...And the finish line approaches
I've been unbelievably diligent over the past few days. Since Friday, I have succeeded in grading not one, but two sets of 2 page reading logs... which is a total of 130 or so papers, give or take a few, since not everyone turned in their homework. Each set usually takes me about 3-4 days to grade; I've managed to get these done in under half the time. Now all I've got to worry about is a stack of 65 term papers (10-15 pages each.... yecch), reading a couple hundred pages for Thursday, and writing a term paper of my own by next Monday.
So, yeah, work sucks, blah blah, but it's the fun stuff that I am excited about. I've actually had a fair amount of downtime over the past couple of days to scribble and sketch storystuff, and I am starting to see some interesting shapes and forms emerge.
"Restoration and Redemption" (formerly "In the Garden of the Queen"):
The story started with a simple question: "What would happen if Pierce woke up one day, shipwrecked on a beach?" It was a delicious sort of idea, and so I set about figuring out exactly how and why he ended up in that predicament.
The prologue is finished, and I've outlined the next couple of chapters. It's a work in progress, especially as it's shaping up to be a historical AU. Not quite fantasy -- there's no magic or sorcery here, no all-powerful gods -- but it's definitely not in this universe, either. It's a challenge, this world-building thing, but it's also kinda fun to play god. At the moment I've started to draft 'wiki' style entries about the setting, figuring out the countries that are part of the continent, their respective economies, traditions, languages and all of that, which is a ton of work. Ultimately, though, I think it will be gratifying.
I'm really trying to take my time with this story, and I imagine it's going to go through multiple phases before it's done. At the moment, I'd like to lay down the bare bones of the story, figuring out the main plot, sketching out characters and setting, and cobbling together the basics. Then, as I start to build my own understanding of the world I'm creating, I can layer on detail, bit by bit, and refine it till it's complete.
"What Friends Are For":
I have had to face facts: I need silly, fluffy, sappy chick lit in my life. I need ridiculous romances that are predictable, where girl meets boy and girl falls for boy and eventually, many high-jinks and wrong turns later, girl and boy get married and have a brood of adorable babies. I need these things even more now that I am single and pondering (once more) what "true love" looks like... at least for me. Combo this with the need to fictionalize the world of academia, and you have the impetus for this tale.
Still in its gestation period, the story will hopefully tell the story of late twenty-something assistant professor Vega Jones Arana, who falls for the dashingly sexy and rich painter, Pierce Somerset-Grey... or something like that. It's silly, it's fun, and I think it'll be a good distraction from finals/thesis-writing.
There will be lots of fancy parties, ranting about the rigors of academia, and one very sexy smoldering man involved...
Dragon Age Drabbles:
I've gotten some really nice reviews for both of my stories on FF, which is gratifying and definitely makes me want to continue scribbling DA tales. I've put "Hindsight" on the backburner till I've got the bandwidth to actually figure out how I might want to retool the story, what I would want a revised plot to look like, and how I might refashion it from a one-shot that didn't want to end to a more comprehensive, well-rounded story. I've also got a few ideas for some femslash that I'd like to write, because it seems like the DA fandom is sorely lacking on that front. Lots of maleslash, lots of het stories, some yummy BDSM and kinky stuff... but the ladypond is sadly empty, so I'll have to see what I can do about that.
So, yeah, work sucks, blah blah, but it's the fun stuff that I am excited about. I've actually had a fair amount of downtime over the past couple of days to scribble and sketch storystuff, and I am starting to see some interesting shapes and forms emerge.
"Restoration and Redemption" (formerly "In the Garden of the Queen"):
The story started with a simple question: "What would happen if Pierce woke up one day, shipwrecked on a beach?" It was a delicious sort of idea, and so I set about figuring out exactly how and why he ended up in that predicament.
The prologue is finished, and I've outlined the next couple of chapters. It's a work in progress, especially as it's shaping up to be a historical AU. Not quite fantasy -- there's no magic or sorcery here, no all-powerful gods -- but it's definitely not in this universe, either. It's a challenge, this world-building thing, but it's also kinda fun to play god. At the moment I've started to draft 'wiki' style entries about the setting, figuring out the countries that are part of the continent, their respective economies, traditions, languages and all of that, which is a ton of work. Ultimately, though, I think it will be gratifying.
I'm really trying to take my time with this story, and I imagine it's going to go through multiple phases before it's done. At the moment, I'd like to lay down the bare bones of the story, figuring out the main plot, sketching out characters and setting, and cobbling together the basics. Then, as I start to build my own understanding of the world I'm creating, I can layer on detail, bit by bit, and refine it till it's complete.
"What Friends Are For":
I have had to face facts: I need silly, fluffy, sappy chick lit in my life. I need ridiculous romances that are predictable, where girl meets boy and girl falls for boy and eventually, many high-jinks and wrong turns later, girl and boy get married and have a brood of adorable babies. I need these things even more now that I am single and pondering (once more) what "true love" looks like... at least for me. Combo this with the need to fictionalize the world of academia, and you have the impetus for this tale.
Still in its gestation period, the story will hopefully tell the story of late twenty-something assistant professor Vega Jones Arana, who falls for the dashingly sexy and rich painter, Pierce Somerset-Grey... or something like that. It's silly, it's fun, and I think it'll be a good distraction from finals/thesis-writing.
There will be lots of fancy parties, ranting about the rigors of academia, and one very sexy smoldering man involved...
Dragon Age Drabbles:
I've gotten some really nice reviews for both of my stories on FF, which is gratifying and definitely makes me want to continue scribbling DA tales. I've put "Hindsight" on the backburner till I've got the bandwidth to actually figure out how I might want to retool the story, what I would want a revised plot to look like, and how I might refashion it from a one-shot that didn't want to end to a more comprehensive, well-rounded story. I've also got a few ideas for some femslash that I'd like to write, because it seems like the DA fandom is sorely lacking on that front. Lots of maleslash, lots of het stories, some yummy BDSM and kinky stuff... but the ladypond is sadly empty, so I'll have to see what I can do about that.