Re: Developments (Post-Lilly Neutral End) - Ch.57 posted 3/6
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:30 am
I like the way everything unravels so that you can tie things up better at the edges. That's tapestry-weaving for you.
(Where's the Walkthrough?)
https://ks.fhs.sh/
Cool! That's at least three of us here, then.Solistor wrote:Based MG heredewelar wrote:Heartache 101
Thanks very much.Mirage_GSM wrote:Beautiful chapter again.
Indeed, in more ways than one. Each chapter seems to be taking longer than the last now, because there's so much riding on each, and there's so much left to be said. The seemingly ever-decreasing amount of feedback means that I'm also less engaged with the boards these past few months, which I think contributes to my overall activity level.Coming onto the home stretch, are you?
And thanks for this, too. This being a realistic story, there will still be some threads left untied, although hopefully woven together well enough to indicate a finished product (or, more likely, a different finished product for each person who reads the whole thing).brythain wrote:I like the way everything unravels so that you can tie things up better at the edges. That's tapestry-weaving for you.
Now that DST has kicked me in the lemon-hole...dewelar wrote: Winter blahs, too, so maybe business will pick up again once DST kicks in .
Resolutions are a wonderful thing. Both for Lilly and Hanako, and the story as a whole.<Hisao again?> I say, not bothering to contain my smile. <You still aren't going to give up on that, are you?>
Thanks. Since this chapter essentially wraps these arcs up, I wanted to make sure it was done right. I hope at least most folks reading think it was -- as I said above, for me there was a lot riding on it.ogorhan wrote:Great chapter as always, it was quite nice on how how the relationship between shizune & lilly improves and that hanako & lilly have reconciled.
Well, there are some still loose ends for Hanako, too . Each of the protagonists needs a wrap-up chapter, and this was Lilly's.As for the next chapter or rest of the story, I dont have a clue on how it will go from here on out since it seems everything is sorted out. My guess is either a Emi or Hisao POV for the next chapter
*laughs* Believe me, they've tried...Oscar Wildecat wrote:Resolutions are a wonderful thing. Both for Lilly and Hanako, and the story as a whole.dewelar wrote: <Hisao again?> I say, not bothering to contain my smile. <You still aren't going to give up on that, are you?>
Somebody needs to tell Shizune that, however...
Aww, thank you kindly. I am humbled by the company I keep. It definitely saddens me that Tomorrow’s Doom has now gone a year without an update. Along with Sisterhood, it was one of my inspirations to start this story, and even if it remains unfinished it will probably always be my favorite KS OC fic.griffon8 wrote:And now I’m finally caught up.
Whenever I’m away from these boards for a while, I catch up by reading all the updates since my last visit. This always involves saving my favorites for last.
Since I edit MTTB, that gets read earlier than anyone else’s; Tomorrow’s Doom isn’t updating much of late; other stories have either finished or been abandoned. Developments just doesn’t have competition when it comes to what I read last.
Which makes the idea that it will end soon a little sad. But too many things have been ruined by overstaying its welcome. Going out on top is the way to go.
Oh, dear. Yeah, I do not do well with anything smaller than a full-size keyboard either.I don’t think I have anything to add that hasn’t been said already. Perhaps when I’m not struggling with typing on an iPad.
I know Leaty is working on her story. She's also been very helpful to me with some aspects of this story, both past and future. Leaty rocks, full stop.HoneyBakedHam wrote:Wait..so MTtB is doing some activity? That's good, at least, because I love the Iwanako idea and wanna see that.
I agree that PPSR is essentially an OC story, but I still prefer TD even in its unfinished state. Helbereth just flat-out did a better job at creating a world filled with living, breathing characters (no pun intended). I just hope he can push past that writers' block he's talked about soon.I always liked Suzu's pseudo route, as far as OC stories go (Her personality was given by fans, and not the writers, so I'm counting that) and, since that's one of the few truly finished stories, that's what I say in my favorite.
dewelar wrote:It definitely saddens me that Tomorrow’s Doom has now gone a year without an update. Along with Sisterhood, it was one of my inspirations to start this story, and even if it remains unfinished it will probably always be my favorite KS OC fic.
And thus the torch is passed onbrythain wrote:[developments] was one of the works that inspired me to start writing stuff. And dewelar has always been helpful to new writers while juggling such heavy burdens.
One of the factors that keeps the torch burning is the supportive community as a whole — and in particular a certain proofreader-type who appears out of nowhere and helps people find and fix the problems in their writing. Yes?Mirage_GSM wrote:dewelar wrote:It definitely saddens me that Tomorrow’s Doom has now gone a year without an update. Along with Sisterhood, it was one of my inspirations to start this story, and even if it remains unfinished it will probably always be my favorite KS OC fic.And thus the torch is passed onbrythain wrote:[developments] was one of the works that inspired me to start writing stuff. And dewelar has always been helpful to new writers while juggling such heavy burdens.
dewelar wrote:"When I f-finally came back to school, e-everything had...changed. I w-was still in the same school as all my f-friends, but they called me n-names...just like everyone else did. A c-couple weeks after coming back, during one of the breaks, a g-girl took the hat I was wearing, that I...n-needed to keep the sun off. She and some others...were throwing it around, and when I tried to g-get it back, a c-couple of them...h-held me back...and p-pulled on my hair."
Oh, fuck. I cringed the first time I read this, and then I forgot about it, and now I'm reading it again and fuck. Fuuuuuuuuuck. Why do you do this to me, Dewelar?
*bows head* Thank you very much. I wish I could say I had more time to help new writers than I do, especially these past few months, but I do try.brythain wrote:some of the kinder things that have been said about me.
Indeed.Mirage_GSM wrote:And thus the torch is passed on
It really is!Leaty wrote:And let me show off the font I just downloaded. Because it is hilariously awful.
Yeah, I do understand what you're saying, and I don't think I've seen that sort of thing done (or at least, not done well), so it definitely would have been interesting. However, given what I wanted to show in this chapter it had to be Emi PoV. I could have done the scene twice, once from each PoV, but I might have had a revolt on my hands .On Hisao PoV vs. Emi PoV
Thanks to all of this. I do not consider the sex scene to be the most intimate thing that happened in this chapter.That said, I really think it's kind of selling this chapter short to call it "the sex chapter": There was a lot of really interesting stuff, particularly at the beginning. The early parts of the chapter are fun, and I enjoyed both the banter and the physical intimacy between Hisao and Emi before the actual sex started happening—I particularly liked the ruminations about Hajime (Press CONFIRM to adopt to 'Your Headcanon'. *click*) I never really considered how the fallout between them might have gone, but I like the dudebro-ish characterization you chose for him. Despite that, I agree with Emi: I really hope Haji is doing okay, for some reason. (canon-Iwanako/Hajime might be a fun ship, actually.)
Heh, that's fine. For me, at least, it's infinitely better than constant lemon references .Speaking of ships, bringing back the pirate references during the thick of the sex scene miiiiiiiight just have been on the goofy side. I don't know; I've been rereading it and it made me roll my eyes, and I'm not sure if it was in a good way or a bad way.
Cool. I'm glad the fun I have writing it comes out .Generally, though, I think you have a tendency to hit your stride writing Emi/Hisao banter—it made me smile and even giggle a few times and even amidst a backdrop of lascivious fucking it's still pretty hilarious.
Well, you have your own editor to thank for the idea of having one. This was nowhere near my drawing board until a few days before posting. It was more about getting another piece of my headcanon down in electrons than anything else .I'm glad you wrote this, because I really wanted a Meiko POV in this story.
My headcanon is that Meiko was definitely brought up in a more traditional Japanese way. I've alluded here and there to the issues that face her (and by extension Emi) in Japanese society, and it's only now that she's starting to become her own person.Regarding Meiko's background and the like...
Thanks, and will fix!Anyway, good interlude, happy interlude. (Also you forgot to update the "Next" link there.)
*laughs* I could say similar things about some of Misha's dialogue in the game, actually, but yeah, this story has pretty much always been written with the idea that it was going to be read aloud in the back of my head. The wavedashes signify many different vocal variations for Misha. I've got this idea in my head that Misha's voice sometimes careers about, sort of like The Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy from "Dave the Barbarian".I think that for this chapter, the reason that some of your readers felt a disconnect with the sheer amount of lilting is because the Misha-voice in your head was too different from the Misha-voice in your various readers' heads. I can say personally, that reading this chapter, there were definitely some sentences that I wished you could read out loud to me, particularly in the more dramatic parts, because I flatly had no idea how they were supposed to sound.
Oh, dear, the backstory I could spout on this...So... I thought Noriko was straight for some reason, and I can't tell if her jokey flirting with Misha was a sign that she's a switch-hitter or not. I'm still not really getting the vibe that she is—she doesn't seem fond of many girls.
...and this. I'm afraid I'll have to refrain until the story's complete, though.Speaking of Noriko, what's going on between her and Rika? I'm coming up with a lot of different possibilities there, and not really picking out any frontrunners.
Thank you.Anyway, the chapter from here on out becomes a pretty impressive feat of narrative engineering. There's a lot going on here, because the stories of these characters are so intertwined; all these characters are coming to the climax of their arcs and there's so many different dynamics at work, between all these characters. It's extremely complicated business, and you've done good work sorting it out.
There have been hints, but they've been intentionally subtle due to Misha not really having much screen time. Look, for instance, at how little Misha there is in the Shizune PoV chapter, and the events that led up to it. Would it be that way just over a disagreement over Hisao-x-Hanako vs. Hisao-x-Lilly?One criticism that does leap out of me is that Misha's romantic frustration with Shizune seems, well... Sort of new to the plot of this fanfic.
&c.
There is a small, selfish, prideful part of me that likes to think that eventually some of these really interesting comments might inspire somebody to write something themselves to explore this stuff, if only because it will be a while before I'll have the energy to do it myself.Obviously, Mayoi's concern and sympathy for Misha (and for Lilly, and for Hanako,) is extremely sweet, and as a queer woman with an abhorrent mother, I feel really bad for her—she deserves a stronger role in her family's lives than she's been allotted. It's a complex situation, obviously, but she's clearly a good influence on... everybody, really (Hideaki isn't in this fic, so we don't really get to see, but...) I'm honestly kind of concerned that Lilly and Shizune are just kind of taking advantage of her right now, like as soon as summer break is over and all these quarrels get smoothed out, Mayoi will go back to living alone and just kinda quietly living in the background.
If it's not canon, it might as well be, because given the amount of damage she suffered it's quite likely.Oh, and hey, I didn't realize that the numbness in Hanako's scars was canon to this fic, too.
*nods* It's canon that she's not always reading the book she's hiding behind. She pays attention to things.Anyway, for her to figure out Misha's feelings for Shizune isn't the kind of thing I would have come up with easily, but honestly, it makes sense—catastrophic miscalculation of Hisao's feelings aside, she's anything but oblivious.
Okay, I'll admit it, this one was intentional .on the stealing of hats...
Oh, fuck. I cringed the first time I read this, and then I forgot about it, and now I'm reading it again and fuck. Fuuuuuuuuuck. Why do you do this to me, Dewelar?
Yes. You see, Mayoi is Telling A Story Now, So Please Listen Closely, Children, And Learn Things.I really like the content of Mayoi's story at the end of the chapter here, but something about the delivery seems off.
*happy sigh* I've said it before, but it always feels good to hear that one has accomplished what one has set out to do, and done a good job with it. Again, thank you.I think this chapter managed to do something I don't think other fics have done as well—it finally put Lilly and Hanako on equal terms.
It was meant to be, yes. These two, like most of the other characters in this story, are now moving in...if not necessarily the right direction, then at least a good direction.The conversation with Lilly and Shizune is wonderful, as well—one thing I've really enjoyed about the fic is finally watching the distance between them start to close, and I believe this is the climax of that arc as well.
I don't know if I've said this before, but for whatever reason I have found through the course of writing this story that I feel more comfortable writing for female characters than for male characters -- or at least this specific batch of female characters. Make of that what you will, I suppose.Obviously, as I think I've demonstrated time and time again, I fret over the moms of this story a lot more than the story has time to indulge me. (Have I mentioned that's one of my favorite things about this fic compared to the VN? There's an overemphasis on fathers and father figures in the VN, but moms never really get a chance to shine.)
*hums to himself*Speaking of, I'm really excited to hear how that conversation with Lilly's dad goes. I know it's happening off-screen, but I can't wait to hear the results.
As long as your next post doesn't mention Deana Carter, I'll let this slide.Blah. Time to shave my legs.
I feel baaaaaaaddewelar wrote:The seemingly ever-decreasing amount of feedback means that I'm also less engaged with the boards these past few months, which I think contributes to my overall activity level.