I’d wager I’m not the only one to notice and get annoyed by various “studies” about the hazards or benefits of something. In the food world the top shame there used to go to the never ending, always conflicting studies that say coffee or wine are either miracle elixirs or will kill you painfully.
WELL… They’ve been dethroned! And the new King of Shame is:
Yes, our lovely Atlanta GA based mega-corporation was the subject of a recent study that had the balls (pun always intended) to claim that:
This per the HIGHLY 🙄 reputable news website “Knewz”
I kid you not! April Fools Day is just over a month away anyway. Per the article, a new study conducted by the Northwest Minzu University in China suggests that drinking Coca-Cola and Pepsi can increase testosterone levels and provide benefits related to fertility and testicle size.
Well, so much for the idea that China’s scientific community was gaining on the West, huh? They’ve certainly learned how to take money to produce questionable studies like Western scientists though.
Need I even say that I’d be willing to bet money that the soft drink industry was behind this study?
This is so absurd that it is beyond description. I enjoy a glass of soft drink from time to time. HOWEVER, the only enlarging of ANYTHING that Coke and Pepsi will do is via inflammation due to the high sugar and caffeine content, caramel coloring and other additives.
Likewise any extra testosterone is likely to come from the mood swings caused by sugar spikes and crashes making the drinker bitter, tired and frustrated. Trying to claim any health or virility benefits from them is so disingenuous that the study scientists should be laughed out of their lab and put to work in a slave labor factory making the new iPhones.
Worse, it’s garbage like this that causes people to distrust scientists and other authority figures on ANY topic.
Picture of Witchfire created by me using Baldur’s Gate 3 character creator
I’ve gotten some mild interest here and elsewhere about the planned reboot of my Witchfire series. With that in mind, I thought I’d fill newer readers in on what the series is about.
In The Beginning…
I started the original Witchfire series (NSFW link to my new self-hosted blog’s adult section) about three and a half years ago. The idea came about as I was looking for some writing inspiration and made one of my occasional visits to Danger Babe Central. DBC is a superheroine peril website. Much milder than some other sites out there, but the heroines are rarely portrayed as competent, and always end up defeated and in “adult” situations. The site’s owner, “Mr. X”, also hosts a fan fiction page where readers can submit written stories and get them posted.
To be blunt, the fan page content runs the gamut of boys living out some pretty dark and twisted fantasies to a few authors trying to portray the heroines in a more positive light while keeping things sexy. LONG story short, there were just enough stories where the heroines were portrayed as capable and having some depth (both on the main site and fan page) that I thought “I could put a more positive spin of my own on this also”.
And So It Began:
So I set to work on my idea. I wanted a unique premise for my storyline, and I came up with the idea of a redhead Wiccan named Krystal who was a fan of the site, but had an objectified view of the heroines. She had also been otherwise drifting off the path with her Wicca, and as a result, her goddess (Freya from Norse legend)banished her to Danger Babe Central’s story world to teach her humility and compassion for her fellow women.
Krystal finds her magic works in this new comic book reality, and makes quick work of her first villain based on her knowledge of the tropes used at the website. Just as quickly, she found out life is pretty complicated in such a world though, and had trouble from heroines and villains alike as she attempted to uncover whatever big conspiracy was going on, and hopefully earn her way back home.
Crash and Burn:
Lack of planning, along with trying to keep up with another writer whom I was collaborating with, and mostly an epic amount of drama in my personal life led to my being increasingly unhappy with what I’d written, and less able to come up with new content. I finally shelved the whole storyline after 11 chapters. That was roughly two and a half years ago.
Regrouping
The desire to finish what I started was always there. I’ve kicked around various ideas to do just that for a while. It wasn’t until things really started to clear up a over the last 4 or 5 months that I really felt my focus had returned enough to start anew.
Looking over the original story, I took notes of the things that I hated, such as how Krystal was too much of a bitch, and that the grand conspiracy didn’t seem to have the right kind of foreshadowing and clue reveals. That last part made the story line feel inconsistent and awkward. I’d also partially fallen into the trap of making the original heroines less competent than originally intended.
Witchfire Redux:
Reviewing everything, I decided that a fresh start was the best option. Calling the new series “Witchfire Redux” came to me surprisingly fast. Here’s what’s changed:
First, I decided that Krystal needed to be a little wiser and more mature. Instead of an oversexed 21 year old college junior at UC San Diego, she’s now 23 and pursuing the beginnings of her post graduate work at the college. Her field of study is Criminal Profiling and Forensic Psychology, primarily because human behavior in general is fascinating to me. It also allows a bit more of a suspense and detective angle to come into play in the new story.
Krystal is still a redhead, with all the stereotypes that come with that, including a highly passionate nature. She’s no longer a spoiled brat though. She’s still a Wiccan also, which will again be the source of her powers.
The BIG shift ended up being more to do with the original characters from Danger Babe Central. I re-read every story I could find and took note of everything that could help me uniquely define each character; interests, appearance notes, how they fight… you name it. Everything from social life to their kinks ended up on the spreadsheet I mentioned in a previous post here.
I also made note of past locations used in stories, so that I could keep canon somewhat consistent, then I filled in the details for Delta City (where the vast majority of stories are set). Six city zones(NSFW blog link) with key landmarks and points of interest both from the canon stories and others added by me to flesh the city out. A massive project, BUT I’ll have everything available at a glance so I know what could or would happen where.
I did the same with organizations and factions for my story. I even put in some thought as to how the laws in that world(again NSFW blog section link) might vary from ours.
OK, but What About the Actual Plot?
Alright fine… Here’s some plot info. 😀
The story will start out similar to the original. This time though, Krystal will be haunted by very erotic but equally dark dreams. She will get called before Freya again. Freya will explain that there’s something sinister going on in the multiverse and it’s centered in Delta City. Krystal needs to go there and oppose it. Still a fan of Danger Babe Central, Krystal will initially balk, not wanting to end up like the heroines always do. Freya will tell her that she’s pulled the same move that Doctor Strange did before turning over his Infinity Stone to Thanos; after scanning all the possibilities, Krystal is the best option for preventing this darkness from spreading. If she doesn’t, the darkness will continue to haunt her in “The Real World” and eventually find it’s way fully there.
So Krystal reluctantly agrees to play the heroine. When she gets there, things are problematic right from the get go. As the story progresses, she and the other heroines slowly uncover a wide ranging conspiracy between governments and a shady collection of high tech businesses to decipher and control the unique genetic mutation that gives the Danger Babe Central heroines their powers and abilities. The conspiracy’s goal will be to create an army of metahumans that are completely under their control.
There will be a good deal more to it than that, BUT I can’t give away too much. Others might steal it, and there’s less cause to read if you know it all. I promise lots of subplots as well however.
All this coming soon to the other blog.
As a Side Note: The links to the Delta City notes, and the blog page on laws both link to pages that are themselves work safe, BUT they are in the NSFW partition of the “self hosted” blog. Don’t wander off of those two pages and you’re fine. Beyond that, you were warned. 😉
Never let it be said that I’ve lost my flair for the dramatic, LOL.
Side Note: Film Symphony Orchestra is AWESOME. Check them out on YouTube
OK, so let’s get down to what’s REALLY been going on.
Much of my free time the last couple of weeks has been spent indirectly on the new WordPress.org site. A bit of behind the scenes tweaks, tuning and editing for starters. Most of my work has been spent storyboarding my planned reboot of my Witchfire story series. I was far from happy with the original attempt and I want to knock it out of the park this time.
To give you an idea the amount of work that’s gone into this, I have a 7 page spreadsheet of data comprised of 8,326 filled cells on character info, mapped out locations, etc… I’m determined to maintain consistency, keep the characters unique and weave an entertaining plot.
A small part of me wonders why I’m bothering using Danger Babe Central’s universe as a backdrop. Recently, I almost gave up on the idea.
I know why I’m doing it though. I have something to prove to myself. I’ve doubted my writing and so many other areas of my life… let others tear me down too easily. If I can take this setting and these characters; turn them into a real story and fix the inconsistencies and barely existing canon… I’ll know I can handle anything the world of writing can throw at me.
In Other News…
Yeah, this will be one of the greatest examples of burying the lead in history…
I FINALLY got a new job!
Only those who have been truly following me for a long time know the story here. I’ve had a bad back and neck that kept me out of action for over a decade. Before leaving California, I had a job as a Realtor, but lack of support from my office / broker and lack of money really made that a job in name only.
After getting treatment for my back and neck almost 2 years ago, I had hoped to be back on my feet sooner. My road of self-rehab was a LONG one though. I hurt my back again a couple of times along the way and had to learn to take it slower.
Truth? I’m scared to death I’m still not ready for this, but we’ve had a brutal couple of years and really need this to work out. I’m determined to make it work no matter what.
Along those lines, I’ve stepped up my training / rehab trying to build back up my endurance and strength. Hard to believe I used to be somebody that trained 3 1/2 hours a day. I’m being careful not to overdue it while still trying to push myself. Beginning the first of next month, we’ll see if I’m up to the task.
FINALLY… I got the new Silk Cords website launched this morning! It still needs some fleshing out and polishing in a few spots. I got several posts transferred over and re-written in some cases though. I even managed to set up an age gate and get a plug-in that allows me to stay compliant with all the Euro cookie rules.
As promised in an earlier post, I’ve kept the adult content completely segregated from the normal content, and intend to make sure any blog posts and notifications stay completely PG rated.
THAT was actually what caused the delay in launching. All these bright new features for WordPress are completely geared around everything on your blog being a post. The only way around that is a pretty solid knowledge of CSS code. The site will evolve as I learn there. Right now, it’s still pretty freaking awesome. How awesome?
It’ll hit you like Mjolnir:
I’m still trying to figure out how much WordPress.org ties into WordPress.com. Thus far, it seems awkward at best. All stuff to work out.
No, I didn’t bury the lead either. I’m just building anticipation. 😀
OK, so I did a little digging into this whole gravatar thing. Turns out the hack happened almost 2 years ago.
F’ing AV pop-up. This is the kind of distortion that’s usually reserved for the media.
I don’t recall hearing anything from Gravatar or WP at the time though. If you haven’t changed your password in the last year, it’s still probably a good idea just to be safe.
To the tune of 167 Million accounts. This per the warning I just got from my internet security software:
At the very least be wary of new spam and scam emails coming from people claiming to be with Gravitar, or anyone else. Fake blackmail schemes claiming to have more data on you than what was breached, or to have put malware on your PC are also common scams.
This is a slightly modified copy of the post I just made at my other blog. I announced there my intention to continue blogging, but that I wanted a different format. I’m switching to self-hosting and using WordPress.org. I’m also going to be narrowing my focus on my blog posts. I’ve been hard at work on the new WordPress.org self hosted site. It’s getting close to finished at this point, but there are still some behind the scenes things that need to be polished and tweaked. Things like making sure all my pictures have proper names for searching my media library, and descriptions to help search engines. Soon though…
Thinking over the site, and past experience here, I’ve decided that the new blog is going to focus entirely on writing. Absolutely no more social issues, political talk, personal drama (nobody cares), product reviews or even cooking posts. Just everything writing:
Vanilla Creative Writing; nothing over PG-13
Reviews of “How To” products on writing (books, videos, websites, etc..)
Critiques of movies and TV shows from a writer’s perspective; what works and what doesn’t
Erotica
Part of my creative writing is going to be going back and finishing or continuing stories that I left hanging, such as my alternate Star Wars version based on the meme where Luke killed himself with his new lightsaber:
Hell, I *may* even rewrite the prequels and sequels just to show how I believe they SHOULD have been done.
Erotica and anything “Adult” related will be in a separate section of the blog, and will be behind an age verification pop-up. I’m going to do a better job than I did with this blog in terms of keeping anything NSFW behind that age check. That means NO racy pictures or backgrounds in the primary section of the blog.
Creative writing of all flavors will have separate pages, and the blog posts announcing new stories will only have links to those pages with a note regarding whether it’s NSFW or not.
Realizations
Part of the process with the new blog has been moving some of my more relevant past posts and existing stories from the two old blogs to the new. I want to rewrite damned near everything also, and already have in a couple of cases. I noticed something though as I went back through my lists of pages and posts.
I jumped around WAY too much on the focus of each blog. With the actual creative writing, it was self doubt and too much real life drama killing my mojo. The stuff I tried to do as filler too often took over though. Not only that, I jumped from idea to idea as I tried to keep things fresh and attract new readers. Even when I tried to have a structured theme for daily posts I flopped. I just need to focus on the writing and stay consistent. THAT is my pledge with the new blog.
AND that I’ll also be upping my game across the board. No more holding back on my writing.
In Other News:
This isn’t the new blog, so I can sneak in one or two QUICK personal updates here.
First, the house that we got defrauded on is back on the market, at $50,000 higher than we bought it for. All the mortgage company or listing agents did was the most basic of house flipper cosmetic repairs to hide the defects (patching the cracked mortar, fresh paint, clean the carpets, etc…). It pisses me off that somebody else is going to be put in a likely world of financial trouble as well living in a toxic house. I have precious little idea what I can do to correct the situation though. The laws in Georgia are completely corrupt and promote screwing the buyer. I could get sued for tortious interference with a contract with most options or charged with trespassing if I put up signs, try to talk to people during open houses, etc…
Most people nowadays would sadly be content to sit back and let things unfold, especially if it meant the house would sell for enough money to put them in the clear. This level of injustice literally makes my skin crawl though. Likewise, it’s not right to be made whole at the expense of an innocent party.
And lastly, I *MAY* have a new job; a real one for the first time in a decade. I had the realtor job for a while during that time, but between my health and lack of money, I was never able to really make a run of it. I’m in the final phase of the hiring process. All that remains to be seen is if they will accept the fact that I’m a virtual blank. No social media presence, no credit history now thanks to following the Dave Ramsey plan, and really no recent job history as well.
I’m just glad that the spinal decompression and physical therapy got me to the point I can work again. The prospect of being a contributing member of society has been a huge morale boost.
OK, so Thay Paul made me a liar about my last post. With a rise in antisemitism and holocaust deniers it’s important to remember what happened though. This one is worth reblogging as I figure out what I’m doing next
Recently, a few friends, writing collaborators and I have been batting around plot ideas. Time travel in particular became a topic of discussion. I already did a post on the subject, so I’m uncertain how much bears repeating here. There was also a great post by Stephanie O’Brien at another blog yesterday about potential pitfalls of time travel as a MacGuffin.
With that in mind, I thought I might delve into the seemingly oft overlooked subject of continuity and consequences of writer and character decisions. Working them out can make a big difference in how plausible your story is.
Character Overreactions:
Yes, those kind of insane interactions are common in anime, but they should be used sparingly in most other settings. Those of you who have followed me for a while know I love picking on the CW Network as an example of this.
Ever since Buffy, the network has been obsessed with character angst and relationship conflicts. The over-use of such was the only thing I didn’t like about Buffy and Angel. Both were great shows in every other regard. The early seasons of the “Arrowverse” shows were particularly bad also. Fights and making amends that happened so fast due to quicker story pacing that they stretched credibility. I’d argue they outright shattered it the way it happened repeatedly and characters never seemed to learn and grow beyond it.
That’s the key problem. Characters that don’t learn and grow as part of the storytelling process. Even after repeated lessons, they don’t trust their allies, feel they have to go it alone, refuse to understand where a friend or loved one is coming from, etc… If you removed the action and special effects that served as distractions, these characters are the kind of people you’d declare horrible friends and kick to the curb in real life.
Granted, growth has to be paced, particularly if you’re planning a series of books or something ongoing like a web comic. Characters that never learn from their mistakes, especially relationship ones, run the risk of becoming two dimensional with readers though.
Yep, no hyperbole. After seeing that my alternate blog housing more adult content consistently pulled more views and likes by far FOR A YEAR AND A HALF straight with 1/16th the subscribers and ABSOLUTELY NO posting on my part, I’m hanging it up here.
Any time I’m around the blog, I’ve spent 2 or more hours a day, trying to keep up with the numerous blogs I’ve followed (around 200). Look at the total count of deleted emails I have in my Outlook account… One that I use EXCLUSIVELY for notifications for this blog.
And yet people don’t understand why I bitch about the selfish nature of the bloggers here; caring NOTHING for genuine networking, only how many likes their own blogs can get. THAT, up there, that’s TRYING to network.
I’ve already recently unfollowed several people who post 5 or more times a day, but can’t be bothered with anyone else’s blog. ZERO give and take.
At this point, it’s not worth the aggravation anymore. 2+ hours a day trying to network. AT LEAST 1 hour a day for researching and writing a single blog post… For what? Zero views and 1 fake “Like” given via the WordPress Reader without actually opening the post? THAT is what I’m spending 1/8th of my day for?
THIS is what the WordPress “community” has been reduced to?
I’ll doubtless keep the account, so I can follow and comment on Joanne, Sheree and Candice… Avigail as well. Beyond that, I’ll be shutting the blog down completely once I’ve scraped it of content. I’ve done my research the last few days. I know where people have gone to and I know where I’m going.
Silk Chatters 