Life in a nut shell
Wow, is it just me or does life seem to hit all at once? Case in point, my life...heh. July is always hectic for me, my mom's birthday is the 3rd, my sister's in the 13th and my dad's is the 19th. Lots going on. Now, I have a vacation planned (YES) for the week of Aug. 3-9, where I'm going to Baltimore for the 4-6 for an anime convention...hee hee
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Second, congrats on finding the time to go to the anime convention, those are always good fun, but make sure you find the time to relax during it, too. You sound like you need the rest!
Third, I'm saddened to hear about your abusive job and the subsequent carpal tunnel - it's an especially hard blow for such a talented writer.
Lastly, I wanted to tell you that I loved your epic Suikoden story and I was immensely impressed, which is how I stumbled onto your LJ in the first place. Writers always have the best livejournals.
The more I reflect on the story (which has been quite a lot, actually - it's the kind of story that encourages reflection), the more I notice the skillful portrayal of the characters and plot, and how individual parts and details of the story really convey the feeling of a Suikoden game. The personification of the silent heroes Tir and Riou was especially good work, and the rest of the cast were very true to their personalities. I especially enjoyed the moral ambiguity of the whole plot, with the Runebearers' contempt of Leknaat being both justified and unruly, and every character having their own motivation for getting involved in the war. Tir and Sierra's romantic involvement was also masterfully done. I'd have never imagined them as a match, but it worked surprisingly well. Nash's role in the relationship was equally impressive in giving realism to an otherwise wholly unrealistic situation. Nice job.
Also, I want to applaud you on your use of flashback and parable, in addition to your scene-transitioning to give the impression of time, that really added a lot to a story like this one, and I hope you incorporate it into any future epics you intend to write. My one complaint about any of your writing is at the beginning of a new scene transition. While you describe characters well, and while I understand using a name isn't always necessary, I've noticed you have a tendency to go for paragraphs without describing definitely or naming the character whom the passage is referring to. This makes visualization hard and leads to a lot of disruptive confusion while reading. I feel if you could more definitely describe (or simply name) a character at the beginning of a scene change (when you have no intention of hiding who the character is anyway), it would lead to a smoother flow. However, this is the only flaw in your writing that I have seen, and I'm impressed that you've overcome all of the traps that novices and fanfiction writers tend to fall into.
Finally, while I'm not 100% sure it was intentional, I wanted to point out that I found it cool that your story had 26 chapters and 2 half-chapters (prologue/epilogue), which was a perfect mirror of the 26 true runes and the two halves of the Rune of the Beginning. If it wasn't intentional, then that's just cool. If it -was- intentional, then I'm impressed you managed to make the story flow into such a pattern, and I wanted to let you know that it was indeed noticed (and appreciated) by your readers.
This response is getting rather lengthy, but if you wouldn't mind discussing the merits of your story, and writing in general with me sometime, I'd be happy to chat with you.
-djmoore101@gmail.com AIM:Djinn to Tonic
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