2023.08.04: Writing, revisions, anime, manga, rereads

[aquietjune]

It’s August, which means that I am meant to start the revision of my longfic. I don’t feel ready, but it relieves me to think that the other day I opened up the project to look up some information for a connected oneshot and I liked what I read.

I could not work properly on the July Break Bingo, not only because I needed to work on a Vampires: The Masquerade game (I did and I still do, to be fair) but also because I needed to take a full week off of fandom (and fanfic).

Coming back from it, I felt better and jotted down the detailed ideas for three stories, but I’m not sure I will be able to write them yet; some are more ambitious than others, and others turn into long oneshots even when they’re just supposed to be flash fics, time is still limited, etc. etc.—all in all, fine, maybe I’ll use them as a palate cleanser during revision, maybe not, but it’s still good to have them.

Still, it would be great to have better control of the length and complexity I want to achieve through writing; I should work on it. (Technical game writing is useful in that, but only to a point.)

Anyway, here's the two entries I've made: triple drabble (shingeki no kyojin, not really spoilerish), set of mini-collages (original work). (Maybe I should post my card, too. One day before the cutoff date? Lol.)

More on writing:

In the past week, since dewladen talked about it, I’ve been using the 4thewords app to write, and while I’m really bad at these gamified experiences I found it quite useful for what I was doing (technical game writing with set lengths to achieve). Let’s see if I can also use it in other settings, especially given that I want to be more careful with the number of words that I put out (but there are also challenges for that, I think).

Also: I joined the comment_bingo for this round! Here is my card.

Media!

• Undead Murder Farce is actually quite delightful, the voice actors are fantastic, and the humor is very on point. I think that handling a classic mystery in a secondary world setting, where you have to explain how the world works if you want the solution to be understood, reveals great craft. So far, great series.
• I was curious about the hype, so I started watching Link Click and I didn’t expect it to go so hard on personal stories and the way they intersect with society and class. I don’t know yet if season 2 is going to follow the same formula, but that was already plenty satisfying. Also, the openings and endings are all fantastic, and as for the music, is it only me or there is some influence from Umineko?
• I got back to watching Monster. It still feels like an incredibly long anime, but as I got to specific turning points I started to see the craft of the construction and I feel in awe. It’s a different experience for sure.
• I’m still struggling with reading, sadly, even as I promised myself to be more consistent with it this year. Still, I can’t force things, especially the ones I do for fun. I need to try (the only way to reacquire the habit), but gently; I’m confident it’ll come back.
• Dead Souls is indeed exhilarating to listen to, though.
• I’m rereading D.Gray-Man up to where I left it in… 2015, I think? Somewhere deep in the big change in release frequency; and I plan to catch up with the latest volumes and chapters. It’s strange: I’m so fed up with the battle shonen tropes and dynamics that I’m struggling to get into the core of the battles, but as I got to volume 14, things started to become more interesting again, and more focused on character and identity, which is what I’m looking for. Allen Walker still feels like a unique shonen main character, even if the names of the weapons are silly; I’m looking forward to getting deeper into the story. The art style is still super, even in the first volumes.
• I might have been tempted to reading the My Happy Marriage light novels. Send help.