April 28, Saturday Check In

[enemytosleep]

Another day has come and gone, so now it's time to check in.

How many new words did you write today? Did you reach your goal? Were you editing instead? Researching? Or was today a day of rest?

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Snippet day! You've worked hard all week, so let's see what you've been drafting. Please feel free to share a some of what you've been working on, ask for a beta/critique, offer to read something over, or just bask in the glory of your weekly word total!

Comments

[wintergrey]

This is evith's fanfic journal, I have no idea why I haven't switched this comm over here! Anyway, I've been just trying to write *ANYTHING* this week. I have a migraine today that's been building for days. At times like this, I just turn out whatever I can to keep my fingers moving. Quality is irrelevant, but I try to get the names right. That's about it. *g*

Here's the opening of some DragonAge 2 fic that's coming out rather blacker than I expected. I knew it'd be dark, but srsly. Gwenhyfar (Hawke) is the main character, Carver is her younger (angst-y, issues-y OMG) brother. I've got 2500 words on it in the last couple days.

Lowtown was never quiet. The cry of night birds and the rush of wind would have been welcome but those sweet sounds were overwhelmed by the shouts of drunkards, the wail of a woman being beaten, the barking of street dogs. From time to time, gangs clashed in the alleys and Carver woke reaching for his sword. Of all the things to wake him tonight: silence.

He lay still and listened. Bogdan, Gwen’s huge mabari, was usually snoring at the end of the bed. Even over that rumble, Carter could always hear Gwen breathing. He didn’t know how. Her breath sighed like the sea when she slept, soft and soothing. She was gone.

[crowdog66]

I love the background of a city painted in such swift sure strokes, and the sea simile in the second-to-last sentence. All highly effective, and the narrative moves smartly along besides.

[wintergrey]

Thanks! :) It's all downhill (at least morally and emotionally) from there. *grins*

[roane]

Just lovely. Welcome back! :)

[wintergrey]

Thank you, it's good to be back AT LAST. I'm on to chapter two of this piece. Ever write something and it's like watching a train wreck unfolding in slow motion but you can't stop?

[crowdog66]

Today I did ~1600 words of writing/plotting/blocking for the first big combat scene in "Lethe's Curse", which is proving to be a whole lot of fun and which will hopefully be very dramatic.

As for a snippet, let's try the opening paragraphs of "Strange", where I'm hoping I pulled off an info-dump in a fairly engaging manner...

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The combination of hot water, soothing oil, sweetly scented steam and an unarmoured virus to lean back against in the bath was, Bob reflected, a pretty damned fine way to end a day that had been full of gradually increasing tension. He lay between his lover's thighs with his eyes closed and his head resting on Megabyte's right shoulder, letting the heat and the perfume begin to banish the tightness in his back and shoulders, his arms stretched out along the wide rim of the deep tub inside the line of Megabyte's own limbs of living steel. It was, he was certain, one of the most physically secure places in all of Lethe, and he was determined to enjoy it before everything potentially went straight to hell.

Tomorrow was the Summer Solstice and late tomorrow afternoon Megabyte would step into the Red King's official amphitheatre and challenge the monarch of Omalan, or his chosen representative, to mortal combat for the right to rule the Domain. It was an ancient ritual that took place every three years and one that inevitably involved only a token call for challengers that went unanswered, followed by the declaration of a three-day citywide celebration and the distribution of presents to the attending spectators.

This year, the current Red King's ninety-eighth such ceremony, would be different — and it felt like all of Cestiala knew it. Bob had made a number of friends among the lower and middle classes in Omalan's capital during the past few months, and earlier this evening he'd bought a round of ale for several of them in the Red Dog Tavern and listened intently while they described the rumours that were busily circulating: that Megabyte, having risen to such early and startling prominence in the Grand Council, was going to answer the King's challenge… that he was going to tip his claws with poison and slay the Champion sent against him by cunning rather than by skill in combat… that he already possessed natural venom and had no need of the poisoner's artifice… that he'd made arrangements to have the King assassinated tonight before the challenge could even be issued… that he'd lead his army of the Enthralled into the amphitheatre and take the kingship by force of arms… and a dozen variations on those themes besides, including plenty of speculation that Omalan's current Ruler wasn't going to take any of this lying down. It was also clear that betting on the outcome of the challenge was proceeding fast and furious, and that while the bookmakers were calling winning odds on the Red King's Champion a lot of people (presumably the Enthralled) were putting their money on Megabyte.

Bob wasn't placing bets on anybody. If Megabyte won tomorrow, the viral warlord would become heir to all the riches of wealthy Omalan and Bob, as his new Champion and Consort, would have no need of a bookie's payout. And if Megabyte lost…

[roane]

Oh man. Tension! I'm a sucker for "the night before something big happens" scenes.

[roane]

So I'm still writing, but I figured I'd comment anyway! This weekend is all about wrapping up chapter 4 of Pull the Stars from the Sky. It seems there might be a stalker following our merry band around. Lucky for Sherlock, his tour manager just happens to have had some serious military training... (I should mention, the boys are still very much in the UST phase of things. Near the end of it, but still...) :)

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Sherlock watched John as he sat at the room’s desk, making lists of security measures. “You’ve done this before.”

“Hm?” John didn’t look up, his brow furrowed.

“Bodyguarding.”

John wrinkled his nose. “Close protection, yes.”

Sherlock sprawled across the bed on his stomach, grinning up at John. “Does this make you my bodyguard then?” He dropped his voice to a deliberate purr, coaxing. “Because that is unbelievably sexy.”

He had the satisfaction of seeing John’s left hand—the one holding the pen—pause; he could see the hint of a tremor. “It’s really not. It’s not something I should be doing alone, either.” John rubbed at his forehead, still looking at the papers on the desk. “If I were doing this the right way, there would be an advance checking out everywhere you go before you get there, someone doing background checks on the people you might come in contact with… so no. What I’m doing is… not enough. But you’re stuck with me.”
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The irony here was when I originally came up with this idea, I wanted to do a rock star/bodyguard AU, but was convinced by a friend, who knows something about the music business, to make John the tour manager instead, as that was more realistic. And somehow here I am again. :)

[0jack]

Oh, dear. John, face the inevitable. No one can resist. :)

[roane]

Hey, we're 20,000 words into this and he's managed pretty well! Despite some fairly dogged pursuit. :)

[crowdog66]

Mmmmm, yummy sexual tension plus intelligent writing! :D Love it!

[roane]

Wow, thanks! (And, uh, you know... since it's an AU, you really don't have to have watched the show to get it, I'll bet... :D )

[insignia]

"You've worked hard all week"
Haha, you're funny! X-D

No, but seriously, here's what I'm doing: I signed up for this month with a challenge to "finish something", and then I pretty much stopped writing altogether. It's been a lousy month. I lost all confidence in my stories and my ability to write them.

BUT! Today I've made yet another attempt to kick "Pieces" into shape. More picking it apart and figuring out what to keep, trying to define what's actually interesting about it and what's only there because it seems like it should be, and such. We'll see if it actually leads anywhere. (Wah, wah! Gloom! Despair! Etcetera.)

So, yeah.

[pinstripefedora]

I spent most of today editing what I wrote yesterday, but I also added about 750 words of new stuff, too. I'm making pretty good progress on this chapter. I might even *gasp* reach my goal for this month! That will depend entirely on how tomorrow goes, though, as Monday is a work day and therefore practically guaranteed to be an under 1k day.

And I wasn't going to post an excerpt originally, but here is the opening scene/teaser for the story I'm working on right now. As with everything else I post, this is very much a first draft, so please bear that in mind.

--- --- --- --- ---

Something about this case didn't make sense. It was just too... easy. Too neat. All the loose ends, tied up in a perfect little bow.

Some things just weren't supposed to be this simple.

Like scandals.

Scandals were long and drawn out and messy, and it usually took forever to get the necessary evidence to prosecute. Politicians and businessmen had money, and with money came power. With power came the ability to cover your tracks and silence people who want to speak out - the power to stall and obstruct for months, sometimes years, until you could conveniently retire to a tropical island and live off the savings in your Swiss bank account.

So when the evidence to convict Amagasaki Chigusa just fell into his lap practically overnight, it was understandable that police commissioner Konoe Eishun couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong. Of course, you weren't supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but when the horse just happened to be one of the most powerful and influential women in the country, you should probably start asking questions.

Eishun certainly did.

He didn't like what he found.

[crowdog66]

I don't know the fandom at all, but that's one engaging and intriguing opening right there. :) Very nicely done!

[pinstripefedora]

Thanks! :D

[bay_alexison]

Got the rough draft of the story done. I still feel I need to expand it slightly more, so I'll do that tomorrow before sending it to my beta. Not going to show an excerpt as I'm not too happy with the overall piece yet, lol.