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Her heart beats red wine
I've been thinking about where I need to go next in terms of writing.
Two of the panels at the steampunk convention I went to over the weekend (where I had the honor of being one of Fyre's beautiful assistants) made me think more about where I want to develop myself as a professional writer eventually. As with nearly everything else in my life, I self-bully and self-defeat myself into thinking that I am incapable of doing things, and give up before I try. Professional writing being the highest on the list, which hurts the most because writing is what I care the most about. So I am trying to change my thinking and my approach to it, and looking at actions to make myself more self-aware as a writer, and to make myself grow into someone who can put out finished pieces.
The Noir piece, which was over 5000 words has probably been my strongest piece in recent history, and I'm thinking that I have to get into the swing of doing pieces of that length more often. Like, aim for pieces that are between 5000-10,000 words that are complete and whole in themselves. One thing that kills me, makes me think that I can't do better as a writer is the thought that I use RP fic as a 'crutch' because we are in a shared world, I don't need to start from scratch every single time I write a fic cause I am assuming you guys understand the basics of my characters and their history and the place they live in. So I want to focus on writing stories that assume no context from the reader, to better get myself prepared for writing professionally. Restless Heavens, obviously, is a big step for me because it is merging RPing with the more thorough short story/novella format, and I hope to learn a lot and train myself through that.
I've also been thinking more on the characters I'd be capable of writing longer pieces for, I suppose looking for threads those characters share. Out of my roster of past and present RP characters, I feel like Deon, Warren, Kazuo/Tahorou, Liam, Galen/Asiel, Julian/Ona, Gaishi/Bass, and Roimata are all characters whom I really easily could carry entire tales and stories for. Except for Deon and Julian, that group in general is a bit more on the quieter, introspective side of things. Deon and Warren are really the only 'active' action heroes of the group (both were split from the same character, actually), the others being a bit more steadfast and lower energy. Kazuo, Liam, and Galen are all strongly inspired by astrological signs (Taurus, Pisces, and Virgo respectively). I think the relative passivity of that group of characters is something I should be aware of, and learn to work with or around - even in my Nano novel attempts my lead male characters tend to be rather passive, which has really only worked for me once.
I also have two heroines who have been rolling in my mind for a while too - a nebulous concept of a teenage, very pixie-like girl who is The DJ, some kind of personified concept of music-becoming-real experience. She's a god, or a Platonic Ideal as a living person, and is a powerful shaper of the world around her (she looks like Dakota Fanning, for whatever reason). I can't imagine her as the main character of her stories because parts of her are so inhuman and beyond, but I imagine a series of independent stories that revolve around her presence and influence. (Did I mention I'm sick and sort of out of my head now?) I've also had another female character, a teenage tomgirl whose first name is Oberon (because her mother made a greatly incorrect Shakespeare reference, thinking Oberon was the queen of the fairies) who would kind of be Penny (from Inspector Gadget) and Maniac Magee's lovechild in terms of badassery and cleverness and insistence on roaming free and lawless. I imagine her stories being young adult drama-mysteries, as being kind of a throwback to Encyclopedia Brown and Detective Conan, bizarrely enough. I know that mystery is absolutely not a fad in YA right now, but it is where I imagine Oberon's tales going. Both the DJ and Oberon stories I imagine with lots of other characters, like rotating ensemble casts. Both girls seem kind of superhuman, DJ in the actual godly sense, and Oberon in the Maniac Magee sense (please tell me you guys remember that book, it shaped my character creation process so much), but I think their stories balance it out with their down-to-earth, flawed and desperate supporting characters.
RAMBLE RAMBLE I am so tired. This past week was so hardcore and I just want to fall asleep right now, but I need to clean a little.
IMPORTANT STUFF:
RESTLESS HEAVENS CHATS WILL TAKE PLACE WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, AND FRIDAY of this week. Mostly in the afternoons, probably starting at around 4 PM PST each. The chat name will be KirinRibbonParty, so if I don't see you/get distracted by shinies/you are on invisible, you can invite yourself and at least I should be there. EVERYONE IS INVITED, EVERYONE, even if you aren't yet sure what Restless Heavens is or joined in on the Sandbox or whatnot! I will be there to teach and inform and also discuss the game!
Topics of discussion include reviewing over completed wiki articles (particularly kirin and kings, and the individual kingdom articles which should be at least half-completed by then), in-depth kingdom discussion, and debate over the application process.
For the kingdom discussion, I am aware that I'm not the best world-builder, and I really want other people's eyes over what I already wrote, and other people's opinions as to how to make each kingdom unique and striking. I know Ingrid was interested in having different fashion styles for each kingdom, and I'm interested in discussing social progress in the kingdoms and determining who is ahead in terms of equality and who is behind.
Two of the panels at the steampunk convention I went to over the weekend (where I had the honor of being one of Fyre's beautiful assistants) made me think more about where I want to develop myself as a professional writer eventually. As with nearly everything else in my life, I self-bully and self-defeat myself into thinking that I am incapable of doing things, and give up before I try. Professional writing being the highest on the list, which hurts the most because writing is what I care the most about. So I am trying to change my thinking and my approach to it, and looking at actions to make myself more self-aware as a writer, and to make myself grow into someone who can put out finished pieces.
The Noir piece, which was over 5000 words has probably been my strongest piece in recent history, and I'm thinking that I have to get into the swing of doing pieces of that length more often. Like, aim for pieces that are between 5000-10,000 words that are complete and whole in themselves. One thing that kills me, makes me think that I can't do better as a writer is the thought that I use RP fic as a 'crutch' because we are in a shared world, I don't need to start from scratch every single time I write a fic cause I am assuming you guys understand the basics of my characters and their history and the place they live in. So I want to focus on writing stories that assume no context from the reader, to better get myself prepared for writing professionally. Restless Heavens, obviously, is a big step for me because it is merging RPing with the more thorough short story/novella format, and I hope to learn a lot and train myself through that.
I've also been thinking more on the characters I'd be capable of writing longer pieces for, I suppose looking for threads those characters share. Out of my roster of past and present RP characters, I feel like Deon, Warren, Kazuo/Tahorou, Liam, Galen/Asiel, Julian/Ona, Gaishi/Bass, and Roimata are all characters whom I really easily could carry entire tales and stories for. Except for Deon and Julian, that group in general is a bit more on the quieter, introspective side of things. Deon and Warren are really the only 'active' action heroes of the group (both were split from the same character, actually), the others being a bit more steadfast and lower energy. Kazuo, Liam, and Galen are all strongly inspired by astrological signs (Taurus, Pisces, and Virgo respectively). I think the relative passivity of that group of characters is something I should be aware of, and learn to work with or around - even in my Nano novel attempts my lead male characters tend to be rather passive, which has really only worked for me once.
I also have two heroines who have been rolling in my mind for a while too - a nebulous concept of a teenage, very pixie-like girl who is The DJ, some kind of personified concept of music-becoming-real experience. She's a god, or a Platonic Ideal as a living person, and is a powerful shaper of the world around her (she looks like Dakota Fanning, for whatever reason). I can't imagine her as the main character of her stories because parts of her are so inhuman and beyond, but I imagine a series of independent stories that revolve around her presence and influence. (Did I mention I'm sick and sort of out of my head now?) I've also had another female character, a teenage tomgirl whose first name is Oberon (because her mother made a greatly incorrect Shakespeare reference, thinking Oberon was the queen of the fairies) who would kind of be Penny (from Inspector Gadget) and Maniac Magee's lovechild in terms of badassery and cleverness and insistence on roaming free and lawless. I imagine her stories being young adult drama-mysteries, as being kind of a throwback to Encyclopedia Brown and Detective Conan, bizarrely enough. I know that mystery is absolutely not a fad in YA right now, but it is where I imagine Oberon's tales going. Both the DJ and Oberon stories I imagine with lots of other characters, like rotating ensemble casts. Both girls seem kind of superhuman, DJ in the actual godly sense, and Oberon in the Maniac Magee sense (please tell me you guys remember that book, it shaped my character creation process so much), but I think their stories balance it out with their down-to-earth, flawed and desperate supporting characters.
RAMBLE RAMBLE I am so tired. This past week was so hardcore and I just want to fall asleep right now, but I need to clean a little.
IMPORTANT STUFF:
RESTLESS HEAVENS CHATS WILL TAKE PLACE WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, AND FRIDAY of this week. Mostly in the afternoons, probably starting at around 4 PM PST each. The chat name will be KirinRibbonParty, so if I don't see you/get distracted by shinies/you are on invisible, you can invite yourself and at least I should be there. EVERYONE IS INVITED, EVERYONE, even if you aren't yet sure what Restless Heavens is or joined in on the Sandbox or whatnot! I will be there to teach and inform and also discuss the game!
Topics of discussion include reviewing over completed wiki articles (particularly kirin and kings, and the individual kingdom articles which should be at least half-completed by then), in-depth kingdom discussion, and debate over the application process.
For the kingdom discussion, I am aware that I'm not the best world-builder, and I really want other people's eyes over what I already wrote, and other people's opinions as to how to make each kingdom unique and striking. I know Ingrid was interested in having different fashion styles for each kingdom, and I'm interested in discussing social progress in the kingdoms and determining who is ahead in terms of equality and who is behind.
YOU ARE THE BADASS
b) BECAUSE I WANT TO FINISH MY WIKI FIRST though doing the comm sooner than later might help.
c) I am not a fan of world building XD because I am a lazyass.
Re: YOU ARE THE BADASS
б) Might just. Just a thought. That way you can collect ALL the people.
ц) I create worlds in my spare time that would make you weep tears of crystalline lattices to power said worlds.
YOU ARE BOTH BADASSES SO THERE
Also, you know I'll be around for the chats! ^__^