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Oct. 12th, 2013 06:35 amAs of yesterday, I have finally decided that what I've written of Starbound's third chapter will be the entire chapter after all.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8895129/3/Starbound
Gotta say, it was quite fulfilling when I was writing what I did manage to write. Upon showing the final draft to Chelle, she said that while all talking is fine for this chapter, I'm gonna need some stuff to actually happen in the next one. Combine that with the fact that it ended up about half the length of either of the previous two chapters, that is why I originally held off on posting it until there'd be more to it.
Unfortunately, Jake has been too busy with stuff to spend much time ghostwriting it so that we can discuss anything, Brian's job limits how much he can read it, and even if the latter did manage to read it all the way through, he's never written anything and has little if any experience reading fanfiction, so he still wouldn't be able to help me even with the specifics, even as a fellow Earthbound fan.
As far as Chelle goes, not only is she still unfamiliar with Earthbound or even video games in general, but she has told me not too long ago, regarding two fanfic commissions, that lighthearted stuff simply isn't her specialty. Then again, her main job regarding this project is to make sure that the fic itself is written well and that nothing illogical happens that even Rule of Funny can't excuse (such as if Miyuki's never-seen father was to call her in the middle of the night when he logically shouldn't even be aware of what's going on with her and her friends).
In fact, I myself am feeling burnt out by this point, and it would probably be best for me to give the whole thing a rest until either Jake finishes ghostwriting or ideas come as naturally to me as the ones that inspire individual passages that I sometimes write on this blog. For probably a few weeks more or less, I made a huge deal about writing more to the chapter, but had I actually managed that, the end result would have probably felt unsatisfactory.
This was really about being able to update the fanfic at all. Those of you reading this might just be able to understand, but while the writing itself is enjoyable, to not have anyone to show it to kinda takes the fun out of it. In fact, that's actually something I brought up with Chelle before, after she snapped at me for making somewhat of a fuss over her beta-reading the second-to-final chapters of the fic. She told me that she used to have that urge, but had since divorced social reward from the art of writing itself. (She even mentioned on her blog before that she intends to keep everything she writes to herself until an entire story is completed, partly in case any mistakes are made. I wouldn't do that, though, because there's no guarantee that any given story of mine ever will be completed before my life ends.)
(Speaking of the endgame chapters, I did find it odd that she actually had beta'd the final chapters of the fic not long before driving the point home how firmly she refuses to read the preceding ones and why. Could be that I was being a bit annoying, though, and that she just wanted me off her back about it. I am particularly grateful of her for having pointed out a rather awkward bit of dialogue about school, though.)
-----
Last night, I joined my parents and Brian while they were watching something called Cartoons That Time Forgot. In particular, we watched two shorts of this cartoon called Flip the Frog, and at the end of the second one we watched, Dad commented on how that series just kinda dragged things out and is probably best left forgotton.
More than half an hour later, I asked Mom what he was talking about, and she explained how the writers just made stuff up to drag it out for 5-10 minutes, instead of sticking with whatever was relevant and sticking to the point. I told her that that's what I've been trying to do with Starbound. For example, Kagami asking her two older sisters to watch over Gyopi is what leads to this upcoming pet shop storyline, the cutaway to Nanako being informed by Konata about what had happened and where she and her friends will be is what leads up to her involvement in the third chapter, and I still have yet to think of anything for the appearances of each of Rokuna's friends to lead up to.
I do understand Mom's point, though. I remember back when I was watching All My Children, and the show would drag each storyline out for weeks on end. The truth, though, is that I don't even have a solid plot for most arcs except for the endgame and, to a lesser extent, one that will take place each on Long Island and back in Japan. Do understand, though, that I didn't want to be taking any number of years planning things out for the fic, since that approach wasn't entirely successful regarding what would have comprised Monster Collection Chronicles. Even Jake told me before that he just makes stuff up to happen in his own fanfiction once he actually has an end in mind and knows the gist of what's going to happen. Life is short, and I would rather just keep the ball rolling than be stuck at square one.
As of right now, though, I think I'll just start over with Angry Birds and play that line of games for a while, if only to get my mind off this whole thing for now.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8895129/3/Starbound
Gotta say, it was quite fulfilling when I was writing what I did manage to write. Upon showing the final draft to Chelle, she said that while all talking is fine for this chapter, I'm gonna need some stuff to actually happen in the next one. Combine that with the fact that it ended up about half the length of either of the previous two chapters, that is why I originally held off on posting it until there'd be more to it.
Unfortunately, Jake has been too busy with stuff to spend much time ghostwriting it so that we can discuss anything, Brian's job limits how much he can read it, and even if the latter did manage to read it all the way through, he's never written anything and has little if any experience reading fanfiction, so he still wouldn't be able to help me even with the specifics, even as a fellow Earthbound fan.
As far as Chelle goes, not only is she still unfamiliar with Earthbound or even video games in general, but she has told me not too long ago, regarding two fanfic commissions, that lighthearted stuff simply isn't her specialty. Then again, her main job regarding this project is to make sure that the fic itself is written well and that nothing illogical happens that even Rule of Funny can't excuse (such as if Miyuki's never-seen father was to call her in the middle of the night when he logically shouldn't even be aware of what's going on with her and her friends).
In fact, I myself am feeling burnt out by this point, and it would probably be best for me to give the whole thing a rest until either Jake finishes ghostwriting or ideas come as naturally to me as the ones that inspire individual passages that I sometimes write on this blog. For probably a few weeks more or less, I made a huge deal about writing more to the chapter, but had I actually managed that, the end result would have probably felt unsatisfactory.
This was really about being able to update the fanfic at all. Those of you reading this might just be able to understand, but while the writing itself is enjoyable, to not have anyone to show it to kinda takes the fun out of it. In fact, that's actually something I brought up with Chelle before, after she snapped at me for making somewhat of a fuss over her beta-reading the second-to-final chapters of the fic. She told me that she used to have that urge, but had since divorced social reward from the art of writing itself. (She even mentioned on her blog before that she intends to keep everything she writes to herself until an entire story is completed, partly in case any mistakes are made. I wouldn't do that, though, because there's no guarantee that any given story of mine ever will be completed before my life ends.)
(Speaking of the endgame chapters, I did find it odd that she actually had beta'd the final chapters of the fic not long before driving the point home how firmly she refuses to read the preceding ones and why. Could be that I was being a bit annoying, though, and that she just wanted me off her back about it. I am particularly grateful of her for having pointed out a rather awkward bit of dialogue about school, though.)
-----
Last night, I joined my parents and Brian while they were watching something called Cartoons That Time Forgot. In particular, we watched two shorts of this cartoon called Flip the Frog, and at the end of the second one we watched, Dad commented on how that series just kinda dragged things out and is probably best left forgotton.
More than half an hour later, I asked Mom what he was talking about, and she explained how the writers just made stuff up to drag it out for 5-10 minutes, instead of sticking with whatever was relevant and sticking to the point. I told her that that's what I've been trying to do with Starbound. For example, Kagami asking her two older sisters to watch over Gyopi is what leads to this upcoming pet shop storyline, the cutaway to Nanako being informed by Konata about what had happened and where she and her friends will be is what leads up to her involvement in the third chapter, and I still have yet to think of anything for the appearances of each of Rokuna's friends to lead up to.
I do understand Mom's point, though. I remember back when I was watching All My Children, and the show would drag each storyline out for weeks on end. The truth, though, is that I don't even have a solid plot for most arcs except for the endgame and, to a lesser extent, one that will take place each on Long Island and back in Japan. Do understand, though, that I didn't want to be taking any number of years planning things out for the fic, since that approach wasn't entirely successful regarding what would have comprised Monster Collection Chronicles. Even Jake told me before that he just makes stuff up to happen in his own fanfiction once he actually has an end in mind and knows the gist of what's going to happen. Life is short, and I would rather just keep the ball rolling than be stuck at square one.
As of right now, though, I think I'll just start over with Angry Birds and play that line of games for a while, if only to get my mind off this whole thing for now.