T. K. Arispe

Today's writing notes:

Working on: Revising "Worth Searching For" for FFN

I really enjoyed writing the part with Terra and Pharazon in the pirate ship's hold; Terra's so nice and unassuming that I think most people underestimate her, but when something like this happens, her immediate response is "challenge accepted", and she pulls out all the stops. She is a dangerous foe when necessary. She also makes a great contrast to Pharazon, whose immediate response is to freak out and try to shirk all responsibility for the situation. In fact, most of the stuff that happens in this story is Pharazon's fault and the other characters are running around trying to clean up after his messes, and it's not until the very end when he finally realizes that he has to be strong too.

A big part of this chapter is illustrating that at this point, Pharazon is Terra's liability. He has multiple opportunities to actually be helpful, but he fails to follow her lead and thus her escape attempts are foiled in order to keep him safe--because she would never put her own safety above his. This comes into play again in the Werelupe Burrows, and once again Pharazon fails to have the emotional maturity to realize the sacrifices his owner is making for him.

Also, making up alternate etymologies for words is way fun. :)

Another thing that's way fun is detailing the differences between regular Draiks and faerie-painted Draiks. I like the idea of certain paint brush colors not just changing a Neopet's appearance, but altering their abilities as well. For example, instead of breathing fire like most Draiks, faerie Draiks breathe magic--faerie Scorchios probably do, too.

Maybe it was a little arbitrary of me to include the Cyodrake's Gaze sailors in the story, but they're such a fun crew that I really wanted to write them. :) Anyway, it beats making up my own crew, which would just be more character development for me to juggle and for readers to have to internalize. I think, in writing fanfiction, cameos like this often work better than trying to introduce new original characters for minor purposes.