“A penny for your thoughts”

Yes, after just managing to survive National Let’s Give Paul A Heart Attack Week, it’s that time again to continue my long-standing tradition of only updating this journal every month or two (because let’s face it, who REALLY wants to hear about my declining physical health?). Brace yourselves as we take another look inside either the most daring, or mentally insane Aussie Sonic fan-writer’s mind once again. Just remember to stay in the carriage at all times, and keep your cool. It’ll all be over soon.

Now comes the objective: WHAT do I talk about that’s worth reading? Personal traumas? Nah, you can get them all from celebrities in the tabloid magazines. Certain fictional character pairings? Been there, winged that. What I’m posting next? Impossible to say. However, those who I have promised gifts to WILL receive them in due season. You know who you are.
With a few things out of the way, still nothing to discuss. How about something that can bring writers to their knees? Yeah, that’s half-entertaining. But before that, a little notice before I forget:

First piece of business; As a script editor, I also grade art. Time and time again, I ask for CLEAN art only. So the next person to send me daddy-daughter action will join all the others in the Recycling Bin. My DELETE key still works very well.
Also, remember that I’m currently in the market as an EDITOR. While I can write short stories on requests, my time is currently consumed in College assessments, and the ever-mysterious Agenda. I do not have the time to write full scripts from scratch.
Though it might lead you to think I’m a hypocrite. Not at the slightest. All the Deviations I am posting have been waiting patiently for weeks (some months) to be uploaded. It’s just the matter of picking which ones deserve to get out.

Now that’s off my cold metallic chest, onto this ‘something’. It all began wayyyyyy back in 2008. I was talking to a fellow Sonic fan (who I no longer see, sadly) about writing. When the subject shifted to me, I brought up the Earthbound Saga (A series of fanons I wrote between 2005 and 2006, don’t ask. The list is out there somewhere). After confirming that it ran for 22 stories, they asked something. Since it was 22 stories, does that mean she spent 22 days on Earth?
What?
WHAT?!

A misunderstanding brought on by number crunching. In my records, I have listed each story per Arc by number until its conclusion. Though it’s far more serious than that.
Enter: The Day/Night System!

This is the dreaded ‘something’. It can reduce writers and editors like me to balls of metaphorical jelly in the end. Using an existing story as an example (for this exercise, I’ll be referring to my 2005 fanon ‘Oh No, Not Her!’ because it uses quite a lot of this system), here we go as I try to explain it to the best of my abilities:

If ‘Oh No, Not Her!’ takes place on Day 1, and ‘Act One’ takes place on Day 2, that does NOT mean that a day has passed between them. Script Editors use it to count different days rather than continuous days. DAY 1, NIGHT 1, DAY 2, NIGHT 2, and so-on are only there in reality for continuity buffs to determine if the current action continues over to another story, and just HOW continuous it may be.
In specifics, if ‘Act One’ finished with DAY 2 (On February 17), and ‘Bereavement City’ takes place on DAY 3, this does NOT mean the events in ‘Bereavement City’ take place on February 18.
It tells us the next day we see our heroes. DAY 3 could, for all we know, take place years later chronologically.

For a better understanding, imagine if Sonic The Hedgehog was arrested by Antoine for doing something utterly ridiculous (such as, say, speeding). If he is thrown in the slammer on DAY 1, and finally decides to escape after 152 days of imprisonment (the lazy Hog!), then the next story would still be DAY 2. Not DAY 152! Simply because it’s the net day we see him, and NOT the amount of time that has passed.

So for all we know, our heroine could have spent over a year on Earth. Since ‘Dooms-Night’ concluded on DAY 22, it only means we’ve seen 22 days of adventure.

But I’m not done, nooo!

It is logically impossible to skip a DAY. If chapter 1 takes place on a Monday on DAY 1, and the next chapter is on a Friday that same week, that doesn’t make it automatically DAY 5. If it did, then imagine years later trying to find DAYs 2, 3, and 4, only to remember that they don’t exist.

And don’t get me started on NIGHT Systems either.
February 17 morning is DAY 1, while February 17 evening is NIGHT 1. However, if Feb 17 morning is indeed DAY 1, and the next chapter goes immediately into Feb 18 evening, that would make it NIGHT 2. Huh? NIGHT 1 is ignored, as it would have to be Feb 17 evening. And in the story, it doesn’t exist.


Now THAT’S something worth losing sleep over.