Shadow Chaser:
Subject: Character/story writing

If you've read most of my fics, you'll notice a recurring theme in almost each one of them (with the exception of vignettes). I feature strong women characters. Yes, I am a female and I do believe that whatever a guy can do, so can a woman. But that doesn't mean I'm a feminist. ^_^ I just so happen to include strong women characters to better further my plots.

Why write strong female characters? Try a Ripley-esque (Aliens) or Trinity-esque (Matrix) persona. I'll go over each predominant character in each of my story to show how and why.

Let's start from the beginning...my first story... (ahhh...feel the nostalgia)

Ronin Warriors: Forever You Will Know Me -
Character in question: Kareyn Wu

First off, Kareyn is a Mary Sue. I seriously acknowledge that. ^_^ And to tell you the truth I really hate her. I hate this story, but yet at the same time I love it because it was my first time writing an action-oriented fic. As a strong protagonist, she is the fusion for her boyfriend/lover Rowen Hashiba to reclaim and know his past history with Shadow Lord, Tokoshino Hashiba, and Sanjuro Hashiba. ^_^ Try comparing her to some movie character...uh...can't think of one right now.

Gundam Wing: After War -
Characters in question: Jennifer Khushrenada & Locke Dabnerba

Both working for the same side, one is a psychopath, the other is...well...another psychopath. I won't really focus on Jennifer Khushenada, but mostly focus on Locke. Locke is the main focus character for the whole After War Trilogy. Her legacy spans to the Add-on, Retaliation. ^_^ Now, Locke is definitely a male name and the origins of her are revealed in Retaliation. She was originally a He before transferring clones. ^_^ Locke is a formidable character because she possess jealousy and vengeance, both, in women, burn hot and very long. You try making you girlfriend jealous or wife jealous...see how long they stay mad at you. They might not show it after a few days, but trust me, they're still mad. I know...cause I am still a bit angry with my parents after an arguement we had a few days ago.

Gundam Wing: Vengeance of Wars -
Characters in question: Azure "Hawk" Williams & Ione Kurama

Hawk...what can I say about her. The ultimate bitch in Trowa's case. Poor Trowa. ^_^ Was originally a trusted member of his team but betrayed him. She is like...close to Elsa Schneider in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, always looking out for herself and getting the treasure for herself. It's the evil woman inside all of us when we see something we really want and will do anything to get it. (Yup, I'm talking about fan girls glomping onto various actors). But she is also capable of taking care of herself when needed.

Ione...Ione is like Kareyn Wu of my Ronin Warriors story. She is essentially a Mary Sue that is able to hook up with Quatre. She possess empathic powers that enable her to kick some serious butt in her Maganac. ^_^

Gundam Wing: Price of Peace -
Characters in question: Reyna Maxwell, Cerelia "Neo" Winner, & Lealya Dabnerba

Reyna...the protective sister we would all like to have, she loves dearly and rarely lets go. The death of her older brother Tarrant hits her hard and she vows vengeance. She is strong and willful and does like to play men along but is also unsure of herself. She and Neo are close, but different.

Neo...empathic to the point of almost being telekentic, Neo is insecure, worried, and wants to save the world. She is typical almost-average girl who loves to do everyday things like auto racing (yup, I do know a few girls who auto-race). She is also meek and shy around guys, and like many women on this planet, falls for a guy in uniform. ^_^

Lealya...near clone of Locke. But she is bitch in the making. Too bad I killed her off. ^_^ Even more of a bitch than Azure, she's a double agent. She cheats and sleeps with whomever to get her way then kills them. Reminds me of that evil sex-loving woman that Famke Janssen plays on 007: Goldeneye. Creepy.

Vision of Escaflowne: Silent Attack -
Character in question: East Rali

East is the epitonomy of all of my female characters with two exceptions, Marion Sadow and Locke Dabnerba. She is a near-Mary Sue, but with her own violent past and a familial relationship to Van Fanel. She tries to protect all and defend all. She bores hatred for no one except the killer of her husband. She is a heroine on her own quest of vengeance and completes that when she kills Scina Abira. She's like many of the hero movies...

Beyond Rurouni Kenshin: Arashi no Hitomi -
Character in question: Chizuru Raikouji

We've only seen her briefly at the end of Seishou Hen, but seeing her made me want to expand on her role and who she is to Kenji Himura. I wanted her to be strong, like Kaoru, able to defend herself when needed, but also peaceful and a gentle lover to Kenji. In Arashi no Hitomi she is tempted by the two people she has fallen in love with, Kenji and his rival Sawato Yukishiro. ^_^

Lord of the Rings: Pastime Promises, Memories -
Character in question: Valiya, Swordmaiden of Mirkwood & Rinaran, Swordmaiden of Rivendell

Though you don't see it yet, but in my other LoTR fic, it alludes to it, Valiya will definitely have a huge role in this series. Along with my other character Rinaran. ^_^ More later about these two.

Lord of the Rings: AU: The Shadows that Remain -
Characters in question: Anna Elanore, Galadriel, Rinaran, & Liz Ruthersfield

Come on...it's the Fellowship reincarnated. 'Nuff said...except I'm basing a bit of the reincarnated Arwen of the movies and of the books. ^_^ Rinaran however, is another story. She'll be commanding submarines during the battles...can't say more, more will spoil. ^_^

Harry Potter: AU: That Which Can't Be Seen -
Characters in question: Lily Evans Potter, Marion Sadow, Emmeline Daigger, Arabella Figg, Tonks, Molly Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, etc.

All of them with the exception of Lily, Marion, and Emmeline are in HP canon. Go read J.K. Rowling's books. Lily because now she's alive she is a major factor, Marion and Emmeline are Aurors and they have a tendency to be very, very strong female characters. Both in authoritative figures and both with bad histories, both also with death marks on their heads.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Legend of the Seas -
Character in question: Anne Turner

Ah...Anne...so fiesty, just like her mother. Except she also has her father's side of experience as a sailor, swordplay, and most of all, the knack for pirating. ^_^

Fics I left out: B5: To Walk Between Darkness and Light, Gundam 0379: Rift Rebellion, Star Wars: Ruse of Rogues, Star Wars: Lusankya. This is because either the fic is not far enough into the plot that I can't tell you what female characters are going to emerge or because its based off of canon. ^_^

Well, there you have it. Female characters. ^_^ Next is why I put Legolas centric fics together...^_^

-Shadow signing off...^_^x
posted by Shadow Chaser at 9:10 PM

Master has finally catalogued roughly how many chapters will it take her to write The Shadow that Remains:

About 57 chapters, give or take a few.

Whew! Talk about pressure!

-Haldir is off to see if the LoTR idea is up to working. ^_^
posted by Shadow Chaser at 6:37 PM

Shadow Chaser:

Well...I guess I might as well tell why I like Legolas so much. When I first read the novels before watching Fellowship of the Ring on the big screen, I found the Elf intriguing, but not too much. At first, I have to admit, I really didn't like him that much, I found his singing a bit annoying (actually I found the whole Fellowship and other characters' singing annoying). But as soon as he encounter Haldir and his band of Elves in Lothlorien with that "Daro!" command by Haldir I fell over laughing so hard! I loved him from then on. Come on...if you could scare an Elf like that...*falls over laughing*

I've always imagined Legolas to be willowy, blonde hair, but fierce looking. Much like that famous paitning of Legolas in helmet-armor with Gimli (forgot who did the painting). Never had I expected him to be played by Orlando Bloom. ^_^ The only thing I don't like about the movie version of Legolas is his innocent expression. That was what irritated me. I figure if Legolas has been alive for over 2,000 years, he would have garnered plenty of experience in battle and horrors, especially living in Mirkwood. ^_^

Now...why I like Haldir...

The most underused Elf of all. Only there for Lothlorien and that's it. ^_^ Yep, you guessed it, its that "Daro!" command again. Someone so forceful to scare the shit out of a Mirkwood princling has got to be the best. ^_^ Then when he was portrayed in the movies, I was happy - until Two Towers came out then I was extremely pissed. Haldir's loyalties are to Galadriel and Celeborn, to no one else. He would have fought with Galadriel at Angmar when they went to attack. Not go to help humans in Helm's Deep.

Now, I don't have anything against Craig Parker portraying Haldir, its just the blonde hair-brown eyebrow thing again. Except this time, Parker gave Haldir a fierce quality that I found intriguing and liked. ^_^ It reinforced my love of the character of Haldir. But I was still disappointed that Tolkien didn't use the Elf so much in his novels...which is why I intergrated so much of Haldir into my LoTR stories. ^_^

Why I like Elves in general...

Etheral quality, magic, and a sense of immoratlity that is not associated with us mortals. It's the Phoenix Concept. ^_^

Which is why my Baldur's Gate character is either Half-Elf or Elf. ^_^ An always either an archer or mage-user.

-Shadow Chaser signs off...
posted by Shadow Chaser at 9:49 PM

Apparently I've finished 2 chapters of LoTR fic tonight. Wow.

Enjoy on fanfiction.net! ^_^

Btw, get the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack...it apparently did wonders for me while writing. ^_^ Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer are genusis!

-Haldir is off to sleep.
posted by Shadow Chaser at 10:58 PM

Shadow Chaser:

I've recently finished the first three books of the Dragonlance Chronicles and am totally obessed with it. Currently playing Baldur's Gate to quench it. ^_^ Having fun! Raistlin is scarey but so cool. Tanis...just gotta love a half-elf divided among his loves.

I personally do not like Kitiara. I really hate her. But I respect her for her decisions.

Lesee...Laurana...she is by far one of the strongest female characters I've met and liked and I absolutely love her brother Gilthanas. ^_^ I was sad that Flint died...but he lived a good and long life. Tas. Oh boy...Tasslehoff....one word: annoying. Annoying as hell. 'Nuff said.

I was devestated when Kitiara killed Strum. Boy was I pissed...very pissed. He reminds me of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn's character of Amonen, but a lot less arrogant.

Goldmoon and Riverwind. Don't know what to say about these two, but they were cool, especially Goldmoon turning into a cleric and Riverwind going into a 'bezerker' rage mode. ^_^ Tika. Tika and Caramon, yup I am a sore sucker for these two, but I usually don't deal with peeps like them. They're cool and stuff, but they don't really appeal to me.

However...Raistlin does. ^_^ Mages rulz.

Silvana and Alhana. Whoa. ^_^ Brillant...manipulative...these two got the makings of Drow elves yet they aren't. ^_^

Anyways, I'm going back to go play Baldur's Gate. Btw, my character that I'm playing is a female mage Conjurer. ^_^ Wonder what happens if she turns to something like Raistlin...^_^ I love Dragonlance.

-Shadow Chaser is off to play!
posted by Shadow Chaser at 6:56 PM

Sorry to those peeps expecting updates for my recent stories: LoTR: The Shadows that Remain, HP: That Which Can't Be Seen, Pirates of the Caribbean: Legend of the Seas, X-Wing: Lusankya, and Stargate SG-1: Endgame...I've been very busy trying to arrange stuff with my college for the last few days and probably would continue to do so into this week.

Please be patient with me, stuff are coming...^_^

-Haldir is off to poke those colleges...
posted by Shadow Chaser at 8:06 AM

Shadow Chaser:

Whoa. Talk about weird-central. I brought the first five episdoes of RahXephon, a Japanese Anime which I thought looked a lot like Neon Genesis Evangelion and watched it. The reason I brought it was first because of my love of Eva and second because Maaya Sakamoto a talented Japanese voice actress and singer sung the intro, Hemisphere.

Twisted.

RahXephon is NOTHING like Eva. It's twisted and with serious adult overtones. The topics are so intertwined together that I had trouble following it, which is a second for me as Eva was the first anime I was so confused. But I love the characters, especially the romantic overtones of at least every woman who sees Ayato is mesmerized. But then again, he's so cute and has this mysterious air about him. Not to mention he's finally one of the most NORMAL anime characters, main characters might I add, who is practically like us reality humans.

He loves to paint, draw, goes to school, even likes to hang around his friends and have fun with them. Now that is a seriously normal anime main character! *dies of shock* Then comes the twisted part. His mom apparently is one of those blue-blooded peoples...(don't worry watch the anime and you'll get it) and he has the ability to control a psychic/organic mecha named RahXephon.

Saying more will definitely spoil everything and for the first five episodes, I am seriously hooked. I want to see more!

RahXephon, you have my congrats on such a great storyline!

-Shadow Chaser is off to FYE to see if she could buy more. Haldir is coming along for the ride!
*psst...it's been too long since I seen a fresh new anime. I have to get out more*
posted by Shadow Chaser at 4:19 PM

Master just saw Pirates of the Caribbean today...good movie too. There is a foundling muse on the birth. Scarey. ^_^

But anyways, here's her theory concerning Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and the Curse.

Shadow Chaser:

I think that Jack Sparrow is Will Turner Sr. In a twisted sense. I mean if Jack was Undead and boned, for all appearances, the dead don't really age. But then you can say that he didn't turn Undead until he stole some of the Aztec gold on his fingers (and especially when he was jailed and two pirates came to him in the moonlight). But what if Cap'n Jack Sparrow was Will Turner Sr.?

It could be a possibility.

Remember, they kept talking about the blood that was Turner's to lift the Curse and Sparrow wasn't happy that they were stealing this Aztec gold and protested. The men also said that they "killed" Turner, but they didn't really say how as they were inturrupted. Also, Jack was thrown off into an uncharted island, left for dead, and the rest of his crew thought him dead. The pirates also said that things didn't bode well between Barbossa and Turner which was why they had him "killed", kind of like things didn't work out between Barbossa and Sparrow.

So which leads to the case...Undead. Technically, if they're Cursed, cursed people don't usually age unless it is an aging curse. They're typically cursed to stay forever young or forever old. Check out the time difference and years it took for Barbossa's men and Sparrow to find the Aztec Gold. Surely it would have taken nearly thirty to forty years, enough time for a lot of things to happen.

Then when you look at the last few scenes, before Barbossa is killed, Jack tosses Will the gold Aztec piece and if you noticed, the piece was already covered in blood...Jack's blood. Will also added his blood, but the frame rate is too fast for us to see him cut his hand and why doesn't his hand bleed if it's cut? Which brings to mind that Jack Sparrow is indeed Will Turner's father.

Some family history heh? Makes you wonder about the beginning and Sparrow's attempt to "use" his son. Weird.

-Shadow Chaser signing off...^_^x
posted by Shadow Chaser at 5:48 PM

Well, another day at work. Master is currently at her first job, Summer Explorations at the elementary school. It's a lot of fun and she got to cook Chinese food today! ^_^

On the fic front...

Master is currently debating whether or not to write in Stargate SG-1 or Harry Potter AU. I say go for both...maybe start another SG-1 fic for the hell of it. ^_^ Tis fun! But perhaps she will ponder it some more when she goes to her second work at the Connecticut Post. Will post more later.

-Haldir is off again! ^_^x
posted by Shadow Chaser at 11:45 AM

Master....master...master?

Uh oh...Master is in a foul mood...or semi-foul. She's been trying to contact her college about her tuition bill and they're a bit anal. But not to worry, she has ranted to them and is awaiting their answers. Hopefully it will be constructive or else she will most certainly go into full-blown pissed mood.

But on the fic front...Master is also awaiting for Nessie her beta reader to finish reading the Prologue of her new Harry Potter story so she could refine it and post it for all to see. Take your time Nessie-chan! Master is paitent with you...^_^

-Haldir is off tending ideas...and herding them...
posted by Shadow Chaser at 8:13 PM

Yesterday, and the day before Master spent the whole day playing Baldur's Gate. Uh oh...I sense the new foundling idea, BG is a bit restless. Oh yes, she also brought the Stargate SG-1 Season 3 DVD and we watched it...fun stuff! Another uh oh...the Stargate idea is threatening to tear down the gates...oops. Anyways, she started her new Harry Potter fic so it should be on fanfiction.net and schnoogle.com before long. Ciao peeps!

-Haldir is off to check on those pesky ideas!
posted by Shadow Chaser at 10:36 AM