Back Into The Rhythm

After a somber week off, I think I'm ready to go back to normal.

I have on my Camp NaNo t-shirt, and I have writing group tonight. It just feels like it's time to get back to writing.

But before I get into that, it's coming up on nearly a month since I've completed "Peeping Tomcat," but I'm still periodically receiving notifications that I'm getting likes and faves. So I want to do another stats recap to see how much it's still being found in the sea of Miraculous fanfiction, even though I'm no longer updating it.

FFN: 2017 views, 4 faves, 3 followers, and Jowy's Pixie's review
AO3: 430 views, 7 kudos, and 1 comment
DA: 27 views

Total Results: 2474 views, 11 faves, 3 followers, and 2 reviews

AO3 Review:
  1. I love this fic, reading from Adrien pov was truly amazing, hope you continue with the sequel, congrats for your amazing work.

Granted, most of those stats are equal to or less than what I got as weekly views/faves, but it's still cool that my story is getting love even after I completed it. It will probably fade into obscurity soon, but it was fun while it lasted, and I love that people seem legitimately excited for a continuation of the story. Yay!

Another interesting bit of trivia for you: all this time, all these weeks, all these months, and "Guilt" is still the ONLY chapter I have posted on DeviantArt that doesn't have a single fave. I guess that was a weak chapter... Weird thing is, I KNEW from day one that I needed that "Marinette tries to give Adrien soup to feel better" chapter to help showcase that he DOES like Marinette for who she is; not because she's Ladybug. Guess it just didn't translate well.

One more side note. Since "One and the Same" is a continuation of "Peeping Tomcat" I can set them up as a series on AO3. I was going to wait to do so until I have the first chapter of OatS posted, but at the same time, I have a LOT of companion stories.

In PT I have three akumas, and so I have a "how they became akumatized" side story for each. I also have the side story of Ladybug setting up the video for the Ladyblog with Alya. Yes, these are all little side writing projects I did to help me center my main writing for PT, but they're technically canon for this universe, and I did enjoy them enough to post them online. So I threw them into the series as well.

I called the universe "It's You", and boy was it hard figuring out a title for the whole series! I think the series name "It's You" is fitting for both stories, as well as the companion stories thus far.

So, if you want an easy catch-all location for "Peeping Tomcat" and all the stories that relate to it, you can find it here:

It's You

          Adrien becomes torn when he realizes that he has a crush on Marinette. Can his love for Ladybug survive if he is attracted to his classmate and friend?
          Marinette becomes just as confused when she notices the blush she gets around Chat Noir. How could he get her flustered when she's so madly in love with Adrien?

- Main stories are "Peeping Tomcat" (completed), and its sequel "One and the Same" (currently in production).
- Includes side stories showing the akumatization of various original villains, and chapters told from an alternate POV.

Stats:      Words: 92,693      Works: 5      Complete: No

Anyway, let's wrap up this journey back through "Peeping Tomcat" with Jowy's review.

Jowy's Pixie: Yaaay, I finally had the time to catch up on this story and leave a review. Eeeeek, I really love the ending that you decided to go with. It really leaves things open for the sequel which I'm super excited for! I actually kinda like the fact that you didn't have Chat Noir/Adrien admit to and reveal everything. However, I can see it creating an even bigger conflict in the future which I'm worried yet really excited for! I like endings like this where stuff is still left open and up for debate because I'm not really a person for cliches. It shows that an author has put much more thought into the ending which is something that I can definitely tell that you did.
          This story was truly an amazing read! It's rare to find a story with this much depth and I love it! There was just the right balance of description and dialogue. It was great to get an in depth look into Chat Noir/Adrien's mind and the emotions he was going through, despite how much it made me want to smash his head against a wall for being so dense, lol. But bless him, he really went through so much mental anguish in this story and you really managed to amazingly capture that. I'm in awe over how well this story was written. The characters were so in character throughout, and I know I've said this before, but it really felt like I was reading an actual episode from the show. It was just that realistic and true to the source material. You are so incredibly talented!
          I'm soooo excited for the sequel and to see where you take this story line now as there's so many possible routes that it could go down. Normally I can get a rough idea of what will happen next, but this story has been completely unpredictable and I like that. I'll be ready and waiting for when that gets released and don't worry about the long wait for it, take your time. I understand that stories can take a lot of time to plan and write. Your work is worth the wait because it's of such magnitude and amazing quality. Good luck for the future and with your work. Thank you so much for sharing this story with us because it has been such a wonderful experience and a pleasure to read. Best wishes!

Jowy's Pixie really knows how to choke me up. Reading things like "It shows that an author has put much more thought into the ending which is something that I can definitely tell that you did." and "It's rare to find a story with this much depth..." and "...it really felt like I was reading an actual episode from the show." and "You are so incredibly talented!" and "Your work is worth the wait because it's of such magnitude and amazing quality." It all just dumbfounds and humbles me.

These are phrases used for reviews of MY work? I mean, this is how I'd describe OTHER PEOPLE'S work; specifically professionally written work.

I know I have improved a lot. I know that I've always had talent that made others believe I could do this professionally. I know it's a lot easier for me to write than it is others. I know I have better confidence than a lot of amateur authors.

Still.... It's hard for me to believe it's ACTUALLY true. I'm always in that mindset of "people believe I can be an author because they're my family, friends, and some of my teachers." Having complete strangers starting to tell me the same thing? I STILL can't wrap my mind around it.

NEVER LET ME FORGET THIS FEELING!

I've been saying this more and more lately, and I hope that one day every one of my readers/fans knows this mantra of mine:

Never allow me to stop appreciating my readers, and if I do, my fans have my permission to smack me upside the head and call me out for being an arrogant jerkface.

You guys - and yes, my initial circle of family and close friends completely count - are my drive to keep doing what I'm doing. You pick me up when I doubt. You remind me that I can do what I love. NEVER EVER allow me to forget that. You are my tether that allows me to float in the clouds without getting lost up there.

I love you all so much!

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

And with that love, I shall get back on topic: WRITING!

As I've mentioned in the past, I've been trying to figure things out via the Snowflake Outline method created by Randy Ingermanson. I sort of hit a wall with that, so I decided to research into the "Three Act Structure." I know what it is, but I last learned about it over a decade ago, so I needed some heavy-duty refreshers.

I scoured the internet for a little bit, finding both broad and more detailed explanations. Most things I quickly found were simplified. Just stated what the structure was in bare bones format.

It was a nice refresher to get me thinking "Yeah, I remember learning this stuff" but that was about it. So I delved a bit deeper to get a more in-depth breakdown.

After typing up all of my notes into said in-depth breakdown, the end result was 3 pages long, so I won't share it here, sadly. That might be something I will change in the future, but as of right now... Anyway, the point is it really helped. I already know I have to scrap and rework a lot of what I filled out for my Three-Act Structure, but that's the beauty of it.

I know the story enough to already see what changes need to be made.

That's progress.

That's also why I'm now on board with outlines over Pantsing.

Pantsing is still a very valid way of writing. A lot of professionals do it for their first draft, and then polish after. I used to do it, and still do for shorter stories. One of my fellow writers in group is doing an amazing job on her first ever fantasy story simply by following wherever her main character wants to take her. And she learns the rules of the magic within her world just as the main character and the reader does.

Pantsing works.

I just learned that for my longer stories, it doesn't work as well for me.

As I tend to say, I am actually quite analytically creative. Which is why I was never much of a doodler. Most people while they're bored let their hand just scribble in margins. They may not be good scribbles, but it's something stupid for their mind to occupy itself with.

Me? I'd attempt to scribble and doodle in my margins, but unless I knew exactly what I wanted to draw, I ended up just filling the margins with ink; coloring it in. Same with any of my crafts.

While I was visiting my family for my birthday last month we decided on an impromptu painting party. This actually terrified me slightly because I had NO CLUE what I wanted to paint, and so I couldn't even find a reference. I told myself "just throw paint on the canvas and see what happens; abstract art style," and even that turned into a disaster that caused me to paint back over everything a couple of times.

I just can't do anything creative without at least an end goal anymore. So outlines are now my lifeline, which is great at figuring things out BEFORE I start writing, instead of needing to "kill my darlings" after the fact when said darlings don't fit anymore.

Anyway, my point is, now that I outline, I can see the bits that don't work BEFORE I write them out, and that saves me a LOT of time and headache, and a bit of heartache as well when I have something amazing, but can't use.

I don't have the whole story figured out; not by a long shot. However, with what little I do have I know what isn't working already, and how it's stopping me from sorting out the full story. "If this bit plays out how I have it I'll never be able to finish the story..." sort of things.

As I tried to work out more details to know HOW to change the things that aren't working, I actually came up with some scenes that MIGHT work well. Which brought me back to the "scene per card" notecard outlining I used for PT.

The combo of all my outlining notes thus far - excluding the Snowflake notes since those are digital still - looks something like this.

SCRIBBLES! SCRIBBLES EVERYWHERE!

It's not terribly too much yet, but it IS a start. Poor "Varekai" might be on hold for a second year as I once again tackle a Miraculous Ladybug fic during NaNo. We'll see.

Aaaaaand, while you're waiting for "One and the Same" to come out, you can go through another story.

My old college roommate has a cover and release date for her premiere novel! A pre-order link will be coming soon too. In the meantime, you can become excited with me for "Leather and Lies."

Once Ali Luke has everything set up for her release of "Not So Imaginary" I'll be sure to share that too. Lots of good books to tide you over while waiting for me to post anything new.

....


SOMETHING NEW!

This is going to be my first month of not hitting my Resolution to post something new at least once a month! Even in July I at least posted something not related to PT at the very beginning of the month.

Guess I know what I'm working on the next couple of days! Look for something new shared here next week, but published online before Saturday! Whoo... dropped the ball a bit on that. I have been thinking about Gabriel and Emilie Agreste again lately... they seem to be my Miraculous go-to whenever I need a break but want to stay in the fandom.

My Girls also want to feel some more love. I also started thinking a bit more about Amara. Jolene has kind of vanished into the background for a year now, and poor Elymoxa has also been sidelined since our monthly D&D sessions have been a bit delayed/cancelled lately.

Then again, back on August 2nd, I did write out how the first akuma in "One and the Same" got transformed, so there IS that... should I share it as a teaser already!?

Seems I have lots of options. I should get on them, huh?

Until next week!

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.