Reading this leads me to believe that bees disappear when the local habitat is uninhabitable. By uninhabitable, I mean genetic variations and mutations (whether natural or man-made via genetic modification) that are present in the environment that are not something a bee is programmed for. The part about DNA-destroying irradiation convinces me that the bees are too sensitive to changes in the environment, and it's finally gotten into their food chain in a way that makes it difficult for them to stay.

The question now is: where do they go? Do they die? Abandon ship and scatter in every and all direction? Migrate in a semi-orderly fashion somewhere?

Or perhaps when the presence of polluted genetic material becomes too bad, do they decompose spontaneously?

Some day this will make a good novel.

ETA: After reading about pollinator decline, I am even more convinced.

ETA2: Randomly while reading about the Mary Celeste, I wonder if things are American-only in some cases, or if Americans are just much better about publicizing this sort of thing than other countries. It can't be that this is an American-only situation--that's just weird and wrong. So it must be the spread of news.

... right?

As promised to schweinsty, the profiles for Uchimura and Mori. ^_^ Pointing out of mistakes loved/appreciated! Small font = my insertions/comments. If people reproduce this, please credit aiwritingfic and link to this post.

( Uchimura Kyousuke, 40.5 )

( Mori Tatsunori, 40.5 )

Hikaru no Go Gorgeous Character Book Translation (Touya Kouyou)
For ontogenesis, because she asked so nicely, and I owe her for propping me up through my insecurity. ♥
[Small text are my translation notes/thoughts.]
If people wish to reproduce this, please credit aiwritingfic or link to this post.


( Character Profile: Touya Kouyou )

(WIP, four pages to go.)

After I left for bed (I wanted to stay, but it was already 3am!) thephoenixboy and readerofasaph continued their discussion. There is some gold here. *can't help snickering at some of these points* You guys rock. ♥

( Read more... )

ETA: thephoenixboy wasn't satisfied, and wrote meta!

Too long, had to break it up. Here is the rest:

( Read more... )

Part two/continuation of the Yukimura analysis, though it meanders and wanders all over the place!

( Read more... )

Yukimura analysis/discussion, part one. Part two will be posted soon!

( Read more... )

blind_go fics are now posted! If you can guess which fic is mine, I'll give you your choice of any of the following prizes:

- Poetry postcard (see my "postcards from tokyo" tag here; some of you have received at least one)
- A fic of your own (... but there is no deadline and you might have to wait YEARS ...)
- Something to be narrated (with a reasonable deadline that you set)
- Nothing, just bragging rights! o(^_^)o
- Something else (will comment!)

Here are some links you might find useful in your hunt: fic directory, author directory. My writing is archived at apples_for_me.

Comment below with your guess as well as your choice of prize. All comments are screened. ^_^ This game closes when the official guessing closes as well! To my three betas, you aren't allowed to guess, but you are allowed to claim a prize for your hard work! ♥ Comment below so I can keep track, okay?

ETA: As per this clarification post on blind_go, I will no longer give three chances--one guess allowed (though feel free to change your guess any time up to the final reveal--I'll always take the last guess made). ♥

Seems Like All I Do Is Write
I spent the last six hours thinking/reading/writing, and I've only just started. I think I'm going to have to really be strict on myself with respect to partitioning time for writing and plotting.

More Writing
I posted four paragraphs of the opening scene of PW for beta, and it proved to me one thing--I'm not ready to start the novel yet. It did help me see that Renoa may turn out a little more interesting (thank god), but other than that? Writing it was difficult. I don't yet have a concrete sense of place, and all these planes mean I need to settle once and for all the environment of a plane. And I'd better do it fast.

Characterization
Chye's characterization developed from the writing of backstory. Renoa's characterization developed from the determination of themes and the realization that above all other points, I want to write in his head, and if possible, only his. (I'll have to do a lot of plot arranging and massaging to give him a bigger role to play, but the plot exercises in Bell's book are helping.) Vhare's characterization is developing from my need to advance the plot. *facepalms* We'll see which character is strongest as soon as I finish writing up his biographies. And then we have the supporting cast ... *sigh*

Stop The World (I Want To Write)
So many things to do, so little time! ontogenesis was right, I need to set smaller, more concrete backstory or writing goals, or I'll drown in a sea of detail and lose focus as I struggle to find my footing. I have a two-break tomorrow--I'll use the chance to organize my writing schedule as well as do a bit more plotting. The nice thing about plotting is if I get tired of working on PW, there are three other WIPs to finalize. (Though Pearly Gates is ready to be written all the way, to be honest.)

ETA: Linked for self-reference: comment thread between me and Issen on her journal.

Writing
Taking some time to study plot and characterization (as well as structure) is beginning to pay off in terms of seeing where I can improve. Now I can see the holes in my work--not enough plot/movement, lack of drama. I can see where I usually do well (atmosphere-building, flow, pacing), too. This is good! *happy*

Previously (aka Why I Had Writer's Block)
A lot of my WIPs have been stalled after the first chapter, mainly because I have an idea, a beginning, and a goal ... but getting to the goal has been difficult. I have ideas on where I want the story to go, what I want the story to say, what I want people to take away from the story, but it's all been a big jumble in my mind. Pearly Gates has been a big jumble of "what if" and "this should happen", but the chronology has been vague, and I've been thinking about motivations and possibilities without being able to actually force myself to make some decisions. Numbered has been me worrying about pseudomath and what I want to focus on while they search for Sai. In the case of Tezuka's Notebook, I'd discarded my original idea as too obvious (and somewhat OOC), but I hadn't been able to formulate a coherent plot to replace it.

Studying Craft: Talking About Plot
Starting with Nancy Kress's Beginnings, Middles & Ends, I got a general idea of what sort of things I might need to really tie together a longer fic, and I really enjoyed her explanation of throughlines. Ansen Dibell's Plot helped me see that even though I enjoyed simple "nothing really happens" stories, with something long, nothing happening is truly boring. Finally, I had a plan for the rest of Pearly Gates, but it was too nebulous and unstructured; Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell gave me a frame to hang the story on, and it already looks more promising. (Not to mention I now have a much clearer idea of what to focus on for PW!)

Putting It Together
I'm going to make a concerted push towards finishing my WIPs. With the exception of Letters to the Inter-galactic Agency and the Cogs and Gears universe (both of which are collaborations, and therefore not my own stories but rather shared ones), I'm going to be ticking off WIPs until I've cleared what's currently on my plate. This means Pearly Gates, Numbered, and Tezuka's Notebook. With what I'm learning about plot and structure, I should be able to make a good go of them. At least, I sure hope so.

Observations
I owe aishuu a lot. If she hadn't told me "You need to start writing longer stories", I would have stayed and splashed happily in my little sub-1000-words puddle, and never really thought about how to improve myself and bring my craft to a higher level. Shortfic and longfic really do demand very different things from a writer. When I was writing shortfics, it was fine for me to write little pieces with no plot focusing on characters and sketching out a general idea of a universe, or evoke certain feelings and surroundings while ignoring the idea of a real story. But readers demand different things from a 1000-word story and a 10,000-word or 100,000-word story. I want to write 100,000-word stories, and I needed to work on the "story" part of that. IOU, aishuu. And for that, you just wait Touya ... I'm coming to kick your ass in go. ^_~

Footnote
Though it felt like a lot more, I only really have three solo WIPs left. Maybe it felt like there were a lot more because I haven't published some of the ones I'm working on. Well, this definitely looks doable now! *cheers*