Category: analysis

• Auron and the origin of Old York

  Still reading Hirohiko Araki’s Manga in Theory & Practice, as it proves to be refreshing for brain reorganization. Sometimes, when putting a story together or preparing for such, I hit a wall or two (thankfully, no concussions). The best way for me to cleanse my head a little is to read a book, any book.

  In turn, I found myself writing more into the final chapter of the Drafts project. Every month since last October had its ups and downs but I knew it would be part of the assignment to commit to — every month a new chapter, no matter the length. Written on my phone, each chapter looked okay in terms of length and at times much shorter than what I’ve put into FireButt or FireFrei but upon just editing the 1st chapter, I found myself realizing that I may have a whole ass novel on my hands if I edit it in a similar fashion as FireFrei; and I think that is an amazing development. The verse/stanza style helps create breath and space for the reader to follow along and for the story itself to have a steady pace. Let me remind you that when minimum price to sell on paperback is the same for a 130+ page book or a 400 page one, might as well. If I had continued structuring in the vein of FireButt, the page count would’ve been lower but the speed of reading and sitting with the story would be briefer. Truth is, I want those who read my work sit with it and let it marinate instead of trying to read and left feeling like it was just there.

  Studying manga and Greek poems helped me re-think how I approach. I’ll also mention Sueños de la Calle by Jeremy Melendez as a bit of inspiration. His book is written in verse and while it is 400+ pages, because of how he chose to space out his story, you can’t Johnny 5 your way through it but don’t feel like you’re trekking through a Martin or Tolkien novel either. At 41, one thing is certain, particularly in these current times — forget the expectations or perfectionism. Just do the damn thing!

  10/18/2026

  drafts, Firebutt, FireFrei, hirohiko araki, life, ron322, Writing

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• Grace Given. The Path of Drafts.

  I hated the false start that the Steel Ball Run anime had earlier this year. Even if the debut episode was equivalent to 2 1/2 episodes in length, that’s something David Productions should’ve had Netflix avoid. If you weren’t ready to have a full 1st season to premiere weekly, do not tease the audience, let alone the dedicated fanbase that had been yearning. Thankfully, they premiered the new episodes 3 weeks ago and it’s definitely an improvement. I do wish they had used an Americana styled pop/country song for the outro but alas here we are. I’m finally understanding why SBR is considered peak. I have yet to sit down and thoroughly read the manga but just with what I’ve seen, I see why it’s comfortably at #2 rated manga of all time with Berserk forever at #1.

  Learning to give grace is something that has been a lifelong activity for me. This isn’t a skill one can truly master, given that as you walk through this life, you learn that everything and everyone around you aren’t always a clear black and white. Some folks are muddled in patches of grey. Some have a lot of white streaks while others, in a strange twist, have blotches of black and hues of grey to them. My younger self would’ve ignorantly boiled it down to “people finding excuses to get a pass for their crap” but as I’ve learned, that conclusion is very shortsighted. Granted, some people are that opportunistic but with others it’s more of explaining to understand instead of excusing. There have been plenty that have had a terrible hand in life and somehow, through pure determination, worked their way out of the mud. Some stay where they are and some, unfortunately, end up drowning. There are also people whom experience all three in one lifetime. That alone has taught me that life isn’t clearly black and white and that one’s lifetime isn’t linear.

  Drafts, I think, is on the road to being a better story to build to Emmanuel Lucifer’s story than I thought. We’re not even at the end of October and as of now, this month’s chapter does look more detailed and has more to say than multiple chapters I wrote these past 12 months. One thing is certain — I believe the whole “1 chapter a month, regardless of length” will be the way to go as far as writing approach. It could be my ‘tism talking but having a strict guideline like this has, oddly enough, made the literary juice flow better than when I was writing “at my own pace”. Now I understand why the whole “work your own hours” framework of “being your own boss” just never clicked with me — I simply require that routine and consistency.

  10/10/2026

  drafts, Grace, life, ron322, routine, Steel Ball Run, Writing

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• Final Chapter of Drafts underway!

  October is very much here. I’m glad Tampa is getting rain every day up to mid-next week. It’s the best feeling, even with other things going on. This past week has been tricky for me mentally but nevertheless I charge on — not because my feelings don’t matter but rather it’s because of my feelings that I must push forward. The events from last week, as well as my work schedule, meant that I missed the gym but that’s okay because side well…shit happens.

  This month also means that I’m on the home stretch of this one year writing of Drafts. While the month isn’t even close to finished, I’ve managed to write quite a bit for this month’s chapter. I did say that with this project, it would be one chapter per month, regardless of length. I can honestly say that with how things are going, this last chapter may be longer than I thought and will definitely make up for the shorter chapters. The part that I haven’t taken into account? Editing these chapters into verse stanzas in the same style as FireFrei. In just having edited the 1st chapter alone on my Mac, I realized that, even with the shorter chapters, this project may actually be in the length of FireFrei. I think the only reason it initially doesn’t feel this way is because of the flow and style of storytelling that I’m doing in this project.

  I also think that in committing to this monthly format of writing chapters, I found myself not only giving myself grace but also able to capture some of the magic happening in my head while also keeping my memory sharp regarding the world I build in the story.

  In the previous work, a chapter wasn’t done until I felt that I got an ending fleshed out, even if the chapter itself took months to write and finish. In this case, in boxing myself into one chapter a month, I found myself more prone to flex my writing, remembering some aspects that I forgot while also trying new things; I think there’s beauty in that.

  10/06/2026

  drafts, rain, ron322, Writing

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• Fall Approaches, as does some creativity

  It was raining cats and dogs here in Tampa, Florida early this evening. Whereas others go in ponchos or act like they’re made of paper, I was headbanging and reveling in that rain. I love the rain; it’s soothing to my soul. I’m also aware that Fall has begun. Gone are the 90°+ weather days, the wild high humidity or the heat advisories. Seeing morning temps be as low as 68 and only high as 86, which is a relief. Dance in the Rain is also one of my favorite Megadeth songs.

  I also witnessed a seizure for the first time in my life and had to take action to prevent their life from being in further jeopardy. If anything had my anxiety reawaken, it was that. Thankfully, they’re in good hands and the worst is over but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna act like I wasn’t traumatized from that.

  I have also begun sketching for the FireFrei book cover. A hand will definitely grace the cover. Now it just comes down to sprucing the concept idea out and putting it together. I definitely want to make sure I do a small spine decor. I also intend to have the back cover having a brief synopsis of where things stand and can go within the book itself. While in FireButt I did have a table of contents of sorts for the novel, I’ll try something new and then figure out if it suits me prior to publishing. Getting started on the cover art had lingered in my head for the last two weeks but this afternoon was when I took action.

  I’m almost done writing this month’s entry of Drafts as well. The world building is gradual but fruitful. It feels nice to actually make every month be a means to write and piece something together. I don’t think many could imagine an urban fantasy world that’s underneath the water yet connected to one of the biggest cities in the United States, albeit during 2019 in a timeline no one could truly imagine…except folks that wrote about the future during the middle of the 20th century. Giving myself some grace to write something different in tone from the Emmanuel Lucifer stories is liberating, even though I know it will bridge back to his story. The main purpose of it is to get out of the usual setting of NYC but instead of going into another city or state, explore a world that has never been. I also let the wondrous aspects we see in Metroidvania games or Dark Souls and you create an opportunity to give the reader a world that is grounded yet fantastical all at once.

  That being said, it’s also the first work where there are moments where it gets a bit…smutty. I’m not one to tackle writing physical intimacy in writing but sometimes, your hand and mind wander, say “fuck it” and take a chance at it. I may not get it all right but that’s creative writing for you and as Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus would say, “Take chances! Make mistakes!” and learn from there. Maybe it’s due to some friends on Threads that happen to be smut writers. Maybe it’s that, I dunno but I know the trickiest thing for me is understanding a balance of approach between the two love interests in this story. Both are strong people but also tender to each other in their journey in Old York and as a writer, I want that sense of mutual exchange in physical intimacy to reflect that but let it be known that I don’t write these parts for the sake of writing or for shock value — these moments just write themselves into existence in my freehand writing approach.

  10/02/2026

  drafts, FireFrei, life, ron322, weather, Writing

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• Final Fantasy VII & Evangelion Parallels, Drafts editing begins!

  Final Fantasy VII’s Remake series, the further I get into Rebirth, reminds me of the phrase, “History doesn’t repeat but it often rhymes“. The last time I’ve seen an instance like this is in the Japanese anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion, where you had the original anime itself, followed by End of Evangelion and concluded with the Rebuild films. Neither EoE or the Rebuild films were made to scrub the reality of how the original anime ended but rather consisted of the time loop the story had due to the Instrumentality happening. EoE had a scenario where everything was rendered to destruction, leaving Shinji and Asuka alone and somehow that triggered the Rebuild timeline where things are similar yet different with references of EoE in the 1st film with the bloody sea. Eventually the Rebuild films see what is eventually a definitive conclusion — no more time loops or inconclusive endings; a true ending if you will. I see the same thing happening with FF7 when Revelation releases in the Spring. We had the original game, the Advent Children film, Crisis Core which expands on the journey of Zack & Sephiroth and finally this game trilogy. The key ingredient to this is the conclusion of Cloud & Sephiroth’s fight in Advent Children when Sephiroth said, “I will never be a memory”. When you see how the Whispers emerge (three of them represent the Sephiroth clones from Advent Children), they represent points in the story where a divergence from the original timeline happens. Similar to the Evangelion Rebuild films, I believe FF7 Revelation will help conclude everything so that many of us can ultimately close the book.

  Speaking of books, I managed to take the time to write out the Acknowledgment section of FireFrei. It felt nice to finally get it done and write it in a way that helps me remind the readers of my gratitude for just being present in this part of my life as a writer. Writing it was definitely trickier for me than writing the story itself. The next step is art, the boring bit of inserting the ISBN and all the usual copyright info and finally just…publish the damn thing.

  Lastly, I just got started editing the 1st chapter of Drafts on my Mac. I feel giddy in knowing that upon edit, this 1st chapter alone is close to 20 pages. Bear in mind, that’s 1 out of 12 chapters and I’m currently writing chapter 11. You can say I am getting ahead in my editing while still writing the latest chapter. At this rate, I can confidently say that if the writing reveals itself the way I think it might, Drafts will be my 3rd novel. Without spoiling anything major, whatever happens in Drafts will be very important to remember. I also managed to find the font that’s used in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I’m glad I found it as it will be the font type I’ll use for this novel’s reading. It feels so right, given the novel’s title and the game references in a few characters and in key moments in this story.

  09/20/2026

  drafts, Evangelion, Final Fantasy VII, FireFrei, life, ron322, Writing

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