April 2014 Round-Up

[k_a_webb]

March started off slowly, as I was still getting back to my old self after being ill in February, but mid-month everything seemed to get easier. The stories were flowing in a way they hadn't done since January, so I managed to get a lot of work done. Some of my posts were longer than normal, as I was working on some 10,000 and 8,000 word long fiction and it made sense to post around 2,000 words at a time. It means it doesn't seem as though I've posted as much, when really those two pieces of fiction came to almost half my goal amount for the month. Any input on how well this works would be really appreciated. Does having the longer parts work? Should I cut them down to make them easier to read? Do you prefer it when I post the shorter parts (500 - 1000 words), when I post mid-length parts (1000 - 2000), or when I post the longer parts (2000 and over)? Is there a top limit for word counts when you're reading online in this way?

I would have liked to have written more for the Deities' World, but what I did write was illuminating. What I've realised I need, desperately, is maps, so if anyone can help me out, in return for fiction, or knows someone who can and might be interested in what I do, please get in contact. The more I write the harder it gets when I don't have maps and all I need is something basic, because I'll be updating them as I learn more about the worlds that I'm writing about. (My characters don't make it easy for me.) Papa Legba especially was very interesting and I think now is a good time to once again remind people that what I write may not be the Papa Legba that is traditional - I write what he tells me to (as my characters are all very stubborn if I try to do something with them that they don't like). For those of you who don't have this issue with your characters I wish it was that simple for me. Their insistence on doing their own thing is why I don't plot. Instead I let things happen as they will, because that is much easier, otherwise I end up arguing with them and that just wastes time. So if you wonder why certain stories are much longer than others then normally the reason is the characters. They want me to show what's happening at every moment, they want me to continue conversations even though I'm trying to get them all to shut up, they insist that everything that happened was important... honestly, sometimes all I want is to be able to write a nice simple story.

The lack of Deities' World work was filled by the work I did with the Afterlife, which was just as illuminating as I've learnt much more about the angels than I had before. Angels that I wasn't even planning on having in the Afterlife in the first place... and then they told me that they were there and they wanted me to write about them, as they were rather than how people believe them to be. I've also learnt more about the Death from the time when Samael chose to walk away and I think I want to meet him, so if anyone would be interested to know more I've updated my permanent prompts page to make it much easier to use. However I know very little about their world still and I think this might be because I haven't written that much about it yet. Mostly I've focused on Death and Caitlyn's training, so that's something I want to be doing as well.

My focus this month is Heliopath's World and Aurora's World. I've got some ideas about what I want to write for them, because they're both worlds I don't know as much about as I'd like, so I think it's going to be a very interesting month. Prompts are always appreciated, so if there's anything you want to know about either of them let me know. The plan with both of them is to go back in time to find out why things happened, as that's always helps, and I want to write more about Heliopath himself, as he has a very interesting story that I've only just touched the surface of. So does Falcon, actually, but he irritates me, and that makes me less likely to write him. Actually that's one of the reasons I like prompts and people to adopt characters - then it makes me write them, even when I don't necessarily want to, and that always helps me to understand them better.

It's also raffle month: from April the 14th to the 28th. I'm hoping this one goes better than the last one did and I think one of the things that might help is the advance warning as well as a reminder the week before. My aim is to have at least five people enter, to hit at least 10,000 words from the entries, and, hopefully, reach a high enough number of entrants to give away free adoptions and rentals.

Fiction posted:
The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments: part 9, 74th continuation; part 9, 75th continuation; part 9, 76th continuation; part 9, 77th continuation; part 9, 78th continuation; part 9, 79th continuation; part 9, 80th continuation; part 9, 81st continuation; and part 9, 82nd continuation.
Free: Hephaestus: Returning Home (part 3); Lucifer: Halloween (part 3); Papa Legba: Choosing to Connect; Persephone: Talking to Callidora; Persephone: Talking to Callidora (part 2); Papa Legba: Choosing to Connect (part 2); Papa Legba: Choosing to Connect (part 3); Callidora: Learning from Lakshmi (part 2); Anubis: An Evening with Hades (part 2); Nathan: Letting Go (part 2); Nathan: Letting Go (part 3); Caitlyn: Sacred Calling (part 2); Caitlyn: Sacred Calling (part 3); Caitlyn: Sacred Calling (part 4); Caitlyn: Sacred Calling (part 5); Joe: A Dog's Death; Caitlyn: Visiting Family; Richard: The Apocalypse is Coming (part 3); Kara: Talking to Richard; Papa Legba: Choosing to Connect (part 4); Caitlyn: Sacred Calling (part 6); Mallory: Making a Decision; Richard: Reading Charis' Journal; Richard: Reading Charis' Journal (part 2); Richard: Reading Charis' Journal (part 3); and Richard: Reading Charis' Journal (part 4).
Sponsored: Takara: The Missionary (part 2); and Takara: The Missionary (part 3).

Meta-fiction: A Conversation with Alice

Other posts: Update: 10th March; and Update: 12th March

Comments

[pyraxis]

Not sure if this is relevant to you... feel free to ignore it if it's not. I discovered on DeviantArt today, a painting and animation student who is looking for a story to illustrate for a summer project, for free. She's asking for synopses from writers with title, setting, and genre, for something that could be illustrated in 8-15 pages. Link.