Tug of War

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Okay, can someone tell me what kind of awful cataclysm went off in the Writing Part of my head* recently? Because good lord, my characters seem to be flailing and running around like they got Movie Sign or something.

I’m trying to write an epilogue for this bitch of a Doctors! story here, and Loke’s trying to take over the series by jumping up and down and pointing out she’s not as boring a narrator as Dreedo. She’s also got Kuen barging in wanting to chat from another damn universe—and Kuen’s also eyeing the Gotham Pizza Girl story with marked interest, asking all these questions and wanting to chat with some superheroes and villains, and dammit she’s not actually in any of my current projects GO AWAY KUEN. I’ve also got Lucy and the boys trying to elbow in on the Gotham Pizza story because superhero universes are good ones to go fuck up, and hot on their heels is a mutant version of DC’s Ace** pointing out that she actually has something to do with that universe and that there are possibilities galore for her if I dare to try.

 

Meanwhile the gang from the Obligatory Giant Fantasy Epic are banging on the inside of my skull and bitching that they aren’t getting enough attention when they’ve got a great story going on and what am I doing fizzling when losers like Stephenie Meyer are getting attention for their garbage and if I’d just rewrite the draft they could totally all settle into some wholesome adventure with the crazy glow-in-the-dark psychopath and the cat who may or may not have once been a goddess and of course a purple dragon.

 

And Dweiji is still sitting in the cockpit of her ship, tossing a rubber ball into the air, smoking, and informing me that I am well past due working on her.

 

It’s impossible to write like this, because I can’t sit down to one thing without having to yell “SHUT UP YOU BASTARDS” to several other projects. Even my Playlist Project trick isn’t working. I’m stuck just sort of writing a sentence and switching before the protests start, or panicking and going to do something else for a while.  But by god I’m going to get this Doctors! story finished whether they like it or not.  I have spent far too long on it, and once I finish it that’ll be one more thing out of the way.

 

As for the rest ... send help? I think they're taking over.

 

  

**Can I get a hell yeah for Ace?

*That would be most of my head, actually.

Comments

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

This isn't going to help at all, and what I really want is more Doctors, but after reading this, I have one thing to say:

Can has obligatory giant fantasy epic plz?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

YOU'RE NOT HELPING.

;) Really, I'll have to get to work on it. I have 150 pages of the damn thing written, but only about 5 of them are any good. So I'm going to try to settle down this hornet's nest, see if I can't try the Playlist Trick again, and start the hell over.

I did manage to plow pretty deep into the Gotham Pizza Girl one, though. If my writing partner gets her bit done, you'll at least get a good bit of crackfic that features a pizza party at Arkham Asylum, tasteless "30 minutes or less" jokes, AND walruses. We'll see how that goes ...

[lookingforwater.livejournal.com]

I'M TRYING I'M TRYING.

Joker is SLIPPERY. Make him stop?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Threaten him with Ace. That oughta make him jump right back in line.

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

See, every time you say Ace, my first thought is the Ace who was a companion of the Seventh Doctor. So it jolts me for a moment, and then I realize I can just pretend it's the Ace I know, because she tended to blow up a lot of the people/daleks/other aliens she and the Doctor met. So you can threaten a lot of people with an Ace.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*grin* I've been getting that a lot, and I have yet to meet that Ace. Any suggestions for the best way to start?

The Ace I'm talking about has two appearances that I know of, and the starring one is her debut in this Justice League episode. Which, for the record, sprouted about eight great ideas for What Happens Next when I first saw it, and when I mentioned it to a friend a week ago, Ace herself decided to join the maelstrom in my head. She's just so wonderfully psychopathically messed up.

Obviously, people named Ace are just badass. I will remember this when I name my kids.

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

Ace is pretty excellent when you first meet her, and she is dealing with a smarmy "I want to be Han Solo but I'm too middle-aged" smuggler named Glitz, the Doctor's current companion Mel (of an amazing scream) and... well, lots of stuff, really.

So I'd suggest start with the 7th Doctor serial Dragonfire and work your way along from there, and enjoy the horribly out-of-date slang she uses.

Also, her run with the 7th Doctor contains some really, really trippy episodes.

I couldn't find anything on YouTube except for this clip of Dragonfire, sadly. No explosions.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Cool! And I'm sure I can find it on Surf The Channel, and if not I have a friend who could probably hook me up. I need to watch Classic Who someday, dammit.

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited are good solid fun crack. I like the tight focus on the original seven in Justice League, but JLU picked up some fun writing because I'm convinced the writers are aware of Superdickery.com--the episode "Clash" basically uses the idea that Superman Is A Dick to get the plot moving. Other good episodes include "Injustice for All" (you get the Joker harassing Lex Luthor, joy!), "Comfort and Joy" (nothing can beat superhero Christmas episodes--this one is good just for J'onn's little speech to Mr. and Mrs. Kent, because a seven-foot tall green guy with glowing red eyes standing on a farmhouse doorstep confessing "I am a Martian" will never get old), "The Ties That Bind" (BIG BARDA!), "Epilogue" (Ace's fate and also a wrap-up for Amanda Waller, who I fangirl), and "This Little Piggy" (erm ... look, nobody believes me when I try to describe this episode. Wonder Woman turns into a pig, there's a part with Medusa telling Batman about weasels eating your fingers in Hades ["They grow back, but it gets old real quick"] a bunch of superheroes wind up wandering the streets yelling "Soo-ee!", and then it gets weird, with Batman singing the blues. Also there's Zatanna AND B'wana Beast! WATCH IT).

... Yeah. End fan rant.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

"At least I can find out the Flash's secret identity!

...I have no idea who this is."

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

That had me laughing.

The way they worked so hard to get the other's inflection down was pretty impressive, too. (Poor, poor Clancy Brown.)

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

Also, that episode = excellent. Clearly, I need to start watching more JL.

[lookingforwater.livejournal.com]

All that's really going on in mine is that Anna's narrative has timeskipped up to her husband's death, because she thought it would be a good idea to sort out That Sort Of Thing as she doesn't actually AGE.

That, and the Joker is being wiggly. I get like one step away from pinning the bastard and it turns out to be a department store mannequin that blows up in my face. BANG.

Well, and I have been assaulted with a new novel, which is currently shouting louder than the other two novels I WAS working on, sort of.

[10cents.livejournal.com]

I can relate to this all too well, especially the part about characters STILL hanging around in the cockpit of their ships--do you have any IDEA how many half-written scenes I leave my characters in? Good LORD.

So, um, yeah, not really much help to offer, but I did a lot of very sympathetic nodding as I read this. If I had a Battalion of Sharp-Toothed Gnomes I would mail them to you, so they could sit around your chair and threaten to nibble your toes if you don't write.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I'd have to employ a few to sit down and keep the characters themselves at bay while I did ...

[jesuitfluff.livejournal.com]

Seriously, losers like Stephenie Meyers are getting praise by the truckloads and your gang is still confined to your skull!

THAT WON'T STAND. Let 'em loose.

(They are probably in communication with my own ObGiFanEpic goad, who takes it as a personal insult if I write a grocery list without mentioning him in some way.)

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

This is why writing is actually a full-time job.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

hmph. Speaking as the person who would dearly love to write something if she could just stay awake for 3 consecutive hours and not have a head that feels like it's stuffed with cotton wool, I am very envious of your plethora of ideas. Send some of them to my brain, please!