while they did live happily ever after

if I get through tomorrow I will be HALFWAY THERE maybe I will make a better post then.

I want to talk about something fandom-y! I am like three chapters away from finishing The Farthest Shore and the chapter I ended on today ended with Series Main Character mentioning wanting to see Book Two Main Character and I squealed like a little girl in the (empty) teacher's lounge because I love them that much. SO MUCH. (People on the plane with me while I was reading Book Two: I am still really sorry about that.)

Glee doesn't come back until next week! To keep watching to see if Puckleberry makes a comeback y/n.

My DA big bang fic is stalled at 1600 words, about 600 of which are going to have to change because as Jak pointed out clearly this moment comes after Darin offers Gorim to Masha and he gets really pissed off, so I have to come up with another way for her to convince him to let her meet Masha in the first place without her ordering him to do it. Maybe if it is early enough in their relationship she just bullies him into it? As they get to know each other better he becomes more resolute (and, I think, she understands his convictions better).

My main problem really seems to be that I have two story lines and I need to plot them out separate and then figure out where they link up, because we have flashbacks and then we have the present, and I can't decide if the present will be in present tense or not. Also the flashback really has two storylines of its own, but I think the whole fic is from Gorim's POV (what, me writing about the stalwart bodyguard type? Never...), which will present challenges of its own. Basically we have the ascension of a queen against the backdrop of the developments of a badass friendship and a deeply suppressed romance; what pieces of the backdrop do we need, and when?

WELL that was helpful.

My choir is doing more Handel! I love Handel.

I watched Ever After last week. Danielle and the prince kiss very sweetly. Also, that movie reminds me of my 2008 NaNo, and not just because of the Cinderella stuff--France (specifically, I think, the Loire region) permeates both of them, and watching the movie/rereading the manuscript (oh God it needs so much help) (well not really plot-wise, but individual sentences need so much attention) (never mind that I still haven't written part two because--and okay, maybe here the plot does need help--the whole thing is about Nell's development from where she starts to where it ends? [This sounds like a duh statement.] But I'm not sure how to carry that thread from the first part [a fairy-tale retelling, less obviously about Nell] to the second part [which is about marriage and therefore not really your normal YA fare at all] [maybe I should just change the whole novel from being YA] [but she's so young in the beginning!] [well, so was David Copperfield] [you begin to see my problems, I think] [OH I should reread Spindle's End and see how Robin McKinley does it] [I will reread Earthsea when I want to write Ariadne] [MC, what's that fellowship with the whole year-in-Rome thing?] [I forget what I was originally talking about])...oh, I see. Watching the movie/reading the manuscript makes me miss France like WHOA.

but then I am missing lots of things.

moving on.

Oh look! I have made it to shower time, and even worked a few things out along the way. Success!

♥

So, normally I don't post my own fic here, but this one, well, I want to post it wherever I can, and that amounts to about four places, one of them being here, so, well, there you go. This wiki entry and this one sort of give you an idea of the general things surrounding this specific story; it helps to know that the character you play in Dragon Age is a Grey Warden, which is an order of people who drink darkspawn blood in order to be able to kill archdemons, taking the taint and mastering it, at least for a little while.

Anyway, here is my fic; hope you enjoy it.

Title: Legend
Author: Jade Sabre
Summary: The Warden and Andraste; a study in light.
Notes: This was originally going to be my entry for the "legendary" lightning round at the dao_challenge LJ community, but I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to do it in fifteen minutes. Try two hours and fifteen minutes. Anyway, I have to acknowledge a few influences on this piece:

1) The fic "But A Sword," by tjadis, which has been lingering in the back of my head in its own beautiful way,
2) The novel The King's Rose, by Alisa Libby, which is an absolutely fantastic character study of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, and
3) The fic "Deathsong," by LoquaciousQuark, which is an excellent Bleach fic (I'm not in the fandom, but there's nothing a little wiki-ing can't help you with), as well as some of her other fic, as well as her general outlook on life.

This was written to "Farewell," the final track on the Pocahontas soundtrack, on repeat, and reads pretty well with it.

The quotes from the Chant I obtained from the Dragon Age wiki.

A little piece of my heart went into this; I'd love to read your reviews.

Disclaimer: Dragon Age belongs to the brilliant people at Bioware.





( Leliana calls the Warden a sunflower, and it is not far from the truth. )

1) I read Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, and I don't have nearly as much to say about it as I did about The Time Paradox. This is not to say I didn't enjoy it; I laughed at least once a page, because Colfer was playing fast and loose with hilarious dialogue and hilarious side characters and even point of view--often he would describe something with a particularly nice turn of phrase, and in the next line have the current POV character think something along the lines of if I'm saying things like that, I must be suffering from oxygen deprivation. The writing and the plot were much, much tighter than TP, like you could really feel his growth as a writer and the editor's steady hand working upon the novel.

That being said, it was almost too short; it felt, like A Conspiracy of Kings, as if we were being handed an incident full of important information that would unfold in the denouement, packaged within an entertaining adventure, letting us spend time with all of our favorite characters but really just setting the pieces for some grander showdown in the future. (Hint: All the even-numbered books in the series have involved Opal Koboi, and the next, allegedly final, book is going to be number 8, if you can imagine it.) I loved seeing Holly and JULIET yay Juliet and Butler and Mulch and Foaly (out of his element!) and Artemis again, and they were all wonderful, and at the end of the book I wanted--more. There were so many little things that still needed exploring--not that the book doesn't tie together, but rather that things are changing and we're stopped before everything really starts rushing to a head.

I do take issue with the fact that Artemis is allegedly celebrating his fifteenth birthday at the beginning of the story, because he was fifteen back in The Lost Colony. Of course, my dad pointed out to me that the target audience of this series is probably still 12-14-year-old boys, despite the fact that the series is ten years old and those of us who were twelve when we started reading are now twenty-two and still shipping Holly/Artemis like burning. And the series has grown up, too, though perhaps not as noticeably as say Harry Potter; the central themes in The Time Paradox were certainly older, perhaps in some ways too old for a fourteen-year-old to grasp; it's one thing to read about a character reflecting on personal change and growth and the choices you make to get there, and quite another to really have a grasp on how that's happened in your life. And the humor has gotten a bit more complex too (see: I-see-what-you-did-with-that-POV), even if Mulch is still around for the fart jokes.

Anyway, it was a fantastic little yarn, but mostly I am just impatient for the next one.

( SPOILERS )



2) I rewatched Music and Lyrics the other night, the cute little rom-com with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant that Malone and I started watching at home one night, got about thirty seconds into the music video, and stopped and waited until Mom was around to watch it with us. The whole theme of creation and music isn't as deep as the theme of creation and writing is in Stranger Than Fiction--this is a rom -com, after all--but what impressed me this time around was Hugh Grant's acting job. He is very...adult, in this film--he knows where he is in his life and he's comfortable with who he is and what he's doing, and I especially liked that he is a musician, and he shows it--in quiet little ways, like the way he sits down at the piano in his apartment or in the store, like it's something he's infinitely familiar with. And even though he's "just" a pop music star, he writes his own stuff--he knows how music works, knows how to put it together, and it's all just...there. I just...really liked his character, and thought he did an understatedly phenomenal job of playing it.



3) I started rewatching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon last night but stopped right before the final battle because I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it through without sobbing and because I needed to go to bed (woe, the adult schedule).

( musing on the movie )



4) I have started reading The Demon's Lexicon because the library had it (and the sequel), but I am apparently Not In the Mood. Partially because I am reading a book called The Wall of Fame and it contains some truly atrocious metaphors that ought to be taken behind the publishing house and shot repeatedly, and partially because I have trouble getting into "tough" characters like Nick, and mostly because reading about Nick and Alan makes me think about Felix and Mildmay and, well, Felix and Mildmay are a really, REALLY hard fictional brotherly relationship to beat. Like, nigh-impossible. Especially after Corambis and their exchange of brotherly affection. (FELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX MILDMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY I JUST WANT YOU BOTH TO BE HAPPY FOREVER AND I FEEL LIKE IT IS OBTAINABLE AND THIS JUST OVERWHELMS ME WITH RELIEF, I LOVE YOU BOTH SO HARD.)

(yes, Jade just said she loved Felix. It--sometimes these things happen.)

( gems from aforementioned Atrocious Metaphor Book )




5) To end on a positive note: I made myself dinner and ate it and now am full of food! My fish is still alive! (His name is Ron, for those interested. My first dog was named Fred, and then one of my sisters got a gerbil and named it George, and our first betta fish was named Percy, and I think another gerbil was named Charlie, so...he is red and beautiful and I will post pictures.) My apartment is an utter mess! Ingrid Michaelson writes beautiful songs! Quark drew the picture that was in my head because she is awesome! crisium_rising writes THE MOST AMAZING Dragon Age fanfic ever! The libraries here have BOTH Virtu and Mirador (I literally gasped when I turned the corner and saw them both in their hardbacked glory on their shelf) AND they have lots of sartorias's novels (I brought home A Posse of Princesses and am.very excited about reading it! My books fit on the bookshelf! My apartment door locks! There are trees and mountains around!

Life is good. :-)

but I just finished rewatching most of Book One: Water (we skipped "The Great Divide" and "The Northern Air Temple" on purpose, and idk what happened to "The Fortuneteller" but it somehow became a casualty of our fast-forward button), and I just thought I would share a few things.

(Also Quark linked me to a massive Bleach meta post and I felt like meta-ing.)

(disclaimer: Quark I do not know if you will like this meta.)

( how I came to love ATLA, and Zutara, and fandom )


( I have heard people say they hate Katara and I cannot comprehend their feelings )


( Zutara is our fandom's love )

feel free to lovefest about any/everything in the comments.

I, uh, finished posting Falling Slowly, my other not-quite-as-long Neverwinter Nights 2 fanfic. It's from a side character's POV, and he knows about as much about what's going on as, say, someone who hadn't played the game and only glanced at the Wikipedia pages. And, um, I'm really hesitant to say I'M RIDICULOUSLY PROUD OF THIS FIC, but um, I am ridiculously proud of this fic. It is--I think--good. And dedicated to Quark, because she is awesome and deserves it. So, um, you can read it in its entirety now, if you like.

( on the writing process )

The title comes from this song, because I listened to the soundtrack incessantly while writing the fic:
( take this sinking boat and point it home )


and also because the main female character is from a town called West Harbor, so that's a nice little metaphorical connection there, which connects with this song, which also influenced me:
( the light in me will guide you home )

that's not the version of "Harbor" that I have on my computer--mine comes from the "Heard it on NPR" radio, and is just Vienna Teng and a piano, and I still vividly remember the first time I listened to it, in the car on the way home from ND with my dad. It was also the first time I heard Vienna Teng's voice, with its crystalline clarity--it's just so pure, and the road was dark and the sound wrapped around me like a blanket. This fic is kind of like all those late nights sitting on the couch just like I am now, my fingers on the keyboard and the music and the dog sleeping at my feet and a story that I wanted to tell.

so, here's to finding something new for this summer, and many summers to come.

one about a song (since Quark complained about the last version, also since I only got like three replies to it), and one about books (partially in response to a post I mostly disagreed with but which still made me think, and partially because I've wanted to quantify this for a while)[Poll #1552096]I ask because my friends are of differing minds about this one.[Poll #1552097]

alas this is long.  I will finish it off with a link to a post on Azula I found fascinating and a comment about Zuko I found very right.

So sartorias linked to a review of The Phantom Menace that explains what goes wrong with it in surprising and awesome detail. I highly recommend it--it's broken into pieces so you can watch a bit at a time. In the first few segments there are some highly questionable bits of non-humor, but if you push past those you'll be well rewarded. (A commenter on sartorias's journal said that apparently this reviewer's thing is to treat the subject as "if you're this much of a fanboy nerd, you're probably also a sociopath"; I haven't watched any of his other reviews, so idk.)

( on Obi-Wan Kenobi, or little things that make me squee )

( on the EU, or how Jade barely touches the tip of the iceberg )

anyway, sometimes I wish I had a way of getting into the Star Wars fandom, just because most of the people I know who have read as much as I have are, like, nerdboys around here, and while I'm so grateful for my Star Wars group, it'd be nice to have someone else to talk to.

1. Re: things that disappointed me about Graceling: I think my problem with Katsa's big NO I WON'T GET MARRIED THING is that I could sort of see why she was doing that, in a murky area that was half-in the writing and half-subtext-y. Like, all the examples of marriage that Katsa saw involved the women settling down in a domestic setting and running a household and having babies, all things she's not interested in. So I can understand her not wanting to end up in that situation.

( but this does not mean I am satisfied with the way it was handled )




2. I finished the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. One of the things that kept coming to my mind, over and over again, was, "man, philia_fan would love this series, because all the books stand alone on their own!" I know people cite them as examples of series books that get Newberries, but honestly Silver on the Tree is the one that I would say most relies on the others. The Dark is Rising, the Newberry Honor, stands quite firmly and solidly on its own two feet, and The Grey King (Newberry winner) only slightly less so, in that there's a little background information that is helpful to have when reading it. But even the characters appear and are fleshed out on their own terms in each novel. It really is fascinating to read.

Susan Cooper's prose is also wonderfully, indescribably British. I'm not entirely sure why. It just is.

( HERE THERE BE SPOILERS AND MUSINGS )

So in short, read this series, if not in the least to observe how curiously different it is while somehow managing to be very much the same.

And this is a long post, and I wrote it instead of doing my Zutara Week contribution for the day, so I think I will save movie-related musings for another post.

Another friend of mine is taking the GRE tomorrow, so please send good vibes her way, too!

Love and sweet dreams,
Jade

Faith is an intensely private thing, not isolated and yet seemingly utterly between you and God, which is what makes a community of believers so wonderfully awesome. There are few feelings to describe that emotion felt when one lifts up their eyes and realizes that all of those surrounding them are present because they believe. Some of them may be lukewarm, some lost and fading, some floundering, some drowning in tears of joy--but all have made the choice to be there. All have considered going and not going, and all have come to the water.

Because we do not speak to God in private, nor pray in isolation. Our prayers are joined with all, heard individually yet traveling together to God our Almighty Father. We do not know the prayers of others, yet we know they pray; we join with them to seek comfort in one another's company, to live out His promise of presence even if we cannot grasp it ourselves. We ask prayers of each other, when we are praying with all our soul; we ask others pray for us, when we can no longer pray ourselves.

We gather together amidst darkness, amidst smoke-filled light, with silence, with songs (singers and tone-deaf alike), with prescribed prayer, with offerings from the secret places in our hearts, as children, parents, friends, neighbors, lonely and loved, for we are together, and together, we are one in the image of the eternal One who made us, seeking his blessing, singing his praise.

            It is 21:26 Wednesday 5 November 2008, and I am having my first crisis of conscience over a character death!  Oh no!  I need to keep writing my NaNo, but there is absolutely no way to continue and avoid this character death.  Alas!  I should not have given the old man a name, much less have suggested that in this particular scene he is proudly reliving his glory days in escorting two lovely young ladies to the capital.  I feel as if the only way to make this worse would be to have him start telling the girls about how he used to take the one’s mother and aunt to balls just like this one, and—

            OH GOD NOLDY, I’M SO SORRY.

            I mean I named him “Noldy” even, which wasn’t very nice.  I mean, geeze, one indignity after another.

( musings on how to avoid this, as well as other notes made during the writing process last night )