Miscellaneous: updates on current WIPs and a look ahead

[luxken27]

Do you ever feel like you have fifty million ideas bouncing around your brain, so much that you can't make real progress on any one thing because the little voices in your head can't decide which one to work on?

Yeah, that's totally the reason for this post: I (or rather, the muses) need priorities, dammit.

I have varying degrees of satisfaction with the progress (or lack thereof) on my various fics. Right now, my main priority is to finish the sequel to Memento Mori. After battling for almost three months on the damn thing, I am finally satisfied with the plot line I've chosen for the oneshot sequel; now it's mostly a matter of actually writing it out. Unfortunately, most of my "free time" of late has been on generally unproductive writing days. Sometimes I feel like I can write freely and sometimes, I got nothing. It sucks, but that's creativity for you.

Luckily, the term ends this week, so I will have more time to devote to creative pursuits very, very soon. Yay!

I am hoping to have this piece out before Christmas. Why? Because the piece I'm planning for the Advent Calendar is actually a little sequel to it. That piece is due December 23rd, and I really don't want to have to change the idea now that it's kinda fleshed out and is just waiting for my muses to cooperate :P

Next on the list is reviving/revising Nihon Idol. This fic got pushed to the wayside between finishing Every Heart and starting to write more heavily for contest prompts. I also lost a bit of interest, as the characterizations didn't go the way I wanted. However, I have relaxed my own rules for the fic (it's a crossover) and this has allowed me to find new ways to save the characters and the story, and make it more of my own. This is quite exciting, but it means that the whole thing (32K+ words) has to get a facelift before it can continue. This will also constitute a lot of work off-screen...

The next big, multichapter project that I feel is looming on the horizon is "The Wrong Ending", which is a continuation of a contest prompt that has the potential to get really big really fast. I'm still working on a plausible storyline (I know where they start, and where they end, but not the reason for the journey quite yet), but I'm quite excited about this chance to explore the Sess/Kag pairing in a rather strict canon universe. It's not going to be strictly Sess/Kag, but that's where its going to end up.

In the meantime, I have been bitten by a plot bunny for the Eternal Destiny contest, inspired by some lovely fanart. This is another piece that is more or less already planned out, but needs to be written on a "creative" day. Luckily, the due date that for that contest is after Christmas, so I have some lead time yet. It's hard getting back to writing Inu/Kag after focusing so much on the possibilities of Sess/Kag...but it's an interesting challenge nonetheless :)

And then there's the still-simmering plans for the sequel to Every Heart. This is still not completely clear quite yet, but I did have an ingenious brainwave during one of my classes a few weeks ago that will help spark it. It's going to be a quest story, focusing on Sess/Rin/Snegura, with the other two couples/storylines taking a definite backseat. I'm still tinkering with the mechanics for the main storyline.

I'm very content with the pace of updating on "Fleeting"; every ten days has a nice symmetry to it (and it gives me time to contemplate my next move, and how it fits into the prompt table!). I like this idea of writing a serial, not being tied to a particular style or strict timeline, or even form - though, admittedly, I find it much easier to write oneshots than drabbles and will probably continue in this vein, at least until things heat up.

My other claim at un_love_you is for Ouran High School Host Club. I am hoping to receive the glut of anime and manga as Christmas gifts, so I'm waiting to see if that comes true before resuming this table. Ironically, I had an overall idea for that table, whereas I was just going to free-form the Sess/Kag claim...and now those two have reversed. My brain = totally weird.

Let's see, is there anything else?...as if that wasn't enough, LOL.

There are still a ton of contest drabbles I've written that I've contemplated expanding, but none of them have been fleshed out as these have. I speak mostly of the ones I've written for iyissekiwa, and a few of the interconnected dokuga_contest ones as well.

Comments

[kmoaton.livejournal.com]

You just made me tired! *collaspes* I thought I had a lot to do. I'm doing an Advent piece too and its nearly finished. An idea for the un_love_you struck me in the middle of grading papers so I have the basis for my next prompt down. I was really considering another prompt using Inu/Kikyou as my pairing. I want to flesh out the story I did for wilted rose and I think the table could work for that.

Thank goodness for the holidays!!

[luxken27]

LOL, well, imagine having all this bouncing around...and having other, more pressing things to do instead. Believe me, I am very much looking forward to this holiday break!!

An idea for the un_love_you struck me in the middle of grading papers so I have the basis for my next prompt down.

Isn't that always the way, LOL?

I was really considering another prompt using Inu/Kikyou as my pairing. I want to flesh out the story I did for wilted rose and I think the table could work for that.

Is it the one that you posted to your journal as well, about Kikyo as a modern-day business woman? That was a good little piece...and I can see how it'd easily fit with some of the prompts in the table.

[kmoaton.livejournal.com]

For the prompt table, it's the same piece I did on my journal with Kikyo as a modern-day business woman. I've always been curious about them having a relationship that maybe could have worked. After all, if Naraku hadn't interfered, they would have (maybe) still been together. So many are so quick to hate Kikyo but I think it's those who only watch the anime and not read the manga. She actually has layers. Why not explore them?

[luxken27]

I completely agree. Some of the most powerful chapters of the manga are those that are about Kikyo and her story. After reading the manga, I was surprised and very much DISpleased to see how much the anime changed her whole dynamic with both Inuyasha and Kagome. The original was much better, giving her depth and quite some sympathetic characteristics.

I'd be interested in seeing where you went with it! :)

[ranuel.livejournal.com]

I read the manga before seeing the anime and I still don't like her but it has nothing to do with the love triangle dynamic. She comes across as arrogant and ungrateful to me. Everyone's mileage varies of course. For me personally, I had a lot of responsibility at her age being part of the team that cared for my dying grandmother and when she whines about how she doesn't like being different and wants to be like the other girls in the village I just want to slap her and tell her to suck it up. Many of the other village girls probably all have their own unpleasant duties to bear and some probably wouldn't mind a life of adventure instead of drudgery and at least she gets the benefit of an education and more freedom and power than any other woman in town even those much older than she is.

There is also her conviction for most of the story that she knows best even when her actions help drag out the conflict with Naraku and cause hundreds of people to die.

She is a fascinating character though when you look at the whole series. She changes through the series and the person she is by the time of her second death is well on her way towards becoming the soul that is reborn as Kagome. I don't have to like her to appreciate the character arc and how complex RT made her.

[landofthekwt.livejournal.com]

Good luck with all your story ideas. It appears that you are going to be busy.

I tend to regard the anime as fanfiction since RT did not write it.

[luxken27]

Good luck with all your story ideas. It appears that you are going to be busy.

Yes, there is a lot that is demanding to flow forth. We'll see how successful this venture is, LOL.

I tend to regard the anime as fanfiction since RT did not write it.

Well, that's certainly a different way of looking at things.

No, seriously. You've made my poor, tired brain stop and really think that one over....

[kmoaton.livejournal.com]

Having now read the manga, I have to agree with you on that. When I started with Inuyasha, it was through the anime. There are a lot of things done in the anime that is totally different from what happens in the manga and RT's true intentions. I figure the fangirls who hate Kagome and Kikyo are strictly anime watchers. The manga really allows for both of their characters to be explored.

[luxken27]

I'm like you: I saw the anime first and then read the manga. The story is...deeper, somehow, but I put it down to targeting a different audience. Reading and watching TV are completely different things, appealing to different sorts of people.

That being said, you can *definitely* tell who's reading/writing fanfic based on the manga, or based on the anime, by the way they characterize their key players. I'm glad I wasn't around for the big Inu/Kag vs Inu/Kik shipwars...

[kmoaton.livejournal.com]

'Reading and watching TV are completely different things, appealing to different sorts of people."

I can understand that. I've always been a reader so just the appeal of the written story really got me.

That being said, you can *definitely* tell who's reading/writing fanfic based on the manga, or based on the anime, by the way they characterize their key players. I'm glad I wasn't around for the big Inu/Kag vs Inu/Kik shipwars...

I totally agree with that! Kagome is a snotty brat or just a "woe is me" type. Kikyo is an extreme bitch with no redeeming qualities. That is the thing that always got me about the Sess/Kag pairing. They either made Inu such a bastard that Kag had to run to Sess or that she was just so cold hearted that she was with Sess behind Inu's back. I'm glad we missed the war too. It seems to be heading to the Inu/Mir vs Inu/Kag now! LOL

[luxken27]

I can understand that. I've always been a reader so just the appeal of the written story really got me.

Same here, though I've always had rather strong feelings about what could and couldn't translate to the screen. For instance, I think Jane Austen's books do much better in a visual environment than on the page.

I totally agree with that! Kagome is a snotty brat or just a "woe is me" type. Kikyo is an extreme bitch with no redeeming qualities. That is the thing that always got me about the Sess/Kag pairing. They either made Inu such a bastard that Kag had to run to Sess or that she was just so cold hearted that she was with Sess behind Inu's back.

To me, the believability of the Sess/Kag pairing rests on the characterization of Sesshoumaru. He does a lot of growing himself in the manga, the sort of growth and breadth and depth that allows for this alt pairing to venture somewhere near the realm of reality. If you just base your knowledge off the anime, you'd *have* to twist Kagome's character to fit his because its obvious how much she hates him, LOL. Whereas, I feel they would be mutually more sympathetic to each other at the end of the manga because of everything they *both* went through.

I'm glad we missed the war too. It seems to be heading to the Inu/Mir vs Inu/Kag now! LOL

o.O

Suddenly I'm rather glad I don't read a lot of yaoi...LOL.

[kmoaton.livejournal.com]

Trust me, the yaoi fangirls hate Kagome with a passion! She is just an evil bitch who is keeping Inu and Mir apart. Compile that with the fact that a man can get pregnant and it's something else.

It's not that I have a problem with the male/male relationship. It's just that why make her so evil if you really just wanted the boys together?

[luxken27]

That's a symptom of most all yaoi fangirls, though. You'll see it across series, if fanficrants is anything to go by :P I don't know why they feel the need to demonize the female canon love interest to get their way, but its like they get some sort of perverse pleasure out of it or something :P

I don't have any sorts of issues with gay sex of any variety, but I must admit, I don't understand the female fascination with male gay sex. But then, I also don't read fanfic for the porn, and that may have something to do with it LOL.