I insist, however, that this is how I want to continue it. I say a challenge is healthy, and perhaps if I find inventive ways to surmount it, I can get some semblance of a schedule together. I was thinking monthly, but we'll get to that when, well, we get to that :)

And until we get to that, two sketches of chapter 2's characters:
sketch 1
sketch 2
Hopefully those pique your curiousity a little?

This chapter has been rewritten something like half a dozen times. Yes, I admit, I'm one of those incredibly indecisive authors who goes back and changes her premise multiple times when I feel it's necessary. But for some reason, the introduction with Taya and her horrid experiences at school remains in every incarnation. It evolves, mind, but the premise remains. Just everything else in my story changes ^_~ Since this is the freetalk, and I imagine anyone interested in this is either engrossed or bored enough to read on, some history.

A few of the incarnations of AoI:
• First incarnation thankfully never saw the light of day. Ever. And was lost in a computer crash years and years ago, so it shall never be seen ;) I drafted it out in 7th grade (6.5 years ago for the very curious). Taya was some promised child destined to reorder the universe and its magic, or some such thing, attending this creepy magic school where she's picked on. There were a bunch of spunky outcast girls who, like, befriend her and stuff. Most of them identical twins of videogame gals ^_^;;; She showdowns against evil principle, wins, tra la la the end ;) Terryn and Koneko were also in this.
• Version 2. I've blocked this one from memory. I basically revisited the original from memory, bringing back Taya and Koneko. Sage, Flint, Ombrage, and Midori came up in here. The character concepts are quite laughable when you lookit them today, I promise you ^_~ I may come back to this once those characters have appeared (several hints: Midori was upbeat, Ombrage was angst ridden, and Flint was a crossdresser ;)). Thankfully, I don't think I bothered to write this one /out/... Involved an RPG like quest I think.
• Version 3. After my characters took on a life of their own through roleplay, I went back to the story and thought I'd try and stick, oh, a plot behind it. This didn't work very well, as I recall, but I slowed down the pacing quite a bit. Though I do give it credit, as the remaining characters were worked out while I was drafting this. I made it through 3 chapters before saying "screw it, I'll make a comic instead". Same basic scheme: "people with amulets and powers meet up, fight monsters, and fight each other." Think Fushigi Yuugi if Squaresoft wrote it ;)
• Version 4. Ahhh. The first attempt at comic. The pacing remained very slow - I think I made it 25 pages or something before the amulet actually appears ;) Insert blatant cameos here (Jenni, Drake was planned, I think Jordan...). Story was kind of convoluted, as there was no real plot to speak of, just a bunch of characters. Halfway through chapter 1, I realized I should rethink my pacing if I planned to post it...

And the rest is currently posted on this site ;) I'll make a point to write future freetalks right after the story, so all the wonderful random comments wandering my head survive to HTML. Maybe even such delights as parody pages will appear here.

And before I forget, a disclaimer about minor characters. Adenne's not related remotely to my first roomate. She's inspired by some of my hallmates' roomates, however, and a few gals I knew from various schools, but no one specific. Sandborne-Sensei, however, is a homage to my computer arts teacher from highschool (with a different name and appearance, of course ^_~). Wonderful teacher, but she had a way of annoying and frightening the easily frightened.

~LS, June 10, 2002