And then, the other thing

Just updated "Sea of Green" at Fanfiction.net... you know I don't have the energy to put up the link. FAIL. D:

(It doesn't matter though, most people who read this will either see this weeks from now or get a notification through FF.net. But I like to pretend.)

Fanfic that is not by me and is therefore OMGSOAMAZING!!!

I got permission from Marci to pimp out the fic she wrote for me!

A couple of years ago I got all high and mighty and for my birthday asked people to write fic for me, specifically fic with Beth in it. I had only a few people with the time and inspiration to take me up on this, and I am amazed that that many did so, and everything that they gave me was *amazing*. I actually still intend to do a giant "OMG" post on each and every piece. But Marci only showed me what she wrote (I guess 'cause it's still incomplete, pfff, like THAT matters :D) a couple of weeks ago, and after I saw it and died, I wanted to make sure I had her permission to share it around... it being unfinished and all. I dunno, you'd think that with her having posted it that would be a sign that it's shareable, but eh, I err on the side of caution. FAR too often it turns out but ANYWAY! ;)

Here's the link to the absolutely fantastic stuff she has written so far:

http://fanfic.thebadfic.com/?p=30#more-30

Seeing as how I respect the need to work where you have the inspiration and all, I am *not* advising anyone to bug her to finish it, but if anyone wanted to send "inspirational vibes" in her direction... s'all I'm sayin'. ^_~ (though only if it doesn't throw off her work on her original fic. Priorities, man.)

*dies again*

Swear to god you guys. I'm going to have a "Guest Star Corner" thing here where I can rave about the various Webfoot-related gifts/commissions I've gotten over the years. I just need to get my s*** together is all.

P.S. Read some of her other stuff too. Marci's awesome is not limited to the times when she writes my OC.

When I wake up - in the afternoon, which it pleases me to do

Don't nobody bring me no bad news.

***

So I'm working on TWC2 - "Sea of Green" - right now, and to many that would mean it would only make sense that I post my chapter notes as I go. I've considered that but have decided to hold off until the fic is complete, because that gives me the chance to revise it and tighten it up as I go back over it to put the notes together.

I will talk about it, though. I put up chapter three of Act I last weekend, and after I did I felt awkward about it. I'm not sure why - maybe because I wrote almost the entire chapter in one night - but more than that I felt weird about Beth's characterization throughout all three chapters so far.

I had to really consider it to figure out why I felt this way. I had this suspicion that the way I wrote her has changed since I finished AAE - that she's even more nervous than she used to be, and that this resulted in making her unlikeable in what I'm writing now.

I finally kind of came to terms with this a few days later because I reminded myself that I haven't changed my writing style for her because of AAE - I'm regressing it back for TWC2. After all, chronologically this fic is only her second appearance and Beth needs to be a lot more awkward and nervous at this stage. The whole point of the Webfoot Chronicles was to show a little bit of character growth for her, and the way that her meeting DW sort of catalyzes her into another stage of her life. That was the point of AAE as well (catalyzing, stages of life, etc) so I guess that's why I felt the kinship in the writing styles, but even if Beth is a little hard to take at this stage, it's not permanent. She'll get better. Promise. :)

I've had some good feedback on this one, though. So I guess she's not as much of a problem as I thought she was. ^_~

Now I just have to figure out how I want her to interact with Bushroot.

Speaking of which... I think Bushroot will be the subject of my next (non-AAE-related) post... whenever that happens.

Don't Say No to the Incredible Medicine Show

More notes for AAE! Chapter 3 of Act I (or chapter 5 on ff.net)...

References:

-Dr. Camelback has some origins in a book called "Orphans of Chaos" by John C. Wright, though I have to admit that it's been so long now since I've read the book that I don't remember precisely how.
-Pattie, Violet, and Frieda are names from Charles Schulz's "Peanuts". They're all secondary characters who, I think, eventually got dropped. :P
-Nicola is slightly inspired by a character in "Fire and Hemlock" by Diana Wynne Jones (a girl named Nina).

I reference Beth as being "small for her age" in this section. She stays on the skinny side all her life, but I picture her as starting out tiny and then sprouting up like a weed in terms of height when she hits a certain age. Beth is not outrageously tall, but she's perhaps a bit taller than she should be, if that makes sense.

Poor Beth, getting taken advantage of from the first. The idea that a group of kids, the oldest of which is only 7, would be left alone to wander about for themselves was an effort to reinforce what Beth says before this flashback starts - that the people in charge forgot that high intelligence doesn't translate at all into maturity. A smart kid is still a kid.

Note the subtle statement in this scene that Beth does not wear glasses at age 7. I didn't have a good way to say that outright (it would've been weird to describe her as "not wearing glasses", after all) so it's a little bit subtle and perhaps easier to forget. I bet most readers imagine Wee Little Beth with glasses. (I almost do myself.)

Geez, Camelback is such a d***. ;D

I don't have a whole lot to say about the stuff at Pinny's; none of it is based on any real experience in my life so I can't talk about that, and it's fairly straightforward, I think. I hope it's not over the top; although I've never had these actual experiences, I've had strained relationships with adults (as I think many people have) and I've had trouble joining social circles (as I think many have, again) so I'm assuming these are somewhat familiar themes even if the events are themselves particular or perhaps a bit melodramatic.

Beth's mass-shunning in the cafeteria is a little reminiscent of a scene in Amanda Rohrssen's "The Other McCawber Girl", which was not intentional, though I will admit for full disclosure that I am pretty sure I had read that scene by the time I wrote this fic. I wasn't thinking of that, thogh, but rather of the general experience of being an outcast and being ignored. Beth's experience here, it should be noted, is not based at all on who she is but just on her being a stranger; it's not a personal reaction, it's just a mass ignoring. This almost uniformly typifies her experiences throughout this story: she's infrequently directly targeted, and much more often just overlooked, which I think is a common theme in growing up. Everyone gets targeted at some point, but being totally ignored - although less dramatic - can be painful too.

I wondered what to name Beth's three roommates for a while and then decided on the names from "Peanuts". Once I'd do that the personalities kind of dropped into place, especially Frieda's who clearly had to have naturally curly hair and also be a big of a braggart.

Beth ruminates on what she'd done to be sent away - we don't learn until later why she's so certain that this is what has happened - and she reflects that she could promise to change and be whatever her mother wanted if she could come back. This is also a recurring theme for Beth; she keeps, in her head, promising to change herself to be what other people want. I think it's noteworthy that she never ever does this.

Beth's staying at Pinny's over Thanksgiving is not a "Harry Potter" reference in case anyone was wondering, though on rereading it kind of looks that way. *shrug*

The "sad story about 2 older kids who fell in love but then died" is 'Romeo and Juliet'. I thought that this might be about what a 7-year-old would get out of it: the very bare bones of the story, with the rest being written in such apocryphal language and about such complicated things that it would basically go over her head.

As mentioned above, Nicola has roots in a girl named Nina from a Diana Wynne Jones novel. There's nothing specific that she does that mirrors this character, but Nina has a certain exuberance and a liking for imaginativeness, as well as a falling out with the main character, that were in my mind when I was thinking of characteristics for Beth's first "friend". The name, Nicola, has no significance.

Let's Take a Trip Together

Hi folks, here's some chapter notes for AAE! We're up to chapter two here (that's chapter two of Act I, or the fourth chapter I posted on FF.net if you're following at home. Or um... at FF.net, rather).

References:
- "The Simpsons" for Eeeeyelloooo? Not that they made it up, exactly, that's just what I was thinking of.
- "Who is this?" is a direct reference to "Seinfeld". If you've seen any of the episodes that use that (there are several) you'll know exactly how Gosalyn says it.
- "Comic Book Capers", for the engine knocking.
-Professor Pinfeather's School for Gifted Youngsters is a reference to "The Uncanny X-Men" - Professor Xavier's School for... etc.

Ah, the start of the school year... and covering your books. I hated that and usually managed to put it off for about a month, or until I got a note sent home.

I love how obnoxious Gosalyn is on the phone here. It's like the precise counterpoint to how annoyingly neurotic Beth is being - Gos is perfectly winding her up. My favourite way to write Gosalyn is by having her not take anything seriously.

I can't remember if there are any episodes that have LP working on the ThunderQuack when he's depressed (I'm rusty on a lot of the middle-to-late eps these days), but I know I've used it a lot among my fics for this reason. So hey. Inner continuity, anyway.

The idea that Beth could be easily swayed by being asked to do homework kind of comes, I think, from "The Simpsons"... I know someone used it first, manipulating someone into doing something by calling it homework. "The Simpsons" seems most likely. Any time I know I was inspired by something indirectly but I can't remember what it was, I usually assume it was "The Simpsons". :P

This scene here with Beth trying to think of her regrets is like a big teaser of the rest of the fic. I left out a few things, such as Ariana (I did know at the time that I would be bringing her in), which was intentional because I wanted her to be a surprise. The first release left out some things I didn't know I would include, but I've added them in now that the fic is complete.

So we start the flashbacks. The hardest thing in writing the flashbacks, for me, was setting them up. Trying to figure out what should be in the flashback and what should be monologued by Beth was tricky; I also always wanted to make it clear that Beth was not *telling* Dr. Mortimer everything that we see in the flashbacks, which was hard since I didn't want to tell every story twice (her words, and her experience). So there had to be enough crossover to show the difference, but not too much, and I had to guess at what would sound better coming from her and what would be better shown through narrative. Sometimes I think Beth just goes on too long. Then again, looking at these notes, I guess we know whose fault that is. :P

I probably don't have to explain this but Beth doing everyone else's work for them is a continued theme into her adult life, at least up to when she quits Bindler's Hardware. She'd still be doing it happily for Drake, if his line of work related to her expertise in any way, too.

Beth and being nice to people in hopes they'll be nice back - this is the very first sign of how jaded she is underneath, and how much she's been hiding that from her friends, family, and self. Actually it took *me* by surprise a little.

Part of why this fic is long (not the only reason... just *part*) is because Dr. Mortimer asks questions that aren't strictly related to the plot. There's a lot of filler conversation in here. I have a bad habit in my fics of letting the characters take over the dialogue - sometimes I really have to PUSH them to get them to go where I want, and Mortimer was like that a lot. Then again, I didn't want him to seem TOO insightful and always ask just the right questions - that's a little too convenient.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I wish that my primary 'ship was NOT one that I've created, using an OC of mine. I mean sure, makes it real easy to shape the direction and all, yeah. But those times when I'm feeling depressed and I think that reading some fanfic of them would be nice, all I have is my own material. :P

I need to branch out more. ;)