Chapter 19: Perfection

Meeting number 2 up! No room for the good old amnesia bombs this time...

Chapter 19 in Fictionpress and Soompi

I'm happy to have completed the 'emo' part of the stories (well, nearly complete - there's still Sessions Part 4).

As much as possible, in this chapter, I'd like to emphasize the overwhelming emotions of guilt, hatred, helplessness, frailty, and imperfection of Yoshida Ayane. This is part of the contrast between F&L 1 and 2. This is sort of like an ascend to how things have gotten complicated, then later as we go on, we'll fix these things little by little by revelations left and right. I think that writing the chapter in first person really made it work, although I am still having a hard time doing so. I did not want her to sound whiny or 'incessantly miserable'. I wanted Ayane to tell her thoughts in such a way that she sounds 'tough', yet once you read between the lines, you'll actually see that she's very much shattered inside.

Now, time to lighten things up a bit for chapter 21-30. I have bad news for Crosse fans though... I don't think he'll be coming out in 21-30 yet.

-hiro

Chapter 18: Costumes uploaded

The Olympic season has finally come to an end, hehe.

I brought Meia to the airport an hour ago. Geez, talk about a massive crowd. I've never seen the airport as crowded as that. But everyone, you have to see the Chinese Airport. Gotta be one of the best airports around the globe.

Anyway, regarding Chapter 18 - tons of revelations up for grabs for Kosuke, although most of these have been exposed already in F&L 1; however, I revealed something here in this chap - another 'branch of the family tree'. Yep, they're siblings...

It has been revealed here also what Ayane and Lin have been practicing for... and for the next chaps - I bet romance fans would love the next bunch of chapters, hehe. I've done angst, action, drama, and bits of comedy for the earlier chapters. So, time for some thrilling romance, I guess (Don't tell me I didn't warn you) ... The next chapters (after Sessions Part 4) would be something that Ayane-Kosuke fans would enjoy.

And holy crap, my internet is like doomed in deep sh*t. Yahoo takes around a minute to download. You can imagine how long it takes for Hotmail / Fictionpress / Soompi to open. Maybe those massive fireworks zoomed to some communication wire or something...

Oh, thanks for dropping by... and thanks for reading F&L.

-hiro

Chapter 17: Cookies & New Chapter 3-5 for F&L 1 uploaded

Yes, the chapter is entitled 'Cookies' because I'm eating cookies right now. The original title was supposed to be 'Revelation' but I thought that it was too big of a word for the chapter, so yeah, cookies, that is...

And another yes, this is another transition chapter, but if you would notice, I dropped quite a number of clues in this chapter. Clues to what? Well, look closely, hehe.

Kosuke gets to hear a big shock in this chapter too. What is the reason behind Yamazaki Nami's involvement? That would be revealed in the latter chapters when Ayane talks about the contents of the Silver Disk in the next Sessions chapters, specifically the account written on Yoshida Akira's diary.

Chapter 3 - 5 of Fists and Lipsticks 1 has been re-written. It was a hard work, really... Revising stuff that was too long and horrendous upon second read... I remedied the chapters into better ones, but it would be perfect still. More revisions needed!

Cheers and enjoy!

-hiro

Prologue for Fists and Lipsticks Book 1 Uploaded

As I've said, I'm currently doing massive revisions in Fists and Lipsticks Book 1, specifically Chapter 1-30 (which, upon re-reading it... I found abhorrently horrendous...)

I also added a prologue. Feel free to check it out both in Fictionpress and Soompi.

I've also uploaded the 'new' Chapter 1, but still I'm not fully satisfied with it. Maybe it WILL undergo another round of revisions. I don't know... The whole thing just does NOT sound right for me.

Also, I'm pulling out the .DOC version from Soompi temporarily until further notice. It has something to do with the massive revisions, so yeah, the next DOC version I'd upload would be the COMPLETE one. My target is within the next two weeks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Chapter 16: Loyalty

For me, honestly, this was supposed to be a boring transition chapter. To avoid such utterly horrendous and boring transition chapter, I added up some Yoon bits into it to make it rather amusing at some point.

Nothing much to say, except that I thank you for reading F&L and for your continuous support ^_^. Sorry if I give poorly-written author replies compared to other writers in Fictionpress and Soompi. It's just that after reading your comments, I end up grinning like a hyena, and then I would totally go blank, speechless... -_-

Meia was telling me - "Hiro, you should give author replies to each one! If I were your reader, I would love to see you responding to my posts and will continue reading your work!"

I need an anti-hyena-grin pill. Someone give me a anti-hyena-grin pill!

Anyway, regarding F&L1 by the way, I am re-writing Chapter 1-30 of Book 1 of Fists and Lipsticks. This is to make the first part of the fic more captivating to read, less on the 'anime-ish' side and a little more to a type that is acceptable in 'book standards', if you know what I mean. After rereading the first few chapters, I really wasn't satisfied. It felt like reading a monotonous comic book... I dunno, all of a sudden I am not satisfied with it. I got bored reading my own work, hehe... So I'm doing a massive revision, yeah... The plot will be the same still, same with the events, but some speaking lines and the descriptions may be changed a little. I'm still thinking whether to pull out or to leave the Onion Emoticons on, or maybe lessen them a bit... But after writing Chapter 16, I think it's more hilarious letting them stay at some point... I have to think about that.

Anyway, thanks again for reading F&L...

-hiro

F&L Chapter 15 - Sessions

A chapter spanning 3000+ words...

And yes, the 'love-web' is now complete.

I told you...

You wouldn't be able to guess it was HIM, hehe.

So yeah, things would be rather twisted from this point on... really twisted, but I'll do my best to make sense out of everything.

The question is why Yuken? Well... you have to read on. The other question is how Yuken was able to 'make it out' of the Lethal Lily amnesic effect that time Yoon attacked him? Well... I can't reveal that yet either.

And I decided to show the 'serious, gangster-ish' side of the goofy little Korean bomber: Yoon ^_^

And why did I update? It's because I just got home from the Olympics opening ceremony and heck whoah omfg combined really...

(Sorry for the quality of the two pictures above ^.
They were taken via mobile phone)

I haven't witnessed anything as marvelous as that! It was awesome, especially the mandolin players (who were directly below our seat btw) and the lighting of the torch. It was one of those moments when you just can't help but drop your jaw in awe and feel the goosebumps from head to toe.

In case you're wondering, I have the habit of pre-writing 5 chapters in advance, that's why sometimes updates are too fast and sometimes not too fast. I've already finished up to Chapter 18 though, just 3 chapters in advance for today since I was too eager to post a chapter today. It must have been the Olympic spirit, hehe.

-hiro

F&L2 - Chapter 13 & 14 uploaded

^ New poster by the way. Photo used with permission from Kevin Tze of Flickr.


Two quickly uploaded chapters as a pre-Olympic treat ^_^

F&L2 Chapter 13 in Fictionpress and Soompi

F&L2 Chapter 14 in Fictionpress and Soompi

The original plan was to put chapter 13 and 14 together, but it would be impossible because of the length so I decided to cut them into two chapters.

The concept of these chapters was to stress the big contrast between Ayane's seemingly 'split' personality. Chapter 13 talks of a tough Ayane while Chapter 14 shows a frail person behind her seemingly impenetrable shields.

And yes, finally they meet but... hehe.

People, don't kill me. I can't finish this story and I can't watch the Olympics if you kill me now, you know... LOL

I had a hard time in Chapter 14. First, the first-person narration (which is in a female's POV by the way) came a little difficult for me. I had to re-write several lines to make them more feminish.

Second, I had to edit a lot of colors while fixing the post in Soompi. Those [b] and [/center] stuff to format the whole thing came pretty hard, since there were a lot of lines delivered from the Spider Web. I had to color the speaking lines to demarcate them from the actual scenes.

Lastly, it has been always difficult to write an action scene. Like you have to describe how they move, how they kick, how they punch, how they glide and point their guns... It was a lot different from F&L - the feel of writing this chapter. I only had the chance to describe fight scenes with such animation with the Keiko chapters nearing the end. But here in F&L, since we have a new Empress, we had to expect more action chaps... *SIGH*. Writing action fics is a lot harder than writing fantasy and dramas, you know... I hope I did justice to F&L2 at least...

But the conflicts and deception are just about to start. For the next chapter, I will unfold the last love rival on the 'love web' I've been talking about.

You'll never know who it is, hehehehe...

Thank you for reading F&L. I also noticed that there are new readers too, so yeah, welcome and hope you enjoy your stay.

-hiro

F&L2 - Chapter 11 & 12 uploaded

The Olympics is fast approaching. I'm excited, hehe...

Anyway, back to the fics, here are the links:

F&L2 Chapter 11 - Vodka, Champagne, & Tequila Cocktails in Fictionpress & Soompi
F&L2 Chapter 12 - Lethal Lilies in Fictionpress & Soompi

I really don't know what to say except thank you for taking the time to read F&L. I've said this a million times I know, but it just feels great to say it often... So yeah, thanks!

By the way, for Chapters 11-20, there would be a... let's say... rather shocking twist. So prepare for that *evil grin*. It has something to do with a "new" villain - a part of the 'love web' I was talking about. Remember that I said once that there's another character in the web besides Aya, Kosuke, Crosse, Saori, and Rei? Well... there... hehe. That's all I can say for now.

The much anticipated Aya-Kosuke meeting? We're getting to that part. It's not too near, but not to far either.

Again, TY for dropping by and enjoy!

-hiro