Krista

ooo! Congratulations! Very much deserved.

That's how I found out about this mini-event. I've been away from GA for a bit and am just now checking back in. He showed me a little bit of what he's working on. So far, no Santas have met an ill end...

I need to keep in mind that I have an overdue writing project already + two major holidays to prepare for, but this... this is very tempting and I'm already behind.

Slightly off-topic, but I have to get this off my chest. And, there are people who do play video games that frequent this community, I'm thinking. I do not play very many games. I have three that I've followed: Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and The Sims. Admittedly, the writing for Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 were fantastic, I really loved it. I'm not a Sci-fi person at all, but it was easy to get into, and it progressed nicely. The Sims is something I get nostalgic with and play here and there, but it is way too riddled with bugs, some game breaking, and only working when modders and creators fix shit for the developers. But, Dragon Age was at one time my favorite franchise. It is the game that I replayed numerous times. Origins needs to be remastered. I wish they would have done that, but since it is an older game the task may be too much for them. Dragon Age 2, was a rush job, but the writing was still decently strong, it fell flat everywhere else because they didn't have time to do much within a year and a half that Electronic Arts gave them. Inquisition became more open world, very meaningless task heavy, but the writing was still on par, it felt fleshed out and the characters were decent. Now, Dragon Age: The Veilguard - sucks. They boasted about having a great Character creator, which they do, but you have to really work on making your character not look like a cookie cutter Pixar character. I've spent hours in it, then get into the game, and edit them for a couple more hours because even though they have a lighting preview, you can't see them in action. You have to be careful not to make them cross-eyed for example. The hair selections for males are limited at best. And we're just not going to talk about the Qunari's foreheads... it takes a lot to work around that. The scenery is nice to look at as well, but weapons, attire/armor, and item customization is pretty much non-existent. That's about all the good I have to say about it though. The characters are awful, none of your past progression in the series really impacts the game either. They took away your options to be 'mean,' as well. A lot of your response choices do not match the tone of the scene you're currently in. There's too much, "around the table.." talking, where every character has to self-reflect, analyze, and get validation. It sounds like a self-help group, not a group of people that are out to save the world. Speaking of, despite the world crumbling around them, a lot of their reactions are light. The story around them is mostly done with a light and breathless touch... there's no flesh, bone, or meat to any character early on, if at any. If you're expecting that to change, like I did - you're sorely mistaken. The game doesn't get good until the final act, but damn that's hundreds of hours away. The villains just suck, there's so much about them that's one-dimensional, so they become laughable at best. They're supposed to be cunning old elven gods, but they're so stereotypical villain they lose their bite. It is severely preachy on certain aspects of the game, that shouldn't be preachy in the game, with the time period it is set in and the like. It takes away from the dark fantasy element entirely, which is what the genre is about. I wouldn't even call it a Dragon Age game, since it does gut your choices from previous games, despite the storyline advancing from game to game. It should have included a lot of the past decisions on some impactful level, but it doesn't. This was a rebrand with skeletal elements to hopefully get money from people that have been waiting for this game for over 10 years. That is obvious. The fact that these people had 10 years to write the story-line, villains, main character's voice/tone, and ability to respond to the world around them is frightening. This should have been a master class in writing, especially since they have so much source material to build on. They also had 10 years to write fleshed out, multi-dimensional characters to support your Rook as well. My biggest issue is: There's no moral implications, or choices that really call into question any sort of morality. Some of your companions belongs to factions that have a rather morally questionable past. The Crows for example, an assassin guild that don't blink an eye about killing people when they get handed a contract. They conscript children for training, and do illegal trafficking, etc. You cannot learn or question that, not even when you choose the faction in the beginning. Aside from a colorful gloss over, of your character origin, you don't get a lot more. The moral choices you make, have little impact, they always work out. The choices and sides you choose end up coming back to neutral or good... It also, and I agree with a game reviewer that said: It feels like this was written by people who had HR hovering over their shoulders. - There's nothing with any depth in the writing, like I said, nothing with any meat on the bones. Every conflict is resolved in 'validating' and self-reflective conversations. You cannot make people hate you in this game... it always comes back to this group therapy session stupidity. I paid full price for this nonsense. It makes this game more laughable, because it is also in the running for Game of the Year... although, a late outside shot at it, but still. Save your money if you haven't bought it, wait for it to go on sale.

I see in my absence that we've allowed wildthing to run amok...

Don't poor Steve him, he deserves every little flake that slowly melts, with the shock of the chill landing on his wee head. I also know I couldn't write in another person's style. Authors have their own habits, sure, but to be 'that' hyper focused on something to be able to copy it, would be headache inducing. ---- I wish @Mancunian well, sad to hear about their health issues. ---- The weather here is typical for late October, the mornings are crisp and chilly, wet from the dew. Sometimes the day warms to a nice day, but if there's a breeze, it doesn't. We can have all four seasons in the same week this time of year, a few days ago it got up to 80 degrees, it was lovely. We haven't had our first hard frost yet, either. We could use a little rain though.

Yeah, as I wrote Jackson, I pictured him as a cooped up, high-energy dog. Unless you allowed him to express himself and get some exercise and some of that energy out, you might come home to shredded couch cushions. He is definitely the poster child for inconsistent parenting as well.

Really? He refused money from them twice already? lol. I didn't realize he had done that, but I'll take the happy accidents, I guess. I also didn't set out in the beginning for Grace and Craig to be read as absent, but 'most' of the readers of this story saw them as such. Which is entirely fine, I am not strict with my character structure pre-writing, Jackson, Luke, and Cindy aside - as they needed a bit of pre-planning. So, in the writing I wrote Grace and Craig reacting to Jackson's antics organically in the moment and it just built them up to be not as present as they should have been. I know a lot of the backstory, and their work schedules played a huge role with it, but they definitely did leave Jackson to his own devices a lot and didn't follow through.

Yeah, I set out to really test people's patience with him. I had just finished writing a very less flawed character with, Cory in, "Standing in Shadows," so I wanted to branch out. Thank you for leaving a comment!

Depends on the day really. Also, if I'm dealing with your cheekiness Wildthing, I am far more likely to not be cool as a cucumber. I must admit I do react with the loss of control. Is it to a fault? Maybe, but I don't really know who will ever be brave enough to tell me such a thing. I mean, we've had the discussion of Husband's tactic for dirty dishes numerous times, as it is a tactic that seems to crop up in more issues than just dirty dishes. That's also why we have one of the world's most comfiest of couches for him. *whistles* On a more serious note: It definitely depends on the projected outcome. I think, at least for me when something pops up, I can work through multiple possible outcomes. If most of those possible outcomes outside of my control, are baseline manageable or has a lot of flexibility, I can deal with them without a lot of fight to regain control. I can be relaxed in those outcomes, whether they hindered me or not. If something outside of my control has more impactful outcomes, with unfavorable outcomes, or forced acceptances of bad outcomes, I struggle a lot with those, and they tend to stick with me a lot longer. Especially, if they impact more than just me.

I'm the mean one, I'm not scared, and that's me assuming neither of you are black belts or good throat punchers. And yeah, I'm over a year on a project I posted for a one-off Secret Author, so I'm well on my way to a nursing home before I get the second chapter out. I thought you handled the subject matter really well, gender fluidity, pansexuality, the whole thing. I think nerves are good, it means you cared enough to tell the story the right way and with this story, it needed the writing to be done the right way. It is all new to me, I've not looked into or really discussed any of it, parts of your writing was informative, but it wasn't overwhelming and distracting within the parameters of the story either.

I do not do horror at all. There's two films I find myself watching this time of year and those are, "Practical Magic," and "Hocus Pocus," but entirely for nostalgia reasons and nothing else. Halloween is my least liked holiday. I was totally that girl that used it as an excuse to dress as sexy as I thought I could. We all know what happens to those girls in horror/slasher films too... those little red heels do them in, every. single. time.

Hmm, I may have to tell the husband that Levi is my new hall pass and not Joey Votto. That man down to his name was just, shew. On a serious note, this was so well written and masterfully paced. The subject matter is entirely new to me, so I didn't know how I would fare with it. I think Prisma on Amazon has been the only other form of depiction regarding it that I have watched. So, I felt you did a great job allowing the shaping of Jay to develop. To do it in a span of 14k words makes it more of a feat, truly. The only thing I maybe would have wanted from this story was about 30 - 40k more words pre-meeting Rachel. And of course, about 30 - 40k more post meeting Rachel. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm greedy. Lovely story, I'm glad it caught my eye and I had a slowed down day to sit and read, as that's rare for me these days. I'm happy with the way it ended, as I became a bit worried after the first 'date' about where you may go with it. I'm glad you chose the path you did and not the one that hung around in the periphery of my mind while I read.

Ah, I need to get to writing, so I can continue my streak of attempting to upload a chapter/story and breaking the whole system for a few hours. On a serious note: The changes listed and upgrades we're getting seems like a healthy and structurally sound list. I hope it all goes smoothly. For me personally, I'm a visual person, I have to immerse myself and learn the changes, the tools, etc, for me to know whether or not I feel something is lacking. Enhanced for Mobile users is a big one though, whilst out camping in the summer that's when I know I have a lot of time to sit and browse stories on GA. I do not take any other devices other than my phone, and GA feels very clunky as it is. So, as far as the list above, that's the one I think will help most people. As well as the font sizes and minor issues associated with Light and Dark modes. Anything that makes submitting a story/chapter easier is also a plus, if it is a bit smoother than what we have now, good.

The sooner it snows on @wildone's wee head the better off we all are. Or maybe that's just my joy in life? He brought it on himself, to be honest...