Workin' on the JBS
I was gonna start a thread about this at the Shitennou forums, but then I realized it would mostly consist of me bitching about the woes of writing overlapping stories, along with *headdesking* over the antics of the main characters of the Necklace. And how much I love Jade. Which I've even got raynos doing now, because he gets all the good lines. Overall it sounded more like a journal thing than a forum thread...and hey look, I've got this journal right here...
For the unitiated, the JBS = Jewelry Box Stories = a set of four stories written for *cough* Sailor Moon *cough*, set in the Silver Millenium, where *anything* can happen. Because canon is all unspecifically specific that way. (I wonder how many people have included Serenity's "Witch"? It's a canon detail I sometimes think I've dreamt up, along with Mars swearing her chastity to Serenity. Though that could've just been uneven translation...anyways...) They're all named after a piece of jewelry--one of these days, I'll write a frame for that--and I've been working on them on and off since, um, 2004. (Bleach people, you have NO CLUE, ahahaha!) I've finished one--"The Bracelet"--and have been poking at "The Necklace" recently. The other two, incidentally, are "The Ring" and "The Earrings," because I am all completely uninformed about jewelry straight laced like that. And really, how could I fit in "The Clitorial Hood Piercing"? This is *Sailor Moon*, after all.
One of the reasons it's taken me so long to write "The Necklace"--aside from, oh, Bleach, which ate my brain--is that the plotlines of all these stories are supposed to weave in and out of each other. I've already hit my first piece of that in "The Necklace"; Venus goes to talk to Jupiter in a conversation we saw in "The Bracelet" (oh hell, it's now TBr because I am lazy about my quotes). Originally, I wrote a long scene where Venus has the convo from her end and then they extend it to Jupiter giving her advice, but you know what? It's really boring. It's bad when you bore yourself with your own writing, ya know.
So I skipped it. I'm still not sure if that's wise, but we'll see what the eventual beta says. If I stick with that--skipping scenes we've seen before--then there is a large chunk I'm going to have to backfill coming up, when Venus Tries to Return a Favor and It Backfires AWESOMELY. Her lot in life, poor girl.
But aside from that, it's a matter of remembering where these plot intersections are. And in some cases, hitting my head because ARRRRGH characters know things and I have to make sure I show how they know things. Which would probably be easier had TBr not taken place over only three days arrrgh. Relationships that were referenced as being built or falling apart during those days, and the details of those interactions, then have to get fleshed out. And let me stop talking in generalities and get to the specifics: Nephrite asks Venus a question in their outdoor scene that she answers in the affirmative, and it is making me tear my hair out, because it means Kunzite SAID SOMETHING that makes him out to be a complete asshole. And ya know, he's a dick, but he's not a complete jerkass. Especially not to Venus.
(Note to self: write 'fic where Kunzite and Venus appear to be couple from Taming of the Shrew, but is all an act.)
Less generalities, you say? Okay: Kunzite has to tell Venus that he's been in love with her from childhood, even though they've just agreed to stop seeing each other (naked < /jaina>). Because when Nephrite asks her the next day if she knows, she says YES. I could cover my ass and say oh, she remembers from the night previous...*ponders this* but that seems like something of a cheat, actually. 'Cause it gives us:
V&K: Break-up!
K: *goes off on own*
V: *ponders*remembers previous night*puts 2 and 200 together* HEY WAIT A SECOND...
And she's pretty sure when Nephrite tells her.
Also, despite the GIANT JERKASS! response that pulls from me, part of me thinks it's also in character for him to be honorable and reveal the whole of the story. Like. Even if they can't be together, at least she will know? At least he will tell her? It's kinda flimsy but I'm working that angle hard, because it's the only one where I don't want to throw rotten apples at him. (And yes, I know characters are supposed to do things we don't like, but again, he's not that much of a JERKASS to go, "Yeah, so, we agree to break-up. BTW, you and me? Totes soulmates. See ya 'round.")
(Somewhere in the multi-verse, Kunzite suddenly has an urge to kill, though he's not quite sure why.)
But part of me really wants to go back and smack Past!Me and go, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? You can write a love story that goes on longer than THREE DAYS! IDIOT." (And all the rest of them do, incidentally.)
Really, the thing to do is just go back and read through bits of the Bracelet for where Jade knows things about V&K and make notes. Which is the next thing to do! I just had to bitch a bit first.
And if I think the intertwining of TBr and TNe is annoying, wait 'til I have to do with Jade and Mars in "The Ring" overlapping with TNe. That's not even going into figuring out how Merc and Zoi are gonna overlap with "The Ring," because I have no clue what the hook is for those little bastards. They are being remarkably coy with the plot details, and their original plot--now containing totally original fiancé!--isn't gonna work, it looks like.
On the other hand, Pea and I specced out an idea for how Jade and Mars figure out they're interested in each other. It involves flutes! And vibrations! And...a reference to American Pie! No, the one with the flute. No, not quite THAT, but...yeah. It's dorktastic.
*sigh* Thanks guys, it's good to get that bit of whining off my chest. Now to go haul out the garbage, do more dishes, and maybe draft up the first bit of notes...
It looks like I'm gonna have to cut this description, but Pea liked it, so I thought, why not throw it up here?
He sat on the edge of the sofa, leaning over the files in front of him. His braid had fallen over his right shoulder, and the whisps of silver hair softened the lines of his cheek and jaw. He looked tired and, somehow, young; he was young, she realized, for his rank and position. Despite her wish for composure, something in her softened. She understood what it was like to lead so early. She wondered how he had come to his position.
|You'll never find out,| she hissed to herself as she set the tray on the table. |So stop thinking about it!| "Tea, m'Lord," she said.
He stirred, blinking several times as if coming out of sleep. "Thank you, Lady," he said, voice rusted. He set the papers down on the table. "Shall I pour?"
She slid down onto the sofa that was next to his. "As m'--the Lord wishes," she said.
His head jerked towards her, and their eyes caught.
Blood rushed to her face, but she couldn't look down. His skin darkened again, and this time, his eyes darkened with it.
He stood, the lean grace from before back in the movements of his body. He crossed the small space between them and leaned down, one hand coming to rest on the sofa arm next to her. With the other, he tipped her chin up.
"Lady," he said, a gutteral sound in the back of his throat.
"Lord," she said, and her hands came up to his face. Her thumb touched the corner of his mouth.
In short, jerky movements he leaned in, and just when she could no longer stand it, his mouth brushed across hers.
I think *I* should be blushing, but my sense of shame seems to fall out when I'm sleepy...
For the unitiated, the JBS = Jewelry Box Stories = a set of four stories written for *cough* Sailor Moon *cough*, set in the Silver Millenium, where *anything* can happen. Because canon is all unspecifically specific that way. (I wonder how many people have included Serenity's "Witch"? It's a canon detail I sometimes think I've dreamt up, along with Mars swearing her chastity to Serenity. Though that could've just been uneven translation...anyways...) They're all named after a piece of jewelry--one of these days, I'll write a frame for that--and I've been working on them on and off since, um, 2004. (Bleach people, you have NO CLUE, ahahaha!) I've finished one--"The Bracelet"--and have been poking at "The Necklace" recently. The other two, incidentally, are "The Ring" and "The Earrings," because I am all completely uninformed about jewelry straight laced like that. And really, how could I fit in "The Clitorial Hood Piercing"? This is *Sailor Moon*, after all.
One of the reasons it's taken me so long to write "The Necklace"--aside from, oh, Bleach, which ate my brain--is that the plotlines of all these stories are supposed to weave in and out of each other. I've already hit my first piece of that in "The Necklace"; Venus goes to talk to Jupiter in a conversation we saw in "The Bracelet" (oh hell, it's now TBr because I am lazy about my quotes). Originally, I wrote a long scene where Venus has the convo from her end and then they extend it to Jupiter giving her advice, but you know what? It's really boring. It's bad when you bore yourself with your own writing, ya know.
So I skipped it. I'm still not sure if that's wise, but we'll see what the eventual beta says. If I stick with that--skipping scenes we've seen before--then there is a large chunk I'm going to have to backfill coming up, when Venus Tries to Return a Favor and It Backfires AWESOMELY. Her lot in life, poor girl.
But aside from that, it's a matter of remembering where these plot intersections are. And in some cases, hitting my head because ARRRRGH characters know things and I have to make sure I show how they know things. Which would probably be easier had TBr not taken place over only three days arrrgh. Relationships that were referenced as being built or falling apart during those days, and the details of those interactions, then have to get fleshed out. And let me stop talking in generalities and get to the specifics: Nephrite asks Venus a question in their outdoor scene that she answers in the affirmative, and it is making me tear my hair out, because it means Kunzite SAID SOMETHING that makes him out to be a complete asshole. And ya know, he's a dick, but he's not a complete jerkass. Especially not to Venus.
(Note to self: write 'fic where Kunzite and Venus appear to be couple from Taming of the Shrew, but is all an act.)
Less generalities, you say? Okay: Kunzite has to tell Venus that he's been in love with her from childhood, even though they've just agreed to stop seeing each other (naked < /jaina>). Because when Nephrite asks her the next day if she knows, she says YES. I could cover my ass and say oh, she remembers from the night previous...*ponders this* but that seems like something of a cheat, actually. 'Cause it gives us:
V&K: Break-up!
K: *goes off on own*
V: *ponders*remembers previous night*puts 2 and 200 together* HEY WAIT A SECOND...
And she's pretty sure when Nephrite tells her.
Also, despite the GIANT JERKASS! response that pulls from me, part of me thinks it's also in character for him to be honorable and reveal the whole of the story. Like. Even if they can't be together, at least she will know? At least he will tell her? It's kinda flimsy but I'm working that angle hard, because it's the only one where I don't want to throw rotten apples at him. (And yes, I know characters are supposed to do things we don't like, but again, he's not that much of a JERKASS to go, "Yeah, so, we agree to break-up. BTW, you and me? Totes soulmates. See ya 'round.")
(Somewhere in the multi-verse, Kunzite suddenly has an urge to kill, though he's not quite sure why.)
But part of me really wants to go back and smack Past!Me and go, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? You can write a love story that goes on longer than THREE DAYS! IDIOT." (And all the rest of them do, incidentally.)
Really, the thing to do is just go back and read through bits of the Bracelet for where Jade knows things about V&K and make notes. Which is the next thing to do! I just had to bitch a bit first.
And if I think the intertwining of TBr and TNe is annoying, wait 'til I have to do with Jade and Mars in "The Ring" overlapping with TNe. That's not even going into figuring out how Merc and Zoi are gonna overlap with "The Ring," because I have no clue what the hook is for those little bastards. They are being remarkably coy with the plot details, and their original plot--now containing totally original fiancé!--isn't gonna work, it looks like.
On the other hand, Pea and I specced out an idea for how Jade and Mars figure out they're interested in each other. It involves flutes! And vibrations! And...a reference to American Pie! No, the one with the flute. No, not quite THAT, but...yeah. It's dorktastic.
*sigh* Thanks guys, it's good to get that bit of whining off my chest. Now to go haul out the garbage, do more dishes, and maybe draft up the first bit of notes...
It looks like I'm gonna have to cut this description, but Pea liked it, so I thought, why not throw it up here?
He sat on the edge of the sofa, leaning over the files in front of him. His braid had fallen over his right shoulder, and the whisps of silver hair softened the lines of his cheek and jaw. He looked tired and, somehow, young; he was young, she realized, for his rank and position. Despite her wish for composure, something in her softened. She understood what it was like to lead so early. She wondered how he had come to his position.
|You'll never find out,| she hissed to herself as she set the tray on the table. |So stop thinking about it!| "Tea, m'Lord," she said.
He stirred, blinking several times as if coming out of sleep. "Thank you, Lady," he said, voice rusted. He set the papers down on the table. "Shall I pour?"
She slid down onto the sofa that was next to his. "As m'--the Lord wishes," she said.
His head jerked towards her, and their eyes caught.
Blood rushed to her face, but she couldn't look down. His skin darkened again, and this time, his eyes darkened with it.
He stood, the lean grace from before back in the movements of his body. He crossed the small space between them and leaned down, one hand coming to rest on the sofa arm next to her. With the other, he tipped her chin up.
"Lady," he said, a gutteral sound in the back of his throat.
"Lord," she said, and her hands came up to his face. Her thumb touched the corner of his mouth.
In short, jerky movements he leaned in, and just when she could no longer stand it, his mouth brushed across hers.
I think *I* should be blushing, but my sense of shame seems to fall out when I'm sleepy...