reading, I've also spent the week watching Hubby play Persona 4. I'm not really one for turn-based games - which is why I'm not a big fan of Final Fantasy or Pokemon - and the first 4hrs or so of the game just draaaaaaaaaaag on.... but after THAT the game is really interesting to me. Also, I completely love the soundtrack! I'm actually listening to one of the songs on loop while writing this post.

I find myself compelled by the story, shocked by the insane amount of "OMG, WHAT!?" moments, and now I'm excitedly waiting for Hubby to finish the game so we can track down the anime of it.

And speaking of shows....
I was visiting CelestralTyrant this week. When Hubby and I were finally on our way out the door - at 1:30am - I noticed a book on CT's end table:

GAH! WHAT!?

I squealed like the little fangirl that I am, snatched the book from the table, and had the following conversation:

Me: OMG, OMG, OMG! Is this legit a book version of the old cartoon series!?

CT: Um, I guess. I dunno. I've had that book forever.

Me: Isn't it amazing!? I totally heart this series!

CT: Oh, uh, it actually bored me every time I tried to read it.

Me: Are you kidding me!?

CT: Yeah... so if you want you can take the book. Like, seriously. Just take it. Merry Christmas.

OMG! CT, you are AWESOME!!!! So, naturally I tracked down the old TV series on YouTube. Sadly, the only posting I could find has the episodes split up in to three 7min segments - so THAT'S kinda annoying. But at least I can still watch it! *squee*

DreamWorks! You need to get this series out on DVD! NOW! ShoutFactory, if you get the rights to put this show on DVD after doing the same with Hey Arnold and Reboot.... well.... I might as well just sign my paychecks directly over to them from now on! XD

Granted, the likelihood of the series being put on DVD anytime soon is slim-to-none considering most people don't even remember the show. Even I only remember it every once in a while - but when I do I go INSANE with it! As I tend to do with most of my fandoms....

So, this actually all circles back to my writing. No, I'm not working on an Invasion America fanfic. However, I fear the same results the series - and book - got.

Much like DarkAngel1326, I fear my writing isn't good enough. I see how renowned all these other fanfiction writers are in the fandom. Whenever someone asks, "Who's a good writer?" or "What stories should I read?" I see the same ones come up over and over... and my name is never even thought of. There's at least one DeviantArt group dedicated to fanart of a fanfiction. My work isn't nearly as good as that. I mean, I get ChibiSunnie's awesome fanart, but... well...

Hubby reassures me that I'm too harsh on myself; that I have at least five super-devoted fans. And I love each and every one of them for that! However, if you're a show and you have an insane cult following, but the mainstream doesn't even know of you, you still get cancelled. Am I destined to be Invasion America? Or Invader Zim? Or Firefly? Am I destined to have a handful of really loyal fans, but still fade in to obscurity?

I dunno. Maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. Maybe I should really be grateful I have even that handful of fans - and that they are so devoted to my work. Maybe I should stop thinking about becoming "famous" and just focus on telling stories. Go back to the "I don't care if anyone reads this, I'm writing this for me" attitude I had when I started "WTMTB".

Self discovery is hard, man! :P Maybe I'll have things better sorted out next week. At the very least I hope to have a link to DA's birthday gift.

Initial Reaction to Ali Luke's Novel Lycopolis

So as you all know, for whatever reason I've had no drive lately. I have about a dozen fanfiction stories piled up in my email inbox. I have two more stories chillin' on DeviantArt. I only casually browsed through this week's post on Aliventures. I just don't feel like reading anything. I have TONS of ideas for stories, but no inspiration to actually WRITE them. I stare at the screen and go.... "meh".

Silver lining? I'm using my free time to put together bookshelves to create a library in our small side room and finally unpacking all of my books. YAY!

Anyway, I usually kill time during my work breaks and lunches by writing. No drive to write means fifteen minutes of solitaire on my computer instead. Sooooooooo, I decided to switch gears and finally crack open Lycopolis. I've only been reading it the past two days, and until my usual "can't sleep without my husband"Sunday Insomnia, I read only while at work. So I'm only a few chapters farther than the first five chapters that Ali shares as a free sample of the book.

I pretty much never read anything that isn't by an American author, and so reading a story with all the British terminology for things - such as Biscuit Box, Mum, Wardrobe door, Holiday, Half-term, Corridor - is kind of fun. It's easy enough for me to figure out that in the US the above list easily translates to Bread Box, Mom, Closet door, Vacation, Homecoming Weekend, and Dorm Floor. So I can just chuckle a little at getting a glimpse in to another culture. Other things that amuse me are things like school uniforms. Sure, more and more US public schools are starting to adopt this idea, but for the most part students can wear "street clothes" in school, so remembering that most countries have uniforms is interesting to me. That and the fact that most non-US countries have a more formal setting for schooling, which includes such things as a Head of Year. I guess that could be the equivalent of a Class President, but at least in my school the CP was more in charge of stuff like the school dances and what the Senior Gift to the school would be and organizing the class reunions.

So, getting past the cultural stuff. How is the story itself?

Well, maybe it's because I have my hand in a variety of Role Play types - such as table top, pen & paper, forum, video game, and Live Action - and maybe it's because I haven't actually participated in the type that inspired Lycopolis - Ali sites the game Wolfenburg/Kingdom of Heroes - but I find it hard to picture the game mechanics.

The actual story of the characters in real life, as well as the story-within-a-story of the in-game characters, are both very well done. When I'm reading the IRL parts I find myself tearing through the pages, hungry for more. And the In-Game prose is also very compelling. However, I can't seem to let myself get as immersed in the In-Game part of the story. At least, not as much as I should. I find myself reading the book critically; perhaps a left-over habit from Beta reading, or perhaps it's because my mind is trying to figure out the game mechanic.

Part of how she describes the game makes it feel like there should be graphics that the players see and audio that the players can hear. There are descriptions of how the characters look, and how they turn when they hear footsteps, and how they can see the wolves and sacrifices, etc. There are even lines stating how the game creator meticulously built the world code by code and how he can manipulate the world however he wants. These all make it feel like it should be a MMORPG like World of Warcraft or something.

Then there are descriptions along the lines of hearing echoes, or reacting to each other's vocal cues or tones in their voices, or even a strong urge to kneel that must be fought against. One description that really stuck out as odd was "Perhaps he imagined it, but he thought he saw her shudder." How does that get described online!? Did the female character type "She shudders, but so faintly it is hard to tell" and then his character gives the "Perhaps he imagined it..." description? Did his character come up with that all on his own - assuming her character would shudder? Is that why the "Perhaps he imagined it" is there? Because he's going "God Mode" on another player? Or did the game itself give some description that would imply that she was shuddering? I don't know, but descriptions like these feel more like a LARP than an online game. Even the fact that a demon can be unknowingly summoned through role play makes it feel more like LARP than an online game. HOW DO YOU SUMMON A DEMON VIA THE INTERNET!?

Then you go back to the tagline of the book "Words never hurt anyone..." and there are other descriptions that clearly state that everything is in text. So now I'm picturing the game sort of like the X-Men RPG which is a forum-based game. Although everything there is done sort of in script format, when I relayed passages here I put it more like prose so it was easier to follow. Maybe that's what was going on whenever things in-game were described in Lycopolis.

Then I got to the following passage in the fifth chapter:

"It's a sort of game," she said. "All in text, no graphics."

He didn't ask anything else, just looked intently at the screen and said, "They're waiting for you."

Kay was impressed that he'd managed to pick up that much. When she'd tried to explain the game to her parents, they'd been bemused by the lines of text appearing in different places - the gossip and in-jokes in the Chatroom window, the main action in the big Game window, private messages in the Inbox.

And then this passage towards the beginning of the sixth chapter:

A Small Room With Stone Walls
This room is identical to the others along the row. Cold, with a hard bed and a blanket, it smells of damp and worse. There's little light, and no candles. The thick wooden door has no lock on the inside.

Edwin had been playing Lycopolis long enough to pick up on clues pretty easily. He typed "examine door" and was told:

There are deep gouges in the heavy wooden door, on both sides. There's no lock, but the outside has a thick metal ring that matches another on the wall. A chain or padlock could easily be hooked through these.

Soooooo, the game is sort of like Zork? A completely text-based game with heavy descriptions of the world? Is all the code-by-code world building a Zork-like reference? The main issue I have is that the character Seth is the world creator and apparently the only storyteller of the game. How can he be everywhere at once and available whenever people want to be on? How does the game progress a story without him? How was Kay able to do an activity in-game without him? How would it be programmed in? If it were all forum-based; ergo player driven, then it would make more sense. I had tons of RP scenes where Hubby wasn't involved.

Maybe these questions will all be answered the further in to the book I get. Maybe I need to track down Kingdom of Heroes and play a little bit - if it's still up and running. Maybe I should stop being suck a geek and just let the story unfold without thinking about the game mechanics. Or, maybe I should just combine all four aspects of RP - graphic, LARP, forum & text-based - in my mind so I can stop over thinking.

In the meantime, more plot bunnies are being birthed in my brain. Back when I re-watched all of The Guild I grew a strong urge to one day do a similar Web Series using my own RP experiences, but using D&D instead of MMORPG as the base. Now that I'm reading Lycopolis, I sort of want to write a book based on my current vampire LARP character. It would be perfect too. Since she's a freshly turned vampire all the jargon regarding the world has to be taught to her - and so the reader is taught as well. The reader learns with the main character. The question is, do I want to do an original story loosely based on what already happened in-game; do I want to just directly transcribe what has happened so far; or do I want my Hey Arnold fanfiction crutch and have a cross-over using World of Darkness?

Yup, another grand story idea just waiting to be written, and yet I don't have the drive to actually type anything out. What's up with that!? At least I have Lycopolis to keep me company until the writing juices again flow.

Next week I'll either have something dealing with new writing that I've done, or I'll tell you guys more about my MASSIVE HYBRID CROSSOVER STORY!!! Sound good?

Yup, It's Procrastination Time Again

So this week went by so fast I nearly forgot today was Sunday - and thus forgotten the blog update.

It's been a crazy week for RPGing and not so crazy for writing. So sorry about that. And sorry that it looks like my earlier prediction of having the chapter up this month isn't going to happen.

I still have my wedding thank you notes to write and my Operation Ruthless video to edit.

This Week's Procrastination List:

• Finished the cover picture for my main Facebook account's timeline. Thankfully my Lyco Rogue account doesn't have Timeline yet, so I still have some time to figure out what I want to do for that.... Maybe something as simple as a promo for this blog....

Anyway, here's the picture. 

Isn't Toothless adorable!? It was a pain in the butt to pixelize him, but he's adorable, no?

Also, the drawing was based on this one by Hirukio

And by "based" I of course mean "blatant rip-off".

• Hubby and I finished watching all five seasons of The Guild. Which sparked two things in me:
1. I want to make my own web series based on the chaos revolving around me and my friends! Buuuuuut, I don't want a "blatant rip-off" of The Guild.... so.... yeah
2. I AM SUPER DUPER MADLY IN TO MMOs AGAIN!!!!!!
Which means I'm once again addicted to a free "baby" MMO called Fiesta Online! Hubby and I got in to the game right around July 4, 2006 or 2007. We played a little more frequently than "casual gamers" but we weren't quite obsessed with the game either... For one reason or another, we stopped playing the beginning of 2009. BUT NOW WE'RE BACK! Whoot! If you have an account - or would like to start one - on the Teva server, just leave a comment below and I'll track you down and we can party together! YAYZ!
• Wednesday and Thursday - rare occasions where Hubby and I have the whole day together - we finally attacked the Back Room - where we've been storing everything we didn't trust in the garage - and slowly worked on turning it in to The Library! It's nearly done! SOOOOO MANY BOOOOOOOKS! Now, to figure out where to put the "non-book" stuff that was back there - like VHS tapes, the inflatable mattress for sleepovers, and a bunch of throw-pillows that we can't put on our couch since it's a rocker/recliner loveseat and the pillows just get in the way...
• Friday we once again played D&D!
• Sis-in-Law turned THIRTY!!!!! The big 3-0. Which means I have roughly 2 years to plan a party for Hubby.... *sigh*
• Work has been KILLER with all the nice weather lately! Stupid working at a grocery store....
• After work-craziness, I wind down with either some Fiesta or another game I recently started re-playing: Leisure Suit Larry. Because I am a perverted woman who likes to play super-cheesy dating sims where the lead is a complete loser but still thinks himself a Ladies Man. Ya know, I'm actually surprised The Big Bang Theory never made an online dating sim starring Howard Wolowitz. Now that he's married off I guess we'll never get one... La Sigh.
• Sporadically throughout the week I HAVE been working on Thank Yous! We JUST got the wedding thank you from my sister-in-law and her wedding was the August before ours, so we have about a month-and-a-half to keep on par with her....

In writing news, I finally got back in to beta-reading. CartoonLover16 sent me a rough draft of his second chapter. He's still working on it on his end, and I'm slowly reading it on mine. With everything else going on this week the only time I have to read his story is during my half-hour lunch breaks. It's a slow process, but I'm about 1/2 way through his chapter. YAY!

Speaking of YAY and Writing.... I got an AMAZING surprise this Monday!

Any repeat readers, as well as those I beta-read for, can tell you that I pretty much SWEAR by the knowledge of Ali Luke at Aliventures.com. Well, last weekend - after talking to Mekonraiba at D&D - I went on a reading spree over at Aliventures.com. I was trying to find anything and everything I could to revive his writing spirit. While there, I made multiple comments on archived posts. 

Now, normally Ali is AMAZINGLY NINJA QUICK when it comes to responding to comments - and I try to do the same here - but she didn't respond all weekend. I didn't really think too much of it. She's busy with her novel's online book tour, the posts were in the archives, and it was Mother's Day weekend.

Then Monday comes around and I find the following email:

"First, thanks so much for the comments.... Also, would you like a free copy of my novel Lycopolis? I think it'd be your kinda thing. I'm looking to get a few more reviews on Amazon, but there'd be no obligation whatsoever to review it unless you felt like it....And if you're happy for me to sign it, lemme know what name you want it signed to (if that makes sense) :)
Cheers,
Ali"

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!
A free, autographed copy of a novel written by a woman I consider my mentor!? I'm not sure if it's because of the frequency that I comment on her blog, or the fact that I'm constantly telling her that I use her posts to help those I beta-read for, or if it's because I openly admit to being as much of a RPG nerd as she is, or if it's simply because she knows me as LYCO rogue... but whatever her reasoning, I am beyond excited!

So, be warned, people... there may be less of my own writing, and perhaps a review here once I get my hands on Lycopolis. If you are interested, Ali has a link for you to download the first five chapters for free.

Also, don't forget to check out the blog itself!

OH! And by NO MEANS am I trying to exploit Ali's kindness by telling you guys about it, so please, PLEASE don't try to con her out of free copies of her book!

I mean, I trust you guys, but I felt the need to stress the above point.

Anyway, that is all for me this week. Now to get ready for another killer day at work... friggen nice weather...