"Instead of asking our young people, ‘What are your plans? What do you plan to do with your life?’, maybe we should tell them this: Plan… to be surprised." -Steve Carell as Dan Burns, from Dan in Real Life

Update, 11 Mar: Good news, everyone!

Back to writing. Considering getting a concept beta'er, but otherwise things are looking to get back onto some sort of schedule. On the MoF front, things are going to shift to the squaddies' POV from here until an undisclosed plot development in the future. The description wasn't just a bunch of filler; it's going to be primarily their story, not Shepard's or Vic's.

Time they got their share of the limelight.

Update, 30 Jan: Yeah, about that unannounced hiatus...

Got involved in a car crash earlier this week. Nothing's broken or concussed, and police ruled the other driver was at fault. However, dealing with the fallout from it (both mobility-related and otherwise) drained me of the time I would have used for writing/editing/posting this week's MoF updates. Rather than rushing to play catch-up, I'll start posting them again next week at the usual 1 chapter every weekday schedule. For this week, I'll do 2 parts of Lazarus Files for the species that got the most votes as of earlier today: one tomorrow and one on Saturday. If you've got a particular favorite species you'd like to see sooner, don't forget to vote on the poll.

Update, 25 Jan: Onward to new territory!

Just finished the draft of Monday's MoF chapter, and posted an update for Lazarus Files. Looking forward to passing the spotlight to a few fan-faves this week, including a certain surly krogan.

Also, don't forget to vote on the poll for which species I'll cover next for Lazarus Files!

Update, 22 Jan: So it looks like things are stableish writing-wise for the moment. So long as studies don't intervene, MoF could grow by as much as 30 to 40 thousand words a month. That's... intimidating, to say the least. Got about a third of next week's material drafted though, which feels great. A couple of fan-faves coming, plus a cameo that I promise will be limited to one chapter.

Also, feedback helps mucho. Helps me figure out what is and isn't amazing. ;)
[/end of review-begging]

Update, 15 Jan: Wow, it's been a while...

Admittedly, it's been a few months since I've touched my fics, thanks to school projects and work. An unfortunate side effect is that I've forgotten a few of the details for the already written portion of K&T. In the interest of preserving the quality of the fic going forward, both in terms of plot and character development, it's going on hiatus until I can reread it all. On the bright side, I still have the plot map from when I started, so I haven't lost track of everything for it.

In the meantime, it's going to take a while for me to get back to churning out monster chapters like the ones I had been, let alone on a regular basis. During the hiatus I'm going to be working on MoF. Since it's been mapped with shorter chapters in mind, it should help me train to write sections in a more timely manner *knock on wood*. Hopefully that will help me get back into the swing of things by the time I'm caught up.

To everyone who's messaged me about my stories: Xarces, craig mills, Megatronus-Prime, Osage, and especially Para-Cord... THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

Age: Old enough to drink and to drive, just not at the same time.

From: Las Vegas, NV (No, I don't gamble)

Gender: Male

Likes and hobbies: Playing guitar, rock music, metalworking

Current projects:

Master of Fact: Laws in Motion - An original character insert planned to veer deep into AU territory, first of seven planned books. It will be focused around the squad members' POV's during the first game, with over 80% being from people other than Shepard or the OCI. One character scene (500-3000 words) per chapter.
Anticipated finished length: 175k words, 125 scenes.
Status: Active. Lazarus Files to be posted as completed.

The Knife and the Turncoat - A Tali/Shep tale that's focused around the development of Tali and Miranda during the second half of ME2, with some AU wrinkles along the way. Adopted continuation of Levi Matthews' Finding a Way. Between 7k-15k words per chapter.
Anticipated finished length: 300k words, 37 chapters.
Status: Hiatus for rereading/corrections/character study. Deleted Scenes also on hiatus, for now.

Future projects:

Master of Fact Series - An OCI saga meant to veer far into AU territory. Planned to include six more stories in total after Laws in Motion is finished.
Status: Definite. All million-plus words. It will happen. Eventually.

Complete projects:

The Fallout - One-shot written for the July 2013 contest in Aria's Afterlife forum. Prompt was for a "canon" character death in 1000 words or less.

Active fanfics-in-progress I'm currently following:
AU rating scale (not to be taken as a measure of story quality)
0=verbatim playthrough, 1=canon-hugging, 2=AU influences, 3=strong AU elements, 4=plot diverges from canon, 5=canon? what canon?

The Heavens Shall Tremble by Full-Paragon
- Time: ME1 replacement and onward
- Main characters: EVERYBODY
- Pairings: (See above), MShep/Tali as headliner
- AU rating: 5/5
- Recommended for: everyone who reads Mass Effect fics, period... provided they read And the Meek Shall Inherit the Galaxy first.

Uplifted: Arrival by DarkDanny
- Time: pre-ME1 (1943 Earth-centric)
- Main characters: almost exclusively OCs
- Pairings: OC/OC
- AU rating: 5/5
- Recommended for: full-on AU "what-if?" goodies and well-done characters. continuation of the first (and best, IMHO) WW2 alien-intervention tale.

Mass Effect: The Saltorian War by ProfFartBurger
- Time: alternate pre-ME1
- Main characters: John Shepard Sigma Two-Fifteen and multiple OCs
- Pairings: none
- AU rating: 5/5
- Recommended for: anyone who liked Full-Paragon's Meekverse. Just don't forget to read the prequel before diving in.

Ghost, Ghost, I Know You Live Within Me by theherocomplex
- Time: ME2 interim and onward
- Main characters & pairing: Garrus/FShep
- AU rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: a unique take on the feature pairing, plus some good character study on the lead turian

Warrior Ethos 2 and Warrior Ethos: Tabula Rasa by 1054SS325MP
- Time: ME2
- Main characters & pairings: MShep/Tali and FShep/Garrus
- AU rating: 3.5/5
- Recommended for: well-written headlining romances and realistic combat scenes.

Parallel Lives by jamiepage19
- Time: late ME1 through ME2
- Main characters: MShep, FShep
- Pairings: FShep/Garrus, MShep/Miranda/Ashley (triangle)
- AU rating: 4.5/5
- Recommended for: an interesting look into how FShep and MShep view their "exes"/love interests, who died in their own respective universes.

Quarian With a Shotgun by Bofomania
- Time: ME1
- Main characters: Tali, told through other Normandy crew POVs
- Pairings: none
- AU rating: 1/5
- Recommended for: eye-opening examination of Tali as a character and how she's viewed on the Normandy.

Family Doesn't End With Blood by ColosusProblematic
- Time: post-ME1 and onward
- Main characters & pairing: MShep/Tali
- AU rating: 2.5/5
- Recommended for: a quality expanded relationship progression for the lead duo.

Patchwork Girl by Mighty Crouton
- Time: ME2
- Main characters: Jack, FShep
- Pairings: implied one-sided GarrusFShep
- AU rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: a unique FShep character and compelling explorations into the backstories of the Normandy crew through the eyes of Jack as a tattoo artist.

Masses to Masses 4 by iNf3ctioNZ
- Time: ME2
- Main characters: SI, Garrus
- Pairings: FShep/Garrus, SI/Melanis (Will it last?)
- AU rating: 4/5
- Recommended for: a continuation of his solid characterization from MTM3.

Razor's Edge: Requiem by Tairis Deamhan
- Time: ME3
- Main characters & pairings: MShep/Tali, Garrus/Kasumi
- AU rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: a twist most wouldn't see coming, plus my favorite (nonquarian) pairing. if you enjoyed either of the previous ones in the series, this doesn't disappoint.

For We Are Many by venomRED
- Time: ME2
- Main characters: MShep, Tali
- Pairings: MShep/Tali, others
- AU rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: expanded and fleshed-out squad members, plus some Tali/MShep fluff.

TFHS 2: The Two-Front War by Octo8
- Time: ME2
- Main characters/pairing: MShep/Tali
- AU rating: 4/5
- Recommended for: a lot of political intrigue. not for everyone, but it does serve up some interesting AU twists besides.

On my "Netfix" queue:

Mass Effect: Pilgrimage by Demented Assassin (complete)

Mass Effect: Pieces by Chemiclord (in progress)

Mass Effect: Interceptor and Mass Effect: Dark Saga by Mothbanquet (complete; in progress)

The Internal Machinations Of Exploding Stars and The Internal Machinations Of Shooting Stars by MizDirected (complete; in progress)

Mass Effect: A Deteriorating Antiphon by Aeternix (complete)

Why the flying f*ck haven't you read these yet?!
Completed fics that deserve to be seen. By everyone. Especially you. Yes, YOU.

I don't need to mention Full-Paragon's awesome works, do I? Everybody already knows about him? Good? Okay.

The Painted Grey by Zalgroth (never finished, but an amazing AU of the first game)

Kingdom of Rust and The Final Problem by Mighty Crouton (unique FShep & relationship with Garrus)

Mass Effect: The First War by ProfFartBurger (well-developed AU with a different concept for humanity on the galactic stage)

Razor's Edge: Dark Witness by Tairis Deamhan (for making LotSB worthy of its own story)

The Shell of Heroism, Spirit of Heroism, and Death of Heroism by Setrus (realistic & moving; "the Mass Effect main story as it should be", indeed)

So You're in a Self-Insert? A Writer's Guide and So You're in a Self-Insert 2? Electric Boogaloo by Empeorie (these tips aren't just for SI writers; EVERYONE who writes a Mass Effect fic on this site should read them)

Uplifted, Uplifted: Intervention, Uplifted: Revolution and Uplifted: Last Days by DarkDanny (imagine a quarian frag grenade inserted into a history book in the middle of the second World War. Yeah, that makes for a huge AU explosion)

Masses to Masses 3 by iNf3ctioNZ (SI done right, with great characters and events still worthy of headcanon when the insert is excluded)

Renegade Reinterpretations by College Fool (as AU as they come, though more a "food for thought" work than a straight-up story)

Apologies for the Tali bias, but all of them are stellar in one way or another and worthy of your time.