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Doing laundry finally. No one was down there - so it's easy. Always easier when no one is downstairs.
The internet was annoying me again today. Probably best not to vent about it? Venting about the internet on the internet never ends well?
A weird side-effect of both the Buffy Revival being cancelled and my Buffy re-watch - is the oddest desire to write fanfic? Except fanfic that takes place 25 years after the series ended. Not sure there's anywhere to really share it? The Buffy fandom is pretty much dead on DW and Ao3. But that's okay, I can just write it in my head.
I've finally broken the reading slump - and found a book I want to sink into and devour whole. It's taken...quite a few books? I think it's more of a mood thing than a book thing? I'm in the mood for a certain story trope and writing style - specifically one that sparks my own creative/story telling juices. The book that's currently engrossing me is Inheritance by Illona Andrews - the writers wrote it as a serial on their blog during the pandemic, and have now self-published it.
It's engrossing. Does remind of a video game at various points.
Here's the synopsis - it's convoluted, but I like convoluted world building and plots that are close to impossible to summarize.
"We are at war. The interdimensional invasion brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke talents slumbering deep within us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Every day new gates open, leading to breaches filled with monsters and valuable resources. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you were born to be.
Adaline is a Talent. Ten years ago, she had a happy marriage and a job she loved. The invasion shattered both. Now she works for the government, searching the breaches for magic metals and medicine to help Earth repel an interdimensional enemy. Two kids, one cat, bills, benefits, mortgage and school tuition...Risking her life became routine.
She had gone into the dimensional gates hundreds of times. She was always well protected. This time everything goes wrong. Now Ada is trapped in the labyrinth of alien caves unlike any other. Her only companion is a scared German Shepherd named Bear. Together they must uncover the breach's secrets and escape, because Ada promised her children that she will come home."
Illona Andrews is possibly among the very few writers in which I've gobbled up everything they've written. There's a handful of others. Jane Austen, I did for the most part. James Joyce. William Gibson. Anne McCaffrey - I read just about everything she wrote. Courtney Milan - up to a point. I usually just read one series of the writers and nothing else. Neil Gaiman - I read way too much of - mainly because people kept rec'ing him to me, and I kept thinking - I should like this. Why don't I like this more than I do? I finally realized: It's because his characters lack emotional resonance and feel a bit like ciphers, and all the work is put into the world-building.
Illona Andrews does a good job with four or five story tropes that I love:
* Enemies to Partners to Lovers trope
* Problem solving and working collaboratively to do it, figuring things out logically
* Blending myth and science
* Questioning authority and social systems
* Survival in the midst of impossible circumstances
It's hard to articulate what I like sometimes. I'm not sure I did it well there.
This may come as shock to folks - considering I spend all my time reading and writing - for a living and for pleasure or so it seems? But neither come easily. Never have. Never will. I'll often read a page and have no idea what I just read. I usually read things four or five times. I run my eyes over it. Read it once. Then back again, word for word, sentence by sentence. And then certain sections. I'm not necessarily conscious of doing it. I hide that I check, double and triple check just about everything. It's how I write. I write it. I run my eyes back over it. Read it again. Then a third time, often as I am writing it. Often during a conversation - I'll repeat something someone said back to them - to ensure I got it right or heard it right, and will often repeat something I said more than once, because I'm not sure I said it right the first time.
Honestly, I think sometimes it would have been easier if I'd taken up art.
Drawing and painting doesn't require as much double checking.
Computers have admittedly made things easier in the writing department. I used to have to hand write papers six to seven times in school - I adored white out when it was created. And typed papers five or six times - was dependent on that correction stripe. Now? I don't have that problem as much? Also, I'm a faster typist. But I do proof as I type.
Off to bed. Friday finally. I don't know about anyone else? But it's been a long and cold week. I'm ready for spring. Good think it allegedly starts tomorrow - at least per the calendar. Weather wise? It's up in the air at the moment.
The internet was annoying me again today. Probably best not to vent about it? Venting about the internet on the internet never ends well?
A weird side-effect of both the Buffy Revival being cancelled and my Buffy re-watch - is the oddest desire to write fanfic? Except fanfic that takes place 25 years after the series ended. Not sure there's anywhere to really share it? The Buffy fandom is pretty much dead on DW and Ao3. But that's okay, I can just write it in my head.
I've finally broken the reading slump - and found a book I want to sink into and devour whole. It's taken...quite a few books? I think it's more of a mood thing than a book thing? I'm in the mood for a certain story trope and writing style - specifically one that sparks my own creative/story telling juices. The book that's currently engrossing me is Inheritance by Illona Andrews - the writers wrote it as a serial on their blog during the pandemic, and have now self-published it.
It's engrossing. Does remind of a video game at various points.
Here's the synopsis - it's convoluted, but I like convoluted world building and plots that are close to impossible to summarize.
"We are at war. The interdimensional invasion brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke talents slumbering deep within us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Every day new gates open, leading to breaches filled with monsters and valuable resources. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you were born to be.
Adaline is a Talent. Ten years ago, she had a happy marriage and a job she loved. The invasion shattered both. Now she works for the government, searching the breaches for magic metals and medicine to help Earth repel an interdimensional enemy. Two kids, one cat, bills, benefits, mortgage and school tuition...Risking her life became routine.
She had gone into the dimensional gates hundreds of times. She was always well protected. This time everything goes wrong. Now Ada is trapped in the labyrinth of alien caves unlike any other. Her only companion is a scared German Shepherd named Bear. Together they must uncover the breach's secrets and escape, because Ada promised her children that she will come home."
Illona Andrews is possibly among the very few writers in which I've gobbled up everything they've written. There's a handful of others. Jane Austen, I did for the most part. James Joyce. William Gibson. Anne McCaffrey - I read just about everything she wrote. Courtney Milan - up to a point. I usually just read one series of the writers and nothing else. Neil Gaiman - I read way too much of - mainly because people kept rec'ing him to me, and I kept thinking - I should like this. Why don't I like this more than I do? I finally realized: It's because his characters lack emotional resonance and feel a bit like ciphers, and all the work is put into the world-building.
Illona Andrews does a good job with four or five story tropes that I love:
* Enemies to Partners to Lovers trope
* Problem solving and working collaboratively to do it, figuring things out logically
* Blending myth and science
* Questioning authority and social systems
* Survival in the midst of impossible circumstances
It's hard to articulate what I like sometimes. I'm not sure I did it well there.
This may come as shock to folks - considering I spend all my time reading and writing - for a living and for pleasure or so it seems? But neither come easily. Never have. Never will. I'll often read a page and have no idea what I just read. I usually read things four or five times. I run my eyes over it. Read it once. Then back again, word for word, sentence by sentence. And then certain sections. I'm not necessarily conscious of doing it. I hide that I check, double and triple check just about everything. It's how I write. I write it. I run my eyes back over it. Read it again. Then a third time, often as I am writing it. Often during a conversation - I'll repeat something someone said back to them - to ensure I got it right or heard it right, and will often repeat something I said more than once, because I'm not sure I said it right the first time.
Honestly, I think sometimes it would have been easier if I'd taken up art.
Drawing and painting doesn't require as much double checking.
Computers have admittedly made things easier in the writing department. I used to have to hand write papers six to seven times in school - I adored white out when it was created. And typed papers five or six times - was dependent on that correction stripe. Now? I don't have that problem as much? Also, I'm a faster typist. But I do proof as I type.
Off to bed. Friday finally. I don't know about anyone else? But it's been a long and cold week. I'm ready for spring. Good think it allegedly starts tomorrow - at least per the calendar. Weather wise? It's up in the air at the moment.
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