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Editing, Reading, Cleaning, and Hay

So, I'm working on editing Sleep Without Dreams. *points down*

( Cut for blathering about fic and my hate for Leandra )

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Reading. A post on dragon_age put me in the mood to find a few DA:O fics I read when I first became interested in the fandom. So, will be doing that soon.

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Hubby will be home tomorrow (yay!) so, cleaning and stuff to be done. If this blog goes dark, that's why.

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Hay. Finally got a load of hay delivered. My hay guy is nice. A little odd, but nice.

I unloaded the gooseneck without stabbing it with the hay fork and without tipping the tractor on its side. I think that deserves cookies.

(*) oh, lord, I actually used the word twee. I'm going to hell

Insomnia

... you know what that means...

This morning's blather will be about wish fulfilment and self-indulgence in fanfiction.

Fanfiction, by its very nature, is wish fulfillment. We, the fans, see something in a TV program, novel, or, as the case may be, video game that inspires us to expand, explore, and exploit that world. Literally, we are fulfilling a wish to see more of something that touched us.

The problem, for me as a reader of fanfiction, is when wish fulfillment becomes so overwhelming, it ignores all other aspects of good storytelling.

A good story will look at plot and character development. A story that is purely wish fulfillment will focus on one element the writer is interested in to the detriment of all others.

The latter type is so focused on the idea of character (and, vicariously, writer) happiness that it ignores every facet of good storytelling in favor or creating a wonderful world of sweet happiness.

I get it. Really I do. This works for some folks, and that's fine.

For them.

I need more. Real reactions, real emotion... no matter how ugly it is. Not to say I don't love a happy ending... I just want to have to work for it a little.

Self-indulgence.

Oh, Nelly. We've all done it. *points down*

Do I really think Fenris would be okay with having sex with a mage who can't control magic?

Um. No.

Is the dialogue over the top?

Sure.

Does it display, in all it's grandeur, a few of my favorite kinks?

I hope so. (Although, there's no shower. *grins*)

My point here is I recognize where I'm being very self-indulgent (I don't always, but sometimes) and am selling the story short. I've crossed the boundary where wish fulfillment has become so self indulgent it damages the overall end product.

My job, as a writer, is to recognize these things... and to correct them before I send the fic to beta, and certainly to do so before I post it mainstream.

Anyway.

That's what you get for $1.50 at 4:30am on Wednesday with two hours of sleep.

Oh! If you made it this far (first, here's a cookie) and second, the reading links have been updated. (A couple of times, actually, I think?)

*points left*

Entry tags:

bid-tit

Tuesday. Always better with a little NSFW...

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Dragon Age 3 Predictions

(my formatting keeps getting eaten. LJ sucks)

A post on

dragon_age about PAX put me into prediction mode. I've used a cut link because some of this is spoiler-ish.

Obviously, take these with a grain of salt, folks... I certainly am.( Read more... )

Uhhh...

Trying to dialogue mine on YouTube for If Wishes Were, but keep getting distracted by the shiny*. I love mods.

Anywho.

I was stuck on the fic, but now I'm unstuck. Not that this means anything, really... I'm flailing again.

My biggest issue is the pacing and tone are all over the place. It can't decide what it wants to be... and at this point, I'm not sure how to fix it. I should have left it alone during the first edit, but... now, I can't put it back, either. *tears hair out*

The only thing at this point I can think to do is finish it as is and send it to beta for a test read. Once I get some distance, maybe, I'll figure it out.

*Yes, it's an Anders fic. Yes, I keep getting distracted by Fenris vids. Obviously I have a one-track mind.

Fandom, how do I love thee...

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

WTF?

While getting dialogue for the fic... I came across this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkb1pjVZhww&feature=related

Fandom is a scary, scary place*.

*Yes, I recognize the hypocrisy of that statement, considering why I was dialogue mining.

POS Tagger

I think I like this better, at least on my monitor. The other looked like... well, something icky.

Anyway.

Parts of Speech Tagger (ha! you were thinking something else, weren't you?)

In lieu of actual writing, I fiddled with this some yesterday. I've started to try to pay attention to not just the specific words I use, but the use of types of words (sorted by parts of speech). Plus, I always have in the back of my mind the perfect sentence.

For instance, if I compare my own writing to 'writer-x's', I find that person's writing to be much crisper and cleaner, without really knowing why. I *think* (subjectively) that it's because I'm overly fond of certain stylistic choices that make my writer more... (the word I want to use is 'rounder', but... heh. That's how I am.) than it needs to be.

I could be totally off my rocker, but having an objective way to look at it would be interesting.

Sadly, the GUI add-on they have listed is no longer available at the linked-to site, though, so it is just raw *bleck* that gets dumped out.

I don't have time (or the inclination, right now) to figure out how to make the raw data into something useful. My on-call computer geek suggested putting it in a word document, then find/replace all of the ' / ' marks, then dumping it into Excel.

Random talking to myself here...

I don't care overly much for author's notes, other than what's strictly necessary. They alter my perception of the story, through a means which *isn't* due to the author's writing ability. It's like a spoiler, but (in my mind), much worse... if a writer is relying on the A/N to help tell the story, Houston, we have a problem...

So, in my mulling, I realized I have to fix something in yesterday's fic, because I'm asking the reader to make too much of a jump to remember canon dialogue... which, come to think of it, they may not have even seen. (Oh, crap. Writing fic for a TV show is *not* this complicated.)

So, maybe an A/N is the way to go, and I can just live with my shame over doing it.

Finally...

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Toot, toot...

Because I don't have anything entertaining to offer today... (well, I am going to be snaking my toilet because it's not flushing properly, so probably some humor later.)

Some stats, from ff.net.

Hits are, I believe, unique. I posted the first of these 7/19, so just over a month of data.

I'm definitely not unhappy. It's a 'dead' fandom, 10 years now... I was boggled anyone's still reading.

A Little Too Late	135
And On The Way I Lost It	115
Disillusion	88
Hold Out Your Hand	123
The Good Times	148
Understandings	84

When I have time, I'll do a post about how the default search on ff.net pisses me off.

Really looking forward to actually posting some current work and seeing how that stacks up.

Fannish thing...

I'm going to have T-shirts made. They will say:

"I survived Coffee, Black."
"My F5 key did not."

I don't know when I last enjoyed a fic this much. I don't do romance stories. There has to be something else carrying the story. Has to. And then I find something like this that blows through my rules and silly notions.

I've linked to it (points left, DA2 reads) and if you haven't read it, you absolutely need to.

Hugh Glass

Hubby knows how much I love ordering things offline. It's frightening, really. My love, oh, and my husband, too. (*rimshot* No? Too much? Anyway...)

He wanted a book on Hugh Glass. Holy cow. What an interesting story! I'm totally ripping this man's life off for a fanfiction plot. Totally.

Entry tags:

bid-tit

A Farscape Tid-bit

Not sure where this came from... but it wanted to be written. So, here it is. (Obviously, my inner Fornit wants a John/Chi story. So. Damn. Bad.)

"But… uh. You and Aeryn…" she tilts her head to the side, looks down at him in his chair. There's a glimmer of smile at the corner of her mouth. Not that it ever left in the first place. "The royal planet. Jenavia? I'm not stupid, Crichton."

"That. That was different. We…" should he use that line? Sure. Why the hell not. "We were on a break."

"A break?" she echoes, sets her drink on the table, runs a finger around the rim. Gloves. Always with the gloves. And why does he care?

"Yes. A break."

"So," she slides one foot forward, bumps his knee aside with hers. She's doing that thing where she opens her mouth just a little. Pink tongue on gray lips. His body reminds him, in a sort of nagging way, it's been a long dry spell. "Is this a break?"

"A break?" now he's the parrot. Johnny wanna… woah. Not going there. What was in that last shooter?

She takes another step and he has to grab her hips. Has to, or she'll be in his lap. Or at least across it. And that's bad because?

Her smile is wider because Chiana always knows. When it comes to sex, she has a way of spotting things, a weird instinct. A sex-beacon. Sex-beacon? He glances at his own drink.

"No. Sorry, Chi," he pushes her back, despite his body calling him a selfish prick. Oh, the irony folks. Har, har, har! "Not tonight."

"Fine," and just like that, she turns it off. It's a gift.

She flops down in her chair, grabs her drink, stuffs the straw in her mouth. Her eyes are narrow. Chi thinking. Look out world. "Tell me why."

Explaining human morality -or at least his version- to Chiana. In a whore-house on the Ka'ali homeworld. Exactly how he wanted to spend his night. "Sorry, Pip. Not tonight."

"Not tonight?" it's a different smile. Less teasing. Maybe. He's too drunk to figure it out.

"Not..." he puts his hand flat on the table, levers himself up. When he sways -what was in that last shooter- she reaches up, fingers wrapping half-way around his wrist. The warmth of her palm bleeds through the leather of her gloves. Those gloves, again.

"Not tonight," he says.

He meant to say 'not ever'. Really he did.

Today's blather...

Is tired. Up too late with the fic, up too early for no good reason at all.

I may have sprained my very last brain cell on the TSCC blather. *points down*

After that, my brain needed something, like... hm... fanfiction? Today's stop was AO3. DA2 reads added/updated. *points left*

Not sure I like the new welcome note thingy. *points up*

*does the hokey pokey*

Entry tags:

breakdown - tscc

TSCC 1x02

TSCC 102

(These comments are probably best read soon after watching the episode.)

I haven't quite decided on a formatting style for these blatherings... hope this is less crowded than before.

( Clipping because it's freaking big. )

Sleepless in Idaho...

First: Fic rec... updated my Dragon Age 2 reading links to include some pure smut goodness by littleblackdog. *fans self*

So, another one of those nights where I don't sleep... and not because I've been reading good fanfiction. *points vaguely at the last non-sleep post*

Random blathering is random...

Horses, like dogs or cats or other animals, need to be wormed periodically. Horse wormer is a thick paste, which comes in a tube with a plunger. (like a push-up pop)

In theory, one end of the tube (which the manufacturer so thoughtfully narrows into a tip) is put in the corner of the horse's mouth, the plunger is depressed, the wormer goes in, the horse swallows... and bam! your horse is wormed.

I know my readers are clever people. I'm sure you noted the 'in theory' part. Uh-huh. What really happens is your bitchy horse throws her head all over the place like you're trying to POISON her. Wormer goes all over her face, your hands, YOUR face, and possibly in your hair. (I say possibly because wormer and wormer-filled horse spit are pretty similar. Not that I'd know.)

Then, said horse spits it out. (Didn't know horses could spit, did you? I didn't either, until I met this particular mare.) Lather, rinse, repeat. *sigh*

Thankfully, Honey (yes, that's the mares name. appropriate, no?) is the worst of the bunch. After I convinced her it was futile to struggle with me (she must have realized having me attached to her for the rest of the day, hanging like a lumpy, noisy accesory from her halter, was unattractive), I was able to move on to the rest of the motley bunch.

Even the Ninja Pony behaved himself. Of course, I can put *him* in a headlock.

The rest of tonight, I'm going to try to write. I think changing the plot up in the current fic was a mistake. And not a happy little mistake. (Yeah, I know, it's 'accident'. Work with me, people.)

Big plans for tomorrow... no fanfiction reading/recs/writing... it's all about TSCC 102, baby.

Random blathering...

First, I think the white epi is my favorite. Think I'm going to change it to my default. The red and white is just too gaudy.

I think my, um, enthusiasm for other writer's work scares them, sometimes. Or at least makes them look at me funny.

I can't help myself. Really. When I see a sentence -or scene, even- that's lovely, I want to tell the writer that it works. Then I want to tell them why, so they can make more lovely sentences, which in turn will make me even happier. (The truth comes out! It's all about me!)

I don't want to settle for, 'That was great! Please write more.'

Exploring themes in another writer's work, pointing out nuance of character that I noticed and appreciated... well, it's a blast.

I know it's not the standard for fanfiction reviewers to do this... and the first time someone did it with *my* writing, I about fell over. So, yes, it's an odd sensation. (Which is sad, really...)

Maybe I should just tag this to the top of my page, so when a writer comes looking for the weirdo stalking their work, they'll understand. ;-)

Housekeeping

I'm going to be trying some housekeeping, rearrangement of the furniture, that sort of thing.

Should things go pear-shaped, emergency exits are located to the rear of the cabin.

I still love that cartoon.

I think it's possible that one sign of old age is wishing your teen was around to help install a chat client on your computer.

No, really.

A friend (name withheld to protect the innocent) and I wanted to chat.

In all fairness... my computer vaguely remembers the Clinton administration. I have a slow internet connection. ~~I may have had a few mudslides earlier in the evening.~~

I'm sure you can see where this is going. A wild Saturday night for sure. LOL

Actually, we did get it to work, once my computer agreed to behave and download the file. Then there might have been giggling.

And, because said friend got a kick out of it... sharing one of my PMs to her, while struggling with technology.

Working on it... stupid slow connection.

Babbles while waiting...

It's said 1 minute 7 seconds for 2 minutes. Must be that new math.

Face it, we're old. (When one of us starts wondering where a teen is to help us, that's a pretty good sign.)

(We're actually going to get something faster. Connection wise.)

1 minute 32 seconds??? WTF???

BRB. Getting a cup of coffee. No more mudslide tonight. I can't do hangovers anymore.

Her response was to laugh with me. Not at me, I'm sure. ;-)

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I have a fabulous friend who's going to try out DA:O, just for me. How about that?? I think I may throw out a *swoon* right now. (You are fabulous, and you know it.)

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Oh! I may have found a beta. Not sure if she messaged me from here or my post, but just in case... *waves*

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I see from my stats I may have picked up additional lurkers... guessing from the kmeme or the friending meme I posted to earlier. *waves some more*

Beta Not

(I need a nice John Crichton icon. I love Chi to death, but variety, you know?)

Still looking for a beta... posted a plea to the DA kmeme; we'll see how the wisdom of that plays out.

One of the reasons I posted the request there is I ended up writing a bit of non-con, and it's not something everyone will beta. Figured my best bet of finding someone who is willing, subject-matter wise, to work with anything I throw out would likely be on the kmeme.

As an aside... it is possible to squick yourself writing a story. I like challenges and I hope I did it justice, but I don't think I'll be doing anything of this sort again.

If I can ever find a beta, I'll post it to AO3 and link with fair warning.

In the interim, I did find an online word counter to help with my problem of word reuse. (Every time I write the word just, I swear I get the giggles.) Apparently, my current offender is know.

(I miss the BBQ. So. Freakin'. Much. I think I'll go hug inky, just so I can feel better. We can miss her together.)