While I update…

I’m going to pull down the pages for Origins. Not because I’m giving up on the story, not a chance. I’m still stuck in the same place for months, buuuut I’ll get to that later. No, I’m going to pull it down because the pages, particularly the Character page, is just badly written, awful, and makes me cringe. It’s not even that the characters are bad, because I don’t feel like Emily and Isabelle are bad characters.

The way I wrote and described them (Especially Isabelle) is just awful.

And I know part of the problem. They were both created when I was a writing noob, trying so hard to analyze personality traits and create well-thought out, developed characters. I looked at the scenes of the movies, thinking things such as “OMG Marko just put his hand on his chaps he must have a secret injury possibly healed there let’s put that in.“

Two notes: One, I never actually thought THAT particular sentence, and two, yes, really, that’s the sort of stuff I came up with. I can remember watching the scene between Max, Lucy and the Boys in the video store, studying Dwayne like I was some sort of behavioural specialist when I was writing Signs of Change. One of the actual things I thought, and I cringe to admit this: “He keeps looking all over the place like it’s something he’s never seen before he’s studying it really closely WHAT IF HE WAS TEMPORARILY BLINDED BEFORE HE GOT TURNED” as well as “He’s so quiet I wonder why WHAT IF HE COMMUNICATES WITH HIS PACK MENTALLY BECAUSE HE GOT INJURED BEFORE HE TURNED AND COULDN’T SPEAK SO THAT WAS HOW HE COMMUNICATED AND HE JUST GOT USED TO IT.”

Please forgive the capsrape and complete mary-stuish thoughts. I lose all former writer cred, I know.

That’s why I need to take down those pages, and why I need to completely overhaul Unknown Blood and Signs of Change. Back then, I thought that analyzing every minute detail would make my writing better. Yes and no: The way I showed above, that’s the wrong way. Peoples’ eyes naturally wander, they never remain fixed. And some people are quiet. Marko and Paul don’t speak either, but that doesn’t mean they were temporarily rendered mute. It means that they recognized that it wasn’t the right moment to speak and they probably had a good laugh over Max’s immediate infatuation for Lucy when they returned to the cave.

Codes

In chapter four of Missing, Alan finds some odd combinations of letter in Linny Marshall’s old calendar. It’s a code, though what for or what it says or even why Linny wrote it in code is a mystery still. What people don’t know is that it is the third code I originally made up for the chapter. That’s right, I went through two other codes until I decided on the one used in the story.

I’m not going to reveal the translations or the key for any of the codes, all three are an assignment of a pair of letters in different orders. None are complicated. Just be glad I didn’t use arrows or dots for the code – In highschool I must have made up ten different codes with arrows and dots and I-don’t-know-what-else-anymore out of boredom…but that’s another story. I picked the third code for a simple reason. Saying it aloud, it was the prettiest and was the only one that could be really said aloud. Heh heh.

Because I can, I’m going to show the same three phrases in the story, in all three codes. BECAUSE I CAN. >:3

CODE ONE:
Phrase one: Orvat gheaq. Yrniat Ubzr.
Phrase two: Qenax oybbq. Guerr Qnlf.
Phrase three: Gurl ner inzcverf.

CODE TWO
Phrase one: Yvrmt gfimw. Ovzrmt slnv.
Phrase two: Wizmp yollw. Gsivv vyag.
Phrase three: Gsvb ziv eznkrivh.

CODE THREE
Phrase one: Xuqls fehluv. Nuydqls rkzu.
Phrase two: Vhylo xnkkv. Fruu vyag.
Phrase three: Frua yhu dyzjqhug.

So there they are, and if any eager beavers decide to try and decode them…muahaha.

Little Sister

Chatper  four of Missing is up!

It’s UP. ;AIGJSAE;LGUHIAGUAHLGJA.

It’s also the first chapter where we meet Eleanor, whom I love. She’s nice enough to her friends, if short fused. She likes to call those who irritate her names…usually referring to ‘ass’ in some way. I love this girl so much and it fills me with joy to FINALLY introduce part of Abel’s family. S’cuse me while I squee in joy to introduce her.

Honestly, I’m not 100% pleased with the chapter, though I was with the third chapter. I was really happy with that one, but considering that chapter 3 wasn’t rated too highly, maybe I’m completely wrong about chapter 4. We’ll wait and see, though. I can always revise it later if I need to; if I do, it will be silently. (Yeah, me, silent. Perish the thought.)

So yay. We meet Eleanor, we find out WHO Alan’s informant is (Figuring it out is pretty easy), we meet Eleanor, and we’re that much closer to getting to the good stuff. I’m so excited to introduce the rest of Abel’s pack next chapter, I love them so so much and they keep me mindlessly entertained. Plus…more Stella! Ty! And an Emerson (!!!!!) makes an appearance in Chapter five.

I’m excited. Now to actually, you know, WRITE it.

Catching up

Ooooooh, it has been way too long since I’ve updated.

I think we’ve all gotten a little lazy, though I am by far the worst. iI haven’t updated Missing since last September, and that just isn’t right. So I apologize for that, and I promise I’m editing and finishing off the next chapter now. I promise. REALLY.

I think I’ll delete All the Damn Vampires and Fanfiction Nation, since I have enough trouble keeping one blog updated. All the posts from those two I’ll move here. Thoughts?

Right. I’ll go back to editing now.

Naming

Be it characters, stories, chapters, places or what-have-you, I am horribly ANAL when it comes to naming things in my works.

I’m a firm believer that the perfect name exists, it’s just a matter of finding out what it is. It can take me weeks, sometimes, to discover the perfect name, yet other times it comes almost right away. It all depends-and there are names and titles I use currently that really piss me off, but I gave up. To put it simply. Like the name of Edgar and Alan’s first stoy-Missing just doesn’t feel one hundred percent right to the story. Yes, it fits, and yes, it reflects the BASIC subject matter of the story, but there’s much more to it than “OH HAI FROGZ FIND MAI SISTER PLZ.” It’s more than looking for a missing person, the Frogs have to deal with betrayal, mixed feelings, confusing boundaries and more. And “Missing” doesn’t reflect all of that. Just the basics.

Some names come quickly and easily. Ty, Abel and Linny’s name-Almost instant. Same for the rest of Abel’s pack. (Speaking of which, I’ll tell you their names now-Jackie, Mickey, Izzy and Eleanor. What? A theme, you say? Buttocks.) Almost as soon as the character was conceived, the name was there. Why this doesn’t happen more, I don’t know, though I wish it would.

Names, I think, are something so personal, so closely linked to a person’s identity that there is only one possible name that they can ever take. And unless that one, single name can be found, the character cannot truly be realized into complete fruition.

A little mind-trippy, perhaps, but true to me.

Getting back into the flow.

Exam. Week. Is. OVEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!

Will I admit to having some alcohol in celebration… at noon? Just a small glass.

It’s odd, but now that exams are over, I can get back into writing. Um, yeah, it didn’t take long-halfway through my exams I started brainstorming and it’s been lovely. It’s been more so for an original work and for a fic in another fandom, but the ideas for Missing are beginning to come now. So between sleep (Which I’ve been seriously deprived of), and work (…My boss scheduled me for 1PM to 7PM. Christmas Eve. YEAH.), and Christmas fun, I’ll be writing.

I’ve honestly missed writing Missing – Not just because it’s fun to write the Frogs being the Frogs, but also because I wanna get to the other stories in the series. Between plotting this one out, I’ve been developing plans for stories two through seven. Yes, I said SEVEN. We’ve got werewolves, we’ve got aliens, ancient Egyptians, mermen, and pretty much everything in between. Hell, I’ll even dive into a derived version of the Navajo yee naaldlooshii.

I can’t wait.

Turning

Mmmm…the past month has been a very stressful one. Between letting go of best friends that weren’t real friends during university orientation and my first ever midterm week…it’s been crazy. Man – Wednesday I actually broke down, freaked that I had to do so much for school and it wasn’t going to get done.

But the week is over and have a long weekend-Bless, Thanksgiving is so wonderful. Screw calories, I am going to stuff my face on Sunday and love it.

Enough whining. I bought a laptop for school and it’s really inspiring me, which is sad. If I could marry my laptop I probably would. So having a nice computer with lots and lots of memory and hard drive, combined with one of my birthday gifts is really inspiring me. For both Origins AND Missing! Le gasp! What gift was this? Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s the only season I’ve seen, so no spoiling! I’ve only finished the first seven or eight episodes! Meep!

I’ve been studying the way vampires act on the show, and the way they change when sired is staggering. They’re clearly more evil and malicious and love it. Seeing it done so well, and the First Evil-whooooooa babe. Now THAT is truly inspiring. It’s going to really imporve the way my vampires act and behave, especially in Origins when I have to actually show that shift from average Joe human to bloodthirtsy, soulles and evil vampire.

Turning actually seems to magnify their innermost thoughts and worst traits, twisting them until only the barest shadow of the original person remains. Their mortal morals are gone, replaced by the hunger and love for sadism and killing.

*Shivers* I now understand why Buffy is so damn awesome. And screw team Edward or Jacob…can you imagine if Grandpa and Spike teamed up? A lean, mean, vampire killing team!

By ‘Chance’

Some of you probably know this already, but Victoria and Theresa over at Marked By the Boys went to the Indianapolis Famous Monsters Con and got to speak with the Boys themselves. While they were there, Chance Michael Corbitt told Victoria that he was almost in the Thirst.

Note ‘almost’.

In the end, so the story goes, Warner was cheap and wouldn’t fly Chance to South Africa for filming. And they considered hiring another actor to play Laddie!

Now say it with me: Those scheisskopf bastards.

Jamison Newlander (Also known as Alan) seconded the story. I’m trusting them, because if the Warner thought The Tribe was a good idea, then this is more than believable.

Victoria has started an online petition, so please, sign it. We want Chance. Not another actor, CHANCE.

Click me to sign!

(And on another note there’s now another blog added to the two I already have. Link on the side. And yes, I have a blog-making problem.)

Working working working

The muses are being good, lately…finished the rough draft of chapter 3 of Missing. I’m really satsified with where the story’s going, it’s exactly in the right direction. I’m not used to writing ‘mystery’, as I’ll call it (For lack of being able to think of a better one), but it’s working out nicely, I think. Not too fast or too slow paced, but just right. In case you can’t tell, I’m pleased!

Which is rare for me. To quote Joey Lawrence: “Whoa!”

I’m editing it right now. Editing IS my weakness, I hate it, it hates me, but I’m taking my time and not rushing it, so it’s going well so far. I’ll edit it at least once more, but so far I’m pretty happy with the second draft.

There are also two music references in chapter 3…I won’t spoil the surprise, but whomever finds them first gets digital cookies. I’ll tell you the bands, because one is obvious but relatively unknown and the other isn’t AS noticeable: The bands referenced are the Doors and Platinum Blonde. Two of my absolute favourites.

And as for Unknown Blood, I’m still working on that, but the muse went poof for a while. So rather than rush it and it coming out awful, I’m going to wait and let it flow. That’s always worked better in the past.

ARGHENFLIEGEN!

Sorry for the fake butchered German, inside joke.

However, the feeling behind it isn’t so false.

Rewriting Unknown Blood is going well, on the whole, buuuuuuuuut I have hit a mental roadblock. It’s not writer’s block, no, the mini-cops of my mind have put up lead roadblocks and the car that is the story are being stopped and getting their licences and registration checked. So to speak.

So, like I’ve said before, in this rewrite I’m trying to make it more obvious that the passion between Emily and David is based off of lust, not “true love” or anything else. Pure “H’oh lordy they are HOT.”

To do that, I’m really emphasizing Emily’s physical appearance when he first sees her in the lobby. And THAT is where my problem lies.

Now, most people who know me know what my feelings are for Twilight. (And for those who don’t, I would like to see it stomped on by a fat man, the pulp dumped into a crocodile’s pit to get waterlogged and further mutilated, those peices tossed into a huge bonfire, the ashes exorcised by the Pope, Dalai Lama and just about every other religion head, further crushed with holy water into a thick paste to then be sent on a one-way trip to the sun. But I digress.) I LOATHE it. And I feel like the concentration on appearance for the lust is coming off like, well Twilight.

That is not good.

So I’ve been trying to think of how to really emphasize the lust without turning it into Twilight. Not an easy task. I don’t really want to remove the description of Emily, because that helps set up the obviousness of the lusting passion, but I don’t want to turn it into Bella and her Herpes-I mean, Edwart. Uh, Edward.

So, any suggestions for how I can emphasize lust but prevent attack of the Twilight?