Archive | November 26, 2014

On Nano, and what I’m learning

Nov26

So, I’m 26 days into nanowrimo – by my chart, that’s 86.67% of the time by the end of the day, and 80.29%
done with the writing before I start today.

This month was an experiment – several experiments, actually.

* Writing 15K fiction pieces.
* Writing fiction-for-submission serially, i.e., one after another with no break.
* writing several pieces of different lengths for nano.

What I’ve learned already is that I have a process in writing for submission that is different from my process for writing for y’all or for serials, and that messing with it messes with my brain.

The process is:
* write 250-1000 words of a piece
* throw it out
* start again.
* finish that, then edit heavily.

skipping steps 1 & 2 totally messes with me. <.< Also, wastes time.

I’ve also learned that pacing for longer short pieces is totally foreign to me and I have no idea how to do it.

also, I need/want/crave/like distraction projects. See Doomsday.

that’s it so far. See you on the 1st!~

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/855189.html. You can comment here or there.

There’s been a lot of Addergoole/Doomsday Writing Lately…

Nov26

…and for good reason.

But, to be fair: Leave a prompt (or prompts) for any setting of mine not Addergoole/Fae Apoc, and, over the next month, I will try to write 100 words to each of at least 10 prompts.

Optional themes – holidays, family, winter/seasons’s turn, i.e., anything you can think of as a December sort of theme.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/854937.html. You can comment here or there.

Family & Coincidence

Nov26

This is what happens when I start trying to give people kids.
See JohnWayne here: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/tag/character:+johnwayne and more importantly here: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/254212.html
See Dai here – http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/tag/character:+dairine – and I’ll have to go back and tag her elsewhere later.

JohnWayne had been at the Ranch for a week when he heard a woman’s exasperated voice call out “Storm! Breeze! Rain!”

It wasn’t Dáirine’s voice. Even four years later, he knew his first Keeper’s voice.

But it didn’t quite sound like a weather forecast, either, and it sounded a little too much like the names he’d given his triplet daughters. He looked around, casually, while doing the stack of chores he’d been assured Howard gave to every new Kept.

He caught the flash of black curls before he saw anyone, and then the tall figure of a woman who was definitely not Dáirine, despite having similar coloration and hair. For one, this woman had spots, which Dáirine did not. For another, she had almost a foot on Dai.

“Storm, what did I tell you? Wait till I tell Dái what you’ve done, you naughty thing, you. Come on.” The drawl was thick and southern as the woman scooped up a little girl.

From this distance, it was hard to tell. But she had her mother’s curls and his complexion.

JohnWayne swallowed. If his former Keeper – and the daughters he’d fathered on her – was living on the Ranch, his time under Cynara’s collar had just gotten a lot weirder.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/854700.html. You can comment here or there.

Mother-Daughter Shopping, a ficlet of Addergoole/Doomsday (@inventrix)

Nov26

Cynara (Cya) is a long-running character in my Addergoole/Doomsday series.
It is a trope of the series that she picks up a new Kept every year on Addergoole graduation/send-home-for-summer-vacation day.
Lady Maureen runs the creche where children of Ag students spend time until or unless their parents claim them on graduation.
Yoshi is Cynara’s son; Howard is her crew-mate, Kishmish is Howard’s adopted daughter and Nibibizhiw is his blood son.
Phew!

It didn’t surprise Luke to find Cynara leaning against Lady Maureen’s fence; by this time, the surprise was the few years she didn’t show up.

It did, however, surprise him to see her with another woman. The girl looked to be about the same age as Addergoole students, although he had spent enough time around fae to doubt appearance. She was blonde, with freckles sprinkled across her nose – the current partner of one of Cya’s sons or grandsons, maybe? Luke moved in a little closer.

“Mo-o-om.” The girl sighed with clearly long-suffering patience. Luke, recognizing the sound from his own children, smiled. The smile died quickly, however – mom? Cya had given two sons to Addergoole.

And told him about others having third children, fourth, fifth to have kids they didn’t have to give away to Luke’s school. She’d as much as told him.

But who was the father? Luke studied them, muttering a Working to let him eavesdrop from a safe distance. Blonde, well, that was likely an Aelf-get, but considering Cynara’s taste in Kept, that didn’t narrow it down. The freckles were Cynara’s; both her sons had them.

“…No. I don’t want a maid. I mean, I probably do want a maid, but it’s not like we can’t just hire a maid. I don’t need a house-Kept.”

Interesting. Shopping. Well, from the looks of Yoshi & his occasional visits to the same fence where his mother was now sitting, it ran in the family.

“Well, what about a-“

“No. I am not talking about that with you.”

“Well, what do you want?” It was both interesting and a bit reassuring to find Cya sounding every bit as frustrated as any other parent of a teenager.

“I don’t know, why don’t you just find someone?”

“I thought you’d never ask. Look, it helps if you drop the Mask. Then they don’t worry you might be a lost human.” Cynara dropped her own Mask.

The girl did the same. Pronghorn antlers poked from her blonde hair. That – did not actually help.

Cynara had only once given a Kept a child, Luke remembered. And she’d been in love with Howard, even if neither of them would ever admit it.

Well, the kid had good genes, and Howard – well, Howard spoiled them rotten, which would explain a lot. But he’d raise them well, too. He’d done well with Kishmish and Nibibizhiw, at least.

“Now. Who would be good for my daughter…” Cya’s eyes landed on Luke, and, very deliberately, she winked.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/854511.html. You can comment here or there.