Argh, life is such an...adventure. The cooler thing I put together for the computer didn't work out, so I just took the desk fan, clipped it to the edge of the desk, and pointed it straight at the CPU in the open case. That seems to be keeping it between 55 and 60 degrees, most of the time, though the temperature skyrockets if I watch something on YouTube or play a video game. Or, sometimes, save a file to my hard drive. 
The job situation is really getting scary. Bad enough that it only pays $5/hour during most of every shift, but business always slows down in the summer, my hours are being cut, and tips have dropped off pretty drastically. I was barely paying the rent, car payments, and utilities, before the drop-off. And no matter how many job applications I turn in everywhere, I never even get any phone calls. It's like no one will even consider talking to me for any job other than delivering pizzas for sub-minimum wage, which I find insulting in addition to the whole situation being worrisome enough to keep me awake at nights.
But on the up side, I managed to finish another chapter of Reactivated. Really should focus on that and my novel-in-progress, so I can finish them and have a shot at earning a few extra bucks...but then I got absorbed in that Freelancers subplot I mentioned a couple times before, the one with Valeria rescuing her husband from an old enemy who abducted him. Pretty much everything clicked into place in my head, and I ended up spending the last several days writing the whole thing out. Freelancers will take a while to get to the point where this subplot kicks in, but I went ahead and posted it as a one-shot/sneak peek at what's coming later on down the road. By the time I revisit it in Freelancers, I'll probably do a lot of rewriting as well as adding tons more stuff to flesh it all out.
Not sure about the title, though. It doesn't last nearly long enough to be considered a "war." But that was the best I could come up with at 3 in the morning. 
At least it'll serve another purpose as well, in that I can use it as a sample for the friend who asked me to teach her how to write action scenes. So I can point to a few things in it and suggest she keep stuff like that in mind when writing her own action scenes. I really have no idea how to teach anyone anything, anyway, so at least this gives me something I can try out and see if it works.
I also had another idea that I'm not sure will work. As a writing exercise, I pointed her toward the trailers for Mirror's Edge 2, The Last of Us, and the cinematic trailer for Mass Effect 2, and suggested she watch the action scenes and then try to write them out as if they're scenes in a story she's writing. The first two trailers have very different "tones" in that the Mirror's Edge 2 one is rather hyper-kinetic while the Last of Us one is slower but more brutal and foreboding. And the Mass Effect 2 cinematic trailer is good for showing differences in characters' fighting styles (Grunt's simple, walk-forward-and-blast-everything-with-his-shotgun method, and Thane's quick strikes and fancy-moves approach). One thing I tend to focus on, particularly, is the sounds. One of the things I suggested to her was to use descriptive words that convey the bass "thump" of a particularly powerful gun, or the click of a switchblade opening, or the crack-crunch of a 2x4 splitting in half on impact with someone's skull. And of course, the snapping of necks and all that fun stuff. 
Anyhoo...
It's funny, I generally have a myriad of backups of my stories, and I was using my backup laptop last week. For some reason, I just didn't want to write. I suppose it was the version of Word Processor installed on it, in addition to the "feel" of using a shared family laptop. It just wasn't my baby.
Totally understand not wanting to spend excess $$$ on a new PC. Buying anything over $150 in parts...you may as well spring the extra bit and get a new PC (and gut the current PC for spare parts...it's what I usually do). As for keeping a dying machine cool, I actually yanked the hard drive out, using a longer series of cords, and made sure that was well cooled, all while pointing a giant desk fan at the open casing. Of course, for me, I had a dying power source, which lead to power fluctuations and poor fan performance.
Exam day after to..er...tomorrow now actually...haha. Hope I can kick my own arse enough to post some more afterwards. Still envious of those of you with reviews each new chapter. Even so, I see traffic reports that attest to people actually reading the story, and I'd like to deliver the final bits.
Taken to doing books on audio, as well as fanfics via tablet...def a new medium for me. Still not on board with Amazon monetizing fanfics though, unless it involves "paydays" wherein the truly good writers end up signing with game devs and movie crews.
[sigh] wish I was better at drawing, so I could illustrate my stories. As it stands, I am stuck with paying for commissions (expensive) or photomanipulation with existing public licensed art.
The right word processor makes a huge difference to me, as well. I've tried many and found something major to dislike in most of them. Back when I had a much slower computer, I hated various office-type ones like OpenOffice because they used up so much memory and the files were too big (which mattered back when all I had for internet access was dial-up). I eventually tried one called Atlantis, and I've used it for years, though I still have to open chapters in OpenOffice or LibreOffice to copy and past them into certain online editors to post them, such as on FanStory and DeviantArt, because for some reason they preserve the formatting and Atlantis doesn't.
For my tablet, I was only able to find one word processor that was compatible with my preferred file format, RTF. It's rather big, though, and slow because the tablet's kind of under-powered. (The phone I bought four years ago had a faster processor.) I have trouble using the tablet's keyboard, too, either hitting too many buttons at once or having my hands cramp up. I bought a case with an external keyboard, but it's too small as well, and I can't even type a single sentence without having to correct dozens of typos. Eventually, I'll have to get a full-size bluetooth keyboard for it.
I certainly hope my computer isn't dying. All the parts except the primary hard drive are less than two years old (and most are around one year). The C drive is the original one I put in when I built the computer back in 2009 (somehow, I thought I built it earlier, but I double-checked and it was August of 2009). The D drive is two or three years younger. I think the overheating problem is simply because the 8-core processor I upgraded to a couple years ago just naturally runs hot. Combined with living in a place where the temperature in the summer hits between 106 and 112 degrees...yeah, it's pretty rough on the poor thing. Still, one of these days I keep hoping I can buy either a quality fan or liquid-cooling system that will fix the problem.
Overall, though, deciding to build my own computer was one of the best decisions I ever made. I don't want to even think about the amount of money I spent on new PCs that lasted less than a year or two. Just an $800 initial investment for the parts I needed five years ago, with occasional replacements and upgrades, it's still running nicely (except for the overheating) and is able to play the latest games....
As for monetizing fanfiction, yeah, I have mixed feelings about it. And as has been mentioned here before, it's not really that good a deal for the authors. But like I've said a couple of times, I'm in pretty desperate need of money right now, so I'm giving it a shot. Unless the job-hunt situation changes pretty drastically, I'm screwed if I can't get some additional sources of income started, and writing is the only thing I can do that has any shot at that.
I'm not expecting to get a lot of money from this, but one thing I'm hoping for is exposure to new readers. If they like my other stuff, maybe that'll lead to a few sales.
But yeah, the kind of "payday" you mentioned, signing with game devs or whatever, would be awesome.
I also wish I could draw and illustrate my stories and novels. How awesome would that be, huh? Who wouldn't love to see their stories adapted into games or comic books or whatnot? But I wouldn't trust certain "writers" at BioWare not to screw it up....
Which reminds me, last night I saw the teaser for ME4. Meh. When the bit about "listening to the fans" came up, I almost threw up in my mouth a little....
Again referencing ME3, I take severe issue with the entire character of Traynor. I had no problem with her inclusion in the story. However, how they used her character pretty well rendered Liara useless. Conversely, if Liara was the person always finding the information in relation to the war effort, it would reinforce her role as Shadow Broker. Instead, all Liara does is find the plans for the Crucible, then fade into the background as nothing more than a romanceable soldier. All the true intelligence work afterwards is done by Traynor. It simply undermines one character in the service of another who doesn't get enough time to forge a meaningful relationship with the audience.
I think that's why so many people had problems with Quicksilver in Xmen, and Vega in ME3. Sure, they are amusing and well acted characters. However, in light of how many others are available, it seems a waste to invest resources in them, when it would be easier to share the work among the already established characters.
In the case of Xmen, they shoe-horn in a few characters for branding, then remove/diminish others to avoid solving the problems too easily. I can understand, but I think part of it is the euphoria of knowing that the movies are mostly back on track. In several years, if the franchise keeps going, I will likely see DoFP and say "above average." But for now, it's a damn fine gem of a movie.
Similar to ME3. There are a lot of stumbles, storyline wise, that were made. However, a lot of this was due to player agency. Vega fills the need for another character, should all the past crew be dead. However, if the Virmire Survivor is swapped for Vega, that adds a lot of sympathy, as well as tension, to the VS. However, this means you can't have the cool standoff during the attack on the Citadel...not without fiddling with the story even more.
Personally, I feel that it could have set up a more natural dialogue about the questions the VS had about Shepard. Rather than cramming the "I don't trust you [rabble rabble] Cerberus lackey [rabble rabble]" into nearly half the dialogue the VS got...we could have a hearfelt coming to terms with their conflict, and provide much needed catharsis on Shepard's behalf as well.
As for the undermining of Vega...it needn't have happened if they had done Shepard's trial for the intro...but again, pacing kept this plot point out of the mix. I actually managed to block out a scene that would have taken little more time than the intro we got (maybe adding 10 minutes to it). However, I suppose a need to make a faster start won out. Even without Vega, they could have taken the opportunity to reintroduce one of the older side characters, or even Nyreen from the Omega DLC, as a squaddie. Hell, Aria would have been a compelling addition, or even Shiala (or a Thorian clone of her if she was killed in ME1).
Even better, they could have simply included several of the ME2 suicide squad into the mix. It isn't as if they would have had to incorporate THAT much more dialogue to make it work (eg: the Virmire Survivor didn't REALLY have that much dialogue, compared to some of the other mainstays). Moreover, you'd feel their deaths all the more, if they were lost in ME2. Again, budgetary and time constraints probably kept a lot of things from happening. If you read the leaked script...Priority Earth was supposed to play out like a game of freaking Risk...committing forces to the field at various stages...which would have affected the standard combat accordingly!
TL;DR: good editors make for good stories, both during script writing AND during filming (whether for games or movies). Unfortunately, commercial concerns can often undermine good writing. Usually, my head-cannon and BS-tolerance levels are enough to assuage any annoyance I might otherwise feel, but I get your point.
Again, it's why I am usually so obsessed during the editing process of my writing.
Yeah, Traynor is an okay character, but didn't really need to be there, and was included at the expense of a character who's been there since the beginning. Liara absolutely should've been the one finding and relaying all the information, since I thought that was the whole point of her becoming the Shadow Broker in the first place. If they really wanted to stuff Traynor into the story, she should've had a different purpose/expertise. Liara got shafted in ME3...after all the trouble of having her take over the Shadow Broker's position, only to almost immediately lose her base of operations and hardly do anything useful afterward...sigh.
Vega seemed like a decent enough guy, but was also unnecessary. You're right, the VS should've taken his place. It would've improved the story a lot, and would've actually been meaningful. As for the standoff with Udina, that shouldn't have even been in the game. I always thought Udina worked perfectly as he was portrayed in the first two games, a person who had the right intentions, but was a dick about it. XD But in ME3 they turned him into a mustache-twirler like the Illusive Man.
Also, if you selected Anderson to be the human councilor at the end of ME1...why the hell was Udina suddenly back in his old job in the first place? I don't remember that even being addressed in ME3. O_o
As for characters who would've made better squaddies, yes, absolutely, Nyreen would've made a badass addition. Aria would've definitely made things interesting. I'll always be disappointed that Aethyta wasn't added to Shep's team. Having her as a squaddie would've been one of the most awesome things ever.
Good news: That new PSU was defective! The replacement one works.
Bad news: Turns out it was (also?) the mobo fan making a grinding noise. Seems fainter, so maybe they both started playing up. Otherwise, that thing was throwing its 'voice'... 
At least I know someone who seems confident that can be fixed though.
Glad to know it was simple enough to fix. 
Hope the mobo fan is also an easy fix.
@ MrStoob: Good luck with the new ISP! It's always fun trying to merge together crossovers. Maybe it isn't ME related, but writing is writing, and still interesting to discuss. I had an interesting crossover planned out a few years back. I never really did anything with it. At this point, the works aren't really as relevant, but the idea might provide interesting fodder for an original story idea, if I can craft a compelling universe for the story to inhabit (easy enough to imagine, but getting the lore right is trickier).
Incidentally, 
I just finished posting my final chapters of the "Mass Effect 3.5" story, YAY! 
I could still be poking away at it, but I have to stick the fork in sometime, I suppose. I want my readers to be able to finish reading it as well, and that'll never happen if I keep editing ad infinitum.
Ugh...endings...I am always concerned that they end with a bang. However, try to reach for too much of one, and you end up spoiling the work. Incidentally, my story worked much better without the original finale I had planned. It was much more complicated, but somehow less satisfying, than what I ended up with. However, as I generally criticize myself to death, I shall simply wait and see if the readers liked it.
I try not to get too preoccupied with public opinion, but it still matters to me. I think that's why I initially had such mixed feelings about my romantic couplings in the story, as I was concerned that it would alienate people, or come off as corny. It can certainly inform my writing style...anyone else feel this way at times?
@ Fatiguesdualism: Thanks for providing a review of my story! Nice to have more than the one from my beta reader, haha! Definitely a good suggestion you made, but alas, only the latter portion of my story reflected your advice. I am far too lazy to go back over 60 chapters and 450+ pages at this point, haha!
EDIT: Just finished uploading at Deviant Art....suuuuch a drag posting on that site! Not only is posting fiction more problematic, but trying to preserve formatting is inordinately complicated.
Still, one advantage is I can easily batch convert it to Ao3...so that's good. It's sort of funny how somebody added a random chapter to their favorites, when there's no way they had enough time to read up to that point within the timeframe. Still, gift horses and all that, someone also gave me a Llama badge!
Congrats on posting the last chapters. That's true about having to stop tweaking the story and let it go at some point. I remember Joe Straczynski often saying that art is never finished, just abandoned. I'm always finding little bits here and there that I realize I should've written differently, or left out...but if I kept fiddling with each story, none of them would ever see the light of day.
As for public opinion and things like romantic pairings among characters alienating readers, etc...yeah, that's something I worry about every now and then. Especially when an idea that lodges itself in my head is a little more "out there" than others, or something about it might squick some readers. I've been pretty lucky so far, though, in that the people who have read my stuff haven't voiced any problems yet. There are quite a few couples, trios, and whatnot that I was always worried might put off some readers for various reasons, such as being different species or having a significant age gap, and in one case in Freelancers, a teenager who ended up becoming a sort of escort/companion/consort simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time on Illium one night, then deciding to make a career of it because he figured only a fool would pass up an opportunity like that. I hesitated to add stuff like that into any of my stories because I assumed a lot of readers would think, "Oh, no, that's going too far." But I figured these ideas might make for interesting stories if I don't screw them up at some point...and like I said, I've been pretty lucky. If any readers have had issues with any of these, they haven't told me.
So...yeah, it does affect my writing style in that I'm always mindful/concerned about coming up with an idea that crosses the line, so I'm pretty careful not to carry it too far. But since no one has complained about any of it (aside from the anonymous reader who made the comment about "huggy"-whatever stuff in Freelancers), my instincts seem to be pretty good on this. There probably are readers who just stop reading without saying anything directly to me about it, but I haven't gotten any negative comments. Well, yet.
As for endings, oh yeah, I have a lot of trouble with those. It's the main reason why I could never make a career on writing short stories. I tend to let the plot play out for as long as it needs to, and even then, the endings I write tend to be cliffhangers, or at least "life goes on"-type things. I've only managed to come up with a definitive, satisfying ending maybe twice in the last twenty years. Everything else, like my Transformers Prime fics, ends with plot threads that kick off the next story in the series.
And speaking of endings, I need to head off to my...feh...job soon, and I've prattled on long enough anyway....
Retour en haut
- especially those ones who pass their snotty, coughing, wheezy germs onto moi! 
Going to wrap up this fic in one or two chapters. Started a new ME3 playthrough. He seems more renagade than previous. uh oh. 
Fortunately, the job situation has been the only source of frustration and fear I've had to deal with since moving here. Where I lived prior to February 2013, I was miserable. That town has a lot of pretty scenery, but that's its only redeeming quality (and it's only pretty when there's sunshine, which is two to three months out of the year, or less). Moving 1,300 miles away from there was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I haven't looked back. If I can ever get my financial situation sorted out, I'll be just fine. 
