Derick W J Tan

Ugh, just when I was beginning to pick up momentum, school begins and now I’m flooded with work again.

I’m trying hard to write every single day but it’s hard to keep up when I have  to use the time to settle my schoolwork. It’s either that or I’m too tired to write and end up just falling asleep. And this will only get worse because right now I’m only in the pre-production phase. Once I enter Production phase I’ll most likely have to put a halt on my writing, especially since most of my filming time will be at night.

I’ll just have to take it step by step I guess.

- Derick

I just finished the Prologue.

=)

Now I need to go through the plot and create a new Chapter Outline to see if there are any inconsistencies or any areas that I can improve on. Following that, I’ll take a short break to let my mind refresh itself and during that short break, I’ll probably write some short-stories or most likely fan-fictions that will serve as a companion stories to Specimen Two: Ixion.

And that is all~

- Derick

I’m stuck at the ending – prologue – of the story which should sort of continue the series plot. The main problem is that I need to end it in such a way that you guys will want to read the third’s story, but at the same time this ending must link to the remaining three stories. And the issue with that is that the second story is set after the end of Specimen One while the third’s story is set in the same timeline as Specimen One.

So basically what I’m trying to do is link the future with the past and make try to make it interesting at the same time.

Sounds easy.

Bloody difficult to do.

Aside from the prologue, the rest of the story is pretty much done. I’m a lot more satisfied with Draft 2 in terms of the plot, in fact, this might more or less be the finalized one already. But there are still a lot of descriptions to be added in to help immerse you guy into the story when you read it. And not forgetting all the polishing that I need to do regarding the tenses, as well as checking that my new style of writing is consistent throughout the story. Urgh, not forgetting checking whether the plot elements are consistent with my notes on the entire series as well as the other four stories. The list goes on…

I’ll update when I get a satisfactory prologue.

- Derick

Wooo! I finally found the message for Specimen Two and a whole bunch of ideas just suddenly linked up in my head.

WEEE!!! I’m feeling freaking awesome right now because it was like the message came to me and it linked up what I was writing then, with the stuff that I had written and will write in the sequels, as well as with a song that I’ve been listening to for inspiration! PERFECT!

WOOOOO!!!

Just one of the many reasons why I love being a writer =D

- Derick

Draft 2 is going very well. I’ve fixed many of the problems with the plot in Draft 1 and I’ve managed to streamline the fixed plot so that the total word count will still be below 50,000 words. And because the story is so short, I’ve been able to work rather quickly because I’m actually already nearing the end of Draft 2.

Right now I’m about 3/4 done and the biggest obstacles I’m heading to would be the climax and the ending. Both of which were - sad to say - written quite horribly in the first draft so they’re going to need an overhaul as well.

Another thing that I want to note is my new writing style which is actually confusing me quite a bit. Because of the perspective that it’s being written in, I’m getting very confused about the tenses so it’s something that I’ll have to address in the final draft.

If I continue to press on, Draft 2 should be done earliest by this coming Sunday which is freaking fast because I’m not even ready for Draft 3 yet, lol.

We’ll see how it goes =)

- Derick