Now...

Just for the record, my previous (and only other) username was "deuteriuM Xtreme". You may read the rest after you're done laughing, the way I did at myself for the past decade or so.

Most of the stories down there are written by my idealistic, sentimental, rebel-without-a-cause adolescent self. I still like them. I still expand on them sometimes. But now I'm just a young adult with the mind of an old bat, on the verge of losing the memories and thought processes of said self. THE HELL OF IT.

Hence this account.

But I still hope to be able to update this page every now and then with a new story, salvaged from all those half-assed ideas mucking about inside my head and carefully crafted into something decent. Until then, thank you for reading.

PSA: Some of my old stories here which had rather specific formatting (section breaks, etc.) have been archived on a blog, linked below. I don't expect it to be updated anytime soon, so neither should you!

A piece of advice to all you fellow writers here:

One of the best beta readers you can have is yourself a few years down the road.

Keep your old story drafts. Even the trashy ones. And especially those that you think you've written well. Because so long as you keep the habit of (and love for) writing, you will definitely improve. When you look back at your works after some time you're bound to see all the quirks in your writing: little things you might not have noticed before, but which are now so glaringly out-of-place you'll hasten to correct them. Plus, it's interesting — enlightening, even — to see how your writing style has changed with your different inspirations, influences and experiences over the years. Life is the greatest mentor we can have, after all.

My stories here, for example, have all been edited at some point or another. For some I'd saved different versions, but for most I'd simply (and stupidly) overwritten them. The few drafts I'd remembered to save are all bloody embarrassing to read through, but at least I could gawk at how ridiculous my past self was, have a good laugh / cringe afterward, and then tweak whichever story I'm currently writing just to save whatever dignity I have left. Torturous, maybe, but also useful in the long run.

And just one more:

Don't be afraid of criticisms, whether from others or yourself.

Go on now, and have a blast writing!

Additional story notes:

Ace of Spades
The bridge game featured in this story is Floating Bridge (Singaporean Bridge), a somewhat corrupted form of contract bridge, and (unfortunately) the only variant I am used to.

Skywriting
The easter egg is apparently working again. (I thank ye, o fickle gods of formatting.)

An Absinthe Affair
- This is my first attempt at a more compressed style of storytelling. Probably needs a few more minor edits because some sentences and punctuations just don't seem to look right.
- 'Countable Hairs': one possible anagram of 'Nicholas Aubert'.

@youths: Thank you for your very honest review. I was too concerned with the language and with being as concise as possible while writing this story, which is probably why I didn't pay so much attention to plot and character development (which I'm rather weak at). Then again, I admit I was also having too much fun making the story as ridiculous and entertaining as possible. I'm glad you enjoyed it nonetheless.

Links:

account: ~/u/249001/
archive: atomicparty