Well, it’s been a while. Haven’t meant to be absent from this blog for so long (again), but between the heat that has been hitting St. John’s (see all my previous complaints and rants about my allergy to heat) and getting caught up in the subject of this post, I’ve been more than a little bit distracted.

First of all, don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but I didn’t win April’s Camp NaNoWriMo. *shrugs* Again, various things happened, and Real Life interfered. Didn’t help that we were dealing with my housemates leaving, and two new housemates coming in (whom I admit I get along better with!). But, I did get some writing on It Came From the Library done, and I was determined to do better with this month’s Camp.

The story I chose to work on for this month was an original fic (naturally) called alternatively Seal Song or Selkie Maiden, based on the song “The Maiden and the Selkie” by Heather Dale. I’d already written the prologue, but figured it was easy enough to just remove that from the word count; and I knew how I wanted the first chapter to start out.

Well, I got off to a slow start – didn’t even start writing until July 7th, and ended up not writing anything July 9th and 10th due to horrendous headache attacking me out of nowhere the evening of July 8th.

Meanwhile, Vathara has been working on a Sekirei fanfic, and she was tossing lots of bio stuff and ideas with me, and while I was sick with the headache, she suggested that I read the manga. Heh. I’d already been intrigued by her descriptions of the character Kagari/Homura, especially the gender issues he experiences over the course of the series, and the manga just increased my fascination with him. So, the night of Friday July 11th, what should I end up doing but starting a Sekirei fic?

As the title of this post implies, that fic – titled “Fire and Flight” – rapidly began eating my brain. By (Thursday) July 17th, I’d already managed to write over 25,000 words, and brought my word count goal for the Camp back up to 50K words. And this past Wednesday (the 23rd) I reached 50,455 words just before midnight.

So, for the first time since I started doing the Camp, I am a Camp NaNoWriMo winner! Yay me! 🙂

It’s been… interesting. Sekirei is classified as a harem manga for a reason, and while there’s no actual sex going on, there’s plenty of bare-chested nudity and “panty shots”, despite the mangaka being female. And the hero of the series is a genuinely Nice Guy, so he ends up embarrassed a lot of the time. But I think what most interested my Plot Bunnies, and made FaF officially “The Fanfic That Ate My Brain” (aside from the character of Homura), was the opportunity to make me practice writing awkward scenes.

And by awkward, I don’t mean awkward writing – anyone can do that! No, I mean awkward for the characters, but smoothly written. And boy, there’s a lot of that showing up in FaF. It’s given my abilities as a writer a good stretch, so I can genuinely be thankful for it. Not to mention scenes that are emotionally intimate, yet don’t go past hugs/cuddling.

For those who are familiar with Sekirei, or after having read the Wikipedia article are curious about my story, here’s the summary as I put it on Camp NaNoWriMo:

The Second Stage of the Sekirei Plan has just finished, with Minato winging Homura. Now with six Sekirei, and living in the inn owned by an unknown seventh, Minato has decisions to make. The bridge escape attempt for Hakura Shigi and Kuno was almost a disaster… but with Homura’s winging, Matsu is bringing information to light that suggests that letting the Sekirei Plan continue any further would be a disaster for everyone.

Especially when Minato’s flock discover that Shiina (#107) is the Sekirei of Minato’s sister Yukari.

Escape may be the only way they can survive together. But an escape will only be the first part. They’re going to have find a place safe from Minaka and the MBI… and break the Sekirei Plan from the outside, to allow the others a chance at life.

Now I’m wondering whether to post it on here, once I get a few more chapters written (I’m only on Chp. 6 – and we’re talking over 55K words here at the moment…).

🙂 tag0