Fear_1's Xanga

Concept and Creation of Fear, Part V

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:00:00 GMT

So it's been five months and five chapters of Fear have been published on Pariah Online Magazine, and now I'm bringing it on to Xanga.

But during those five months I've essentially had to discard all the "Fear" related stuff.

Yeah, unfortunate...

The reason I even did that was because I was serializing stories on POM. As I looked at many of them, I noticed there were lots of "filter", or chapters/ parts of the story that were complete add-ons.

Another reason was because I did not have a specific theme for Fear. I'm probably still influenced by my desire for a villain to accomplish their goal. But there's that temptation of never letting evil win...

But anyways, for my novel concept, I edited those out of the story, and I'm currently hoping to hear from a publisher that does serials soon. If they accept, then I'm probably going to have to pull my work from Pariah. Unlike Pariah, the one I've submitted to will pay me...not much mind you, but it feels much better to write when you got an income...ok, that's not the sole reason I'm hoping to be serialized somewhere else, but you don't need to know that ^^

"New" Fear is new in the sense that I'm letting the Xangans who followed my story a year ago read an expanded version that's better in words and design. "New" Fear is new for those who did not follow the story a year ago, and is looking for something that's a short read. "New" Fear is new because it’s a better representation of my work...I think!

I hope you all enjoyed the Concept and Creation of Fear entries. I will post them as a link whenever I get the chance so you can look at it all over again. For now, enjoy a weekly read of New Fear.

-Justin

Xanga Fear

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:18:00 GMT

This is the one I worked on last year. It was serialized for over five months on this site. I've already explained the plot for this version, so instead I'll point out that Xanga Fear has many differences over the one I'm serializing...for starters:

It's way shorter
There were tons of errors
There were only six orbs of Bethumet
Kose did not exist

...Yeah, that's kinda it. Of course there's a lot longer storylines, but otherwise the story's the same: Fear (the creature) is trying to find the Orbs of Bethumet, Tyrande (Courage) is trying to stop him.

Anyways, those are my novels that I have shown online! I hope you all enjoy the fourth (third finished) story of Fear!

OH MY GOD?!?!NOT ANOTHER ONE?!?!?

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:07 GMT

(This was the aftermath of when I finished Fear on Xanga last year...and since we're doing another one I might as well update this one and show you this again^^ All I can say is enjoy!)

(The after party of Fear)

Justin: All right guys, this is our last party, so drink up and be merry!!!!!

Everyone in room: YAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Tomestorm: I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS IT!!!!

Fear: Dude, just deal with it.

Justin: All right, I will be back momentarily to give all you your presents for accepting your roles in my story!

Everyone:YEAAHHHHHH!!!!!*Justin leaves*

Courage: What the hell could he possibly be giving us: He's as broke as a joke!!!

Sayrun: Who knows? Remember, he is the creator, he can do whatever he wants!

Courage: OH! I forgot all about that.

Sayrun: *Mumbles*

(at a table in the room)

Rando: Hit me!OWW!!!!WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR FEAR?!?!

Fear: You said hit me.

Nimma: Dude, we're playing black jack. Just pay attention at least for this occasion!!

Fear: ...Its the last chapter, so ok...fine....

Nimna: All right. Jeannine, what'd you got?

Jeannine: ...I busted....

Thomas: ....Same here..

Shane: I got 21!!!

Jeannine and Thomas: DAMN.*Thomas throws cards down in disgust*

Shane: I win!!!

Fear: No, you lost.

Shane: I DID?!?!HOW?!?!

Nimna: I have 21 as well. Dealer always wins.

Shane: B-But you have five cards!!! I only have three!!!

Nimna: ...Sorry, but if we have the same cards, edge goes to the dealer!

Shane:.....I feel robbed....just like my town....

(At another table)

Fayre: *chants a spell**Ice comes out of nowhere and freezes a cup*

Shade: OHHHH, so now you decide you want to use magic! Took you til this special chapter to do so!!!

Fayre: Well, I blame the creator for saying I'm a mage knight, when I don't even use magic in the story! But this is the last chapter: might as well give my fans a glimpse of what could have been!

Shade:....Dude....are you sure you have-

Fayre: Unquestionably.

(At another table)

Tomestorm: WAAHHHH!!!!! THIS IS TRAVIESTY!!!IT CANT ENDTH THIS WAY!!!!

Fear: Damn....he got himself drunk....again.....Tomestorm, calm down-

Courage: *burp* Ah, leave him alone, scum! You don't*hiccup* know what ya doing!

Tomestorm: OHHAAANNN!!!!M-MOM-MY WILL BE SO DIPSLEAED!

Fear:....This special chapter defies all logic...

(Two Hours later)

Justin: Um...guys....I have some good news...and some bad news....

Everyone: GODDAMNIT!!!!

Justin: The bad news is....I can't give out any presents...

Everyone: DAMNIT!!!!!!

Courage: See??!!?I*hiccup* told all ya peoples so!

Justin: The good news is this paper that I'm handing out to each and every one of you!

Everyone: EH?

Justin: Well...there a good chance that down the road, I'm probably going to do a sequel to Fear, but for now, I'm going on a one year hiatus, but this paper signifies copyright rights, so no one shall take you for the next couple of years.

Tomestorm: B-but there's a chance of a sequel? Happy day!

Sayrun: Well, at least I might have a chance to return to glory!!!

Justin: Um, you can't. You're dead.

Sayrun: W-Wha...NOOO!!!!!Can'tyoujustbringme-

Justin:No. Your son's taking your place, most likely.

Sayrun: *sniff* life's such a bi***....

(after the party is over)

Fear: So Justin....

Justin: Yes, sir?

Fear: I have two questions to ask you: One, where are you going to go? Are you going off of xanga for a year?

Justin: Of course not, assuming the worst doesn't happen to me. I'll probably just say good bye to all the xangans who stopped by, read my story and commented, then I'm gonna high tail it back to my old site.

Fear: Old site?

Justin: My zeromaster435 page.

Fear: Ah, yes that....I haven't seen it in a while.

Justin: Well when you do see it, its going to be reworked and everything, so expect me to go back to my old ways!

Fear: One more question

Justin: Ask away, dear Fear.

Fear: Am I going to die again just like the first time?

Justin: ....Like I'm going to say, a creator never reveals his thoughts!

Courage: Like he's gonna*hiccup* let a hick like you live*belch*

Justin: What the hell?!?What happened to you not drinking anymore?!?!

Courage: I DON NO WHAT YA TALKING*hiccup*ABOUT!!!!

Justin & Fear:....DAMN.....

(end of special chapter)

Last thoughts from the creator of this story:

First of all, I'd like to thank pretty much everyone who's at least attempted to take a look at this site, and then thank those who devoted some of their time towards reading my chapters. I definitely appeciate it^_^. As for my last thoughts on this saga, this was really how I wanted it to go: When I began the Fear Saga in Eighth grade(that's a long way back, I say^^) I wanted to have a brand name not be a hero, as in let the villain win this time, so when I created Fear and also created my first Fear saga(again, fireassassinzero, shut down)that was my sole intention. But when I stopped getting up for it during school time, I think that probably that isn't the best thing to do right now, and that's why I missed days and eventually didn't continue on with the third saga of that Fear story. I kept drawing numerous pictures of Fear, but of course, had no way to express it. Then the new year 2008 arrived, and I had that fire to tell Fear's story again. But this is a completely new and refreshed Fear story, better than the first ones I did, and I believe that this is the best story I've written so far. During the writing process I had numerous changes, and I had many planned locates taken out, but the result was different: I had Courage lose in order to beat Fear. Huh? What the? Yeah, I know. Anyways, now with this story over, its time to return back to my old xanga site, which I've left at top of the site, and now talk about many other things. One of them happens to be college. Groan...^^

Concept and Creation of Fear, Part IV

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:45:00 GMT

After I thought I was satisfied with writing stories online, I was fooled by many people, then fooled myself, into slaving a couple of months of writing a novel as a published, out in stores book. I immediately realized that as currently constituted my book wouldn't be published, so I added a few things, changed a few characters, added new characters and one additional country, and when it was all said and done, I somehow had over 64,000 pages in just a summer's span.

First of all, that's kind of what happens when you're jobless.

The second thing is, wow: that's a long word count!

Actually at that time, I didn't seem to realize just how hard it was to write those pages (I realized it when I wrote Outland Hunter), so I wasn't overly impressed with the word count. The only thing I knew was that I finished the story of Fear as a novel, and after going it over a few times, was ready to begin submitting.

But there was a problem...I wasn't sure how.

This is where I became frustrated with the entire process.

After searching for a way to publish a book, I found that I needed to hire a literary agent. These are the guys who find publishers for writers and help negotiate their contracts. Everyone says life is much easier with an agent, so I decided to look for one.

But...when searching for how to approach an agent, the two terms that destroyed my story was Query and Synopsis. A query is a way to attract agents and publishers to want to read the book; if it ever reaches stores, this would be on the back of the paperback. I struggled to do a query...it was difficult as it could possibly be. But that's tame compared to a synopsis.

A synopsis is what has been called "Bare-Bones": This is where in one or two pages, a writer must summarize the entire book. That wouldn't be a problem, except I had over 64,000 words and 250 something pages, and I would have to forego telling it in a way that would make it compelling to read, or else recieve ignorance. Despite the struggle, I came up with a synopsis, too. But I didn't realize how bad it was until I worked on a new one this year( I was ashamed)

That might have been one of the reasons why my story was continually passed over.

Actually, the two biggest reasons was that I was a first time writer, and this was when the economy was getting worser by the day, and I just didn't write the story (from Query, to Synopsis, to Actual story!!!) good enough to gage people's interest. I believe I sent scores of queries to agents...I believe over 60 of them rejected it promptly. I knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but geez, to get rejected that many times...yeah, I was dumb not to go over the query and synopsis again-_-

When I got my last rejection letter in December, I told myself, "Yep, it's time to stop..." But I knew that at some point, I would want to get it published...

So after waiting a couple of months, I decided to write Flash Fiction and short stories online. Around March I had queried one of the editors at Pariah Online Magazine and asked him about doing a serial online.

It was around the end of March/ early April where I had my first Flash Fiction accepted for summer publication at Moon Drenched Fables. I believed that would be my first "published" piece.

But on an lazy, Saturday morning, around break time from work, I got an email from the editor.

He told me Fear would be a serial in the Online Magazine.

So much for that, huh? I called it, "One small but potentially big break in my writing career."

The Hardest Parts About Doing Fear

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Hard Parts? What'cha talkin' bout?

Trying to draw characters outside of Fear...well, that was my problem early on...

Describing an action sequence. I still feel that I have a long way to go in that department.

Getting people to come read your story online. It's not easy-_-

Third Fear

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:58:00 GMT

"Stuck in a land created by their father, the god Tomestorm, Fear and Courage will have to face many challenges and hardships...but before they can do that, can they work together...."

Trust me when I say there's an actual story in there. No seriously, stop laughing.

I originally had planned to do a third iteration of Fear after I finished taking a well deserved break from writing Fear. But...somewhere around this time I didn't feel like doing another story...so this idea got put in the recycling bin...I think^^

Ok, it still lurks in my head, but just thinking about this scenario gives me headaches: Fear and Courage...working together...it just doesn't seem right-_-

Concept and Creation of Fear, Part III

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:34:00 GMT

I'm sure it was around December of 2007 when I began drawing Fear and his eternal rival, Courage, again, not knowing why and for what reason. I didn't feel like writing Fear, but felt like drawing him. But despite drawing him, I didn't want to work on a comic.

But it was New Year's Day...and on my resolution list, I had Fear on it. I wrote and hoped that I would do another Fear again. But at that point, I was sure I didn't want to have the type of story I want ( more description later) and I felt that it was time to start over with Fear anyways. So, after nearly two months of getting a coherent plot together and being pretty far ahead in the story (Thank God it was leap year: I nearly missed getting it in!) on February 28, 2009, I had begun the new journey of Fear...I'd personally term it Xanga Fear.

I originally did stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, although I soon changed it to Monday and Friday only, and I had character and author profiles to write up every now and then. But somewhere around that time I had finished the story on paper: the only thing was getting a chance to write it.

But that proved to be more difficult than I thought because school really took its toll on me around this time, and trying to write word after word on the day it's due was not very fun, although getting online is the just reward. However, I learned that I could privatize my work, so for me, that meant I only had to change it to public the day it was due.

But on May 6, one of the most luckiest announcements was made by Xanga:

Feature Posting.

I had a wide smile when I heard that.

Now I could post the dates as to when it would be available and not have to worry about time constrants. My senior year of high school went smoothly that month...in more ways than one ^^

On June 27, 2008, my five month run of Fear ended...and it left me with a feeling of relief...sadness...but a yearning to tell more.

That's when I made the decision to convert it into a novel.

Return of Fear: Second Xanga Novel

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:27:00 GMT

Return of Fear is essentially the sequel to Fear. I think it was safe to say that I wasn't going to let my main character, Fear, go out like that! So I did another one, along with a new look:

He doesn't know how he's come back; he doesn't know why; but Fear only knows one thing: to get revenge of the Three Dark Sages...

She lost her master and her friends; the land she's apart of is about to be torn apart; Courage only knows one thing: to stop Bethumet from utter destruction.

After many battles and hardships, Fear and Courage meet for the first time.

Then they met their father for the first time...

The god, Tomestorm...

Yeah, I made it so Fear and Courage were brother and sister. What, you have a problem with that? Sue me then! And I bet you're wondering why this is so short, too...well, it's not easy trying to remember stuff from a long time ago^^

The Easiest Parts About Doing Fear

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:08:00 GMT

Drawing Fear is like drawing a stick figure: I feel that if you challenge me to draw Fear with a sword about to attack someone, I'd draw it in a jiffy!

I thought it would be a lot harder to come up with the names of the characters in the stories...as it turns out, I didn't worry about that much.

Ahh...thank you future posting :)

Having a story ready to be posted. It makes working a lot easier.

Concept and Creation of Fear, Part II

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:23:00 GMT

Considering that I had school to worry about, it was silly to think that I'd have time to work on any story.

But I had some windows to manuver through. And I took advantage.

The first story, titled of course Fear, was one of the more difficult stories I had ever written. Not because of the plot, or the scheduling...but my writing. I couldn't write well...at least in the third person. I wasn't very confident in describing the action in that POV, so I wrote it script style. But I immediately learned from various critics that I didn't describe the actions of the characters at all: how would the readers know what's what without description? So yeah, after a few more chapters I changed the POV to third person. The story was still a mess, but I did get better at writing stories as I wrote.

After a couple of months of writing, I wrote the second story, Return of Fear, which I felt was my best work up to that point. I felt I told the sequences well, and made things more interesting with revealing that Fear and Courage were actually related...and Tomestorm was the father.

Another interesting thought was the black coat...huh? What now? Yes, I had changed Fear's design, which wasn't totally unexpected, but I was pleased with how darker the character was in design. He had regular black but evil eyes, wore a black trench coat, had a red scar that covered the middle of his body, and had four wings instead of two.

However...

Lesson 101 When Writing a Serial: Never leave the readers assuming. I had plans to work on another sequel to Fear after I took a few months break from writing.

But then...then I stopped wanting to write Fear. I don't know what happened or why it happened, but it did. I think it was in 2007 that I stopped wanting to write Fear.

But it was around December...where something changed within me...