Reviews

Part of my job involves reading scripts and scripts of stories (Well, in my line of job they aren't called 'stories' but let's just keep it as that!). This time round, I'm required to give my comments for every script I read through.

As I was reading through my 6th one, I found myself having to come up with new words and phrases to show some variation in my critique. Suddenly, the feeling was all too familiar. And I'm sure many fanfic readers know what I'm talking about.

Reviews.

I've mentioned this in a previous blog post, but we can never rant enough about reviews :P

Here's my stand: I almost always give a review to every fanfic I read.

Coming from a writer who returned after a two-year hiatus, I understood the misery of spending all that time on a chapter only to receive one review (and I still am grateful to the reviewer to this day). When I was a younger fanfic reader, I didn't really review as actively because I didn't think that my comments were going to be constructive or valuable to the writer. I soon found out that if not constructive, every review is valuable to the writer. Since then, I told myself not to shortchange my fellow writers of the joy of receiving a review, even if it was only to say thanks.

There are only a few instances why I don't review nowadays (starting with the most common reason):

1. I'm catching up on a multi-chapter and I seriously don't want to bog the author down with an influx of reviews (I seriously can give 40 reviews if I'm catching up on a 40-chapter story, but I just don't. I don't see the point because that author might have improved since the earlier chapters).

2. I opened the story, but I did not finish reading even the first chapter, due to being called away for household chores and work.

3. The fanfic writer has not been around since 3 years ago. Yep. Once the author's last update on his profile is 2008-2009, I think twice about reviewing. That doesn't mean that I don't review anymore. I would if it's still a good fic, and hope somewhere out there the writer can see it.

4. I've read it from start to finish, read it twice and the third time. And I still don't know what is happening. This reason only occurs because the writer lacks grammar structure and the sentence did not bring its intended message across. In this case it's not fair to review because you know you didn't get the story at all. Let me give you an example:

one day boys welk in the park... and They saw kitte... and They thaik long stick owner.

You get what I mean, right? You aren't too sure what the writer is saying so it's best to leave it alone. Hurhur. So mostly it's reason 1 and 2, heheh!

Yes, I'm very proud to say that I review about 90% of the fics that I opened. Bad fics, unrelated fics, incoherent fics, OOC fics... As long as I understand what's happening and I've finished it? I review.

I know, I know. When you've ploughed through 20 fics in a day, you run out of what you want to say (I rhyme!). But think of a different perspective - how much you'll make a writer smile to receive a note of encouragement, a friendly feedback, even a small 'thank you'. We writers don't always need the 'OH MY GOSH YOU SO AWESOME I LOVE YOU KTHNXBYE' kinda stuff. How about 'I can see you're working hard!', or 'good job!', or 'i enjoyed reading that!'. If anything, a simple 'thank you for your efforts' warms the heart anytime.

Now it sounds like I'm complaining about my lack of reviews, but I assure you, I'm not! Honestly, I'm so content with my current state. Who would complain, receiving 4-8 reviews per chapter?

Also, please don't go all righteous on me and argue that if you like to write, even the absence of reviews will not stop you. True, BUT. Over the months, I discovered one thing: Many things that my reviewers write really makes me feel like writing all this is worth while. That kept me going longer than the desire to write Meia and Reno.

So you never know how you impact your writers :)

Back to my work. Yes, I look through many scripts and yes, since I have to comment on every one of them, it really takes a toll on me to come up with new things to 'review'.

Inking out,
aichioluv

Unpublished: How to get a firefly's attention

When I was in high school, I stopped writing fanfiction. After finishing "KISS Me!", my school activities overwhelmed me (and my studies) so I stopped. It was until I wrote "A Love That Surpasses Time" that I became addicted to writing again. During which, I wrote this plot bunny while in class. I kept a notebook where I did my notes, my practice questions... and my short story ideas. This was written in 2007. Honestly? I'm quite ashamed to show this but hey, all for 'down the memory lane', huh?

I'll write out my notes, word for word, every grammatical error and immaturity revealed. I'm thinking of revamping it into a proper piece and publishing it on fanfiction.net, but for now, here's the draft. Prepare to cringe.

Oh, before I forget. This story is based on the manga, Samurai Deeper Kyo.

How to get a firefly's attention

One day, a small no. of charc from SDK decides (out of pure boredom) to see who is able to call Hotaru and get him to respond. The rule is to only call by names, no longer way used is valid.

"I think I shall be judge, since I don't know Hotaru very well." said Okuni, pouting & flipping her long hair.

"And declare Kyo as the winner?" Bontenmaru demanded. "NO WAY!"

After a heated discussion, it's concluded that Okuni & Muramasa will be the judge. Hotaru was led to one corner. "Oh... hi caterpillar" he prodded the green worm.

Competition start!

*The people who will be playing are
- Yuya
- Kyo
- Kyoshiro
- Benitora
- Shinrei
- Akira
- Sasuke
- Bontenmaru
- Yukimura
- Akari

The others, like Kyoshiro, decided to sit out. Akari was away for lunch & wasn't present.

Yuya: Hotaru-kun! Hotaru-kun!
Benitora: Hey! Hotaru!
Akira: Hey to the one sitting over there.
Kyo: Hotaru! Not responding to me? He deserves to be killed.
Bonten: Yo to the slow as poke thinker over there!
Yukimura: Hotaru! Taru-chan! Ho-chan! *heart* *heart*
Sasuke: ... i'm forced to enter the competition. I quit.
Yukimura: Aww... Sasuke chan spoilsport!
Akari: Hotaru who don't like water so much that he can go 3 days without showering? Come here?
Shinrei: My stupid half brother who always pick a fight with me but shouldn't bother because I'll always win?
Hotaru: WHAT DID YOU SAY? DO YOU WANT TO DIE!

*bicker*

All: this is only achievable by sibling r/s.

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... Okay, I'm going to see how I can change this weird plot bunny into a proper-sounding one. Gosh, look at all the terrible character portrayal.

Have a good week ahead!

What is wrong with me?

For two consecutive weeks I've been writing Reno's name as Rod! I need to ctrl-f 'rod' in future chapters... just in case.

Once again, many reviews flooding my inbox. What a joy :) I'll answer them in the next chapter!

Book Review (3): The Manhattan Hunt Club

I told myself that I would spend tonight relaxing. And relax I did. I committed the rest of the night to read "The Manhattan Hunt Club" by John Saul. I've read another of his books just this year, The God Project, and I thought that it was pretty good.

Here's my thoughts about The Manhattan Hunt Club (MHC). I won't spoil the story because I'm not in the good for any story summary :P

As usual, John Saul's story is rich in character background, I find that he narrates character background much better than  character portrayal. i enjoy reading how each character went through their experiences to be the character they are today. Whatever that I've mentioned in The God Project is pretty much the same.

This story has lesser twists, but still a very nice one. the twist for this story is kinda a no-brainer (but i didn't think about the story so i read it and had the entire experience without 'spoilers'), it is the sit-down-and-reflect moment that you realise how creepily possible it can happen in real life that wins it all.

okay, my brain is not working tonight. So i'll be signing off here.

Disclaimer: Despite the official term, the above book review is not a wholesome and fully critical one. The book is merely reviewed and reflected on based on story writing skills and other literary elements.

Recommended Titles

A few months back, I asked around for some recommendations for books to read and I received some response! So I suppose I'd better jot it down before I forget or before my readers deem my request flippant. You can also take it as a compilation of recommended titles from whoever who wants to contribute so that we can all expand our reading horizon!

Note: I shall not credit names here to protect privacy!

1. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Claire
2. Infernal Devices by Cassandra Claire

Alrighty, if the list ever stops here... oh well then :P Meanwhile, I hope I can clear my books that are rotting in the bookshelf and give them some love... soon.

Book Review (2): Coraline by Neil Gaiman

It isn't common nowadays for me to finish a book. In fact, it isn't common for me to finish a book in four hours.

That's how long it took for me to finish the newest book that I've bought, Coraline, by Neil Gaiman. It's funny how the moment overwhelms you and you can put down books that you've been having or reading just to go on a short little detour to another universe.

Quick note to myself: Congratulations, dear girl. You've read more books than you ever did in the past four years! Since the year started, you've completed these books: Warriors of Alavna, The God Project, Coraline. You are still trying to plough through: Eragon, The Manhattan Hunt Club, The Star of Kazan. Keep it up.

The story is about a little girl named Coraline, duh. While struggling with self-perceived neglection and getting bored with freaky neighbours, Coraline finds a door that opens into a parallel universe. In this universe everything is the same, except that her mother and father, creatures with buttons sewn where their eyes should be, are devoted and centred around Coraline. Sounds good, until they offer her to stay in this fun-filled world forever, in return she must allow them to sew buttons into her eyes. Suddenly not too keen on the idea, Coraline rejects and retreats into her real world. Things didn't end there, for in the real world Coraline discovers that her real parents were kidnapped into the parallel world. The rest of the story depicts how Coraline braved into the world again to save them.

It was one of those books that I wanted to get a few years back but never gotten around to it because I didn't think paying 17 dollars for a kiddy book was worth it, even if it's Neil Gaiman. I finally got it at an awesome price of 10 dollars a few days back and I thought 'Might as well.'

I felt sick over the long holiday weekend so I read the book. Now here are my thoughts.

As a horror fantasy, I think that two criteria were met perfectly. Coraline had this creepy undertone throughout the entire story that never lightened the slightest bit. No lighter moments, no 'let's take a breather here'. Neither was it intense horror either, but then again when you're targeting this at middle-aged children then I suppose it's pretty intense. It takes a child with fantastic imagination to visualise what Gaiman illustrates though, so for children who aren't that great with language the entire story might just not work for them.

The theme of courage in this book was portrayed very strongly, which was something I really like. This was a quote from Coraline herself: When you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave. And we see that in the book she was freaked out a number of times, but she did it all in the motivation of saving her parents. If anything, this book displays courage in a manner that is simple for children to understand.

You ask if I like it personally? To be honest, no. I didn't quite like it and felt quite reluctant to admit that I paid 10 dollars to read a book that didn't blow my mind. What did I not like about the book? I don't know, actually. Perhaps I no longer hold the same mind of a child, maybe if I were younger I might sing a different tune. It was the general feeling. I didn't read the ending, close the book, sigh and smile to myself (which is what I usually do whenever I read something good). It's a personal opinion, and unfortunately, I have nothing to back my dislike.

Still, personal opinion aside, this book is the winner of the Carnegie Medal. Other winners include CS Lewis' "The Last Battle" (part of the Narnia Chronicles) and Philipa Pearce's "Tom's Midnight Garden". Both books I own and thoroughly enjoy. There will be a reason why Coraline was such a highly-esteemed story and I urge everyone to give it a try. You never know if you like it till you try :)

Disclaimer: Despite the official term, the above book review is not a wholesome and fully critical one. The book is merely reviewed and reflected on based on story writing skills and other literary elements.

It's always awesome...

To have one of your favourite authors reply you, showing gratitude.

It's a long-overdue post but I need to publish this ASAP.

I can always imagine how fans will feel when their authors post their letters, or answer their questions. I'm referring to One Piece's Author Oda Eiichiro, who leaves a few pages every volume to answer the weirdest questions fans send.

Anyway, back to the main point. It really is such a joy to receive a small note of thanks from people whose writing you love and admire.

To my taciturn author, keep it up and don't ever, ever stop writing. :)

My newest project is not writing but researching?

Remember that little rant about a raunchy book that was 50 Shades of Grey?

It has been running around in my head, plus along with many other things that made me wonder just how popular and badly written is this thing?

Shortly after that rant, I kinda found someone who gave me new insight. She was one of my church friends, who went to the UK to study Literature. She comes back to Singapore during her holidays and that's when my friends and I meet her.

Sidetrack: Honestly, I don't know her well. I believe I've only talked to her... twice? Four times tops. I couldn't find anything that we had in common. That was then. Over the last time that I saw her, we ended up sitting across each other during dinner and that was when I first found out (or perhaps I knew beforehand but forgot about it) that she was a Literature major in university. So we talked about simple things like our Literature books during our JC (high school equivalent) days, turns out that we read the same books for our 'A' levels. Then that was when we talked. And talked. Obviously I was joyous to finally find someone who loves reading, perhaps more than I. She was returning to UK to take her Masters in Literature, where she'll examine contemporary literature and analyse. I mean, you go to school and you analyse 'The Hunger Games' for your Masters? Awesome XD (then again, she didn't find that series fantastic so my joy is not shared here XD)

Okay, I'm coming to the main point. We talked about '50 Shades of Grey' and I asked for her opinions for what constitutes 'bad writing'. One of the things she mentioned was the sheer number of cliches used.

And I thought: Huh.

So basically, I too, started analysing my own fic and wonder if I had been using too many cliches. I believe I did, heheh. All that wondering finally made me come down to this new project that I am thinking of embarking.

I call it the 'Unfolding' Series. I merely want to go around collecting all sorts of information that makes a particular book what it is. You know, undo the entire literature and really focus on the writing. And to spearhead the entire series, I'm using '50 Shades of Grey'. Unfortunately, my research can never be complete until I read the book and form my own opinion. But honestly? i can live with that.

What the heck am I planning to do? Well, I wish I have a good outline to reveal, but currently, I'm pretty aimless. Well, obviously I'm going back to find all those video reviews, extract the dislike and find out the reason behind the dislike.

Is there an actual reason for this? No, it is NOT to bash '50 Shades of Grey'. I'm doing this because I'm very affected by the idea that '50 Shades of Grey' is being called bad writing, and it came from fanfiction. I really want to know more about this so that I can improve on my own writing. At least, I'm getting this out of my system once and for all.

I'll still be doing my usual 'Afterthoughts' and be uploading my fanfic, but you'll be sure the next few chapters will be awkward. We'll see :)

Oh, and I'm sorry for the confusing writing today. This is the kind of writing you get when you're distracted with work, headache and more. *thumbs up*

So are you dead or... ?

I assure you, I'm fine.

It's just that I've been busy with my work. I figured that I'm extremely inefficient in my work and hence the massive amount of time needed to catch up with my daily tasks.

Still... to be gone from the blog for almost a month is almost a travesty (finally! i used the new word!), so I apologise for being so silent. not saying that i will change though. nevertheless, i hope you've been enjoying my chapters for Days of Exile.

(and forgive me for the informal way of writing this entry. my capital letters and punctuation can take a break for all I care!)

As i feared, I barely had any time to do any writing. in fact, it scared me that i could spend days doing my 'real life' job without even thinking about my fanfiction. i really fear that i may forget about writing altogether. that doesn't mean that i'm giving up, it also doesn't mean that i'm going to quit my job, hahaha! i will continue to commit to update every two weeks.

that being said, i have been receiving story favourites and reviews from a fic that i wrote one year ago. "Dress Off!" was a story that i wasn't the most proud of, yet so many people loved it. Goes to show that you can be popular if you know which fandom/pairing to go into...

anyway, i was sick the past few days so i spent the entire last night reading. and i amazingly finished a book in four hours. then again, it was a pretty short book. It was Coraline by Neil
Gaiman. i might do a book afterthought tomorrow or something.

for now, i gotta go back to my work. :/