Memento Mori, Chapter 19

[keaalu]

Bit of a long chapter this time. (Almost 8000 words; I've been trying to keep to around 5000 for ease of reading, but I got carried away, haha. At least it's not like last time, where I divided a chapter because it was getting too long and it ended up 3 chapters.)

( Fake cut to chapter 19 (Dreamwidth Mirror)) In which the Library discuss where Blink might have "sneaked away" to, and Blink finds that she's not precisely in the company of friends any more - although precisely how much trouble she is in, right now, hasn't quite sunk in yet.

85407 ♥ 100000

In other news, I've been fiddling about with my plot for "Future Tense"; I think I've got such a bad case of writer's block because I have lots of notes, and a general idea of where I'm taking it, but... there doesn't really seem to be much cohesiveness with it all.

Lastly, I was listening to Adele "I'll Be Waiting" while I was at the bus stop last night (because it's one of my favourite tracks, right now). Usually, I think of it as Sepp's (Lines like "Yes, I swam dirty waters; But you pushed me in" particularly remind me of her and Hack's relationship XD) but a certain red jet bullied his way into my consciousness and said "MINE". Soooo he can have it as well. ¬_¬ (The track itself, on YouTube)

"I'll Be Waiting"
Hold me closer, one more time,
Say that you love me in your last goodbye,
Please forgive me, for my sins,
Yes, I swam dirty waters,
But you pushed me in.

I've seen your face, under every sky,
Over every border and on every line.0
You know my heart, more than I do,
We were the greatest, me and you.

But we had time against us,
And miles between us,
The heavens cried,
I know I left you speechless.
But now the sky has cleared and it's blue,
And I see my future in you,

I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I'll put my hands up,
I'll do everything different,
I'll be better to you.

I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I'll put my hands up,
I'll be somebody different,
I'll be better to you.

Let me stay here for just one more night,
Build your world around me,
And pull me to the light.
So I can tell you that I was wrong,
I was a child then, but now I'm willing to learn.

But we had time against us,
And miles between us,
The heavens cried,
I know I left you speechless,
But now the sky has cleared and it's blue,
And I see my future in you.

I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I'll put my hands up,
I'll do everything different,
I'll be better to you,
I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I'll put my hands up,
I'll be somebody different,
I'll be better to you,

Time against us,
Miles between us,
Heavens cried,
I know I left you speechless
Time against us,
Miles between us,
Heavens cried,
I know I left you speechless,
I know I left you speechless

I'll be waiting,
I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I'll put my hands up,
I'll do everything different,
I'll be better to you,
I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I'll put my hands up,

I'll be somebody different,
I'll be better for you.
"I'll Be Waiting" as written by Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, Paul Epworth
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., EMI Music Publishing

Comments

Future Tense

[rebeldynasty.livejournal.com]

Hey, I talked with you on fanfiction.

Just wanted to say, even though it's still in progress, FT is shaping up rather nicely. Your work is actually pretty amazing. :) If you ever feel up to it, pitch me some of your ideas; I'm definitely not as good as you for writing, but maybe I can help you find some cohesion in your plot line.

Whatever happens, know this; your trilogy is one of the best-loved on that site, and for good reason. There's a lot of garbage on FF.Net nowadays-you, and a few others-are the bright spots in an otherwise dark world...well, to put it melodramatically. ;)

If you ever get anything published, I hope I wind up reading it. You have such a natural flow in your storyline, and holy shit, you're smarter than the average bear. You either did a LOT of research while writing the Blue trilogy, or you already had a vast wealth of knowledge at your disposal.

Again, you're brilliant, so never doubt that. ;)

Re: Future Tense

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

Aha, hi! You made it. XD And thanks.* ^^ It's always great to hear that people enjoy my writing - there's nothing worse than writing stuff that no-one reads. *melodramatic swoon*

I used to post a lot of ideas on my LJ - I haven't been doing so as much recently because I've been a bit scatterbrained. I try not to put too much under a filter; mostly just my grumpy noises about work and life.

I work for a medicines information service in a hospital, so I'm pretty good at finding things out that I can reflect onto my writing. I do feel a bit like a sponge for useless facts (and passwords, and phone numbers ¬_¬)

I think my publishing will be exclusively "self-published" (on Lulu or Blurb or something) but I hope that won't make it less appealing. XD (I don't have enough time to go seeking out agents and "real" publishers. *sadface*) I do post first drafts of things on my website or my journals, usually; like this one. (http://www.windchaser.co.uk/wrimo/memento-mori_part-1.pdf)

I hope you'll stick around, anyway. :D

(* = Sorry, I get kinda shy about compliments. XD)

Re: Future Tense

[rebeldynasty.livejournal.com]

No wonder you had such extensive medical knowledge! :O It most definitely made an impact, and made for a very engrossing storyline.

I don't think self-publishing is such a bad way to go at all. I mean, let's face it; there are authors out there that went to "real" publicists, and some of those novels are just crap. ;)

I have a lot of brushing up to do. Despite writing being such a big part of who I am, I find myself weaving in and out of it. Life is one big distraction from the things you'd rather be doing, and unfortunately, that means once nicely polished skills become rusty.

But I definitely want to get out there with some original stuff, myself. Fanfics are always nice practice, and particularly enjoyable, when it involves a fandom. :)

And no worries. ^_^ I get pretty shy when complimented, too. I grin like an idiot, usually, lol.

Re: Future Tense

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

I don't think self-publishing is such a bad way to go at all. I mean, let's face it; there are authors out there that went to "real" publicists, and some of those novels are just crap. ;)

I agree - I think it's just got a bad name for itself (as in, it's all badly-formatted, typo-ridden, "vanity press" publishing) because there's been so many people who've used it to publish... well, dross. XD I think they forget that "real" publishing isn't exactly perfect, as it produced such things as "Twilight"... ¬_¬

I have a lot of brushing up to do. Despite writing being such a big part of who I am, I find myself weaving in and out of it. Life is one big distraction from the things you'd rather be doing, and unfortunately, that means once nicely polished skills become rusty.

*nods* I find it's also easy to say "yeah, I'll schedule in an hour of writing every day!" and then... work happens, and I just fall asleep in the evenings. D'oh.

But I definitely want to get out there with some original stuff, myself. Fanfics are always nice practice, and particularly enjoyable, when it involves a fandom. :)

I suppose the good thing about writing fanfic is that it's easier to get readers! If people already care about the characters, it's a lot easier to get them to read something about them, whereas you have to first draw people IN to original fiction... and I'm not very good at self-promotion. I always got so frustrated when it came to getting people to read my original works - getting actual readers on ff.net was so exciting. XD

Re: Future Tense

[rebeldynasty.livejournal.com]

Hahahahahahaha! I didn't want to mention "Twilight", but it came to mind when I said crap has been published. Sparkling vampires? What the hell? XD

I hear you on that; I hadn't written any new chapters for a week, so last night, I finally managed.

It doesn't help that FF.Net is glitching...or maybe there's something wrong with my file. :S I have seventeen chapters in rough draft, and fourteen typed; I just got 14 back from my beta (we do it via email, rather than fanfiction) and after fixing some of my weak areas, I couldn't upload it. D: I hope support gets back to me soon.
*Coughs* I digress. ^^;

And what you say is true; it's easier to have the readers connect and relate with characters they already know and love. If and when I put my original stuff out there, I'll need to make it on-going, so that my readers are able to see the character development, and experience what they are reading, not just see words on paper. That's what I hope to do; by the way, that was an essence you captured beautifully in your writing. I didn't just see words; I experienced what the trine experienced. I was actually sad at the end of each 'fic. :)

And thanks for adding me as a friend! I tried to add you before, but it wouldn't let me, lol.

Re: Future Tense

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

I really never understood how it was that Twilight got SO big and SO popular. :( A lot of my friends at work - adult women that are older than me, and I'm 30 - LOVE it, and I'd rather... stick a fork in my eye. ¬_¬ It's like someone downloaded a badly written fanfiction and went WHOA WE COULD MAKE MEGABUCKS OFF THIS, KIDS WILL LOVE IT.

I think they'd been editing ff.net, recently, as my profile spontaneously lost ALL its links (quite frustrating as I'd linked a bit of fanart on it, bah!) and the frontpage said they'd done it to stop spammers abusing the site. So I wouldn't be surprised if it had been related. XD

One thing I've been trying to bear in mind for helping me let the reader "experience" things is a little tip I picked up off a writing workshop email: You've heard of "show not tell", right? (I never really understood this myself, for the longest time.) I never found that a very helpful phrase, until I picked up a tip off a writing newsletter. A way of making it easier to ACHIEVE "show not tell" is to delete the word "was" (and its synonyms) from your vocabulary. Avoid it at all costs!

As in: if you can't just say "she was hungry", you kind of force yourself to find more inventive ways of showing it, and they'll usually tend to be more sensory descriptions. (It's weird, but it does seem to work.)

Re: Future Tense

[rebeldynasty.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if that is what they did, when they created Twlilight. XD I read all four books twice; I was trying to give it the benefit of a doubt...but the characters were as shallow as puddles! Dear god, it was just pathetic. The fact that every 13-16 year old girl suddenly wanted a vampire boyfriend was a little more disturbing than I could handle. I tried watching the first movie. Didn't get more than half way through. I haven't touched any of the others. *Shudders* What are the chances that, whether her later books are vastly improved or not, Stephanie Meyers-or whatever her name is-will forever be judged by that tripe she wrote?

I actually had the fortune of seeing your artwork links. :) I also have a DA account, but I haven't done a lot of drawing on it, yet. My writing has taken up more of my artistic desires, as it always has. I should comment on them, regardless. It was definitely some cute artwork.

Lol, I wonder if that means my profile now lacks the "You know your a Transformers fan when" stuff? XD You're hardly the only offender, lol. There are tons of people on FF.Net who had fan art, OC profiles, and the like on their profiles. Hell, there are people who literally tore other people apart on their profiles. :S I bet it was more to get rid of their spam than any self-promotional art work links. ;)

I haven't read the show vs. tell thing anywhere, but it was suggested to me by both my beta reader, and one of my stronger reviewers (she's given me less reviews, but she gives me bigger, more detailed ones).

It definitely makes the writing experience both challenging, and more interesting. :) I'm officially in over my head. I still have so much more to do with my current 'fic, and now, I'm under-taking a collab with my beta reader. XD Gawds, I'm going to be so drained by the end of this.