From the Author:
Back when I was still in high school, back in April of 2002. I never expected to get this far with the work I was doing. Now that I'm less then two months away from celebrating my 4th anniversary on I'm kind of lost as to what to do.
I injured my right hand a few days ago, and it was really depressing for me. As an artist and writer- this was almost too much for me. I didn't know just how much damage I had done to it. If something really bad happened to it, I don't know if I'd be able to work the way I used to.
It's made me think back a lot on what I've gone through with this site and my interests in it. A lots happened with my work and the total works of this entire system.
2002: "Rookie Year"
If I remember- in 2002, I started out with an Inu Yasha story that was basically really disliked and shot down by the readers. This was hard for me. No drafts of this story still exist now. (back then, I was using 3 ½ inch floppies to save my files on)
The next thing I did was to write up the comedy "The Wild West Bebop" as a piece of Cowboy Bebop fanfiction. As sloppy as this thing seems now to me, I did have some fun writing it and the fans liked it.
That same year, I began putting out my blue sub fanfiction- "If You'd Just Say You Love Me." I'm kind of embarrassed by how mushy it is now. I still like to write romance, but I think I might have overdone it a bit.
"The Gunslinger" was a fun story for me, and I did enjoy writing it along with all the others I was doing at the time.
As I was working on it, I attempted to launch the sequel to "The Wild West Bebop". The result was resounding failure. I was really put off by this. But towards the end of 2002, I began working on something new. . .
"Breath of Fire 3: Up in Smoke" was a hell of a lot of fun for me to write and it was something that I had been tossing around for a while. I got to know a lot of other writers on the site as a result of this story. It was a straight forward comedy at first, but I began working in romance and drama into after a while.
The only bad part about this story was that it began spinning out of control. It got big too fast, and there were some people who insisted on really analyzing it to the point where it couldn't be fun anymore
2003: "Things Get Rough"
I posted so many fanfictions during the previous year and now I found myself working to keep updating them.
"The Wild West Bebop" wrapped up after a three month run and "If You'd Just Say You Love me" finished up too.
Repeated attempts to re-launch the Inu Yasha story failed, and another attempt at the second Cowboy Bebop parody failed as well.
"The Gunslinger" and "BoF3: Up In Smoke" were still going, but I wanted to so something a little different.
By February, I wrote and posted "Loved" as a fanfiction for Breath of Fire 2, and it received some pretty good reviews. I'll admit that I was still kind of overdoing the romance in it, but oh well.
That same month, I also launched the highly successful "Aliens: Wolf Soldier". Then in May, I launched "Hiei & Kuwabara" as my first Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic. This is the story that introduced me to KuwabaraLover, a good online friend of mine now.
In June, I launched "The Cell" as a serious BoF3 fanfic because I had been accused of just using old comedy cliches and that I couldn't write drama. Sadly this story just never stood a chance, I could never finish a draft of it- I kept loosing the floppies I saved the chapters on!
The "The Gunslinger" chugged along for the year, being updated now and then, and I tried to launch "Jenova".
"Jenova"- to me- kind of stands a monument to the struggle of man against the universe. I lost THREE DRAFTS of the story during the course of two years and ultimately gave up on when I ran out of steam to it again.
The hardest blow was t the fact that no one wanted to read the new Blue Sub fanfiction I wrote and no matter what I did, nothing ever came of it. I eventually found myself swearing that I would never touch it again!
By this point, "Up in Smoke" was burning out and I put on hiatus.
2004: "The Worst of Times"
I made a failed attempt to revive "Up In Smoke", but this never went anywhere. Also, this was the year that the last new chapter of "The Gunslinger" came out- in October.
Zinic Hopper (my beta readers and good friend from the previous year) continued to offer advice and help on my works- mainly in regards to "Wolf Soldier" and "Hiei & Kuwabara: Saga of the Dark World". (We would often laugh over the scenes from "Up in Smoke- mainly the bits with the TioRankP Fairy)
For this whole year, I only worked on "Hiei & Kuwabara" and "Wolf Soldier".
But the small yet consistent request to have my blue sub fic continued nagged me harshly. But I just couldn't bring myself to return it. . .
2005: "The Great Revival"
So much had fallen by the wayside by this point. I was only working on two stories. I knew there was other thing I could do more for, but I just walked away from them.
This was the year that I revived "If You'd Just Say You Love Me"!
The story had the first chapter of the second story tacked onto the end of it, and I couldn't remove the thing without loosing data for the rest of the story- so I had to leave it there. I irritated me, but it actually enticed the readers and got them to email me personally and review the story.
So, I decided it was time to face my insecurities and step back into the ring! I posted the other four chapters I wrote in 2002-2003 and eventually wrote the first new chapter in almost three years.
Of course the biggest problem was finding a way to bring something new into the story, something to get it moving again. By this point, I could write more dramatically and with less mushy content- the grittier tone needed something more to make it work. The answer just sort of crept up on me. . .
Dianna crashed through the walls of my writer's block like a sexy green wrecking ball. She was hot, she was smart, and she kicked ass! She was originally "The Piranha Girl", but now she was "Dr. Dianna Ainsley"!
The literary doors swung open for me! I was writing again for the first time in ages.
Also, the long running "Hiei & Kuwabara" flourished that year and eventually wrapped up, after 27 chapters, with the promise of another story (that I will do).
2006: "My Work in the Present Time"
By now, I only feel obligated to finish two stories. This will be a strange thing for me, as it is the first time ever that I will soon find myself with nothing left to work on. I plan to finish "Wolf Soldier" and "The Hybrid's Song"
After that, there'll be at least three sequels to do for "Hiei & Kuwabara", "Wolf Soldier", and "If You'd Just Say You Love Me/ The Hybrid's Song."
Dianna is a fun character to write for. She tends to dominate the scene that she's in- which allows for more diverse moment with the rest of the cast. She also has a sort of unpredictable nature and sharp wit- and for me, there's also the edgy sex-appeal she offers.
Dianna would have to go down along with my other favorite female characters:
Mukuro (Yu Yu Hakusho): I don't care what all the fan girls think; Mukuro is a perfect match for Hiei. I like writing for her and she has a lot in common with Hiei so they're fun to write together. The fact that she is scarred so badly on one side only maker her more unique as a person. And as she is one of the "top three" demon lords in the makai- it's a very progressive idea for her to be female, and so against the grain as well.
(Sasheino) Baiken (Guilty Gear Series): Baiken is a lady samurai from the ruined version of Earth after the attack of the Gear creatures. She lost her family during an attack by the "Gears" and her left eye and right arm. She in turn develops a rigorous form of one-handed sword fighting for close combat battles. The empty right sleeve of her kimono also conceals a massive clawed hand on a giant chain. She stern, completely unconcerned with physical appearance (probably why she's so at ease with letting her kimono hang open so much) and reserved. She's really awesome.
.o.o.o.
Anyway, I'll see guys around. I'll try and have an actual chapter up next time (sigh)
-Bojack727