highrise living for a joke like me

980 words in one sitting. WOOOOOOOOOO

(And since it seemed to be universally most popular, I'm working on alien matchmakers. :D)

Last one, minus a post of resolutions tomorrow.

( 2009 Writing Stats )

And for kicks, last year's.

(Damn LJ Mobile ate this post before. Let's try it again from a real computer.)

I am in desperate need of an alpha reader for a piece of Star Trek Reboot fic I'm working on for trekreversebang. I know what my basic plot is going to be, and I've got 2k words on the page, but I need help with transitions and making the emotional undercurrents subtle enough.

You don't need to know anything about canon except a basic grasp of the main characters. It's an AU, with an Andromeda-like android that is part of the Enterprise's systems. The fic will be low-rated Kirk/android!Enterprise, unrequited Spock/Kirk, so I can't just ask the usual suspects at kirkspock.

Help? Please? E-mail me or comment if you think you can help. melayneseahawk[at]gmail[dot]com

Wild horse-bunnies. When a story just gets pulled right out of you. Do you get them?

Yep. Not often, but sometimes I'll get an idea (or someone will prompt me) and I'll just sit down and then surface hours later with a complete story. It's kind of cool.

Writer's block. Have you been scourged?

Ugh, yeah. It's partially mood related, but not solely. There will definitely be days when I want to write and no words come out, or I have time to write but just don't feel like it. I wish I had better coping mechanisms to work through that, because I'd really love to write just a little bit every day.

Clean up duty. Do you like editing?

I tend to edit as I go, so usually the EDITING period is just having someone else check for typos. On longer works (*cough*Kriegsspiel*cough*), I kind of want to delete the whole thing about halfway through the editing process.

The ending. Is it hard for you to find the ending?

I usually know where I'm writing to when I get started, even if it the middle is foggy. I do tend to rush the ending, especially in longer, plottier fic, but I'm slowly training myself out of that habit.

The title. Where do you get yours? Do you have yours when you start the story?

Ugh, I am so bad at titles. 99% of the time, I'm frantically rushing to find a title so I can post whatever it is, because I refuse to post things with no title at all. I usually go for single thematic or topic words, song lyrics, quotes, that sort of thing.

Plot. If you plot out your stories first, raise your hand.

LOL no. Not at all no. I tend to start with a beginning and write to the end. Or I start with a scene in the middle, write a beginning to it, and then write to the end. And then, occasionally, the fic takes a left turn at Albuquerque and I have no idea where it's going.

POV. How do you choose your POV for a scene? For a story?

Most of my stuff is relatively short, so it tends to be single POV. Stories tend to come to me with the POV and tenses pre-determined; I don't think I've ever gone "no, this isn't right" and redone one or the other. For Kriegsspiel, I based out the POV of each scene based on who the focus of that scene was, or who would make the best observer.

Challenge. Do you like them? Do they inspire you?

I love challenges. Prompt-a-thons, gift-a-thons, RemixRedux, I love it. I'm usually writing at the last minute, because I'm shit about deadlines, but I love the way writing to a prompt or a request can often be an excuse to stretch myself and try something new. Many of my most interesting fic came out of a challenge of some type.

Sex. Do you like writing sex?

Honestly? No. I know I have a rep for being a slut-tastic writer (:P), but I don't actually enjoy writing sex. I write it because it's what the plot needs, or because someone asked for it, or because--yes, I really am this shallow--I know sexy fic often gets the most feedback.

lifted from sidlj: Each Sunday, post about six sentences from a writing project -- published, submitted, in progress, for your cat -- whatever.

“Mister O’Neill, begin docking procedures.”

“Aye, Captain,” Jack said, hands flying over the console with the ease of practice, notifying the Tertia spaceport that the Wild Goose would be coming in for a landing. He transmitted their registration and manifest without thinking about it, already focused on what he would do when they were planetside. Once the cargo was unloaded, he’d meet up with Daniel, Carter, and T; they’d get a room at one of the taverns that dotted the ship district, and then they’d enjoy the comforts of being dirt-bound for a few days: fresh food, drinkable beer, non-recycled air, different company. Spending weeks at a time in a flying tin can got really old, really fast.

I don't usually post WsIP, but I wanted to get this one in before the end of the year. Something a little spooky to end the year on. :D

A Still and Silent Sea | G | 1243 words | 1/3?
Stargate SG-1; Jack/Daniel; It is the still and silent sea that drowns a man. - Norse proverb

I have the rest of this basically planned out, but I just have to sort out the details and write it down.

I <3 muck_a_luck. It's not even her fandom, and she's letting me bounce ideas off her. This is what I came up with, posted here because it just amuses me too much that I outlined the climactic scene of this story in scraps of dialogue and emoticons.

jim gives spock the sweater, starts babbling ("gaila taught me how to knit...i know you wear blue all the time, but it's a good color on you..." etc)
and then spock says "yes"
jim: "yes? to what?"
and the spock kisses him
and jim starts looking for mistletoe
spock: "I do not understand how a small flowering shrub relates to the circumstances at hand"
jim: "but you kissed me"
spock: "you were not [some vulcan phrase that i will totally look up that will mean proposing]"
jim: O.o o.O
spock: [blah blah cultural differences blah]
jim: "um, ok then" *pounce*
and then there was sex

THE END

:D You know you love me.

So, my jd_ficathon fic is either done, or half done, and I need someone to take a look at it and help me decide. Any takers?

Thanks!

So, I'm thisclose to finishing my Stargate lgbtfest fic, which I need to have ready to post on Wednesday (yay, Amnesty Day). And I need a beta.

( details under the cut )

It should be done and ready to be sent out tonight. Comment here if you're interested in helping out.

1. Used public transit to get to class today for the first time since the snow. Was easier than I might have expected, though I did fall into a snowbank up to my thighs when I stepped on a spot that was not as solid as I'd thought. Oh, my poor coat. I will treat you to a trip to the dry cleaners once it gets warm.

2. Speaking of spring, it is my intention to cut my hair in April or so. It's currently down to my waist and still growing...and covering the house. Maybe if I start thinking about what to do with it now, I will have decided by April. :P

3. Thing #6283 That Annoys Mel: people who walk excruciatingly slowly down a pathway that you can't pass them on (hip-high snow on either side, yo).

4. My writing prof is an asshole, but at least he seems to realize when he's wrong. He keeps penalizing me for the fact that I'm not actually registered for his class yet (paperwork issues), to the point where it looked for about two hours today that I was going to have to turn in a final draft of my first short story with no outside editing at all. We got to the last 45 minutes of class, and he decided that I was going to be the one workshopped, which was fantastic (except he felt the need to point out that I didn't have copies for the class, which was kind of of obvious, and his fault, anyway, for not responding to his goddamn e-mail). But, I got helpful comments (eventually, see below), so at least I have something to work on.

4a. And then I traumatized the class with my Little Gay Story. The story ends with a kiss between two people who happen to be male, and I finished reading the story aloud, looked up, and silence in the theatre. I had to do a little rationalizing of my existence ("I'm a lesbian. This is the world I live in. This is what I know."), but once people got talking they mostly had helpful things to say. But wow, you'd think they'd never met a gay person before. :(