My Current Position...

I would like to share with anyone curious as to why I have had such a long absense.

Of course, there are many reasons. The biggest is the fact that my first quarter as a college student was full of papers, assignments, finals, grades...and let's face it...a new social lifestyle. Sort of sucked all the spare time I had for writing out of my life.

But there was another underlying problem that I was finally able to express while having an AIM conversation with a friend of mine (also a fanfiction writer)

I wanted to put parts of it here by means of an explanation to my total story drought:

***

ME: and I hate giving myself credit...but I have this feeling...that if i could actually write out my twilight fics...I could be another epic author
ME: but I just can't seem to write it all out
ME: if I could just write out all my ideas, they'd pwn the fandoms...but I just have a block
ME: Grrrrrrrr
FRIEND: Argh to the writer block
...
ME: you know what my big problem right now is? I can't settle on a style
ME: I'm having trouble balancing dialogue with details and narrative
ME: which makes it hard to write anything, 'cause it can't flow if I don't know how I want it to sound
FRIEND: yah.. I just write. lol
FRIEND: I dont really care
FRIEND: lol :]
ME: I can't do pure dialogue....but my primarily detailed fics seem...long and dragging
ME: I can't find a good balance right now
FRIEND:Just write..
FRIEND: It will work out, you are a great writer
ME: lol, I'm only good because I plan the s*** out. The draw back to that though is that if I can't set down plans, I can't write it out....
ME: *sigh* The only thing to do, of course, is to just to do it...
ME: ...just starting writing

***

So despite my current fears...I will be heading my own advice. And will just start writing.

I have three weeks before my Winter break is over and college life will once again be Priority One. Ideally, I would have a story done...or at least half. But...lol...one step at a time, yes.

Bear with me everyone...the fics are coming...I promise.

Almost Ready...

It's the end of the third week of classes...and yet there is still no new writings from me.

YET!

Thankfully, the new episode of Danny Phantom gave me the boost I needed to come up with a one shot story that has gotten my muse back. Writer's block is NOT fun, so I'm doing whatever writing I can to try to get past it. I'm hoping to get that up before Halloween. I HOPE.

As for my other projects: The sequel to Uncovering Wes has actually become Part 2 of what I now call the Wes Ring Trilogy, lol. And my stuff for Twilight is still progressing, though it is not much of a priority as there is a lot to get through and I'm in no hurry.

The strories are coming, I promise!

I Miss The Fics!

Once again, another very long awaited post.

UCLA has proven to be everything I expected college to be and more...one of the concepts being the lack of time I have to spend on my fan fiction. It really sucks and I miss writing like terrible.
What I have decided to do is try to devote at least an hour each day to seriously sitting down and working on my stories. So many are stuck in the middle, the early stages, or are still ideas that have yet to be expanded on and I really want to change that.

Here is where some of my current projects stand:

Danny Phantom: The sequel to 'Uncovering Wes' has a name and about a page written down...but I've got a long way to go before I let it loose. There are two more also on hold, one that is at least 75% done, so I may be working on that as well as the 'Wes' sequel.

Twilight: Luckily for me, the release of 'New Moon' did not seriously alter any ideas I have for my fics. A bit of a continuity rift, but it was easily taken care of. Not only do I have titles, summaries, and outline for the two, but they are being written at the same time. They're sort of like twin sisters- one fighting the other for my attention and care. There's a least 2 or 3 chapters written for each of them...but I've got a lot more still planned. Each of them is planned to be around 20 chapters long...yeah...see what I mean?! It's my most ambitious project- it will most likely take the longest.

'Pirates' and Avatar: Both have little one-shot ideas...both are not officially started.


In the end, its like I say in my profile at FanFiction: Long waits between stories over long waits between updates.

I promise to do as much as I can in the coming month. I want SOMETHING up before or around Halloween...even if that calls for a cookie-cutter story. I need to get my creative writing back before I loose it!

Just bear with me as I bear with myself. I WILL try hard to publish something as quickly as I can.

Oh Where, Oh Where, Could I Be?

Hello all.

Yes, I know it's been such a long time without any updates about...well...anything!

The main reason for this is that since July 31st, I have been starting my life at UCLA.
I am taking summer classes (this is my second week) and although there is only two classes (English and Political Science) they both demand a considerable amount of my attention. And as a college student, there are lots of social events that I am either required to go to or I go because, hey! It's College! :P

BUT! I have still been working on a few things. The response to Uncovering Wes was so favorable that I have decided to do a sequel. And if things go well there, I have a third piece in mind as well. I also have two more DP fics started and my story for Twilight has finally been seeing some progress.

As far as updates and/or new stories go- I will have the sequel to Uncovering Wes up as soon as I have the chance to finish and upload it. I'm thinking maybe this weekend but take that info with a grain of salt. Everything else doesn't really have an ETA, but if anything does come up, it will be reflected here.

With that said, I'm off for dinner and after that a study group. When I'm back in my dorm, I'll try getting some work done on my next project. Hopefully, I'll reach the point where I can balance my fan fic writings with college...HOPEFULLY.

Uncovering Wes

Fandom: Danny Phantom
Date Posted on FanFiction: Tuesday, July 25th, 1:09 am

Title: Uncovering Wes
Summary: "Who the heck is Wes?" One little ring is about to tell Sam the truth...

Genre: General/Drama/Romance
Point of View: Sam in the Third Person
Pairing(s): One-sided D/S. All from Sam's PoV, and really it's very vague and mild
Rating: G (or K on the FanFiction scale)
Length: One-Shot (3,024 words)


Behind the Scenes:

• Sam cleaning her room was not in my original plan. Originally, Danny had asked to see the ring again, causing her a frantic, question filled search, before finding the little devil. But it seemed a little forced- I wanted Sam to re-discover the ring without any prompting, so instead of messing up her room in a search, I made her find the ring during a cleaning.
  
• The flashback to the actually episode (from Sam's PoV, of course) was a nessacary evil. It provided me a lot of room to put in the facts (how Sam got the ring, how it was given to her) and put in her feelings about it as well (it easily transitions into a quick overview of how she feels about Danny).
  
• I didn't add the plot line of Tucker and Danny coming over for a movie until Mrs. Manson came into the story. As I was writing her dialogue, it just came from her mouth to the story. ;)
  
• I'm not all that sure that Sam does have a bedside table! lol. I can't remember seeing one. But for my story she does!
  
• Also, I said Mr. Manson is from Yale because...actually...because it was the first Ivy League school that popped into my head! Hopefully they really do get rings, because if not, there goes that!

Deleted Scenes:

• I got about 4 sentences into writing Sam's PoV of Danny giving Valerie the ring in this story before I decided it was too much. I may have to write it on its own if it pops up again though!
  
• I did have one paragraph written of Danny and Tucker finally arriving at Sam's, and Danny noticing the ring...but again, felt that that does much better on its own.

Making it Work:

First off, I want to say that as you read my stories, you'll see that for me, details are key. I don't write stories that say "She looked at the sky." My stories say "With a feeling of peace she raised her eyes skyward, letting the wind touch her face." I LOVE details- too much really. They'll be the death of me, I just know it.
I mention this because even though I bill this as a one-shot fic, it is a bit on the longer side, chock full of detail, description, and emotion...

The hardest thing about this whole story was trying to settle on Sam's sluething skills. I knew I couldn't keep her confused about the ring for the entire story, because that would get boring and wouldn't lead to any resolution. But I didn't want her to pick up the ring and suddenly know what it really meant. She needed to work it out for herself- not so fast that it became unbelievable, nor too slow to put the reader to sleep. That's why I gave her time to requestion the ring, remember the night she first got it, and more time to think fully on it.

I also needed to find a balance between Sam's emotions. She needed to go through a lot- shock over finding out the truth, anger that Danny had been so clueless about it, and finally a feeling of peace at the end. Too much of anything would have thrown the story off kilter, so hopefully I did it in a way that is both believeable and easy to understand.

Lastly, I had the hardest time picking an ending. Once I trashed the idea of bringing in Danny, I wanted an ending that left Sam in a state of calm resignation to the truth. So what I did was bring it full circle with Sam walking through each part of the ring's history and explaining it in a way that would explain things to her. The five paragraphs before the last two do just that- it justifys not only her feelings, but even eases the pressure off Danny a bit. And it does give us that all to rare glimpse into her true hopes about her and Danny.

But I knew that I wanted Sam to have the final word in the story. I didn't want her to be sad, nor did I want her full of hope. So I decided on that passive-agressive tone of hers as she says something that (I hope!) leaves the reader satisfied. I think I hit it pretty well- I worked on dozens of re-wordings before choosing the one in the story.

Overall: I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. Its not a chapter story, but a long-one-shot (oxymoron!)...and it is way longer than I had originally guessed it would be, which to me is good, I like longer stories. It's a pleasant start to my new writings. On a 1 to 10 scale with 1o being best...I think it earns itself a healthy 7 at least.

Of course it is the reviewers that have the final say... :D

Status Report

Current Projects Started: One for Twilight, Three for Danny Phantom

Current Ideas Sitting Patiently in the Outbox: Seven for Danny Phantom, One for Harry Potter, One for Twilight, One for Pirates of the Carribean

Amount of Time to Write It All: Slowly coming to a close

My current condition: Frazzled!

-:-:-:-:-:-

The good news is that I think I am almost done with one of my Danny Phantom one-shots.
I say I "think I am" because when I opened it up again today for the first time in three days, I ended up reformatting the whole story! I think it's much better now, though, and it feels almost done.

Once it's done for sure, I'll publish all the info here right away, then publish it on FanFiction.
I don't want to set myself a deadline, because I never really meet them, but I'll say sometime before or on Wednesday, it should be there...*crosses fingers*...

Twilight Calling

Last night was a night that was centered ONLY around my fan fic for 'Twilight.'

For those of you who don't know, Twilight is a novel written by Stephanie Meyer. It centers around a girl named Bella Swan and her relationship with a boy named Edward Cullen. It seems like you're everyday girl-meets-boy story...except that this 'boy' is really a vampire.

It truly is an exceptional story. And let me tell you, it took me awhile to even buy the book at first- I never was a fan of "monster-stories" where vampires, werewolves, and the like were involved and was a skeptic....but Twilight is so much more than that. Apart from it's romance, there is plenty of drama, suspense, and mystery.

If you haven't yet, you MUST go pick up a copy. And after that, you'll need to read it's sequel, New Moon (out in Sept. 2006). Besides...how will you ever be able to understand my fic for the fandom if you don't read the book? ;)

-:-:-:-:-

Anyways, now that I'm done with that *pimpage* of the book, here's how the fan fic for it stands right now:

I was able to plot out all 20 chapters. I know exactly what is supposed to happen and when...and even what is going to be saved for it's sequel- that's right, I've even got it's sequel in mind.

I currently have started in on Chapter's 1, 4, 9, 10, and 13. And don't be alarmed by that- I usually write my fics as the ideas come, making the actual writing of the chapters done in an out-of-order fashion.

I also finally selected a title and decided on a summary, as well as a few other key character facts. Unfortunately, because this is my most ambitious project, I'm keeping most of these details under-wraps until it's actually published...and alright...because it's a competative fandom (in my opinion anyway) I don't want my idea taken (as of this post, there is still no fic like it).

-:-:-:-:-

I'll be now writing on four different stories at once, each with different genres, tones, and styles. A lack of an update on their progress may mean its going too well to stop and will hopefully NOT mean I hit more writers block (which reared it's head for a moment last night until I beat it off with some music to keep the juices flowing).

As always, you'll know whenever something has a break through.
Until next time...

Not one, not two, but THREE

It was quite a productive night/early morning. I wrote for about three hours and was able to produce:

• A chapter outline for the story currently referred to as "Origins." As of right now, it is 13 chapters long, but it will most likely go up- depending on when I decide to stop the story (right now it ends up going all the way into Mystery Meat.)
  
• Three pages of a one-shot about Sam and her "Wes-ring."
  
• Another one-shot was also started last night - currently titled "Two Sides to a Broken Heart."

I really did surprise myself about that second one-shot. It came literally out of no where, but that's making it more fun to write!

All three stories are for Danny Phantom, although I have begun the process of going through my notes on my 'Twilight' fic and hope to make some progress on that in the next few days.

First Post

Hello everyone!

Well, this is going to be my OFFICIAL (oooh, official!) blog for everything, and I mean everything, that has to do with my writings on FanFiction.net .

Here is where you can find:

• Updates on 'In Progress' fics
• Explanations on my writings
• Places to contribute your suggestions/answers to anything I may ask for
• Any new ideas I may want some input on

And...just maybe...another place where you can just get to know me.

Anytime any sort of progress is made in my stories, you can find it here. I'll also be able to cut down on any author's notes by simply leaving any background story here, instead of in countless paragraphs at the start of a chapter. And it will be able to give you an explanation whenever you feel a story is taking too long to be updated.

In the upcomming weeks, expect to begin seeing a few posts here and there...the stories are begining to take flight and I can't wait to get started!