It was fun while it lasted but I realised that I’m still in the midst of trying to find my own writing voice so writing it in first-person perspective might mess with that quite a bit.

I’m sticking with Specimen Three – not going to jump to four – and right now it’s going slow but steady. My end of 2009 deadline for  Specimen Three: Geralt is still very much possible because of the reduced length – I’ve told you guys about this right?

If I didn’t then… yeah, it’s going to be shorter =X

- Derick

Specimen Three is not looking good.

I skimmed through Specimen Two earlier today and I realised that it was actually pretty awesome.

Yeah, yeah, I’m an arrogant poopyhead, blah blah.

So yes, Specimen Two really was pretty awesome - compared to Specimen One - because there was actually a flow to the bloody story and I really did put in quite a number of twists. But when I look at Specimen Three, I don’t see that it being better or even as good as Specimen Two.

Allow me to blame my internship again.

Seriously, the story is there but it isn’t engaging enough and it still feels very segmented. To tell you the truth, I don’t feel motivated at all when it comes to certain chapters, which is a very, very bad thing for a writer.

Another thing to blame is actually the Chapter Outline which I did during my internship. The problem now is that I’m too stuck with the storyline that I’ve planned in the Outline and that storyline kinda sucks – compared to Specimen Two.

Right now I have two options in front of me:

1. Keep pushing.
I’ll just keep forcing myself to write and hopefully somewhere, somehow I’ll find a flow to it and the story will magically work out.

2. Specimen Four
What? I can’t jump to the fourth’s story because four doesn’t come after two? I’m the bloody author, I’ll do what I want.

Seriously though, I might have to work on Specimen Four instead because right now the only viable way I can see myself being able to make Specimen Three work is that I begin with a blank slate. And that means I need to give myself some time off from the story so that my mind can refresh itself. But time is something that I can’t afford to waste so why not work on Specimen Four instead?

Make sense right?

However I’m not going to make a decision just yet. I’ll try and see if I can still make Specimen Three work and depending on the results, I’ll come and visit these two choices again.

- Derick

I’m about halfway done with the first draft - haha, I told you it’ll go fast once my SIP is over - and I just realised something about the problem with me and descriptions.

There isn’t one.

In the past there were complaints about not knowing how the characters look like or what kind of environment they were in, and I tried to address it by describing and describing more but then I realised that by doing so, I was killing a very important element in reading fiction.

Imagination.

Yes, my characters weren’t described enough in terms of physical features - that I agree - but I think simple things like a restaurant, a park or a bar should be generic enough for your mind – your imagination – to create your own interpretation when I mention the place. All I should be doing is mention some key things about the place like perhaps the tone of the restaurant, the size of the park, or how lavish the bar is, as well as key elements in the setting that will be used.

So that settles it, description isn’t – well it shouldn’t be - a problem anymore.

To say that I’m being too lazy to describe isn’t quite right because I’ve been reading books by C.S. Lewis and Tom Clancy and those two guys don’t describe all that much. Of course there are authors like Christopher Paolini who describes his scenes so vividly that you can just close your eyes and actually see the place in your head. But truth be told, I wouldn’t be able to pull off that kind of description that Christopher Paolini seemed to have mastered, which actually isn’t quite necessary for Project M.I.G.H.T. since it’s all set in the real world.

Once I’m done with Project M.I.G.H.T. and I start to work on… - Oh I feel so tempted to release the title now, haha, but I really shouldn’t since it isn’t confirmed - my next story, I’ll really need to start to learn how to describe in a much more detailed manner.

Because as I’ve mentioned before and will confirm now, my next story after Project M.I.G.H.T. is going to be under the Fantasy genre =)

- Derick

I’m going to re-write Specimen 3: Geralt.

My intership really messed up this particular story and whatever I’ve written so far is way too fragmented for me to continue properly. It’s basically the same problem that I’ve encountered before which is the lack of a flow in the entire story, from dialogues to settings and events.

Now that my internship is finally over, I’ll be able to concentrate on churning out chapters every night as I’ve did before for the previous stories.

Normally I don’t give out ETAs for many reasons but uh, I’m aiming for a release by the end of the year. This could prove to be difficult because I do have my Final Year Project to attend to which is a full-scale short film production but considering the amount of preparation work I’ve done for Specimen 3… it’s not impossible.

I’m even considering linking my Final Year Project’s story to Specimen 3: Geralt =)

- Derick

My internship is over =)

- Derick

Trying to finish Project M.I.G.H.T. before I enter National Service is going to be quite a rush and most likely not possible without the quality of the Specimen Four and Five being affected.

I’m still not used to work life because whenever I get home, I’m just too tired to sit down and let the entire story, characters, and plot elements spread out in my head and then start to write. I can’t sustain that level of concentration and I just end up writing nonsense if I force myself to write.

The Chapter Outline is done but it’s doing little to help because of the problem I mentioned above.

The only time I really have to write now is during the weekends which really isn’t much so at the very most I can churn out three chapters per week, which is a drastic drop in productivity. I’ll have to get used to work life eventually of course but I doubt it’ll happen during this internship since I only have a month and a half left. Once I get used to it, my internship would probably be over and I’ll lose the adaptation.

So right now, writing during weekends seem to be the only solution to this problem. Specimen Three: Geralt will see a drop in word count again like how there was a drop from Specimen One to Specimen Two. I am aiming for a novella length (45,000 words+) as opposed to the length of an epic novel because the ideas that I have for a Romance/Science-fiction genre mix is really quite limited.

Once I’m done with Project M.I.G.H.T. and move on to Fantasy/Science-Fiction however… heh.

As of now, I’m going to try and write during the weekdays and hopefully can get perhaps five chapters out per week. Once I’m done with the first draft, the second draft should be less taxing depending on how well draft 1 turned out. But I’m really not going try and force myself too much during this internship period because honestly speaking, Specimen Three is not looking good at all right now.

Once internship is over, I’ll have roughly two months where I can fervently write every single day at 100%.

Specimen Three: Geralt has suffered a 3 months delay because of my internship so that’s going to push everything further, but I’ll try my best to catch up during that two months after my internship =)

- Derick

Remember that post about me wanting to do Project M.I.G.H.T. in a non-linear manner so that other readers can enter the series by reading any book that they like first?

Yeah, that idea has gone to hell.

I realised that it’s actually a lot more fun – non to mention easier – to write it in a linear manner so it’s to hell with this non-linear idea. If you want to read this series, you start with book one and you work your way up from there.

Now of course this does not mean that the non-linear idea was a bad idea. I’ll definitely want to experiment with it again and hopefully with success, but it’s just not going to work with Project M.I.G.H.T. without bringing down the quality of the series.

As for Specimen Three: Ixion, the chapter outline is going well and as I’ve mentioned before, this story is going to be a lot more fast-paced than the previous two stories. It’s going to be action after action, with some breaks in between for you to catch your breath, before I smack you across the face with another action-packed chapter. I don’t want to do just the same old “girl falls in love guy, guy falls in love with girl” routine, I want to add a deeper story to it and in Specimen Three, you’re going to learn a lot more about the series’ plot.

Specimen One: Mythias basically set the foundation of the series plot – you learn about Project M.I.G.H.T. and that someone is trying to create the fifth.

Specimen Two: Ixion tells you that the fifth has been  created and that the fifth is being used to kill them one by one.

Specimen Three: Geralt is going to reveal A BLOODY LOT more on the surface and if you’re a sharp reader who can interpret and link different informations, you’re going to find one or two MAJOR plot keys that will give you a much better picture of what’s actually going on.

And of course, you’re all going to meet the fourth =)

- Derick

I can’t get a flow going with Specimen Three when I only have the energy to write like once or twice every week. The whole story is a complete mess right now with no structure or flow or direction. Every character just pops up and you won’t feel attached to any of them while reading. Geralt is a freaking robot with no emotions. And the main character is the polar opposite of what I initially planned her to be like.

But the solution isn’t for me to wait until my internship is over (9 more weeks exactly) because when internship is over, I have other matters in the future like National Service and my day job.

The solution – I already have one, haha - is to get a chapter-by-chapter plan out before I begin on the first draft.

It’s basically what I did for Her Hero and His Love but what I didn’t like about that was that the story felt constrained. And more importantly, I find it a lot more fun to just have guidelines or checkpoints for different parts of the story, and allow the story to just grow and manifest itself from the start when I begin to write.

They’re two different styles of writing that authors have been debating over which one is better. And while I prefer to let a story grow on its own, I think it’s clear that that way of writing isn’t going to work out for me at this point of time when I’m in my internship.

Chapter-by-Chapter Plan, that’s what I’ll be working on now =)

- Derick

I noticed that Specimen Two: Ixion was still lacking in the descriptions department – a problem which Specimen One: Mythias suffered from. So this time, I’m going to add in a ton of descriptions for Specimen Three: Geralt. Odds are I’ll probably go over and the whole story will be too descriptive, but I think it’s the best way to force myself to describe more now before I slowly tone it down in Specimen Four: ???.

Progress is slow because I just begun my internship two weeks ago. It lasts for three whole months and I’m still adjusting so right now I’m really too tired to write much once I get home after work.

My aim is to finish Specimen Three and Specimen Four before the middle of next year which is when I will be required to enter National Service (army). I have no idea how that will be like but I’ll probably only have like the weekends to write once it begins. And it’ll continue that way for a few months.

The good thing is that during that period I’ll be able to do a lot of reading so that will definitely help make the final story a much more well-written work =)

- Derick

Time was the title I used for Specimen Two: Ixion when I posted it up on Soshified’s fanfic section, with the reason being that I was introducing the members there to the series for the first time, so a title like “Specimen Two: Ixion” was going to confuse them a little.

Now, so far I haven’t gotten a single feedback for Specimen Two – got 2 votes though – but I’m not too dismayed by that because the response over at Soshified was quite overwhelming.

(Click for larger version)

Now that is by no means a record-breaking feat or proof that my fanfic was the best there. Most new fanfics do not reach such a high post count and view count, while other veteran and better fanfics will reach my number of view count quite easily but it won’t be as easy for them to reach my post count so quickly.

Basically what it means is that my fanfic was at best, I think, considered as ‘above average’ over there, but I am still amazed and extremely happy. Why?

Here’s why.

For most fanfictions, there is this thing called a PM List which is basically a list of people who wants you to PM (Private Message) them when you have a new chapter posted up. In other words they want to follow your story.

28 people.

Meh, if you’re Stephanie Meyer, J.K Rowling or Stephen King then yeah, 28 people is insignificant. But I’m freaking Derick W J Tan, the silly little writer from Singapore who barely anyone knows exists, and knowing that I have 28 eager readers who wants to follow my story is a HUGE accomplishment for me. And the thing about fanfictions is that there are a lot of what we call ’silent readers’, people who basically follow your fanfiction without commenting. So the actual amount could be a lot more than just 28.

The best way for you to understand the kind of comments that I’m getting there is for you to get an account at Soshified and read them yourself. But here are a few examples:
(I’m quoting and not taking screenshots because the forum’s layout makes it difficult to post the full image here directly)

“I’m glad I took the time to read your fic, it’s really interesting and the writing is fantastic!~” - cph

“this line is hilarious. rofl omg. Fany! hahahahaha i can’t stop laughing. i seriously love your story! omg i love it! you have no idea how much i love ur story. it’s just fabulous! excellent! perfect! lmao omg. Fany is too cute in here. way too cute. i think..i’m getting high on cuteness or something. lmao wow i totally love this chapter. little Fany is just jjang! how can you not love this girl? hahah” - mlight

“I ended up reading all the chapters in one go and can’t help but comment on your overall writing style. I’m no English Pro/Major, but even I can tell that you have a very good grasp on the English techniques/syntax. Combined with a higher vocabulary, a very imaginative plot and humor, you get a very detailed story that flows nicely and keeps the readers intrigued and entertained. I also absolutely love reading your fictions because you take the time to edit. It’s nice to give my eyes, and my mind, a rest because I tended to go OCD over little bits of grammar.” - aZnNeRd

“Holy moley! taht chapter well those two chapters were amazing! so dramatic
I really like ixy and tiffany they are really cute together even though he is made up lol” - linalee7

“what can i say other than GREAT? thsi fan fic is so original and i love the plot + storyline. i can’t wait to read what happens next in the story and why sooyoung doesn’t remember anything after she was adopted.” - whosfanareyou

“I love the way you write! It’s very unpredictable and has plently of twists and turns. The plotline is awesome and your portrayal of SNSD is very realistic.” - CDY

There are like so many more comments – those up there are only from the first eight pages. You have to get an account and go through them yourself to really see what kind of reactions I’m getting.

Alright, so we got the post counts, we got the view counts, we got the people who wants follow my story and we got some of the content of the comments.

But some of you still think that they don’t really prove much. The members there could only be reading because I had these SNSD girls inside my story, and that they’re not even interested in the plot or the series at all.

We need statistic.

OK.

(Click for larger version)

Fine, so most of them enjoyed the story - some didn’t, which is normal - and a number of them is willing to pay for the story while others don’t because they don’t shop online.

It still doesn’t prove that they enjoy the SERIES.

OK.

An RD PM List (Release Date PM List) is basically a list of members who would like to be notified of the release dates for the sequels in Project M.I.G.H.T. when I get them.

In other words they want to follow the series.

To you, the number of people in that list may not be many but to me, I find it A LOT. I’m still quite a new writer and I’m not all that great so the thought of having like more than ten people who wants to see the end to this series really gives me the motivation to take it through all the way.

Specimen Three: Geralt is currently underway and right now I can promise you that there will be a hell lot more action in this story than the previous two put together. I want to see Singapore BURN and EXPLODE and buildings falling like the esplanade crumbling to dust to reveal a freaking giant durian, and giant flaming asteroids crashing into the merlion with a lot more action scenes that what’s normally depicted by our local TV serials. And the series plot will move forward drastically because of the role Geralt plays with his occupation.

Put it this way, there will be so much action in the story that mediacorp (our local TV station) will never adapt it into a TV show or movie because of the insane budget it’ll have to come with =X

That’s right, Hollywood, I’m looking at you right now =)

- Derick