Tag: path timeline

placebonut:

ardwynna:

placebonut:

ardwynna:

Aeriseph peeps, my Path mojo is floundering. Not for the whole timeline, which I love, but for the original fic and its rewrite. I still like the idea of it, the rest of the story won’t stand without this crucial piece, but…

It’s like, I was too slow, I waited too long… I got older. Path is a story of hormones and first attractions, of secrets and hot slightly illicit sex behind other people’s backs. It’s the teenagers sneaking out to the local Make Out point to make out, in a ratty backseat, no less. And that’s the thrill of it while you’re there. But it’s a different scene that’s pulling me in now, the one after Path, when the romance is things that aren’t romantic, a long series of small gestures and reliability, of bills paid on time and pens when you need them, of borrowing their socks because you know they won’t mind. When you don’t always see eye to eye but you’ll work that out because it’s the two of you against a cold hard world. Guess what I’m saying is I’m more in a mood for fic about sustaining a relationship than starting one.

It doesn’t help that most of my current reading, fandom or otherwise, isn’t heady, fluffy love at first sight stuff, or even just angsty, but downright torturous and painful. Very good mood creation for some of my other fics, but not for Path. Which will become either ‘Path of Secrets’ or ‘Secret Ways’, I haven’t decided. And then there’s the fact that cutting up dead babies and counting bullet wounds on corpses doesn’t lend itself to thoughts of whirlwind romance at the end of the day. Much more ‘make me some tea and rub my feet, will you, dear, we had such a morning.’ Domestic fic isn’t everyone’s cuppa, but it’s become a small haven of normalcy for me. Anyhoo, much talk and no product. I am working on the rewrite right now, I swear. Making a Scenic Sunday of it, writing all the scenes that are on constant repeat in my head, whatever story they happen to be from.

I honestly wonder why you’re rewriting it at all. I can understand wanting the old stuff to be updated to your current writing standard, but surely editing the existing fic would be less work for you, and keeps the spirit of the original. New stuff could be added between scenes, or put into new chapters as flashbacks. You’re putting so much pressure on yourself to create this perfect, flowing story, but the beauty of fanfiction is that it really doesn’t have to be. This fic is like your master work, you want to make it the best writing you can produce, but I often find the journey and growth of fic-authors through their stories as interesting as the stories themselves.

The main reason I’m forging ahead with the rewrite is that I started writing to ‘write the fic you want to read’, and original Path is no longer that for me. I also really lost my way in the last few chapters, kind of in a hole of inconsistent tone and characterization. That’s why the updates stopped, I couldn’t figure out how to get back on route. Plus the fic was originally just one story, an original game canon compliant story covering the first disc and no more. The expanded timeline that only hit me a couple years ago needs more groundwork than I started with.

The original fic is always going to stay up for comparison and measuring progress as a writer, and for old time’s sake too. It’s a very real possibility that readers might even prefer the original version in the end, but I’ll take that chance. Don’t get me wrong, what I’ve set myself up for is work and I know it, but it’s work I look forward to at the end the day. Please don’t be too alarmed. Most of the moaning is just a pressure release.

Haha yeah, a lot more of your cheeky humour definitely comes through in those last chapters! I’m so interested in what your original plan was for the ending? You kept it so strictly aligned with the canon, I always dreaded it was going to end in tragedy.. Finally lining it all up with your alternate timeline though will so SO satisfying! Sending hopeful mojo via Tumblr!

Yeah, the humor started out as just having a little fun and became too  much of a good thing. It just didn’t mesh with the overall plot and I couldn’t just dive right back into the serious parts again. I won’t reveal too many details but if you find that the story gets difficult at times, you can always remind yourself that the Marriageverse exists, you know the ‘end’.

placebonut:

ardwynna:

Aeriseph peeps, my Path mojo is floundering. Not for the whole timeline, which I love, but for the original fic and its rewrite. I still like the idea of it, the rest of the story won’t stand without this crucial piece, but…

It’s like, I was too slow, I waited too long… I got older. Path is a story of hormones and first attractions, of secrets and hot slightly illicit sex behind other people’s backs. It’s the teenagers sneaking out to the local Make Out point to make out, in a ratty backseat, no less. And that’s the thrill of it while you’re there. But it’s a different scene that’s pulling me in now, the one after Path, when the romance is things that aren’t romantic, a long series of small gestures and reliability, of bills paid on time and pens when you need them, of borrowing their socks because you know they won’t mind. When you don’t always see eye to eye but you’ll work that out because it’s the two of you against a cold hard world. Guess what I’m saying is I’m more in a mood for fic about sustaining a relationship than starting one.

It doesn’t help that most of my current reading, fandom or otherwise, isn’t heady, fluffy love at first sight stuff, or even just angsty, but downright torturous and painful. Very good mood creation for some of my other fics, but not for Path. Which will become either ‘Path of Secrets’ or ‘Secret Ways’, I haven’t decided. And then there’s the fact that cutting up dead babies and counting bullet wounds on corpses doesn’t lend itself to thoughts of whirlwind romance at the end of the day. Much more ‘make me some tea and rub my feet, will you, dear, we had such a morning.’ Domestic fic isn’t everyone’s cuppa, but it’s become a small haven of normalcy for me. Anyhoo, much talk and no product. I am working on the rewrite right now, I swear. Making a Scenic Sunday of it, writing all the scenes that are on constant repeat in my head, whatever story they happen to be from.

I honestly wonder why you’re rewriting it at all. I can understand wanting the old stuff to be updated to your current writing standard, but surely editing the existing fic would be less work for you, and keeps the spirit of the original. New stuff could be added between scenes, or put into new chapters as flashbacks. You’re putting so much pressure on yourself to create this perfect, flowing story, but the beauty of fanfiction is that it really doesn’t have to be. This fic is like your master work, you want to make it the best writing you can produce, but I often find the journey and growth of fic-authors through their stories as interesting as the stories themselves.

The main reason I’m forging ahead with the rewrite is that I started writing to ‘write the fic you want to read’, and original Path is no longer that for me. I also really lost my way in the last few chapters, kind of in a hole of inconsistent tone and characterization. That’s why the updates stopped, I couldn’t figure out how to get back on route. Plus the fic was originally just one story, an original game canon compliant story covering the first disc and no more. The expanded timeline that only hit me a couple years ago needs more groundwork than I started with.

The original fic is always going to stay up for comparison and measuring progress as a writer, and for old time’s sake too. It’s a very real possibility that readers might even prefer the original version in the end, but I’ll take that chance. Don’t get me wrong, what I’ve set myself up for is work and I know it, but it’s work I look forward to at the end the day. Please don’t be too alarmed. Most of the moaning is just a pressure release.

Aeriseph peeps, my Path mojo is floundering. Not for the whole timeline, which I love, but for the original fic and its rewrite. I still like the idea of it, the rest of the story won’t stand without this crucial piece, but…

It’s like, I was too slow, I waited too long… I got older. Path is a story of hormones and first attractions, of secrets and hot slightly illicit sex behind other people’s backs. It’s the teenagers sneaking out to the local Make Out point to make out, in a ratty backseat, no less. And that’s the thrill of it while you’re there. But it’s a different scene that’s pulling me in now, the one after Path, when the romance is things that aren’t romantic, a long series of small gestures and reliability, of bills paid on time and pens when you need them, of borrowing their socks because you know they won’t mind. When you don’t always see eye to eye but you’ll work that out because it’s the two of you against a cold hard world. Guess what I’m saying is I’m more in a mood for fic about sustaining a relationship than starting one.

It doesn’t help that most of my current reading, fandom or otherwise, isn’t heady, fluffy love at first sight stuff, or even just angsty, but downright torturous and painful. Very good mood creation for some of my other fics, but not for Path. Which will become either ‘Path of Secrets’ or ‘Secret Ways’, I haven’t decided. And then there’s the fact that cutting up dead babies and counting bullet wounds on corpses doesn’t lend itself to thoughts of whirlwind romance at the end of the day. Much more ‘make me some tea and rub my feet, will you, dear, we had such a morning.’ Domestic fic isn’t everyone’s cuppa, but it’s become a small haven of normalcy for me. Anyhoo, much talk and no product. I am working on the rewrite right now, I swear. Making a Scenic Sunday of it, writing all the scenes that are on constant repeat in my head, whatever story they happen to be from.

lilly-white:

silkoversteel:

cetra headcanons from hell (because they’re just so thorough lmao)

@lilly-white

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WOW. These are super thorough, yes! I really like that you go into ‘natural/non-natural magic wielders’, because I have a theories about that myself! And I find it really interesting that you HC actual Cetra kingdoms like this. I guess I’ve always been attracted to the idea of ‘Cetra royalty!Aeris’ but at the same time I never really factored in how royalty works in a supposedly nomadic culture. 

I’m gonna bounce off of this with my own Cetra headcanons because research papers on Cetra are my jam –

Keep reading

Oh, man,I love these, especially since I have a whole bunch of my own that are pretty similar in some respects.

– Each Cetra Nation had a strong connection to an aspect of nature, and magic related to and responsibility for tending to the well-being of that aspect for the Planet’s sake. Nomadic life facilitated seeing to all the forests, rivers, grasslands etc in their relevant migration range.  The clans crossed paths frequently in their travels and worked together for the Planet as required.

-They left very few cities behind, preferring not to make permanent changes to the landscape. Their few permanent structures served sacred purposes and were clan gathering sites when occasion arose. The bigger the tent sprawl, the bigger the occasion.

-The clans had hereditary leaders. The actual titles are translated into ‘King’, ‘Queen’, ‘Princess’ etc but they saw their leadership as being more custodial over their people and their aspect of the Planet than linked to specific territory, since territory was of necessity also traversed by other clans doing their bit for the Planet.

– The various ‘monarchs’ recognized the authority of two particular clans overall, the one that kept Holy, and the other that safeguarded Meteor. These two clans for safety purposes never intended to cross paths.

– Outclan marriage and procreation happened, but was generally considered undesirable, and for higher ranked individuals was highly frowned upon. It was considered to dilute the strength of the hereditary magic and affect their ability to tend their aspect of the planet. Mixed blood children were rare, and they had to make or find a place in the world, usually dependent on which magic in them was strongest and which clan would accept their incorporation into the bloodlines.

– One-night stands, temporary liaisons or long-term arrangements across clan lines were fine for sex and companionship so long as they were childfree. They had effective contraception.

– Sex was one of the natural aspects the Goddess granted magical gifts in. It was an honor and something akin to a religious experience to be chosen by one of that Clan for the night.

– Daily magic is a matter of reaching out one’s own portion of lifestream to communicate and connect with the lifestream in the relevant target and guiding it towards a desired outcome. Stronger magic users are able to draw on the Planet directly to channel greater amounts. The best magic users exhibit fine control over large amounts of energy.

– The Cetra can hear the Planet but the sentience of a Planet far outstrips that of a puny biped. It takes many Cetra working together (in a Planet Reading, as per canon) to comprehend what the Planet’s consciousness is saying.

– Cetra can hear their dead, and the dead can travel the Planet to watch over the living, but active effort is needed from both sides for clear communication.

– After death, Cetra can exist as long as they please in a ‘heaven’ of their own making, like Aeris’s lily field, constructed out of desire, memory and lifestream. Shared and group constructs are possible. Humans can do it too, subconsciously, as in Cloud and Tifa’s Lifestream Nibelheim, but since humans are more susceptible to being caught in the stream currents and reentering life, their constructs don’t last as long.

– Cetra have the option of rejoining the lifestream to be reborn and help tend life and increase the stream instead of just manipulating it. After the Calamity, fewer of them chose to do so, to preserve their knowledge and history for the Cetra still living and not risk being born human, or as the Cetra called it, ‘Deaf’.

– The Cetra language has telepathic and empathic components overlaid on the verbal part. They could always make their meaning clear even if the verbal part of the dialects differed.

– They had several forms of writing, from elaborate heiroglyphs used by the highest of their priestesses and monarchs to keep sensitive material from the masses, to simple fieldman’s runes. Writing involved imbuing the script with the telempathic echo of the words, to keep the meaning clear, or add imagery and nuance. That’s why humans have a hard time translating ancient text. They can’t read everything that’s there. (Also, ‘Loveless’ isn’t really missing a verse.)

– Humans before they became known as such, were extremely rare, and were considered to have a crippling disability in a society that used magic and heard the Planet as easy as breathing. They usually were fostered out somewhere they could learn a physical skill.

– All rules about breeding and mixing bloodlines fell by the wayside in Calamity’s wake. There weren’t enough of them left to be picky, and incorporation became preservation. So Aeris can connect to every aspect of nature and access all the varied kinds of magic the Cetra had.

– The Crisis from the sky may have been the biggest blow to their population but it wasn’t the only one.

I’ve got a ton more but they’ll come into play as I write my Path Timeline fics. 

Lotsa random author babble

I picked up my list of long fic after a too-long break (that I’m praying doesn’t become longer, hello self-care city), and tried to figure out which of the twelve was biting hardest last night. The Mission is one of the twelve and the closest to an end, when I can rustle up the right energy/inspiration combination for it but…

I ended up editing and expanding scenes in the Path sequel, after a read-through revealed that there was a ton still left to write. What do you mean I didn’t actually write that part? It’s been playing in my head so long, it was so clear. If I could keep up a NaNo type output, over eighty thousand words in thirty days, I could have a complete long fic every two, maybe three months, with full author indulgence of food porn, clothing porn, porn porn, scenes that don’t move the plot forward but are fun and cool, and prose that isn’t fit for pro publishing in the modern industry, god, fandom, I love the freedom we have here (even if by some standards it means we suck). But that kind of output rate is just not happening long-term. Every now and then I have to stop to wash my socks.

And then I narrowed down my choice of new names for the Path rewrite, which is bobbing like a lazy duck in water. The ‘Path Timeline’ reference remains because the whole series is now known on AO3 as ‘The Path the Planets Tread’. If you’re writing epic romance against a titanic-like background, you should at least try to be pretentiously overblown and purple-prosed about it. It’s genre-appropriate. The sequel lives up to the drama, I think, and the angst and the horrible realizations, in between the parts about Sephiroth considering Bobby Flay his new nemesis, Aeris developing a taste for Zuhair Murad, and dealing with Sephiroth’s revolting bachelor habits.

I now have nearly nada up for the timeline at all. The wordlbuilding ficlet collection, yes, a couple random one-shots, the marriageverse. But the actual fics that make the backbone of the thing, I’m practically starting from scratch. Old Path is still there, but Old Path won’t be updated anymore, it just won’t. It needs to be so much more than it was, more detail, more interaction, more personal revelation. It was meant to be a rarepair smutfest and I think those early chapters really suffer from me racing through them to get to the porn. I can write much faster than I did back then, see above, so I’m not overly daunted by the scope (yet) but it depends on which plot is biting at the time, and boy, there are a lot of them.

And unless an idea is really special, I want to avoid the temptation of writing random one-shots for the short-term posting satisfaction. Twelve long fics. Twelve fics, mostly nameless, labelled by pairing and genre (’Sephiroth suffering’, ‘SephCloud PTSD’, ‘Aeriseph Tragedy’) outlined completely, with interspersed key scenes. Twelve fics that made the list because they stayed with me for years and wouldn’t go away. Gotta buckle down.