Birdwings

I finished Counterclaims a couple of nights ago. Took a day off to recuperate. I am so glad to have that behind me and to be literally halfway through the series, with the grimmest part over.

I have used the energy and power of the rewind/fast forward button to mainline some Teen Wolf and make some progress with that WIP. I am down to three scenes in Counterclaims—all of which are from 'De-Void,' because I decided to write all the painful stuff first. I spent last night barreling through 'Insatiable' and am so, so glad to be almost through the bottleneck of having to describe character deaths and attendant responses. That part is all written and needed to be written and is done, and took forever because it legitimately upset me to work on it.

Meanwhile, when I first mapped the final chapter of the far rosier Sidelined, it had twenty necessary scenes overall, and over the course of writing, it has grown to twenty-eight. The story has been doing this since I started, so I'm not very surprised. Twelve of the scenes are still incomplete. The first chapter went up on March 21st last year, and I'm hoping I can at least beat that date, but can I finish it during this shortest month of the year? Will my remote control provide the energy boost needed to finally stagger past the checkered flag? Time will tell...

Serious goal for the year ahead: Shorter chapters. They snuck up on me and all of a sudden I realized I've been posting single chapters longer than the entire four chapters of Trust, and the resultant final edits and html take forever to weed through. And they're a lot to ask of a beta, I think. Shorter chapters! Seriously.

Erase/Rewind just got recontextualized as my ultimate anthem for frustrated fic writing.

My new DVD player has been a lovely thing in many ways, but what I originally took for the fast forward and rewind buttons were actually skip scene buttons. Naturally, this is completely antithetical to ease of canon review (or just, "hey, I missed that line of dialogue, what?") so today I dug out the remote that came with the DVD player, and which I had blithely ignored heretofore. After all, I had reasoned, the DVD player comes with a host of buttons. Surely everything I need is already—

Wrong! In addition to no rewind, there is no mute, which is also super helpful in canon review (mute is truly the best way to hyper focus on body language, I have found).

So I dug out some AAA batteries (three left in the pack), installed them, pointed the remote at the screen, and excitedly clicked.

Nothing happened.

I pressed harder. Tried other buttons. Shook the remote mournfully. Dug out the manual, feeling ridiculous, because who needs a manual for using a remote control?

Sure enough, the manual just told me to put in batteries, point and click. Thanks.

So I popped the batteries out, planning to put them in again in opposite slots, and noticed one of them had a messed up end. Instantly disposed of that, scrubbed my hands and grabbed the remaining AAA battery, which looked fine. Snapped the remote closed, pointed, clicked...

Success!

I then amused myself for a few minutes rewinding, muting and otherwise enjoying the freedoms which come with a remote control.

This was a roundabout way of saying I haven't made a post in a week, and this was my way of rectifying that. :)

If anyone here happens to be interested in Wuthering Heights, a new comm just began a group read of the book and some really interesting conversations are happening over there! It's been a long time since I read the novel, and I am having a good time revisiting it.

our_souls_are_made_of

In the words of the administrator, bleodswean, whose brainchild this was:

"Come join us at a new Wuthering Heights community where we are beginning our Wuthering Heights read-a-long and will soon be discussing this complicated novel! Is it really a love story? Is Cathy certifiable? Does Heathcliff have a wounding story that justifies his revenge? Why is everyone so reprehensible? Or are they? Do the children shed the legacy of betrayal and rage?

There might be icon challenges! And fic prompts! And discussions of other writings female and gothic!"

Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom.

Yes, I know. You saw this coming. Honestly, it would be smarter if I picked a different show, because I've been talking about this one for a long time anyway, and it's actually hard for me to recommend it, because I end up thinking of so many caveats and content warnings when I try. I understand that no show is for everyone, and that's okay. So I wasn't really feeling this challenge the way I had hoped to.

But that was yesterday, and now my energy is low and it's so cold I broke out the fingerless gloves and I finally overheated the chimney last night (smoke detectors are a blessed invention, which let me shut it down before it became an actual chimney fire) and I am so happy with this proof that things can always get worse. So to cheer myself, hell with the well-reasoned argument. Hell with background and synopsising and trying to explain myself. You can find all of that online, and this is probably more fun to read. It was sure more fun to write.

Have some really frivolous reasons to watch Jeremiah!

-- It lets you play "spot the Canadian actor." Heck, this show is so Canadian, it lets you play "spot the reused Canadian film set." The old NORAD base of Thunder Mountain is Stargate SG-1's Cheyenne Mountain, sans Stargate. Thrill to the stunning array of guest stars!

-- It lets you stick it to The Man. The Man being MGM and the Showtime Network in this case. Don't you like underdog canceled TV shows that never had a chance? Does it warm your heart to adopt neglected little shows screwed by the network? Here is a new stamp for your collection!

-- Do you get tired of watching supposed experts like ex-SEALs blunder their way through stupid battle tactics to advance the post-apocalyptic plot? You're in luck, because the main characters on this show have received formal training in nothing! It's so relaxing! You will never find yourself going "why don't they use enfilading fire?" because these dumbass kids don't know about enfilading fire. They are totally winging it.

-- So many speeches. Rage against the heavens! Searing confessions! Declarations! Defiance! Poetry recitations!

-- Such pretty men! Such angsty men! Much argument and passion and fury!

-- Such pretty women! Such competent women! They might keep their angst well-hidden, but oh, is it there! Women who deserved so much more focus. Join me in my quest to give them love and adoration!

-- You don't believe how pretty they are? Here are my screenshots on Tumblr of all their pretty faces, from back when I was using that site.

-- So many shipping possibilities! Whether you prefer slash, femslash, or het, there are opportunities and crackling chemistry all over the place. This is a show about feeling things deeply, about the hunger for meaning and purpose and a place to belong. Look at all the sad-eyed orphans and realize you can adopt them for your very own!

-- Also, watching this show will let you understand all my endless blather on this subject, which I'm sure is a huge plus all on its own.

♥

If this has somehow convinced you to give it a chance, Jeremiah is available on Amazon Prime or free on Plex. It's only 35 episodes.

♥

I'm about halfway through season one and I find LaCroix creepy to an unusually visceral degree. This is a bit surprising to me, because I normally have a weakness for villains - but I like them with enough human qualities to relate to, to explore their moral choices and failings, and LaCroix is on another level entirely. Nigel Bennett does a great job portraying him, but if I was going to compare him to another vampire, it would be the older archetypes, the plague carriers.

I've been lurking in the HL discord, and there's a lot of discussion of the Horsemen going on, so it's on my mind, and the thing is, the Horsemen never felt very apocalyptic to me. They felt like four louts raising hell. LaCroix feels like true pestilence made flesh, a malignancy creeping at Nick's heels, a shadow filling the space where a man once lived and died (yes, I'm reading A Wizard of Earthsea right now, so pursuant shadows are on my mind). Genuinely, completely unsettling. More of a vampire than most vampires.

Why do they call it a flist? I keep running across the term on DW and feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Also, hello eighteen below zero wind-chill from Minnesota. I have not missed you.

Challenge #10: Big Mood (Board)

CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU LOVE AND CREATE A MINI MOOD COLLECTION OF THREE (or more) ITEMS THAT EVOKE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

I wish I had more options to pick from here, with my massive song bank. Unfortunately, aside from a couple rare creepy ships there's no point subjecting anyone to a bunch of songs about, I rarely get obsessed enough to start attaching multiple songs to a specific canon. I can think of one song for Amanda, one song for Fred/Wesley ('Born to Die' -- I know! Shocking choice), and a couple for Cassie from 12 Monkeys, but nothing creating a proper trifecta except for thematic Jeremiah songs, and I already made a post compiling those years ago.

However, I just remembered the time I listened to Townes Van Zandt's album Flyin' Shoes and connected three songs to three of the tormented men of the Buffyverse. So that's what I'm going with, even though it's somewhat disparate.

Snake Song



This one is all about Spike, particularly his dangerous pre-soul era. In fact, it screams vampirism in general. "Ain't no mercy in my smiling/only fangs and sweet beguiling." But it also works for Spike's slippery ways, and tendency to cheat death ("skin I been through dies behind me") and his distinctive look ("shine like diamonds on a dark night"), before culminating with his whole season six interplay with Buffy: "You can slip and try to find me/hold your breath and flat deny me/it makes no difference to my thinking/I'll be here when you start sinking." Plus, it just SOUNDS badass.

Flyin' Shoes



This is probably the saddest song ever written to accompany a deceptively cheerful title, and I associate it with Angel. "Days full of rain, sky's coming down again/I get so tired of these same old blues." His depression, his multiple apocalypses, the rain in the alley... and the promise of the Shanshu Prophecy (his "flyin' shoes"). "Fall is a feeling that I just can't lose." It even mentions wanting to watch a winter day, which ties into 'Amends' and how he has to leave Buffy. There's enough to work in his love for his team, and how he finds connections despite himself, before it all circles back to the opening verse.

Dollar Bill Blues



Dark Wesley, angry, rejected, throat slit, on his self-destructive mission in life, including his significant abuse of alcohol. "Cast myself into a whirl, before a bunch of swine." The dollar bill is the symbol of his relationship with Lilah (which was depicted twice on the show, as it is mentioned twice here). The girl he wants to buy a diamond ring for is Fred (although the red hair would fit Virginia better), and the whole song reeks of desperation and damnation. "Long way down the Harlan Road/busted back and a heavy load/won't get through to save my soul." Oh, and "Always been a gambling man," says the man who was willing to summon Angelus and spring Faith out of prison. I'd say it fits Wesley pretty well, and it being fast-paced lets me picture all his action scenes between the verses.

And there you are!

I always hoped if I listened to enough Van Zandt, I would eventually find songs for all the other key players in these shows, to complete the picture, but it hasn't happened yet. His songs are magnificent, but often very specific narratives rather than character studies. Still, maybe there are a few more waiting to be discovered. His catalogue is very large.

Challenge #8

Talk about your creative process.

YES. MY TIME HAS COME. ( Read more... )

Alright, I was given an idea of how to make this challenge more psychologically acceptable to myself, and that is Fic Rec Requests. I recently discovered that I can organize my AO3 bookmarks, with little annotations to jog my memory and with bookmarker tags which enable me to sort them by baseline mood and format. Once everything was indexed, "plot" turned out to be my winning tag, with "character study" right behind.

And I finally reached one hundred bookmarks! So what better way to inaugurate the next hundred than by asking for recommendations!

Challenge #5

In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, a wishlist of sorts.

Rating from G to M is great, gen or shippy is fine. I am not very fond of complete AUs (canon divergence is great).

1. Buffyverse recs. I like pretty much every character, and the myriad moods of the shows, so hit me up with whatever you think is good. Stuff dealing with consequences from show events. Wackiness. Missing scenes. Interactions between people who scarcely or never did so in canon.

2. Teen Wolf. All the above applies, but please, no Sterek and no Magical McMuffin Stiles.

3. Highlander. Especially if it deals with secondary or one-shot characters.

4. Fanvids (any fandom). Fanvids are really hard to stumble over in the wild, and they are an absolute joy, even if I know nothing about the fandom.

Thanks in advance! My completionist self is now happy.