Vocabulary Soup #14: Egregious

[trascendenza]

e·gre·gious /ɪˈgridʒəs, -dʒiəs/ [i-gree-juhs, -jee-uhs] -adjective
       e·gre·gious·ly, adverb; e·gre·gious·ness, noun

1. extraordinary in some bad way; conspicuously bad or offensive; glaring; flagrant: an egregious mistake; an egregious liar.

[Origin: c.1534, from L. egregius, from the phrase ex grege "rising above the flock," from ex "out of

Comments

[murklins]

Jesus, I am tired. On my Friends page, the text wraps around the icon in such a way that for the briefest of moments I thought the word prompt was "awesomesauce." Heeeeeeee.

[trascendenza]

Hahaha, but that would make a great prompt! Anyone who could incorporate the word awesomesauce into fic in a serious context would win at life, for sure. And win at amusing me if it were in a crack fashion, like somehow getting Ryan to say "awesomesauce" in a non-sardonic manner.

[murklins]

Probably it would go something like this

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O_O

OKAY, I DON'T KNOW WHY I WAS AVOIDING MY INBOX, BECAUSE IT CONTAINED INSANE AWESOMENESS LIKE *THIS*, AND WHAT THE HELL, HOW IS THIS SO AWESOMESAUCE?

"Awesomesauce?" He looked at the menu board -- maybe it was a seasonal item.
BWAHAHAHAHA. OH, RYAAAAAAN MOTHERFUCKING ROSS.

then thought of possibly naked pictures of his own ass on the internet or whatever ridiculous thing was Pete was doing right this second to declare his love for Ryan to the entire world.
I AM SLAIN.

(AND NOT AT ALL PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE SEQUEL WHERE PETE GETS TO TASTE HIS AWESOMESAUCE!)

[murklins]

IT STILL MAKES NO SENSE TO ME! I wish I could blame it on intoxication, but no, that came out of my sober brain.

(MAYBE YOU SHOULD WRITE THE SEQUEL? BECAUSE I CANNOT MAKE IT GO ANYWHERE. At least, not anywhere worthwhile.)

[trascendenza]

Sense? Who needs sense? This Ryan and silly Pete with his blog and his CRAZY LOVE FOR RYAN, and Jon and his gentle smile and his flip flops and GAH IF I GO ON IT WILL BE MORE CAPSLOCK SILLINESS.

ALSO: HELLO, YOU LIED ABOUT NOT BEING A WRITER. BECAUSE CLEARLY YOU WROTE THIS AND CLEARLY IT WAS FANTASTIC AND CLEARLY YOU SHOULD WRITE MORE.

[murklins]

I *was* going to give you a bullet point list of every sentence of the above snippet that clearly demonstrates my failures as a creative writer, but then I realized how very very tedious that would be. And really demoralizing to write out; it's bad enough when it lives only in my head

[trascendenza]

...it's bad enough when it lives only in my head.
Pfff, yes, yes it is. Besides which, it will fail to convince me at all, because, HI, I read this when my friend was over and she can totally attest to all the loud-squeaking-fangirling noises I made over it. !!

Spencer disapproved of most people's shoes at the best of times.
HAHAHA WHAT YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO HAVE SPENCER APPEAR TO CHARACTERIZE HIM PERFECTLY.

Not to collect himself or take deep breaths or anything like that.
*makes grabbyhands at Ryan* You're reading my mind, aren't you? You know how much I love awkward fumbling denial and you're PUSHING ALL MY BUTTONS ON PURPOSE, AREN'T YOU?

"Seriously, Pete, put on some pants or you won't get a single drop of Jon's awesomesauce."
YOUR BABIES. HOW MANY OF THEM CAN I HAVE? A HORDE, PERHAPS?

Also? Pete lounging around naked while waiting for Ryan? YES.

A year ago it had meant pancakes and makeup tips and swapping clothes.
♥ ♥ ♥

Then last week Pete had murmured into the phone "Come sleep beside me,"
Oh, Jesus. Jesus.DO YOU

[murklins]

You have just given me more feedback that I have given, total, in the last year. Wow. :D

[murklins]

This might be too much of a style shift. I don't know, I can't tell anymore. If I ever could. Also: flashback! Or possibly a bit that should have come at the beginning. Haha, commentfic, you continue to MAKE NO SENSE. I have totally lost the thread, Sheera.

Somehow this bit is too long for a single comment? Jesus.

***

When Ryan had woken up that morning, he'd gone from unconsciousness to full awareness without separation. Pete's room. He felt it in the stillness of his limbs and the feel of the sheets, like his entire body had catalogued and assimilated his surroundings while he slept. He clung for a few seconds to the simplicity of purely physical awareness, absent of the usual jumble of emotion and analysis. Then he noticed the quiet of the room, silent in the spaces between his breaths

[murklins]

He'd just turned the water off and was stepping sideways over the edge of the tub when the door flew open and a flash illuminated the scattering steam

[trascendenza]

You have just given me more feedback that I have given, total, in the last year. Wow.

Hee! When I can, I love to give very detailed feedback :D I used to be able to do it for long stories, too; I've been known to break up feedback across 2 - 3 comments before. I mostly stopped doing that because it made me look really scary, though. *g*

...the robe is totally open down the front from neck to knee. Pete is classy.
\o/ My mental images did not lead me astray! Pete, you are the classiest princess in the kingdom, yes, yes you are.

Oh, and, y'know, research. It's not as if I could tell the difference anyway. ;)

I think we are reaching my creative limits.
New evidence would attest to this being a DIRTY LIE. FOR WHICH I AM VERY GRATEFUL.

MOVING ON.

Then he noticed the quiet of the room, silent in the spaces between his breaths.
I love the little quiet Ryan moments in here. ♥

The only shampoo was pink and smelled like strawberries. There were six kinds of conditioner, though, and Ryan tried three of them at once.AHAHAHA YES. A)

[murklins]

I used to be good at feedback, once upon a time. But then it became clear to me that my fandom role was not to write things, but to organize random shit and help people with code. And look at me now. :)

Again, you lie about not being a creative writer. LIE.

Hee, no I really do not. This entire process is basically me playing a torturous game of chicken with myself. Pretty imagery is the least of my worries, though, it's true. That part I can handle. It's keeping the character motivation in line that torments me. And also making things interesting and organic, as opposed to my natural tendency toward boring and mechanical. If I have to write sex? Things are going to get HILARIOUS. (In a bad way. But still hilarious. Because do you see how two sections up I managed to have Ryan thinking constantly about erections without ever once using that word or mentioning any piece of below the waist anatomy? Ahahahaha, oh, my brain.)

And, dude, was Pete up all night pining after Ryan?HE TOTALLY WAS. Not to spoil it or anything, but Pete invited

[trascendenza]

Feedbacking is an art, I do believe. One that can be difficult to exercise all the time! My biggest hurdle with feedback has always been that like everything else, I like to do it in spams, but I'm always forgetting which stories I wanted to go feedback by the time I get ready to do it. Oh, LJ, why do you make it so impossible for me to earmark posts? *woeface*

It's keeping the character motivation in line that torments me.
Really? Well, even though this isn't a 16-chapter epic story, I wouldn't immediately pick that out as your weak point. Ryan and Pete both seem very consistent to me, here.

And also making things interesting and organic.Ah, yes, that's tough. I worry about that pretty much every second I'm writing. You know what I've realized, though? If something is in your head or types itself out, it's probably going to be both those things. Inspiration happens for a reason. :) And even things that have to be tweaked and played with usually come out sounding okay, too, because they're building around that kernel of

[murklins]

If I don't feedback right away, it ain't never gonna happen. It often takes me longer to write good feedback than it took to read the story, not because I'm creating epics, but because words have to be dragged out of me quite painfully, one at a time. There's a reason I post infrequently to LJ and have taken *checks* 11 days to write 2000 words. Oy.

Ryan and Pete both seem very consistent to me, here.

That is good! I will try to keep it up. Right up until one of them goes insane, that is!

If something is in your head or types itself out, it's probably going to be both those things. Inspiration happens for a reason.

You are assuming I am blithely typing out inspired sentences, which is a good sign I suppose, but so false. :(

MY DISORGANIZED THOUGHTS ON WRITING, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM.I love your thoughts! They are very encouraging in that you seem to think I am not sucking. It is all by accident. MY WRITING INSECURITIES, LET ME SHOW YOU THEM. Not now, though -- when (if) it gets done there will be plenty of time to rip things to

[trascendenza]

I found my feedbacking habits got a lot better when I started embracing the one line "I loved this!" method, because even if I'm not able to say 90% of the things I liked about the story, it's still true. But I've definitely started using del.icio.us as a way of silently feedbacking, because I have this feeling that bookmarking a fic is almost equivalent to leaving one line of feedback, in some cases. If it's any consolation, though, I always find everything you have to say very interesting. :) It's why I stalked you for ages, hahaha.

...but so false. :(
Oh, honey. *hugs* Even if it feels slow and painful, that doesn't mean it isn't inspired! Inspiration isn't just speed; it's content and characterization and all that. :)

...either with Ryan himself or overheard as a phone call to, say, Patrick or something.Hahaha, I'm totally picturing Pete calling up Patrick for advice and Patrick being like, "Wait, what? You're calling *me* for advice on your love life? What the fuck is going on here