And why the third movie is canon for me.
The movies, the TV show–Sarah’s mission to prevent the war from happening makes no sense. Well, it makes perfect sense if you’re trying to stop a war. But if you’re trying to build a better future for your son John Connor? It makes no sense at all. If there’s no war, there’s no reason for Kyle Reese to go back in time (and no opportunity), and John will never exist.
They bit the bullet and started the war in the third movie. I respect that.
A recent post on my flist mentioning NaNoWriMo got me thinking. Well, I was thinking before that, because Julie had asked me about my writing and I had to admit to her it was all fan fic these days, and no original fic. And I miss original fic. The challenge of it, the greater opportunity for self-expression it provides. Not to diss fan fic by any means; I am going to be sending Julie the first chapter of my old novel, Dis/inhibition, and I’m embarrassed about it because I ramble on unnecessarily. Fan fic has taught me to say a lot with much fewer words and improved my writing in important ways.
But I’m getting the urge to go back to original fic. The only thing stopping me is, well, finding the time between life stuff and finishing my fan fics, and still having no good ideas for original fic, ideas that are tangible enough to sustain a big writing project of the kind I inevitably do.
Probably for NaNo, I’ll just push on three TD eps simultaneously like I did last year (or was it the year before?). TD 214 is going slowly because I don’t want to do anything obvious for the episode, and have been waiting for my brane to come up with something a little different (which it is, slowly).
The original fic just has to evolve slowly. That’s how my other two original stories came about. Invent a few characters, put them out there, and see what they do. I don’t want to pick up those old stories and start them up again because I want to find out who I am now, not who I was at 29 or 35.
The dark side of Dr. Horrible? The dark side of Joss. In the end, no real surprises. Min has it wired. And here as well. Also, interesting discussion in ShadowKat’s and Addie Logan’s LJs.
I’ve seen several folks on my flist talking about Joss’s bit of writers’ strike fun, Dr. Horrible, so I dutifully downloaded and watched it this morning. And I have to say it’s not extremely original, for Joss. While it does have an amusing deconstructive critique of the ideals of masculinity promoted in the comic book genre, that’s not entirely original, either. It is interesting to have the comic-book tropes presented from the villain’s point of view, but with this whimsical Troika-esque villain, it is not especially enlightening. So I’m expecting, since it’s Joss, for there to be a more serious, dark turn at some point for our intrepid main character.
Which mean, yes, I’ll continue to watch, for a while.
I’ve been “getting my geek on” over at the past few weeks, letting my viewage of BtVS season one inspire some essays in the good ol’ ATPo style:
Vampires and the Clarity of Evil
Of Vampires and Souls
A(n Un)Natural History of Demons
Take a peek, and indulge your inner geek!
Happy Fourth, all! I have updated my personal page on the ATPo website with a portal to Vancouver 08 Gathering pics, which I of course ganked off all my shutter-bug-buds.
As usual, if you find a pic you’re in objectionable for some reason and want it altered or removed, speak up. But why not just let others writhe in envy vicariously enjoy the fun?
ETA: I am also cleaning up the main site, fixing the grammar, content, *&^% formatting tables, and links. Because I don’t have a zillion other projects to do this summer. Pfft! ; )
Ganked from mamculuna for the non-ATPoers on my flist to enjoy:
I figured out how to solve two pesky little problems I was having by solving them at the same time: (1) finding time to read, and (2) motivating myself to exercise. Now normally, my idea of exercise is a brisk walk that actually gets me somewhere I want to go; but there’s not a lot within walking distance of my new house, and, fairly shortly, I would have to do my walking within an hour of dawn to make it at all pleasant. So since I have an allergy to gyms, I have my mom’s old exercise bike. Which is extremely boring. And there is no cable hook-up in my guest bedroom. But then I thought–that’d be the perfect time to read. Peddle away, catch thirty minutes of those novels burning a hole in my living room floor….
I’ve actually made my way through the next-to-last (next-to-next-to-last?) Dresden Files now. And am fighting those Girl Scout cookies with vigor. Yay, me.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 