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Below are the 7 most recent journal entries recorded in the "archchic" journal:
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10:19 pm
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Writing, like banging your head against the wall, feels teriffic mainly when you stop. -R. Walter
So, I always hate it when authors who I'm dying to read the next chapter by stop writing and put up lame excuses why they haven't done it yet... so...
On the bright side, an amazing thing happened... my artwork inspired an even better artist to do fanart of my story! *stars drift past my eyes in wonder* Please check out ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lillianclaire 's journal here to see her beautiful rendition of Gaara and Sakura in their wedding outfit!!
I first saw it at work, and I wanted to run around the office yelling to see what great art someone had drawn based on my story, but my coworkers are the opposite of geeky. They barely understand what anime IS, much less would get that I wrote fanfiction for a series! (architects are STUFFY non-geeks, I stand out like a sore thumb amongst them...)
Anyway, my apologies for keeping everyone waiting so long. :( I don't have any estimate for when I'll be able to post the next chapter, though I have high hopes for our vacation coming up. We're driving from DC to Indianapolis to go to the Formula 1 race, the US Grand Prix. We're buying a special adaptor to power the laptop through the 9+ hour drive there, so I want to get some quality writing time in on our trip! We leave in almost a month exactly, so if you're the frequent checking type (I am too) then around then would be good time to check back.
Current Mood:  sad
Tags: amoc, status
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01:47 am
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AMOC Timeline
In case anyone's curious, I've finally put together a rough timeline of what happens on what day in my story. Modeled after Kodu's story timeline, doing this has really helped me understand what's happening when. I also wish I'd done it earlier, because it's helped point out weird pacing mistakes I made, especially at the beginning. I think I knew, but didn't really realize, that I had all of the alliance proposal stuff happen in just one day. Bad Jenn...
Something else I've been thinking about as I talk the story over with my friend - the cast of Naruto is huge, and even the number of people I had wanted to have in the caravan to Suna was overwhelming, so I think I have to limit myself to just Sakura and Gaara's perspectives in the future. I've kinda been doing that already, but now at least I can move forward with that firmly in mind. I love the other three exchange members to death, but I don't think I can tell their story while also telling the story of Sakura and Gaara, it's just too overwhelming. I started this story with the idea that it would be good practice in writing a coherent storyline, and I'm certainly learning a lot! Like, start with a small cast of characters, and move forward with them as you feel comfortable.
Current Location: bed, writing on laptop...
Current Mood:  sleepy
Tags: amoc, timeline
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02:40 am
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AMOC wedding illustration
So.... I've been working on this in the time I'd usually be writing... I hope you don't hate me too much, it's put me waaaay behind in my story (I've thought about, but not actually started ch 10 at all) It's a scene that won't even occur in ch 10 either, but I'd reeeeally wanted to illustrate Sakura's dress, that way when the wedding does come around, I can point to this picture and say "See! He finds out about her chakra focus mark because of this dress!"
Current Mood: artistic
Tags: amoc, amoc artwork, research
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01:24 pm
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From the "What-The-Hell-Were-They-Thinking" department....
Ok... I normally would never remark on comments left for my story. I appreciate that people leave reviews, from detailed ones to the simple one line "rite mor!" type. However, I got a review today that I'm just like WTF? Someone actually left a signed review, saying "YAY, an update plus you finished the traveling (thank god) now the story can get good."
Ummm..... why the hell did you comment at all? Did you totally miss the point of all the previous chapters, did all that character development mean nothing? I mean, is that the kind of thing you say to an author if you like what they're writing? It's sort of like complimenting someone while you slap their face with a brick.
I think I'd prefer an outright flame to something so... backhandedly insulting. Grrrr.... Anyway.... letting go...
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  annoyed
Tags: amoc, reviews
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02:47 am
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Pistol-whipped by my own story…
Jenn: I just want to skip to Sunagakure!
Chapter 9: Hah! You wish loser, write me properly dammit!
Jenn: But I’m tired of traveling! I want to get to the good stuff!
Chapter 9: I DEMAND you write me, biotch! Stop slacking off!
Jenn: ~whimper~ ...jerk.
That's basically the conversation I had with the first act. But when I gave up on the idea of just skipping to Suna, things went great! I was DETERMINED for our little caravan to reach Suna by the end of this chapter, I'm tired of traveling! (I'm also tired of trying to find other ways of saying 'the caravan does *blah*') But yeah...as you can probably tell, this chapter felt like pulling teeth. I started it three times before getting something I was happy with. In other news, if I ever use the words – (adjective) orbs – to describe anyone’s eyes in this story, please just put a gun to my head and shoot me. It was a great descriptive phrase… the first HUNDRED times I read it…
Had to do some research to write this chapter too. I reread what my US Army Survival Manual had to say about desert survival again, and I watched a few documentaries on tv about the desert in general. One was Man vs Wild, where the guy got dropped into the middle of the Moab Desert in Utah, and had to find civilization. Learned a lot from that one too! (Some things I didn’t want to know either, like how peeing on your head covering to keep your head cool is a survival trick. EWWWWWW…)
Also had to research how chakra worked in the Narutoverse, and then somehow make up a way that Gaara’s would be different. Sakura, being a medical doctor, I think just has to be curious how Gaara copes without sleep, so I had to figure out a rationale of how that might be possible. The bit where Shukaku tries to devour her just came as a natural extension of that examination scene, and it occurred to me that it’d be really cool if it killed the medic when they tried to heal him. It isolates him from others, and makes another level where he never gets help from anyone, and has to rely only on himself. He doesn’t get hurt easily, but when he does it’s almost certainly by an extremely powerful foe, making the injuries worse. (And then Sakura can sweep in and save the day with her ‘leet medical skillz! Oh swoon! … all that crap about it being a useful technique takes second place to the FLUFF!! ;D)
I’ll probably go into it more later, but Sakura’s wondering if Gaara’s cells are being forced into accelerated division because that’s the downside of Tsunade’s technique – it shortens your life. If it is accelerated division then Gaara’s lifespan will be shorter, but if not, perhaps his lifespan will be extended because of the continuous renewal of his cells through an outside influence (if having a demon sealed inside you can be called “outside”.) We’ll see in later chapters :D
Finally, in a not really related way... No one should ever rave about the smell of cherry blossom (sakura) trees – I can tell you firsthand, the either don’t smell that much at all, or the REEK like something rancid. The ones planted around my workplace are the second type – walking to get lunch is almost a moot point. By the time you get to the place to eat, you’re not hungry anymore… The non-smelling ones are the type around my apartment complex. They look beautiful, but don’t smell like anything at all. I might go down to the Tidal Basin this weekend for the National Capital Cherry Blossom Festival, but it’s always amazingly crowded, which isn’t fun… If I find any cherry blossom tress that smell like something nice, I’ll be sure to amend my statement at top (but I doubt that will be the case.)
Current Location: bed, writing on laptop...
Current Mood: tired
Tags: amoc, desert survival, research
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03:25 am
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Cut scenes from Ch 9
So, I'm working away, though slowly, on Ch 9 of AMOC. I started and restarted three times before coming on a scene that felt right for the opening sequence, and it's 100% different than what's below. Here are the two previous openings, in all their unfleshed glory...
I've also realized I've done a bad job of communicating just who exactly is on this caravan trip. I've mentioned just a fraction of the people who I've been thinking were there, and as the journey chapters continue on into ch 9, I'm realizing I'll have to come to a decision. I can -
a)retcon previous chapters to more fully include all the characters,
b)revamp my own definition of just who was in this caravan to begin with, or
c)do nothing, and if they show up in the wedding ceremony later it might seem like they popped into existence.
Opinions are greatly appreciated!
Tags: amoc, cut scenes
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01:42 am
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Real Life vs. Fiction
In volume 12 of Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa says “Fiction brings salvation to characters in stories that would otherwise have no salvation at all.” Real life is nothing like stories, and I can tell you, I’ve had quite a storybook relationship. I met my now husband when I was 15 years old in high school, we started dating at 16, and have been together now going on 11 years. I love my husband, but unlike in stories, love is never enough to keep two people together. You also have to have friendship, patience, understanding, forgiveness, and sheer determination to take you through bad times. Perhaps I’m just showing my age, but I’ve found myself losing patience with stories written by authors that seem to have no understanding of the emotional depths of love. I hope to be able to turn my breadth of knowledge on life and love into a meaningful statement for Gaara and Sakura. If you ask me, What am I trying to say with my story? I think the answer might be something akin to “What makes two people to fall in love?” Followed closely by “What keeps two people together besides love?” In real life there’s no one to save you at the last minute, no one to magically sweep in and fix your problem, no one who will understand you more perfectly than you do yourself. Real life is gritty, dirty, ugly, and brutal. In real life failure is entirely possible, your dreams may never in fact come true, and even though you may have been taught in school that you can do anything you set your mind to, you actually can’t. That’s what real life is, but that’s also why I find Naruto so inspiring. The characters inspire me to be a better person, because real life has also taught me that you never know if you’re going to fail until you try. That sometimes, rarely, you really can understand someone else so perfectly it’s like you’re looking right into their soul. That life has beautiful, tender, warm, compassionate moments, waiting for you to find them. That there exists a love so great that it would give anything for the happiness of the other. Many kind people have commented on the fact that my story is so realistic, and I want to thank you all for that. I don’t really think so, but if it seems that way then I am succeeding so far. It’s probably just because I’m a decade older than most writers of fanfiction. Things will probably only get more realistic (read: brutal, sad, etc) as we go along, but… the top of the mountain looks twice as high when viewed from the lowest valley. As I think about the moments I want to explore in Gaara and Sakura’s lives I realize that it might take me years to write this story. At an average of a week per chapter, if you take a closer look at the aforementioned analogy, that just might be me standing at the bottom of the valley, looking up at the mountain of words and chapters to come in the future… I really did start writing this story with no intention of looking for even one comment. I would still keep writing new chapters even with no comments at all, because my motivation to write this story is not connected to my ego in that manner. (Like I said before, I hate it when authors say they won’t write more until they get X number of reviews. I mean, do they really need their ego stroked that much to resort to extortion?) To be honest I find comments at once euphoric and terrifying. Terrifying because now someone expects something of me, and I can only try and write better to meet that expectation. Euphoric because, for a reason I can’t quite identify yet, once I post a chapter I await the email notices saying a review has been submitted much the same way my dog sits at my heel waiting for table scraps – hungrily, greedily, delighted when one comes my way. I’ll try to keep my update schedule to an average of a week per chapter. Truthfully, I was trying to match Kudo and post my next chapter either right before or after hers, but the girl writes like some kind of muse has possessed her soul, and my more earthly non-possessed soul just can’t keep up. :D C’est la vie!
Current Mood:  thoughtful
Tags: amoc, life ramblings, story premise
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