Yessir, this is what I mentioned in my latest AN! I am going to be joining this year's NaNo, just like I did last year, for those who don't remember. For those who don't know, NaNo's full title is NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel-Writing Month. Basically, you join the site (nanowrimo.org) and take their challenge, to write a 50,000 word novel during the month in November. You keep track of how much you write each day and stuff, and its really fun!
This will be my fourth year (and hopefully my fourth time winning, although for some reason the site says I didn't win last year; I think I forgot to submit my final score, or something). Last year I posted my NaNo on fictionpress as I finished each chapter, and I will be doing the same this year, so I really hope you guys check it out! My username on FictionPress is the same as it is here (www.fictionpress.com/~prinpardus) and there you can read my NaNo as I post each chapter. Fun stuff!
Now, this does mean that I won't be working on my fics, at least not for November! NaNoing is serious bizznizz, and takes up a lot of my time (especially since my personal goal for this year is 75k rather than 50k). So Chilled and the One-Shots and my PMD fic (which I promise I'm working on, it's just slow goin' xD) will all be put on the backburner to make room for my NaNo. I did the same thing last year, and it worked out great, so don't be scared that I'll completely forget about Chilled once December rolls around.
However (and I really hate to mention this, but I remember having trouble with this issue last year) don't think that just because I'm leaving Chilled for a month means that I don't need reviews. If you've ever stopped a project and then come back a long time later to finish it, you know that sometimes it's hard to get back into the swing of things. And that's when reviews really, really count; just knowing that you guys have stayed dedicated to the fic and reviewed even without expecting an update really, really makes me feel good, and when I feel good I can write like the wind (my fingers might even catch on fire, guys, seriously :O).
But since it's only October, I guess it's a little early to be talking about that. ANYWAY.
The real thing I wanted to ask was if you guys will help me out. I'm going to need some background characters for my NaNo, and I find it really hard to just poof up characters without creating intricate backstories and junk for the lot of them, even when it's not necessary. So I need you guys to make the background characters for me, so I don't feel those weird compulsions to make each and every character super important.
Obviously you can't make characters without knowing the basics of the story, so here you go:
It's about dogs. Yes, dogs. As you might have guessed from all my Warriors-related fics, I can write animals very well and very easily...but people are harder for me, mostly because I hate having to fuss about dumb stuff like what the character is wearing and what social group they fit into and all that. People are boring to write about. But after writing so much stuff about cats, I figured some change would be good, and I adore doglets. Plus, I already had a teeny tiny thing worked up that I did a couple years ago for a Creative Writing class. And thus this grand plot was born.
Our main character is a loyal doggy named Pancho. He was adopted as a wee puppy by the Sanchez family, and he loves them all dearly, but there is one person that he loves the most out of everyone in the whole world, and that is his 'Girl,' Bunny. When he joined the family, Bunny was like twelve or so, but now she's sixteen. And as such she's going through some scary changes and rearranging her life and thinking about - dear God - COLLEGE.
A few years back (like one. Or maybe two.) the neighbors son, Tim, moved away to college, leaving his dog, Jake, absolutely distraught. One of the 'warning signs' that Jake mentioned to Pancho at this time was Tim no longer riding the 'big-yellow-full-of-children-thing' (school bus) to wherever People went during the day, but rather his own car. So when Bunny turns sixteen and leaves one morning in her car rather than the bus, Pancho becomes a bit...distressed. He's terrified that Bunny will leave him too, and so he concocts a brilliant plan: he will follow her to wherever it is that she goes, and make sure she never ever disappears like Tim.
Unfortunately, Pancho is a dog. The dogs in this story will be anthropomorphized to some extent, but not nearly as much as the cats in the Warriors series, so unfortunately his thought process is a little...limited. Long story short, once Pancho actually manages to escape from his cozy home, he becomes incredibly, hopelessly, lost.
And then he is carried away into a wonderful (yet also terrifying) land of pack rivalries and bloodshed (much like Warriors, yay, everyone wins).
SO. There are three main packs in the series, the 'SS' pack (those are just the initials, the name is kinda long), the GG pack, and the RR pack. The SS pack is the main one, and the one that recruits Pancho (i.e. tries to help him get home but ultimately fails miserably because understanding People is HARD). They are allied with the GG pack. The RR pack is the 'evil' pack, and rather mysteriously so; not a whole lot is known about them.
I've got the SS pack full of amazing doggies, but I need more background-y characters for the GG & RR packs. They won't have a whole lot of lines or be of grave importance, but having them there to make the packs seem bigger would be really really helpful.
So. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to create some GG and RR characters for me. It's a very simple process. Simply fill out this form below, and PM it to my FFN account. I repeat, don't stick it in a review or anything, just PM it to me. If you don't have an FFN account, then you can leave it in a comment here, I guess. Or just make an FFN account, since it's really easy. xD
A few things:
* Submissions are ONLY for the GG and RR packs.
*Submit as many charries as you like for either pack, but keep in mind there's no guarantee I'll use all of 'em.
*Packs accept all breeds, sizes, etc. of dogs.
*No pure-breds allowed, since it's very unlikely that they would appear on the streets. Half-breeds and pure mutts are fine.
* Packs are usually led by a First and a Second (alpha and beta). Sometimes there will be two Firsts (the alpha pair), however in this story there will not be. Coyle is the First of the GG pack, and Djoser is the Second. The positions for the RR pack are unknown, but I assure you they are already taken. So please don't submit any First/Seconds to either pack.
*The positions in the pack are a bit weird. There are three main 'duties' in the pack; there are Soliders (usually large and powerful dogs, these are the ones that fight for the pack in battle), Scouts (usually thinner, more agile dogs, these conduct patrols around the territory and deliver messages to other packs), and Sentries (usually very small, very loud dogs, these sleep all day but stay up all night to keep guard. They bark very loudly/annoyingly if they smell intruders; it is their job to alert everyone to danger). So, choose a position that best fits your character when you submit him/her. Keep in mind that female Soldiers are a little rare, since female dogs are usually weaker than males.
*The GG pack are generally seen as being good. They're a little haughty and vain, but they openly oppose the RR pack. Their leader, Coyle, is kind of a shady dude, but their Second, Djoser, is a very warm, kind dog. GG dogs are usually a bit disdainful of others, but still very loyal.
*The RR pack is another matter entirely. No one knows for sure who leads it; the only thing that is known is that they are very violent and brutal, and have been known to wipe out entire packs to gain territory and power. They are almost universally reviled. Many of the RR pack are mentally/emotionally unstable, and most of them are also badly scarred because of almost constant battle (including quite a bit of infighting).
Now, for the form:
Name:
Gender:
Pack: (Just put GG or RR)
Duty: (Sentry/Soldier/Scout)
Appearance: (You can just list their breed here, like Husky mix, or you can go into detail, either is fine)
Personality: (Be as detailed as you like)
Other: (Misc. stuff, like kin or relationships or whatever)
That was all probably really scary and complex, and if so I'm sorry! Explaining stuff is hard. Still, I hope you got the gist of it, and I really look forward to your submissions, and I reaaally hope you read & review my NaNo during November.
Love you guys. <33
Monday, October 3, 2011
Crazy she-cats all over the place :O
Yay, update! This one was less chipper than I'd intended. Originally Blackpaw and Spiderpaw were going to bond and be all adorable (I was listening to some really relaxing music at the time) but it didn't quite work out (mostly because my brother came in and Dragon Ball Z'd up the whole place and it was awful and I was cranky and Spider kind of took matters into his own paws there). Oh well, got to see some Leopard/Shimmer acktionz, which is always nice.
Anyway! I'm in a really good mood now, so hopefully I can work a lot on the next chapter today and everything will be super-fantastico~!
@Silence: Aww, thank you! And we will most definitely see Chillpaw's reasons for choosing Sootpaw. It will be amazingly dramatic and everyone will gasp and I'll cackle a bit, and it'll be great! :D More seriously, Chilly has a couple different reasons, all of which are very carefully thought out (cuz he's a ponderer, that one).
@Sara Darkotter: Oh man, I know! I don't always mean for them to do so but they just love to hear themselves talk. If I ever do revisions of Chilled, I'll probably snip quite a bit of the inner chitchat right out. But for now, it all gets to stay. :
@Tangleflame: Aww, thank you! As for pairings, my lips are sealed. Usually. ^^
@Anonymous: Thanks to you, I can spell Anonymous without having to use spell-check! It is quite an accomplishment, I think. And I will definitely agree in that comparison; the only different is that Birchy's is the result of severe trauma, which is (hopefully) not what caused Luna's. xD As for your theory, care to share? I love reading fan theories. :3
@Lynxeye: Moonpaw loves giving everyone a chance, but it's true that she helps out the DF kitties quite a bit. I really hope I can deliver the awesomeness for the DF kitties' stories, but we'll have to see. As for pairings....*whistles* And I am sorry you're confused, but hopefully everything will become clear eventually. :3
@Insane: Thank you! I do have a thing for parallels. I'm kind of symmetry freak, I guess.
@Silverblossom: Ah, interesting you pointed out the ocean thing. Most of the cats that use the word (Northstar and Silverstar have prolly done so on occasion) call it that because that's what their Clans called it; it only seems natural that after living near it for so many years they would come up with a word for it (especially since the sun doesn't always go down in the ocean; it depends on which coast the cats are near. For all we know, the sun could rise on this coast.) that is slightly more sophisticated. Sootpaw would have gotten the word from hearing her mother describe it in the stories that Ravenwing told her when she was a kit. Basically, to the cats that live by the ocean, it's not such a big deal; the ocean should be little more than a giant lake to them, so they would come up with a simple word, like 'ocean,' to describe it. Also, it seems like a lot of people are calling SootxSage, which I find to be very interesting (it is because I mentioned that love-interests-have-green-eyes-thing, I wonder?). Blight knows he has kits, but he's not interested in them (mostly because they were raised by Minnow, who was too strong for him to break, and were always taught that Blight was all evil and stuffs; Sage and Swift don't feel too kindly towards him).
@The Last Clan: I've been trying to update as regularly as I can, glad you appreciate it. That would be an interesting outcome for the whole Moonpaw thingy, I agree. We'll have to see. ^^
@TheVioletGleek: Such long delicious reviews...lovely~ As I mentioned last time, Shimmer's lover isn't someone we've met yet (although all bets are off for the future, if she moves on to someone else....). And I'm glad you like Spiderpaw! I'm fond of him too, even if he is just a cranky furball. It's not so much that I enjoy killing main characters, but I just really really love writing death scenes, for some reason (delicious delicious tragedy!) and it just so happens that some of the very best death scenes to write star main characters (although minor charries are good too...like Cricketsong's death, for example. I really liked his). As for Ravenwing, it's interesting that you're thinking of her, because she hasn't done much so far. Right now, she's just hoping (very very) anxiously that Sootpaw will come home with Northy and that everything will be great. We know that's not the case, and it'll be interesting to see how she reacts when she finds Jay instead of Soot, but for now she's trying to be hopeful. And I would totally love to read your one-shot! Fan theories are the best theories. :3
@TheVioletGleekx2: Remember, Chilly is a very impartial judge; he tells it like it is, and most of the time emotions don't get in his way. If he says Shimmer is violent, then she definitely is; we've seen it a few times in the past, although she generally cloaks her behavior. Before Chilly's behavior, she really did enjoy her job and everything, but in more recent times she's starting to walk a darker path....
@Midnight Thorn: Thank you! And Chilly definitely has. It's kind of hard for me to remember sometimes that he's technically a full-grown cat, even though I still picture him as being kind of small and apprentice-y. xD
@Nightkill: I believe you're leaving out the most important pairing: SagexChill. Kidding aside, believe me when I tell you that the pairings will probably get worse from here. But we'll just have to wait and see.
@Dawnshine: Thank you!
@Your Worst Nightmare: I guess I love you too. :D
@Priceless: It's okay, I understand! Real life gets in the way of everything. As for writing a book, I am planning on writing my NaNo this November!
Speaking of which....
Anyway! I'm in a really good mood now, so hopefully I can work a lot on the next chapter today and everything will be super-fantastico~!
@Silence: Aww, thank you! And we will most definitely see Chillpaw's reasons for choosing Sootpaw. It will be amazingly dramatic and everyone will gasp and I'll cackle a bit, and it'll be great! :D More seriously, Chilly has a couple different reasons, all of which are very carefully thought out (cuz he's a ponderer, that one).
@Sara Darkotter: Oh man, I know! I don't always mean for them to do so but they just love to hear themselves talk. If I ever do revisions of Chilled, I'll probably snip quite a bit of the inner chitchat right out. But for now, it all gets to stay. :
@Tangleflame: Aww, thank you! As for pairings, my lips are sealed. Usually. ^^
@Anonymous: Thanks to you, I can spell Anonymous without having to use spell-check! It is quite an accomplishment, I think. And I will definitely agree in that comparison; the only different is that Birchy's is the result of severe trauma, which is (hopefully) not what caused Luna's. xD As for your theory, care to share? I love reading fan theories. :3
@Lynxeye: Moonpaw loves giving everyone a chance, but it's true that she helps out the DF kitties quite a bit. I really hope I can deliver the awesomeness for the DF kitties' stories, but we'll have to see. As for pairings....*whistles* And I am sorry you're confused, but hopefully everything will become clear eventually. :3
@Insane: Thank you! I do have a thing for parallels. I'm kind of symmetry freak, I guess.
@Silverblossom: Ah, interesting you pointed out the ocean thing. Most of the cats that use the word (Northstar and Silverstar have prolly done so on occasion) call it that because that's what their Clans called it; it only seems natural that after living near it for so many years they would come up with a word for it (especially since the sun doesn't always go down in the ocean; it depends on which coast the cats are near. For all we know, the sun could rise on this coast.) that is slightly more sophisticated. Sootpaw would have gotten the word from hearing her mother describe it in the stories that Ravenwing told her when she was a kit. Basically, to the cats that live by the ocean, it's not such a big deal; the ocean should be little more than a giant lake to them, so they would come up with a simple word, like 'ocean,' to describe it. Also, it seems like a lot of people are calling SootxSage, which I find to be very interesting (it is because I mentioned that love-interests-have-green-eyes-thing, I wonder?). Blight knows he has kits, but he's not interested in them (mostly because they were raised by Minnow, who was too strong for him to break, and were always taught that Blight was all evil and stuffs; Sage and Swift don't feel too kindly towards him).
@The Last Clan: I've been trying to update as regularly as I can, glad you appreciate it. That would be an interesting outcome for the whole Moonpaw thingy, I agree. We'll have to see. ^^
@TheVioletGleek: Such long delicious reviews...lovely~ As I mentioned last time, Shimmer's lover isn't someone we've met yet (although all bets are off for the future, if she moves on to someone else....). And I'm glad you like Spiderpaw! I'm fond of him too, even if he is just a cranky furball. It's not so much that I enjoy killing main characters, but I just really really love writing death scenes, for some reason (delicious delicious tragedy!) and it just so happens that some of the very best death scenes to write star main characters (although minor charries are good too...like Cricketsong's death, for example. I really liked his). As for Ravenwing, it's interesting that you're thinking of her, because she hasn't done much so far. Right now, she's just hoping (very very) anxiously that Sootpaw will come home with Northy and that everything will be great. We know that's not the case, and it'll be interesting to see how she reacts when she finds Jay instead of Soot, but for now she's trying to be hopeful. And I would totally love to read your one-shot! Fan theories are the best theories. :3
@TheVioletGleekx2: Remember, Chilly is a very impartial judge; he tells it like it is, and most of the time emotions don't get in his way. If he says Shimmer is violent, then she definitely is; we've seen it a few times in the past, although she generally cloaks her behavior. Before Chilly's behavior, she really did enjoy her job and everything, but in more recent times she's starting to walk a darker path....
@Midnight Thorn: Thank you! And Chilly definitely has. It's kind of hard for me to remember sometimes that he's technically a full-grown cat, even though I still picture him as being kind of small and apprentice-y. xD
@Nightkill: I believe you're leaving out the most important pairing: SagexChill. Kidding aside, believe me when I tell you that the pairings will probably get worse from here. But we'll just have to wait and see.
@Dawnshine: Thank you!
@Your Worst Nightmare: I guess I love you too. :D
@Priceless: It's okay, I understand! Real life gets in the way of everything. As for writing a book, I am planning on writing my NaNo this November!
Speaking of which....
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