This is a writing journal. Characters mostly not mine. Profit neither sought nor made. Contains creativity. Caveat lector. Browse by the tags, the memories or the fiction index.

Note 11/20/2011: I promise I will finish the fandom-specific sections ASAP. I hit a rough patch of RL this week and haven't got to them yet.

... And then December happened. I hope this was of some help to you, dear writer, even in its unfinished state. I will be glad of whatever you've chosen to write me, so a thousand apologies for my abject failure to heed fandom matters in these recent weeks. ♥

( Dear Yuletide Writer... )

Medium: Manga
Fandom: Bleach
Timeline/Spoilers: Hueco Mundo, Fake Karakura, The Lost Agent arcs; up to the current manga
Subject: Ichigo, Rukia and their relationship during these later arcs of the manga

Parting Street (Reaper Blues Mix)
an Ichigo & Rukia fanmix

( And fade out and fade out again (immerse your soul in love) )

Originally written and posted for Yuletide 2010.

Author: hallowd
Disclaimer: Planescape: Torment is (C) of Black Isle Studios.
Rating: T (PG-13)
Category/Genre/Characters: one-shot; fairytale, horror; Ravel Puzzlewell
Timeline/Spoilers: Spoilers up to Ravel's Maze.
Summary: Time she has, does clever, lonely Ravel. (500 words)

( A Black-Bramble Story )

Originally written and posted for Yuletide 2010.

Author: hallowd
Disclaimer: Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle is (C) of Matou Sanami.
Rating: T (PG-13)
Category/Genre/Characters: one-shot; angst/tragedy, romance-of-a-sort; KoueixFuuga
Timeline/Spoilers: Set during the long timeskip between the flashback in Vol. 4 and the beginning of the main story.
Summary: Kouei and Fuuga learn what it means to be chosen of the Earth Dragon. The cycle of rebirth is broken, and mending it will come at a cost. (2,200 words)

( Down in song and memory )

Originally written and posted for Yuletide 2010.

Author: hallowd
Disclaimer: Jade Empire is (C) of BioWare.
Rating: K+ (PG)
Category/Genre/Characters: one-shot; drama, friendship; Sky, Radiant Jen Zi
Timeline/Spoilers: Set during and after the game, so storyline spoilers are inevitable.
Summary: Sky and Jen Zi meet time and again across the years, sharing sorrow and joy. (5100 words)

( Beyond the Fallow Field )

The story itself can be found here: The Roots of Heaven: Index Page. This is the extras post.

This is a potpourri of music, author's notes, concept art and deleted snippets. It is best enjoyed after the story itself, although you may certainly grab the soundtrack and listen as you read. Browse at your own risk and leisure. :D

( A Soundtrack )

( Acts of Theft and Homage )

( Deleted Scene )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: A few people have their say, and things get better. (6400 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Thirty-Four: Sea-Change )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: The three deal. (4700 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Thirty-Three: Steadfast )

Originally written and posted for Yuletide 2009.

Author: hallowd
Disclaimer: Okami is (C) of Capcom and Clover Studios.
Rating: K+ (PG)
Category/Genre/Characters: one-shot; fairytale, adventure; Oki, Amaterasu, Issun
Timeline/Spoilers: Set in the game timeline just after the Wawku Shrine. Some spoilers.
Summary: On deep winter nights, the Oina pass on a story of the three heroes' descent from the sacred shrine. Oki, Amaterasu and Issun find that the troubles of the Oina do not end with the defeat of the twin demons. (4100 words)

( The Kindling )

Originally written and posted for Yuletide 2009.

Author: hallowd
Disclaimer: His Dark Materials belongs to Philip Pullman.
Rating: T (PG-13)
Category/Genre/Characters: one-shot; vignette, drama; Iorek Byrnison, Serafina Pekkala
Timeline/Spoilers: Vague futurefic.
Summary: In the end, a bear who was a king and a queen of the witches wait together. (900 words)

( Skybound )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: Two go looking for a redhead. (3200 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Thirty-Two: Sojourn )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: Ichigo ducks and covers, Renji speaks the truth, and Rukia rises to the occasion. (3500 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

Coincidentally, it is Thursday. No, I am not dead. Enjoy.

( Thirty-One: Threshold )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: A number of people deal with love and duty, and there is a meeting in the rain. (5400 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

This is for kawree, whose birthday I missed. ♥

( Twenty-Nine: Sideways )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: Many things move beneath the surface. (4400 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Twenty-Eight: Ember )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: Talking does not solve much. (3600 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Twenty-Seven: Graceless )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: Moves are made to various results. (3600 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Twenty-Six: Tumble )

Fine, I lied. I didn't mean to.

Word count for weeks 5 and 6: 4262 words
Stories worked on: The Roots of Heaven (2157 words), Night Watch (2105 words)
Music for the week: Blood of Me by Heather Nova, Running Up That Hill by Placebo, Aftersun by Massive Attack, Strange Love Triangle by New Order and Depeche Mode.
Best writing aid in the history of everything discovered: Write or Die. ILU, echoinautumn.

Damn, cats and kittens, the TAR Challenge has wound to a close. I could've done heaps and loads better, but overall I'm very happy we all did this.

This morning, toasts were made, Ten gave a speech and we all joined in, with our water and pomegranate soya milk and B-52 (kahlua and orange) and Crowmoor apple cider. It was a fine end to a fine endeavour, only--

I plan on carrying on a lighter version for the month of August. I'll be a lot busier then, but I'll be adopting 'Pea's old count of 100 words a day, six days a week. I will still do weekly or bi-weekly reports and most likely post everything that isn't Roots under the same old filter. Thank you all for the interest and the thoughtful comments, for the encouragement and the kind words, for the enthusiasm and the grammar nudges.

Cheers.

As always, ficbits are filtered here.

This is an intermission post. I'm now up to date with my word counts, and a new post for week 5 is coming, gods of good grammar willing, at its appointed date on Saturday.

Word count for weeks 3 and 4: 3665 words (DONE, BITCHES)
Stories worked on: The Roots of Heaven (2250 words), Washed on your shore (661 words), untitled RenIchi penance smut (764 words)
Stories posted: Roots, parts 24 and 25. Still not there.
Music for the weeks: Heather Nova, plus kawree's wonderful RenHime FST, Only a Broken Heart.
New 'verses specced: 1) Rly Rly Old Captains 'verse sketched out with 'Pea in chat. This is the one where Ichigo and Renji are ancient and BFF, Ichigo and Rukia never got together but may have had a slow comfortable screw or three over the years as friends, Orihime and Renji did have a thing but she passed on before him, and the terrible trio has basically become the new Ukitake, Kyouraku and Unohana all by their threesome.
2) The Monkey and the Weaver 'verse is drifting free and looking for a good home.

raynos is my co-pilot.

Ficbits under the old filter here.

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: The past can both bind and set one free. (3500 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, warnings, pairings etc. can be found here.

( Twenty-Five: Self-Inflicted )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: The three return to normal, only to discover normal requires redefinition. (6600 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, warnings, pairings etc. can be found here.

( Twenty-Four: Ordinary )

Word count for the week: 1737 words
Stories worked on: The Roots of Heaven (954 words), Ghost of the Sun (633 words), Washed on your shore (150 words plus a lot of scene-planning)
Stories posted: Roots, part 23. Are we there yet?
Hours spent perusing inspirational fan art: Too many. 'Pea is good for me, but it's all too easy to spend writing time discussing the relative merits of yaoi conventions in BL art and why Aino likes it more when there's less of them.
Hours of productivity lost to heat wave: At least a full day. Guess where the dystopic scorched earth AU inspiration came from.
WORDS I AM SHORT THIS WEEK: 63. Ehh. Next week, we aim for 1863. Additional punishment may be decided by the other Ladies of the Challenge.

If I don't write anything based on this art before the end of the challenge then something is wrong with the world. There is a story there and so help me I will find it. ('Pea graciously educated me on the significance: that's the Sun Wukong mask from the Beijing Opera. Renji as the Monkey God. Story, I tell you.)

Ficbits under a filter here.

Author: hallowd
Rating: Mature (R) for language
In This Part: Ichigo sorts through old grudges, old friends, and an old man. (3100 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

( Twenty-Three: Remnant )

Words for the week: 2773 words
Stories worked on: The Roots of Heaven only, woe.
Title changes on stories: One. RenHime 'fic is now Washed on your shore, which will hopefully stick.
Inane laughter fits while writing Isshin endured: < 5
Hours spent writing on trains: Approx. 4. Best time for writing that I know. If I had the money, I'd just spend all week shuttling south-north-south on the railway.
Hours spent speccing on Orihime's powers with the Ladies: > 3. Except to see more of this next week.

The ficbits that are shareable are in a filtered post here. See you next week!

And here I am, taking a page from Ten and bringing a whole new use for this writing journal. So far it's been mostly an archive for my finished stories, but one night not too long ago, I got together with the Ladies of Chat (in this case, tenebris and raynos) and we crafted a project to help each of us get our respective behinds in gear with producing literary output.

This venture will be known as The TAR Challenge (for Ten, Aino and Ray) and will tentatively run for about the next six weeks (until the end of July). My personal contribution will be to write 300 words of prose a day, except on Sunday, which is the Day of Game.

The challenge was conceived to help us all work on various stories, so there are no prompts or suchlike, only the word count. The idea is to post a report of weekly progress every Saturday, with word counts, stories worked on, and any silly asides one wishes to include. You'll be seeing these popping up in the following weeks.

This brings me to the point of this post. I'll be making a filter for these bits and pieces of fic so I can post them here, too. If you want to be on this filter, holler here! It will contain my raw and uncut drafts, so I won't subject anyone to it without their express consent. ;) For bein' on the filter, you'll get ~1800 words of prose a week and peeks into my head.

If you want to gauge whether or not this will be relevant to your interests, ( these are the stories I'll be working on: )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part
In This Part: The burden of waiting is lighter when shared. (3000 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

Let's pretend, for just a moment, that I can maintain a posting schedule.

( Twenty-Two: Ripple )

Author: hallowd
Rating: Teen (PG-13) for this part.
In This Part: The homecoming is anything but. (4100 words)
The Roots of Heaven: Index Page: Previous chapters, pairings, warnings etc. here.

This one is for kawree, and she knows why.

( Twenty-One: Misgiving )