Excuse me while I indulge in a little self-therapy.

Hi, I’m Tasty. And I’m in a writing rut.

I’ve updated “Nightmare” twice in the last seven months. I haven’t written a new word for any original stories in 2010.

In 2006, I was a lazy 18-year-old who would write “The High King, the Duchess, and the Secret” when I was supposed to be studying calc or microecon. Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. I was often ten chapters ahead of posting on ff.net (which is, you know, insane).

In the summer of 2009, I was a recent college grad who hated her sales internship. So instead of cold calling, I finished the second half of “The Changing of the Constellations” in an inspired frenzy. In the fall of 2009, in lieu of applying for jobs (I only applied to two!), I started writing “Nightmare.” I was also spitting out a chapter a day for my original fic, which I managed to finish before I left the country on Christmas Day—130,000 words altogether.

But then January hit, and everything began to change, though I wasn’t aware of it at the time. 

1. I started working full-time.
2. Mr. Bad Romance burst back into my life.

 Work. Suddenly my time was no longer mine. I was on a schedule, no longer staying up until 3:00am in the morning as the mood struck. The fast pace tired me, and though I had my evenings free, I was either too mentally exhausted to write, or too preoccupied with #2—Mr. Bad Romance.

 Details are interesting, but unimportant, regarding Mr. BR. Sufficed to say, having a wild/fluctuating/crazy love life does NOT help writing the way one would think. What’s the point of writing about love triangles if you’re living it? Sure, I’ve had experiences with amor before—“HKDS” didn’t come out of nowhere—but now that life is a full-fledged soap opera, I have no inclination to create more drama in my head.

 Okay. So. Here is where I try to piece together everything I’ve said above and try to fix myself. I know that: 

1. I enjoy writing only when I am NOT supposed to be writing. I know many other Neffers are the same way. When I was supposed to be a student, I was writing “HKDS”; when I was struggling with what I wanted to do with my life, I was writing about Talia’s identity crisis in “COTC.”
2. I write to escape, and when life is more interesting than fiction, I don’t write.
3. I need to learn to manage my time better. Working full-time is absolutely no excuse.

 What’s the bottom line? I don’t know. I’m sure as hell not quitting my job, and wising up and calming down my life would make things boring around here.

 What I do know is, I miss writing. At the very least, it’s a hobby. At best, it’s a future. So either way, I want to need to get back into it.

TBC…

STOP ABUSING THE APOSTROPHE!

Yes, the poor apostrophe has been abused by those speakers and writers of the English language for years. Next to homophones, homonyms, and generally mis-spelled words, apostrophe abuse is one of the most common things I see done wrong. It’s not just in writing, either: I’ve witnessed professionals who have abused the apostrophe just as badly as a fifth grade student.

So what’s all this about, you wonder? There are a few very simple things which I feel that people ought to be reminded of.

The Cardinal Rules of Apostrophe Usage (or, How to Not Massacre the Poor Apostrophe)

1. Making a word into a plural form DOES NOT require an apostrophe.

If referring to more than one furry domesticated feline, you would say “Cats”. The famous musical by the same name does, in fact, refer to these multiple felines, albeit of the singing and dancing variety. “Cat’s” refers to something which belongs to your furry friend, like a toy, a variety of sustenance, or a person.

2. “Its” and “It’s” are NOT the same word, and are not interchangeable.

“It’s” = “It is.” It is a contraction, a set of words or numbers in which one or more letters or numbers have been omitted (Purdue OWL). It is thus appropriate to write something like “It’s a shame more people don’t know about this site!” If you used “its,” some people in the know may have a tendency to stare at you like a deer that has decided to stand in the middle of the road.  Carnage may occur.

“Its” = the possession of it. It is a pronoun, a word used to replace a noun. Along with its merry cousins he, she, I, they, and others, they are the hands down best masqueraders out there. When you use the pronoun “it,” it is commonly used to refer to a person or object like “this computer,” “my hamster,” “that fire hydrant,” or “the imposing office building.” Although you’re probably saying “But wait, “its” is supposed to be possessive! Why doesn’t it have an apostrophe?”, there is a simple answer: English is just a language full of confusions. “Its,” then, refers to the belonging of an “it.”

Just think: contraction before possession with “it”. Kinda like having a baby.

3. Your teachers didn’t lie to you: you do use the apostrophe + s combination to denote possession. They just didn’t tell you the whole story.

The immortal apostrophe + s combination is indeed used to denote possession: just for singular nouns. “Office,” “snowboard,” “chocolate,” or “James” all qualify as singular nouns. In this case, to refer to something that belonged to any of these persons, places, or things, you would simply add the apostrophe and s. Thus we get “office’s,” “snowboard’s,” “chocolate’s,” and “James’s.” Yes. “James’s.” There’s a lot of controversy about whether or not to use the apostrophe + s combo at the end of a singular name that ends in “s” in the English community. Suffice to say that either “James’s” or “James’” are acceptable.

4. Plural nouns aren’t all that special, they’re just different.

Plural nouns are commonly identified by the “s” on the end. “Bars,” “ostriches,” “orthodontists,” and “the Smiths” are all plural nouns. To make things belong to plural nouns, just tack that apostrophe on to the end of it. For those funky nouns that in their plural form don’t end in a “s” (such as geese or sheep), do the apostrophe + s thing. So, it’s now the sheep’s meadow or the geese’s pond.

5. Although an apostrophe notes possession, don’t use it with a possessive pronoun!

Pronouns can be possessive without the help of their friendly neighborhood apostrophe. Really. Pronouns like “his” “yours” and “her” are all possessive pronouns. Adding an apostrophe is like pinning a real donkey tail on a pin the tail on the donkey game at a kid’s birthday party- it’s just not appropriate. So, don’t do it.

*deep breath* Ah, it’s so good to get this off my chest! I hope this helps a little to clear up some common misconceptions of the use of the apostrophe. If it didn’t… try this: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/621/1/.

Cheers and happy writing!
~Kate

I began writing because I needed a creative outlet.  After fifteen years of musical theater productions, various choirs, and voice lessons, I quit doing all of those things cold turkey and changed my major from musical theater to history.  Soon, though, I realized how much I missed stretching my mind in a creative way and how much I absolutely needed it.  Singing and performing used to be the way I expressed all of my emotions…but then, without doing those things every day, my creativity felt stifled and bottled up inside of me.  (I’ve since started singing again, by the way – shameless plug! Check out my YouTube Channel! http://www.youtube.com/irishsongbird85)

Writing became my new release. So yes, I write fan fiction for fun and use it as a creative release. Most definitely. As soon as it stops being fun and starts honestly stressing me out, I’ll quit doing it.

I’ve recently started getting some critical reviews of my story, “Like the Touch of Rain.”  They’re unbelievably honest and full of both praise and critique – a reviewer who has taken the time to read and give her frank opinion on what could make me a better writer.  Instead of bristling defensively at anonymous criticism, however, I feel grateful.  The reviews I usually get aren’t critical – they’re only full of things my readers like about the story (with a few exceptions).  I so appreciate those reviews – they’re great self esteem boosters and it’s wonderful to know people connect to what I’m writing.  I’m fairly certain, however, that most reviewers could offer criticism along with their praise.  And yet, they don’t say it.  Why?

I believe the reason is pretty clear.  Reviewers hold back on honest critique because they are worried they will offend and upset writers.  I’m pretty sure that a lot of reviewers who are capable of being critical are scared to share their honest opinions – for quite a while I’ve been one of them, as well, scared to share what I really think.  But – here’s the important part – being critical of something doesn’t mean you don’t like it! Not at all!

I’ve realized all of this in the last few days and it greatly saddens me.  When someone leaves a respectful review, full of both praise AND critical evaluation, why should an author take offense?  The reviewer obviously respects you enough to say, “Hey, this story is pretty good – good enough that I want to read it…but I see a few things that I personally think could make it better.”  This is exactly why I’m grateful for these types of thoughtful reviews; they challenge me to be a better writer and assume that I have it within me to make these improvements.  And as writers, don’t we all want to have the ability to grow and change and achieve more? Even though we all write fan fiction for fun, striving to improve our writing abilities through fan fic will inevitably lead to the improvement of our writing in all other respects, as well.

People respond to respect.  An honest critique is not disrespectful, but a chance for honest introspection and a stretching of our skills.  A critical review will probably cause a small piece of defensiveness to rise up in all of us, and might be difficult to respond to in a mature and humble way, but it can be done.  A simple thanks for reading and expressing an opinion will be much better in the long run than a defensive and arrogant response.  An opinion is all any reviewer is ever offering, after all, and most of the time, her suggestions are probably ones to at least consider.  They aren’t telling you to edit your entire story to fit their specific wants and needs – they’re only doing what any reader of any book on the planet does – deciding what they like and don’t like about a piece of writing.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The great thing is that here on the internet and on NFFR we have the ability to share these things with each other!  We have the ability to help each other out and create better art!  I personally think that’s fabulous, whether it’s only fan fiction written for fun or not.

Here’s the point of this entry: from now on, my reviews are going to consist of constructive criticism – both praise and critique of things I like and don’t like about stories.  I hope you will do the same for my work because I respect your views (even if I may not agree with them) and I respect your honesty in sharing your critique with me.  Respect is the key word here.  So, have fun reading and reviewing, guys, and may we all grow in our writing with each other!

~Irish

P.S. Please don’t forget about Haiti – if you have already donated to the relief effort, that’s awesome. If you haven’t yet, please give whatever you can! Imagine if everyone donated only $1 or $5…it would be a HUGE amount of money to help them. We are capable of action, so please don’t be idle!!!!!

When ruth and Tasty are in the same building, you are asking for craziness! However, we generally contained ourselves (we did get a few strange looks from nearby tables, but that added to the fun) and had a good time with the Peter, Saedra, and Edmund dolls that she brought for me!

We will try to do a mini-episode of AsCast to chat about our meet-up in early January when…if…I return from the Philippines. Until then, here are some pictures from our time!

Where we met: by the car track at Lego World.

Ruth frees Saedra from her prison.

Making Peter blonde.

Sae and Ed have a beach party. Sexy times in the dunes! (Or on the table in the food court at the MOA.)

Still waiting for Peter to finish getting his hair colored.

One big happy...family?

Ruth checks Twitter to see if anyone has responded to our status updates.

Hey, now! Don't fight, boys!

We offcially confirmed that Edmund does have that a tattoo on his butt, and it does start with an "S."

Ruth and Tasty with Peter, Saedra, and Edmund! One last pic before Ruth had to leave.

Thank you to ruth for the dolls to start my collection! Next up: finding a wine goblet for Saedra. And perhaps a dress too.

Thank you for helping AsCast make it as one of the most downloaded literature podcasts on iTunes!

Here’s a little something for your viewing pleasure.

AsCast Elves!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/agu99fCZllylLtwlUAVD

Tune in on December 22nd to hear the winners of the 2009 Revolution Awards AND listen to a very special interview with Mary Sue herself!

So, you all pretty much know what NaNoWriMo is. It’s been a hot topic at the forum. I did it, just ‘cause I thought, “Hey, this will be fun! They’re telling me to write crap and it will turn to gold. I can write crap!” I even read “No Plot? No Problem!” before I started. (Talk about dedication!)

Now it’s over. I succeeded with 61,172 words. Flying colors and all that. Woot.

People have asked to read my story. Their brains, souls, and livers should be grateful that I’ve declined. I don’t want to see that trashbag again.

But enough about that. In the spirit of Not Forgetting Lessons Learned and Passing on Tastywisdom, here is what I learned this month:

1. Writing 50K words a month is flipping easy. I mean, come on: There are no standards. They are telling us to write BS. So what if you wax poetic for 3K words about how painful your hangnail is? It’s valid. Easy beans. It’s easy to pull shit out of your butt. [Erm, sorry for that pleasing image…]
2. I write 50K words a month anyway. Because I was paying attention to word count, I paid attention to how much I write for fan fiction and my original work as well. I easily 50K words a month without NaNoWriMo. And better yet, it’s not shit! [I hope.]
3. If you plan to write crap, crap will come. The problem with going into something with the idea that you’re going to write crap is…you’re going to write crap. When I visualize my stories in my head before I write them, I consider them Divine Inspiration. When they are written, they fall short of the heavenly vision in my head. I always fall short of what I aim for. It happens. So what I need to do is not plan to write crap and hope that Divine Inspiration will emerge, but plan Divine Inspiration and hope that it doesn’t come out as crap.
4. I cannot finish a self-contained plot in 50K words. Not even close. This may not come as a surprise to anyone who has read my stories!
5. I need to know my characters before I start. Otherwise I flounder, they flounder, we all flounder. Then drown in mediocre, horribly inconsistent behavior. I need to know my characters. I mean, REALLY know them. In the Biblical sense. Sure, they might surprise me from time to time, but I shouldn’t be surprised when one becomes an alcoholic. [You’d think I’d know the signs by now.]
6. I need a detailed outline. If you don’t know where you’re going and how to get there, it’s hard to get there, right? Duh.
7. I have to, like, like my plot. I chose a stupid plot bunny and chose to run with it. It was dumb. I knew it was dumb. But I did it anyway. And, surprise, it’s still as dumb now as it was a month ago. Go figure.

I recommend NaNoWriMo, even if it’s just for the sake of coming up with Genius Gems of Truth like I offered above. It was fun, mostly. And you learn about yourself, although the lessons might be fairly obvious.

I don’t know if I’ll do it again, but it was worth it. And not even, like, hard.

[If anyone has Wisdom they would like to share about their NaNo experiences, feel free to share in the comments.]

In August of 2008, I started working for NFFR as a screener and began to promote the site on the William Moseley Fan forums, making Hev aware of it.  It wasn’t until NFFR started its own forums, less than a year ago now, however, that Hev and I really began to talk a lot.  I got her to come over to NFFR and she began doing graphics for Tasty since she’s such a talented artist.  In February of 2009, I got the idea for AsCast and immediately knew that Hev needed to be on it with Tasty and I – she always offered interesting perspectives because of her background in psychology and just has a beautiful, creative way of seeing the world.  SO, anyway…all of the AsCast girls had our first Skype conversation in mid-March of 2009 and we hit it off. The rest, as they say, is history.

Since that first time, Hev and I have spent a ridiculous amount of time both talking and video chatting on Skype, both about Narnia and just about our everyday lives.  Hours upon hours upon hours…I don’t even know how many.  We knew each other pretty well, I would say, for two people who have never actually met in person.  A few months ago, I mentioned that I’d always wanted to go to Boston (where Hev lives) and she graciously said that if I ever came, I could stay with her.  Soooo, at the beginning of September, I looked up flights, found some cheap ones for my birthday/Halloween weekend…and off I went.

Because Hev and I already talked about all of the things we did in AsCast’s Episode 6.5 (which will be released in a week or so), I won’t go into detail here.  Suffice it to say that I can’t believe that NARNIA brought me such a good friend.  Ruth always calls fandom or internet friends “imaginary;” however, there’s nothing imaginary about Hev.  She’s genuinely a REALLY GREAT friend who I feel privileged and lucky to have met.  She’s honestly one of my favorite people in the entire world – definitely one of the people that I have the most respect for and admire most.

So, anyway – enough being sappy.  If you’d like to hear about all of the things that Hev and I did while I was in Boston, keep a lookout for that extra episode of AsCast which should tide you over until Episode 7 comes out in December. JThanks for reading and listening! Here are some pictures from the trip!

Irish in Salem with the "Bewitched" statue

Hev in Salem

Candlelit ghost tour in Salem

mooooooooooooooook!

Yep, those are wax mustaches.

[Nightmare Spoilers Ahead!]

A long overnight bus ride from Chicago to Minneapolis gives a sleepless person a lot of time to think. That sleepless person being me, I was naturally thinking about fan fiction. And I have come to a decision.

You see, I have been in a stalemate with myself for the past couple of weeks, ever since I got my Big Awesome Idea about where to go with Nightmare. I have covered topics from adultery and child rape in HKDS to killing beloved canon characters in COTC. I covered abortion in His Fool. So I’m not afraid of most topics. But there were some parts of my characters that I wanted to bring out in Nightmare that I have been frankly scared of touching.

Why?

Because this is Narnia. We can joke about how hot Peter is and hook him up with dazzling women with lavender eyeballs, but some things are still untouchable because this is a very conservative fandom.

So my dilemma has been deciding whether I want to go there. Whether I am willing to alienate many of my readers. Because I am quite, quite sure that I will.

Outing major OCs as having same-sex attraction—and revealing a long-term relationship—will not make me many friends in the Narnia community. Ripping the Pevensies to shreds worse than I ever have will make people question my mental stability (which may be a good thing to do, but that’s another topic for another time! ). Having a character commit suicide won’t help either.

I can already see the condemning reviews in my head, saying that I have finally gone too far in my manipulation of Innocent Narnia.

But what I decided on the bus in my sleep-deprived state was that I don’t care. Of course, I do care what people think. But this is my story. This is where I was going from the beginning with The Secret Chronicles of Narnia, even if I didn’t know how I was going to get there. So I am going to do whatever the heck I want with my last Narnia fan fiction and take whatever criticism and infamy results.

Let drama beyond imagination ensue. Or end Su. Either works.

I have always said, “Go out with a bang!” That didn’t turn out so well when I said that about graduating from college (*ahem* pole-dancing in front of whole class after senior banquet *ahem*), but what have I got to lose in writing fan fiction?

Exactly!

Nothing.

To infinity infamy and beyond!

Revolution Radio's New Look!

Hev, of course, made the beautiful header. Cheers!

So what are you waiting for? Check it out!

…Tumnus wants you to.