AtO Draft Update 3

When I first started this monstrous project of completing my draft for AtO, I had a clear and fixed idea of how many chapters I'd need to reach the epilogue.

But now, a couple hundred thousand words later, I have passed that expected chapter number and I still have a way to go to reach my epilogue. There's maybe an entire arc or so till the end? I'm not completely sure because things have diverged a lot from what I had planned.

Even with that unexpected increase in chapters, I'm super pleased with how much I've written out for AtO.

Now if I can tap into that same productivity when I begin editing, then I should be able to update AtO more than once this year. Wouldn't that be something?

Some of the things that have happened in the recent chapters of the draft

1- Harry gets injured. I'm still toying with how serious the injury and it's repercussions should be. But it makes sense to have Harry injured... for reasons.

2- The Uzumaki duo has become a trio. It shouldn't be too hard to guess who the third Uzumaki is. The circumstances of how they meet needs some fine tuning, but I'm pretty fixed on how they all interact with each other.

3- I've been quite determined to get Team 7 to do things so that I can justify them being on-screen so much. So I've been giving Sai and Sakura all sorts of things to do. Things that diverge from what they are shown to do in canon.

4- Harry has done some pretty awesome/crazy magic and impressed quite a few people and garnered someone's dangerous interest. The magic bits always makes me second guess how the plot should go though. I do like the idea of magic causing more problems, but how many problems is too many?

5- A whole lot of made-up Uzumaki history. Actually, just a whole lot of made-up history all around.

6- This is more of a confession- I still haven't put Kakashi into the draft. Everything that happens to him, happens off screen so that I don't have to write him. I will definitely try and change this while I'm editing.

Basically, the story has a whole lot of canon divergence, which shouldn't be so surprising. 

Harry causes all sorts of mayhem just by existing.

Polar

AtO Draft Update 2

Another few thousand words of draft writing later and it's brought up some crazy moments and thoughts. Here are a select few of those moments. 

1. Have these two idiots been talking for 4000+ words? What they heck are they even talking about?

Harry is obviously one of the idiots in the conversation. And I don't know how it became such a long bit of dialogue and speaking. No one should speak that much in just one go. I didn't realize how big it had gotten until I was moving what I had written into another document. 

2. It's been rather peaceful for a while. No Shikaku anywhere... never mind, I spoke too soon.

I had just finished writing out a chapter scene and thinking- it's been a while since any Nara showed up. When I go to check on my plot table, what do I see? That I actually need to bring the Nara in so that Harry can have some sort of revelation or something. 

3. Let's play a game of -Where's Hedwig?

No, really where is Hedwig? Did I send her up ahead somewhere? Is she sleeping on someone's shoulder? Is she doing something menacing? Why can't I keep track of what I wrote she's doing? I don't have the answers for any of those questions. I'm seriously colour coding character names so that I can see where and when I've written everyone in. 

4. Have I already done this scene in a previous chapter?

Because it certainly feels like I have. This has happened quite a few times. And I couldn't even be bothered to look. I just wrote it anyway and put a sticky note thing on the side of the word document that says “Check if this is a repeat scene.” I apparently have very high hopes for future editing-me. 

5. When will Kakashi come out of my writing limbo?

Apparently, never. I'm giving his scenes to everyone else. Poor guy. But I am working on it. I'm sure I'll get him back in AtO eventually. Maybe he can have a nice and final heroic death. Off-screen. And then Harry could get his nin-dogs. I totally have not thought about his death scene at all. 

6. Speaking of possible heroic deaths, I wonder what Sasuke's been up to?

Nobody knows. Not Team 7 and most definitely not me. He's successfully keeping a low profile. I just know that the first time Sasuke appears in person in AtO, Harry's going to... well let's just say, it's not going to be a nice meeting for anyone. At least that's how I imagine it in my head for now. It's going to be a while before I write that scene.

While I haven't mentioned them, the Akatsuki do bring up their own share of crazy thoughts during their rare but deadly appearances. I actually just finished writing a possible Akatsuki scene and it was a bit... blah. I'm lost on how I've managed to make them so blah. And I'm going to have to figure out how to make them less blah.

So basically, let's all just pray for future editing-me.

Polar

AtO Draft Update

I'm still writing! Barring days when I'm just too bogged down with life, I've been pretty consistent with adding to the draft. If that isn't a cause for celebration, I don't know what is.

I recently passed the 85,000 word count but I'm nowhere close to the end, so I'm dreading the editing phase.

I haven't gone back to read anything draft I've written so far, because I know that I'll want to edit so much and that will stop me from writing.

The massive editing I'll need to do is the reason why I put September as the tentative date for the next AtO update.

As for how the writing has been going, well, here are some of the thoughts that go through my mind.

1. Shikaku, go away.
2. Oh hey Kakashi, it's been a while? Maybe I should put you in here talking and being informative... actually, you know what, I like it better when you're out of Konoha on a mission. You can take Yamato with you too. Goodbye.
3. Shikaku, seriously you've already had enough screen time, go away.
4. Tsunade, hey, maybe it's time to ... no? Okay then.
5. Shikaku, what the heck man? Why are you hogging the spotlight again? At least let it Shikamaru be the token Nara here.
6. Team 7, I don't know if all these mushy scenes of you guys will stick around in the final draft, but I'm going to write as many of these scenes as I can.
7. Shikaku, I'm making a nice long list on how I can kill you off. Don't make me use it.
8. Danzo, I'm seriously missing you. You won't believe what Shikaku's been doing. Please show up soon.
9. Kakashi, er, you want another mission outside the village?
10. Nara... how would you like to be in another HP crossover plotbunny that I've just created? You can be the main character and everything.
11. Oh my god, just how am I supposed to reach that ending now. I wasn't supposed to go on this tangent. Harry, no! Don't do that.

Yes, I'm exaggerating.

I never miss Danzo.

Polar