I think I'm starting to pick up some groove again.
I have about three stories I've left in my back pocket for a rainy day, and it's starting to feel right to take a stab at them.
But I also have another two that have bubbled up.

All in all, it might be an okay time to think of working on them because work is downscaling our schedules pretty far back.

Good deal, although I'm sorry to hear about you losing hours.

I myself am really NOT in a brainspace right now to work on anything significant. I usually try to get something written for Halloween, and I still have a month, so I'm sure I can come up with something, but other than that, my life right now is basically work/shut down/work/shut down/work.

I mean, sometimes the urge to write takes me and I throw something together, so that might still happen, but I currently have no plans for anything significant.

Well, my biggest concern is not being able to capitalize on the potential because I'm so slow a writer.

What was this format of forum called? Pbp, Pbh? Something like that? I can't remember what it is and that's undermining my Google fu.

Php?

Yeah, I think it's php, or more specifically, phpBB. Not entirely sure, though.

Yep! That's what I'm looking for.

*points to the very bottom of the page*

If only to talk to you all about something, I suppose I'll mention that I've recently been re-reading Elfquest, since more of it is now available online than I've ever owned. I just finished up the first quest (first four books' worth of issues) and I was surprised at how much I liked it even outside of nostalgia factor. It does a lot of kind of neat things that I can look at with new eyes now and appreciate better.

Like, for instance, there's a clear mixture of both male and female characters who fight or put themselves in dangerous situations. This is even called attention to early on in the series, when the Wolfriders ride out to rout a herd of stampeding animals, and Leetah of the peaceful Sun Folk tribe balks at the idea of the women of the Wolfriders going out as well. Later on in that first quest, a specific juxtaposition is made as woman of a pair of lovers is the one to go to war, while her man stays with the children because he's unsuited for such things. Then, of course, there's Khavi, the chieftess of the Go-Back tribe, and her daughter, the fiercest warriors in the series who live for battle and bloodshed.

There's also just a lot of fairly interesting panel design. I can more clearly see what it's trying to do now that I'm looking for it, but I also think I've become a bit more forgiving for the manner in which it's conveying events. I think before, I might have raised a fuss over minor things that really don't detract, or pointed towards the passage of time by frame as if that affected my enjoyment. It's made me want to revisit V for Vendetta and reassess my initial poor reaction to it.

It's also just a really unique fantasy story, given the focus on "elves." Rather than being anywhere close to the traditional elves of high fantasy, the main characters of the series - the Wolfriders - are about 4 foot tall and as savage as their canine mounts, with the ability of telepathy to other elves and a plethora of other powers which usually only manifest in the occasional elf (largely dependent on their age or what tribe they're from), such as levitation, astral projection, and wood- or stone-shaping. The only other fantasy races included (at least in the main story that spans the first seven books) are "trolls," which are more more like dwarven orcs and live in their mines without magic of their own, and "preservers" which are basically indestructible fairies which can spit a special webbing that can stop the flow of time for wrapped-up creatures.

I am chasing the Ender Dragon again.

Given my current worktime oddities, I'm going to have time enough to work on at least one, if not several stories, but narrowing it down will be difficult because each is vying for space in my head. I think I'll poll the audience:
Which story should I work on next?

An Antony piece
A Donagut Mystery
A Donagut Action Piece
A Piece for Zhiran's Academy

I'm also curious regarding people's thoughts over what I'm doing with Aamir's relations. Not sure if everyone is opting not to comment in the thread for continuity or... if people just kinda don't care. I only even broach the subject purely because it's an ABOMINABLE amount of characters and I'll bail if nobody is really interested.

While I could say that I don't want to break up a long series of inter-connected posts, in truth I don't even remember who Aamir is, so when I tried to read what's there already, I'm not really sure what the context is. My personality being what it is, I feel like I need to catch up on the 3+ years of content I've missed that's already in the Archives (technically), but then I also have other circumstances that keep me avoiding doing just that.

I just usually don't have the energy and presence of mind to comment, but I have read a bit of it, and will try to keep reading. So far it looks good.

I do love a good Donagut story. I'd probably vote for the mystery, I suppose. Action's good, too, but I think I'd lean mystery.


So, the thing is, you caught me in one of the worst weeks of grading in my entire career so far. With all the changes needed because of COVID, I've been behind on my grading, so I spent this week working my *** off to get caught up. For context, that meant grading 126 papers YESTERDAY alone, plus long bouts of grading throughout the week. So I haven't had the energy to do much of anything outside of that.

I did see your Aamir thread, and I've been meaning to ask you here whether you wanted it kept clean or if you wanted people to comment there. I don't know when I'll be able to really dig into that thread; possibly tomorrow, but maybe not until mid-week. I say continue it, but I do know how it feels to work on a massive project that few people - if anyone - seems to read, so I wouldn't blame you for bailing, either.


Aamir is the half-elf prince who has the ability to create angels. He plays the flute (and the lute, if memory serves). He is polite, upstanding, and optimistic. Once, in a story called "Drifting Lights" he introduced Aloise Hartley to the joys of flamingoes and half-naked Raefs, although that story never became canon. Honestly, not a lot has happened with Aamir in the 3+ years you mentioned. I think the only canon story that mentions him is "The Tale Carver," although Aamir himself doesn't appear in that story.

But Aamir's been around the M:EM longer than I have, so there might be some stuff out there that I don't know about.

I don't necessarily need comments (not turning them away, mind you) but I just wanted to make sure there was interest there and I wasn't just narrating into the void.

And looks like I'll be doing the Donagut mystery first!

I got about 2000 words on the page for this today.
Also a title I'm smugly pleased with.

The biggest hurdle in getting this one constructed is going through the middle.
The start and end were easy enough points, but the line connecting them will be sketchy at first. I have to make sure it's long enough to be interesting, but have all the pieces necessary to solve. Though if you know what to look for, there's actually going to be more clues than what is strictly present in the story.

I am going to continue to blather about what I'm writing, mostly because it helps me feel like I'm making progress.
Also it keeps my frame of mind and events straight.

I had to rip about 500 words out of the script, but boosted the total up to around 2800 today. I'm now in the third section and setting up for the pivot.

@Barinellos: Keep up the good work, man. I have had no motivation to write in a long time. I'm starting to think about what I might want to do for my Halloween piece this year, and while I have some thoughts, I don't have anything solid yet.

I've discovered and most definitely recently corroborated that for me to get any words onto the page, I've gotta put words in the tank.

If I don't have anything to read, if I try to write, I'll just come up dry.

Boosted the total today up to about 3600 words. Got through a turn, but only now in position for the pivot. I think conservatively in another 1400-1800 words I should finish. I'll lose a day tomorrow, but maybe I can sweep it up on Wednesday.