The Only Exception: Chapter 2 to 13

For the benefit of new readers, since I've just advertised for my blog recently, this blog is a random collections of my thoughts of writing, including my thoughts for the chapters that I've written.

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Well I'll be.

I have not written a single thing regarding this fanfiction since the year started. Then again, it's been a while since I wrote anything.

The last fanfiction post that I've written was actually on the last chapter of "Days of Exile". Since then, I've begun writing yet another story in the Final Fantasy 7 fandom, which was "The Only Exception". I've also written a story in the Katekyo Hitman Reborn fandom, but that's a story for another time.

As I have mentioned in my story, the inspiration of this story came from the song "The Only Exception" by Paramore. I like many songs from the band and you'll see that if I were to write a fic on singing, I would draw the inspiration most from Paramore.

The initial intention was to make each story one chapter each, thus ending this in 4 chapters. Alas, I was unable to. Even now as I'm writing Vincent's story, I marvel at how I could keep Tifa's story within 3 chapters.

Story of Tifa

This part is most like a shoujo manga. Short and fast paced, with ridiculous story development. I enjoyed writing the story and I'm glad that I could finish it in three chapters. I wanted to finish it in two though.

One of the things that I could never come to terms with is Cloud's personality. Should he be carefree? Gloomy and pessimistic? Thanks SquareEnix, for creating a schizo character that fanfic writers cannot put their fingers to.

Also, this is one of my BIGGEST mistakes when typing on my ipad. It frustrates me to no end.

Story of Aerith

For this one? I planned to end in 4 chapters. I ended up writing across 7 chapters.

It was natural that the Tifa and Aerith story were connected, but I did not intend to connect the latter two stories in any way. The connection between Tifa and Aerith's stories gave me the idea to continue connecting so that it becomes a whole, just like the song.

Aerith's story was a little hard to churn out as there were many routes that I wanted to take. The one that you are reading right now (Zack being KAI and Gast was really a bad father) was the original idea. However, when I was writing Chapter 8, I struggled a week because I had another idea which was that Gast was actually KAI, not Zack. Zack was the song writer for Gast/KAI. Zack helped Aerith reconcile with her father. That was seriously a route that I considered, but I decided to stick to my original idea in the end. Didn't turn out too bad either, I thought.

There was also an idea to link the main character of the fourth story to be the step-sister of Aerith, but that was (thankfully) scraped. Later on, when I was writing Vincent's story, I thought it would be awesome to help Elmyra Gainsborough as Vincent's housekeeper. Oh well, too late. The story of Aerith was already published, so Elmyra will remain as an accountant :)

Story of Vincent

Another unexpected story. I am still writing it (very painfully).

It's funny because I have the story in my head. All I had to do is to write it, but getting down to it was easier said than done.

Making Vincent Valentine a protagonist was a first for me. I admit that Vincent was a little out of character in some instances, so in terms of character portrayal, I'm not terribly proud of myself. Still, I like how the story is progressing. Better luck with the fourth story *pats own back*

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Okay, that's all I've gotta say for now. More to come... I hope.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Unfortunately, I'm not ready to upload another chapter of my stories, so I've decided that I should look up on some quotes on love that I kinda like.

"After all this time?"
"Always." - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Love is like pi; natural, irrational and very important. - Lisa Hoffman

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart) - E.E. Cummings

“Yelena, you've driven me crazy. You've caused me considerable trouble and I've contemplated ending your life twice since I've known you." Valek's warm breath in my ear sent a shiver down my spine. "But you’ve slipped under my skin, invaded my blood and seized my heart.”

“That sounds more like a poison than a person,” was all I could say. His confession had both shocked and thrilled me.

“Exactly,” Valek replied. “You have poisoned me.” - Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

This is my favourite from the Bible.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-29

I've tried to find love quotes for "Fifty Shades of Grey" but... I couldn't find them. Oh well. Not surprising.

And in the mood for something more narcisstic, I went ahead to find some of my love confessions in my fanfiction. I didn't find them all because I was lazy to type them out. So enjoy it!

Kyo threw the letter aside and held his lifeless wife tighter. "I won't ever forget you." - A Love That Surpasses Time (SDK)

Until fate decides otherwise, I'll be here watching her and ensuring that she is alright. Even here in the Farplane, I am watching over Yuna as her guardian and as one who loves her. - Guardian (FFX)

“So… Kayla is just lying, right?” Elena asked again. She had to be sure. “You and Tseng don’t like me, right?”

Reno’s voice was soft. “Wrong.”

Elena felt her heart sink. Reno and Tseng likes her? Then what-

"Tseng doesn’t like you, Elena.” Reno’s hand smoothed out Elena’s mutilated hair with little success. “I do.” - Moves Like Jagger (FFVII)

Hehe, the last one was my all-time favourite actually.

Once again, have a happy Valentine's day!

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.

Confession: What I think of Fanfiction

I live a life of double-standards.

I refer to myself, of course.

Sometimes when I talk to avid literature students, the topic of fanfiction would inadvertedly pop out. Then, comes the wave of comments from the nay-sayers.

"It's not original."

"It's stupid, why would people want to use characters of others and not make their own?"

"Fanfiction is full of writers who can't write."

To top the cake with icing, along came "Fifty Shades of Grey", which is a hit and miss with the world. Hit, for people who want face-value trashy entertainment. Miss, for (hipster) people who insist that Fifty Shades of Grey was a literary abomination. If you want my opinion, it's over here. The annoying thing is, even though I do defend the quality of fanfiction, I cannot deny that there are fanfiction out there that are not worth one's time. 

What would be my usual response? I would say along the lines of "Yeah, most of them are bad. But there are some stories out there that are absolute gems."

Don't get me wrong, my fanfic writer friends, in case you are now doubting my perception of your stories. When I say bad fanfics, I really mean, BAD fanfics. I'm talking about fics that are filled with absolute randomness, incoherence, horrible sentence structure and spelling... Things like that. I'm not referring to fics where characters are out of character or the story plot escalates too quickly. I'm talking about fics that make no grammatical sense at all. 

Stories that have issues like out of character, escalation, fluff and Mary-Sues, those can be easily refined and improved. My stories are full of nonsense too. Sometimes I am proud of my writing. Sometimes I want to burn them and never write again. However, slowly and surely, we fanfic writers are improving. As long as we keep writing, and we have a heart to learn and observe, we WILL improve. 

To those people who think fanfiction is a whole horde of trash, please go to a fanfiction website, and dedicate yourself one hour. All will not be in vain. It's like going to a thrift shop sometimes. You spend 80% of your time going through weird, incoherent, dubious-looking fics, and the other 20% you will be gushing at how amazing that fanfic is at painting a picture, how emotional you felt with this character, how awesome it would be if you could write like that, and so on. 

Regardless of how bad or good the fic is, the existence of a fanfic is the highest compliment anyone could ever pay to the author... on some level. No one would bother to meddle a story that meant nothing to them. Of course, I'm saying this as a fanfic writer. Maybe when I become a legit writer (IF that day comes), I may think differently. Although it would be such a tragedy for me to think so.

I say to you again. Fanfiction is NOT just a whole horde of trash. Despite what the public say, I believe that there is value in fanfiction that not many sees.

I have met many fanfic writers who wrote beautifully. People who will make me emotional just with their words. I know many fanfic writers who, like me, share a big passion for writing, and would do all they can to improve themselves day by day. That's why the community is worth staying, even if it's just for a bit longer.

Anyway, to end this post, it all came about because I was in the car with a bunch of friends, and then I was talking to someone (who knew about my fanfiction writing) about how Meia from Days of Exile was of a particular personality. And another person was curious. 

"I am actually a closet fanfiction writer," I said to her with an embarrassed look on my face, though she could not see because it was dark.

"Oh..." She trailed off and I was ready to let it go but then she said, "That's quite cool. I'm a closet writer myself too."

:D Imagine that! Finding a fellow closet writer. She writes non-fiction, but hey, I don't care! I found a fellow closet writer! So we talked and all, and she showed some interest in reading my fics, but now that I'm back home, my panic is setting back in again. My writing is so childish, and so superficial...

Maybe I won't send her my fanfiction link so quickly. *hides in a shell*

Days of Exile: Chapter 31

Hoo boy, another short chapter (by my standards)

I admit, I kinda like giving short chapters. For such a situation where I need to deliver chapters faster than I can write, giving short chapters was a morale booster for me to see that I can keep up with the update schedule. And for once, I can write knowing that my readers are going to read the words slowly and carefully because of the smaller chapters. Until I get back my bank of chapters, I believe this is what Days of Exile will become - shorter chapters, finally.

Now, to the story.

The scenes of Tifa falling in the Lifestream and that scene where Tifa went zonkers are from the game itself. I just did a little modifications here and there. Honestly, the game never explained what happened to Tifa in that blank of dark space. There was only sounds of guns and stuff. So, I took things into my own hands and created the context myself. If there’s anyone who knows what happened there, do share your insights!

And of course, the scene with the presence of Aerith in the Lifestream is completely made up, but it was heavily modified from a sentence in the FF7 novellas: The Maiden Who Travels the Planet. So the idea is not original. Aerith was responsible in helping Tifa while they were in the Lifestream.

I admit, I am facing some mental block at how Meia will ever get herself out of Shinra's capture. I mean, when I first thought of the idea, I just went like "Oh, Meia will be captured, but then she'll get out eventually through *cough* and *cough* and then she will *cough*". Guess I didn't really plan this one through and through because it's a bit of a pain to link up everything together. 

That's kinda the thing I have here. If you want, I could tell you all the general events that will happen. My skeleton is more than done. It's the muscles, the flesh, the veins and arteries, the organs and all that anatomy that is lacking in my story. Thus, the stalemate.

Still, thank you, everyone, for sticking by me despite all these nonsense. I am not going to lie. I dread the day that I will announce to you guys that I will update irregularly. That day isn't too far off. If you are wondering why, it's really because worklife takes out a lot of my time than I would have thought. I know, a lousy excuse. Isn't that the reason why I'm still persevering till today, when I could've thrown the towel and ended it at "I Want To Be A Turk"? 

I have this choice right now. I could end at the end of FF7 events and go "They lived happily ever after". But this is NOT the ending I want. Nowhere near. I WANT to see the story in its full glory. So that I can think back and go "Yeah, the journey really sucked in the middle, but I am glad that I stuck through it, irregular or not." So, I shall henceforth continue to remain responsible... even if I have to be irresponsible in my writing schedule... (The paradox is making my head hurt.)

All I ask for, is some divine inspiration so that I can meat up the skeleton. Perhaps I should take a month break again to China. That might do wonders for my writing.

But of course, it won't happen. Like I said in my chapter before, things may not happen the way we want. That's life, sometimes.

Throne of Glass: One's dream that became reality.

Sometime last year, I was in my bookstore looking for Eona, when I saw this particular book, called the 'Throne of Glass' by Sarah J. Maas. Pretty intrigued, I picked it up and brought it home with Eona.

After finishing Eona, I finally looked at this book and thought that it would be a good company for dinner. Then I opened the book and then, I saw the author's thanks:

To all my readers from Fictionpress -

And guess what? I was so surprised, I couldn't begin reading the book.

I know that Fictionpress is probably less notorious than Fanfiction.net in terms of hoarding less-than-decent stories, but still...

Another writer emerges from the Internet!! Apparently Throne of Glass was initially a story on Fictionpress, and now it's fully published, with the sequel on its way.

Those who remembered my thoughts on writers who emerged from fanfiction will know how excited I am about seeing normal people like us get published. And it has slowly become a dream of mine to one day publish something too :)

So anyway, I'm currently halfway through reading Throne of Glass. This post is just a preliminary feeling towards the book. Hopefully after this I can give a detailed and fulfilling review to this book.

This is the book cover I got. Isn't it beautiful???

To those who are wondering: When are you going to publish Chapter 22?...

Soon. Don't be so impatient dearies ;)

China: A Writing Inspiration + The Birth of "I Want To Be A Turk!"

And hello again!

From the beginning of this blog's birth, I've been wanting to talk about my China trip. And so I shall!

Back in early 2011, I promised my father that I'll visit him in the June holidays (yeah, our holidays are in June). He is working in China and he suggested that I fly over to find him alone. So to keep my promise, I dropped my schedule in June (which was full of dance rehearsals and the like) and flew to China to visit him.

I thought I'll be more sulky about it because I'm missing out almost a month of rehearsals, but I wasn't. It was really because I was getting really tired and worn out from the daily practice. The trip did me some good; a short getaway. Most of all, I brought my laptop along because I thought it would be a great opportunity to write.

At that time, I was beginning to write again. If you remember, I mentioned in my writing history that I went on a very long hiatus in the middle of writing "Their Memories of Fukinara High". When I wanted to continue the story again, my old readers have left already. Still, I continued to write. I knew that I had one reader who was still waiting for me to finish that story and I knew that I can't let her down until that story is finished.

So anyway, I thought it was a good time to clear my head from the busy day-to-day schedule and write instead.

I've been to Nanjing a few times. However, in this trip I did not have many pictures (because my dear father accidentally deleted them all). All pictures below are taken from good ol' Google. Here, let me show you some pictures of Nanjing and the places I was in. I've been in other places while I was there but I thought I'll just show you the place I was in most of the time.



This is Hunan Road, Nanjing. It is one of the most popular eating streets in the city. Yup, you've heard me. I reside in a hotel that is filled with FOOD. (I was obviously in heaven.) Food prices ranging from USD 1.60 for a large bowl of noodles, to USD 100 for a highclass restaurant, you have your variety right here! This is one end of the street, of which it is right next to a departmental store...




This is the other end of the Hunan street. See that huge-ass hotel on the left? Nope, I didn't stay there. I stayed in a small motel on the right. It was opened by a friend of my father's, over the last 15 years it had been a place of accomodation for my father whenever he's in China for business.



While I was there, he brought me to this tower above, which boasts of one of the nicest daytime cityviews of Nanjing. Indeed, Yuejiang Tower was gorgeous.

Okay, so that's how my four weeks were like. In the weekdays, I'll follow my dad to his company, where he works and I sit by his table and write. In the evening we would return and have dinner. Then I would return to my room and continue writing. Did I mention that I was writing like a mad woman, as if I don't have much time to live and I wanted to write everything? Thinking back I felt kinda bad for leaving my father alone sometimes. Sometimes he hangs out with his friends, but sometimes he leaves me be and watches TV.

On the weekends, if I'm game for it, he'd bring me to tourist attractions, like the tower. I went to the zoo to look at pandas and then we took a train to our ancestral hometown, Hunan, to attend my cousin's wedding.

Honestly? That's A LOT of time to write. So there I was, writing my "Their Memories of Fukinara High" happily. Blogspot and Facebook are banned in China, by the way, leaving me with nothing to muse about. So apart from writing, I was reading fanfiction. I was reading some Final Fantasy VIII fics and then suddenly, I was reading Final Fantasy VII.

Truth is, I knew nothing about FF7 then. I remembered playing it in secondary school, but I can't remember much, except that Aerith died and that my freaking chocobo wouldn't turn gold. So guess what? I spent my time on finalfantasy.wikia, reading up on FF7. Yup, dear readers, that was how I eventually became the expert on FF7 :P The formula is just 'lots of time' and 'finalfantasy.wikia'.

While reading one of the FF7 fics, "From Slum to SOLDIER" by UnchainedMelody94, there was a sudden thought in my head: Yeah, this story looks cool. Maybe I should have an OC like this, but she'll fall in love with Reno instead. (I fell in love with Reno after watching Advent Children... yes, it's 'cause he moved from hooligan-looking to smexy!)

The idea was profound to me. After FF8, I've never ventured into anything apart from Samurai Deeper Kyo. Do I dare to take the plunge? What if my characters were out of character?

Then, as I was reading Samantha Sheffield's "Storm", I was paranoid that our stories will be too similar, and I shared my doubts with her. Thankfully, she encouraged me to give it a try. So, even while finishing "Their Memories of Fukinara High", I began my first chapter of "I Want To Be A Turk!"

And the rest is history.

Of course, I had two weeks to play with, when I began "I Want To Be A Turk!". I was writing like a madwoman who had a burning secret to share. I would eat, sleep, dream and wake up thinking of the story. There was once that I wrote until 11 PM and I was so tired I fell asleep. But my brain was still thinking... I automatically woke up at 5.30 AM, with the only thought in my head: I must get that into the story. Now.

Gee whiz.

Amazingly, it was the fact that I had nothing. Absolutely nothing on my schedule, no facebook or blog to wander around, that my mind cleared and plot ideas just couldn't stop coming. I could focus on writing and enjoying the beautiful China. It was one of the happiest four weeks of my life. I've accomplished a lot, in my opinion.

The stories I've written while in China were:

- Their Memories of Fukinara High (Chapter 41-44)
- Dress Off!
- Brotherhood
- I Want To Be A Turk! (Chapter 1-5)

It was quite a feat for four weeks.

So guess what? Perhaps someday I'll run to another country for four more weeks to write and write only. Alas! My job is not going to let me have that luxury...

Taken from:
- http://www.visitourchina.com/guide/hunan_road.htm
- http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/482597031_7caabb5a6d.jpg
- http://www.panoramio.com/photo/59861499

Random editing and reviewing thoughts

(This post was meant to be posted on 31st Oct 2012 but for some reason, it's not. So here it is!)

You know, I should make it a personal commitment to blog once a week, at least. That way, you people will know that there's always something to read by Sunday (IF there are people reading this!).

Anyway, I'm on a editing spree. I'm realised that I tend to write 'seem' and 'as if'. Examples as below:

It seemed that he wanted to talk as well.

He waved his arms, as if he was swatting flies.

It seems that I write A LOT of them. Yeah, look at that previous sentence and you'll know that I really, really write a lot of them. Not that it's a bad thing, but I tend to cringe when I repeat certain phrases too much, or use some words too often. It's always good to break the monotony with new expressions. So I've been reviewing my chapters, those that are just waiting for a final proofread before uploading.

Which also brings me to this: I have been on a dry spell. Kinda ploughing through my writing with dread and all. Mainly because I've run out of descriptions, expressions, feelings. It feels like everything I write is so dry, dull and bland. Of course, I'm referring to the chapters that I've been writing (which is Chapter 16 and 17) and not the ones that I'm uploading. Those chapters were when I was writing furiously and words spew out of my mind like alphabet soup.

Despite reading so many books the last two months, I didn't seem to integrate any new techniques to try out. (Opps.) But do not fear, I have many, MANY months to figure out how to better those chapters. Meanwhile, I better pick up some new writing tricks.

Okay, here's I, signing out!

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.

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

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. :)

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 :)

I Want To Be A Turk: Chapter 39

I'VE GOT A FOLLOWER!!! :D

i feel so popular!!

okay i exaggerate. by the way, please forgive my spelling and grammar. proofreading in the wee hours of the morning is not the best thing to do :P

i'm pretty glad to declare that i've cut down my words... from 4940 to 4848. Not a huge achievement, i've done better, but it's better than nothing :P

well now, about this chapter. i really love this chapter. from the very beginning since i wrote the story, it has been decided that reno and meia will be separated for a long time, i just didn't realise that the time gap can be THAT long. twas a pain in the you-know-where to link and fit everything together, but i think i barely made it :)

i know i haven't been juggling the many turks' perspectives often, that's why i inserted a Legend POV here. will continue to try other POVs as well, once i figured out how they are like :P

so, do you guys like how the story is turning out so far? well, this is why the story isn't going to end at 20 chapters or something. there's too many bumpy rides for the characters, wahahaha XD besides, i just had to add a small dash of realism. make meia understand rejection and loss a bit without blowing it up and making her the character who suffered the most or something like that XDD

Oh yes, just so you know, i drew inspiration about rude's fighting from "Dying to Live" :P i clearly remember the part where Dawn was supposed to fight Rude after Reno and Dawn said that Rude was a gentleman (because he allows the girl to start first). i thought that was a pretty neat characteristic drawn out for Rude because he does seem like the sort, so there we go, i snitched it like the Grinch! :D

alright, i'm getting bitten by mosquitoes all over. i'm gonna quickly upload this and sleep! goodnight :D

oh yeah, and happy new year :D

I Want To Be A Turk!: Chapter 31

My favourite chapter is finally uploaded! Rude's story is seriously one of the best chapters in the BC story. It made me ache inside to see him so heart-broken. This is the rendition of what I think happened. Of course, this chapter is inspired by author redcherryamber, who wrote the awesome and heart-wrenching "Unspolit".

Though I'm feeling tired from writing, my heart still feels excited to plan the story development. I'm just afraid now that I'll overplan and then I'll be lazy to write it out.

In fact, I liked this chapter so much, it was done before Chapter 28 and 29 were completed. So it has been sitting in my 'please proofread' folder for a long time :P

My next post will be on my story update schedule.