Sep. 28th, 2017

insaneladybug: (schrank)
I didn't seem to want this to be part of that long real-life rant I just did, so I'm posting this separately.

I've been doing a slice-of-life story. It's very nice and peaceful and I really needed the break. But I wonder how much I should detail of what's happening at a party that happens in the story. I also wonder if, regardless, it's too sleepy for anyone but me and ThickerThanLove to enjoy. Part of me has considered doing a mini-conflict of foiling a bank robbery after the party, as weird robberies were alluded to a couple of times in the story, but really only so April would have a story she'd like to cover, rather than setting up a plot point.

Then I wonder what I'll want to write next. Usually I don't want to do two slice-of-lifes in a row. But the next time Shredder shows up, it's planned to be emotionally draining and heartbreaking and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. Part of me really wonders if I should have done that story with Michelangelo getting amnesia and being mind-controlled, because those are horrible things to do to someone so innocent and it set off quite a chain reaction in subsequent fics. One can't write a continuing storyline and not have repercussions when there's a really intense installment like that. But it's very difficult to ignore insistent plunnies.

To be honest, one part of me ... honestly doesn't want to do the planned thing with Shredder. But it would be very IC and it seems logical that he would do it. I think more, though, it's that when it's all planned, I don't like to disappoint the one who came up with the concept by not doing it. Of course, what I want should be the most important thing, but it gets complicated when part of me doesn't want it but the other part kind of does. I guess I want it, but I don't know that I want it to have the planned outcome, is the thing.

The original suggestion was for Shredder to be cruel and taunt Michelangelo and break him back down with his words, setting him back pretty much to where he was when they started the therapy with him. I didn't want that done, though, because it was too emotionally draining and I also figured the readers would feel like I was meanly toying with their emotions. I thought of maybe it shaking him up, but his loved ones rallying around him and getting him to cast off Shredder's words. Current concept is probably somewhere in the middle. But I don't know, instead of a setback at all, I like the idea more and more as I'm typing that Michelangelo's loved ones convince him to cast off Shredder's words and he goes back to face Shredder, instead of him being shaken to the point that there is still a setback, but not an all the way back to the beginning one. I guess I want to end this arc, but I think if I want to do this idea where Michelangelo is able to go back and face Shredder right then, I would probably need a longer passage of time between now and when Shredder shows up again.

Eh, I'll figure it out. Right now, the slice-of-life is so sleepy that it's moving very slowly writing it out. I haven't accomplished a great deal, as I've been rambling and ranting here. But I think I'm wrapping up the first draft soon. My favorite things about it are the conversations and the bits and pieces of what we learn about the characters along the way.
insaneladybug: (sailormercury)
So I was hoping to get a $5 gift card for Toys R Us from a new survey company I joined over the summer. It's still unavailable, unfortunately. I wonder if that has something to do with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I figured that I should get whatever I was going to get now, in case it didn't deliver immediately because of the weekend. The Barnes and Noble one, the other one I was considering, was available this time, so I got it. And it did deliver immediately, squee! I have it printed out and in my bag, ready to go.

I was already kind of wanting to go to Barnes and Noble to look at their anime section, but now it will definitely be a place I'll want to go and I'll need to plan on possibly being there a bit longer if I have a hard time deciding what to get with the gift card. I don't know if I'll buy some anime thing or a book. Probably not DVDs because their prices are usually awful even with discounts. And Amazon usually has better manga prices. It's silly to even be thinking of this, especially if I get the Figuarts Mercury, but there are some cute mini-figures I was tempted by last time. I think they're only $10 and they had Mercury and Venus the last time I was there. I might get one of them. They're semi-chibi, but not the big head kind, so I found them kind of cute and appealing. And I am a sucker for merchandise of characters I love.

Other possibilities are a necklace of some kind. I think they had some with the girls' symbols and colors, so I could get Mercury or Venus of that.

We'll have to see. I really love their anime section.

(Pondering on my favorite Senshi to collect, I remember loving Mercury right away. She was always the one most like me, except that she loves math. Other things about her: shy, introverted, serious, logical, fit very well. And it didn't hurt that she's the blue one. :) I was thrilled about that! Venus I took some time warming up to, as I recall. She can be so ditzy and odd. I think things like the episode with her backstory helped a lot for me to like her and see her as more than a Sailor Moon clone. Actually, she was the original and Sailor Moon was the "clone", interestingly enough, so that's probably why they share some personality traits. Venus is also the October baby, so I feel a connection to her on that level too. Years ago, when they had those Sailor Senshi guides, I was able to get hers. I couldn't get Mercury's, or rather, I didn't want to, because it was badly damaged. Sniffle.)

I also have a 20% off coupon for ShopKo, which is more useful than the birthday emails they usually send. I seem to remember in past years that they sent "several dollars off a $50 purchase" emails and we hardly ever buy something that much at ShopKo. I'm thinking I want to try a ShopKo other than the closest one and see if their Halloween section is any better than here.

I have to admit, I also really wanted to go to F.Y.E. to see their anime and clearance sections. It's a little store, the mall one, but they manage to have a lot of fun things.

So now the list looks like this:

- F.Y.E.
- Build-a-Bear (with briefly peeking into two or three other stores near it)
- Toys R Us
- Barnes and Noble
- ShopKo
- Party store
- Target
- Little Caesar's
- Wal-Mart

Usually I have to trim the list way down because we don't get away in time to go everywhere. I'd probably drop F.Y.E. if I had to, since I'll be seeing Barnes and Noble's anime section. And the only reason I want to go to Target is for Halloween stuff, so if I find something somewhere else, I wouldn't especially want to go there.

I had kind of wanted to peek in T.J. Maxx to see if they have any Equestria Girls dolls, but that's definitely not as high a priority as everything else.

I usually list the times that things close when I make these lists. Toys R Us keeps changing their hours, though. By now I'm so confused I'm not sure what their current hours are. I think they may have gone back to 9:30, the way it used to be when I was a kid? They're about the only store I know to close on a half-hour.

All mall stores close at 9. I believe the party store does too. (And T.J. Maxx.) Barnes and Noble is 10, except on the weekends. ShopKo and Little Caesar's are also 10. Target is midnight, last I knew. Wal-Mart, of course, never closes. I think all our Wal-Marts are Supercenters, so that's awesome.

I also usually make a list of everything I'm hoping to get and the projected prices of such, but right now a lot of things are nebulous. I plan to get the bat at Build-a-Bear, unless I get so enamored by the Songbird Pony that I have to get her. I'd rather wait on her, though, especially since the bat will only be here through Halloween. And Songbird costs more. I was thinking today, though, that that's actually one of my aunt's nicknames for me, so I should definitely get Songbird at some point to have my "namesake." :)

Other than the bat and vague hopes of finding a wig and/or lab coat for Halloween, I don't have much in mind to get. Something anime at Barnes and Noble, probably. I kind of wanted to see if F.Y.E. has a Turtles hoodie that the bigger store had, but even if they have it for the same price, I might not get it. It's not practical, as I don't need a hoodie, and if I'm getting it for fun there's other things I'd probably rather have for fun. Must be careful with money.... Don't know what I might find at Toys R Us, but I definitely hope to find something so I can give them some business. Maybe something Pony, maybe Miraculous Ladybug, maybe TMNT or even Star Wars, Mario, or Sonic. Maybe even something like that F.A.O. Schwartz Maine Coone cat plushie if it's on sale. Still debating getting the Johto set at Wal-Mart, but since I have Indigo and I did finally tell Mom about the Orange Islands one, I'll have plenty of episodes to keep me busy for a while, so I might hold off on Johto. I wish I could find season 1 of Rockford, since it's the only one I'm missing. Squee, I remember how ecstatic I was the year I found season 4 at Target. I think that was the last year they had a lot of oldies TV shows.

I love that I have a little bit of a gift card I can use for the bat, as well as the birthday coupon I assume Build-a-Bear will send. All together, that would add up to almost half the cost of the bat. Then the $5 coupon for Barnes and Noble.... It's lovely when things like that enable one to not have to pay as much out of pocket!

Hmm.

Sep. 28th, 2017 11:47 pm
insaneladybug: (steve)
Now I'm kind of craving to look over my Sailor Moon fic. I'll probably do that later tonight. I was making good progress on it and then ended up stalling. I never really had a good idea for what the villain was after and such; the villain was an excuse to do awesome things like have all the Four Kings/Generals revived. I figured the situation had to be dire for something like that. Although now I'm thinking maybe not; maybe Neo-Queen Serenity just felt they deserved another chance, because I'd be going with the idea that they were Mamoru's protectors and such, and thus were good people who'd been given amnesia and brainwashed.

Another hiccup was that I decided to introduce a couple of elements I liked from the live-action series, namely, Zoisite playing magical music to try to bring back the others' memories and Venus coming down sick with something serious. The former I hoped would help me like anime Zoisite better. The latter, mainly because I wanted Venus to be telling Kunzite how valuable and important life is.

But ... I really don't think I like anime Zoisite playing music, and I don't think I want to make one of my favorite characters fatally ill (even though of course she'd be healed by the end).

Also, another hiccup was in trying to write Zoisite as a male. Every time I typed "he", it felt wrong. I watched some dub Sailor Moon tonight and honestly, I still like Zoisite as a female. The actress really made the character her own and I don't know how to ever see the character as male, at least in the anime version. But if I ever tried to write that, I'd probably bring the entire community down on my head in indignation.

Then just now I randomly thought of something in regards to the Sailor Saturn problem of being taken away from her father in the anime when the anime father seemed to be a nice man who had just got possessed. I wonder if anyone's ever tried shipping Professor Tomoe and Sailor Pluto? She definitely seems older than all the others, whether she is or isn't as old as time. (I'm still confused on that.) And somehow, the pairing sounds kind of intriguing and sweet.

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