NaNo '13

[erin_hime]

I know it’s a little late, but between writing and going to see Frozen in the middle of it, as well as working on a rather complex Lego set my boyfriend got at the Lego Store on Black Friday, which he was waiting for me to finish writing to start on, I didn’t really have much time to write up a journal for this year’s NaNo. Which is strange,

Comments

Congratulations! (Part 1)

[callisto_chan]

Haha, I know you were busy this year, as I was too, so I can understand wanting to put off the journal until you have more time to work on it. But yeah. this year proved difficult for both of us. But like you, I found that I was really excited for this year (not that I'm not excited every year, but for some reason this year felt different, for reasons I can't really explain.) But yeah, NaNo plus work and a social life can really cut into all that writing time you have, but I like that you managed. Sure, some days you had to upload two chapters rather than just one, but you kept pace relatively well, all things considered.

I know the feeling of exhilaration you get when you finish your very first story! It might not be the same as when you first started it -- it'd be a miracle if it was -- but it's still your first story, and there's that sense of confusion you get -- because it's been unfinished for so long that it's a bit of a shock to think of it as finished. AT least that was my experience; you, of course, might be different

Re: Congratulations! (Part 1)

[erin_hime]

Okay, okay - time for me to get to this. Yeesh, I’m terrible about comments. It’s not really that I don’t have the time; it’s more that I just keep putting it off, because I just don’t feel like commenting. Because I’m bad like that.

It’s sort of funny, because I could have sworn I didn’t do a journal last year, because I was getting tired of writing journals for completed books. But I guess that was just for books two and three of the series. I don’t know, but I was surprised to see I had written a journal. Go figure. This year I was late because I was being distracted by the boyfriend on the 30th, so I had to wait until the 1st to actually write the damn thing. But I figured that was okay, because I could use the excuse of writing all day on the 30th as a way to explain it. ;P It just find it hilarious that this year proved challenging for both of us…and meanwhile, anijel ended up doing so much better this year than last year! (I’m hoping that means next year, she’ll actually win!) I mean, it’s like, what are the odds that

Congratulations! (Part 2)

[callisto_chan]

I actually don't remember when Buttercup was a spoonbender -- I only have super vague memories of that one time you tried to restart AD, but barely. But I can understand what you mean -- you have no idea where these ideas come from, and even if you do, it's been so long that you can't even possibly explain how they came about. I like what you have here though -- the outsider angle works amazingly well for everything, and even though there are definite issues in the Buttercup/Robert relationship (one doesn't merely get over a instinctive distrust or dislike of Lumentians/Alterians in a day), I think that's fairly realistic. Buttercup herself didn't come off as all that bitter -- only slightly bitter, and even then, practicality won out. Can't really be bitter too long when you're travelling with one, and they proved to be an alright guy

Re: Congratulations! (Part 2)

[erin_hime]

The first time I made Buttercup and outsider was when I gave her powers over metal…I think you made a comment about ‘there is no spoon’, which I misinterpreted. ^^; But yeah, the idea of her being an outsider just seems to have come from nowhere, really, but I love the idea. I probably could have done that angle a little better, especially since she’s an outsider in her village as well. That was something not planned, but I liked the idea of Buttercup being able to read, and then Robert obsessing over her because of it. I mean, no woman can read, and no man wants one that ca…except Robert, of course. And really, the dynamic between the two of them should have been vastly different…except they sort of liked each other (as in friendly liked) from the beginning, such that they were comfortable enough to strike up that initial friendship without the prejudice. The only issues they had was when they talked about culture, which Buttercup was annoyed with. But Robert (and Clover) was trusting enough to change their opinions whenever

Congratulations! (Part 3)

[callisto_chan]

I thought we got a decent display of Buttercup and Clover's badassitude. Hell, Buttercup wrecking her captors' shit while attempting to escape is awesome enough. Just because we don't see her using her bow and arrows that often doesn't mean she's not badass. (Compared to someone like Katniss, who we see being a badass all the time -- but that's mostly because of the situation she's been placed in. Don't mind me, been rewatching Hunger Games to get in the mood to see Catching Fire ^^;) The display while she was escaping was simply a taste of what she could do, and then the bit in the final battle was an ever bigger picture. And sure, Clover's badassery is less seen -- you kind of have to guess it by context -- but she proved her worth in the final battle. Hell, even when they were capturing Dante she proved her mettle because she was able to kick his butt without breaking a sweat. So I think they're plenty badass

Re: Congratulations! (Part 3)

[erin_hime]

I think my issue with Buttercup and Clover is that, well, Clover doesn’t fight as much as she should to show off her skills. And then Buttercup doesn’t really show off her Fire Mage skills as much as I wanted. Still, they’re badass enough to show they’re still better fighters than Robert. :P Unfortunately, they were never really placed in situations that would allow for them to show their skills, but…yeah. I was trying to show it subtly, I guess.

I sort of wish you didn’t really hang onto Dante as much as you did, since, like I said, I only included him because I felt obligated to. ^^; He was a great way to show that Aria wasn’t as perfect as everyone was making her out to be, sure, and to be honest, his fate was perfectly fitting for him as a Dark Elf. I just…wish you didn’t like him as much as you apparently did. -_- He wasn’t really a major character by the time I outlined it.

The Gatekeeper is going to stay the most massive with word count. I’ve been writing too much as it is, it seems, at least in terms of