Ramblings from the 'goblinn

A short fragment from an earlier night, then last night's take on the same material. Unedited, unbeta'd, read at your own risk, etc. Thanks again to sunsethill, who asked for it, and others who commented. I think I have a direction for this now.

This is Christmas day at the Potter's, Snape is a ghost, and the story when it's done is meant as a continuation to Lost Boys. Think that's about all you need to know. One thing I'd really like feedback on is how jarring the present/ past shifts are. I'm trying to capture echoes of one in the other, but I'm not sure how well I'm succeeding. May be a bit too echoey.

Also, what would Minerva transfigure Snape's wand into?

All right, back to it.

( Fragments )

Not as much today, but then, I spent most of the day helping the little old ladies with their afternoon bingo, and singing the night mass and listening to Wee Hob recount his brilliant camping triumphs and rock climbing adventures. He wore pretty much every scrap of clothing he packed, all weekend long, so he smelled like very Ripe boy scout when I picked him up.

We'll see what I can get going tomorrow. Progress meter says:



Anybody want to toss out ideas for my Lost Boys sequel? I'm wondering if anyone knows of a particular person or persons who survived the battle who might want to take some kind of revenge on Snape, or try to tap his Dark Arts knowledge for their own nefarious purposes.

It would really help my word count if I had this. I'm rapidly getting to being bogged down in 3 separate stories now. Sad, isn't it?

Hugs to all.

Hob

Well, my first virtual write-in went quite well. clavally the Pirate Wench was wonderful company, and we helped each other out a bit with encouragement and advice. I'd like to do another one, scheduled or not. If anyone is online and sees that I am, by all means send me a message, telling me to get back to work, if nothing else.

I could have used someone doing that last night. I wrote Zero words on the day. After I dropped off the dear Wee Hob with the scouts for his camping trip this weekend, I went home and got sucked into an old SS/HG fic "Falling Further In." It seems, as near as I can tell, to be the "Transformations Quartet" of the HP fandom-- brilliant and well worth reading, though it will probably never be finished. I am so glad this author put it out there, even as it is-- the voices, the relationships, the plot, the believable progression of the friendship between Snape and Hermione blossoming into something else, the multifaceted presentation of all the characters-- truly a tour de force. I do hope this author is out there somewhere writing, and getting paid for, original fiction. If anybody knows, by all means tell me. The ff.net version seems corrupted (some parts refuse to load) , but here's a good link: http://www.obscurusbooks.org/html/KazVL/FFI/

Well enough blather. I better get back to making up for yesterday night's sloth. Here's my contribution to my f-list's linguistic literacy:

edite plus christianos. MMMMMMMMMM leones non possunt errare.

( translation: )

I'll check in with a word count at the end of my writing day. Hugs to all.

Well, back to work after vacation meant a more realistic word count on the day. I also admit, I got sucked into reading an old HG/SS story (The Fire and the Rose). Really lovely. Ah well. Tonight I have a couple of meetings with Wee Hob's teachers, and I have to oversee his packing for what looks to be a very cold weekend with the Scouts. Hope he can go; he's complaining of a sore throat this morning.

I think I'm going to have to drop back and punt-- make some serious notes on how this original world is put together before I can do much more in it. Unless some other inspiration strikes me today....

Happy writing to all. Here's antennapedia's word widget:



Hob

It was a tough day. I was off work, so I should have been able to get going, right?

Not so much.

I got an impressive word count, but they're all such useless words. I know I felt this way during Lost Boys, but the scope there was much narrower. I just have to hang on through it, waiting for what it's about and plot to hold a meeting, hammer out their differences, and inform me of the results.

Pray they do it soon. Sigh.

Here's antennapedia's word widget:



Least it is not lame.

Hugs to all.

And the plot continues to limp forward. When I figure out if this story has a point, I will be happier. If, of course, it even does.

I'm turning in early tonight, mostly to reread HBP. The book is like a black hole to me-- I've read it at least 3 times, yet little of it springs to mind when I try to recall it later. But I think it would help my lack of progress if I had some handle on where these characters were before I stole them. So this is where I'll leave the count tonight.

And antennapedia's word widget:



And here also is my other new icon for the season. If anybody wants to keep me virtual company-- check out my previous post here and leave me a comment/ date/ suggestion for mischief.

Good night, all.

I think I have wandered more than enough for one night. This isn't going anywhere, but since when has that stopped me? Maybe I'll work on some other things tomorrow. I have the weekend, then Monday and Tuesday off. Surely something will come of it.

Here's antennapedia's cool word widget again:



'Night, all.

The great fun of Nano, it seems to me, is figuring out what to write about. As time's getting short, I thought I'd throw out the variously profitable (and not) ways I could spend my time and see what wise advice I get.

Option 1 - finish The 06 novel. I know gillo will like this one, as it will ensure her limitless insomnia remedy material for the next month, at least.

Downside-- most of it's written. If this story has 50K MORE words in it, gillo will swim the Atlantic and the Ohio River to strangle me.

I should say-- this is a Post-Chosen, not Comics compliant, Giles, Willow, Ethan genfic.

Option 2 - Well, Damn. The last "Harry Potter Short Story" I wrote (which will be completed and up this weekend, including the postmortem) turned out to be a LOT longer than it seemed. I haven't done a count of the individual parts lately, but I think it got well over 20K, possibly as high as 30K words. So, I have this other idea, an age-regression fic. I know they've probably been done to death, but it's a genre I've liked ever since I read my first fanfic, which happened to be Reni's "Baby Love" in the Buffy Fandom. And I think I can find some things to say with it. I have about 5k worth of notes/start on that.

Downside-- another fanfic with a vague idea where it's going = another unfinished novel length thing to edit later, like the 06 installment. Last year, at least I had a theme, of sorts.

Option 3 - Something original. I have an idea for a short story (we know how those tend to go, with me) and a novel length one as well. The novel length one involves an older man, possibly a priest, who wakes up one day to find he's no longer human. (Not a cockroach, either; that's been done.) He's become something the people like him who help him adapt to his new state think fit the definition of the "fair folk" of legend. He can't go back to his old life, he doesn't know how his new life fits in with everything he's ever believed, and there are dark powers closing in.

Downside-- I'd have to be more careful about sharing it, as I really want to write this story myself, not let some internetz crawler steal it.

Option 4 - some of my long time friends may remember my work adventures of some months past. I said at the time my work group should write it up for nano this year, "as truth is stranger than fiction." Particularly after a bunch of sleep-deprived, overstressed programmer types have been at it.

Downside-- my supervisor may be wanting to write this up himself. And if I do it, current stresses are going to find their way into the mix. And well, if someone found out what I was writing....

But upside-- I have a name and a motto for the fictional company-- Delphi Information Systems. "We put the D in dysfunctional" (and oh the scope for jokes on seeking wisdom from an Oracle....)

So-- should we do the poll now? Ticky boxes?
(note: my two votes are for two anonymice cow orkers who couldn't vote on their own. If I had a strong opinion, I wouldn't be putting up this poll.)

[Poll #1077581]

I just read where Madeline L'Engle has died at age 88. One of my first favorite authors, and her themes and images and ideas still resonate with me. I realized that she must have been older than I am now when she wrote A Wrinkle in Time. Gives me hope that I may still grow in wisdom enough to write things worth saying. If I get off my ass and Just Do It. I'm strongly considering an original plot for nanowrimo this year, instead of fanfic.

And I also had to put my ancient pussycat to sleep this afternoon. Wee Hob is moody and sad, and her younger feline companion, a brain damaged eternal adolescent cat named Samwise is wandering about the house, confused that he can't find his friend anywhere. Her full name was "Her Most Exalted Ladyship, Queen Mab" because when I got her she was so very dignified and tolerant of the antics of younger cat (real adolescent then). It was shortened to Ladyship, then M'lady, and finally just Lady. She was the sweetest and most patient beast I have ever known, and I still remember how thrilled Wee Hob was when I got him back and she chose His bed to sleep on and adopted him as her own kitten. One of my friends who is sensitive to the thoughts and ways of animals said that she considered us all "her kittens", and she felt very content to look after us and shake her head at our strange ways.

I feel guilty and sad I couldn't do more for her, but even if I could have afforded the cost of trying to save her, it was a long shot at best, as her organs seemed to be failing, and without extensive bloodwork we couldn't have even known what to treat, or if it was treatable. But we made sure she didn't suffer, and Wee Hob has decided that was a good thing. We buried her next to his godparents' dog, who had always wanted a kitty cat of her own. We never met this dog, but we have heard all the stories. And now Wee Hob will have a place he can visit her.

Anyway, that's my life for today.