Hey, chums! Just posted 20: Lies, for those of you who keep an eye on the blog and such. Sorry for the delay, Sunday was really busy (I have so much work this semester ;;). I don't really like the chapter title, but it does sum up Vulpine as a whole pretty well, haha. The Reynard lies to the Skulk and the Skulk lies to the kits and the kits all lie to each other. Lovely.
@Lynxeye: Hah, yes. The four of them don't really get along. Sprite/Trick don't seem like good friends, Trick/Faun's partnership is shaky at best, and Sprite is only tolerating Riven (at least initially) because he seems sad and hurt and pitiful. Not the best basis for lasting relationships, but we'll see if they manage to get any better with time. At least Riven's being almost unselfish for once, though. That's progress, even though he's still a big stinky pighead. :)
@Pain: Well, her first deal helped keep Faun and Koulder out of trouble, at least for a little while! Really, everyone in the story is wheeling-and-dealing (even Trick, who earlier told Riven she wouldn't out of disdain) which means that their plans all kinda pile up on each other in a crazy mess. Faun and Sprite both think they're going to reform the Skulk (with violence and pacifism, respectively), while Trick wants to tear it down and is holding Riven's life over Sprite's head (and vice versa). It's the sort of thing that can't sustain itself for too long, and it'll be interesting to see where it all ends up! I'm excite. :3
@Rivens1Fan: Woo, a new person (I think?)! I can't promise anything as far as Riven goes, since he's a bit of a stinker (to put it mildly). Hope springs eternal, though!
I think that's all for the moment, since I have to dash off to class. See you next Sunday!
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
19: Tempers
Note to self: For next project, make update-day during the week, so you're a) awake at a reasonable time b) not lazied out of your mind.
Anyway, there's our new chapter (I always think it's kinda funny to see how the hits for the chapters spike when I update a bit late, which is pretty much always; usually they hop quite a bit. You guys must be camping out, haha). It was nice to bring the Tempers up again. I like the idea of them, but unfortunately they can't be thrust into things too prominently without getting in the way. That's one of the things I'm struggling with in NORTH, actually. I have a ton of world-building things I'd like to express, but some of them aren't relevant to the plot, or can't take up as much time as I would like, even though I could babble on about them forever. Pan and Lorelei fall into this category too, I think, at least in this story. Obvs if I ever decide to write theirs (it's sad when you're writing fanfiction for your own story, but then again that's pretty much what the super editions are for the Erins, eh?) for fun, then I can go on as much as I would like, eheh.
I feel like I had a lot more to rattle on about in the Shattered/Chilled days?? I can't think of too much to say at the moment, though. Aside from the world-building things, Vulpine doesn't have much room for rambling. It has been a good learning experience, though. While Shattered showed how utterly delightful a ton of POVs can be, and Chilled showed me that fixed timelines with multiple POVs is absolutely horrible never again nooo, Vulpine has thus far signified that if you insist on multiple POVs, if you have them stuck on a set schedule of appearance, you'll waste a lot of time writing one in order to help nudge another one along. Kinda unfortunate, really. I'd have to say out of the tree, Shattered proved the most workable, in that even though we had a set schedule (Silverstar/other/Silverstar/other), there was still plenty of flexibility, since 'other' could really be anybody, and all those chapters helped to tie in other plotlines or viewpoints that were both fun to write and helpful to the overall arc, I think. Shattered probably had too many to be easily followable (I think it was like 16?) but if I had structured the story as Sprite/other/Sprite/other, I think that would have been just as feasible. I did consider that for a time, but because of one of the major themes/motifs (those Tempers, again!), I couldn't favor any one POV over the others.
So, there's my rambling for the post, I guess. Someday I'll get that balance just right. ;)
@Swyfte: It wasn't really a huge cliffhanger, since Riven was our POV and we already knew he was bleeding, haha. Unless you were just in suspense over how he'd handle meeting the two lil runts who got in his way early on, in which case I hope I didn't disappoint! Hunt-the-runts is fun to say, but I'm sure it secretly hurts poor little Feo and the others deep down. Or right on the surface. It's not very nice. :(
@Pain: Vulpine is a pretty morbid story, really! That's expected from the premise, I guess, but I'm still a bit surprised sometimes by how dark the characters occasionally get - especially Faun who, as you pointed out, basically has nothing to live for (in his mind, at least) and is embarking on what by all appearances is a mission that will probably get him killed. I think he's a nice contrast to Sprite, who is upbeat and perky despite everything horrible that's happened to her - but even she has plenty of self-doubt and uncertainty, especially when it comes to the world at large, the poor thing. At least no one's really died yet, right (backstories and maulings notwithstanding)?
@Lynxeye: Aww, thanks (even though I would argue I'm not a fanfiction author at this point, or at least not only one, xD). As I've said many (many many) times (thanks to my love of rambling), characters are absolutely the most important thing to me when it comes to writing, and playing with both the audiences' expectations of what a 'good' or a character 'worthy' of a POV is (Faun and Riven, respectively) as well as my own inclinations for certain tropes/arcs is a ton of fun. One of my favorite things so far is that all four POV characters come from very different places/viewpoints (solitaire, son of the Reynard, golden boy of the Skulk, orphaned outsider) and have different goals (although as we've seen, some of them are beginning to converge) with both creates conflict and also, almost paradoxically, creates the opportunity for new connections and relationships. It is hella, hella fun, although finding a way to keep it as neat as possible is pretty challenging, especially when trying to figure out just how the POVs will butt heads on issues, and how they'll fall into line with each other on others (not to mention where all their endgames are). So far so good, though! No regrets.
That's all for now, I think. See you next Sunday (should I just start saying 'Sunday night' or 'Monday?')!
Anyway, there's our new chapter (I always think it's kinda funny to see how the hits for the chapters spike when I update a bit late, which is pretty much always; usually they hop quite a bit. You guys must be camping out, haha). It was nice to bring the Tempers up again. I like the idea of them, but unfortunately they can't be thrust into things too prominently without getting in the way. That's one of the things I'm struggling with in NORTH, actually. I have a ton of world-building things I'd like to express, but some of them aren't relevant to the plot, or can't take up as much time as I would like, even though I could babble on about them forever. Pan and Lorelei fall into this category too, I think, at least in this story. Obvs if I ever decide to write theirs (it's sad when you're writing fanfiction for your own story, but then again that's pretty much what the super editions are for the Erins, eh?) for fun, then I can go on as much as I would like, eheh.
I feel like I had a lot more to rattle on about in the Shattered/Chilled days?? I can't think of too much to say at the moment, though. Aside from the world-building things, Vulpine doesn't have much room for rambling. It has been a good learning experience, though. While Shattered showed how utterly delightful a ton of POVs can be, and Chilled showed me that fixed timelines with multiple POVs is absolutely horrible never again nooo, Vulpine has thus far signified that if you insist on multiple POVs, if you have them stuck on a set schedule of appearance, you'll waste a lot of time writing one in order to help nudge another one along. Kinda unfortunate, really. I'd have to say out of the tree, Shattered proved the most workable, in that even though we had a set schedule (Silverstar/other/Silverstar/other), there was still plenty of flexibility, since 'other' could really be anybody, and all those chapters helped to tie in other plotlines or viewpoints that were both fun to write and helpful to the overall arc, I think. Shattered probably had too many to be easily followable (I think it was like 16?) but if I had structured the story as Sprite/other/Sprite/other, I think that would have been just as feasible. I did consider that for a time, but because of one of the major themes/motifs (those Tempers, again!), I couldn't favor any one POV over the others.
So, there's my rambling for the post, I guess. Someday I'll get that balance just right. ;)
@Swyfte: It wasn't really a huge cliffhanger, since Riven was our POV and we already knew he was bleeding, haha. Unless you were just in suspense over how he'd handle meeting the two lil runts who got in his way early on, in which case I hope I didn't disappoint! Hunt-the-runts is fun to say, but I'm sure it secretly hurts poor little Feo and the others deep down. Or right on the surface. It's not very nice. :(
@Pain: Vulpine is a pretty morbid story, really! That's expected from the premise, I guess, but I'm still a bit surprised sometimes by how dark the characters occasionally get - especially Faun who, as you pointed out, basically has nothing to live for (in his mind, at least) and is embarking on what by all appearances is a mission that will probably get him killed. I think he's a nice contrast to Sprite, who is upbeat and perky despite everything horrible that's happened to her - but even she has plenty of self-doubt and uncertainty, especially when it comes to the world at large, the poor thing. At least no one's really died yet, right (backstories and maulings notwithstanding)?
@Lynxeye: Aww, thanks (even though I would argue I'm not a fanfiction author at this point, or at least not only one, xD). As I've said many (many many) times (thanks to my love of rambling), characters are absolutely the most important thing to me when it comes to writing, and playing with both the audiences' expectations of what a 'good' or a character 'worthy' of a POV is (Faun and Riven, respectively) as well as my own inclinations for certain tropes/arcs is a ton of fun. One of my favorite things so far is that all four POV characters come from very different places/viewpoints (solitaire, son of the Reynard, golden boy of the Skulk, orphaned outsider) and have different goals (although as we've seen, some of them are beginning to converge) with both creates conflict and also, almost paradoxically, creates the opportunity for new connections and relationships. It is hella, hella fun, although finding a way to keep it as neat as possible is pretty challenging, especially when trying to figure out just how the POVs will butt heads on issues, and how they'll fall into line with each other on others (not to mention where all their endgames are). So far so good, though! No regrets.
That's all for now, I think. See you next Sunday (should I just start saying 'Sunday night' or 'Monday?')!
Monday, January 13, 2014
18: Ground
Just realized I hadn't already done this, haha. Sorry! I uploaded the chapter kinda late last night and then went to bed early since classes have started up for me again. Boo. I'm taking a lot of hours, so hopefully it won't be too stressful (and I'll have time for the important things ;)).
Anyway, as promised, a 'cool' character reunion, and other fun things. And a semi-cliffhanger, I guess, but considering who our next POV is (and the condition we last saw him in) it shouldn't be too suspenseful. :P
@Swyfte: To be honest, I'm not sure if we will ever hear the whole story, at least not from Sage! It's quite long, and since his style of story-telling often skips over a great deal of dialogue, we would be missing a lot!
If I may ramble about the Pan/Lorelei thing for a moment, their story actually came from a (complicated and confusing) dream I had months and months ago. Most of the details (two foxes, where they came from, magic flowers, sun/moon etc.) came straight from the dream itself, and worked out nicely, but obviously it was the sort of tale that would not work as a decent plot on its own - at least not with a bit of context. The dream helped me get thinking about my old foxy characters (Sage & Sprite again) and after a few good shower-thinking sessions, Vulpine was born! I do think it would be fun to make it a story in itself someday, but it's such an out-there kinda thing (since it's in the spirit of a folktale, but would be a full-on story instead of just a side note) I'm pretty sure no one would actually want to read it, haha. Ah well. It is a fun thing to slip into the main storyline now and then, and I might end up just writing it in my free time and hoarding it for myself. :P
Anyway, back on track: Are you sure I have nice days? Holly's brush with death was planned from the beginning, after all, and so are a number of others. Really, I think every day would be a mean one, since each one brings us closer and closer to the endgame bloodbath (and all the misfortunes along the way). But if you want to pretend I'm good and fuzzy on the inside, that's okay too. :D
@Lynxeye: You know me too well, haha. Certain circumstances might force my hand earlier than I would like, or not - it just depends on how a few things in the story pivot. We'll figure everything out eventually, though - and this story definitely won't take two years to get to the end. xD
@Pain: Sprite's mostly upset because not only was Trap her father (despite the rather horrible things he did, she and her brothers always assumed he had some reason for them, and there is that blood bond that's difficult to shake; accepting that Trap was just nuts/abusive would imply that those traits might be lurking in Sprite herself, and she's probably no ready to admit that yet), but also because Sage never told her what he had done. Everything Sage does is to protect her - but Sprite does not exactly welcome this, as she has that age-old I-can-take-care-of-myself streak running through her, along with the I-should-handle-my-own-problems-so-others-don't-have-to thing. She sees Sage keeping the truth from her for so long as a breach of trust; it's actually one of many, as she now knows he has been keeping a lot more from her, if he somehow knows Musk and other things he shouldn't. It probably doesn't help that they come from entirely different points of view; Sage is old and crotchety and cynical and remembers the dangers of his youth all too well, whereas Sprite is endlessly curious and starry-eyed and thinks everything can be better if you just belieeeve. They don't share much common ground, and while that was fine and dandy when she was younger, now that Sprite is nearly an adult, they need to figure out a new arrangement before they end up biting each other's heads off.
Bit of a ramble there too, but ah well. Thanks for tagging along, guys, and I'll see you next Sunday! :)
Anyway, as promised, a 'cool' character reunion, and other fun things. And a semi-cliffhanger, I guess, but considering who our next POV is (and the condition we last saw him in) it shouldn't be too suspenseful. :P
@Swyfte: To be honest, I'm not sure if we will ever hear the whole story, at least not from Sage! It's quite long, and since his style of story-telling often skips over a great deal of dialogue, we would be missing a lot!
If I may ramble about the Pan/Lorelei thing for a moment, their story actually came from a (complicated and confusing) dream I had months and months ago. Most of the details (two foxes, where they came from, magic flowers, sun/moon etc.) came straight from the dream itself, and worked out nicely, but obviously it was the sort of tale that would not work as a decent plot on its own - at least not with a bit of context. The dream helped me get thinking about my old foxy characters (Sage & Sprite again) and after a few good shower-thinking sessions, Vulpine was born! I do think it would be fun to make it a story in itself someday, but it's such an out-there kinda thing (since it's in the spirit of a folktale, but would be a full-on story instead of just a side note) I'm pretty sure no one would actually want to read it, haha. Ah well. It is a fun thing to slip into the main storyline now and then, and I might end up just writing it in my free time and hoarding it for myself. :P
Anyway, back on track: Are you sure I have nice days? Holly's brush with death was planned from the beginning, after all, and so are a number of others. Really, I think every day would be a mean one, since each one brings us closer and closer to the endgame bloodbath (and all the misfortunes along the way). But if you want to pretend I'm good and fuzzy on the inside, that's okay too. :D
@Lynxeye: You know me too well, haha. Certain circumstances might force my hand earlier than I would like, or not - it just depends on how a few things in the story pivot. We'll figure everything out eventually, though - and this story definitely won't take two years to get to the end. xD
@Pain: Sprite's mostly upset because not only was Trap her father (despite the rather horrible things he did, she and her brothers always assumed he had some reason for them, and there is that blood bond that's difficult to shake; accepting that Trap was just nuts/abusive would imply that those traits might be lurking in Sprite herself, and she's probably no ready to admit that yet), but also because Sage never told her what he had done. Everything Sage does is to protect her - but Sprite does not exactly welcome this, as she has that age-old I-can-take-care-of-myself streak running through her, along with the I-should-handle-my-own-problems-so-others-don't-have-to thing. She sees Sage keeping the truth from her for so long as a breach of trust; it's actually one of many, as she now knows he has been keeping a lot more from her, if he somehow knows Musk and other things he shouldn't. It probably doesn't help that they come from entirely different points of view; Sage is old and crotchety and cynical and remembers the dangers of his youth all too well, whereas Sprite is endlessly curious and starry-eyed and thinks everything can be better if you just belieeeve. They don't share much common ground, and while that was fine and dandy when she was younger, now that Sprite is nearly an adult, they need to figure out a new arrangement before they end up biting each other's heads off.
Bit of a ramble there too, but ah well. Thanks for tagging along, guys, and I'll see you next Sunday! :)
Saturday, January 4, 2014
17: Turn
Vulpine Bios
Title of the last post should have been 16, not 17. My bad, haha. At least this update was timely!
It was nice to bring our "warm" POVs together again. Next chapter will see a reunion of the "cool" ones, to keep everything in balance, as it should be. It's been awhile since all 4 POVs had something to do with each other (the whole ambush thing - although Trick and Sprite still have not met!), so this should be fun. Befitting a "turn," really.
One thing I do like is how the characters - mostly the warm ones, but occasionally the cool ones too - always hope for stuff. They outline these perfect, idealistic scenarios in their mind - Sprite finding Koulder again and taking him home to Sage, for example, or (on the flip side) Riven killing Koulder in front of everyone to prove his strength and revel in the glory of it all - and honestly believe they have a chance of coming true. They never do, of course - what a boring story that would be, if everyone just got exactly what they wanted (although it would almost work, the way this one's set up, since Sprite and Riven's perfect worlds would definitely butt heads :P) - but something about crushing those dreams and watching them make new ones to cope with it is just really satisfying.
But maybe I'm just a monster, haha.
@Swyfte: "Turned" mean? I'm surprised you think I was ever nice! Besides, the story's entire premise is "lots of cute cuddly things are set up to kill each other." Can't have a story like that without a blackened heart, now can we? :)
@Pain: Is FaunxTrick a ship now? I would say CoolTempershipping, but of course we don't even know what the Tempers really are yet, do we? They were briefly mentioned in Sprite's first chapter (months ago! That's hard to believe, isn't it?) but haven't been brought up since, I don't think. But I'm getting side-tracked. Considering Faun & Trick's only interactions thus far have been her extracting a favor out of him and then turning around to try and use that favor to kill him, they have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to not-dislike each other. xD
That's all for now, I s'pose. See you next Sunday!
Title of the last post should have been 16, not 17. My bad, haha. At least this update was timely!
It was nice to bring our "warm" POVs together again. Next chapter will see a reunion of the "cool" ones, to keep everything in balance, as it should be. It's been awhile since all 4 POVs had something to do with each other (the whole ambush thing - although Trick and Sprite still have not met!), so this should be fun. Befitting a "turn," really.
One thing I do like is how the characters - mostly the warm ones, but occasionally the cool ones too - always hope for stuff. They outline these perfect, idealistic scenarios in their mind - Sprite finding Koulder again and taking him home to Sage, for example, or (on the flip side) Riven killing Koulder in front of everyone to prove his strength and revel in the glory of it all - and honestly believe they have a chance of coming true. They never do, of course - what a boring story that would be, if everyone just got exactly what they wanted (although it would almost work, the way this one's set up, since Sprite and Riven's perfect worlds would definitely butt heads :P) - but something about crushing those dreams and watching them make new ones to cope with it is just really satisfying.
But maybe I'm just a monster, haha.
@Swyfte: "Turned" mean? I'm surprised you think I was ever nice! Besides, the story's entire premise is "lots of cute cuddly things are set up to kill each other." Can't have a story like that without a blackened heart, now can we? :)
@Pain: Is FaunxTrick a ship now? I would say CoolTempershipping, but of course we don't even know what the Tempers really are yet, do we? They were briefly mentioned in Sprite's first chapter (months ago! That's hard to believe, isn't it?) but haven't been brought up since, I don't think. But I'm getting side-tracked. Considering Faun & Trick's only interactions thus far have been her extracting a favor out of him and then turning around to try and use that favor to kill him, they have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to not-dislike each other. xD
That's all for now, I s'pose. See you next Sunday!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
16: Ice
Late update again, by a little bit. I am really unproductive while on vacation. v_v
Fun chapter to post, though, and it ends another POV section (our fourth, sheesh!). During these past four chapters, things have gone downhill for just about everyone; Sprite's being plagued by nightmares that won't go away, Faun has become isolated and embittered, Riven's been beaten down (although who really feels bad for him at this point), and Trick's been forced to watch her best friend be maimed (and she's been blamed for turning Holly in). None of them are having a good time, not at all - and that is absolutely perfect, because it is precisely this sort of thing that promotes change. :)
@Pain: Hah, glad I was right about you being the guest (although it wasn't hard to narrow it down, since my reviewers are a pretty regular crowd xD). Reyes definitely has the same cockiness as Riven, but he's more practical; no need to get his paws dirty when he has Koulder to do it for him! Definitely not someone you want to cross. Same goes for Musk; I think he was a nice contrast to Toma in Riven's chapter. Toma sees the problems in Faun and wants to correct them, not for the sake of winning but for the sake of helping one of his trainees; Musk can see the issues in his own ranks pretty well, but he's too focused on the winners to really care about what happens to those who fall through the cracks, as Riven has. Also, Toma prolly wouldn't ever tell his trainees about him burying them. :P
@Bookworm: Riven's not exactly sympathetic, even in his sorry condition. He still has a pretty bad outlook on life; we'll have to see whether his musings about Faun near the end of the chapter actually amount to anything, in the end (or whether he realizes Faun is not exactly as put-together as he thinks, haha).
@Lynxeye: Fooling's what I do. :D I've prolly said it before, but I'll say it again: Riven's really fun to write for, simply because you do not get many honest-to-goodness douches when it comes to POVs. Usually they're the poor sweet beaten underdogs (Faun, at least initially), or the outsiders looking in (hello, Sprite), or characters with ulterior motives or plans that the narrative couldn't otherwise showcase (yo, Trick), but douchey "jock" types are very rarely on that list (we don't even really have a close approximation of that character type in Shattered, oddly enough). Very fun, although I do enjoy him getting his just desserts. More fun times ahead, too. c:
Again, happy New Year to you all. Hopefully 2014 will be grand. :D
See you next Sunday, maybe.
Fun chapter to post, though, and it ends another POV section (our fourth, sheesh!). During these past four chapters, things have gone downhill for just about everyone; Sprite's being plagued by nightmares that won't go away, Faun has become isolated and embittered, Riven's been beaten down (although who really feels bad for him at this point), and Trick's been forced to watch her best friend be maimed (and she's been blamed for turning Holly in). None of them are having a good time, not at all - and that is absolutely perfect, because it is precisely this sort of thing that promotes change. :)
@Pain: Hah, glad I was right about you being the guest (although it wasn't hard to narrow it down, since my reviewers are a pretty regular crowd xD). Reyes definitely has the same cockiness as Riven, but he's more practical; no need to get his paws dirty when he has Koulder to do it for him! Definitely not someone you want to cross. Same goes for Musk; I think he was a nice contrast to Toma in Riven's chapter. Toma sees the problems in Faun and wants to correct them, not for the sake of winning but for the sake of helping one of his trainees; Musk can see the issues in his own ranks pretty well, but he's too focused on the winners to really care about what happens to those who fall through the cracks, as Riven has. Also, Toma prolly wouldn't ever tell his trainees about him burying them. :P
@Bookworm: Riven's not exactly sympathetic, even in his sorry condition. He still has a pretty bad outlook on life; we'll have to see whether his musings about Faun near the end of the chapter actually amount to anything, in the end (or whether he realizes Faun is not exactly as put-together as he thinks, haha).
@Lynxeye: Fooling's what I do. :D I've prolly said it before, but I'll say it again: Riven's really fun to write for, simply because you do not get many honest-to-goodness douches when it comes to POVs. Usually they're the poor sweet beaten underdogs (Faun, at least initially), or the outsiders looking in (hello, Sprite), or characters with ulterior motives or plans that the narrative couldn't otherwise showcase (yo, Trick), but douchey "jock" types are very rarely on that list (we don't even really have a close approximation of that character type in Shattered, oddly enough). Very fun, although I do enjoy him getting his just desserts. More fun times ahead, too. c:
Again, happy New Year to you all. Hopefully 2014 will be grand. :D
See you next Sunday, maybe.
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