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bironicDreamt last night that I was in a high school English class and we were doing a fic exchange as an in-class assignment. The prompts I got (from a girl named Tracy, who I actually did go to high school with) were for SGA and were really long and complicated, the sort of overdetailed story outlines that totally stifle creativity and can't be done as a flashfic anyway because they're too long. I sat there staring at the four or five different prompts, finding it impossible even to pick out a detail to build a story out of, as the clock ticked towards the deadline. (The only detail I remember is that, in the middle of one story about something totally different, it's revealed that Sheppard once won a game show he appeared on.) I had to turn in a blank sheet of paper, and the teacher disapproved. I said I could try to write Tracy a story that night when I went home. I went over to her desk to apologize, and she shrugged and said coolly that she hadn't thought she'd actually get a story out of what she'd put down. I just stood there, fuming, because she'd *known* her prompts were impossible and I was the one getting a zero for it.
So what did I do this morning? Sign up for a ficathon. *headdesk*
I really am worried that I'm not going to be able to write fiction for a very long time -- not because I'm short on time now, but because I'm rusty, and every time I sit down, as has happened most days since the summer, I can imagine what I want on a story-level (A happens, and then B, and there should be X and Y emotions), but the details, the dialogue, the narration, the actual line-by-line story, will not come. I stare at the screen. This frightens me.
Haven't decided yet whether to post a memory today and take tomorrow off (200 comments in two days! Aah!), or skip today and post again tomorrow.
News:
- Got a confirmation email that my application was received and complete. Now must wait until April 1 for the verdict.
Recs:
Pimps:
-![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
roga is planning a multifandom Purim ficlet/art exchange that sounds like fun. A celebration of Jewish characters, the promise of treats, and the booing of evil viziers -- what's not to like?
Reviews:
- Total Recall (1990, dir. Paul Verhoeven): I didn't know until a few years ago that this was based on Philip K. Dick's short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," which I'd read a while back in one of the sci fi short story collections my grandmother let me steal from her attic, and this week I finally got around to renting it. All I remember about the short story was that there was a guy who went to get a memory implanted and ended up triggering a host of other memories that he'd been repressing about time he'd spent on Mars, and there were all these typical Dick questions about what constitutes "real" memories and confusion of identities and the subjectivity of reality. The movie did much of that, and even went so far as to have Ahnold ask, "If I'm not me, then who the hell am I?", which pretty much encapsulates Dick's work*, but there was a whole bunch of stuff that didn't seem at all familiar, and I don't know if that's because I just don't remember it or if the movie took off in its own direction after starting in the same place: lots of action, much of it taking place on Mars, terrorist attacks and a business conspiracy, rich tourists staying at the Hilton Mars contrasted with the poor/deformed/seedy miners and citizens of Venus City, a mysterious alien reactor in the center of a mountain, and a psychic mutant who helps Ahnold recover what others had erased in his mind. It was a fun ride overall, although I did not like the number of civilian casualties or the dubious science the climax hinged on (i.e. vaporizing massive amounts of ice will produce a viable atmosphere for an entire planet in minutes).
*And I am still miffed at how little attention Dick has been given when people discuss Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, because his influence is undeniable. /mini-rant
Hm. Should go do some work now.
So what did I do this morning? Sign up for a ficathon. *headdesk*
I really am worried that I'm not going to be able to write fiction for a very long time -- not because I'm short on time now, but because I'm rusty, and every time I sit down, as has happened most days since the summer, I can imagine what I want on a story-level (A happens, and then B, and there should be X and Y emotions), but the details, the dialogue, the narration, the actual line-by-line story, will not come. I stare at the screen. This frightens me.
Haven't decided yet whether to post a memory today and take tomorrow off (200 comments in two days! Aah!), or skip today and post again tomorrow.
News:
- Got a confirmation email that my application was received and complete. Now must wait until April 1 for the verdict.
Recs:
- topaz_eyes wrote a beautiful sestina about Cuddy. As Cuddy-centric gen in a slash-heavy fandom and as a poem besides, it has not gotten nearly enough love.
- thingswithwings posted a series of Atlantis jokes last night that are guaranteed to make you laugh at least once: A priest, a rabbi and an ATA user walk into a bar...
- Spiral by unamaga and Fix by toft_froggy are both quite hot John/Rodney PWPs (but not PWCs [porn without characterization]) that manage to pack a whole lot of screwed-up UST into these scenes where they're in the middle of having sex. Plus, the first has John/Rodney/math OT3 and the second has John stuck in an Atlantis sex machine.
- dragonwrangler wrote a silly House fic based on an icon of mine, which is pretty cool: Cuddy's Little Secret.
Pimps:
-
roga is planning a multifandom Purim ficlet/art exchange that sounds like fun. A celebration of Jewish characters, the promise of treats, and the booing of evil viziers -- what's not to like?Reviews:
- Total Recall (1990, dir. Paul Verhoeven): I didn't know until a few years ago that this was based on Philip K. Dick's short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," which I'd read a while back in one of the sci fi short story collections my grandmother let me steal from her attic, and this week I finally got around to renting it. All I remember about the short story was that there was a guy who went to get a memory implanted and ended up triggering a host of other memories that he'd been repressing about time he'd spent on Mars, and there were all these typical Dick questions about what constitutes "real" memories and confusion of identities and the subjectivity of reality. The movie did much of that, and even went so far as to have Ahnold ask, "If I'm not me, then who the hell am I?", which pretty much encapsulates Dick's work*, but there was a whole bunch of stuff that didn't seem at all familiar, and I don't know if that's because I just don't remember it or if the movie took off in its own direction after starting in the same place: lots of action, much of it taking place on Mars, terrorist attacks and a business conspiracy, rich tourists staying at the Hilton Mars contrasted with the poor/deformed/seedy miners and citizens of Venus City, a mysterious alien reactor in the center of a mountain, and a psychic mutant who helps Ahnold recover what others had erased in his mind. It was a fun ride overall, although I did not like the number of civilian casualties or the dubious science the climax hinged on (i.e. vaporizing massive amounts of ice will produce a viable atmosphere for an entire planet in minutes).
*And I am still miffed at how little attention Dick has been given when people discuss Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, because his influence is undeniable. /mini-rant
Hm. Should go do some work now.
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 03:32 pm (UTC)*looks fondly at peridots on desk*
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 03:34 pm (UTC)Actually, that sounds kind of like RL right now.
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 06:04 pm (UTC)Thank you for the rec! ♥ I feel a little obsessed about writing sestinas now. I have two more word sets in my notebook. Whether anything will come of them, we'll see.
Total Recall is one of those "guilty pleasure" films. It's good fun. Great Ahnold lines.
Don't worry about being rusty. Writing is like riding a bicycle, it comes back to you. Getting over the intimidation of the blank page is the hardest part. Maybe try writing some drabbles, just to get back into practice?
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 06:12 pm (UTC)I cheer you from afar on your word sets. *\o/*
My dreams about school usually feature those sudden realizations that you're about to take a test and have no recollection of any of the material, or about missing or running late for something important. Or leaving the house without shoes on.
Total Recall was fun! Even when Ahnold totally failed at delivering many of his lines.
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 07:25 pm (UTC)1) House, House/Wilson, hairy tongue
2) SGA, John or Rodney, dreams about school ;-D
Either of those? Or both?
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 07:27 pm (UTC)Lemme see.
no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 09:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 16th, 2008 10:01 pm (UTC)I know you can do this! *grabs pompoms* Besides, snake!kitty commands you. *g*
no subject
Date: Jan. 17th, 2008 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 17th, 2008 02:01 am (UTC)I think I like the movie versions of Dick's work more than his actual stories *g*. I've seen and loved Blade Runner, Total Recall, Paycheck and Minority Report - all excellent (I love Arnie :P).
If you like stories about identity, please allow me to pimp Greg Egan. Here's a link to one of his stories online if you're interested - it's a 'legal' copy to which he has himself linked to from his website, but I'm giving you the cached version because the actual site seems to have disappeared.
Edit: obviously, html and I don't get on.
http://74.6.146.244/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=greg+egan+closer+eidolon&rd=r1&fr=yfp-t-501&u=www.eidolon.net/old_site/issue_09/09_closr.htm&w=greg+egan+closer+close+closing+eidolon&d=QpKbWbXiQG0n&icp=1&.intl=au
baby, you can spam me anytime
Date: Jan. 17th, 2008 02:06 am (UTC)Will definitely check out the cached story before it, too, disappears. Thanks!
Guess what? I am writing PORN right now! Going to try to finish it tonight.
Re: baby, you can spam me anytime
Date: Jan. 17th, 2008 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 17th, 2008 02:10 am (UTC)Back to porn. (SGA.) Woo!