On hits and writing action scenes

Rather that clutter up the new act posting and commentary, I wanted to make a separate post with other thoughts, not necessarily related to the posting of "The Amazon Charter." This, then, is everything else I've been doing over the past week.

I've come to realize I actually really dislike action scenes. Or at least writing them. Or, perhaps, I'm just a bit out of practice doing them. A lot of chapter four has been writing action scenes, and I think perhaps I've turned a fundamental corner in the story so far. Almost everything so far has been preparation, introspection. There are a few action scenes, but not many. Chapter four, however, is a big battle over Jusenkyo. Chapter six is another big, almost chapter-long conflict. The gap between 3 and 4 may well be a dividing line, after which the story kicks into high gear, so to speak.

Writing action is tough. At least, there's a temptation to be mechanical, to describe every action in perfect detail. It reminds me of an old piece of advice I heard about a different topic: writing sex scenes. "Write sex scenes like you're making coffee, and write making coffee like you're having sex." The way I've always interpreted this has meant that mechanical, high levels of detail get in the way of the emotions of an action. That is, it's better to step back for a sex scene and be very broad and figurative. That at least applies when the only thing the characters are doing is having sex. If, say, you had one character trying to pump another for information while they're having sex, obviously you have to approach the scene quite differently. That's a case where each detail has consequences. Depending on how or why one makes a cup of coffee, the same reasoning may apply. The question is whether the details are important from a plot or significance standpoint, I suppose.

Applying this logic to action scenes, I think the guiding principle has to be whether the details of a battle are important to the plot as a whole. If you're just having a big fight, broad descriptions are good. Step back from the level of an individual fighting an army and look at the big picture. That's what I'm shooting for, anyway. Even still, there are times to zoom in, to take a look at the battle from one character's eyes and examine how it affects him. As always, one's distance from the characters, from the action, has a significant affect on how events are perceived.

Let me digress, however, to something of more pragmatic interest to a fanfic writer like me (as I happen to be at this time): hits. I actually monitor trends in my stories' hit counts rather closely, at least as I'm updating and posting. It's the reason why I decided on this experiment of weekly posting. All in all, I'm trying to increase the number of people who give the story a shot and increase the carry-over from first chapter to second, second to third, and so on.

Today I tweaked the FFN summary of Identity to something I felt might resonate better with the average Ranma fan--something that more closely hinges on the characters and their relationships. In some ways, I worry that this is misleading. Identity, I suspect, is rather plotty compared to most fanfics, and that's not something the new summary gets across. At the same time, I do think a summary should get across the premise without necessarily encompassing the whole story. This new summary is certainly closer to the initial premise of the story.

Is it a good thing to worry about hits? I suppose it depends on one's approach to storytelling. To me, most of the story is outlined and conceived of; there is very little I would do differently in terms of the actual content. I'm not here to cater to people's requests, although I do welcome and enjoy input and opinion. It's what I do to sell my story that I'm willing to experiment with. Looking at the stories that get lots of reviews, some are several years old and have been updated off and on for the better part of a decade. Some are new, however. Some are from authors with many one-shots and thus likely a decent-sized following; some are from authors on their first story, so who knows what really grabbed people. In the end, this isn't exact science. There are certainly things I could do that I don't--review spam is one way, I think. Even if I don't outright plug myself, reviewing would get my name out there, and if I give good feedback perhaps it would be win-win, but right now I'm cautious to even consider the notion. I don't review much at all; only when I feel like it. And that attitude is what I have to deal with from readers, too. So it's not like I expect a lot of reviews, but I do try.

Something I find sobering is that now, already just 5-6 months since I posted the first chapter, I'm about to have received more hits on Identity in the last month than Echoes ever had. Again, this saddens me, but it doesn't surprise me, either. I really enjoyed writing Echoes; in a lot of ways, it gave me the model for Identity and its overall structure. But I do find it interesting, all the same.

I'm almost done with 4.2 right now, so in theory I'm a day behind schedule. Things may slow down as I go into finals week, but I have a vacation scheduled for mid or late May (I don't recall) where I'll probably have to go on a week hiatus from posting anyway. That will be a convenient time to catch up. Overall the writing of chapter 4, despite my problems with action scenes, has been fairly good. I think I want to clean it up a lot, but it's coming along, at least, and in a way, I'm glad to not spend as much time on heavy introspection. I can let events add up and slowly take their toll on characters. It's a good place to be, balancing action with thought.

Read More...

Summary only...

Identity 3.3 - "The Amazon Charter"

"The Amazon Charter" on Fanfiction.net. I actually decided to reorder acts and swap "The Nine and the Three" (originally act five, now four) with "Occupation." "The Nine" continues Shampoo's story and adds more suspense when "Occupation" follows it, so I think this makes sense.

Commentary below.

As I related to R. T. Stephens in reply to his review, I found this chapter particularly difficult to write, in part because Shampoo's character is so fundamentally different from the other girls. I strove to a great extent to impart her foreign mindset on the reader, to give context to how a girl from what's literally the backwoods and sticks of China would see the modern world. In this act, Shampoo looks upon her environment very darkly, and I consider that outlook influenced as much by Ranma's disappearance as an actual cynicism and nostalgia for her home. There are times when Shampoo comes off to people as ditzy, but I consider these more a product of her background, a misunderstanding of Japanese culture and language, or perhaps even a deliberate act to endear herself to Ranma. In truth, I'm not sure of any of these.

This act is heavily introspective, even more so than the last two. A lot of the time, Cologne serves as an instigator of Shampoo's pondering. If you can't tell, I really like Cologne as a character, too, to the point that, at times, things I had planned for Mousse, to develop his relationship with Shampoo, I often found more naturally came from Cologne as part of her maternal quality, her role as an old sage and advisor. Yeah, she comes off as almost a trickster mentor in the manga, and that's not something I would refute or deny, but Cologne, too, has capability for much depth to her.

But let me get back to Shampoo for a second. I said I had difficulty writing and understanding her, and in a lot of ways, I still do. To me, the paradox is thus: this is a girl who absolutely loves Ranma, yet from a rational observer's perspective, she has no reason to. She's forced by law to marry him, but that doesn't make someone love. In trying to explain Shampoo's love, you have to wonder: what is it about Ranma that she likes? His body? His strength? It's true Ranma has a lot of good qualities (when he's not being a jerk, but hey, that's comedy). And, perhaps, a lot of the same things Akane likes about Ranma are what attract Shampoo to him as well. Again, I make no firm pronouncements.

Equally interesting a question, though, is how Shampoo perceives Ranma's feelings. A big thing over this act and the next is Shampoo's confidence that Ranma loves her--or, if he doesn't, that she can make him love her, that she can seduce him. In this, I want to portray Shampoo as different than Ukyo. Where Ukyo is questioning the justness of her actions, Shampoo should be uncompromising and unapologetic. In some sense, that makes her ruthless. In another, it shows that if she doubts herself for even a moment, it will cripple her. It will cripple her in a way that she can't really handle. In a frightening sort of way, Shampoo's sense of self-worth is too tied to Ranma to disentangle.

Again, this is why I call the story Identity.

The other things that are important in this act: Surma and the Council. Cologne is often portrayed as an Elder of the Amazons, and I thought it'd be a nice little meta-joke to subvert that (or actually...well, wait until act six to see). I'll talk more about the nature of the Council as I conceived it and all that in the next act, but I'm quite pleased with how Surma turned out. She's got a good personality to her and complements Cologne well.

Before I go, though, ask yourself: why should Cologne say goodnight to Ceruse? Remember what I said about her act one exposition being important? Heh. I love these puzzle aspects of a story. Maybe it's a little too obvious, though.

Edit: I'm always forgetting stuff I wanted to mention. One of those things was the location of Jusenkyo. I already made a post about it, but I thought I'd at least mention that I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out reasonable times and distances for travel. To me, this level of detail is important. It makes a story feel subtly more real, even if it makes some storytelling elements more clumsy. It's a personal choice, though.

Read More...

Summary only...

Identity 3.2 - Night Life of the Dotonbori

Night Life of the Dotonbori on FFN.

I've finished the first act of chapter four, but I think it requires significant polish. The effect of, in essence, having a deadline has been positive, however (I think). Whether I'll be able to churn out larger acts in the same time frame is an open question (this one was on the shorter end). That said, getting this first act out of the way, I'm fairly confident about the prospects of finishing this chapter on time.

Commentary on Chapter Three, Act Two is below.

As I mentioned in last week's commentary, I did harbor some fears about this sort of diversion into Ukyo's perspective. I actually really like the character of Ukyo, and to some extent, I think it may show that I like her more than I like Shampoo (although I will say that Shampoo, despite her outward behavior, may well be the more complex and interesting character--I'll save most of those remarks for 3.3 commentary, however).

What I see as Ukyo's struggle right now is the conflict of desires. She wants Ranma's love, but what she's done to get it frightens her. Her own past frightens her. And maybe this is something she's never thought about before, not until the wedding and the shock of hearing that Akane nearly died. It's tempting to say that all these girls are just outright terrible people (including Akane), but to me, that's a fairly dull and boring interpretation. If these people have no redeeming qualities, why should we care? If they have nothing good in them, then how can we root for any of them without a bitter taste in our mouths?

That's where I started out with this, anyway. Let Ukyo be the one with a conscience, who resents that it holds her back from what she wants most. And in this way, let her be a foil for Shampoo, who generally doesn't let morality hold her back. This plotline, with Shampoo and Ukyo being on opposite sides of that fine line, is going to be a big deal over the course of the three books.

I think it would've been easy to have Ukyo's father push her toward marrying Ranma, but in that, there would be no conflict. Ukyo already wants that. And while family honor is, to my reckoning, very important in Japanese families, I have to believe not everyone values it above all else. People have their wants, their desires. We can interpret Ukyo's father as a man who did a dumb thing, trying to basically sell her to Genma, or we can look at him as a parent who knows no other way to give her a good life. That's probably a bit too sugary a viewpoint; the truth probably lies somewhere in between, or perhaps it's even both interpretations at the same time.

The Dotonbori is a real place, by the way. Granted, I may have drawn a bit too heavily from Wikipedia to depict it, but I think the appeal is natural, especially to someone like Ukyo, to her father. And in a big way, it represents what Ukyo's given up chasing after Ranma, all these years. Ultimately, it drives at the heart of the whole book, at least for Ukyo. Who does she want to be? What will she make of herself? What choices will she make that shape her mind and soul?

It's the reason I call this story Identity--or at least, one of them.

Read More...

Summary only...

Commentary: Identity 3.1 - "The Nerima Conclave"

As promised, I have notes and commentary on this installment, hidden behind the "read more" link below.

In a way, this act serves two purposes. The front half deals with the history of the Sorcerers and the Amazons. It's exposition, but as always, I try to embed enough hidden information that you can come up with some interesting questions. Of course, if I mention them outright, it will definitely deflate some of the surprise, but I will say that much of what I have planned is hinted at or foreshadowed in Cologne's story here. Acts 3, 5, and 6 of this chapter will deal heavily with the Amazons and their politics, so this is important setup. And, as I get to touch back on the hints placed in this installment, I'll probably reference this section a lot. I know when these revelations are made I'm going to say, in no uncertain terms, "Do you remember when Cologne said (blank) in 3.1?" It's that important.

But, on the subject of the Amazons, I will admit that this is the last we see of Akane in any great detail for quite a while. If things go according to plan, she won't feature heavily again until 4.3 (her presence will be important before that, but she herself will come greatly out of focus). To Akane fans, myself among them, this may be unfortunate. In truth, you can say that this chapter had (had) three broad sections: one for Akane, which is over now; one for Ukyo, which is the next act; and one for Shampoo. The problem is that Shampoo's section greatly intersects with the plot at that point. It just expanded and expanded. I don't view this as bad, but I know that this may not have the same appeal. It's important, in my opinion, but not the same appeal.

On the second half of this act, though, I was somewhat reluctant to include the image of Ranma again. I felt it was a good gimmick for the first chapter, but overused and overdone it could get tiresome quickly. In this, however, with Akane training in the dojo to work off her feelings, I came around and do feel now like this element can remain in the story (although perhaps not so frequent or central as to grate, I hope). It does give good symbolism to the duality I want to portray. For me, at least, what Akane and Ranma lack is trust of the heart. This is what's kept them from each other and, indeed, even now that Akane's admitted openly that she loves him, it's still an obstacle to their happiness. Look at chapter one: Akane thinks Ranma loves her here, and at the beginning, she's much more placid, level-headed. She's kind and sweet and without the bad qualities that make her seem bitchy or insecure. But that insecurity starts creeping back in. By 1.4 she hits it full bore. She needs him; having tasted that affection, she doesn't feel complete without it (or even with the possibility of losing it). She doesn't trust. And neither does Ranma, really, but that's a problem for another time. All this stuff is what comes into better focus in book two.

When is book two? Well, more or less book one, Tribe of the Ki Sorcerers, is seven chapters. At four to six acts per chapter (and then add teasers), it's about 50 installments, I'm guessing. So it's a ways away.

But anyway, back to this act. I really view everything the image of Ranma says to Akane as her own inner fears (well, this is obvious; if they're not her fears, then I have a literal ghost of a living person talking to her--that's not what I want to be doing. To me, it's important that this narrative device only represent what Akane is trying to reason about herself, not some outside influence on her). You can see how the image is at first forgiving, trying to boost Akane's self-esteem. Akane fears sinking into the black, you see, but her state of mind won't let her reach out, so the image instead swings in the other direction. In part, Akane's just being contrary to herself, but I think the idea is clear: only by subjecting herself to the most damning statements can Akane see the good in herself. She proves it when she comes down the stairs and admits what she's done.

Anyway, that's all for now. Off to work on 4.1.

Read More...

Summary only...

Identity 3.1 - "The Nerima Conclave"

"The Nerima Conclave" on Fanfiction.Net

I had a couple issues with this chapter, one being that the way I was formatting chapter titles on FFN, I hit character limit, so yeah, not so much. This is a real shame, because I still wanted the overall chapter structure to be apparent despite posting in smaller chunks. I guess this'll have to do, though, until I have a better idea to make it work.

Commentary on this chapter will probably be written up after my electronics test tomorrow morning. Heh.

I do want to mention one thing, though: I found an intriguing article for Ranma fandom, both readers and authors alike: Ranma 1/2 fan fiction writers: new narrative themes or the same old story? It's a broader commentary on fanfiction as a whole with Ranma used as the main example. It also mentions two rather famous fan authors: Krista (Perry) Fisk and Joseph Palmer. I think the article is an interesting read for fans and authors in general, as it really puts into perspective how the community works.

Read More...

Summary only...

Identity 03 - Journey to Jusenkyo (Prelude)

The prelude to "Journey to Jusenkyo" on Fanfiction.net.

I'm relieved to finally have this chapter out, and I'm confident in this new weekly process (if I can maintain pace, that is). Over the coming weeks, I'm hopeful this will give me more time to review what I've written and make changes to awkward phrasing and other issues (that is, allowing me to forget what I've written). I did an initial pass over the whole of chapter 3 to make sure plot and stuff was square, but I think these second passes will be very useful in their own right.

Just to be clear: all of chapter 3, all six acts and prelude, are basically finished and will be posted on schedule. What remains to be seen is whether I can finish chapter 4 in its entirety (which, ideally, I'd prefer) before I reach the posting deadline after that. But I will try. That's all I can do is try.

Notes on the prelude to this chapter below.

What I call preludes to each chapter are short, typically. I usually just called them teasers before I felt I needed a serious name if I meant to demarcate them in separate act-based FFN chapters. I seriously considered merging them with the first act of each chapter, actually, because on a functional basis, they mostly behave that way. If you look at chapters one and two, the preludes could be merged with little loss. In the end, though, I chose to post them separately for a couple reasons. One, I wanted the extra week it would give me, updating on a weekly schedule. As terrible as that sounds, I have hoped that setting that rule and maintaining it would be enough, even if that week is padding to some extent.

Because preludes are short, I probably won't have much to say about them in the future, but this prelude is kind of important. Originally, I conceived of this scene in the context of "In the Cold Rain." It would've begun the second act, "Akane," and punctuated Akane's sense of loss in seeing Ranma gone, but more and more, at that time, I couldn't write it well or make it work. The wedding scene is much more powerful in its place (and appropriate, even though I'd wanted to do flash forwards, not flashbacks, in that chapter). And so, I recycled the scene for this chapter. Starting with the Tendo family eating the cake made things much simpler than trying to show Akane baking it, and I'm very happy with how the scene takes Akane to Ranma's room. It will prove a good lead-in to act one on the whole.

Read More...

Summary only...

Identity 03 drafted

I'm pleased to say that act 6 is now finished; the whole of "Journey to Jusenkyo" will now be under review. If the initial pass goes well, I'm considering posting act 0 (the prelude) perhaps as soon as Friday.

So far, I'm still going with the plan of posting one act per week; that will give me roughly seven weeks to work on "Monsters and Demons." I do have a loose thread there in terms of plotting; I've technically ended chapter 3 earlier (in terms of plot) than I'd planned on, so there will have to be some reshuffling. Again, however, I figure if I'm upfront about the update schedule and my reservations about it, perhaps the audience will forgive me more for slipups. Who can say.

Anyway, I'm really glad to have this chapter in review stage. All in all, while I have some things I do want to clean up, I feel great about this chapter, and I'm eager to get it posted.

Read More...

Summary only...

Ga-Rei, voice actors, Ranma, Identity

The Identity update: I'm very close to the end of this chapter. The question now is where I'll end it and what effects that has on chapter four. For some time, I've suspected that 04 is a weak chapter, and even though I've outlined it, I still left some gaps that I wanted to fill in. Hence, I'm struggling with ending 03, as they're still very intertwined.

But let's talk about Ga-rei. There are lots of potentially dumb reasons to try a new series. Trying one because you've been listening to music from one of the voice actors--and then, by extension, trying the manga before the anime--might be one of them. In this case, Minori Chihara's work on Haruhi led me to Ga-Rei, a story about teenage exorcists working for the Japanese government. The manga is, from what I read, "pretty standard shounen fare." I don't know what that means, exactly. Is it stellar? Well, no. Is the third arc poorer than the first two? I might agree with that. It's not bad, though. The anime? I need to watch that to make an informed decision, but it sounds (sounds) like something I will like better. And yes, it's backwards that I tried the manga first.

I've taken an interest in Japanese voice actors, as you might notice. I could call them seiyuu as seems to be the convention to distinguish them from English voice actors, but I find that distinction somewhat...misleading. Yeah, I generally prefer subbed anime over dubs, but I like to think what both Japanese and English voice actors do is the same thing. A fair number of Japanese VAs do dubbing work for foreign media, too, after all, and while it's unlikely you'd get English VAs rising to the levels of idol-dom as their Japanese counterparts, what they do, I think, is still fundamentally the same job.

Anyway, interest in voice actors, if only to see some of the varied and diverse roles they've taken. I've mentioned Megumi Hayashibara before, I think, and how in my writing for Identity I still hear Ranma's voice (girl voice) with Hayashibara's rendition of him. I do that with all the characters, and yes, I imagine them in manga/anime style; for Ranma, I try to imagine them in a sort of colorized version of the manga. Illustrations like that at the end of volume 26, the Ryugenzawa arc, help me with this. In the case of Ranma, I prefer the manga because overall the art is a lot crisper and usually not as overtly angular. The first season of Ranma is most similar to this, but there are subtle differences with the faces and eyes. Takahashi's late Ranma art, however, is fairly consistent (the early art has to find its footing and is a bit round and immature-looking; that is, the characters look young), and I'm very partial to it.

And I imagine even female Ranma's hair as black. But, that's also just preference, and you'll notice in Identity, I don't talk about Ranma's hair color (or his eye color, for that matter) at any time.

But where was I? Oh yes, voice acting. I like looking into actors and their other roles, their histories, the connections between people. This comic from Hayashibara shows one aspect of voice acting as a close-knit community in Japan (the strip depicts a party Hayashibara hosts, with guests including Kotono Mitsuishi---that's Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon; Misato Katsuragi, Neon Genesis Evangelion---and Megumi Ogata--I know her work as Yukito Tsukishiro/Yue in Cardcaptor Sakura and Shinji Ikari, also from Evangelion). In other words, these actors meet with each other on all different projects, and you, as a simple audience member, can hear voices from disparate shows collide. It's pretty cool.

But then, it's also cool when you can't recognize that voice at all. Some folks are like that. Hayashibara is almost unrecognizable as Rei Ayanami in NGE. I seldom hear the similarities in Ogata's performances between Shinji and Yukito. Conversely, Kikuko Inoue (Kasumi for Ranma fans) is dead on center for the "Yamato Nadeshiko" trope and exactly the same voice as she plays Chitose Hibiya in Chobits. And today I just found out she's Misaki's mother in Angelic Layer, and I'm pretty sure if I go watch that it won't suprise me (I watched both of these before Ranma). Noriko Hidaka (Akane) I find difficult to hear Akane in, although I find her voice has a certain unmistakable quality to it that is the same regardless (I know her also from Rockman.EXE as the Oozono twins, Mariko and Yuriko).

Sometimes, it's just that one voice. Junko Iwao pulls off a voice that is both light and elegant for Tomoyo Daidouji in CCS, yet Hikari Horaki in Evangelion sounds nothing like that. Sometimes it isn't: Minori Chihara makes Yuki Nagato and Minami Iwasaki sound very similar, but Kagura Tsuchimiya (Ga-rei) is a wholly different story (although when she quiets down, I do hear similarities). Aya Hirano can make Haruhi Suzumiya (...can't you guess?) and Konata Izumi (Lucky Star) run together, especially in Haruhi-chan, but overall they're very separate voices, distinguished as much by where she places her voice in her head to delivery, something I haven't addressed at all.

Overall, I find these things very fascinating, and maybe you do too. If you're a fan of the Ranma anime or just interested in the voice acting process, this video is a clip of all the Ranma voice actors going into the studio to produce part of the "Tunnel of Lost Love" OVA and afterward, short interviews with

Kappei Yamaguchi (Ranma)(L of Death Note, Inuyasha from...well...)

Megumi Hayashibara (Ranma)(Rei Ayanami from NGE, Lina Inverse from Slayers)

Noriko Hidaka (Akane)(Minami Asakura from Touch, Near from Death Note, Kikyo from Inuyasha)

Minami Takayama (Nabiki) (Detective Conan from, well...yes, I know that's not his name)

Kikuko Inoue (Kasumi) (I don't even know where to start)

And that's just the first video (again, that's this link, Ranma Special DoCo Interview, Part 1). Parts two and three have more interviews with the rest of the cast, including Shampoo and Ukyo (the latter, Hiromi Tsuru, is Bulma from Dragon Ball, but I wouldn't know).

In addition, this blog has a series on notable seiyuu, and while it's not comprehensive, it's a nice journey through anime history, past and present.

Anyway, now back to act 6, chapter 3...

Read More...

Summary only...

Before and After 01 - "After Leliel"

I tweaked the first chapter of "Before and After" and have published it on FFN here. I made most of my thoughts on the story in general known at the end of that chapter, so I will not duplicate those remarks here. Let me instead talk about the chapter itself, behind the link below.

When I first conceived of this story, the beginning was the main driving force. It was only after I gathered my thoughts enough to outline the rest that I felt comfortable actually writing it. For the most part, the chapter is almost exactly the way I envisioned it; it was very easy to write, which is either good...or bad. I did, in retrospect, add a few things that I didn't have in the first draft. The joke at the beginning with the janitor, I hoped, would more effectively ease people into Rei's perspective--I've always heard that one of the things that is most effective at drawing in a new reader is humor, and while I don't tend to write comedy, I think every author needs an understanding of humor, of when it is appropriate for pacing or other concerns. I've been told my sense of humor is unusual; admittedly, with the serious nature of most of my works, the characters themselves seldom get to laugh at their companions' antics. I think most of my humor is based on...what should I call it? The sheer ridiculousness of the situation? Perhaps that; the juxtaposition of the serious and absurd. Maya and Kaji getting it on and Fuyutsuki having the tape? Something along those lines. To tell the truth, I'm not really sure.

A big theme I want to emphasize in this piece (when I do get around to continuing it; I view it much as a side project that I will continue at my leisure) is how Rei perceives herself as having Yui's body and disliking it, disliking how it means she is not herself, her own person. That will extend to Lilith as well. I know there is a squicky component to the mother/son overtones between Rei and Shinji, and I wanted to keep that because while it's there, it's not because Rei sees herself as his mother (even though, in this chapter, she suspects she does). For Shinji (especially coming off episode 16, as he is in the first chapter here), it's natural for him to associate Rei with those things, but I think if you ask him point blank or analyze his behavior, he doesn't treat her like his mother. He treats her like a person, and that's an important point.

It's going to be interesting, I think, working so closely within the bounds of canon. It means there are a lot of things, little details, that one might get wrong. Watching Ep. 16 again, I noticed some things: Gendo isn't there when Shinji is absorbed into the angel (Misato complains that he isn't there), but he is by the time Unit-01 is being washed off. It's dusk by the time Rei and Asuka start getting each other's faces--remember Shinji had up to 16 hours to survive on internal life support. Timing and stuff like that is important to me; I feel even the tiniest detail can change the complexity and meaning of things. Writing to interleave events like this means a lot of attention must be paid, and while I'm willing to do it, I will always worry I'll make a mistake.

Finally, I'm excited to be writing this, even if it isn't my top priority. In the back of my mind, I have a longer Eva piece in mind taking place post-instrumentality, and this piece might be considered a prequal for that, at least in terms of how I interpret what happens during Instrumentality, but that isn't even outlined or well-formed. I may never write it. We'll see.

Read More...

Summary only...

Identity 03, Act 5 Finished

I finished "The Nine and the Three" this afternoon in a bit of a writing binge (that I'm very happy about), though I did push a scene to act 6 (which makes me wonder if I should split that act into two). The chapter is...long. I'm surprised how long it is. With at least 5 or 6 scenes, I'm sitting on 28k words, which makes me think I might afford to pare down somewhere (act 4, I think, is long for the amount of stuff that happens; act 5 turned out way longer than I thought it would). But then, that's been Identity so far. Long is the name of the game, for whatever reason.

I admit, I'm still concerned about the weekly chapter idea, even though in theory it should be doable. The last thing I want to do is set a schedule and slip on it. Perhaps if I'm up-front about that I'll manage. I don't know. I'd still like to finish each chapter as a whole before I post any part of it. With 6 acts in this one plus teaser, that's 7 weeks to finish the next chapter, and I don't know I can feasibly make that pace. Every two weeks would be much more leisurely, but it also, in my mind, loses a lot of punch.

I spose we'll see what happens.

Read More...

Summary only...

"Before and After"

I started work on the last two days of a story I call "Before and After," an Evangelion story about the growth of Rei, her relationships with Gendo and Shinji, and her realization of her purpose as a tool for Instrumentality. It's a short piece--I anticipate around 30-50k words total, in about 10 chapters that are, roughly speaking, comparable in size to acts in Identity, which are each around 3-4k typically but can range up to 7-8k. The first chapter of this story is done, but I anticipate this only to be a side project, that I will work on at my leisure and not all the way through. And that...is okay.

Identity is still coming along; I'm about halfway through act 5 in "Journey to Jusenkyo," but writing "Before and After" does give me perspective. It's a lot easier to get words going when you don't have to make them synch up with a lot of established history and baggage (or, by extension, stuff you have planned). I think, in large part, this is what's slowed down work on Identity---what I might call logistics---and I'm hoping that working on another project will overall make me a little fresher with my writing.

Read More...

Summary only...