(no subject)

I'm languishing in a morass of "I want to write something...just not *that*." In this case, "that" is my NaNoWriMo project, the long-neglected "Sweet Temptation". I've managed to get a little bit done, but at the moment, I just can't work up any enthusiasm for it. It's not even that I'm stuck--I know what's coming, I know who does what to whom--but it's been wandering around my head so long, it feels like I've already written it.

The plan was to resume it and count the new addition as my NaNo efforts...the damned thing has been at a near stand-still for eleven months...I suppose that's a telling phrase: the damned thing. Dreadful when a writer refers to hir work in such uncomplimentary terms!

Reasons I should finish it:

1) I've already started posting it and it has a following. People want more.

2) It's good to finish things. Shows character. Self-discipline. (Riiight....)

3) It serves as a contrast to the fandom cliche of the beautiful gypsy who steals Roux's heart, which is sorely overdone since it's a transparent attempt for the fangirl's alter ego to frolic with the JD character. (I won't say I've never been guilty of a little gratuitous frolicking in one fandom or another, but I *try* like hell not to be transparent about it!)

On the other hand, I have two fictional Christmas presents that I've promised IN ADDITION to the Yuletide Challenge. (Masochist. Definitely.) I could be working on one of them. Or any one of a dozen things dozing on my harddrive or in my notebooks. And there's that Corso-bunny that keeps going "psst!".

Dammit, I thought I was through with Dean Corso, but apparently the bastard isn't through with me. This version goes the other way from the one I've already written...he *does* go through the Gate. Somebody asked me, very early on, if I'd thought about doing a story where he enters Hell, and my sub-conscious must've been contemplating it, because something's surfaced. Probably not as long as the epic with Shadow...why couldn't my sub-c have generated something in that universe?!

This is singularly unhelpful. However, if I haven't made significant progress with "Sweet Temptation" by the end of December, I'm taking it down for the New Year. I don't care how many hits it's had.

Okay, that's resolved. I'm going to go have breakfast.

(no subject)

I'm languishing in a morass of "I want to write something...just not *that*." In this case, "that" is my NaNoWriMo project, the long-neglected "Sweet Temptation". I've managed to get a little bit done, but at the moment, I just can't work up any enthusiasm for it. It's not even that I'm stuck--I know what's coming, I know who does what to whom--but it's been wandering around my head so long, it feels like I've already written it.

The plan was to resume it and count the new addition as my NaNo efforts...the damned thing has been at a near stand-still for eleven months...I suppose that's a telling phrase: the damned thing. Dreadful when a writer refers to hir work in such uncomplimentary terms!

Reasons I should finish it:

1) I've already started posting it and it has a following. People want more.

2) It's good to finish things. Shows character. Self-discipline. (Riiight....)

3) It serves as a contrast to the fandom cliche of the beautiful gypsy who steals Roux's heart, which is sorely overdone since it's a transparent attempt for the fangirl's alter ego to frolic with the JD character. (I won't say I've never been guilty of a little gratuitous frolicking in one fandom or another, but I *try* like hell not to be transparent about it!)

On the other hand, I have two fictional Christmas presents that I've promised IN ADDITION to the Yuletide Challenge. (Masochist. Definitely.) I could be working on one of them. Or any one of a dozen things dozing on my harddrive or in my notebooks. And there's that Corso-bunny that keeps going "psst!".

Dammit, I thought I was through with Dean Corso, but apparently the bastard isn't through with me. This version goes the other way from the one I've already written...he *does* go through the Gate. Somebody asked me, very early on, if I'd thought about doing a story where he enters Hell, and my sub-conscious must've been contemplating it, because something's surfaced. Probably not as long as the epic with Shadow...why couldn't my sub-c have generated something in that universe?!

This is singularly unhelpful. However, if I haven't made significant progress with "Sweet Temptation" by the end of December, I'm taking it down for the New Year. I don't care how many hits it's had.

Okay, that's resolved. I'm going to go have breakfast.

Naming names

After asking around among veterans of the YT Challenge, I find that it's okay to name names in reference to what one wants. Cool. Makes life much easier.

Here's the non-cryptic version:

CJ Cherryh - Alliance Universe:
My request was: Slashy Fletcher-Jeremy. Coming of age, affection, not non-con.
More thoughts on the subject: NC-17 doesn't offend me, but as long as the characters are in character, a good PG-13 is fine. (Probably about what you'd get in your typical $8 paperback romance novel.) Maybe they end up sharing a room during a sleepover on a crowded station. Not into slash? An unrequited crush on Jeremy's part? He's got that hero-worship thing going for Fletcher, who does *seem* rather resolutely hetero. But they geniunely care for each other by the resolution of "Finity's End", so as long as it's in that vein, I'll be happy. Bittersweet angst is okay; the only thing I *really* don't want is non-con or for Jeremy to be a minor.

Elizabeth Peters - Amelia Peabody books (book)
My request was: Kevin O'Connell. Would love to see the charming Irishman have an adventure of his own. Does not need to be in Egypt OR feature the Emersons.
More thoughts on the subject: I know, I know. NOT one of the more prominent characters for this fandom. But think of the possibilites--he's a reporter, that's bound to lead him into interesting situations. Lots going on in the 1880-1890's...the height of the Victorian era, the sun never sets on the British Empire, and all that. This doesn't have to have a relationship in it--in fact, I'd rather have O'Connell in action. As long as there are no screaming anachronisms, I'm happy. If you *can't* write it without the Emersons, it would be interesting to view them from Kevin's POV.
(Does it help if I tell you that my mental picture of Kevin O'Connell bears a striking resemblence to a youngish Pierce Brosnan?)

Mary O'Hara - Goose Bar Ranch trilogy
My request was: Nell. Would really like to see an intimate moment between Nell and Rob, or one of Nell's thoughtful interludes. Anything in the style of the original would be awesome!
More thoughts on the subject: When I say "intimate", I don't necessarily mean sex. After all, there was only one (very discreet) sex scene in the whole trilogy. I breezed right past it for years. I first read these books at 8 or 9--a horse-crazy kid!--and I've reread them over the years, and the more I do, the more I admire the way O'Hara writes. She layers detail so beautifully--the weather and the countryside and the characters and their feelings. *le sigh* There are those long winters when it's just Nell and Rob. Otherwise, there's a two-year gap between the end of My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead, if you're looking for an opportunity to set something into canon, and a year between Thunderhead and Green Grass of Wyoming. (What I didn't notice until *much* later is how continuity seems to skip from the Depression to post-WWII without a blink....) A sudden thought: if you're feeling courageous, you might look at the mother-daughter relationship between Nell and Penny...after all, Penny came along when her brothers were in their mid-teens, what's it like for her to be the baby of the family? Is she complaiscent? A rebel? A tomboy? Daddy's little girl? (That bunny just fell out of the sky and landed on my head, I swear!)

Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Catch Trap (book)
My request was: Slashy hurt-comfort would be delightful.
More thoughts on the subject: I strongly suspect that if you're familiar with *this* one, you're not going to have any qualms about slash. I prefer Tommy to be an adult, but aside from that, you can be as NC-17 as your heart desires. Or, like I said, I love h-c. (Even before I knew there was a term for it.) Angsty Mario is thoroughly in character, but please, no suicide fics, that would be icky. 1950's era? (I'm a time traveler when it comes to fiction, can you tell?!) Definitely pre-Gay Lib, although I do get little Sigfried and Roy undertones.
*
*
If there's a common thread here, I think it's a leaning toward character-driven stories. (Even in the case of Mr. O'Connell: charm, curiousity and ambition are all valid character traits that apply to him.) Character is something I tend to be obsessive about in my own writing, but the thing is, if you explain a character convincingly enough, readers will nod in understanding when you hook them up in an unconventional pairing or send them off on what seems like a non-canon tangent.

I hope my poor Santa isn't reaching for the Prozac now....

Naming names

After asking around among veterans of the YT Challenge, I find that it's okay to name names in reference to what one wants. Cool. Makes life much easier.

Here's the non-cryptic version:

CJ Cherryh - Alliance Universe:
My request was: Slashy Fletcher-Jeremy. Coming of age, affection, not non-con.
More thoughts on the subject: NC-17 doesn't offend me, but as long as the characters are in character, a good PG-13 is fine. (Probably about what you'd get in your typical $8 paperback romance novel.) Maybe they end up sharing a room during a sleepover on a crowded station. Not into slash? An unrequited crush on Jeremy's part? He's got that hero-worship thing going for Fletcher, who does *seem* rather resolutely hetero. But they geniunely care for each other by the resolution of "Finity's End", so as long as it's in that vein, I'll be happy. Bittersweet angst is okay; the only thing I *really* don't want is non-con or for Jeremy to be a minor.

Elizabeth Peters - Amelia Peabody books (book)
My request was: Kevin O'Connell. Would love to see the charming Irishman have an adventure of his own. Does not need to be in Egypt OR feature the Emersons.
More thoughts on the subject: I know, I know. NOT one of the more prominent characters for this fandom. But think of the possibilites--he's a reporter, that's bound to lead him into interesting situations. Lots going on in the 1880-1890's...the height of the Victorian era, the sun never sets on the British Empire, and all that. This doesn't have to have a relationship in it--in fact, I'd rather have O'Connell in action. As long as there are no screaming anachronisms, I'm happy. If you *can't* write it without the Emersons, it would be interesting to view them from Kevin's POV.
(Does it help if I tell you that my mental picture of Kevin O'Connell bears a striking resemblence to a youngish Pierce Brosnan?)

Mary O'Hara - Goose Bar Ranch trilogy
My request was: Nell. Would really like to see an intimate moment between Nell and Rob, or one of Nell's thoughtful interludes. Anything in the style of the original would be awesome!
More thoughts on the subject: When I say "intimate", I don't necessarily mean sex. After all, there was only one (very discreet) sex scene in the whole trilogy. I breezed right past it for years. I first read these books at 8 or 9--a horse-crazy kid!--and I've reread them over the years, and the more I do, the more I admire the way O'Hara writes. She layers detail so beautifully--the weather and the countryside and the characters and their feelings. *le sigh* There are those long winters when it's just Nell and Rob. Otherwise, there's a two-year gap between the end of My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead, if you're looking for an opportunity to set something into canon, and a year between Thunderhead and Green Grass of Wyoming. (What I didn't notice until *much* later is how continuity seems to skip from the Depression to post-WWII without a blink....) A sudden thought: if you're feeling courageous, you might look at the mother-daughter relationship between Nell and Penny...after all, Penny came along when her brothers were in their mid-teens, what's it like for her to be the baby of the family? Is she complaiscent? A rebel? A tomboy? Daddy's little girl? (That bunny just fell out of the sky and landed on my head, I swear!)

Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Catch Trap (book)
My request was: Slashy hurt-comfort would be delightful.
More thoughts on the subject: I strongly suspect that if you're familiar with *this* one, you're not going to have any qualms about slash. I prefer Tommy to be an adult, but aside from that, you can be as NC-17 as your heart desires. Or, like I said, I love h-c. (Even before I knew there was a term for it.) Angsty Mario is thoroughly in character, but please, no suicide fics, that would be icky. 1950's era? (I'm a time traveler when it comes to fiction, can you tell?!) Definitely pre-Gay Lib, although I do get little Sigfried and Roy undertones.
*
*
If there's a common thread here, I think it's a leaning toward character-driven stories. (Even in the case of Mr. O'Connell: charm, curiousity and ambition are all valid character traits that apply to him.) Character is something I tend to be obsessive about in my own writing, but the thing is, if you explain a character convincingly enough, readers will nod in understanding when you hook them up in an unconventional pairing or send them off on what seems like a non-canon tangent.

I hope my poor Santa isn't reaching for the Prozac now....