[OOC][PLOT] The Fourth Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[Labster]

I think I'll part ways with this when I get the bits on my plate done.

It's less and less for me.

I've been having similar thoughts myself, but it's balanced by the fact that I'm really getting some good writing out of it.  If I do say so myself.  The setting continues to motivate me to write, in ways it obviously didn't for you.

I guess it's that I'm not all that interested in writing wish fulfillment.  For sure it would be cool to date Tomo IRL, but it would also be annoying as fuck.  (Not sure if any of you have ever dated comedians, but let me tell you it is so easy to ruin "the mood" by if both parties prefer telling an awesome joke at the wrong time.)  But Aria and Ai yori Aoshi aren't stories I chose for my desires, but because they represented a fun challenge.

Make no mistake though, I'm here to challenge myself.  I can't influence the general direction of the plot, but I can get better at writing along the way.  And keep trying crazy crossovers, like Azumanga/Black Lagoon and Aria/Aztec Mythology, so I can learn what's interesting.  It's what my muse wants me to do, to put a deep contrast between light and dark.

I'm at best an outside observer to the story process, but looking at it as a writer, I have to agree with Rob. First, Halloween is already overfull with Significant Events. Keeping the story coherent is already difficult enough as it is. Second, regardless of the congruence with reality, if setting off fictional!Ben's problems does not serve a story purpose, don't do it. It seems to me that it's a big enough thing that if it were to be done at all it should be the point of its own story -- not a sideline to the circus that Halloween currently is.

Bob, do you think it to be best that I break the Samhain portion of the Halloween story out into its own tale?  It's more or less self-contained, but it also might be nice to have something a little less heavy after Ben's time with Fate.