I originally started this blog to post my thoughts on some of the questions that came up in reviews of "1 More Chance!" As it turned out, most folks didn't really have questions, per se, but it's been fun and enlightening to post here as I've gone through the story, writing and rewriting and figuring out what worked best (and what didn't, too).
I've got to take a brief moment and thank my two followers/commenters:
ViktorMayrin and JS Dulude
These two readers are the only ones to ever comment on, well, any of the posts here, and it's been very interesting (and often very inspiring) to read their thoughts. Sometimes, their feedback was just what I needed to get motivated again and put my head down and power through to the end of the chapter.
I don't know if anyone else reads this, but these two supporters deserve some extra thanks from me for reading, following, and taking the time to comment. :)
30 June 2010
25 June 2010
Delays, delays....
I keep hearing Marvin the Martian's voice as I read that title....
Yes, I know it's been much longer than it probably should be between chapter updates. And I'm not going to make excuses for myself, because I know that I've been spending less time on the draft than I should be, or than I used to.
I've lost some of my (favorite) long-time readers/reviewers, though, and it does sting a bit to know that they're no longer interested in the story. So, I've been doing my best to really write this to my greatest satisfaction...because, being the author, I'm really the only one who feels strongly enough about this story to want to keep going.
That said, I've been writing and re-writing Chapters 58, 59, and 60 in my notes and in my head and on the virtual page, trying to get the end of the story to come out neatly and the way that I want it to. (There's nothing worse than reading a story where the author obviously didn't think very long about where the plot was going to go!) I'm trying to move away from the really heavy drama/angsty stuff, but with the developments that occurred at the end of Chapter 57, "Nightmare", it's difficult not to have at least a little bit of deep soul-searching. So, just as a warning to those of you still interested, there will be some of that heaviness in Chapter 58. But hopefully you'll find that the rest of the chapter works itself out.
Or maybe not...I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I haven't given up, though. I want to have the next chapter up this week, but we'll just have to see how it goes.
In the meantime, if it's not done by Wednesday, do you want to see it before the following Wednesday? Or, would you rather I stick to the particular-day-of-the-week posting?
Let me know! :D
Yes, I know it's been much longer than it probably should be between chapter updates. And I'm not going to make excuses for myself, because I know that I've been spending less time on the draft than I should be, or than I used to.
I've lost some of my (favorite) long-time readers/reviewers, though, and it does sting a bit to know that they're no longer interested in the story. So, I've been doing my best to really write this to my greatest satisfaction...because, being the author, I'm really the only one who feels strongly enough about this story to want to keep going.
That said, I've been writing and re-writing Chapters 58, 59, and 60 in my notes and in my head and on the virtual page, trying to get the end of the story to come out neatly and the way that I want it to. (There's nothing worse than reading a story where the author obviously didn't think very long about where the plot was going to go!) I'm trying to move away from the really heavy drama/angsty stuff, but with the developments that occurred at the end of Chapter 57, "Nightmare", it's difficult not to have at least a little bit of deep soul-searching. So, just as a warning to those of you still interested, there will be some of that heaviness in Chapter 58. But hopefully you'll find that the rest of the chapter works itself out.
Or maybe not...I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I haven't given up, though. I want to have the next chapter up this week, but we'll just have to see how it goes.
In the meantime, if it's not done by Wednesday, do you want to see it before the following Wednesday? Or, would you rather I stick to the particular-day-of-the-week posting?
Let me know! :D
08 June 2010
The Kage
I've been waiting to write the characters' Kage/影/Shadow forms for a long time, now...probably since all the way back in Chapter 19 ("A Dream of You")...which, interestingly enough, I recall working on just about a year ago to this week.
I did not go into detail with the updated Kage as represented in Chapter 57 ("Nightmare"), because I didn't want to just spell everything out for the reader. I gave descriptions, yes, but I think that the Kage should stand on their own, to be interpreted as the reader sees fit. I feel that I've given enough background into each of the characters, that the reader can (hopefully) pretty accurately extrapolate what's going on with each of them, as I've envisioned them to be. There are a couple for whom I've come right out and said what they represent (because I needed that conversation to take place at that time in the plot, and I wanted two of the characters to have a nice little personal moment between them), but the main Kage are left to be interpreted by Chie's bias.
And Chie definitely has a bias, as I have said many, many times before. But we'll get into that in the next chapter....
That said, I loved dropping little hints about the Kage throughout the earlier chapters, and imagining the way that they would all look, and how they would all act. Chie's and Yousuke's are very important to the story, of course, because of their progression (and regression) as a cooperative and co-dependent couple...but I think I enjoyed creating Naoto's Kage the most. There's just something about her image that I find so darn entertaining and amusing. Kanji's was perhaps the most difficult to envision properly, because ultimately I find him the least flawed of the team, in my story. (And here I have to admit that the idea for Maou's giant sword came quite late in the design. Back when the Kage were going to take a much more active role in the final conflict, I had wanted them to closely resemble their associative Personas, and so Rokuten Maou had to have a big old sword - just like Yamatotakeru has a katana. I was going to give Maou just a regular broadsword, but then I saw the movie 9, and I adored the look of 8's shears-sword. So, I stole that little detail from the movie. But I think it fits with Kanji/Maou, don't you?)
So, no question again. But I figured that, while I write through these last chapters, you might enjoy a little more insight into one of the latest chapters, and how I came to those characters.
Remember, if you have questions about "1 More Chance!" - or any of my stories - please feel free to leave a review, or send me a Direct Message/Email. Otherwise, this blog will just get filled up with commentary like this one.
I did not go into detail with the updated Kage as represented in Chapter 57 ("Nightmare"), because I didn't want to just spell everything out for the reader. I gave descriptions, yes, but I think that the Kage should stand on their own, to be interpreted as the reader sees fit. I feel that I've given enough background into each of the characters, that the reader can (hopefully) pretty accurately extrapolate what's going on with each of them, as I've envisioned them to be. There are a couple for whom I've come right out and said what they represent (because I needed that conversation to take place at that time in the plot, and I wanted two of the characters to have a nice little personal moment between them), but the main Kage are left to be interpreted by Chie's bias.
And Chie definitely has a bias, as I have said many, many times before. But we'll get into that in the next chapter....
That said, I loved dropping little hints about the Kage throughout the earlier chapters, and imagining the way that they would all look, and how they would all act. Chie's and Yousuke's are very important to the story, of course, because of their progression (and regression) as a cooperative and co-dependent couple...but I think I enjoyed creating Naoto's Kage the most. There's just something about her image that I find so darn entertaining and amusing. Kanji's was perhaps the most difficult to envision properly, because ultimately I find him the least flawed of the team, in my story. (And here I have to admit that the idea for Maou's giant sword came quite late in the design. Back when the Kage were going to take a much more active role in the final conflict, I had wanted them to closely resemble their associative Personas, and so Rokuten Maou had to have a big old sword - just like Yamatotakeru has a katana. I was going to give Maou just a regular broadsword, but then I saw the movie 9, and I adored the look of 8's shears-sword. So, I stole that little detail from the movie. But I think it fits with Kanji/Maou, don't you?)
So, no question again. But I figured that, while I write through these last chapters, you might enjoy a little more insight into one of the latest chapters, and how I came to those characters.
Remember, if you have questions about "1 More Chance!" - or any of my stories - please feel free to leave a review, or send me a Direct Message/Email. Otherwise, this blog will just get filled up with commentary like this one.
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