Re: Wow! that really is longspikealiciousFebruary 20 2019, 03:04:50 UTC
Thanks. It will be an achievement if I ever finish it, but I will. Darn it!
The story has been leading up to a resolution. The first story, 'One Normal Day,' took place during one weekend after the Buffy episode, 'First Date,' so that was left ambiguous because neither I, nor the audience knew who would be left standing. No matter, I knew that I would bring Buffy and Spike back to the verse I'd created.
I had a friend I was telling about Buffy for years, and about my writing, so finally, I bought her the DVD set of all 7 seasons, just so she could watch it and know the characters, and so she can read my story(ies). So far, I'm half way through re-editing the first one (38 chapters) which over the years, I've known I needed to do that, as I matured as a writer since I first started that. As for the other story, 'One Normal Life,' I don't think it would be physically possible to re-edit all of that, although I had a beta for most of it. But, might run it through Grammarly as I go along.
Funny about the ending - it wasn't my first intention of an ending, it's like having two endings in my head,(or like one of those kids books where you turn to page X for one ending, or page Y for the other) but this one is more dramatic, more supernatural.
I remember somebody asking Lin Manuel Miranda about playing Hamilton again, and did he remember all the lines he'd written. He answered, he remembered all the lines, those that made it into the show, and those that didn't. I totally get that.
BTW, hubby won $10 tickets to Hamilton in Chicago last May. Second row! It was as totally as fabulous as they say! I already had the CD, so knew the music, but didn't think I'd ever wind up seeing it, unless I was in the cheap, cheap, cheap seats. But, I digress...
Even if I write an original story (which a long time ago, I had planned, and had the ideas for it) this will always be my biggest achievement in writing. JUst the vast amount of research, from (for a very short part of a chapter) learning the mentality of the British 'Football' fans at a game (I even joined a forum for a while, but of the LJ women here and her hubby gave me the best advice) to corresponding with a librarian at Wadham College (one of the Oxford colleges) about how living conditions were back in the early 1870's, to why a gate is called, 'Elephant Gate'. Not about Elephants...lol
Anyway, lots and lots and lots of research...which I really do like, just before writing, didn't realize how much of it is necessary to making a better story.
The main 'verse' of the story takes place in Julian, CA, which is a place I'd visited once or twice when I'd visited when living in San Diego. I didn't even remember the name of the place, had to look it up. And, finding all about it's history gave me the crux/backbone of the whole story. That's just amazing to me. Then again, I don't have to tell you, you've created this whole universe yourself.
BTW, I saw you were taking down 'My Life Closed Twice,' so you could rewrite it as an original. I think I have a copy of it somewhere, but not sure where, so I would love to have a copy of it, if that's okay.
I learned so much about poetry from your story. I'd never taken a poetry class in college, (although I wrote some myself in this story on Spike's behalf) so it was really fascinating to me.
That's what good stories do, they have wonderful characters and plots, and teach you something about worlds you're not familiar with.
I think I've been to Julian. There are apple orchards, is that right? It sounds like you don't just research, but you get right into writing too. It's so easy to descend into research, and hard to put it into the writing.
Re: Wow! that really is longspikealiciousFebruary 20 2019, 05:14:28 UTC
Regarding research vs writing...I think it's easier to research sometimes than apply it aptly to what you're writing. The hardest part was that darn football game (and had to have a stadium with a certain number of people for a reason related to the story, too - which wound up being Stamford Bridge. But my God, that was the hardest thing to wrap my brain around - the culture of the rabid (which pretty much is any of 'em going to a game, lol) fans and they're ditties, and jibes, the players, etc. But, it was a lot easier to write, once I had it in my head. Sometimes research can take an ungodly amount of time for the short amount of time said research winds up in the story.
As for Julian, yes, it has apples. But the fact that it was one of the first gold-rush towns in California, albeit, one vein, so a limited rush, as it were, was the crux of the backstory regarding Spike and his relationship to Julian.
Regarding Hamilton, there's an app on Android and iPhones that you can play every day for a drawing for two $10 tickets. So, that's what the hubby won. Plus, I had a $50 gift card from a testdrive, and a discounted parking thing, so the whole thing (Hamilton, tolls from NW, IN to Chicago, dinner, and two tickets) cost us about $60 for the evening! Since it was near my birthday, he said, it was for that, I was like, "Fine!" He couldn't do better than that. And since his birthday was a few weeks later, and I'd bought tickets back in February last year to see David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads) that was for his.
I had made the comment afterwards, that, that was probably it for summer fun for us. And then...my mom started having problems. In and out of the hospital, and then she was in hospice at home for 6 months, so boy was I right (or prescient) with that comment.
Oh, and thanks so much for the link to your story! I'd love to have that to read again.
Re: Wow! that really is longanarossMarch 28 2019, 19:47:47 UTC
i want to get that app. I'm not a lucky person, but maybe if I tried every day....
I'm writing an original fic taking place in 1826, and for some reason I set it during a cricket match. I know nothing about cricket! and the cricket we see today isn't the same as back then. I don't know what I was thinking. But that's what Youtube is for, right? :)
The story has been leading up to a resolution. The first story, 'One Normal Day,' took place during one weekend after the Buffy episode, 'First Date,' so that was left ambiguous because neither I, nor the audience knew who would be left standing. No matter, I knew that I would bring Buffy and Spike back to the verse I'd created.
I had a friend I was telling about Buffy for years, and about my writing, so finally, I bought her the DVD set of all 7 seasons, just so she could watch it and know the characters, and so she can read my story(ies). So far, I'm half way through re-editing the first one (38 chapters) which over the years, I've known I needed to do that, as I matured as a writer since I first started that. As for the other story, 'One Normal Life,' I don't think it would be physically possible to re-edit all of that, although I had a beta for most of it. But, might run it through Grammarly as I go along.
Funny about the ending - it wasn't my first intention of an ending, it's like having two endings in my head,(or like one of those kids books where you turn to page X for one ending, or page Y for the other) but this one is more dramatic, more supernatural.
I remember somebody asking Lin Manuel Miranda about playing Hamilton again, and did he remember all the lines he'd written. He answered, he remembered all the lines, those that made it into the show, and those that didn't. I totally get that.
BTW, hubby won $10 tickets to Hamilton in Chicago last May. Second row! It was as totally as fabulous as they say! I already had the CD, so knew the music, but didn't think I'd ever wind up seeing it, unless I was in the cheap, cheap, cheap seats. But, I digress...
Even if I write an original story (which a long time ago, I had planned, and had the ideas for it) this will always be my biggest achievement in writing. JUst the vast amount of research, from (for a very short part of a chapter) learning the mentality of the British 'Football' fans at a game (I even joined a forum for a while, but of the LJ women here and her hubby gave me the best advice) to corresponding with a librarian at Wadham College (one of the Oxford colleges) about how living conditions were back in the early 1870's, to why a gate is called, 'Elephant Gate'. Not about Elephants...lol
Anyway, lots and lots and lots of research...which I really do like, just before writing, didn't realize how much of it is necessary to making a better story.
The main 'verse' of the story takes place in Julian, CA, which is a place I'd visited once or twice when I'd visited when living in San Diego. I didn't even remember the name of the place, had to look it up. And, finding all about it's history gave me the crux/backbone of the whole story. That's just amazing to me. Then again, I don't have to tell you, you've created this whole universe yourself.
BTW, I saw you were taking down 'My Life Closed Twice,' so you could rewrite it as an original. I think I have a copy of it somewhere, but
not sure where, so I would love to have a copy of it, if that's okay.
I learned so much about poetry from your story. I'd never taken a poetry class in college, (although I wrote some myself in this story on Spike's behalf) so it was really fascinating to me.
That's what good stories do, they have wonderful characters and plots, and teach you something about worlds you're not familiar with.
Reply
My Life is up on Elysian Fields-- i guess i forgot to take it down!
https://dark-solace.org/elysian/viewstory.php?sid=4100
I think I've been to Julian. There are apple orchards, is that right?
It sounds like you don't just research, but you get right into writing too. It's so easy to descend into research, and hard to put it into the writing.
Reply
As for Julian, yes, it has apples. But the fact that it was one of the first gold-rush towns in California, albeit, one vein, so a limited rush, as it were, was the crux of the backstory regarding Spike and his relationship to Julian.
Regarding Hamilton, there's an app on Android and iPhones that you can play every day for a drawing for two $10 tickets. So, that's what the hubby won. Plus, I had a $50 gift card from a testdrive, and a discounted parking thing, so the whole thing (Hamilton, tolls from NW, IN to Chicago, dinner, and two tickets) cost us about $60 for the evening! Since it was near my birthday, he said, it was for that, I was like, "Fine!" He couldn't do better than that. And since his birthday was a few weeks later, and I'd bought tickets back in February last year to see David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads) that was for his.
I had made the comment afterwards, that, that was probably it for summer fun for us. And then...my mom started having problems. In and out of the hospital, and then she was in hospice at home for 6 months, so boy was I right (or prescient) with that comment.
Oh, and thanks so much for the link to your story! I'd love to have that to read again.
Reply
I'm writing an original fic taking place in 1826, and for some reason I set it during a cricket match. I know nothing about cricket! and the cricket we see today isn't the same as back then. I don't know what I was thinking. But that's what Youtube is for, right? :)
Reply
Reply
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