Still Battling Logistics

I'm still trying to piece together the initial layout of the new story. It's ridiculous how long this is taking me. I'll spend 20 minutes trying to put one piece in place. But at least the puzzle is steadily coming together.
I'm not sure why this beginning feels so much more complicated than any of the other beginnings I've written. It's not like I have more characters than usual.
Maybe it's because a lot of thee action takes place before the story.

Actually, I think that is the reason.
My other stories have started out at the beginning.
But this story starts in the middle, and they have to figure out what happened during the first half.
Huh. What do you know. Writing this post helped me figure out why this is such a pain XD

Either way, I think I'm close to having everything on the board.

At least for the first draft.

Disney Grandmas

Disney has some awesome Grandmas.

Side Streets

I've always been fascinated by little pedestrian streets. There was one near my college, which leads all the way to the convention center. It was lined with cute cafés and stuff. And it had cute paving stones among other decorations.
I guess they feel less hectic because there aren't cars or traffic buzzing past outside.

Aligning the Logistics... or Something

I figured out why it's so hard to write this first part of my new story.
Usually at the beginning, I'm setting the scene, the characters, and the tone. Most of the complicated alignment of events and characters comes later.
But for this story it's the opposite. The characters have to come together early, and I can't figure out how that happens until I know the details of how they got there. It doesn't make sense for the girl to be there first if she's supposed to be all the way across the valley, for example.
Unless the guy was dramatically delayed. Which he was.
But now I've gotten a decent grip of who was where and why.
So, let's see how it goes from here.

I'm concerned about coming up with a name for my new story.
Which is weird, because I usually don't try too hard until I've finished all or most of my first draft. Which I am definitely not at yet. Until I actually write it, my idea of the story is so vague that I don't have a deep enough understanding to name it.
Though there are a couple exceptions where a title just came to me.
We'll see.

Fern Break

Even though Fern is my main character, I almost never write anything of hers. I wrote a litle about a year ago. And that was the first time in several years. Most of my Fern info is just in notes or pictures.
But that story I wrote last year is being expanded a bit. Writing Fern stuff is even more chill than writing my fanfic since no one else reads Fern stories XD
It is purely self-indulging, so it's fun.

I am stalling a little bit longer on a Fern story before I continue writing my new story. Which is kind of pointless, because I probably won't get any new ideas for my new story until I actually start writing. That's how it always is.

Something New!

Hey, I started working on that new story!
I wrote the first chapter a long looong time ago. Sometimes when I'm excited about a story idea, I'll write the beginning just to let out some of that excess energy and excitement.
So I went over that first chapter and tweaked it. But mostly I wanted to try to figure out what ideas I had back then.

So here we go! A whole new thing to start writing. I have no idea where to go next, but that's usually the case when I start off on a new journey.
I do at least know where the setting is now~ I'll be putting my time in Yosemite to some use. It starts in Wawona, where I spent the summer!


Wish me luck!

The Neglected Fanfiction

I knew when I restarted my Pokemon fanfiction that my updates would be sparse. Sometimes very sparse.
I said as much on the first chapter XD
But sometimes I feel bad that there are maybe only three or four updates a year. There's one reader who still loyally reads them. And I'm amazed. @_@ Thank you, reader.
Although I think it discourages new readers when they see how far between the edits are (Plus if they go back to try to read the original one, it is so old that it's remarkably bad).

I still think it's a fun break to write it.

(A commission from Skydrew on Deviantart)

I wonder how many people expect it to just fizzle out and die like so many fanfictions do @_@ But I am nothing if not persistent. I'll keep writing that thing, even if it's only four times a year XD

Reading Update

Got through a bunch more books~ Plenty of them were books on tape I listen to during my work commute.
As usual, I'm only mentioning the ones that are worth mentioning.
I finally finished several series I've been working on for years.

The Girl who Leapt Through Time
Quite different than the anime film. It was a short story, so it didn't go as deep into time travel as the anime did (there's also a live-action movie of it).


Jackie Faber
Whoo, I finally finished this series. I started this probably over a decade ago. Wow, I feel old. I quite like the first few books. Up through the Bloodhound one. After that, they get rather repetitive.
But I recommend the beginning of the series.
Although I find it awesome when I've actually visited places that these books go.


Cirque du Freak
Yeah, finally finished this series too. I still like the manga better XD

Pilgrims of the Wild
This is a true story about a guy who started out as a fur trapper, and ended up raising a couple baby beavers. He ended up changing his career to be writer so he could protect animals (like his beavers).
You don't normally think about what would happen if you have a beaver in the house. Let's just say that beavers are natural construction artists. And interior re-designers.

Wild Swans
Because I never look at the back of a book I'm reading, I thought this was a novel. Sometimes I'm kind of ruthless about fictional characters, and this was one of those times where I thought, "man that character is too far gone to have any more use."
Then I found out that this whole book is a true story. And I felt like a total ass.
It's amazing. The author writes about her grandmother, mother, and then herself in the times before and during the Chinese cultural revolution.
I learned a helluva lot. I definitely recommend it.

War of the Worlds
One of those classics you hear about all the time. I liked it! It was an interesting perspective.
Then Dad had me watch the movie, which was so freaking typical @_@

A Comedy of Terrors
A self-published ebook you can get from Amazon. I read about it on a blog, from someone who had posted an excellent query letter.
The writing was very witty and clever. But it was too much so. There was no breathing space, and some of it was so silly that I couldn't keep track. But overall, congrats!

Jason's Gold (And the sequel).
I've read a couple books by this author. So far I've been fascinated by all of them. He always has interesting subjects, and I feel like I'm learning through the course of the story, while I'm being entertained.
This book takes place during the last great gold rush, up in Alaska and the Yukon.
The best books are the ones that keep you interested and broaden your understanding. I want to read more from this guy!

Animals in Translation
This is a book by Temple Grandin. There's an amazing movie about her. You should watch it.
This book is about animal behavior, which is excellent for my job.
Did you know that albino animals genetically have weird behavior?
And that cows are afraid walking over striped ground because their vision makes it look like the stripes are actually pits they could step in?

Black Elk Speaks
An account of an American Indian's life. See the other side of the fight against Custer. You won't feel as sorry for him.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Hey, Hank wrote a book! I wrote some about it already.
It was pretty good too. I like books that have interesting messages, and this certainly did. Internet fame is a very new thing, and Hank is certainly experienced in writing about the pros and cons of it.
Some of the logistics were kind of awkward, like the hands of the Carls, but that kind of stuff is pretty easy to overlook.

The Overneath
This is a book of short stories by the guy who wrote The Last Unicorn. This is actually the first of his works I've read, even though I love that movie so much.
There are a couple short stories in here from The Last Unicorn world, about Schmendrick.


Temeraire
Hey, I finally finished the Temeraire books!
The first few were awesome.
I did have one big complaint. These books took place during the war against Napoleon. So throughout the books, Lawrence and Temeraire encounter and clash with Napoleon and his troops many times. But when Napoleon is finally caught, it's not even on screen? One moment they're battling and suddenly they have Napoleon as a prisoner. But you never see the actual moment happen.
Yeesh, way to let the air drop out of your sails.
And I wish that I could actually bring myself to care about Temeraire's hatchling...



Fast Food Nation
I haven't eaten much fast food since high school (since we watched Supersize Me, though I think that had problems of its own).
Now the only fast food I'll eat is In-n-Out since that's seems to be the only decent place.
If you eat fast food, read this book.

Clariel
It's a sort of side book from the Sabriel series. It's the origin story of someone who turns out to be a villain. It's hard to know what to make of it, since you know this girl will go on to be so much trouble. Although it's interesting to see how she's different, and how she tries to do the right thing when she's young.
I've read a couple books about a villain's back story. I think it's a fascinating idea. But I don't think it really works unless you have significant sympathy for the villain after they've actually become a villain.

Woodsong
If you've read the book Hatchet, this is by the same author. It's real stories of the author's life. He's done sled dog racing, and participated in the Idatarod. He's had some wild experiences. It's pretty amazing.

Braiding Sweetgrass
I already wrote a blog post about this book. It was lovely. I especially loved the first half. And the second half gave me a great idea for one of my stories!
It will make you feel connected to plants in a way you never guessed.
I really want to grow sweetgrass in my yard. I hope I can find some.

Bomb: The race to build and steal the world's most dangerous weapon
I like it when history books actually make an effort to be entertaining XD This one actually made me laugh. Plus I learned a lot.
My dad's a WWII nut, so I guess a bit of it has rubbed off on me.

Feel the Emotion

I've been listening to lots of books on tape on my way to work.
As much as I would love to take public transit, that's pretty much impossible.

It would take me at least four times longer to get there, which is not an option. Is there any group that's trying to improve our public transit? Because seriously, ours is so godawful. I want to join them.

Anyway, I'm getting distracted.
I listen to lots of books on tape during my commute. And it wasn't until today that I really started to think how different my involvement is in a story if I'm listening to it instead of reading it. I'd thought about it before, but never deeply.
When I'm reading, I get absorbed fully in the story. I get sucked into all of the action and emotion, especially during grand finales.
That is much less with books on tape, although good books on tape can get me very focused. Even if I were sitting alone in my room listening with rapt attention, I think it would still be a little less exciting for me.
And it is especially so in the car since some of me is always focused on the road. Plus I have to stop the story whenever I stop driving, whether or not I'm at an exciting part.

That being said, I'm not going to stop listening to books on tape XD
I've got a list 13 pages long of books I need to read, and I need to make some progress on it before I die.
I don't think I've read a really good new fantasy book in a long time. Crud. I should hunt one down, or I'll start to feel deprived.