picowrimo | Picowrimo Day 3

I got my Yuletide assignment! *happydance* It is the fandom I was hoping most to get. Now to wriiiiiiiiite. :-)

I also found a progress bar generator! (If it will work on LJ, which appears to dislike div tags. o_O) One that doesn't depend on images being hosted anywhere. It is here: http://honorless.net/progressbar.htm

0 / 50000 (0.00%)

Edited 2012-11-03 05:41 (UTC)

I... only just realised that it was picowrimo month. Along with 59 others I was made redundant last month and assumed I'd have lots of time, but I immediately got a four-week contract and spent all last week learning what I have to do for the next three. So when November hit, it, well, sort of missed me.

But hey, I did do some writing today.

Soolin has in effect joined Vila's crew on the Lightning Bolt, and they've just found out he was in the Andromedan war.

An excerpt:

Teo grinned and stretched her arms lazily along the back of the sofa. "Why Vil, you're a hero!"

"I wasn't. I was terrified."

Soolin took a sip of her cocoa, eyeing Vila thoughtfully over it. "Isn't that the mark of a hero?"

"Eh?"

"Being afraid and acting anyway." She bit her lip and looked down into her mug, remembering how she had run from Dorian.

"Well, if it is, I certainly am." Vila said, and realising what she was thinking, added, "That and not having a choice. I mean, given one, I'll bolt every time."

"Hmmm." Soolin looked at him thoughtfully.

1. 422 words so far on my dw_femslash assignment. So far, so good, though I am not sure how femslashy I am actually going to be able to make it.
2. I have my Yuletide assignment and have some ideas, but I have rather a lot of re-reading to do...

An excerpt from before John's visit to the tailor.

***
John ran his fingers over the gouged stone by the Exhibition Road entrance to the museum, the gesture habitual, the feeling of gratitude fresh He smiled at The Sluggard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lord_frederick_leighton.jpg) as he passed, mounted the stairs at the other end of the gallery. They were all survivors there.

Question 1: Last word, "here", "there" or delete it?
Question 2: Keep link in text, move to end notes, don't have one?

Edited 2012-11-03 12:51 (UTC)

Our heroes are facing the evil

I've made good progress today - more than 3 pages in the Merlin story (and hoping to write some more in the afternoon) and a little progress with the Dr Who/Sherlock BBC/Torchwood crossover, which has its own home here http://13th-sherlock.dreamwidth.org/ (http://13th-sherlock.dreamwidth.org/), in case anyone is interested. It's a fun story to write, which I do in bits and pieces alongside more urgent projects.

Excerpt:

The door swung open noiselessly and they were engulfed in darkness… no, it was more than merely darkness. It was definite blackness, and it seemed to pour out from a stone well in the chamber behind the door like thick, oily black smoke, sucking up all light in its way like a living thing. The torches that Gilli had put into the iron rings mounted to the wall began to splutter.

“Here we are,” said the young sorcerer softly. “The Well of Blackness. A tear in the fabric between our world and the otherworld, through which evil spirits can escape and wreak havoc among men. This is the evil my grandsire has wrought; and it cannot be undone by aught else but his own blood… which, in this case, would be me.”

“How are you supposed to do that?” asked Lancelot.

“I don’t know,’ admitted Gilli. “All I know is that the answer lies in the Perilous Chest, which can be found somewhere in the next room.

This one is written with my partner in mind. He is wide-rangingly intelligent, with an enquiring mind that joins the dots and synthesises facts really well. He also really struggles at writing. I read an article about dyslexia and it described him to a T.

Sybil Wants Eva to Help Her Cheat with her Homework

"Wait a minute," Eva said, "you want me to help you cheat?"

"Oh Eva Naiva," Sybil laughed, "don't take on so. Everybody cheats. Unless they're frightfully clever, like you are, but you'll find a day when you have to cheat at something too. Mark my words."

Eva was torn. She disagreed with the tenor of Sybil's argument and thought it nothing more than an excuse. Yet she knew that behind the bravado, Sybil really did suffer in class. Her normally quick mind was stymied once she had to write down her thoughts discursively and although she could recite multiplication tables backwards, she struggled with putting numbers on the page. "I don't know what it is," she once told Eva, "but that thing that helps you picture the word in your head...I don't have it. I don't understand it. I know the words, I just can't write them."

It said something about how distressed Sybil was that she would try this hard to get Eva to help her out. And Eva could tell from her friend's stricken face that it was not a casual offer. Sybil was desperate.

"All right then, give them to me. I'll see if I can imitate your rather...inimitable style."

That idea of doing a thousand words or so over the weekend?

It's at 2611 total words right now, which means nearly 1600 words so far today. No wonder my arms hurt...

No editing today yet (I have to tackle the slightly handwaving of why no one from her work is trying to track Linda down starting with the bridging scene in Chapter One that gets her from her home town to Derbyshire). However, I did write the paragraph that precedes Chapter One:

A warm welcome awaits at the Rupert Peveril Hotel. Located in the very centre of the bustling market town of Ashbourne, famous for its street football and Jacobite connections, this historic coaching inn offers all visitors a friendly reception, whether planning a one night business stay, or a fortnight's walking holiday in the nearby Peak District National Park. The hotel offers a range of rooms to suit every pocket, and the full board package includes hearty courses of traditional Derbyshire fare. Game dishes available, in season, for a modest additional charge. Licenced bar open to residents and non-residents alike.

Not sure I've got the tone quite in-period yet, but I'll dig through some more old papers and see what I need to tweak.

Edited 2012-11-03 18:40 (UTC)

No actual words today. I spent some time thinking about my Yuletide assignment, a bit of canon review, a bit of research - I now have an idea. The problem is that with the lack of details I could quickly write a story that forfills the requirements, but that feels against the spirit of Yuletide. But no letter, details, lj link or anything....
I'm giving the person the weekend to post a letter and if not, they will get what I have an idea for and I will just have to live with it if they don't like it.

I'm hoping for pinch hits to come out soon, because I really want something challenging to write (and doing it for treats usually ends up with unfinished things)

There was a local NaNoWriMo group "write-in" today, which I joined in with for an hour or... err... five? Anyway, the new scene I added to "Catherine" clocked in at 790 words, while the total word count for "Eleanor" went up by 700 (albeit 400 of those were dialogue lifted verbatim from the earlier story). I think I'll claim that as 1100 words today, then.

A little filling in is needed for today's snippet. In one of the bits I didn't quote in July there is mention of a machine that plays back other people's memories. In the section I wrote between Pico's, Catherine and Tara got to see that machine. For anyone who remembers any of "Archivist" (my Pico project in 2006, 2007 and 2011) the same machine appears in that. This machine is what "Merrs" refers to.

Tara nodded thoughtfully. "They always send someone to talk to your parents when you join the Cadets. I guess they have to make sure your folks are loyal too."
"Yeah." Catherine wondered whether Tara really thought it was just the parents they were checking. "Did your folks mind that?" she asked.
"No, they're good citizens, very law abiding. They always told me to be helpful to policemen and the like, so they'd have been really helpful to the fleet officers. What about yours? Your dad was a councillor, wasn't he?"
What did she mean by that? Was she digging for dirt? "He was," Catherine admitted. "He seemed all right about the fleet visit."
Tara leaned close and whispered. "Do you think the Merrs works on politicians?"
Catherine frowned and stared at her. "What?" she asked, then added "Why not?"

Edited 2012-11-03 22:48 (UTC)

Drabble # 3, with appropriate icon:
http://forodwaith.livejournal.com/212919.html

Vilakins pointed me here and I'm hoping I can find some impetus to work on my story. I'm working on a short SF adventure in an original co-written universe, and I already have a rough plot outline and 1500 words. It shouldn't be too hard, right? The thing I'm struggling most with is naming my characters... currently I have the exciting exploits of Turnip and Celery and a few other vegetables, waiting for a find and replace once inspiration strikes.

No progress so far, but I'll go away and come back tomorrow to report. Wish me luck!

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Lightning Bolt

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