End of Nano

And I wish I’d had the time to find a clip of a lady singing opera, but have started to come down with a head cold today, so that won’t be happening.

Didn’t make the NaNo goal this year. Made it halfway and I’m going to be pleased with the fact that the story itself is flowing along very nicely. Still keeping up with Sven, so will be posting my progress about that.

Now I’m off to bed with some honey and lemon.

Thoughts

LOL – you should know by now I suck at titles.

So I’ve been thinking (hence the title of the post) for a while about posting some online fiction. But haven’t, for a couple of reasons.

1 – It takes me a long time to write anything. I usually write about three or four drafts, then crit group and/or beta read, rework any problems, then final polish.

2 – Kind of connected to 1). Any extra writing I do will be time away from my WIP, and would probably not be as polished as I’d like. I am something of a rabid perfectionist.

Anyway, what I’m thinking of doing is short scenes, a la Friday Fiction. These may be from familiar characters such as Lily and Alaric, or characters I’m playing about with in my head – such as Robert, or something completely random and strange.

For 2009 (notice how I’m giving myself a little time here) I’m planning on blogging as follows:-

• Tuesday – WIP progress report
• Thursday – Thursday 13
• Friday – Fiction
• Sunday – Poem, for as long as I’ve got poems to share

With other random stuff chucked in for good measure I’m sure. That’s the plan anyway, comments, questions, suggestions?

Thursday 13 #11 ~ 13 m/m couples

1. Callan and David  – the two heroes from the book A Strong and Sudden Thaw by R. W. Day. This in a way is a very gentle love story, despite the violence that occurs elsewhere in the tale. Recommended if you’ve never read m/m before but are interested. The love scenes are sensual but not graphic and the main plot of the story is just as strong as the interaction between characters.

2. Belimai and Harper from the book Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started to read this as steampunk is not a genre I’m familiar with. But I was quickly drawn into the world of Hells Below and the forbidden love between Belimai – a Prodigal, and Harper – an Inquisitor.

3. Kevin and Scotty from the show Brothers & Sisters. Kevin is by far and away my favourite B&S character. He’s very witty and sharp. Though my favourite B&S scene remains the food fight between Patricia Wettig and Sally Field. lol

4. Giles and Alim from the movie A Touch of Pink. Maybe slightly controversial? I know some people don’t like the fact that Giles is a bit of a man-slut and sleeps with someone other than Alim. But check out the quotes page for the film at the IMDB. The film is packed full of snappy dialogue and stands up well to multiple viewings.  Well for me anyway.

5. Zach and Shaun from the movie Shelter. Recommended on the mmromance yahoo group. I loved this film. It’s a sweet romance without being saccharine and has a happy ending.

6. The same cannot be said of the next couple. The main reason I stuck with Season 1 of The Tudors was because of the relationship between Compton and Tallis. So there was really no reason to carry on watching after episode 7. LOL – I would include a clip here, but my favourite scene is only on Youtube dubbed in Italian. :sigh:

7. Jules Cassidy and Robin Chadwick from Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter/Team 16 series – which is about 20 books long by now – or getting there. Jules and Robin’s notable appearances are in Hot Target, Force of Nature and All Through the Night. I think most people have Jules as their favourite but I have a soft spot for Robin.

8. Val Toreth and Keir Warrick from the Administration Series by Manna Francis. Set in a dystopian future, the Administration series follows the developing relationship between Toreth an interrogator for the Administration and Warrick, a corporate developer of simulated realities technology. Not for the faint-hearted, Toreth is a sadistic sociopath and Warrick is a masochist. Manna Francis makes no concession for the reader as far as Toreth is concerned, but she also makes it clear that Warrick is no victim.

9. Adrien and Jake from the Adrien English mystery series by Josh Lanyon. I like Adrien because although he could be considered a beta male, this doesn’t mean he takes crap off anybody. The relationship between him and Jake progresses slowly over the course of the series, sometimes taking massive steps backward and sometimes apparently disappearing altogether. But even when Jake isn’t there you can still feel his presence on the page.

10. Aiden and Nate fomr My Fair Captain by J. L. Langley. No list would be complete without a mention of Aiden (who I keep wanting to call Adrien because of the previous entry lol) and Nate from the Sci-Regency series. Very erotic and beautifully written. My favourite scene remains the one where Aiden hides in Nate’s bedroom.

11. Payton and Simon from The Englor Affair by J.L.Langley. Second in the SciRegency series and a little more earthy than My Fair Captain – or maybe that’s just the way I’m imagining them . I hope it’s not too long a wait before another book in this series appears.

12. Dominic and Adam from the Morgan Kingsley series by Jenna Black. A little confusing as they are a human couple possessed by a demon couple. When Dominic is exorcized early in the first book, he stays with Adam and provides a human connection between his somewhat surly lover and the protagonist of the series.

13. Last but not least Donald Strachey and Timmy Callahan from the Strachey mystery films. Another recommendation from the yahoo group. And although I like mysteries, my favourite bits are the time spent with Donald and Tim.

 If anyone has other favourites please share.

Messiah Week on the Alibi Channel

And boy did I suffer today because of it. Stayed up until one in the morning watching Messiah 1, and was like a zombie all day at work. As it’s over three hours long watched some of it tonight whilst eating dinner! Possibly a mistake. Had to fast forward slightly through the bit where they discover the man who was flayed.

Flagging a little at the keyboard now. Will probably try and watch Messiah 2,3,4 and 5 from my hard drive at a more respectable time of day and whilst not eating food.

I feel Happy

Oh so happy, ’cause it’s flowing, it’s going so riiighhhhhtttt! (kind of sung to I Feel Pretty).

For some reason, today I am chipper. Which is odd, because I’m usually quite melancholy at this time of year. You go to work in the dark, come home in the dark, it’s like your day’s all done and you have to get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Today – I don’t know why, just really happy. Someone said maybe because we had an unusally sunny (but very cold) day.

I don’t know.

What I do know is that even though it’s looking increasingly unlikely I’ll reach the Nano goal, the story is just flowing at the moment and I’m taking advantange of the creative splurge.

I’m not giving up on Nano yet, the game’s not over ’til the fat lady sings. Okay, she may have come onto the stage, but she isn’t singing yet.

Day 3 of Wordcount Blasting

LOL – have slightly come to the conclusion I suck at wordcount blasting. Maybe next time I do it things will fall into place and I’ll have the time at the computer I need.

Start of Day 3 – 18421

End of Day 3 – 20537

I think I have learnt from this, that I am much more slow and steady wins the race. But I think it was well worth trying and I’m onto Chapter 6 having finally gotten over my Chapter 5 hump.

Poem for a Sunday

When I was at school every term we’d have a book to read and one term it was The Owl Service by Alan Garner. An incredibly atmospheric YA book. What most stuck with me I think were three things, 1) in the front of the edition we read there was a drawing of the plate with the owl pattern on and you could quite clearly see the pattern could either be owls or flowers, 2) At the end when the boy is saving the girl as she is being attacked by ‘owls’ (that may not be how the story ends it’s over twenty years since I read the story so I could have retold it in my own head). But the third thing that I remember quite clearly is a quote from the beginning of the book that just set up the whole intense and almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the story that would follow. The quote is from W. H. Auden’s The Two :-

The sky is darkening like a stain
Something is going to fall like rain
And it won’t be flowers.

The quote stayed with me, and often when the sky is full of stormclouds it will just pop into my head.

 

The Two – W.H.Auden

You are the town and we are the clock.
We are the guardians of the gate in the rock
The Two
On your left and on your right
In the day and in the night,
We are watching you.

Wiser not to ask just what has occurred
To them who disobeyed our word;
To those
We were the whirlpool, we were the reef,
We were the formal nightmare, grief
And the unlucky rose.

Climb up the crane, learn the sailor’s words
When the ships from the islands laden with birds
Come in
Tell your stories of fishing and other men’s wives:
The expansive moments of constricted lives
In the lighted inn.

But do not imagine we do not know
Nor that what you hide with such care won’t show
At a glance
Nothing is done, nothing is said,
But don’t make the mistake of believing us dead:
I shouldn’t dance.

We’re afraid in that case you’ll have a fall.
We’ve been watching you over the garden wall
For hours.
The sky is darkening like a stain
Something is going to fall like rain
And it won’t be flowers.

When the green field comes off like a lid
Revealing what was much better hid:
Unpleasant.
And look, behind you without a sound
The woods have come and are standing round
In deadly crescent.

The bolt is sliding in its groove,
Outside the window is the black remov-
ers van.
And now with sudden swift emergence
Comes the women in dark glasses and the humpbacked surgeons
And the scissor man.

This might happen any day
So be careful what you say
Or do.
Be clean, be tidy, oil the lock,
Trim the garden, wind the clock,
Remember the Two.

Day 2 of Wordcount Blasting

So, onto Day 2. Reasonably clear day, just have to take the dog to his class this afternoon, but that should still leave me with plenty of time to crack on. Apart from expecting a visit from my sister and nieces later, but hopefully will have made a dent in it by then

Wordcount start of Day 2 – 17589

Wordcount end of Day 2 – 18421

Now it might seem that this is not a cause to celebrate – but IT IS! Because I have finished chapter five – the first love scene. And anyone who was reading between the lines of my Thursday 13 on Procrastination a couple of weeks ago will have realized I was sorely stuck on that. But I am over it! Finally – and it’s only taken me most of the day editing and re-editing to get it right (and changing the point of view character for the chapter)*. And I can now crack on with the rest of the story.

* – I know that editing is not part of the Nano process, and it’s the part that I struggle most with. But I find the more I’ve got my character’s behaviour straight in my head, the easier the revision process is.

Day 1 of Wordcount Blasting

So at the beginning of this three day wordcount blast. I stand at 16,097 words for Nano. Will have to work out Sven later.

Will edit this post with my final count of the day, tonight.

Wordcount Start of Day 1 – 16097

Wordcount End of Day 1 – 17589

:sigh: as often seems to happen when you plan things like this, real life gets in the way. Unfortunately my mother was taken ill and we had to get the doctor to come out and visit her. So not much time for writing today. She’s feeling better, so fingers crossed the count will be slightly higher tomorrow.

Thursday 13 #10 – WIP’s

As this month, perhaps more than any other in the year is writing focused and we covered procrastination last week, this week is 13 WIP’s. From ideas that are still drifting in my imagination, to completed stories in need of being gutted, here are 13.

1. The Tithing – (m/f) (vampire) Story complete, awaiting revision. Set in a distant part of the Land of the Fey Universe (kind of).

2. The Bargain – (m/m) (vampire/werewolf) Current WIP (Nano and Sven project) Ouline completed and working on first draft. This is my vampire and werewolf road trip story set in the Land of the Fey Universe approximately five hundred years after the events of If Wishes Were Horses.

3. Raven – (m/f) Outline complete and first draft started. Beginning needs rewriting following comments from crit partners. This is a direct sequel to If Wishes Were Horses.

4. Robert (working title) – (m/m) Outlined. First of the Five Brothers sequence. (Conversely though Robert is the second eldest brother). This is the story I really wanted to work on for Nano, but at least it’s in the queue. A different universe to LotF.

5. Fian (working title) – (m/f) Outlined – in my head. I have a very broad idea of what I want to happen, and some key scenes already worked out. Second of the Five Brothers, Fian is the youngest brother.

6. The Fox Prince (m/f) Genys and Reynard’s story. Prequel to the events of If Wishes Were Horses. Outlined. Explains more of the political situation of Titania’s rise to power and the civil war. (A Land of the Fey story)

7. Titania (working title) – (m/f) Yes she gets a story! Third in the sequence following If Wishes Were Horses and Raven. I have the broad plot in my head but not the fine detail yet. But in regards to Titania I think of the stories as :-

If Wishes Were Horses/The Fox Prince – Ascension

Raven – Corruption

Titania – Redemption

 8. Silvertree – (m/m) Outlined, though the beginning needs revising as I’ve kind of swiped some of it for Robert (even though they’re different stories). This is a separate universe to the Five Brothers and The Land of the Fey. And is my sci-fi romance.

Other stuff that’s milling around in my head:-

9. Wolf’s Heart (working title) - (m/f) Partly outlined sequel to The Tithing but following the werewolves rather than the vampires.

10. When Alaric met Lily – Not a romance but a story about friends. I would love to write this at some point. Just something short and sweet about how they helped each other heal.

11. Untitled Shifter Story. I always keep an eye on the Samhain submissions page and see if any ideas percolate through, when I read what they’re looking for. I doubt I’ll get a chance to write this in time to submit, but I may file it away for later use.

12.Untitled Werewolf story. (m/f) Set in the same place as The Tithing and Wolf’s Heart, but taking place a little earlier and following a couple of characters who appear briefly in Wolf’s Heart. When I was outlining Wolf’s Heart they just caught my interest.

13. Untitled Sequel to The Bargain. (m/f) LOL – but that’s about all I have on it at the moment.