On writing

[tardis_stowaway]

The writing process is fascinating.  Yesterday I made some progress on "All Thy Pride," the next Illyria story.  (Don't get your hopes up!  It will be a long while yet before it sees the light of the internet.  The story is likely to be lengthy, and I write very slowly.)  Later that evening, while doing something completely different, I suddenly had an inspiration about how to resolve a plot point that will arise later in the story.  I need to give one of the characters from the crossover (still secret at the moment) a backstory that is going to whump her rather severely so that she's in a mental place to make a very brave decision.  Sometimes writing is so laborious, all conscious management of every little detail and structural element.  Then sometimes it's like this, when I could quite clearly hear the character confessing her past, so distant from my conscious control that I got thoroughly upset when I understood what happened to the poor girl.  When the time comes to put that scene on the screen, it will still be difficult work to find the exact words to bring it across, but the bones of the scene are in my head like one of my own memories.  She'll gain some reasons for her actions that will make her  a much more sympathetic character (in original form she's a bit of a caricature), but I'm rather disturbed by the underlayers of my brain for coming up with this.

Meanwhile, plot bunnies keep assaulting my brain and attempting to turn my limited writing time away from this story.  In addition to the stories I listed on my post of upcoming fic a while back, I've added to the stack a few vignettes of Ten and Rose visiting places in California and a rather disturbing explanation of what was between the Master and Lucy Saxon, who are quite disturbing enough without my help.  I seriously need to bring out the Holy Hand Grenade to beat back these vicious rabbits with their nasty, sharp, pointy teeth of unwanted inspiration.

Meanwhile, in RL:  nonstop rain! 

Comments

[fishface44.livejournal.com]

I'm not getting my hopes up, but at least you are keeping hope alive for more Illyria. I like hearing how real the characters are to you, since that is how they come across to me in your writing. Of course I do think you need to keep well clear of the Holy Hand Grenade, since I selfishly want the bunnies to keep visiting you endlessly. ;)

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

But there's too many bunnies at once! I don't object to their existence, but I wish they would queue up so I can deal with them one at a time and give them the attention they deserve. Instead they just crowd around like noisy children and distract me.

The current plan is for at least two more Illyria stories. Your patience should be rewarded, hopefully sometime before the sun expands. *sigh* My slowness frustrates me, but that's just how things are.

[dark-aegis.livejournal.com]

All I have to say is this: yay! :)

So visiting places in California, huh? Going to go into how it seems to rain every single day right now? ;)

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

So visiting places in California, huh? Going to go into how it seems to rain every single day right now? ;)

Ha! The continuous rain is a subject that weighs on my mind, since I live on the central coast and work outdoors.

Doctor (ominously): A storm is coming...and another one...and another one...and oh look! A storm.
Rose (damply): Let's go somewhere dry, like Scotland or Seattle.

[dark-aegis.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I'm currently on a business trip in Palmdale. There's nothing more surreal than walking through the snow in short sleeves and forty minutes later, walking through the desert, then a few hours later, getting drenched thanks to the rain.

And ROFL!

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Yay for more Illyria! But am I understanding your post correctly? This next story will be a crossover? Please, please, no! *wails* I almost never read crossovers (I think there's only one crossover I've read and really enjoyed in my life). It's partly because I rarely know the series the author is 'crossing' with, but also because I have a real dislike of lowering the 'fourth wall'. In my brain, characters belong in their own universes and I don't want to see them mix. So, no matter how much I love The West Wing, for example, I don't want to see Jed Bartlet in a DW fic.

When a favourite author of mine writes a crossover, I just wait until she's finished and read her next fic (*waves to honorh*). But that's kind of difficult when the crossover is part of an ongoing series... :(

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

'Tis indeed a crossover. Sorry about that! I worried about the anti-crossover sentiment (I tend to only read crossovers myself if they're by an author I trust AND I know the universe), but, well, I'm doing it anyway. If it helps, I intend to take pains to make the story accessible to those who are less familiar with the other source. Also, I'm not drawing from some random TV show but a work of literature that most people probably have at least a passing familiarity with (no, not Twelfth Night or anything Shakespeare. Early nineteenth century.)

The excuse I'm using to bring the worlds together is that Rose is already in the wrong universe. She knows of the people she meets from literature and is surprised to find them flesh and blood. I suppose you could see that as doing the fourth wall even more damage than a typical crossover, but in a way it's rather like when the Doctor and his companions visit famous historical people. Rose squees at meeting Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria (though with the former the Doctor was far dorkier), and Martha totally geeks out over Shakespeare. Hopefully, if you don't have a problem with, for example, The Shakespeare Code you won't have a problem with this.

There will be dancing! (only literal dancing, but hopefully still worth reading).

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds interesting, and (surprisingly) reassuring. I'm not sure why, since the principle is the same, but I do love early nineteenth century fiction and I can see the logic - parallel universe, why couldn't the character be real?

All right, I'll await with anticipation :)

[brilliantomega.livejournal.com]