Mice, Rats, Blog Layouts, Broken Computers, and much much more.

First of all, I always feel embarrassed reading old writing (even slightly old) of mine. And I also feel rather embarrassed when other people read my stories. I don't know why. Maybe because I know it's not my best work, maybe because it is... I don't know...

Hmph. Random subject is random.

Anyway, I changed the blog design a bit. The black birds on white backround annoyed me. It made it pretty much impossible to find a text color that was readable no matter the circumstances. I like blue a lot, too. I may still fiddle with the design. It was a tough call between the blue watercolor-y backround and the white with splattered black edges backround

*long pause*

And now for something completely different.

So, I guess I started this post to say that my computer is going to be sent off for repairs. Some problem with the fan. So I'm not going to do much digital art until it comes back. So no posts with illustrations, and most likely not many posts at all.

Heh, she says as she writes a blog post. Also, my spellcheck is Firefox, and since I'm using Internet Explorer at the moment (no idea why this computer doesn't use Firefox...), you can expect a few typos and misspellings. I'm also not used to this keyboard, so that doubles the typos.

Oh, speaking of blog posts (well, we're more on the subject of keyboards and spellcheck at the moment, but who cares), you can expect at least one fairly soon in the future -- as soon as the weather gets warmer. I guess I lied about not many posts. Heck, there might be more then usual... based on the frequency of posts lately. I should update more ofte--

*Ahem*
As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by myself getting sidetracked...
*Stern glare*

I will be posting soon (as soon as the story is concluded) about the Story of the Mouse. Basically, we found a baby mouse -- eyes closed but furred -- a few weeks ago, on the 9th. We were at a friend's concert when we found it (in the gravel parking lot of all places), and we waited for the mother to come, bu-- well, I shouldn't give everything away now, should I?

Oh, and while we're on the topic of rodents...
We will probably be getting rats soon! Once the mouse is free and everyone is healthy and up for getting new pets, we will try and get some from a breeder. We had a pair of female rats for a while, but we had to put them down, and we have since gotten a cat. However, with this whole mouse-saving adventure, we've learned that Zen (our cat and a great mouser at that), is more interested in the kitten milk replacer then the mouse eating it. I think if we keep doors closed and cat and rats apart, all shall be well -- and if the cat and rats meet, hopefully Zen can be distracted long enough to get the situation under control.

And I think that concludes our blog post for today, folks.
Goodnight, and happy late Easter.

Quotes

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
~Anton Chekhov

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.
~James Michener

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.
~Enrique Jardiel Poncela

The beauty of being a writer is that even if you can't live out your dreams in real life, you can live them out through your books.
~Frances Dowell - quoted from this interview, because... well, I just agree with it!

Decisions... Decisions... Decisions...

So,
With most of Thenew about done, It's time to work on plots.

My strategy is to start with a few basic plot structures/themes/dramas/etc., and build plots from there.
The plan is to try and not have repetitive/guessable/boring plotlines every book. I want each plotline to be different and interesting.
Now, I'm not sure how hard or easy this'll be... I'm not even sure where to start with for designing these. But that doesn't matter because I couldn't really start if I wanted to anyway.

Well, I probably could, but, eh. *Shrug*

Anyway, the thing I need to figure out here before I start making up plotlines, is this:

What type of series/world will Thenew be?

Will it be like Warrior Cats*? (a world with different plotlines/badguys but following the same main character through different generations)

Will it be like Redwall? (a world with different plotlines/badguys/main characters, with only a few things and characters recurring throughout each book)

And, depending on if it will be more Warrior Cats or Redwall like, how long should each series/plot be? 1 book long? 3 books long? 6 books long?

Who knows. That's the purpose of this blog post. To try and figure that out.

So far, not so good.

*Not in the sense of badly written, boring and repetitive. .....I hope.

So, in an effort to try and figure this out, I bring you...
The Pros and Cons.

More Warrior Cats-ish:

Pros:

• Wouldn't miss the characters.
• Would be able to follow the main character through many generations, see how they change, etc.

Cons:

• Less freedom.
  
• Not as believeable (all that bad stuff happened at once and is still happening? bad, bad, bad luck I say!)

More Redwall-ish

Pros:

• More believable.
• More free to do stuff and make things up.

Cons:

• Might miss the characters/writing about them.

Based on this, I'd say that a more Redwall-ish series, with 3 books per plot, would probably be the best option. Assuming that you'd be sick and tired with writing about the main characters after about three books. Plus, three is just a nice, even uneven number.

It's also magical.
*Starts singing*
Three... is a magic number. Yes it is. It's a magic number.

Er... I guess writing and re-writing blog posts over and over starts to make you go insane after about 2 hours.

Anyway. I'm still not sure if I'd miss the characters after 3 books...

Wait, I know! Make the characters elders or something in the next 3-book series if you still miss them.

Would that work? I hope so. The problem with writing is you can't test theories without a whole lot of time and effort. So you kinda have to guess at stuff like this.

Well, I had a feeling this blog post might help. And it did. I think. Anyway, I'll take what I can get!

Off to sketch out designs for the Sials. Again.
*Sigh* Oh well.

P.S.
Blog posts turn out really weird if you don't plan them out that much before writing them. I just noticed that.