White Rabbit

Starting November 1st, I will be attempting NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row. The past two years I have failed. This year, who knows? But I have one thing on my side--my older sister is doing NaNo as well, and hopefully that will help to encourage me to go further, faster than I ever have before. Here's to the old adage of Third Time's The Charm. Maybe I should name my novel that.

This year the genre is Dystopian/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Adventure. Can we get a one word genre for this? Nope? Okay. Well, it's going to be very cool, and I've drawn influence from a lot of different areas, including...the fifties! Should be good.

I don't know what's going on, but it seems like cabspace has disappeared from the net as a domain name. I can't access Kenshin, etc. or cabspace, and furhter, I can't even e-mail cabspace to inform them of my problem.

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I think I may have just lost all my Kenshin, etc. content, perhaps forever.

I really can't say how angry I am right now....

EDIT:
Great news!!! Cabspace has re-appeared! The first thing I'm doing, of course, is backing up all my files. No, I am not moving from cabspace. Yes, it was shitty what happened, but it's too much of a hassle. If it happens again, at least I'll have my files backed up and I can move the site to another server, but for now I'm sticking with cabspace.

This is my Ultra-Condensed-Story-in-a-Minute! This is an exercise in one of the NaNoWriMo forums at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

It actually helped me with my plot a LOT, if you can believe. I think putting everything in very simplistic, humorous terms made it easier to map out a plot. Not that I HAVE mapped out my plot completly.

Anyway....

It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Well, more like most stressful. Besdies being about 16,000 words behind schedule, my plot is basically nonexistant. Oh well, what's the harm in letting my characters gallivant about from here to page 100?

*shakes head* Oh well.
 
Here's a quick rundown on the (loosely-termed) novel I'm going to write:
Title: What Child Is This?
Characters: Donnie, Felix, Nima, Mr. Rousseau, Mrs. Bellamont, baby
Genre: suspense/genetic engineering. But you don't know that yet.
Setting: California Wine Country. Shut up, it's pretty there.


NOTES: Yeah, I know, it isn't making a whole lot of sense. I plan to add about 1,000 words worth of character development in there, just to create a nice little arch to play with later. But I feel like I have to move forward first, and introduce Nima.

Oh, and don't worry, Donnie annoys me too. I don't know why I decided she had to be so irritating, but hopefully she'll redeem herself soon.

I'm actually feeling more obsessive than nerdy. This happens every so often--I become utterly enthralled with new fanfics or my website. Today it's my website, Kenshin, etc. And by obsessive, I really mean obsessive. Once I do what I set out to do (whether it's moving the site or chaning the layout or adding new sections) I'll go back to normal. For now, though--OBSESSED.

Why do I get these phases? It's anyone's guess, really. My theory is that I stumble upon a website that inspires me--whether it's an HTML tutorial that gets me thinking, another RK site or, most recently, website review sites, I always end up thinking about my own site.

This time it's a combination of all three. First I found a nifty site that would review mine--sweet! But then I got worried that my site would suck WAY too bad and I'd get humiliated. So I looked over some new HTML tutorials, looked into some new stuff and learned some fancy new tricks. Still definately not up to where I want to be, but at least I know now how to make my site viewable in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Not that it is right now. Right now it only looks good to Mozilla users, and I know we are few and far between.

Which brings me to my next point. Layout. Mine sucks STILL, after a year (and a half?) of HTML self-teaching. And I realized this after visiting a lovely site called RK Network. One look and I was like--"damn! My site needs to look HALF as good as this one does!"
So I opened my long-ignored Open Canvas Trial and started messing around.

Finally I came up with what I now cherish as my new Dream Layout Design. Though I used exactly NONE of my original images, I still LOVE how it looks. Now I just need to actually figure out a way to have it as my layout...

Which is what I'm up to now. Yes, folks, Kenshin, etc. is getting YET ANOTHER make-over. This means lay-out change, coding changes, more content, etc. Now I know what you're thinking: "You're trying to get people to visit your site! How are you going to do that when you keep CHANGING it?"

Well...
Okay. So basically I keep changing the site because it keeps needing to be improved. And that's not going to change too soon, but hopefully these make-overs will get more spaced out as my skill with HTML grows.

BUT!

Don't take this to mean that Kenshin, etc. will be down for an extended period of time, because I intend to keep it up and running as much as I possibly can. So Mozilla users, please continue to visit! And anyone is ALWAYS welcome to send in contributions to the site, no matter if it's on hiatus or what. Contributions are always, always welcome!

I PROMISE that the OC pages will retain their same URLs, so no one will have to change their bookmarks/links for the third time. I also promise that soon Kenshin, etc. will be more beautiful and more functional than it's ever been.

Before I go, I would like to give a BIG thanks to Anithene who is a great friend and also a great help to me. Especially in my time of HTML need!

While traveling from Hakodate to Otaru (the Venice of Japan!) I constructed this new list of things I need to do:

1. Update Kenshin, etc. Finish all OC pages, add backlogged ones, pick a new spotlight and add the old alternate pairing pages.
2. Write Down the Road chapter 5
3. Finish If You Want Rainbows

Also, over the course of months (perhaps a year) I will be doing these things:

1. Writing a prequel to the Homeward Traveler series
2. Re-writing Steps of Courage. Again.
3. Re-writing Walking on Mirrors. Lots of changes.
4. Re-writing Entropy's Forsaken Crusade. Also, renaming Entropy's Forsaken Crusade.
5. Finish Forever Wandering Part Two (and three).

It should come in this order, but I may update Forever Wandering before I finish re-writing the rest of the series. I am definately going to start on that prequel fairly soon.

In related news: I am a fanficiton pyro seeking help. I go to group meetings and everything! I think I'm probably cured, as I don't really dish out harsh criticism anymore (criticism, yes, definately, but I know how to sugar-coat it, which may sound bad, but really, it's the only way to get people to try and improve.) Plus, I've divised very simple tactics when people flame me. (Which I still get a really big kick out of. I know, I'm sorry...)

So either I'm becoming more tolerant or people are getting less worse. I mean, just plain better.
Or maybe I'm just alltogether ignoring the really horrible stories...

I think it's stupid how people look down on OCs. If they are well-developed and are in a plausible, and most of all, enjoyable story, who cares? I especially like villain OCs. And by that I do not mean 'girl-assassin-wants-revenge-on-Kenshin' OCs. I mean villains. Good ones. Ones with elaborate and impossible schemes for victory and revenge.

Mary-Sues are of the utmost annoyance, if you are speaking about actual Mary-Sues. Now just a few minutes ago, I stumbled on the truth of this matter. The difference between OCs and Mary-Sues is not whether the OC falls in love with a Canon character. It is not if the OC is underdeveloped, though usually that is a side-effect. What really marks the difference between and original character and a straight-on Mary-Sue is the origin of the story, not the character itself. If the story is being written to satisfy the author's fantasy of being in RK-land, then you've got a Mary-Sue on your hands. If the story is being written as a story, for characterization, for plot, for humor, whatever, then that is an Original Character taking part in an actual fanfiction. At least, that's my opinion. I think it rather solves the debate between OCs and Mary-Sues.

In that sense, Mary-Sues are just about THE most annoying maladies to plague the fanfiction world. OCs, however, are fun to deal with.

Usashi's Five-star Author-popularity scale! For the Rurouni Kenshin fandom.

Note: This has nothing to do with the skill of said author. Just how many people know about her. Or him.

One star--You have written up to three fanfictions, none of which have very much popularity at all.

Two Stars--You've written a good few fanfics, but can't seem to hit your stride in terms of reviews and popularity. You get up to five or six reviews per chapter, which is enough to keep you happy. (Hopefully!)

Three stars--At least one of your fanfic is just rolling in reviews. Someone has said they were honored or surprised to get a review from you because of your popularity.

Four stars--You are fairly legendary and have written more than one fanfic that people seem to simply adore. Most people have heard of you and are delighted when you read their fanfics.

Five stars--You practically define the fandom of Rurouni Kenshin. Pretty much everyone knows of you or a fanfic you've written. You're like Linay or dementedchris. When people get reviews from you, they pee on themselves. Or implode. Oh my, are you reading my humble little journal? *blush blush*

Yeah, I'd rate myself as about a three. I have one fic with 360 reviews (granted, it's 23 chapters long!) and people have told me before that they were surprised to get a review from me (NOT because I'm lazy!)

The Top Three Places I Get My Fic Ideas:

Number one, and this one has been the setting of some of my most fantastic inspiration: Math Class.

Number two, while brushing my teeth.

And finally, number three which probably applies to everyone: Right before I go to sleep.