Progress Update 14

I'm having trouble thinking about and finishing ch6. This makes me wonder if it's because I'm subconsciously sensing failure even if I work it to completion. But there's nothing obviously wrong. Hitomi meets Van in the library and they have a conversation. Am I intimidated by their dialogue, the subject, or perhaps what might happen if I let them speak freely? I'm not sure.

I do, however, think a lot about the middle and the end of DS. This week has been very cold, and fitting cold into Hitomi's capture would especially highlight the whole miserable experience. You fist your hands to spark some feeling into them, your toes tingle with hurt when they're in tepid water, the feeling that your hands would never be warm even if they burrow underneath your arms because your whole body has become cold--but of course I have to careful, because descriptions are just words. Actions elicit feelings.

Although, I suppose cold is sort of a strange thing for me to put in, considering that the Esca crew traveled from Fanelia to Zaibach to Asgard, and they never seem to feel cold. In particular, Van and Hitomi regularly traveled at airship altitudes but never seem to feel the subzero temperature. *shiver* (Ironically, the only one with enough sense to wear a coat was Leon, the labeled madman.)


Chibi Hitomi and Van:

Dryden

One idea of mine for a long time is to make Asturia the Gaean equivalent of "the West". Its power amid the Alliance countries, its foreign policy attitude that influences country relationships with each other, possible colonialization, its reception as threat and obstacle among other countries, etc.

Of course, to make that happen, King Grava Aston cannot remain ruler of Asturia. His actions during the Gaea War was self-preservation. But if Dryden becomes king...

Dryden is certainly my favorite secondary character. His brash confidence, his understanding of wealth as a powerful tool, his charismatic and decisive leadership, his bookish nature--all these make him an appealing, complex character.

And I think given the opportunity, he could become someone who'd understand Hitomi the best (after Van, of course--and Van's case is evident in ep24 when he answered where Hitomi went).

I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dryden :D

Goong

From Sapphirefly's post and link, this weekend I read Goong up to vol 10. It is surprisingly romantic, despite the gender inequality. (Even though the manhwa explained the women's lack of independence and power as court culture, inequality is much more prevalent in East Asia, as can be seen from the public censure of Hyo-Rin and Chae-Gyeong's feelings of inadequacy when Shin is absent.) Some page had said Goong was made in the wake of Hana Yori Dango's popularity (which spawned anime, movies, tv series, as well as Taiwan drama series Meteor Garden), but I see Goong as a cross between manhwa and traditional twists on Cinderella like My Fair Lady--the transformation into a swan is just the beginning, and Chae-Gyeong doesn't change things by reversing traditions and values, but by following them in her own way.

Since Goong is now licensed for the US and fan translations hard to get, I tried out the drama in an effort to finish the story, but seeing Shin change from SoHee Park's beautiful art into a real boy is a total crush of hopes. I find her art similar in style to Kaori Yuki's Angel Sanctuary and Godchild--elaborate hair, beautiful men, women with a gothic romance feel. Now that I'm back in the Bay Area, perhaps I'll go to the rental manga store again and finish the series in Chinese.

As for how this all relates to Esca... It does give me shivers on a new AU story (just imagining Van dressed up in the fashionable male ideal of East Asia like Shin makes me excited), but most of all, the romance in Goong is fantastically self-deprived and slow. And then when it does come, the romance blooms into this dramatic satisfaction. Gives me ideas.

Almost all of my favorite authors updated during the holiday break. I should get going, too.

New Year

During vacation, I read The Name of the Rose--it was brilliant in its languages, not only in its English construction (originally written in Italian), but also its Middle Ages structure and its use of foreign languages (mostly Latin, but also Greek, French, German, dialects of Italian, and references to Arabic). The PS section from the author was also interesting. Eco talked about how he conceived the idea and how he worked to its completion. I should find Poe's "Philosophy of Composition" again and reread it.

Again, no updates on DS; I'm sorry ._. I'm trying to find a job and live as much free time as possible, as contradictory as the two sound...

Check In

Now that the cats have settled in and most of the boxes are put away, I've been thinking on DS. Mainly it's back planning from what I've learned last term and questions from The Plot Thickens, wavering between not much interesting and too much interesting to post here :P

Anyway, just wanted to check in before I get back to more errands.

This is another doujinshi cover; I don't remember where I got it from. It was originally two image scans, but I thought it made a good background even if there was a seam. Click on the picture for a larger one ^^

Doujinshi 3

Since I'm going to be missing for the next couple of weeks for moving and vacation (unless I am seized with a sudden urge to transmit text messages by holding my arm straight at 20 degrees to the southeast), I'll try to make this post good, hehehe :3

The art in my new Esca doujinshi, "Van Fanel Remodeling Project," is fantastic. If you're interested in scans and translations, I'm open to that. But otherwise, it's only amusing in its ridiculous way, as you will see.

As the note at the bottom of the insert says "there is no cool Van in this book," so here's the awesome Van in the insert, in all his wallpaper sized glory. Translation for it:
name: Van Slanzar de Fanel
age: 15
born: Fanelia
height: 165cm
weight: 51kg
birthday: white, 12th moon (April 12)
sign: Aries
motto: will not turn his back to the enemy
love interest: Hitomi Kanzaki
notes: virgin...?

And now we can go on to Van's embarrassment:


Only Van can make the maid outfit look so good.

I'm not sure why exactly Asian women like to have pretty boys dress up in girl outfits, and I'm even less sure about why I like it... Maybe it's something about how they make even the most beautiful women look like hags.

For DS ch6, I think the main focus now is to get Hitomi's perspective on what's about to happen. Leal's POV is a dive into politics and the new mystery, but only Hitomi can bring the explanation and feelings for the readers. Also need more backstories on the minor characters.

On Writing

Today I'd like to talk about books on writing and elaborate on things I've learned since May.

Best two books so far: The Elements of Style by Strunk and The Plot Thickens by Lukeman. You can get both for less than $25. Such a steal. Both are worth rereading every few months.

For more reading: The Handbook of Good English has a handy alphabetical guide of common mistakes (on to vs onto, etc.), but its longer discussions on grammar rules are harder to wade through. As for academic discussions on craft, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft has story excerpts and writing exercises in addition to thought-provoking content about the basics, but it's at a textbook price because it is, well, a textbook. Of the earlier two books by Lukeman, A Dash of Style is interesting, but probably only to someone like me who loves punctuation. And anyway, it is concerned more about the emotions of punctuation; The Handbook does a better job on correct usage.

As for writing advice, I'll probably repeat myself, but here goes:

Writing is really rewriting. I don't think about the craft part when I'm writing the draft, how I am using first person retrospective and I need to add in more tension here and how double negatives add to this character. I just type on. Then after the scene is over or the draft is over, that's really where the work begins.

I read through for grammar and diction, the flow of words, the expression of imagery. And then after that, I think about what it's missing to make it better, and what doesn't work and needs to be cut out. Most times, I think about: (1) How readers are smarter than I think. Overdrawn points make readers feel oppressed. Specific detail, characterizations, and actions let the reader draw their own conclusions, and they'd feel happier to see by their own effort. (2) What underlying detail I've missed that would illuminate the scene by characterization. In ch5 I had initially failed to include Van's thoughts about Hitomi during Melidoul's exam. Thanks to buddy Chocolatelova for catching that ^^ Terrible if it stayed that way.

Then after the little bits are fixed, it's time for the bigger picture. I read it twice, once as if I'm reading out loud, once as I'd read in a browser. Do both reads make sense? Does the faster read miss important details? Does the faster read elicit a different emotion? How's the flow of the prose in both paces?

By the time a ch is posted, I've read it through dozens of times, but most importantly, it has gone through the rigors of Chocolatelova. In my opinion, an editor shouldn't only look for grammar and other easy mistakes. Make your editor work harder! ;) She's a whole resource, full of truths, full of a different perspective, full of different spins. I've spent all these time on my ch, so I think everything is logical and wonderfully executed, but she brings a fresh look. When I've been working so close to each word I'd have half the ch memorized, it's awesome to have someone point out a fatal flaw in the big picture. She is able to point out inconsistencies, details that should be better explained, things missing that could bring things to better closure. And since she's reading without any judgment and prejudice on what should and shouldn't be in the ch, she is able to experience the emotions of the ch, of each scene, of particular words.

Today's Van is drawn by Kine, a Korean professional doujinshi and manga artist. On a side note, if only I had read this website before I went to Japan. Or actually, maybe it's better I hadn't... It is already damn crazy that I have 2.78GB worth of 5848 Escaflowne images. (90% of that is screencaps, and Van is probably in 75% of those...)


Edit: Sometimes I forget angle brackets break my posts. Argh. Fixed. (12/08)

Film Books 2

Here's the sequel post to Film Books 1 ^^

• In ep16 the white Japanese sweet (looks to be a mochi cake with red bean paste and nuts in the middle) is made by Hitomi's mom. No wonder why Hitomi is bad at cooking, haha. In my house we like to say that these talents skip generations.
• The Schezar family is a major house of knights in Asturia. Because Leon chose not to be a knight, his family was alienated from the main branch. He left his home because he was unhappy, the pressures of being born into a knight's house. He went to Asgard to find Gaea's legends because of his interests in archeology.
• The names Naria and Eriya that Folken gave to Narunaru and Beruberu are the names of Fanelia's twin goddesses of harvest.
• Hitomi's pendant is one of the pendents that all Atlanteans carried, as seen in ep17. The energist is synthetic, made from their concentrated thoughts/spirit.
• At the beginning of the Esca project, the story, concept, and title were different, and was for 39 eps. Then the revisions added Folken, Dragon Slayers, as well as other characters, and was condensed to 26 eps.
• Leon and Dornkirk were both going to the Mystic Valley, but only Leon entered, because Dornkirk had impure intentions.
• The energist from Varie (at the end of ep17) was a test for her son, to know about the enemy. So after Van was teleported in front of Dornkirk, the energist fulfilled its purpose and disappeared. As for the why the chest energist on Escaflowne turned green--that was sealed off by Varie because she didn't want him to rely on guymelef during this dangerous situation. Tough love, I suppose.
  
• When they've escaped from Zaibach on Escaflowne, Allen averted his eyes after letting Hitomi go because he was embarrassed. This was his first time flying on Esca.
• The images at the beginning of ep19 was a filmclip made by Dornkirk for the military council, titled "Zaibach if Escaflowne is left wild".
• Ep22's flashback when Folken read a story to Van--that was a real scroll artifact from 10000 years ago about the first king of Fanelia. So I was partially right ;P
• In ep23, Van, Hitomi, and Merle helped out at the shelter outside of Palas city. Van came along (with Merle attached) because Hitomi is unfamiliar with Gaea's geography and relies on him for directions. (Although, Van hasn't visited Palas before, either. So maybe Hitomi is just bad in directions? That'd explain ep19 when Van rushes out into the rain because he thought Hitomi would be lost.)
  

Tension 2

I've had the ending 7 chs plotted out for a long time, with some scenes in definite play-by-play. Good to know the arrival point, but the middle section is awfully messy and running everywhere. I think I can condense the events in Palas to cut out a couple chapters and make a faster pace. I also need to interweave in the Critias plot. Stupidly, so far the climax of the story takes place away from H's viewpoint in Fanelia, and that seems a little defeating in itself. Feelings come through character action, after all.

One thought as I go through my notes: I have too many characters T_T Maybe it's not so much trouble if I could just figure out a better way to keep information on them all. Lists are no problem, but character interaction associations are hard to keep. When V+H are in Palas at the trade agreement meeting, I'd like those chs to be full with people and their different agendas. I've briefly touched on this in a previous post, but here's the actual list, just for fun:

- Van v Hitomi
- Hitomi v Allen
- Chid v Allen
- Eries v Allen
- Van v Allen v Dryden
- Millerna v Hitomi v Merle
- Dryden v Meiden
- Aston v Millerna+Dryden v Mia
- Allen v Aston
- Van v Cim
- Cim v Hitomi
- Critias v Hitomi v Van
- Merle v Ramu
- Eries v Millerna
- Hitomi v Meiden+Aston
- Hitomi v countries
- Leal+Belian v Van
- Leal+Belian v Hitomi
- Allen v Celena
- countries with each other (Asturia, Basram, Cesario, Deadalus, Egzardia, Fanelia, Freid)

Maybe I'm overthinking it, lol. But undercurrents of character tension bring more force to top-lying events. And sometimes it's only through interaction that true motives may be known.

Progress Update 13

I reread Dune to prepare for the political landscape and the feeling of Van's authority in the next chs. (Paul Atreides is another awesome character, and the book deals with ecology, politics, concepts of time, and culture. It's one of the best science fiction books, if you haven't read it already!)

And now reorganizing storyline. So painful. A lot of my notes are really just random questions and reminders to myself that have no distinct place in the story:
- how did Goau die?
- clear adversary vs. politics vs. self
- evil not really evil, good not really good
- how old is Varie really?

Or things I have to write pages and pages of exploration to explain to myself:
- relationship between Van and Allen (sword mastery, Balgus, Hitomi, power, their different reactions to losing their family)
- other 2 swordmasters of Gaea
- Hitomi doesn't believe in fate anymore and has no visions -> reality of getting first vision in years, and others' assumptions vs. her thoughts vs. Van's thoughts

I suppose both things are good to have, but condensing all my thoughts into a straight outline is so hard ._, I feel like I should have more short story experience before trying this huge project. Oh well. Just needs more effort and organization and perseverance. Must not lose excitement from last post!

The MBEM cover: