T. K. Arispe

Today's writing notes:

Working on: Gravity's End (Neopets fanfic)

Okayyyy I guess I could start updating this blog a little more often and talk about my writing! (Although, to be honest, I have been updating my Facebook author page more frequently, so I suggest you follow it if you want all of the latest ramblings on my novels, as well as the occasional useful things like free book promotions.)

I am about 7,000 words into this fic and I've only just started the plot! I did not anticipate it becoming this long. (You'll notice that I say that every time... when will I learn?)

Remember the pink Grundo "random character design" from this post? I know myself too well. She has indeed become an actual character: Colonel Eris Cassegrain of the Virtupets Strike Infantry. She and Hyren were acquainted back when Hyren was commander of Dr. Sloth's space marines, and one day Eris crash-lands on the family's lawn with an important (and unusual) request: help her get Dr. Sloth back from the Space Faerie Token so he can run Virtupets again.

Of course there is much more to the plot than that, but I can't give away everything. :) I am, however, very excited at how it's going to bring closure to a lot of things I introduced in "Worth Fighting For". I am really considering this my final Neopets fanfic, and as a writer I do like to wrap everything up in tidy little plot packages. Unless I purposely feel like being frustratingly ambiguous... but honestly as a reader, sometimes I find it fun to speculate and not have everything about a plot spelled out for me. (But I am aware that not everyone reads that way so it is a writing habit that I'm trying to keep under control.) (Also I definitely enjoy giving my characters nice closure.)

I've also been having lots of fun figuring out worldbuilding logistics, because, worldbuilding logistics! For example, I had to put together a faster-than-light travel system that was feasible and interesting without being a copy of warp principles found in, say, Star Wars or Star Trek. I think I've come up with something good, and something that hopefully will not make too many theoretical physicists mad at me. :) And I'm also super excited because the cast will visit a Dyson sphere at one point in the plot, and I'm trying to design one that looks cool and unique (I'm thinking something more like a network of nodes and lanes rather than the usual sort of geometric shell of rings). (Also evidently Freeman Dyson doesn't like that Dyson spheres were named after him, so let's come up with a different name! "Megasphere" maybe? "Asterosphere"? Who's in charge of these things?)

I do still have plans for another novel after this. But I hate leaving projects unfinished, so I will complete this fic before starting on the novel. (It also gives me a nice buffer zone in which to enjoy the holidays.)

While I still don't want to say much about that one, I can tell you that I'm very excited to write it. The two main characters are a responsible, kindhearted workaholic who'd decided video games were getting in the way of college and then her very boring and exhausting accounting job, and her irresponsible, freewheeling, fun-loving younger brother who is still in college and wheedles her into buying a cutting-edge virtual-reality MMORPG to play with him like when they were kids. What they don't anticipate is that the AI programming is a little too advanced, and some of the NPCs decide they don't like the plot roles they were put in... and that humans shouldn't be the ones in charge. Of anything.

(cue suspenseful movie trailer music)

(But also there are lots of NPCs who are friendly toward humans, befriend the two main characters, and help them save the world. Just in case you were wondering.)