slr2moons

 I had a freshly opened bag of Wether's Original butterscotch hard candy open, and a salad serving spoon, and my mask all ready for trick-or-treaters, but didn't have a single one. T.T I've lived in my condo now for 5 Halloweens, and only once have I had trick-or-treaters. I did a little dance of joy after their visit, two years ago now. I guess living in an industrial area on 3 sides doesn't lend itself to trick-or-treaters, especially when there are well-established neighborhoods a short drive away. I did hear kids' voices later that night, and ran to the front door to look for them through the peephole, but it was my neighbors across the hall coming home, with bags of candy. They went inside. 

Yes, I am disappointed. Oh well. I'm glad I bought candy that *I* like, at least. Since now I'll be eating all of it. Should last me until well into the new year.

In lighter news, this year I did not sign up for the Yuletide fanfic exchange, once again. But I am writing at least one treat for someone. (A "treat" in fanfiction exchange terms is a story you write for someone without drawing their name out of the virtual Santa hat as your secret recipient. It is completely voluntary.) If I finish the story in time for Christmas Day, great! If I'm late, no worries, I can post the finished story later and no one will be disappointed. Very low-pressure.

Have chosen the fandom, which I feel fine sharing here, as I'm not an official Yuletide participant the the odds of my upcoming treat's recipient seeing this are pretty much zero. It is for <i>Given</i>, one of the manga series I have lettered. A love story among the members of a four-man band. Two couples. :3 It's really well written and drawn, with excellent characterization. I am fortunate to have been able to work on this series, I must say. I ended up needing help to finish vol 3, and I gave vol 4 up entirely to a pinch-hitter because my work load at the time was exceedingly heavy, but I still count it as my series. Vols 1-4 are out now, and vol 5 should be arriving shortly. There is a vol 6 in Japan, but no word yet if it will be released here. I do hope it if is, I can letter it. The anime IS out on Crunchyroll, if you'd like to watch it. Here is a link to their first song performance, a very powerful and raw love song: Mafuyu's Song. 

I am still reviewing the manga, and will be watching the anime after. I hope I can write a wonderful story for the recipient to enjoy, and many other fans of the series, as well!! Everyone, wish me luck. C:

Does anyone know if Zoom write-ins are a thing? Please LMK!

Greetings, my flist!

It is now January 3rd, and Yuletide fic authors have been visible since the 1st. C: I am now free to talk about my fics! (Though everyone who came to my write-ins already knows what I wrote anyway. XD) Both my fics have been well-received by their fandoms. Most importantly, my two recipients enjoyed them, and that's how I "win" Yuletide! :D

First up, my assignment!

fandom: Megamind
title: How to Free Oneself of Persistent Mellon-Kolly
genre; ship; rating: Comedy; none; G
summary: Megamind is caught by Roxanne and Bernard in the museum, and the resulting fallout ends up leading to an explosion, swarming brain-bots, confessions, witty banter, delighted evil plotting, and three cups of hot coffee.
length: complete at 9,746 words
setting: goes AU during the museum catwalk scene

And second, my treat!

fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume's Book of Friends)
title: Repaired and Strengthened
genre; ship; rating: Drama; none; G
summary: The kitsune travels to see Natsume again, carrying a broken bowl and heavy heart. Natsume is happy to see him a third time, and even Nyanko-sensei is pleased. Ominously pleased.
length: complete at 7,433 words
setting: combination of anime and manga canon, anime: after third season, manga: after volume 6
disclaimer: Since I letter Natsume and want to keep things very clear, let me repeat my disclaimer here: This story is a work of fanfiction and has nothing to do with the original or licensed form of this manga in any way whatsoever. It's just for fun, folks!

Both fics were unique writing experiences. I've mentioned it before, but the Megamind story was extremely reliant on dialogue for the plot developments, which is something I've never done before. It was a challenge to make those three important conversations work--and to remember what I said where! ^^; The Natsume fic was contrastingly almost easy to write. The words just flowed from me, and not once was I stuck for plot. Turns out, Nyanko-sensei is his own version of "Suddenly, ninjas attack!" If I didn't know what to do, I just sicced Nyanko-sensei on the plot. And--JAN! Instant story! *laughs*

I'm thinking about my own year-in-review post, and New Years posts. I hope to do one tomorrow. We'll see. ^^

OMG you guys, I think I just caught my Yuletide assignment fic bunny. :D

Yuletide assignments went out Thursday morning, my time. I was pleased by my assignment! It will be my first non-manga or -anime posted fanfic. ^^V I was VERY happy to avoid one tricky potential recipient who I couldn't avoid due to character tweaks unless I completely un-offered the fandom. I kept my offers this year very limited (for me), only offering the 10 that I really really wanted to write. I chose to risk that trick potential assignment and did NOT delete that fandom from my offers, and my gamble paid off! (If I had ended up assigned to that recipient, I would have done my best to give them the fic they wanted. I'm not out to intentionally ruin anyone's Yuletide.)

My actual recipient's letter is quite good and helpful, and I'm using one of their suggestions as the starting point for my fic. I might be able to work two more in, as well! Woohoo!

The fandom is easy for me to review. This is new, and feels kinda weird. I mean, my three previous Yuletides, I was scrambling to read and take notes for multiple manga volumes! DOGS was 7 at the time, Ghost Hunt was 11, and World Trigger was ~42 chapters, which makes it around 5 volumes, I think. To have it so easy this year, canon-review wise, feels strange! I mean, I did offer a 27 volume manga series. ^^;;; If that had been my assignment, I'd have needed to skim and read only the relevant chapters. I keep meaning to reread the entire series near the end of the year so I can offer it properly, and write extra fics to give as treats to any requesters.

I hope I can keep my assignment under control. My previous Yuletide fics have all had major wordcount-creep. ^^; DOGS: 9k. Ghost Hunt: 12k. World Trigger: 19k. *wince* I've been plotting out a potential treat to write this year, in addition to my assignment, and I want to make it happen! (Treat fandom is a manga. Not Yuletide w/o some manga reading!)

Work is chugging along. The worst pages in Clay 26 are done, unless I've misjudged one. I already have the next chapter for Seraph to do. Thankfully it's due on Tuesday, rather than in 2 days as it has been since we caught up. Whew! My only concern is Voice 10. I wish I were further along in Voice.

Back to work for me! I decided to watch a scary movie in celebration of Halloween, since I'm not doing anything else for the holiday. "The Awakening", on Netflix. Yep, pretty suspenseful! (Suspense is always more frightening than gore. Give me Hitchcock over Romero any day.)

And let that bunny munch on its lettuce and parsnips in the back of my mind, so it can grow into a lovely story!!

29 – What is your current project or projects?

Oooh, I can talk about my WIPs! XD I've mentioned these before, but here they are again in a dedicated post! With more info than just titles. *wink* If anyone is interested in a particular story, feel free to say so!

In order of how quickly I estimate their first/next chapter will be posted...

( My WIPs, let me show you them! X3 Fandoms: Bleach, Honey & Clover, Lion King, Naruto, Skip Beat!, Snatch, Summer Wars, Transformers. )

There you go! My current to-write list, all of which have actual words except the Bleach and Transformers ones. ^^ I've had several bunnies for other things--more Naruto, HP, etc--but these are fics that should definitely happen.

Hopefully before I'm 40. Heh.

I should bookmark this post, so I can easily find it and cross each fic off when it goes up. :3

BTW, the current project I've mentioned but not listed is a long guest comic. Heeeeeeee. <3

27 – Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?

( My favorite place to write is at my desk, on Shetan--my PC tower. )

One of these days (most likely when Usagi dies), I'm going to buy myself a nice tablet and use that to write out in the wild. It will be bliss!! But I can't justify purchasing a tablet right now. Gotta be a good girl and spend less!

I missed yesterday because I was focusing on work. But here I am again! :D

25 – Music – Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain “mood” to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet?

I need it quiet. Sometimes I'll play instrumental-only music, like a movie soundtrack. The original Kenshin oav soundtrack is good for writing, as it's both catchy and easy to ignore. The Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks, though, are TOO catchy and distract me.

I don't understand the whole playlist or fan mix thing. If a fic has a soundtrack suggestion for each chapter, I ignore it. More often then not, I won't know the song or musician, anyway. Music never inspires me to write. Oh, it can inspire me to silly daydreams (hence why PotC is terrible for me to write to, particularly the 2nd film's), but not for fic plotting.

Or for any type of real concentration, for that matter. If I'm laying out a pic or storyboard--no music. If I'm dealing with a tricky FX or retouch for work--no music. And if I'm writing fic? Almost always no music.

I know plenty of other find music helps them be creative, but it's a distraction for me. ^^

23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?

I post in lots of places. In my early ficcing days, I posted to my LJ/DW, but with more interest given to my work and art here, these days I stick to ficcing in archives.

( AO3, FF.net, Lunaescence, and Skyehawke. )

I'm glad I can post to multiple archives, as that means if one goes (or I'm deleted...), the others are up for people to find. ^^ I also find it fascinating how each site has a favored fic. FFaaFR is ignored pretty much everywhere, except Luna, where it's bizarrely popular! The difference between the other favorite fics isn't as extreme, but none of them are front-runners for being a fave on the other sites. Crazy!

19 – When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?

Almost always the later. I have all sorts of papers and notebooks and random text files filled with fic notes. I really do control how much fic I write, and scribbling down notes is the best way to assuage the bunny and possibly even write an amazing story at some point in the future. ^^

Every so often I'll give in and immediately write, but it happens rarely. Only when the stars are in the proper alignment to provide the coming together of bunny, time to write it, and all-important energy to do so. And also the lack of guilt that I'm spending my creative energies on fanfic instead of art. Now that I've figured out I fic for fun, the guilt hits much less often. Yay!

17 – Titles – Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not?

What, no middle ground is possible for this answer, meme writer? :P

Titles are fine. Like the summary, they are usually rather easy for me, but some have given me trouble. It took me two days to settle on "Not as Nice as Me" for my Bleach fic. I ended up changing the title of my very first fanfic, "Distracting and a Great Bother" from "No Good Deed", because I liked DaaGB more. (Also there were several fics with that title on FF.net, but mine is the only DaaGB!) I try to have unique titles, for pride and practical reasons.

( More titles discussion. Apparently I felt like talking tonight... )