Personal:

Gender: Male

Age: I'm not telling

Favorite Pokemon: Infernape, followed by Simisage

What I'd like to see (for the Pokemon franchise): For the Pokemon Company to come out with a parallel series targeted for a higher age level (more realistic).

What I'd like to see (Storywise): One of my stories to be made into a movie. I need an agent... Anyone know someone?

Other Stories Published and not (not on FanFiction.net): Forced Finished (B&W fanfic), The Darkling (B&W fanfic, never completed), a few other non-fanfic stories that haven't (yet) been published anywhere.

Upcoming Projects: After "Changed", perhaps a short story or two. We'll see.

Hobbies/Interests: Aviation, photography, firearm collecting, alternative energy (solar PV, solar hot water, wind, etc.), geology, meteorology, genetics. Oh, and Pokemon, of course.

Artwork:

Links to artwork that go with my stories.

Unexpected Explorations:

1) Concept artwork of future character, Ruby: Upcoming character (/art/Upcoming-Character-Concept-Infernape-Ruby-480478937) by Sayuri-Lilly (/)

2) Chapter 5, Battle scene (at end of chapter): Lonny's Battle (/art/Lonny-s-Battle-480481237) by Sayuri-Lilly

3) Chapter 7, Discovery: Discovery (/art/Flight-to-the-Island-480482017) by Sayuri-Lilly

4) Chapter 8, Flight to the island: Flight (/art/Flight-to-the-Island-480482017) by Sayuri-Lilly

5) Chapter 8, Battle in the island chamber: Battle (/art/The-Revealing-of-the-Concealed-204018122) by Sayuri-Lilly

6) Chapter 10, Meeting at the Guild (2nd to last scene of chapter): Analysing an Ancient Map (/art/Analysing-the-Ancient-Map-204915084) by Sayuri-Lilly

7) Chapter 12, Leo battling the ampharos: Battle (/art/Turning-the-Tide-of-Battle-214735290) by Sayuri-Lilly

!!Warning: Don't view #8, 9 or 10 before reading Chapter 13 first, otherwise they *will* spoil the surprise near the end of that chapter! Note: #10 is not a scene in the story, but is a conceptual scene with the characters in a different (but related) situation.

!!8) Chapter 13, near end of chapter: Ruby's Gift (B&W) (/art/Ruby-s-Gift-BW-480482540) by Sayuri-Lilly

!!9) Chapter 13, near end of chapter: Ruby's Gift (Color) (/art/Ruby-s-Gift-Color-480482870) by Sayuri-Lilly

!!10) Different Scene (does not appear in the story): Downtime (/art/Downtime-480483086) by Sayuri-Lilly

11) Chapter 13, end of chapter: Fire Starting (/art/Fire-Starting-480483229) by Sayuri-Lilly

Changed:

1) Chapter1: Alex's arrival (http:///art/Alex-and-Gale-Art-Commission-614322573) by blackorb00 (http:///)

2) Chapter1: Alex's and Gale's Discussion (http:///view/21278122) by blackorb00 (http:///)

3) Chapter 5: Charna (/view/12784126/) by Haychel (/user/haychel/)

4) Chapter 16: Exploring the Ruins (/full/17064640/) by Haychel

BLOG:

02/26/2018: Just posted the epilogue for my "short" story Retrieval, so that means it is now complete! I know, I haven't posted any updates here since I started publishing the story way back in August, but there really wasn't a lot to say. :)

If you haven't read the epilogue yet, there are a couple of surprises in it, perhaps the far larger one right at the end. If you don't understand the reference(s), you might want to read the very first Pokemon I every wrote, Variations.

So, I do this at the end of every story I've written, but once again: "what's next?" Honestly, I'm not sure. For the first time in quite a while, I have no ideas I've been working on in the background. Notta. Zip. (Well, OK, there is one, but...) There certainly can be a sequel to Retrieval, but I'm not very inclined/inspired to write one. I think I need a good long break from writing in any case. No worries, I've a bunch of other hobbies and interests to take its place though. :) So bottom line...nothing in the near future, and not sure about down-the-road.

I'll post updates if/when I pick things up again, but it could be some time (years). :)

Thanks again for sticking with me and my stories!

08/07/2017: Hey hey, I published the first chapter of Retrieval! (After talking about it forever, it seems.)

The last three weeks were spent editing this first (prelude) chapter, going through it over...and over...and over, trying to polish it more than I have historically for chapters. Hopefully I got the quality way up there. I lost a few days due to a summer-time flu (believe it or not), otherwise I would have had it finished last week, but life happens.

If you've read my previous blog posts below, you've probably guessed I'm especially interested to see what you all think about the different POVs for the two main characters: first-person for Alex, and third-person for Tom. Of course, the Prelude is all from Tom's third-person POV, but Chapter 1 will reintroduce Alex.

Enjoy!

07/07/2017: OK OK, a heck of a long time since I updated this blog. Then again, I operate at a slllooowww pace too. :)

I'm getting close to wrapping up the second draft of the "short" story, which will be called "Retrieval". Still needs some work, particularly around improving the environmental stuff and general descriptions, but the plot and all action is fully set at this point. Probably will tweak some of the dialog still. The third draft is what I'm currently planning on publishing, so...maybe in the next couple months the first chapter will be up!

A little bit about it, it's currently 107 pages (probably a minor novel rather than a short story), seven chapters, will take place about 8 months after the end of "Changed", has two main characters (Alex being the more major one) and is written in both first-person and third-person perspectives. I won't give any plot details here, as I don't want to ruin any surprises. :)

Let's see for other news...haven't commissioned any artwork lately, but I am having a new infernape body suit made (call it a "mark 2" version). This one will be closer to the "official" character depiction with actual armor rather than the more realistic yellow hair. Hopefully I'll have it in time for a convention next month. Had a few thoughts about also getting a sword which I thought would match the armor. Then if I put his yellow, orange and red mane into a pony-tail, I could have a samurai Infernape... :D

Hopefully the next update will be about the first chapter being posted.

12/15/2016: Blackorb00 completed another commission for me a couple months ago, to go with "Changed". I'm quite pleased (again) with it! Simply awesome detail. Check it out at the link above, or click here: Alex's and Gale's Discussion

In other news, I completed the first draft of that short story I mentioned in my last update. I don't think it's really a short story anymore, being about a hundred pages and seven chapters. I'll be doing the first editing pass over the next few months, then hopefully posting chapters shortly after. Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out, but significant work remains on some of the characterizations and minor plot details, which is quite normal for a first draft (at least for me).

Since I won't be posting another update until next year, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And thanks for reading my stories (and this blog)!

06/09/2016: Well, I haven't updated for quite some time as there really hasn't been much going on, but I did commission some new artwork to go with Chapter 1 of Changed. You can find the link above as #1 under "Changed", called "Alex's Arrival". blackorb00 did a fantastic job on this! I'm going to see about commissioning some more works from him.

During the last few months of my writing break, I've been mulling over a couple of different short story ideas. I wanted to do both, as each had a theme I wanted to explore, but didn't really want to tackle two stories. In the end, I figured out a good way to combine them into one story, although it'll be borderline as to whether it'll still be a "short" story. In any case, I've started work on it and we'll see where it goes.

This new story will also be breaking some very new ground for me, as I'll be combining both third-person and first-person viewpoints (to go with different characters). Since this story continues with Alex, I needed to continue first-person for him. But I also needed to introduce a second main character. As it would had been very confusing to go with first person for that character as well, that forced a third-person narrative for him. I'd always been taught to not mix different viewpoints in a story, but as I looked more into it, I found it wasn't so much a "rule", but just a very good guideline. Some authors have pulled off mixing them successfully, but it requires extra care as the situations where straight first or third-person wouldn't work just as well, or better, are rare. This new story, I think, is going to be one of those rare ones.

02/28/2016: Two and a half years. At this moment, it's hard to believe I've actually finished writing Changed. Guess it hasn't really sunk in yet. There were so many times when I thought I'd never finish it. It just went on and on and on. Mostly my fault, as I typically didn't devote a lot of time to it every day, mostly writing a little over my lunch hour, though sometimes spending a lot more time in the evening, but not often enough. But, it is now done.

Hurrah!

And I hope the ending is one that most everyone likes. And a very heart-felt thank-you to those of you who wrote reviews; you certainly helped me improve the story!

And now, it's done.

(Sigh.)

So what now? Hmm, a fine question. There are a few short story ideas involving Alex that I've been kicking around, though none of the ideas are complete. I'm likely not going to write anything for at least a while - I need time to recoup and recharge. I can't wait terribly long though, as I'll start forgetting details and stuff from this story if I stay away for too long. And...the characters had become my friends; I think I will want to visit them again at some point. But definitely a long break first.

02/21/2016: Just got back from a one week vacation. I didn't think I would get any time for writing during it, but I did get a little. Even so, still working on the last chapter and the epilogue. Think I'm going to devote some extra hours and see if I can't get it published by the end of this week. Also got some reviews that I need to write too. Ack!

01/15/2016: Chapter 22 is finished and published. Got it done amid a rare evening writing session. One of my goals was to incorporate some of the feedback I'd received on previous chapters, cutting down on some of the "environmental" battle description that seemed redundant, and focusing more on what the main character is doing. Please let me know if I succeeded, and if this chapter has a good amount of tension or not.

Normally I make two full editing passes through each chapter. The last few required three. This one I did four, the most for any chapter in this story to date. Not sure if that's a sign the last few chapters were in such a bad state in the first draft, or that I'm just becoming more careful. Maybe both, but I know I'm still far from being a really good writer. :)

As for the next chapter...it's the last one. Plus an epilogue. Not sure if I'll publish both together or not, though I'm leaning in that direction.

Yes, we're almost done!

01/14/2016: Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful set of holidays and that the new year so far is treating you well.

Just a little update. I have the next chapter nearly finished, but I want to give it just one more pass before posting it, so probably another day or four. This chapter is requiring the most editing work of any chapter to date, as I'm trying hard to incorporate some of the comments I've received on recent chapters. Just a little longer...

12/09/2015: Another chapter that took a while, even though it was shorter. In addition to this being the holidays time of year, I couldn't get Alex's reaction at the end quite the way I wanted, so I had to keep reworking it. As well as redo the battle scenes over and over to make them as interesting and concise as my skills allowed, while still bringing across how much effort (and ingenuity) all this is requiring from the characters. (Thanks to your reviews for pushing me to do that!)

Random tidbits: Original name for this chapter was "Loss", but thought that was a little too revealing. I also made the ending more dramatic than I first write it, with a certain event at the end now being much more serious.

Next chapter is going to be even shorter, fair warning. :)

11/04/2015: Yep, this chapter took a while. Between feeling lethargic and having several events come up, I wasn't able to devote as much time as usual this last month. And I probably mentioned before that the later chapters of the first draft tend to need a lot more editing.

Anyway, this chapter is basically one long battle scene. If you like action, this is your chapter! And please let me know how well I pulled it off.

10/02/2015: For some reason, the linking isn't working from this page for the above artwork. I tried posting the direct urls next to each work so you could copy-paste the links, but those are getting stripped out also. I guess for now, just PM me that you want the links and I'll try and reply back with them (assuming the PM system will let me). Sorry about this!

09/27/2015: Oh boy, did this latest chapter (19) take time to finish. Like I mentioned in my last blog entry, there were several scenes I needed to really take extra care with. That, and the state of the first draft required more work than usual as well - I guess I didn't write the chapter that well on writing it the first time. The end result was more editing passes through than normal, and the editing was slower. But whew, the chapter is done and posted...finally.

This chapter also makes me a little more nervous than any of the others; when you read it, you'll probably guess why. I really hope a certain something doesn't come across as forced, but more a natural evolution. And for other elements around the military, I hope they come across as realistic. Since there's hardly any mention of a military in the anime, games or magna, I pretty much had to invent all of that.

08/31/2015: Thanks to several of you taking the time to comment on my characterizations. I know it's extra effort, so I really appreciate it!

The next chapter might be another week or two yet. There's one "sticky" scene I'm trying to take great care with, as it's quite important and rather...delicate. I need to strike just the right balance between what goes on there with what happens in a future scene (not in this chapter) and have the characterizations realistic, since something important results from them. So I'm going over this scene many more times then usual to get everything "just so". And I still need to finish editing the other scenes.

08/18/2015: I recently received a very harsh review on one of my early chapters, basically finding multiple issues with the characterization. That now has me questioning just how good of a job I'm doing in that area. So, I'd like to ask if you write a review, if you could give your impression of the characterizations. Am I doing a good enough job? Are the reactions, emotions, actions of all the characters believable and realistic?

08/17/2015: Chapter 18 is the longest chapter I've posted in a little while. It was going to be even longer before I decided to break it up. Like Chapter 16, this one went through a couple different titles before I decided on "Coming to Terms"; originally it was "A Gathering Storm", and then "Aftermath". Instead, "A Gathering Storm" will be the title of the next chapter, at least at this point. :)

Oh yeah, with this chapter, "Changed" has become the longest story I've ever published (sound the party favors)!

07/26/2015: Well, a lot of things get revealed in Chapter 17, Confluences, which is now published. This chapter makes me a little nervous as I hope I made everything realistic enough, but it does tie a number of things together. Enjoy!

07/08/2015: Haychel has finished the artwork I mention in my last blog entry: Exploring the Ruins. This scene is where Alex, Gale and Marvin are walking amid the ruins at the base of the cliff. This was the first time I had seen any depiction of either Gale or Marvin, so it was pretty cool to actually see them for the first time. I think he did an awesome job; hope you guys like it as well!

07/08/2015: Hey, what do you know...with a lot of extra time, I got chapter 16 finished up and posted a little sooner than I expected! I'm not fully satisfied with how it reads in some parts, but I'm also not certain how to improve it any more, so fair warning: I may edit it more in the future. Not that I think it's bad by any means, so rather than spending another couple weeks on it which may or may not do any good, I thought it was time to get it published. So...let me know what you think.

One thing about the chapter title that might be interesting to some of you, but "Hidden Things" is actually the third title I came up with for this chapter. I originally had it as "Getting Up Top" for quite sometime, but eventually thought it lacked something as well as being a little too descriptive of what the chapter was going to be about (i.e. giving it's plot away). I then named it as "Ruins", which was certainly descriptive and didn't give as much away, but soon thought "Hidden Things" was even better. And if you're reading this blog after you've already read the chapter, I'm sure you've already guessed at least two of the things it's referring to (there could be more though, he he).

07/05/2015: Thought I'd post a little update, since I haven't published a chapter in a month now. This next chapter is a longer one and it's requiring a bunch of editing, so that is just taking time; further, I needed surgery last month, so it took (and is still is taking) some time to recover from that. But no worries, I am working it, and hopefully will have it out in another week or so. :)

Oh yeah, and I've also commissioned Haychel again for some artwork to go with this next chapter. He did the Charna concept art, to which you can find the link to above.

06/05/2015: Chapter 15 covers a number of topics, and for that reason it was one of the more difficult ones to write and edit. Hopefully it reads well. :) As always, if you find anything misspelled, bad grammar, or something that doesn't seem right, please let me know.

The next chapter may be delayed a while, as I have a health issue that I need to devote attention to for the next couple weeks. OTOH, it also might afford me more time for editing than I otherwise would have, just depending.

05/15/2015: Chapter 14 took a little while; combined with some time off, it needed a little extra editing to get the action close to where I wanted it. Hopefully it makes for some good, tense reading. :) So, we're about at the two-thirds mark in the story, so things will be ramping up just a little quicker now.

Now, just one other bit of news: I've become a Simisage!

Yep, I got my new costume this week! (Should help with writing from Alex's point of view, he he.)

04/21/2015: Admittedly, I rushed Chapter 13 just a little; I'm going on a short vacation for the next few days and likely wouldn't get much chance to work on it, so I worked on it more than usual the last several days to finish it before I go. Oh, so that means the next chapter will be a little later. Sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger like that!

For all the reviews, thanks to every one of you! I'm probably not the only author wondering this, but I'm never sure whether to reply or not, especially if you write a question or you're guessing at something. So if you absolutely do or don't want me to reply, just let me know in the review. :)

04/10/2015: Guess I'm getting in a groove with chapter posting. :) Chapter 12 is finished and ready for reading. I should warn (or maybe not), that this chapter is slightly more "mature" than any of my previous chapters.

I had a hard time deciding where to end this chapter; originally there were another fifteen pages yet beyond the thirty there already are, but decided that was just too many for one chapter. Splitting it just before the battle seemed a good spot, though. I will be keeping the next chapter break where is it currently, so the next chapter will be a little shorter than usual.

If I haven't already said it: thanks everyone for your reviews!

03/22/2015: New Changed chapter 11 published! This chapter takes us past the half-way point of the entire story, and you might notice the kid's gloves are starting to come off. :) Not too much else to say, just plugging along.

03/01/2015: Just got back yesterday from an overseas trip! I did manage to work (a little) on Chapter 10 during the four eight-to-ten hour flights that was the round trip, but finished it up today and posted for your reading pleasure. :) Will be needing the next several days to get my body-clock in sync from the nine-hour time zone shift (talk about jet lag...) and to recover from being up for forty hours with only two hours of fitful sleep (can't sleep very well on planes). Hopefully I can get chapter 11 fully edited and posted this month.

Need more sleep...zzzzz.

01/19/2015: Happy belated New Year! Hope things are going well so far for everyone.

Got Chapter 9 up. Not sure when I'll get chapter 10 finished though; I have a long trip planned for the last half of next month, so I may or may not get the chapter out before then. If not, it'll be in March.

12/18/2014: Yep, a new chapter, #8: Road Trip, is up. Like the last chapter, I put this one through more editing passes than I normally do in an effort to stamp out all spelling and grammar issues. Hopefully I did find them all. And this being the season: Happy Holidays everyone!

11/16/2014: It's done! I completed the first draft today! Yippie! (Cue up the angels singing 'Halleluiah' while floating above!) I started this story way back in July of 2012. Two and a half years later, I finally, FINALLY finished up the first draft. This is the longest story I've written (for a first draft) not just in the amount of time it took, but length as well at 458 single-spaced pages. Good grief. That page count will go up, as editing almost always add material in my case.

In some respects, the first draft is the most difficult as that where I have to generate the most original material and decide on the main action, dialogue, direction of the story, what scenes need to be done, etc. But the editing draft is where I do the major word-smithing and getting things to be just so, especially with characterizations and environmental descriptions (stuff I tend to gloss over some in the first draft). So the next draft is much more difficult in other ways, as probably most of you know with your own writing.

Alright, so this is where the pace of posted chapters will start to pick up, as doing the second draft can now proceed full speed ahead. Although I may take just a little break first... :)

10/22/2014: Chapter 7 is up! I did an extra editing pass on it than what I normally do; hopefully I squashed nearly all misspellings, grammar goofs and typos this time. :) I'm quite close to wrapping up the first draft. It's probably about 98% done, and anticipate completing it by the end of (this) year.

09/05/2014: Chapter 6 is posted! Thanks to you guys who are writing reviews! And also to you who are reviewing my older stories as well!

I fixed a bunch of broken links to the artwork that goes with Unexpected Explorations (above), so all that should be working now. I had to upload the art to my DeviantArt account, since the artist deleted a lot of her work from her account some time ago.

07/12/2014: Putting in some extra writing time to try and finish the first draft. Normally I do most my writing during my lunch hour, but I'm doing some in the evening now as well. Starting to think what I'll be doing after this two-year project is completed; I really need to read other people's stories and start returning some feedback. Biggest reason I haven't been doing that so far is I don't want to read something good, then somehow end up stealing that person's idea in some shape, way or form. I figure if I write (more-or-less) in a "vacuum", I'll have a better chance of thinking up something original.

06/21/2014: Haychel on Fur Affinity did a commission of Charna for me a little while back, and did a superb job! You can find it here: Charna, by Haychel

06/20/2014: It's summer!

OK, I posted chapter 5 of Changed, titled "Beast". This chapter took more editing than I anticipated, so it was a bit longer since the last chapter than I intended. I have around 94%-ish of the first draft completed. For some reason, I'm just bad at estimating how much I have to go on that. But I really am only about two chapters from completion. I think. :)

04/06/2014: I'm currently working on polishing up the 4th chapter of Changed. It'll be another few days before it's ready and posted. This chapter will be the longest I've ever posted by a wide margin, about forty Word pages, so it is taking a little bit! The first draft of the entire story is sitting at around 90-92% complete. Probably another two or three chapters and it'll be finished. Finally.

02/17/2014: I posted the third chapter of Changed a couple weeks ago. I'll keep posting (mostly finished) chapters about every two-three months until the first draft is completed. After that, the pace of chapter posting will increase greatly (promise!). The first draft is somewhere around 85-90% complete now.

12/22/2013: Just a quick update to wish everyone a Happy Holidays!

On the story front, between the holidays and rewriting a recent scene probably about four times because I just couldn't get it right (as in making it believable enough), haven't been making much progress. Eventually, I will finish. Someday. In the meantime, I'll probably post the third chapter next month to tide everyone over. :)

11/09/2013: Continuing my tradition of infrequent updates... :)

Finishing the first draft of Changed is proving elusive. It seems the further I go, the more I add, so the longer it's taking. I'll guess I'm between 75-80% done at this point. Since the time frame is moving out, I did a quick edit of the second chapter and posted it, because I thought waiting another six months for something new was unreasonable. Chapter two is a lot longer than the first chapter, and the length is what I'm trending toward for future chapters. So prepare for some reading. :) :P

I also re-edited the first chapter and it's posted as well.

In other news...I've commissioned another Pokemon fursuit from the same person who did that awesome Infernape suit I got earlier this year. This new one will be a simisage (naturally!). Waiting the next several months is going to be tough...

07/08/2013: I finally posted the first chapter of my new story, Changed, a couple days ago. Since I'm not done with the first draft yet (and probably won't be for a long while yet because I'm so slow in writing), I decided to do this to not only give a preview of what I'm working on, but also so no one thinks I fell of the face of the Earth. :) Since it is just a preview chapter, I may change portions of it as I intend to do another editing pass through it. I could also change the title of the story.

I do have another story planned in the Variation, Trials of a Pokemon Trainer, Unexpected Explorations series, and did actually write a few chapters of the next story, but I'm not sure if I'll even get back to it. We'll see. :) What's more likely is I'll re-edit Variations to try and purge the numerous spelling and grammatical errors in it. Of course, that could be in prep for continuing writing the next story in the series, as since it's been several years since I read my first story, I'll need to re-familiarize myself with it before picking it back up.

04/28/2013: Again, too long since I updated last. Still working on the story I mentioned below. My output is, well, pretty much at a snails pace (like one to two pages per week, with occasional bursts). I'm probably somewhere between one-third and one-half done with the first draft. I might edit the first chapter and post it just to let everyone know I am still alive and writing. :)

In other news, I commissioned an infernape fursuit last year, and just last month it was delivered! You can check it out here:

Infernape Suit or My DA Gallery

No, this isn't Blaze from my novels (per se), but this is what I imagine a "realistic" infernape is, of which Blaze is one of and so would mostly look like, though a real infernape would be a bit thinner/skinnier in spots. :)

I tell you, actually "being" an infernape is...well, nothing less of awesome!

09/03/2012: Been a long while since I've updated. Well, I am working on something totally new. I originally started on the next story in my PMD2 series (a sequel to Unexpected Explorations) and got as far as the first two or so chapters, but decided I needed a long break from that series. So I started working on a completely different Pokemon story that just kind of came to me. The story is (once again) about a human being turned into a Pokemon. But the twist is, what if this human came from our Earth, our Earth of course having no such thing as Pokemon? Not only would this person need to get used to having the body of a strange, new creature, he would also have to become familiar with the very different Earth he finds himself on. With his memories fully intact, would he still try to live as a human, or would he try to live as a Pokemon? Or would his universe completely changing on him drive him mad? Just how did he get to this different Earth anyway? What was behind it? And then there are those dreams...

Sayuri-Lilly did some wonderful concept artwork for me of the new main character, which you can find here.

More to come...if I keep working on it :) ...

03/27/2012: Was rereading chapter 1 of Explorations when I became shocked at how many grammatical errors and poorly worded things I had in the first scene. So I updated it. :)

03/13/2012: Epilogue is complete. I aimed to bring a connection with Sky's last special episode. Grovyle's wish to let those of the past know that he and the others were OK was fulfilled, probably in a way he hadn't imagined! And yes, Sceptile still hasn't chosen a real name yet, even though I hadn't made mention of it. :)

Next project might be to "refresh" Variations. Two reasons for this: I'm aware of a number of misspellings & grammatical errors that should be corrected, and I need to refresh my memory on all of the events (it's been a little while!). This would be in prep for a new sequel, if/when I start one.

02/27/2012: Yep, last chapter posted! Currently working on the epilogue, which shouldn't take too long since it's short. As I mentioned in the notes for the last chapter, I'm going to be taking a break from writing for some amount of time. Even so, I'm already thinking about the plot of next story, which probably will focus on Chris, who hasn't appeared since Trials of a Pokemon Trainer, along with one character from Unexpected Explorations. One possibility is he will travel at least part of the Unova region while taking a long vacation from his job (he's been saving vacation time). The particular Pokemon he brings with him will be a central plot point (guess who). I might also reveal (finally) exactly which region he lives in, since I never stated where Jade River City, Pinnacle Valley and Cape Kippel are located, except that they're a ways from Kanto.

Another story idea I have is one involving a trip back in time to the construction of Temporal Tower, and would be more of a short story.

01/20/2012: Haven't updated for a little while. Two chapters posted since then. Been kinda nose-to-the-grindstone the last few weeks in getting these chapters edited and posted. Like I mentioned below, these later chapters are requiring a lot of rewriting, editing and fleshing out. So then...we're done to the last chapter (and the epilogue, which I have yet to write at all), and things are getting pretty much hopeless for our heros. And Blaze is... Well, I'll let you read it. As a side note, if Granakri was a real Pokemon and obtainable in the games, he'd be pretty much the only Pokemon you'd ever need on your team if battling was your aim...assuming you could control him (good luck with that). :)

Something I've been meaning to explain for while, even though nobody has asked: You'll probably notice that the Pokemon-human hybrids and Granakri can use more than four attacks. They way I thought it, was both of those species are more intelligent than normal Pokemon; as such, I figured they should be able to learn more than four. Besides, since I'm trying to put a more realistic spin to my stories, I couldn't see any real reason why there should be an artificial limit on number of learned attacks anyway. In fact, Leo the swampert has only really used three different ones throughout all three of the stories (unless I'm forgetting one somewhere...) Blaze has only used two.

It's been a warm January here (even hit 50 last week!), until the last few days. Hit our lowest temp of the season yesterday (-9F). Seems things will be warming up again next week. We've also had less than a third of our normal snowfall, and there's only an inch on the ground right now. Been a very strange winter so far.

Still thinking about getting some more artwork done; there's one particular artist I'm keeping my eye on. Not sure if he'll be interested, though.

12/18/2011: OK, it's been a while. Chapter 22 took an unusual amount of time to edit as it was quite challenging. The first draft of it that I had written many months ago was...crap. I had the scenes down and the action sequences that took place in them just fine, but I guess I rushed it because I needed to reword, restate or otherwise rewrite extensive portions. Overall, the scenes just lacked character and life. Hopefully I fixed that! But that, and throw in the Thanksgiving holiday, meant it just took a while.

Someone pointed out to me just recently that the Pokemon magnas are online for reading. So I started reading them. Definitely more raw and realistic than the animated series to some degree. I like it. Never seen an "official" Pokemon source depict a Pokemon getting sliced in two before...

Anyway, looking forward to Christmas. Hope all of you enjoy the holidays and stay happy and healthy!

11/10/2011: Chapter 21 is published for your reading pleasure. Was a bear to edit (as I say below). Next three chapters are going to be just as tough to edit, too .

BTW, anyone notice the price of hard drives lately? I had to place an order for work that included a few hard drives. I swore the price of drives I ordered a few months ago was a lot cheaper. Today I read some news that confirmed it wasn't my imagination. Because of the flooding in Thailand, where a lot of HD components are made for most of the HD companies, HD prices have risen 25% to over 100% in just the last couple months! Ouch!

11/06/2011: Thought I'd give a quick update. I should have chapter 21 posted this week with any luck. Been sick a few days and with the length of the chapter, it's really taking a while.

10/18/2011: Forgot to mention that I have a new avatar that Sayuri-Lilly did for me. I like it! I wanted something infernape-ish, and one sitting at a desk writing seemed perfect.

10/14/2011: Sayuri-Lilly completed the latest artwork. This one is for chapter 13 again, right at the end. The link is above in the ARTWORK section. She did a fantastic job on this!

This may be the last installment of art for while, as Sayuri-Lilly will be taking a break to focus on other things for a while. Depending on things, I might have another artist fill in for while.

10/05/2011: Chapter 20 is up. A kind of a short one, so it was quicker to finish. Chapter 19 was a fair amount of work, so it was nice to have a shorter one to work on. I thought about combining it with the next chapter for a while, but it made more sense to have the chapter break where it is. The remaining chapters are going to have a fair amount of action in them, which usually slows me down, so don't be surprised if the next chapter takes longer than the two week cycle I've been more-or-less holding to.

Yes, eventually, there will be more artwork for the earlier chapters. I've also commissioned a second artist to make a single depiction of a scene, but she has a four-month long waiting list, so it's going to be a while.

As usual, any comments on the last two chapters?

09/12/2011: Well, you've probably noticed Chapter 18 is available by now. Can't say I'm 100% satisfied with this one. I don't think I was able to bring out the emotion and tension as much as I wanted to. I worked with it, shifted things around, rephrased things in a multitude of ways, but I still think I came up a bit short. I think the problem I ran into was there was too much action and too many characters to keep track of, particularly in the first scene. I was finding it difficult to describe the action and the specific orientation that made it all work, and with all the things that had to be said. Haven't had this much trouble for a while. I dunno, maybe it's fine.

And yes, I'm hoping to have some new artwork soon. :)

Completely unrelated, it sure has been warm here lately for the last few days, considering it's mid-September now. Might even reach 90 today. For this northern clime, that's boarding on the impressive.

08/23/2011: Next chapter is up. This chapter (I hope) marks a sharp upturn in the suspense. Seriously, let me know what you think of it. :)

08/04/2011: Chapter 16 is posted. Enjoy! In related news, Sayuri-Lilly is working on some new artwork. I'll post them as they get completed. I'm thinking that by the time all of this is finished, I'm going to have enough material to print out an illustrated book! :) Also toying with having Variations illustrated too.

07/22/2011: Chapter 15 is up, after a longer than usual session of editing this evening (see, I said the pace of finished chapters was going to speed up!) :) I think I didn't do as good a job in the first draft in the later chapters (being in a greater rush to finish and losing focus), so it looks like the amount of editing I have to do is increasing. That and I'm thinking of new things to add, which is always fun to try and work in to tightly written chapters. But the additions are adding some nice things, I think.

07/06/2011: Got Chapter 14 finished. For whatever reason, this chapter proved more difficult in editing than it should have been. In any case, I plowed through it and it's up for your reading pleasure.

If you hadn't noticed it, Sayuri-Lilly completed another art piece, this one going with the battle scene in Chapter 12. As usual, she really did an outstanding job! Check it out through the link above (it's posted on the website DeviantArt), and I know she would love if you left a comment about it. :)

06/21/2011: Well, I've completed the first draft today! (Cheering, taking a bow, etc...) :) OK ok, I still have the Epilogue to write yet, but that can wait. I'll just say that this novel has been one heck of an effort to get written. And the in some ways harder task is ahead of polishing the last set of chapters enough for mass consumption. There's a lot of notes I've written over the last year-and-a-half that I need to shift through for the second draft of those chapters that I basically ignored, so a lot of work yet. And the last chapter is going to need a LOT of work (it's crap at this stage, more so then any other chapter). Still, hopefully I can get the next chapter out in one to two weeks and the pace of posted chapters will...now...finally...speed...up. :) BTW, does anyone have any comments on the already posted chapters? Still haven't heard anything on the last several. :)

06/03/2011: Chapter 13 is up and ready for reading. This was one of the more fun chapters to write, as well as a bit of a challenge on the characterization front. Sayuri-Lilly did three commissions for me over the last several months that go with this chapter; as soon as she posts them in her gallery on deviantArt, I'll post links to them on this page. I should also caution that for all three of them, you really need to read Chapter 13 first, otherwise they *will* spoil the surprise near the end of the chapter!

05/16/2011: It seems like spring has finally got around to arriving here. Finally had a few nice days over the last couple weeks, instead of being cold & rainy and/or windy. It's nice to have the windows open for the first real time in over six months.

Well, I'm within a hairs-breath of finishing the first draft of the last chapter. Knowing me, it's gonna take another month and a half to do that and write the epilogue. :) But I'm literally working on the second to the last scene, so it can't be that much longer.

Something I've also been thinking about after finishing everything, is an additional chapter of notes, alternate scenes, different directions I considered taking the story, as well as just some general comments about some of the chapters. There were a number of things I considered doing differently, but changed at one point or another. Some of this includes scenes I'd already partly written but ultimately decided wouldn't work, went in the wrong direction for one reason or another, or took certain relationships further than they should. If anyone is interested in this, send me a PM or drop it in a review. If at least a few of you are interested, I'll be much more likely to do it. :)

05/04/2011: Chapter 12 is posted and ready for your reading pleasure. :) I had forgotten how long this chapter was until I started editing it, and then realized it wasn't going to be quick. It's only four scenes, but one scene takes up close to half of the chapter; I don't think I've ever written a scene that long before! But please, let me know what you guys and gals think. Am I treading too far away from what a Pokemon story should be, or do you like the variety...or is there no real variety? Is it holding your interest? Am I writing good word flow, or does it suck? In the Foreword I stated this story was basically going to be one of experiments and riskier ideas, so I'm getting pretty curious as to what you all think about the story direction. I'm hearing crickets... :)

05/01/2011: Quick update: I should be posting the next chapter this week. It's extremely long (easily the longest so far of this story), so it's taking a massive amount of time to polish and put on the finishing touches. The only chapter that will be longer will be the last one of the story (and yes, I'll still don't have it all written yet) :) .

04/14/2011: Yep, Sayuri-Lilly completed yet another commission for me, this one a scene from Chapter 10. I'm running out of words to describe her work; suffice to say, she is just plain awesome! As usual, you can check out the artwork at the link above.

04/08/2011: Another commission completed by Sayuri-Lilly for the battle scene in Chapter 8. This one is awesome! Check it out through the link above.

04/03/2011: Sayuri-Lilly finished the commission for Chapter 8. Unfortunately the scene was too complicated, so this is a close-up of the grand scene I had envisioned. Still, it's really good! You can check it out at the link above.

I should be posting the next chapter in the next day or two (even today if I really get going on it). Although I still have work on the first draft to do, I'm trying to speed up the posting of finished chapters now anyway.

03/09/2011: OK, posted chapter 10 before I finished the first draft. Haven't felt great thanks to a cold, so haven't been getting as much done as I wanted. As always, let me know what you think of the chapter; I'm especially keen to know how the characterizations seem to everyone, as that is what I think is the thorniest aspect of this story. Otherwise enjoy!

02/13/2011: Chapter 9 is posted. It's the shortest chapter of the story, but throwing it in with the next chapter didn't make as much sense (and it keeps the suspense higher). :) Got this out a little later than I hoped; I was having a hard time with one very long scene in chapter 21 of the first draft that required multiple rewrites. I think I have it decent now, but the next draft of it I'm sure is going to bring more changes and hand-wringing. In any case, I just need to write the last chapter now along with the epilogue. Also been thinking more about that possible short story I might do after this is all completed. Just need to work a little more on the plot. Also hoping to have some more artwork soon, but the artist is pretty tied up right now, so no promises.

The weather is finally turning warmer here and some of this snow should be melting this week. Spring is on the way without doubt. I know my mood has been improving as a result!

01/31/2011: Just a quick reminder, if your reviews aren't signed, I have no "good" way to respond to them, except by posting my own "review" (which isn't private). :) Anyway, I wanted to reply to one of you to ask for detail about one of your comments so I could get a better idea of what you thought was lacking.

Nearing completion of the first draft of Chapter 21. Chapter 22 will be the last chapter, plus an epilogue. I'm probably going to get the second draft of Chapter nine started here in the next day or two, perhaps getting it posted by the end of next week. If all goes well, that will be the last chapter I post until the first draft is finished. After that, the rate I post chapters should increase considerably.

01/10/2011: OK, posted Chapter 8 of Unexpected Explorations, which marks the end of the first part of the story. It's a short chapter, but I hope still has enough drama in it. Since it is the end of Part 1, I may or may not post another chapter before I finish the first draft. Just have to see how fast it goes. I also re-posted Chapter 1 with a new Foreword, since the original was getting outdated.

Bought a new laptop last week, so I'm still getting used to the new keyboard. Tending to hit the INS/DEL toggle a lot when reaching for the arrow keys; darned annoying when I want to move the cursor but end up setting myself up to overwrite instead of the normal insert. (Grrr...) But it is more powerful, which was the main thing I was looking for (along with an LED back light that doesn't lose brightness over time like the older CFLs do). So...I should be set for another 3-4 years. :)

01/09/2011: Close to being done with the 2nd draft of chapter 8. Should have it up by mid-week, assuming something doesn't come up. It'll be a short chapter, though.

12/27/2010: Just wishing everyone a happy holidays!

12/22/2010: Sayuri-Lilly finished the commission. She has wonderful talent; check it out!

12/17/2010: Yesterday I finished the first draft of chapter 20. Unless I decide differently, there are only two more to be written (plus an epilogue). Wow...just two to go... Maybe another 40 pages. The grand total for the first draft is probably going to end up around in the 300-310 page range, making it officially longer than Variations by a decent margin. Good grief.

If Sayuri-Lilly is willing, I'm hoping to have a couple of drawings done for chapter 8. The one for chapter 7 is coming along, and she's definitely working hard on it!

Oh, and the hand is fully healed now.

12/06/2010: Chapter 7 is up. I was hoping the drawing would be ready by the time I posted it, but the artist has been super busy lately. Hopefully soon, though. Anyway, as always, free free to comment on the chapter!

11/22/2010: Want to say thanks for the encouragement! This story is proving particularly difficult for me to finish and I really appreciate any and all reviews. There's a couple scenes in the first draft I want to complete, then I'll switch to the second draft and work on the seventh chapter and get it posted. Unfortunately, I had an accident yesterday that resulted in part of my hand getting second degree burns. This will slow me down some as it's going to be difficult to type until it heals. I'm still hoping I can get the chapter out by the first full week of December, though.

Oh, and I have the next commission underway that will coincide with the beginning of the chapter. Sayuri-Lilly also colorized the one scene that'll be posted later (the one I mentioned earlier that won't be posted until the chapter it goes with is posted). This will be around chapter 13 or 14. And since I'm within a few chapters of finishing the first draft, I'm pretty certain the entire effort will be longer than Variations. :)

11/09/2010: Just wanted to make a quick entry to thank VCJ for the review. I'm really honored that you think so highly of my stories! A good suggestion on Lonny's Protect; I'll need to add something in the way of more discussion around it with the character's theories about it.

Believe me, reviews give me the encouragement to keep going!

The first draft is about 85% complete at this point. There aren't too many major scenes left to write...but that'll probably equate to another four or more months at the snail's pace I'm currently going. I'll likely continue putting out a new chapter about once a month until then. At some point if there's enough interest, I'll go through and edit everything one more time, especially if any mistakes are pointed out. :)

11/02/2010: This last chapter really took a while to edit. Several things needed a lot of polish and I hadn't been feeling like doing much writing anyway, so it stretched out a while. Anyway, please tell me what you like or don't like about it...

10/06/2010: Been feeling very lethargic lately; haven't been doing a whole lot of writing. Working on a longer scene that when I get its first draft done, I'll start working on a more finished version of Chapter 6 to post, maybe sometime next week or the week after.

09/19/2010: The commission is finished, and again Sayuri-Lilly did an incredible job! This art goes with the end of the 5th chapter of Unexpected Explorations, so you'll want to read it before viewing. View it here: Lonny's Battle. I tried putting it in the chapter, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. BTW, anyone have any comments on the last couple of chapters? If it's something you don't want to be public, you can message me too...

09/12/2010: Chapter 5 is posted. Enjoy! I have a commission for some artwork that goes with this chapter that should be complete in the next day or three. When it's ready, I'll include a link in the chapter (if possible), otherwise I'll include the link here in this blog.

09/05/2010: I received the second commission from Sayuri-Lilly on today, and I have to say, wow! However, since this piece contains a surprise, I can't release it for a while until the associated chapter is posted. I'll include a link within the chapter (if possible) when I post it. I'll be commissioning a third work here very shortly to go with the very next chapter, which I hope to post this week.

08/31/2010: The commission is finished and you can find it here: Upcoming character. It was done by Sayuri-Lilly on . I think she did a fantastic job! Keep in mind that with my "realistic" version of infernapes, I've replaced the flames from the top of their heads with red and yellow flame-like hair instead. Anyway, I don't want to give anything about the story away right now, so I'll just say she'll be in some upcoming chapters much further down the road.

(Alright, back to work on the chapters...)

08/30/2010: I hired someone for a commission to do a sketch of one of the characters that will be introduced later in the story. Depending on how that turns out and how much $$$ I have, I may have more done. :)

08/19/2010: Chapter 4 has been published. Probably is going to be one of the shortest chapters of this story, but it contains the first turning point. Whereas the first three chapters were basically setting the stage, we now meet up with the main storyline here.

How's the first draft going you ask? Er...sloooowww (scene of me tearing hair out)! The last two chapters have been brutal, with a lot going on, many complicated issues to deal with, and I'm still trying to make it come off as plausible and believable. There were a couple points in Variations where I had the same issues, so hopefully I can make this work too. But, I finally have a couple of enjoyable scenes to work on next, so that'll make things easier (some scenes are just more fun to write than others).

A couple of you in your reviews asked some questions (perhaps rhetorically), so I posted a "review" to answer them. :) I thought about answering on this profile page, but that just didn't seem right.

07/27/2010: Posted chapter 3 a little sooner than I planned, but I kind of needed a break from working on the first draft (I find editing somewhat easier than writing fresh material...but it can be harder in other ways too.) Since I'll be taking a two week vacation pretty soon, work on the first draft probably isn't going to go real fast for a while, but I hope to make some progress while being away from home (and work). Thanks again to those who wrote reviews - I really do appreciate it!

07/06/2010: Chapter 2 is up! I still consider it a rough edit, so if there's anything that reads strangely or any obvious mistakes, please let me know.

06/28/2010: Working, working, working... :) Last couple chapters have been excruciatingly slow. Lots of character development, lots of going back to make sure details are correct, lots of decisions to make, lots of laziness to overcome. There's really two directions I wanted to take leading up to the climax, and only now have I (more or less) decided which route to go. Doesn't affect how everything ends, just the path of how to get there. One other thing I wasn't sure about but now that I'm over the 3/4 mark I realize is, there isn't as much action in this story as in Variations. But I think I'm making it heavier on situations, mystery and discovery. Something I'm very sure about however: I'm going to be taking a looonnng vacation after this is done. But I do have a short story I'm thinking about, focusing on two of the characters from this. After all the chapters are posted, I'll let you guess which two. :) With luck, in the next week or two I'll have the next "preliminary" chapter posted.

05/31/2010: All chapters of Variations have been repaired!

05/26/2010: Chapters 11-16 repaired.

05/23/2010: Variations chapters 1- 10 repaired.

05/20/2010: Ugh. Just noticed that during some upgrade of this site, all the scene separators I had in my chapters for both my stories disappeared, so now each chapter appears as just one confused mass! Double ugh. Well, I got Trials fixed up (and corrected a couple grammar errors), but fixing Variations is going to take some time. Ugh again...

05/13/2010: Yikes. I threatened it. I did it. :) I posted the first chapter of the new story, Unexpected Explorations. Seriously, I may change the title yet, but it was the best I could think of that's descriptive, and yet didn't give any real clues about what's going to happen (it wasn't easy). Keep in mind it will be a long while till I post the next chapter, but I really am interested in hearing initial feedback. Let me know what you think! Unlike the last two stories, this one is still at a stage where I can make some changes yet without messing too much up. But first and foremost, please enjoy it!

04/18/2010: Yes, still working. :) I'm nearing the end of a very long scene, which might be an entire chapter by itself. And as I thought, this part of the story is going slower than usual (which was already slow!) due to all the complexity and emotions to be dealt with. Overall, maybe...maybe...maybe I'm close to two-thirds done. In any case, I see the light at the end of the tunnel but it's a ways yet. I'm strongly leaning toward finishing up and posting the first chapter before I'm done with the complete first draft, since this first draft is taking so long. The downside would be there's a chance I'll have to change some details and it'll be a long while before I post the next chapter (probably a couple months at least), but getting some initial feedback would be helpful (as well as putting something out there before the wait gets too long... :) ).

03/11/2010: Currently working on chapter 11. Still hoping to be posting the first (fully finished) chapters sometime this year yet. :) One thing about writing multiple stories using the same characters, and this is probably nothing new to other authors, is the amount of stuff you need to keep track of grows quickly since the character's histories keep growing. This tends to slow you down as you frequently have to stop, look up something, and make sure you're keeping continuity with past events. And not just with material I wrote, but I have to occasionally look up stuff in the game as well and make sure I'm getting a minor point correct. While writing the first story (Variations), I eventually had to resort to making an Excel spreadsheet with a worksheet devoted to the characters (names, ages, physical features, manners, even photos), and another to the major events in the story divided by chapter. I gotta start adding to that with this story pretty soon.

On a not very related subject: anyone leave their computer on a lot without it doing anything or don't run much when you do have it on? If you want to put it to use by helping on a worthy project, there's a number of distributed computing projects looking for some donated CPU horsepower. One I'm participating in is Rosetta@home (http:///rosetta/), in which they're trying to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins. This would be useful in producing new drugs, in genetic engineering, and in curing many human diseases.

Through that site, there's a link to a bunch of other cool projects as well (http:///) .

02/09/2010: OK, I should probably give an update... I think I'm in the ballpark of half done (give or take) of the first draft. I'm probably going to break the story into two parts, but it'll be more symbolic then anything (darn good cliff-hanger that I couldn't pass up). There's some pretty tough writing ahead in dealing with how the characters react to a rather major event, so it's probably going to go slow for a while.

01/01/2010: Happy New Year!

Getting close to the one-third point in first draft of the story (seven chapters so far). Maybe sometime this year I'll get this thing completed. :) At some point I'll need a title for it other than "Variations Sequel".

Went to see Avatar a couple weekends ago. Amazing movie. I recommend the 3D version (you'll want to see it on the big screen - can always watch the 2D version later at home when it comes out on DVD/Blueray). Buy the soundtrack too if you like soundtrack music. Incredible score.

11/24/09: First three chapters are complete, first draft anyway. Finally reaching a more exciting part which I think I'll go faster on. A lot of character building had to be done first, considering the major event that happens near the beginning. I'm also thinking ahead to a short story or two that will take place after the end of this story. I thought some about doing one to follow on to the Trials of a Pokemon Trainer, but I think I rather use one of the new characters I'll be introducing in the sequel. She's going to be rather...unique (I hope). I'm far enough along that I think there's going to be around 15-20 chapters, and overall probably a little shorter in total length. Maturity level will be a bit higher, as I said before. I was also toying with finishing and posting some chapters before I'm done with the entire first draft, but at the pace I'm working I think it would be too long between chapters. Also, I want to make sure nothing I write at the end will change what I wrote earlier (and that was the biggest reason why I didn't start posting chapters of Variations until I had finished it's first draft). :)

BTW, anyone see the last Pokemon movie? Was decent, but some of the dialog (as usual) was too simplistic. Great plot, though.

Random thoughts: Ekk! Winter's coming! Due for a snowfall tomorrow, just in time to drive for Thanksgiving. Drive safe, everyone.

10/31/09: At this point I'm at least (finally) working close to a regular schedule on the sequel, but still slowly. Just don't have the enthusiasm level that I did for the first story (yet), though some of the more "fun" parts are coming up, and writing those usually fire me up. If anyone is interested in hearing where I'm going with the story, I'm going to be adding a few more mature scenes (i.e. adult situations) than in Variations. After all, the characters are getting older, there's been more time since the events in the game (and in Variations) and they're bound to start pursuing some things they hadn't before. Also remember we have humans on the Poke planet too, now. :) By the way, anyone know of someone who can draw decent Pokemon art (commission work)? Still would like to have some character sketches done, but I'm far better at writing than drawing.

Oh yeah, happy Boo-day!

09/30/09: Yep, still working on the sequel (slowly). Fleshing out more scenes of the plot and some of the new characterizations, although I am also working on the first chapter, which is close to being complete (1st draft). Also toying with the idea of making some sketches of some scenes, although I'm no artist. Still might try, though.

8/21/09: I've kinda started working on the Variations sequel, but it's going real slow. It's probably going to take a while to get back into the groove, so to speak. Actually, I've been more thinking about that other short story I've partly worked on. I just might take that up again and complete it first. Basically, it's supposed to explore the relationship between a trainer and his Pokemon who've been together for a long time (maybe too long), and over the many years had grown closer then he fully realized, all while they attempt to solve the apparent mystery of an unknown Pokemon that's appeared coincidentally with some strange unexplained events. So part love story, part mystery.

7/18/09: After reading about the extra scenes in "Explorers of Sky", I think I have enough info to go ahead with a sequel to Variations at this time. I didn't see anything in those EoS scenes that would alter what I wrote in Variations either, thankfully. :) Although I'm still taking a self-imposed vacation from writing for a while, I'm still working a little on the master document with major plot points, short scenes, ideas that I want to work in, etc.

7/08/09: "Trials" is finished! Just published the last chapter. I think I need a little break at this point. :) I've been thinking a lot about that other short story I was doing as an experiment. Maybe I'll take that up next...or just wait until "Explorers of Sky" is released, play it, then plow into the Variations sequel. (Yep, still working on it's plot, and even starting to write portions of some of it's key scenes.)

A couple other Pokemon stories I can recommend: A Fear of Change, by Diego Zeyon and Requiem for the Living, by San Dawnheart.

6/24/09: OK, finished and published the first chapter of "Trials" a little sooner than expected. :) But that was the easy chapter.

6/21/09: Second draft complete! Maybe, maybe, maybe I'll be posting this story next month... I'm getting a pretty decent plot together for a sequel to Variations. Still have two or three major plot decisions to make, but the sequel should shed some light on some of the events reviewers thought were slightly "strange" in the end of Variations.

6/02/09: First draft is done! Two more to go before it's publishable... So PMD3 is going to be released this fall; sure glad they aren't waiting until spring.

5/25/09: Well, getting there. Close to getting the first draft done. Can't really call it a short story anymore, as it looks to be going over fifty pages. My original intent was to post it as one chapter, but I'm likely going to split it into three (which actually would work well). When will it be done? I honestly can't say. :) Been reading the story "A Little Night Music" by srgeman. I highly recommend it; definitely a different way of looking at the Pokemon universe. Be aware it's for mature readers, though.

5/8/09: At this point, I'm pretty much working full-bore on the short story that takes place between Chapter 19 and the Epilog of Variations. It might turn out to be a little longer than "short", but we'll see. :) I'm also continuing to gather plot elements to any sequel. I think I have a number of major things worked out, but I should really wait until PMD3 comes out to see what effect it may have (sigh).