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!

Let's do that tag again!

So I had quite some fun pondering about the tag for the FF7 fandom. So I decided to do one for the entire FF universe that I've played.

I will be considering FFV, FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, FFX-2, FFXIII.

Name a fandom you know I know and I’ll tell you

1. The first character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don’t any longer
6. The character I would totally smooch
7. The character I’d want to be like
8. The character I’d slap
9. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise

Fandom: FF5, 7, 8, 10, 10-2, 13

1. First character that I first fell in love with. Zell Dincht (FF8). I had a full blown crush on him for like, a month I think.


Sidenote: A character that I like that has lasted through many years till now is Rikku (FF10, FF10-2). She's incredibly adorable and so pretty in FF10-2. I believe I became who I am today because sometime in my teenage years, I tried SO HARD to behave and talk just like her. Unfortunately, I do not have her figure. Poopie.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now. Bartz (FF5) started off as a very unassuming character when I first played him in Dissidia. Thought he looked very girly. Must be all the girls that he hung out with in FF5. Even in FF5 he was quite normal... until I saw fanart of Bartz, all handsome and cheerful. 

Oh gosh, I'm so superficial. It's okay, these are just games. I'm entitled to be superficial about them. But on an honest note, I think Bartz has a very nice balance of cheerful and serious person. The protagonists in the other fandoms are inching on extremes.

3. Character that everyone loves that I don't. Lightning (FF13). She's too much like Cloud. Okay, that's not the reason. She's too reserved for my liking. Yes, I know. Horrible past and all but seriously? I can only summarise her character as a big sister who is righteous in her own ways (please convince me, "Lightning Returns" game!!) Even Cloud has a little bit more depth in his character.

4. Character that I love but everyone hates. Oerba Dia Vanille (FF13). I know everyone thinks that she is too annoying and her voice is squeaky. I like her initially for her character design, but I thought she possessed a deeper personality than what she shows.

Yeah, yeah, cliche painful past behind sunny facade, but I think she made the balance quite well. She had every reason to feel pain for what had happened, and every reason to try and hide it.

5. Character that I used to love but don’t any longer. That would be Selphie (FF8). She is really perky and cute, but it was really short lived once I started playing the other FF games.

6. Character that I would totally smooch. Well, I really think I've grown out of the fangirl thing (for now). Using my answer in the previous tag, it'll still be Reno (FF7).

7. The character I’d want to be like. Here's the laundry list. Zack Fair (FF7) for his willpower. Aerith Gainsborough (FF7) for her sincerity. Yuna (FF10) for her beautiful eyes and gentle disposition. Rikku (FF10, 10-2) for almost everything. Lightning (FF13) for her hair. That must be some awesome hairspray.

8. The character I’d slap is Don Corneo (FF7). He is a big meanie, and picking brides every other night is totally wrong. Genesis (FF7) is also another one, for reasons that I've explained in the earlier post. 


9. A pairing that I love: Zack and Aerith (FF7). Refer to my previous post again. Even against the many pairings across the titles, theirs win. Tidus and Yuna (FF10) is a close second. Generally, I'm quite happy with the canon pairings. I just wished that Bartz and Lenna were together, I mean, I was quite sad that the story had no romance but alrighty, I'm the only hopeless romantic around here I guess... Another non-canon pairing I would LOVE to see is Gippal and Rikku (FF10-2).

10. A pairing that I despise: Lightning and Hope (FF13). No. Just no. What's wrong with these fans? They are just desperate to ship just any two people together. That's what I dislike about non-canon pairings (GippalXRikku is the ONLY exception). Well, at least pick the more natural pairings if they are not canon.

There we go, another random tag to fill up my otherwise boring and stress-filled Monday. If you guys are interested to take up the tag, do let me know what your tags are!

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.

Cool! Tags!

Name a fandom you know I know and I’ll tell you

1. The first character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don’t any longer
6. The character I would totally smooch
7. The character I’d want to be like
8. The character I’d slap
9. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise

Okay, I guess I'm off to a start here (since you know... I've ABSOLUTELY nothing to do while waiting for my hair to dry... -_-) 

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Funnily, this game never made an impact to me when I first played the game... It was with replaying that I had better understanding. And it was when I was researching on FF7 for "I Want to Be a Turk!" that I really fell in love with some characters. Namely Zack Fair and Reno. Everyone else are like... alright.

1. First character that I first fell in love with. Gee. I really don't remember with FF7. If I dare say, the first character that made me fall in love is probably Reno. And that's YEARS after I've started playing.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now. Once again, Reno. I didn't think much of the character... until I saw amazing HD hotness that was Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Heheh. Every Reno fan tells the same story.

The runner ups would be Rude and Cid Highwind. Their presence in the story is a quiet yet ass-kicking one.

3. Character that everyone loves that I don't. Sephiroth. He's so darn cool, but I seriously think he is cuckoo up there. Generally, I dislike villains. Except the Turks, they're cool.

4. Character that I love but everyone hates. No one. I think everyone hates Hojo, but I dislike him too.

5. There aren't any characters that I used to love but don’t any longer. Like I said, FF7 did not have that kind of fangirl thing on me.

6. Character that I would totally smooch? Reno. Hands down, Reno. 

7. The character I’d want to be like: Zack Fair. Sunny, strong, loyal. A close second would be Aerith Gainsborough.

8. The character I’d slap is either Cloud or Genesis. Cloud for the reason of not doing something to save Zack Fair. Genesis because seriously bro, what are you in the story for? The plot involving him was my least favourite part in Crisis Core, which is actually, the main storyline but well...


9. A pairing that I love: Zack and Aerith. I really think they were the most epic "What If?" pairing. 

I came to this conclusion when I was pondering about life's hardest decision between CloudxTifa and CloudxAerith. Both pairings would've been beautiful, but if I really had to choose, I'll choose CloudxTifa for the sheer reason that ZackxAerith is perfect.


10. A pairing that I despise: Vincent Valentine and Yuffie. I saw no chemistry in any of the FF7 games. Another one would be Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine. I mean, seriously???

There you go. Now I better make my time worthwhile by doing something productive.

Maybe do one more tag with the entire Final Fantasy fandom. Muahahaha.