aralias: (eight does count)
not related to the book meme (i know - i should get on that, but seriously. we are close to the finish line), but instead related to My Own Fic.

unlike other stories about My Own Fic, this one begins with me reading Someone Else's Fic. which is something i do from time to time. sometimes i even enjoy it, although not always. (i'm not sure whether the simon snow fandom doesn't do rec lists, or whether tumblr doesn't do rec lists because it's so ephemeral, or if FANDOM doesn't do rec lists any more for reasons of its own. or whether there are rec lists and i just can't find them because i still dont really know how to use tumblr.) (the point is, i might well make a rec list that i can keep updating. i dont know whether people will be able to find it, becuase of course they don't know that dreamwidth exists! but nevertheless, i may make one. )

anyway- the other day i was reading a fic that i did enjoy - which was Stay up with Me by sharkmartini, who is a writer i like. (unlike the rest of the fandom it's possible she's not more than a decade younger than me).

the fic is good, and i'd recommend it (if i had a rec list, which maybe i will, soon). it's about a version of simon who ended the war by killing baz, rather than doing what he does in the book - who travels without his consent to the universe we know from the book, where he is married to baz.

most relevantly for this conversation, it also reminded me a lot of mah own fic, 'The Sleepwalker' and the sequel, Meanwhile. (where, if you weren't with me in that fandom, dear reader, the same thing happens - although for me, the canonverse was obviously the one where the doctor killed the master, rather than the other way round).

read on if you love to read someone else's naval gazing )
aralias: (simon snow)
here's a quick post about something that ISN'T books because i'm waiting for erin to get back - and you know, this 'forcing yourself to post so you get into the rhythm of it again' thing... isn't entirely ineffective.

(i wrote most of this post last night, but finished it this morning. i've updated the days of the week mentioned... but i want you to know the mood in which it was written.)

i went to see 'ocean's 8' yesterday. alone. because that's the kind of cool person i am. someone who loves heist movies and women being gay for each other.

if you are thinking about seeing this movie: here is my review. it is as gay as advertised. cate blanchett's character is practically canonically gay, that's how gay she is. unfortunately as a heist, it pales in comparison to the excellent (but not at ALL gay) 'ocean's 11'. the heist itself is flimsy and the ending has at least three things happen that the audience could not possibly predict with the information they have at the beginning of the movie. disappointing!

in other real life news -

this morning (!) i start my new job (!!!). i basically wish i was just going back to my old, comfortable job with all the people that i know and i love. but... i guess this is the price of Ambition.

because i am a drama queen, i prepared a speech. i had in fact been thinking about my leaving speech since i resigned. initially i was convinced that i had to say something on the theme of 'WAKE UP! SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE' and then my friend xander asked me why i would want to do that, what i thought i'd achieve. and also i think everyone i love is pretty woke, actually. they just also dont have anywhere else good to go yet. and it's still very nice in many ways. so then i thought i would talk just on the theme of how wonderful everyone is, and how that makes it 'a great place to work'.

in the end, i went off personal script (i was two drinks down) and ended up saying how great everyone was AND calling for revolution. i also promised (without being asked) i would come back and LEAD that revolution.

we shall see. i'll let you know how it goes. i've been low-key stressing about it (and what i would wear) for weeks now. this morning i have gone with what could otherwise have been a wedding outfit. that's what i thought i would wear for my first day.

it truly seemed the best option.

i spent most of sunday (we're very definitely in the bit of this post i wrote in the morning, now) trying to finish my simon fic while erin was out.

as you can see, i thought i would go to the movies – alone – instead. but i also did write words. but not enough. i had a brain wave at about four in the afternoon that i could just separate the epilogue from the third book, and then i'd basically be done!!! i could post! (although obviously it would be a cheat, and i would have to write the epilogue at some point) but then i remembered that without the epilogue at the end of book three, there's no character arc - there's just stuff that happens. all of it stuff that happens because i wrote myself into a plot i didn't know how to resolve. so i've now been struggling to write my way out of what felt like quite a good cliffhanger last time.

so, anyway, i decided not to do that. but it means i still have a long way to go :( which is a shame because about a month ago i thought (you were there, dear friends), i should finish my fic! capitalise off the increased interest in this fandom following the announcement of 'wayward son'!

it is only a semi-real excuse to say: i've been busy.

i have been busy. i also just haven't know what to write. i think i also need to delete a good portion of what i've written already, as it's not fair to say it's 'plot business' even. some of it is - and some of it's the important characters stuff. but most of it's angst. and it goes on for 10k.

so - i have that to look forward to. boo.

this thought, btw, about not cutting off in the middle of the character arc is why i appreciate where the first act falls in 'hamilton', even though i also think every time 'hm - the war's over. shouldn't this be the end of the first act?' it really feels like it should be - but, i would argue (and indeed, have argued) that the break needs to be where it is, at a slightly underwhelming moment plot wise, because that's the choice that hamilton makes that drives the whole of the second half. he ignores his wife's counsel and joins the cabinet for his own personal glory.

whereas, if we'd cut at the end of the war - that's actually a triumphant moment where we see hamilton's almost identical strategy of selfishness pay off massively for both him and the country. so - it couldn't be that.

anyway - that's why i'm still writing, rather than deluding myself that i've written enough.

also, i guess there's a possibility that i will indeed cut-cut-cut where i've argued to myself that i probably need to (see above), whereas otherwise i probably wouldn't EVEN THOUGH it's just angst. (nice try, self. nice try.)
aralias: (blake and avon)
had a very nice christmas, which involved us eating a lot of food and watching many things, and reading other things. some of the things that i read were zines (which i shall talk about in an upcoming post), and one of the things that i read was this lovely christmas fic written for my birthday. b7 isn't a yuletide fandom any more (we are now over 500 fics over the line, however you look at it), but this more than made up for it.

In the Bleak Midwinter (32214 words) by x_los
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Blake's 7
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kerr Avon/Roj Blake
Characters: Kerr Avon, Roj Blake, Vila Restal, Del Tarrant, Deva (Blake's 7), Soolin (Blake's 7), Jenna Stannis, Dayna Mellanby
Additional Tags: Post Gauda Prime, Christmas, Reconciliation, Redemption, References to Dickens, Christmas Truce of 1914
Summary:

A year after their encounter on Gauda Prime, Blake and Avon are engaged in a war of attrition.






anyway - enough about her! let's talk about ME.

yes, it's time for the end of year fic meme, assuming that i dont write anything in the next five days and i seriously doubt that i will. using the same format as last year (you can c/p your own from last year's post).

fic what i wrote this year )




as a special gift (that you didn't particularly want), here's a dump of fic that i haven't finished for whatever reason that it's unlikely i will finish (including travis on the liberator, though it'd be nice to finish that). the mills and boon hypnotism one is LONG too, but i just ran out of steam.

i've also got TWO different beginnings of blake/servalan bodyswap for you.

enjoy!

unfinished b7 fic dump )
aralias: (annie is writing)
ok - here's another post. and this one is... only peripherally about blake's 7.

writing habits )

btw - i know i havne't commented on any b7 marriage comments. too tired. but will do later when i have brain.
aralias: (devilish queer story (heyer))
i didn't do this meme last year (i think) because i hadn't written anything really. BUT THIS YEAR I WROTE LOADS. LOADS. [personal profile] netgirl_y2k did this meme yesterday, but i was already planning to haul it out and post it because for the first time in as long as i can remember, i wrote astonishingly more than i thought i would this year. not only did i write a shit tonne of blake, but i also wrote quite a few Who things.

2013 fic meme )
aralias: (annie is writing)
trying to work out whether i really need chocolate for lunch. and whether it would be too embarrassing to go back to the (tiny i.e. has only one staff member) shop where i bought my lunch to get some chocolate after half an hour of considering the question. at the moment, i think... no to the first, and yes to the second. but i may crack about 4pm though... (when there is a different member of staff there).

anyway, some lovely (but above all, cryptic) anon has responded (cryptically) to my last post, leaving the comment 'plot bunnies?', which i am going to assume is a request for me to talk about where they come from, what i do about them, and whether i have any now that i'm not writing/haven't talked about extensively already (i'm pretty sure the last one is no, but perhaps i will discover stuff about myself as i write)(ah - i have infact remembered one even now. see - it's working).

discussion of my plot bunnies )
aralias: (harry fitzgerald esq)
so, with finale and the ensuing who drought drawing ever closer, i've decided to spend a week posting about things that aren't doctor who. my reasons being three fold:
1. i assume after the finale i will want to talk about doctor who a lot and pretty much nothing else
2. after that's over i will be forced to talk about something else because there won't be as much to say any more
3. all the people who know me in real life are getting kind of tired of all the who talk.

obviously there won't be no talk of of doctor who at all: it's just the ratio of doctor who to other stuff with be inverted.

to that effect, i bring you:

a short account of my day
woke up too early. travelled to hyde park corner on tube. watched a parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of israel whilst on the way to actual park. almost took free whistle but decided it would be dishonest given that i wasn't staying for the celebration. had picnic. wore new hat. was told by jo that i looked like the seventh doctor in hat. got very cross and said "no, fifth doctor" a lot. went rowing on the serpentine(?)/big lake. jumped in dashing fashion from own boat to boat of pedalo-ing friends then back again. didn't fall in. sucess! more picnic-ing. lots of hayfever. whole body aches from rowing. went home. washed pollen from skin. watched stolen earth for the third time. drank really bad wine (lindermanns - avoid it). sat down to write this post.

because none of that is really as gripping as might be hoped, i've also decided to give each of these (shall we say) advent days a theme. today's theme is the letter B!:

non fandom writing.
(because sometimes i do write stuff without time lords in it.)

this basically boils down into two distinct projects, both of which i am writing with my long suffering, new-who hating flatmate, anna.

project the first, you might remember from nanowrimo time, is a superhero chicklit dual-narrative novel entitled 'can't run in high heels', of which we currently have 50,000ish words. anna mainly writes our heroine, melody, who is a fake-superhero who bears a remarkable resemblance to anna herself (interest in shoes and books and fear of children) and i mainly write her millionarie playboy sidekick, harry, who bears a remarkable resemblance to the gay men i often write except he isn't gay. (yes, i should warn you - this is not high literature. it's just sort of fun and daft.)

i haven't written anything for this in a really long time (it's the master's fault - he gets into my brain.)(bastard), which is sort of embarrassing, but we have had a couple of brainstomring evenings where we've worked out large, reasonably complicated plot points so i expect that counts in some way. after reading all that agatha christie i thought up a really cunning red herring but it turned out to be superfluous and we had to cut it to stop the WHATISGOINGON-ness of the scene. erm, yes. it's fun. and daft. and i really should write it more because we totally have a plot and i find harry, at least, really easy to write.

anyway, in case you're interested here are two excerpts )


project number two is slightly less credible, but strangely not a joke. to explain how it came about i'm afraid i will have to (yes, have to, dammnit) talk about doctor who again, briefly.

basically, when i was writing no longer hearing voices i made a few jokes about how boring/bad samuel richardson books are (n.b. they are, they really are). i told anna this because i tell her pretty much everything whether she wants to know it or not and i thought it was quite amusing how massively my brain wanted me to write about thigns that weren't sex, and we talked about how awful pamela was, and how a movie of it would be hilarious, and then she suggested we write the screenplay and make it good, and i said don't be ridiculous pamela is the worst thing that has ever been written and you cannot make it good, and we both went to sleep. then, independently, we spent the next day writing the screenplay in our heads and both arrived back home intent on really doing it.

so - yer, basically, we're adapting pamela for screen. god knows why. (ideal casting, btw: emma watson as pamela [her badness would just make it extra funny], dominic cooper as mr b). obviously it's going to be a pretty darned unfaithful adaptation because the source material is surprisingly dull given that its about a series of blundered rape attempts, and the last 200 pages have to go, but i think the movie could be pretty fun in a bodice ripping kind of way. have personally written the opening sequence, but it's not worth posting here. rather fun. haven't adapted anything before. haven't written any original screenplays either. not sure what we're going to do with it once it's done (though emma watson is going to RHUL and will therefore be subjected to pamela herself, so i could turn up one day and insist she read my screenplay... and then - who knows?)

nothing else in the works really, though i should really write, you know, a play, given that's what i'm best at.... what i have my degree in. but whatever. maybe one day.

so, that's what i'm doing with my time when i'm not thinking about doctor who. but for now - going to watch some doctor who, namely black orchid with five! and cricket! five playing cricket!

for some reason this makes me embarrassingly excited. you couldn't pay me to watch someone else playing cricket. but the doctor? yes! cricket! more cricket now! started watching on youtube because i needed to refresh my memory of how five talked, only to discover that the missing first part [not on youtube. why? why not?] was the bit with the cricket. fortunately peter has provided the dvd and all is well.

... anyway. until tomorrow.
aralias: (oh my)
i tell you what - the english school system is, in many ways, a disgrace. here i am (in posession of two A* at english GSCE (lit and lang), an A at literature A level, and a 2.1 from a reputable university in english and creative writing) trying to formulate a put-down based on one character knowing english tenses whilst another does not, and it's practically impossible for me to do so because i myself have no idea beyond the basic past, present, future divides.

obviously this does not usually affect my day to day life. i can write and speak quite happily without knowing what tense i am writing in (i can write - simple present? i actually have no idea. i am writing is present continuous... what does that mean the sentence is then? both? neither? i just don't know) but it vexes (simple present) me to not know (infinitive). i realise (simple present) we weren't (past continuous?) taught because it clearly wasn't (again - past continous?) necessary and it would have (conditional) been very very dull, but i just thought (simple past) i'd point out (contracted conditional) that i would have appreciated (past conditional) being taught (present continuous) whilst my mind was (simple past) still malleable.

all of those may well be wrong. fortunately i choose very simple forms for my put down so they ought to be right. sigh.

why can't the english teach their children how to speak use their own language properly? it hurts my head.
aralias: (not your lj)
as promised here are some of those things i talk about all the time:

work/torchwood
am literally the only person still at work. obviously, i'm not doing work, i'm abusing the free internet, but the point is that i'm still here, and also that it's after 5.30 so this is acutally ok. let us just not mention those other times when i was on the internet today (torchwood action figures released soon!)(though, alas, no owen or ianto or tosh, just jack with/without coat, gwen, weevil and ianto's cybergirlfriend...).

BT
bt sent me a text yesterday confirming that my own internet would be installed again in six days (SIX DAYS!!!!) and, as we all know, texts mean they mean it. so that's good.

doctor who (old school)
anna was away last night so i took the opportunity to finish watching earthshock (no more adric :( ... yes, i like adric, what of it? i think he's kind of great, except his costume which is wholly ridiculous) and then start and finish watching 'destiny of the daleks' which was very awesome. had had doubts about four (sorry genesis, i was just bored. all the way through, bored), but from now on, we are friends (he mocks/wheels around the disabled - i like that in my doctor). bring on the DNA scripts, that's what i say. why were they not all edited by him? not sure about romana (this was our first outing together), but i'm willing to give her time to become awesome.

doctor who fanfic
am beginning to think 'no longer hearing voices' may be my 'rime of the ancient mariner'. you know how coleridge spent his entire life re-writing and re-writing and never wrote anything else ever again? well, like that. (i even wrote a poem about it several years ago, which you can read here if you're so inclined) can't get at my second beta commentary but the email it's attached to says 'just remember it's your story' which suggests bad things are to follow. fair things, i expect, but bad nonetheless. this is also the second version, post first extreme beta commentary. so, one way or another poor fic has taken rather a beating.

it's a strange experience actually. strange - not, i'm sure because, i alwasy write fantastically and therefore i never get criticised (though obviously, i do write fantastically)(that's a joke)(based on the truth)(...anyway) - just because its the first time i've asked such competent betas to look over anything i've written. fandom doesn't really encourage concrit. either you get praised or you get ignored. that's sort of why i like it, though i know this is a failure of character.

even at uni, where that was pretty much what we were there to do, i don't think anyone ever really criticised (i mean this is the sense of literary criticism not 'this sucks') anything i wrote. or i didn't listen... something like that. but i think it was the first - not much criticism of me. or anyone really. in fact, we really weren't harsh as we should have been because we were all, you know, there - very difficult to tell your friends that you think there work really needs re-writing, and then four of us lived together so that would have been awkward, and patrick never listened to anything anyone said about his work anyway so there wasn't much point saying anything to him.

so the hearing voices experience is all a bit new. on the one hand (i won't lie) it's really genuinely upsetting, even though i know i've written much better things before. so, therefore, on the other, it's also deeply relieving because i was really quite worried about it, which is why i sought guidance, and i asked the people i asked ([livejournal.com profile] smithy161 and [livejournal.com profile] x_los, friends and favourite writers) because i trust their opinions and i look forward to writing better (assumign the coleridge no-more-writing thing was just an excuse for me to wave my poem around, which it mostly was). on the other other hand (third hand, zaphod's hand to continue the DNA theme), it's also really genuinely nice to know that people have paid such attention to something you worked on, picked up on the tiny things that you stuck in there almost as jokes to yourself. also the vile things obviously that you'd kind of hoped wouldn't still be there by the time anyone had to read it.

never mind. will fiddle around with it a bit more and then release it to the world at large. broken and re-formed but hopefully better.

... and now i should really go. hello jo, if you're reading this. i was writing this post instead of meeting you. sorry about that. i'll go now.
aralias: (five says it isn't cricket)
i swear this is what happened. (more or less*)

me: all right. if i'm going to conquer this porn writing thing i'll obviously need a really good plot... like... ah, i know. how about if five met up with and had sex with simm!master... for some reason. yes. fantastic. plot done. now, for the writing part!
a dry disembodied cough from near left ear
voice from near left ear: excuse me
me: (with surprise) my shoulder angel! ...wait, why do you look like peter davison?
angel: that's not important. this plot of yours - run it by me again?
me: well, it's quite simple really. five and simm!master have sex.
angel: ... and?
me: ... it's good?
angel: ... that's it?
me: what else do you want? a blow job?
angel: no. i'm just saying that's not a plot, that's an action. a very implausible action at that.
-the shoulder devil appears on my right shoulder in an ostentatious cloud of smoke. he looks exactly like john simm.
devil: don't listen to him. it's a fine plot, though don't rule out the idea of a blow job just yet.
angel: (to me, ignoring the devil) why would the fifth doctor and that master even have met? let alone... you know?
devil: because it's porn
me: (nodding to the devil) what he said.
angel: but-
me: besides, peter davison and john simm are both really pretty. i don't think people will really mind.
devil: that's my girl.
angel: (with increasing desperation) i'm not saying there shouldn't be any... of that making love business, i'm just saying it ought to be set within a plausible context. perhaps you could set the story after time crash? then the fifth doctor would know the master was still around.
devil: look angel, either remove your clothes or just go away.
me: (waving devil silent) no.... actually, he's got a point. that's quite good.
angel: in fact, you could even use this fic to fix some of moffat's plot holes, couldn't you?
me: yes. yes, i could. thanks angel.
angel: (has been sticking tongue out at devil) oh, you're welcome.

-several hours and 2,000 odd words later: both the doctor and the master are still fully clothed.

devil: you have to be kidding me.
me: (happily) this porn writing this is going really well, isn't it?
angel: (looking over my shoulder) i think you could put more banter in there.

-another 1,000 words later: there is, at last, some fairly graphically described sex

devil: finally.

-but it is there, predominantly, to help the master get past his existential angst viz. the destruction of gallifrey

me: do you think i could get away with them cuddling afterwards? i know it seems out of character, but i think the master needs some emotional support.
angel: i don't see why not. i'm sure we can back it up with russell's canon.
devil: you'll both live to regret this. i have friends at BT. you'll never get the internet. NEVER.
-the devil vanishes in another puff of smoke.
me: (snapping out of writing haze, moments too late) sorry, what did he say?
angel: don't worry about it. keep writing.

*there isn't any actual cuddling. i made that up. the rest is real. fic is spirally rapidly out of control. it's already well over 4,000 words and it really is, mainly, about the angst and the making time crash all canon again. the sex part is still slightly worrying, but at least it's there.
aralias: (sam and squirrel gene)
back in yateley. have apparently been banned from one of my communities permenantly (not sure why, aside from my presumably too blatent indiscression), which was a bit of a nasty shock, but at least my laptop is reluctantly connecting to the net, which is something. downloading sja1x10 right now. at last we will reveal ourselves to the jedi! i will know what happens!

anyway, birthday fun-ish. got good things like cufflinks and john simm's autograph and drank lots of bucks fizz. also, rather charmed to received TARDIS related birthday card from work colleagues in the post this morning. clearly the plastic, desk time lords have done their work and my nerdy-ness is well established.

but anyway, this updating section is just very short lead in to the main point of this point i.e. here is some fanfic that i have written:

an unfeesibly long (2,000ish words) christmas-sy life on mars/doctor who crossover written for [livejournal.com profile] kassie_opias birthday -

spoilers: MAJOR LIFE ON MARS FINALE SPOILERS, and kind of AU for last of the time lords, though also not really. well, you'll see. obviusly for this crossover, i drag the old, tired sam is the master theory back out and beat it until all traces of originality have been thoroughly exorcised, but it's kind of fun in a silly way.

Title: Human Again
Fandom: Doctor Who/Life on Mars
Wordcount: 2558
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Sam Tyler, Team 1973, Ten, Simm!Master
Pairing(s): Ten/Simm vaguely implied; Sam/Annie recognised as canon
Summary: Life on Mars crossover/Sam Tyler is the Master/AU for LotTL/Christmas fic. Sam finds a garishly wrapped box with an iPod in it outside his door on Christmas morning, 1973. What's especially mad is that the iPod isn't even his - it's filled with rubbish like The Scissor Sisters and McFly.
Notes: Podficced by [livejournal.com profile] podlizzie: here

disclaimer: i love the scissor sisters.
disclaimer the second: yes, i stole the title from that song that got cut from beauty and the beast because it wasn't very good...

anyway kassie, i hope you like it :)

Human Again )
aralias: (fidget)
well, it's monday. has been for about 5 hours, almost. i'm still very awake and trying to write. in fact, i am refusing to go to sleep until i've finished writing, which is proving a problem, because now it's half past four and i'm still not finished. i have actually written the ending, but there's some rubbish almost-sex that ought to go in between most of the fic and the ending (which i've written) and apparently it is inordinarily difficult to write sex without it being shit (there's even a special award created just to mock those who fail). so, anyway, here i am at half past four: failing to write porn... sometimes i wonder what has happened to my life.

in other news we have a fridge and it makes things go cold quite beautifully. i would have taken a picture, but when all's said and done it's just a fridge. our fridge, certainly, which gives it a little extra something, but a fridge nonetheless.

i have also committed myself to two long writing projects, just in case i never become a real playwright: [livejournal.com profile] tardis_bigbang which is the easier one (only 20,000 words about characters i know that doesn't have to be finished until march), and nanowrimo which is the not quite so easy as the other one (50,000 words in a month). well, technically, i'm not signed up to nanowrimo yet, because as far as they're concerned it's not monday yet, but i will tomorrow. (assuming [livejournal.com profile] niqistar was serious. it might be like when i told ali i would write her dissertation for her if it was on shakespeare, foolishly assuming that, as she is doing a degree in graphics, this wouldn't be possible, only to be told that it was and she would expect my first 1000 words within the mouth) assuming she is serious though, anna and are i going to write a chick-lit, super hero novel with an obviously gay agenda (in which i write, amongst others, a sarcastic, womanising son of a lord who signs up to be our heroine's side-kick and then promptly refuses to stand in the background). so, that should be fun. or at least, very long.

otherwise, i haven't done much over the weekend. i did watch a lot of blackadder on ukgold, but that's about it. bizarrely they played the third series episode 'sense and senility' at least three times during the day (on the same channel), once directly after itself i.e. 7.00 - sense and senility 7.40 - sense and senility 8.20 - something else at last. assuming you have ukgold+1 you could even turn over and watch it again at 8.40, should you think 2 showings was still not quite enough to fully grasp the complexities of the scenario. i would write in to point this out to them, but i suspect that's a sign that i should stop watching tv during the day even if it is a sunday.

this really is all i have to say. sigh. better get back to writing that almost-sex i suppose. oh dear, this is so embarassing.
aralias: (james and harry (artwork=rave))
have just spent a very long time examining my past: either by reading old harry potter fic i wrote eons ago, or re-reading old livejournal entries. the best part about the latter being, undoubtedly, when i come across posts that read "so, i've just been re-reading my old livejournal posts... i really should find something better to do with my life".

this is still funny after 3 years and it's still true, though i do enjoy finding out what i was thinking this time three years ago. i could never get the hang of writing a diary, secrets are boring, but i love having this online store of memories and embarassing typos and stupid memes. even if i never become famous it's worth it *grins* so that's ok then.

anyway, i said i'd do this a while back and then didn't, but having made a thorough investigation into what's up on the internet somewhere and what isn't, i've decided today is the day to post up all that old unfinished/unposted/missing fic. all cut away, obviously, for the sake of your sanity and your friends-list.

poke around if you're interested, otherwise it's just for me to come back to later so i can feel superior about my current writing style, and miserable because i miss the marauders terribly and apparently at the time of writing i usually had about 5 ideas on the go. incidentally i never did write that hagrid/madam maxine fic... i really meant to. anyway - here's the stuff i started writing and then didn't finish. in order of final abandonment date:

1. abandoned as of 30/11/03 (i didn't even have a livejournal back then) untitled 'sirius realises peter was the baddie all along!!!' fic. under here )

2. abandoned very quickly as of 27/4/04 for good reason i.e. it is pretencious and not good. only about 200 words though which is to be commended. unnamed remus is a werewolf fic )

2.5 (i screwed up the numbering here and can't be bothered to change it) abandoned 25/6/04 unnamed remus is a werewolf (again), but this time told from snape's perspective, oh noes! this is not so short, but a bit better.

n.b. not much though )

3. abandoned 2/7/04 - remus/sirius fic named only halloween 1981 (because i just can't get enough of that date). unlike the last three which i only vaguely remember, i distinctly remember this one giving me trouble. it's a challenge fic so there must be another one along similiar lines that i finished somewhere, but i can't remember what that was.

again this is very short )

4. abandoned 29/7/04 - unnamed snape thinks about how much he hates the death eaters fic. interestingly this actually stops mid-sentence. clearly i had no idea where it was going at all. unsuprisingly therefore also v short )

5. abandoned 8/8/04 remus/sirius - 'thanks for the memory' aka. the sequal to nosce te ipsum.

this is particularly interesting (for me), because again i remember seriously fighting this fic as 'nosce' needed a sequal thematically and people had actually read it. sadly i never managed it because 'thanks for the memory' refused to be written as remus has to be wimpy for it to work and he wasn't going to do that and i couldn't work out how to fix it. i love the james and sirius dialogue here though... if one is allowed to love one's work shamelessly. also interesting to note that when i wrote this i had never been hungover. thus - sirius' hungover experience is not at all real.

warning - i managed over 2000 words of this before it died )

6. abandoned 9/8/04 - unnamed remus and sirius look for a flat after hogwarts fic. i actually quite like this, but i still don't know what they would do once they found a flat which is why it stops very quickly after it starts.

incidentally i wish finding a job was as easy as it apparently is in the wizarding world )

7. abandoned 30/10/04 snape thinking about halloween. technically, of course, this is neither abandoned nor unposted because it was supposedly a 200 word drabble about snape and halloween. however, i don't know where it is anyway, and the ending is clearly not an ending so i'm counting it as both unposted and unfinished.

severus snape had never been particularly fond of halloween )

8. finished 4/1/05 - remus/sirius 'joint presents'. this is so finished it even has a title. not an inventive title, but a descriptive one, since it is about remus and sirius buying harry a joint present. i have searched the back issues of my livejournal though and can find no trace of it, save some tantalising mentions of sirius's guitar which is a tribute to dave lister's i.e. 5 strings, three of which were G way back in janurary of 05... so, it gets to be here. interestingly, i am now officially a member of royal holloway's creative writing class by the time i write this. see if you can spot the difference. (you should be able to, because this is actually quite good)(again, if i say so myself... which i have).

It had been like this before the first war. Every time a present was needed Sirius would get extremely excited and drag Remus out into muggle London, where he would proceed to find the gaudiest, most expensive item London had to offer and refuse to leave without it. )

7. abandoned 6/1/05 remus/sirus - 'snapshot'. sirius visits remus's house and meets his relatives (again... i finished another very similiar fic, though this one is better actually, i think). apparently written only 2 days after the above, but i honestly have no memory of writing this one at all. it sounds like me though,, albeit me with some good-ish ideas, and it's in that font i always used to use... so i guess i did write it. still... if you claim its yours, perhaps it is. i don't know.

Sirius, like James, is, after all, a performer. The magic used to provide today’s entertainment is first year basic levitation, but Sirius makes you believe it’s something difficult and dangerous; something exciting. )

and that's all folks. well, no... i have that 'hide and seek' one squirrelled away somewhere, but i recall it being very long and not very interesting so that one can stay underwraps. or should it be under raps? or under wraps? perhaps i should have just used a different phrase... never mind.

i assume i'll be online again tomorrow, but in case i'm not or i forget i'll be in hounslow, effectively in radio silence, for the next 3 days. until thursday i reckon. i'll take my laptop and try and find an unlocked wireless connection, but apparently someone got arrested for that recently so, you know, maybe not. anyway - just a heads up. if i don't reply within minutes as i am usually wont to do - that's why.

ok, that's really it.
aralias: (harry maze)
firstly, apologise for that very long post about the doctor who magasine. i believe i was tired and beginning to halluncinate... clearly at that point i hallunianted humour and interest.

secondly, most of my stuff has left the building. cut because i was going to cut the order of the phoenix stuff and then i thought, wait - that stuff about dust and wardropes is far less interesting. i ought to cut that as well )

thirdly - obligatory thoughts on order of the phoenix. cut for spoilers and general disinterest )

anyway, i've just seen smithy come online which reminds me that i was going to write doctor/master fic and that i haven't. so, i'm going to clear up the rest of the junk in my room and then start i think. assumign emilie doesn't arrive for a while. i think i've got the voice, at last.

actually, i think this is reasonably interesting so indulge me, what i've disovered recently, well, what i've known for a long time, but kind of just ignored, is that i find it very hard to get voices for tv characters right. it's much easier copying the inflections from some sort of written format. and what this does suggest to me is that i don't really listen to the way people speak. now, i do know this - i am a kinetic/visual learner really, and i find it very hard to learn music without the notes in front of me, but it's a bit worrying as far as being a writer goes. and i do still want to be a writer, that's what i learnt from working in publishing. publishing seems like a great job and i would love to do it, but being a writer sounds even better and i do still want to do that and i think i could. sometimes. sometimes i think my writing is clunky and doesn't work, but sometimes it does. and i just need to get back to that.

obviously being able to write different voices is a good thing to be able to do, and i have therefore resolved to get back into fandom, and tv/film fandoms in particular. not because i feel compelled to write for those fandoms, although i also do (life on mars/doctor who are calling to me a bit) but more because i think i need the practice if i seriously want to make being a writer a possibility and the structure of fandom is such that you do write, and often.

so... that's just something i was thinking about. hopefully there'll be some fic soon rather than me just talking about writing and actually crying every time i open a document and try to write "said the master" because that bastard has a very particular way of speaking... mind you he also has some excellent facial expressions which you can try at home with the scissor sisters playing loudly on repeat. and i find this helps.

so - to work!
aralias: (tardis!)
dressed as 10th doctor. will hopefully have photos and anecdotes of my journey to ancient greece later today. have seen the tardis. it is painfully amazing. looking forward to the whole thing probably way more than most of the kiddies, although am a bit worried that i will take the "tennent is wacky!" thing too far and the children won't realise what i'm doing and think i'm mad... which is possibly true, but i don't necessarily want to come off that way. suspect i will just keep everything very boring and be very awkward instead which is why i'm not a very good actor i.e. fear that i will overdo it and people will laugh at me. still - we'll see. hopefully there ought to be some good pictures anyway. my dad has a blonde wig :) he is rose.

speaking of doctor who - shakespeare episode fun if v silly. and if thought it was being clever mostly it wasn't. too many, far too many shakespeare quotation jokes, skull, ruff etc. too much. stoppard did it better. also, dark lady ok fair enough but... why not recite a dark lady sonnet then eh? whoops. (i think i'm right in saying that... not that i'm a shakespeare expert *sigh*) but anywhoo. i did laugh uncontrollably at the jk moment, even thoguh as peter pointed out the idea of shakespeare havng to steal lines from jk rowling is a little sad. mad house stuff also all excellent. but largely not as good as dickens's appearance in series 1.

joseph afterwards though much better than before and i hear though i didn't watch the end that shiny haired, jesus look alike who doesn't know the notes to gethsemene is out... hurrah! best moment though=men failing to walk in time to music.

awesome :)

better go. greece awaits. non-tv related journal entries to follow.

maybe.

EDIT.

in which i am the doctor... sort of.



easter egg hunt fun though i lost control of the whole thing fairly early on after i forgot how to make the tardis work and had to jump around wackily inside with my sonic screwdriver/lazer pointer trying to fix it/turn it on.

then once we arrived in ancient greece after we'd made the weak "doctor you've changed! i don't remember you being a woman" "well, that's a bit rich coming from you rose. you look a bit odd yourself" "well anyone can gain a few pounds" joke i lost track of the plot even more and ended up just shouting "hey, look we're in ancient greece!" alot, vaguely expounding on the story [livejournal.com profile] smithy161 and i had spent many hours fine tuning yesterday (plauge caused by dropped egg-shaped cargo of illegal time lord delicasies, emitting gas lethal to humans) before yelling "quick find the eggs, they're deadly to humans!... er... but you'll be alright becuase i can neutralise them with my sonic screwdriver... ok, so find the eggs!"

which they did. i think everyone ahd fun and some small child apaprently said mine was the best and whilst i don't really believe it that was nice to hear. so anyway, that's over. will now go try and finish final project play and send it to dan. sigh. real work...ugh.

EDIT 2. currently editting single author play. am 15 pages in and have just realised that, completely by accident, one of the characters in it is black and called arthur jones. wondered whether i should leave it in there as a joke with myself, but decided it was too horrific really, especially since he's going out with someone who essentially also an in-joke (i.e. gay, a bit prentencious and called nick after line of beauty). oh my subconscious does think its funny.

he is now arthur walsh. only the difficult bit to re-write left...
aralias: (poser)
on a note unrelated to possibly anything ever again: who would have thought when watching about a boy for the first time 5(ish) years ago that marcus would grow into a ridiculously attractive teenager? certainly not me, but i keep seeing adverts and stuff for skins and thinking "who is that guy?" before going "oh dear lord it's marcus... well. he grew up very well".

probably about 15 so its a bit gross still but whatever *checks imdb* hmm... born in 89 which means i don't know. it's too early for maths. 17? still a bit creepy. interestingly he's at farnborough 6th now as well. not that i went to farnborough 6th but i could have done. ... anyway. i'm not letting myself watch skins (or house though i hear the new episode is really good... sigh) until i write something. so far... i'm just missing out on good house, but it's getting to the point, surely, when my brain will start to think "hmm... 2 weeks eh? that's not very long" and i'll get down to it.

other interesting things on a slightly more relevent note:

1. yesterday both my debit cards were rejected by the ticket machine at egham station. i jumped to the immediate and i daresay logical conclusion that since i had spent so much money in the last term i was flat broke and the only money i had in the world was in my wallet. fortunately i had about £11 which was enough to get to london and buy some food when there. unfortunately, i had about £11 which wasn't enough for anything else.

so anyway, i walked round london thinking i was completely bankrupt for a long time. got home and finally checked my balance safely cushioned in the knowledge that i was bankrupt, dtermined that whatever figure i saw would thereofre not come as a crushing blow, only to discover i was actually £150 in credit...

stupid ticket machine, but still - hurrah! not that i can survive the next seven weeks on £150 (plus the £50 my mum gave me because i looked so sad about being so poor) but still - it's better than having nowt, and as anna pointed out i'm in a much better position now to ask for an overdraft. i can pretend its "just in case" to the bank people. they'll pretend they beleive this and then i'll go spend their money... what larks.

2. have decided to live with anna next year :) in fact i decided this about 2 days ago, but yesterday i finally asked her (in the middle of some other conversation) whether it would be alright and fortunately she said yes as i'd decided that not living with her would make me very unhappy indeed. but anyway - that's all set so i'll be living about 20 minutes away from egham (hurrah!) and v close to london (hurrah!) and i'm going to try and get a job in a theatre so i can be poor forever (hurr.... hmmm). but still - next year. slightly more planned. only slightly, but still - an improvement.

3. what was this point? ah, yes. my meeting with dan about my final project play did not go as i had imagined at all. in fact, it went a little something like this...

katy is standing outside dan's office playing with a wooden yoyo in a manner that suggests casual nonchelance about the outcome of this meeting.
christian anthony exits dan's office. he gives no sign that he recognises katy at all despite their many seminars together, but she's willing to let it slide. she puts the yoyo away and enters.


katy: hello.
dan is already back on his computer, which katy is convinced he does just so that he can turn around impressivly when people enter.
dan: oh hello.... yes, sit down.
he produces the dreaded play
katy (with fake jollity): so, do you want me to tell you what the problems are with it or do you want to tell me?
dan:.... you tell me.
katy expounds at length about the terrible exposition driven ending, the 30 pages in which nothing happens and the inclusion of a character named janet who doesn't have a purpose in the plot or, for that matter, any lines.
dan listens, smiling
.
dan: i really like it.
katy: oh.
she begins to think actually the play might not be so bad after all
katy: ...cool.

the rest of the meeting proceeded in roughly the same vein and with each "yes its very well written" from dan i became less and less sure that my work was essentially shite. in fact, by the time i left, i was as fully convinced of its worth as i had been of its lack of such when i entered.

ok, so he agreed with me about most of the problems, but then he suggested a much better way to end the thing which i am very optimistic about and seemed to have actually read it, to know my characters better than i did and basically was just really positive and helpful. so, that was a good day. ok, so it was also the day that i had a minor nervous breakdown at the idea that phil might not be in the show, but dan telling me that i wasn't a terrible writer at all actually really bucked me up. as one would expect i guess.

so, that was fun.

please understand by the way that i actually meant ti before when i said i thought it was very bad, i wasn't just hoping to extract sympathy (if i was i probably would have handed the thing round so you could actually read it. instead i'm still not entirely happy with the idea of anyone reading it. even dan...) also, i'm not saying dan said it was good now to show off my incredible talent and to validate my existence with further pats on the head.

not only because of that anyway ;)

thank god its ok at any rate. hopefully will be able to drag my dissertation grade back up to that 2.1 i've always wanted. (if one takes always in this context to mean since i realised that a first was well beyond my mediocre reach)
aralias: (penniless writer)
am finally at the point in my play where stuff is suppose to happen (OMGitturnsoutoneofhersonskilledlotsofpeopleandsheknewallalong: you know, that sort of jazz) and its fighting me. can't help thinking as i write this "but... why am i writing this?" it's one of those "does your writing actually have any worth?" moments and i fear if i send it off to dan with an attached request that he assure me of its intrinsic value as a work of, if not art then at least, english i will meet with the following exchange:

dan: hi.
katy: hi.
both sit down
dan: yer, ok, so i think i know why you think this has no merit.
katy: it's because it has no merit, isn't it?
dan: pretty much. this part where you let two of your minor characters who happen to be gay talk to each other for about three pages in a snarky fashion for no apparent reason is ok, but the rest is just terrible... really, really bad and nothing at all happens for about 4,000 words.
katy: that was supposed to slowly build up the tension for when stuff did happen.
dan: well, it didn't.
katy: hmm... i thought as much. so, you think i should write another snarky gay comedy instead?
dan: no. i think you should stop writing.
katy: ah... yes, i see. well, thanks for you time.
dan: no problem. at least it was only twice as long as it ought to have been than the 10,000 words you initially promised me.

whilst this insight into my future is helpful in that i can prepare myself for the inevitable "get a real job" conversation, it does make finding the will to finish the thing off tricky.


in other news, i can't remember what i last wrote about that wasn't usb keyboard related. iolanthe's going pretty well, although occasionally i have to fight sharp bursts of total incomprehensibilty when i'm trying to explain what i want people to do. am gradually getting there though. too little preparation and i panic; too much and i can't quite communiciate with real people any more. i just expect them to do what's in my head. clearly a happy medium where i'm half winging it is the way to go. nevertheless, i think the scenes we have done all look pretty good, and as each rehearsal passes i congratulate myself (and jo, obviously) on choosing the best cast i believe savoy has ever had.

i also have some new sparkly red shoes and i'm thinking of buying this dress in black for the socities ball since the dress i actually wanted (i.e. this one) was bought by somebody else before i got my student loan in. damnation. not that i'd wear either with the shoes, its just i also have some sparkly red shoes (in sale. hurrah) and this girl in my booker seminar had some last year, and i covetted them.so that's good.

whilst we're talking of seminars, i have spoken several times in my odysseus' scar seminar (resolution number somethingth). sometimes intelligently in a way that suggests i have read and understood the texts/the odyssey, and sometimes in a way that suggests there are only about 7 people in our class and i feel i ought to speak despite having not understood most of the small amount henri bergsten's theory of time that i forced myself to read before giving up and watching charlie chaplin's 'modern times' instead.

finding course really difficult actually but with far fewer people around/no fear of steven morrison's ridicule or pity, i find it alot easier to speak. even when i don't know what's going on because the texts are hard and translated from french.

have probably procrastinated enough now... better return to the punishment that is my (as yet unnamed) disaster of a play. still, big screen showing of pirates of penzance confirmed for friday. so that's something to look forward to.

p.s. i think this is really funny and anybody who married her deserves exactly what they got as this really is the stuff cheap fiction is made of :) more amusing still is that under this 'headline' on the yahoo home page, yahoo (in its infinite wisdom) has placed a link to a dating service. as part of the article. excellent.
aralias: (sky)
and look, i did actually go and write fanfic.

unfortuantely it wasn';t the kind i actually have a dealine for and evne more unfortuantely i didn't write all this today. i wrote the first bit... probably up to wormtail is seventeen at home" (link is to my first mention of it. i knew it was a long time ago), then up to 21 at uni in the first... i don't know week, and then i just tidied up similies and wrote the last two far more awful than the rest of it put together sections today. in fact i'm not sure whether i should just cut those (i'm actually looking for opinions, don't spare my feelings if you get that far) becuase it ends well, cyclically, if you cut it after he leaves voldemort but i wrote the last bit anyway. unresolved but i quite like that. on the other hand i had left it with another "peter pettigrew is" after he'd gone and so i started again there today. do i like it? hmm... don't know.

anyway: fanfic! i wrote some! how exciting is that?

...oh, shut up.

Title: Is
Summary: Peter Pettigrew is hopeful, crushed, scared, brave, misunderstood, a Gryffindor, an animagus, a friend, average and after 21 years of this, Peter Pettigrew is about to betray everything.
Author's (that's me) Notes: One of approximately 3 fics exculsivly about Peter on the net, which was probably what inspired me to begin it over a year ago. Coming back to it at least 7 months later I really rather like the middle bit, especially in the wake of a post about how I always screw up the balance between dialogue and exposition. See what you think... and bear in mind that this is probably the only place I will post it so enjoy loudly and comment frequently.

Is )
aralias: (penniless writer)
... no time as i have just claimed i am upstairs ready to have breakfast. ok so, i realise that its half past twelve but this is the university life style people and a bank holiday which means that the dining hall refuses to be open until an hour ago....

... as you can see i am in a rush.

have things to say but the only thing i have time to say is that: hey! i wrote some prose for the first time in eons for my portfolio and here it is. reading it again i can see that i desparately need ot re-think the first paragraph (i.e. perhaps turn it into three paragraphs) but that's the joy of editting. erm... i got two of my challenges (fireflies and allergies) which is cool although i wanted the beuaty contest one... might just write that on the side. and... yes... breakfast :)

platform shoes )
aralias: (the liar bird)
have spent very unproductive morning in which i... slept and... watched trailers. rather excited about narnia. looks like LotR except this time i actually like the books its based on. centaurs looking fantastic unlike poor old firenze in philosopher's stone and though i am still trusting that orlando bloom's acting will betray his looks and i will be able to claim however much i have bet david that he still sucks 'kingdom of heaven' also looks v cool and i am actually v excited about watching it.

other than that.... i have the intention of doing work but so far... am still in the thinking about it stage.

however!! i have finished the rough draft of my why write essay (with 250 words of footnotes bringing it nicely over 1,800 words), the final draft of my final piece which is below all this if you fancy reading it (ah ha! i have already sorted the first half into memories which means i know it is here... although this also reminds me why i don't put my creative writing up here usually. give you lot a meme and suddenly i have 30 replies but something i've worked on for 4 hours.... nowt)(that's not a guilt trip. i know meme's are fun) and the first 600 words of my commentary on that final piece.

right, as even jo is going off to work now i should probably go... after i've done whatever i was going to do... hmm.... ah yes! think up interview questions. so i leave you with this rather fantastic quiz (recced by jo again) about how much everyone learned from OotP: click here

and my play scene which is, incidentally, not called that and no.... you haven't won a car:

and here's what we have for you today )

p.s. look! swanky new liar icon. not perhaps as swanky as one might have hoped as was forced to make it myself without a mouse since i don't know where one would go to find liar icons as it's not exactly an active fandom but still: i love stephen fry so much :)

p.p.s. two hours later.

have finished my essay on my finished piece! turns out that writing about my own work was really quite fun, even if i accuse myself of being arrogant, annoying and lazy in a round-about sort of way. i like what i wrote much more than my 'why i write' essay and certainly much much more than my 'why write'... i also almost quoted dan in it. fortuantely i didn't because nothing says "i'm a suck up and fairly sad" like quoting your lecturers in essays they're going to read but yes - it's fun. whether it's good will be something we shall have to wait and see... considering matt will be markign all the why write stuff and we're most likely to get everythign back in one big group, we'll only have to wait the odd decade.

p.p.p.s. and another hour later.

dumbledore is 150!!! hands up/comment if you already knew that. i thought he must be about 90 or something but jo told me and then i didn't believe her and then the lexicon said so and i found the right interview and.... wow. i'm still very impressed in the way that only very sad fans can be.

also found this fantastic qutoation about tolkien. reminds me why i love jk rowling very much:

Question: Hello, I was wondering how much Tolkien inspired and influenced your writing?
J.K. Rowling responds: Hard to say. I didn't read The Hobbit until after the first Harry book was written, though I read Lord of the Rings when I was nineteen. I think, setting aside the obvious fact that we both use myth and legend, that the similarities are fairly superficial. Tolkien created a whole new mythology, which I would never claim to have done. On the other hand, I think I have better jokes.

p.p.p.p.s. however many hours later...

have completely finished all essays and packed on suitcase. hurrah! not updating in new post because apparently even a discussion of dumbledore's increcible age isn't enough to tempt you to comment on what i've already posted so. meh.

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