Random KJ update, five-things-make-a-post style

[owlmoose]

1. As of this week, I'm back on a Monday-Friday schedule at work (I've been mostly working Tuesday-Saturday since mid-April). I'm happy to get my traditional weekends back, sad to lose my nice laid-back Mondays, and overall just really confused about what day it is now. I'll get back in the swing of it soon, but it's going take some time to adjust back.

2. I seem to be whole-heartedly embracing Cinders as a fandom. At the moment, I'm in the midst of something I've never done before: writing a scene or two of a story every day or so and posting as I go. Originally I didn't care for Tumblr as a fic-posting venue, but for this mode it actually works pretty well. It will definitely need polishing before I put the whole thing together -- the seams between scenes, especially -- but I'm happy with how it's coming together so far. And it's a nice way to keep myself pushing forward on it rather than letting it drift into WIP limbo. If you want to follow the WIP, here's a link to the tag.

3. Also on Tumblr, I completed a 30 Days meme for Alistair, which was particularly interesting because a lot of other folks were doing it too, and it was fun to see other people's takes on the questions and on his character. I got some great new headcanon thoughts, and came up with some ideas of my own. Eventually I will probably post the character development interview I was writing up for Sereda Aeducan at about the same time, especially as my work on each informed my answers for the other.

4. I spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks vegging out in front of the Olympics, which was fun, but good god was the NBC coverage wretched. I should probably have given up and gone to the livestreams, but I much prefer to watch sporting events on my nice large television than on a computer screen. As a result, I found myself watching less and less, and skipped the closing ceremonies entirely. I had heard rumors that NBC was going to lose it stranglehold on coverage, due largely to the time delay shenanigans, but no such luck -- they've got the contract through 2020 at least. Sigh.

5. I gave in to temptation and bought the eARC of "Captain Vorpatril's Alliance", the new Vorkosigan saga novel, which isn't out in print until November. I haven't had a ton of reading time lately, so I've been working my way through slowly, but I've been enjoying an Ivan-centric novel every bit as much as I thought I would. This is one of the first novels I've read on my iPad, and it's... interesting. Not sure how I feel about the experience, overall. More thoughts on both the story and its ebook format to come, I'm sure.

Comments

[sarasa_cat]

2. Interesting about the scene or two per day as a draft that's being posted on the go. I've been thinking about doing something similar with the draft scenes on tumblr and the final chapters on AO3 but I've been concerned that readers either wouldn't want the tumblr scene drafts or, after reading them, they wouldn't bother to read the polished, completed chapters on AO3. (Or maybe I just should care and, instead, write and post in the most writer-centric way possible??)

3. The Alistair meme is fantastic for headcanon. It's even made me revive my first DA:O fanfic (Alistair/Warden, Alistair/Whinge) because the meme made me remember how interesting a character he is.

[owlmoose]

2. The thing about posting fic on Tumblr is that is it so ephemeral. So I have hope that the people reading it now aren't the only people who will ever be interested in reading it. True, the folks reading the WIP may not ever experience the fic is its fully polished glory, but I've decided to be okay with that -- it's worth the encouragement of likes and notes along the way.

3. Definitely, and I'm glad it's revived your interest in that story. :) (On a personal note, though, I must confess that I cringe a little every time you say you're writing "Alistair/Whinge", I think because it reminds me too much of the people who complain that he's "whining" over Duncan's death, killing Isolde, Logain, etc. I know you don't mean it that way, but it's an insult I hear pointed at DA characters all too often, especially male ones who dare express that something or someone has hurt them. One of the things I like about Alistair, in particular, is that he is not stoic, that he does wear his heart on his sleeve.)

[sarasa_cat]

2. Agreed about how ephemeral Tumblr is. Given how busy my days are, I really like seeing daily serial ficbits on my dash. They provide a perfect mini-break and brain refresher when taking 5 minutes for myself during work.

3. *dopeslap* I've done such a good job of avoiding *that* segment of fandom I've all but forgotten about them and the shallow/accusatory read they have of characters like Alistair (and Anora and Leliana and Fenris and...) Sorry about making you cringe. It's just been a much easier shorthand for me to say that rather than "Alistair's inner struggle over owning his identity, defining his freedom, and asserting his needs when feeling more comfortable presenting as a soft, irresolute young man, especially when surrounded by dynamic people with plans (Duncan, Warden, Eamon+Teagan), and with all of this dipped in nostalgia for things lost or soon to be lost or feared will be lost, mixed with a post-modern sense of ennui plus an emotional intelligence more mature and insightful than what society would expect/allow/desire for someone Alistair's age, with all of these ingredients resulting in a protective armor of sarcasm and self-perpetuating irresoluteness." Likewise, I sort of feel that Alistair-a-la-Murakami-male-protagonist sounds far too pretentious. ;)

[owlmoose]

It's cool; like I said, I knew you didn't mean it that way and figured it was shorthand for something else. :) (I've only read one Murakami, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle", so that shorthand wouldn't have helped me either!) Alistair/Sarcasm? Alistair/Growing Up (and about time, too)? Hm.