#i even wrote a page or two for the beginning of arc 3 of Hunt for Kyoshi that's how much I was jumping around

[swiftsaltsweet]

Me: Good news! I wrote like....12ish pages yesterday! :D Brain: Was it all attributed to a single chapter. Me: *walks away* Brain: WAS IT A SINGLE CHAPTER OR DID YOU JUST JUMP AROUND?! Me:

[demenior]

Dem’s Big Post About The Spn Fics Part 1/2

aka The Wrap Up to celebrate To Exist Again and To Become a Man now being finished!

(This will be a long post. This is your only warning.)

Admittedly this is a bit of a weird thing to be doing, but I wanted to try it out for 3 reasons: 

I love talking about my own work and 

It functions really well as a self-reflective tool for me to improve on, and 

I can answer some big questions people might have because there was a LOT of worldbuilding in these stories. 

We’ll start off with reflective stuff, and move into the juicier world-building focused stuff later into the post. There will be major spoilers for both fics to come!

To begin with a funny anecdote, Why Did I Write These Stories?

I was beginning to write and work out the story that I wanted to write for Spn (what will now be To Destroy a Man. As I was writing the scene, I realized I had a LOT of ideas and while I was trying to avoid as much exposition as I could, it became quickly apparent that I was needing to create my own au (this scene eventually became chapter 34 of To Become a Man). A short prequel seemed like a good idea, to quickly hash out the ‘prior’ events that I needed to go through so all the readers could be on the same page. While plotting out prequel points, I realized Sam and Dean were going to have drastically different experiences during the same time period, and I was trying to figure out who’s pov would be better for which scenes, and how to keep momentum when they’re going through such radically different types of changes. Ultimately I decided to split their povs, which I also thought would be a fun project! And I naively assumed each pov would take about 2 chapters each, rounding out to maybe 15k total.

I had my ending points: Dean n Cas soul-merged and (basically) married, Cas on the lam from heaven and a complete anomaly, and Sam juiced up full of powers and a weird mix of archangel and antichrist but still 100% human and ready to fight God. 

Now I needed to add weight to these changes, so I wrote 200k of build-up.

Am I proud of these fics?

OF COURSE I AM!!! These are the longest fics I’ve ever written AND finished AND in the fastest freakin turnaround ever (both were finished writing, barring edits, in like 6 months holy shit)

I didn’t write a single scene that I “didn’t” want to write. If I had trouble writing it, as in it was fighting me, I scrapped it. Most obviously was the scene in Dean’s pov where he and Sam were intended to meet some other hunters and Dean declines working with them because he’s nervous about being outed as queer. It was meant to be a good scene! I wanted to introduce some new characters! But it just wasn’t working so I said ‘thank you, next!’. 

But it means this story was an absolute joy to write. Because for a while all I was doing was ‘if I wanted to write one scene into supernatural, what would I write?’ and then just DID that!! It’s why there’s a lot of ‘Salmondean do dumb shit or have really dumb heartfelt conversations’ scenes.

Would I change anything?

If I’d been less eager to start sharing, I might have planned out the story beats a little tighter so there were less ‘soft’ chapters and a draw/pull for people to come back and keep reading. I felt Dean’s story specifically lagged at points and could have used some tighter editing (there was a noticeable lull in directed movement between Dean n Cas getting together, until Sam corrupts Amy).

I also probably would have held Sam’s story until I’d finished Dean’s so I could make the two line up better! Probably could have inserted more scenes into Sam’s fic that way, and made sure things were a little more consistent. In an ideal world one concept I had was to release 1 chapter from each pov every week that would correspond to the same time frame so we’d be getting real-time SalmonDean pov narrative. Unfortunately that didn’t work!

The biggest takeaway overall is for me to focus more on what moves the plot, and to make my scenes do more than 1 thing so I can cut down on wordcount and increase my efficiency. 

Of course every writer will find things they want to fix in anything they’ve ever written, so these are minor “mistakes” at best. I’m so dang proud of these fics. 

Onto more interesting things!

How Did I Put These Fics Together (because it’s different than anything I’ve ever done before)

Normally when I write a story, I plan out the beats I need to hit, see where I need to insert any kind of foreshadowing/buildup, and then write from A to B to C and so on and so forth. Hence, this is why I can normally post things as I complete chapters, because it’s all a linear progression. 

For these two stories, rather than linear plot/a normal story structure, I just sat and free-wrote any and every scene that came to mind and then pieced them into a kinda-linear form like putting a quilt together. You’ll note that this is why there’s not a lot of internal callback or a feeling of sense of time flowing within the fic (save for points where I went back and specifically edited it in). How long does the story take place over? Hard to say! Your author has the barest grasp on linear time even on a good day (how many times did I say ‘see you on [wrong day]’ at the end of chapters lmaaoooo)

This also meant EXTENSIVE editing on the back end once I decided in what order I wanted my ‘quilt pieces’ to be. Hard to say if this is a bonus or a negative!

But I did want to try and capture the vibe of the lives they lead, as a bit of a ‘slice of life’-style story, when the slice of life is the profound weirdness of the Winchester roaming life, and how things are status quo- until everyone almost dies oh shit!! And then they have to keep living because no therapy we die/undie like Winchesters. Do I think I captured this effectively? Hmm. Good question. 

Dem where the FUCK did the inspiration for a lot of the magic and creature weirdness even come from?

Honestly? Music, primarily. And completely mishearing lyrics!

Nightwish ‘Ever Dream’: the line is ‘my song can but borrow you grace’ and because my brain is scrambled eggs on a good day, I heard ‘grace’ ‘song’ and ‘borrow’ in that order and have had, for YEARS, the mental image of Cas borrowing Dean’s soul to power himself up for battle.

From there I’ve always been enamored with the ‘wavelength of celestial intent’ descriptor that Cas drops in s6 for “what he is”. 

I also really like ocean metaphors mostly because I’ve been obsessed with the ocean and things in it since I was like… 5??? So really this was me just rolling with what I know lmao. I love using (somewhat) accurate scientific metaphors for very intangible things!

I was also finishing my degree in biology/ecology while writing these fics and I think it shows

Stars ‘The Night Starts Here’ gives us the series title and the fic titles. Except for ��To Exist Again’. TEA was almost titled ‘The Upwards Fall’ because I wanted all 3 of the Main Stories to have titles from this song, but I couldn’t make anything else work in tandem with the series name ‘The Love It Takes’ while also working for Sam’s personal story. So Sam, as always, is the rebel <3

Stars ‘Up In Our Bedroom, After The War’ is basically the vibes of the whole story. TFW has been, literally, to hell and back!!! There’s a bit of melancholy and sadness, a lingering dark, but the chance of a bright new tomorrow and a soft start.

Let’s Talk About Themes in The Story! What were you looking to accomplish? 

My earliest notes for TFW are, as follows:

Dean’s journey of self-discovery (who am I when I’m not trying to be Dad?)

Dean wants to settle down! He wants a big family! He wants to be domestic!

Basically: Dean doesn’t want to have a short life of hunting. He wants to live!

Dean’s journey of realizing he’s bi, and him accepting that

Dean’s relationship to Sam is both older brother/parent 

And continuing Dean balancing these roles while also letting Sam be an adult 

Dean’s Big Issues/Fears about never being good enough for people to want to stay with him (these are effectively highlighted in that Cas thinks he’s not useful enough to be wanted)

Sub Plot:

Castiel’s autonomy

Cas’ fall from grace, to trying to restore Heaven, to wrecking it further

He’s majorly depressed by the end of s7 (before purgatory)

Wants to stay in Purgatory but doesn’t tell Dean

Remains depressed after leaving, but resolved to keep living on because he’s clearly meant for something

After the seraphim reveal: does he have free will?! How does he grapple with this? How does he live in a way he can be proud of?

And lastly

Sam gets his powers back CAUSE THATS HOT

where tf did they go????

he got them from Lucifer?????

sleeper agent??????

Sam is The Chosen One

Accepts that he is More Than Human and to celebrate all parts of him

Lucifer and Sam friends?? Work together????

Sam needs autonomy in his choices/his life

If you compare these to the overall arc of TFW within the two stories, I think I got a lot of them! But you’ll also note a lot of these things aren’t concrete goals that are easily measurable (ex: Dean wants to learn to bake pie. In chapter 1 he starts a fire in the kitchen. By the end of the story he finally makes A Good Pie.) part of the lack of concrete milestones was why I felt it was important to tell Dean (and Cas’) story by going back to the point they meet, in s4! Dean’s gradual change towards his feelings for Cas, his relationship to Sam (heavily influenced by the s7 events of this fic) and then his own relationship with himself were such slow burns that I felt it would be a disservice to try and cram a change like that into a timeline like “1 year”.

I felt like these subtle changes and adjustments actually felt a lot truer to life-- people often change in very small, gradual ways over time, even without realizing it and often times not consistently! If only we could all gain skills like the sims, where we can easily level up and remain at that high level of performance! 

So the Guy Who Ate Satan, A Celestial Nuke that Developed Sentience, and Dean walk into a bar…

Sam’s story in Spn The Show has always been a ‘chosen one’ kind of narrative. Sam is living with one foot in the realm of the monsters, and I wanted to bring that back full force! It really makes sense for him that he should only continue to grow in power, might, and magic!! As the story progresses.

Cas also got a power up! I do desperately love in the show that he was kind of a grunt/nothing angel, and so even when he defected to TFW he was a huge help for them, but in the scale of things he was an annoying fly to most other angels. It really worked for the underdog story of s4/5. In this I wanted to give him a power up, and originally it was actually going to be close contact with Sam that eventually changed Cas into something unknown (you can still see traces of this in ch34 of TBAM, where Death remarks ‘Castiel could be [Sam’s] first creation’. But for a combo of reasons: how Sam’s magic needed to have intent, the entire concept of free will and consent, and how much I wanted Dean and Cas to have their effect on each other, I decided to go with the route that Cas has actually always been something angel-adjacent rather than becoming something new. TFW/Supernatural has always been about free will and making your own story, so I amplified that with Cas.

Dean has always been A Normal Guy, which is part of the appeal of him and Sam (2 normal dudes!) taking on the Very Not Normal. As explained above, Sam’s story is ‘normal guy finds out he’s the chosen one’ and so, in a story about very large concepts and huge monsters and acts of magic, I felt it was very important to keep Dean as normal as possible. To the point it became a running gag to me, personally, in that ‘no matter what cool shit happens around him, Dean has to stay as Just A Guy’. And it’s a very humanizing role that allows the story to have the scale it does!

What were the most important themes in your story?

Sam’s Autonomy

I wasn’t even going to include the plot about Lucifer’s death in this story— that was going to come up in a later story, actually! And rather than Sam having ate Lucifer, the original idea was that they’d become a SamandLucifer entity (this harkens back to a concept I wanted to write when Swan Song first aired). 

That storyline would have involved a lot of mental ‘Sam and Lucifer discuss what it means to live, which one of them is more worthy of life and if they do deserve to destroy the world for the pain they’ve been forced to go through, just to create the dichotomy of good and evil for everyone else’ discussions. There would be a lot of talk about how Sam hates and fears Lucifer for the pain Lucifer put on Sam, how Lucifer hates Sam because he and Sam are the same but Sam’s brother loves him anyways, etc. 

Ultimately that was scrapped because Sam’s entire story in the show is always about how the world and everyone around him manipulates him and that he never actually gets to make choices about his own life or body that aren’t influenced or part of someone elses’ design. And that always bothered me that Sam was never allowed to be himself without having to be ashamed of it, and I wanted to make sure that Sam’s triumph of being proud of himself/proudly choosing to exist (again) was evident in his story

In the end I needed Sam to have this visceral win over his tormentor. As the story shows, in this case Lucifer was abused and put into a position where he was incapable of empathy and could only express himself in violence. Sam even understands this! But it doesn’t change the fact that Lucifer tortured Sam in unimaginable ways for thousands of years. 

With that in mind I didn’t like the idea of Lucifer and Sam having “co-ownership” of their new identity, so I made the choice that Sam had to be the survivor. This tied in well with Sam’s new crusade to restore free will to the universe, because he’s breaking the narrative of his own story!

While Castiel wasn’t a pov character, his own autonomy and free will was equally as important. You’ll note that many, many paragraphs and conversations revolved around that theme and that in the end Cas followed himself (and love!) which ensured his freedom of self <3

The Brothers are WEIRD PEOPLE!!!! And Codependent to a Worrying Degree, but It’s Also How They Survive

It’s very hard to show “unusual” relationships when you’re writing from the pov of the two people who don’t think there’s anything weird about their relationship. Sure, they say ‘yeah it’s probably weird that we still share a bed’ but that’s kinda more in line with ‘I had a nightmare and I want to be close to the person who makes me feel safe’. Hashtag normalize co-sleeping when you need it!!!

From there I did try to point out how the boys have a weird perception of lifestyle in the little things they did. 

From thrifting everything from clothes to appliances to books (thrifting is a valid lifestyle! It’s incredibly handy when you’re on a budget.) 

To never actually having condiments or knowing how to use a dishwasher cause they’ve lived in a car, a motel room, or squatted in old houses their whole life.

I tried to have them wear each others’ clothes or casually swap things as much as possible. They live out of each others’ pockets!

Also the brothers are just weird people!! It’s hard to show from their pov, cause they don’t know how far off from normal they are, but like…

Everything about Sam and Amelia was NOT right like holy shit those two were wilding in their grief. They are very lucky things worked out for them and that they got to be hashtag Weird Girls together

Dean explicitly, in the story, gets horny after killing stuff!! Violence has done a number on his psyche and he’s gotten some wires crossed that maybe shouldn’t have been, or maybe could be worked out in a safe space but… uh… how likely do we think Dean is gonna go find a safe space to deal with any of his shit???

LOVE!!! Love is truly what this whole story is all about

If you’ve read the stories, you know how much emphasis I put on love. Love is the strongest force in the Spn Universe! It’s what averted the apocalypse and saved the world (Swan Song), it’s what created free will (Cas’ entire arc!) I love love!!!!

I went out of my way to not put any definitions on platonic love vs romantic love because I think love is love is love and how you express that is the difference. Neither is more powerful than the other because LOVE is powerful!! Sam and Cas are the most important people in Dean’s life and he loves them equally! He shows this by giving Cas kisses and stealing Sam’s socks.

It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when I have to hear explanations like ‘I love you, like a brother’ or ‘I love you, but like, as a friend because I’m a lesbian and you’re a man’ etc etc in media. If you have to continuously define how your characters love each other, then I don’t think you’re doing a good job of portraying their relationship. So you’ll see that I never put those parameters in any conversation. Dean DOES muse that he loves Cas differently than he loves Sam or Bobby, specifically because there is a romantic and sexual tone that his feelings for Cas takes, but not because he loves Cas more or less than he loves Sam or Bobby.

Which means, if you haven’t realized it yet, the Series + Fic Titles are meant to be a complete sentence because the power of love IS the thesis of this series:

The Love It Takes To Exist Again (Sam’s journey!)

The Love It Takes To Become a Man (Dean’s journey!)

The Love It Takes To Destroy a Man (TBA)

And now for fun stuff. Behind the scenes!!

What’s Something People Probably Don’t Know?

The demonic fungal/hydrothermal vent growth on Sam’s arm was thrown in literally as I was posting the chapter because I had just finished a 48 hour cram session of writing a report on tube worms for an ecology class (I was chanting my tube worm song as I wrote it) and it ended up being a HUGE hit with both readers and myself. But it was so last minute I had trouble fitting it in more throughout the rest of Sam’s story!

Cas’ orders? That may or may not have bound him to Dean and removed his free will? Were written into Sam’s story and I went ‘oh SHIT that’s compelling’ and then left them there as a ‘guess I’ll figure that out when I get to Dean’s story lol’

Originally Dean and Cas were supposed to get together after having their souls bonded, and have been in a UST limbo the entire time before that. Mostly because I think the entire concept of ‘we just got married of the soul I guess we should try dating?’ is very funny. CLEARLY the two of them were way more eager to fall in love than I anticipated (thank you Cas for your honesty) but you can still see shades of this original idea here and there (especially in ch35 of TBAM)

I never intended Dean and Benny to connect so well!! Benny was going to reunite with Andrea, she was going to live, and they were going to go off into the world and leave the story. And, uh, here we are. I’m still debating if I need to adjust the relationship tag or not haha. Polyamory is fun, especially when I was planning for Sam to be the polyamorous brother...

Speaking of, I can’t believe I forgot about Sam and his sexuality! If I rewrote TEA I would have had Sam contemplate more on his lack of sexual appetite due to trauma, up until he meets Benny and he gets to rediscover how he wants to be a sexual person

Many of Sam and Dean’s absolutely stupid sibling conversations were lifted near-verbatim from conversations I’ve had with my siblings

And lastly...

Dem where’s Kevin????????????? Where is our sweet baby boy????????

He’s SAFE!! He’s in the Hunter pipeline somewhere cause Sam handed him off to Bobby’s people. He and his mom are safe and at some point they probably got rib sigils like SalmonDean did against angels, but for demons. I didn’t have room in this story for him!!! But my baby boy is SAFE and I want to get him back to university because it’s WHAT HE DESERVES!!!!

To that point: god there were/are SO many characters that I just didn’t include in the story so far because I didn’t feel comfortable including them without stalling the story for them. To that point: pretty much everyone who is alive/dead in s8 is that way in this story, except Bobby who gets to live.

[Check Out Part 2 for reader questions!]

[bereft-of-frogs]

3. Do you have any upcoming WIPs? How far along are you with them? + 4: Tell me about one of your abandoned WIPs. Why did you abandon it? + 5: Share a snippet that you’re proud of from an upcoming fic/chapter. + 17: What has been the proudest moment for you so far since you started writing? ---- Sorry, i am very curious :D

Thanks for asking! Questions are from this list, if anyone wants to send any more!

3. Do you have any upcoming WIPs? How far along are you with them?

The two I’m currently focusing on out of my sea of WIPs are what I’m calling the ‘twin bastard WIPs’: aka, the grotesque fic and ‘variations on a redemption arc 1′. I’m calling them that because they’re both similar despite being in different fandoms. They’re both about the same length, they both deal with dark themes (including torture, always fun), there’s a lot of overwrought emotional conversations - and I was having the same problems with them. Specifically, I’d put them aside and let myself get distracted by other works and then when I picked them back up I would have like...the same series of revelations every single time. Like, ‘oh I should do this and this, and THIS is the real motivation for this character behind the mask.........wait I’ve already done this.’ So I decided to just focus on these two until they were finished, which is going...umm...okay.  (There was not a ‘variations on a redemption arc 2′ when I made this pledge and then wrote three pages of it in a notebook...)

I would say I should be done with both by the end of the summer? Hopefully? well, the grotesque fic has a deadline now and I’m making good progress on the other (though I have fight scenes left to write blegh I always procrastinate writing fight scenes).

4. Tell me about one of your abandoned WIPs. Why did you abandon it?

I rarely consider WIPs abandoned. Either they were never really WIPs to begin with, just snippets of ideas and dialogue I had no intention of expanding on in the first place, indulgent scenes I just wrote for myself, or I still have hope to finish them. Two slightly longer ones though that I would call abandoned:

- last year to combine a whumptober prompt with a bad things happen bingo square (hunting season + surrender) I started a Star Wars fic but the worldbuilding never came together and I subsequently learned there’s an arc of The Clone Wars that did almost the same thing (one day I will actually watch The Clone Wars....it is not this day, though I do have a friend who might bully me into it soon) so I just scrapped it.

- I had another earlier version of the ‘Team Revengers on the Ark’ type semi-episodic fic, but I ended up pilfering some individual scenes for ‘pain and other human sensations’ and I ended up liking where I went with that a lot better (even for things that didn’t affect the larger series plot, like the Grandmaster’s return) and never really cared to go back and continue this version

5. Share a snippet that you’re proud of from an upcoming fic/chapter.

from ‘variations on a redemption arc 1′

“You’ll let him die?”

The thought of it leaves him momentarily breathless. But he still says, “Yes. I would let him die a Jedi.”

Silence falls between them. Qui-Gon expects Dooku to leave. But he doesn’t.

“I cannot deny,” Dooku says after a few minutes of quiet. The roar of pain has dulled to a steady throb. “That once I would perhaps have answered as you did. That I would have perhaps had the sense of honor to let you die rather than fall. But I have watched too many Jedi cut down in service of a mission that failed long ago, and I will do it again.”

file this under, ‘willing to put up with writing 3 separate fight scenes because I am in love with this one exchange’

[additional note: the second ‘variations on a redemption arc’ isn’t actually a sequel but just another fic along the same lines, with some divergences, which is why I really want to finish this one first, because first of all I keep getting distracted and losing track of the complicated emotional and political motivations, but I also don’t want to mix up themes since they’re taking place at very different narrative points. it’s just a funny placeholder title haha, because the other day I was like ‘wait isn’t this just another variation on the same narrative’ and then was like ‘eh, two cakes’]

not from the grotesque fic, but the conclusion to an accidental trilogy about ghosts and hallucinations:

“You see, in this I preferred the old Thor. He’d spare me these sorts of conversations, bury it down deep and act as if nothing’s wrong.”

Thor’s gaze is level. “You’re asking me to act like nothing’s wrong?”

“Yes.” Loki would vastly prefer never to have this conversation. He’d much prefer that Thor dismiss any of his new oddities as simple quirks and let him suffer in silence until it all fades. He turns back to his counting. 5…10…15…20…

“I know you’d prefer to avoid this talk, but see, that’s what got us in this mess in the first place, brother.” Thor sounds weary. “I let you suffer in silence until it didn’t fade, until it all blew up in my face. And you ask me to do it again? To repeat history?”

Loki stops counting cans. He was certain that he had not said any of that out loud. He turns and opens his mouth, but before he can demand an explanation, Thor says, “How’s the inventory coming?”

Only the Thor he was looking at hadn’t said anything, and the voice came from behind him.

Loki turns. Thor stands in the doorway, looking at him with an innocent smile on his face. Loki glances back to the crate where his brother had been perched. It is empty. He turns back to the Thor in the doorway, face feeling very cold and something unpleasant in his stomach. “What?”

“How’s the inventory coming?” Thor asks, a bit slower this time.

This was just the first piece I wrote of this conclusion, still far from making any decent progress on it but I like it!

17. What has been the proudest moment for you so far since you started writing?

Tie between 1) any jokingly angry comment (like obviously not any actual nasty comments but the ones where people are like HURTS SO GOOD) 2) actually scratch that, when I finally got the first ‘you’re disgusting’ comment on one of my extremely rare actual Thorki fics, I was pretty proud of that too 3) any time I get to a place where I read back a fic of my that I’ve posted that hasn’t gotten a ton of comments or kudos and I’m like ‘hell yeah this is fire, I don’t care if the readers don’t appreciate you, fic, I appreciate you’. Which might sound sort of full of myself but it’s always a nice place to get to where it’s like...hey the validation is nice but also I just really like this work. wrote it for an audience of one, me, and me is happy so that’s a win.

Feel free anyone to send more asks! I will theoretically answer them at some point this evening as procrastination from actually writing

[yeniayofnymeria]

GRRM's Original Outline "What has changed?"

Hello,

Now you all know Martin's letter he wrote in '93. When this letter was written and sent to the editor, the first 13 chapters (200 pages) were already written. In addition, the book consisted of three volumes of the first stage, but as you know, but its 7 volumes now.When we read the letter and the first 5 books, the first comment made was very different and different from the first outline; one or two things remain the same. But is it really? Here I would like to discuss this with you. I think I will go through the events step by step and you will make your own contributions when you read. Let's start!

1. Stark-Lannister war. It's remain, nothing changed.

2. (Dany) Targaryen's 7K invasion with Dothraks. It's still did not happend but we know Dany has Unsullied and some sellswords and next book, she will have Dothraks too. She will linger a little more in essos and then come to the West for the conquer. It's remain too.

3. The Others. GRRM said " Their story will be [sic] heart of my third volume, The Winds of Winter. " It's remain too.

4. Five Main Key Characters (Jon, Arya, Bran, Dany and Tyrion). " In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow." It's remain too.

5. Fall of the Starks. " Things will get a lot worse for the poor Starks before they get better, I'm afraid. " Yes, indeed it happened.

6. Dead of Robert and long may live new king! "Ned will discover what happened to his friend Jon Arryn... will have an unfortunate accident, and the throne will to brutal Joffrey, still a minor." Yes, it happened too. This substance remained the same too.

7.Sansa and Joffrey. "Sansa Stark wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue. " Sansa betrays his family anyway but she did not wed Joffrey or bear his son. This substance has changed a bit.

8. Bran's coma and dream and greenseer and dead of Robb. " Young Bran will come out of his coma, after a strange prophetic dream... He will turn to magic, at first in the hope of restoring his legs, but later for its own sake... Robb Stark will die in battle." 

Bran's the same, but Robb's got some change. Robb doesn't die in a war against Joffrey, Jaime and Tyrion. But he really wins a few battles at first (against Tywin. So there's no Tywin in the first place) and then he dies at the Red Wedding.

Bran's in a coma. So Jaime and Cersei are standing exactly. This shows that Jon Arryn's death is due to his learning of the relationship(Jaime-Cersei). So Joff was a bastard in the first outline too. Ned died for the same reason.

Tyrion did not burn Winterfell but fought against Stark army and became Hand of King. Jaime fought against Robb too and lost, was captured. This part is different in some ways, but the same in some ways.

9. Jon Snow, The Wall and Lord Commander. " Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night's Watch "

Jon goes the wall and will became lord commander but Benjen was lord commander in the first place but it seems he dies anyway or disappear. It's remain.

10. Helping family and Jonarya Love. " When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Benjen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran. Arya will be more forgiving ... until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book. "

Winterfell is being burned by Greyjoys. Cat is not with Stark children, he is with Robb. Bran and others run away and went to the Wall. But Bran and others did not take refuge in the black brothers. Jon has something to do with Arya again. He wants to protect and save her(FArya). He can't do it because of his vows and he's in a lot of pain... And we know who is Jon's real parents.

Jon and Arya love... It's still too early to say anything about it. When Arya goes to the wall, the love between the two emerges. Arya escaped from KL as in the first outline. But instead of going home, she drifted into her own adventure. Arya has been trying to get home and Jon all along. She'll probably go straight to the wall when she gets back from Braavos. There are so many hints about Jonarya love in books. ( https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/125364-jon-arya-hints-and-overall-significance-of-their-relationship-including-part-3/ )

11. Beyond The Wall and Bran-Cat-Arya. "Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Arya's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others." This part has undergone significant changes. Despite this, some small parts remained.

Arya is not with them, Cat neither but she dies anyway (and came back but as fire wight not ice wight). Bran never meet Mance(yes, Mance exists) and see others but he sees deads and met Cold Hand(ice wight) and BR and Singers. I guess Rickon is not exists.

Arya has Needle, that's mean Jon gave her it anyway. And direwolves...

12. Dany, Viserys and Drogo. “Over across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen will discover that her new husband, the Dothraki Khal Drogo, has little interest in invading the Seven Kingdoms, much to her brother's frustration. When Viserys presses his claims past the point of tact or wisdom, Khal Drogo will finally grow annoyed and kill him out of hand, eliminating the Targaryen pretender and leaving Daenerys as the last of her line. Danerys [sic] will bide her time, but she will not forget. When the moment is right, she will kill her husband to avenge her brother, and then flee with a trusted friend into the wilderness beyond Vaes Dothrak. " Only 5% of this part has changed.

13. Dragon Eggs and Invasion Plans."There, hunted by [unclear] of her life, she stumbles on a [something about dragon eggs] a young dragon will give Daenerys [unclear] bend [unclear] to her will. Then she begins to plan for her invasion of the Seven Kingdoms." This part has changed 95%.

14. Tyrion's Fate. "Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king's brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders. Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow."

Yes, it seems this part almost completely changed. But Tyrion has been betrayed by his family in every way(Tysha thing and attempt to kill), just it changed "how it will be" This betrayal caused him to change sides. Only on Targaryen side instead of Stark. But Tyrion will probably be on the Stark side too.

Tyrion is exiled to Essos, not north. Jaime's not the bad guy in the story, Cersei is. Joffrey's dying. In the first Outline, Jaime kills everyone, so Sansa is dead. In the present story, Sansa is still alive and her story continues. They're not named, but probably Joff's siblings are in the first outline and they're dead.

There's no competition between Tyrion and Jon(Arya). It's hard to expect it at this point. We need to wait for the next encounter, but I don't think it will. Unlike the first otline, Jon and Tyrion are good friends. If GRRM designs a love triangle like the first one, maybe they can be enemies. Or maybe he changed the third candidate for that love triangle. (However, if you read Mercy POV, GRRM is waving its hand to this love triangle there.)

In general, the outline / skeleton remains exactly the same, even the characters' motives are more or less the same; there are big changes in a few places, but not so big changes in the remaining parts. Same affliction, betrayal and so on that will ensure the development of the character. Situations occurred in one way or another. It's just that things have gone differently ... but betrayal comes from the family again and (Jon) he's suffering because he can't help the family.

He keeps his end.

GEORGE: […]As I write these last two books, I’ll be moving towards the ending I’ve known since 1991/

“Some major characters — yes, I always had plans, what Tyrion’s arc was gonna be through this, what Arya’s arc was gonna be through this, what JonSnow’s arc is gonna be. ”

...

I don’t want to reveal what I’ve planned for some of these characters, but I’m pretty well on track with most of the major characters. It’s minor characters like Bronn that assume greater importance.”

At Balticon 2016 he said he knows who sits on the Iron Throne at the end.

A year later, in a video interview he continued by saying he has always known the fates of his main characters, who lives or dies, marries who...etc since 1991 when he began writing.

That's all. Thank you for read and sorry again for my bad English. Bye.

[ahiddenpath]

Seven Years of Writing Fanfics

I’m being a little premature- I’ll celebrate seven years of writing as ahiddenpath in September- but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I’ve learned.  Please read on if you want to hear about the writing habits I wish I had when I started in 2012, and about the habits I wish I didn’t have back then!

I’ll also be talking about my writing plans in general.  Check it out below the cut!

1.)  Make a story bible.

A story bible is a reference document for your story.  Before you post a new fic, I strongly suggest creating one.  For digimon specifically, this means making some choices before you begin:

Which version of the character names will you use?  Do you intend to remain consistent with this choice?  For example, I’ve seen a lot of writers use Japanese character names and English digimon names.  Will you use official honorifics?  Custom honorifics?  Will you use terminology from one translation of the show, or a mashup?

Make these choices upfront, create reference charts, and remain consistent.  

After that, you can also keep references for topics such as characterization details (if you say that Bob’s favorite drink is coffee in one chapter and tea twenty chapters later, be prepared for a flood of comments pointing out the inconsistency), setting details, and anything that you don’t want to forget.  Spending half an hour hunting down a silly detail instead of writing is a huge bummer.

Growing Up with You is my worst offender of ‘problems a story bible would have fixed.’  It’s got... every issue you can imagine, lol!  For example, pairing Hikari with Gatomon (instead of Tailmon), using ‘digitama’ and ‘digimental’ interchangeably in the 02 arc, using the English terms for evolution stages while using Japanese names for other things, confusing Bakemon and Bakumon, it’s a mess.  It’s so bad that a complete, painstaking edit is the only thing that can fix it...  Which is enough to make me weep, given that the story is over 400K words long.

Organize yourself before you start.  Here’s a link to some printable Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 references.

2.)  Avoid Longfics.

I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating.  NEVER PUBLISH A NEW STORY WITHOUT HAVING AN ENDING IN SIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING.

I’m not saying you can’t write huge, epic tales.  God knows I’m unlikely to stop doing that.  But, if I could go back in time, I would separate Growing Up with You into four fics.  It would be something like this:

Growing Up with You I: Childhood

Growing Up with You II:  Digimon Adventure

Growing Up with You III:  Liminal Space

Growing Up with You IV:  Digimon Adventure 02

I’m sure some arcs would be longer than others, but this way, I’d have four stories that are roughly 100K words long.  

A lot of folks just... don’t want to read a 400K story.  It’s intimidating, man!  Although it varies by genre, the average word count for a fiction novel aimed at adults is 80K words.  That 400K fic is like FIVE NOVELS, DUDE!!!!  That’s a commitment for readers!

Shorter stories are more reader friendly, but there’s also a huge benefit to you, the writer.  Separating your longfic into multiple stories allows you more opportunities to write towards an ending.  Breaking your story into digestible chunks decreases the writing paralysis that comes with being nowhere near the ending.  It also cuts back on meandering chapters that don’t carry the narrative closer to that ending.  Furthermore, thinking of the story in arcs before you start writing forces you to plan more...  Something I never did in 2012!!!!

Best of all, once you reach the end of an arc, you can take a break before launching the next one.  It’s hard on a writer to continue endlessly producing without a break.  It’s hard on a reader to hit the final available chapter in a fic and wonder if it will ever update again.  But if you complete an arc and take a break to plan and write a few buffer chapters, the tension and impatience is gone for your audience, and you get to breathe.  It’s a win-win!

3.)  Avoid long chapters.

Back in 2012, I often posted chapters that were 10K words and longer!  Here are some benefits to posting shorter updates more frequently:

-Shorter wait times between updates.

Let’s say your planned chapter is 15K words long.  I could update my story once in the span of a month, or I could break the chapter into three parts and update three times in a month!  This keeps readers happy and interested in your work.

Over time, you’ll develop the ability to create sub arcs/movements, finding spots to break them up into separate updates.  This also creates natural moments for cliffhangers, tension, and mini resolutions.  It’s a great way to insert more moods and movement into your narrative.    

-More exposure for your story.

Every time you update your fanfic, it gets pushed to the top of the update list on fanfiction.net or AO3.  The more you update it, the more hits your story will receive, thanks to all the extra time it will spend on the first page of newly-updated fics.

-Easier editing.

I do my best editing when I’m working with 5K words or fewer at a time.  Personally, I can only focus on close editing for about 90 minutes before I start missing mistakes and forgetting details.  I could edit a 10K word update in two sittings, but then it’s possible to forget about details and moods from the previous editing session!  So, unless your story bible is really hardcore, your editing process could benefit from shorter updates.

-More feedback/support

I have a few amazing readers who leave some form of feedback/appreciation for me whenever I post a new chapter.  A supported writer is a happy, productive writer!  More updates means more chances for feedback and support from your readers, which in turn can fuel and direct your writing!  Again, everyone wins!  (Thanks, guys, I love you!).

4.)  Publish your story on both fanfiction.net and AO3.

Why reach one audience when you could potentially reach two?  There are plenty of readers who only use one platform or the other.

At this point, it would be ridiculously difficult to post my 70+ chapter fanfics to AO3...  Do yourself a favor and post to both from the start!

5.)  Remember: writing and editing are two separate processes.

Guys guys guys guys guys.  Lemme be real here.

I used to painstakingly write a first draft, check for spelling/grammar errors on my word processor, and then post it.

Here’s what my process looks like now: word vomit a first draft, do an edit in my word processor, print the edited draft, make edits on paper, transfer edits to word processor, print new draft, make edits on paper, transfer edits to word processor, final read through, post

If my new method looks more time intensive...  In a way, it is, but in a way, it isn’t?  I bang out that first rough draft without a care in the world, where I used to agonize over every word.  Agonizing is not fun.  Word vomiting can produce some, ah, discouraging results, but it feels like creative play.  It’s fun, it’s flexible, it’s fast...  And you can fix it later through the magic of editing.  And if you’re having fun, you’ll keep writing.  If you’re agonizing, you’ll find yourself making excuses to avoid writing.

Plus, my current method produces tighter, more deliberate prose, while maintaining the freedom and energy of word vomiting...  And avoiding the angst and doubt.  This is my best defense against writing paralysis and my greatest weapon in the battle of producing words.

My method can’t be right for everyone, but I do encourage you to try it out, especially if your writing hasn’t been joyful lately.

6.)  Don’t run too many fics at one time.

I encourage writers to have one longer fic open and one shorter fic, preferably of different tones/settings/main characters.  This gives you a way to keep writing when you’re sick of one project without bogging you down.

You will likely have some readers who love everything you do (god bless), but many people have particular genre, character, and setting preferences.  If you have three fics open, then readers of any one story have to wait much longer for the next update while you alternate updating each fic.

And more importantly, having a ton of open stories just...  It feels heavy, guys.  It’s a weight, a pressure.  Trust me.  Forgive me, fanfic gods, for I have sinned.

7.)  Maintain a buffer

Okay, so my Nanowrimo project for 2018 was to write 50,000 words for After August, my current open fic.  By the end of the month, I had a roughly 80% complete first draft of the entire fic.  

Guys!  Guys!  It’s so cool to know exactly where the story is going, from start to finish.  My editing is so deliberate on this piece!  I can spot repetition and inconsistencies, since the draft is printed and sitting in front of me in a binder.  I can tweak emphasis and maintain more balance between character appearances.  It’s a whole new ballpark for me, someone who always wrote one update at a time and posted it upon completion (or worse, wrote ahead and lost the material when I changed my mind about the plot before reaching that future point).

Plus, even if my life gets extra busy or hard, I can still maintain my updating schedule.  I can print out a chapter, take it to work, and do hard edits during my lunch break (I realize that makes me antisocial, but have you ever endured coworkers telling you all of their problems while you try to eat a sandwich in peace?  The editing is much more fun.  I am antisocial, is what I’m saying.  Born into it, baby).

Regular updates are a big part of maintaining steady readership, so having a buffer both increases the quality of your work (since you know where the story is going for sure) and ensures that more people read it.  Awww yisssss.

Okay, well, my concentration is gone now, so that’s the end of my advice!  If I think of anything else, maybe I’ll add it?  

I do want to touch base with my writing plans, though.  Currently, of course, my goal is to complete After August.  If I can post one chapter per week, it will be compete in early March, but I’m going to aim for completing the story in May, to allow for any issues that might come up (for example, Kingdom Hearts III is coming out soon!).

After that, I want to complete Seeking Resonance...  Although I have no idea how long that will take?  I just know that the heavy atmosphere was really starting to weigh on me.

After that... Well, do you remember that survey I made a while back?  It looks like my next project should probably be completing Four Years.  

I might simultaneously work on one of these two stories and Tales of REM, or maybe I’ll alternate between SR and FY for a while?  To be honest, though, I would really like to wrap up SR as soon as I can.

Either way, completion is the name of the game this year.  Please look forward to it!  Let me know if you have any ideas for future fics, or if you have a favorite from my list of potential future projects!

[see-arcane]

Avengers #6 OR Really? Like, really? R e a l l y ?

Pertinent Scenes:

SCENE 1: Whomst the fuck is Donny Cates??? 

SCENE 2: Loki tries to communicate with the reader

SCENE 3: Plot twist--Loki was the Joker All Along

This. This after that solid B- work in the Thor arc. Where does that even place these stories in terms of timeline? Thor first? Avengers first? Is the Filibuster of Realms still going on? It doesn’t matter in Jason Aaron Land! I mean...

Look, I’ve tried to be as objective as I could be with this. Not super well, considering Loki in all their incarnations are very close to my heart. Gillen and Ewing crafted beautiful individual tricksters and story arcs to go with them, fun and tragic and triumphant by turns. I love those Lokis. While few to none have lived up to the God of Stories seen at the end of Agent of Asgard, I’ve warmed up to a few post-AoA Lokis too. Vote Loki was alright. The Loki who pops up in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is fantastic. Donny Cates--in spite of the great big Sigh of a ‘twist ending’--did a very heartfelt job with Loki: Sorcerer Supreme. 

And, in the very, very beginning, back when Jane ‘Thor’ Foster was fresh on the page and the War of Realms could have been a decent two-arc event, Jason Aaron put out a Loki I tried to warm up to too. I felt for that Loki when he saw the knife-in-the-back as the only way to save Freya. I felt for him when he seemed to play villain just enough to nudge Dario Agger into a trap of hubris and throw the Elf Queen into range of Mjolnir for a rescue. 

I thought we would get to see this Loki reveal to Jane that he was working to dismantle the villains from the inside. I thought we would get to see Freya and Odin face consequences for the still-loose threads that was their collusion with King Loki and the murdered Midgard of the future they’d have permitted for a predestined perfect Asgard. I thought we would get to see Loki gleefully caper out from under the dark elf’s thumb and back into the role of God of Stories, Free and Unfettered, seeding Mischief rather than Mayhem.

What have we gotten instead? Shit. Rambling, meandering, backtracking shit with specks of fool’s gold sprinkled in for pizzazz. 

I hate saying that. I hate feeling that. I hate not being able to find a way to hope, to hold out, to keep telling myself Aaron is doing his best, that maybe he’s being strong-armed into repeatedly shoving Loki back into the God of Lies box because Marvel’s bigwigs have some Grander Arc Event in need of a nefarious Classic Villain (c). I can’t do it anymore. I can’t buy my own bullshit. Which means I can’t buy his.

Other writers, like Ryan North, like Donny Cates, like the folks behind Infinity Wars and Vote Loki and a smattering of others kind enough to squeeze a cameo in, don’t do this to Loki. None of them. They make Loki fun. They make Loki happy. They make Loki puckish and chaotic and winsome and strong and stealthy and ultimately out to have a laugh and get up to tricks. And when he makes a mess it was made to avoid a catastrophe. Or for a giggle. Or both.

Only Aaron is deciding to spit on Loki’s growth. Aaron wrote that Loki designed the Black Bifrost that has been enabling Malekith to prolong the War of Realms and slaughter hundreds. Aaron wrote that Loki sparked the pointless scuffle with the Shi’ar gods and Jane. And now? 

Now Aaron has written that Loki conspired with the Dark Celestials to do the one thing he committed burning, bodily, spiritual suicide to prevent in the future. Aaron wrote a Loki who calls humanity pestilence. Aaron wrote a Loki that would see the human race murdered. Aaron wrote a Loki who spewed the same vitriol that King Loki offered so blithely to King Thor from a throne of corpses. 

And to what end? There is no proof, no hint, no foreshadowing that this was all to cover up some covert scheme. Nothing that connects to the Loki we saw in Legacy #1 where he first started hunting Infinity stones and then met the buried Celestial, supposedly looking for power to do [INSERT NEVER-MENTIONED GOAL HERE]. All we get is the last scene, with Loki cackling in pride (???) that the Avengers are back together, looking as MCU synergized as can be. 

‘Oh!’ I’m supposed to say. ‘That was the secret extra special chaotic neutral goal all along! To get the band back together! Loki’s Greatest Hit (Remix)! Because the only way to get all these heroes back together for whatever secret extra special reason was to nearly murder the entire fucking Earth! How inspired! How tricky! Got us again, Aaron!’

But you know what, Aaron? Friend? Buddy? My guy? I’m done rewriting your fucking tripe to make it palatable. I’m done pretending the caricature you keep slapping a pair of horns on is in any way the God of Stories. 

The closest you’ve come to attempting to pretend to do right by them was the opening arc for Thor and company in Helheim. Which was both clearly a fluke and bound to never result in the long, long, long, long, long overdue payoff of betraying Malekith that everyone had their fingers crossed for a thousand years ago. (But hey, maybe we’ll be forced to see Freya “”””forgive”””” Loki and give him a hug in the future. Cannot wait to see how you manage to squeeze in how her farts are perfume and birds sing every time she scratches her hallowed ass. If anyone can do it, it’s you)

I’m done with this. Truly, sincerely done. I have to be, because I’m tired of hoping. Tired of throwing money at a writer who paces an arc like a crippled tortoise sprints. Tired of forcing myself to choke down a cruel, sneering, parody of a character that’s meant so much to me and is shown worlds more respect by other writers.

Goodbye, Aaron. 

It was mediocre while it lasted.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 7 May 2018

Quick Bits:

Accell #10 begins the next arc, largely focusing this issue on Danny trying to get back on his feet, and assess damage and reparations of his personal life. Joe Casey and Damion Scott are still giving us the most traditional superhero book of the line here.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Analog #2 is an interesting throwback. I like how Gerry Duggan, in creating this future, has effectively tossed us back to the stylistic action and intrigue of 70s and 80s thrillers.

| Published by Image

Backways #5 is the explosive conclusion to the first arc. The story reveals some of the extremes that Anna can go to with her powers as she attempts to save Sylvia. Eleonora Carlini and Silvia Tidei really shine with the art.

| Published by AfterShock

Despicable Deadpool #300 is a bit of a mess, but I get that was intentional. All of the “Marvel Universe Kills Deadpool” arc has been one failure after another as the assorted heroes and villains of Marvel have been unable to stop Deadpool. The ultimate solution leads to an opportunity for Gerry Duggan to travel through many of the highlights of his run on the series.

| Published by Marvel

Domino #2 continues the fun, action, and weird moments of self-reflection showing the true vulnerabilities and insecurities of tough-as-nails mercenaries of the first issue. Gail Simone is doing a great job at bringing out the depth of Domino’s character and the art from David Baldeón and Jesus Aburtov is gorgeous. I had pretty high hopes for this series, given how entertaining Simone’s previous work on Agent X and Deadpool were, and she’s exceeded expectations. 

| Published by Marvel

Exiles #3 is still following the whirlwind pace set by the first two issues as the team continues racing through the multiverse, gathering new and old allies, as they try to come up with a plan to stop the Time Eater. This, of course, allows Javier Rodríguez to really step up with his designs and layouts for the weird and crazy worlds the team is travelling to.

| Published by Marvel

The Highest House #4 is consistently some of the best art and storytelling in comics right now, with beautiful artwork from Peter Gross and Fabien Alquier, as the intrigue in Mike Carey’s script hits a fever pitch.

| Published by IDW

Hungry Ghosts #4 ends the series on a high note, with stories illustrated by Irene Koh and Francesco Francavilla. Like the previous issues, the stories from Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose are likely to be familiar to you, especially the Snow Woman as variants of it have been told and retold multiple times, but they’re well told here. And with wonderful artwork, all deftly elevated by José Villarrubia’s colours.

| Published by Dark Horse

Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #1 is the second of these mini-series, this one following a handful of Logan’s New Avengers compatriots. That remit at least makes more sense than the Weapon Lost premise, and leads to a flashback of Wolverine selflessly taking one for the team and thus having Iron Man, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Spider-Man start chasing down a lead for a DNA sequence sale in the present. Tom Taylor’s story gets more interesting from there and I look forward to seeing where this goes. Also, some really nice artwork from RB Silva, Andriano di Benedetto, and Jesus Aburtov. If given the chance, I wouldn’t mind seeing this creative team do more New Avengers, or even Defenders, material once this is over.

| Published by Marvel

Isola #2 is probably the most beautiful thing you’re going to find on the shelves this week, which is saying something since there’s also an issue of Monstress. Karl Kerschl and Msassyk are just raising the bar higher and higher on how gorgeous the comics page can look in the span of two simple issues. Apart from being a visual treat, the story is also captivating. Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher have a fable here that taps into the same kind of magical realism, whimsy, and ephemeral beauty of a Hayao Miyazaki film and it’s incredibly engrossing.

| Published by Image

Medieval Spawn & Witchblade #1 is some decent dark fantasy. Brian Holguin, Brian Haberlin, and Geirrod Van Dyke set up a pretty bleak, undead tainted past to throw what appears to be a new Medieval Spawn into, as much of this issue works to flesh out the mystery of his past and the blight that currently besets the land. No sign of a Witchblade yet. Some nice dark and moody art from Haberlin and Van Dyke.

| Published by Image

New Mutants: Dead Souls #3 is a turning point for the story, giving us essentially a reason for why all of this weird stuff is going on and more particularly why at least some of these former members of different incarnations of the New Mutants are present. All while the team starts turning on itself as Matthew Rosenberg begins to deal with some of the continuity and history of the team members. It’s good. If you’re a long time reader of these characters, you should love this. If you’re not and you’re a newcomer with this series, it’s still fun, with some great Adam Gorham art.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #3 raises some interesting questions about the people who were transported over into Oblivion. How living through that nightmare for ten years could have changed them, possibly made them go feral, and how troublesome it might be to have them readjust to life in a safe and sane world. Obviously the answer would seem to be to bring them back anyway, but it’s still an interesting question.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Old Man Logan #39 actually has a pretty clever play on one of the X-Men’s most prestigious stories in the title as “Glob Loves, Man Kills”. That should give you an idea as to the content of this issue, but I won’t spoil the surprise if you’re unsure. That said, we get more development on Old Man Logan’s problems with his healing factor, and Glob has a date. Nice artwork from Ibraim Roberson and Carlos Lopez, and it’s welcome again, like his run on Cable, that Ed Brisson is playing with the wider world of X-characters.

| Published by Marvel

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #304 reminds you not to mess with the past, even if it’s ostensibly for a good reason. It never works out. Except in the art department. Adam Kubert gets to show off some nice redesigns for the heroes here and a really nice new version of a somewhat surprising villain.

| Published by Marvel

Port of Earth #5 returns us to Mac and Rice’s plight, with Rice not only dealing with the loss of his girlfriend, but finally figuring out what the alien was up to with his stolen badge. This is still a relatively slow moving series, with the issues fairly systematically broken down into an opening section that focuses on a documentary style analysis of the Port, the contract with the aliens, and the ESA and then the action following Mac and Rice, but it’s entertaining.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Punks Not Dead #4 is still somehow raising the bar on how inexplicably strange this series can get, even as it’s making more and more sense.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Resident Alien: An Alien in New York #2 unfurls the mystery further as Harry and Dan try to figure out who wrote an NYC phone number in alien script. Steve Parkhouse’s art, as usual, really draws you in.

| Published by Dark Horse

Rough Riders: Ride or Die #4 is a fitting conclusion to the adventures of Teddy Roosevelt and his band of luminaries, even if we may see a different incarnation somewhere down the line. Adam Glass and Patrick Olliffe created a worthwhile real life analogue to literary supergroups like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the three series are worth picking up.

| Published by AfterShock

The Spider King #4 brings an end to this excellent mix of Viking action and weird science. It’s been a great story with amazing art, highly recommended.

| Published by IDW

Venom #1 is pretty damn good. The story from Donny Cates is compelling, building up a mystery for strange behaviour from the symbiote and expanding upon the Venom history, but stealing the spotlight is the art. Ryan Stegman was a good artist, with this issue he’s laying claim to being a great artist. With JP Mayer providing inks over Stegman’s pencils and Frank Martin delivering on the colour work, this is a damn fine looking comic. A great debut.

| Published by Marvel

World of Tanks: Citadel #1 is somewhere between Garth Ennis’ two usual war story extremes; the deeply serious realistic tales of historical war battles and incidents of series like War Stories and the over-the-top dark humour of Adventures in the Rifle Brigade. As such, it’s all right. Most of it is set up, allowing the tank drivers and gunners to get acquainted with their vehicles and crew. The art from PJ Holden and Michael Atiyeh is fairly nice.

| Published by Dark Horse

Other Highlights: Astonisher #7, Barbarella #6, Betrothed #3, Betty & Veronica: Vixens #6, Black Cloud #9, Calexit #3, Dejah Thoris #4, Dissonance #3, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call #5, Ghost Money #10, Green Hornet #3, Incredible Hulk #716, Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock #1, Maestros #6, Monstress #16, Outcast #35, Planet of the Apes: Ursus #5, Prism Stalker #3, Pumpkinhead #3, ROM & The Micronauts #5, Rose #11, Runaways #9, Savage Tales: Vampirella, Sleepless #6, Southern Bastards #20, Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #32, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Through the Mirror #2, Star Wars: Darth Vader #16, Star Wars: The Last Jedi #1, Star Wars Adventures #10, Star Wars: Thrawn #4, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #32, Xena: Warrior Princess #4, X-Men Blue #27, You Are Deadpool #2

Recommended Collections: Accell - Volume 2: Pop Quiz, Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc., Angelic - Volume 1: Heirs & Graces, Beasts of Burden: Animal Rights, Dark Fang - Volume 1: Earth Calling, Death of Wolverine - Complete Collection, Despicable Deadpool - Volume 2: Bucket List, Hawkeye - Volume 3: Family Reunion, The Shadow: Leviathan, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle - Volume 1, Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil

d. emerson eddy cannot be disassembled and reassembled like a Mr. Potato Head. So, please, stop trying.

[shesailsships]

2016 in review

Tagged by @frenchcirce <3

total number of stories (completed/WIPs):

7 completed (they are one-shot fics) || 3 WIP...one fanfic and two original works

total word count:

I’m just going to tally my fanfic word counts here (my original works are always in flux, I’m constantly adding and cutting)...9,985 published without counting Ghost Hunters, Lies, & Money...with counting Ghost Hunters, Lies, & Money-- are you ready for this? A whopping 236,716 words. GLM had become monster sized, it’s hundreds of pages long at this point...and still going lol! 

fandoms written in:

Oh gosh, I’ve written for quite a few. My very first fandom was JAG and it was what introduced me to what fanfiction was. I wrote many many fics for JAG, eons ago. They were my first writings. They’re still out there somewhere, lost in the internet. So yes, JAG for one. Later I wrote for Primeval. I’ve written a short piece for The Pretender. I tossed my hat in the ring and was moved to write a one-shot for Clintasha. Ghost Hunt though, has been a long beloved muse of mine, and the only fandom I’m currently writing for with any regularity. There are so many fandoms I follow-- I have a whole folder on my computer full of half-finished fic...I can say that I’ve attempted writing for just about every ship that I love <3 

looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

I always seem to write less than I want, so sad! At the beginning of each year I have these grand plans of making more time for my writing, goals of writing for more fandoms that I love, publishing more one-shots, ect. Unfortunately, I rarely seem to be able to follow through with these plans. It’s 2017 now, and once again I’m back on the grand dreams train. I desperately want to write more this year, especially on GLM. I’d love to get four solid chapters out this year...maybe even finish it? We’ll see :)

what’s your own favorite story of the year?

We’ll since we’ve gone over the fact that I haven’t been very prolific lately, it would have to be my WIP, Ghost Hunter, Lies, & Money. That being said, I would choose GLM as my favorite anyways. I’ve been writing it for 10 years now. It’s apart of my heart, I am so tremendously proud of it <33

Original works wise, the novel idea I started revisiting in 2016 has got me so excited. I can’t wait to grow this idea more and develop it into something. 

did you take any writing risks this year?

Does not writing count as a risk? lol! It sure feels risky to me...[glances at readers nervously] Not to mention I go slowly crazy without a creative outlet. I NEED TO WRITE. In all seriousness though, I feel like every time I open Word I take new risks. Approaching my original works is both a exciting and terrifying experience. I am writing out of my comfort zone, about characters I don’t know very well yet, in a setting I’m not quite knowledgeable about yet. Very different from Ghost Hunt.

do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year?

Like I said I’m in it’s-a-new-year-imma-write-lots mode, so I have lots of plans for 2017...but at the very top of my priority list is publishing new chapters for GLM. I am dying to share this final arc with my readers <3

best story of the year?

GLM...because that’s the one I feel most proud of? I feel it’s the best of my works anyways! That, and I didn’t write anything other than GLM this year. Aside from starting my original novel that is...and that’s still shaping up! 

most popular story of the year?

Why, Ghost Hunters, Lies, & Money of course! I’ve had 10 years to build a following of the most lovely readers in the entire world. To know there are people out there who actually want to know ‘what happens next?!’ amazes and honors me. I am truly blessed. 

story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Kindred Spirits, my only Pretender fic-- as well as my Memily one-shots. The Pretender is a small fandom, so I know there’s not much traffic, but I really feel I captured ‘a moment’ in that piece, and I think other fans would enjoy it if they knew it was out there :) As for my Memily one-shots, that’s just me waving my shippy flag proudly, and wishing someone else out there would join in with me. Memily is a small niche ship inside the Primeval fandom, I’m a passionate shipper, but I’m one of the few [sigh]

most fun story to write:

GLM! I get so excited about different plot points, revealing twists, badgering my characters with embarrassing hijinks, setting up inside jokes. I often laugh to myself while writing it, much to the alarm of my cat lol!

story with the single sexiest moment:

Hee, hee, hee-- I guess it depends on your perception of sexy? Sorry kids, I don’t do NC-17. I come from the Jane Austen school of romance. A brush of the hand. A low whisper. Locked eyes. Surprise gestures, which reveal hidden feelings. Subtly. I am a huge fan of the ‘slow-burn’, building tension. Passion is an aspect of romance that is fascinating to me. I feel you can have passionate characters, involved in a passionate romance...and not have to hit the sheets in the first chapter. I really enjoy writing passionate characters... characters who are passionate about each other...and how that passion comes out. But anyways, back to the question! 

Sexiest moment I’ve ever written? In my style, I guess you could look to my reviewers for an answer to this one, I’ve scattered some special moments between Mai and Naru through out my fic that I know have gotten quite a reaction ;) I personally change my mind on this all of the time, but right now I’d say the most passionate scene I’ve written, would be the final scenes of Chapter 23. Mai and Naru alone at base after the blood rain in the theater. There’s a certain intensity there, so much tension has built up between them, there are things she wants to tell him, but can’t-- and he knows it. He’s worried for her, and she’s worried for him, and through that their passion for each other shows. The whole scene has that oooh-something-might-happen feeling, you just kind of hold your breath...it’s enough to make my heart race, and I’m the one who wrote it! Yes, I know I’m a dork ^__^

most sweet story:

Bedside Manner, hands down. It’s the first piece I wrote for the Ghost Hunt fandom and it features a really sweet ‘what-if’ scenario between John and Masako, where he takes care of her at the hospital after she’s hurt on their first case. Say it with me, awwww! <3 

”holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story:

According to my sister, who pre-reads my GLM chapters before I post them: the Mr. Sachi x Miss Miyuki twist. Sorry? [evil cackle]

story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters & most unintentionally telling story:

No exact example of this really, except that after writing GLM for so long I feel even closer to the characters, that I know them better. Also, I’m having a harder time distinguishing between canon, and the canon of my fic...oops? lol!

Writing Kindred Spirits really put me in Catherine and Sydney’s frame of mind...which was really interesting. Writing out that piece between them really helped me build better theories on who they were as characters during the events of that time, which the show kept mostly hidden from us.

hardest story to write:

I sound like a broken record, but GLM. Naturally, right? It’s my longest running work and it has a mystery plot that, believe it or not, is not my greatest strength. Then there’s the added pressure of wanting to meet not only my expectations, but the expectations of my readers. I’m a perfectionist and I end up revising so much of what I write. Takes me forever. 

Also, my original novel. Every aspect of my novel is in the developing phase, nothing is certain or concrete, there’s just this vague sense of what I want the story to be and the excitement that goes with it. Every sentence I write is experimental. It has been a real challenge getting off the ground and out of my comfort zone. I have my good days and bad days. Still, I’m learning and looking forward to what these fingers will type next! 

biggest disappointment:

So many things. I think that’s apart of the yin/yang of writing. I’ve written and lost pieces of original work due to computer errors. That has to be the most disappointing, down right painful actually :( I back up my work obsessively now. 

Also, actually being able to write when I do have the time. It’s so funny that way. There will be plenty of times where I make the time, sit down all ready...and can’t seem to put out anything? Ah, the woes of being a writer ;)

biggest surprise:

How well received my work has been, the reviews my readers leave for me. Being a writer, putting yourself out there-- it’s nerve wrecking. Self-doubt is my friend. To get the kind of response I’ve gotten over the years, I am so grateful for it. When I say reviews fuel my writing, I truly mean it. Nothing motivates me like hearing that someone just can’t wait for more! Or that my writing has touched someone, made them laugh, ect...oh goodess! <3

taggity tags: @sy5starplaty (because I know you write :D) AND anyone else who writes that follows me, really-- I tag you! Do this, I want to hear about your writing :) 

[bountyofbeads]

From Impeachment To Indictment: 5 Repercussions From Robert Mueller's Testimony

By SUSAN PAGE | Published July 25, 2019 Updated 9:07 AM ET | USA TODAY | POSTED July 25, 2019 |

Former special counsel Robert Mueller appeared before two committees Wednesday

He was straightforward in his testimony: No viral moments, no bombshells (I disagree 👎, there were several viral moments and bombshells, especially for those who haven't read the #MuellerReport)

Now what? 

The long-awaited testimony by Robert Mueller before two congressional committees Wednesday didn’t drop bombshells or spark the fireworks many Democrats had hoped for, but it will have repercussions.

From impeachment to indictment, the former special counsel's appearance could have an impact on Republicans and Democrats, on congressional decisions in the next few weeks and the presidential election next year. 

Here are five ways that his seven hours in the witness chair could reverberate down the road: 

1)Impeaching The President

It just got less likely. 

Of 235 House Democrats, more than 90 have endorsed launching an impeachment inquiry of President Trump – importantly, not including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Before the hearings, those who support impeachment saw Mueller’s testimony as the most likely way to ignite outrage and, perhaps, meet Pelosi's demand that there be broad public sentiment and the possibility of winning a conviction in the Republican-controlled Senate before moving ahead. 

While Mueller outlined an assault on democracy by Russians and a response by President Trump and his campaign that was "problematic" and worse, his testimony left Democrats frustrated. As he had warned beforehand, he declined to expand on the contents of his 448-page report, two years in the making.

He refused to be cinematic, to deliver a sound bite or create a viral moment.

"I refer you to the report," he repeated again and again.

When committee members asked him to read aloud passages from the report, he told them he'd prefer that they read them instead.

He didn’t sketch the narrative arc that might persuade skeptics to endorse impeachment. In the opening moments, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler prompted Mueller to state that he hadn’t cleared Trump of allegations of obstructing justice, noting that Justice Department guidelines prohibit indicting a sitting president.

"Did you actually totally exonerate the president?" Nadler asked.

"No," Mueller replied.

But over the hours that followed, he declined to opine on whether impeachment was warranted. "I'm not going to talk about that issue," he told Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. 

In the wake of the hearing, Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts announced her support for impeachment, and other members of Congress could follow. But Mueller’s testimony didn’t seem to provide the clear tipping point that some Democrats wanted – enough to, say, get an additional two dozen or so representatives on board that would put a majority of the Democratic caucus behind an inquiry.

The clock is ticking. Congress now heads into the six-week-long August recess, and the time is fast approaching when Democrats are likely to conclude that defeating Trump in the 2020 election takes precedence, and is more feasible, than impeaching him before then.

2) Indicting The President

It could happen, Mueller made clear, once Trump has moved out of the White House.

Indeed, in what seemed for a time to be a blockbuster exchange, Mueller confirmed that he would have indicted Trump for obstruction of justice if not for Justice Department guidance that prohibits charging a sitting president.

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California had ticked through Trump actions that, he said, met the “three elements” behind the crime of obstruction. Then he said, “The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the O.L.C. opinion?” (That is a reference to DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.)

“That is correct,” Mueller said.

But after the lunch break, Mueller clarified that wasn’t what he meant. "What I wanted to clarify is the fact that we did not make any determination with regard to culpability in any way," he said. He didn't decide whether to indict Trump because that wasn't an option. 

That said, he confirmed several times that a president could be indicted for obstruction of justice or other crimes after he left office.

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois asked if Trump might be able to wait out an indictment by winning a second term. “What if a president serves beyond the statute of limitations?” he asked. 

Mueller said he didn’t really have an answer. The statute of limitations on federal obstruction charges, Quigley said, was five years.

3) Shaping Public Opinion

Mueller’s testimony may have hardened public views, but it’s hard to believe it reshaped them.

Before the hearing, most Americans opposed impeaching Trump. In an ABC News/Washington Post Poll this month, nearly six in 10 said the House shouldn't launch impeachment proceedings. That's true even though a majority have also called Mueller credible and said that the special counsel's report didn't exonerate Trump.

On this, there has predictably been a partisan divide. Most Democrats support impeachment; most Republicans say Trump had been cleared.

'Not a witch hunt':Mueller testifies on Trump and Russian election meddling in 2016

The hearing is more likely to have reinforced that division than to have bridged it.

The Republicans and Democrats questioning Mueller seemed to have wandered into different hearings. What was the issue? Democrats argued that Trump was guilty of obstruction of justice, even if he couldn’t be charged with the crime. Republicans attacked the origins of the inquiry as tainted – un-American, one declared – and said it had been pursued for partisan reasons.

4) Nominating a Democrat

Mueller sometimes stumbled in his responses, often asked that questions be repeated and, understandably, looked exhausted by the time he testified before the House Intelligence Committee in the afternoon. When Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona lobbed what was intended to be a softball, Mueller was unable to remember which president appointed him as U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts. (He said George H.W. Bush; it was Ronald Reagan.) 

He was less nimble and more hesitant than he had been in dozens of previous hearings before Congress during his time as FBI director.

“This is delicate to say, but Mueller, whom I deeply respect, has not publicly testified before Congress in at least six years,” David Axelrod, the top strategist in Barack Obama’s campaigns, wrote on Twitter. “And he does not appear as sharp as he was then.”

That lesson might not be lost on Democrats who have expressed concerns about the prospect of nominating a presidential candidate in his 70s to challenge the 73-year-old Trump next year – fairly or not, and at the risk of being accused of ageism.

Mueller will turn 75 next month. Former vice president Joe Biden is 76. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is 77.

Alex Castellanos, a veteran Republican strategist who has worked on several presidential campaigns, drew that line. “Note to sleepy @Joe_Biden:,” he tweeted. “In next debate, do not say, ‘Could you repeat that question?”

5) And Trump’s Takeaway

Judging from the temperature of his tweets, Trump moved from early-morning anger about the hearings to afternoon delight.

“NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!” he declared in one tweet as the hearing was about to begin. In another, he denounced the Mueller investigation as “The Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. History, by far!”

By the time the hearings were drawing to a close, the president seemed increasingly relieved, then even jubilant in a string of more than two dozen tweets and retweets that ridiculed Mueller and claimed vindication for himself.

“I would like to thank the Democrats for holding this morning’s hearings,” he wrote in one, calling them "a disaster for Robert Mueller & the Democrats." And this: “TRUTH IS A FORCE OF NATURE!”

[taylorfennersbookishworld]

The Saturday Review is a weekly meme hosted by me (Taylor Fenner's Bookish World where fellow book bloggers and readers can share what books they've recently reviewed.  The Rules by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie Blurb: Narrated by alternating unreliable narrators, this dark thriller will have readers on the edge of their seats. No one is safe and everyone is a suspect. It's Saw meets I Know What You Did Last Summer. Junior Robin Brisset has no idea what she's in for when she accepts an invitation to one of Callabrese High's most exclusive parties. And when the trademark scavenger hunt begins, Robin must go against every rule she's lived by to survive. My Review: I got this book for 99¢ on Book Outlet and was kind of skeptical going in. I didn't realize this was written by the same author who wrote the Crimson Peak movie novelization at the time.  At first, I almost DNF'd this book because I didn't like how it kept bouncing from one character's perspective to another but I kept reading. I'm so glad I did because I ended up loving it. I got to a point that I needed to know what was going to happen next and The Rules kept me guessing until the end. And just when I thought I'd figured it out? BAM! Another twist coming right up!  I really liked Robin as the "main character" and this book reminded me of Ten by Gretchen McNeil and the tv show Harper's Island. You'll think you know who the killer is but then the story will turn on its head and leave you spinning. Everyone is a suspect, but at the end of the night how many will still be alive to tell the tale? Overall, I highly recommend this book if you love thrillers, suspense, murder mysteries, secrets, and betrayal.  My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 of 5 Stars! Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst Blurb: In Sky Hawkins's family, leading your first heist is a major milestone--even more so than learning to talk, walk, or do long division. It's a chance to gain power and acceptance within your family, and within society. But stealing your first treasure can be complicated, especially when you're a wyvern--a human capable of turning into a dragon.Embarking on a life of crime is never easy, and Sky discovers secrets about her mother, who recently went missing, the real reason her boyfriend broke up with her, and a valuable jewel that could restore her family's wealth and rank in their community.With a handpicked crew by her side, Sky knows she has everything she needs to complete her first heist, and get her boyfriend and mother back in the process. But then she uncovers a dark truth about were-dragon society--a truth more valuable and dangerous than gold or jewels could ever be. My Review This book was not at all what I was expecting. I wasn't too enthused when I got it in December's Fairyloot Box (I was more excited about the ARC for The Storm Crow) but I decided to give it a chance anyway. It's not my style of book. I prefer fantasy books that are pure fantasy - not urban fantasy that is labeled as fantasy. I gave it a try but I didn't like Skye and couldn't move forward with the story. My Rating: 🌟 DNF The Special Ones by E.M. Bailey Blurb: When four young people are taken against their will to become part of a cult, they are worshipped by their followers and become lost in their new reality—but what happens if they rebel against the one holding them captive? Now in paperback.Esther is one of the Special Ones: four young spiritual guides who live in a remote farmhouse under the protection of a mysterious cult leader. He watches them around the clock, ready to punish them if they forget who they are—and all the while, broadcasting their lives to eager followers on the outside. Esther knows that if she stops being Special, he will “renew” her. Nobody knows what happens to the Special Ones who are taken away from the farm for renewal, but Esther fears the worst. Like an actor caught up in an endless play, she must keep up the performance if she wants to survive long enough to escape in this daring psychological thriller. My Review: I won this book from the publisher, HMH as part of a 12-days-of-Christmas giveaway. I had the choice of the books on their website and the cover of this one stood out to me right away. It gave me horror-thriller vibes and that's the kind of reading mood I'm in this month. This book centers around "Esther," one of the "Special Ones" or spiritual guides trapped in a house with three other people that's every movement is watched on camera by devoted followers who believe they're immortal beings showing their devotees the proper way to live - as if it's one hundred years earlier.  Life is far from easy being a "Special One" - ever move you make is monitored by him. Their nameless, faceless captor who keeps them hostage with the threat of "renewal," a fate Esther believes is akin to death. So she keeps the others in line and tries to forget about the time before. But when the opportunity to escape arises will Esther be brave enough to take it? And if so, will she be able to readjust to life on the outside? Or will her captor track her down and put out her flame altogether? Overall, I really, really enjoyed this one. It's billed as a thriller, which it is in the most vague of ways. It's a story of kidnapping, brainwashing, survival, and most importantly - the perserverance to get to freedom against immeasurable odds. It is also the story of a madman - an individual that all signs pointed to as having a potential to commit a serious crime, a person whose parents and teachers knew had serious mental illness issues yet allowed carte blanche to turn his crazy ideals into reality. My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 of 5 Stars! Obsidio (The Illuminae Files, #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Blurb: Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken. My Review: This trilogy = YES! YES! YAAAASSSS! I loved it. Every single page of all three books. I still cannot believe I did not read these books sooner. I love the way they were written, the plot told through transcripts and messages and film descriptions. Obisidio, like the first two books, may have been 600+ pages but it was a breeze to get through.  Your favorites from books one and two are back and we're also introduced to Kady's cousin Asha and her ex-boyfriend Rhys who unfortunately have found themselves on opposite sides of the Beitech invasion and subsequent occupation of Kerenza IV. You'll laugh and cry with these characters, your heart will break for them and race with them as they fight to save the people they love and bring justice on behalf of all those they've lost along the way.  I could not have asked for a better ending to this trilogy. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are immediately going to the top of my auto-buy authors list! My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 of 5 Stars!

http://taylorfenner.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-saturday-review-19-january-2019.html

[pink-earmuffs]

STRANGE THE DREAMER - Hardcover Book Edition READ: 3/30-5/18/17 5/5 "The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance to lose his dream forever. What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries--including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? and if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?" This book was lyrical. Both in prose and in plot. I was extremely impressed with the level of detail and care that went into this novel. Why I loved it so much was because it read, not just as an original piece, as a hugely imagined fully formed world that you could get lost in and also manage to put the pieces together just as the main character does. This book is rich with imaginative ideas and wonderful prose. My only real complaint is that cliffhanger of an ending that makes the reader want more immediately. I took so long reading this because I wanted to fully appreciate every single word. And now I can't wait until the next one. ------------------------------------------ NOS4A2 - Paperback Copy Edition READ: 5/18-20/17 4/5 "Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country. Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland." Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son." I'll be honest here. I picked up this one based on the summary. I haven't read much of Hill's work - I know who his father is - I've only read one previous novel by him "Horns" and loved it so I decided to give this one a go. I was reminded of his fathers work in certain elements of this novel but the way it was done was enjoyable and yet this book reminded me of The Nightmare Before Christmas mixed with serial killers and enhanced supernatural mysticism. Manx is quite possibly one of the creepiest villains ever to be put to the page while Vic McQueen is one of the best heroines I've encountered. My only gripe is that I felt as if some questions about Manx might have been open ended on purpose. -----------------------------------------THE FABULIST - Paperback Copy Edition READ: 5/11-13/17 3.5/5 "A NOVEL OF AN IGNOMINIOUS FALL, THE RISE TO INFAMY, AND LIFE AFTER BOTH. It is the summer of 1998, and Stephen Glass is a young magazine journalist whose work is gaining more and more acclaim -- until a rival magazine tells Glass's editor that it suspects one of his stories is fabricated. As his editor sorts out the truth, Glass is busy inventing it -- spinning rich and complex blends of fact and fiction, and exploiting the gray world in between. But Glass is caught. His fabulism is uncovered and his career instantly unravels. Worse, his editor learns that it's not the first time. Soon, a long history of invention, passed off as journalism, emerges. Glass suddenly becomes a household name -- an emblem of hubris and a flashpoint for Americans' distrust and dislike of the press. The media is consumed with the story: Once the young man who had been known for mastering the "takedown" article, Glass now becomes the one every journalist wants to take even further down. Once the hunter, Glass becomes the hunted -- the story of the year. Glass responds to this agonizing public scrutiny with a self-imposed exile, first near Chicago with his family and then in the anonymous suburbs of Washington, D.C. There, he begins a long personal struggle with his misdeeds, working out his own answers to the questions of why he fabricated, how he can learn to stop lying, and whether, at age twenty-five, he has destroyed his life irrevocably. Glass encounters a world far stranger than his own fabrications -- one populated by eccentric coworkers, ailing animals, angry masseuses, sexy librarians, competitive bingo players, synchronized swimmers, a soulful stripper, and a mysterious guardian angel who dresses only in purple. Meanwhile, Glass is chased by marauding journalists whose desperation and ruthlessness manage to match even his own. As he dodges his pursuers, Glass grasps at straws only to find that, wondrously, they sometimes hold. Despite himself, he rediscovers the Judaism he'd left far behind in Hebrew school, and falls helplessly in love with a young woman who turns out to have her own shameful past. In the end, "The Fabulist" is as much about family, friendship, religion, and love -- about getting through somehow, even when it seems impossible -- as it is about reality and fantasy. At once hilarious and harrowing, "The Fabulist" is one of the year's most provocative novels." This book just seems self serving in a way that borders on the author making up even more absurdities in an effort to sell a book about his life. However, it is well written, I can't help but think this was his own attempt to lessen his own guilt about what he's done in his life through the one method he knows - creating fiction. ------------------------------------------ THE HEARTS WE SOLD - Paperback ARC Edition READ: 5/1-4/17; RELEASE: 8/8/17 4/5 "When Dee Moreno makes a deal with a devil--her heart in exchange for an escape from a disastrous home life--she finds her trade may be more than she bargained for. And becoming "heartless" is only the beginning. What lies ahead is a nightmare far bigger, far more monstrous than anything she ever could have imagined. With reality turned on its head, Dee has only a group of other deal-making teens to keep her grounded, including the charming but secretive James Lancer. And as something like love grows between them amidst an otherworldly ordeal, Dee begins to wonder: can she give James her heart when it's no longer hers to give? The Hearts We Sold is a Faustian tale for the modern age that will steal your heart and break it, and leave you begging for more." I have to agree with the one review that stated that "the rumpelstilskin clause" might look a tad familiar but it's nonetheless a strong novel with its own mythology and merits that are new takes within YA. The book provides hints that could lead to more within this universe even with the ending being satisfying but it's a wonderful novel with a new twist on a semi used prose. ------------------------------------------ CATALINA EDDY - ARC Via Netgalley (already released). READ: 5/21-22/17 3.5/5 "Times may change, but crimes never do, and neither do the people who investigate them. A collection of three loosely connected crime novellas, each set in a distinct era, Catalina Eddy is a gritty, hard-boiled exploration into the immutable police underworld of Southern California. In The Big Empty, an obstinate Los Angeles detective investigates the murder of his estranged wife while fears of nuclear war and Communism grip the nation; inLosertown, a mid-career attorney in San Diego chases down a legendary drug kingpin but chafes against the Reagan Revolution policies of his new boss; and inPortuguese Bend, set in the present day, an undercover cop is paralyzed in a gunfight but determined to solve what may be her last case as a police officer in Long Beach. They are all, in one way or another, stuck in dreary endless loops of love, murder, and the quest for clarity, release, and redemption." I was given an ARC of this a tad late but didn't mind because I had been wanting to read this for a while. Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Blue Rider Press & Plume for the chance to read. Daniel Pyne wrote a great crime novel/ 3 short series of noir tales that tie together over the course of several different decades but the effect from each of the stories reverberate over time. The Big Empty, The Portuguese Bend, & Losertown all take place at different time frames but handle different points of view in relation to crime which is a different take on what I usually see in crime novels. The Big Empty takes place in the 50's and a PI tries to figure out the death of his ex wife. The Portuguese Bend is told through the view point of a forensic photographer being the main protagonist. Finally Losertown gives the reader a look at the US Attorney Justice System. These stories that Pyne wrote are excellent editions to any crime/noir aficionado's reading library. ------------------------------------------ THE RED LILY - ARC via Netgalley READ: 5/19/17; RELEASE: 6/19/17 3/5 "The Black Lily resistance needs a larger army if they are to defeat the vampire monarchy. In order to do so, former lieutenant and traitor to the vampire Crown, Nikolai must seek help from the red-hooded temptress he needs to avoid at all costs. The secret he carries could prove dangerous for her if she gets too close…even though keeping her close—very close—is the only thing on his mind. Sienna will do anything for the Black Lily, and when Nikolai asks for her assistance to gain the trust of the commonwealth, it’s the last thing she wants to do. The thought of leaving her woods and her wolves behind is terrifying…not to mention the danger being with Nikolai poses." I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. Thank you to the author as well as Entangled Publishing, LLC for the chance to read and review. I have to give Juliette Cross credit here. Vampires have been done to death but here with the novels taking place in a sort of way that involves fairy tale retellings is genius. I loved that sort of element and she does it effortlessly. Sienna and Nikolai are a pair together but what I really enjoyed is that Sienna is no nonsense and isn't exactly "helpless" in terms of a heroine. I'm looking forward to more work from Cross and seeing where she takes this series. ------------------------------------------ ANGELS IN AMERICA - 2017 paperback edition READ: 5/18-19/17 5/5 "Tony Kushner's Angels in America is that rare entity: a work for the stage that is profoundly moving yet very funny, highly theatrical yet steeped in traditional literary values, and most of all deeply American in its attitudes and political concerns. In two full-length plays--Millennium Approaches and Perestroika--Kushner tells the story of a handful of people trying to make sense of the world. Prior is a man living with AIDS whose lover Louis has left him and become involved with Joe, an ex-Mormon and political conservative whose wife, Harper, is slowly having a nervous breakdown. These stories are contrasted with that of Roy Cohn (a fictional re-creation of the infamous American conservative ideologue who died of AIDS in 1986) and his attempts to remain in the closet while trying to find some sort of personal salvation in his beliefs. But such a summary does not do justice to Kushner's grand plan, which mixes magical realism with political speeches, high comedy with painful tragedy, and stitches it all together with a daring sense of irony and a moral vision that demands respect and attention. On one level, the play is an indictment of the government led by Ronald Reagan, from the blatant disregard for the AIDS crisis to the flagrant political corruption. But beneath the acute sense of political and moral outrage lies a meditation on what it means to live and die--of AIDS, or anything else--in a society that cares less and less about human life and basic decency. The play's breadth and internal drive is matched by its beautiful writing and unbridled compassion. Winner of two Tony Awards and the 1991 for drama, Angels in America is one of the most outstanding plays of the American theater." Review pending

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Seven steps to write your first novel

Joanna Penn

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It can be overwhelming to try and learn everything at once.

Is it your dream to write a novel? Are you unclear on the process?

Perhaps you’ve read a ton of books on writing or done a class, but you’re still confused on the way forward.

Don’t worry. I know how you feel!

When I started out writing fiction, I was just as overwhelmed as you might be right now. But after 12 bestselling novels, I’ve nailed down my process, so I hope this overview helps you on your way to finishing your novel.

The writing craft is like an iceberg, with hidden depths that you can spend the whole of your life exploring. When you’re writing your first novel, it can be overwhelming to try and learn everything at once.

But you only have to know about the small section of the iceberg above the water to get that first book written! Here are the basics.

(1) Understand what you’re writing and why

Before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, it’s worth stopping for a moment to think clearly about what you’re doing. Firstly about yourself, and then about the reader.

Why do you want to write a novel anyway? What is your definition of success? Do you just want to hold your book in your hands, do you have a burning desire to change people’s lives with your words, or do you want to make an income from your writing? The answers to these questions will shape what you write, how you publish and whether you’re happy with the result.

Consider your potential readers.

This book will not be a journal for your eyes only. At some point, a reader (hopefully lots of them!) will pick up your book. Who are they? Which other books and authors do they love? Where do they find your book on the bookstore shelves?

These are important questions because, however you want to publish later on, you need to understand where your book fits in the eco-system. If you get an idea of this now, it will help you shape your story as you move forward.

Of course, none of us like to think about putting ourselves in boxes, and we all want to be original. So here’s the best way to work this out, since after all, writers are usually voracious readers!

What are the 5-10 (bestselling or award-winning) books that are similar to the story you want to write?

Which authors write the books that you love and are similar to your future book? Make sure that you use authors who are currently publishing in today’s market rather than classic literary works.

Write down your list and then go and check them out on Amazon. Scroll down to the Product Details section and find the Amazon Bestseller Rank, which includes the sub-categories where the book is ‘shelved,’ sometimes described as the book’s genre.

If you know where your book sits from the outset, you know what you’re aiming for. You can write what you love, but you can also write something that will find an audience.

(2) Fill your creative well

“Where do you get your story ideas from?”

This is one of the most common questions for authors and one I used to struggle with. I spent thirteen years working in large corporations implementing financial systems, possibly one of the least creative jobs possible! I felt like I would never have any ideas or original thoughts. I needed to retrain myself to recognize ideas because you can’t write a book without them.

Follow your curiosity.

When you walk into a bookstore, which sections do you browse? When you stroll past a magazine rack or a parade of shops, what draws your eye? If you overhear a conversation, what do you notice about the people? When you decide what to watch on TV/film, what do you choose? What interests you?

When you go to a new city, where do you want to go first? What do you want to see? Do you like architecture, museums or historical places? Do you want to eat the local food or go dancing or to cultural performances? Do you want to talk to the local people?

These instincts are often things we take for granted, but becoming aware of your curiosity is the first step to finding ideas. Once you begin to notice what you’re interested in, then you can take the next step.

Write down the sparks that appear.

These don’t have to be fully-formed ideas. They can be anything from quotes to sensations, to places or things that you see. I use Moleskine notebooks (always plain paper!) and also the Things app on my iPhone, as well as taking pictures which I post on Pinterest and Flickr when I travel.

These ‘sparks’ can become part of stories over time. For example, when I visited the Hunterian Museum in London a few years ago, I wrote down the sensation I felt when I looked at the medical specimens in jars.

That location and those specimens became the basis of Desecration, my first crime thriller, a murder mystery with an anatomical theme. One of the characters, Blake Daniel, came to me fully formed after I visited the British Museum and wondered what it would be like to work there.

Trust that other people find the same things interesting.

Whatever you’re into, there are people online who love those things too. Your ideal reader doesn’t have to be in your town. They might even be on the other side of the world!

I always thought I was a bit weird because I enjoy visiting graveyards. I find them beautiful, peaceful places and I bring this awareness of death into my fiction. It turns out that a lot of other people enjoy graveyards too, and when I started sharing pictures and writing about them, I found a whole new community!

Once you’ve tuned into your curiosity and started writing down your ideas, you’ll find that they coalesce into potential stories over time.

(3) Write a story, not just a pile of words

Professional editor, Harry Dewulf, recently told me about the biggest problem he finds with manuscripts from first-time authors. “They give me a load of typing, instead of a story.”

And prize-winning literary writer Flannery O’Connor said, “Most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.”

So even if you have read thousands of books, it’s still hard work to write a story that readers love.

Too many writers try to start a novel by writing words on the page with no direction and soon run out of steam, wondering what’s wrong. This is where you need to understand the basics of story structure but don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Consider what you love about your favorite books as a reader.

How do the books begin and end? Why do you want to turn the pages? Is the book a series? Why do you crave these types of books?

For example, I write supernatural thrillers and my ARKANE series has been described as ‘Dan Brown meets Lara Croft.’ Readers of my books also like Steve Berry, James Rollins, Clive Cussler and James Patterson, authors of fast-paced adventure thrillers, many with an edge of the supernatural.

This type of story usually has a single protagonist who has to save the world before the bad guys destroy everything. There’s a ticking clock which keeps the plot moving, and puzzles to solve, as well as global locations and a final confrontation between good and evil. This fits with the expectations of readers who like supernatural thrillers.

Another great example is the romance genre, where the readers are some of the most voracious and demanding in the publishing business. If you want to satisfy romance readers, then you need to deliver the HEA, the Happily Ever After, as well as obligatory scenes like the first kiss.

Use classic story structure to expand on your ideas.

The Three Act Structure goes all the way back to Aristotle’s Poetics, and the best-loved stories follow this tried and true path. Structure and boundaries help you to be more creative, and you’ll find it easier to come up with the various aspects of your story if you follow it.

As an example, consider The Hunger Games. The book opens in the ordinary world of Panem, where Katniss is hunting for food for her family in a district oppressed by a central government. Then Prim is chosen for the Reaping, which is the Inciting Incident as Katniss has to make a choice that then propels her into the story. Act Two of the book is the preparation for the Games and the obstacles of the arena itself, where Katniss has to fight to survive. She faces death rather than leave Peta behind and in the Climax, defeats President Snow and wins the Games, returning to the real world of the district at the end, forever changed.

This same story structure is used for many bestselling books and films, so it’s definitely worth using to help you finish your first book. After all, if it ain’t broke …

(4) Write a character that people want to spend time with

If you want readers to want to spend their precious time on your book, then you have to write a character that keeps them engaged. This doesn’t mean that you need a goody-goody-two shoes perfect person, but you do want to write a compelling, authentic protagonist that hooks the reader, so they are desperate to know what happens next in the character’s world.

Use one main character.

The multiple character arcs of Game of Thrones might make for compelling reading/watching, but it’s much easier to start writing by focusing on one central protagonist.

Consider Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, or Anastasia Steele in 50 Shades of Grey, or Harry Potter. There are other people in the worlds of those books, but the main characters are the ones that we care about most and follow through the books (and also why these became huge films as well as multi-million selling books).

Your character will also shape the Point of View you write from, and this is critical because every story is different from a different perspective. The bad guy never thinks they are the bad guy, after all. S/he is the hero of their story (think Despicable Me!).

Focus on these questions.

What does your character want and why? What/who stops them? How do they overcome the obstacles along the way? How are they changed as a result of the journey?

Go back to the books you love the most and you are likely to find that these are the core aspects of those stories.

 (5) What happens, why and where?

Once you have a character, and you’ve considered what they want and why, you can start fleshing out the details of what or who stops them from getting it. You can also think about where this will happen, otherwise known as the setting. You can’t just have characters talking to each other in an empty white room. There needs to be action that takes place somewhere specific.

Use setting to bring conflict to your plot.

Game of Thrones is a great example of this. Take Jon Snow at the Wall in the North. The wall keeps out the Wildlings, who fight the Knights’ Watch; then it becomes the site of a huge battle and then becomes the only thing stopping the White Walkers. The ice and snow bring a dark, cold tone to the experiences of the characters and makes life much harder than those who live in the golden city of Kings Landing in the sunnier south.

The Hunger Games also uses setting to derive plot, with much of the first book taking place in the games arena where Katniss must survive the deadly traps set for the Tributes.

It doesn’t have to be all death and destruction, though! In Gone Girl, Nick must find his missing wife Amy, and figure out the psychological games she has been playing as he falls into the domestic traps she has set.

Remember that plot and setting is experienced by the character and the closer you get to the emotions of the protagonist, the more your readers will resonate with the story.

(6) Get words on the page for your first draft

When you read a book that makes you think, ‘I could never write something like this,’ stop for a minute. Because that is NOT what the author wrote the first time they put pen to paper. The reality is that everyone starts with a first draft, and most authors would never show that draft to anyone.

We’ll come onto editing in the next section, but first, you need to create that first draft.

Once you understand that you will rewrite your work later, especially when you’re first starting out, then you can let go of any sense of judgment over what you write.

In my experience, the amazing ideas I have in my head turn out to be a mess on the page. Finding the right words is difficult. And how the hell did my character even get into this dilemma in the first place?!

But you can’t edit a blank page, so just try to get as much down as possible. Don’t obsess over your word choice or how cliché your characters are, just get black on white and work it out later. I try not to re-read my words until I’m ready for the second draft.

Schedule your writing time

Do you schedule your gym classes? Your children’s school events? Your meetings at work? Your social life? So why don’t you schedule your writing time if it is that important to you?

I use an old-school Filofax diary and schedule my writing time in blocks. When I worked a full-time day job, I would get up at 5 am and write before work, because I knew I’d be brain-dead when I got home. Now I tend to go to a cafe or a co-working space and pound away at the keyboard while plugged into Rain and Thunderstorms on repeat. Anything to quiet that critical voice!

Use focused, timed writing

Once you are in your specific place at the specific scheduled time, then you need to focus. No Facebook, no email, no social media, no texting.

You are there to write.

Set a timer and start small, since writing takes stamina and you have to build it up over time. Try ten minutes of typing and just write down what your character is doing in a particular place. Allow yourself to write a load of crap without censoring and I guarantee you that there will some something there worth saving!

Take a quick break and then do another ten minutes. Repeat this until you have your first draft. It really is that simple (but not easy,) and you get the bug, this will turn out to be immensely satisfying and addictive!

Bonus tip: You can write by hand on paper, or use MS Word, but many writers now use Scrivener software which helps you organize and write your novel. I have personally found it life-changing!

(7) “Writing is rewriting.”

So said Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park and many other incredible bestselling books. This is particularly true when you first start writing fiction because there is a huge gap between the books that you love and the pitiful first draft you have created. But that’s okay because you can now edit the manuscript into some much better!

Start with self-editing

I like to print out my entire draft and then edit by hand.

I end up with pages of scribbled notes, arrows, lines and extra scenes, strike-through marks across whole pages, as well as grammar and typos fixes. Then I put all those changes back into my Scrivener document, remembering to back up my files along the way, of course! That first edit is usually my most significant one, and then I will print it out and go through it once more before working with a professional editor.

Use professional editors

The best way to improve your writing is to work with an editor on your manuscript. If you want an agent, then improving your manuscript before submission is a good idea. If you’re self-publishing, then this step will make your book more likely to please readers. You can find a list of editors here.

There are different types of edits. A story edit, or content edit, is a great way to check whether your structure is working, whether your characters are engaging or whether your plot has massive holes. You’ll be given a report with details on how to improve the book.

Too many writers think editing is about fixing typos, but that is the least important thing at this stage. Readers will forgive terrible writing if your story is amazing. Getting a story edit is often the best way to improve your work and well worth investing in. Then you can do your rewrites based on the suggested changes.

The next stage is a line edit or copy edit, the classic ‘red pen’ approach when an editor pulls apart your whole manuscript, and you make the changes that will improve the book further.

After you’ve done more rewrites, the book will need proofreading which is the last stage of checking for typos, grammatical errors and anything else that may impact the finished product.

Congratulations, you can now hold your novel in your hand and say, “It’s (finally) finished!”

This article has been a whistle-stop tour through the process, but I want to reassure you again that it is possible.

You can finish your novel.

I know because I’m writing my thirteenth at the moment. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it! So I wish you all the best with your book.

What are you waiting for? Go write!

This article originally appeared at The Creative Penn.

Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling thriller author, creative entrepreneur, podcaster, professional speaker, and travel junkie. For more, visit www.jfpenn.com