book list, September 2008; writing woes

It's time for the continuing adventures of Liz and her reading list! These are the books I read in September 2008. (Click on the cuts for summaries and reactions.)

New: 6
---Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 16, Hiromu Arakawa ( manga )

---Hostage to Pleasure, Nalini Singh ( romance )

---Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky ( nonfiction )

---Cod: The Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky ( nonfiction )

---Song of the Beast, Carol Berg ( fantasy )

---Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), Tom Vanderbilt ( nonfiction )

Old: 1
---Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll ( children's book )

September Total: 7 books (plus several magazines, a few newspapers, and a lot of fanfiction)

Year to Date: 86 books (57 new, 29 old)

---------------

"The Affairs of Dragons" is currently at 4,650 words, and I still have not gotten Kazul properly on-screen, though at least Morwen has now seen her around a corner. Such are the perils of following a story when it veers away from the outline. *grumble*

The thing is, while the outlined version would have been much funnier, it would not have been nearly as good a story. And also, I never really liked Wrede's casual dismissal of princesses and princes -- they may be mostly silly and rather useless in her world, but that's no reason to be rude and condescending toward them. So I am writing a princess who, while not at all used to the real world, is intelligent and reasonable, and while her knight is incompetent at being a knight, he's a good man and clever in other ways. And this allows the conflict to be a true misunderstanding instead of a couple of idiots doing something stupid and annoying.

(Also, it felt somewhat counterproductive to write a female idiot for a ficathon meant to celebrate female characters. Morwen and Kazul do not need me to artificially disable the other characters to help them shine. They're awesome enough to shine on their own.)

book list, September 2008; writing woes

It's time for the continuing adventures of Liz and her reading list! These are the books I read in September 2008. (Click on the cuts for summaries and reactions.)

New: 6
---Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 16, Hiromu Arakawa ( manga )

---Hostage to Pleasure, Nalini Singh ( romance )

---Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky ( nonfiction )

---Cod: The Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky ( nonfiction )

---Song of the Beast, Carol Berg ( fantasy )

---Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), Tom Vanderbilt ( nonfiction )

Old: 1
---Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll ( children's book )

September Total: 7 books (plus several magazines, a few newspapers, and a lot of fanfiction)

Year to Date: 86 books (57 new, 29 old)

---------------

"The Affairs of Dragons" is currently at 4,650 words, and I still have not gotten Kazul properly on-screen, though at least Morwen has now seen her around a corner. Such are the perils of following a story when it veers away from the outline. *grumble*

The thing is, while the outlined version would have been much funnier, it would not have been nearly as good a story. And also, I never really liked Wrede's casual dismissal of princesses and princes -- they may be mostly silly and rather useless in her world, but that's no reason to be rude and condescending toward them. So I am writing a princess who, while not at all used to the real world, is intelligent and reasonable, and while her knight is incompetent at being a knight, he's a good man and clever in other ways. And this allows the conflict to be a true misunderstanding instead of a couple of idiots doing something stupid and annoying.

(Also, it felt somewhat counterproductive to write a female idiot for a ficathon meant to celebrate female characters. Morwen and Kazul do not need me to artificially disable the other characters to help them shine. They're awesome enough to shine on their own.)

femgenficathon progress report

"The Affairs of Dragons" is currently 6,725 words and I'm still not within grasping distance of the end. Help, I've been hijacked by a monster! (I have a terrible feeling I'm going to have to split this into at least three lj posts by the time I'm done.)

*scuttles off to write more*

femgenficathon progress report

"The Affairs of Dragons" is currently 6,725 words and I'm still not within grasping distance of the end. Help, I've been hijacked by a monster! (I have a terrible feeling I'm going to have to split this into at least three lj posts by the time I'm done.)

*scuttles off to write more*

desperate plea for a lightning-fast beta

Can anyone look over a roughly 8,500 word Enchanted Forest Chronicles story within the next hour? Pretty please? I will love you forever and ever and ever!

(You don't have to be anything like thorough -- just glance over it and tell me if anything really jumps out at you and says, "Oh my god, this writer is being stupid.")

desperate plea for a lightning-fast beta

Can anyone look over a roughly 8,500 word Enchanted Forest Chronicles story within the next hour? Pretty please? I will love you forever and ever and ever!

(You don't have to be anything like thorough -- just glance over it and tell me if anything really jumps out at you and says, "Oh my god, this writer is being stupid.")

[Fic] "The Affairs of Dragons" -- Enchanted Forest Chronicles

This is my femgenficathon story, posted just under the wire. Phew!

Prompt: #68 - The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. -- Ivy Baker Priest.

Summary: In which Morwen loses her house, meets a princess and a knight, does a favor for the king of the dragons, makes a new friend, and finds a new home, all within two days. This story uses some of my personal backstory for Morwen, but it should be perfectly comprehensible to anyone who's read Patricia C. Wrede's books... and, hopefully, even to people who haven't. Thanks to uminohikari and sirena_lune for the lightning-fast beta!

The Affairs of Dragons, Part 1

The Affairs of Dragons, Part 2

(Or you could read the ff.net version, which is slightly tidied-up.)

...

I think I'm going to go edit a few more commas out. I always go overboard with them when I'm writing, and they always make me wince later on.

[Fic] "The Affairs of Dragons" -- Enchanted Forest Chronicles

This is my femgenficathon story, posted just under the wire. Phew!

Prompt: #68 - The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. -- Ivy Baker Priest.

Summary: In which Morwen loses her house, meets a princess and a knight, does a favor for the king of the dragons, makes a new friend, and finds a new home, all within two days. This story uses some of my personal backstory for Morwen, but it should be perfectly comprehensible to anyone who's read Patricia C. Wrede's books... and, hopefully, even to people who haven't. Thanks to uminohikari and sirena_lune for the lightning-fast beta!

The Affairs of Dragons, Part 1

The Affairs of Dragons, Part 2

(Or you could read the ff.net version, which is slightly tidied-up.)

...

I think I'm going to go edit a few more commas out. I always go overboard with them when I'm writing, and they always make me wince later on.