it costs nothing but change
Oh, man, I HATE when they make me do HR stuff (contact interviewees etc.) at work. I never ever fail to botch the dismount and end the call with, like, "Good luck! Sorry we can't interview you! Bye now!" (Okay, an exaggeration, but not by much.) I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY! I AM NOT AN HR PROFESSIONAL! *facepalm*
***
Yesterday was angelgazing's birthday and I wrote her a story! A Middleman/Wendy aliens made them do it story, to be exact!
The Rigelian Reproduction Ritual
The Middleman; The Middleman/Wendy; adult; spoilers through the unaired finale; contains consent issues; 2,682 words
In which aliens make them do it.
Once I started writing, I was a little surprised at just how much discomfort I had in writing 'aliens make them do it' in a story that is otherwise mostly full of intentional groaners and schmoop. I mean, I knew, theoretically, that it was kind of a fine line to walk? But it was a lot harder in practice than it was in theory - it was really difficult for me to find a balance between the typical Middleman type of humor and the seriousness of Wendy and MM being coerced into having sex with each other, even if it was sex they wanted to have under other circumstances, and I'm not sure I really managed it, or if the discomfort shows, given the small response to the story.
It was definitely important to me that Wendy be the one to give the go-ahead, that she do so under a credible threat, and that she and MM both worked to minimize their exposure (she takes her pants and her bra off, but still has the vest and her underwear on, he's in his t-shirt and trousers). It seems ridiculous when I write it out like that, but through the whole thing, I was very conscious of making sure that Wendy had as much control of the situation as she could.
Also, the mention of MM's relationship with Raveena Rao was there to counteract my fears of MM being out of character (and really that I'd done no set up at all for the idea that his amorous affections might have been engaged by Wendy despite his being in "true love" with Lacey) - in my head, if he'd slept with his Middleman when he was a sidekick, it ups the possibility that he'd sleep with his sidekick once he was the Middleman himself. If I'd spent more than a day writing it, I might have had Wendy be clearly more of a partner than an apprentice, to ameliorate the power imbalance of his being her boss (though the fact that she calls him 'boss' during sex was intentional and meant in an ironic way, but I'm not sure that comes across, and also because neither I nor Wendy was capable of using "Clarence" in that situation; the fact that she canonically refers to him as a father figure is problematic for me because he's not that much older than she is, and she started working with him at 23-24, which is old enough that I raised my eyebrows, especially considering she had her own father until she was 14, so it wasn't like she never had a father or something; I would have accepted 'mentor' or 'big brother' a lot more readily, though I get that that probably wouldn't have had the emotional resonance they were going for, considering that Wendy's dad probably was a Middleman somehow).
There was also some meta stuff about the complicity of producers and consumers of pornography that really had no place in this particular story but which I was thinking about while I wrote, and maybe eventually I will write an 'aliens make them do it' story that engages with that.
Anyway, when I first decided to write WW/MM-AMTDI (which was the file name *snerk*) "Jockin' Mike D. to My Dismay" was the title, but it didn't really fit. ONE DAY I SHALL WRITE A STORY WITH THAT TITLE! I AM DETERMINED! Possibly it should be a story about cockblocking. I don't know why I feel that, but that's the vibe I'm getting. I just don't know who it's about or what else should happen. Sigh. Suggestions are welcome!
In the case of writing this, I'd had about 120 words written on Monday, and it had a much more complicated structure, with flashbacks to the sex and some riffing on Ida and the neuraliser from Men in Black and it was just not working for me. Then on Monday night, I came up with the line quoting "The Bad Touch," and once I was earwormed, I figured everyone else should be. And also, it made me laugh a lot. Which is basically my measure of success when I write. *snerk* I also had a hard time with the ending, because MM wanted to go on and on about shutting Ida's surveillance in the showers down if they were going to have a Code 86 and I was just like, stop talking and end now, please!
Anyway, angelgazing liked it, which is the most important thing, and I like it, even if I've burdened it with this morning after overthinking. Heh.
***
Tuesday night teevee:
The Good Wife
holy shit, how AWESOME is Christine Baranski? SO FUCKING AWESOME! Diane Lockhart comes very close to edging Kalinda out as my favorite character when she does shit like tell Lou Dobbs that she's not going to betray her personal political principles while representing him and he wants her to become his lawyer.
Can we just kill Zack until he stops being the dumbest boy to ever live? Oy. Eli Gold TOLD HIM NOT TO TALK TO HER AND HE DOES ANYWAY! GRAR! SO DUMB IT HURTS MY SOUL! HOW IS ANYONE SO COMPLETELY WITHOUT SENSE ALICIA'S SON? Clearly, he takes after Peter.
Otoh, I do enjoy Eli Gold, even when he skeeves me out, but tonight he was rocking! Off his game, but awesome, nonetheless.
Plus, Alicia got to kick ass in a courtroom, though man, Cary's hate for her is just growing and growing, which is unfortunate because they made me actually care about him last season.
Also, "I thought I was done visiting men in prison." Jesus, show.
I don't really have anything to say about Glee except that "Only the Good Die Young" was the only good one in the ep. Why did they let Finn sing "Losing My Religion"? I love that song, but oy, that was not good. I didn't really pay attention to anything else except Kurt's fabulous hat and Sue being Sue. I have a feeling I'd be annoyed if I had paid attention, so I'm glad I didn't.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/227522.html.
people have commented there.
***
Yesterday was angelgazing's birthday and I wrote her a story! A Middleman/Wendy aliens made them do it story, to be exact!
The Rigelian Reproduction Ritual
The Middleman; The Middleman/Wendy; adult; spoilers through the unaired finale; contains consent issues; 2,682 words
In which aliens make them do it.
Once I started writing, I was a little surprised at just how much discomfort I had in writing 'aliens make them do it' in a story that is otherwise mostly full of intentional groaners and schmoop. I mean, I knew, theoretically, that it was kind of a fine line to walk? But it was a lot harder in practice than it was in theory - it was really difficult for me to find a balance between the typical Middleman type of humor and the seriousness of Wendy and MM being coerced into having sex with each other, even if it was sex they wanted to have under other circumstances, and I'm not sure I really managed it, or if the discomfort shows, given the small response to the story.
It was definitely important to me that Wendy be the one to give the go-ahead, that she do so under a credible threat, and that she and MM both worked to minimize their exposure (she takes her pants and her bra off, but still has the vest and her underwear on, he's in his t-shirt and trousers). It seems ridiculous when I write it out like that, but through the whole thing, I was very conscious of making sure that Wendy had as much control of the situation as she could.
Also, the mention of MM's relationship with Raveena Rao was there to counteract my fears of MM being out of character (and really that I'd done no set up at all for the idea that his amorous affections might have been engaged by Wendy despite his being in "true love" with Lacey) - in my head, if he'd slept with his Middleman when he was a sidekick, it ups the possibility that he'd sleep with his sidekick once he was the Middleman himself. If I'd spent more than a day writing it, I might have had Wendy be clearly more of a partner than an apprentice, to ameliorate the power imbalance of his being her boss (though the fact that she calls him 'boss' during sex was intentional and meant in an ironic way, but I'm not sure that comes across, and also because neither I nor Wendy was capable of using "Clarence" in that situation; the fact that she canonically refers to him as a father figure is problematic for me because he's not that much older than she is, and she started working with him at 23-24, which is old enough that I raised my eyebrows, especially considering she had her own father until she was 14, so it wasn't like she never had a father or something; I would have accepted 'mentor' or 'big brother' a lot more readily, though I get that that probably wouldn't have had the emotional resonance they were going for, considering that Wendy's dad probably was a Middleman somehow).
There was also some meta stuff about the complicity of producers and consumers of pornography that really had no place in this particular story but which I was thinking about while I wrote, and maybe eventually I will write an 'aliens make them do it' story that engages with that.
Anyway, when I first decided to write WW/MM-AMTDI (which was the file name *snerk*) "Jockin' Mike D. to My Dismay" was the title, but it didn't really fit. ONE DAY I SHALL WRITE A STORY WITH THAT TITLE! I AM DETERMINED! Possibly it should be a story about cockblocking. I don't know why I feel that, but that's the vibe I'm getting. I just don't know who it's about or what else should happen. Sigh. Suggestions are welcome!
In the case of writing this, I'd had about 120 words written on Monday, and it had a much more complicated structure, with flashbacks to the sex and some riffing on Ida and the neuraliser from Men in Black and it was just not working for me. Then on Monday night, I came up with the line quoting "The Bad Touch," and once I was earwormed, I figured everyone else should be. And also, it made me laugh a lot. Which is basically my measure of success when I write. *snerk* I also had a hard time with the ending, because MM wanted to go on and on about shutting Ida's surveillance in the showers down if they were going to have a Code 86 and I was just like, stop talking and end now, please!
Anyway, angelgazing liked it, which is the most important thing, and I like it, even if I've burdened it with this morning after overthinking. Heh.
***
Tuesday night teevee:
The Good Wife
holy shit, how AWESOME is Christine Baranski? SO FUCKING AWESOME! Diane Lockhart comes very close to edging Kalinda out as my favorite character when she does shit like tell Lou Dobbs that she's not going to betray her personal political principles while representing him and he wants her to become his lawyer.
Can we just kill Zack until he stops being the dumbest boy to ever live? Oy. Eli Gold TOLD HIM NOT TO TALK TO HER AND HE DOES ANYWAY! GRAR! SO DUMB IT HURTS MY SOUL! HOW IS ANYONE SO COMPLETELY WITHOUT SENSE ALICIA'S SON? Clearly, he takes after Peter.
Otoh, I do enjoy Eli Gold, even when he skeeves me out, but tonight he was rocking! Off his game, but awesome, nonetheless.
Plus, Alicia got to kick ass in a courtroom, though man, Cary's hate for her is just growing and growing, which is unfortunate because they made me actually care about him last season.
Also, "I thought I was done visiting men in prison." Jesus, show.
I don't really have anything to say about Glee except that "Only the Good Die Young" was the only good one in the ep. Why did they let Finn sing "Losing My Religion"? I love that song, but oy, that was not good. I didn't really pay attention to anything else except Kurt's fabulous hat and Sue being Sue. I have a feeling I'd be annoyed if I had paid attention, so I'm glad I didn't.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/227522.html.
people have commented there.