Before & After & Inbetween

Family Matters has returned to solo and we plan to solve the remaining issues online this week (if we fail to do so, it's going to be next week). So you either get something to read by the end of this Sunday, or it's going to take way longer.

The final round actually caught a misplaced scene (happening 2 days before it's plot-anchor. DUH, I feel stupid about that!) Anyway, it's corrected now. Let's hope, that was all.

Just a brief "heads up" (since I've been so awfully quiet these last two weeks).

First week was "back at work week" with all the time it took to shovel stuff off my desk that had been raising puppies there since I've fled to vacation way before Christmas.

Second week was actually productive with respect to Business As Usual, but the power surge protection at my home computer system made weird sounds and had to be replaced, so my non-work online life was confined to my smartphone - doable for reading, not really doable for blogging & stuff.

Now, I'm back online and solo returned Family Matters to me with lots of comments, but luckily no major issues. I'm doing my best to get those sorted out. However, given that it likely requires online discussions between us, it will take a week at least (and that's calculated without the very significant distraction of that brilliant, shiny 10" Nexus tab lurking beside my elbow to leap back into my hands... (Really, if you are an avid lover of art and ebooks, that is *the* tab to get! *squee*)).

Okay, time for a brief roundup of how things are (and will be) with Family Matters (FM) and Business As Usual (BAU) in the foreseeable future.

1. The chapters 19 and 20 saw a rigorous overhaul with old scenes being deleted and/or replaced by alternatives or entirely new scenes. It is still the same major plot, but focus and the scenes with which this plot is told have changed drastically (thus correcting the embarrassing characterization errors I made after exorcising Sado)!

2. The old Epilogue part 1 has been cut down and its necessary details merged with the new chapter 20, creating a more concise tale and allowing for a true epilogue instead of chapters masked as epilogues!

3. These changes were already run past solo, who was forced volunteered to suffer as content beta on short notice. Result: a thumbs up! (YAY!)

4. The new epilogue (as already said) consists of only three scenes: Seishiro planning the immediate future (the Golden Week holiday season; of course with a sore lack of involving Subaru!), an expanded and more rounded version of "Omi's House Visit of Hell" already known from the old epilogues (and still told through Omi's eyes), and last (and least) Kamui dropping by (told from Subaru's perspective). That last part is the only thing that still needs a little work. I strife to complete it before 2013!

5. Sadly, here's the big BUT(t): solo is very, very busy around this time of the year and most likely won't have time for editing FM with the fine grammar comb before February. So please be patient, after all, we're talking about roughly 150.000 words here!

6. I plan to use that waiting time on completing (or at least working on) the part of BAU that will describe the events in Golden Week (which does not go quite as Seishiro planned, rest assured). This is supposed to become the first part (of probably three chapters) of BAU, but may well turn into an independent story between FM and BAU. The latter is easily justified by the atypical location and the crucial role of a rather prickly pine of which I grew fond but which won't have a significant role in possible later parts of BAU.

So overall, please stay tuned! :-)

Chapter 20: complete! (WOOT!)

For statistics:

word count of the new chapter XX: 5454
number of scenes: 6
number of all new scenes: 3
number of severely reworked scenes: 3
number of scenes more or less unchanged: 0
word count of the last scene that took so long: 1543

Work on the epilogue will start tomorrow.

Quote of the day (1): "Don't worry. I'll only behave as well as he wants me to."
Quote of the day (2): "Don't even try to put your character flaws on my conscience. They're all yours."

and for celebratory purposes:

Quote of the day (3): "Can we leave now? This sap might be contagious."

The new chapter 20 consists of

1. breakfast sans shikifuku
2. "the other decent"
3. siblings in the bath
4. ignored objections
5. gravetree observations
6. service
7. unexpected announcements
8. Kamui, Seishiro, Kamui, and ice cream
9. attendees farewells
10. Nokoru and won't save you!

Points 8 - 10 still need work, the rest is smooth as a song.

The new epilogue consists only of

1. Omi's house visit of Hell (shortened)
2. architect annoyance with Kamui
3. message in the garden

I have a lot of well defined text for all three scenes, and merely have to attune mood, settings, and transitions.

schedule (tentatively): If writing stays as smooth as it was these last days, I hope to get the file to solo within 2012's holiday season (but no guarantees). We're talking about approx. 150.000 words here!

And then I'll continue with their trip to Okinawa! :)

quote of the day: "You were supposed to predict the Earth's future, not to peep into my sister's dreams!"

Scene progress: 52 words (but 52 words that connect two previously dysfunctional parts, put -for once- Seishiro in his place, and create the mood necessary from a solemn if aggressive memorial service to a dance on the razor's edge with the Kamui banter. In short: 52 words that make a LARGE difference!)

Thing to write next: the Twin Star being an ass, Seishiro baiting Kamui, and Subaru seriously contemplating undoing the result of Kakyo's warning.

Thing to be decided next: when will Kakyo deliver the 2nd message, will Saiga be in the scene (or just assumed), and when will he(they) take their leave (thus burying Kuzuki Kakyo for good)?

feeling insanely happy about those scattered 52 words? Indeed!

quote of the day: "You didn't have the last word with her even when you killed her. So stop pretending you did!"

I'm still working on the finishing touches to Family Matters. I won't say I'm done before New Year, because whenever I say something like that, something else will jump up and chew all my plans. I want this fic to be all shiny and finished and available online in all its glory.

Albeit I'm afraid very few people will notice, since almost all the forums and groups dedicated to TBX are either deadly silent (or have disappeared altogether). I also noticed, that most of my fannish interests have either gone the same way of TBX or come without a blog-presence.

( Lot's of talk of fandoms and losses )

Given all that, I'm not sure that I will continue writing Business As Usual after I finished the editing of Family Matters. At least, the Dekagram will have a working end then. If Seishiro (and the notorious Tree-san) compel me to continue, I'll most likely complete it on my own before seeking help for editing, instead of publishing it chapter by chapter. There's just not much point doing the chapter-dance without a fandom for feedback.

In 300 more words, Kakyo finally made his entree to the mourning guests and is about to deliver Kotori's last wish, wishing Seishiro to hell, and dodging any attempt to be recruited as the new state dreamseer in favor of running his drugstore.

"I see you made use of my warning."

I'm still struggling with the memorial service. While I loved Seishiro's acid commentary, it made the scene too long to fit with the speed of events. In addition, the change in mood once the un-presence of Mono Fuma is discovered, didn't work well. So I reworked it (again), tightened it (some more), and have to come up with a sharper service description (because if I as the author am beginning to get bored reading it, the Twin Star would kill the priest for the in between LULZ for sure).
I know it feels like stand-still at the moment, but each time, more of the text is deemed "acceptable" and "for the keep". I hope the following bits will go a lot faster than this one.

In the meantime, let's fuss about

• a lethal ornament by Heckler and Koch, artfully concealed under a suitjacket


• the metallic snap of a fan opening


• and green teashades that had seen Shibuya fall, while they talked about choc chips icecream.

Real life had a rather negative impact on my writing over the last few days, nevertheless, the running up to the memorial service is now complete and the actual service is taken shape (albeit not nearly as fast as I would want it). The drastic alterations I reported last time not only held through editing, but definitely added flavor to the mix (not that it needed much after Kotori's grave tree took a certain mirth at Seishiro's soaked collar ;) ). Anyway, here's a small excerpt from Seishiro's pov:

...it was an unregistered grave, because the investigation of the girl's death would have put Destiny's chosen ones in trouble, so someone had faked a death certificate and a cremation to appease authorities. Kind of ironic... The Dragon of Earth produced the body, and Heaven hid it in the woods. If that wasn't teamwork, what was?

(I don't think Subaru would approve of his definition of teamwork, though.)