Snippets/Teasers
(Whetting the appetite for more.)


Status Update 3/1/05

Since I don't have another place designated for this, I might as well put it here.  Be aware that there will be plot bunnies here that I may or may not ever get to, just so you know.   Not all of these are DBZ fics, just most of them.

Published Works in Progress.
Legacy -- Massively On Hold -- I kind of know where I am going with the fic but I have too many other projects with clearer directions in the works.
Plotting to Win -- Working on Chapter 5 currently titled "The Remains of the Day."  I've found another Beta for the story who I've actually shared where this thing is going.  So she is pestering me to put this one out, mostly so she can see how I plan on making the cliché work.
I Am -- Retitled "Aspects of Vegeta" -- Working on the Rewrite of Chapter 2 - Slave.  After that is complete, I will be outlining the rest of the story so that I can actually finish it.
Scars - On Hold -- Will be plotting out the story after "Plotting to Win" is completed.
The Hunter and the Housewife -- On hold -- Basically the Story is in the same boat as "Scars"
Changing Passions -- On Hold -- I have an ending in mind.  But that is about it.  Until the desire to write this one hits again, it will be on hold.
Journey of Illumination (Hikaru no Go) -- I really hate this title as soon as I think of something better it will be changing.  I am currently working on chapter 5.  Most of the Story is generally plotted out (meaning that I know sort of what will happen each chapter) I will be flipping back and forth between this one and "Plotting to Win" for the foreseeable future.
 

To explain a little better why some of the older stories are so on hold and I am instead focussing on newer fics, I feel the need to relate something.  When I started writing, I had an inspirational moment -- usually while sleeping or driving (pretty much the same thing) -- and the plot bunny would bite.  If I was sleeping, I would get up and start writing until I got out the scene or whatever that was plaguing me.  If I was driving, I played with the idea until I got to someplace where I could jot it down.  That is why I have so many fics started.  I can see the openings and many of the key events, but not the linking events and occasionally not the endings.  Also I don't have a very good idea of who or what will be making an appearance.

In writing, it is called flying by the seat of your pants.  And I don't like to do that.  It leads to writers block (which is really the result of poor planning) and it leads to shoddy writing (something I am trying to get out of.)  I've known writers who have misplaced entire characters because they didn't have an outline or a clear idea of what was going on.  I've also seen great stories turn into mediocre ones because the author didn't have an ending and tacked one on.  I want people to walk away from my fics with them wanting more but content with how things turned out.  I want to be a Yuu Watase and David Eddings not a Rumiko Takahashi and Laurel K. Hamilton.  I want to have tight stories with memorable characters and a readily identifiable plot rather than sweeping epics that don't know where they are going and write their characters into situations where they can't escape without acquiring some magnificent technique.

Whoa, that sounds a lot like DBZ!  Have you ever noticed that in every single one of my stories that I pretty much omit one of the major characters?  I don't write about Goku -- because he is one of those characters who got too powerful to exist.  He annoys me.  Anita Blake annoys me.  Ranma annoys me.  They all annoy me for the same reason, they all got too powerful too fast and the author had to write a way around the problem to get to the next big bad guy.  Repeat ad infinitum.  Another thing these authors do is they submit to the desires of their readers.  There is a reason why Goku got brought back to fight Buu instead of Gohan -- that whole story about the Zed sword, you got it, Gohan was supposed to defeat Buu but the public clamored for Goku.  Ranma getting perpetually stronger while deciding to marry Akane (eventually) that was the readers again.  And do you really think Anita would have gotten so strong and made it pretty much every nummy supernatural male in St. Louis, if LKH didn't have fans after her to do so?  So while I like DBZ, Ranma 1/2, and The Vampire Hunter Series I don't want my stories to be like them.

Which means a couple of things.  First off, all of my fics have definite endings with one exception.  Those aren't changing.  All of my pairings, if I have them, are set in stone.  They are integral to the plot.  I will not pair people together to make my readers happy.  I am not a review whore.  If I were, I would write CYOAs and Inu Yasha lemons or Bulma/Vegeta sweeping Epics.  I don't.  I write what I want to read.  Secondly, because I want a tight plot, I need to actually outline where I am going and how I am going to get there.

For example, "I Am" has nine chapters and one prologue poem.  Each chapter is an aspect of Vegeta's life as illustrated in the poem.  Now the first aspect is "Prince."  That wasn't a very long time in Vegeta's life.  From birth, until about age 5.  Then he became Freeza's slave, that lasted for about ten years until something in him snapped and he went psychotic.  And so on.  But the while I know generally what is happening in each chapter, I don't know my details.  Which is not a good thing.  So I am going back and filling them in.  "Plotting to Win" and "Journey of Illumination" I know what is happening in each chapter, I know what is going to end each chapter, and I know what needs to happen and who needs to say what.  That is a lot tighter than say "Scars" where I know that I want to tell the story about how Yamcha got his scars but I am not sure myself how they got there and until I figure that out, I am not going anywhere.

Now I mentioned the one exception, that is "Legacy."  I don't know where that one is going and I am okay with that.  "Legacy" is for me.  It along with "Who Wants to Live Forever" are mine.  They are my therapy for grief and depression related to that grief.  My other stories are for my readers and myself.  But those two are purely for me, I have shared them because I know that others have felt the same way.  But they are mine.  Okay, I think we are clear now.  If it sounds mean and conceited, then I don't know what to say.  But occasionally we need something for ourselves.  And if you have made it this far already, you obviously care about what I have to say.

Anyway, I am not giving up on any of my stories as of yet, I won't say that it won't happen.  Life happens sometimes, and things need to go on the back burner.  But I have no intention of leaving any of them incomplete.  I have a lot of other things going on that I feel the need to share and a few plot bunnies that may or may not get written.  So I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Other Projects in the Works  (These are stories I actually have text written on)
One Shots Multi-Chaptered/Long Fics

 
 
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