Crash and Burn
*Peeks head out.*
Yeah. So I totally collapsed on the couch and didn't get back up again for two weeks. Okay, so I did get up enough to drag myself to bed on occasion. (And I did work four entire days last week - exhausting!) But aside from that, I've been mainlining The Office. It's kind of awesome - with all my cable, I can watch The Office almost all night long. It's all jumbled up throughout various seasons, so I am a bit confused now and then, but I'm toughing it out.
I have been horribly leaving my community in the lurch. This must end.
I am trying to appease my guilt with the knowledge that this hibernation is actually an annual event every January. Three Januarys ago, I had a full time job and I would stay at the school until five, but then I would come home, curl up in my comfy chair and nap until nine. Then get up and make dinner. NOT GOOD! Two Januarys ago was the incident of the dispatch computer neglecting to call the second half of the alphabet (no kidding) and I went without employment until the final week. I used my time to consume the entirety of Battlestar Galatica. Last year I did have a job for part of the time, but the class were acting like such rotten little turds that I became near convinced I was the worst person on the entire planet and was actively praying for the teacher to return. She did. I wept with joy, and returned to the safety of my couch and The Ladies' Number One Detective Agency.
The bad news? The really bad news? I have a fic idea. It's consuming my brain. I've spent the last two days typing out dialogue.
It's Eric/Sookie - True Blood verse, but with some future details from the novels included. (Read: Niall) It's not going to be huge, I'm thinking five-ish chapters. I know the full plot. It is very much inspired by the Angel episode I Will Remember You. Knowledge of that is in no way required - but needless to say, Eric will be turning temporarily human after eating a demon.
What I really, really need is a grammar police person. I know! Shocking! But here's the thing - this is going to be entirely second person from Eric's point of view. It's his head and voice we'll be living in. Unlike the Doctor who babbles and plays with words because he likes the sound, and thinks in disjointed thoughts, Eric chooses his words very carefully. He tends toward the formal, but with humour and without being stilted. I think I've found his voice and his rhythm, but I need help with the details. And the grammar needs to be near perfect.
A sample to show you what I'm talking about: (No the narrative details are not in there yet. I always start with just the dialogue.)
"I know what you did saved my life. You could have told me, you know. Your plan."
"No I couldn't. I didn't have time for an argument. It was easier for you to believe that I had betrayed you so horribly than to trust me enough to go along with such a plan.
Even if you did, I could not risk Russell seeing through whatever acting skills you may possess. He is three times my age, I could not beat him with brute force; my only option was deception. And if I failed he would have likely killed Pam for spite, and he would have certainly come for you as well."
"It's really so easy for you? To pretend to be a monster to get what you want?"
"It wasn't easy." Locking her up, walking away as she screamed, had been one of the hardest things he'd had to do in a very long time. He'd had to shut himself down almost completely before walking back into his office and picking her up. He couldn't give into emotions that would cost him everything. He'd always been a pragmatist. That's what had kept him alive for a thousand years, when weaker men couldn't survive; seeing the sense in brutal choices, and making them. That didn't mean it wasn't hard. She had come to him in good faith, he had tasted her lips and she had yielded to the kiss. He had been so close to everything he'd wanted, and he'd been forced to destroy it all. But then, "It wasn't supposed to matter."
"What do you mean?"
"If you hated me forever. You would be safe, and I was supposed to be finally dead."
"Sorry I ruined your big sacrifice."
End Sample
And if I failed he would have likely killed Pam for spite, and he would have certainly come for you as well.
Is a very good example of what I'm talking about. (Not to mention the entire paragraph about locking her up, which I suspect is a mess.) Should it be that, or:
And if I had failed he would have likely killed Pam for spite, and he would have certainly come for you as well.
Or
And if I had failed he would likely have killed Pam for spite, and he would certainly have come for you as well.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! Anyone interested? Anyone? Anyone? There'll be naughty bits!
Yeah. So I totally collapsed on the couch and didn't get back up again for two weeks. Okay, so I did get up enough to drag myself to bed on occasion. (And I did work four entire days last week - exhausting!) But aside from that, I've been mainlining The Office. It's kind of awesome - with all my cable, I can watch The Office almost all night long. It's all jumbled up throughout various seasons, so I am a bit confused now and then, but I'm toughing it out.
I have been horribly leaving my community in the lurch. This must end.
I am trying to appease my guilt with the knowledge that this hibernation is actually an annual event every January. Three Januarys ago, I had a full time job and I would stay at the school until five, but then I would come home, curl up in my comfy chair and nap until nine. Then get up and make dinner. NOT GOOD! Two Januarys ago was the incident of the dispatch computer neglecting to call the second half of the alphabet (no kidding) and I went without employment until the final week. I used my time to consume the entirety of Battlestar Galatica. Last year I did have a job for part of the time, but the class were acting like such rotten little turds that I became near convinced I was the worst person on the entire planet and was actively praying for the teacher to return. She did. I wept with joy, and returned to the safety of my couch and The Ladies' Number One Detective Agency.
The bad news? The really bad news? I have a fic idea. It's consuming my brain. I've spent the last two days typing out dialogue.
It's Eric/Sookie - True Blood verse, but with some future details from the novels included. (Read: Niall) It's not going to be huge, I'm thinking five-ish chapters. I know the full plot. It is very much inspired by the Angel episode I Will Remember You. Knowledge of that is in no way required - but needless to say, Eric will be turning temporarily human after eating a demon.
What I really, really need is a grammar police person. I know! Shocking! But here's the thing - this is going to be entirely second person from Eric's point of view. It's his head and voice we'll be living in. Unlike the Doctor who babbles and plays with words because he likes the sound, and thinks in disjointed thoughts, Eric chooses his words very carefully. He tends toward the formal, but with humour and without being stilted. I think I've found his voice and his rhythm, but I need help with the details. And the grammar needs to be near perfect.
A sample to show you what I'm talking about: (No the narrative details are not in there yet. I always start with just the dialogue.)
"I know what you did saved my life. You could have told me, you know. Your plan."
"No I couldn't. I didn't have time for an argument. It was easier for you to believe that I had betrayed you so horribly than to trust me enough to go along with such a plan.
Even if you did, I could not risk Russell seeing through whatever acting skills you may possess. He is three times my age, I could not beat him with brute force; my only option was deception. And if I failed he would have likely killed Pam for spite, and he would have certainly come for you as well."
"It's really so easy for you? To pretend to be a monster to get what you want?"
"It wasn't easy." Locking her up, walking away as she screamed, had been one of the hardest things he'd had to do in a very long time. He'd had to shut himself down almost completely before walking back into his office and picking her up. He couldn't give into emotions that would cost him everything. He'd always been a pragmatist. That's what had kept him alive for a thousand years, when weaker men couldn't survive; seeing the sense in brutal choices, and making them. That didn't mean it wasn't hard. She had come to him in good faith, he had tasted her lips and she had yielded to the kiss. He had been so close to everything he'd wanted, and he'd been forced to destroy it all. But then, "It wasn't supposed to matter."
"What do you mean?"
"If you hated me forever. You would be safe, and I was supposed to be finally dead."
"Sorry I ruined your big sacrifice."
End Sample
And if I failed he would have likely killed Pam for spite, and he would have certainly come for you as well.
Is a very good example of what I'm talking about. (Not to mention the entire paragraph about locking her up, which I suspect is a mess.) Should it be that, or:
And if I had failed he would have likely killed Pam for spite, and he would have certainly come for you as well.
Or
And if I had failed he would likely have killed Pam for spite, and he would certainly have come for you as well.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! Anyone interested? Anyone? Anyone? There'll be naughty bits!