I'm sorry about this post being a day delayed. I had wanted to get Madness Within updated on Thursday, but I was struggling with a few personal things, so I had to make the decision to finish the chapter off on the Friday, thinking I would have plenty of time to get both the chapter done and the blog entry. However, the chapter ended up being waaaay longer than I had planned. It ended up being eight thousand words and fifteen pages long, probably the longest chapter I've ever written. There was just nothing that I could omit. So I ended up working until midnight, finishing up the chapter and editing it, leaving me with no time to finish my blog entry. I was exhausted by the time I was finished.
So this week was both productive and non-productive in terms of writing. It's been a weird, paradoxical week, but on the bright side, at least I didn't suffer another hindering depression episode. Which is surprising given the news I was given this week that I briefly mentioned at the end of the latest chapter of Madness Within. So yeah, I'm gonna quit beating around the bush and just come out and say it: it looks like my grandma might have Alzheimer's.
It was a pretty hard blow to stomach, but I had seen it coming for a long time as all the signs were there. But it still doesn't make receiving that potential news any easier. So I've been pretty distracted these last few days. Powering through and writing the latest chapter of Madness Within was difficult, but somehow I managed to pull it off. I just hope the quality of the chapter hasn't suffered as a result. But as always, you guys are the judge, and if you haven't already, you can check out the latest chapter by clicking here.
So yeah, unfortunately I have no idea how updating is going to be at the moment. My grandma is due to have a brain scan soon and no doubt there will be plenty of family drama to go with it because that's my family for ya. Fun fun fun.
If it is indeed Alzheimer's or something else serious, we're going to need to decide what happens next. My grandma lives on her own in the middle of nowhere, miles away from family. It's only me, my brother and my mum who try and help look after her and visit her, and we're the ones who live furthest away from her, so it's going to be really difficult. We struggle to keep an eye on her as it is, but the added worry of Alzheimer's is going to make things even more difficult. And my grandma is as stubborn as a rock, she refuses to move in with us or at least move closer because she doesn't want to leave my grandfather's grave behind. So some serious decisions are going to have to be made. Which means things are probably going to be very uncertain and stressful for a while.
However, on the bright side regarding Madness Within, before I received that bad news, I was on fire in terms of writing it and getting ideas down. I always plan my stories in advance, but often when I'm in the middle of writing the story, other ideas will start pouring in and I just have to try and squeeze them in or change things around slightly. Often when writing, I have a set straight line going from beginning, middle, to end, but then my progress goes all squiggly wiggly (that's the technical term) so my plans are far from neat and tidy. Before starting to write a chapter, I always have to spend a few hours trying to decipher my notes. The pictures I posted for The Story Behind Madness Within were the neatest and most coherent notes I could find that didn't contain spoilers.
For some reason I just kept getting ideas before I went to bed, or I'd wake up at three o'clock in the morning with an idea. Luckily, I always keep my notebook next to my bed for these situations. Speaking of my writing notebook, I'm in dire need of a new one. I only have a few pages left and I'll use those up pretty fast.
Also, while we're on the subject of Madness Within, can we take a moment to appreciate the hilarious review that XaoOfTheMists left me on the latest chapter?
I burst out laughing as soon as I saw this review. I'm not that bad am I? It does look like I'm becoming quite notorious for teasing readers. I can't help it though. I need to keep you guys coming back to read more, and what better way to do that than create loads of suspense? Anyway, joke's on them because this time it won't take three or four chapters! What can I say? I like to keep you all on your toes.
As for the productive yet unproductive elements of the week, some of you might have noticed that Friday has past and there's no sign of Chat Vert yet. That's because I've come to the decision to post-pone the story for now. I didn't get nearly as much work done on it as I would have liked this week due to random stuff that kept popping up and distracting me. On Wednesday I got talking with my boyfriend about the story and he confirmed something that I had been suspecting for a while: this story wasn't ready to be published.
It feels like Chat Vert is a story that doesn't have a soul yet. At the moment, it just feels like an empty skeleton with little life to it, if that makes sense? The structure and ideas are all there, it's just there isn't any finer details, any substance to really bring it to life and make it an enjoyable read that doesn't feel forced. You guys deserve better than work that doesn't feel right to me yet. For a while, there had been something in my gut telling me that this story wasn't ready and that it wasn't as good as I could make it. My boyfriend reiterating my exact thoughts finally made up my mind. It made me realise that it wasn't all in my head. There just really wasn't something right about this story yet. It didn't feel alive.
So for now, I think it's within that story's best interest that I hold off on uploading it. I'm still going to be working hard on it, trying to get it to the good quality that I know it could be. I do think that part of the problem is that I'm not used to writing lighthearted stories. So it feels weird to be writing a story that doesn't need that much detail. It's just a simple trope plot of Adrien being jealous of Marinette and Luka, which of course, causes drama to ensue. This was a story I really wanted to write because I feel like Adrien/Chat Noir never has to face any consequences for his behaviour. We've seen him get jealous and acting petty, but yet he never gets called out on it. So this was something I really wanted to tackle in Chat Vert. Seeing the episode Frozer only made me more determined to do this. It's about time Marinette got a chance to let her hair down for once while Adrien learns some harsh lessons about life and grows as a character.
I can't see the release of Chat Vert being delayed for too long though. I'm hoping that watching the season two finale of the show will help get me pumped up and inspire me. Because *eye twitches* I still haven't seen the episodes yet. I have no idea how some people are handling waiting for the Netflix release in December. You guys must have the patience of saints. I'm going crazy. Trying to avoid spoilers is proving to be especially difficult. Seen as I watch lots of Miraculous related content on YouTube, the site keeps throwing spoilers at me. Why do people have to include spoilers in thumbnails? It's really frustrating.
Despite not making that much good progress with Chat Vert, I have actually been making excellent progress with the re-write of Immortal Bond. I have been really struggling to come up with better ideas for the story and try and tie up all the lose ends and fill the plot holes. For some reason, I just became totally mentally blocked with that story. I had been staring at all my notes, praying to the writing gods that inspiration might just hit me out of nowhere.
And one night, it did.
I have no idea why I seem to get all of my ideas in the middle of the night. I was just sat minding my own business, pretty much ready to call it a night and head to bed when the idea just hit me out of nowhere: a solution to one of my plot holes. I instantly began scribbling it all down and that lead to another idea and then another and another and it all got tied together to finally fix a plot hole that had been really bugging me. Unfortunately I can't go into too much detail, as I don't want to spoil anything. But I breathed an epic sigh of relief once I had it all written down. I finally felt more confident about the story now that I knew it wasn't stuck in the mud forever. It could be saved.
I'm so excited to get this story fully fixed up and posted again. I really hope that you guys like the newer version. Starting a story again has worked exceptionally well for me in the past, so here's hoping that trend continues. I feel like I have a lot of high expectations to live up to seen as a lot of you seemed to be enjoying the original version so much. It was such a devastating shame when I realised I couldn't continue it as it is. Writing yourself into a corner is literally the worst.
As for my AO3 account, well I'm hoping to start becoming active on there very soon. I'm going to start cleaning up Destiny's Dance, and hopefully get that story posted on there. Though I'm a little worried about the reception given that this story was written before a lot of plot elements were revealed in season two. But I will also definitely be updating the cleaned up version onto fanfiction.net, hopefully getting rid of all of the glaring and irritating typos. I'll be doing the same with Madness Within too. I definitely want to get that story onto AO3 seen as it seems to be my most popular fic at the moment. Though that'll probably mean it won't receive any attention on AO3 knowing my luck. If my stories do get attention on there, it should be nice to see opinions from different people.
I'm also hoping to get around to start reading some fanfiction again soon. I haven't really been reading much lately because I've been too scared to browse in case I come across any spoilers. However, these past few weeks I have come across a few fanfictions that have caught my attention. I think my favourite one that I'm reading at the moment and that is currently in progress is Entropy by Mintacia.
So yeah, I definitely recommend checking that story out. It certainly is interesting and unique with plenty of cute moments. It's well written, despite a few typos dotted around, though what fanfic writer isn't guilty of that? *raises hand awkwardly* Maybe one day I'll post a perfect chapter first time around. Again, I promise that I do edit. I'm always amazing at zeroing in on errors in other's work, but mine, I always seem to miss at least one. Anyway, I am now desperately waiting for an update on that story. I'm certainly looking forward to see what happens next.
I hope that my updating doesn't become too affected by everything that's going on in my life, but just in case it does, I thought it would be best to explain now rather than disappear for a bit and only explain when I get back. I'm stuck in really uncertain times at the moment and it's really scary and frustrating.
Keep an eye out for my new or re-written work and I am hoping to try and update Madness Within more often if things don't get too bad for me. I'm super excited for everything I have in store for that story.
Also, hopefully I'll be able to be active on Tumblr again very soon. Because if I can't watch the English version of the season two finale within the next few days, I'm gonna cave and just watch the sub because I literally cannot wait any longer, and the longer I wait, the more I risk running into spoilers. I want to go into new episodes blind, but the internet is making that incredibly difficult for me.
I hope that you guys have a good week.
Pixie out.
So this week was both productive and non-productive in terms of writing. It's been a weird, paradoxical week, but on the bright side, at least I didn't suffer another hindering depression episode. Which is surprising given the news I was given this week that I briefly mentioned at the end of the latest chapter of Madness Within. So yeah, I'm gonna quit beating around the bush and just come out and say it: it looks like my grandma might have Alzheimer's.
It was a pretty hard blow to stomach, but I had seen it coming for a long time as all the signs were there. But it still doesn't make receiving that potential news any easier. So I've been pretty distracted these last few days. Powering through and writing the latest chapter of Madness Within was difficult, but somehow I managed to pull it off. I just hope the quality of the chapter hasn't suffered as a result. But as always, you guys are the judge, and if you haven't already, you can check out the latest chapter by clicking here.
So yeah, unfortunately I have no idea how updating is going to be at the moment. My grandma is due to have a brain scan soon and no doubt there will be plenty of family drama to go with it because that's my family for ya. Fun fun fun.
If it is indeed Alzheimer's or something else serious, we're going to need to decide what happens next. My grandma lives on her own in the middle of nowhere, miles away from family. It's only me, my brother and my mum who try and help look after her and visit her, and we're the ones who live furthest away from her, so it's going to be really difficult. We struggle to keep an eye on her as it is, but the added worry of Alzheimer's is going to make things even more difficult. And my grandma is as stubborn as a rock, she refuses to move in with us or at least move closer because she doesn't want to leave my grandfather's grave behind. So some serious decisions are going to have to be made. Which means things are probably going to be very uncertain and stressful for a while.
However, on the bright side regarding Madness Within, before I received that bad news, I was on fire in terms of writing it and getting ideas down. I always plan my stories in advance, but often when I'm in the middle of writing the story, other ideas will start pouring in and I just have to try and squeeze them in or change things around slightly. Often when writing, I have a set straight line going from beginning, middle, to end, but then my progress goes all squiggly wiggly (that's the technical term) so my plans are far from neat and tidy. Before starting to write a chapter, I always have to spend a few hours trying to decipher my notes. The pictures I posted for The Story Behind Madness Within were the neatest and most coherent notes I could find that didn't contain spoilers.
For some reason I just kept getting ideas before I went to bed, or I'd wake up at three o'clock in the morning with an idea. Luckily, I always keep my notebook next to my bed for these situations. Speaking of my writing notebook, I'm in dire need of a new one. I only have a few pages left and I'll use those up pretty fast.
 |
| My messy notes |
Also, while we're on the subject of Madness Within, can we take a moment to appreciate the hilarious review that XaoOfTheMists left me on the latest chapter?
"What does it mean? Dunno, but I'm sure we'll find out in three or four chapters XD"
I burst out laughing as soon as I saw this review. I'm not that bad am I? It does look like I'm becoming quite notorious for teasing readers. I can't help it though. I need to keep you guys coming back to read more, and what better way to do that than create loads of suspense? Anyway, joke's on them because this time it won't take three or four chapters! What can I say? I like to keep you all on your toes.
As for the productive yet unproductive elements of the week, some of you might have noticed that Friday has past and there's no sign of Chat Vert yet. That's because I've come to the decision to post-pone the story for now. I didn't get nearly as much work done on it as I would have liked this week due to random stuff that kept popping up and distracting me. On Wednesday I got talking with my boyfriend about the story and he confirmed something that I had been suspecting for a while: this story wasn't ready to be published.
It feels like Chat Vert is a story that doesn't have a soul yet. At the moment, it just feels like an empty skeleton with little life to it, if that makes sense? The structure and ideas are all there, it's just there isn't any finer details, any substance to really bring it to life and make it an enjoyable read that doesn't feel forced. You guys deserve better than work that doesn't feel right to me yet. For a while, there had been something in my gut telling me that this story wasn't ready and that it wasn't as good as I could make it. My boyfriend reiterating my exact thoughts finally made up my mind. It made me realise that it wasn't all in my head. There just really wasn't something right about this story yet. It didn't feel alive.
So for now, I think it's within that story's best interest that I hold off on uploading it. I'm still going to be working hard on it, trying to get it to the good quality that I know it could be. I do think that part of the problem is that I'm not used to writing lighthearted stories. So it feels weird to be writing a story that doesn't need that much detail. It's just a simple trope plot of Adrien being jealous of Marinette and Luka, which of course, causes drama to ensue. This was a story I really wanted to write because I feel like Adrien/Chat Noir never has to face any consequences for his behaviour. We've seen him get jealous and acting petty, but yet he never gets called out on it. So this was something I really wanted to tackle in Chat Vert. Seeing the episode Frozer only made me more determined to do this. It's about time Marinette got a chance to let her hair down for once while Adrien learns some harsh lessons about life and grows as a character.
I can't see the release of Chat Vert being delayed for too long though. I'm hoping that watching the season two finale of the show will help get me pumped up and inspire me. Because *eye twitches* I still haven't seen the episodes yet. I have no idea how some people are handling waiting for the Netflix release in December. You guys must have the patience of saints. I'm going crazy. Trying to avoid spoilers is proving to be especially difficult. Seen as I watch lots of Miraculous related content on YouTube, the site keeps throwing spoilers at me. Why do people have to include spoilers in thumbnails? It's really frustrating.
Despite not making that much good progress with Chat Vert, I have actually been making excellent progress with the re-write of Immortal Bond. I have been really struggling to come up with better ideas for the story and try and tie up all the lose ends and fill the plot holes. For some reason, I just became totally mentally blocked with that story. I had been staring at all my notes, praying to the writing gods that inspiration might just hit me out of nowhere.
And one night, it did.
I have no idea why I seem to get all of my ideas in the middle of the night. I was just sat minding my own business, pretty much ready to call it a night and head to bed when the idea just hit me out of nowhere: a solution to one of my plot holes. I instantly began scribbling it all down and that lead to another idea and then another and another and it all got tied together to finally fix a plot hole that had been really bugging me. Unfortunately I can't go into too much detail, as I don't want to spoil anything. But I breathed an epic sigh of relief once I had it all written down. I finally felt more confident about the story now that I knew it wasn't stuck in the mud forever. It could be saved.
I'm so excited to get this story fully fixed up and posted again. I really hope that you guys like the newer version. Starting a story again has worked exceptionally well for me in the past, so here's hoping that trend continues. I feel like I have a lot of high expectations to live up to seen as a lot of you seemed to be enjoying the original version so much. It was such a devastating shame when I realised I couldn't continue it as it is. Writing yourself into a corner is literally the worst.
As for my AO3 account, well I'm hoping to start becoming active on there very soon. I'm going to start cleaning up Destiny's Dance, and hopefully get that story posted on there. Though I'm a little worried about the reception given that this story was written before a lot of plot elements were revealed in season two. But I will also definitely be updating the cleaned up version onto fanfiction.net, hopefully getting rid of all of the glaring and irritating typos. I'll be doing the same with Madness Within too. I definitely want to get that story onto AO3 seen as it seems to be my most popular fic at the moment. Though that'll probably mean it won't receive any attention on AO3 knowing my luck. If my stories do get attention on there, it should be nice to see opinions from different people.
I'm also hoping to get around to start reading some fanfiction again soon. I haven't really been reading much lately because I've been too scared to browse in case I come across any spoilers. However, these past few weeks I have come across a few fanfictions that have caught my attention. I think my favourite one that I'm reading at the moment and that is currently in progress is Entropy by Mintacia.
" The headlines read, "MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG IS LADYBUG." Marinette had been hoping for a peaceful Sunday, but what she got instead was her world falling to chaos. On top of all that, Marinette also has to deal with Chat Noir, who seems even more dedicated in his mission to invade both her personal space and her heart."
So yeah, I definitely recommend checking that story out. It certainly is interesting and unique with plenty of cute moments. It's well written, despite a few typos dotted around, though what fanfic writer isn't guilty of that? *raises hand awkwardly* Maybe one day I'll post a perfect chapter first time around. Again, I promise that I do edit. I'm always amazing at zeroing in on errors in other's work, but mine, I always seem to miss at least one. Anyway, I am now desperately waiting for an update on that story. I'm certainly looking forward to see what happens next.
I hope that my updating doesn't become too affected by everything that's going on in my life, but just in case it does, I thought it would be best to explain now rather than disappear for a bit and only explain when I get back. I'm stuck in really uncertain times at the moment and it's really scary and frustrating.
Keep an eye out for my new or re-written work and I am hoping to try and update Madness Within more often if things don't get too bad for me. I'm super excited for everything I have in store for that story.
Also, hopefully I'll be able to be active on Tumblr again very soon. Because if I can't watch the English version of the season two finale within the next few days, I'm gonna cave and just watch the sub because I literally cannot wait any longer, and the longer I wait, the more I risk running into spoilers. I want to go into new episodes blind, but the internet is making that incredibly difficult for me.
I hope that you guys have a good week.
Pixie out.
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