Title: Christmas Eve at Chrestomanci Castle
Universe: Diana Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci series
Word Count: 432
Notes: For annemjw who asked for "Millie/Chrestomanci in lateish teens".

( “This is our last christmas at Chrestomanci Castle as children,” Millie said as Christopher stoked the fire gloomily. )

Do you know what I realised, sitting in Reading foodcourt and writing? When I am trying to imagine how my characters would look or feel at certain moments, I pull faces. So, my character says to her best friend, "She’s not interested, Tom. Stop throwing yourself at her." And I sit there trying to work out his exact reaction by pulling faces ( Read more... )

I got covered in glitter at work on Sunday because of this fabric. All I could think of was to go around to customers asking: "Do I dazzle you ( Read more... )

My current favourite reason is this:

Three American YA writers co-wrote a book (Let it Snow by Lauren Myracle, John Green and Maureen Johnson). A feud has begun between Maureen and John, in which they cross out each other's names on the cover of the books they sign and have begin to sign each other's books as detailed hereI can only say: TEAM ( Read more... )

It distresses me that until today I was utterly convinced that Angelo and Isabella ended up together in Measure for Measure. How could they not? She was a nun, he was an arsehole. They were meant to be. It is just exactly like a Mills and Boon plot ( Read more... )

My novel is being a bitch. Partly because I keep wanting my heroine to swear. However, I have spent the past week remembering hilarious intermediate pastimes and institutions. Here's a list of my favourite ( Read more... )

Well, once you take the Zombie currently residing there into consideration, it'll be a tight squeeze, but I think we can manage ( Read more... )

Sometimes, just sometimes, I like to read books aloud to myself, hear how the words roll around on my tongue. Shakespeare is brilliant for this (as is Jane Austen because, my goodness, what a challenge) and what better excuse than Richard III, which I am currently studying ( Read more... )

Mistful wrote an excellent post on character naming that got me thinking about how I name my characters.I don't name after friends, except on rare occasions that tend to be incidental (Characters called Alice crop up often, which, admittedly was inspired by Hannah's little sister). It gets awkward and I still have spasms about the story where I ( Read more... )

This evening Emily and I contemplated the melting of our kitchen wall. It would be interesting, we felt, to wake up one morning and see our next-door neighbour. 'Hello Sam', we would say cheerfully. 'Would you like a cup of tea?' His cat Zoot (or Zoot Zoot as we call him) would jump through the hole gleefully ( Read more... )