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Chapter 9 edits

Just finished chapter 6 draft 3 and sent it off to my friend to edit. Hopefully it'll come back pretty good.

Ended up working quite a bit on this draft. Sort of hacked this chapter apart between drafts 1 and 2 and ended up losing a lot of the original flow and feels. Had to fix that.

Haha, I feel like a mad scientist sometimes when I stitch scenes like this, copying and pasting parts everywhere. So fun.

[brokenlookingglassupdatea]

Chapter 9 edits

Just finished chapter 6 draft 3 and sent it off to my friend to edit. Hopefully it'll come back pretty good.

Ended up working quite a bit on this draft. Sort of hacked this chapter apart between drafts 1 and 2 and ended up losing a lot of the original flow and feels. Had to fix that.

Haha, I feel like a mad scientist sometimes when I stitch scenes like this, copying and pasting parts everywhere. So fun.

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Chapter 8: Home

Word Count: 4673 words

Author's Note:

Haha, I'm back, bois!

This chapter ended up taking a lot of work to edit. I didn't really like the original opening (which opened like the beginning of the story) and wanted to establish a better tone for the part and sort of how things were gonna go. So I shuffled around a lot of the scenes before landing on something I liked.

That meant that quite a few parts got rewrote. Because I hacked everything apart in draft 2, then had to stitch it back together in draft 3 and 4. But I think it turned out rather good.

Not really much going on super deep, despite the epic ending. I absolutely adored that scene in draft 1 and knew I had to include it because it really explained a lot of what Alain feels about UA. This foreboding sense that he's more familiar with it than his own actual home, the home he was raised in, and that alarms him.

Enjoyed more of the Kaminari stuff and got to add in more Kirishima! Kirishima is a character I also really enjoyed, definitely in my first watch of the series and I think he really fits well with Alain. Friendly, kinda abrupt, but caring too.

And flying! Haha, I love describing flying. Blame How to Train Your Dragon for my love of all things flying but flying is just so cool.

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Chapter 7: Interlude 1: The Boy with the Haunted Eyes

Word Count: 4136 words

Author's Notes:

So... this chapter came about because I was taking a really long time to write the next chunk. Life got busy and the amount of time I could spend writing got dramatically cut. This chapter was sort of a bridging between this and the next section so I could give the people something to consume while still having time to write.

And, well, this chapter ended up being really fun. I spent some time between part 1 and 2 writing a few oneshots from Augustine's perspective and ended up really falling in love with his anxious but sort of laid back, protective character voice. He's just a blast to write. Little nerd dad very worried over his son.

Plus, it helps explain some of the stuff that went down at the beginning and how time passes between MHA and Pokemon and what's been happening while Alain's gone.

As far as the editing process, I was fairly lazy with this one. All of my editors and I were very busy during this time and I barely had time to crack this out, so it went through about 3 drafts only instead of the usual 4 or 5 most chapters go through.

But, I still really ended up liking it. I like Augustine and Mairin and wanted to show their relationship with Alain without Alain's input, because he tends to process things through his very pessimistic world view. Which is fine, just wanted to give a little more input.

Olympia is a character I've enjoyed working with. I read a small series of vignettes from another author on AO3 and that really colored the way I wrote her here. Mysterious but also kind and sort of majestic.

The prophecy words thing? Completely out of left field. Hadn't been intending to include it and now have it for foreshadowing tools. Exciting!

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Chapter 6: Charizard Toasts Some Grass

Word count: 4758 words

Author's Note:

This chapter spent a lot of time in the woodshed. I really wanted to get a lot right with it. I think I like where the final draft is.

The introductory Charizard scene was actually planned to be in the past chapter. But it didn't feel poignant enough with the Charizard ending and I felt like the Charizard ending needed to get resolved pretty fast. At least to connect all the ideas I wanted.

Charizard got a little more development as well and also just general character voice stuff. Plus the snow and getting over his concussion a little bit. It was rather boring and stagnant to have him walk the whole way, so I wanted to give him some time to fly. To at least show flying from Charizard's perspective before I broke into Alain inevitably.

As for Alain, most of this chapter was just nailing the feelings I wanted. I think I originally had the bond flare back up instead of remaining dead but I need the bond to remain silent to get a lot of the points I want across for the whole book, so it had to remain quiet. (even though it's one of my favorite mechanical bits of storytelling for Alain and Charizard).

The ending actually had a bit of work to it. I wanted to set some things up for the next chunk. Mostly, Alain wanting to go back to the Lab and trying to get there and his clashing with Bakugou. Excited I finally found a spot for them to interact.

Also, since I really haven't talked about the MHA characters, Imma talk a little bit about them.

I wasn't expecting Kaminari to dominate the story so much but he honestly did it completely by accident. I wrote him in chapter 3 and 4 quite a bit and ended up really liking him. He's just so fun and encouraging and goofy. I didn't super gravitate towards him in the show but man is he just a blast to write.

Ashido ended up coming up a lot because she's one of my favorite characters and a character I have a lot of ease writing since she's fairly similar to me. I just like her friendly, slightly pushy personality. Plus she and Kaminari interact quite a bit in the show and so that sort of links them to Alain.

There's a few more characters I want to become relevant later. I sort of want to give the illusion of depth to some of these characters, since they lack them quite a bit in the show. Not to dog on MHA, but character writing (outside their main characters like Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki) isn't great. The characters feel rather shallow. I fault most of that to the very large ensemble cast and short series but still. Wanted to help some of the characters out.

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Chapter 5: The Throngs of Battle

Word Count: 3708 words

Author's Note:

This scene wasn't in my original 10k draft but this has got to be one of my favorite chapters thus far. It's the pseudo action sequence of the story and I freaking love action sequences. Their my favorite things to write and read.

As far as editing, this chapter really didn't need that much. A bit for the wording, especially during the panic attack sequence and right after the snow ball fight. But I pretty much nailed the things I wanted to in the first draft. Which is always a plus.

Snowball fight? Top tier. So fun. So silly. Just some guys fighting. I sort of subtly wanted to show that Alain's a good shot thanks to being a Pokemon Trainer and having to wield Pokeballs. I wasn't sure how much is came across but one of my readers commented on it! And that made me so excited! So yay!

The panic attack sequence I was actually pretty nervous for. I personally don't suffer from panic attacks nor much anxiety nor insomnia and honestly most of the stuff Alain is experiencing. But I wanted to show them in an honest way. I talked a lot with a friend who does experience those sorts of things and kept her words in mind while I was writing.

Overall, super fun scene. Just giving mod tid-bits of MHA lore and character stuff and introducing more trauma for Alain. Yippee!

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Chapter 4: The Quirk History Presentation™

Word Count: 4820 words

Author's Notes:

I was soooo excited for this scene in the original draft. I just love silly powerpoints. I literally do them with my friends way too much and was definitely inspired by those nights to write this sequence.

As far as editing goes, this chapter took almost no editing. There was a little bit, especially at the ending sequence because I was unsure of the kind of inner monologue I wanted Alain to have but I ended up landing on something pretty solid. Plus I like releasing some of the angst. You can't continue building without releasing a little bit. Otherwise the story falls a bit flat.

As for the rest of stuff goes, I really liked the inclusion of Kaminari with the Pokemon thing. It's the whole start of the possible identity crisis Alain might have but that's fine. I think its fun and it helps tether Alain a little more to My Hero, since he's such a Pokemon character.

Plus, we get to see him a little more in his element, dealing out Pokemon info and talking about his favorite 'mon (the Chars :D). Gives him a friend a bit more than those he's interacted with.

The ending also sticks with me a bit more. Just there listening to the convos on others. I'm quite a bit of a people watcher myself and sometimes just enjoy listening to others yap about their lives and the interesting things they do, especially when I'm tired. I don't know how much Alain enjoys it, but he likes that he doesn't have to go back to his room with only his thoughts to keep him company.

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Chapter 3: Charizard Really Confuses Some Poor Sheep

Word Count: 3966 words

Author's Notes:

I struggled a lot with the chapter name for this one from what I remember. Part of me wanted to go really dramatic while the other part wanted to go goofy. I think a friend recommended this chapter name and that's what I went with.

This scene was also one that I wrote in that original 10k splurge of this story. While the rest of the chapter got bulked up a lot, the convo with Midoriya and the introduction of all the other students on the dorm floor are from the original.

As far as feels go, I really liked Alain just straight up hiding in his dorm. He's so terrified of all these people, not just his social anxieties but also it's new people and its new people he can get close to. I don't that's something I really touched on in the original edits and I kinda wish I had included more of it but so be it. Part of chapter-by-chapter posting is seeing exactly where the story goes.

Charizard also ended up getting a lot more development than I was intending in my edits. I really wanted him to feel like his own character with moderate struggles and someone who really feels like he would stick by Alain. His inner monologue at the end got added in during draft 3 or 4 and it really made me fall in love with the guy.

And obviously the sheep stuff was just a blast to write. I love writing confused sheep.

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Chapter 2: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Word Count: 5627 words

Author's Notes:

Hehehe. This chapter was really fun. It ended up not taking that much editing from what I remember except for the first scene.

I really wanted to do stuff from the teacher's perspectives in this one. Partly to connect the story bits together and partly to get their take and opinion on everything.

Plus Sansa got included and I really like him. I honestly wasn't sure what his quirk entailed, if he has a different quirk than his cat head (I'm pretty sure they might go into that a little bit more in the Vigilantes comics but I haven't read them soo...), so I decided the cat head is his quirk and gave him full of feeling smell receptors because I think that's cool.

I also really enjoyed Eraserhead for some reason. I liked the idea that Eraserhead was very wary of Alain because he's very wary for his students. These are his literal children and he would do anything for them, even if he does start to sort of pick up on things that are up with Alain.

A lot of my editing for this chapter ended up being on paper. I rewrote quite a few scenes, but a lot of the original interrogation ended up in here and most of the original dorm sequence.

Also, right before posting I changed the ending of this chapter, to help end it on the tone I wanted and also to bulk up the next chapter. I don't want to give too much info in one given chapter because it can get overwhelming as a reader.

[brokenlookingglassupdatea]

Chapter 2: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Word Count: 5627 words

Author's Notes:

Hehehe. This chapter was really fun. It ended up not taking that much editing from what I remember except for the first scene.

I really wanted to do stuff from the teacher's perspectives in this one. Partly to connect the story bits together and partly to get their take and opinion on everything.

Plus Sansa got included and I really like him. I honestly wasn't sure what his quirk entailed, if he has a different quirk than his cat head (I'm pretty sure they might go into that a little bit more in the Vigilantes comics but I haven't read them soo...), so I decided the cat head is his quirk and gave him full of feeling smell receptors because I think that's cool.

I also really enjoyed Eraserhead for some reason. I liked the idea that Eraserhead was very wary of Alain because he's very wary for his students. These are his literal children and he would do anything for them, even if he does start to sort of pick up on things that are up with Alain.

A lot of my editing for this chapter ended up being on paper. I rewrote quite a few scenes, but a lot of the original interrogation ended up in here and most of the original dorm sequence.

Also, right before posting I changed the ending of this chapter, to help end it on the tone I wanted and also to bulk up the next chapter. I don't want to give too much info in one given chapter because it can get overwhelming as a reader.

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Chapter 1: Prologue: Suffocation

Word Count: 5146 words

Author's Notes:

This story was conceived in the winter of 2023 during a very lazy winter break. I can't exactly remember how to came about except that I have a habit of liking to mess around with Alain and the characters around him and, at the time, was fairly into My Hero Academia.

The original version of this story was 10k words which was written in about a week and a half. That has been the most productive week of my life, I wish I could have it back. ;-;

From there, the story kind of spiralled. There were a few key scenes I wanted to include in the overall story, namely the powerpoint and a few fights. Most of which hasn't been included yet in the story as of posting this but that's fine.

Anywho, this prologue sort of started everything. I don't think it included Mairin's letter scene and a big chunk of the megalith ruins scene in the original. Really the original draft was the set the tone and how Alain handles his nightmares, as well as sort of set up the story. I knew a story like this was going to need some setting up before we actually did the crossover stuff.

Honestly, I probably could've done more setting up but I really wanted to get to the interesting stuff.

One of my favorite scenes is actually the megalith ruins scenes. I think it turned out exactly how I wanted it in the beginning and all the sounds and feelings fit the tone. It ended up turning out really good and setting everything up around it helped quite a bit.

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Title: Through the Broken Looking Glass

Author: Janru

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: Creator Chose Not to Use Warnings

Fandoms: Pokemon Anime, Pokemon X & Y, My Hero Academia

Summary: It's been one month since the Kalos Crisis, but Alain can't forget what happened. In fact, he's not sure he can ever forget, if the nightmares and long nights awake are anything to go by. He just can't shake the feeling that there's something—or someone—still out there. Still out there waiting to wreak havoc on Kalos... and on himself.

[brokenlookingglassupdatea]

Chapter 1: Prologue: Suffocation

Word Count: 5146 words

Author's Notes:

This story was conceived in the winter of 2023 during a very lazy winter break. I can't exactly remember how to came about except that I have a habit of liking to mess around with Alain and the characters around him and, at the time, was fairly into My Hero Academia.

The original version of this story was 10k words which was written in about a week and a half. That has been the most productive week of my life, I wish I could have it back. ;-;

From there, the story kind of spiralled. There were a few key scenes I wanted to include in the overall story, namely the powerpoint and a few fights. Most of which hasn't been included yet in the story as of posting this but that's fine.

Anywho, this prologue sort of started everything. I don't think it included Mairin's letter scene and a big chunk of the megalith ruins scene in the original. Really the original draft was the set the tone and how Alain handles his nightmares, as well as sort of set up the story. I knew a story like this was going to need some setting up before we actually did the crossover stuff.

Honestly, I probably could've done more setting up but I really wanted to get to the interesting stuff.

One of my favorite scenes is actually the megalith ruins scenes. I think it turned out exactly how I wanted it in the beginning and all the sounds and feelings fit the tone. It ended up turning out really good and setting everything up around it helped quite a bit.

[brokenlookingglassupdatea]

Title: Through the Broken Looking Glass

Author: Janru

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: Creator Chose Not to Use Warnings

Fandoms: Pokemon Anime, Pokemon X & Y, My Hero Academia

Summary: It's been one month since the Kalos Crisis, but Alain can't forget what happened. In fact, he's not sure he can ever forget, if the nightmares and long nights awake are anything to go by. He just can't shake the feeling that there's something—or someone—still out there. Still out there waiting to wreak havoc on Kalos... and on himself.