Ais and Sonny

Some updates (Ais)

2010-03-29T23:57:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile so I figured I should update the blog, although I don't know how many people actually read this.

The site redesign is still on hold, pending me deciding whether I want to give up my stubborn ways and make things a hell of a lot easier in the short run but not necessarily in the long run... or continue to stall everything with this elusive future in which I will actually get off my ass and figure out how to properly code everything. I'm a cheap bastard who apparently, in some cases, has control issues so I've been trying to go the "I create everything mostly from scratch and design it all myself and know exactly how it works" route rather than the "I can make it fast and pretty and super interactive by using a WYSIWIG but then pay more and be at the mercy of the program creator" route. Dualing options! Who will win?! More at 10.

We've finished the interludes (yay + wtf there were a thousand more than we intended?) and have started into Fade/Book Three. There is the shortest preview ever** available at our forum iffin' you didn't see already, although I suspect you have if you've found this squirreled-away blog since the link to the teaser is très easier to find.

(**Actually, the shortest preview ever would probably have to be simply this: "A". Try to figure out where we're going in the story with THAT, bitches!)

We're currently working on Fade chapter 3. Doesn't sound like we're super far into it, I know. Our schedules are crazy clashing for the most part. But honestly-- I've said this before somewhere I'm sure and I'll say it again-- in this case, I think the delay has been very good. I thought I was ready for writing before and I was, but this extra time off has gotten me even more excited about Fade. I think it has for both of us.

As a result, I'm being more creative in some regards. I had enough time to write a whole bunch of scenes for background story in the interim between the last Interlude and the first chapter of Fade... The majority of those scenes are now defunct because I changed certain aspects but that's really good. It gave me the opportunity to explore a few options and then determine which I liked best. I kind of needed those months to mull over shit that had been on my mind for awhile.

And, what gets me more excited is some things have come up that I wasn't expecting. I created a character I really like now who I hadn't planned to introduce before. But in doing so it helped make some things fit. I know I'm being vague. Trying not to say anything that requires a spoiler alert.

The down side, of course, is that now I'm all raring to write Fade 24/7 and we still have our schedules to contend with, and crazy domestic things like, you know, work. What's up with that, anyway? Anyone want to donate a million dollars to me so I can pay off all my bills and chillax at home and write more stuff and make the site super awesome? You know you do.

No?

Well. Guess I'll have to start hitting up fancy functions to find my sugar momma after all.

A few things (Ais)

2009-11-22T13:54:00.003-05:00

This entry isn't really of import except to say I'm pleased with where we're going. We've had such clashing schedules for awhile, combined with my own issues which included an increasing dislike of writing the story, that for awhile it seemed like things were headed on a downward spiral. I never planned to quit writing the story but I needed a break so bad that it was making me hate my characters, dread having to write, and overall was adding to the miserable aspect of the entire situation.

The reason I'm pleased is because this hiatus has already allowed me the chance to start to take the break I needed, which is making me head in the direction of wanting to write again. I still have my moments where I don't want to but now they're few and far between as opposed to the constant, immediate reaction of before.

One of the biggest issues was Boyd. I think months ago, I subconsciously was affected by some things, which ended up affecting the way he was written. Not the plot per se, because we had that all figured out already. But for quite a few months, it felt like nothing was right and all attempts to fix what was wrong failed because I didn't know what was wrong, and no one was happy. It was incredibly discouraging and was a major factor in my starting to hate the story.

The problem is, I only ever started writing because I wanted to write what I want to read. So when I started imagining myself as the reader and not liking certain things, and when readers didn't like certain things, and when we were having problems with writing because of scheduling conflicts, etc, it all added up.

I finally got the chance to step back about two months ago, to figure out what it was that made me not want to write Boyd anymore. We were having problems with Boyd and Sin meshing as well. I realized that certain things had gotten skewed and once we talked about it at length, I decided I was going to start writing Boyd the way I wanted to write him again. That shift was probably most prevalent around Pandora and the subsequent interludes.

It's been working better now but FYI, just remember that everything we post online we consider to be a draft or work in progress. When we go back and edit, some things will change to make Boyd more like the way I wanted him to be all along. Because there were a lot of reader reactions that took us (or me at least) by surprise and it took me months to figure out why.

In the end, the negative or unhappy reactions were mostly reflective of my own reaction that I hadn't realized I was feeling yet: something wasn't right. Some of the reader comments helped me figure out what my own issue was with it.

In somewhat related news, feedback makes me smile. I was just reading some of the really nice feedback people gave, including some really nice stuff said recently in Evenfall. I love it when people comment. I love it when people hang around the site and talk on shoutbox or the forum. It makes me happy.

So keep it up, peeps!

Website redesign

2009-08-08T16:53:00.004-04:00

FYI, I made a post at my livejournal regarding the website redesign. If anyone has feedback, I'd love to hear it.

http://starlite-gone.livejournal.com/546973.html

It includes picturrres...

I'd really love to hear any feedback at all on the site as it currently is -- is it easy for you to navigate? Is it hard? Are the colors ok on your eyes for reading? etc. I also made a post at the forum about this (http://sonnyais.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=2542) so basically, let me know any way you'd like -- shoutbox, email, forum, this blog, livejournal...

-Ais <3

Interlude writing: 3.17 - Ais

2009-07-11T23:42:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I find the writing process to be interesting for this series, and maybe in general for me. It's funny because, as I've mentioned before, Sonny and I tend to look forward to certain chapters or scenes for a long time but when we get to writing it one or both of us may end up being uninterested. I think it's the anticipation that kills it.

That happened to me with several interludes... even 3.11 and 3.12 (they will be released next weekend and what the hey, I may as well give out the titles as teasers-- Forfeit and Entre Nous). Scenes that I think will be super cool, sometimes I just don't want to write at all.

I used to sort of like writing action scenes and really didn't like writing sex scenes. So this is, I suppose, why I'm feeling a bit perplexed at the moment.

There are action scenes in some of the interludes that I was like, "Auuuugh I don't want to wriiiite," but then the one I'm working on now has a sex scene in it and somehow, this interlude just exploded in length. And the sort of sex in it is... well. I guess you'll see. But it's not something I'm sitting there going, "Wow this is hot" for because that's not the point of it.

At the moment, it's 31 pages according to Word (that's with a space between each paragraph) and I haven't even gotten the most crucial part of the sex scene written. This particular interlude was interesting because it was added somewhat last minute and I still don't know some parts of it. I didn't work on it for a few days, and then I wanted to work on it on my laptop and killed my laptop accidentally before I could (still need to bring it in -_-), so I was able to borrow a friend's mini laptop which I've used on and off.

As a result, a lot of it was written in little snippets that, when pasted into the larger document, contained a whole bunch of blank spaces in between. And one part I'd written was originally the beginning of the sex scene and I decided it worked better at the end, and then THAT was expanded...

And these other scenes I never really intended to write initially squeezed in there and then expanded as well, resulting in some strange insights.

I've worked on this thing all day and I always know when I've pretty much worked on something a whole day without taking many breaks, and when I haven't been typing super slow, that it's going to be a decent length. I guess I just didn't realize it was that long. It may even be pushing 40 pages by the time I finish the sex.

And that's crazy to me.

But I really like how it worked so well to just jump all over the place, writing the parts I was inspired for, then moving them around until they were cohesive.

It's been awhile since I felt so interested in writing a story, maybe because so often the interludes include things I'm trying to be careful about getting in there and having it happen a particular way. But in this one, I was able to explore some things I otherwise wouldn't have been able to.

And I know this is all super vague but I guess it may make more sense once that's released. I was going to say what the title of it is but I realized it would be a pseudo-spoiler if I did because of some of the info I've already mentioned.

Wow, I'm getting tired though. I've been working on this shit for like. idk. 8-10 hours or something.

WTF MATE aka i'm a fucking blond ass scatterbrained motherfucker

2009-07-08T20:47:00.003-04:00

I have too much shit I want to do and not a goddamn one of them is getting done.

I want to work on ICoS stuff, including Boyd/Sin story lines and Emilio story lines. I want to start on my new unrelated to Sin/Boyd ICoS miniseries (more like an arc of stories I have ideas about rather than a multi chapter connected plotline like ICoS). I'm currently semi obsessed with Adam and Gordon and all of the ways they can annoy the shit out of each other but I'm too hung up on Emilio and Zachary and their issues to start writing anything new. Wtf.

On top of that, I can't decide if I want to edit chapters of Evenfall in between writing 3.18 like I should be doing or continue to write random Emilio interludes like I've been doing instead. It's like the man has fucking possessed my brain. I start to open Chapter 5 of Evenfall but then cringe at how awkwardly it's written and start writing about tacos and failed missions and mad Emilio drama.

Ok. Whining done.

But for real, my brain is on fucking creative ICoS overdrive (and completely shoving my plan to start on my separate original novel to the side) and I can't seem to get anything done because I'm too scatter brained and RL people keep getting in the way.

BTW, women are fucking trouble. I'm going to swear them all off and go all the way gay. Maybe I'll pick up some way hot dude at the gym like Brian always did in Queer as Folk.

It could happen.

PEACE.

Sonny

Favorite Quotes and Scenes?

2009-05-27T22:22:00.002-04:00

This is a departure from the norm... because normally the blog is rambling about stuff. Well, the only rambling I'll really say is that we've been busy with the interludes in between real life. This week's been pretty quiet on the writing front-- but then, I think we deserve the break.

Now, down to business:

We're curious what readers' favorite quotes are. And we're also curious what your favorite scenes are.

This is anywhere in the series -- the books, side/back stories, the interludes...

If you have any opinions/favorite quotes or scenes and are awesome enough to want to take the time to tell us-- do so wherever you're most comfortable. Here, the forum (http://sonnyais.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=1938 asks the question too), shoutbox, email, review, guestbook... whatever.

(The other reason it's a departure is because this is an Ais post and it's probably about my shortest one ever.)

Evenfall, series names, editing, and oneshots (whew!)

2009-04-28T23:32:00.006-04:00

(Ais post.. in case the length didn't give it away whut?)

So, first of all-- we have a tentative title for the first book: Evenfall. Although I'm sure you all know this already since I said it about a bazillion times on the site + forum in random places.

Titles are pretty odd to consider and as for why we went with this, there were a number of reasons. We appreciate all the reader suggestions thrown out there, and it actually helped narrow it down. Some of them seemed like great words with great meanings but they just didn't sound right, and some others led me on a fun synonym craze until I eventually ended up with Evenfall.

There's this whole explanation of the meaning but what it comes down to? Evenfall is the time of day directly after the sunset. I like the image that provokes-- the idea of going into the night, a time of transition. Since a lot of that book is about good/bright things mixed with bad/dark, and it's pretty much a constant state of transition for at least the two main characters, and probably other stuff I forgot-- overall, it has the right idea. It works well in relation to the other series titles: Evenfall, it's just getting dark, Afterimage, like the memory of something vivid, Fade... well. I won't say much about Fade until that book comes out. ;p

And, in that progression all of them fit with the series title -- In the Company of Shadows. Also, it was going to drive me nuts if it wasn't a one-word title to match the other two. Especially with our long as hell series name. (In Ais' world, 5 words is LONG AS HELL!!!111 PS: Ais lives in a dramatic world)

What's interesting is all of this is pretty coincidental and arbitrary, like freaking everything in this series. You'd think we were all bad ass and planned things ahead of time, but no. It was pretty much like this the whole way:

Sonny: We need a name for the story ((when we didn't know it would become a series))
me: Here are some titles of poetry I've written! They're crap!
Sonny: Uhhh... In the Company of Shadows! SEARCH OVER!
me: Uh ok I guess it's okay for now?

me: We need a title for the second book
Sonny: What about Afterimage?
me: GOLD!

Sonny: We need a title for the third book
me: What about Fade?
Sonny: DONE!

me: We need a title for the first book
Sonny: I don't know
me: I don't know
(time passes)
me: Evenfall? It's kind of okay?
Sonny: WE'RE ROLLING WITH IT
me: I guess it's okay for now...

Good God. The title of the fourth book may be interesting XD I think we should name it FLASH. Or SUNRISE. Or DAYBREAK MUTHAFUCKKAAAAAA (<-- that last choice is clearly the best except it's two words so I think we'll have to invent the world DAYFUCKA to get the appropriate idea across while keeping with the time-honored and vry srs naming conventions of this series. *nods sagely*)

(Also by the way, we did actually put thought into why Afterimage, Fade, and Evenfall work for the book plots XD But it was, filtered down, basically my rendition of our Srs Decisions)

So anyway...

Speaking of Evenfall, we're still editing the Bad News Bears chapters. Which are Bad News Bears because they're Bad News Writing and Bad News Plotholes. I'm slowing the process down like whoa because I'm discovering that writing early!Boyd with early!Vivienne is a little more awkward and difficult than I expected.

It's hard to think in terms of Boyd's mindset when the series started. Not So-Hard-I-Can't-Write-It, but This-Boy-Has-No-Emotion-Or-Thoughts. Also, Vivienne is pretty hardcore. I think a lot of people think she hasn't changed much, but she's always in the background. And years have passed. She progresses too, in her own way, but it's nothing that will ever be in the foreground. And she doesn't have as dramatic of changes as others. (*coughsinboydcough*)

And to finish my post filled with random, these oneshots are fun to write and hopefully people will enjoy them. We, once again, started with an idea and then realized some characters would do things we weren't expecting or some things should be expanded. Subsequently, it went from a plan of like, I don't know, 7 oneshots? To now around 27. LOLZ.

Not all of them are FEATURE LENGTH CHAPTERS, though. They'll range from a few pages to large multi-parters, depending on the topic. And that's exactly why we had to do it this way, because if we'd tried to formulate the storyline between Afterimage and Fade into another book, it would've sucked hardcore and we probably would've gotten annoyed with always having to keep everything cohesive like it has to be in a book. And things would've been lost in the translation.

And now once again it's occurred to me that I've written about 1000 pages on 3 topics and it's time for sleeps for Ais. =(

Drunkeness hangovers and addicted to ICos

2009-04-12T08:16:00.002-04:00

(sonny post)

So when I originally designed Sin I had two people in mind for his personality and his appearance. My cousin Silvio for his personality and HIS cousin Christian for his appearance. Christian has a combination of dark hair/olive skin/hazel eyes that I found really exotic looking and cool and my cousin Silv is just a complete evil psycho.

So last night we went out drinking and while in a state of drunktitude, Silv does this thing where he narrows his eyes at the bartender (who'd started ignoring us in favor of gaggle of hot girls who weren't even that hot tbh) and looks like he's about to jump over the counter and cut the guys throat open and the poor bartender got so startled that he started tripping all over himself trying to give us service.

And of course I'm like, in my mind of course, YES THAT IS THE LOOK I TRY SO HARD TO DESCRIBE THAT SIN DOES AND I CAN NEVER DO IT RIGHT I MUST REMEMBER EVERY DETAIL OF THIS EXPRESSION AND ETCH IT INTO MY BRAAAAAAAINNNN!

Of course I have no memory of it now and I'm mostly just amused at how obsessed with our characters I am. Hot girls? Pfft. What hot girls? Must memorize expressions to describe for Sin.

Light Edit

2009-03-18T10:10:00.002-04:00

So Ais and I have decided to take on a mini-project, which is editing the first several chapters of Book 1, and a few other scattered chapters within the book that we think need heavy revision. The reason for this?

A) The quality of writing is not good. We wrote it super casually and just for fun and for some reason we posted it that way and now it's kind of embarrassing.

B) Some of the characters have evolved differently than we expected in our minds so they are semi OOC in the beginning now.

C) They are just bad and we don't want new readers to see them and be warded off.

So, yeah, that is our current project as we write the one-shots.

-Sonny

Ais fails

2009-02-27T01:19:00.000-05:00

Ais (12:14:56 AM): i can never think of description words
Sonny (12:15:24 AM): adjectives!
Ais (12:15:29 AM): HA
Ais (12:15:34 AM): HA.......
Ais (12:15:38 AM): case in point ;_;
Sonny (12:15:48 AM): lawlz

(Ais) Psyched about writing... And the obligatory rambling as well.

2009-02-19T21:04:00.004-05:00

So, it came to my attention that the RSS feed doesn't include our tags. Which means anyone reading RSS (or not noticing the tags at the bottom of the blog entries) was probably going, "Who the hell is writing this entry?" every time we posted.

LOLZ. We just like to keep it mysterious, guyz. It's not that we just didn't realize that. Not at all.

Sonny and I were talking last night, and we noticed how much quicker Afterimage has been to write than Book One (some day I'll get off my ass and throw out some viable solutions for the name of that book.. I still really like the suggestion of palimpsest but unfortunately that word is way too awkward). We're not sure quite when we started writing Afterimage but it must've been early June/late May. We're working on Chapter 31 at the moment so that means we've written 32 chapters (almost the entirety of the book) in about 8-9 months. Which is pretty good. The first book took I think just about exactly a year to write. Although admittedly it was ++ times longer...

At the moment, I'm totally psyched about writing. I haven't really hit the super lows like I did for the first book (and the short stories afterward) where I'd have periods of time where I was just like, "FUCK THIS STORY I HATE IT I WILL NOT WRITE IT." I get frustrated here and there with parts and I think there was a week where I just didn't want to write at all because I needed a break, but other than that, Afterimage has been pretty smooth. (This is all aside from the hiatus, of course, which was needed too. I guess I just don't think of my mood during the hiatus as being as intense as my mood sometimes was with Book One. But I'm also a very forgetful person, so...)

The funny thing is, Sonny and I are both just itching to write Fade. We're already looking beyond this book and even the one shots in between (which will also be fun to write) but Fade is really what I can't wait for. It's so hard because I keep wanting to ramble about this or that or express my enthusiasm for different parts of the plot-- but obviously I can't, because, hello major spoilers.

Suffice it to say, there are things in Fade that Sonny and I both are excited about writing and exploring and we hope you'll all enjoy that (and all the other parts of the series) as much as we enjoy writing/creating it.

I'm enjoying reading feedback and theories and what people would like to see in Afterimage as it is. It's so interesting because obviously I know where the story is going and the scenes that will occur in the future and what plot line goes in which direction, but readers can only guess. So some people are probably a lot closer to what will happen than they realize and others have interesting ideas that are probably not going to see fruition, at least in this book. But I can't say anything about that, either =(

Woe is me...

And in the final parts of my rambling (why are my entries always a thousand times longer than Sonny's and about 70 times less interesting? XD), I'm really happy with how the trainee characters have been received. It seems like so far, judging by what readers have said about the different characters, we pretty much achieved the basic goals we were going for with them. I'm secretly (except not since I'm saying this in public spaces online) pleased with the reception of Cade, for instance, because I think it's understandable if people don't like him or write him off as a dick and that's it, but I'm glad that some readers actually like that about him. Not sure I'd want to be seated at a table with the guy but at least he'd make the night interesting, I suppose ;P

Waa. Enjoying writing. This is good for me. Srsly, half the time on my vacation I was twitching to get to a computer to write... I guess I'm just addicted.

Editing/Writing Spree

2009-02-17T00:09:00.002-05:00

Man, I'm dead.

I got back from vacation + flying on Saturday evening and proceeded to spend ALL of Sunday and Monday reading, editing, writing, and just now-- htmling/posting. I even stayed up late and got up early, although that wasn't really on purpose. (What the hell? When on vacation I just wanted to sleep in and kept getting woken up, and then when I can sleep in here, I'm all, "7 am on a Sunday? I'M UP!" Yet on weekdays this doesn't happen. Curse you, sleep cycle! Curse youuuu!)

However, here are my (impressive?) list of accomplishments:

*I reread/edited chapters 17-31 in Afterimage (yes, all 14)
*I finished the scene in chapter 30 which was really only working with/writing about 9 pages but still
*I HTML'ed chapters 17-19, then posted them on our site and AFFN, then wrote/released the newsletter and put links/an FYI on my lj as well
*I got caught up on the forum and updated the chapter status post
*I changed some narration to flow better and updated a few scenes in a few chapters along the way, then posted my reply in chapter 31

..I felt like there was something else but I don't know, maybe that's it. Whatever the case, holy shit were my eyes hurting by about 7 pm today. It was one reason I initially said I didn't know if we'd be posting tonight because I had such a throbbing head/eye ache that I had to step away from the computer and Sonny was busy with homework so he couldn't do anything. (Not to mention, to be fair, he html'd/released 16 and we generally try to alternate)

So! I guess I did good this weekend although I'm super tired now. And I work tomorrow =( Vacations are so much nicer because I get to wake up whenever... not to mention we were in a warm climate so it was all, "Where's my swimsuit? TO THE BEACHMOBILE!" for about a week. Whereas here it's like, "Well, shit, where'd my ice scraper go and do I have enough time to warm up my car?"

But I missed my comforts (read: computer) and most of the week I really wanted to work on the story. Which is probably why I was able to focus so intently on it when I returned.

About the latest release -- you guys lucked out, yo! Originally it was supposed to be chapters 16-18. But then because of all these shenanigans, 16 was released like normal but during the delay, we thought about it more and both agreed that 19 just didn't make sense to go with the next arc. So that's why you got a bonus chapter this week.

Also, it's sort of a gift for ... these chapters happening around Valentine's Day. And that's all I'll say about that so there are no spoilers.

Wow...falling asleep....

Writing...writing

2009-02-12T19:35:00.002-05:00

I think I write these Zachary back stories more for my own amusement than anyone else's. As soon as I finish the latest one, I'll start coding for the mini-update.

Some languages in the story and Afterimage 13-15

2009-02-01T00:35:00.004-05:00

Ais here, with further thoughts on language. I know I'm pretty much a one-track minded person sometimes with the topics I repeatedly bring up, but whatever.

Languages are extremely interesting to me, as are cultures. We always try to include as many accurate details as possible when writing the story but I tend to get wrapped up in it and always want to know a little more, be a little more detailed.

So, chapter 15 was one of the first places where I really whipped out the Spanish skillz to try to at least somewhat make some believable conversations. But it drives me nuts when I can't quite translate things correctly. I tried to use a combination of Venezuelan and other Spanish slang along with the proper forms (Venezuela's one of the few places that uses the vosotros form, which Boyd doesn't know because he basically learned Spanish from immersion in Mexico-- hence his "what the hell are they saying??" response). Yet it's always frustrating to try to get the correct level of casualness, etc.

Like, I don't usually speak in complete sentences and I also use a lot of contractions and so on (don't instead of do not, gonna instead of going to, etc). But some of the conversation had to be in complete sentences because I'm still not fluent enough to know which words to drop to make it sound naturally native.

At least I have enough understanding of Spanish to be able to do different tenses ("I have found the bodies" rather than "I found" or "I find") but the other languages I'm acquainted with? Ha. Not a chance.

I barely know any French although I can read/understand it decently due to my knowledge of Spanish, I hardly remember much Japanese and pretty much lose at recognizing any kanji anymore, and I'm just starting Russian but so far I can basically say "My name is __" and that's it. We're only just learning the Cyrillic alphabet.

Point being, this sucks, because Boyd knows French so I want him to sound fluent, but since I'm not fluent it makes this difficult. Hence me hitting people up for help with cultures/languages btw, although I also try to utilize other stuff like babelfish and triple check things back and forth to make sure it's not some really random translation. And even then I bet it sounds awkward.

I was thinking about how we use language in the story, though. For instance, it worked well enough for all that chattering in Spanish with Boyd trying to translate, but later in the chapter we had to resort to our typical "Blahblah," so-and-so said in __xx__ language.

We don't do that because we're too lazy to translate (although it's probably best we don't try since some languages we just aren't fluent in) but rather because some things need to be understood by the audience. And since the story is in English, the audience is too, even though most of you could kick my ass in fluency of multiple languages, and many readers aren't even native English speakers in the first place. (Major points for reading such a long story in English, by the way, to those of you who aren't as good at English.)

Anyway, if this were a movie, there would be English subtitles for parts where they're speaking another language but it's important info. Since we can't do subtitles, this works as a substitute. The perfectionist in me finds it a little sad but the realist in me knows this is the best way for us to write the scenes without getting so sidetracked we never finish.

Incidentally, I code the languages so they should be properly read by audio programs or the browsers as the correct language it is. Hopefully that works if anyone views the site in a manner where that would be useful.

Blah. There was some other shit I was going to ramble about but I quite suddenly got tired so TOO BAD. Although I doubt anyone is lamenting a few less paragraphs of my wordiness ;P

thoughts on the current update

2009-01-18T18:32:00.006-05:00

I'm currently wondering whether or not I'll be dodging bullets after people read this newest update. It's always a concern of mine when...

*SPOILER ALERT READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE UPDATE*

...women are involved in the story. Jessica received some serious hate (which was expected) and I'm sure Ann will too but I hope people understand that they are entirely different characters with different intentions and personalities. The one thing I don't like about a percentage of the slash fanbase is the hardcore hate that is directed at female characters from that group without taking the other aspects of the character and plot into consideration. But anyway it's totally expected since she's unintentionally wrecking the Sin/Boyd home so whatever.

The reason behind this decision was kind of complicated but I'll try to make it make sense. First of all, it was something I truly believed would happen. These are two characters with a very charged history and when I started thinking about how they would interact, I knew Ann would be very intrigued by the Sin she was finally seeing as opposed to the one dimensional villain she always thought of him as before. The fact that she has all of these other issues in the background and is notoriously known for having been a very sexual person in her younger years on the compound made it pretty likely that she would start to become sexually attracted to Sin. (but like who wouldn't? if anyone took a gander at the pics of Jason Muirbrook, anyone would lust after that kid)

If you throw in the fact that Sin is alienated from basically everyone he thought he could trust and confide in, his fear of telling Boyd everything and the fact that he is notorious for using sex as a vehicle to escape his past, everything just fell into place.

Also keep in mind, Sin doesn't understand the connection between the physical aspect of sex and the feelings and intense emotions that Boyd evokes in him.

So we took took all of that into consideration and we factored in the fact that Boyd and Sin do have a flawed relationship (and that was something we needed to explore in this book) and that they really do need to take a step back from it and see what's going on so that they can become more aware of the situation and what they both want out of it or if they really want it at all.

We knew this would be a situation that would make it impossible for them to ignore the issues they both have individually and as a couple and it would force them to come to terms with that.

So please don't think this is suddenly a ANN AND SIN STAR CROSSED LOVERS story. This is still majorly a slash story with some het elements sprinkled in every now and again. I'm not saying how long this plot arc will last or how it will turn out or if Boyd and Sin even recover from this new obstacle because I don't want to spoil things but keep the STILL A SLASH STORY!!! in mind as you read on and don't be scared off. We wouldn't betray our fans by turning things het at the last minute without some major warnings ahead of time.

Joining the Sims craze

2008-12-26T22:54:00.003-05:00

Sims and In the Company of Shadows characters amuse me. It all started with Peach and her Simscapades that she took some screenshots of over at the forum (http://sonnyais.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=36 or under General Chat / MY SIMS, let me show you them).

Then I ended up joining the craze.

I got a Wii (finally! YAYYY!) and when at the game store I ended up getting Sims 2: Pets for Wii. I had no idea they made Sims for Wii but there you are. Since I can't have pets at my place I thought I'd be lame and make some family so I could have one through there. The first family I made was totally random people I just made up from scratch but it was too much work dealing with 2 Sims and 2 dogs right away without knowing how to play the game with Wii. (I had Sims a looong time ago, closer to when it first came out and I'm pretty sure that shit was on floppies or something, so of course I'd forgotten pretty much everything and the game has significantly improved since then.)

So then I created Boyd and Sin and had them live alone, because I'm a nerd. It was hilarious; the first thing Boyd did in their new home was go play chess by himself, and the first thing Sin did was piss some random people off XD Anyway, it took me a bit to get used to the system and there are still things I'm confused about...it's a little annoying that it didn't come with a manual so I could at least know what the career tracks are and shit. I have Boyd in Law Enforcement now only because it paid the most and idk wtf Sin is in, he looks like he's wearing some construction shit when he leaves but I forgot what track it was. It may actually be campaign worker or something who knows.

Anyway, so I found out that you can have same sex relationships on Sims 2 Pets, you just can't have any Sims at all having sex/making babies/really making out/whatever. But they do have little romantic options that pop up. At first, Boyd did a better job wooing Sin, but then Boyd tried serenading Sin and Sin was like OH GOD MY EARS. So that lost some points XD

Then later they made up but after that, Sin tried to give Boyd a gift and to give him a friendly hug and Boyd was like WHOA THERE PARDNER BACK OFF. It even said "No thanks, I'm not interested in your gift." So Sin set it on the floor so sadface XD

Anyway, eventually I got the propose option to pop up for Sin to Boyd, but even though it was all going well, I tried leading up to it and Boyd got turned off somewhere between the backrub and friendly hug. So they lost points and the option disappeared. But the next day they were both in great moods so Boyd cornered Sin in the kitchen and talked a bit but then proposed. Sin was all happy and accepted.

After that was the most hilarious wedding thing ever. They both disappeared behind their changing curtains, then came out with tuxedos and top hats, with an angled circle of hearts around them. They did this totally ridiculous dance XD With their feet kicking up and leaning back and forward and then they kissed and it said "Congratulations! You're now coupled with Sin!"

Several parts of this amuse me greatly, including the fact that they kept being all great and then cranky toward each other (twice, Sin randomly cornered Boyd and was mean for no apparent reason) and that their big breakthrough happened in the kitchen by the fridge. Monterrey, much? XD That wasn't done on purpose at all; I didn't even think of it until now.

Anyway, yay XD Boyd and Sin are married and have a dumbass cranky cat named Claws who whines for attention but Sin ignores and who claws Boyd when Boyd tries to play XD

Sadly, I have no idea whatsoever how to get screenshots and I sort of doubt I can. So I can't show anyone the skins I have for them but that's ok since they're not that attractive up close anyway. Sims 2: Pets only has one face for men and even though you can adjust parts of it, they're still pretty ugly XD

--

In other (still ICoS related) news, we're probably going to start posting new chapters on the first weekend of January. So it's coming up pretty soon!

We just finished Chapter 26 today. ~10 chapters or less until we're finished with writing this book!

Ais' thoughts from this side of the hiatus

2008-12-13T13:06:00.007-05:00

I've been totally digging this hiatus. It gives me a chance to breathe, to chill out... to actually be able to have a Saturday to fuck around or have fun instead of being consumed with the logistics and background work of posting the story.

Although when we first started the series, I didn't mind the extra responsibilities that came with the story (coding, putting on the website, releasing announcements, etc), by now we have so much going on that I really need to revamp how we do this because it takes way longer than it should. (boo on PHP, still need to redo the site with that. I'm almost thinking I should just pay someone at this point since it'd get done way faster than me dragging my sorry ass along the way...)

Some scenes have, with time, become more complicated to write. And others are as easy and fun as the first scene like that. Sonny and I have both determined that there are scenes with certain characters that we both look forward to writing. It's hard to really explain the difference, and I could try but it would involve spoiler central so I'm not going to even start, but suffice it to say there are some chapters that take us awhile to finish because neither of us are as enthused and others are written and finished in no time. We're actually working on one of the mostly fun chapters now.

It's so weird to me how this has all happened. First of all, it doesn't seem like over a year (or wait, is it closer to two now?) that we've been working on icos. I never would have thought I'd be writing something this long and involved without having conceived of it far ahead of time. I still have the fantasy novel I've been kicking around in my head since I was like 12 so it's so odd that there's this random story that I had nothing invested in and was just writing with a friend for the hell of it, that's become something this long and involved. I really like it, though.

Even though we take these breaks now and then, I just want people to know that they don't need to worry about us no longer writing. I know we said we may not have come back from hiatus without reviews but we mostly meant there was no point in putting the effort into editing, coding, posting, releasing alerts, etc, if no one was interested in reading it. We would have continued writing the story regardless. Even if we stopped posting from now on, we'd still be writing the story in the background because it's truly fun for us overall. Because we know where the story is going and there are scenes I want to get to.

It's almost a detriment because I keep being interested in scenes in the future so sometimes I put less effort into the present scene because I just want to get it over with. That's what editing's for, though.

Point being, we're still writing. And I do want to say we really, really, really appreciate all of you who read, even if you don't review, but we appreciate +++++++ times more those of you who do give feedback. It's not because we're trying to be punks and forcing people to say shit if they don't mean it. It's because hearing from readers that the story is fun, interesting, inspiring, etc, to them is a really good way of recharging the battery, so to speak.

I very rarely continue putting effort into shit when it's just for me. But when I know that others are involved, I get more interested. It's probably because if it's just for me, it feels like it can wait-- which is probably why I don't have that fantasy novel any closer to being finished than when I was 16.

But icos is out there in cyberspace now and that changes things, it makes me more inspired to keep working. Because, while we write it for us, we share it for you.

At any rate, as a quick update... I'm still trying to finish that damn Owen side story and I've started a Viv/Ced one set in 1998. We're currently working on Afterimage Chapter 26. So far it looks like we may start posting the beginning of 2009 but I don't know yet for sure. (It shouldn't be later than the first week of January as far as I'm guessing but I don't know yet whether it'll happen before. There are still some editing issues that need to be resolved in chapter 7.)

The power of suggestion

2008-11-10T15:59:00.003-05:00

Man, talk about the power of suggestion. When I'm rereading old chapters and it mentions Boyd making himself a cup of jasmine tea, most of the time I get this sudden urge to go make some myself. Then I can sit there drinking jasmine tea while editing/reading/writing the story.

Incidentally, I like jasmine tea the most with Silk soy milk in it, the original kind (not vanilla or any other flavor). I steep the jasmine tea for very little time-- about 30 seconds because otherwise it tastes bitter to me -- and then fill the mug mostly with tea but leave about an inch or two for the soy milk. It's also best not to have the water boiling before pouring it over the leaves. I use loose jasmine leaves that I get at a local Asian grocery store.

And that, my friends, is probably more than you ever cared to know about my jasmine tea preparations. ;P

Trying to gather the inspiration -- and thanks

2008-11-08T01:37:00.003-05:00

Ugh... I go in such waves of extreme excitement for writing the story and then complete, unenthusiastic lack of interest. It's pretty annoying, to be honest; I wish I could stay consistent with this shit. But I guess since I get so emotionally involved in writing the characters, it's no wonder that I periodically burn myself out.

For... hmm, at least a week (closer to 2 weeks?), I've been sitting on writing my part of the chapter we're currently working on (Afterimage 21). It's pretty silly, since this was a part I was looking forward to writing several chapters ago. But of course now that I'm here I just feel like I stare blankly at the screen and feel utterly uninspired.

I actually had a dream last week that had something to do with the chapter; I woke up with this really intent feeling and sat down at the computer to write, but then I had to research several things and I was checking some previous chapters and got distracted rereading something, and then I wrote out a start and hated it and had to go to work. Since then, I just can't get into it. Every time I open that page, I stare at what I had, then try to start over entirely and feel like it's just not right.

It really bothers me when I can't get description or the psychology down right. If it doesn't seem intense enough to me when I'm reading it, I feel disappointed in the scene, as if it's failed to be effective and now it sucks.

I'm such a perfectionist -_-; That flaw will kill me someday.

==

One thing I wanted to say -- thanks for the thorough response to our Boyd question, sglily! That was not rude/offensive at all; in fact, it was helpful.

I think one of the problems is that when we were editing, we removed some parts that in retrospect we perhaps should have kept in. We were worried about certain aspects of the characters seeming a certain way (ie, the first version had a scary sappy Boyd) and in editing I was just like UGH TAKE IT ALL OUT I HATE EVERYTHING. Like I usually do XD I'm very black and white about my own writing if you haven't all noticed yet XD

For the most part, our decision was the right one for the story and character. But I think maybe we went a little too far and accidentally took out more of Boyd being concerned/worried than we should have. At the same time, those were parts of paragraphs or parts of the scene and not the point of the scene so we didn't totally compromise the story by doing that or anything. But I do think that since we know the whole book, so we see everything in context of everything else, it seems different to us compared to what it would seem like to readers.

So that's another reason I'm glad we're doing this hiatus. I really think that in order to best tell the story to readers, it needs to be in arcs. We've started to split it up in our minds to figure out which chapters go with which... I can say that you will be getting 3 chapters at once in some cases, which I think will be more useful and interesting for all of you.

-Ais

Posting Status/Update

2008-11-05T20:08:00.002-05:00

Chapter 7 and all Afterimage chapters afterward are now officially delayed.

We're going on a posting hiatus for a month or two. We'll still be writing in the background and will be around to talk/answer questions but we won't be posting any new chapters, including 7. When we return, we hope to post in mini arcs – sometimes several chapters at a time if it makes sense for the themes of the story.

This decision is a combination of multiple factors but the two main reasons are that our personal schedules have drastically changed, which reduces the amount of time we have to work on the story, and with fewer reviews/feedback lately than ever before, it seems like the weekly posts have not been as important to readers as we'd initially thought it may be.

This has nothing to do with the recent topic of Boyd in Afterimage. The fact that that debate/conversation came up was a good thing because in showed reader interest.

That being said, we don't by any means want to diminish our appreciation for those of you who have been reviewing. It's solely because of you that we'll even bother to come back from hiatus at all. When we started this story, we were writing purely for fun and had no intentions of posting it anywhere so we will continue to write, even if we think not very many people are interested in reading.

So, thank you very much to those of you who have been fantastic and have been reading and reviewing—we heart you. We'll see you all with new chapters in a few weeks to a couple of months. We think that ultimately this will be better for readers as well, allowing us to give you mini arcs that will make the story easier and more cohesive to read.

See you in a few!

Sonny & Ais

voting and working, Sonny

2008-11-04T15:31:00.002-05:00

I got up at 6AM to go vote, the line was down the block, over an overpass, down another block. Fuck this shit I'm going home. Went back 6 hours later and there was no line. I hope that doesn't mean like. no one else is going to vote in this area. Maybe everyone will go after work.

I'm pretty confidant that Obama will win but I'm still paranoid that some insane shit will happen and he won't. Think positive, Sonny.

So, lately my whole deal has been that I've been working part-time, going to school full-time, and living off my savings account which I managed to build up pretty nicely when I was working two full time jobs and just using my pay check for groceries/transportation/aya and kids while using my savings to pay bills. But then my boss was like "i'm going to only give you 6 hours a week if you don't work more" which seems really contradictory since the company has cut hours since the economy died but whatever. So now I'm basically going to be working full time again.

Which isnt going to kill me obviously since I previously did 15 credits + full time waiter job at night + full time HR job during the day but I was enjoying my freetime.

So yea. This means inevitably I will not be able to write as much, which really sucks. So things are going to slow down. So maybe that's another reason why switching to biweekly is a good idea.

SPOILER FOR BK2 IF YOU AREN'T THROUGH AT LEAST CH4 -- Some Boyd Stuff

2008-10-28T19:43:00.002-04:00

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR AFTERIMAGE/BOOK 2 IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THROUGH CHAPTER FOUR YET. DO NOT READ BELOW IF SO.

Ok that should be enough warning right? ;p

I have to admit that I'm intrigued and a bit confused by some of the response we've been getting so far to Afterimage as it pertains to Boyd, and why doesn't he see what's happening with Sin. Not a lot of people have mentioned it, but I'm curious as to why anyone feels that way.

The part that confuses me is why he would know what's going on. We mentioned in narration that Sin has become very good at lying-- in a way, he always was. Think about how Boyd didn't know exactly how much pain Sin was in when in the car that one ride-- he knew Sin was sick or didn't feel well, but it wasn't until Boyd saw Sin on the hidden camera later that he realized exactly the extent of Sin's injuries. Sin is used to needing to hide his weaknesses, to displacing doubt or questions, to making people believe what he wants.

Granted, from the start Boyd knew that Sin was lying about being such a tough guy, but it didn't mean he knew exactly who or what was beneath. And the explanations Sin has been giving make sense -- Boyd knows Sin isn't feeling well, but it's completely logical to believe that it's because of the lack of sleep, because Sin's stressed again after Monterrey, because he's recovering from all the crap he went through. Whenever Boyd has seen any weakness at all Sin has shown, it's always been in the context of something explainable as being tired.

Anyone who's gone a long period of time with very little sleep is going to get weak, exhausted, sick-- even Sin. Boyd knows how little sleep Sin's been getting, and he knows that Sin's been having nightmares. Neither of these things are new; it's been that way since he met Sin. It's just that now Sin's getting even less sleep than normal so the nightmares are hitting Sin harder-- at least, that's what Boyd thinks. And the fact that Sin had a taste of relaxation then went through hell after that... Boyd's been through his own versions of hell before so he understands that it takes awhile to get back on track. And they haven't been able to spend a ton of time together either, so all the times he sees Sin looking worse, it makes sense that it's because Sin hasn't been sleeping, and with that probably comes not eating well, not exercising, etc.

The times when Boyd has wondered if there was a little more going on, Sin has given a perfectly logical explanation that diverts attention while also falling completely in line with what Boyd understands of the situation. He has no reason to suspect that Sin is seeing things, hearing things, that he thinks he's going crazy. The only reason Carhart figured anything out is because he happened to see Sin almost fall off the roof, and because Sin has been especially careful to hide everything from Boyd.

We initially had a much longer chapter 1 which included more narration, so part of me wonders if there was some key element that we took out that would make sense to those readers who are confused by that. Or is it because we don't have a lot of specific examples?

The part that intrigues me is I wonder if we'd be getting the same response if this were set up the same way Book One was -- all in Boyd's POV.

I mean, think about it. If this whole story was told through Boyd's POV, if you weren't seeing Sin's side of things, you wouldn't even know that Sin's going through that. So why would Boyd know just because the readers do? Is it just that it seems like Boyd should get something more is happening after a few months of this? I'm very curious/confused about this.

At any rate, I love getting feedback because sometimes peoples' responses aren't what I'm expecting, so it makes it interesting ^_^

A lot going on lately..

2008-10-21T20:20:00.003-04:00

Kids, school, work and a new...whatever she is, has been tying up my time lately and keeping me from working on all of the things I want to work on. Afterimage writing has been going steadily but my side stories have been put on hold as well as my ideas for a novel I'd write solo (although I got another idea today). It's kind of frustrating but whatever. Things will get done when they get done and I doubt anyone really misses the updates anyway.

In other news, I'm excited because we've plotted out the series until the official end of all major storylines which would either bring this series to an official close so we could move on to different plots or ideas for the remaining characters. So far we're planning on several stand alone stories to further the plot after Afterimage, another multi-part "book" called Fade and then a final multi-part that is unnamed as of now. Even if people lose interest and stop reading, the fact that we can possible have such a lengthy series written to completion is exciting to me although I don't necessarily know if we'll keep posting if interest dwindles because really what would be the point?

lolz

2008-10-04T22:46:00.002-04:00

Ok, srsly folks, I'll stop bombarding the blog soon.

But it amused me just now to realize I had three chapters open at the same time and I was somehow trying to read/edit all at once. I had them open for awhile and then all these things happened that distracted me (like phone calls) and when I came back I got very confused when I looked at the list of chapters 4, 5 and 17, and couldn't figure out which one I was supposed to be working on XD

Firefox: 1
Ais: 0

wtf ftw

A secret of Ais', and pronunciation

2008-10-04T17:27:00.005-04:00

It is one of my life's ambitions for someone to call me "Infidel."

It has to be in completely casual conversation and it can't be a complete joke (they don't have to seriously mean it but it has to be deadpanned or otherwise seemingly serious even if they aren't) but it can be offhandedly said ("Ais, you're such an infidel. Like I was saying..."). And it has to be unsolicited-- so it won't count if someone calls me infidel now just because they read this entry and know I want someone to.

I'm going to be so excited on the day it happens...

By the way, it came up in conversation the other day about how to pronounce my name. If you pronounce it like "ice" you are WRONG. But you are also like everyone else I've talked to. (I guess I can see why people say it that way? But it never even occurred to me that anyone would.) I say it like "ace."

It's short for Aislin. Which I actually found out I also pronounce incorrectly, technically, if you're going according to how it should be said in Gaelic *cough* But I take no responsibility for this because all the research I initially did led me to believe that it was pronounced "ACE-linn." (It's apparently pronounced Ash-lynn).

I AM AN INNOCENT VICTIM SLASH BYSTANDER SLASH PASSERBY! And that's is all I have to say about that. ;p

Lou - reason to be missed

2008-10-03T00:22:00.007-04:00

I really want to write Lou and Boyd back stories. We'd started to write their first kiss awhile back now-- god, those two were such dorks-- but the fic was never finished.

I've been thinking about Lou on and off lately, though, because I found a song I was obsessed with for him. Leave Out All the Rest by Linkin Park -- I hear this song and it immediately makes me think of his death scene, of a collage of Lou moments, of the thoughts that must have been going through his mind as he stared at Boyd but couldn't reach him, as he died and couldn't help it, as the last view he ever had of his best friend and lover was him screaming and crying and begging on the ground, held down by enemies, struggling, and sprayed in Lou's own blood.

I dreamed I was missing, you were so scared
But no one would listen 'cause no one else cared
After my dreaming, I woke with this fear
What am I leaving when I'm done here?
So if you're asking me, I want you to know

When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed
Don't resent me, and when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest, leave out all the rest

Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating, I've shared what I made
I'm strong on the surface, not all the way through
I've never been perfect but neither have you
So if you're asking me, I want you to know

When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed
Don't resent me, and when you're feeling empty, keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest, leave out all the rest

Forgetting all the hurt inside you've learned to hide so well
Pretending someone else can come and save me from myself
I can't be who you are

So, since I'm on the subject, RANDOM LOU ENTRY. Someone (was it you, whynotmi?) had mentioned in a comment that they like to hear more about the writing process so here's some (interesting?) background.

Lou's a bit of a weird case because he's actually Sonny's character. Sonny created him and played him at Neulan/District9, the old RPG where I first created and played Boyd. The dynamics of Lou and Boyd's relationship there were somewhat similar, in that they were good friends who eventually had an attraction for each other, but it was a lot different because they had more than just each other. And I'm not sure they would've ended up together in the end.

When we first started writing Lou back stories, Sonny wrote Lou. But then came The Birthday. That whole period of time was some of the most fun, most efficient writing we've ever done. It was out of control. We were multi-tasking like mad. We were roleplaying Lou's death scene while Sonny wrote Sin's narration in The Birthday while I wrote all the background Boyd videos-- the beach, the kitchen scene, etc.

The original Lou death scene was pretty short, though, and when I was looking it over again I thought it needed more. (Of course I did, I'm Little Miss Description XD). So I went through and added all those details -- the blood, the expressions, etc. I guess I just wanted it to show why it would be so gut-wrenching for Boyd, why this was what pushed him far over the edge, why he shut down so completely. The original scene didn't get that visceral reaction and I was concerned that Boyd would seem lame or over-dramatic.

So now, Lou's one of the characters we share. I wrote Lou in the background videos but Sonny wrote Lou in his death scene. Sonny writes Lou in most of the back stories we're writing but I write him occasionally when I have an idea for a story and want Lou in it but don't foresee us sitting down to rp it out any time soon.

But, I don't know. I still don't really feel comfortable with him because he isn't mine, he wasn't my idea. I love the little rascal but I feel like I can't write him correctly?

This is a good reason why, should we ever have a problem where one of us drops off the face of the Earth, the story would likely not be finished. We share a lot of the ideas/etc and to an extent the characters, but there are some who are very much Sonny's or Ais's. I couldn't write Sin properly for more than a line here or there anymore than I think Sonny would feel comfortable writing Boyd.

Some day I'll have to write out some of the stories in my head...

Uh, anyway. So the whole thing I was trying to say is 1) I think that's a perfect Lou song but I don't know if Sonny would agree because I feel like I don't know for sure if I totally grasp Lou, and 2) I really like the idea of "leave out all the rest"-- of finding something to remember a person by.

I feel like by the end of Book One, not only does Boyd find some closure, but maybe Lou's spirit could too. Like Boyd was finally able to hear what Lou had wanted all along, like after all the struggle and the stupid little things Lou had done in his life and the things that became monumental horrors, all that time I think he was trying to figure out who he was and he acted tougher than he was, stronger than he was, the fear of just disappearing like his parents had, of not being remembered by someone, all those times he was there for Boyd--

There was something left behind, something more than the fear. Something that was just beautiful or good; memories that could make a person smile and not cry.

Reasons to be missed.

Children's shows, Novels & Homework

2008-10-01T12:21:00.003-04:00

"They", the ever elusive they, make the most hideous children's shows. My three year old is watching some ridiculous cartoon... thing about talking bugs, and instead of "everybody", they say "everybuggy". If I hear it one more time I'm going to slam my face into a wall.

I have an idea for a novel and I really want to get started on it but I'm trying not to get too immersed in something else while writing Afterimage. I think I could handle it but I have all of these other ICoS projects I want to start... I don't know which I should focus all of my attention on.

The idea would be a YA or Middle Age fantasy/science fiction novel and I would seriously try to send it out and find an agent to get it published if it turns out any good. I'm inspired by the loads of bad HP fic writers getting published left and right.

But before that, I have to finish (start) my Concepts in Gaming paper, finish my Children's Lit reading (Harry Potter... god.) and catch up on Spanish. I wish I was a more industrious student but there's always so much other stuff I'd rather be doing than homework.

Questions I doubt anyone will answer

2008-09-28T21:45:00.005-04:00

Would anybody be interested in a Young Sin mini series? A series of one-shot stories about his past? I kind of have been kicking the idea around and can't figure out if I really want to do it or not...

On the one hand i think it would be interesting and I would start from as early as when his parents first met but on the other, i dont know if anyone cares.

-Sonny

Validated \\ Ais

2008-09-28T01:26:00.005-04:00

Bwahaha... I have almost the entire site validated right now, including (what I think is the most amazing part) the index page, with all the forms from other places for our free stuff like the mailing list. Of course, I could've fucked the forms up and they may be unusable now -_- So if people notice issues with trying to sign up for stuff, lemme know! There are about a million ways to contact us if you check the contact page listed on the left.

I'm happy because I think I even caught the majority of the foreign languages and have them properly coded. I like to code it so it's not just <i> or <em> but the full explanation of what language it is and which way it should be read, so it's better for all the browsers + programs that read the stuff aloud.

So, instead of 'lo más chingón' it's coded as <em lang="es" xml:lang="es" dir="ltr">lo más chingón</em>.

I wonder if that will even show up... hmm. [Edit: Hoho, I r smart. It worked.]

Anyway, it gives me some bizarre sense of pleasure to get things validated, to know I have it set up right. I want the site to be accessible to different capabilities so if I have all these problems everywhere that sort of defeats the purpose. I mean, eventually it'll look better (after the redesign like I keep talking about) but yeah. For now, at least most of the pages should be working now.

And I got the blog listed on every page! Go me?

Ok, I'm done with the website ramblings since I'm pretty sure no one cares about these things *cough*

Deja wtf + I resist your conformity! \\ Ais

2008-09-27T17:11:00.006-04:00

lolz, I actually would have forgotten about posting the chapter today if Sonny hadn't mentioned it *cough*

It's so weird because we're currently writing chapter 17-- which, when you get to it, you will see it's a pretty important chapter-- so when I go back to the early chapters I keep having this moment of confusion in which I'm going, "Wait, what? Why is __ happening? Why does the narration say __? Why are __ talking about __ when it's way past that now?"

So confusing for poor little Ais.

By the way, in relation to Sonny's side stories entry... wtf XD If we had a contest between us about who could write more side stories in a set period of time, I would FAIL. EPIC FAIL. *looks around shiftily and leans in conspiratorially* Sonny just has to be better than me. Don't tell him I told you.

XD Kidding, of course. I wish I were that bad ass but idk, too hard for me to write side stories. I get all distracted. The fucking Owen one has been Almost Done for months now. I decided I hated the only one I had up previously so I removed it. Now the only one I have up is one that's all sadface.

So XD I'm not really adding to the lighthearted, humorous side of the story right now...

--

I am so obsessed with Metallica's newest album Death Magnetic. It's pretty out of control... I love The Unforgiven and The Unforgiven II, and at first didn't think I was a huge fan of The Unforgiven III, but now I'm friggin' obsessed with it and listen to it over and over and over... Considering it's a 7 minute song, that pretty quickly gets up to half an hour of Ais rocking to:

How can I be lost,
If I've got nowhere to go?
Search for seas of gold
How come it's got so cold?

How can I be lost?
In remembrance I relive
And how can I blame you
When it's me I can't forgive?

There are a few songs on it that I think are pretty pertinent to Afterimage, too.

PS: It cracks me up when I mishear lyrics. For instance, I thought James was saying, "How could he know this new dog's life would change his life forever?" but really it's "How could he know this new dawn's light would change his life forever?" which, not only a lot more poetic, makes a hell of a lot more sense. Unless, you know, he got a hellian dog he needs to send Cesar's way XD

PPS: I also really like Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight and am a definite fan of Little Things Give You Away.

All you've ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you...

---

Dude, I am so ADD sometimes. I started working on replacing the navigation to include the blog/remove the chat. SIMPLE, RIGHT? Except then I decide to fix the header issues that were going on, and then I decide to validate a page, then fix all those errors, and get it down to the same issues I've been having -- no allowtransparency attribute in iframes, and no "name" attribute in headers, which is lame? Because in my web design class recently, we purposefully did id and name so it would be cross-compatible with Macs, PCs, etc.

I decided to look into the allowtransparency dilemma again and GUESS WHAT I FOUND? Apparently W3C decided a few years ago it was no longer kosher just because, although one person said they thought it may be because HTML isn't supposed to be a visual language so you should be doing that shit with CSS.

Which, ok, would be a valid point except as far as I can tell there is no other way to get the same result.

Brilliant.

Not that it's a huge deal, I mean it's just on the shoutbox. But this irritates me, damnit! I WANT TO BE VALIDATED *criez* My life is meaningless without that green checkbox saying I'm a-ok and not worthy of death! DRAMA DRAMA.

Ok not really XD But it does piss me off XD I should just remove the fucking attribute and be done with it XD But I'm all stubborn and resistant, like, "Fuck you, W3C, what do you know anyway?"

So anyway. Ranting aside, I guess I should actually finish changing the navigation on every page, huh? *cough*

-Ais FTL

Side Story Mania//\\Sonny

2008-09-27T09:03:00.000-04:00

I can't get enough of writing Emilio and Zach and it saddens me because their fun time backstory days will never happen again in the present story. :( I keep trying to limit myself to "okay this will be a three story back arc" and then "okay four", but then I get more ideas and want to write even more. So I decided to map it out for myself. Two stories for the very beginning (which means I have to go back and add one *wince*), three in between stories, and two that occur at the very end before Emilio disappears.

I doubt I'll ever follow that but I'll try. Also I want to write out the entirety of their multiple month undercover mission but I don't know if anyone would be interested/if its a good idea. Right now I'm just writing brief excerpts from it.

Anyway, I rambled about that too much.

Other stuff I have planned is a multi story Ryan arc but I have to figure out the timing of when that would happen and when I should post. I only have a page of it written so there's no rush on that.

There's not enough time in my day to do all I want to do. =/

damn you, errors!

2008-09-24T00:17:00.001-04:00

Sometimes being a perfectionist + knowing at least a bit of web design information is annoying as hell. For instance, when I created this site off a css template, I didn't know anything about W3C validation, etc, so it didn't occur to me that if the website looked all pretty and worked in front of my eyes that there could be evil, insidious creatures in the background, unraveling all my hard work, fucking the site up for people from different browsers, etc, and making it look like I don't know wtf I'm doing.

Which, ok, granted-- would be true.

Point being, when I went to create this blog.html I decided to take the plunge and check the W3C validation. WTF ERRORS. Then I realized I didn't have it set to Transitional, and then there were all these other little errors that no one really cares about BUT THE POINT IS IT'S NOW CLEAN. Except for some mumbo jumbo about an iframe issue and allowTransparency not existing and Microsoft says you lie, bitches, so there. (This is probably the one time I'll side with Microsoft instead of W3C and that's only 'cause they're not telling me I suck ^_~)

Anyway, guess I'm just saying I now know enough to know when I suck at coding, but I don't usually want to take the time to fix stuff. I actually love web design/coding, but when it's working on this site, I get so unenthused. I supposed because if it's a choice of working on ICoS-related stuff, and it's "writing" or "coding," coding always fails the popularity contest. Not even Miss Congeniality in my mind, it's way off stage in the Ais Is Too Lazy To Consider wing.

EVENTUALLY, there will be exciting things on this site. I'll finally get the thing redesigned according to the designs I made in Photoshop, I'll make sure all the coding is correct/validated, I'll get the external navigation files going, and comments on the chapters... all these stupid little projects in the waiting, which are going to stay that way indefinitely because I'm the one in charge of it and I am really not so great with follow-through.

But for now, the newest exciting thing on the site is this blog, courtesy of Sonny's idea.

Later will come Operation Make This Site Efficient And Pretty. Or MTSEAP, as we call it for short. Uh. Yeah, witty comments elude me right now.

-Ais

First post, test post, stuff.

2008-09-23T20:07:00.000-04:00

Hi, welcome to our blog. I'm not really sure I suggested having this but it seemed like a neat idea at the time + it could be interesting and/or useful for a couple of things. For example we can feel free to bitch about how difficult a chapter is, real life getting in the way of writing, editing being a pain or whatever. It's our little soapbox.

We could also bitch about RL stuff if we feel so inclined and people who are actually interested in that could be amused and/or annoyed by whatever they read. Who knows. The possibilities are endless.

I don't have anything to blog about right now atm, but maybe I'll think of something clever. That may be a problem. This may turn into Sonny Trying To Look Clever instead of Sonny Blogging, which will become a huge pain in the ass for me because I am very rarely clever. I'm usually just high and dumb. Ais is the brains behind this operation.

Okay dudes, peace out for now.

Sonny.