THIS BLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SAINAN NO KEKKA UP TO THE LAST RELEASED PART OR ACT ON THE WEBPAGE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! *EVIL LAUGHTER*
transmission |:| not dead...
date |:| Thursday, March 21, 2002
Just checking in to say that we're not dead. Both of us are sick, so it's proving rather challenging to get anything done, but it looks like this week's update WILL be on time for once. What a shock *dies*
Look for a new blog layout soon also. Most likely this weekend when we post 9.1
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Gerald admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 11:42 p.m.
transmission |:| my spelling abilities, or lack thereof
date |:| Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Hey! GER NO BAKA YAROU! Did I say that right? I know I can't spell- I don't need it pointed out to me constantly though! Or should I start in on some of YOUR faults.... *thinks* Dammit, Ger's so freaking talented that I can't think of anything that isn't highly offensive. *hugs Ger* You know I try to spell.
Anyway, onto the meat of this entry. 8.3 is done- and Ilene and Atsuki have died. It was a slight surprise- Chris was supposed to die in the same attack, but... he's a lucky devil. Are we done killing characters? Wait and see.
Ilene and Atsuki are two very different people- Ilene is a nutcase, a fanatic. Trowa is most likely right that Duo wouldn't have succeeded in disarming her, but Duo will never believe that. Duo is loyal. The only other outcome is that she would have had a complete breakdown and become unable to function.... she's actually quite weak and unable to cope when life gets hard. She really hasn't been all there since James died...
Ilene's death was much more dramatic- one of those epic scenes movies and stuff are made of, in contrast to Atsuki's "oops". Ilene was important to the world- Atsuki was not. Ilene was the only child of a wealthy couple with lots of political power- Atsuki was one of a sea of sisters. Quatre may miss her, but he'd mourn for anyone. It won't be a special feeling... poor girl.
Une finds out that she's really in charge, and has become a person in herself. She was used to being the second in command, and dislikes how the rules restrict her more now that she's the voice of the preventers. Getting sent to Bern is REALLY going to bother her- she wants to be where Sally is.
Ok... now onto technical stuff. Ger promised me a new blog for Act nine... I thnk we decided on Wufei and Sally? ^_~ Also, Act Nine will be our last act before sabatical- Ger's leaving again, and no WAY am I handling this monster on my own. We might have some extra time (he leaves in may) but we don't want to start on Ac 10, since that's the beginning of the Rebirth Arc (shhhh- that's a tentative title). It'll be easier to stop at the end of nine, even though it'll be a NICE Cliffhanger. I hope...
I'm hoping the extra time can be put towards sidestories- or possibly rewriting Act one, Two, and the beginning of Six. We've been talking about it for a while....
And Ger.... do you want a magic wand? Maybe a green one? *flutters eyelashes*
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QS admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 02:46 p.m.
transmission |:| 8.3
date |:| Tuesday, March 12, 2002
So, what did you think?
I'm not expecting to get as big an outcry for this as when we *cough* got rid of Noin since both Atsuki and Ilene are original characters. Still, it took a little effort on my part to kill Atsuki. Even though her death has been planned for this act since Act 2 or so, I didn't really think about it till the night I was sitting here writing it and realizing that this was the last time I'd ever write her. I've grown kind of attached to her actually.
I'm sure our authors' notes at the end of the Betrayals Arc will give more insight into her death, but the short of the matter is that she wasn't needed anymore. Atsuki is one of those characters that, as the title of her section suggests is "just for a moment burning brightly." Her life is brief, a flash in the lives of those who knew here, a brief spark of memory, and then she's gone, as if she never really existed at all. Really, Atsuki isn't even a whole person. Atsuki is the shell of Lilah Winner...she's lost, confused, without hope. She's survived in the Breaks this long because that's all she wants to do: survive. When she finally ventures out into the real world, she finds that she doesn't belong there. She came to Geneva to save Heero but finds that she can't even save herself. Lilah Winner died the day she left L4.
Atsuki gets shot in the back...not even a "fair" death. Her death was what her life had become: an afterthought. We'll see more of the repercussions of this later in Acts 9 and 10 for Heero, Darkflight, and Quatre.
As for Enjolras, my other section, I don't really have anything to comment on that. QS and I first envisioned Enjolras as purely crazy, but when I started writing him, it evolved from a madman trying to blow up the world to an old, tired soldier who really believes that he's doing the right thing and wondering why no one else believes it too. He sees Ilene maybe as his protege...the daughter or maybe even son he never had. QS will talk more about Ilene in her blog entry I think so I won't spoil it for her.
Anyway, feedback as always is appreciated! And I would like to make the disclaimer that any spelling errors in SnK are not mine - not my fault QS can't spell! XD
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Gerald admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 12:41 p.m.
transmission |:| ^^;;
date |:| Saturday, March 9, 2002
*waves sheepishly* Hey...I'm not dead. I had a bad week at school but not entirely dead yet. XD Fortunately it's Spring Break so I can catch up on my writing. We didn't post tonight (obviously). Right now we're hoping we can post tomorrow night, but if that doesn't happen, look for the last part of Act 8 up next week.
Also, check up the new fic of the month...it's been updated.
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Gerald admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 11:39 p.m.
transmission |:| missing person report
date |:| Wednesday, March 6, 2002
Well, has anyone seen Ger? I have no clue what's gonna happen- he was suppose to update Sunday... and I haven't seen him at ALL.... I'm hoping he's ok...
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QS admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 01:41 a.m.
transmission |:| static electricity
date |:| Friday, March 1, 2002
Well... smile, everyone. Things are chugging along just swimmingly. This week we'll have sides (not sure what Ger's up to though) and I'm writing one about the break-up of Helena and Chris' relationship from her POV.
Ok, onto my thoughts, such as they are. We've been getting some EM recently about Heero/Wing, and Ger's reply to one of the messages got me thinking:
I think too much attention has been paid
to the bizarre in writing GW fanfic that now even the
most ordinary seems rather bizarre. It's important to
see the pilots as teenage boys as well as
superhuman/super intelligent/whatever else. I think a
lot of people forget that Heero and Duo and the others
are going through a lot of the normal teenage changes
(and I'm not just talking about overactive sex drive!
XD) Heero hasn't changed TOO much, and people who know
him will still recognize him, but it's enough for
people who don't know him to do a double take before
hauling him in on charges of terrorism, etc.
It's a wonderfully concise way of summarizing what the tack we've decided to take on SNK. We've kept in mind that 18 months have passed since the Eve Wars, and at that age, 18 months is a long time.
People are not static. That's something I think a lot of GW authors either don't get or chose to ignore. Duo at 15 is certainly different then Duo at 20 or 25 will be. While most of his core personality will remain the same (unless there's some major trauma), he won't always act like a young boy, and most likely he'll lose his immortalit complex. He'll grow up the rest of the way- even though he's mature for his age, there's some things that kids just don't get...
Many readers feel "threatened" when an author tries to institute a major canon change. The Wing/Heero debate is a prime example, but other things spring to mind like Noin's death. People don't want to see her gone, and want a return from the dead.
That's not going to happen. SNK tries to take a more realistic approach. In real life, people rarely survive having their craft (substitute car, boat, or whatever strikes your fancy)blown up around them. Noin DIDN'T.
Ger and I refuse to promise a happy ending to SNK. The fluff ending of Endless Waltz was one of our major inspirations to do it right- so while they'll be closure to most arcs, their won't be an ENDING. Life continues.
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Quicksilver admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 12:04 a.m.
transmission |:| a little trippy at 2 AM....
date |:| Sunday, February 24, 2002
I just archived. 8.2 is sent out to the lists and up on both the main page and the mirrors. This update is another strong update, I think. I had three sections this time and QS only had one, so I was working all week finishing my parts...that might be good or bad, depending if you like 8.2 ^_~
I'll admit Milliard is probably the weakest section in part 2. His scene takes place a good four days or so after everything else in Act 8, but we decided to get him out of the way since he'll be building Epyon for a while to come and it didn't matter where we placed his scene. I've been trying to work on not doing as much "thinking" (read: italicized angsty phrases) in my sections, but for him, it was pretty much near impossible to write his section without at least some. Contrary to what some people think, he's not crazy. He's merely...disillusioned. With Noin's death, he's trying to find something to cling to, and he's latched on to what he perceives as Treize's mission to him during the war. He renounces the persona of Milliard that he's been attempting to adopt and slides back into the role of Zechs Merquise. Only time will tell where that will take him...
Shinobu. Ah...what can I say about him? You observant readers should have seen the Helena thing coming. Shinobu has developed very nicely from a 2D static character into someone who is quite complex. I see him as the most mature out of the Cliffside gang, on par with Duo in his understanding of war and its consequences. Of course, growing up in the Breaks, it's expected of him. And just what is Darkflight's connection to Shin? Hmm...an interesting question. =P
And finally, Li. I took this opportunity to try and flesh out her virtual world. A lot of the framework for this was taken from cyberpunk novels/anime (William Gibson's Bridge Trilogy and Neuromancer, Serial Experiments Lain...be looking for my cyberpunk references in the next few acts, and not just for Li). The title itself was taken from Neal Stephenson's brilliant novel The Diamond Age. Li is an interesting one to write, since I see her as (besides being the resident baddy of SnK for now) an extension of all fanfiction writers/anime internet freaks everywhere. She basically represents our dual personalities, one online, one off. Sometimes they're the same, and sometimes they're different, our online personalities are ultimately more "dangerous" in a sense than our real life ones. If that makes any sense. ^^;; Anyway, just what IS Li up to?
That's it for me. I bet you'd like to beat me for that cliffhanger ending, huh? *halo*
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Gerald admitted Chang Wufei to the nearest pyschiatric ward at 01:13 a.m.