allisonreader

[allisonreader]

Well if you insist...

(Aka I'm using this as an excuse to explain/talk about a couple of the things that I've been working on writing this week. And it's probably going to be easier to write as a reblog rather than just in tags or notes, the rest below.)

Also, sending big tight hugs your way as well.

This week has been all about time travel for me. I don't know that I've written anything that hasn't related to time travel this week.

Part of that is definitely due to having been reading a couple of different fics that are time travel related that have really captured my fancy. One's a Hunger Games fic and the other is actually a Cars fic.

It's the Cars fic that has really gotten my creative juices flowing, because while it is very different from anything that my friend and I have spoken about for Cars time travel AUs, it does still have some similar emotional beats to what we had discussed.

So one of the time travel things I have been working on is sort of the very first time travel AU that my friend and I discussed way back in 2017. We had some really fun moments in it. We had Lightning changing things and stopping Doc's wreck, and other things that lead to Lightning then ending up as Doc's grandson. There's also a family in joke as Lightning grows up that everyone Doc's generation calls Lightning Marty McFly after realizing that he had time travelled when he's older, he just doesn't know it yet. (But the events of the movie still happen similar, but not quite the same. Because now they're related.) There's also Phantom memories of the old time line that everyone gets, though because Lightning remembers his old time line he gets memories of the current time line.

The other big thing that I've been working on has been my AU of Tales Of A Frozen Sailor where Jessica Hudson is rescued before the Titanic sinks. Which was what I originally considered writing instead of Tales Of A Frozen Sailor. I've kind of started from scratch for it again. Because I always get to one point and get stuck, so I'm hoping this time I can get past that particular block.

It’s mainly just pride and tiredness, but it’s a little bit of a glum evening. If anyone wants to tell me something you’ve found interesting lately, or something related to your creative project, or just a hug, it would be nice. 😊

[allisonreader]

Bank of Sapphire Cold?

[allisonreader]

I've already written 3 pages today, and nearly a page of that was while throwing a ball for a dog. Hopefully a few more pages.

[allisonreader]

Usually sign-ups for the Inklings Challenge don't start until September 1st, and teams are assigned October 1st. However, since the theme has been chosen and the announcement post prepared, I'm not sure if there's a good reason to wait to post it. It could give people more time to sign up and brainstorm story options, but it could also give too much time, so people forget about it or lose enthusiasm by the time the Challenge starts.

What do you guys think?

[allisonreader]

Moldy citrus has to be one of the absolutely worst things in the world.

[allisonreader]

If someone called you by your online moniker out in public, do you think you’d instinctively respond, or would it not occur to you at first that they might be calling you?

(This is setting aside the matter of whether it would bother you or whether you would choose to recognizably respond - this is about whether you would think of it first as someone calling you.)

[allisonreader]

I did edit these so that you can see the way the different inks changed in different ways. Original pictures below the break.

[allisonreader]

I want to write... I really should write... But I'm reading instead. We'll see if I make it to writing.

[allisonreader]

Yeah, I think it's time to take a break from writing now. At least for a little bit.

I wrote from where the green ends, on today.

[allisonreader]

@nurfhurdur this is me with our messages every time I return to them.

me re-scrolling thru older convos w/ my friends becuase i remember how much i enjoyed talking to them about the subject

[allisonreader]

Well, I've gotten over a page written today of my Lost in the Past story. I'm hoping that with this version I'll be able to write past the places where I've previously gotten stuck. So far I've been kind of merging the two of the versions that I had previously started, because there's things that I liked about both.

[allisonreader]

I'm sharing an At that I wrote because I thought that it just happened to look particularly pretty after I wrote it.

[allisonreader]

After not having worked on this particular story, I have found myself thinking about it and starting it from scratch again. My Tales Of A Frozen Sailor AU where Erik lands in Jessica's time and saves her from going down with the Titanic. So Lost in the Past is what I've been working on yesterday and hopefully again today.

[allisonreader]

It's August, which means it's time to start planning for this year's Inklings Challenge. Specifically, the list of seven Christian themes that people can choose from to add a Christian element to the stories.

The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy from the last two years provided coherent, varied lists that lent themselves pretty well to storytelling. I'd like to work with a similar Traditional List if possible.

Options:

Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord): Good list, but not a ton of variety for storytelling.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control): A character-focused list, but one that doesn't allow for a lot of variety--if a character has one, they're likely to have several. I suppose if I gave detailed definitions for each one, I could show greater variety (if, say, patience is about patience in adversity), but even then, it's hard (can you really differentiate between kindness and goodness in any meaningful way in storytelling? )

Sacraments (baptism, Eucharist, reconciliation, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, anointing of the sick): Alas, too Catholic for an event that involves lots of Protestants. Even if I used it, it could be a lot to ask people to consider the themes behind each sacrament in ways that go beyond just showing the sacrament being done. I could make a list of themes that relate to each sacrament, but that has a lot of overlap with the first year's list of Christian themes, and last year's spiritual works of mercy.

Beatitudes (blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure of heart, those who suffer persecution): I was thinking this list has too much overlap among itself (poor in spirit, meek, and suffering persecution are pretty similar), and overlap with last year's list (comforting mourners), but now that I write it out, I can see wider storytelling potential--I like the options for both justice and mercy, suffering persecution has built-in story potential.

Seven Lively Virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility): Another list that seems to have a lot of overlap. However, since there is so much fantasy that plays with the Seven Deadly Sins, it would be nice to have a Christian version that highlights the corresponding virtues. The shades of difference between them are highlighted when you contrast them with their sins (in order: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, and pride). There's a lot of storytelling potential in stories that feature the fight between the sin and the virtue. You could even list each pair as the theme (and just use the virtue for the tag). But that could also seem like highlighting the sins, which might be a weird look for a Christian-themed event.

Seven Heavenly Virtues (or Theological + Cardinal Virtues) (faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude): A list with some similarities to the above, but with more obvious variety (especially if we take the common meaning of some of these words rather than the strict theological definition). Might require some definitions to bring out the story potential.

Right now, my top contenders are

Beatitudes

Virtues vs. Vices

Heavenly Virtues

Does anyone have any preferences or thoughts about those three? Any ideas for lists that I've overlooked? I always appreciate input.

[allisonreader]

My other thoughts and ideas about The Princess and the Pea, and the Pea, and the Pea…

Link to story here.

The Royal Family that the Princess comes across is aware of the time loop. But their staff isn’t.

The time loop is actually the fault of the Royal Family when the Princess first comes across them. As the King and Queen think that the Princess could be a potential match for their son and the time loop is their way of testing her. (And yes, there still is a pea under the mattresses, AND it plays a part of why the time loop is happening…)

After the first time the Princess makes it to the palace of the Royal Family, she gets lost the next few loops trying to find her way there and doesn’t make it to the palace before a new loop starts again.

The time loop always starts after the Princess’s carriage has been attacked, so there's no way for her to try and stop it.

The Princess has tried staying with the carriage a few times, but it never ends well for her men and sometimes not her either.

The Princess has been held captive by the bandits a few times and has even died by their hands once or twice.

Once the Princess learned the way to the palace she always goes to the palace because she knows that she's at least going to be safe there and be able to get out of the rain and warm up. Which leaves her feeling a little guilty because her men are still out there.

The time loop will potentially end once the Princess falls asleep in the bed.

Once the time loop ends, the Princess will learn that her men (her guards) are all safe and that the Royal Family had sent some of their own men out to help them.

The Royal Family often will have a look of disappointment when they hear that the Princess hasn’t even tried to sleep in the bed, because they know that once she does she’s at least a step closer to stopping the time loop, if not stopping it then. The Princess never notices these looks.

The Princess has tried asking some of the staff for help against the time loop, but they don’t know how to help.

There might be more later, but this is all I can think of currently.