The Shadow of Takeryuu, Chapter 1

After I wrote The League of Adventurers, I realized the campaign and characters that the Neoquest crew were cooking up sounded like a really fun story. So I decided to just go all-out and write it as a full-blown narrative.

Since college, I've been really interested in East Asian history and culture, and I wanted to try something a little different here. Shenkuu in canon seems to be very much based on medieval East Asia, such as feudal Japan and the Ming Dynasty, so I thought it would be fun to write a story set in ancient Shenkuu with the flavor of Qin Dynasty China, Yayoi-era Japan, and Three Kingdoms-era Korea. I also wanted to write a Neopets story with the feel of a wuxia fantasy novel, with four intrepid underdog warriors setting out to fight injustice. Also, the prose sounds a more old-fashioned than usual because I wanted the story to have the feel of a Chinese classic translated into English in the early 20th century. Yeah, I put way too much thought into all of this. :)

I think the story is even more fun if you imagine that this is how the actual Neoquest campaign played out--it's honestly pretty easy to figure out which characters in this story correspond to the Neoquest players. Also, yes, the Yuezhi in this story is the same character as in Worth Searching For. I purposely left it ambiguous as to how much of her role in this story Blynn made up. It's entirely possible that she and Yuezhi kept in touch and Yuezhi ended up telling Blynn about some of her past.

I didn't change much in this revision from what got into the Neopian Times, mostly a few minor prose alterations. However, I did completely change Eunji's and Ganzorig's conversation with Takeryuu during the climax to give Takeryuu a little more character development, as well as get a few more jabs in at tyranny and legalism.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7

Chapter 8 - Chapter 9

Thousands of years before Neopia’s present day, the Circle of Twelve, with the wizard Jahbal at their head, rule the Great Empire in the area of what is now Neopia Central. But the Circle have overstepped their bounds and begun misusing their power, succumbing to greed and anger. Even now, the southern city of Kal Panning plans for a revolt, but it will not end well for them.

Meanwhile, far to the west, on the other side of the Mountains at the End of the World, lies Shenkuu.

Life at the Lotus Mountain Temple was bliss for Eunji. The faerie Vandagyre could feel the harmonious energies of the area flow and meld with the rocky crags, the ancient pines, the mists that twined through the valleys below, and the merrily painted pillars and roofs of the temple. Bright colours attracted positive energies, Master Cheol always said. That was why Eunji and the other geomancers kept the temple well-painted.

Eunji’s pink wings flittered as she bounded up the narrow wooden steps to the waterfall where the acolytes obtained their daily water. Chores were a joy at Lotus Mountain Temple. Everyone’s work helped keep the place running, and through their joint efforts, harmony was maintained and energy flowed as bounteous as a river.

A pole stretched across her shoulders with large pails on both ends, and Eunji deftly kept her balance on aged steps that wound up the cliff, hugging the sheer rock. Even had she not possessed wings, the distance to the valley below would not bother her. Master Cheol had taught them the importance of being stout-hearted, as immovable as these great mountains.

 

Giving Day at Black Keep, Chapter 1

This story came about because I just had so much fun writing The Spirit of Black Keep that I wanted to revisit Kass and Black Keep and see how they were getting on. It was also the holiday season and I just wanted to write something festive and fun about a group of friends simply enjoying each other's company. 

In fact, this story was originally conceptualized as just what ended up being the first chapter. But as I introduced Celice's dysfunctional family and had Kass tease the prospect of them interacting with Terra's quirky clan, I realized I couldn't just talk about the possibility of that happening and not deliver; hence, the story ended up being about three times as long as I had expected. Not that I'm mad.

I had a lot of fun writing Black Keep as an actual functional castle; I imagine it's actually a rather nice place to live when it's not being utilized as a video game dungeon. Plus, with Celice and her interactions with her family, I wanted to send a message about the importance of putting up boundaries and communicating clearly, and not assuming that your relationships with those closest to you don't need any work just because you've known them all your life.

I had way too much fun writing Celice's terrifying nieces and nephews. Kids are wonderful and unsettling all at once. Also, I'd teased at Celice being a member of the nobility since her first appearance where she introduces herself as "Lady Celice Anfel", so I thought now would be an opportune time to really explore that and show where she was coming from in Draik Expectations, and how family pressures molded her into a workaholic.

Just made a few minor edits to this one from the version that got into the Neopian Times; mostly some prose fixes, as well as a few tweaks to the characterization to better get the story across and make sure it was all consistent with the updated versions of previous fics.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

“This is fantastic, Kass, just fantastic!” Celice Anfel the white Lupe said to her Darigan Eyrie friend as they strolled down the wintry, holly-bedecked streets of Market Town, laden with bags of groceries.

Lord Kass looked over at her and smiled. Her tail was high and there was a spring in her step as her boots splashed through piles of slush on the cobblestones. Although the sorceress had a penchant for sarcasm, he could detect none of it now.

“I must say,” he said, “I didn’t take you as one to enjoy Giving Day.” Shifting the weight of the groceries in his arms, he adjusted the striped scarf around his neck—an important gift from an important friend. The heavy aroma of warm mince pies wafted up from one of the bags, making his mouth water.

 

Fall From Grace

I always thought Xandra from the Faeries' Ruin plot was a really compelling villain. She's not all "muwahaha gonna take over everything because EVIL" like Dr. Sloth, or avaricious like Captain Scarblade; rather, Xandra is on a twisted social justice crusade. She used to be the faeries' best student, but something happened to turn her against them, and I found myself wondering what that might have been.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to lay out some ideas I'd been tossing around, actually since Worth Fighting For, concerning the ancient history of the faeries and why there are old faerie weapons scattered around Neopia but nobody seems to know why. So, even though this story about Xandra on the surface doesn't seem to be at all related to the adventures of my main Neopets cast, it contains some important lore that plays a role in those stories. That's why I decided to include it here.

There are some important questions raised in this story that I think are even more relevant now than they were when I wrote this, about the ethics of digging up dirt on someone just for the sake of knowing the truth, and about not forgiving people, even when they're trying to fix things. Nobody is perfect - not even very good people - and I think it's wrong to pass permanent judgment on people based solely on their mistakes, especially if they've tried to make things better. (Astute readers will also notice that Fyora never actually did anything wrong and has always been a benevolent ruler, but Xandra decided to detest her because she was a faerie and therefore had to be evil in Xandra's mind.)

This story is also about the dangers of deciding you're a special snowflake who is above the rules. Xandra didn't have any reason to go snooping around the faeries' private business except to satisfy her own curiosity and nurse her wounded pride, both of which are very bad reasons to go sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Xandra claims the faeries betrayed her trust, but she is an unreliable narrator--if one reads between the lines, Xandra's really the one who betrayed the faeries. Of course, she's completely unable to see it that way because she's so convinced she's right and they're wrong. Hence, the title of the story is a double entendre--while ostensibly the narrative is about the faeries falling from Xandra's high opinion of them, the subtext is that Xandra herself has fallen from being a friend of the faeries.

As to whether it was right for Fyora to cover up the faerie wars, I'll leave that to the reader to think about. Contrary to what Xandra claims in the narrative, Fyora never lied to her or to anyone, but there are certainly subjects she's not comfortable discussing and wishes to remain in the past. I imagine the faerie wars were traumatic for everyone involved, including the faeries, and it's something they don't like to be reminded of (they can't forget the wars, though, for reasons I elaborate on in a future fic). So it's questionable for Xandra to assert that the faeries shouldn't hide anything from Neopets (or, more specifically, terribly clever Neopets like her) if there's sensitive information that isn't actually necessary for them to share.

Lots to think about with this one. That's why I enjoyed writing it.

Also, I know in canon the Library Faerie has been named Seshatia. I wrote this years before her canon name was revealed, and I don't even play the website anymore so I don't feel like changing it. I'm sure there's lots in my writing that contradicts more recent canon material, but I don't feel like trying to make it fit. These fics are kind of an ode to the way Neopets used to be and I don't feel like muddling that with newer franchise lore.

Also, I'm annoyed that recent content shows the Library Faerie using a wheelchair or crutches. It's not that I have anything against characters with disabilities, but a faerie, of all things, really? Aren't they supposed to be magical? And can fly? It's one of my fantasy and sci-fi pet peeves when characters have physical disabilities in a universe where the technology/magic clearly exists to either fix or adequately compensate for those those disabilities. If Neopia has potions that can instantly restore hundreds of health points to a Neopet, imported Virtupets technology that far surpasses that of modern Earth, and a sizeable community of highly skilled magicians, why in the world is someone using an ordinary wheelchair to get around?

It's not that I don't want people with disabilities to feel seen and included in the media, but it's really important that fiction writers keep in mind what would make sense according to the state of technology, fantasy/sci-fi elements, and overall rules of a universe. Think of how much it would break suspension of disbelief if, for example, there was a smallpox outbreak in the Star Wars universe, or Thor broke his leg and spent an entire Marvel film hobbling around in a cast. I think one of the reasons why imaginary worlds appeal so much to people is because they're places where we can temporarily escape from a lot of our real-world problems and let our spirits run free. I don't see anything wrong with a fantasy world where nobody is disabled because the technology and magic exists to fix those disabilities. 

(As a former huge Star Wars geek, I learned that the franchise is very intentional about not having anybody wear glasses in the Star Wars universe because it's implied that the technology to fix vision problems has existed for thousands of years and is ubiquitous throughout the galaxy. And as cute as glasses can make somebody [shameless plug], I have to say that it would be nice to go through life not having to rely on two pieces of glass perched on my nose for the world not to be blurry. It doesn't offend me or make me feel excluded that nobody in Star Wars wears glasses. That's just the way their universe works.)

I'm also just not a fan of the idea of faeries being susceptible to mortal frailties. I liked them better when site lore portrayed them as extremely powerful, mystical, and immortal entities, pretty much akin to demigoddesses, not just sparkly women wearing nightgowns (with wings that only exist for show, apparently). It's one of many examples of things I dislike about the direction the newer creative team has been taking the franchise and why I stepped away from it. It really bothers me when a new generation of writers and artists steps in to take over from the team that built a fictional universe, and proceeds to completely misunderstand what made that universe interesting and fun to begin with. I've been seeing Pokémon kinda struggle with the same things lately and it's worrisome.

“Good morning, Xandra,” said the Library Faerie to the speckled Xweetok who’d just walked through the doors of the royal libraries of Faerieland. The brown-haired, bespectacled Faerie placed one last book on the volumes she was sorting and then smiled over at the young witch.

“Good morning, Sybella,” Xandra said, returning her smile as the Xweetok adjusted her own spectacles. Her arms were full of books, as usual. “I’ve come to return these and check out more.”

Sybella’s eyes widened. “More? But you just checked those out last week!”

“I read too quickly,” Xandra said with a sigh as she placed the books on the front desk.

 

The League of Adventurers

Writing Roll for Initiative was a supremely enjoyable experience, and a few years later I found myself wanting to pen more tales of a bunch of weird geeks doing tabletop roleplaying. I thought it would be fun to get Celice involved because she usually takes herself so seriously, I decided it would be hilarious if she was one of those people who really cut loose when roleplaying and get super into it. I also wanted to show that Pharazon doesn't care for Neoquest and that's okay--it's not for everyone.

This story doesn't really have any Life Lessons or big moments in character development--it's just pure fun. But, it also sets up for a longer story I wrote a few months later. When I wrote The League of Adventurers, I honestly wasn't really planning on doing anything else regarding Blynn's Shenkuu campaign... but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how fun it would be to write the plot of that campaign as an actual in-universe happening. But I'll save the details of that for when I add it to the blog. :)

Edits here from the Neopian Times version are minimal, but I did take out any mention of Hyren and Isengrim still slightly being at odds with each other, because I'd thoroughly erased that part of their dynamic with the revisions I'd made to Worth Searching For.

On yet another cold, rainy afternoon in the month of Storing, Hyren sat in his comfortable library in his Altador villa, smugly ignoring the inclement weather as a fire roared in the hearth and his family and allies relaxed around him.

The blue Grundo’s faerie Draik brother Pharazon and Pharazon’s friend Celice were perched on one of the sofas, reading through a stack of books they’d bought earlier that day, and occasionally making comments to one another about whatever they were studying at the moment. Their sister Blynn was—well, Hyren wasn’t quite sure, but the disco Zafara was probably off doing Blynn things like trying to set a new puddle-jumping record or baking quintuple-chocolate cookies.

Hyren, meanwhile, was locked in a rather intense round of Armada with his owner and the Werelupe King. Hyren enjoyed Armada—it reminded him of his days in Dr. Sloth’s Virtupets military. Virtupets programmers had developed a similar game, and Hyren had purchased it for his electronic devices in order to relax during rare down times in his operations. It utilised the Virtupets information networks to pit players against each other, and Hyren took pride in his elevated place in the rankings. He’d taken naturally to the game because the strategy involved was similar to what he employed as a commander of troops.

 

An Argument for the Chinese Dragon Taking Inspiration from Sauropod Fossils

As one of those insufferable people with an interest in both paleontology and world mythology, I'm fascinated by the origins of mythical creatures, and I really believe fossil finds inspired or at least fueled monster legends around the world. I got to reading about the origins of the Chinese dragon and realized that it actually has quite a bit in common with sauropods. I decided to write an essay elaborating on this and breaking down a Han Dynasty scholar's account of folk descriptions of dragons to show some possible similarities with sauropod skeletons.

It's okay if you think I'm full of beans. All this is just wild conjecture. Maybe someday we'll find some good evidence one way or the other.

An Argument for the Chinese Dragon Taking Inspiration from Sauropod Fossils

The Chinese dragon 龍 long is an unusual mythological creature that does not appear to be a clear chimera of extant animals in the manner of other mythical beasts such as the gryphon (lion and eagle), the cockatrice (snake and rooster) or Makara (deer or elephant and fish or dolphin). The form of the long was solidified very early in Chinese history and has not deviated from the base ancient design in over 7000 years.

This remarkable consistency in describing and depicting the long from a very ancient date, coupled with the presence of sauropod remains throughout China, makes it plausible that the Chinese concept of the dragon was heavily influenced by ancient discoveries of articulated sauropod remains. Some of the oldest descriptions of long incorporate multiple features that fit sauropod skeletal anatomy, further lending support to this idea.

 

You've Mastered the Basics--Now What? Part 1

An entry from my Neopian Times work that isn't fanfiction? Yes, but hear me out. I wrote a few articles for the Times over the years, and I wanted to share this one in particular because, despite the Neopets theme, it's full of good solid general fiction writing advice that I thought might be of use to people. I didn't want all these useful tips simply wasting away in the depths of the NT archives. So I'm putting this article here on my blog where it can be accessed and referenced by a much wider audience.

I got the idea for this article when I was reading back issues of the Times and noticed a lot of articles aimed at beginning fiction writers looking to get published in the NT for the first time. The articles covered things like making sure you have good spelling and grammar, understanding basic plot structure, and trying to be original with your stories and characters. 

And while it was wonderful to see so many authors writing articles to help people just starting out with their writing, a part of me worried a little about new NT writers learning the barebones basics of fiction writing and stopping there. That's like learning how to make boxed macaroni and cheese and deciding you don't need any other cooking skills. Just like with all skills, there is always room for improvement in writing. I wanted to inspire and encourage writers to take their NT fiction beyond just good spelling and following the publication guidelines, and craft stories that readers would find truly memorable and engrossing.

So, I decided to put together this guide that goes past the basics and takes some deep dives into prose technicalities, story construction, and how to conduct your writing life. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope it helps people both with their Neopian Times writing and their fiction writing in general. 

The article ended up being so long that I had to split it into three parts to fit the NT's maximum word count limit, but the editor graciously understood what I was doing when I submitted the parts and published them sequentially. I'm keeping the three-part format here because I think it'll be a little more digestible than one massive textwall (not that I have a history of eschewing textwalls.......).

(Also, the illustration is something I drew for another Neopian Times article. I thought it turned out really cute so I figured I might as well use it here.)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

If you want to start writing stories for the Neopian Times, there are a ton of great guides for beginning writers in the many past issues of Neopia’s spectacular user-content newspaper. Fiction writing is not an endeavor to be taken lightly, and many NT writers have graciously passed on their knowledge and their experience on the subject to those who have never written a story before, or perhaps keep getting their stories rejected and want to figure out why.

But let’s say you’ve got all of that down. You have multiple golden quills to your username. You know that plots need to have a beginning, middle, and end. You understand why stereotyping Neopet species is problematic. You’ve memorised what is and isn’t allowed in the Times. And you’re ready to take your writing to the next level.

Then this series of articles is for you. I make no claim to being a spectacular writer—but I have been writing fiction for a fairly long time, have accumulated a lot of know-how from various sources over the years, and even get paid for it sometimes in real life, so I like to think I know what I’m doing for the most part. And now I want to share with Neopia some intermediate-level writing tips and guidelines, to help others give their short stories and story series even more life and impact.

 

Thoroughly Mopey Millie

 (I have to admit that I don't actually remember exactly when I wrote this story. Unfortunately when I got a new PC in 2020 and transferred all my files over, for some reason, all of my Word documents obtained the date they were brought to the new PC as their "Created On" date, so I have no reliable way to definitively date any pre-2020 stuff besides my memory, blog posts, and in the case of stuff that got into the Neopian Times, the year in which it was published in the NT. But I'm reasonably certain I wrote this shortly after Return to Lynwood in 2017, so I'm going with that unless I find evidence to the contrary.)

As I worked on Return to Lynwood, I had so much fun writing the Browning family that I really wanted to do more with them. Millie was a grey Ogrin out of sheer happenstance - I'd randomly selected the species and colour of all the family members as neither trait would be important to the plot - but I found I wanted to explore more of what being grey (and mature for one's age) might mean for a tween dealing with increasing social complexity among her peers.

In canon, grey Neopets are generally depicted as rather depressed and morose, but I wanted to try a different take on grey-ness--Millie's personality suggests that grey Neopets are just quieter, more thoughtful, and less emotive than the norm. Her levelheaded demeanor helps to balance out her rambunctious younger brothers, at any rate.

Also, I was a lot like Millie when I was her age; I was quiet, bookish, reserved, and on a totally different wavelength than the other preteen girls around me who always seemed to be screaming about something. I wanted to write a story validating quiet, brainy kids, and help them see that the things the other kids currently don't understand about them are actually strengths that they'll be respected for someday. (Just don't expect to be respected for anything until college. Adolescence is an absolutely insane time for everybody. Just grit your teeth and get through it.)

To be honest, this got rejected from the Neopian Times and I never bothered to re-submit it; I suspect it got rejected because the general plotline isn't all that unique (main character feels like an oddball in her peer group and then wins acceptance). But I'm still fond of the story, I think it has important things to say, and I just really enjoy writing the Brownings as a cute little Edwardian family living somewhat normal lives in the midst of ghosts and curses.

(Also, Frances and Eldritch the Gremble show up in future stories, so I thought it important to include their debut in the corpus. Grembles are kind of a running joke in my Neopets work for some reason.)

Millicent Browning was not going to boarding school.

“Absolutely not,” Mother had assured her the first morning of summer holiday, after Millie had been promoted from primary school, as the family was sat at breakfast. “They’re horrid places full of cliques and gossip and mean-spirited pranks. I wouldn’t wish one on any of my children, even if we could afford it.” Mother was a beautiful red Kougra lady who seemed to have a natural grace about her. She also wore a necklace of fangs given to her by the Werelupes, for helping them on an adventure. Truly she was not a woman to be trifled with.

T.K. Arispe and the Overused Middle-Grade Fantasy Clichés

I’m not really sure what got me on this subject. Maybe I’ve just randomly been thinking about the middle-grade books of my youth. Maybe it’s stemmed from seeing what my niece has been reading these days.

Regardless, lately I’ve been pondering the weird world of middle-grade fantasy fiction and thinking about what ultimately turned me off the whole thing when I was a kid, and what I’ve been trying to do differently in my writing which is why publishers don’t like me (which is fine).

This essay is one part rant, one part literary analysis, one part a deep-dive retrospective on Harry Potter. I dunno. Personal blogs are for odd stuff like this.

 

Return to Lynwood, Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7

Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14

Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19

Has it really been over two years since the last time I posted a Neopets fanfic here?

I've had a lot going on, and my editor has also been extremely busy, so I'm happy to finally be able to start posting chapters of this fic. Hopefully there won't be any more protracted delays in the future. Getting all of my Neopets fanfic up on this blog has been an important goal of mine for a while.

Anyway. After I wrote Farewell to Lynwood, I found myself wanting to follow up on Lexora--she was too impactful and sympathetic of a character to just relegate to someone else's backstory. I wanted to find some way to reunite her with Suhel so they could continue the friendship they didn't really get the chance to start as children. 

I had also been tossing around ideas for further adventures for Isengrim and his pack; I thought it would be interesting to see how they'd interact with a new, much younger Werelupe, especially since (with the exception of younger Terra and Blynn in Worth Fighting For), I realized my Neopets cast didn't contain any children, and I wanted to explore that dynamic. 

I also thought it would be really interesting to see what would happen if Isengrim encountered a new, much more sociopathic Werelupe King. In a way, Vakhtang is a little symbolic of me as Isengrim's writer fully abandoning my initial concept for his character; it's as if I took all the dysfunctionalism of Isengrim's former personality and transferred it over to a new character who serves as a great foil for current Isengrim's generosity and nobility. In this story, I feel that Isengrim has fully moved on from his past and has become a full-fledged hero in his own right, making it a satisfying ending to that segment of his character development.

And, after writing The Spirit of Black Keep where Pharazon began to come into his own magically and move forward from the events of Worth Searching For, I really wanted to write him into an adventure where he would have an opportunity to do proper wizard stuff--as well as heal his relationship with Suhel.

Each of those elements on their own wasn't enough to build a narrative... but I found when I put them all together, they worked perfectly. An important thing I've learned in writing long-form fiction is that it's crucial to have a plotline that has enough going on in it to sustain the reader's interest through a protracted story. Multiple challenges to overcome, character arcs for characters besides the main protagonist, and complications in the journey are essential--otherwise, you'll just have a very thin plot that you're stretching to be tens of thousands of words longer than necessary. It taxes the patience of both the writer and the reader. 

That's why, if I come up with a plot idea that I just don't feel has enough to it for me to make a good meaty story out of, I'll hold on to it until I come up with other ideas to add to it. I think that's much better than rushing a barebones plot hook into production and inevitably finding you can't come up with more than two thousand words.

I also had a lot of fun returning to the Haunted Woods for this fic. In canon material, the Haunted Woods generally ends up looking more like the Halloween section of Wal-Mart exploded, but I enjoy envisioning the locale as sort of a combination of Mirkwood, the Appalachians, and the Black Forest--ancient, thick woodland saturated with magic of a quiet and eerie sort.

Anyway, enough rambling from me--on to the fic!

The Haunted Woods has two seasons. They are autumn and slightly-warmer-autumn.

It was at the end of slightly-warmer-autumn, when the trees put on their grand display of yellows, reds, and oranges before curling into brittle brown, that the Werelupe King ventured back to his old home for the first time in years.

The massive dark Werelupe, bedecked in bone-and-fang regalia, crunched through dead leaves on the forest floor, one large forepaw on the hilt of the sword across his back. His ears were high and his crimson eyes darted about, looking for signs of danger as he smelled the scents carried in the cold, wet wind.

After a moment surveying the space in front of him, he let out a satisfied sigh. “All clear,” he called behind him.

Literary thoughts

 You'll have to pardon the lack of new (old?) content. I've been dealing with a lot, my creative well seems to have run dry in this summer heat, and I've been taking some time off to take care of myself because I am very bad at resting. As much as I'd love to just be able to go nonstop and be ultra-productive all the time and write fifty novels a year... humans don't work like that.

One of the things I've been doing while resting is reading (not research papers, surprisingly). There's something emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healing about the power of a story to temporarily take you to a different world, to dredge up fond feelings and nostalgic memories, to allow you to be right there looking over the characters' shoulders, sympathizing with their struggles and celebrating their successes. I've been reading a series of books set in the 1940's that I remember from when I was a kid, and it's been giving me those warm cozy nostalgia vibes. Okay, I'm not quite that old, but it reminds me of my grandparents' neighborhood, of simpler and quieter times, much like the effect of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Anyhow, I guess the whole business has got me thinking about some questionable literary advice I've heard over the years, which then of course makes me want to vent about it on my blog where I'm not actually directly debating with anyone. (I hate arguing. It's so pointless and never gets either party what they want and all you end up with is hurt feelings. I think it's much more sensible to just present your opinion and leave it for people to think about.)

 I was digging through storage, and found something I'd completely forgotten about--the "lore bible" for Tales of Lethe, my attempt in college at coming up with my own tabletop roleplaying game, complete with ridiculous amounts of worldbuilding. The game never really went anywhere (after a few test campaigns with friends, I realized that DMing actually exhausts me, and that was the end of that brilliant idea), but for a few years it was my big project. I even ran a message board dedicated to playing the game over the Internet (that was before I realized that running message boards exhausts me too).

It had some interesting innovations for a tabletop RPG, such as each character being probabilistically assigned an element upon generation (with the odds for each element differing by species), and that was the element the character was stuck with for life. The magic system was also extremely flexible, with less of an emphasis on preexisting spells/techniques, the players instead being encouraged to come up with their own uses for each element and the DM (or Lorekeeper) determining how many magic points a given technique would cost.

It was a pretty ambitious project, and an interesting early foray into worldbuilding, but I had a lot to learn about effective storytelling. I also learned that the success of any multiplayer game is highly dependent on other people actually wanting to play it, and aside from the aforementioned handful of friends, I just couldn't really get anybody else interested.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to revisit what I wrote about Lethe with some scathing critique modern commentary. Read on after the jump if you're interested.

(I also have to apologize in advance for the hideous artwork. I honestly did not get good at drawing until taking art and animation classes in college. I was not one of those people who seriously work on their art since childhood and are amazing by the time they're teenagers. Whenever my nieces get discouraged about their art skills, I remind them that it takes practice and learning to get good at something--I was definitely not born knowing things like human proportions and perspective and color theory.

Also, the style is wonky because after high school, I went through a bit of an artistic crisis phase where I didn't want to draw anime-style art anymore and attempted to make my drawings look more realistic without the appropriate training, and it just turned out awful. I reneged on that quite a bit when I started taking animation classes and realized it was okay to go for a more stylized aesthetic. It's not how photorealistic you can get your art to look--it's having the backbone of fundamental technical skills that makes for effective illustration.)

Waterhole

Time for more nerdy space poetry!

I find SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence) a really fascinating subject, not only because it seeks to answer a very poignant question, but because I think the search may ultimately tell humanity more about themselves than about the beings they're trying to find out there. It's an interesting philosophical exercise.

I've read a lot of literature that runs the speculation spectrum about what ETI might be like and why, after decades of having the technological capability to theoretically detect them, we haven't found any trace of them. One line of thought that I'm not a fan of is the idea that ETI are malevolent, and we should not try to alert them to our presence or else we risk dooming our planet. Stephen Hawking was a proponent of this idea and was against sending intentional messages to ETI (hence the poem's subtitle).

But I really don't think humanity should let pessimism or fear limit us and control our actions. Collectively and individually, we do great things by dreaming big and daring big. I don't see any reason why we should stop reaching for the stars.

(At any rate, I have my serious doubts about the existence of malevolent ETI that could pose a threat to Earth on purely logical grounds. Any civilization advanced enough to be dangerous, with the ability to reach Earth worryingly quickly, would definitely possess the ability to discern that Earth has an industrial civilization on it, with or without us broadcasting our presence. If that sort of ETI existed, we should have been invaded by now.)

retrograde

 On occasion I write poetry!

I'm fascinated by the fact that just because our Solar System looks a certain way right now, doesn't mean things were the same all throughout its history. It's also amazing how in the past few decades of space science, researchers have noticed peculiar little incongruities about our planetary neighborhood, and from them have begun to tease out pieces of an incredible story--tales of wild planetary migrations, moon systems built from the rubble of an earlier satellite catastrophe, and episodes of intense bolide bombardment. It makes our present-day Solar System seem completely tame in comparison. I'm excited to see what other stories we can uncover as we learn more about our little spot of space.

Neptune's moon Triton is a definite oddball in its system. It's the largest Neptunian moon by far, looks completely unlike the others, and has a really unusual retrograde orbit. From this and other bits of evidence, most scientists have reached the consensus that Triton is probably a Kuiper Belt object that was gravitationally captured by Neptune when that planet moved outward during aforementioned planetary migration episode. However, in order for this to work, Triton would have had to have originally been part of a binary system, and the capturing interaction would have to involve its companion being flung away to who-knows-where. 

It's a rather poignant story when you think about it--somewhere out there is a missing twin, wandering the void alone after an unfortunate encounter with a big blue bully. Is there any way to figure out if a given object is Triton's missing companion? Makes you wonder if we'll ever happen upon it someday.

If we do, we should tell Triton.

 I drew this illustration to commemorate a new and updated edition of my unnecessarily long Neopets fanfic Worth Searching For! I had already uploaded the previous version here, but parts of it still weren't sitting quite right with me, and I finally decided to just give it a total overhaul.

The most crucial edits here were to erase all vestiges of Isengrim's narcissistic sociopath personality from the first version, and really help Terra come into her own as a strong heroine whose kindness, wisdom, and courage inspire others to change for the better. In addition, I added a somewhat significant conversation between Isengrim and Suhel to tie Suhel's character development together a bit better than in previous versions; when I originally wrote this fic, I didn't go into much detail with her because I simply wasn't planning on doing anything else with her, but since then she's actually become a main part of the cast, so I figured she needed her due in her introductory story. I also took the opportunity to tighten up the prose, since it had been a few years since I'd last visited this story and I've somehow improved a bit as a writer since then.

If you've never read the fic, there's no better time to do so (but for Sloth's sake don't read the version that got into the Neopian Times, thankfully it's very old and you'd have a difficult time finding it, so just spare me the embarrassment and don't go looking for it).

Scrambled Circuits

Here's some original fiction for once! Sometimes I write short fiction, and then forget about it, and then rediscover it several years later and discover it actually wasn't half bad. Maybe I should post more of it here.

This is one of those. I was just having fun writing from a space probe's point of view. You've got to wonder what a computer experiences during a software glitch--what if it's like digital schizophrenia?

Lo'gaan Shelumiel, princess of the moon elves of Kesh'tame Woodland and master ranger, and her sworn enemy General Noggerath, a mysterious orc warlord whose forces have invaded the peaceful land of Avonell to steal its pixiedust, which powers all the world's magic and technology. This is the plot of Heroes of Avonell, the super-advanced virtual reality MMORPG featured in my cyber fantasy novel Pixeldust.

I did this sketch because I've never drawn Noggerath and wanted to try out some stuff for his character design. Lo'gaan is also fun to draw; I based her outfit off of traditional Korean armor and clothing (the fictional development company who created Heroes of Avonell is based in South Korea).

Also, I wanted to announce that there is a new, revised version of Pixeldust coming out very soon! I recently re-read it and discovered that I wasn't really satisfied with the first edition; the prose is very clunky in spots, and there were some prime character development opportunities I missed out on. I also realized there were a number of parts that I'd altered from the original draft to go along with my editor's recommendations, but actually, ever since I published the first edition I hadn't been able to shake that it wasn't really how I wanted the story to go. And it feels very overwritten at times, like I was trying to solve problems in the original draft that didn't actually exist.

I'm not saying the editor didn't do a good job - she did a great job and really helped me polish the story development - but now I realize there were places where I should have stayed true to my original creative vision, instead of assuming that the editor was always right and that I had no idea what I was doing (I've gained a bit more confidence in my writing since then). So I've given the novel a bit of an overhaul, and I'm much more pleased with it now. I drastically changed some parts, including a big element of the ending, which I mostly did to lead in better to ideas for a sequel I've been tossing around.

As for Lo'gaan and Noggerath, I realized that their character arcs needed more substance and closure. In the revised edition (spoilers) Lo'gaan goes along with General Orsamus's descent into control-freak megalomania because she's distraught over being just an AI in a video game instead of a real special snowflake princess. But the protagonists - including Noggerath, who's not a bad guy and was only invading Avonell in a misguided attempt to save his own kingdom - help her understand that her true merit comes from her strength of character and honorable deeds, not a fake title of royalty and a fictional backstory. Noggerath saves her life after she helps them escape from Orsamus's forces, and offers her sanctuary at his home kingdom of Caed Dhraos. The two work together to protect Caed Dhraos from Orsamus, who has gone on a self-righteous power trip, and eventually end up a couple in a twist of irony. 

All of this was something I vaguely hinted at in the first edition, but in reading it again I felt like their character arcs just weren't coming through clearly enough and weren't emotionally satisfying, just hints of character development that seemed to be lurking under the surface but never properly manifested. I think my revisions soundly fixed that issue, however, as well as a lot of others.

The revised edition is not up for sale yet, but it should be soon. I'm very grateful for all the nice reviews the book has gotten, and I hope that this new edition will live up to those compliments even more than the previous one.

The tired myth of the "Mary Sue"

Today, I'd like to discuss a notion that's been on my mind for a while now: the concept of the "Mary Sue" and why writers need to just let it go. I'd been trying to wait for a good opportunity to appropriately soapbox, but then I figured, there's no better place to soapbox than one's own blog. And yes, I look at the visitor statistics, so I know people are seeing this. Time for another essayrant (new portmanteau I just invented).

As someone who regrettably grew up doing a lot of writing networking over the Internet (I feel like no one should ever spend their youth doing any sort of networking over the Internet), I was quickly exposed to the world of fanfiction, and the world of people who read and discuss fanfiction. Both are equally terrifying in their own ways.

Fanfiction is exactly what it claims to be: original fiction pieces written by fans of a fictional work, purely for fun (or sometimes more for social clout in the fan community). There is no quality control much like independent publishing. I have read some very, very good fanfiction by talented writers that could easily be turned into licensed novels. I have also read some fanfiction that would only make the publishing cut with a lot of editing and much more skill development on the part of the writer.

But you know what? In fanfiction, an amateur labor of love for something you're emotionally invested in, writing skill doesn't actually matter all that much, in my opinion. What I really think is a bigger problem is when other fans read said fanfiction and proceed to critically tear it apart unsolicited--or worse, publicly denounce it and make fun of it. And nowhere have I seen more of this than attacks on what are perceived as "Mary Sues"--or, to put the issue in its real light, character shaming.

Big news! I'm visiting the Idaho Falls Public Library on January 13 and I'd love to see you there! I will be discussing some of the themes in my science fiction disabilities novel On Borrowed Wings, as well as introducing my other books. Come ask me questions, get books signed, and exchange Pokémon GO friend codes with me!

I'm hoping to have paperbacks on sale at the event, but no guarantees, so if you want a book signed, I advise buying it from Amazon ahead of time.

I'm very excited to share my work with the Idaho Falls community and I'm very grateful to the library for letting me put on this event. I hope everyone has a great time!

The Holly and the Ivy, Chapter 1

Time for a little holiday cheer!

I really enjoyed writing the Caxton Bank chapters of Worth Searching For, and it made me want to do more with the characters. I thought it would be fun to write a Christmas Giving Day story that draws less from the Victorian Christmas traditions that much of modern celebration is based on, and more from medieval British customs and folklore, as befitting the Meridell region. "The Holly and the Ivy" (the carol) is based on very old English Christmas traditions, so it seemed suitable as the inspiration for this tale.

I also wanted to follow up on what was established about Caxton Bank in Worth Searching For, and show that although the Werelupes started off on the wrong foot with their vassals, their relationship has grown and improved, and it's making everyone's lives better.

I admit I was pleasantly surprised by how little I actually had to edit this one to bring it up to speed with my newer writing. Aside from just a handful of minor prose fixes, I also slightly altered a few details to fall in line with what I later established as canon.

Have a happy and blessed holiday season, everybody!

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

“Don’t go outside in winter,” Nan’s mother always told her. “There’s a reason most Techos are born on Mystery Island instead of the woods of Meridell.”

“But Mum!” Nan would say, tracing pictures on their fogged-up windows with her blue reptilian fingers. “All the other children get to play in the snow!”

Her yellow Uni mother would then pause from her mending and stoke the fire. “That’s because they’re warm-blooded, love. If you get too cold you’ll fall into torpor, and you won’t wake up ‘til Running.”

“Running?! But I’ll sleep right through Giving Day!” That was all the incentive Nan needed to stay in their cottage until the snows stopped. And that was how winter went in the little hamlet of Caxton Bank, nestled in the foothills of the Werelupe Woods.

Most years, anyway.

The Spirit of Black Keep, Chapter 1

Rather typically, it seems, for my story construction process, this tale came together from several originally separate ideas that I realized would work really well in a plotline together. 

Pharazon had gone through some very interesting character development during Worth Searching For, which also introduced the idea of him starting to use magic. The fact that his unlocking his magical potential came about during a traumatic experience begged for some follow-up. What to do when you're a budding wizard whose first experience with magic went horribly wrong? Get sent on a quest of self-discovery, of course!

I'd also been writing quite a bit about Terra, Hyren, Blynn, and Isengrim, so I wanted to challenge myself to write a story where they don't appear at all in-person, so I could focus on giving Pharazon some overdue development. I admit I was feeling a bit bad about basically giving him the short end of the stick in Worth Searching For as an utter liability of a protagonist (turned accidental antagonist), so I wanted to write about him overcoming some of his weaknesses, not repeating past mistakes, and becoming the hero of his tale. It was also nice to give Celice a bit more development, as well as being able to write her and Pharazon actually palling around, since in her debut story they got off to a quite rocky start, while they were separated for most of Worth Searching For.

I had also been wanting to try my hand at writing Jhudora; I like the idea of her not being an evil faerie, just a rather grouchy and solitary one. I thought that sort of personality would play nicely against Pharazon, as well as giving him a sketchy mentor figure to offer him vague and frustrating - but ultimately helpful - advice. And no spoilers about the other member of the main cast, but his appearance and character arc came from some musings I had about the Battle for Meridell plot, the abilities of The Three, and what exactly happened to Lord Darigan between Champions of Meridell and Battle for Meridell. I felt like these characters and what I wanted to do with them worked really well in this particular adventure.

I should mention that this fic was nominated for Most Heartwarming in the 2016 Neopian Times Awards. I'm very pleased that people enjoyed it!

As far as revisions go, there wasn't a whole lot I drastically changed about this one from what got into the Neopian Times. Besides the usual prose fixes, I toned down Celice's personality a little in the beginning chapters to make her less snide (she's still plenty bossy, though), and I also slightly altered a few conversations and inner monologues to better bring home the points I was trying to get across.

 Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7

Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11

The reason he’d gotten himself into this, Pharazon decided, was because he could never say “no” to anything.

The faerie Draik perched on the edge of the bed in his cabin in a Shenkuuvian sky-ship, staring at the letter in his claws, not really seeing the words so much as coming to the realisation that he was hopelessly wishy-washy.

He’d go along with anyone just to avoid a quarrel—and even then he’d peter out somewhere along the way, retreating to the safety of merely existing. Really, he just wanted to sit and read all day. No adventures for him. The world was so much safer from the library of his family’s Neohome.