Writing & Movies & Chips, oh my!
Writing continues to go as the bunnies dictate - which is basically that I'm writing one larger Sherlock story at the moment, and frantically scribbling notes/dialog for several others during the day. I don't remember if I've ever had so many bunnies bite at once - usually I get one bunny who latches on and sticks for weeks/months at a time, until I've written what it demands and then it flits off to go bother someone else. I've never had half a dozen stories crowding my head at once. It's seriously disconcerting.
Part of the reason I'm scribbling the notes on what I'm calling the "smaller" stories (although some of them are not) is because I'm trying to appease the bunnies into LEAVING ME THE HELL ALONE for the moment, because the One Big Story is kind of freaking me out. It's Lestrade, and is somehow turning into more of a police drama than I intended, and I've had the sad realization that I know NOTHING about police dramas. Heck, I don't even know how the American police force is organized, much less the British, and the only true police dramas I've watched are Life on Mars and Keen Eddie, which are not exactly helpful since one is set in the 70s and the other is about an American at Scotland Yard. (You would think this would be helpful, with lots of exposition where British DIs explain to the Token American "Ah, but this is how WE do things, and here, have some tea", but no, not so much.)
So, in short, if anyone has any pointers about writing a story that seems to heavily involve British police procedure and such, that would be fantastically helpful, thanks.
The other reason I'm scribbling notes is because last week, before I dove headfirst into Sherlock, I happened to look through my Doctor Who folder. To my horror, I found more than a dozen unposted stories, in various stages of done and not done. (I stopped counting at twelve, because it just got too depressing.) I read through most of them - I don't even remember writing some of them, and worse, a lot of the ones I don't remember writing, I stopped midway through, and I have NO idea what I intended to happen next. (There's a really good one that I think might be part of the Pudding 'Verse, where Rose and Jack go t a fortune teller, and I stop right before she starts telling them their futures. ARGH.) I've never really done notes or outlines on stories I've written before, but suddenly I totally see the point. So I'm trying to do that with the Sherlock stories: if I know where I plan to go, I jot it down. We'll see if that helps.
And frankly, I don't want to write half a dozen stories at once. I want to concentrate on one at a time, make it awesome, and not get distracted by the rest. If I don't take my time and give them my full attention, stuff gets missed: look at The Love Notes, which people like, but only about two or three of the readers who have left comments actually figured out who wrote the notes themselves, something I thought (while wasn't hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-two-by-four obvious) was at least understandable. Clearly I went overboard with the subtlety, and maybe I could have avoided that if I wasn't dealing with twenty bunnies at once. (Good bunnies. Sit. Stay.)
Anyway, it's all part of learning a new fandom and getting back into the swing of writing, I suppose. I would like to think I'll get better. And maybe not leave so many unfinished stories: I've got unfinished Harry Potter stories as well, but probably not as many.
In other news, we went to see Madagascar 3 yesterday with Andrew. Half the fun was going to a local movie theater, which definitely was an experience. We had to pay for the 3-D glasses apart from the ticket (but that meant we could keep them - and at $10 a pop, too). The previews were weirdly inappropriate - one was for The Dictator and the other was The Five-Year Engagement, neither of which I'd think are kids' films. Assigned seating, but the theater only had about 12 people in it so I suspect it would not have been the end of the world had we not been in our proper places (and Andrew wiggled a lot anyway so he rarely sat down).
But the best part was that about twenty minutes into the movie, the film stopped. We're not sure why, but the theater decided just to play it again from almost the beginning, so we ended up seeing the animals arive in Monte Carlo and the first chase scene twice. And then, about twenty minutes before the movie ended, we got a 10-minute intermission. Oh, and it was in English, with Arabic subtitles.
Otherwise it was pretty much a normal movie experience. There was even popcorn, although I stopped eating it after I found gum on the inside of the popcorn carton, exactly as if someone had used the carton previously and then the management had dug it out of the trash to reuse. Blech.
The movie itself was excellent, better than the first two even. [Yes, I'm spoiler-cutting a kid's movie. Better safe than sorry.] The penguins were spot on ("The car goes vroom vroom" was such a funny line that we didn't mind seeing it twice) and Gloria and Melman's love affair was much more sedated than it could have been. Alex's personal journey (because these movies are all about Alex, after all) was really well paced. And all the musical background for King Julian's affair with Sonia the bear. So fabulously perfect and funny. And the actual circus act in London was amazing and so much fun to watch.
But my favorite part, bar nothing, was the villain, Dubois. OMG. From her very first scene, I fell in love with her, and this was only emphasized by the moment when she came zooming out of the smoke like a devil. She was AWESOME. We got to the end of the movie and every time she showed up, I giggled like a maniac and kept whispering to Bill "I LOVE HER I LOVE HER OMG I LOVE HER." I know she's supposed to be evil and maniacal and stuff, but OMG I LOVE HER, especially when she started singing Edith Piaf with her mascara running down her face. And I love that she goes back for her clearly incompetent but extremely well-trained team and rouses them on to the battle. Because seriously, what villain goes back for their team?
So yeah. I liked the movie. As did Andrew, he watched it and danced with the music and yelled at the screen (he was also not the only one doing it) and was fairly well-behaved. He also fell asleep on the way home, but unfortunately it didn't stick. (But he did go down like clockwork at 8pm. I think Bill's still in shock; he fully expected Andrew to spent 45 minutes complaining about not being tired.)
We're waiting for Brave to arrive (it's not here yet, at least not in any of the theaters nearby), and Bill really wants to see The Dictator, assuming it actually does show here. (The fact that it was a preview is not a guarantee.) I have to admit I was somewhat mortified to see it previewed; I kind of wanted to slink down in my seat and start humming O Canada. The only saving grace was I could hear other people in the theater laughing.
Oh - and of course one of the best parts about yesterday? I found Sea Salt & Balsamic Vinegar potato chips/crisps, which are awesome and only produced in the UK, and I haven't had them for years and I LURVE them. Just when I start to think the UL is too weird for its own good, it throws me a bone. Silly UL.
Part of the reason I'm scribbling the notes on what I'm calling the "smaller" stories (although some of them are not) is because I'm trying to appease the bunnies into LEAVING ME THE HELL ALONE for the moment, because the One Big Story is kind of freaking me out. It's Lestrade, and is somehow turning into more of a police drama than I intended, and I've had the sad realization that I know NOTHING about police dramas. Heck, I don't even know how the American police force is organized, much less the British, and the only true police dramas I've watched are Life on Mars and Keen Eddie, which are not exactly helpful since one is set in the 70s and the other is about an American at Scotland Yard. (You would think this would be helpful, with lots of exposition where British DIs explain to the Token American "Ah, but this is how WE do things, and here, have some tea", but no, not so much.)
So, in short, if anyone has any pointers about writing a story that seems to heavily involve British police procedure and such, that would be fantastically helpful, thanks.
The other reason I'm scribbling notes is because last week, before I dove headfirst into Sherlock, I happened to look through my Doctor Who folder. To my horror, I found more than a dozen unposted stories, in various stages of done and not done. (I stopped counting at twelve, because it just got too depressing.) I read through most of them - I don't even remember writing some of them, and worse, a lot of the ones I don't remember writing, I stopped midway through, and I have NO idea what I intended to happen next. (There's a really good one that I think might be part of the Pudding 'Verse, where Rose and Jack go t a fortune teller, and I stop right before she starts telling them their futures. ARGH.) I've never really done notes or outlines on stories I've written before, but suddenly I totally see the point. So I'm trying to do that with the Sherlock stories: if I know where I plan to go, I jot it down. We'll see if that helps.
And frankly, I don't want to write half a dozen stories at once. I want to concentrate on one at a time, make it awesome, and not get distracted by the rest. If I don't take my time and give them my full attention, stuff gets missed: look at The Love Notes, which people like, but only about two or three of the readers who have left comments actually figured out who wrote the notes themselves, something I thought (while wasn't hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-two-by-four obvious) was at least understandable. Clearly I went overboard with the subtlety, and maybe I could have avoided that if I wasn't dealing with twenty bunnies at once. (Good bunnies. Sit. Stay.)
Anyway, it's all part of learning a new fandom and getting back into the swing of writing, I suppose. I would like to think I'll get better. And maybe not leave so many unfinished stories: I've got unfinished Harry Potter stories as well, but probably not as many.
In other news, we went to see Madagascar 3 yesterday with Andrew. Half the fun was going to a local movie theater, which definitely was an experience. We had to pay for the 3-D glasses apart from the ticket (but that meant we could keep them - and at $10 a pop, too). The previews were weirdly inappropriate - one was for The Dictator and the other was The Five-Year Engagement, neither of which I'd think are kids' films. Assigned seating, but the theater only had about 12 people in it so I suspect it would not have been the end of the world had we not been in our proper places (and Andrew wiggled a lot anyway so he rarely sat down).
But the best part was that about twenty minutes into the movie, the film stopped. We're not sure why, but the theater decided just to play it again from almost the beginning, so we ended up seeing the animals arive in Monte Carlo and the first chase scene twice. And then, about twenty minutes before the movie ended, we got a 10-minute intermission. Oh, and it was in English, with Arabic subtitles.
Otherwise it was pretty much a normal movie experience. There was even popcorn, although I stopped eating it after I found gum on the inside of the popcorn carton, exactly as if someone had used the carton previously and then the management had dug it out of the trash to reuse. Blech.
The movie itself was excellent, better than the first two even. [Yes, I'm spoiler-cutting a kid's movie. Better safe than sorry.] The penguins were spot on ("The car goes vroom vroom" was such a funny line that we didn't mind seeing it twice) and Gloria and Melman's love affair was much more sedated than it could have been. Alex's personal journey (because these movies are all about Alex, after all) was really well paced. And all the musical background for King Julian's affair with Sonia the bear. So fabulously perfect and funny. And the actual circus act in London was amazing and so much fun to watch.
But my favorite part, bar nothing, was the villain, Dubois. OMG. From her very first scene, I fell in love with her, and this was only emphasized by the moment when she came zooming out of the smoke like a devil. She was AWESOME. We got to the end of the movie and every time she showed up, I giggled like a maniac and kept whispering to Bill "I LOVE HER I LOVE HER OMG I LOVE HER." I know she's supposed to be evil and maniacal and stuff, but OMG I LOVE HER, especially when she started singing Edith Piaf with her mascara running down her face. And I love that she goes back for her clearly incompetent but extremely well-trained team and rouses them on to the battle. Because seriously, what villain goes back for their team?
So yeah. I liked the movie. As did Andrew, he watched it and danced with the music and yelled at the screen (he was also not the only one doing it) and was fairly well-behaved. He also fell asleep on the way home, but unfortunately it didn't stick. (But he did go down like clockwork at 8pm. I think Bill's still in shock; he fully expected Andrew to spent 45 minutes complaining about not being tired.)
We're waiting for Brave to arrive (it's not here yet, at least not in any of the theaters nearby), and Bill really wants to see The Dictator, assuming it actually does show here. (The fact that it was a preview is not a guarantee.) I have to admit I was somewhat mortified to see it previewed; I kind of wanted to slink down in my seat and start humming O Canada. The only saving grace was I could hear other people in the theater laughing.
Oh - and of course one of the best parts about yesterday? I found Sea Salt & Balsamic Vinegar potato chips/crisps, which are awesome and only produced in the UK, and I haven't had them for years and I LURVE them. Just when I start to think the UL is too weird for its own good, it throws me a bone. Silly UL.