Through Dangers Untold and Hardships Unnumbered

Yes, the rumors are true.

I’m writing again.

My muse is a fickle, jealous thing, and he tends to take offense at extended periods of neglect. And I have been neglecting him rather badly.

December of 2005 I descended into madness, and within a month I churned out 35,000+ words that became the story “Immortal Love.” Immediately upon finishing it, I started writing “Dangers Untold.” 17,500+ words in… I lost the beat. It died a cold, stunted death, and I stood there, frantically searching for the trail for…

oh…

two years, five month, and eleven days.

During that time I picked up a couple of other stories and finished them. “What you Wish For” is a particular favorite. “The Price of Dreams” was written under what I can only describe as a fit of madness.

At one point, it occurred to me that the way forward is sometimes the way back, and so I started writing “Shove’s Tale.”

I was right.

While at first that one was hard going (do you have any idea how hard it is to go back and rewrite a whole story from the point of view of a minor character? One who had a whole ‘nother set of problems going on? Different interactions with the main characters, sub plots and storylines that interwove and affected the original storyline but that the main character must remain oblivious to? Huh? HUH?) lately it has picked up, and by writing it I’ve discovered the trail of “Dangers” again.

I also partially blame this on Phuriedae, my loyal beta, and Lixxle, new friend and psychologist. And Subtillior, who got some of those gears grinding again.

Yes, the rumors are true. I’m writing again. Slowly, sometimes not without a great deal of agony, but I’m writing again. I will finish Shove’s Tale and post it as I go, as intended. “Dangers,” however, I’m keeping back until ST is finished. I want to make sure it’s done, make sure it’s complete and edited and makes sense before I post it.

However, as a show of good faith, for you loyal few who’ve found me here, I’ll be generous and post a small excerpt.

The Price of Dreams

Posted over in the Pit last night a little one shot I’ve been fiddling with while I wait for the rest of Complications to come to me.

Here’s an excerpt:

Hope, hate, haunt—they jumble up in my head. Dim room, desk here, chair here. Reality solid and unyielding—no, unforgiving—beneath my feet. So many years, but forgiveness comes slower still. I’m confused, distorted.

On my desk is a dream.

One, two, three, ten, fifteen of them along the walls. These you can touch. You can walk up to them, confront them, breathe in the heady odor of paint and pastels. If you wanted you could smudge your fingers in them. Mine are coated with the dust of my dreams. In the right light, it even glitters.

There are books full of them, a stack on the floor nearby, a grotesque little face peering (leering) out where one page came loose from the rest. In my imagination it winks at me, sly and sketchy. There’s a couple of sketchbooks on the floor near the bed, last night’s dream still lying open where I dropped it, exposed. Glimpse of charcoal chiseled features, white chalk fluff of hair.

There are other dreams from other years, the first few doodled in notebooks. Etchings of memory, things you don’t want to forget. Later, they grew larger, scribed in pencil and ink and paint. Some sold, gone to those who collect such things. Some hang in other people’s homes, turpentine reminders that reality isn’t always far from fantasy. Some wait still in galleries, waiting, wishing.

Still, they are mine. My memory. My imagination. My nighttime wanderings in a labyrinthine landscape I will never quite escape. Some things are true: I doubt I will ever quite find my way out again. I don’t think I want to.

I leave the dream on the desk and turn away.

Read the rest here: The Price of Dreams
The story was inspired by artist Pika-la-Cynique, over on DeviantArt. She does some spectacular fan art based on Labyrinth, and had posted a challenge (long ago) for people to write fics based on some of them. I really loved this image, and eventually it spun itself a story: Here’s the Day

Looking at the drawing, I loved all the other little clues in it to Sarah’s personality. The eraser, the sketches taped to the wall, it all said “artist” to me. I’ll also admit to some strong inspiration pulled from ScatteredLogic’s story “The Enticement.” But I also loved how the painting was almost from Sarah’s POV. We don’t see her in the painting, only her reflection. (There’s a good bit woven into the story about reflections, and seeing things indirectly, too, if you want to take the time to hunt for them.) It was mostly that which inspired me to write it in the first person, present tense. Normally, I hate that sort of narration, but for this it really seemed to work. It gave it a dreamy kind of edge, and a sort of stream of consciousness feeling, like we’re experiencing it along with her. It also gives you a rather interesting glimpse into her mind, which is still full of fantasy. I’ll confess to reading some of Vladimir Nabokov’s work to get me in the right frame of mind, too. His imagery is really sensual, and the synethesia-like descriptions in this story were important to me. Poetic prose can be really difficult, but I’m please with this. Also: all the alliteration.

Got a question or comment about the story? Ask away, little Goblins.

Finally

I know how it ends.

In the Margins: Fic reviews from my editor

Okay, first of all what you are about to read is the result of me looking for good fan fic and finding… well, not so good fan fic. In fact, a good deal of it was excrement, to put it politely. This one, however, was just… laughably bad. So I shared it with Phuriedae, who has acted as my beta/editor on “What You Wish For” and my in progress “Complications.” Her unrestrained GLEE while mocking this turned into the following (unsolicited) review.

Should the author of this want to strangle someone for the following: I’d recommend throttling your thesaurus. Really. It’s not doing you any favors. The story in question is “Just Peachy” by pit author The Slow Hand Muse. Comments in GREEN are from Miss Phurie. This is not the whole story. If you want to read it, just follow the link.

If you want to read Phurie’s thoughts on it, the rest is below the jump.

Books that make me go *squee* (Part One)

I’ve been quiet lately.

I’m sorry. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

Still working on “Complications” but in the meantime, let’s talk about books.

Specifically lets talk about books that make you go all fangirl(boy) squealy inside. I don’t actually write book-based fan fic. Well, not since a brief foray into Dragonlance when I was a kid, but if I *were* going to, here are a few of the books I’d love to explore.

Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman

I’m a big fan of this original trilogy, and some of the early novels based on this series totally rock. Lately the sequels have earned my disfavor, generally by just being repetitious and boring. Also, lots of Dead Characters. I mean, yes, time goes on, wars happen, people get older, but… do they all have to die and/or go angsty? *Sigh* But yeah, if you go back to the beginning, it’s a romping good series full of dark gods, epic quests, heroes and anti-heroes, and lots of dragons and magic. Cause that’s what TSR did best.

The Belgariad and the Mallorean by David & Leigh Eddings

Possibly my favorite Epic Fantasy series (plural) ever. Five books in each series. Two series makes ten. Plus two stand alone prequels makes twelve. And one Codex/World Encyclopedia makes thirteen. This thing is HUGE, and vastly entertaining. It’s your classic, sword in the stone, hidden prince grows up and finds out he’s to be king. But there’s dark gods afoot and evil magicians and immortal sorcerers and spies and viking pirates and knights in shinging armor and half-dryad princesses running around causing all sorts of trouble. Not to mention a sentient bit of rock or two that will come together in an epic battle of good against evil that will make you laugh, cry, and hold your breath a time or two. Not to be missed.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The movie just came out, and it’s close enough that you’ll get a lot of what happens in the book. But there’s so much that can’t be translated to screen, so I highly recommend reading the book if you haven’t yet. Wicked Witches, Fallen Stars, UnLikely Heroes, Sky Pirates, and Evil Princes abound. This is one that is part love story, part adventure, and all fairy tale.

This concludes part one. Stay tuned for part two.

Summaries are a story’s best friend

So I’m working on my Pirates story, and chatting with my beta, and decide to go glance in the Pit to see what’s passing for original Pirates fan fic lately…

In FOUR pages of stories, I found ONE that looked readable. This saddens me. I tend to scan summaries for certain words, looking for warning signs. Certain words come with big, blaring sirens and red lights flashing.

KnifeEdge’s List of Summary Keywords to Avoid At All Costs:

• Self insertion
• OC/anyone
• “daughter”
• modern
• sucked into TV/Movie/Hollywood
• transported into the future/past
• me and my friends

That weeds out about 98% of the stories in the Pit, not leaving very much.

Let’s take a look at some of the more recent summaries in the Pit. I’m not linking to the stories, or including the titles. I just want to examine why some summaries work, and some really DON’T.

This is yet another insert fic. I get sucked into the world of POTC Curse of the Black Pearl. How will the story change when I’m in it? COMPLETE!

Okay, first of all… who are you? Why are you so interesting that you think I’d want to read a story about you? Why would I want to read a story where you change the whole plot to fit yourself in, when I liked the plot very much as it was? This is the kind of story I pretty much put a great big red X over when skimming. I had a creative writing teacher in college who gave us a lecture on Why You Shouldn’t Write Yourself Into Your Stories (unless they’re non-fiction, first person, of course). For one thing, he said, the temptation to make yourself better than you are is always there, which makes your character unbelievable. No one wants to write themselves in a bad light. Second, you’re boring. No one but your friends and family know you, nor do they care about you. Why would other people want to read a story about you?

That’s right! Your fav Pirate buddy’s are going to Holloywood to cook up some more trouble. The Pirates take their first plane ride, Elizabeth blow’s up a shop and Norrington knocks down the famous Hollywood sign! Plus much more! Ch 4 now up!

I count four spelling/grammar mistakes in a three line summary. That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the story, and yes, I’m picky about spelling. Second… so… we’ve ditched plot, canon, and character, distilled it all down to some broad brush strokes, and added a wacky sort of plot line. Let me leap right on that one… Don’t get me wrong, parody in the right hands can be a fun experience, but this doesn’t read like parody so much as someone playing with Jack Sparrow action figures.

AWE Spoilers! At the Brethren Court Meeting Jack is reunited with his father. It’s the first time he’s seen him in years. But who’s to say that his father won’t be the only one he’s reuniting with in several years? And what would make Jack Sparrow cry?

Okay, this one is a bit better. Slightly interesting premise. However, my suethor detector is pinging. “But who’s to say that his father won’t be the only one he’s reuniting with in several years?”… hmmm. That implies that there is a character that Jack knew a long time ago that’s going to miraculously turn up. And that this someone is probably going to make Jack cry. You know, maybe it’s me, but I can’t picture Jack crying over much. Possibly his ship being blown up, or dropping a canon ball on his foot and accompanying it with a lot of swearing. Jack, however, seems to be pretty resilient. Why waste time crying over something when you could be figuring out a way to turn it to your own profit? I think I’ll pass over weepy Jack.

Jack finds a misfit in a whorehouse. Tell me if I should continue, and hurt me if it starts turning into a marysue. JackxOC

Right. I haven’t even read it and I’m already looking for sharp objects. If you picked up a book and it had this on the back cover, would YOU read it? I don’t usually start reading something if the author makes it a point to tell me it’s likely to go bad.

A looting mistake lands a young woman aboard the Black Pearl. She believes herself to be a prisoner to its captain but little does she know that she has imprisoned something in him, his heart. JOC WE I apologize for the crappy title

Again with the apologies… Also, the Cliche-o-meter is rating this plot summary at Horse Beaten to Pudding level.

Set directly after DMC and continuing through AWE: Barbossa is back and needs the help of an old flame, to fix things. BarbossaOC

Okay, I’ll give this one points for originality. However, it looses points for squick factor. Did you SEE At World’s End? Barbossa’s idea of romance involves bellowing at his “love” like a bad Shakespearean actor. I think I’ll pass…

A oneshot paying homage to a brave soul, a boy with dreams and hopes. This fanfiction is concerned with the cabin boy hung at the beginning of At World’s End and why it was he faced that fate.

Finally, a decent summary. Could be tightened up a bit, but it’s clearly got an original plotline, it’s spelled correctly, no apologies. Good job.  I actually read this one, and enjoyed it very much.

Summaries, I’ve learned about through trial and error. My first few summaries sucked nearly as bad as some of these–and I wince whenever I have to read them. Your summary is what sells your story. Even though fan fic is written for fun, you still want people to read it, right? So don’t sabotage it before they’ve even clicked on the link.

Tips for a good summary:

1. Give people a real taste of what your story is about. Think about book summaries on Amazon, or book jackets. Think about how they’re worded, the kind of information they include. Use that as your template. Or think about movie trailers “In a world where…” Okay, maybe not THAT cliche.
2. Don’t apologize. For anything. Really. I’m not going to read something if you feel you need to apologize for it.
3. Check your spelling. Check your grammar. It’s highly indicative of how the rest of your writing is going to go.
4. If you can’t think up a good summary have your beta reader write one for you. Often they’re good at pinpointing what a story is really about, because they’re not as close to it as you are.
5. If you STILL can’t think of a good summary: give us an excerpt from the first part of your story. Something that will hook the reader and make them want to know what happens next.
6. Above all: don’t write crappy stories. Really. It’ll improve the quality of your summary if your story doesn’t suck.

As always, remember: advice should be taken with a large amount of salt.

Harry Potter: At Fandom’s Edge?

No, I don’t write Harry fan fic. Nor do I read the stuff. I had a bad experience once involving a Snape/Jesus story that scarred my retinas so badly I had to sand them smooth again. And the overabundance of Mary Sues makes me want to gag.
But I do read the books and watch the movies.

We’re creeping up on the last midnight, the final showdown, the last chapter. In only a matter of days we’ll know how it all ends. Who lives, who dies. I’ve been reading up over at the HP-Lexicon, boning up on the rumors and theories, and forming some of my own.

I hope Harry lives.

I have fond memories of Harry. When the first book came out I was still in high school. I remember seeing it on the New Fiction shelf at my local library nearly every day I was in, and wondering why it wasn’t in the kids section. Finally I gave up and checked it out–read it through in a matter of hours and was instantly hooked. There was just something about it that was–for lack of a better word–enchanting.

I picked up the others soon after they were published, and read them just as quickly. I remember sitting in the theater, watching the first movie, my head full of drugs from having my wisdom teeth yanked a day or so earlier, and loving every moment. I remember checking out book five and reading it straight through in about ten hours. I think I cleared book six in about eight.

I remember reading the end of Half-Blood Prince, and my boyfriend calling and asking if I was done yet (he’d just finished), and when I told him where I was (Dumbledore and Harry returning to Hogwarts) him telling me to speed it up, then staying on the line but refusing to speak to me until I’d finished the book.

I have my own theories, of course, as to how it will end. I have my own hopes and predictions. I know Voldemort will die. He simply has to. I hope Harry will live. I hope Snape will redeem himself but remain a slimy git. I hope Ron and Hermione end up together.

I suspect any number of characters are up for being killed off: Lupin, Neville, Ron, Percy, Ginny, Harry, Hagrid, Draco…

wouldn’t be too sorry if it were Percy–but I’m suspecting Lupin is gonna be one, which would make me sad.

I don’t think we’ve heard the last from Sirius, or Dumbledore for that matter. Whether that means they’re alive or not, I don’t know.

I think Sirius’s motorbike and the Weasley’s Ford Anglia are off making little wild sentient vehicular babies in the Forbidden Forest.

If Harry dies, however, I hope it’s for the right reasons and not just so Rowling can keep a tight hold on her rights. I really hate when characters I love die in books or movies: when Matthew dies in “Anne of Green Gables” it breaks my heart a little every time. I felt like I’d lost my own father. When Toth died in “The Seeress of Kell” I was shocked and saddened. He’d been such a faithful friend. When Robert Sean Leonard’s character died in “Dead Poets Society” I felt like it was me. For an hour I sat there with tears pouring silently down my face. And don’t even get me started on Dragonlance…

Dumbledore’s death was worse for me than Sirius’s. It came out of nowhere, I thought, and made me feel like Harry: utterly alone. I’m not sure how I’d feel if it were Ron, Harry or Hermione. I’m not sure I’m going to even contemplate that.
Even so, I’ll be up all night at a release party on Friday night, and don’t look for me to resurface until Saturday night or Sunday.

It’s getting close now. “Would you like to say a few words to mark the occasion?”

Good Morning

If I were a professional writer–which I am not–I think I’d get up now, when it’s still a little dark outside. And I’d write with one eye glancing out the window, watching the sky turn gray and lavender and then blush blue and pink. As I typed the stars would shut their eyes one by one, and the birds would glide out across the pond, silent as my thoughts. Sentences would take shape as the trees emerged from the shadows, and light slowly edged each leaf in gold.

But I’m not a professional writer, so I’ll type this instead, and watch the dawn with two eyes instead of one.

Then I’ll get myself up and shower, make a cup of coffee, and go out to face the day.

Now, bring me that horizon…

Kaitlyn said: “Okay, on a little different note, how do you start writing a story? Do you plan it out or just write? I have so many stories running around in my head, and there’s one in particular that needs to be written. But I don’t know where to start. I have some scenes specifically thought out for the story, and I know the basic plot, but I don’t how to begin. I think if I just started to write, it would come out. I don’t know.”

How do you start writing a story? Honestly, I don’t know. I think that’s something that varies between writers. For me, sometimes it varies between stories. I can tell you how I wrote most of my other stories, though.

“Immortal Love” was, by the far the easiest thing I’ve ever written. I didn’t really plan it out, I just sat down and started to type. Every night I’d type a little more, and it was almost like my brain was just feeding the story from me to the screen. I think I’d had bits and pieces of the story up there, floating around somewhere, locked into some vague bits and pieces of other things. It all mixed together and just… flowed.

“Dangers” occurred to me about two chapters from the end of Immortal Love. I just knew that wasn’t the end of the story, the happily ever after couldn’t be that easy. I knew the first part of it… but I fought with that story, chapter by chapter, until I couldn’t go any further. There’s this wall sitting there and I haven’t been able to find a way around it yet.

“What You Wish For” was another semi easy one. I had the idea almost a year after Immortal Love, and I liked it. It wasn’t anything really formulated though, just this idea of Jareth coming to find Sarah. I drabbled out the first chapter, and then sent it to a friend who was a Labyrinth fan. She liked it, but pointed out that it didn’t sound like I had an ending in mind. So I thought about it a bit. She asked me a lot of questions, and that helped a great deal. Knowing what questions I needed to answer sort of prodded them from my brain. All of a sudden I knew that Jareth was there to play a game, and that instead of him granting HER wishes (which happens in Labyrinth fan fiction all the time) he would turn the tables on her and make her grant HIS wishes. I also knew he was going to wish for her to cluck like a chicken. It was great incentive to write. I’d write a chapter or two and then send them off to Phurie to be read, and she’d come back and give me pointers or tell me where it was floating off, and I’d bring it back on course. She was great at picking up on little things and helping me figure out where I had loose threads dangling. I wrote that story completely, edited it at least once before I started posting it–and I’d timed it very precisely so that the last chapters were posted on New Years Eve.

I’m still kind of proud of that.

My two Pirates stories were ideas I’d had after watching Dead Man’s Chest. They wouldn’t leave me alone, so I wrote them out. I knew when writing them that they were basically just short little drabbles, although I’m considering lengthening “Belly” a bit.

The story I’m working on now also occurred to me after watching DMC. It’s stuck with me, this one, for about a year now, kind of bubbling in the back of my head. I couldn’t quite decide where it was going, though, or even where to start. About a week ago, however, I was driving somewhere and thinking about watching the director’s commentary. They’d mentioned that Johnny Depp had been “nailed” into that coffin at the beginning, with some explosives in the lid, so he could make that entrance. It kind of creeped me out, thinking about listening to nails being pounded into a coffin, and you’re all alone in it, alive, with a corpse. Then I started thinking about how Jack might have felt…

and suddenly I knew how my story started.

I’ve been pecking at it off and on. I’ll write a bit then walk away. Usually when I walk away I’ll figure out what the next bit is. To write Jack correctly, though, one must try to think like Jack, which is a bit difficult. I find myself talking like him, without meaning to, trying to get the inflections of his words. I think that’s one of the most important things about him: giving him the right words, the right rhythm and flow. And of course, your story has to go all screwy in places, because it’s Jack, and you’re never sure if it’s true or he’s lying. I love writing about Jack, it’s like exercise for the brain.

I think the most important way to start writing is, however, just to start. If you don’t know the first sentence, but you know how the second chapter goes, start there. You can always go back and write the first chapter later. Or maybe you’ll find out you don’t need it at all. If you’re good with dialogue, write the dialogue first, then go back and fill in the descriptive bits. Every now and then I’ll have a flash of what Jack’s going to say to someone, I’ll jot it down, and then later go back and flesh out the scene in which he says it.

But you can’t write a story if you don’t start at all. When in doubt, however, I’ve found there’s one phrase that always gets my creative juices flowing:

“Once upon a time…”

Blah

Been a few days, due to some personal drama, and, also, work.

Still fiddling with the Jack story. I think he’s about to do something either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. With Jack it’s hard to tell.

So many reading, but only one comment… hmmm… what’s up with that?

My one comment got me thinking, however, about things I *don’t* like in fandom. So here, my friends, is a short list of things that bother me in fandom:

 1.) Mary Sues.

I realize that you are young, and that  you really, really, really, wish you could be part of [insert universe here]. However, I don’t want to read a story about a virtually perfect character with only superficial flaws, who wades into a story, destroys canon relationships, and causes characters to fall in love with her. Or him, if you swing that way. Thank god the internet wasn’t around when I was young, however, or you’d more than likely have had to read about my Dragonlance mage character who had fires flickering in her eyes, and who Raistlin came back from the dead for. I never claimed I wasn’t a total hypocrite.

2.) Labyrinth: Sarah is a stripper/drug addict/psychoward patient who behaves like a total spoiled bitch.

I’m not sure what movie you were watching, but I suspect it might not have been Labyrinth. Sarah’s mental state at the end of that movie was level headed, mature, and unlikely to cut her wrists or turn to alcohol to deal with a situation in which she triumphed.

For that matter, stop doing the same thing in Alice in Wonderland, too.

3.) Toby/Jareth

This is just wrong on so many levels I cannot even begin to fathom how you came up with it.

4.) Elizabeth/Norrington

Yeah, yeah, Norry was kinda cute (though I liked him better as a Pirate). But what possible appeal could he hold for Elizabeth. He was far too straightlaced and uptight. Not her sort at all.

5.) Jack/Will

Okay… slash fans calm down. I know you all get crazy hot over the idea of two hot men together, but it’s fairly obvious that Elizabeth already has a firm hand on Will’s arse, and that’s just how he wants it. Also, for the forty millionth time: Jack’s unlikely to be physically attracted to Will unless you’ve given him a supremely large quantity of rum and dressed Will up in Elizabeth’s dress with a wig on. Really.

6.) Anyone but Calypso/Davy Jones

ew.

7.) Stories that completly rewrite the movie to suit the author.

Not buying it, sorry. There’s a reason why I love Labyrinth and Pirates. It’s because I love the story and the characters as they developed into those stories. If you’re going to wipe that whole history out, rewrite the characters to suit you, and start afresh to tell a story that would fit into canon like Fat Bastard into one of Paris Hilton’s dresses–I’m not going to read it. You’d be better off writing original stories.

8.) Authors who can’t be bothered to spell check.

Self xplanatory. rlly. who cn bothar?

9.) This might seem trivial, but I will almost ALWAYS stop reading a story if you cannot type out a number. 

For example: “Sarah woke up 1 morning to discover a crystal on the pillow beside her head. For the last 18 years she’d felt safe..”

One. Eighteen. They’re not that long. You can write them out. Really.

10.)  Crossover fiction/ fan fics where characters are transported to our world or where new characters are teleported into a universe (unless this is a canonical possibility). 

If handled well, this stuff can be fairly good, but the first kind always strikes me as forcing it a bit (like eating cake and pie at the same time… too much of a good thing can be bad). The second rings too much like Mary Sueism–to be avoided at all costs.

What pet peeves do you have in fan fiction?