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!

♥

When you see this, post an excerpt from as many random works-in-progress as you can find lying around. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.

Since spellcoats was nice enough to tell you things about her WIPs, I suppose I will at least tell you fandom, unlike last time, when I just let you guess.

Also, these excerpts are longish. Oops.

(p.s. I have 24 files open right now. Some of them are also the same as last time. Oops.)

(p.p.s. I have spent at least half an hour on this, when I could have been...WRITING.)

(p.p.p.s. oh damn I forgot to include this one.)

(p.p.p.p.s. I am doing NaNo this year! I'm just not touching the forums. Except maybe to use the Fantasy Dare thread to jog my juices.)

fanfic that will probably never be finished, but has salvageable parts
( most of these are RPG-related )



fic I will probably finish one day but it is taking a while
( these are also RPG-related )


( these are not )



original works
( somehow I forgot I was writing this one )


( all of these are from NaNo projects, oops )

A meme from Quarkie who is ignoring me to work on her ~*~artses~*~ or something thought I had fallen off the internet, brought to you by my inexplicable desire to tease you with my writing.

Post a sentence (or paragraph) or two from as many of your WIPs as you want, with no explanation attached.

They are not in any particular order, mostly sorted according to how I found them.

( fanfiction )


( original stuff )

The Stats:
1/11/08, 02:00, 3K
1/11/08, 14:00, 5.5K
1/11/08, 22:47, 7.8K
2/11/08, 14:16, 9,769
2/11/08, 22:31, 12,551
3/11/08, 22:25, 14,634
4/11/08, 22:22, 17,114
5/11/08, 23:27, 21,442
6/11/08, 23:24, 22,728
7/11/08, 12:02, 25,321

Switzerland:
8/11/08, approx 23:45, 27,855
9/11/08, approx 20:00, 29,586
10/11/08, approx 20:00, 30,390
11/11/08, approx 19:30, 32,165

12/11/08, 23:23, 36,131
14/11/08, 00:41, 38,495
14/11/08, 11:34, 40,685
14/11/08, 15:26, 40,771
14/11/08, 19:00, 43,315

Lourdes:
16/11/08, appox 18:00, 44,203

16/11/08, 22:31, 46,952
17/11/08, 22:30, 47,494
17/11/08, 23:42, 48,972
18/11/08, 00:26, 50,327

First of all, my stats, as they currently stand:

1/11/08, 02:00:  3K
1/11/08, 14:00:  5.5K
1/11/08, 22:47:  7.8K
2/11/08, 14:16:  9,769
2/11/08, 22:31: 12,551

Oh, sorry, what is that, over 10K in the first two days?  Why yes, yes I think that's me.

I just gave my novel the title Se Reveiller, which, uh, just means "to wake [oneself] up" in French, but it's one of the novel's themes (personal awakening, anyway), and it's in French so everything sounds better.  Mostly it's because my profile page looked very sad without any sort of title on it.

Let's see, what else have I noticed...my inner editor is being surprisingly quiet right now, partially because I have yet to actually reread anything I've written, and partially because...I don't know where she's gone, which scares me.  I'm actually kind of struggling with myself right now, because my first NaNo, my inner editor was in full gear, but that meant for the most part I could post what I had written without having to edit it too much, whereas right now, I have no idea what kind of condition my writing is in.

So would it be better to take a little more time, and have something I'm more satisfied with, straight-off-the-bat, or is it better to just go and worry about it all when I'm done?

I mean, since NaNo last year, I have finished Not Yet by Lightning AND edited it, and finished Falling Slowly and begun the long, somewhat arduous process of editing it as well.

I should explain here that I infinitely INFINITELY prefer the term "edit" to the term "rewrite," even if often what I'm doing involves rewriting sentences...or paragraphs...you know.  To me, "rewriting" comes with this image of sitting down with a blank piece of paper and starting over completely--I mean, not completely, but without all the things you've already written, because they weren't good enough so you have to rewrite them.  I find the image/idea of "rewriting" singularly exhausting.

Editing, on the other hand--whee!  Editing is going back to those sentences and saying "ugh, you're crap, GOODBYE" and "oh, you'd be so much better if I would just switch those around, look, that's lovely," as well as occasionally giving yourself the opportunity to say "you know, that was very well-done the first time around, bravo me" and "holy crap, what did I mean by this?  Why did I write this?  Why does it feel so important?  HOW DO I MAKE THIS BETTER HELP."*

*this is the step where Quark shows up and graciously lends her assistance

Anyway, the point is...what else have I written since last year?  A little bit of Zutara fanfic.  The Most Perfect Enchanted Fanfic Ever If I Do Say So Myself.  Quark's birthday present.  Three pieces to go into the Unrequited collection.  But somewhere in all this, I have apparently learned how to make myself write?  How to just sit down and start writing and pick up steam as I go?

I kind of miss those moments of inspiration, though, when I'd suddenly have an idea and a conversation and bam I would produce something kinda cool and there it would be, all complete and pretty, with minimal need for editing!

and somewhere between starting this post and and finishing it, I got totally sidetracked by things like LEGOFIC and GENERAL INSANITY, and so I have lost my train of thought.

I've already killed off two parents!  And I have at least two more to kill!

I'm really enjoying what I've written so far, and I think I'll probably go back and edit it and add more scenes--I appear to be exploring the theme of friendship, and it's turning out to be a really fun theme to explore.  Who knew?

The whole atmosphere of writing in France--I spent Saturday afternoon walking around the center of town, up and down cobblestone streets near houses that have been there for, oh, several hundred years, you know, walking by that castle that's been around since, say, 1300-something--is really invigorating.  As is the fact that I cannot get distracted by the internet.  Finally, it's turning into a blessing!

Anyway, good luck, everyone!