Just posted the newest chapter, and also realized that I was dumb and answered some reviews early, leaving only Lynxeye's to be responded too. What a dolt, right? That's what happens when I procrastinate with the blog, I s'pose. xD
@Lynxeye: Great to see you, as always. I guess you're on winter break now, right? I'm off for like a whole month, it's amazing. Anyway, it's fantastic that you're all caught up! Koulder's rise is probably one of my favorite twists as well (although there are plenty to come, of course). He's a bit like Lion, in that he's likable (at first, at least) and pitiable and really deserves some nice cuddling, but circumstances have forced him into an awful position, and made him a bit of a sketchy character in the process. I'm excited to continue on with his character arc. Riven's chapters are honestly some of the most fun to write, if only because he's such a colossal twat. Really, I'm sympathetic to most of my characters, but I have been waiting for him to get smacked down since Day One (even in this little scrap thing I did before I ever started writing the actual story). It's been just as satisfying as I had hoped!
Good note on the length of the timeskips increasing. It's difficult to say exactly where we are in the story - I always have the beginning and endings firmly mapped out when I start something, but the middle is a bit in the air sometimes, although I obviously know the basic form every character's arc will take - so pinning down a definite length is difficult (honestly, that's something that really bothers me about my style; I can never map things out ahead of time without getting bored, so the middle's always a convoluted mess ripe for revision). I can say that the beginning, ending, and this point in the middle - wherein the stakes are raised for each character, as their behaviors have been shown to shift and they are starting to become who they will be in adulthood, provided they make it that far - is very important too. Every one of them has a decision to make, and the results of their decisions will not only lead to them crashing together, but also sen them tumbling on their way towards whatever their endgames are. Exciting stuff!
(That is probably not at all a good reply, sorry! It's the best I can do at 2am. xD).
Anyway, I think that's all - again, sorry for replying to some of the reviews early, haha. See you next Sunday! Hope you all have splendid Christmases as well. :)
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
12 & 13 & 14
Whoops! It's been awhile. Sorry for not doing blog updates for awhile; just haven't thought about it much, since there haven't been too many reviews or anything. Anyway, I posted 14: Resentment earlier, so here we go!
Since it's pretty much the same people reviewing each chapter, I'll just lump the responses together. :P
@Bookworm: Riven's a bit hard to feel sorry for, yeah. He's had this coming for awhile. And yes, Holly's a sweet pea. :)
@Pain: Yep! Koulder's moment of triumph, so to speak. The turning point in his character. Exciting stuff! Certainly can't blame him, after all he's been through - although Sprite's handling of the situation probably wasn't the best. As for Holly (and any other character in the story, haha) paranoia is probably wise. ;)
@Swyfte: Ouch, that's cold. What about Toma? He's a nice guy. Grint's pretty affable. We've hardly seen anything of Skadder, Cettel, or Iole. And what about poor lil Mote? As for pronunciation, my word isn't really law (I have a habit of pronouncing names weirdly) but I say Reyes like rays. Waire is kinda weird; it's like wares and wire mixed together. Kinda has a drawl to it, I guess. And yup, like I said, "feo" is "ugly" in Spanish. Not intentional, haha, but funny. And yes, Holly/Trick friendship! Lord knows Trick could use a positive influence in her eyes. Nice use of "craven," also. Fable is a pretty cool name, I agree. It seemed fitting for someone who would name their daughter "Sprite," though, doncha think? And it pairs nicely with someone else's name, so that's always good. c: Musk vs Sage would be muy excellente (I think that's Spanish, who knows?). If they're connected at all, we'll certainly find out. Yeah, I kinda felt that way (the Hunger Games relation, that is) awhile after I decided it, but they do need some way of signaling that someone's died, to make sure they don't kill too many out there. Just the right number of poor dead foxes. :P
@Guest (It sounds like Pain, but I dunno 4 sho so I'll stick this review separately): I think it's good to commend Faun for standing up to Riven - like Toma said, there's nothing wrong with that at all. But kicking him while he's down - so to speak - isn't cool. That's Toma's main problem with the Skulk, actually; they're so hellbent on proving themselves and their strength that they put violence over any semblance of honor/loyalty, which means that the trainees are constantly against one another to the point where they'll hoping the others will die so they will be spared. It's rather problematic, since they're supposed to just play nice and pretend like they're all buddy-buddy once their on their way home. Not really a good system for creating a close-knit community - but what can he do about it, really?
That's all for now! Seeya next Sunday (or Monday, if I mess up again :P)!
Since it's pretty much the same people reviewing each chapter, I'll just lump the responses together. :P
@Bookworm: Riven's a bit hard to feel sorry for, yeah. He's had this coming for awhile. And yes, Holly's a sweet pea. :)
@Pain: Yep! Koulder's moment of triumph, so to speak. The turning point in his character. Exciting stuff! Certainly can't blame him, after all he's been through - although Sprite's handling of the situation probably wasn't the best. As for Holly (and any other character in the story, haha) paranoia is probably wise. ;)
@Swyfte: Ouch, that's cold. What about Toma? He's a nice guy. Grint's pretty affable. We've hardly seen anything of Skadder, Cettel, or Iole. And what about poor lil Mote? As for pronunciation, my word isn't really law (I have a habit of pronouncing names weirdly) but I say Reyes like rays. Waire is kinda weird; it's like wares and wire mixed together. Kinda has a drawl to it, I guess. And yup, like I said, "feo" is "ugly" in Spanish. Not intentional, haha, but funny. And yes, Holly/Trick friendship! Lord knows Trick could use a positive influence in her eyes. Nice use of "craven," also. Fable is a pretty cool name, I agree. It seemed fitting for someone who would name their daughter "Sprite," though, doncha think? And it pairs nicely with someone else's name, so that's always good. c: Musk vs Sage would be muy excellente (I think that's Spanish, who knows?). If they're connected at all, we'll certainly find out. Yeah, I kinda felt that way (the Hunger Games relation, that is) awhile after I decided it, but they do need some way of signaling that someone's died, to make sure they don't kill too many out there. Just the right number of poor dead foxes. :P
@Guest (It sounds like Pain, but I dunno 4 sho so I'll stick this review separately): I think it's good to commend Faun for standing up to Riven - like Toma said, there's nothing wrong with that at all. But kicking him while he's down - so to speak - isn't cool. That's Toma's main problem with the Skulk, actually; they're so hellbent on proving themselves and their strength that they put violence over any semblance of honor/loyalty, which means that the trainees are constantly against one another to the point where they'll hoping the others will die so they will be spared. It's rather problematic, since they're supposed to just play nice and pretend like they're all buddy-buddy once their on their way home. Not really a good system for creating a close-knit community - but what can he do about it, really?
That's all for now! Seeya next Sunday (or Monday, if I mess up again :P)!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Vulpine 11
Just posted 11: Fire! Sorry about missing last Sunday, things have been kinda crazy recently. Thanksgiving Break is next week, and then it's dead week and finals week, so I'll have my hands full then too. Ah well.
NaNo's almost over, so then I'll be able to focus more on Vulpine again - namely writing some new chapters! Plenty of fun stuff coming up.
Not much to say about this chapter, other than I remember it was very satisfying to write. ;)
@Swyfte: Haha, I like the mixed reactions for Faun - some don't like him because he's pretty passive, others feel bad for him. Fun stuff. Faun and Riven would be good influences for each other, I think, if they got over the whole Riven-tried-to-kill-him-once thing. I think originally I pronounced it like Theo with an F, but I've fallen into the habit of thinking it like Fay-o, which I'm pretty sure is "ugly" in Spanish, pff.
@Bookworm: Yeah, Faun's in a pretty tough spot! Riven has a few problems going for him too, but his doucheness kinda robs him of all (or at least most) sympathy. We'll see whether or not that changes with this most recent chapter, though - and Faun's next chapter should be interesting as well. ;)
@Pain: It sounds so awful when you put it in a laundry list like that, ha. Faun doesn't have a lot going for him atm, true. I'd like to say his station should improve later, but that seems unlikely. The most likely scenario is that everyone else just falls down with him, rather than him getting ahead...but we'll have to see!
That's all for now, I think. See you next Sunday!
NaNo's almost over, so then I'll be able to focus more on Vulpine again - namely writing some new chapters! Plenty of fun stuff coming up.
Not much to say about this chapter, other than I remember it was very satisfying to write. ;)
@Swyfte: Haha, I like the mixed reactions for Faun - some don't like him because he's pretty passive, others feel bad for him. Fun stuff. Faun and Riven would be good influences for each other, I think, if they got over the whole Riven-tried-to-kill-him-once thing. I think originally I pronounced it like Theo with an F, but I've fallen into the habit of thinking it like Fay-o, which I'm pretty sure is "ugly" in Spanish, pff.
@Bookworm: Yeah, Faun's in a pretty tough spot! Riven has a few problems going for him too, but his doucheness kinda robs him of all (or at least most) sympathy. We'll see whether or not that changes with this most recent chapter, though - and Faun's next chapter should be interesting as well. ;)
@Pain: It sounds so awful when you put it in a laundry list like that, ha. Faun doesn't have a lot going for him atm, true. I'd like to say his station should improve later, but that seems unlikely. The most likely scenario is that everyone else just falls down with him, rather than him getting ahead...but we'll have to see!
That's all for now, I think. See you next Sunday!
Sunday, November 10, 2013
9 & 10
Sorry, guys! I always get a bit scatter-brained in November. This post will just be to announce that I just now uploaded 10: Exploration, and posted 9: Questions last Sunday. Sorry again for the delay! As usual, NaNo's consuming my soul a bit. xD
@Swyfte: I'd definitely give NaNo a go next year, if you've got the time! It's immensely fun, and even if you don't win, you still at least know you tried it. I say Iole as Ee-oh-lee. And yes, Holly's a pretty nice gal. We'll see a bit more of her soon. The imagined enemies were just whoever Trick was pretending to face off against when she was fighting her little birch tree to train herself. Members of the Skulk were certainly some of them. And yes, Riven's a turd, even if he does display a few gleams of gold now and then. It's fun, having a really unlikeable POV for once. :D
@Bookworm: I don't think Riven's ever been more surprised in his life than when Sprite pushed him out of that tree - but he deserved it!
@Lynxeye: No worries, m'dear! College/Uni can be a lot of work, I understand. Hope you're doing okay! As for Riven...me, make you like him? Perish the thought! We all know he's a down-and-dirty runt-eater through and through. ;)
The fun thing about him is not only does he have two different vixens he has his eye on, he's physically attracted to both of them first! One problem I've noticed with a lot of my pairings (at least POV-centered ones) is that they start off as friends, and then gradually come to realize that there's sexual tension between them, and then they either get together or die (or both, haha). Very rarely do I have pairings that start off on the basis of honest-to-goodness that chick looks really hot, I should bang her feelings. But Riven's the perfect vehicle for that sort of thing. Getting Sprite to like him back is another matter, and indeed he has other ladies (coughTambercough) who want his attention much more than she does - not to mention that 9: Questions doesn't bode too well for that at all, haha. Thanks for the review, love, and good luck with your classes!
That's all, I s'pose. See ya next Sunday, if I can remember. :P
@Swyfte: I'd definitely give NaNo a go next year, if you've got the time! It's immensely fun, and even if you don't win, you still at least know you tried it. I say Iole as Ee-oh-lee. And yes, Holly's a pretty nice gal. We'll see a bit more of her soon. The imagined enemies were just whoever Trick was pretending to face off against when she was fighting her little birch tree to train herself. Members of the Skulk were certainly some of them. And yes, Riven's a turd, even if he does display a few gleams of gold now and then. It's fun, having a really unlikeable POV for once. :D
@Bookworm: I don't think Riven's ever been more surprised in his life than when Sprite pushed him out of that tree - but he deserved it!
@Lynxeye: No worries, m'dear! College/Uni can be a lot of work, I understand. Hope you're doing okay! As for Riven...me, make you like him? Perish the thought! We all know he's a down-and-dirty runt-eater through and through. ;)
The fun thing about him is not only does he have two different vixens he has his eye on, he's physically attracted to both of them first! One problem I've noticed with a lot of my pairings (at least POV-centered ones) is that they start off as friends, and then gradually come to realize that there's sexual tension between them, and then they either get together or die (or both, haha). Very rarely do I have pairings that start off on the basis of honest-to-goodness that chick looks really hot, I should bang her feelings. But Riven's the perfect vehicle for that sort of thing. Getting Sprite to like him back is another matter, and indeed he has other ladies (coughTambercough) who want his attention much more than she does - not to mention that 9: Questions doesn't bode too well for that at all, haha. Thanks for the review, love, and good luck with your classes!
That's all, I s'pose. See ya next Sunday, if I can remember. :P
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Vulp 8
Hey! Forgot to update the blog when I posted the chapter (and the chapter was a few hours late because every time I thought about it, I'd get distracted by something else). I don't think there's too much to say, though, aside from the NaNo thing (I will be participating, as always, but this year the story won't be posted although I would love to gush about it; Vulpine updates will continue as normal) and the fact that there's a poll up now (just for fun; I find polls a bit entertaining xD). December might be a bit unpleasant because there's a chance I might fall behind (I'm 5 chapters ahead right now if I write one this week, and there are 4 Sundays in November, so I'll only have 1 chapter to hide behind), but I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen.
Not much else to say, I guess!
@Veronica Fay: Thank you! The Sprite/Riven bits have been some of the most interesting stuff to write about so far, mostly because their viewpoints are so different, and things tend to get heated between them rather quickly. Fun times.
@Swyfte: No worries! Better late than never. Sprite does kinda invoke that "I like you but damn girl you stupid" response, from what I can tell; she's a real sweetheart, but just doesn't have good decision-making abilities, and absolutely sucks at holding grudges. Her poor decision-making skills probably hearken back to her first few months, where she wasn't really allowed to do anything on her own, and having Sage around to give her directions hasn't given her much room for growth, either. Whether these things improve (or whether she dies horribly as a result of her complete lack of self preservation) remains to be seen! The full quote is "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray," I believe. Basically it means that even if your plan seems solid, there's always the possibility of something messing it up or getting in the way. It seemed relevant. ;)
(Thanks for noting the typo, by the way. I fixed it.)
@Guest: Hah, yeah. Riven shows occasional glimpses of being half-decent, but then it just gets covered up in his overwhelming douchebaggery again. There are very few of my own characters that I really enjoy smacking around via the plot, but he is definitely one of them.
Thanks for the reviews, as always (we beat Abrazame,woot!). See you next Sunday!
Not much else to say, I guess!
@Veronica Fay: Thank you! The Sprite/Riven bits have been some of the most interesting stuff to write about so far, mostly because their viewpoints are so different, and things tend to get heated between them rather quickly. Fun times.
@Swyfte: No worries! Better late than never. Sprite does kinda invoke that "I like you but damn girl you stupid" response, from what I can tell; she's a real sweetheart, but just doesn't have good decision-making abilities, and absolutely sucks at holding grudges. Her poor decision-making skills probably hearken back to her first few months, where she wasn't really allowed to do anything on her own, and having Sage around to give her directions hasn't given her much room for growth, either. Whether these things improve (or whether she dies horribly as a result of her complete lack of self preservation) remains to be seen! The full quote is "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray," I believe. Basically it means that even if your plan seems solid, there's always the possibility of something messing it up or getting in the way. It seemed relevant. ;)
(Thanks for noting the typo, by the way. I fixed it.)
@Guest: Hah, yeah. Riven shows occasional glimpses of being half-decent, but then it just gets covered up in his overwhelming douchebaggery again. There are very few of my own characters that I really enjoy smacking around via the plot, but he is definitely one of them.
Thanks for the reviews, as always (we beat Abrazame,woot!). See you next Sunday!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Vulp 7
Sorry for the late update! I wish I could say I had a legitimate excuse, but to be honest it just slipped my mind (I got Pokemon Y on Friday, and it's kinda consumed me! On a side note, I'm open to adding people so if you have Y/X, my friend code is 4098-3599-9474. Post yours in a review or something and I'll add ya back). The new chapter (7: Plans) is posted now, though, so feel free to check it out! I'll try to be better prepared next week.
@Bookworm: Hah, both Trick and Sprite did survive the day...but will they survive the next? (dundundun)
@Lynxeye: Yep, Toma was a lucky ducky last year - and so are the runts, since otherwise they'd be completely screwed! Foxes don't really live all that long in the wild; the average is something like 3 years, but I'd have to look that up again to be certain. In captivity, they've been known to live 10-12 years, but of course that's in a situation where they have no enemies, endless food, and free healthcare, haha. By the wild foxes' standards, 5-6 years is practically elderly! I think it's actually the same thing with feral cats; they don't live much longer than 3-4 years either, because their lives are filled with much more wear and tear. Poor things.
Thanks for the reviews, as always. See you next Sunday (hopefully before 8pm xD)!
@Bookworm: Hah, both Trick and Sprite did survive the day...but will they survive the next? (dundundun)
@Lynxeye: Yep, Toma was a lucky ducky last year - and so are the runts, since otherwise they'd be completely screwed! Foxes don't really live all that long in the wild; the average is something like 3 years, but I'd have to look that up again to be certain. In captivity, they've been known to live 10-12 years, but of course that's in a situation where they have no enemies, endless food, and free healthcare, haha. By the wild foxes' standards, 5-6 years is practically elderly! I think it's actually the same thing with feral cats; they don't live much longer than 3-4 years either, because their lives are filled with much more wear and tear. Poor things.
Thanks for the reviews, as always. See you next Sunday (hopefully before 8pm xD)!
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Vulp 6
Figured I'd post 6: Ambush, since it's 1 am for me right now (technically Sunday!). Unfortunately the is-Riven-going-to-maul-Sprite-alive thread is still hanging, haha. Hopefully he'll be polite enough to at least give her a head start. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy seeing a lil Toma pep-talk, a bit of background on the year before, and of course the events leading up to our (rather disastrous) ambush. Fun stuff!
@Guest: Thank you, glad you like it! Yep, Sprite is really bad at taking care of herself, mostly because she pretty obviously failed to save her brother in the past (and possibly the rest of her family, too, since they're all dead - who knows what went wrong there??). In a perfect world, Sage would charge in at the exact right moment...but then again, in a perfect world, fox kits aren't murdering each other. ;)
@Swyfte: Wow, cold. As lovely as it would be for Riven to get his ass kicked (by peppy girl Sprite, no less), I wouldn't count on it (at least not for now). She's definitely not happy with him, though; Sprite has no patience at all when it comes to bullies. Tbh, "The Fox" kinda gets on my nerves, but it has caused an increase in people watching fox videos to hear their calls, which is pretty amusing in itself. There won't be any ringadinging in this story, though, I can promise you that. xD
@Bookworm: If Riven hurts Sprite and Sage finds out about it, I don't think Riven will be around for an eternity, haha. You could kick his butt in the afterlife, though.
@Woods Warrior: Pssh, you're only a month late. Hardly any time at all, haha. You're here now, though, and that's what counts! I'm super-glad to have you. I did scour the interwebs pretty thoroughly before starting the story, and although a few things will be ignored (coughcolorblindnesscough) hopefully it should stay fairly true to form. Foxes are interesting to write about, in either case, and I'm glad you're pumped for the story. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing any gray foxes, as they're pretty rare in eastern areas (the story is very loosely located somewhere in the hills of Kentucky [i.e., where I live; write what you know, and all that xD]). I didn't even think about it, to be honest! It would be interesting, though, as I imagine their culture would differ from red foxes' in a few ways. Maybe they'd even speak a different "language" (or at least dialect!). Hmm. Now I'd kinda like to push them into a side project or something. It would be tons of fun. For the main story, though, there will be no gray foxes. Unless you count Musk, but he's technically silver. ;)
Please share your theories! You know I'm always delighted to hear them. :D
@Lynxeye: No worries! Hope the move wasn't too stressful; first days are always kinda weird. At least you get to see all your buddies though, right? I really like the "in their own range" thing you mentioned, as that's really a good way to put it. When it comes down to brass tacks, characters are the things that interest me most in a story, and I like to invest a bit of time into all of them as much as I can. Each of our four POVs have their own "circles" to run in, which means lots of minor characters for me to play with, including Koulder. Good stuff. You know me, I love squeezing in little folklore things wherever I can (Sprite gets that from me, I guess xD). And yep, Trick pretty obviously fumbled the ball on this one. She's trying to rush herself, is the problem; those with her sort of nature do much better when they take things nice and slow, but she's too ready to overflow her banks, as it were. Hopefully she'll get that sorted out before it catches up to her. I'm in the opposite boat regarding the Hunger Games, as I've read the books but not seen the movies. He fits any of the Careers pretty squarely though, I think. Funny that you mention him like that, though, since I just finished writing his third chapter the other night....
Anyway, that's all I've got for this week! See you guys next Sunday. :)
@Guest: Thank you, glad you like it! Yep, Sprite is really bad at taking care of herself, mostly because she pretty obviously failed to save her brother in the past (and possibly the rest of her family, too, since they're all dead - who knows what went wrong there??). In a perfect world, Sage would charge in at the exact right moment...but then again, in a perfect world, fox kits aren't murdering each other. ;)
@Swyfte: Wow, cold. As lovely as it would be for Riven to get his ass kicked (by peppy girl Sprite, no less), I wouldn't count on it (at least not for now). She's definitely not happy with him, though; Sprite has no patience at all when it comes to bullies. Tbh, "The Fox" kinda gets on my nerves, but it has caused an increase in people watching fox videos to hear their calls, which is pretty amusing in itself. There won't be any ringadinging in this story, though, I can promise you that. xD
@Bookworm: If Riven hurts Sprite and Sage finds out about it, I don't think Riven will be around for an eternity, haha. You could kick his butt in the afterlife, though.
@Woods Warrior: Pssh, you're only a month late. Hardly any time at all, haha. You're here now, though, and that's what counts! I'm super-glad to have you. I did scour the interwebs pretty thoroughly before starting the story, and although a few things will be ignored (coughcolorblindnesscough) hopefully it should stay fairly true to form. Foxes are interesting to write about, in either case, and I'm glad you're pumped for the story. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing any gray foxes, as they're pretty rare in eastern areas (the story is very loosely located somewhere in the hills of Kentucky [i.e., where I live; write what you know, and all that xD]). I didn't even think about it, to be honest! It would be interesting, though, as I imagine their culture would differ from red foxes' in a few ways. Maybe they'd even speak a different "language" (or at least dialect!). Hmm. Now I'd kinda like to push them into a side project or something. It would be tons of fun. For the main story, though, there will be no gray foxes. Unless you count Musk, but he's technically silver. ;)
Please share your theories! You know I'm always delighted to hear them. :D
@Lynxeye: No worries! Hope the move wasn't too stressful; first days are always kinda weird. At least you get to see all your buddies though, right? I really like the "in their own range" thing you mentioned, as that's really a good way to put it. When it comes down to brass tacks, characters are the things that interest me most in a story, and I like to invest a bit of time into all of them as much as I can. Each of our four POVs have their own "circles" to run in, which means lots of minor characters for me to play with, including Koulder. Good stuff. You know me, I love squeezing in little folklore things wherever I can (Sprite gets that from me, I guess xD). And yep, Trick pretty obviously fumbled the ball on this one. She's trying to rush herself, is the problem; those with her sort of nature do much better when they take things nice and slow, but she's too ready to overflow her banks, as it were. Hopefully she'll get that sorted out before it catches up to her. I'm in the opposite boat regarding the Hunger Games, as I've read the books but not seen the movies. He fits any of the Careers pretty squarely though, I think. Funny that you mention him like that, though, since I just finished writing his third chapter the other night....
Anyway, that's all I've got for this week! See you guys next Sunday. :)
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Vulp 5
Vulpine Bios
Posted it a bit early since it's technically after midnight and therefore Sunday! I doubt anyone's awake (unless you live west of me, or are an insomniac, or literate owls are paying attention to a weird fox story??) but I know I'll be sluggish to rise in the morning (and forgetful) so I figured I'd put it out there.
Pretty exciting stuff, also! Koulder speaks, Sprite gets to tell a story, and a few plotlines converge, if only for a moment. Lovely.
Also gearing up for NaNo, which is less than a month away! That's always fun.
Only one wee review to respond to this week (and no bios to update) so not much will be happening on the blog, I s'pose. Ah well.
@Swyfte: Yep! I actually wrote chapters 1-4 (plus the prologue) ahead of time, so I'd have a buffer to rely on when I was posting the chapters. This'll come in handy in November, when I won't be working on Vulpine at all, but can still post chapters that were written before! I have like a 5-chapter lead right now, so we should be good when NaNo starts. Thanks for noting the typo, too. I think I fixed it. :)
Seeya next Sunday!
Posted it a bit early since it's technically after midnight and therefore Sunday! I doubt anyone's awake (unless you live west of me, or are an insomniac, or literate owls are paying attention to a weird fox story??) but I know I'll be sluggish to rise in the morning (and forgetful) so I figured I'd put it out there.
Pretty exciting stuff, also! Koulder speaks, Sprite gets to tell a story, and a few plotlines converge, if only for a moment. Lovely.
Also gearing up for NaNo, which is less than a month away! That's always fun.
Only one wee review to respond to this week (and no bios to update) so not much will be happening on the blog, I s'pose. Ah well.
@Swyfte: Yep! I actually wrote chapters 1-4 (plus the prologue) ahead of time, so I'd have a buffer to rely on when I was posting the chapters. This'll come in handy in November, when I won't be working on Vulpine at all, but can still post chapters that were written before! I have like a 5-chapter lead right now, so we should be good when NaNo starts. Thanks for noting the typo, too. I think I fixed it. :)
Seeya next Sunday!
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Vulp 4
Vulpine Bios
Posted 4: Stream and hopped off to take a shower! Hope you all enjoyed this one too. I always like looking at the viewship graph and watching the numbers shoot up for Saturday, haha. Always a little too early to the show, but that's okay.
Big things coming up in the future, it seems! We'll finally get three POVs heading to the same place, which should be good. What happens - namely if anyone makes it out unscathed - remains to be seen (until next Sunday at least).
@Swyfte: Research! I already knew random fox things before I started thinking about Vulpine, but once I decided I really wanted to write a story about foxes, I had to get my facts straight! There's an awful lot to learn about them, it turns out, and even though some of it is trivia, a lot of it still impacts the story (like the noises they make, or what they eat). The climax will give way to my author avatar ranting about fox facts and revealing that the entire story has just been for me to spout off information. Surprise!
@Lynxeye: Thanks! I'm pretty excited for Riven, since he's a main point of view, but an antagonistic one. Kinda like the Northy days - only he's a lot less brainy. We'll see what the mystery test is - but bear in mind it might be just as force-focused as the sparring one. It'll be revealed in time. I like the lady/knight comparison with the vixens; they do wield a bit of influence among the males, at least in the beginning, where who they favor (i.e. who is the most promising/worthy) gets the best food. They're expected to feed everyone later in the training, once they're better at it, but being fed now will give Musk's trainees an edge when it comes to growing and whatnot - something poor Faun would really like to have. This most recent chapter kinda points to why Riven wants to impress Musk, but I'll clarify to make sure: basically training is regarded as an important gauge of a fox's abilities. Coming home is impressive and all, but they really have to flaunt their stuff during training if they want any hope of rising up to a higher rank later in life. It just so happens that both the male trainer and the Reynard are old (they trained in the same year) and will probably retire/die soon, leaving the positions open. Riven has to look impressive so that he has a chance of being the Reynard some day, and he knows if he does well, Musk will report it to the others when they get back, and boost his reputation.
Fleeing during training is a strong possibility (if Sage was even in the Skulk to begin with) but that behavior is usually tightly controlled. If anyone tried it now, Musk would hunt them down almost immediately (probably with Field's help, since she's a very good tracker, as vixens ought to be) and snuff them out. Otherwise, the runts would probably try that trick every year, to avoid being slaughtered - although they wouldn't stand much of a chance on their own, since they don't really know how to hunt.
@Bookworm: Then I'm doing my job well, haha. I doubt anyone's fondness of Riven will be growing over the coming chapters.
I'll update the bios w/ the characters Trick's chapter introduced, but it might be a little while. Sundays are kinda busy for me, because I go back to the dorm and stuff. Also, our wifi sucks.
Until next Sunday!
Posted 4: Stream and hopped off to take a shower! Hope you all enjoyed this one too. I always like looking at the viewship graph and watching the numbers shoot up for Saturday, haha. Always a little too early to the show, but that's okay.
Big things coming up in the future, it seems! We'll finally get three POVs heading to the same place, which should be good. What happens - namely if anyone makes it out unscathed - remains to be seen (until next Sunday at least).
@Swyfte: Research! I already knew random fox things before I started thinking about Vulpine, but once I decided I really wanted to write a story about foxes, I had to get my facts straight! There's an awful lot to learn about them, it turns out, and even though some of it is trivia, a lot of it still impacts the story (like the noises they make, or what they eat). The climax will give way to my author avatar ranting about fox facts and revealing that the entire story has just been for me to spout off information. Surprise!
@Lynxeye: Thanks! I'm pretty excited for Riven, since he's a main point of view, but an antagonistic one. Kinda like the Northy days - only he's a lot less brainy. We'll see what the mystery test is - but bear in mind it might be just as force-focused as the sparring one. It'll be revealed in time. I like the lady/knight comparison with the vixens; they do wield a bit of influence among the males, at least in the beginning, where who they favor (i.e. who is the most promising/worthy) gets the best food. They're expected to feed everyone later in the training, once they're better at it, but being fed now will give Musk's trainees an edge when it comes to growing and whatnot - something poor Faun would really like to have. This most recent chapter kinda points to why Riven wants to impress Musk, but I'll clarify to make sure: basically training is regarded as an important gauge of a fox's abilities. Coming home is impressive and all, but they really have to flaunt their stuff during training if they want any hope of rising up to a higher rank later in life. It just so happens that both the male trainer and the Reynard are old (they trained in the same year) and will probably retire/die soon, leaving the positions open. Riven has to look impressive so that he has a chance of being the Reynard some day, and he knows if he does well, Musk will report it to the others when they get back, and boost his reputation.
Fleeing during training is a strong possibility (if Sage was even in the Skulk to begin with) but that behavior is usually tightly controlled. If anyone tried it now, Musk would hunt them down almost immediately (probably with Field's help, since she's a very good tracker, as vixens ought to be) and snuff them out. Otherwise, the runts would probably try that trick every year, to avoid being slaughtered - although they wouldn't stand much of a chance on their own, since they don't really know how to hunt.
@Bookworm: Then I'm doing my job well, haha. I doubt anyone's fondness of Riven will be growing over the coming chapters.
I'll update the bios w/ the characters Trick's chapter introduced, but it might be a little while. Sundays are kinda busy for me, because I go back to the dorm and stuff. Also, our wifi sucks.
Until next Sunday!
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Vulp 3
Vulpine Bios
Just posted 3: Embers. It was a little later than my normal updates, but that's because I kinda slept in after having had to wake up at 6am the other day. :P
Hope you guys found/find Riven's POV to be interesting. He's definitely a piece of work. I kinda like to think of him as a version of Fireblaze existing in a society where kinship means diddley squat, and loyalty is meaningless until you're on your way home again.
I'll update Musk's trainees bios a bit here in a minute, too, providing the site actually cooperates with me this time.
@Dracones: I was really confused when I saw you post 5 times in a row, ha. Luckily it only counted as 1 review, for whatever reason. Glad you liked Faun so far, and yes, the Skulk is very much about relying on one's own strength for survival - a method of thought that is rather problematic for a bunch of foxes trying to live together. ;)
@Lynxeyes: Warriors + the Hunger Games + foxes sounds good to me, ha. I recognized the influences when I started working on the idea, and I've tried to steer away from them (the Skulk's society is almost nothing like the Clans), there are probably still some similarities. Riven's group is a bit like the Careers, I guess, and while one of the tests is very structured one-on-one business, the other (that we don't know anything about yet xD) is more of a free-for-all kinda thing. Another one of my friends (I posted the first 5 chapters on TC to make them beta for me, haha) was fond of Feo too. Must be a super underdog/Eeyore thing. Riven is pretty much an arsehole, yes - which is as fun as it is frustrating. xD Good thought about Musk & Sage, too, although if they did fight each other, one of them would have to have died. Sage isn't really runty, but he's not all that big, either.
@Swyfte: Hey! Good to see you. No worries about being late; the story's still young. Swipes are indeed months; it's a folklore thing, which Sprite or Sage will prolly spill at some point or another, as much as they love stories. The POVs will progress in the order they're mentioned in the synopsis, so we still have Trick to go before we hit Sprite up again.
@Bookworm: Great to see you here too! Tbh I don't have a set idea for where this mysterious forest is, but it's probably somewhere around where I live (Kentucky), or at least in the same sort of terrrain (woodland and rolling hills). "Write what you know," as they say. I think it's safe to say Riven is daring enough to go after Faun and the others, but whether or not he has the cleverness to pull it off is a different matter.
See you guys next Sunday!
Just posted 3: Embers. It was a little later than my normal updates, but that's because I kinda slept in after having had to wake up at 6am the other day. :P
Hope you guys found/find Riven's POV to be interesting. He's definitely a piece of work. I kinda like to think of him as a version of Fireblaze existing in a society where kinship means diddley squat, and loyalty is meaningless until you're on your way home again.
I'll update Musk's trainees bios a bit here in a minute, too, providing the site actually cooperates with me this time.
@Dracones: I was really confused when I saw you post 5 times in a row, ha. Luckily it only counted as 1 review, for whatever reason. Glad you liked Faun so far, and yes, the Skulk is very much about relying on one's own strength for survival - a method of thought that is rather problematic for a bunch of foxes trying to live together. ;)
@Lynxeyes: Warriors + the Hunger Games + foxes sounds good to me, ha. I recognized the influences when I started working on the idea, and I've tried to steer away from them (the Skulk's society is almost nothing like the Clans), there are probably still some similarities. Riven's group is a bit like the Careers, I guess, and while one of the tests is very structured one-on-one business, the other (that we don't know anything about yet xD) is more of a free-for-all kinda thing. Another one of my friends (I posted the first 5 chapters on TC to make them beta for me, haha) was fond of Feo too. Must be a super underdog/Eeyore thing. Riven is pretty much an arsehole, yes - which is as fun as it is frustrating. xD Good thought about Musk & Sage, too, although if they did fight each other, one of them would have to have died. Sage isn't really runty, but he's not all that big, either.
@Swyfte: Hey! Good to see you. No worries about being late; the story's still young. Swipes are indeed months; it's a folklore thing, which Sprite or Sage will prolly spill at some point or another, as much as they love stories. The POVs will progress in the order they're mentioned in the synopsis, so we still have Trick to go before we hit Sprite up again.
@Bookworm: Great to see you here too! Tbh I don't have a set idea for where this mysterious forest is, but it's probably somewhere around where I live (Kentucky), or at least in the same sort of terrrain (woodland and rolling hills). "Write what you know," as they say. I think it's safe to say Riven is daring enough to go after Faun and the others, but whether or not he has the cleverness to pull it off is a different matter.
See you guys next Sunday!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
V Chapter 2
Vulpine Bios
2: Pebble was just posted! There's a lot going on, so don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm more than happy to answer them, as always. :]
@Lynxeye: Considering the rather high body count for characters I like (Blackheart, Fear, Bramblethorn, Frostflight...) I wouldn't feel too secure with Sage, for now. xD Hopefully the structure is becoming clear, although of course we'll get more exposition in later chapters. Their society isn't overly-complicated, but it is rather brutal, on occasion.
@Dracones: Lovely to see you! Sage and Sprite are very different, it's true; it's amazing they can put up with each other, really, although they have their reasons. Can't Sprite be adorable and a little stupid? :P She's pretty naive right now, but we'll see if she shapes up any once she realizes just what these strangers are here for, and how they deal with outsiders/disappointments. Should be a fun time. :3
@Your Worse Nightmare Unleashed: I dunno if you're following this blog, but welcome just in case! Hope you stick around. :)
I'll be adding a bunch more bios to the thing today, although information will still be a little sparse for most of them. We'll get to know all our new friends pretty well over the next few chapters. Exciting stuff. :D
EDIT: Updating the bios took way longer than it should have because the thing kept crashing, but it's finally done!
2: Pebble was just posted! There's a lot going on, so don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm more than happy to answer them, as always. :]
@Lynxeye: Considering the rather high body count for characters I like (Blackheart, Fear, Bramblethorn, Frostflight...) I wouldn't feel too secure with Sage, for now. xD Hopefully the structure is becoming clear, although of course we'll get more exposition in later chapters. Their society isn't overly-complicated, but it is rather brutal, on occasion.
@Dracones: Lovely to see you! Sage and Sprite are very different, it's true; it's amazing they can put up with each other, really, although they have their reasons. Can't Sprite be adorable and a little stupid? :P She's pretty naive right now, but we'll see if she shapes up any once she realizes just what these strangers are here for, and how they deal with outsiders/disappointments. Should be a fun time. :3
@Your Worse Nightmare Unleashed: I dunno if you're following this blog, but welcome just in case! Hope you stick around. :)
I'll be adding a bunch more bios to the thing today, although information will still be a little sparse for most of them. We'll get to know all our new friends pretty well over the next few chapters. Exciting stuff. :D
EDIT: Updating the bios took way longer than it should have because the thing kept crashing, but it's finally done!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
V Chapter 1
1: Breeze was just posted, if anyone's watching the blog. All of the chapters will have similar titles that come from the "In Which X" thingy. I've always wanted to do little headers like that for chapters, I think they're cute. Coming up with titles is harder than I thought it would be, but one of the things that really annoyed me about Chilled was that if I was looking for a specific event (to fact-check or something) I could never remember which chapter it was in, so I'd have to flick through 5-10 of them to try and find it. Chapter titles should help avert that, for the most part.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed venturing into Sprite's head a bit. I'll update the bios thing, but I'm only going to post the black fox's picture, since that's all we know about him so far! Faun's chapter will get us properly introduced, and I'll probably post a ton of bios then...but that'll be next Sunday!
I have up to Chapter 7 completed right now, and I'm like 600 words into 8, but I'm going to try and hold back chapters (i.e. only updating on Sunday) to make sure I have a buffer. I tend to go through periods where I'm either planning everything out or just really unmotivated to write, and then I get behind; a buffer should help prevent that. I get kinda antsy holding chapters back, but patience is a virtue and all that. xD
Anyway, seeya next time!
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed venturing into Sprite's head a bit. I'll update the bios thing, but I'm only going to post the black fox's picture, since that's all we know about him so far! Faun's chapter will get us properly introduced, and I'll probably post a ton of bios then...but that'll be next Sunday!
I have up to Chapter 7 completed right now, and I'm like 600 words into 8, but I'm going to try and hold back chapters (i.e. only updating on Sunday) to make sure I have a buffer. I tend to go through periods where I'm either planning everything out or just really unmotivated to write, and then I get behind; a buffer should help prevent that. I get kinda antsy holding chapters back, but patience is a virtue and all that. xD
Anyway, seeya next time!
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Vulpine Bios
As a side note, while most of these designs aren't too outlandish (they're at least grounded in reality; no weird colors or anything) some of the markings and stuff are really uncommon/unlikely. This is partially to ensure that everyone has a distinct appearance, to make things less confusing over all.
All of the images were made with Kaylink's Fox Maker on dART (http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3151145/1/Vulpine). It's fun to play with, if you're into that sort of thing. However, it does mean that some of the markings are a bit over-exaggerated in the maker, and Ill make sure to mention that with the characters.
I won't post every character here immediately (although I do have all their images) since there's like over 20. I'll probably post a few as they appear in each chapter, to keep things simple, so check this post from time to time.
Unaligned Foxes (dead and living)
Unaligned foxes (those living outside of the Skulk) are called "solitaires" by Skulk foxes, despite the fact that solitaires often live in small family groups.
Sage
Sage is an old dog-fox (or tod, whichever term you prefer) who has lived in the forest longer than anyone else. Old, wise, and a bit gruff from time-to-time, he is the sort who prefers to keep a low profile rather than engage in any hostilities. He's seen more than his fair share of travelers pass through the area, although few stay for very long, and he has never tried interacting with them, as he is not interested in making friends. This changed, however, when he found Sprite in the forest, alone and distressed. He took her in, listened to her story, and vowed to keep her safe as well as he could. He and his young ward often butt heads, as she hates being constrained, but they are very fond of each other. Sage knows all sorts of stories and legends, and uses them to his advantage when trying to distract Sprite or take her down another trail of thought. He isn't entirely honest with her, and avoids most questions he doesn't want to answer, but he has his reasons.
Note: Sage's appearance is one of the inaccurate ones, as I designed it years ago, before this story was conceived. Normal red foxes do not have that much black on them. His appearance is similar to a cross fox (rarer coloration of a red fox; they're the same species), but cross foxes have more darker colors and no white, except on the tips of their tails. He could be some sort of cross mix, but I haven't done much research into them. He looks cool, though. ;)
Sprite
Sprite is an inquisitive young fox who is ever-restless and constantly getting into trouble (trouble Sage has to save her from). She's loud (occasionally obnoxious), spirited, and very warm towards others. She was born in the forest, along with her two brothers, but speaks very rarely about her family and what happened to them. Only Sage knows the full story, at the present time. She has mostly put it behind her, preferring to focus on the present instead. Mostly, she is concerned with the biggest question in her life: What does it mean to be a fox? For whatever reason, she has become obsessed with finding an answer, some sort of explanation for why she was born, why Sage saved her, and what her life is supposed to mean. Try as she might, she can't find any answers from Sage, and so when the strangers do arrive in their forest, she turns to them in hopes of finally laying the question to rest. Sprite is obsessed with all sorts of stories and folktales, both those she learned from her family and from Sage. She has a bad habit of imagining fantastical monsters from these stories, and also of thinking about them when she really should be looking out for danger. Like Sage, she enjoys sharing these stories with others when she can. Most of all, she wants to find foxes her own age to spend time with, those that are just as interested in figuring out the world as she is.
Note: Both Sage & Sprite have been my characters for years and years, back in my Shattered-rp days. I've dabbled with them a few times, but never done anything too major; this is the first time they get true character arcs of their own. Exciting stuff. :D
The Skulk: Trainers
Musk
Musk is one of the two male trainers. He's an old dude; this is his fourth year of training kits, so he knows what he's doing. Usually he picks his favorites right from the beginning and focuses mostly on them, leaving the other kits to either flounder by themselves or starve. This year, however, he has been joined by Toma, whose purpose is to gather up the kits Musk leaves behind, and give them a fighting chance. Musk is resentful of his new "partner," especially since it signifies the Reynard's flagging trust in him. Although his training is always brutal, this year it will probably be even more so, because he has something to prove.
So far we've seen that Musk is blunt and harsh in both his speeches and behavior; he has no patience for fools or weaklings, and is not above using his considerable force to make his will clear. Although he's getting up there in years, he still takes pride in his strength and ability to whip others into shape. The kits should not be fooled by his brawn, either; holding the trainer position for four years is no small feat. He's smart enough to know exactly what buttons to push to get the results he desires, and ruthless enough to do whatever it takes to make sure his trainees are the ones that triumph.
Musk was born outside of the Skulk; the Skulk often raids families that live in their territory, killing the parents and taking the kits back with them, as a measure against too much inbreeding. He was the only one of his litter to survive training. He and the Reynard trained together, so they go way back.
Note: The silver markings on his pelt are a little exaggerated due to the maker. Black foxes are a "color morph" of red foxes. They're also known as silver foxes. They are fairly rare in North America, appearing most commonly in the north, and even then they're less than 10% of the fox population. Because of this, I limited myself to only one, although I wanted more because they're super-cool. And then because I could only have 1, I had to make sure it was someone important. Thus, Musk. :D
It also makes him scary as hell to the others, which is a nice bonus.
Toma
Toma is the first fox to hold the position of second trainer to the males. He was appointed by the Reynard to ensure that the runts at least had a ghost of a chance in coming home - mostly because of Faun. Toma was a good choice, because although he is young, he was a runt himself during training - and the only male to return home. Just how and why this happened remains to be seen, but Toma has dedicated himself to trying to save at least one of the runts from their usual fate. Toma himself is a fairly easy-going, amicable guy. Unlike Musk, he wants his trainees to be at ease, since they've already spent most of their lives trembling and being pushed around by the larger males. Time will tell whether his more cheerful approach will work, and whether he has the chops to stand up to Musk's wrath.
Half-brother to Grint, Sillian, and Kadder.
Field
Trainer for the females. This is her first year of training the females on her own; the prior year she was shadowing the female trainer at the time, who was killed. Field seems confident enough in her role; training hunters isn't exactly hard, as the territory is rich with prey and most of them are clever enough to figure it out with only a little guidance. Field herself is a kind and gentle soul, one who would never dream of rocking the boat or pushing herself to the forefront of the Skulk's politics. She's content to do her job - namely, trying to make the vixens as successful as possible. She likes to think of her trainees as her own kits, if only for a few months, and does her best to make them feel less homesick and worried about the future. However, she's not all that bright, and a few (i.e. Trick) find her motherly nature rather irritating.
Musk's
Riven
Definitely a bit of a twat. The best word to describe Riven would probably be courageous - followed by stubborn, brash, arrogant, and self-obsessed. He has a superiority complex big enough to cover half the forest - and, unfortunately, the power to back it up. Riven's the largest of Musk's trainees, and appears to be the most promising. Whether he will be one of the survivors of training is not even a question; he already has his eyes set on the position of Reynard. Confident and decisive, he has already intended to make his leadership obvious to the others in his group, and thus far has succeeded, although Reyes seems a bit discontent. Appropriately, Riven despises those whose personalities are the opposite of him - foxes like Faun, who are meek, shy, timid, and on the small side. This philosophy means that he counts all of the runts (and Koulder) among his enemies, but Faun has the special privelege of being the one he hates the most, because of his parentage. Riven takes such a weak kit being the Reynard's son as almost a personal offense, because he believes fate should have put him in Faun's place, giving him an even easier path to leadership. Instead, he has to prove himself during training and gather as much renown as he can, in hopes of finding himself in that position some day. And, in the meantime, he can take his frustration out on his underlings whenever possible.
Despite his youth, he also enjoys leering at females, and can be easily lead along by a pretty face. After all, a strong tod deserves all the pleasures life has to offer.
Brother to Holly and Mote. Had another sister who died on the journey.
Sillian
A quieter fellow who is decidedly average; he is not large like Riven, Waire, or Reyes, but not small (relatively) like Athor or Koulder. For now, he is basically invisible. He and Grint were close as kits, when it was unclear whether or not Sillian would be large enough for Musk to choose him, but now Sillian has put a little distance between them. Associating with runts is basically social suicide, after all, and the last thing Sillian wants is trouble.
Brother to Grint and Kadder. Had another sister who died on the journey.
Reyes
Another confident fellow, and one of the larger foxes among Musk's trainees. Reyes is strong and quick on his paws, as well as clever; unlike Riven, he has at least some handle on his temper, although he is quick to scorn those smaller than him, and lash out at them when things do not go his way. Reyes has shown some glimmer of wanting leadership for himself, but has chosen to go along with Riven for now. After all, if Riven does become the Reynard, he will still need foxes close to him to help guide him in his decisions, and Reyes is more than willing to help.
Brother to Bolt and Cettel. Had another brother who died on the journey.
Note: Markings on his face are a wee bit exaggerated by the maker.
Waire
Second-largest in Musk's group, narrowly beaten out by Riven. Waire is quiet, with a low voice that is rarely heard. Despite his size and formidability, he has made no attempt to push himself forward as a leader, preferring to follow the others' decisions. He's not all that bright, attacking his problems with brute force rather than thinking them through, but with his promising size, he doesn't really need to.
Brother to Feo, Athor, and Tress.
Note: Color is a bit too dark, due to my meddling in Paint. :P
Athor
He's quiet, much like his brother Waire, but the two of them are not very close. He is the second-smallest of Musk's group (although of course still larger than the runts) and well-aware of it. Being one of the smaller foxes puts him in a vulnerable position, and he has to be constantly on guard to avoid being attacked or belittled. He is nervous about training, and fairly terrified of Musk. Time will tell if he is able to keep up with Musk's harsh training.
Brother to Feo, Waire, and Tress.
Koulder
Koulder is definitely the oddball of Musk's trainees, as he's the smallest, and looks different from the others because of his heritage outside of the Skulk. He's as aware of his status as Athor is, and has thus far remained completely silent, trying not to stir up any trouble. Instead, this silence has made him a target for Riven's ire, as Riven hates any sort of softness or timidity. Koulder does not seem motivated to push himself, or brave enough to stand up against the larger kits. Whatever Musk supposedly saw in him, if he does not prove himself soon, it is likely that he will be discarded entirely.
Brother to Tamber, Iole, and Lilt.
Note: His litter is composed of cross foxes, another "color morph." Cross foxes are more common than black/silver foxes, but less common than normal red ones. His litter came from outside the Skulk, like Musk's.
Toma's
Faun
The son of the Reynard, Faun has a bit of an uphill struggle ahead of him. His mother died giving birth to his litter - of which he was the sole survivor - which has caused his father to resent him. This resentment is only compounded by the fact that Faun is nothing like what a Reynard should be. Because of his premature birth, he's small for his age, and looks as though he will not be getting a growth spurt any time soon. He is also shy and rather timid, traits his father despises. Faun spent much of his early days avoiding larger kits, who bullied him out of jealousy (because of his position as the Reynard's son). Most of this bullying was ignored by the other adults; runts are doomed in training, after all, so it was not as though Faun would ever be coming home. However, despite his feelings, the Reynard did do his son one favor in appointing Toma to train the smaller males. This is the only gleam of hope Faun has, but it's a dim one. He feels his death is almost inevitable, and cannot even seek solace with the other runts, as he feels cut-off from them by his hierarchical position in the Skulk due to his father. Faun is lonely, but too shy to do anything about it, and seems resigned to his eventual fate as fodder for the large males.
His one boon is his cleverness, which he uses to wiggle out of sticky situations - namely, Riven's continued pursuits.
Grint
Grint is an upbeat little jokester, despite the severity of his position. He's already set to work befriending the smaller males, and eventually hopes to cozy up to some of the larger ones, too. He doesn't seem too worried about the future, preferring to focus on what he views as the fun of the present.
Brother to Sillian, Kadder, and a diseased sister.
Bolt
Bolt and Grint are of the same cloth; both are high-energy little males who would much rather prefer to smile rather than mope. Bolt's quick on his paws, but likes to use that speed to play a rousing game of tag, rather than chasing down an opponent.
Brother to Reyes, Cettel, and a diseased brother.
Note: His facial markings are exaggerated as well.
Feo
Easily the glummest of the group, Feo has not one, but two brothers that tower over him, a fact that has cast a gloomy cloud over his head. Unlike Grint and Bolt, he holds very little hope for the future, and is all too aware of the futility of Toma's training.
Brother to Waire, Athor, and Tress.
Trick
Trick's real name is Lilt, but she absolutely hates it. She views Lilt as a "typical" vixen name in the Skulk - short, meaningless, and easily passed over. It's a symbol of everything that she hates about being a female in the Skulk's society. She's replaced it with "Trick," a much firmer name in her mind - the rougher "T" sound, like in Tamber's name, and the sharp "ck" at the end that makes you take notice - but can't be very open about it. Musk doesn't generally approve of foxes renaming themselves. Trick's a bit callous when it comes to others; her big focus is on proving herself as a worthy adversary to the males, so that she might be allowed to join their ranks as a fighter, rather than a hunter. She has no patience for hunting, and would much rather be fighting off enemies and gaining all the recognition that the males receive for their courageous actions - not to mention that she would be far less disposable, and could potentially hold a leadership position some day. Obviously this is radical thinking within the Skulk, and she knows she must tread lightly, but she has already made a few errors in her eagerness to get ahead.
Her relationship with her family is rather rocky. She views Koulder as weak, but also must acknowledge that he is competition; after all, if she is able to get herself in with the males, then the two of them might have to fight one another at some point. Her relationship with Tamber is equally antagonizing, as Tamber already has her own life mapped out, and it does not contain either of her sisters making their way home. Trick's parents were killed by the Skulk whens he was very young, but her vague memories of them are part of what fuel her ambition to change the Skulk's practices and way of life - and she does not care who she might have to use to get what she wants.
Sister to Tamber, Iole, and Koulder.
Tamber
A very pretty and very cunning little vixen, Tamber has her eyes set on the crown jewel of the trainees: Riven. She's already made plans to gain his favor in hopes that once he comes home and becomes the Reynard, she will stand by his side as his mate. This position has little real power, but does give her some authority over the vixens, as well as preferential treatment, which is about as high as vixens can get in the Skulk's segregated society. She's more than willing to do whatever it takes to succeed - including eliminating her competition.
Iole
We don't know much about her yet, other than that her sisters don't think much of her, and she has not captured Field's attention, either.
Sister to Lilt, Tamber, and Koulder.
Holly
Holly is Riven's sister, and appears promising; she, Tamber, Tress, and Mote are the only four to have successfully brought back prey for the males each time they have gone out. She's very close to her smaller sister, and takes care of her when she can. She has been shown to be sympathetic to the smaller runts as well, such as when she tried bringing Grint prey, only to be thwarted by Musk. She and Mote keep to themselves when they can.
Sister to Riven and Mote.
Mote
Holly's smaller sister, and the quieter of the pair. So far she appears to be a good hunter, and sympathetic to the runts - although she might have only been following Holly's lead when she tried bringing prey to Feo. She is constantly shadowing Holly, and does not like interacting with the others.
Sister to Riven and Holly.
Kadder
A bit clumsy but enthusiastic, Kadder is eager to learn and desperate to please the higher-ups in the Skulk. Unlike a few of the others, she doesn't seem to have any ill will towards her fellow competitors (much like her brother, Grint). She and Cettel have a lot in common, and enjoy each others' company.
Sister to Grint and Sillian.
Cettel
Cettel is as light on her paws as her brothers, but it remains to be seen if she has any of Reyes' cleverness. She and Kadder are already friends, and like Kadder she is not aggressive towards the other females.
Sister to Bolt and Reyes.
Tress
Tress does not have sisters (like Trick/Tamber/Iole or Holly/Mote), and does not seem inclined to make friends with the others (Cettel/Kadder). She prefers to keep to herself, and is a bit miffed by others that she perceives to be less intelligent than herself. This includes both Iole and Trick, as Trick is currently attempting to keep a low profile among the females. Tress would rather hunt by herself, and thus far has shown a knack for it, indicating she will be a firm contender in the upcoming hunts.
Sister to Waire, Athor, and Feo.
Vulpine's Up!
Hey, guys. I doubt there's anyone who follows this blog and not my FFN posts, but just in case someone out there does, Vulpine is officially up. Hope you guys will check it out!
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3151145/1/Vulpine
I'll be making a second post soon, with a few character bios like Chilled/Shattered had. Stick around. :)
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3151145/1/Vulpine
I'll be making a second post soon, with a few character bios like Chilled/Shattered had. Stick around. :)
Thursday, July 4, 2013
73
Hot damn that was a long dry spell. Didn't get squat done on vacation, then I had my wisdom teeth out, and then I was just really unmotivated. But that's all over now, and I hope you're not too mad for me making you wait. The Epilogue should be out in a few days, it won't be too long. Not much to say, besides adios, Spiderman.
O, I guess I can celebrate over 500k and 1000+ reviews. Both of those numbers are pretty crazy, man. What am I doing with my life again? xD
Srsly, it wouldn't be possible without you guys. Thanks so much for all your feedback and support. <3
@Swiftehstar: Sorry you blarged? And sorry this chapter doesn't really answer that question, haha. Owell.
@Luna-Soul-Sky: Glad you liked it!
@Guest: Yeah, it was good to see Sooty was back on her paws, so to speak. Most people guessed Chilly would be part of Silver's litter, too. You guys are sharp. :P
@Dracones: Sorry about your poor shattered shipping soul. That's a good point; I think it kinda works, since she's planning on leaving the Clan and all, possibly for good, but it was unintentional, and adding more details to her feelings about the Clan would have been better. Unfortunately, the chapter was already enormous, so there wasn't much space to squeeze things in. Ah well.
@TheVioletGleek: Hey! Good to see you again, love. No worries, I'm sure the hiatus turned a lot of people off (this recent accidental one prolly did too v_v). And, again, I must apologize for breaking your heart a bit...but that just means I was doing my job correctly! :D Rook/Nightingale will never ever ever happen; he sees himself as her big brother, and she views herself as the same thing for him, in a gotta-keep-you-outta-trouble-way. No make-outs for them. Alas, Chilly is never going to reappear again. Boom. I said it. The Pool ate him, and while some tiny pieces might linger in the back of Icekit's brain, there's not gonna be any reuniting when he goes to StarClan. Chillpaw's died a rather final death, one that he chose on his own terms; a rarity in the Warriors 'verse, but an interesting one, I think. FictionPress is FFN's sister site, so they're almost exactly the same. Reviews and accounts and publishing all works the same way - which is good, because I'm rather easily confused, haha. Hope to see you floating around in the future. :)
@Bookworm: Thanks! Hopefully Vulpine will go well. We'll see. The Epilogue won't skip tooo far in the future, so next gen kits prolly won't happen, but I imagine the Clan will be full of tiny black furballs someday, even if we don't get to see them. Who knows, ha. Thanks for your support. c:
@GinnyStar: Long time no see! I remember you from the TR days, man. Thanks for sticking around. Sadly, we won't see Sooty's trip in Chilled, but we might see some of her mountaineering days in a one-shot? Who knows what's in the cards. Just have to see what pops up!
@Woods Warriors: Aww, thanks. Imagery is always something I struggle with; there are plenty of authors better than me (cough Shimmertail & Shadesaurus cough), but I'm working on it. And you should definitely give a blind character a shot! The one Rumble chapter I did in Shattered was really fun, although it was also really difficult because I kept slipping in stuff he'd only know if he could actually see. Breaking myself of that habit was hard, but the experiment was definitely worthwhile. Go for it, if you have a good idea! I'll prolly post something here when Vulpine goes up (and random supplemental stuff), so keep an eye out. :)
@Juniper: Hey! Yeah, 1000+ was a crazy thing to see on my mobile. It was also really annoying, because the mobile version doesn't give exact numbers past 1000, so I couldn't see if I'd gotten a review unless I actually clicked it. First world problem, I know. Rook's accent is kinda complicated; when he didn't speak like a rogue, he was always speaking like a kittypet, because that was kinda his "true" self. We saw him try to suspend both for Soot when she was in distress, but if you've ever tried not speaking with an accent, you know that's basically impossible. Right now he's kinda blending the two, and it's not really on purpose anymore; he's not a kittypet anymore, but he's not exactly a hardened rogue, either, so when he's just speaking "normally," both parts tend to surface. Hence the bit about him being "pissed if we perish," and all. I like Carmelo too - a guilty pleasure, I suppose, since he was plotting Eaglestrike's murder and all (I remember when some of you guys thought Eagle was gonna turn evil ambitious deputy and ursup Silver. Good times, good times) - even tho he's pretty shady. He's prolly the only city boss to ever come out on top, too; he gets to rule part of the city & keep up with his colony project, which is what he really wanted in the first place. A+ job, Carm. And thanks! I'm excited for DB and Vulpine too. :D
@Mystic Cassandra: Thank you!
@Davidsmart: Aw, thanks. I'm amazed my story could have such an impact on you. Glad you've enjoyed it, even if it hurt. c:
@Annirosec: It's a little late in the game for a new pairing to spring up, doncha think?
Anyway, that's all for now, folks. Keep an eye out for the Epilogue, and updates for my original projects and such. Ciao!
O, I guess I can celebrate over 500k and 1000+ reviews. Both of those numbers are pretty crazy, man. What am I doing with my life again? xD
Srsly, it wouldn't be possible without you guys. Thanks so much for all your feedback and support. <3
@Swiftehstar: Sorry you blarged? And sorry this chapter doesn't really answer that question, haha. Owell.
@Luna-Soul-Sky: Glad you liked it!
@Guest: Yeah, it was good to see Sooty was back on her paws, so to speak. Most people guessed Chilly would be part of Silver's litter, too. You guys are sharp. :P
@Dracones: Sorry about your poor shattered shipping soul. That's a good point; I think it kinda works, since she's planning on leaving the Clan and all, possibly for good, but it was unintentional, and adding more details to her feelings about the Clan would have been better. Unfortunately, the chapter was already enormous, so there wasn't much space to squeeze things in. Ah well.
@TheVioletGleek: Hey! Good to see you again, love. No worries, I'm sure the hiatus turned a lot of people off (this recent accidental one prolly did too v_v). And, again, I must apologize for breaking your heart a bit...but that just means I was doing my job correctly! :D Rook/Nightingale will never ever ever happen; he sees himself as her big brother, and she views herself as the same thing for him, in a gotta-keep-you-outta-trouble-way. No make-outs for them. Alas, Chilly is never going to reappear again. Boom. I said it. The Pool ate him, and while some tiny pieces might linger in the back of Icekit's brain, there's not gonna be any reuniting when he goes to StarClan. Chillpaw's died a rather final death, one that he chose on his own terms; a rarity in the Warriors 'verse, but an interesting one, I think. FictionPress is FFN's sister site, so they're almost exactly the same. Reviews and accounts and publishing all works the same way - which is good, because I'm rather easily confused, haha. Hope to see you floating around in the future. :)
@Bookworm: Thanks! Hopefully Vulpine will go well. We'll see. The Epilogue won't skip tooo far in the future, so next gen kits prolly won't happen, but I imagine the Clan will be full of tiny black furballs someday, even if we don't get to see them. Who knows, ha. Thanks for your support. c:
@GinnyStar: Long time no see! I remember you from the TR days, man. Thanks for sticking around. Sadly, we won't see Sooty's trip in Chilled, but we might see some of her mountaineering days in a one-shot? Who knows what's in the cards. Just have to see what pops up!
@Woods Warriors: Aww, thanks. Imagery is always something I struggle with; there are plenty of authors better than me (cough Shimmertail & Shadesaurus cough), but I'm working on it. And you should definitely give a blind character a shot! The one Rumble chapter I did in Shattered was really fun, although it was also really difficult because I kept slipping in stuff he'd only know if he could actually see. Breaking myself of that habit was hard, but the experiment was definitely worthwhile. Go for it, if you have a good idea! I'll prolly post something here when Vulpine goes up (and random supplemental stuff), so keep an eye out. :)
@Juniper: Hey! Yeah, 1000+ was a crazy thing to see on my mobile. It was also really annoying, because the mobile version doesn't give exact numbers past 1000, so I couldn't see if I'd gotten a review unless I actually clicked it. First world problem, I know. Rook's accent is kinda complicated; when he didn't speak like a rogue, he was always speaking like a kittypet, because that was kinda his "true" self. We saw him try to suspend both for Soot when she was in distress, but if you've ever tried not speaking with an accent, you know that's basically impossible. Right now he's kinda blending the two, and it's not really on purpose anymore; he's not a kittypet anymore, but he's not exactly a hardened rogue, either, so when he's just speaking "normally," both parts tend to surface. Hence the bit about him being "pissed if we perish," and all. I like Carmelo too - a guilty pleasure, I suppose, since he was plotting Eaglestrike's murder and all (I remember when some of you guys thought Eagle was gonna turn evil ambitious deputy and ursup Silver. Good times, good times) - even tho he's pretty shady. He's prolly the only city boss to ever come out on top, too; he gets to rule part of the city & keep up with his colony project, which is what he really wanted in the first place. A+ job, Carm. And thanks! I'm excited for DB and Vulpine too. :D
@Mystic Cassandra: Thank you!
@Davidsmart: Aw, thanks. I'm amazed my story could have such an impact on you. Glad you've enjoyed it, even if it hurt. c:
@Annirosec: It's a little late in the game for a new pairing to spring up, doncha think?
Anyway, that's all for now, folks. Keep an eye out for the Epilogue, and updates for my original projects and such. Ciao!
Monday, May 27, 2013
Post-Chilled
Ah, the dreaded what-comes-next talk.
As you long-time readers know (if there are any of you left, considering how long Chilled's been xD), usually when I finish a story, I have another story right on its heels. I think the longest time between stories was like three days? Something like that. The reason behind this is that usually when I'm halfway through a story, I've already got a skeleton of the next one planned out, just because my brain's really hyperactive and enjoys plotting stuff a little too much.
Not so with this one, unfortunately. I do have an idea for the next story (it's even got a name) and I've mentioned it here a few times before, but unfortunately that idea keeps changing here and there, and I don't really want to rush into it until I've got a clear outline. That was a very big mistake that I made with Chilled, and is probably why it's so long and glacier-like. When I started Chilled, I had plenty of ideas for plot twists, most of which I've already mentioned (Bluepaw's a traitor! But who is she working for? Blight's Soot's dad! Why does that matter beyond it being amusing for me? Chilly needs Soot's help! But why? Spider has to stop Leopardpaw, cuz she's a traitor! But how is that going to demand half the story?) but no real basis for them, or way to tie them together. It ended up working out, because I'm really good at pulling things out of my arse, but overall the story has become much much much longer than it should have, and I'm kinda burnt out. I really don't want to do that again, and if I do write another story, it will hopefully be closer to Snatched's length than Shattered's.
Another factor is that I am really really really itchy to start writing some original pieces. Dragon's Bargain (a story I started a couple years back for NaNo, and wrote a bit more for last year) is begging me to be completed, and I have another story, Vulpine, that I want to start too. The Warriors scene is great, and the fandom and my readers are incredible, but I want to push beyond fanfiction, even if I don't get a big following there. I want to do some original projects, instead of just riding on the Erins' coattails.
Bottom line is that I do not have another Warriors story planned, or at least not one that will be released any time soon. Instead, once Chilled is completed, I'm going to do some editing/rehauling of everything that I wrote for Dragon's Bargain in November (it's about eighteen chapters, I think, 20-38), and then I am going to see if I can actually finish it (I'm about 3/4 of the way through the story at this point, give or take). After that, I plan to start on Vulpine, which I'm going to talk about further down. While this is going on, my FFN page is going to be pretty slim. Anything that I do on there is mostly going to be side projects - i.e. my one-shot challenge, and possibly the parody or that old Pokemon fic I haven't touched in awhile.
I will still be on FFN. If you guys want to talk to me or ask any questions, feel free to PM me. I role-play on the forums, so I'm definitely not disappearing from the site, and I'll probably have a ton of one-shots to publish. If you guys haven't read them yet, I'd definitely recommend checking them out, since about 60% of them deal with my other fanfiction pieces (basically helping to fill in the universe/look at characters that haven't had the spotlight). I plan to continue this after Chilled's over, as there are some Chilled-related one-shots coming up. This will be the bulk of my FFN activity for the next few months, but I'm definitely not disappearing. ;)
Now, the original pieces. Like I said, I've been working on Dragon's Bargain for a long time. It's kinda my pet story, but because I have my fanfiction obligations, it doesn't get worked on much outside of November (National Novel-Writing Month, for those who don't know!), so I'm excited to finally have some time to finish it. I'm going to be removing 20-38 so I can edit them, since they do need a lot of restructuring and stuff, and then after I upload them back I'll work on finishing the story.
Once that's done, I'm going to start Vulpine, which I'm pretty excited about! I think you guys will like it, if you feel like moseying over to FictionPress once Chilled's done. My username is Prin Pardus there as well, so I'll be easy to find.
Basically, Vulpine is about foxes. I've wanted to write about foxes for quite awhile, but never had a real plot until one popped into my head a few months ago, and then I went on a fox-planning-spree. It was pretty messy, and I'm sure the forums I frequent are sick of my babbling by now, haha. Anyway, Vulpine centers around a group of foxes that live together, known as a Skulk (skulk's a term for a group of foxes, no creativity points there xD). They have a very primitive society, and their lifestyle/training methods are both brutal and dangerous for all involved. I'll try not to go on a rant (because I definitely could), but basically when the fox kits are four months old, they're taken away to begin training. The females are taught how to hunt, and the males learn how to fight. There's usually 12+ kits that go out to train, but only seven (three males, four females) return every year. Unfortunately, the prior year was a disaster, as their usual training area was compromised, and most of the trainees died, leaving only one male and two females to return home. This means the Skulk had to find a new training ground for this year's kits, to ensure such a thing did not happen again.
It just so happens that there are already a pair of foxes living in the area: Sage and Sprite (amusingly, I've had these two characters for years and just never done with them; fox-Sage existed long before Chilled-Sage, and the two of them are quite different). Sage is an older fox (very old) and Sprite is a youngling that he ended up saving (backstory to be revealed later xD). Sprite's always been curious about other foxes, but since there aren't any besides Sage in the area, she has no one to ask. That all changes when the trainees come, along with their trainers. Sprite's consumed with curiosity about these strangers, and ends up getting in a huge heap of trouble.
The story is essentially one about self-discovery, I guess, namely where the characters fit into their world, and whose customs are right, if any are - since Sage and the Skulk have very different views. There are four main POVs, although I won't say much about them just yet.
The great thing about it is that it's completely in my Warriors comfort zone - wild animals living in a group and killing each other for survival? right on! - but the Skulk's customs are still vastly different from the Clan's, so it should be a really great experiment.
If you can't tell, I'm already pretty psyched for Vulpine, and have been for the past month or so. I already have a bunch of character bios made up, and a map for the territory, and I even wrote a sort of character-test piece just to get the feel of the main charries. Aah, it's just going to be so fun, and I really hope you guys are along for the ride!
For the lazy, my FP account is at http://www.fictionpress.com/~prinpardus. It'll be a few months before I can start actively working on Vulpine, but I will probably be filling up this blog with bios and stuff, as time goes on. If you have any questions about the story, please send them my way!
Anyway, this post is getting kinda long. To sum up:
As you long-time readers know (if there are any of you left, considering how long Chilled's been xD), usually when I finish a story, I have another story right on its heels. I think the longest time between stories was like three days? Something like that. The reason behind this is that usually when I'm halfway through a story, I've already got a skeleton of the next one planned out, just because my brain's really hyperactive and enjoys plotting stuff a little too much.
Not so with this one, unfortunately. I do have an idea for the next story (it's even got a name) and I've mentioned it here a few times before, but unfortunately that idea keeps changing here and there, and I don't really want to rush into it until I've got a clear outline. That was a very big mistake that I made with Chilled, and is probably why it's so long and glacier-like. When I started Chilled, I had plenty of ideas for plot twists, most of which I've already mentioned (Bluepaw's a traitor! But who is she working for? Blight's Soot's dad! Why does that matter beyond it being amusing for me? Chilly needs Soot's help! But why? Spider has to stop Leopardpaw, cuz she's a traitor! But how is that going to demand half the story?) but no real basis for them, or way to tie them together. It ended up working out, because I'm really good at pulling things out of my arse, but overall the story has become much much much longer than it should have, and I'm kinda burnt out. I really don't want to do that again, and if I do write another story, it will hopefully be closer to Snatched's length than Shattered's.
Another factor is that I am really really really itchy to start writing some original pieces. Dragon's Bargain (a story I started a couple years back for NaNo, and wrote a bit more for last year) is begging me to be completed, and I have another story, Vulpine, that I want to start too. The Warriors scene is great, and the fandom and my readers are incredible, but I want to push beyond fanfiction, even if I don't get a big following there. I want to do some original projects, instead of just riding on the Erins' coattails.
Bottom line is that I do not have another Warriors story planned, or at least not one that will be released any time soon. Instead, once Chilled is completed, I'm going to do some editing/rehauling of everything that I wrote for Dragon's Bargain in November (it's about eighteen chapters, I think, 20-38), and then I am going to see if I can actually finish it (I'm about 3/4 of the way through the story at this point, give or take). After that, I plan to start on Vulpine, which I'm going to talk about further down. While this is going on, my FFN page is going to be pretty slim. Anything that I do on there is mostly going to be side projects - i.e. my one-shot challenge, and possibly the parody or that old Pokemon fic I haven't touched in awhile.
I will still be on FFN. If you guys want to talk to me or ask any questions, feel free to PM me. I role-play on the forums, so I'm definitely not disappearing from the site, and I'll probably have a ton of one-shots to publish. If you guys haven't read them yet, I'd definitely recommend checking them out, since about 60% of them deal with my other fanfiction pieces (basically helping to fill in the universe/look at characters that haven't had the spotlight). I plan to continue this after Chilled's over, as there are some Chilled-related one-shots coming up. This will be the bulk of my FFN activity for the next few months, but I'm definitely not disappearing. ;)
Now, the original pieces. Like I said, I've been working on Dragon's Bargain for a long time. It's kinda my pet story, but because I have my fanfiction obligations, it doesn't get worked on much outside of November (National Novel-Writing Month, for those who don't know!), so I'm excited to finally have some time to finish it. I'm going to be removing 20-38 so I can edit them, since they do need a lot of restructuring and stuff, and then after I upload them back I'll work on finishing the story.
Once that's done, I'm going to start Vulpine, which I'm pretty excited about! I think you guys will like it, if you feel like moseying over to FictionPress once Chilled's done. My username is Prin Pardus there as well, so I'll be easy to find.
Basically, Vulpine is about foxes. I've wanted to write about foxes for quite awhile, but never had a real plot until one popped into my head a few months ago, and then I went on a fox-planning-spree. It was pretty messy, and I'm sure the forums I frequent are sick of my babbling by now, haha. Anyway, Vulpine centers around a group of foxes that live together, known as a Skulk (skulk's a term for a group of foxes, no creativity points there xD). They have a very primitive society, and their lifestyle/training methods are both brutal and dangerous for all involved. I'll try not to go on a rant (because I definitely could), but basically when the fox kits are four months old, they're taken away to begin training. The females are taught how to hunt, and the males learn how to fight. There's usually 12+ kits that go out to train, but only seven (three males, four females) return every year. Unfortunately, the prior year was a disaster, as their usual training area was compromised, and most of the trainees died, leaving only one male and two females to return home. This means the Skulk had to find a new training ground for this year's kits, to ensure such a thing did not happen again.
It just so happens that there are already a pair of foxes living in the area: Sage and Sprite (amusingly, I've had these two characters for years and just never done with them; fox-Sage existed long before Chilled-Sage, and the two of them are quite different). Sage is an older fox (very old) and Sprite is a youngling that he ended up saving (backstory to be revealed later xD). Sprite's always been curious about other foxes, but since there aren't any besides Sage in the area, she has no one to ask. That all changes when the trainees come, along with their trainers. Sprite's consumed with curiosity about these strangers, and ends up getting in a huge heap of trouble.
The story is essentially one about self-discovery, I guess, namely where the characters fit into their world, and whose customs are right, if any are - since Sage and the Skulk have very different views. There are four main POVs, although I won't say much about them just yet.
The great thing about it is that it's completely in my Warriors comfort zone - wild animals living in a group and killing each other for survival? right on! - but the Skulk's customs are still vastly different from the Clan's, so it should be a really great experiment.
If you can't tell, I'm already pretty psyched for Vulpine, and have been for the past month or so. I already have a bunch of character bios made up, and a map for the territory, and I even wrote a sort of character-test piece just to get the feel of the main charries. Aah, it's just going to be so fun, and I really hope you guys are along for the ride!
For the lazy, my FP account is at http://www.fictionpress.com/~prinpardus. It'll be a few months before I can start actively working on Vulpine, but I will probably be filling up this blog with bios and stuff, as time goes on. If you have any questions about the story, please send them my way!
Anyway, this post is getting kinda long. To sum up:
- No new big Warriors story is on the way (although one might be in the far future, who knows)
- I will still be on FFN (role-playing and working on the oneshots, which you guys should definitely keep an eye on)
- I will be working on several original projects, starting with DB and then Vulpine
- Vulpine is gonna be hella tight, and I'll be updating the blog now and then with bios and all sorts of stuff (I could really talk forever about this, so please ask me questions so I can babble xD)
71
Sorry! Meant to update this yesterday, but didn't have the time/my wifi started acting funky again. It's kinda driving me mad so far, but oh well. xD
Anyway, gonna do the usual review stuff in this post, and then in the next one, gonna explain what will happen post-Chilled. It might be a bit disappointing, and I'm sorry, but that's just how things are, yo.
Not much to say about this chapter other than hooray! It's all coasting from here. Still doesn't feel quite real that Chilled is gonna be over very soon, but I expect it will when I'm writing that final AN. xD
@Bookworm: Uh, sorry you threw up. That doesn't sound like fun at all. Glad you liked the chapter, though. xD
@Ranger of the Forest: Thanks! The Bullet chapter was probably one of my favorites, even if it took me forever to write. I liked how it turned out. C:
@Mallowfeather: Thank you! We'll get some sort of closure on Chilly, but what kind remains to be seen. c:
@Dracones: Can't help it, I do very much enjoy the "whole heroic rescue thing," haha. I think most of the revelations in this story are over (adoption? traitors? super evil secret ceremonies? what more do you want, man?), though, sorry to disappoint. :P
@Luna-Soul-Sky: Thanks!
@Sarnia Oblivion: It's probably been longer than you think, since most of these chapters take at least a week to get out. Thanks for sticking around! We'll have to wait and see regarding Chillpaw, and the rest will be explained in my next post. :)
@Petalfall: Thank you!
@Accalia: Thanks, glad you've enjoyed it. c:
@The Last Moongazer: Wow, a week's pretty quick for a story of this size. I was trying to reread it back during finals week, and I think I only got to like the 50's, ha. I'm always interested in guesses, so feel free to share any theories you might have! And yes yes yes, homophones are pretty much the bane of my existence. The problem is that when I'm in the "zone" my fingers just kinda do whatever they want, while my brain's occupied with big picture stuff, so that sort of thing happens all the time (even with uncommon words, like weight and wait, and once I think I even typed gamble instead of jingle? weird stuff). I try to catch it when I can, but I'm not very successful. Glad you've enjoyed the story, though. :D
@Mossystar: Maybe we will, maybe we won't. As for chapters, it usually takes about a week for me to get off my butt and write, ha. Just keep your eyes peeled. c:
@Lynxeye: Yeah, that's my bad. I keep saying I'll update the blog on a certain day and then I completely forget. Carmelo's grown on me too (but all my characters have a habit of worming their way into my heart, uff v_v), and like someone (can't remember who, gj prin) said, he's definitely not a saint, but he's not a totally bad guy. He wants what's best for the city, and is willing to do whatever it takes to improve their lives, even if it's at the expense of others. He's a "the ends justify the means" kinda guy. Hehe, yeah. I'm sure there are plenty of authors who can plan out every exquisite detail years ahead of time, but I'm def not one of them. xD
Second post coming up!
Anyway, gonna do the usual review stuff in this post, and then in the next one, gonna explain what will happen post-Chilled. It might be a bit disappointing, and I'm sorry, but that's just how things are, yo.
Not much to say about this chapter other than hooray! It's all coasting from here. Still doesn't feel quite real that Chilled is gonna be over very soon, but I expect it will when I'm writing that final AN. xD
@Bookworm: Uh, sorry you threw up. That doesn't sound like fun at all. Glad you liked the chapter, though. xD
@Ranger of the Forest: Thanks! The Bullet chapter was probably one of my favorites, even if it took me forever to write. I liked how it turned out. C:
@Mallowfeather: Thank you! We'll get some sort of closure on Chilly, but what kind remains to be seen. c:
@Dracones: Can't help it, I do very much enjoy the "whole heroic rescue thing," haha. I think most of the revelations in this story are over (adoption? traitors? super evil secret ceremonies? what more do you want, man?), though, sorry to disappoint. :P
@Luna-Soul-Sky: Thanks!
@Sarnia Oblivion: It's probably been longer than you think, since most of these chapters take at least a week to get out. Thanks for sticking around! We'll have to wait and see regarding Chillpaw, and the rest will be explained in my next post. :)
@Petalfall: Thank you!
@Accalia: Thanks, glad you've enjoyed it. c:
@The Last Moongazer: Wow, a week's pretty quick for a story of this size. I was trying to reread it back during finals week, and I think I only got to like the 50's, ha. I'm always interested in guesses, so feel free to share any theories you might have! And yes yes yes, homophones are pretty much the bane of my existence. The problem is that when I'm in the "zone" my fingers just kinda do whatever they want, while my brain's occupied with big picture stuff, so that sort of thing happens all the time (even with uncommon words, like weight and wait, and once I think I even typed gamble instead of jingle? weird stuff). I try to catch it when I can, but I'm not very successful. Glad you've enjoyed the story, though. :D
@Mossystar: Maybe we will, maybe we won't. As for chapters, it usually takes about a week for me to get off my butt and write, ha. Just keep your eyes peeled. c:
@Lynxeye: Yeah, that's my bad. I keep saying I'll update the blog on a certain day and then I completely forget. Carmelo's grown on me too (but all my characters have a habit of worming their way into my heart, uff v_v), and like someone (can't remember who, gj prin) said, he's definitely not a saint, but he's not a totally bad guy. He wants what's best for the city, and is willing to do whatever it takes to improve their lives, even if it's at the expense of others. He's a "the ends justify the means" kinda guy. Hehe, yeah. I'm sure there are plenty of authors who can plan out every exquisite detail years ahead of time, but I'm def not one of them. xD
Second post coming up!
Friday, May 17, 2013
70
whoops. i keep forgetting this thing exists. silly me.
hmm, can't think of anything to say about this chapter other than it was a lot longer than it was supposed to be! i knew i wanted to chop it off after they rescued the prisoners, but i just didn't realize how much everyone had to say. they've all got a lot to catch up on! it was pretty fun to write, though, i will admit. :)
anyway, i'll skip some of the reviews that just mentioned they remembered the tom and stuff. a lot of you remembered him even though he was never shown and didn't even have a name, which kinda weirded me out. i guess forest did mention it a few times, though, especially when he ran into foxclaw by the river. good on ya, those that could recall him. :3
@Dracones: Yeeeep, kinda have an addiction to twisted families as well. But they just work out so nicely! Sorry to disappoint your escape plans, ha. Just your typical heroes-save-the-day thing. At least Spiderpaw had the ambush idea. It totes woulda come in handy if it had been actual rogues, instead of his friends. xD
@Jeepers: Yep! The last few glimpses of Sooty's dreams have really helped tie both her and Spidey's stories together, which makes me happy. Cloudpaw could just as easily be Bluepaw as Leopardpaw, since they were both traitors who turned the corner in the end. The prisoners could be Sooty's group when they were briefly trapped in the fridge, or they could be Spidey's. Oakclaw (tom who was injured in the escape, he got better) could be Thistlethorn (since he had to stay behind due to illness) or...? There are a lot of those sorts of parallels, and they're deliciously fun to explore, especially since our two storylines are finally coming to a head! Good stuff.
@Blood Red Mind: Thanks! I love exploring a lot of different characters, and I've always disliked how ThunderClan was the center of all the action, and they had a few very core characters who monopolized almost everything. It's must more interesting to have a combination of characters from various backgrounds/groups pull together to accomplish something, in my opinion. Glad you like the story. c:
@Woods Warrior: Gandhi was kinda creepy with the ladies, if that counts. I'm always happy to include a dose of Northy whenever I can. If there was a way to sneak him into every chapter, I totally would. Thank you. <3
@Lynxeye: Eh, it's really a combination of both! That's kinda always how it is, though. If you sprinkle enough loose ends throughout the story, eventually a way to tie them together will present itself, so long as you remember them. I feel like it always ends up making me look a lot better at planning than I am, though. Some of it's just luck/happy coincidence. xD You caught the rescue attempt, of course; it would be awfully hard to write another 7kish chapter with poor Spidey sitting in the dark. I think he'd be bored out of his mind, even with Carmelo and Northy to keep him company (and, as you said, Northy would prolly end up eating our poor city boss pal). Thanks as always. ^^
@Bookworm: As much fun as killing Spiderpaw would be, he at least has to live to the climax. It would have been terribly cruel of me to kill him before he got to see Sootpaw again...although now that he has, all bets are off. :3
@Silvershadow: Aww, thanks! I think the one-shots will keep you busy, though, if you choose to read them (I'd recommend it, as most of them are kinda supplemental material for my other stories!), since there are almost 50 posted. Should take you a day or two, at least. ;) The ceiling idea is a clever one, but alas we didn't get to put it to good use! Hope you don't mind waiting too much for chapters to come out now, haha. It's a grueling thing, waiting, especially when I'm slow. :c
Anyway, I think that's all! See you guys next time. :)
hmm, can't think of anything to say about this chapter other than it was a lot longer than it was supposed to be! i knew i wanted to chop it off after they rescued the prisoners, but i just didn't realize how much everyone had to say. they've all got a lot to catch up on! it was pretty fun to write, though, i will admit. :)
anyway, i'll skip some of the reviews that just mentioned they remembered the tom and stuff. a lot of you remembered him even though he was never shown and didn't even have a name, which kinda weirded me out. i guess forest did mention it a few times, though, especially when he ran into foxclaw by the river. good on ya, those that could recall him. :3
@Dracones: Yeeeep, kinda have an addiction to twisted families as well. But they just work out so nicely! Sorry to disappoint your escape plans, ha. Just your typical heroes-save-the-day thing. At least Spiderpaw had the ambush idea. It totes woulda come in handy if it had been actual rogues, instead of his friends. xD
@Jeepers: Yep! The last few glimpses of Sooty's dreams have really helped tie both her and Spidey's stories together, which makes me happy. Cloudpaw could just as easily be Bluepaw as Leopardpaw, since they were both traitors who turned the corner in the end. The prisoners could be Sooty's group when they were briefly trapped in the fridge, or they could be Spidey's. Oakclaw (tom who was injured in the escape, he got better) could be Thistlethorn (since he had to stay behind due to illness) or...? There are a lot of those sorts of parallels, and they're deliciously fun to explore, especially since our two storylines are finally coming to a head! Good stuff.
@Blood Red Mind: Thanks! I love exploring a lot of different characters, and I've always disliked how ThunderClan was the center of all the action, and they had a few very core characters who monopolized almost everything. It's must more interesting to have a combination of characters from various backgrounds/groups pull together to accomplish something, in my opinion. Glad you like the story. c:
@Woods Warrior: Gandhi was kinda creepy with the ladies, if that counts. I'm always happy to include a dose of Northy whenever I can. If there was a way to sneak him into every chapter, I totally would. Thank you. <3
@Lynxeye: Eh, it's really a combination of both! That's kinda always how it is, though. If you sprinkle enough loose ends throughout the story, eventually a way to tie them together will present itself, so long as you remember them. I feel like it always ends up making me look a lot better at planning than I am, though. Some of it's just luck/happy coincidence. xD You caught the rescue attempt, of course; it would be awfully hard to write another 7kish chapter with poor Spidey sitting in the dark. I think he'd be bored out of his mind, even with Carmelo and Northy to keep him company (and, as you said, Northy would prolly end up eating our poor city boss pal). Thanks as always. ^^
@Bookworm: As much fun as killing Spiderpaw would be, he at least has to live to the climax. It would have been terribly cruel of me to kill him before he got to see Sootpaw again...although now that he has, all bets are off. :3
@Silvershadow: Aww, thanks! I think the one-shots will keep you busy, though, if you choose to read them (I'd recommend it, as most of them are kinda supplemental material for my other stories!), since there are almost 50 posted. Should take you a day or two, at least. ;) The ceiling idea is a clever one, but alas we didn't get to put it to good use! Hope you don't mind waiting too much for chapters to come out now, haha. It's a grueling thing, waiting, especially when I'm slow. :c
Anyway, I think that's all! See you guys next time. :)
Thursday, May 9, 2013
69
*insert perverse joke here*
Sorry the blog update's a bit late; finals week has me finishing up a lot of papers and stuff. But today's the last da for all that! In a few hours, my vacation will begin. :)
Chilled's two-year anniversary is in a week, though! Scary stuff. Hopefully I can crank out another chapter or two then. It would be fun to reach the climax on the anniversary, haha. We'll see!
Not much to say, other than I've really enjoyed the past few chapters. Getting the plot speeding right along is nice, of course, and Sooty's finally getting the hope she needed. Life is good. <3
@Mallowfeather: Thanks! Ah, if only, if only. Publishing something would be a dream, and I've already got you guys ready to prowl the shelves for me, haha. Maybe some day, with some original work.
@Dracones: Yep, it's been there awhile. Since the beginning of Chilled at least, I think - but don't quote me on that, because the genesis of ideas is really hard to pin down. xD I thought it was pretty funny how you picked up on "the dead one," since I was planning on bringing it into this chapter to begin with. Great minds think alike, I suppose! As for the journeying cats, it prolly is a bit confusing. They've been traveling back for about a half moon, at this point, maybe a little more - and making great time, at that. It helps when there aren't any traitors gimping around, I think. ;)
@Starshine: Thanks c:
@ty7769: Sorry for confusing you! I hope my PM cleared things up a bit. I'll post it here for anyone else still confused,
"Basically, cats from the original four Clans plus a bunch of Kestrel's prisoners joined together to make FogClan, with Fogstar as leader. He appointed Foxpaw his deputy (after Foxpaw was named a warrior and such). However, because the Clan was so large, divisons sprang up amongst them, and when Fogstar died, Foxstar made the decision to split the Clan up. He named his portion BirchClan, after his mate, and they took up most of the forest. Another Clan was ShellClan, who lived by the sea, and then there was MarshClan and an unknown Clan who lived in the hills/mountain area.
Eventually Twolegs started encroaching upon the territory, and the mountain Clan decided to leave. They became PeakClan. Along the way, one of their cats left to live in Twolegplace, and it's possible that she was Belladonna's ancestor.
The mountain Clan left a lot earlier than the other Clans; the others were determined to cling to their territory, and thus it was generations before they left, so few of them even remembered the mountain Clan had existed. They followed the Thundertracks (the bicycle trail where Bluepaw and Sootpaw found the juniper berries) until they reached Twolegplace/the lake, whereupon they went north. There they found the burnt forest, and ShellClan, BirchClan, and MarshClan settled down there, eventually clashing with the mountain cats and creating FrozenClan.
There was also Guppy, who might be Minnow's ancestor, or might not."
Sorry the blog update's a bit late; finals week has me finishing up a lot of papers and stuff. But today's the last da for all that! In a few hours, my vacation will begin. :)
Chilled's two-year anniversary is in a week, though! Scary stuff. Hopefully I can crank out another chapter or two then. It would be fun to reach the climax on the anniversary, haha. We'll see!
Not much to say, other than I've really enjoyed the past few chapters. Getting the plot speeding right along is nice, of course, and Sooty's finally getting the hope she needed. Life is good. <3
@Mallowfeather: Thanks! Ah, if only, if only. Publishing something would be a dream, and I've already got you guys ready to prowl the shelves for me, haha. Maybe some day, with some original work.
@Dracones: Yep, it's been there awhile. Since the beginning of Chilled at least, I think - but don't quote me on that, because the genesis of ideas is really hard to pin down. xD I thought it was pretty funny how you picked up on "the dead one," since I was planning on bringing it into this chapter to begin with. Great minds think alike, I suppose! As for the journeying cats, it prolly is a bit confusing. They've been traveling back for about a half moon, at this point, maybe a little more - and making great time, at that. It helps when there aren't any traitors gimping around, I think. ;)
@Starshine: Thanks c:
@ty7769: Sorry for confusing you! I hope my PM cleared things up a bit. I'll post it here for anyone else still confused,
"Basically, cats from the original four Clans plus a bunch of Kestrel's prisoners joined together to make FogClan, with Fogstar as leader. He appointed Foxpaw his deputy (after Foxpaw was named a warrior and such). However, because the Clan was so large, divisons sprang up amongst them, and when Fogstar died, Foxstar made the decision to split the Clan up. He named his portion BirchClan, after his mate, and they took up most of the forest. Another Clan was ShellClan, who lived by the sea, and then there was MarshClan and an unknown Clan who lived in the hills/mountain area.
Eventually Twolegs started encroaching upon the territory, and the mountain Clan decided to leave. They became PeakClan. Along the way, one of their cats left to live in Twolegplace, and it's possible that she was Belladonna's ancestor.
The mountain Clan left a lot earlier than the other Clans; the others were determined to cling to their territory, and thus it was generations before they left, so few of them even remembered the mountain Clan had existed. They followed the Thundertracks (the bicycle trail where Bluepaw and Sootpaw found the juniper berries) until they reached Twolegplace/the lake, whereupon they went north. There they found the burnt forest, and ShellClan, BirchClan, and MarshClan settled down there, eventually clashing with the mountain cats and creating FrozenClan.
There was also Guppy, who might be Minnow's ancestor, or might not."
It's a big mess, but hopefully a coherent one! Everyone that didn't read Shattered is probably lost, though, I expect. I warned you! xD
@Woods Warrior: Hah, it's quite the challenge. Then again, I suppose summarizing any 450k+ novel would be. Yep, a lot of people suspected the journeying cats were their ancestors right from the beginning, which was nice. I do so love fan theories. Right now, I have no big plans for other fics, but I do have some original projects lined up. I'll probably outline everything after the climax is done, and we start getting into wrapping everything up (we're so close, I can't believe it!). It'll be kinda sad, since I won't be as active here, but hopefully interesting too, with my original projects. :)
@Appercot: Thanks!
@Luna-Soul-Sky: We have at least 1 more Sooty piece and then 1 Spider one that will tackle the climax, and then a few more chapters to wind everything down. I'm not exactly sure how many - we'll just have to see! And then the epilogue, of course, which I am excited for.
@Guest: Nope! Chilled's where this story ends, I'm afraid, although there will probably be plenty of one-shots springing up. I'm addicted to them. :p
@Bookworm: Thank you! Also, I love how you phrase your idea - "done it accidentally." I'm picturing one of them just like tripping onto the other or something, ick. But no, there were no ghost-love-times for Sooty and Chill, and I think ghost-babies would be more problematic than helpful. xD
@Purplemudkip: But what about the journeying cats she dreams of? Or deets on the sickness? Or the traitors lurking in the Clan, or the threat of Twolegplace? Kidding aside, that's a really succinct summary. I'd give you a prize, if I had one. :p
@NoReason2Care: Nope, when Chilled's over, it's over, although the one-shots will allow me to dig into a lot of POVs. I do really really miss them. Shattered was so much fun, in the non-Silver chapters. ;-;
@Lynxeye: Get on the ball, girlfriend! Rook's a pretty cool dude, I like him a lot (and wish we coulda seen more of him in earlier chapters, sigh). The combination of chapters recently has been interesting, with action-oriented ones and then feeelingsss chapters. The dynamic between the two has been really fun to play with. And I'm super-glad to have been able to help you! It's a beautiful symbiotic relationship we have going, haha. xD
@no: Ha, prolly not. Sooty doesn't feel like much of a leader - she just wants to go home and figure things out for herself. c:
@Mossystar: Thanks. :)
@Catlover: Not by a long shot!
@Swiftehstar: Ship whoever you like, haha. Interesting theory, but we'll just have to see. :3
Anyway, that's all for now. See you, ducklings! <3
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