Intro Post - Alassenya

[alassenya]

Hi I'm Alassenya, member since February 2014. I've written since childhood but only started writing fanfic in 2003. I have several active fandoms at the moment but writing output has been slow. I'm retiring shortly so I hope to get a lot more written this year and in the years to come.

I tend to write long, character-driven, novel-length fics so every single plot bunny that hits me is like a huge landmine rather than a bullet. However, after only one year here I've had the courage to re-classify nearly half my bunnies as "abandoned" -- not deleted (never deleted!), but shifted to another place in the computer where I don't have to see their beady little eyes glaring at me every time I log in.

ODPB has also given me the excuse (not that I really needed one) to develop a whole new spreadsheet system complete with pretty colours. Spreadsheets are my kryptonite -- I will happily spend hours adding bits to the timeline or the character sheets or calculating words per hour rather than actually setting words down in the story -- but a spreadsheet that requires me to record my words written and work status does give me a little more incentive to write.

I'm also posting a meme over thirty weeks this year which requires me to review and discuss my own work -- it has proven to be very helpful in identifying some themes and traits that I had not previously noted, and at least makes me write something every week.

Comments

[no_apologies]

Memes and prompts can be very inspiring! They're interesting, and fun. They cause you to think and explore a variety of themes or situations for characters you like to write about. :)

[alassenya]

That's exactly what I'm finding, and it's beena big help already.

[silverr]

I took a look at your journal - those meme questions do look interesting!

And oh do I understand your love of spreadsheets! I have a similar love, I think, for my Scrivener outlines. (And I won't even get into how many hours I've spent using spreadsheets to try to make sense of the spaghetti of WoW timelines!)

[alassenya]

I've uploaded a text file of the questions here: http://www.filefactory.com/file/35d5x5pevbx3

"... the spaghetti of WoW timelines" -- yes, and I thought it was confusing before Warlords of Draenor!!

I love Scrivener to start with, but after basic outlining and blocking I tend to shift back to Word (though I am contemplating shifting at least one WIP back into Scrivener so I can re-block).

[silverr]

Oh, I don't write in Scrivener at all either - I use it as an outlining tool and a place to toss all the scraps that float up --- scraps that are almost always for a chapter that's NOT the one I'm currently working on -- and author's notes and bits of research and such.

(If I'm doing a bingo card I toss the prompts into a 5 x 5 index card layout, and then use each individual card/page to brainstorm possible ideas for each prompt, and possible ways to make bingo.)

I actually compose most of my rough drafts in GoogleDocs, because I like the work anywhere + constant back up aspect (and then it's already there for my beta.)

(Yeah... since I doubt Kael is going to show up in WoD, I don't pay as much attention. I do wonder if/how they're going to tie Kil'jaeden into it. Without him in the AU they'd have to come up with some other way to create the Lich King out of Nerzhul... and without Lich King / Arthas there are no blood elves.)

ETA: Bla, File Factory won't let me download that file without signing up/paying -- did the questions come from a specific site? (If you point e in the general direction I'll track them down).

[alassenya]

Did you scroll down? They have a big red "Subscribe now" ad but if you scroll down there should be a green "fast download" button (which is the one you have to sign in for) and a red "slow download" button -- click on that, wait the 30 seconds and it should be OK. I just tested it on another browser and it worked for me so I hope it works for you if you try again.

[silverr]

yeah, I clicked the slow download button - which said "0 secs" oddly enough and... nothing.

[alassenya]

Sorry about that - not sure why it's still playing up. I've PM'd it to you anyway.

[alassenya]

"... and without Lich King / Arthas there are no blood elves" -- you know the first time I read that I thought you had made a mistake but I went and checked the lore. For some reason I thought that the division between the high elves and the blood elves was older.

Like you, I have no idea how they will reconcile TBC, WOTLK and WOD events. I honestly think that WOD was originally intended to be the last expansion, because so many major NPCs reappear only to die (and I am not ashamed to say that I cried at the end of that Alliance quest in Shadowmoon Valley -- Spoiler alert, obviously). I'm glad they changed their minds, but it will be interesting to see what they come up with next year.

[silverr]

Yeah, I readily admit to huge gaps in my lore knowledge, but for anything involving Kael'thas (which by extension drags in a lot of Arthas- and Illidan- related storylines) I've been hitting the books pretty hard the past few years.

Maybe the "older" you were thinking of was the division between night elf / high elf, which effectively happened after the War of the Ancients and the Great Sundering.

ETA: Pishbo, I cry at the end of ALL the cinematics. The one you mention - totally sobbing even the 4th time through. (And the Talador one as well.) ~ If they don't do something with the... thing that is transferred in the SMV one, I swear I'm gonna go out there and bite Metzen's ass.

ETA2: They've said though that since that's an alternate/parallel timeline, people can die there that are alive in "our" timeline. (Kinda makes me wonder if they'll find some way to bring in non-demonic Illidan and high elf Kael'thas. If the latter, please please PLEASE use the new quel'dorei/sin'dorei models, because Kael been the fugliest elf in the game for like FOREVER, and it's bloody canon that he was so good-looking that it intimidated Jaina... well, that and him being like a thousand years older then she was. :p)

[alassenya]

"non-demonic Illidan and high elf Kael'thas" -- from your lips to their ears. Honestly I would just about die to see pre-demonic Illidan. I know he's a baddy but there is so much in his backstory that pushed him in that direction that he's almost a flawed hero (and don't get me started on his brother, that sanctimonious prig who thinks that abandoning his people for a prolonged drug-induced time-out gives him any points. Huh)

And yeah, a new model for Kael'thas would be amazing -- I mean, he's pretty damn hot in the old models, he'd be incandescent in the new ones.

[silverr]

The only time we've ever seen pre-skull Illidan (outside of WC3) is in the Well of Eternity instance, right? (and maybe a flashback scene here or there in Felwood?) ~ I completely agree with your flawed hero assessment; to me, he and Kael both cross over into anti-villain territory.

And yeah, Not A Furion Fan here either. I used to be neutral about him, tbh, but after what I've heard about the Stormrage novel (I have not read it) I less side-eye the Emerald Dream stuff (kept him from being underfoot) and more the "Well, you've ruled the kingdom just fine for 10K years, but now that I'm awake we'll get married and do it together." ~ I'm not opposed to co-ruling (or even marriage) per se; it's the patronizing "and here's the little woman" vibe that Malfurion's acquired in canon that really grinds my gears.

[alassenya]

You definitely have the advantage of me there -- I never played the original Warcraft series and I've never done the Well of Eternity (I was playing a priest as my main when Cata dropped and I really didn't cope well with the massive nerf to healers). I do need to build rep with the Keepers of Time though, so I'll make sure to do it sometime soon.

Having just checked the Wowpedia page, it looks like there are some quests I need to do in the near future!

[silverr]

Yeah, that was actually rather fun ( and it was fully voice acted, so... yeah, have at it. Of course Antler-head is there as well ( and don't get me started on Azsahra) but *shrug*

I expect it could be soloed at this point by some classes.

Also - when you get some time I'd say hit up YouTube and watch the WC3 "movies" -- all the cut scenes, and all the delicious voice acting. (I played WC3, but the movies are handy for checking exact dialog. And I don't give a fig that they're not considered non-canon; imo for the most part they have much better characterization.)

[kay_brooke]

Spreadsheets! I love spreadsheets. I love them so much that I also spend more time organizing my writing projects with them than actually writing sometimes.

The meme questions look interesting!

[alassenya]

You are definitely a writer after my own heart! I love my spreadsheets and every little box in them.

And the questions are interesting, though occasionally a little repetitive, hence my decision to spread them out.

[ravengown]

Spreadsheets are basically my favorite thing! I try to not get caught up in planning too much, though— I think I tend to just. Not plan at all though.

That meme sounds very impressive! I should probably force myself to discuss my writing a little more.

[alassenya]

I sometimes wish I could write without planning, but it doesn't work like that for me except for day 1 when I write the bunny down and the initial hook scene.

The meme is good - I hope you have a lot of fun with it.

[ravengown]

I will definitely take a look!

[leidmotief]

Hi!

In my case, I'm trigger-happy when it comes to deleting. As long as I know the ideas have been written down somewhere, they're always hanging over my head. Spreadsheets rock, however. I'm currently using notes instead, but I quite understand the appeal.

[alassenya]

I ... can't delete. Really. I'm a packrat / hoarder / archivist (depending on your POV) and I have the greatest difficulty in throwing anything out where there is even a tiny possibility that it might come in useful later on. In my fic, even the outtakes go into an overflow document (and yes, sometimes I do rescue chunks from it). I still have story fragments I wrote in 1996 on my very first Windows computer.

[wordstitch]

Spreadsheets~ I totally understand their appeal.

[alassenya]

Mmm ... spreadsheets!

(you'll have to imagine the Homer Simpson icon)