The edited version of Weregild: Chapter 3 is now up on AO3! Jean-Claude's dinner parties are often more about politics than dinner; this one is no exception. Arthur and Dom successfully deliver their information, but Anita's suspicion of their motives throws yet another potential wrench in the works. Meanwhile, Ariadne and Arthur continue to flirt something awful despite theoretically knowing better. (9,800 words)

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Now I just need to knock off chapter 8 of "Trollstuck" and I can buckle down to finishing "Lemonade" once and for all. *evil laughter*

I hereby present "Weregild" part nineteen, in which Ariadne is displeased, Anita is suspicious, Arthur is conciliatory, and Dom is quietly eating dinner in the background, I guess. (1,600 words)

( Weregild, part 19 )

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That was not quite where I thought I was going with this, but I realized partway through that Ariadne's regular job would be an obstacle to the plot -- I did not want to start going through ridiculous logical contortions to make Arthur and Dom visit Guilty Pleasures -- and this was the most obvious way around that.

And now to bed. :-)

I am, in fact, still writing this story. (Just as I am, in fact, still writing all my interminably delayed WIPs... but let that go. *sigh*) And look! I finally got Anita and Richard on-screen! (1,475 words)

( Weregild, part 17 )

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...I have a suspicion that my frequent annoyance at Anita (and often Richard) is bleeding through a bit more than I would prefer. Then again, I think if we weren't seeing the series through Anita's eyes, she would come off rather unpleasantly there, too. So this is mostly Anita without the mitigating effect of seeing her emotions and motivations from the inside... but yeah, some of it is just that I want someone to call her on her shit sometimes.

Richard too. Hamilton punishes him a lot, but mostly for things that aren't really his fault, while the issues he ought to deal with are either ignored or kicked down the road. Maybe this gets fixed after... I think I stopped reading around Cerulean Sins, maybe? The last book I clearly remember is Narcissus in Chains, but I must have read one or two beyond that to get fed up enough to quit the series. So Cerulean Sins or Incubus Dreams. (I KNOW I didn't read Danse Macabre, because I am sure I'd remember Jean-Claude opening a dance club. *wry*) Anyway, maybe Hamilton gets over her problem with Richard later in the series, but she was still treating him very awkwardly last I knew.

But enough of my blather.

Dreamwidth poll for quick responses!

Here we are at the start of chapter 3, which will mostly deal with the meeting where Arthur and Dom explain some of the plot to Jean-Claude, Ariadne studies them to find an advantage, and Ariadne and Arthur flirt something awful. (1,725 words)

( Weregild, part 15 )

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I think the weirdest thing about "Weregild," for me as a writer, is having to describe what people are wearing. I don't usually do this. People get a brief description upon introduction and occasionally articles of particular plot or character relevance are mentioned, but I generally work on the assumption that if people are walking around in public, they are wearing reasonably appropriate clothes. Beyond that, I don't care.

But Inception, while not making a huge point of it, uses personal clothing styles as an integral aspect of characterization, and Laurell K. Hamilton often stops her narrative to describe people's outfits and Anita's assessment of them. (Anita may talk about being uninterested in fashion, but trust me, speaking as someone who really is uninterested in fashion: she is interested in fashion. This makes her disinterest in sewing and alteration even more baffling.) In the interests of mimicking canon, I am making an effort to talk about clothes, which means I have to think about clothes, which is like mental contortionism for me. Very strange.

Anyway, sorry for the delay on this part! There were three reasons. First, it has been too hot to think. Second, I have been doing background and outline work for my Narnia Fic Exchange story. Third, I did write about 2,000 words over the past few days, but they were for other, unfinished fics and/or original stories. I am still me, after all, and thus frequently scattered in my focus. :-(

This is still basically a giant infodump -- in other words, this is the "let me explain about Fisher, Lebrun, and Robert; some of Mal's backstory with Lebrun; what exactly Dom and Arthur are planning to do and why; and how and why Eames is involved in their mess" section, which is rather a lot to throw at you all at once, sorry! -- but now there is at least a bit more back-and-forth in the dialogue and some actual character stuff going on around the exposition. (2,200 words)

( Weregild, part 14 )

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And I think that wraps up chapter two, unless anyone has a burning need to see Eames talking with Sally and Robert? I think it would muck up the pacing and focus, but I could maybe be persuaded otherwise if someone makes a good case. (Or maybe not, but you can always try. *wry*) Anyway, chapter three will start with Ariadne fetching Arthur and Dom to meet with Jean-Claude. Yay Ariadne!

This chapter needs more editing than chapter one (though I do want to also go back and make sure chapter one hints more pointedly at the nature of Dom and Arthur's plan, now that I know more or less what it is), but I should have the final version up on AO3 by, say, Tuesday night. :-)

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And now, an experiment:



I don't think this will show up on LJ, since I don't have a paid account there, but I am testing out a kind of response poll I've seen a few other people do. Even if you don't have anything to say, please consider ticking a box or two to show you're reading!

In which I introduce Robert (yay!) and lay some plot and character groundwork. (1,100 words)

( Weregild, part 12 )

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I am debating whether to skim through Narcissus in Chains, Incubus Dreams, and Cerulean Sins solely for the sections with Meng Die. Because hey, she is a canonical female vampire who is the second-in-command to the (unnamed?) Master of San Francisco. And she is apparently plotting a coup. That could be all kinds of interesting.

On the other hand, I'd have to skim through those three books. And by that point, the series is all about the men Anita is having sex with, the women who are jealous of her for all the men she's having sex with, and boring dubcon descriptions of the sex. Plus apparently Meng Die has very little characterization outside of blatant sexuality and jealousy. Do I really want to put myself through that?

Decisions, decisions...

This scene did not go quite the way I was expecting it to. On the other hand, I got a female character in, so I can't say I mind all that much. (2,025 words)

( Weregild, part 10 )

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You know something about Laurell Hamilton? I often get the feeling she has no idea what the actual layouts of any of her settings are. They are too vague and shift around too much. I would like to be able to make little faux architectural sketches of various buildings, but there simply is not enough detail to do so.

For example, in this section I have had to invent the office building in which Animators, Inc. is located. All Hamilton has ever said about it, to my knowledge, is a rough description of the reception room, focused more on color and scientific plant names than actual layout; that there are three offices, of which Bert has taken the smallest (painted pale blue, like an ice cube) as his own; that Mary (no last name) is the day secretary and Craig (no last name, no description either) is the night secretary; that there is a parking lot associated with the building; that the animators on staff all use the remaining two offices on a time-share basis; and that Anita sometimes keeps a gun in the drawer of her office desk.

She has also said, and I quote: There was a psychologist's office across from us, nothing less than a hundred an hour; a plastic surgeon down the hall; two lawyers; one marriage counselor, and a real estate company. (The last comma in place of a semi-colon is the book's error, not mine.)

By implication, the animators have keys to the office, since Anita has met people there at odd hours when no secretary seemed to be around -- and really, they would need at least three secretaries to have the office open 24/7. My suspicion is that Mary works 9am-5pm and Craig works 5pm-1am, give or take a little.

Anyway, that is mostly my frustration talking, but there are times I really wish Hamilton paid more attention to her world-building and less to the goddamn sex and romance. (Also, the number of times in the earlier books that I want to smack Anita and say either, "Listen, lady, have you heard of this concept called a threesome? Because people can be in true love with more than one person at a time, swear to god!" and/or, "Seriously, stake Jean-Claude; you're young; you'll get over him," are countless. Oy.)

And here we are at the end of chapter one. Isn't that exciting? *removes tongue from cheek*

Anyway, two brief reaction scenes and some setup for future events. (925 words)

( Weregild, part 8 )

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On Monday or Tuesday, I will do a final check on these sections and post them as a unit on ff.net and probably the AO3 as well.

...You know, this chapter is about 11,000 words long when the parts are put together. I wrote it in 10 days, give or take a few hours. I cannot remember the last time I wrote anything at that speed that wasn't a challenge response for which I was about to miss the deadline. Life is very strange sometimes.

Anyway. Onward to chapter two, daylight, and Eames's appearance as my third POV character!

Wherein, for some unknown reason, dreams are in present tense and italics, though the rest of the story remains in past tense and normal font. If that is too jarring, please tell me, since dream scenes will be a recurring thing. (1,425 words)

( Weregild, part 6 )

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In regard to Dom's dream: I have decided that one reason Benjamin Franklin was perpetually undersupplied with secretaries in France is that his best secretary was first distracted by marriage and family, then absorbed by a mad quest to track down and/or avenge his abducted wife. Dom did retain the presence of mind to send his daughter to his family in America after Yorktown and the peace treaty, since he realized it would be wrong to drag her into contact with vampires, but he wasn't much use as a father after Mal vanished.

In regard to Arthur's dreams: Patience is a virtue. *grin*

In which you can tell that, unlike Laurell Hamilton, I do not live in St. Louis. For example, while there is a Motel 6 where I've located it -- the chain's website and Google maps agree on that -- I have no idea what its buildings or service are like. But never mind the details, lalala, look at the pretty vampires! *silly* (1,600 words)

( Weregild, part 4 )

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I should probably mention that for purposes of making my life simpler, this story is set in 2011. Therefore, Guilty Pleasures happened in July 2009, and we will all pretend any technology discrepancies don't exist. Okay? Good.

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I don't know what on earth is going on in my head. I have written slightly over 5,000 words of this in three days, which is a ridiculously fast pace for me. I have an outline. (A very vague outline, but still, an outline.) I made character timelines. I read plot summaries of every Anita Blake novel and a lot of ancillary wiki pages for research. I went out and freaking bought a used copy of Guilty Pleasures and am halfway through rereading it, for goodness sake.

What is wrong with me???

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Part 5 will probably be up tomorrow or Tuesday. I want to find out what happens next!