The ol' WIP meme
I had 2 WIP memes in my archive, one of which is a single sentence one, so I shared that on tumblr.
I still say LJ is a better place for long ramblings, though, so it gets the more meaty excerpts!
Previously done here (and here for the single sentence one).
When you see this, post a little weensy excerpt from as many random works-in-progress as you can find lying around. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.
1. He can feel his face heating up and he clears his throat awkwardly. But rather than turning away with a titter, the woman actually beams at him. Her eyes meet his and there is a glint of familiarity in them, as though they know each other from somewhere. Except that can't be right. His life before the bakery may seem like a fog, but he can't that he'd forget encountering a woman like this.
'The Erumpents buns?'
The term she uses is new but familiar at the same time, like a long-forgotten name. It fits the plump, round loaves that are heavily infused with spices, down to the cinnamon stick he used to decorate the head. For a moment he imagines he smells a sweet, musky scent as well, that puts him in mind of springtime and mating animals (oh god, don't think about that now, he tells himself).
--From a ficlet/one-shot that I started shortly after watching Fantastic Beasts but can't seem to connect to reach the finish (not yet anyway). It exists as a .txt file called jacob fic.
2. James turned away, not wanting his father and aunt to catch him eavesdropping. He headed for the side door instead. As he traipsed across the lawn, a voice called out to him. He stopped and saw Andromeda Tonks hurrying up to him, breaking away from a blond, broad-shouldered man who had a toddler with long, black hair by the hand.
‘Andromeda,’ he said. ‘Sirius is inside, if you want to speak with him.’
She shook her head. ‘No, it’s actually-well, yes, I would like to, but I was also wondering if I could have a word with you, actually.’
Surprised, James nodded and summoned four chairs over.
‘Ted Tonks,’ said the blond wizard, raising an eyebrow at James’s wand. ‘Wotcher. Thought you were Sirius’s age?’
--This fic has existed in multiple forms in my WIP folders since 2007. I have the plot outline and I know what I want to do with it, but it keeps stalling. The last time it stalled was after I restarted it last spring and got 10,000 words in ... and hit the brakes again. The only thing about it that hasn't changed is the title: Seasons of Change. And it's been around so long that it's actually one of my bucket list items to finish writing.
3. As she walked towards the exit of the coffee shop, she glanced down at her cup.
'You're beautiful' was written in place of her name.
She glanced back, and their eyes met.
She hadn't really looked properly at him earlier. He was tall and lanky, with hair the colour of ink that fell untidily into his eyes. Annabeth wasn't sure he was her type exactly (seeing as the only boys she'd ever dated had both been solidly built blonds), but she supposed he was kind of cute, especially with his cheeks pink from embarrassment.
Annabeth dithered for a moment, unsure how she was meant to respond. Honestly, all she'd wanted was a black coffee. Still, a part of her couldn't help appreciating the romance of the situation. It was the kind of thing she expected in a movie, not happening to a regular girl like her.
--This sprouted from a random prompt on Pinterest, which got me thinking of how I'd put a spin on it ... and then my mind went CAFE AU! (I swear, PJO fandom has totally destroyed my ideas about AUs.) Anyway, this is half outline and half random paragraphs written here and there, and I definitely want to plot it out more, but it'll probably be something I pull out and dust off after I finish with the Big Bang.
4. It's no real wonder that Annabeth has a reputation for being aloof and scary. For years before Percy came along, Luke and Grover were her only real friends (and she always suspected the latter was as apprehensive about her as most of the other campers, only Grover has a yard of guts that no one ever seems to credit). Even Luke's approachable nature never seemed to extend to her. Annabeth quickly gained a reputation as 'that small but lethal Athena kid', with a side dish of 'you don't want to get on the wrong side of her!'
Until Percy crashed on the porch of the Big House when she is twelve and draws her unwillingly but helplessly into his orbit. Before she knows it, she is trekking across the country with him-only because she wants a quest, she tells herself-and responding helplessly to his stoic loyalty and big heart.
--One of five segments in my Five Things Percy Does Better Than Annabeth drabble (okay, ficlet, really) collection (the first two parts here and here. Which reminds me that I had a third segment written that I never posted. Hm. Must rectify that.
5. 'You said you weren't going to find Luke without me! You promised!'
'I didn't find him!'
'But you said--'
'I--okay, look, Annabeth don't be mad. I went to Charleston, to the cave where I first met him. I just ... well, it didn't really mean to go, but I kind of just ended up there. And the photos were there. I think maybe he left them there as a message or something.'
--It was quite hard finding an excerpt out of this one, because the entire thing is in outline format; kind of like what I did for the last NaNo. I was thinking I might do this for the next NaNo, since that will be after I finish the Big Bang, but depending on how quickly I write, I may be able to crack on with this before then. And yes, it's meant to be the next part after TGF. Abbreviated title NoH. *is mysterious*
6. I didn't like how Nico spoke of Minos, a disembodied spirit giving him advice. It made me think of Kronos whispering in Luke's ears, swaying him. Was it even truly Minos that Nico was listening to?
--And again, part of the post-TGF fic outlines, although timeline-wise I'm certain this will be a fourth fic for BotL. I don't have a working title for it yet, and I'm currently plotting it out alongside canon (yay audiobook! I listen to it and scribble down thoughts for how to write the alternate PoV.)
7. When she is twelve and so tired of waiting, Annabeth’s special half-blood finally arrives. At last, Chiron gives her permission to accompany a quest. Her heart is full to bursting as they set off.
But nothing goes as it should. Percy Jackson is an insufferable idiot and she has to tell him everything, and he manages to tick off all the gods, so it must be his fault that their plans keep going wrong (because Annabeth is a good planner, and she’s studied and prepared for this for years) and they’re flying by the seat of their pants half the time which just feels wrong. This isn’t how a quest is meant to go, is it? But then somehow they escape monster after monster, and after they’ve saved each other’s lives tens or dozens of times (Annabeth’s lost count), Annabeth realises improvising isn’t the worst thing after all. And the son of Poseidon is pretty good at it.
--This is actually one of the first things I ever wrote in PJO fandom (after my first one-shot) but I stalled on it. It's actually quite far along, I just can't find the missing connections to tie it all together. And looking at it, the writing style definitely is more reminiscent of my HP fic styles. It's the one-shot thing, too, I think.
8. The dim interior of Talos burned like a supernova, so bright that her vision melted into a white blur. Someone screamed her name--her friends, outside the metal giant, she thought, but it also sounded like Nico.
--Fun fact: this fic exists entirely in my phone, with the exception of one page in my notebook--none of it is in a computer document. It is, again, outlined (I don't know if it's a PJO thing or just the rigour of my academic writing rubbing off on me, but these days I outline extensively before I actually get down to writing). The bunny actually popped in when I was invigilating, of all things, and yes, I scribbled (or typed) whatever I had all down there and then. It was one of those special needs sessions where the students were all in booths.
9. Fortunately, he's dressed when she comes out.
--There is literally only one line to report on this one. The rest of it is a general summary + details of a single scene. It's called Roof gone AU, lives on my phone, and you can probably guess where that plot bunny came knocking from. ;)
10. She was afraid Sally would be mad, would berate her or throw her out because she was Percy's mom after all, but Sally just said, 'Oh, honey, what happened?'
--More from the random PJO AU bunnies collection, incidentally in the same iPhone note as #9. But completely different plot idea.
11. Percy looked at me with shining eyes. The emotion in them was so intense, my heart just about went cartwheeling across the race track. Without thinking twice about it, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek amidst thunderous roars of approval. Someone-it sounded like one of the Stoll brothers, but I wasn't sure-cat-called. I heard a wolf-whistle among the crowd. If I hadn't been running on pure adrenaline from the thrill of our win and the sheer energy of the crowd, I might have felt embarrassed. Percy stared at me with a dazed but elated sort of grin on his face that made the rest of the world almost seem to melt away.
As my brothers and sisters hoisted all three of us over to the winner's circle, my heart was so full, I felt like it could burst.
--I'm still editing this up slowly at the pace of a chapter a week, but hello sneak preview that should appear in a later chapter of TGF! Yes, I picked the shippiest moment I had in the entire fic.
12. The heat of Annabeth’s lips seared against his. His senses narrowed to that one point where they connected: salt, and softness, fire and friction as her mouth moved against his-and he responded, inviting her in with all her feverish want and unbridled lust.
An entire ocean roared in his ears, drowning out the rest of the world. Hands, fervent and desperate, reached up to cup his face. A million volts electrified his skin where her fingers met his cheeks. His blood pulsed hot, burning through his veins like an insatiable flame.
Every square inch of his being was on fire, but he would gladly throw himself on this pyre.
--Oh HAI ROMANCE IT'S BEEN A WHILE. This is from that ever-expanding chapter for CoL that I've been slaving over the last few weeks. (I finally concluded it--chapter '3' turned into chapters 3-5, and then I still have to split the new chapter 3 because it's 13,000 words long, so a single chapter is probably going to be 5. Oy vey.)
+++
And that's it! Not much HP there, I'm afraid. My new fandom has taken over my life. I just wish it was on LJ more.
I still say LJ is a better place for long ramblings, though, so it gets the more meaty excerpts!
Previously done here (and here for the single sentence one).
When you see this, post a little weensy excerpt from as many random works-in-progress as you can find lying around. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.
1. He can feel his face heating up and he clears his throat awkwardly. But rather than turning away with a titter, the woman actually beams at him. Her eyes meet his and there is a glint of familiarity in them, as though they know each other from somewhere. Except that can't be right. His life before the bakery may seem like a fog, but he can't that he'd forget encountering a woman like this.
'The Erumpents buns?'
The term she uses is new but familiar at the same time, like a long-forgotten name. It fits the plump, round loaves that are heavily infused with spices, down to the cinnamon stick he used to decorate the head. For a moment he imagines he smells a sweet, musky scent as well, that puts him in mind of springtime and mating animals (oh god, don't think about that now, he tells himself).
--From a ficlet/one-shot that I started shortly after watching Fantastic Beasts but can't seem to connect to reach the finish (not yet anyway). It exists as a .txt file called jacob fic.
2. James turned away, not wanting his father and aunt to catch him eavesdropping. He headed for the side door instead. As he traipsed across the lawn, a voice called out to him. He stopped and saw Andromeda Tonks hurrying up to him, breaking away from a blond, broad-shouldered man who had a toddler with long, black hair by the hand.
‘Andromeda,’ he said. ‘Sirius is inside, if you want to speak with him.’
She shook her head. ‘No, it’s actually-well, yes, I would like to, but I was also wondering if I could have a word with you, actually.’
Surprised, James nodded and summoned four chairs over.
‘Ted Tonks,’ said the blond wizard, raising an eyebrow at James’s wand. ‘Wotcher. Thought you were Sirius’s age?’
--This fic has existed in multiple forms in my WIP folders since 2007. I have the plot outline and I know what I want to do with it, but it keeps stalling. The last time it stalled was after I restarted it last spring and got 10,000 words in ... and hit the brakes again. The only thing about it that hasn't changed is the title: Seasons of Change. And it's been around so long that it's actually one of my bucket list items to finish writing.
3. As she walked towards the exit of the coffee shop, she glanced down at her cup.
'You're beautiful' was written in place of her name.
She glanced back, and their eyes met.
She hadn't really looked properly at him earlier. He was tall and lanky, with hair the colour of ink that fell untidily into his eyes. Annabeth wasn't sure he was her type exactly (seeing as the only boys she'd ever dated had both been solidly built blonds), but she supposed he was kind of cute, especially with his cheeks pink from embarrassment.
Annabeth dithered for a moment, unsure how she was meant to respond. Honestly, all she'd wanted was a black coffee. Still, a part of her couldn't help appreciating the romance of the situation. It was the kind of thing she expected in a movie, not happening to a regular girl like her.
--This sprouted from a random prompt on Pinterest, which got me thinking of how I'd put a spin on it ... and then my mind went CAFE AU! (I swear, PJO fandom has totally destroyed my ideas about AUs.) Anyway, this is half outline and half random paragraphs written here and there, and I definitely want to plot it out more, but it'll probably be something I pull out and dust off after I finish with the Big Bang.
4. It's no real wonder that Annabeth has a reputation for being aloof and scary. For years before Percy came along, Luke and Grover were her only real friends (and she always suspected the latter was as apprehensive about her as most of the other campers, only Grover has a yard of guts that no one ever seems to credit). Even Luke's approachable nature never seemed to extend to her. Annabeth quickly gained a reputation as 'that small but lethal Athena kid', with a side dish of 'you don't want to get on the wrong side of her!'
Until Percy crashed on the porch of the Big House when she is twelve and draws her unwillingly but helplessly into his orbit. Before she knows it, she is trekking across the country with him-only because she wants a quest, she tells herself-and responding helplessly to his stoic loyalty and big heart.
--One of five segments in my Five Things Percy Does Better Than Annabeth drabble (okay, ficlet, really) collection (the first two parts here and here. Which reminds me that I had a third segment written that I never posted. Hm. Must rectify that.
5. 'You said you weren't going to find Luke without me! You promised!'
'I didn't find him!'
'But you said--'
'I--okay, look, Annabeth don't be mad. I went to Charleston, to the cave where I first met him. I just ... well, it didn't really mean to go, but I kind of just ended up there. And the photos were there. I think maybe he left them there as a message or something.'
--It was quite hard finding an excerpt out of this one, because the entire thing is in outline format; kind of like what I did for the last NaNo. I was thinking I might do this for the next NaNo, since that will be after I finish the Big Bang, but depending on how quickly I write, I may be able to crack on with this before then. And yes, it's meant to be the next part after TGF. Abbreviated title NoH. *is mysterious*
6. I didn't like how Nico spoke of Minos, a disembodied spirit giving him advice. It made me think of Kronos whispering in Luke's ears, swaying him. Was it even truly Minos that Nico was listening to?
--And again, part of the post-TGF fic outlines, although timeline-wise I'm certain this will be a fourth fic for BotL. I don't have a working title for it yet, and I'm currently plotting it out alongside canon (yay audiobook! I listen to it and scribble down thoughts for how to write the alternate PoV.)
7. When she is twelve and so tired of waiting, Annabeth’s special half-blood finally arrives. At last, Chiron gives her permission to accompany a quest. Her heart is full to bursting as they set off.
But nothing goes as it should. Percy Jackson is an insufferable idiot and she has to tell him everything, and he manages to tick off all the gods, so it must be his fault that their plans keep going wrong (because Annabeth is a good planner, and she’s studied and prepared for this for years) and they’re flying by the seat of their pants half the time which just feels wrong. This isn’t how a quest is meant to go, is it? But then somehow they escape monster after monster, and after they’ve saved each other’s lives tens or dozens of times (Annabeth’s lost count), Annabeth realises improvising isn’t the worst thing after all. And the son of Poseidon is pretty good at it.
--This is actually one of the first things I ever wrote in PJO fandom (after my first one-shot) but I stalled on it. It's actually quite far along, I just can't find the missing connections to tie it all together. And looking at it, the writing style definitely is more reminiscent of my HP fic styles. It's the one-shot thing, too, I think.
8. The dim interior of Talos burned like a supernova, so bright that her vision melted into a white blur. Someone screamed her name--her friends, outside the metal giant, she thought, but it also sounded like Nico.
--Fun fact: this fic exists entirely in my phone, with the exception of one page in my notebook--none of it is in a computer document. It is, again, outlined (I don't know if it's a PJO thing or just the rigour of my academic writing rubbing off on me, but these days I outline extensively before I actually get down to writing). The bunny actually popped in when I was invigilating, of all things, and yes, I scribbled (or typed) whatever I had all down there and then. It was one of those special needs sessions where the students were all in booths.
9. Fortunately, he's dressed when she comes out.
--There is literally only one line to report on this one. The rest of it is a general summary + details of a single scene. It's called Roof gone AU, lives on my phone, and you can probably guess where that plot bunny came knocking from. ;)
10. She was afraid Sally would be mad, would berate her or throw her out because she was Percy's mom after all, but Sally just said, 'Oh, honey, what happened?'
--More from the random PJO AU bunnies collection, incidentally in the same iPhone note as #9. But completely different plot idea.
11. Percy looked at me with shining eyes. The emotion in them was so intense, my heart just about went cartwheeling across the race track. Without thinking twice about it, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek amidst thunderous roars of approval. Someone-it sounded like one of the Stoll brothers, but I wasn't sure-cat-called. I heard a wolf-whistle among the crowd. If I hadn't been running on pure adrenaline from the thrill of our win and the sheer energy of the crowd, I might have felt embarrassed. Percy stared at me with a dazed but elated sort of grin on his face that made the rest of the world almost seem to melt away.
As my brothers and sisters hoisted all three of us over to the winner's circle, my heart was so full, I felt like it could burst.
--I'm still editing this up slowly at the pace of a chapter a week, but hello sneak preview that should appear in a later chapter of TGF! Yes, I picked the shippiest moment I had in the entire fic.
12. The heat of Annabeth’s lips seared against his. His senses narrowed to that one point where they connected: salt, and softness, fire and friction as her mouth moved against his-and he responded, inviting her in with all her feverish want and unbridled lust.
An entire ocean roared in his ears, drowning out the rest of the world. Hands, fervent and desperate, reached up to cup his face. A million volts electrified his skin where her fingers met his cheeks. His blood pulsed hot, burning through his veins like an insatiable flame.
Every square inch of his being was on fire, but he would gladly throw himself on this pyre.
--Oh HAI ROMANCE IT'S BEEN A WHILE. This is from that ever-expanding chapter for CoL that I've been slaving over the last few weeks. (I finally concluded it--chapter '3' turned into chapters 3-5, and then I still have to split the new chapter 3 because it's 13,000 words long, so a single chapter is probably going to be 5. Oy vey.)
+++
And that's it! Not much HP there, I'm afraid. My new fandom has taken over my life. I just wish it was on LJ more.