Unpublished: Days of Exile (extra scenes)

If you write, poetry or prose, you will at some point in time, have scenes that you have ended up not publishing.

A lot of times, the scenes are not included in the story because it just does not work. And I've learnt in a Fiction Writing workshop that I've attended some years ago that I should not force scenes into the story just because I took a long time to come up with it and I didn't want to waste it. Other times, you would have scenes that you did not publish because you may have stereotypically written it on a diner napkin and have plain forgotten about it till it was too late.

In today's blog post, I am referring to the latter.

Of course, I wasn't writing my scenes and ideas on a diner napkin. I just typed them in my evernote and I forgot all about it. Completely. Until I chanced upon it just now while I was decluttering my evernote things.

So since Days of Exile is published and done, I guess I'll post it here instead :)

So this is meant for Chapter 55 of my fanfiction "Days of Exile", when Meia was explaining to Randy and Heidi her whole reconciliation with her job as a Turk. Once again, much like the previous unpublished post, I'll post what I've written verbatim, so forgive the lack of perfect grammar/spelling. Had to type fast before the plot bunny runs away, you know?

---

Meia looked at Randy. "During the time I was captured by Hojo, I have been thinking of a lot of things. Out there everyone has various impressions of the Turks, most of which are less than pleasant. When I was a child, I truly beleived that everyone had a good side in them. I know that while I was still a Turk, I saw that these people are more than just killing machines. They had a sense of humour, they were loyal to their cause (albeit an unethical one), they had feelings.

Seeing this more human side of them, im.inclined to believe that the people outside shinra are too narrow minded and unforgiving.

How could it, then, that we did all these terrible things, and try to be human at the same time? Why is it that being a Turk essentially meant we throw away our lives up to this point and live like a different person?

I could never come to terms with this. But the more I see, the more I have to accept the undeniable truth. The Turks did wrong things, for various personal reasons. They may not like it, some may like it, but the truth of the matter is as solid as a rock-" Meia stopped to take a breath, and remebered what Cassie said. "We had a choice to stand for what we believed in, and all of us had no qualms putting down our morals to get the job done. That, is what make us Turks not excusable for our doings.
However, I still reiterate that

We cannot expect ppl to like us or forgive us. We can never expect it. Even if we singlehandedly destroyed Meteor or cure Geostigma now, we wont be treated like heroes. The only thing we can do now is to live properly now. If we want respect from people around us, we will work for it.
The best thing I can do is to do what i think is right. Perhaps find someone who share the same passion as me.

Randy thereafter says a few things. Then he leaves and Meia didnt hear from him wver again. (Well, maybe not for a long while. The idea is that randy will not forgive the turks so easily anyway.)

---

There you have it :)

In the end, this scene was not published because I simply forgot all about it. I rewrote the whole chapter as you have already read in the published, actual Chapter 55. However, the main idea is the same and honestly? I like what I've written in this unpublished version, but it's unrealistic that Meia would go on and on while Randy and Heidi just kept quiet without. a. single. comment.

Besides, I love the ending of Chapter 55 and I would not do a single thing to change that :)

Anyway, the story is long completed and it's time to move on. I'll admit, I still enjoy reading Days of Exile and I hope to find more unpublished stuff lying around here and there in my laptop.

Days of Exile: Chapter 60

It is over! I'm super excited.

I've rambled quite a lot in the chapter itself, but I've saved the blog post for things more personal. 

Now, regarding the story where they went to Wutai, should I continue? I'm really in a dilemma about it. On one hand, I desire to write it out. On the other hand, I feel that it's time to break away from this world. I have to move on and try something new. If not, I may just ride on this 'success' and never improve in other things.

That is the biggest reason, among many others. It's also because I lack details and story plots to make it a good one. I don't know about you, but I never launch a story without planning up to 40% of the story. 40% means a skeleton of the story progression, the ending, some milestones of the story and solid, believable characters. Even my intentionally-crappy story on 9gag vs FF7 was planned. The only one where I did minimal planning was Samurai Deeper Kyo's "Dress Off!", which ironically, was the most successful story in my profile. That had implications on many levels.

I'm also afraid of the amount of time that I have to put in. As of now, I am uploading "The Only Exception" and I'm not sure how committed can I be with this story. Even now, I'm not very sure what is going to happen after Tifa's story. I'm pretty unprepared, hurhur. 

Then again, if I start moving away from the world of "Days of Exile", it means that it will take A LOT to get back into the world. Maybe a rereading of "I Want To Be A Turk!" and "Days of Exile". Just the thought of it is enough to get my lazy soul crawling back to the couch.

Here is the link to the web novella that I've mentioned. I'm sure you can find those youtubers yourself with their usernames, right?

Alrighty, time for fun facts of "Days of Exile"!

1. Every letter in the alphabet is used in the titles. I finally managed to get it done. If you are not sure what I meant, you can check out my post where I found out that I missed out "Y".

2. None of the chapter titles were words mentioned by Meia throughout that particular chapter. I'm pretty sure of that, but then again, I could be horribly wrong.

3. I absolutely love rewriting the game scenes. It may seem easy since I don't have to think of dialogue, but that's all that is easy. The setting, the actions, even the mistranslated sentences have to be looked into and mulled over before I could write out something more realistic. It was hard to understand what the game was trying to portray sometimes.

4. Many of the scenes were thought of last minute, and thanks to that, I found myself going in a direction that I was not expecting. One of them was Meia disguising as Matilda Ederfeld. Turned out that she was under disguise for a long time, and that led to her going to the Northern Crater, thus being more able to describe what happened when Cloud passed the Black Materia to Sephiroth. However, with that unplanned writing meant a lot of loophole filling.

5. My initial plan was to write the backstories on all the BC Turks, but the main story took up too much time. I've managed to cover Cissnei, KK, Alana, Cassie, Mason, Jasper and a bit of Leia. For Rod and Haato, I have mentioned it in the story but honestly, there was supposed to be a development from their stories so... Oh well. Since there may not be a chance anymore, Kido's backstory was that he was a lackey from Don Corneo's, which I've mentioned in "I Want To Be A Turk!" before but never developed further from that.

6. Oh well, it's pretty obvious that Kido is my worst character to develop. For some reason, I could not fit that taciturn character into the story. Better luck next time.

7. In case you are wondering about KK's name still, I really have no idea what it means, because I've never thought about it.

8. My favourite characters in "Days of Exile" were Reeve Tuesti and Kent. I enjoyed how Reeve became such an emotional character with so much potential for development. 

9. There were many character that regrettably, not written to their full potential. Kunsel and Kido were some examples. The one that I had the most regret towards, was Kent. I wish I could tell you what kind of backstory he had. In fact, actually I did, but I doubt anyone would be able to detect. You kinda need serious detective work, or owning the author's brain, to find out.

10. I would say the same for Lindy and Eddie too. The two of them are featured in Chapter 56 for a reason... which we may never know too. 

11. Two of my titles are exactly the same. Chapter 60 was supposed to be "Reunion" but I just found out that it coincides with Chapter 4. Oh well. That's why it's not "Reunion" anymore.

From these two stories in the last 3.5 years, I learnt a few lessons that I thought would be fun to share:

1. Always do your research. That is not exactly a lesson learnt, but I can never emphasise enough.

2. Thinking about your stories when doing something repetitive, like running or swimming, helps ease the exercise a little better. However, you don't get very far as you will find yourself getting back to square one. For me, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Furthermore, the frustration when you do think of a novel idea, but you can't stop to jot the idea down.

3. Try not to write a story for more than 40 chapters. Lesson painfully learnt.

And that's all I have for you, folks. Thank you and... hope to see you around in my other stories.

Celebrations are in order...

First of all, it was Meia's birthday about 4 days ago, so happy birthday Meia Etsky! I'm so glad and proud of how she had turned out after all those nonsense and brainstorming. I'm so glad that you felt that she was a wonderful OC and that she had tugged on your heartstrings more than once. She is indeed, a special one, because I've put in so much effort and work in shaping her to become who she is.

Next, I realised that this year would be my 10th year since I've started writing fanfiction. Like, gee. In fact, according to Fanfiction, 20th of October 2004 was my first chapter, ever. Considering that I have never read any fanfiction prior to that? The date would be pretty accurate. So I'm about 2 months late, but I wanted to celebrate nevertheless.

Finally, in my personal life, there is something worth celebrating too. I'm happy that I'm moving on to the next stage of my life and may the new commitments not lead me too far away from fanfiction writing.

What are the celebrations? Honestly, I did not make myself really do something. I have the intention of opening something to drink after Days of Exile is fully uploaded, but we'll see :) Well, I've been taking a break, reading manga to my heart's content, and writing really slowly... if you consider THAT a suitable celebration. Hehe.

Don't worry, I assure you that "Days of Exile" will continue uploading till the end.

Sorry for the long wait...

But the long wait is over. Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to announce that I've finished writing "Days of Exile"!

WOOHOO!

After a whole month of fretting how I should link up and draw closure to my story in vain, I decided to sit down and wing it. And then I finished the last two chapters in two days.

Gee, if only I had done them earlier, huh? Now that the story's done, I'm raring to go! Days of Exile will be back on a weekly update basis and when I'm back on my trip, I'll hasten the uploading process to two chapters a week!

Finally, something positive, hehe. That is, IF I remember. Whatever the case is, I'm ECSTATIC that I'm done. I'll go sentimental on the story when it comes.

*goes away cheering*

Days of Exile is near completion

Yes, you've heard me.

Days of Exile is near completion. I mean, really. For good. No more stories on Meia and co.

I am currently typing the second last and last chapter at the same time. So it just hit me that after the last chapter... I have no clue what I should do next.

A part of me actually cried out, "No! I don't want this to end!"

I guess that for the last three and a half years, I've been so comfortable in the world of Meia and my motley crew of BC Turks. I mean, yeah I dabble with other story ideas on the side, but I always return to "I Want To Be A Turk!" and "Days of Exile". The world and the characters that I've created are so second-nature to me now.

It will be darn weird when all this ends. I mean, when I start a brand new story, there will be no such character as Meia. Damn. What the heck.

What am I supposed to upload next? I feel so lost without a story to think about. It's time for me to commit to a new story soon.

Oh by the way, I intend to finish the entire story before the year ends. Yes. You WILL get everything out by December latest. I promise. So don't go missing in action on me yet, hehe!

Days of Exile: Chapter 51

Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to yet another rambling of my chapter in Days of Exile. By the way, do you know that if you click on the "Fanfiction Profile and Stories", you can go to my fanfiction page? The more you know...

Okay, enough with the sarcasm.

We have to start off first by clarifying what I've mentioned in Chapter 51. Yes, the main plot for "Days of Exile" is over. Remember how I mentioned in this post that I've got this "brilliant plan" of writing Meia's story starting from the time that Reno found her, to the events after Dirge of the Cerberus? 

Well, more than three years later, I must admit. I'm tired. My brain juices are dry from expecting this same plot chicken to lay eggs... excuse my metaphor. I kinda regret that after three years, my readers just stopped reading. It's really... sad and weird at the same time. I never stopped updating. Yes, I delayed the schedule pretty often, but I tried my best to upload one every two months, at least. Then again, I can't exactly fault my readers. I was reading some fics on my own too. Then, life got busier and I gave up reading the fanfiction of others in order to keep up with my own update schedule.

So seriously? It's sad that many of my readers would never have finished this story. Not any that have told me about. Lesson learnt. From now on, never make any stories more than 40 chapters, because nobody's got that kind of stamina, huh? But like what Veld said in the coming Chapter 52, I could not done it any better. Honestly, I’ve delivered all that I've wanted for the main plot and I’m ready for a new start.

So again, what now? Where am I going with this?

The final plan that I had in mind but did not tell you (refer to the post once again) was to finish up Days of Exile (including the chapters that you are going to see). Then, I'll start a brand new story in the same world that I've created, but with different OC as protagonists. Meia and all that has happened to her will be the 'fact' in the new story, but I will write assuming that none of my readers have read "I Want To Be A Turk" or "Days of Exile". It's not needed because it's a brand new story.

However, as I continued to write, I decided that even with a brand new story, it won't be good. I’ve hankered around this world long enough. I mean, it's been close to 3 and a half years since I started "I Want To Be A Turk!" It is high time for me to write something completely different. So… unfortunately, the story of Meia will really end once Days of Exile reaches the end that I want.

The purpose of continuing after Chapter 51 with random chapters is because I want to show you the snippets and plans that I initially had after Days of Exile, if it had continued. I do not want to make up new plots just to arrive at the ideas that I had. So... timeskips are going to be used.

I hope that my final answer is the answer that everyone is looking for. It has been one of the most epic stories I've written, and I won't ever forget the joy and satisfaction I get from writing this beauty. However, enough is enough. I do not want to keep riding on this past glory that I had. I want to continue to explore my writing capacities and improve.

Will I ever want to write that brand new story that I initially planned? Of course I want to. However, I doubt it will happen. I said before that I will continue some of my older stories, but I never did. I will not make empty promises like that anymore.

Meia is not the only one who has grown up.

Alrighty, I hope that your doubts are clear with this. I wanted to post this at a later date but oh well... I decided to spare you the suspense.

All I ask is to be with me and support me until this story's final breath.

Love Triangles...

Before I get into this, I just want to clarify my previous post. I mentioned that I was going to upload Chapter 50. My mistake. I have not even uploaded Chapter 49. So we've gotta upload Chapter 49 first, right?

Then again, who is reading my story anymore? :( Silent readers, I suppose.

Back to the main point: Love triangles. I did not think about these until last year. That's when I really realised. I don't like love triangles. They are seriously the highlights of any romance story, but I don't like them still.

Oh, in case you are wondering, I stopped reading manga. Not that I lost interest. There were so many titles that I wanted to read (hmmm, sounds familiar with my novels too...) that I was not focusing on my career enough. So now I've stopped reading new titles.

Anyway, a few months back, I finished reading this manga called "Heroine Shikkaku". It was such a bittersweet story, because the guy and the girl did not get together until the very very last chapter. Sidenote: actually, it's pretty special in a way because most shoujo manga would spend more time drawing life after the protagonists get together. "Heroine Shikkaku" ended with the both of them finally coming to terms with their feelings. The journey to that moment was tedious, though. The boy was confused about who he likes. The girl was quite hurt throughout the entire manga.

It's kinda like that with the other titles too. In other titles, the girl actually ends up dating the rival because she was confused by the main boy's feelings. Even though everything worked out fine for the main boy and girl in the end, there was lots of heartbreak. In a love triangle fiasco, so many people will inevitably get hurt.

Honestly, I don't want that to happen to anyone, as far as possible. That's why I made it real clear with "Days of Exile" that Meia and Reno will be together. Even though I add in competition like Jasper and Kunsel, they pose no big threat. It's really difficult to console the character that is rejected, especially if a lot of emotional effort was made. I know that some manga tries to reconcile that by making the others fall in love with someone else, but that's just unrealistic.

I see love triangles being so prevalent in many books too... Twilight... Throne of Glass (review here!)...  Eon/Eona (review here!)... Hunger Games... plus a gazillion shoujo manga as the entourage.


So true, Inuyasha. So true.


The million dollar question that lasts till the end of Advent Children.


This one dragged on for FOREVER!

Is it really often the way to go? I mean, look at "Eragon (review is now available!)"! A perfectly good story without any of that love triangle stuff. Maybe that's because there were so many things going on in "Eragon" too...

Well, if the story is done well, then the love triangle adds flavour and spice. However, it's kinda sad if the love triangle is the MAIN storyplot, I think. It's understandable with shoujo manga, but not so for novel. I'm sure you can do a lot more than that, right?

Those are my opinions, and I'm not expecting anyone to agree with me. For all we know, sometime down the road, I will write a full blown love triangle story, hyuk hyuk. Life is strange, sometimes.

I shall end by wishing my country a HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!

Singapore is definitely a country to visit, once in your lifetime. Probably once is more than enough because we are THAT small. Nevertheless, it is a country to visit and understand the culture, if you can catch up with us locals.




Pictures from:
Inuyasha
Tifa and Aerith
Archie Comics
Merlion

Good Lord, has it been one month?

I apologise for taking so long to upload the newest chapter. Let me have a final proofread before I upload Chapter 50.

By the way, the story is coming to an end soon. Just that there's much much more to go before I call it quits!

It is over...

EDIT (28 June): Well, further reading of the novellas just threw my entire chapter around. So yes, I'm back to editing the last chapter. Still, it's pretty awesome that I've made it this far. Just saying *smirk*

Yes, it is over.

If you are wondering what I am blabbering about. I am actually quoting from the last chapter of Days of Exile.

Yup, you've heard me.

Days of Exile is completed!

Well, there are still things going on, but rest easy, citizens of fandom. You will get your story out soon. Let's say... around August? So near yet so far, huh? :)

I wanted to write about the writing workshop, but oh well. Another time, I suppose?

Days of Exile: Chapter 47

Hehe, I must at least keep to my promise and come back after the two week break, right? No, I did not manage to reflect on how to be more efficient. But at least, the busiest part of my work is over for a few weeks or so. I will try to get my writing done.

Anyway here's the exciting chapter. In many things, I kinda outdid myself. This chapter is seriously a chapter which was in my head for the longest time. So to see it materialise and be published is something I never thought I had the commitment and dedication to do.

I took things to my own hands and did my own interpretation of what happened between Cloud and Tifa at the airship. If it is true as many speculated that they did naughty stuff, then it's just unnatural. I feel that their relationship was not very well-executed in the entire story, and it would be just weird if Cloud all of a sudden decided that Tifa was good to be with.

Also, maybe a lot of you do not agree with the way I portray Tifa. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but so far, I'm kind of liking it. Tifa has this whole world of feelings and emotions, but she is finding difficulty in expressing them. I'll see where this leads and hopefully I can see a different side of Tifa that I've never seen before.

I like to write about the scenes concerning "On The Way To A Smile - Case of Shinra". I definitely look forward to writing more about Rufus Shinra. Though with my new plan, I'm not too sure how that will turn out...

Ahhh, finally. Reno and Meia have crossed the barrier, once and for all. I honestly struggled with whether I should ever write about them getting intimate. It was the original plan, but halfway through I pondered as to whether it would be too cheesy, or too unnatural. Truth be told, I played Meia as such an innocent character that such elements would hardly be related to her at all. So I did drop hints to remind you guys that hey, Meia is twenty, and well, she is grown up already.

Sidenote: Gee, do people even bother with abstinence before marriage? It seemed to many fanfic writers that the characters are all such... frivolous people. Gah, this would take another long time to explain. But in a nutshell, in the end I decided that I'll just go with it. Next time I may make more considerations before writing something like that, but it was interesting to weigh the options then.

Whatever the case is, the chapter is over, and uploaded. I would really, really, really appreciate it if you could review it. But whether there are reviews or not, I will continue to write this. I want to finish this.

Have an awesome week ahead!

If I had never admitted it, I'll admit it now...

I'll take a break.

Yes, I know. I haven't been writing actively in the first place. I was mainly reading more manga and books, so I haven't had time to focus on writing. But really, for now, I gotta stop kidding myself in thinking that I am getting any chapters done. Work is piling up, more than I can even imagine. Therefore, I will really, officially, take a break for two weeks. I have to settle my work and really reflect how I can be more efficient in my life.

Right now, I can imagine everyone who is reading this is thinking, "That's what every author says before they disappear from the face of earth and leave their fanfiction unfinished." I'm not going to blame you, neither will I make any promises. Of course I want to finish "Days Of Exile", but the time is not now. Ideally I want to continue in two weeks' time, but life is unpredictable.

Yup, so I'll take a break. I've been receiving your story favourites and reviews, though. And even though it's just a few of you, it really warms my heart. Thank you.

I'll see all of you on the blog in a few weeks' time!

Slow update!

*sheepish laugh*

You would think that after my big decision on the direction of my story, you'll see me writing with more vigour, huh?

Unfortunately not. I have been caught up with work and some new things. I'm really struggling with my work, I guess. How do my experienced colleagues handle all that? I cannot imagine.

Anyway, I will get the long long overdue chapter up and going soon.

Soon.

Sidenote: I need to stop doing this before my blog becomes a blog of apologies!!!

Days of Exile: Chapter 42... and crossroads.

I've been posting on my blog for the last two Mondays. Hmm, I see a trend...

Anyway, here's the long-awaited chapter for Days of Exile! And while I've got nothing much to talk about the chapter, let's talk about the STORY.

You see, once upon a time, when "I Want To Be A Turk!" was just a mere idea in my head, I had wonderful ideas and storylines on what I want the story to turn out to be. My plan was to write Meia's entire life, from the moment she became a Turk in 1999, to being exiled in Year 0007, to her return during the events of FF7 in Year 0008, all the way through Advent Children events in Year 0009 and possibly up to Dirge of Ceberus in Year 0012. Yeah people, we are talking about a full 13 years of Meia's life before I end the story.

The naive person that I am, seriously thought that I could finish the story within 200 chapters (glancing at the pile of files in my folder? Nope.) and I even thought I could finish this in 2012 (I started writing "I Want To Be A Turk!" in 2011). So long story short, at 63 chapters into "I Want To Be A Turk!" and 42 chapters into "Days of Exile", I came at the crossroads of my writing life.

Should I continue the way I wanted it to be? 

Or should I stop?

(Cue random free picture, because yes, I have to add pictures to make my blog pretty! Someday I should just draw my own pictures for the blog so that I don't have to worry about copyright!)

Truth is, I have a lot of plot bunnies jumping at the back of my mind, wanting to be unleashed. However, "Days of Exile" has been taking up all my creative juices and spirit. Not that I dislike writing Meia, but I really would appreciate the change.

So I contemplated.

"Let's stick to what I've planned!"

If I continued the way I wanted it to be (all the way to Advent Children at least), I would first complete my original dream of what "I Want To Be A Turk!" was supposed to be. Furthermore, there would be a more complete ending to Meia's story in Shinra. That sense of accomplishment of doing what I started out to do would be tremendous.

The negative consequences would be that I may end up feeling so drained and so tired beating around the same things and same nonsense, and I won't deny it. My writing may not be as good, because after all, people are used to what I can come up with. I may end up delaying the updates longer and longer... until one day I pull that stunt again and just not appear on FF.net anymore.

"Let's just stop here and focus on something else."

If I end "Days of Exile" at the part after Aerith's Holy saved the Planet, technically I have finished what I wanted to write. The main bulk of my original story covers the BC, CC and FF7 events. Honestly, I don't have much planned for what Meia would do after Meteorfall. So technically, I have written my story and I am not THAT guilty. Then, I can take a break from this world and immerse myself in writing out FF7 fics. I mean, don't YOU want to know what I have in store? (Okay, let's not get excited about it... it's not THAT great a plot bunny anyway...)

The negatives. I know I have many loopholes now. I've not explained how Meia is handling her moral ambiguity, I have not answered whether Reno and Meia will end up happy, I barely made interactions between Meia and the other canon characters in the series. Neither have I finished explaining the backstories of the other Turks, nor how Randy and Heidi are going to face Meia. I can definitely say this now. I can't explain all of those so quickly. Maybe I would disappoint some of you because you were expecting something super epic. And the truth is simple, you may not know what Meia really is going to do after Meteorfall.

Sucks, doesn't it?

That was the main question in my head since December. I could not concentrate on my writing because I was so afraid of throwing ideas out that will force me to commit. Believe me, people. I really want to bring out my best to you, but I'm scared that either choice may not turn out well.

In case you're wondering and worrying for me, I've decided on my solution already... Yes, there is a route that we are going now. Just that I won't tell you yet. Sorry! I will definitely let you know when the time draws near (at least another 14-16 weeks!). So for now... let's just enjoy Chapter 42!

Nevertheless, I thank you for being with me through my rantings and doubts. Hope you have a great week ahead!

Days of Exile: Chapter 41

Now that we are in the privacy of my blog, I have all the chance to talk! Just that I won't. I've got work in about 7 hours' time. 

Once upon a time, I had this awesome experience of climbing a mountain in China (during my month-long getaway) and then we had the option of either walking down the mountain trail or sliding long this uber long marble slide that will lead us all the way down to the foot of the mountain.

No prizes to guessing which one my dad and I took. (Come to think of it, my dad's pretty adventurous.)

The slide. Was. Amazing.

Except for the fact that the slide had to be on a gentle slope so that we don't whizz down the mountain and shoot off the slide tracks or something. It took us about 15-20 minutes to inch our butts down the place.

Anyway, thanks to this very unique experience, I could imagine how it was like sliding down the chute for Rufus Shinra. But of course, his slide must be a lot faster... hmm...

Here is an age-chart of the various characters as of this moment, in case you are actually wondering.

Yup, taken straight from my own data file. I've included people like Shelke because technically she is still alive, just not around the storyline. Um... Just take note that the ages are not canon. Some are, some are not. Use this information with lots of discretion.

This chapter is once again, very heavily modified and retold from Case of Shinra. Just wondering... why did Reno spot Yuffie? What happened after that? I seriously don't remember. Perhaps kadajclone could help me if he/she ever sees this.

Yup, I gotta go sleep now. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Happy New Year!

I don't know what time it is in your countries, but it's already 4 PM into the new year. I told myself that I would do a end-of-year reflection before the new year but... I got sleepy and I went to bed after counting down.

2013 had been a good year for me, at least for the first half of the year. I continued Days of Exile faithfully... I had new plot bunnies (though no time to produce them)... I had opportunities to write in my workplace... Even though the second half of the year was rocky for me, I was glad that I persevered. Days of Exile is (possibly) reaching an end but who's to say what will happen in 2014? No one is the wiser.

What's in store for 2014? I can't be too sure actually. Days of Exile is currently reaching the crossroads in its development. Everything will be revealed in due time, but for now, I'm still at loss in my decision. All I can say is... hang in there, everyone. Depending on the direction of Days of Exile, I may release some new stories, but no guarantee, of course.

The biggest challenge for me yet, would be the things happening in my life outside the writing world. My workload has increased and in my personal life, there are new commitments. Perhaps even finding a day in a month to shut everything out and just focus on writing will prove to be hard to do this year.

Nevertheless, I'm not giving up. I'm enjoying the entire writing journey. I'm not ready to give it all up. Till the day I know I have to abandon this and move on, I will dedicate every ounce of my time in planning, researching and writing the best stories I can ever come up with.

Please continue to stay with me for another year of surprises. It is my pleasure to entertain you and I will do my best.

Happy new year!
aichioluv

Days of Exile: Chapter 40

And.... I'm on time!

Today, I'm going to skip the nonsense talk and jump straight into review reply. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was embarrassed that I did not check the ffnet website to see if I got any reviews. I've been relying on email notifications too much. Gee. That might mean that all alerts and faves are not sent to me too!

Anyway, because there have been many reviews, I've decided to reply them all here (because it's not nice to waste space on ff.net, right? :P)

Jefri: Gee, I hadn't realised that you've asked so many questions! Why don't you just ask me whenever you see me? XD Anyway, here we go with all the answers! Human and Cetra give birth to half-Cetra naturally (Aerith is half Cetra half human, isn't she? :)) Vincent didn't kill Hojo, AVALANCHE did. You won't see much of Vincent because it's a Meia story! Hahah! He is not a main character, sadly. But I will see how I can include more of him (no guarantee, though). The exiled Turks fought Jade WEAPON, but otherwise played no part in the FF7 storyline. Thus, we shall just assume that AVALANCHE fought (or ignored) the other WEAPONs.

And that should answer most of your questions, Jef. Thank you for being so faithful to my story. You've even got yourself an account!! *clap clap*

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Takara: Hello faithful reader! Thank you for reviewing every single time! From your reviews I can feel your emotions towards the story and it makes me happy. It feels awesome to know that my readers are feeling strongly towards the characters. Hope you will stay with me till the end!

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Guest of Chapter 36: thank you for leaving me a review! Haha, I've got telepathic powers!! *wriggle fingers* and yeah, I never will figure out the WEAPON conundrum. The people on Gaia just never refer to them by a specific name. Weird. I know for a fact that humans love to give names. :P Anddd I guess by Chapter 37 you realised that yes, I did write about Yuffie's ultimate weapon in the Sunken ship. Hurray for details!

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koryandrs: Yes I'm back! Thank you for leaving a comment! Hope to see you around more often! By the way, you have a really cute name. Am I supposed to pronounce it like the plant 'coriander'? :P

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Occupational Haz/kadajclone10: Hehe, sorry for disappearing like that. I hope I don't do it anymore. I love it whenever you leave a review. It's almost like reading a thesis. You always give such great insight, and I treasure it a lot (mainly because you seem to have read/played/watched most if not all of FF7 compilation, credible knowledge you possess, oh great one!) I know you have been harping on the topic of the ambiguity of the Turk. Sorry that I haven't been jumping into that at all. I'm still brewing the story and pushing our characters into a certain direction. I do have an end goal in mind, but I'm not too sure if that would be good enough. Till then, do forgive the lack of explanation and tolerate any frustration from what may be signs of loopholes and contradiction.

Yes, I really love working with Meia, despite the fact that I've dropped some of her earlier characteristics. I also try my best to flesh out the 'villains'. Indeed, everyone has a grey and questionable area and it's simply a joy to argue in my head all day long, justifying one over another. Hurhur, sad is my life. I believe Tseng was referring to Ifalna, which means holy crap, I hope I didn't make a loophole anywhere! That was definitely a part that I overlooked, and now I'm nervous as to whether I made any mistakes in the previous chapters.

Anyway, I didn't mean for my review reply to drag on too, but a long and insightful review deserves an equally enthusiastic and appreciative reply :D

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Luckcharm/TWA: Why is everyone getting new names or changing their names? Haha! I feel so bad that I haven't been replying the reviews, I mean, I really did not get any of the notifications! *glare at ffnet* Okay, time to reply you!

I know, Tifa and Cloud are simply heartbreaking. I also go "aww" whenever I'm typing their scenes. It's funny actually, I'm a Cloti fan :P Don't worry, perhaps better days are ahead? Second, I had to do the scene of Leia and Haato because in hindsight, I was annoyed with myself for being so nice to Meia's Turk life. There's no way Meia could breeze through her Turk years like that. No one is dumb, neither am I. I definitely am not going to dwiddle my thumbs and wait for readers to bash me for making Meia a Mary Sue (the type that are immune to bad omens and incidents). Hahaha, Reno and Rude DEFINITELY have bromance! *dance in virtual confetti* I'm so proud of Tihan's name that I want to name my future child so! Just that... I can't because it totally sounds funny when you pronounce it with the family name (No, I'm not married, just.. fantasising like an idiot).

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Now, this is for all of you, whoever that is still reading. Yes, the story feels like it's at its end, but I still have many things in my head. Namely, whether I should even continue the story after Meteorfall. I'll discuss this with the rest of you in detail next time. Besides, I've got another few more months to decide... Who knows.

That's all for this week! I look forward to reading your lovely reviews! Have an awesome weekend!

What an embarrassment...

Hello readers.

Remember a few posts ago, I was all emo about why my readers are not active anymore? Here's what happened. After Chapter 35 or 36, I no longer received any more reviews to my email address. That was a shocker, because I could name a few readers that have been absolutely faithful. Nevertheless, I kept to my faith and uploaded Chapter 37... then 38... By the time I was at Chapter 39 I was bewildered. Why hasn't there been a single review?

Needless to say, I was devastated. I could not understand why no one was reviewing my story for the last one month. That, I admit, did make me less motivated to write. What's the point, if no one is there to enjoy it?

Long story short, I found out that FF.net has not been giving me email notifications about anything. Great. So here I was, all wallowed up in my own sorrow when all the time, everyone has been reviewing like normal. Even when I didn't respond to any of your reviews (because I didn't even know that they existed!), you reviewed faithfully.

I feel so stupid.

I'm sorry, guys. Really.

Thanks for never giving up on me. You give me courage to continue writing.

Well, at least until the end of Meteorfall, hehe.

One month already?

As my surprised title suggests, it has been more than a month since I uploaded Days of Exile. I guess I'm done beating myself up for the lack of responsibility (though it's not that I'm denying responsibility!) Work had to take a bigger priority in this busy time of the year.

I was worried that my desire to write will disappear. Yes, in moments of my days where all I did after my work was to eat and sleep, I wondered if that was going to be the end of my writing journey. Then today, as I was listening to "Moves Like Jagger", I was reminded of my fanfic with the same name. That song never fails to remind me of how much fun I had listening to one of my favourite songs while writing. One thing is for sure, I can't wait to go back to write after this madness is over.

Okay, two more things. So I've been playing Final Fantasy 5 most of last week. The game has been good to me so far, still appealing and enchanting despite the 'age'. That reminds me, have I ever mentioned how I came across this awesome thing that is Final Fantasy? Some day, I will explain.

Also, I will be travelling from end November to end December. So much for writing, huh? But I will get a chapter or two uploaded before I fly off... *fingers crossed*

Recent Happenings

Hello people.

Yes. Days Of Exile seems to be on standby.

Please give me some time to settle my life out. It's a very busy time of the year. It's basically work, which goes to show how terrible adult life is. I'm still writing on the side, but rarely.

When my life is not as busy anymore, I will love to continue what I've left off. Days of Exile, a possible new story, book reviews and etc. Then again, I'm not too sure if there are people who are still reading my stories, or my blog (yes Jeff, I know you are still reading my blog. Thank you!). But otherwise, I guess I'm back to being alone on my writing journey.

I admit. I am a little affected by the sudden disappearance of my readers. I can't blame them. I've disappeared from reading other fanfictions too, and I'm feeling darn guilty about it. Laziness kicks in and well, my readers won't miss a chapter or two missing off the usual uploading schedule right?

Right?

Days of Exile: Chapter 37

Hmm, I thought it was Chapter 27 that I'm uploading. How quickly time flies! Wasn't it just a while back that I first released Days of Exile? I had this impression that I only started Days of Exile in July 2013. Nooo, Days of Exile has been ongoing for more than a year already! Anyway, here are my author's notes for this chapter. 

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Did you like the new "Previously on Days of Exile.." section? I snitched it from Marvel. I have been reading "The New Avengers" and "Superior Superman". The first page is dedicated to explaining the events happening in the previous issue, or the events happening between the previous issue to 'now'. 

Sidenote: It's just darn annoying that they can't maintain some sort of coherence. For people who are just reading "The New Avengers", how would I know what the heck happened in the other titles (they are all connected, the superheroes of Marvel)? 

It was because many events happen at the same time, that Marvel had to do a recap page for readers. And I thought it'll be cool if I could that for my readers. One, they do not need to reread the previous chapter to recall the details. Secondly... if they did not understand the previous chapter, the recap will do a better job at explaining. That's how I solve my problems whenever I read an issue in The New Avengers that I wasn't too sure about.

So, what do you think? Do you like it or not? Seriously, I don't hear much from you people anymore. I don't even know if I'm doing this right. Moving on...

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So I did a research on pronouncing Heidegger’s name. I’ve always pronounced it as “Hedge-dagger”, but goodness that’s simply adding too many phonetic sounds into the letter. So finally, I got it. It’s “Hai-dagger”, or is it “Hai-der-ger”? At least it’s not “hedge” anymore, is it?

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We've reached the thirteenth of January. Brace yourselves, people. This day is one of the most eventful days in the FF7 timeline. Dozen of things will happen on this day, in both the canon and my story. The day might span across five to six chapters, depending on how good I am at cutting down content. I’ll take note to only put in canon content that is necessary for the story, but then again most of you readers have not had the pleasure of experiencing FF7, so why the fuss?

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No one will know this, but the script simply has too many ellipses for my liking. I know we were supposed to pause and make Cloud look like he was trailing off and thinking with emotion. But it just made Cloud darn annoying, as if he wasn’t already. I’m still not happy that he made Zack Fair die. So I made modifications to the script... by removing the "..." as much as I could. It's now easier to read, at least for me.

Alright, that's all for this week, and a long one too! I hope everyone has been fine. Don't let life eat you up... because it is totally consuming me now *sigh*

Read and review!