Quick announcement: As I write Chapter 3 for Lessons for Lady Sin, I decided to merge it to Chapter 2. The reason is that I shortened chapter 3 to avoid making the story drag. I wanted each chapter to push the story, not prolong it with unnecessary dialogues/scenes. With my cuts, Chapter 3 ended up to be less than 3000 words - too short. That's why instead of posting Chapter 2, I am currently re-editing the chapters to make it fit into one.
I will post the chapters when I'm done. Sorry for the inconvenience of the delay. Also, I MIGHT not post the new chapters in Soompi. I would try, but because the editing feature is temporarily removed from the forums, edits/corrections in the chapters may not be up-to-date. For now, I suggest reading the story either in Fictionpress or Wattpad. Links are on the sidebar.
Lessons for Lady Sin - Chapter 2 will be uploaded later today. However, I'm not sure about Soompi Forum right now because apparently they've changed the forums and the uploaded fics are either cut or completely disappearing. Probably I would update first in Fictionpress and Wattpad so just stay tuned for announcements.
BTW, I've been receiving so many requests for Vena Cava. And when I say many, I mean more than a hundred requests T_T. Thank you so much for the e-mails, PMs, and reviews. Because of this, I've decided to work on the next chapter of Vena Cava after I update LLS. However, since I have decided to redo Chapter 9 which have been stuck in my laptop for quite some time now, please give me time to go through it. I don't upload a chapter unless I'm at least 99.9% satisfied with it. Also, writing VC needs some researching too (because it's a medical fic on top of sci-fi, so I wanted some realism as much as possible). It's quite difficult especially that I'm not in the medical field. So yeah, just give me some time to work on it. The story is still structured in my brain; all that's left is for me to put the story into writing.
Just in case you haven't watched the trailer for LLS yet, you can check out the sidebar or go to my YouTube channel (fistsandlipsticks).
I just HAD to write this story. A truckload of inspiration hit me and before I knew it, I was formulating the storyboard and writing the first chapter of a new story I would be working on. For my blog readers/followers, here's a little treat. Be one of the first to catch a sneak preview of my newest story, which I called 'Lessons for Lady Sin'.
So, what is this new fic all about? I've written a summary, but won't Meia and Pamie's Lee and Victors Productions (trailer) show it better?
The year is 800 AD -- the reign of Tang Dynasty. In the midst of corruption and political warfare, numerous rebel groups have arisen, the biggest of which led by the exiled Crown Prince Li Jian Yu. They plot an almost-successful assassination attempt against ruthless Empress Wu. The empress, hit by a poisoned needle, becomes fatally ill and will die in seven days. Her condition is kept in secret; otherwise she will be immediately removed from power.
Chancellor Gong Zai summons an old man to Prince Li's receiving room. The man calls himself the 'Sage of Mountain Tai', the person responsible for making the poisoned needles. Xin eavesdrops on the conversation and learns about the Empress' dying condition. She also overhears that the poison, which takes 3 decades to brew, had no known antidote. She immediately recalls a similar needle hitting her on the neck during the latest clash against the House of Li and turns out that she was also poisoned. This explains her weakened state, her skin turning pale, and her hair becoming white. She, too, is dying in seven days.
But Xin is sly and ambitious. She refuses to die and will do anything to counteract the poison. Stealing a vitality potion from the Sage that will temporarily restore her strength, she fights her way out of the fortress. She also takes the Sage of Mountain Tai as hostage and keeps him in Wu Palace's underground prison for interrogation. The Sage tells her that there is indeed no antidote for the poison and the chance of death is absolute. There is only one way left. He tells her about a legendary Elixir that can completely restore a person's vitality and endow her with immortality. Xin sets out in a mission to seek the Elixir of Immortality under the guise of helping the Empress. In reality, however, she plans on using the Elixir herself to gain immortality and possibly become the Empress herself.
She uses the Key of Heaven and Earth and meets the Spirit of Immortality, the holder of the Elixir of Immortality. As Xin attempted to reach for it, however, she was driven back by a powerful force and submerged back into the water, losing consciousness. The Spirit of Immortality enters her dreams and reveals to her that the Elixir of Immortality may only be acquired by someone whose heart is filled with the Seven Virtues of Heaven, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faith, and self-control. A person like Xin can never attain immortality with her sinful ways.
And so, she was magically time-warped to modern Beijing Year 2012 as a high-school student. She had nothing but a set of school uniform, a bag of school books, and the Key of Heaven and Earth. There, she meets the ill-mannered and conceited student council president named Chen Qi Feng. The lessons start.
Yup, it's Chinese instead of Japanese this time. It's gonna be like WuXia meets high school romance, time-traveling, kick-ass swordfighting and kungfu, and fantasy thrown into a single story. And I'm very, very excited to write this story to its completion. There are some notable Bible elements in the story too (Like the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit), but I modified some of them to fit the story better. It would also be my first time having an 'anti-heroine' as the main character of the story. By the way, Lessons for Lady Sin would be a lot shorter than F&L and Vena Cava. I'm planning to go only as far as 15 to 20 chapters. The writing style would be at its simplest, direct to the point, 3rd-person narration to make the story move faster, but not to the point of being rushed and not sacrificing descriptions (which, in my opinion, should be justified. China and its history is very beautiful). Of course, there would be a lot of brain-frying and plot twists involved too (man, I do miss fooling readers, lol).
Lessons for Lady Sin would be posted on Fictionpress, Soompi Forums, and Wattpad VERY soon. First chapter is done and in the process of editing. Will post in a few hours. I'm excited. How about you? Are you ready for your lessons?
Please DO NOT repost or reupload this file on any other website.
Sorry for the very, very late post. I know being a busy guy is an overused excuse, but I really was. But through those months I have been working on this massive round of revisions for the official PDF version of Book 2. Spelling and grammar errors and plot inconsistencies had been correct (for the most part, that is. Forgive me if there are still some mistakes that missed). Some scenes have been removed (due to repetitiveness, mostly the re-posting of Flashbacks, which added unnecessary bulk to the already lengthy story). Some scenes and dialogues had also been added and changed (to maintain the connectivity of the plot and its twists), so don't be surprised if you're reading it the second time around. Also, this PDF is ready-to-print just in case you wish to print it. Just don't sell it okay? Hehe. There are surprises inside the PDF version too, so just download it, hehe.
If the link doesn't work, feel free to e-mail me - hlarucea@hotmail.com. I'll be glad to personally send you a copy.
Fists and Lipsticks 2 will also be posted on Wattpad.I've received email suggesting that I do so, so okay I guess that's cool.
I can't believe how many years it has been since I finished Fists and Lipsticks. And it still amazes me that so many still remembers me despite being on hiatus for quite some time. Although I couldn't reply to all your messages, I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. As I've said many times before, F&L is a story close to my heart and being able to share it will you guys gives me so much confidence not only as a writer but as a person.
