Rambling Rose, Rambling Thoughts (On The Eve Of The Big Game)
Ugh, I'm feeling bad today; my throat feels like I've tried to swallow a number of sea urchins, so I'm not going in to work. I'm going to try to use my time in a sensible manner by getting laundry done, taking notes for Lottery Odds and also watching the television series V in its entirety, which I am proud to say I own on DVD.
A little history lesson is probably in order here. Like so many other aspiring writers, I cut my combat teeth by starting off in the land of fanfic... although back when I was getting started, reprehensible terms like "slash" had yet to make their odious presence known. The rules were pretty simple; there really weren't any. You could be as explicit or G-rated as you liked, you could do two pages or two thousand, but most of all, as long as you remained true to the subject matter, anything was a go.
Oh, I should probably mention one other thing that was different back then. There were no communities where you shared your works, because there was no such thing as the Internet. This was a project done purely out of love (or obsession, whichever label you think is more accurate) and the reward in the end was nothing more than the glow of accomplishment. In this arena, I was par for the course by picking out my favorite series at the time (which was V) and doing stories within that universe.
It should be stated for the record that my efforts were not very good. In fact, if I had an example of them before me (which thankfully for my ego I do not) I am sure that the sands of time would reveal that those stories I spent so much effort and hope on in fact actually sucked on dry ice. I broke most, if not all, the rules about writing fanfic and turned out Mary-Sue characters by the boatload. My list of sins, in retrospect, was seemingly endless. Bad characterization, kewl powerz (the less said about that the better), self-insertion (ditto and double on that taboo subject) and breaking the rules of genre and decorum left and right with little regard for how a professional would have approached things.
I'm very glad I went about this in such a clusterfuck manner, though. I'm now getting ready to go back and re-visit a story that has held at least part of my attention for almost two decades now, and I'm really hoping that this time I am the equal of the task before me. I want Lottery Odds to succeed the way that Survivors, Falling From Grace, the original version of Lottery Odds and The Long Weekend did and possibly could not, because of where I was in my life when I wrote those stories.
What am I trying to say? At this moment, I'm not sure. Rambling bullcrap, thy name is blog. Maybe tomorrow I'll start posting some baseball stuff. Until then, my devoted peeps, have the best day you can. Be well.
A little history lesson is probably in order here. Like so many other aspiring writers, I cut my combat teeth by starting off in the land of fanfic... although back when I was getting started, reprehensible terms like "slash" had yet to make their odious presence known. The rules were pretty simple; there really weren't any. You could be as explicit or G-rated as you liked, you could do two pages or two thousand, but most of all, as long as you remained true to the subject matter, anything was a go.
Oh, I should probably mention one other thing that was different back then. There were no communities where you shared your works, because there was no such thing as the Internet. This was a project done purely out of love (or obsession, whichever label you think is more accurate) and the reward in the end was nothing more than the glow of accomplishment. In this arena, I was par for the course by picking out my favorite series at the time (which was V) and doing stories within that universe.
It should be stated for the record that my efforts were not very good. In fact, if I had an example of them before me (which thankfully for my ego I do not) I am sure that the sands of time would reveal that those stories I spent so much effort and hope on in fact actually sucked on dry ice. I broke most, if not all, the rules about writing fanfic and turned out Mary-Sue characters by the boatload. My list of sins, in retrospect, was seemingly endless. Bad characterization, kewl powerz (the less said about that the better), self-insertion (ditto and double on that taboo subject) and breaking the rules of genre and decorum left and right with little regard for how a professional would have approached things.
I'm very glad I went about this in such a clusterfuck manner, though. I'm now getting ready to go back and re-visit a story that has held at least part of my attention for almost two decades now, and I'm really hoping that this time I am the equal of the task before me. I want Lottery Odds to succeed the way that Survivors, Falling From Grace, the original version of Lottery Odds and The Long Weekend did and possibly could not, because of where I was in my life when I wrote those stories.
What am I trying to say? At this moment, I'm not sure. Rambling bullcrap, thy name is blog. Maybe tomorrow I'll start posting some baseball stuff. Until then, my devoted peeps, have the best day you can. Be well.