(no subject)
As I so often seem to do, I'm back writing about writing. I eat, breathe, and sleep writing. It's something I can't not do. At times I feel I post too often on here--that in itself is a form of writing--but then...I kind of don't have anyone else to talk shop with. Sad but true. I'm kind of the only person in my (extremely tiny) circle of real-life friends who doesn't have a life and isn't busy all the time.
So I woke up a couple mornings ago and drafted three or four poems right off the bat. I haven't so much as looked at them since then, and I'm not really in a hurry to do so. I'd had a weird/scary night's sleep and struggled to get out of the dreams I'd had. At least one of the dreams I had was a repeat, but it hasn't lost any of its impact despite how often it crops up. (I don't remember an awful lot of it now, but within the dream I realize it's a dream I've dreamed before and I end up feeling rather prophetic as I attempt to speed up the events that happen. Prophetic but doomed, that is--it is a nightmare, after all.)
This is the first real attempt I've made at poetry in quite a while. It's at the moldering-in-a-drawer stage while I wait for the circumstances around it to fade. If I come back months from now and I can see something good in it, something that isn't pure dream-induced insanity, then maybe I'll polish it up a bit. But that's a long ways off.
Other writing things...hmm... I've made and or updated the hard copies I keep of my fanfics. (For re-reading purposes, I find it infinitely easier to read a paper copy.) I've also hole-punched them all and stuck them in a nice, neat folder. It cuts down on the stacks of papers scattered around my house...a little. I print things double-sided and I'm so glad that I do--I'd have twice as much printed fic to look after if I didn't! (Also, I praise the gods of the auto-duplexer. I would weep bitter tears if I had to do double-sided manually.)
I've been messing with a possible part twenty for Two if by Sea. I've done up some lab notes that Ukoku may have taken on Gojyo. I still think they're kind of flat and personality-less, but I also realize that lab notes are supposed to be that way, more or less. I mean, yes, Ukoku is Ukoku, but he's also a scientist. I'm working to balance what I've written.
Also! I've seen a plethora of awesome sci-fi Saiyuki AUs lately, which have kind of given rise to a new short-for-me fic (not yet completed) that I've tentatively titled "Visitors from the Back of Beyond." It's supposed to be relatively light and fluffy and poking fun at some of the tropes/stereotypes of the genre--specifically first-contact sorts of things. I don't have much on it yet, except that I know that poor Hakkai is going to be the long-suffering farmer whose fields are forever being ruined by incoming rocket ships. Even though the farmer!Hakkai story is a bit of a spoof, it's the only science fiction I've even thought of doing in a very long time. Like...in a decade.
Science fiction in general has long been a part of my reading/writing life. Some of the earliest books I read were sci-fi, and there are authors I still love and worship to this day because they were formative then and still have value to me now. (Example at hand: Harlan Ellison. I know, I know, not exactly appropriate for the average seven-year old, but considering the first word I read--really read--for myself was "uncanny" ala the Uncanny X-Men...) Point is, this stuff is my universe. Or, if not the whole of it, a very large part. However, as I've grown older, sci-fi has begun to look more and more daunting to actually write. I've lost a lot of confidence in my abilities: there are so many excellent writers out there (both in fandom and not) and I don't know what I might be able to contribute. It's intimidating.
On the other hand... I just try to write stories that I myself would be interested in reading. This method seems to be working so far, though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there are/continue to be other, like-minded readers out there.
Hmm. I seem to have lost a half an hour thinking about all this. Oh well. Maybe now that I've spilled my guts I can get on with the writing!
~ciao
So I woke up a couple mornings ago and drafted three or four poems right off the bat. I haven't so much as looked at them since then, and I'm not really in a hurry to do so. I'd had a weird/scary night's sleep and struggled to get out of the dreams I'd had. At least one of the dreams I had was a repeat, but it hasn't lost any of its impact despite how often it crops up. (I don't remember an awful lot of it now, but within the dream I realize it's a dream I've dreamed before and I end up feeling rather prophetic as I attempt to speed up the events that happen. Prophetic but doomed, that is--it is a nightmare, after all.)
This is the first real attempt I've made at poetry in quite a while. It's at the moldering-in-a-drawer stage while I wait for the circumstances around it to fade. If I come back months from now and I can see something good in it, something that isn't pure dream-induced insanity, then maybe I'll polish it up a bit. But that's a long ways off.
Other writing things...hmm... I've made and or updated the hard copies I keep of my fanfics. (For re-reading purposes, I find it infinitely easier to read a paper copy.) I've also hole-punched them all and stuck them in a nice, neat folder. It cuts down on the stacks of papers scattered around my house...a little. I print things double-sided and I'm so glad that I do--I'd have twice as much printed fic to look after if I didn't! (Also, I praise the gods of the auto-duplexer. I would weep bitter tears if I had to do double-sided manually.)
I've been messing with a possible part twenty for Two if by Sea. I've done up some lab notes that Ukoku may have taken on Gojyo. I still think they're kind of flat and personality-less, but I also realize that lab notes are supposed to be that way, more or less. I mean, yes, Ukoku is Ukoku, but he's also a scientist. I'm working to balance what I've written.
Also! I've seen a plethora of awesome sci-fi Saiyuki AUs lately, which have kind of given rise to a new short-for-me fic (not yet completed) that I've tentatively titled "Visitors from the Back of Beyond." It's supposed to be relatively light and fluffy and poking fun at some of the tropes/stereotypes of the genre--specifically first-contact sorts of things. I don't have much on it yet, except that I know that poor Hakkai is going to be the long-suffering farmer whose fields are forever being ruined by incoming rocket ships. Even though the farmer!Hakkai story is a bit of a spoof, it's the only science fiction I've even thought of doing in a very long time. Like...in a decade.
Science fiction in general has long been a part of my reading/writing life. Some of the earliest books I read were sci-fi, and there are authors I still love and worship to this day because they were formative then and still have value to me now. (Example at hand: Harlan Ellison. I know, I know, not exactly appropriate for the average seven-year old, but considering the first word I read--really read--for myself was "uncanny" ala the Uncanny X-Men...) Point is, this stuff is my universe. Or, if not the whole of it, a very large part. However, as I've grown older, sci-fi has begun to look more and more daunting to actually write. I've lost a lot of confidence in my abilities: there are so many excellent writers out there (both in fandom and not) and I don't know what I might be able to contribute. It's intimidating.
On the other hand... I just try to write stories that I myself would be interested in reading. This method seems to be working so far, though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there are/continue to be other, like-minded readers out there.
Hmm. I seem to have lost a half an hour thinking about all this. Oh well. Maybe now that I've spilled my guts I can get on with the writing!
~ciao