Progress update

So, the new chapter of "Six" has been done for a while. Right now I'm working on writing up the chapter after that.

I anticipate the next chapter will be lot of people's favorite chapter. I'm a bit unsure about some of the stuff I'm doing, and there's a lot of stuff near the end of it that seem a little wonky and I might eventually be taking out. But eh, it should be a fun chapter, if I do it right.

New chapter

So, there's a new chapter of "Six" up. Go check it out; it's not as "OMGWTFBBQSOMEONESETUSUPTHEBOMB" as the last chapter, but it's still okayish. (If every chapter was "OMGWTFSOMEONESETUSUPTHEBOMB," then it would be boring, anyway).

I've got most of the next chapter written and I'm starting on the one after that. Hopefully it won't take too long to get the next one up. I anticipate that a lot of people will really like it. Some won't, but the ones who won't probably shouldn't be reading my fics to start with.

Overall, I can say that so far I've had plenty of time to write here, maybe more than I did at my old school because I'm getting distracted by video games a lot less here.

But as I usually say, We Shall See. "Six" keeps getting longer and longer in my head, but maybe it won't be too long before we start to get near the end.

Update and advice

A quick update on my progress with "Six:" I have two and a half chapters completed ahead of schedule as of right now--but they're tentative, at best. I'm going to be doing some weird stuff in the next few chapters, so I'll have to see where it takes me before I'll feel comfortable posting any of it.

Because I am lazy and still haven't finished the stuff I'd planned to post on here (characterization, diction, scene decisions, etc.), I'm going to cop out and pull up a David Marnet article KG linked one day on his LJ. (Which is a bonus because I don't know what I'm talking about half the time, anyway; professional advice trumps anything I could say.) See it here.

It's an article from a screenwriter's perspective on how to write drama. Though not everything in it directly applies to writing, most of it does, and the understanding of several of Marnet's points are essential for good writing.

Along with said posting on LJ came these notes, which I feel obligated to reproduce because they also touch on some issues I hear about fairly often in this fandom:

My favorite excerpts (but you really need to read the whole thing):

QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, ACUTE GOAL.

SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES OF EVERY SCENE THESE THREE QUESTIONS.

1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?


and

HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

DO NOT WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT.

YMMV, as always, but you could do a lot worse than keep the above in mind when trying to write something dramatic. For novels, the standards are a bit looser--you don't *want* every scene to be FULL OF DRAMA. You need to pace it out, build tension, and so on. I also think you can stretch the "two characters talking about a third" when the third is a dramatic figure--think about Al Capone in "The Untouchables." One of the most memorable scenes is Sean Connery telling Kevin Costner in the church "that's how you get Al Capone."

But if you're worried that your story is too flat, not gripping enough in the places where it should be, well, go back and re-read those rules. It's also possible to have a lot of STUFF happening in an action scene and still have it be boring because while it is active, there is no drama. Again, check the points above. What does the character want? What's stopping him/her from getting it?

Happy writing! Hopefully the update to six might maybe possibly perhaps be finished sometime within the next year. Or two weeks.

"The Ambassador" Preview

In light of a few asking about The Ambassador, I've posted the first chapter up on the stories blog. Find it at:

http://jaslazulstories.blogspot.com/2010/04/ambassador-preview.html

This is turning out to be a deep story, even though it started as something half-comedic. It's a thematic story with lots of allusions and careful diction to hint at its message. It is not a romance story, though it might have a few romantic subplots (with whom, I do not yet know; each person I've shown it to sees it spiraling in a different direction). It's pseudo-fanfiction, meaning that it's set in Lylat, playing heavily upon settings like Corneria and upon game events like the Command ending that ends in the settlement of Venom. All the characters, though, are my own.

My biggest issues right now are at the beginning and at my current point, trying to figure out what to do next. There are different ways I could take this story, all of which lending it different themes and plots.

In other words: tell me what you'd like to see, even if it's something silly. Or just say what you think about it--you guys have no idea how much just hearing an opinion sometimes can influence the path of a story. And if you're really good, you can suggest stuff for the beginning (the one that I don't like very much)!

Anyway--in the words of Guardian1: enjoy yourself; I know I do.

Newish Fox/Wolf in Progress

Well, since I've been at a standstill with some other fics, I've continued that old thing I started a while back. I'd estimate that I'm over halfway done at this point, so you can expect it on FFN soonish.

I've posted a sample of it over on the other blog, if anyone's interested. There may be another short sample of another upcoming fic coming soon.

Situation update

So, I have a lot of different things floating around that need to be either posted or edited or have some edits that I've already marked done to them. My schedule's pretty much booked for most of the weekend, though, and I'll have a busy week next week, so I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to get anything up.

I'm also continuing to progress in an original work that I'm writing. No news about it yet, but... well, we'll see.

Situation update

So, I have a lot of different things floating around that need to be either posted or edited or have some edits that I've already marked done to them. My schedule's pretty much booked for most of the weekend, though, and I'll have a busy week next week, so I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to get anything up.

I'm also continuing to progress in an original work that I'm writing. No news about it yet, but... well, we'll see.

A day of editing

Spent the day editing some stuff for FFN and two shorties for elsewhere. Hoping to have 'em all up soon.

(Written with BlogPress.)

Progress and an FYI

I've written about 6000 words in the last two days, mostly scattered between different projects. I've been trying to take a break from "Conflict," which I can't seem to produce anything workable with at the moment.

Right now, I'm making the decision on continuation on a short story I've began. I've never been very good at that.

Also for those who are curious, the projects that I discuss and you never see are usually posted elsewhere or condemned to rot on my HD. If you're interested in something that seems to have died, just send me a FFN PM and I'll send it over. Don't expect it to be great, though--I always have a reason for holding something back from publication

Incoming ficlets, trudging with "Conflict"

So, I found an old ficlet that I wrote back in prehistory (in the Lord of the Rings fandom), and I think I'll polish it up and post it soon. No reason not to, right?

I've also been addicting to Dragon Age: Origins for the past few days, so a little ficlet in that fandom is in progress and possibly coming out soon.

Bad news: the direction I'd planned to take with "Conflict" didn't exactly work out, so I've had to scrap what I've done with the next chapter so far and do something different. Ah, the woes of chapter-based publishing!

Progress update

A while back, I finished the rough draft of the next part of "Conflict of Interests." Although, it's still a bit rough and there are some obvious spots that still need some major touch-ups.

I'm not sure when it'll be up--I've been mainly working on some other stuff recently. The same stuff I mentioned in the last post. It'll all be up eventually, I hope, except one or two things that I know just won't belong on the site.

Editor?

I now have a volunteer editor (JyrFalcon345) who may be working with me on a few things.

In other news, I've made fairly good progress in the last few weeks on the fics I'm currently working on. My progress has been mostly scattered though, and what finished products I have are either in draft stage or in need of a lot more completion before posting. I have one fic that I plan on completely finishing before I post the first chapter, if that means anything.

(Written with BlogPress.)

Small update

My total for last night reached 4,649 words, making it the second-highest number I've ever done in a day (the other was on that 13,000-word original short story that I did a while back). So, in the past two days, that means I've written over 8,000 words. Maybe the whole NaNoWriMo thing is feasible after all.

Anyway... the 8000 of the past two days has been split between two fanfics. The first is the "Necessity" continuation (answer the poll on my profail, please), and the second is another fic that has a funny story to it.

I started the most recent one with only two paragraphs in my mind, one of which was one sentence. I started the fic, having no idea where it was going, and 4200 words later, I've been quite pleasantly surprised. The story has, for the most part, taken off and left me and written itself, which is normally a good thing but weird this time because of where I ended up. I'd estimate that I'm about... three quarters of the way done with it, and I anticipate a large chunk of it being cut out during the editing process.

"Necessity" has a chapter done that I could post, but I don't want to start updating and not have anywhere to go. I want to have a few chapters finished before I start posting. I also need a new name for it, and I have no idea what that's going to be.

Au revior!