Ahhh stuff & writer spoilers for new ATS episodes

[shadowkat]

A bit of a ramble on stuff I just need to get out of my head, I may friends lock or privatize this, not sure yet. Also not sure how much I'll hide with live-journal cut, an interesting html technique I've grown quite fond of.



There's a new Angel next Wed and while I know a few general things about it? I'm not really spoiled. I've deliberately stayed away from spoilers as much as possible on this episode. Just know the gist, ie what it's about, who the writers are, the title, and how it fits within the season. (Which to some people is probably too much right there.)

I know lots of people online watch Ats and BTVS in groups. They pull together a bunch of friends, bring snacks, watch the episode, then discuss afterwards.

A new friend, who lives two train stations away in Brooklyn, invited me to a party to see the new Angel episode, and I begged off. She's invited me twice now - for Conviction and now for the 1/14 one. (Granted the only person I'd know at this party is her, no one else, and it would be a great opportunity to network and meet new people but...) In 2002 and 2003, cjl invited me for a group viewing of the BTVS finale (same situation as above)- I said no to the group viewing. My friend Wales for a while wanted to watch BTVS episodes with me, we watched two together and I said no after that (one too many interuptions of - so what's going on? why is she doing that? why is he doing that? So what do you think about this? Arrgh!) It's not that I don't like group activities. Nor do I necessarily dislike viewing television with others - in college, I did not own a tv and had to watch it in the lounge with everyone else. But - certain shows, specifically my favorites, I just like to watch a certain way...with the lights off, in my little nest, undisturbed. I don't want to be worried about what others think or their desires, I don't want to hear their thoughts during the commercials, or deal with conversations interrupting the action or munching on snacks for that matter - I just want to escape for those 43 minutes in my own home. And I feel this way even though I religiously tape ATS, it's the only series I tape while watching and keep the tapes of. I know it sounds crazy to people - but I can't help it. Wed night during Angel is off limits. People ask me out? I say no. I will deliberately not schedule anything that night. Why?
It's my guilty pleasure. It's the one night of the week that I really want to push everything out and focus on this world. Am I crazy for wanting this? Sometimes I wonder. I keep thinking I should say yes to S, particularly since the up-coming episode I know for a fact is not anything major -- but but..I want to hate or love it in private, before I find out what the world thinks. It's why I don't read wildfeeds or go into chat afterwards. Things like this make me feel like such an introvert! I'm hoping S understands - I told her I prefer to watch ATS and bTVS by myself and asked for a raincheck.



Oh for anyone interested? Here's the writers for Angel episodes up to 15, according to spoilerslayer and the spoilerboards, so should be accurate.



5.9 Craft and Fain
5.10 Brent Flatcher, directed by David Boreanze
5.11 Drew Goddard and Stephen Deknight
5.12 David Fury, directed by David Fury
5.13 Drew Goddard and Stephen Deknight
5.14 Ben Edlund
5.15 Joss Whedon and directed by Joss Whedon

I'm betting Jeff Bell does 5.16, but could be wrong.



Frustrated today...applied to several HR jobs, none of which my qualifications fit perfectly - I tried to convince them they did through a cover letter. A little worried - it's been a year since... I worked on Excel or Access and no, don't have either program on home computer and each job asks for proficiency in computer programs including HRIS, PeopleSoft, etc and I don't have it. Trying not to get discouraged or depressed again. Chest cold also will not disappear, coughed a great deal today. Damn. Probably just the air being dried out by the radiators. Frigid here in NYC - wind-chill making it 0 tonight, and negative numbers tomorrow. Much fun. But I did get serious work done - several letters/resumes sent, finished writing new ones yesterday.

Also saw pumpkinpuss yesterday night where she kindly gave me some rum and pecan ball cookies she'd made (yummy!!) and loaned me her Firefly DVDs - apparently I can view DVD's on my computer console - which came with a DVD player/viewer. Pumpkinpuss asked if I could - I checked it out and yep. So she loaned me Firefly and I made a little nest for myself in front of the computer and watched the Serenity episode as it was meant to be watched and the commentary. Wonderful! Miss Firefly. Now really looking forward to watching the rest of the DVD's Sat and possibly Friday (if I find the time). It's supposed to be far too cold outside to go out - so I'll stay in and veg on Firefly. Yay! Pumpkinpuss! Very happy. Can distract myself for a few hours from my worries, which bubble up at night inside me. Also, I find the characters and themes of Firefly oddly comforting and reassuring. Weird I know. But there you go.

Been thinking about how the online experience has affected me - overall? I think it's been a wonderful experience and don't regret doing it for a moment. While it is true that being online can get a tad addictive/distracting at times - let's face it posting boards, livejournal, fanfic, email? Crack for writers. Particularly unpublished frustrated writers who ache for someone to read and in a way validate by responding to - their work. All writers ache for readers, after all. But that's not the only thing online gave me - it introduced me to a community I didn't know existed. Prior to coming online, I assumed I was in a minority regarding my interests. None of my friends liked comics or sci-fantasy shows and novels. And if they did like them? They did not understand my interest in breaking down the stories and analyzing them. Online? Whoa - lots of people who loved sci-fi and fantasy tv shows, books, movies and comics. For the first time since I was in under-grad, I found a group of people who adored the some of the same things I did - but not just anything - the things that I considered my guilty little secrets, what I hid from people or refrained from discussing for fear of embarrassing myself or being rejected.
Comics, Fantasy novels, Fantasy movies, and BTVS/ATS.
Finding an outlet or a means of expressing this love was sort of like being able to open a window after a long cold winter and breath. I also met some wonderful people because of it and managed to stop feeling guilty or embarrassed for my tastes. On top of this - I've realized how small the world is and how alike we are in so many ways regardless of the country, language or culture we live in. There are differences, true, but so many similarities. It's sort of cool to realize that you're communicating with people who live thousands of miles away, in different time zones, just with a press of a button and a few keystrokes. To find out so much about someone you've never seen face to face and feel so close to them, even if you may never come in physical contact? Incredibly cool and in a way, comforting. Makes me feel less alone. Also odd to think that a tv show or novel or comic book can bring such a wide group of people together, even if we don't watch it together - we seem to oddly enough experience it together. So maybe that answers my questions in the first few paragraphs of this long rambling entry - that even though I prefer to watch my favorite shows alone, I choose to discuss them afterwards with a group. I want in a way the best of two worlds - the solitary experience of escaping into another world and the group experience of discussing that escape and seeing how others experienced that escape, what they obtained from it.

Comments

Balls, rum balls....;)

[hankat.livejournal.com]

*I'm not really spoiled.*

You know that's kinda like saying "I'm not really pregnant."...

I agree with you about prefering to watch the show alone. I like to get the kitties a treat or two and settle down to the show. Mr. Rufus knows not to bother me or let anyone talk to me. Now that my office is in the bedroom I can go right on over to the computer and meet with selected friends in a chat. Mr. Rufus is down the hall and all we have to do is turn our heads to see each other. He's on his "Firewall weenies" message boards and I'm on what he calls the "Horror Weenies" boards.

Oh and rum balls....my mom made a batch some years back that she kept in the freezer, she used so much white rum that the bloody things had fumes rising from them and I swear I got a buzz from the things. They were very good.

Rufus

LoL!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

*I'm not really spoiled.*

You know that's kinda like saying "I'm not really pregnant."...

Yep...I think I'm in denial. LOL! I do this with books too actually. In Disorderly Knights by Dunnett, I spoiled myself on the villian and the ending - which isn't that big a deal really since just owning the next book in the series and knowing what it's about does that, but still. I don't always do it (avoid it in mysteries and thrillers usually). Why did I do this? I was in a slow part and frustrated and wanted to see if things got better and it ended in a cool way. Pathetic, I know. OTOH - I am not nearly as bad as a friend of mine, he is spoiled on just about every show - including ones he doesn't really watch. Nor do I know the complete summary or everything that will happen, but I know just enough to be intrigued or not get my hopes up too high.

I've come to the conclusion that being slightly spoiled works better for me than not being spoiled at all. It keeps me from raising my expectations too high or coming up with a better plot than the writers do. (Which is "exactly" what happened the one year I stayed away from spoilers - Season 7. I kept getting annoyed b/c the writers weren't doing what I came up with in my head.) Some people don't do this - I can't help myself - my brain just automatically starts building the next chapter or speculating on the next part. Spoilers reign it in a bit and in a way force me to come to an episode with an open-mind free from too many preconceptions. It's weird, I know.
Since for most people it's the complete opposite - if they are spoiled - they come with preconceptions, tons and often prejudge a show before it's even aired or expect it to be something else or even just hunt for those items. I do the opposite, I sort of relax and see how it plays out.
I'm less distracted by my anticipation for what will happen, more open-minded, and a little less worried it won't be as good as I hoped. That said - I do draw the line on a few things - like reading the script, wildfeeds, stuff like that - I hunt for the happy medium - just enough to relax my brain from writing the next sections of someone else's story and being disappointed when the writers don't come up with what I did, and just enough to relax any high expectations I might have. I think I enjoyed some of last years S5 ATS episodes a bit more than others online, because I was slightly spoiled on them and had already hashed out my reservations and/or expectations.

Oh and nice to know I'm not the only one who prefers to watch the show alone. ;-)

On crack

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

let's face it posting boards, livejournal, fanfic, email? Crack for writers. Particularly unpublished frustrated writers who ache for someone to read and in a way validate by responding to - their work.

Are you and I twins? Hmmm... perhaps not, but in this one way we definitely are. While I procrastinate my novel--going through that on-again, off-again "hate it" phase--I spend all my free time yapping on LJ and email and the board.

In fact, if I can name my number one distraction from getting my novel done in the past few years, it's doing my ATPo site. Because people read that. And respond to me about it. And tell me they enjoy it. I'm getting a lot more attention from ATPo than my novel, which only two other human beings have read.

So, point is... "Yessss!" to this!

Re: On crack

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, on this you and I are very much alike. Lol!
I can't keep myself off fanboards and livejournal - when I get really frustrated with my jobsearch or my book or my writing - off I go to the fanboards, atpo or livejournal.

I went cold turkey over the holidays and I swear I had withdrawl symptoms. Other people smoke, drink, do drugs - me? I'm addicted to writing posts and exchanging posts on the internet.

Re: On crack

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I get that way about doing my site. Everytime one of my episode analyses is late, I feel this urgent guilt and pressure to get it done. Like, "My public is waiting!"

I wish I felt that same urgency with the novel. But the pressure and desire to finish the novel comes purely from within, from the joy of writing itself, from wanting to see if finally get out there in the world. And I've lived with this novel being an object on my hard drive for so many years I'm used to it being that way.

Gotta gotta finish that thing. Finish. Finish!

Re: On crack

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh I can identify on the novel. I got one as well, taking up loads of space on my hard drive not to mention a section of the carpet. The problem with the novel is once you finish - you have to revise, then you finish revising and let people read and they come back telling you that sorry, it needs more work, so off you go and revise some more...until you feel as if you've written two novels now.

That's what happened to me - at least. I finished the novel the first round in 1992, took a few years off, revised and rewrote. Sent it off. That didn't work. Took a few more years off. Rewrote it again. Gave it to people to read. They made suggestions. Revised again. Sent it to an agent - first 100 pages. He made suggestions. Worked really hard to revise the whole thing - sent it to him again. He dropped me and the novel like a hot potatoe.
Got discouraged. Had others read. Sent to other agents. Posted a few chapters on my site. Got all sorts of interesting feedback - most of which said it was good but needed to be reworked and that I should rework it. Ugh.
So here I am, ten years later looking at the same novel and thinking, you know maybe it's time to ditch the thing and write something else? OTOH - I did like the novel, but it's hard to invest so much time and effort into something that you aren't convinced will ever make it to a book store. (Working in publishing did not help with my discouragement...unfortunately.) But I can't completely let it go either. It's my child...ugh. I honestly think Rod Serling is right, we don't so much choose to write sometimes as just succumb to it, even if it never reaches an audience.

Wishing you luck on yours!

That's better than I've done

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I started writing mine in 1993, and with full-time jobs and school and all, it was slow going. In the last decade, I had one friend read it, and I worked on expanding it with a writing coach from 2000 to 2002. Now I'm in the (what I hope is the final) revising stage before sending it out to an agent.

But in 10 years, I haven't sent it out to an agent yet. Too worried about it having to be perfect first before I do that or something. Sheesh!

Re: That's better than I've done

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Well, having a writing coach help you perfect it and waiting until it is as polished as possible before sending it off - is a good idea actually.

One of the people I met online, my friend S, who is getting a fiction novel published sometime this year and has an agent, told me that you want to make sure it is as perfect and polished as it can be before sending it off.
Find a couple of friends that will provide constructive criticism - before sending it out. (Easier said then done, most people I've found hate to give criticism. Several of the people I sent mine too, have yet to tell me what they think of it and I've learned to let the matter drop. Also not to send them any more of my work for critique. It's nothing personal - it's just some people hate being critics of friends' works, completely understand this - I can't critique my friends' works either.) The reason you want it to be polished, according to S, is most publishers and agents don't have the patience or time to edit or copy-edit someone's work. They get tons of manuscripts - so what they want is a "finished"/"polished" piece to sell. Not that any piece is ever completely finished. According to S - after she polished her work - she queried a bunch of agents by email, a couple responded, she sent it to them, one finally decided to represent her - they sold it to a publishing house and is the book published? Nope. She's still revising. What happens is - she sends it to her editor, they take 6 months to review, they make changes and notes - send it back, she revises, sends it back to them, they make more notes...she does more research...and so on. So getting your work as perfect as possible before contacting an agent - ensures you'll get one. Have to admit - I got more hits and better responses on my book after the fifth revision. I started the first draft in 1989, I think. Over the years, my writing has improved as has the book...that said? It's not even close to being publishable, has lots of problems plotwise. My biggest problem is I'm a complicator - I'm not happy with a simple clearcut plot, I have to add all sorts of things to it...not to mention one too many characters.

Re: That's better than I've done

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

That sounds exactly like the advice I've read in books like "The First Five Pages" and "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers". It's what I'm striving for.