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So, you probably all heard me wailing and moaning when my betas kindly pointed out that, yes, the second half of your big bang story really does need a plot, necessitating the cutting of about 40,000 words.
Well, amongst the 40,000 words that were cut were 10,000 some words of au'ified Doppelganger, and 6,000 some words of kind of au Outcast (in that everything that fits into this is story is au, but the actual events of Outcast proceed exactly as they did on the show.)
And I liked them, and they've been sitting on my hard drive for weeks, and today is my day for re-pimping my fic on the big bang community, so I'm posting them.
( Outcast )
Doppelganger
Well, amongst the 40,000 words that were cut were 10,000 some words of au'ified Doppelganger, and 6,000 some words of kind of au Outcast (in that everything that fits into this is story is au, but the actual events of Outcast proceed exactly as they did on the show.)
And I liked them, and they've been sitting on my hard drive for weeks, and today is my day for re-pimping my fic on the big bang community, so I'm posting them.
( Outcast )
Doppelganger
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camshaft22 has, in a moment of what I can only assume is insanity (seriously, it's 72,000 words, *I* gave up after about 10,000), offered to do a dvd commentary on Never As Bad As Anticipated, for the big bang's general promotion thing they're starting up in a couple of weeks.Okay, that was a terrible explanation of what they're doing.
Basically: people, like the afore-mentioned
camshaft22, can offer to do a review or a commentary on the story, and the authors can do their own commentary (I tried, got through about 10,000 words and gave up), or write about the writing process (which I think everyone who reads this journal has heard quite enough whining about, to be honest) or do a kind of Q&A thing.I've got a couple of episode related chunks that I cut in favour of, you know, actual plot, which I'm probably going to post, as soon as I remember what the second one was and manage to find it amongst all the pages of cut stuff, but I thought I'd ask - stuff you wondered about, didn't get, wanted to have expanded on? Pretty much the only things I thought were interesting enough to comment on when I tried to do my own commentary was just how much of the story is kind of anti-fanon, which is, honestly, probably only interesting to me, and then only because I didn't realise how much of an anti-fanon manifesto it was until I started keeping track.
That said, I promise to find interesting things to say in answers to questions if you have them.
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Despite predictions of doom and gloom - the sga big bang site is live!
I've got 15 of the 39 fics tagged to read (well, of the 38 - I don't need to read my own), which ought to keep me busy this weekend :)
Title: Never As Bad As Anticipated (Until It Is)
Author:blufamingo
Word count: 72,953
Pairing: John/Cam (with some Teyla/Kanaan, and a couple of other very minor canon pairings)
Rating: R
Summary: Atlantis wasn't Cam's first choice for reassignment; he probably wasn't Atlantis' first choice for the new expedition leader either. Sometimes you work with what you've got anyway, even if what you've got includes seers, ill-advised rescue missions, replicators, wraith in the city and John Sheppard.
Beta'd bydossier, domtheknight, chase_acow and mf_luder_xf, without whom it would have been significantly more bitty than it is in reality, and with a plot that made a lot less sense.
Art by:sian1359, cala_jane and clayeer. The first two are covers for the story, and they're both absolutely gorgeous. The third is an illustration that goes with the epilogue and is the most adorable piece of Cam/John art ever. It's seriously so so sweet.
Feedback post for the fic.
I've got 15 of the 39 fics tagged to read (well, of the 38 - I don't need to read my own), which ought to keep me busy this weekend :)
Title: Never As Bad As Anticipated (Until It Is)
Author:
blufamingoWord count: 72,953
Pairing: John/Cam (with some Teyla/Kanaan, and a couple of other very minor canon pairings)
Rating: R
Summary: Atlantis wasn't Cam's first choice for reassignment; he probably wasn't Atlantis' first choice for the new expedition leader either. Sometimes you work with what you've got anyway, even if what you've got includes seers, ill-advised rescue missions, replicators, wraith in the city and John Sheppard.
Beta'd by
dossier, domtheknight, chase_acow and mf_luder_xf, without whom it would have been significantly more bitty than it is in reality, and with a plot that made a lot less sense.Art by:
sian1359, cala_jane and clayeer. The first two are covers for the story, and they're both absolutely gorgeous. The third is an illustration that goes with the epilogue and is the most adorable piece of Cam/John art ever. It's seriously so so sweet.Feedback post for the fic.
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mcshep_match finished a few days ago, but the author reveal hasn't happened yet, so... If you can guess which one I wrote, I'll write you something in return.Um, let me rephrase that - if you can guess in one or two attempts, since there are only 25 stories it could possible be!
I wrote for the away team, and I'm pretty sure someone will guess as soon as they see who is guest-starring in the story :)
In other news -
sgabigbang fic was sent on Sunday, and I'm not opening the file up again, ever. Mainly because every time I do I want to fiddle with it, and add stuff, and I have to stop myself. This is why I like deadlines :) The archive doesn't open till some time in August, but when it does there will be John/Cam art to go with the story - I'm so excited!!I thought sgabigbang fics were due on the 14th July - ie MONDAY - have I missed the deadline being pushed back?
Because there's been, you know, nothing at all on the comm for weeks now, and I would have expected some kind of... something. Reminder? Note about how and where to submit? Post of glee about all the finished fic?
And there's, you know, nothing. Is it weird that *that's* what's freaking me out?
Somebody ressure me please? meep
sgabigbang fics were due on the 14th July - ie MONDAY - have I missed the deadline being pushed back?Because there's been, you know, nothing at all on the comm for weeks now, and I would have expected some kind of... something. Reminder? Note about how and where to submit? Post of glee about all the finished fic?
And there's, you know, nothing. Is it weird that *that's* what's freaking me out?
Somebody ressure me please? meep
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Current big bang word count: 66,265.
I guess it'll end up around 75,000 words this time. A lot of the re-writing so far has been cutting and pasting old stuff, with some additional scenes, but now I'm into the bit that actually requires me to write it from scratch. And action as well - I'm not good at action scenes.
The biggest problem, actually, is keeping the minor stuff straight. I keep having to read back to figure out if what I'm referring to has actually happened in this version, or if I cut it. Or, worse, if I'm still using it, but later on. I've got zero ability to remember the details of my own plot at this point. It's a problem.
I guess it'll end up around 75,000 words this time. A lot of the re-writing so far has been cutting and pasting old stuff, with some additional scenes, but now I'm into the bit that actually requires me to write it from scratch. And action as well - I'm not good at action scenes.
The biggest problem, actually, is keeping the minor stuff straight. I keep having to read back to figure out if what I'm referring to has actually happened in this version, or if I cut it. Or, worse, if I'm still using it, but later on. I've got zero ability to remember the details of my own plot at this point. It's a problem.
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Some days, it really is a good thing to have (a) very good beta readers and (b) a tendency to finish way before the dead line.
Which is to say: I just cut around 40,000 words from my big bang fic in favour of totally re-writing the second part.
On the one hand, it probably won't take me another 40,000 words to do so, and I can recycle some of what I already wrote. On the other hand, oh my god, 40,000 words, and most of them are completely useless now.
And I thought it felt bad to cut 4,000 words from something.
Which is to say: I just cut around 40,000 words from my big bang fic in favour of totally re-writing the second part.
On the one hand, it probably won't take me another 40,000 words to do so, and I can recycle some of what I already wrote. On the other hand, oh my god, 40,000 words, and most of them are completely useless now.
And I thought it felt bad to cut 4,000 words from something.
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In the battle of bluflamingo v John Sheppard, the final result:
bluflamingo 1 Sheppard 0
:)
Though I really am out of practise at writing John/Rodney these days. I need new episodes - I get the idea of the two of them together when I have new evidence every week, unlike John/Cam, who exist quite happily in my head without canon to contradict me.
So (because I'm a little obsessive about tracking deadlines and making lists) I've just been looking at my fic challenge deadlines spreadsheet. Over the next month or so, I'm signed up to do four challenges, three-quarters of which are about women:femslash08, femgenficathon (which I *loved* writing for last year), and passion_perfect's International Day of Femslash.
Which means - July is totally going to be month of women when all these start getting posted. I can't wait :)
In other news, I'm thinking major edit to the second half of my big bang fic. And this is before it's even come back from my beta-readers. Sigh.
ETA: "Rationalized deathwatch" is the most bizarre spam subject line I have ever seen. Disappointingly, it contained an ad for Viagra.
bluflamingo 1 Sheppard 0
:)
Though I really am out of practise at writing John/Rodney these days. I need new episodes - I get the idea of the two of them together when I have new evidence every week, unlike John/Cam, who exist quite happily in my head without canon to contradict me.
So (because I'm a little obsessive about tracking deadlines and making lists) I've just been looking at my fic challenge deadlines spreadsheet. Over the next month or so, I'm signed up to do four challenges, three-quarters of which are about women:
femslash08, femgenficathon (which I *loved* writing for last year), and passion_perfect's International Day of Femslash.Which means - July is totally going to be month of women when all these start getting posted. I can't wait :)
In other news, I'm thinking major edit to the second half of my big bang fic. And this is before it's even come back from my beta-readers. Sigh.
ETA: "Rationalized deathwatch" is the most bizarre spam subject line I have ever seen. Disappointingly, it contained an ad for Viagra.
My Big Bang fic is finished.
Well, the first complete draft, anyway.
Final word count: 88,845
And can I just say that it's a good thing I went way over my projected word count each week, because I was allowing ten weeks to write it (and a month after for beta-reading and editing), writing around 7000 words a week and clearly I never would have made the final word count had I done so.
Now for the editing *shudder*
Well, the first complete draft, anyway.
Final word count: 88,845
And can I just say that it's a good thing I went way over my projected word count each week, because I was allowing ten weeks to write it (and a month after for beta-reading and editing), writing around 7000 words a week and clearly I never would have made the final word count had I done so.
Now for the editing *shudder*
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Okay, so, whining aside, I've apparently have 71,956 words of this story. Yeah, I don't know how that happened either, especially since I've only been writing it for 6 weeks. I think the words breed overnight - I'll read it back and find pages of nonsense in the middle where the words had babies that make no sense.
And now I'm making no sense.
Anyway, since the bigbang community is allowing people to post snippets in comments if they've reached 15,000 words, and I've got that nearly 5 times over, I figured I'd
( subject you guys to it as well )
And now I'm making no sense.
Anyway, since the bigbang community is allowing people to post snippets in comments if they've reached 15,000 words, and I've got that nearly 5 times over, I figured I'd
( subject you guys to it as well )
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Oh fucking hell. Someone write the end of this for me please, before I go insane? There can't be more than 15,000 words to go. Maybe.
This is why it took me a year to write a novel.
This is why it took me a year to write a novel.
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Okay, I admit it, I'm lost.
Do they stop working on the Replicator shut down program at some point before Be All My Sins Remembered, or does it just fade into the background in favour of McKay's blob weapon and everything?
And if they do stop before that, when? And why? Please help! My brain can't cope with mid-season 4 Atlantis plots any longer, it all got too confusing.
The worst thing being that I'm not even sure it matters, considering how much I've messed with the season at this point, but I can't figure out if it matters until I figure out what happened, and the combination of wikipedia, gateworld and skimming the episodes isn't helping - I'm throwing myself at your mercy!
Do they stop working on the Replicator shut down program at some point before Be All My Sins Remembered, or does it just fade into the background in favour of McKay's blob weapon and everything?
And if they do stop before that, when? And why? Please help! My brain can't cope with mid-season 4 Atlantis plots any longer, it all got too confusing.
The worst thing being that I'm not even sure it matters, considering how much I've messed with the season at this point, but I can't figure out if it matters until I figure out what happened, and the combination of wikipedia, gateworld and skimming the episodes isn't helping - I'm throwing myself at your mercy!
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So, I'm going to be irritatingly cryptic, since it's kind of a plot point, but, oh, I wasn't intending to write the scene I just did. I didn't even realise I was going to until I started that section, not really. But it had to happen. Or, well, it could have happened another way, I guess, but not without needing another 10,000 words that I wasn't prepared to give it.
Still... :(
Plus, I think I have to (a) go back and chop a lot of stuff from the start and (b) go back and put in some stuff that I forgot I needed, including some really kind of vital set up for what comes next.
On the bright side, my other fic forlgbtfest is done, done, done! With a whole week to go. Yay :)
Still... :(
Plus, I think I have to (a) go back and chop a lot of stuff from the start and (b) go back and put in some stuff that I forgot I needed, including some really kind of vital set up for what comes next.
On the bright side, my other fic for
lgbtfest is done, done, done! With a whole week to go. Yay :)Tags:
When you're writing about someone giving another guy a blowjob, the phrase 'it wasn't hard,' is not the one you want.
It's not that kind of sex scene. Thank God. Fifty thousand words is enough time to get into bed, there will be no putting it off again because someone has performance anxiety.
It's not that kind of sex scene. Thank God. Fifty thousand words is enough time to get into bed, there will be no putting it off again because someone has performance anxiety.
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Or, with the more realistic end-point of 80,000 words:
Most of this week has ben about Teyla and the Athosians (though I did get to write movie night on Atlantis, which was a lot of fun), which has, of course, led to a whole lot of stuff that I wasn't anticipating when I started that story-line, like what Michael would do if he went to capture the Athosians and couldn't get them. For which I actually have a solution, but, gah, changing the plot of an entire season is a lot more work that it seemed when I started.
Oh yeah, that whole, then Cam and John have sex thing I was talking about this time last week? Still haven't written it. It's totally in the next scene or two, I swear. Maybe.
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This is what I get for being all whee! accomplishment! the other day. I can't settle to do anything, I haven't got anything done, and there have been no words written on either big bang or my other lgbt fest fic. And I know if I just started, on either one, I'd get in the mood and keep going, and I know what I want to write, for both of them, and I just can't settle to do it. Gah!
Plus, I was plotting out the rewrite of Doppelganger in my head last night instead of going to sleep and - don't ask me how I managed not to notice before - realised I'm going to have to kill someone. I don't want to kill anyone :( And, okay, it's not going to be anyone major (despite me nearly putting either Keller or Lorne into that position before I realised) but... I don't want to kill anyone. Particularly since I don't actually know who it would be... preferably not Heightmeyer, since that's what the show did, but that doesn't leave me with any characters from the show who I'd want to have die. It's a problem.
As is the fact that I'm pretty sure my gender tutor is going to realise who said mostly negative things on her evaluation this morning, particularly since she caught me making my 'you're wrong but I don't want to argue' face in class. But she was talking about the internet being a male space and when I mentioned slash fandom as a female dominated space, she basically said that it wasn't important and didn't count. Unlike chatrooms, which was what she was talking about, because apparently all chatrooms are filled with insensitive sexist men who make inappropriate comments to any woman who wanders in. None of them are polite and welcoming, and there doesn't exist a single female dominated chatroom on the whole internet, and well, even if there did, clearly that wouldn't count, like female dominated slash fandoms.
Yeah, I still think she's a bad teacher; and I wouldn't mind that she knew I said these things (well, I would, since I imagine she'll know which one my essay is as well, anonymous marking or not) but we've got another class next week. I kind of really want to skip it, just in case.
You know, well over two decades of education of various types, I've never been glad that a class was finishing, ever. Not until I took this one, and it makes me really sad. I love education, I love taking classes and learning things (to the point of doing Open University modules despite having a degree already, before I came back to do my masters), and if this was the only class I was taking this term, I don't think I'd want to come back next year.
Plus, I was plotting out the rewrite of Doppelganger in my head last night instead of going to sleep and - don't ask me how I managed not to notice before - realised I'm going to have to kill someone. I don't want to kill anyone :( And, okay, it's not going to be anyone major (despite me nearly putting either Keller or Lorne into that position before I realised) but... I don't want to kill anyone. Particularly since I don't actually know who it would be... preferably not Heightmeyer, since that's what the show did, but that doesn't leave me with any characters from the show who I'd want to have die. It's a problem.
As is the fact that I'm pretty sure my gender tutor is going to realise who said mostly negative things on her evaluation this morning, particularly since she caught me making my 'you're wrong but I don't want to argue' face in class. But she was talking about the internet being a male space and when I mentioned slash fandom as a female dominated space, she basically said that it wasn't important and didn't count. Unlike chatrooms, which was what she was talking about, because apparently all chatrooms are filled with insensitive sexist men who make inappropriate comments to any woman who wanders in. None of them are polite and welcoming, and there doesn't exist a single female dominated chatroom on the whole internet, and well, even if there did, clearly that wouldn't count, like female dominated slash fandoms.
Yeah, I still think she's a bad teacher; and I wouldn't mind that she knew I said these things (well, I would, since I imagine she'll know which one my essay is as well, anonymous marking or not) but we've got another class next week. I kind of really want to skip it, just in case.
You know, well over two decades of education of various types, I've never been glad that a class was finishing, ever. Not until I took this one, and it makes me really sad. I love education, I love taking classes and learning things (to the point of doing Open University modules despite having a degree already, before I came back to do my masters), and if this was the only class I was taking this term, I don't think I'd want to come back next year.
Big Bang current word count: 40,568.
I hit the 40,000 word mark! Woo hoo!
I'm thinking final word count probably somewhere around 70,000 before it gets beta-read and edited and possibly shortened. I'm going back and writing in Teyla's story now, which is interesting; we really don't know *anything* about Kanaan, and I don't write het relationships. That said, I suspect it will be more about Teyla and the Athosians than Teyla and Kanaan (yeah, in this universe, they don't get kidnapped. The whole Michael thing? Stopped before it starts).
That aside, the story-line is currently cut off partway through the wraith and Rodney trying to fix the replicators. Then there's Miller's Crossing, but from Atlantis, since I have nothing new to do with the on Earth bit, followed by John and Cam *finally* getting to have sex, and not long after that I get to write the fight between John and Rodney that I've been wanting to write since I started, and my amendment to Doppelganger, where everyone gets nightmares about Cam. Not that I know what these will be yet. Oh, and Cam and Rodney stuck in a transporter together during Quarantine. Maybe. If it doesn't end up seeming too bad-comedy-movie-ish, which it might.
I can't imagine, now, why I thought I'd have trouble getting to 40,000 words. I'm just grteful it's not a maximum word count, at this point!
On the Open Source Boob Project (if you don't know what that is, keep it that way), I have one thing to say: no-one should have to opt out of being asked if a stranger can touch their breasts. If you don't know the answer to that, assume it's going to be no.
Actually, that isn't all I have to say, but I already ranted on three people's journals about it this evening, so I'm going to shut up in my own.
I hit the 40,000 word mark! Woo hoo!
I'm thinking final word count probably somewhere around 70,000 before it gets beta-read and edited and possibly shortened. I'm going back and writing in Teyla's story now, which is interesting; we really don't know *anything* about Kanaan, and I don't write het relationships. That said, I suspect it will be more about Teyla and the Athosians than Teyla and Kanaan (yeah, in this universe, they don't get kidnapped. The whole Michael thing? Stopped before it starts).
That aside, the story-line is currently cut off partway through the wraith and Rodney trying to fix the replicators. Then there's Miller's Crossing, but from Atlantis, since I have nothing new to do with the on Earth bit, followed by John and Cam *finally* getting to have sex, and not long after that I get to write the fight between John and Rodney that I've been wanting to write since I started, and my amendment to Doppelganger, where everyone gets nightmares about Cam. Not that I know what these will be yet. Oh, and Cam and Rodney stuck in a transporter together during Quarantine. Maybe. If it doesn't end up seeming too bad-comedy-movie-ish, which it might.
I can't imagine, now, why I thought I'd have trouble getting to 40,000 words. I'm just grteful it's not a maximum word count, at this point!
On the Open Source Boob Project (if you don't know what that is, keep it that way), I have one thing to say: no-one should have to opt out of being asked if a stranger can touch their breasts. If you don't know the answer to that, assume it's going to be no.
Actually, that isn't all I have to say, but I already ranted on three people's journals about it this evening, so I'm going to shut up in my own.
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You know, I think I'd be happier about having just passed the 30,000 word mark if it hadn't come with the realisation that I need to go back and write Teyla's story as well, because it's so different from canon season 4, and I think it needs to be explicit, or it will come across as marginalising Teyla into a mother role, rather than exploring what it means to be a leader and a warrior and a potential mother in this context (although less pretentious than that sounds).
Not that I mind writing Teyla, but I really don't need this to start getting longer!
Also, adding in her point of view opens up the potential to write bits in Lorne's as well, and I'm not sure I can resist the opportunity to write him and Cadman.
On a brighter note, the angst v sex dilemma has been resolved by the handy use of neither of these in favor of John being kind of an idiot and Cam being very patient. Angst and sex to follow shortly (possibly very shortly, if I elide the next couple of weeks rather than writing them in detail, which ought to be doable).
I'd say that these things wouldn't happen if I had an outline, but that's a total lie.
In other news...
1. Interpreting Gender tutor continues to annoy me by writing a simultaneously really vague and really specific essay question (bodies matter - does this apply more to women than men?) which I intend to subvert since I know she wants us to talk about weight and appearance and I have nothing interesting or new to say on that topic, so am going to talk about medical technology and reproduction instead.
2. Work continue to fail at working out my pay month on month, and have simultaneously overpaid and underpaid me, and listed pay from a month ago as pay in advance, thus utterly confusing me.
3. I continue to come across as an idiot when commenting on a particular person's fics, without being entirely sure how I manage that. Anyone else do that - find that you just can't say the right thing, and trying to explain makes you sound even dumber, to the point that you just want to say 'I liked that, thank you,' and run away?
Note to self: don't forget to post lgbt fest fic on Sunday, or to write the other one. Fifty words in a notebook do not a fic make.
Not that I mind writing Teyla, but I really don't need this to start getting longer!
Also, adding in her point of view opens up the potential to write bits in Lorne's as well, and I'm not sure I can resist the opportunity to write him and Cadman.
On a brighter note, the angst v sex dilemma has been resolved by the handy use of neither of these in favor of John being kind of an idiot and Cam being very patient. Angst and sex to follow shortly (possibly very shortly, if I elide the next couple of weeks rather than writing them in detail, which ought to be doable).
I'd say that these things wouldn't happen if I had an outline, but that's a total lie.
In other news...
1. Interpreting Gender tutor continues to annoy me by writing a simultaneously really vague and really specific essay question (bodies matter - does this apply more to women than men?) which I intend to subvert since I know she wants us to talk about weight and appearance and I have nothing interesting or new to say on that topic, so am going to talk about medical technology and reproduction instead.
2. Work continue to fail at working out my pay month on month, and have simultaneously overpaid and underpaid me, and listed pay from a month ago as pay in advance, thus utterly confusing me.
3. I continue to come across as an idiot when commenting on a particular person's fics, without being entirely sure how I manage that. Anyone else do that - find that you just can't say the right thing, and trying to explain makes you sound even dumber, to the point that you just want to say 'I liked that, thank you,' and run away?
Note to self: don't forget to post lgbt fest fic on Sunday, or to write the other one. Fifty words in a notebook do not a fic make.