Days of Exile: Chapter 17

It has been a while since I wrote chapter notes on my blog :D

So thanks to one of you, I had a sudden paranoia that you guys may note even understand what I'm writing all this time, so here's a quick story recap. If you guys need THIS to understand what just happened in the last 16 chapters, it's high time I do something. If you guys still don't know what it is about, then I should retire into seclusion...

Since the destruction of Zirconiade...

1. The exiled Turks are living on their own... until President Shinra was assassinated by Sephiroth. Veld called the the Turks to ask for their help to support Shinra (without their knowledge because only Veld will be in contact with Tseng). In addition, they had to remove of the Jade WEAPON, who are after them because they destroyed Zirconiade.

2. Meia is in Shinra as lookout and intelligence, under the disguise of Professor Hojo’s assistance.

3. Sephiroth seemed to be alive and running around. Cloud’s party and the Shinra Turks are chasing him across the Planet (by the way, THAT is the storyline of FF7... at least at this point).

4. What is the purpose of Sephiroth? No one knows… not yet.

There. I hope it was clear enough this time around. Please tell me if the story is not coherent at any part of the story. You see, having played/read every installment, it's pretty hard to write for readers who have no FF7 background. If you spot any incoherence, let me know so I can rectify. Of course, certain incoherences are present... because it is meant to be so :P

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Tseng’s POV was indeed adapted (if not retold) by the FF7 novellas: Case of Shinra. Also, I know some of you talked about Elena. I love how indeed she is so out of the loop even though she’s a Turk. Eventually she’ll know everything, though how I’ve not figured! In the coming chapters, I'll be using "Case of Shinra" heavily to bring across the Turks' perspective.

Also, December is ending. So please take note, chapter updates will resume to once every two weeks again! The next chapter release is 12 Jan 2012.

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Time for my replies to your reviews!

Takara: Haha, no need to be so angsty there :) Elena being surprised is completely normal. Don't be jealous just because Tseng asked her for dinner ;)

TWA: hurray! doomsday has granted us more time! Reeve is going to be a character I'll try to divulge and analyse more. Hope I'm able to write him in his fullness by the end of this story (Yes, I'm hinting that he'll appear more often in the story).

Rachel: Great that you enjoyed Don Corneo's scene! I loved writing that too, though I had to rewatch the scene to fully capture that moment again. So seeing Reno flip his hair countless of times can be considered as irritating XD

Dontgotaclue88: Yeah, Reno is quite the poor chap, although the game didn't perceive him so. Really tough trying to fit a humane side of him in the story, but so far so good, huh?

rnn21: Yeah, the story is quite fast paced, I admit. I wrote it with the assumption that everyone has played FF7 (because I forget how young all of you are). It is next to impossible to write this story with half the portion retelling the game. It will not do this story justice because I don't have the stamina and the standard WILL be diluted. 

Days of Exile is no where near 25% of completion. If I had wrote more of FF7, this story will never end and truth be told, as much as I love this story, I am eager to finish this so that I can focus on new projects too. I know you don't need me to retell everything, so I'm doing my utmost best by selecting the scenes in FF7 most relevant to Meia and the Turks. If I'm not retelling, I've most likely explained what had happened through reports and narration. So I will take a risk by telling you to read it without thinking how it ties in with FF7 (it will... very very soon). I'm not sure if you've played the game, but basically most of the time Cloud and gang are just chasing Sephy all over the place. Haha!

Jefri: It was never specified how much Reeve controlled Cait Sith, so here's my own answer. Cait Sith has its own mind and intelligence, but Reeve has the ability to control its will. Reeve is able to command Cait Sith to tell a fortune, but neither Reeve nor Cait Sith has control over the results of the fortune. :)

Kadajclone100 (longest for the last!!):

First up, thank you for constantly trying to bring me back to focus. I admit, there are many MANY underlying themes/POVs/overlapping arcs in this mega story and it’s really hard to juggle them all. I’ve noted your questions about the grey area of morality and have been trying to, bit by bit, fit them into the story.

Regarding the BC Turks, not everyone joined Shinra with a vengeful intention. Over the course of the two stories, I’ve mentioned some Turks’ backstories. Cissnei, KK, Masons’ were explained sufficiently and everyone else’s were hinted at here and there… except Cassie (I’m currently writing it!). Not to worry, it has been my intention to eventually write about every single BC Turk and you’ll see that most of them joined Shinra because they ran out of luck in their own trouble and saw no better alternative. These people didn’t hate Shinra at all, they merely see the company as an escape route.

Indeed if Shinra had not turned on them they would continue to be a Turk. As for looking down on Heidegger and Scarlet, it’s pretty human for people to do the ‘pot-calling-the-kettle-black’ thing. Since they’re all equally guilty, it didn’t matter. Then again, you’ll see that in this story, no one can call on distinguishing the line clearly. It had been pretty evident from the beginning that everyone thinks they knew what they are doing… but they don’t. So if I don’t clear up the mess myself, that might be what’s going to happen, haha!

Morality is one of the hardest themes in this story, but it’s thanks to people like you that I can recalibrate my bearings so that I can write with more focus. In the future chapters you’ll see this theme being unfolded more so hold on to your horses. I intend to end this mess by the end of the FF7 timeline so that we can focus on ‘the future of Midgar’!

I certainly hope that I have appeased your question. Do let me know if I have been giving satisfactory answers so far. It’s so hard to give a straightforward answer without spoiling. Feel free to ask more if you’re not sure.

Yeah, plain irritating about the Don Corneo part (let’s not spoil the surprise… in case I intend to continue writing X_x) Have you read “The Kids Are Alright”? Where did you get the material?  Been trying to find the translation in vain.

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Whew! What a long post! I have tons of things I wanna share, but I'm simply too tired to write. I'm starting work again this Wednesday and I've not prepared for the new year! Let's hope that God is merciful enough to give me time to write always!

Have a happy new year lovely people and see you in two weeks' time!

Reviewing too much has made me arrogant?

As many of you remember, I try to review every story that I read. So, one of my biggest fears when I review is that the authors might be offended. I'm not an expert in tactfulness and thus in my efforts to sound tactful, I send long messages to the unsuspecting author. Not that I've ever received any hate responses because of my reviews, but there are many times that authors would reply and ask me to elaborate on my review.

So that's where the problem lies. My opinions are not the gospel, so who am I to force my writing beliefs on others? If the author thinks that writing in caps lock is trendy, I can't do anything much about it.

Then, I'm also worried that authors would go to MY fanfiction profile to look at my stories. Whenever i give a critical review of a story, half my mind replays the scene of the offended author going to my profile. She will read 'Days of Exile' and go 'Ha! She doesn't even practise what she preach!' or 'She isn't that great anyway. Who is she to criticise me?'

Yeah, I'm paranoid like that. Maybe that's why nobody writes reviews deeper than 'great! upload soon!' Am i wrong to do that? I only wanted to share how I feel towards the story but if the author is offended by my review then i suppose someday i'll fall back to 'cool story, i love it!'

That aside, thank goodness the world didn't end on the 21st huh? Can't wait to celebrate Christmas and welcome in the new year, 2013! Hope Days of Exile will also continue to prosper and be successfully completed in 2013 :)

Days of Exile: Chapter 13, 14

And I'm back with random authors' notes.

5th December was my birthday, what better way than to upload chapters and get an ego boost with reviews? WAHAHA! Amazingly, Chapter 13 was also the chapter where the Turks celebrated Meia's birthday, which was definitely not planned for. All the more, I need to upload that chapter.

The week has been really hectic due to all the different celebrations, but I'm glad that I still found time to upload and write more... maybe except today. I'm really tired out from a week of celebrations and I need some rest, for sure.

Alright, back to the story!

Chapter 13:

I particularly liked the scene with Reno and Rude. When I first decided to retell this scene, it was because I was writing in "I Want To Be A Turk!" how Rude found himself liking Tifa. Well, I'm just finding a big joy to finally be able to write scenes that I had planned a long time ago. Although... it is a huge reminder that my story (both parts) has passed the halfway mark and is reaching the ending ever so slowly.

As of Chapter 13, I assure you the story is nowhere near ending yet. I can't even give a prediction which chapter is the last chapter.

Chapter 14:

This chapter had another title initially, called "Home". In the end I decided that "Confession" would be much more suitable. Oh well.

Yes, Meia met Kunsel again, but their interactions will not be recorded anymore. Basically there are many more scenes parallel with the canon that are -more important- than scenes with Kunsel. So... sorry Kunsel-fans, not Kunsel scenes for you.

So you've noticed that I let loose my fangirling a little when Meia was thinking of Reno. My apologies. I haven't been making their feelings any explicit, right? I better start on it before it looks too weird to see them together :P 

That being said, I totally giggled when I wrote that, I sounded like some lovesick highschool girl. I don't really have lots of experience describing sexiness, and no experience in sexy scenes. Let's just say I've tried my best. Though... I found it very funny to explore how Meia can be so knowledgeable and naive at the same time. Yes, she knew about the birds and the bees, but always viewed them in an objective manner. Having Rod and Cassie in the same room at night definitely triggered some suspicion and embarrassing thoughts in her head. 

What KK said about 'leaving us girls, Rod included' is an intentional jab at Rod, in case you didn't notice that :P

While editing this chapter, I came across some plotholes. Not that they'll affect the story, it's just a conflict on how old Rod was when he joined the Turks. I guess that one can never do too much research, huh? I can't do much about it, because it's too much trouble! X__x

Same goes for Chapter 13, when my friend pointed out that because the Enemy Skill Materia doesn't gain AP, there isn't such a thing as mastered Enemy Skill Materia. Opps.

Okay, enough about that. I'm going to answer some of your review replies now :D These replies will cover from Chapter 12, by the way :)

Regarding seawater: Haven't got a chance to find out why the sea is blue. I doubt I will find out soon, I want my rest today!

TWA: Hi TWA, I fangirl when I see Reno. Period. So it's perfectly fine to fangirl about Reno!

Rachel: Yup! I didn't manage to explain that Tseng pushed her hair away not out of affection, but just a instinctive response. He is always trying to correct Reno's attire, after all! Poor Elena, to have fallen for something so small. But we'll see how things turn out for her *wink*

Kadajclone100: I perceive that you have played ff7 and all its installments, that's awesome! I was worried that nobody actually played ff7 :P Your observation of Hojo is rather spot on. I also agree that there are many unrealistic plot points in FF7. Honey Bee Inn and crossdressing were just some of the madness in the game, so maybe deciding not to kill Hojo in Costa del Sol was not so crazy as it may sound. I too also wonder why they didn't just kill him there and then. But I guess you don't wanna scare those bikini girls away, huh?

IceQueen69: I love how Reno changed his mind too, he looks so adorable! To answer your question, Shalua Rui was mentioned once in "I Want To Be A Turk!" Chapter 57. Sadly, she will not appear anymore. Full stop. I have no intentions of bringing her into "Days of Exile", for various reasons. But like what Lenny Kravitz sang, "it ain't over till it's over", I may change my mind in the future! (gosh, did I just reveal my age?)

Takara: Yup, mutual romance! I'm sorry if it's worded so funnily. Reno and Meia likes each other, woohoo! :D And yeah, as you've seen in Chapter 14, he did regret it!

Dontgotaclue88: Hope you got your answer! Thanks for your review!

Jefri: Ha, you mean that their feelings were not expressed clear enough? Go read again! Besides, the romance will be gone if they explicitly said, "I like you!" And of course Meia wouldn't ask Reno so outrightly! That's the fun (on my part, that is). Thanks for letting me know about Enemy Skill not gaining AP, but Alana does have other Materia so she can still battle ^^

Alrighty people, see you next Saturday for Chapter 15. It's a very interesting chapter, so don't miss it!

Days of Exile: Chapter 12

I had almost forgotten to upload the chapter this week! Thank goodness I somehow remembered...

Chapter 12 was a product that was created out of the need to expand my story to include more details of FF7. Those scenes were not canon, yet I felt that I should spend some time working on some leisurely scenes instead of always zooming along the storyline. Both the Elena and Aerith scenes were created specially for a reason.

Elena's scene being a follow up of her conversation with Alana in Chapter 11. There are many POVs that I would play with throughout the story, and I thought I would like to use Elena more. But honestly, I doubt I will. So perhaps this scene would be the last Elena POV scene, but we'll never know :)

Aerith's scene in Costa del Sol is also a follow up, but to something much further back. It happened when I first wrote Chapter 44 in "I Want To Be a Turk!". If you remember, Meia met an old friend, Aerith the flower girl, in Midgar. They've discussed the possibilities of traveling outside Midgar and Aerith had said that she wanted to go look at the sea. That scene then was actually to justify the reason why in the Before Crisis canon, Aerith was seen running away from home to travel the world. However, after writing my scene, I made a note to myself that I need to follow up with what happened when Aerith REALLY saw the sea this time. Hence, I was pretty happy with this portion.

As for Legend and Mason, the decision to make them friends was never planned. I created it out of a whim and I thought it shouldn't be too bad. I didn't highlight their relationship in particular during "I Want To Be a Turk!" so there's no major loopholes there.

Just so you know, I'm equally confused as to why the water in the sea is blue when the water we drink has no colour :P

100th post! + Poem (1): Tactfulness

*pops party cracker*

It's my 100th post! Too bad I couldn't post it on my birthday, just a few days short. It's not like it's gonna be some mind-breaking post anyway.

I saw a particular friend of mine today, she reads A LOT. Like basically everything that's a book, she probably read it. So we spent the better part of the gathering debating and complaining about Eragon and gushing about Hunger Games (Book 1 only). It's really a joy to talk to someone about books, I. Am. Such. A. Nerd.

Then we talked about Fifty Shades of Grey, of which my friend said 'Fifty Shackles of Grey'. He sent us all into fits of laughter. He had no idea then how close he was to basically summarising the entire trilogy :P Anyway, we all tried to understand why it is so good (or so bad). Seeing how everyone is all giving their two cents worth without even reading the book, I've made up my mind.

I shall read Fifty Shades of Grey.

Honestly? (No one cares!) *ahem* I was saying, honestly, I still feel quite apprehensive about the book. But I figured that I'm done speculating and guessing. If I want to know the book so badly? I guess I just have to find out myself. I'm going to start... next year. The end of the year is simply too exciting for me to sit down and read... that.

One thing's for sure... I won't buy the book just to read it :P There are too many friends with the trilogy. I could always borrow.

I leave you with a random poem I came up with:

(Poem has been removed)

(1/12/12)

Okay, so it's not random like I came up with it on the spot, but I had the intention to create it just now, so out it goes. Hope you guys like it.

Days of Exile: Pronounciation

Just a quick note about pronounciation of names, since I realised that many of you could be pronouncing it wrong for all I know! I'll only be talking about my own original characters and the BC Turks. I believe you know how to pronounce most of the canon characters, no? Capitalised letters are the stress syllables.

Don't sue me for the terrible romanised phonetics! I'm doing the best I can :P

The exiled Turks
Alana: Uh-LAN-nuh (sidenote: Elena is Ee-LEE-nuh)
Cassie: KEH-see (rhymes with Bessie :P)
Haato: Ha-AH-toh
Jasper: JAZ-per
Katherine: KEH-ther-reen
Kido: KEE-doh
Legend: LEGEND (read as it is)
Leia: LAY-uh
Mason: MAY-son
Meia: MEE-uh
Rodzen Daisa: ROD-zen DAI-sah (for 'DAI-sah' there should be a slight distinction between sounds 'DAH' and 'EE' to make 'DAI')

Others

Carmelle: KAH-mell
Elfe: EHLL-fay
Fuhito: Foo-HEE-toh

Glasko: GLASS-koh

Marshall: MAR-shull

Matilda Ederfeld: Muh-TILL-duh EH-duh-felld
Patricia: Peh-TRI-shuh
Reeve Tuesti: REEV Too-EHS-tee

Rekka (Cisssnei's shruiken): RECK-kah
Shears: SHEARS (read as it is)
Sunny: SUNNY (read as it is)
Tihan: TEE-ahn ('h' is silent)
Veld: VELLD
Zirconiade: Zir-CON-nee-aid (yeah, like first aid)


That's all for now :) Were your pronounciations close enough?

Picking On Pronounciation: Bolognese

My life has been a lie!

Or so the meme would say. I've been pronouncing 'bolognese' wrong!!!! I've been pronouncing it as 'boll-o-neez', with a silent g.

WRONG!

It's boll-o-nay-zuh. Or something like that. (anyone care to clarify?)

So. It's time to consciously make an effort to change. I should also start this series just for fun :)

To non-Singaporean readers, here's the background info: Our country is pretty diverse in culture and languages, so English is not a native language for many of us until we start formal schooling. It is pretty hard to explain to native English speakers things that they find natural. So yeah, bear with me.

In other news, I'm kind of sweeping up my labels and titles so things might change here and there.

On a totally unrelated post here.

This weekend has been most terrible. But that's also because I'm in a terribly bratty mood.

Honestly, this blog is not a personal one, so I never post about my own stuff. I don't intend to start doing so now too. This is a writing blog, it will remain so. But well, this weekend and my mood just conflicted each other. (at this point I spent a really long time trying to write my thoughts down but in the end I decided to leave everything vague).

Basically, I had a lot of work stress and then many activities lined up over the weekends. Because work had drained me out (almost) completely, in the end I have to reject two of the three activities, one of which was the wedding of a friend who, FYI, was a mutual friend of mine and one of my readers, Jefri.

It definitely didn't help that I found out that... that... there was an anime convention!! It was one of the largest events of the year... and I am unable to go. And then, it seemed that everywhere I go, I am unable to eat happily because food were sold out or something.

I. am. angsty. now.

Simply because nothing is going right and I wish that I can go to that anime convention. I really want to go!!!!!! There's nothing more that I want than to feed the inner otaku.

Yeah, at this kind of age I'm still behaving like a six year old. I should be ashamed of myself.

So if you find Meia bratty at any point in the further chapters you can probably conclude that it came from this day.

Days of Exile: Chapter 10

And after a long time, my blog is finally back with author's notes of my chapters!

This week has been hectic, hectic, hectic. So I apologise if there isn't much to be said and done. Just wanted to put in something that I intended to place at the end of the chapter but thought that it's not too important such that i HAD to publish it there:

I realized that some of you are –cough- the younger generation. So many of you did not have the privilege to play FF7. I urge you to watch the playthrough for FF7 and Crisis Core (in that order!). To me, it is still one of the most epic stories of that time, despite the large storyline (inclusive of BC, AC, Last Order and DoC), the story had pretty minimal plotholes, not too bad for a company who did not intend to create so many prequels and sequels.

Since many of you did not actually play FF7 which is the main bulk of what is happening in Days of Exile, I suppose I’ll need to spend a little more time to explain in the story. (Yes, you’re welcome!) But for obvious reasons, I can’t explain EVERYTHING. So if you’re still unsure about some parts (like why this person said that and this person did that), you can always PM me and I’ll be happy to explain… or point out the exact video in Youtube for your viewing pleasure.

A bit of a pity, because that means that not many will understand my references and foreshadowing, but it’s not a big issue, is it?

Alright, that's really basically it... Oh, and review replies!

Rachel: Yup, so glad that you noticed that!

Jef: I think you got your answer in this chapter, no? :)

Silver-x-Crimson: Welcome back!! :D

Alrighty, now the entry below has some further details about my plans, but I ain't gonna force you to read it no more so just remember that this little blog is running quietly in the big world wide web!

Until next time!

Headaches, headaches

I am having a massive headache right now.

Background info: I stopped playing FF7 when I was in Disc 3. Although storywise I'm almost done, I don't remember many things. I've finally finished watching the FF7 playthrough (just to be sure of my details again...) and thank goodness I did. Indeed, there were many many things that I didn't know existed. What exactly was I playing then, haha. A lot of things that I (definitely) didn't understand when I was 15 years old, made sense to me now.

So anyway I'm done with the playthrough and I realised that I'm missing a lot of things in my story. I've found out recently that some of you did not play FF7, some of you have NO CLUE what happened in the game. Although Crisis Core gives the best perspective, I believe that every FF7 fan MUST watch FF7 playthroughs!! You'll really understand Advent Children better. I always tell my friends the order of games to play to enjoy maximum enjoyment is:

1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Crisis Core
3. Advent Children.

Then, in whichever order you like, Last Order, Before Crisis and Dirge of Cerberus.

Ah, I digress.

I'll be back to the chapters that I've yet to publish, expanding them more so that people understand what the heck I am writing. More specifically, I'll be putting myself in the shoes of people who do not understand what are the events in FF7 and explain. However, I assure you that I won't be retelling the story. The story still centres Meia and other what-would-be minor characters in FF7. I'll also be back on talking about the exiled Turks. Try to. Ten POVs makes many chapters, after all.

Yup, the chapters are going to be LONGER. Much, much longer. I'm looking at 5000-6000 words. Unless I can break them up. Argh. Can you see my headache now? I hate rearranging events just so that they can fit in chapters nicely.

Honestly, I know that I don't have to explain these all to you. Someone once said that a good author doesn't need to explain his stories with author's notes and all. And I want to do that because I too, want to know if my readers can understand me without my need to explain. But I like talking (much obviously) and I enjoy talking to my readers. But yeah, I'll make a note to talk less about my story content, heheh.

In other news, I'm very very impressed with Scribbler's writings. Seriously, why doesn't she get the reviews she deserve? But I'll talk about her (properly) another day.

New Word (5): Ephemeral

Yes! I'm still alive!

I have many things that I want to blog, but not now. I'm getting busy again and I'd rather use all that time on writing my stories :P

Anyway, new word today!

e·phem·er·al/əˈfem(ə)rəl/   (or how I would say it: er-fem-mer-ral)

Adjective:

Lasting for a very short time

cool beans, gonna try using this word now. this new word section is really helping me, i'm using my newly learnt words quite naturally :3

okay, off i go again! i promise! i'll get another entry done soon! I've been reading and reading and reading so I've got reviews to share :D

Updates

Here are some of what's been happening to me :)

1. Eragon
I've finally stopped detouring Eragon and started to read it. For real. And I'm utterly blown away by his language and description. I'm already on its second book, Eldest, so you know that this time I'm not going to stop until I reach the end. Hope to finish Eldest by this week. Yes, my work has been compromised because of that. I read at work :P

2. Writing "Days of Exile"
With what limited time I have, during the weekdays I try to write at two times: Once in the early morning before I dash out for work. The other when I'm home from work, assuming I'm not dead tired or I have remaining work to do. By this system I can squeeze in around 500-700 words a day. You must understand that unlike "I Want To Be A Turk!", the sequel has little dialogue from FF7 so most content is original :P Still, I'm happy that I'm ahead of the uploading schedule. Being a few chapters ahead is a great buffer for me on weeks that I don't have time to even proofread :(

And that's all for now, I'm rushing off to work. See you :D

Oldies are Goodies?

In this entry? I suppose... nah.

I was looking at my author profile (yeah, i know. i'm probably the only one who does that.) and I thought that my repertoire of stories looked impressive... until I saw the last two stories at the bottom of my list and I wonder: What happened?

Basically, I can't remember much of FF8 already so... *sheepish smile*

I mean, when I first started writing, I only knew Final Fantasy 8. So naturally, I began writing using that fandom. that turned out as a disaster (even though nice reviewers said it was good). bad characterisation, out-of-character, sloppy sentences... the version that is online was edited much later. I wish I had the old version to read and laugh at myself with!

Well, it is obvious that I no longer remember the details of Final Fantasy 8. Plus, it will take me another month or two to research on FF8 again so... maybe I won't be writing it, not until I'm done contributing all I can to the FF7 fandom. After "Days of Exile", there are at least two more fics that I want to write and upload before I look into any other fics. So it'll be a LONG time before I even think of writing these.

So anyway, I thought I'll explain a bit more on those two fics, just for fun.

Romeo and Juliet in Balamb Garden - Used to be hideously dubbed as 'Romeo and Juliet (FF8 style!)' because I had no better name for it. It's after the gang defeated Ultimecia. Everyone was living happily except for Squall and Rinoa. For some reason they drifted apart. Meanwhile, Selphie bugs Squall let her organise a Shakespearean play for the Balamb residents. During which, Rinoa's childhood friend, Firzen, appears. The story will continue in a frenzy of mad preparations, love triangles, and Squall realising how different he has been compared to in the past.

... On to the next story!

Be My Knight! - Alternate Universe. Princess Rinoa was given permission by her father to go anywhere she likes outside the Deling Castle... on the grounds that she must have a bodyguard (Guess who?). The story will continue in a love story of different social classes and all that jazz.

Sounds great? I'm not too sure if I can deliver it well!

So yes, I hope that some day, eventually, I can finish all the plot bunnies in my head!
But we all know these are just velleities.

New Word (4): Velleity

It has been a while since I found a new word. Dictionary.com has a small game called "Word Dynamo", which I play here and there. I pick up words from then.

vel·le·i·ty/vəˈlēətē/

Noun:

A wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action.

I'm proud to say that I've used reticient/taciturn and travesty quite nicely. Divulse is not a very common word that I use, thankfully.

Let's hope I can find ways to use 'velleity' soon. It shouldn't be hard... right?

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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

... 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. :/

How I feel after the launch

awesome :)

I could very well end it here and say 'alrighty folks, let's meet again next week for Chapter 2 of Days of Exile!' but you know I wouldn't, right?

So maybe a few sentences more about how I feel after I started launching. Thoughts are not in chronological order.

1. oh my gosh, the story is out! i hope fanfic.net doesn't chop random paragraphs off for nothing (yes, it happens sometimes!)

2. what if my readers are not going back to read Chapter 63????

3. Will all my readers go to the new sequel?

4. Are there any grammatical errors?

5. Don't panic, don't panic. It's Saturday 7th July in Singapore, but not 7th July in USA. The reviews will come in tomorrow... or tomorrow tomorrow.

6. Oh great, mental block. How am I going to continue that chapter? (i was writing a new chapter)

7. Awesome sauce! Reviews for BOTH 'Days of Exile' and 'I Want to be a Turk' :DD

8. The author of which this story was first incepted finally spotted my story! 

9. 7 reviews for Chapter 1? Wow.

10. But of course, the review numbers will go down... but ahh, life goes on nevertheless XD

11. (recorded as of today): Wow, this reader knew what I'm trying to achieve in this chapter :P

As it turns out, I didn't need to worry at all. 10 reviews! For a measly chapter! I am so flattered and grateful that most of you graced the launch with a lovely review. I'm glad most of you picked out my intentions of the chapter. Indeed, the first person narrative is so that I can somewhat recap the events of "I Want To Be A Turk!"

Also, there are some reviews that I'll address in the next chapter. I really am grateful for the perceptive reviews!

I was going to write about a movie i watched, but I figured I wanna write about this instead :P

Thoughts about Fifty Shades of Grey

Disclaimer: Quoted words are not said by me, but by a particular youtube user. I am merely stating my thoughts based on her video. (Note: quotes made by the video are in double apostrophes.)

Disclaimer: I am not in any way, defaming nor slandering the book, neither do I have the right to judge and critique the book since I have not read it. I also apologise if I offend any readers because of my opinions.

Fifty Shades of Grey.

No. I have not read the book. That is why it is not classified under the label 'afterthoughts: book' where i usually share simple comments of any book that i've just read.

I write as a reply to a short 10 minutes of researching what would be the hottest new fiction out there, 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. Thereafter is the trilogy and all but let's not go there. Anyway, of course there is always a story behind every post (it IS a writing blog after all :P). So I'm going to start with my story now.

Months ago, while browsing in a bookstore, I saw a featured book named 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and I thought that it might be a good read. However, I didn't buy it. Partly cos I was broke and I wasn't receiving salary yet, and also because the synopsis said nothing about magicky stuff. You know how I love magic-based stories.

So I didn't get it and I kinda forgot about it till I was looking through Youtube just now when one of the people that I've subscribed to liked a video. It basically begins with a girl talking about the book and what caught my attention was her description in the video: Please let me know who published the book so I may slap them with a salmon.

Hahaha! that's attention grabbing material for ya! So of course I clicked it to see what she was going to talk about. She begins by describing the book as "a romance novel that introduces the concept of sadomasochism".

At this point my eyebrows rose and I felt instant relief that I didn't get it. Honestly, erotica is not one of those things that I would read and any idea of BDSM would kind of freak me out (despite my brave claims that I'm not scared). It would've been an absolute waste of money to buy it.

Then the youtube user read us an excerpt of the book which "is quite explicit and very poorly written". As she read, I must say that I was... shocked. Well, not shocked like 'is that how erotica is like?'. Of course I've read some before, if not I wouldn't be here making a comparison, would I? Anyway, yes the content is quite... graphic, to say the least. I was very uncomfortable listening to it. But anyway to spare me from the explanation... she finished reading and then here are her comments at the end.

"This book is so poorly written it's a wonder that it even got published. I've seen fanfiction that's better written than this dredge. This is (name) signing off, to remind you to stop publishing mediocre literature."

So... yeah. I know that it is famous and really the hottest thing or something. I bet there are many people out there (those who pop by my blog once in a while) who says this book is really awesome and great and all... but no. I won't give this book a read. Mainly because of the erotic content. I know that the bigger, deeper plot revolves around the male lover being bound by the demons of his past, but really... I can't get around to reading it. So yes, through some Wiki-ing, I kind of figure out that the main themes surrounding this story would be explicit romance, self-salvation and probably female submission. Well, I suppose they are pretty good themes to work on but... nahh really... nah. XD

Anyway, the REAL reason why I'm blogging this is because of two things:

1. It was inspired by Twilight.
2. The story originated from a Twilight FANFICTION.

Hold your horses, people. Point number 1 first. Twilight and all its hoo-ha? I can blog about this another time but for now... when you kinda make a story inspired by Twilight, you should know that your story can't get any deeper than this. (I am SO sorry, Twilight fans). I mean, Twilight is a decent read but in terms of writing and story? We all know that we've read better.

Point number 2. Yes. Fifty Shades of Grey was originally a twilight fanfic. A FANFIC!!! It was removed from the website (not fanfiction.net i think) and then the author moved it to a proper website and continued publishing, but this time changing the names of Edward and Bella to Ana and Christian.

Let's stop right here. When I first found out that it was a fanfiction, did you know how excited I was??? I was like 'Oh my gosh, a fanfic has been published for real!' and the feeling was really indescribable... to know that our ideas and stories can really be published one day. I can kinda stop here and say that that means that my dream of writing stories ain't too far-fetched.

But then... the fear strikes. What if the world, the real world outside fanfiction.net, cannot accept the possibility of how writers' standards might fall? Example. Previously we've got great singers like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Queen etc. Then as the generation changes, the singer quality kinda dipped. Then, Youtube was created, bringing along millions of aspiring singers and that's why we have controversial music videos like 'Friday' and 'Hot Problems'.

The standard of music is dipping because it has become so easy to be a singer. What if the same things happens in the writing world? What if people starts protesting against people who used to be fanfiction writers? Fanfic readers are generally the younger people who are much nicer but we can't be naive and expect the adult world to be just as forgiving. 

Well, maybe I'll start off with childrens' books or something XDDD

Then, there's also the fact that Fifty Shades of Grey is kinda the first book that I know that was a fanfiction... and this is the reaction from the public. Thrashy as the book may sound, it is a pioneer breakthrough of fanfiction writers being able to publish their dream book. So what will the future literature be like?

So... as the era changes into one where the world of being a writer is easily accessible, I pray that we don't see the standard dropping like what we see in the music industry now...

Imagine the day when yaoi becomes mainstream literature.

I Want To Be A Turk!: Chapter 62

It. Is. Finished.

Sorry about the Jesus reference, I couldn't resist :P

Yes, good-looking people! I Want To Be A Turk is COMPLETE!!! Let me get all the mumbo-jumbo administration done first before I talk about my feelings... and credits! You can't end a movie without credits, isn't it? :)

1. Please look out for my new story! It is the sequel that I've been talking about. The story is called 'Days of Exile'. It will be published on 7th July 2012. Reason being I am beginning my full-time job this coming Monday. I would like to have a good grasp of how my workload will be before I schedule my writing properly.

2. Please watch the blog still, I'm considering releasing a secret Chapter 63 :) (no, you won't know this information unless you've read it from my blog :P)

3. I'm sure you've enjoyed the last chapter. Please do me a favour and write me a review? I would be most glad to know how you find the story. I welcome anonymous reviews too :)

Now THAT is out of the way.. here comes my feelings.

Wow.

And really, 'wow' just cannot describe it all. Even though this is part 1 of my entire story, it is STILL a 62 chapter story. I didn't think I would have the stamina to write all the way. Perhaps it is because I've always had inspiration and just-in-time ideas to make the story extra enjoyable. I think I can probably explain my feelings better in my thanks so let's move on.

Easter eggs! :D Here are some of the little things that you probably didn't know :)

1. Every letter in the alphabet is used in the titles, except. What do I mean?

A - Acceptance

B - Blood Everywhere

C - Club Duel

...

U - Under Orders

V - Vendetta

W - Wall Market

X - Xylophonic Events

Z - Zirconiade

Yep... They are all titles in my story. I missed out 'Y'... I just found out. Damn.

2. 45 out of 62 chapters are actually said/thought by Meia during the chapter.

3. Chapter 1-4 were rewritten and reuploaded.

4. One of the plans that I was considering was to make Meia a long-lost sister of Aerith, thus making her a Cetra.

5. My favourite chapters as a reader are Chapter 1, 31, 34, 36, 39, 45, 56, 62

6. I mused about making Alana fall in love with Tseng, but that would be totally weird, considering there's Elena :P

7. Rod has been in love with Cassie awhile. However, the story only hints of his feelings for her beginning in Chapter 43.

8. The christmas party (chapter 13 and 14) was a great acheivement because it was unplanned and yet I could link it to Wutai spies. Another unplanned chapter was Chapter 53.

9. The largest gap between the uploaded chapter and the chapter that I've started writing is 12 chapters. 

10. I Want To Be A Turk is my longest story yet. The initial target is to finish the entire story (including my coming sequel) within 100 chapters.

Of course there are more interesting ones, but I don't remember them :P

And now, the full list of people and things that I want to thank:

I would like to take this moment to thank everyone who has contributed to this story. Be it a review, a favourite, an alert, a research material, a suggestion, a criticism… without these things, this story will not be what it is. I will list down the names of everyone who has helped in some way or another… I’ll write down as much as I can remember.

Thank Gaia for these websites and resources, without them I’ll never be the FF7 expert :P I'll list the website here as well so that others can use as their own research material!

Final Fantasy Wiki (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Wiki) - I swear, this is the Final Fantasy BIBLE! You need any information on anything, it has it! Everything that I know and write about in this story uses FF wiki as reference! In fact, before I embarked on writing this story, I ensured that I am clear about the storyline. The timeline was also provided by FFwiki as well :)

Gunshotromance (http://freewebs.com/gunshotromance/) - The website that provides a transcript of the gameplay. Although it wasn't complete, most of the script were taken there. Basically anyone using BeforeCrisis will credit gunshotromance :P

HcloudXIII, FFVIIExcavation, VincentValentineFVII (via Youtube) – They are youtube users who have uploaded Before Crisis and Dirge of the Cerberus playthrough. I kind of swap in between their translations to get the best representation. I also cross-refer with gunshot romance cos youtube gameplays are played using shotgun (female)/Cassie in my story. For gunshot romance, they use handgun (female)/Alana in my story. For Dirge of Cerberus, I watched only to enjoy the extension of the FF7 world. But when I saw Shelke Rui I thought I should use her in my story. Thus... Shelke was in the early parts of the story and will never appear till the events of Dirge of the Cerberus.

Sorumian (http://www.sorumian.com/) - My main resource to look at Crisis Core gameplay. The only other time I look at other people's Crisis Core gameplay is to look at the original Japanese version. Gotta give props to Sorumian, he happen to always control Zack in a way that I can see everything that I want to see (of course he didn't play with that kind of intention :P)

Thelifestream (http://thelifestream.net/) - They were the ones who explained the special episodes of Tseng and Reno for my reference. The rather interesting site as they also explored other areas that aren't as mainstream :D

SilentTweak (http://www.silenttweak.net/) - He translated the Japanese version of Crisis Core. As requested, I've linked the main website, though this is not where I got my translations from!

Finalfantasy Neo Wiki (http://finalfantasy.neoseeker.com/wiki/Main_Page) - This is where I get my monsters from. In Chapter 26, I needed to find what the robots' names were in Crisis Core. Thank goodness neo wiki had pictures for me to look at. :)

FFVII Web Novel (http://ffviinovels.lhyeung.net/) - For those who are not aware, there is a novella written by one of the staff who was part of the FF7 team. On the way to a smile is a novella that focuses on what happened to some of the people in the two years after Meteor, before Advent Children. Worth reading for those who need something to read :)
Okay, I need to thank these people. Their work and encouragements have inspired me to be a better person. Yes, PLEASE read their stories if possible!!

Ancientbruises (Author of “Sticks, Stones and Broken Bones”) – One of the Turk stories that provided inspiration for my story. I love how devoted Reno was to Annie :) I hope she quickly finishes the story though :P

Scribbler (Author of “A Triangle of Many Sides – Book One”, “Photograph”… just to name a few) – One of the rare authors that write with not only colour, but depth. Hahaha, honestly I've been practically worshiping her works and raving about it on my blog. Do I really need to convince you just how much I love her works? XD She remains as one of my favourite authors and I, for one, know that if she ever became a real author, I'll support her book :D

Redcherryamber (Author of “Advent Children Told in Limericks”, “Elena vs Team Yaoi”) – I read her stories whenever my own are starting to bore me. Her light-hearted stories are fun to read, and her serious ones make you curl up and ponder on life, heheh. She is also extra nice in person because she spends time to talk to a silly goose like me when she is busy with her own life. I was very amused when I realised that we both had same names for two of our characters, Rod and Cassie. Rod is quite a common name for Rod (Male), even Scribbler uses Rod. But Cassie? Absolutely unplanned. Simply amused when I saw that her shotgun (female) is also called Cassie :) Anyway, Chapter 31 is inspired by her story "Unspoilt" and in the coming sequel, I'll use another of her story as reference too!

Vietta (Author of “Don’t Follow”) – That story brought a very dark perspective of how the Turks’ life were, I do use her story as reference to how I can make my Turks more… serious and dark. Of course that never happened because somehow my Turks become goofy and homey again *groan*. Nevertheless, a good inspiration :)

Vix3.16 (Author of “The Result Was A Storm”) – Despite it being yaoi, I couldn’t help but be so attracted to how rich and colourful her description was! I remember the first time I read her words I was hugging the computer squealing at the wonderful imagery (NOT because of the yaoi!) Her story is a breakthrough for me, it was the first yaoi I've ever read. It is still the first yaoi I've ever read. Amazing description. The writing is so rich I can almost smell the air that she was describing. It's one thing to describe sight and sound. If you can make an environment so real using taste and smell... *thumbs up*

WriterzRC (Author of “Dying to Live”) – I often enjoyed their writings on how the Turks are very serious in what they do. I gotta say, they come in second after Scribbler, though others may not agree so. Their story was a story based on realistic views. Veld scolds Tseng for his mistakes, people are mean or apathetic to the main protagonists... It's a terrible pity that they've stopped writing, but their impact won't be forgotten.

Inu-shinai-kirara (Author of “What’s This?”) – Thank you for reminding me (through your story) that Reno needs to be lively and not too emo! She was an interesting author whose story ending was unusual and refreshing :)

UnchainedMelody94 (Author of "From slum to SOLDIER) – I first read her story, I thought "Hey, I could do something like that" and tada! this was born. The very very first inspiration that started everything.

Samantha Sheffield (Author of “Storm”) – Even after the inspiration from UnchainedMelody94, I was hesitant on beginning the story because I was FULLY aware of the journey I’m embarking. I knew that this was going to be a project that might take years if I'm not committed to it (yes, I knew the ending right before I began the story :P). Then I came across "Storm". I was amused because I thought Sam Sheffield's story was very similar to mine and I wrote to her telling her of my issues that we might have overlapping ideas. Not only did she assure me that she was fine with the eerily similar storylines, she encouraged me to start writing it. I thank the lovely author who (in her words) encouraged me to “WRITE IT!”

The Writing Artist - What a good friend she is. She tries her best to review every chapter and tries even harder to point out places that she thinks that I can do better in. She also drew a picture of Meia! *hearts* Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! (Note: The Writing Artist has an original story in FictionPress.com that is really worth reading, but maybe you should ask her to give you the details instead of I :P)

XXTakaraXX - Another gem. She really reviews every chapter that I upload. I really treasure her efforts to encourage me. In fact, she once pointed out a loophole in my story and as thanks, I placed her as a mini character. That is in Chapter 37.

TifaRokkuhato - She has been supportive and excited about my story. In fact, she first asked if she could draw Meia. She did such a great job that her Meia was my display picture for a long while :P

To the other reviewers: I really, really, really appreciate each and everyone of you. I didn't single you out to thank you because my word of thanks are all the same. I know that you are busy but I'm so glad that you bothered to review my chapters once in a while. Your compliments are specific and it made me so special actually, to hear some of you say that it's the best FF7 story you've read, or how much you love Meia, or how spot on the characters were described, or how close you feel the characters are. 

I can never never express how important these words are to me. it made me feel at times that i really have something that others appreciate and enjoy. I love the fact that I've made someone's weekend more enjoyable. I cherish the idea that someone is anticipating excitedly for my new chapter. I'm excited to see that my readers are attached to the characters that I've written. I know that all my time researching and writing and editing and rephrasing and watching (gameplay) and thinking and thinking and thinking has been all worth while when you guys comment.

Thank you guys. I really love you. I wish I can hug each and everyone of you :( 

Last few things to thank:

I want to thank that one month away from Singapore. In May 2011, I spent one entire month in China, accompanying my dad. I remember I wasn't so enthusiastic about it because I was still preparing for a dance performance in school, but I had promised my dad to go to China to accompany him. Anyway, in my free time there (which was basically almost 20 out of 24 hours), I was writing. Non stop. China didn't allow facebook nor blogger. Thank goodness fanfiction was accessible. I decided to read FF7 fics and everything else is history :) Looking back, I doubt this story would have been birthed if not for that month of nothing but planning and dreaming. Sometimes things happen in our life for a reason.

How can we forget? SquareEnix. Enough said. 

Since this is the credits, I should place my disclaimers.

Characters and places are not created by me, but the work of SquareEnix. The only main character that is original is Meia. Please seek permission before using any work in this story.

Alrighty folks, time to move on and I only wish that the sequel will be as entertaining as the original :)