Writing wrongs
Well, if I've been quiet, it's because I've spent about the last two days doing a lot of writing. (And baking. A batch of blueberry muffins, biscuits, cinnamon rolls and two loaves of bread, and that's just today) I finally realized that TSW wasn't going to magically revise itself, so I've hauled my manuscript and all my notes downstairs and I've begun work on it now. Once I finished the hard copy edits a few months ago I got so frustrated with it I just threw it in a corner and let it rot for awhile, but eventually the guilt and want for closure got to be too much for me. Surprisingly, I'm actually enjoying myself, and believe it or not I can already see that my writing skills have evolved. Once again, I see just how good this year's NaNoWriMo was for me. As I've said in here before, I was becoming worried that my writing abilities had stagnated, and that only my old works were good and that anything new I created was doomed to failure since I could only seem to tack new stuff onto old stuff, but now I realize that's just silly. I'm exorcising my inner demons one at a time and it feels great. I really love this. And what's even better is that while I let String Shift sit, I can not only edit TSW but I can also begin outlining my next work, which I've already got in mind. More info on that later, probably in a friends locked post. ;) I'm too tired to detail things tonight. Hel, you're already a little familiar with it - I'm pretty sure I told you about that dream I had, with the Neverwinter Nights character and all the ice? I don't know what the heck they put into that PMS medication, but it's good stuff. I actually managed to get story ideas out of that dream. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun outlining it, and this time I'm not going to make the same mistake I made with TSW - this time I'm going to really create a rich, detailed world for the story to take place in, somewhere with history and beautiful cities and cultures and characters and all sorts of neat animals and technology. Granted, most of the stuff I dream up probably won't ever make it to the page, but that's not the point. Just having it in my head will be good enough, and who knows? If it publishes and becomes super popular maybe they'll ask me to do some sort of world guide or something. Funny, though, how I seem to keep coming back to fantasy as my genre when, two months ago, I was screaming at the top of my lungs to do something - ANYTHING - sci-fi. Again, NaNo changed things. While my NaNo wasn't strictly sci-fi, in fact it had quite a few fantasy elements to it, the bulk of the plot was related to quantum physics and their mysterious workings. So I guess I got the whole sci-fi thing out of my system. :)
OK, so I finally caught up on all my Torchwood. I was really badly behind (a couple of days ago the last episode I'd seen was the one before "Cyberwoman") but I used the weekend to get back up to speed. For the record, the first episode of this series blew me away. Gleeful geeky gushing occurred, and in copious amounts. I couldn't stop babbling about it for the rest of the day. Then the second episode played out pretty much like some boy's disgusting wet dream and I was disappointed in the lacking plot, the bad guy that seemed to get completely ignored in favor of Jack/Gwen bonding, and the unmistakable feeling that the entire episode had been put there purely for the purpose of making the undeniable statement of "WE ARE NOT DOCTOR WHO. THIS IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT DOCTOR WHO." which is kind of funny seeing as how Torchwood only exists BECAUSE of Doctor Who,(I mean, the title is literally an anagram of Doctor Who. Hello.) and Whovians are the ones who are probably making up most of their devoted audience base at the moment. But, that's not really important. What IS important is that by now, I was expecting the show to have evolved. I had expected to have made some very deep connections to the characters by now. I was expecting Torchwood to inspire the same kind of loyalty and love in me that DW does. So, y'know, I was willing to wait for it to come into it's own. OK, so the first few eps weren't awesome. No big. But we're almost to ten episodes now, and I honestly say that not only do I feel absolutely nothing for ANY of the characters, but I actually feel LESS for Captain Jack now then I did while he was in DW. I feel like all anybody ever does is run around, screaming their heads off and getting really super upset about stuff that just really isn't that upsetting.
For instance, the faerie episode. I saw no reason for everyone to get as upset as they did over the little girl. And seriously, the "father" was just a total jackass. I was more than pleased to see him die. Same for the pedophile. And so the faeries took a little girl - so what? To me that's a GOOD thing. Her life was crap and she was obviously going to be very happy where she was going. Yeah, so they kill folk occasionally. Only for revenge or retribution. You can't say that of many humans. Another example - Countrycide. Super gory and disgusting horror movie-esque type thing. Had the potential to be really, really scary. I spend the whole episode expecting some horrific, terrifying alien to pop out and then - just when I'm ready for the scary reveal, sure that these aliens are going to burst out of the bodies of the nurse and her husband....nothing. Ordinary people did these things. What? Why? No reason. "It made me happy." That's not a reason. That's not even scary. Why does it make you happy? Why should I care that it makes you happy? I don't even know your friggin' NAME, dude. You've been on the TV screen for less then ten minutes and I'm supposed to be frightened by the fact that you folks go around killing people every ten years? FOR NO REASON? Again, no connection. I'm more frustrated that I had to sit through all that disgusting gore then I am interested in the plot.
Cyberwoman was bad, too. I like Ianto, really I do. He amused me and he is kind of cute. But his girlfriend came completely out of left field. I got absolutely no time to adjust to the idea that he had someone he loved in his life, or that she had been affected by the war. He went from snarky butler to bawling emotional baby in like, five minutes. What should have been something moving and maybe even a little touching was just sort of like a random detail. "Oh, yeah, btw, I have a girlfriend and I love her very very much!" And please explain to me how the HELL you manage to get all that equipment down into Torchwood's basement? And WHY did you install all the nasty cutting things that come out of the ceiling? Surely a bed and some life support equipment would have sufficed, but NO, we have to have a FULLY FUNCTIONING cyber conversion chamber installed...that nobody notices. THAT MAKES NO SENSE. Also, I don't think the actor portraying Ianto did a very good job acting agrieved. Once again, all I got was a lot of crying and screaming - no emotional connection at all. If that had been the Doctor or Rose, I would have been on the floor sobbing my eyes out because I know those characters, and I love those characters. If they're in pain, I'm in pain. But the whole time I was watching Cyberwoman I just didn't care. Nobody was acting even a tiny bit rationally and honestly the only thing that got me even a little bit exicted was the whole Gwen/Owen kiss thing, and only because my hormone drenched brain saw it and went "OOH! SEX! COOL!" After that wore off I was back to staring at that godawful cyber woman costume and thinking about how uncomfortable it must have been to walk around in the chilly English climate with that thing on. BECAUSE CYBERMEN LOVE MIDRIFF LIEK WHOA.
Also - what the hell is up with RTD and episodes that focus on completely random losers who have nothing to do with the other main characters? Elton Pope and Eugene Jones should have like an LJ community or something. Even if "Random Shoes" did turn out to be pretty good, (it made me smile at the end!) I spent most of the episode thinking "HOLY CRAP, now Torchwood's got a Love & Monsters too, dear god please not again" and let me say that was not fun. (Also, the purpose of the shoe pics was never explained. Why did he take them? Was it an accident? Was it on purpose? WHY, RTD, WHY?!) And y'know, I'm kind of beginning to resent random losers insinuating themselves into the lives of MCs out of the blue. GO AWAY PEOPLE I NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE THIS EPISODE AND WHO HAVE NO PURPOSE HERE OTHER THAN FILLER AND ACTOR REST TIME! BEGONE, FOUL DEMONS! *exorcises*
The exception to all of this complaining is "Greeks Bearing Gifts". A) Awesome ep name. B) Beautiful alien CGI. Seriously, that thing was GORGEOUS. If The Doctor had been there he probably would have gushed at her for at least five minutes before threatening to eradicate her from existence. C) I actually do feel like I know a little more about Tosh now, and I like her better because of it. She grew in that episode and I liked it. And hitting the insane family killing guy over the head with a golf club? PRICELESS. I so would have done that. D) My favorite KT Tunstall song was playing in the background during the bar scene where Tosh/Mary have been together for awhile and they kiss. (after freaky family gun dude) Yay! But even with all that, it still wasn't mind blowingly cool or anything, and it used a very old plot device which has been done much better on other, more popular shows. (Buffy, anyone?) "They Keep Killing Suzie" was pretty good too, for it's kickass name if nothing else. How awesome is that name? That's the kind of nonsense phrase you use when you want to freak people out, or make them think that you're deranged or harboring an alien presence in your psyche, or the kind of thing creepy little girls with long black hair who are CLEARLY psychic/in touch with the devil say to you when you're interrogating them to find out what the hell's wrong with them. Awesome.XD
Done now. :)
OK, so I finally caught up on all my Torchwood. I was really badly behind (a couple of days ago the last episode I'd seen was the one before "Cyberwoman") but I used the weekend to get back up to speed. For the record, the first episode of this series blew me away. Gleeful geeky gushing occurred, and in copious amounts. I couldn't stop babbling about it for the rest of the day. Then the second episode played out pretty much like some boy's disgusting wet dream and I was disappointed in the lacking plot, the bad guy that seemed to get completely ignored in favor of Jack/Gwen bonding, and the unmistakable feeling that the entire episode had been put there purely for the purpose of making the undeniable statement of "WE ARE NOT DOCTOR WHO. THIS IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT DOCTOR WHO." which is kind of funny seeing as how Torchwood only exists BECAUSE of Doctor Who,(I mean, the title is literally an anagram of Doctor Who. Hello.) and Whovians are the ones who are probably making up most of their devoted audience base at the moment. But, that's not really important. What IS important is that by now, I was expecting the show to have evolved. I had expected to have made some very deep connections to the characters by now. I was expecting Torchwood to inspire the same kind of loyalty and love in me that DW does. So, y'know, I was willing to wait for it to come into it's own. OK, so the first few eps weren't awesome. No big. But we're almost to ten episodes now, and I honestly say that not only do I feel absolutely nothing for ANY of the characters, but I actually feel LESS for Captain Jack now then I did while he was in DW. I feel like all anybody ever does is run around, screaming their heads off and getting really super upset about stuff that just really isn't that upsetting.
For instance, the faerie episode. I saw no reason for everyone to get as upset as they did over the little girl. And seriously, the "father" was just a total jackass. I was more than pleased to see him die. Same for the pedophile. And so the faeries took a little girl - so what? To me that's a GOOD thing. Her life was crap and she was obviously going to be very happy where she was going. Yeah, so they kill folk occasionally. Only for revenge or retribution. You can't say that of many humans. Another example - Countrycide. Super gory and disgusting horror movie-esque type thing. Had the potential to be really, really scary. I spend the whole episode expecting some horrific, terrifying alien to pop out and then - just when I'm ready for the scary reveal, sure that these aliens are going to burst out of the bodies of the nurse and her husband....nothing. Ordinary people did these things. What? Why? No reason. "It made me happy." That's not a reason. That's not even scary. Why does it make you happy? Why should I care that it makes you happy? I don't even know your friggin' NAME, dude. You've been on the TV screen for less then ten minutes and I'm supposed to be frightened by the fact that you folks go around killing people every ten years? FOR NO REASON? Again, no connection. I'm more frustrated that I had to sit through all that disgusting gore then I am interested in the plot.
Cyberwoman was bad, too. I like Ianto, really I do. He amused me and he is kind of cute. But his girlfriend came completely out of left field. I got absolutely no time to adjust to the idea that he had someone he loved in his life, or that she had been affected by the war. He went from snarky butler to bawling emotional baby in like, five minutes. What should have been something moving and maybe even a little touching was just sort of like a random detail. "Oh, yeah, btw, I have a girlfriend and I love her very very much!" And please explain to me how the HELL you manage to get all that equipment down into Torchwood's basement? And WHY did you install all the nasty cutting things that come out of the ceiling? Surely a bed and some life support equipment would have sufficed, but NO, we have to have a FULLY FUNCTIONING cyber conversion chamber installed...that nobody notices. THAT MAKES NO SENSE. Also, I don't think the actor portraying Ianto did a very good job acting agrieved. Once again, all I got was a lot of crying and screaming - no emotional connection at all. If that had been the Doctor or Rose, I would have been on the floor sobbing my eyes out because I know those characters, and I love those characters. If they're in pain, I'm in pain. But the whole time I was watching Cyberwoman I just didn't care. Nobody was acting even a tiny bit rationally and honestly the only thing that got me even a little bit exicted was the whole Gwen/Owen kiss thing, and only because my hormone drenched brain saw it and went "OOH! SEX! COOL!" After that wore off I was back to staring at that godawful cyber woman costume and thinking about how uncomfortable it must have been to walk around in the chilly English climate with that thing on. BECAUSE CYBERMEN LOVE MIDRIFF LIEK WHOA.
Also - what the hell is up with RTD and episodes that focus on completely random losers who have nothing to do with the other main characters? Elton Pope and Eugene Jones should have like an LJ community or something. Even if "Random Shoes" did turn out to be pretty good, (it made me smile at the end!) I spent most of the episode thinking "HOLY CRAP, now Torchwood's got a Love & Monsters too, dear god please not again" and let me say that was not fun. (Also, the purpose of the shoe pics was never explained. Why did he take them? Was it an accident? Was it on purpose? WHY, RTD, WHY?!) And y'know, I'm kind of beginning to resent random losers insinuating themselves into the lives of MCs out of the blue. GO AWAY PEOPLE I NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE THIS EPISODE AND WHO HAVE NO PURPOSE HERE OTHER THAN FILLER AND ACTOR REST TIME! BEGONE, FOUL DEMONS! *exorcises*
The exception to all of this complaining is "Greeks Bearing Gifts". A) Awesome ep name. B) Beautiful alien CGI. Seriously, that thing was GORGEOUS. If The Doctor had been there he probably would have gushed at her for at least five minutes before threatening to eradicate her from existence. C) I actually do feel like I know a little more about Tosh now, and I like her better because of it. She grew in that episode and I liked it. And hitting the insane family killing guy over the head with a golf club? PRICELESS. I so would have done that. D) My favorite KT Tunstall song was playing in the background during the bar scene where Tosh/Mary have been together for awhile and they kiss. (after freaky family gun dude) Yay! But even with all that, it still wasn't mind blowingly cool or anything, and it used a very old plot device which has been done much better on other, more popular shows. (Buffy, anyone?) "They Keep Killing Suzie" was pretty good too, for it's kickass name if nothing else. How awesome is that name? That's the kind of nonsense phrase you use when you want to freak people out, or make them think that you're deranged or harboring an alien presence in your psyche, or the kind of thing creepy little girls with long black hair who are CLEARLY psychic/in touch with the devil say to you when you're interrogating them to find out what the hell's wrong with them. Awesome.XD
Done now. :)