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mymelodyheart · 4 years

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Miles Between Us Chapter 1 ~Stories She Wrote~

PICTURE SOURCE

PART 2 OF WONDERWALL SERIES

Hey guys, I'm back and thrilled to give you part 2 of WONDERWALL series, Miles Between Us. It is a continuation from my holiday ficlet, All I Want For Christmas Is You. If you haven't read the first part, I suggest you do if you wish to get an insight into Jamie and Claire’s history (Here is the link) Otherwise, this ficlet can also be read as a stand-alone.

I know All I Want For Christmas Is You ending was bittersweet, but it had to be done. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a Part 2 in this series. I had to leave the story open to possibilities if it is to have a chance of growing. And besides, making this into a series allows me to take breaks from writing and refresh my brain in-between ficlets. So I hope this next part of the story will make up for leaving you hanging all these weeks.

Anyway, before you continue, I'd like to thank you for reading, commenting and giving feedback to my stories. They're all very appreciated even if I sometimes don't comment back. As a hobby writer, I always look forward to your response, and they spur me to continue writing. Without the readers, I wouldn't be here. So thank you for being part of my writing journey.

If you wish to read this on AO3, here is the link.

So now everything is said, without further ado, I wish you all happy reading. ❤️

Previously ...

Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp and James Fraser met and fell in love during the Holiday Seasons. Unfortunately for their budding relationship, after two weeks of a whirlwind romance, Claire has to return to London to finish some work commitment that could take a year to fulfil. It doesn't help matters that Jamie's PTSD condition prevents him from visiting her as loud city noises can trigger panic attacks. They are both in love with each other and are willing to find out where their relationship will head to. But can they find a compromise to bridge the gap of hundreds of miles to give their love a chance?

After sitting on her bed most of Saturday working on her laptop, Claire Beauchamp rolled her neck and stretched her back, her arms extending above her head. She flinched when her joints cracked.

Over the past few days, her boss, John Grey, forwarded manuscripts and drafts from the author she was working with. She hadn't eaten anything all day, and her stomach was beginning to grumble, and her eyes blurry from reading.

She'd read so much in the past hours, she was practically cross-eyed, and the bridge of her nose hurt where her specs rested. Words upon words had sifted through her brain, but now the lines were beginning to blur together.

She glanced back down on her laptop and opened a file in her document folder, her eyes scanning through lines she knew by heart. She'd been going through her own work lately wondering if she had what it takes to be a writer. Someone who would give her an honest opinion ought to read it before contemplating getting herself a literary agent if she was to start a new chapter of her life and take that leap of faith in her dream career.

A sudden urgency took over, and she needed Annalise to read her work, like right now. Which reminded Claire, her friend was away with Willie, shopping and sight-seeing. He was staying over their place for the weekend for the first time since she and Annalise left Lallybroch. After declining their invitation to join them earlier, the loved-up couple left her to her work with the promise of dinner when they returned.

She was about to reach out for her cold coffee from the bedside table when Raiders of the Lost Ark's theme song blared from her phone. At the same time, a picture of her uncle Lamb appeared on the screen. He was wearing a high-crowned, wide-brimmed, weather-beaten fedora hat and had a lopsided grin plastered to his thickly stubbled face. Rugged, she thought, just like her favourite pair of distressed leather boots, and very Indiana Jones.

Smiling, she tapped the answer button and put the phone on speaker. "Uncle Lamb! Long time no speak!"

"Sweetheart," he started in a deep familiar voice, "how are you?"

She frowned and pushed her laptop aside. Something was off. "Oh you know, same old ...just finishing work and ..."

"On a Saturday?" he asked, cutting her off.

"Look who's talking."

He chuckled. "You're young. You should be out. There are so many things to do in London ...especially on a Saturday. "

Claire rolled her eyes but opted to change the subject instead. She wasn't ready to give her reason for working overtime nor share her future plans nor talk about the handsome Scot she met during her holidays. Not just yet, anyway. "So ...to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice, dear uncle?"

"What?" he said gruffly, pretending to sound offended. "Can't I call my favourite girl in the world and check up on her?"

She mentally sighed. Something must be up since her uncle never called. It was always she who usually phoned, and when he did call on a rare occasion, it was either because something had happened or he was in London. She dismissed the latter since she knew he was in Papua New Guinea. The next conclusion she landed on was his health but thought it absurd. Her uncle was strong as an ox, ate healthily, only smoked the occasional cigar and regularly went for doctor's check-up, a requirement in his job as an archaeologist travelling to remote places.

Unless. "You sound suspiciously chipper. Let me guess ...you met someone. There's a woman in your life."

He coughed like he was choking on a drink. "No! Why would you say that?"

Alright, he sounded repulsed by the idea enough. Or was that denial? "I don't know. You seem so ...how shall I say it ...unlike yourself. You normally skip the niceties and get to the point."

He lets out an impatient breath. "Claire, darling, am I really that awful?"

"No," she replied, ignoring the ache in her throat. She missed their time together but tried not to make it apparent in her tone. He was a busy man, and the last thing she wanted was her uncle worrying. "You don't seem like you're rushing off to anywhere. It's rare you sound this relax."

"It's way past my bedtime already," he sighed. "And besides, work is on stand-by at the moment until we get the license to start digging on site. People here are so damn laid back, and nobody seems to be in a hurry to process the paperwork. I'm not about to hand out cash to speed things along even if bribery is rampant here."

"I see. So you're in Port Moresby then?"

"Yes. As soon as we have the license sorted out, we'll be flying to Lae first thing tomorrow. Hopefully, anyway." He cleared his throat. "Speaking of paperwork, I received an email from my lawyer. Your trust fund has matured, dear. I'll send you the details where to go to and who to contact, and maybe you can start planning your life. Perhaps take a sabbatical and travel with me if you wish."

Ah yes, the trust fund.

After her parents died, everything they had owned was put into her trust fund by her uncle to secure her future. She'd already received a small lump sum when she turned eighteen, and the money had afforded her, though small and cramped, a decent rental two-bedroom apartment in London with high windows, which was premium in this expensive city. And Annalise, her best friend and roommate made enough money to help pay the ridiculous expensive utility bills. Her own wage just about covered the other expenses with almost nought left for savings, but she hadn't worried knowing there was money in place in her name. She was counting on it to support herself when she pursued her dreams of writing.

"About that, I think I'll let that sit in the bank for a while. It's not like I need the money right now, nor do I have the time to spend it."

"As you wish," her uncle replied. "And another thing I need to discuss with you ...South Lodge ..."

"What about South Lodge?" South Lodge should have been her family home if her parents hadn't died, and she knew it was a highly coveted property because of its historical significance. It was never put into the market for sale since her uncle thought it wasn't his place to decide. It was put on a twenty-year lease to a high profile politician, its payments going towards her trust fund.

"The lease is up, and the occupants will be moving out soon. Unfortunately for you, that information made it to the local news and you were mentioned as the legatee. So don't be surprised if you're bombarded with offers now that your name is out. I'm willing to bet, property investors and developers will be itching to get their hands on it."

Claire took off her specs and pinched the bridge of her nose. God, she hated adulting, paperwork and dealings with lawyers. Maybe she should just sell South Lodge and be done with it, so she could concentrate on her future plans. What do I need a five-bedroom house with one acre of garden in Oxford for? "I'll think about it, uncle. I just have a lot of things going on at the moment. I'm quite sure those things can wait."

"Of course dear."

"Thank you for letting me know." She thought of Jamie, and the Highlands and how much life was a lot simpler there. She really needed to double her effort to tie up loose ends in London and have a heart to heart talk with Annalise. Is her relationship with Willie serious? If not, her friend would have to eventually find a new roommate. After quickly glancing at her bedside clock, she realised they would be here soon and hopefully with a takeaway. Annalise did mention something about sorting dinner out tonight.

"And Claire?"

"Yes?"

"Your upbringing hasn't been the most ideal. Enjoy the money and treat yourself. Don't spend your life doing things that don't bring you joy."

She smiled. Her uncle must have had a rude awakening of some sort to sound so philosophical. Or probably, he did meet someone special. Either way, she wasn't going to push for any answers for now. She really needed to get out of bed, do a few stretches and have a shower before Annalise, and Willie arrived. "I'll try," she finally said.

"Good. I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing."

"Sadly, yes." She shut her laptop and got out of bed. "Take care of yourself, alright? And I'll phone you sometime next week after I've figured out our time differences."

"Absolutely, sweetheart. Talk soon."

"Love you, uncle Lamb."

"Love you, too."

She terminated the call with a swipe on her screen and rubbed her eyes. She'd been working for seven hours straight, and her eyeballs felt like they're made of sandpaper. Glancing at the corner table, she smiled when she saw Jamie's gifts. Willie had brought them with him when he arrived last night from Inverness. She knew Jamie was making up for his absence, but it couldn't be helped when there's the danger of his PTSD condition worsening in the city. To her delight and surprise, he'd sent her a leather-bound journal, a framed selfie photo of them together, driftwood bookends he made and a box of her favourite Lindt chocolate.

With a contented sigh, she made a mental note to call Jamie after dinner. And to ask her boss first thing Monday morning if she could take her work to Scotland the following weekend to surprise her boyfriend. After all, she was just taking her uncle's advice, and after the work, she'd put in the last couple of weeks, and the extra hours she planned to do the next few days, she deserved a little joy in her life.

..........

Claire leaned forward, and nervously examined her best friend's face. Annalise was hunched down, scrolling her laptop, tongue darting out as she read the paragraphs on the screen.

What's that look for? Doesn't she like it? She couldn't tell. It was the first time she's showing her work to anyone, one of the stories she had written during her spare time before embarking a career as an editorial assistant for Dreamcatcher Publishing Company. She needed to hear her friend's opinion to know if she even had a small chance of becoming a writer.

Annalise took her sweet time, and Claire wasn't sure if her inscrutable expression was a deliberate act to prolong the suspense, or if she genuinely had no reaction to what she's reading. If it was the latter, Claire would definitely kiss her dream of being a writer goodbye. If it's the former, she's going to strangle her friend for making her suffer.

She heard the door to the apartment open and close, followed by the sound of keys jangling and heavy footfalls, announcing the arrival of Willie. He'd stopped by to order some food at a local Indian takeaway while Annalise headed straight home to prepare the table for dinner. Instead of calling out to him, she held her breath for Annalise's response.

Just when Claire was starting to accept her hope of being a writer would never amount to anything other than a pipe dream, she saw the reaction she impatiently waited for. Annalise's mouth formed a comical O, followed by her eyes' widening and random shallow sighs.

Yessssssss!

This was massive. Despite Annalise having seen works from established authors Claire had edited for, she'd never witnessed her friend looked this excited. Annalise simply couldn't hide her gobsmacked expression, even if she tried.

"Oh, dear Lord," she whispered, her gaze flicking to Claire and then back to the screen. "Why didn't you tell me you had this? I knew you wanted to be a writer, but this ..."

"So?"

Annalise took a massive deep breath, her fingers almost shaking. "Oh my God, Claire."

"Oh my God, wot? Oh my God good or oh my God, bad?" Claire asked, even though she already knew deep in her bones, what the answer was. But she desperately needed to hear the words.

"This is bloody good," she said, as she went back to a previous page, and reread it all over again. After a couple of minutes more, a slow smile started to spread across her face, as she stole a few cheeky glances over at Claire.

Claire knew she could rely on her friend to tell her the truth. If her work had been bad, friend or not, Annalise would have been forthright and told her the hard facts. Nevertheless, she tamped down her own growing excitement. "The question is though ...is it good enough for the mass?"

Without hesitation, Annalise nodded vigorously, her blue eyes big as saucers. "Oh, Claire, are you kidding me? You really have no idea, have you? Of course, it is! I need to read the rest. Please tell me it's finished."

Claire relaxed for the first time and slumped back against the headboard of her bed, relief soothing her wild heartbeat. "It's finished."

Annalise let out a whoop as she gripped the laptop tightly. "Oh my God! Give me everything ...I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't read at least one more chapter of this story."

"I've got ten more finished materials."

"Oh my God, oh my God! You're killing me. I want it all."

Willie poked his head by the frame of the doorway to her bedroom and eyed them suspiciously. She wasn't sure what he expected to find, but his eyes narrowed when he saw Annalise's flushed face.

"What are ye both up to?" he asked, frowning. "Ye sound like ye're looking at porn on the internet."

Annalise grinned and motioned him over. "Sort of."

Willie hesitantly entered the room. "Sorry?"

"In actual fact, much better than porn ..." Annalise announced, smirking at Claire.

"Annalise!" Claire wheezed when it dawned on her, her friend must have been reading the sex scene part.

Annalise reached out and reassuringly squeezed Claire's hand whilst looking at Willie. "Take a look at this. Claire wrote it."

Annalise handed the laptop to Willie, and both of them earnestly watched his face to gauge his reaction. As he sat down on the edge of the bed and read, Claire knew he would be the real test. Willie being a bloke, she didn't expect him to have the same reaction as Annalise, but she hoped he would appreciate the storyline and plot. Claire already understood, if her story was going to be good enough to be published, its success would be based on women's purchasing power. If he liked her style of writing even a smidgen, then she would be laughing.

Claire held her breath in anxious anticipation, and approximately a minute and a half later, she got her response.

His eyes bulged out, and then the tips of his ears glowed with red. In all sort of ways, he was so similar to Jamie but yet so different. But there's no mistaking how vibrantly their ears always lit up when they're embarrassed. Or moved.

"Kind of explicit," he commented hoarsely, before tucking a tongue into his cheek as if trying to find the right words to say. "But it is an intriguing story with great flow and interesting characters. It's no' the genre I would typically read, but the first few paragraphs of what I've seen so far are riveting. It makes me want to read more."

Annalise, enthusiastically nodded in agreement and waved a hand in the air. "There it is."

"Ye have a gift, Claire," Willie added, eyes still fixed on the screen and working overtime as his focus became more intense. "The dose of mystery ye've woven into the lines is remarkable and intelligent."

She felt herself beaming in vindication. "Thank you."

He briefly glanced up at her. "Now that I remember, Jamie did vaguely mention ye wanted to be a writer."

"That's the plan," she beamed.

"Good. Because if ye can produce something like this, then yer talent is wasted on editing other people's work."

"She's got ten more finished stories," Annalise piped in.

Willie arched an eyebrow at Claire and continued reading, and when he finished, he shook his head and let out a low whistle. "Is Jamie the inspiration for this story?"

Her face heated. "I ...ah ...wrote that years ago. And ...um, I've revised and edited it a million times in the past. I wanted Annalise to read it first and find out if it's good enough to be published."

Annalise grinned at Willie, still looking a little flush like she was having a physical reaction to the few lines she'd read earlier. "So what do you think?"

Willie didn't miss Annalise's excited reaction to the story. "It's verra good but I didnae realised graphic scenes affected ye so much. Ye're beet red!"

"Only when it's very well written," Annalise smirked, taking the laptop from his hands and moving towards him to sit on his lap.

Willie pulled Annalise closer and kissed her, and Claire sighed. It's both beautiful and terrible being in the presence of people, so in love. While she's ecstatic to see her best friend smitten and happy, it made her sad that Jamie couldn't be here with her. She missed him terribly, and it's only been a fortnight since she had last seen him.

After a few seconds of watching them unashamedly snogged in front of her, Claire clapped her hands, and they both immediately pulled away. "Right, that's enough you two. So, where's the dinner I was promised?"

Suddenly looking self-conscious, Willie promptly lifted Annalise from his lap, plonked her down onto the bed and jumped up, and Claire couldn't help but grin at him.

"Right on it," he muttered, before disappearing from her bedroom.

Annalise laughed and playfully shoved her shoulder. "Passion killer."

Claire ignored the jest. "So you really think I should publish my story?"

Her friend nodded excitedly. "Absolutely! You should have let me read it sooner. From what I've seen so far, you have good, solid material, and I'm convinced, when I read the rest, it will not disappoint." She stood up and smiled. "Come on, in as much as I'm all fired up after reading your story, I'm famished." She got up and left the room.

Instead of moving from her position, Claire stared at her work for a few seconds and just breathed. Although Willie and Annalise were sincere with their praises, she couldn't help but still feel nervous. This next step in her life could either turn out to be huge, or it could get her mocked out of a dream career she loved.

Pushing aside her doubts and thinking of Jamie, she quickly compressed a copy of her story's file and sent it to him via email to read, hoping he would like her written work too. Who knew, maybe, after reading it, he would be as fired up as Willie and Annalise.

After hearing the whoosh of the email sent, Claire launched herself off the bed to join her friends, looking forward to Jamie's reaction later and daydreaming of a future in Scotland with her love.

#melodyheart #wonderwall #milesbetweenus #Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser #claire beauchamp #jamie fraser #outlanderfanfic

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nezumiismissing · 4 years

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Yoming: A Step-By-Step Guide on How Not to Lead a Revolution

So in honor of Earth Day (and also my birthday) today I reallly wanted to write something about No.6 and the environment/environmentalism, but I only realized I should do that right as I was about to go to bed last night, so it didn’t happen. Maybe next year. Anyways here’s a post on a completely different (but maybe still relevant) topic that I’ve had in my drafts for probably a year and finally got the motivation to finish over the weekend!

So I’ve been thinking a lot recently about No.6 and revolution, because I’ve always viewed No.6 as a story that is very much about revolution, and yet the revolution that actually occurs within the story (at least in the novels/manga) is objectively a failure and instead serves mostly as a way for No.6 to demonstrate its military power (and create an exciting climax to the story). Despite this failure, however, I don’t think that No.6 is ultimately against revolutionary action, and instead simply uses the example of Yoming's character and ideology to demonstrate what a revolution in the real world shouldn't look like. Because while he is clearly correct in his desire to see No.6 fall, Yoming is still, in many ways, an antagonist of the story, and ultimately attempts to do the right thing in the wrong ways for the wrong reasons.

Now obviously the biggest offense here is the fact that his entire plan to mobilize people is based on a lie. We know that there is no secret vaccine against the bees, and we know that people from any class within the city are able to die from them. So already the premise from which Yoming plans to base his overthrow of No.6 is corrupted. But even beyond that, there are numerous issues with the framing and motivation for revolution in this context, mainly stemming from the fact that, despite what he might say, Yoming doesn't actually know that much about No.6. He knows that there is a strict hierarchy within the city, and that people are regularly taken away from their families. He doesn’t know where they go or what happens to them, and while his assumptions about the people who are taken away may be true (for the most part), that’s all they really are, assumptions.

I think what gets to me the most about this is the fact that he appears to be entirely convinced that he has the whole story. He doesn’t even consider the idea that other atrocities may be occurring within the city or in the Correctional Facility, and he doesn’t ever mention the huge population of people living in West Block, and what conditions they may be living in as a result of No.6’s actions and existence. The (true) idea that No.6 may have even been built upon extreme violence against another group does not occur to him. Those people are not important to his personal experiences or goals, and so they are not important to the resistance in its entirety, despite the fact they are arguably the primary victims of No.6, and their situation is not entirely unknown to the general populace. Rather than a movement focused on systemic injustice and a highly corrupt/authoritarian government, Yoming instead creates what amounts to an almost entirely unconstructive riot based on his own personal desire for revenge, resulting in the deaths of multiple people who, while maybe not entirely happy with the city, were also not directly involved in any of the things being protested. By focusing so intensely on the individual, the concept of a collectivist-based society is completely left behind and forgotten, as in Yoming’s mind collectivism is aligned with the control and utilitarianism of No.6, and can thus only be opposed by the inverse organizational ideology of individualism, rather than a different form of collectivism focused on community and justice.

This of course leads to the scene where we actually see the extent of his insanity, in which Karan brings up the fact that a large mobilization of people against the city will cause No.6 to use military force. We of course already know that this is exactly what will happen, as we've just witnessed it in West Block and know how the leaders of the city function, but even within Yoming’s limited context, this should be seen as a completely plausible and likely scenario, as it directly aligns with the authoritarianism he claims to oppose. But he isn’t able to imagine anything that he hasn’t seen personally, and ideologically he isn’t really that different from No.6, as he only wishes to replace the current leadership with his own in order to protect those he deems worthy (as is shown in Beyond), and so he rejects it. Not only that, he says that it is impossible for No.6 to have an army, because it would go against the Babylon Treaty, a document that no one in the city seems to have actual knowledge or understanding of outside of a very surface level reading (and also definitely not the main reason you should be concerned about a state using military force on its own people). He isn’t willing to completely let go of his own utopian ideals, or those of the creators of No.6 though, and so he is unable to accept that at a fundamental level, the city has overstepped its boundaries. He isn’t able to see the disappearances of people as a systemic issue affecting the population as a whole rather than individuals and families, and is therefore unable to imagine that those disappearances may have a purpose outside of simple control, or that they may only be a small piece of a much larger issue.

Just a quick aside here; while I sympathize with Karan’s strong desire to not get anyone killed in the process of destroying and rebuilding a society, I think she’s also wrong to think that that is in any way realistic. She is aware enough of the situation to recognize that an army likely does exist, and she knows that things cannot remain as they are, but in entirely rejecting Yoming’s way of thinking, she is also eliminating any chance of No.6’s fall actually occurring in a way that doesn’t involve bees killing everyone. There’s obviously a huge philosophical debate to be had about whether or not death on either side is acceptable or even allowable during such a large political shift, and I’m not looking to really start that debate here because otherwise this would be a 20 page essay, but all I will say is that even without the deaths inflicted as a result of the revolution, the destruction of the Correctional Facility, which we are led to believe is an almost entirely positive outcome, didn’t come without its own significant death toll (and not all of those victims were on the side of No.6).

Yoming is rightfully angry at the city for creating such a strict social hierarchy and murdering his wife and son, and he is right to wish for the city’s destruction (although he doesn’t really know why this is correct), but neither of those occurrences are a justification for the suffering he put the rest of the citizens through. If he knew what was actually happening to the city, he wouldn’t have had to lie, and he knows that. It is then perhaps the case that he lies about the vaccine not because he actually believes that it exists, but because he knows that his experiences are not shared by a large number of people, and are not enough to get the entire population to join in his personal fight, so he needs to invent something that sounds real enough that people will go along with him. In this case, the bees are not his enemy, and instead are just a neutral occurrence that he is able to use as a tool in his favor. In his mind, it doesn’t matter that the citizens will eventually find out about the lie, because by then he thinks that he will already be seen as a hero, and perhaps the lie will even be seen as positive, since in this case the truth is difficult to believe. But in the end, it wasn’t enough to actually make a difference, because neither side was willing to either separate themselves from their own beliefs and ideology for long enough in order to understand the entirety of the situation, or create a legitimate and strong opposition to the other side.

I think that Yoming’s failures as a revolutionary icon are an important aspect of the story, and while he was ultimately unsuccessful, there are certainly many positive aspects of what he had hoped to accomplish, so I’m not trying to rewrite the ending of the story in any way, but what could he have done better? If his way of doing things wasn’t correct, but pacifism is also out of the question, then how could the situation have been resolved? If this were a real situation, as opposed to a story where it is important to maintain a sense of tension, I believe the best option would probably have been to wait until more information was available to avoid having to lie in the first place. There is definitely a fine line here, and I wouldn't fault anyone for disagreeing, but there has to be some threshold of facts and dissatisfaction that must be met before taking such extreme measures as a revolution, and I don't think that by that point in the story it had been reached yet. He also could have just been honest. This would have been risky, but he had already taken advantage of the confusion caused by the bees, so taking a much smaller chance in order to build the strength of his group would probably have been a better move than endangering the entire city for personal reasons. Of course he wouldn’t actually do this because it would involve a self sacrifice, which under his extremely self-centered individualist ideology is entirely unacceptable, but if he were to actually be interested in improving society, this would have probably been a good move.

Just at the end here I would like to touch on the endings of Yoming's character arcs in the various iterations of the story, because all of them are excellent in their own ways, and deserve a brief discussion.

Starting with the anime, this is just about as good an ending for his character as you could have asked for given the circumstances of the anime’s ending. The anime doesn’t exactly frame him as a revolutionary icon like the novels and manga do, so he is very much just kind of a crazy dude who also has somewhat higher legitimacy than manga/novel Yoming due to his lack of actually doing anything of significance and therefore also not getting anyone directly killed. His revolution is doomed from the start as he gives his speech to a crowd of people who can’t hear him because they’re already dead, and his lack of any actual public appearance is successful in framing him as simply an overly ambitious coward who is very much deserving of his off-screen death by the one thing that made his message questionable in the first place. It’s a very different characterization than the one seen in the novels, and while it has some consequences for the overall effect of the anime’s story that I’m not going to get into here, it's an extremely effective way of getting across the point that this revolution was not going to work. It also ties Yoming more directly to the revolution itself, with the fall of No.6 and subsequent lack of need for revolutionary action also resulting in the destruction of the revolution’s leader.

Because there is no manga for Beyond, we are also in a way given another ending for Yoming in the manga, although I feel it is incomplete. Because the manga follows the novels so closely, we see the revolution occurring prior to Shion and Nezumi’s interference, all the way up to when Yoming gives his speech in front of city hall, and then he is never seen again. This is probably the weakest of the three endings for him just because the novels give us the same scenes but with a very well done follow-up in Beyond, but I think this still works fairly well. Like the anime, this ending proves that Yoming was not really needed in order to destroy No.6, and that the scale of what was happening was completely beyond his abilities. But on the other hand, by showing the revolution in the first place, unlike the anime, we are left with the possibility that he could have been successful had it not been for Shion and Nezumi’s extremely convenient arrival at that moment. It was unlikely that it would have succeeded of course, but without either the confirmation of his death such as in the anime or the context and developments given to us in Beyond, we have no way of knowing what would have happened next. Yoming is neither a hero nor a failure in this version of the story, but instead was not given a chance to exert his full power, and therefore becomes a mostly insignificant figure in the overall story of the manga.

Finally we come to the novels, where we get a much fuller picture of who Yoming is and what his real goals were in the story told in Beyond. Rather than acting simply as the figure of a failed revolution, he continues in his quest to destroy No.6 and build a new society. However, As was mentioned earlier his actions imply that the society he wanted was not all that different from No.6 other than the fact that he would be (at least in part) in charge of it. This is of course the issue that all revolutions and their leaders must face, “Once we get into power, how do we prevent ourselves from becoming corrupt and recreating the thing we were originally fighting against?” For Yoming, the answer is that you don’t. His movement used the power of the people to earn leverage in the fall of the city and subsequent rebuilding, but was ultimately never about helping the people of No.6 as a whole, and instead served as a vehicle for just replacing the current leadership with a new regime functioning under the guise of a people’s movement. It’s a smart move if you can make it work for you, as any number of real-world examples have shown, but as we see in Beyond, Yoming really isn’t smart enough to pull it off, and since he is only one member on a larger council of leadership, his lack of overwhelming power makes it impossible for him to take total control of the city, and ensures that he is eventually caught. That isn’t to say that the system is perfect, as Shions actions clearly show it is not, but it functions well enough to weed out those who are not actually interested in restructuring. You could of course also make the argument that Shion takes over what would have been Yoming’s role had he succeeded, but that’s a different discussion for a different day.

I don’t really have anything else to add here, so this is the end of the post! There’s more to discuss here of course (there always is), but I feel that this gets the main ideas across in a way that is (hopefully) easy to understand. Revolution is complicated, including in fiction, and there really is no one right way to go about it. But in the context of a story like No.6, which is so much about revolution and social change, the portrayal of a movement that was ultimately a failure and upheld ideas of corruption alongside one that had greater success is an exercise in the exploration of the topic that not only makes the story much more interesting, but greatly contributes to our own understanding of the topic and the ideas associated with it.

#no.6 #no. 6 #no.6 analysis #long post #fyi this was sitting in my drafts for so long only because I was too lazy to open my manga to remmeber what happened to yoming there #but its fine #its here now #and its not my best work but its something #and im happy enough with it #original

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plague-of-insomnia · 4 years

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How do you make writing goals for yourself? I can't get anything done in time!!!!

Hi, anon! Tysm for sending this writing ask 💕!

Before I answer your question I’m going to take a quick diversion, but I promise it’s relevant, so bear with me.

Many writers focus on word count for goals— and events like Nanowrimo are focused on them.

But the advice I always give people who are either new(ish) to creative writing or are struggling with motivation/procrastination is IGNORE WORDCOUNT.

Throw it out of your mind. Ignore it. Pretend it doesn’t exist.

I have a few reasons for this:

Focusing on wordcount can cause anxiety and guilt. You become fixated on meeting an arbitrary word goal, instead of focusing on just writing. And if you don’t meet your goal, you feel like a failure. I have seen many writers quit bc of this cycle of anxiety and guilt.

Depending on how much you draft, your word count will change dramatically when you revise/edit. For example, the original chapter 8 of Where Demons Hide was ~4000 words, and the second draft I’m finishing up now is almost double that. I expect that the final draft that I post will have yet another shift in wordcount, possibly shrinking a little as I tighten things up. So if you stress yourself out during the first draft, when you go to revise you may realize all that stress was for nothing anyway.

Wordcount is only important if you have an assignment or submission that requires a set number of words, and even then, I would say look at #2, because wordcount should really only play into things in the last draft and be more of a general guideline you look toward as you’re drafting rather than something you use as a roadmap. Do you think the average reader has any context of the number of words in a scene? No. All they care about is flow. Some scenes may flow great with 3000 words, while others only need 300 or they feel dragged out. So I’ll reiterate: word count doesn’t matter.

So now that you’ve tossed word count in your mental wastebasket, we can get to your question about goals.

I always set my goals in two stages: immediate and overall. And I always set these goals in terms of scenes or chapters.

So my immediate goal might be “finish the scene with Sieglinde and Sebastian” while my overall goal is “finish the revision of chapter 8 of WDH.” Immediate goals are one that I will attempt to finish in a single writing session and are comparable to a wordcount goal.

If you have a particularly big scene, it’s fine to break it down into even smaller pieces, so you could say, “write the fight with the boss” as a sub-goal rather than “write the final confrontation scene.” Breaking things up like this can be especially helpful if you have a scene with different aspects, like a dialog moment and an action moment, or a long sex scene that has a foreplay and main sex component, etc.

The important thing is to break your goals into meaningful pieces that you can realistically achieve in one writing session. Everyone works at different speeds, some scenes/aspects take longer to write than others, and it can take a little time for you to find exactly what breakdowns work for you. (And that’s OK!)

You can even set your immediate goals out of the order in which those scenes happen if you feel you need to, or skip a scene you’re struggling with. It’s better to end up with 90% of your goals achieved and then tackling that last one then getting stuck when you’re only 10% in and grinding to a total halt.

I almost always have several goals at once, which I rank in terms of what I want to accomplish first. However, I give myself the flexibility to work on another goal if I’m stuck/not feeling a particular project on that day. This system allows me to “triage” and tackle the most important things first, and helps keep me organized.

Don’t forget to forgive yourself if you don’t meet your goal. Maybe you had a headache and couldn’t think as well as normal. Maybe the scene was more complicated than you’d expected, or you didn’t have quite enough research done for it. Maybe the dog next door was barking and you couldn’t concentrate.

It’s OK! Instead of focusing on the negative: “I didn’t finish the scene,” focus on the positive: “I got a good chunk of the dialog hammered out.”

Remember that this is a draft. Even if it’s a revision you’re doing, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The important thing is laying down a foundation that you can tweak later.

Even the worst paragraph can be fixed or expanded upon later, but you can’t work from nothing. So any progress is progress.

Part of the reason I break my goals into bite-sized chunks within a larger piece is because it gives you a sense of progress.

For example, if you’re working on a long chapter, if you tackle it scene by scene it won’t feel as daunting as it may have otherwise. Plus, you can see your progress building as you finish scene after scene! Before you know it, you’ll have met your overall goal.

But now maybe you’re wondering how do you even figure out what a “writing session is”?

This depends on a lot of things and it’s not something I can set for you. Some people only have a limited amount of time to write, while others have more flexible schedules.

My suggestion is to set yourself an alotment of time to write on a regular basis. Maybe this means writing an hour before bed. Maybe it means writing during your lunch break. Or maybe you can only write on the weekends.

But the important thing is to set your schedule during a realistic time—if you know you’ll be too tired to write before bed then find another time—and stick to it as much as you can.

It doesn’t have to be every single day, if your health/schedule doesn’t allow for that. But it has to be regular or you will struggle to meet even the smallest of goals. So even if it’s only one day a week, you need to only skip a day if you really absolutely have to, and get in that habit, create that self discipline.

For example, ideally I write every week day for maybe ~5 hours total. I usually take the weekends off bc having down time is important.

I can’t do keep that schedule all the time because of my health, and it’s frustrating, but that’s part of it. As long as you put your butt in your chair and work when you can, that’s what matters. Decide what you’re going to tackle for that session and go for it. Don’t edit. Don’t check your word count and limit your distractions.

I put my dogs away, go to my computer, with a beverage, and write. I do take breaks. In fact, I’ll sometimes even set a time goal for myself (“I’ll write for two hours or until I finish my scene”). Timed goals can work really well for some people, though I’m not a big fan of them myself for a lot of reasons. I use them less as a goal and more as a way to make sure I don’t overwork myself.

I didn’t mention it, but you can also set goals for what I call “writing adjacent” things, like research, coming up with titles, etc. I sometimes do this, and those work themselves into my goal sheet along with my scene and chapter goals.

I really hope that helped you a bit, anon, and wasn’t too rambling! If you have other questions about this or anything else, feel free to send another ask. Good luck and happy writing 💕!

#my writing advice #my writing process #setting writing goals #writing #writblr #poi answers #long post #anon

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rusalkii · 5 years

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It was Friday when I started this so it still counts, I guess.

From last time:

- Did financial things, did shopping/laundry etc, fooled around with HackerRank long enough that probably counts, yay me I guess.

- Procrastinated sending the damn email. Procrastinated it more. Left it until today in the hope that admitting my shame to other people would motivate me to do it. Procrastinated writing this post instead of writing the email. Ugh.

TODO tomorrow morning once I am fully awake: open original email. open paperwork. fill out paperwork 1. fill out paperwork 2. draft email with apologies for putting it off for TWO FUCKING MONTHS. obsess over the phrasing of it for no more than 10 minutes. send the email.

- Did not contact the other interview person because I forgot.

TODO: Adding this to my list for tomorrow in the place I actually check regularly.

In general, had a very lazy week, which I mostly planned for. Spent more time reading fanfic/playing stupid phone games/etc than ideal, but this was not supposed to be a Responsibilities week. Did not go dancing, but did go climbing and was going to go hiking until we looked at the humidity. I’ll (hopefully!) go dancing tomorrow and backpacking Monday-Tuesday. Failed to deal with LW meetup things like a decent human being. I think I’m developing an ugh field around organizing for it, which is Not Ideal. Did clean my soles (god they needed it). Saw my Shire and started my veil/scarf thing, finally. SCA people are so good. Being around them always leaves me wanting to make things. (No, I should not buy wool for a cloak without getting to touch it, even if it is $12/yard.)

Food things have not been ideal - might be generic appetite issues, might be lack of variety, might be lack of protein/some other nutrient? Generally have been much pickier than I tend to be, have had a lot of “nothing looks good” moments. For some reason keep craving my very specific Sweetgreens order I occasionally had for lunch at work? This could be either protein or literally any of the vegetables in it, or just a salience thing. Should try for at least slightly more protein, for a first pass - more nuts, peanut butter, maybe get myself pilmeni but that feels like cheating. I guess I could in fact get the Sweetgreens thing sometimes but that’s like 10% of what the three of us spend on groceries for a single meal and that’s kind of ridiculous and doesn’t actually feel worth $12. Should weight myself, if I drop below 100 that’s in Actually A Problem territory. Something to keep an eye on even though I’m not particularly inclined to worry unless it doesn’t change once I’m on an unlimited meal plan with enough variety and also shrimp.

Next week:

- Call TsL!

- ....book club. Please.

- Moving back to dorm logistics/most of actual packing. If you need anything from parents know this by the end of the weekend.

- Other prep for school as needed. (Textbooks, etc).

- General vague goal to be much more of an actual human doing actual human things. They don’t have to be productive things, you are totally allowed to read more studies on Tasmanian Devil cancers or something, but a lot less of the deaful lounging around under a blanket reading glowfic, please.

Good things but not necessary: Once again, dance; there’s a ballroom thing tomorrow evening. Getting yarn for a new crochet project would be good (maybe pick up what I have at home and start something, it’s not like I would mind another shawl), likewise warping my cards for something new. Plushki! Ordering a bag before school starts. Make my dad fix my sewing machine, which he broke, so I can finally finish the seam on that dress because I am not doing that by hand.

Meta notes: Took ~30 minutes. Reminder I had set for 4pm failed to go off, should fix that. Not sure what level of granularity I’m using here - this one is a bit more zoomed out, not putting in things like laundry, specifics of packing, etc. Those should be worked out in daily lists.

#the work of the world is as common as mud #food cw #weight cw #?#never know how to tag things

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ilovethings-somuch · 6 years

Text

Good Press

Chris Evans x Reader

Fake Dating AU

A/N: Here it is! Happy Election day! Get out and VOTE!

This is technically part of my 1.5k Followers Celebration and its been haunting me from my drafts for over a month, but I finally finished! This is a fake dating AU and it was requested by @princenyaz

I’ve been in a rut for a while now so I’m going to share the website that has repeatedly helped me get out of ruts like this one. It’s called Fighters Block (I linked it there) and it basically gives you a fun way to reach a word count and be motivated to just keep writing something.

“I’m sorry, you want us to what?” I asked my publicist, who also happened to be Chris Evans’ publicist, as I chose to ignore the look Chris was giving me.

“I think it would be a good idea for you two. You have a lot in common and it would give both of you a lot of positive press.”

“Why do I need positive press?” I looked at Chris for backup but he refused to meet my eye. “Are you going to back me up on this?”

“I actually, don’t think it’s such a bad idea,” he shrugged.

“Really? Other than the fact that we’d be faking a relationship? You don’t see anything wrong with that?”

“It’s not ideal, of course, but if we make a contract and know each other’s boundaries it’s basically like a business transaction.”

“I can’t believe you’re agreeing to this,” I shook my head as I glowered at both of them.

“I’m just saying it might not be that bad. The final decision is up to you,” Chris tried to assure me.

“Chris is right,” our publicist spoke up. “Take some time to think about it over the weekend, and we’ll have another meeting to discuss it on Monday.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to go on a date with Chris Evans, because honey I will gladly take your place,” my best friend, Ellie, offered when I told her about my meeting.

“That’s not the point,” I started.

“It is the point! If your publicist thinks it’s going to help kickstart your career, and that it’s going to be good on Chris’ end too, then why not? He’s a nice guy! Plus, he’s not bad to look at.”

“But it’s fake.”

“It is, but at least you know it’s not real going in. Think of it as method acting, you’re just acting as his girlfriend,” Ellie suggested.

“That’s not how it works.”

“But it can be! Don’t write it off so fast. I think it would be fun.”

“Of course you think it would be, you’re also the one who thinks skydiving is fun,” I deadpanned.

“Don’t change the subject. Look, if you’re really worried about either of you getting the wrong idea or something, just make a really good contract so that you know you’re both on the same page.”

“That’s what Chris said,” I mumbled.

“See, I knew I liked him!” she laughed before being serious again. “You asked for my opinion and I think it would be good for you. Not only because it will get your name out there, but because it will get you out there.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, you haven’t so much as talked to a guy since Ryan. You need to put yourself out there again.”

I took the rest of the weekend to think about it. I weighed the pros and cons, but really I couldn’t come up with a good list of cons. I was sure there had to be a concise list of reason why this was a bad idea, but when it came down to it I could barely name three.

“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” I sighed as I looked over my outfit one last time.

“Honestly, me neither,” Ellie laughed from where she was perched on my bed. I gave her a sulking look and she hopped off the bed to hug me. “It’s going to be fine! Chris is such a nice guy, and you made a very thorough contract, nothing could go wrong.”

“Thank you,” I hugged her back for a moment before straightening up and releasing one final deep breath.

“Now get out of here, you’re going to be late!”

I waved her off but took her advice and grabbed my bag and keys before heading out the door. Chris suggested a new restaurant downtown and even if I wasn’t excited about the date itself, I was very excited about the food. As I got out of the car I noticed another car door closing a few cars over. I looked over at the same time Chris saw me so I caught his smile and wave.

“Good timing,” he called as he waiting for me before we walked up to the door together. “You look great,” he complimented me easily and I was taken aback for a moment before remembering that that was a typical statement on a date.

“Thank you,” I recovered, “you look nice too.”

“Oh thanks, the henley really classes things up,” he joked.

We were sitting in the restaurant by then and I was trying to think of something else to say. “It shows off your tattoo at least.” There was too long of a pause before I got the words out and he seemed confused before remembering our conversation about his shirt.

“It does, do you like tattoos?”

“I like them on you.”

After the initial awkwardness, we were able to talk pretty consistently throughout the meal. I embarrassed myself a minimal number of times and before I knew it the waiter was dropping off the check. My instinct was to grab it or at least insist that we split it, but Chris was faster and quickly informed me that since he picked the restaurant it’s only fair that he pays. I was still going to argue but he shut me up by telling me that I could pick the restaurant and pay next time. That’s when I was reminded that this wasn’t just a one-time thing. We were planning on keeping up this relationship for at least a few months.

Chris offered me his arm as we stood from our table. I gave him an unsure look for a moment but he subtly nodded to the not-so-casual paparazzi that was waiting outside the restaurant and I quickly understood. It was weird how comfortable it felt being close to him, touching him, but it almost felt like I’d known him for a while. Chris escorted me to my car, the paparazzi stayed at a semi-respectable distance, but Chris still gave me a kiss on the cheek for good measure.

“I’ll call you,” he called to me as he walked backward towards his car.

“I’ll be waiting,” I teased, assuming that this was also for the benefit of the press. I later discovered that was not the case when my phone lit up with a call from Chris as I was getting into bed.

“Hello?”

“I think it’s funny that people still answer the phone like that,” he laughs into the phone. “As if you don’t have caller ID and know who’s calling.”

“It’s a force of habit,” I defend myself lightly. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“I told you I was going to call you later.”

“Yeah, but I thought that was just because of the press being around.”

“That might have been part of it, but is it so bad that I like talking to you?”

I press my lips together to suppress the smile that’s trying to show, “It’s not a bad thing.”

“Good. You know, I wouldn’t have agreed to this whole setup if I found you totally intolerable.”

“Of course not, I’m glad I made that one step up from intolerable.”

“Maybe, but you’re on thin fuckin’ ice,” Chris’ accent came out as he teased.

“Oh no, baby I’m sorry, I don’t know what I would do if my fake-boyfriend broke up with me,” I whined sarcastically. Chris blurted out a boisterous laugh and I couldn’t help but feel a little pride at being the cause of that sound.

“You should do more comedies,” Chris suggested once he calmed his laughter.

“Yeah? Maybe I’ll ask my manager.”

“You mean our manager.”

“I mean my manager, but I can tell her about you if you’d like. Maybe I could get you a meeting, she’s really great. I bet she could get you some auditions, but of course, you need to be ready to start out with some low budget films. You can’t have everything, Chris.”

“Wow, the sass is really strong with you, isn’t it?” Chris said in disbelief.

“I’m sorry,” I quickly backtracked. “Sometimes I can’t shut it off.”

“No, don’t apologize, really, I think you’re funny.”

“Thank you,” I trailed off awkwardly.

“Anytime,” Chris offered. “Well, um, I should get some sleep, I just didn’t wanna back out on my promise to call you. We should set up another date soon.”

“Yeah, I’ll look at my schedule tomorrow and text you or something.”

“Perfect. Well, Goodnight, (y/n).”

“Goodnight, Chris”

We ended up going on quite a few public dates the following weeks. It wasn’t until later that I realized we also started spending time together privately. I was convinced we were just becoming closer friends, and even if I wanted it to be more than that, I knew Chris didn't feel the same way. We were both just doing this to advance our careers and get good publicity, I couldn't bring myself to even consider that there could be anything more. Even when his causal touches started showing up in private, or that time he surprised me with flowers and soup when I told him I couldn't make our date due to a sudden case of the flu. That was the first night he slept over, granted, he slept on the couch and it only happened because he was convinced I was going to get worse over the night. All these moments seemed so insignificant at the time, but now I'm able to realize how important they were in the creation of our relationship.

The fake dating started seeming like less of a chore, it started feeling real. I knew I was in trouble, but I kept telling myself that even once we had to "break-up" we would still be friends and I could deal with that. Or at least I thought I could deal with that.

"You guys have been doing great," our publicist informed us. She asked us to come in for a meeting to update how we were doing with the fake relationship and because she had news for us, though she wouldn't tell us what the news was.

"It hasn't been easy," I sigh sarcastically and lean away from Chris. He laughs wholeheartedly and reaches for my hand. I don't pull away and instead, enjoy the feeling of his hand in mine.

"As much as I love seeing how well this has worked for both of your public images, I think it's time to quit while we're ahead. There was a big scandal in Hollywood last week where a couple was caught to be faking it. They were seen with other people and instead of taking a hit from a cheating scandal they thought it would be easier to admit it was fake. Now, I know you two are smarter than that, but I don't want anything like that to happen to you two and have this all be for nothing."

"So, we need to break up?" I asked, trying to mask the sadness in my voice.

"You do."

"Oh, okay," Chris replied quietly, gently dropping my hand in the process. He turned to our publicist and took a business tone, "How do we do this? Do we need to stage some public breakup or do we release a statement?"

"I think it's best if we just do a statement, as long as you two are okay with that? There's no reason we need to act like you left it on bad terms. Especially since you seem to have become friends at this point, I wouldn't want to jeopardize that."

"I appreciate that," I said and Chris met my eye with a smile.

"That means we'll have to stay away from each other for a while though, right?" Chris asked, looking back to our publicist.

"I think that would be best. I would suggest laying low for a while and then after a few weeks, don't be afraid to be seen with other people. We want to make this break up seem easy and happy. You guys could even go out together as long as it were in a group setting so it didn't seem like you were getting back together."

Chris and I left the office together. I was feeling defeated but still tried to put on a brave face since I wasn’t sure how Chris felt about the whole situation. For all I knew, he was excited for it to be over. An intrusive part of my brain wanted me to believe that is the case, even though my heart was telling me it wasn’t. Chris took my hand in his again as we stepped onto the sidewalk.

I looked up at him, confusion written on my features, and he smiled, "I figure it might be our last chance before the statement goes out tomorrow."

"You say that as if you're going to miss this," I replied in a mildly sarcastic tone. A tone that made Chris stop in his tracks, pulling me back right along with him.

"Why do you say it like that? Of course, I'm going to miss this and I'm sorry if this has been so awful for you that you're not going to miss it at all, but spending my time with you has been one of the highlights of my life lately."

"I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean it like that," I tried to rush through my words, trying to fix what I'd done, but at that point, Chris had dropped my hand and continued walking without me. A thought ran through my head about not needing to stage an argument since I could ruin any situation all on my own as I jogged to catch up with him. I took his hand in mine again as I pulled him to the stop.

"Chris, listen to me please," I looked up as a camera flash caught my eye.

"We can't do this here," he told me.

"I know, just, come over and let me explain." He agreed reluctantly and we continued on our way. I let go of his hand once he agreed and he didn’t make a move to pick it back up, even with the paparazzi on our tail. The trip to my apartment wasn’t far from the office and we walked the rest of the way in silence. As soon as we got inside Chris faced me, his arms crossed and eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer.

"Do you want to sit down?" I asked, trying to release some of the tension that had built between us.

"I think I'm good right here, at least until I hear what you have to say."

"Right. Okay, so, I guess, I like you. I like you more than I should and I'm not ready for this to be over."

"You have a weird way of showing it," he scoffs.

"I know, I know,” I sighed again, willing myself to say the words that had been on my mind for weeks. “I didn't want to open up and let you know how I really felt because I didn't know if you felt the same way. I didn't want to tell you and then end up losing you as a friend too. I can handle not being your girlfriend, but I can’t lose you from my life. I know you don’t like me as any more than a good friend and that’s okay, but this is why I’ve been acting weird, I was trying to keep that last bit of distance between us.”

“What makes you think I don’t like you as any more than a friend?” Chris asked with an amused look on his face.

“Well, how could you? You’re you and I’m just,” I shrugged and gestured vaguely to myself.

“Don’t do that, you’re perfect.”

“From from it,” I said immediately before the realization of what this could mean set in.

I caught Chris roll his eyes as he finally uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to me. He didn’t stop until we were almost touching, his eyes bore into mine and he cupped my chin to keep me from looking away.

“You. Are. Perfect,” he said slowly, enunciating each word with careful precision. The urge to roll my eyes was strong but the emotion he had in his eyes stopped me. “I have a confession,” he paused and took half a step back, releasing my chin. “I only agreed to this fake dating scheme because I had a bit of a crush on you. I wanted to get to know you without the pressure of a real relationship and I’d say it worked. I know you, and I like everything about you.”

“You do?”

“I do,” he said with a soft laugh. I couldn’t think of anything to say for a moment as the news sunk in and Chris took the opportunity to close the gap between us. His lips touched mine, softly at first, seeking reassurance. I gave in almost instantly, parting my mouth has his tongue glided along my bottom lip. I had a fleeting thought about getting drunk on the taste of his mouth, but before I could finish it he was pulling away. I chased his lips inadvertently and he smiled into another quick peck before fully pulling back.

“We should probably call our publicist and tell her not to run that statement,” Chris said in a somewhat triumphant tone.

“I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed, still feeling dizzy from the kiss.

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Let me know if you would like to be added or removed from a tag list!

#Chris Evans #Chris Evans x Reader #Chris Evans/Reader #Chris Evans fanfiction #Chris Evans fanfic #Tiana's 1.5k followers celebration #fake dating #fake dating au #Chris Evans fake dating au #chris evans request #happy election day

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elisaintime · 8 years

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Writing is hard

So as you may recall I finished a novel last spring that I’d been working on for yeeeeears. If anything great had happened, trust me, I would have told you immediately. But it’s time for an update anyway.

I started querying agents for it in June and I also participated in in a couple Twitter pitch events. If you follow me on Twitter I’m sure you noticed, as they required me to rather obnoxiously tweet my book pitch once an hour on those days. From my unsolicited queries, most of the replies I received were either form rejections or “thank you, but I didn’t feel enough of a connection to the main character from your first pages.” Of course, I went back to my draft and worked through revisions to improve the connection. There were a couple who admitted that they did not feel they could sell a novel these days about the undead. I did receive one “this sounds like so much fun, please send me the whole novel to read!” which made my day, but that agent decided it wasn’t right for him in the end. Other than that, no bites.

From the twitter events, I received several requests for the manuscript from small indy publishers, which was super exciting. I thought that even if I published with an indy publisher, I would want to have an agent as I know nothing about negotiating contracts and the like. I hoped that if one of these indy publishers made me an offer, I could then reach out to the agents who hadn’t rejected me yet, and entice them that way. And then maybe the agent would be motivated to find me an even “better” publisher? A girl can dream.

Well, one of the indy publishers came THIS CLOSE to offering. The editor was super communicative with me, asking me all kinds of questions, and she read my whole book in a weekend, said she couldn’t put it down. I suspected she might be more interested in my web presence and ability to self-promote than the content of the novel itself, but hey, I’m a ok with that. I’m here to share things with you all, after all! But in the end, her team decided not to take me on because they felt my book was too similar to something else they were releasing soon.

This, of course, freaked me the hell out. Another book coming out that was so similar to mine?? Woe! But I looked it up, and though I could see the similarities (it’s another monster mash post-apocalyptic road trip book) it was otherwise SO different, that my heart attack was abated. For one thing, it had a male protagonist, which is a huge difference imo. And seemed more action-focused whereas mine is more feelings focused. Also, it didn’t have the Grim Reaper as a central character, which, let’s be real, is the whole reason I even wrote this book in the first place.

Shortly after, another (even smaller) indy publisher started getting excited about my book. There was a week or so of intense email conversations with the editor, and she ended up offering me a 3 book contract. However, she wanted me to make such significant changes to the structure of my books that it was feeling like they would no longer be the books I wanted to write. Also, the publisher was primarily romance focused (in the scifi/fantasy arena). And though she said it was fine that the romance was so minimal in my story, and was supportive of queer representation, I worried that if my book was the least-romantic book this publisher was selling, I might not receive the same promotional advantages or audience attention as the rest of their catalog. I did not take the offer. I do not regret this decision.

So then? Well, I did a lot of work on the whole issue of making my main character more relatable from the very first pages, joined a couple new writers’ groups to get some fresh feedback, revised, tweaked, improved, and queried some more. Still no bites. So now what?

I’ve decided to hire a professional editor. This is expensive, but if you’re going to self publish, it’s absolutely necessary. That’s what credit cards are for. I may be able push my limits to make a couple extra vampire videos to help fund it. I’m not 100% decided to self publish yet, but we’ll say 96%. Depending on the results of my experience with the editor, I may send out another round of queries. Not like it could hurt me. But a book about zombies and vampires and the Grim Reaper? It’s just not likely an agent or publisher is going to take a risk on a product that is so past its moment in the spotlight. I’ll write other books, and maybe one of them will get published for reaslies one day, but at this point, I just want to share this one with the world.

So here’s the thing. (Yes, there’s MORE of a thing).

This story was originally one GIANT book. I split it into a trilogy because I hoped that would make it less daunting to write and easier to sell. I worked hard to make book 1 feel like a complete and satisfying story on its own. My goal was to end it with there obviously being more story to come, but with a satisfying emotional arc that would make the reader feel okay about not reading more if they decided not to. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, more like on the start of a road. And you know the characters are going to go down that road and do things, but you can be okay with just knowing that, or you can decide to read more and follow their adventures.

Book 2, however, is definitely going to end on a cliffhanger. And it’s also probably going to be twice as long as book 1. And book 3, at this point, is kind of all climax. I need to work on smoothing out its arc. But the adventure/journey of the story as a whole has always felt almost kind of episodic to me, and back before I got the idea to split it into 3 books, I even considered making it a serial instead. The only reason I didn’t is because nobody publishes serials in this century. But now that I’m to the point where it seems like self publishing will be my path, I’m revisiting the serial idea.

I’ve been advised that serials must be consistently timed. So even though I have all of book 1 finished and could break it into its parts and release those parts in quick succession, the question is how quickly can I get the following parts of book 2 written to be released? Much of it’s already written, but definitely not ready to release. I certainly wouldn’t want to rush it. Better to do it well than fast. So what I’m thinking is that if I split book 1 into 4 “episodes” (each about 22k words), and release them 3 months apart, that will give me the ensuing year to get the first “episode” of book(season?) 2 finished for release, and a 3 month rolling period for all following. Ideally, I’ll be a couple episodes ahead at every stage. A 6-month cushion may seem like a long time, but think about it this way: If an agent I queried emailed me tomorrow with interest which led to them taking me on, it would still probably be 2 years before my very first book was available. It’s a slow business no matter how you slice it. And also, writing is hard!

I would publish these serialized parts as ebooks on Amazon, etc, and then once all 4 parts of Book 1 were out, I would release a hard copy of the collected novel through Create Space (which I used for Awoken) or something similar. And then likewise for the collected following books/seasons. So if a reader was the kind of person who really wanted to wait to read it all at once, and have a real book in their hand, that would still be an option. It would be a year before that option was available, but hey, that’s sooner than if I got published for realsies, so not that bad?

If you’ve actually read this far in this wall of text blog post, then you must really like me! I’d love to talk about my book, so if you have any questions about it, or about writing/publishing in general, please do send me an ask!

#my writing #maven of the eventide

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ninja-writers · 7 years

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The 5 Stages of a Story Idea

If you start telling people that you’re a writer, eventually you’re going to get the question.

You know the one.

Where do you get your ideas?

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was, like, a story idea bodega that we could just run down to and pick up a bestselling idea when we need one?

Of course, it doesn’t work that way. But, ideas are kind of magical and they are out there. The key is to be ready for them and to capture them when they show up–without letting them derail the last idea. Because, without fail, I always get a shiny new idea as soon as my current work-in-progress gets hard.

One of my favorite books about the magic of ideas is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. If you haven’t read it, I really recommend it. She has some interesting thoughts about the sentience of ideas that I really love.

The 5 Stages of a Story Idea

For me, ideas have a very definite five-stage progression that lead from the first inkling through a finished product that’s in the hands of publishing gatekeepers (or is self-published.)

Sometimes it takes years for one to get through all five stage.

I’ll use my upcoming release as an example as I go through them with you.

When my 13-year-old daughter, Ruby, was five years old she was obsessed with superheroes. She loved them. All of them. She used to dress up like a superhero by putting her swimsuit on over her clothes and tying a baby blanket around her neck. We called her Wonder Roo and I filed away the idea of one day writing a Wonder Roo story.

Three or four years ago, I went to Los Angeles to the SCBWI conference with my best friend. While we were there, I was really exposed to the idea of picture book writing for the first time. I was especially in love with a talk that Judy Schachner, who writes and illustrates the Skippyjon Jones books, gave on how she comes up with a scrapbook for each of her books before she writes them.

My little idea seedling took firmer hold that weekend: I wanted to write a book about a little girl named Wonder Roo who loves superheroes. I tossed it around for quite a while. I thought it would be a picture book. Then a chapter book. At one point it was a straight-up YA idea.

Two or three years later, the idea for Wonder Roo finally moved from Brewing to Plotting. I started to plot out an idea that I could use as my MFA project for the semester. This happened super fast, because I had deadlines for school. I moved almost immediately from plotting to writing.

I finished the first draft during the semester and spent a few weeks editing it. Those are stages three and four. And then I submitted it to agents–stage five.

So, that’s five stages. While it might seem like the writing part should take the longest–it usually doesn’t for me. Usually, it’s the early brew that takes the most. Typically, I have four or five ideas in the brewing stage at any given time and no more than one each in the others. But not always one in all of them.

At the most, I might have several ideas brewing, one that I’m plotting, another that I’m writing, another that I’m editing, and another that’s submitting. I never have this many balls in the air, but I guess I could. I often have a book that I’m writing and another that I’m either editing or plotting–the tasks use different parts of my brain and I can work on more than one story at a time if they are in different stages.

On the other hand, I’d have a really hard time writing two stories at the same time. Or plotting two, or editing two.

The five-stages of an idea feels, to me, like everyone’s in the pot, just kind of hanging out and marinating. Brewing away. And then someone is suddenly ready to move on up into something a little more heavy duty. When idea is ready to be plotted, it’ll spark. The characters will start talking to me, I’ll starting getting inspiration for scenes.

Let’s take the stages one at a time.

Brewing

I keep a list of potential characters, settings, and situations. Some of them have been there for decades. Maybe one of these days I’ll find a use for the man I saw from a bus window in the early 1990s, praying on his hands and knees by the side of the road beside his muscle car. Or the brothel museum in Virginia City. You never know!

Every once in a while I’ll take a character, a setting, and a situation, and build an idea. I just collect those like some people collect coins or stamps. Each one gets a page in my notebook. I read over them sometimes to see if anything stands out to me. If I get an idea about one of these little idea seeds, I write it on the notebook page so I don’t forget it, but I don’t let it derail me from more active stories.

If I get a bunch of ideas around something that’s brewing, it’s time to move it on up to the plotting stage.

Plotting

The first thing I do when I’m ready to move forward with a story is something we call H2DSI around here. That’s shorthand for How to Develop (and test) a Story Idea. Basically, I develop the character, setting, and situation more fully, and then come up with five key plot points. I have a ton of ideas sitting at this stage.

I guess this is like brewing-and-a-half.

When I’m ready to go beyond that, I move into real plotting. I have an exercise I love that helps me get inspired. I really develop those five key plot points. I come up with 30 scenes, which is something I learned listening to a talk Walter Dean Myers gave one year at the Vegas Valley Book Festival.

And then I build a plot board and get my scenes on it.

Sometimes a story will stay here for a quite a while, because I don’t write more than one book at a time. I rarely go this far on more than one book at a time. The brewing-and-a-half stage is the waiting place. I might have half a dozen stories there at any given time.

Writing

And then I write. Because I’ve done so much plotting, and my personal style happens to be writing a pretty sparse first draft, the writing usually happens rather quickly. When I’m writing the first draft, I have a long-standing (like decades) goal that’s ridiculously small: I write for at least ten minutes a day.

Really, I just keep writing through to the end. That’s my only goal: get to the end of the first draft. Not necessarily as fast as possible, but with consistent forward motion. This is my least favorite part of the whole process. I love having a finished draft to work on. I’m all about revision. So I just put my head down and make sure I hit my bare minimum goal every day. Most days I write many times more than ten minutes.

Before I get to the editing phase there’s a . . . let’s call it an editing-lite phase. This is where the finished draft rests. Ideally, I don’t look at it again for at least a month. While this is happening, I get more serious about plotting the next thing. Or maybe I start editing something else that’s been in the waiting phase.

Editing

Straight up . . . I love editing. It’s my favorite part!

I’m the kind of writer whose first draft is short–sometimes only half or two thirds as long as the finished draft will be. So when I edit, instead of cutting, I have to expand. Some writers are the opposite–they write long and have to cut (sometimes, again, as much as half or a third) to find their story.

There is no right or wrong here. The editing phase is about tightening your story up, making it shine. If I’m going to have beta readers, that happens as part of the editing stage. If I’m workshopping the story, it happens in the editing stage.

After I’ve edited as well as I can, the story goes to submission. In reality, a story kind of rotates between editing and submission some. If the first round of submission doesn’t work, it might come back to edits for more work before going back out. If submission works and I find a publisher, then it definitely goes back to edits again–this time with my editor.

If you’re an indie author, by the way, hopefully, the editing stage is where you hire an editor to help your story shine.

Submitting

Submission just means sending a story out into the world.

If you’re an indie author, this would be where you actually publish your book.

If you’re a traditionally-published writer or hope to be, you’ll be submitting to agents and/or editors. For a long time, submission for me meant sending query letters to agents. Now that I have an agent and a publisher, it means turning my finished book into them.

There is a huge amount of waiting involved with submission to agents and editors. Weeks, at least. Maybe months. While I wait around for other people to do their part, I go back to the beginning and start all over again.

Always. That’s the key. This system is a perpetual motion machine.

The 5 Stages of a Story Idea was originally published on Ninja Writers

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 8 years

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11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing

This post is a little inside baseball about travel writing. It’s a follow up to my semi-ongoing series on travel blogging that started with this post, continued with this one, and will now (probably) end with this post here. To me, the crux of all online endeavors is good writing. I’m constantly trying to improve my writing. With so many blogs out there, if you can’t write engaging stories, you’ll never get anywhere! So today, I want to introduce one of my favorite travel writers, David Farley, who is going to share 11 writing tips for fellow bloggers and writers out there! Here’s David:

I always thought that once I started writing for glossy travel magazines, I could relax a bit because I’d “made it.” Nope! Then I thought that once I began penning pieces for the New York Times, I could say I was successful. Not. At. All. OK, maybe when I had a book out, published by a major publishing house, things would get a bit easier for me. I wish!

Writers, in some way, are a sorry lot. Rarely do they ever look at something and say “perfect!” Maybe for a moment — but give a writer a day and he or she will come back to that same article and find dozens of mistakes. Writing is a craft you never perfect.

We’re always striving to be better. Creatives tend to be perfectionists. Writing requires you to keep learning and improving.

But that’s good because that drive makes writers improve their work, and only through practice and effort do we end up with the Hemingways, Brysons, Gilberts, and Kings of the world. (Matt says: I once heard that until the day he died, Frost never loved The Road Not Taken. He was constantly reworking it!)

If you’re a travel blogger, you probably started off not as a writer with a journalism background but as a traveler looking to share your experience. You probably didn’t have any formal training or someone to peer over your shoulder and give you advice.

So today I wanted to share 11 tips that will help you improve your travel writing/blogging. Because the world always needs good writers — and good writing helps get your story heard more! These tips, if followed, will better your writing and make a huge difference in the reach of your writing!

11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing/Blogging

1. Read. This is number one. because whenever a budding writer asks me how they can improve, it’s my first piece of advice. Read good writing. Absorb it. Let it sink into your soul. Don’t think it’s possible? When I was first starting out, I was sick one weekend, so I spent three days lying in bed reading every page of that year’s Best American Travel Writing anthology. After I finished, I opened up my laptop and started writing for the first time in days. What came out surprised me: it was the highest-quality writing I’d done to date. And it was all because I was absorbed in good writing and it filtered through me back onto the page in my own writing.

(Matt says: Here’s a list of my favorite travel books.)

2. Do it for love. Maya Angelou wrote, “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.” Don’t get into travel writing for the money — after all, that would be totally unrealistic. And please don’t gravitate to the genre because you want free trips and hotel rooms. “Instead,” Ms. Angelou added, “do [it] so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” Or, in other words, strive to become such a good writer that the editors of all the publications you have been dreaming to write for can’t ignore you anymore.

3. Don’t be attached to linear writing. You need not compose a piece from beginning to middle to end. Sometimes that’s not the ideal structure of the story. Sure, maybe you’ve already figured that out. But if not, it’s OK to just get a few scenes and paragraphs of exposition down “on paper.” Then you can step back and take a look at the bigger picture and rearrange what you have, figuring out the best way to tell the story.

4. Tap into your own sense of motivation and drive. The students of mine at New York University who have been most successful were not always the most talented in the class. But they were the most driven. They’d read enough quality writing and thought about it — understanding what made it so wonderful — that there was just something about writing that they got. They weren’t born with that understanding, but ambition drove them to seek out better writing and then to think about it, to analyze what made it good (or not so good). Drive also inspires future successful writers to go out on a limb, to render themselves vulnerable, by reaching out to more accomplished writers to ask for advice, or by introducing themselves to editors at events or conferences. Don’t be shy! Standing in the corner quietly won’t get you as far as putting your hand out to introduce yourself will.

5. Try to figure out what gets your mind and writing flowing. Let me explain: I can sit down at my laptop and stare at a blank Word document for hours, not sure how to start a story or what to write about. Then I’ll respond to an email from a friend who wants to know about the trip I’m trying to write about. I’ll write a long email with cool and interesting anecdotes about my experience and include some analysis about the place and culture. And then I’ll realize: I can just cut and paste this right into the empty Word doc I’ve been staring at for the last three hours! Several of my published articles have blocks of texts that were originally written as parts of emails to friends. The “email trick” might not work for everyone, but there is inevitably some trick for the rest of you — be it talking to a friend or free-associating in your journal.

6. Understand all aspects of storytelling. There are two types of travel writing: commercial and personal essay (or memoir). In commercial travel writing, you should make the various parts of the story an intrinsic aspect of your knowledge: from ways to write a lede to the nut graph, scenes, exposition, and conclusions. For memoir and personal essays, know what narrative arc means like the back of your typing hands. It helps to get an intuitive understanding of these things by paying attention to writing — to reading like a writer — as you read nonfiction (and travel) articles.

7. Don’t stress if your first draft is shit. Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” And he wasn’t kidding. I find this true when I’m writing a personal essay or travel memoir. I write and I write and I write, and I’m not exactly sure what I’m putting down on paper. What’s the point of this? I ask myself. Why am I even doing this? But here is where patience comes in: eventually, the clouds part, the proverbial sunbeam from the heavens shines down on our computer monitors, and we see the point of it all: we finally figure out what it is we’re writing and how to best tell that story. It just happens like magic sometimes. And not all at once: sometimes it’s bit by bit, like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. But as I mentioned, patience is key, because we never know when that divine magic is going to be activated. But sit around long enough and it will happen, I promise you. (Just be cautious when taking Hemingway’s other writing advice: “Write drunk, edit sober.”)

8. Write what you know. “Start telling the stories that only you can tell,” said writer Neil Gaiman, “because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that — but you are the only you.”

9. When you’re finished with a draft, read it out loud. Preferably, print it out and read it out loud. This will allow you to better hear how the piece sounds, and unacceptable segues and clunky sentences or turns of phrases will jump out at you in a more obvious way.

10. Always get another set of eyes on your writing. While all writers make mistakes, it’s harder to spot them without an editor. Editors are very important, but they don’t necessarily have to be someone with formal training. While hiring a copyeditor is always great, if you can just get a friend to read your blog or story, that might be good enough. It’s even better if you have someone who doesn’t know about travel. I have a friend who doesn’t travel much; she reads all my blog posts because she helps me make sure I include the important details I might have skipped. See, when you’re an expert on something, you often fill in the blanks in your mind. You go from A to C automatically; step B becomes subconscious. And when you write, you skip step B because it seems so obvious. Getting someone who doesn’t know the steps will help ensure you include explain everything in your post and don’t leave your readers going, “Huh?”

11. Finally, learn to self-edit. This is where many people go wrong. They write, they read it over, they post. And then feel embarrassed as they say, “Oh, man, I can’t believe I missed that typo.” You don’t need to be master editor, but if you follow a few principles, it will go along way: First, write something and let it sit for a few days before editing. After your first round of edits, repeat the process. Get another set of eyes on it. Print out a checklist of grammar rules to go through as you edit. (Note: Matt created one here for you.) As you review your work, say to yourself, “Did I do this? Did I do that?” If you follow the cheat sheet, you’ll catch most of your mistakes and end up with a much better final product!

Writing is an art form. It takes a lot of practice. When you’re a blogger out on your own, it can be harder to improve your work, because you don’t have an experienced voice giving you tips and advice and pushing you to be better. If you don’t take it upon yourself to be better, you never will be. However, even if you aren’t blessed to work under an editor, these 11 tips can help you improve your writing today and become a much better blogger, writing stories people want to read!

David Farley has been writing about travel, food, and culture for over twenty years. His work has appeared in AFAR magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Condé Nast Traveler, and World Hum, among other publications. In 2006 and 2013, he won the Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers for magazine articles he wrote. He has lived in Prague, Paris, and Rome and now New York City. He is the author of An Irreverent Curiosity and was a host for National Geographic. He teaches writing at Columbia University and New York University.

If you’re looking to become a travel writer or just improve your writing, David and I created a detailed and robust travel writing course. Through video lectures and examples of edited and deconstructed stories, you’ll get the course David teaches at NYU and Columbia (without the price). If you’re interested, click here to learn more.

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touristguidebuzz · 8 years

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11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing

We’re always striving to be better. Creatives tend to be perfectionists. Writing requires you to keep learning and improving.

11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing/Blogging

(Matt says: Here’s a list of my favorite travel books.)

Photo Credit: 3

The post 11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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vidovicart · 8 years

Text

11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing

We’re always striving to be better. Creatives tend to be perfectionists. Writing requires you to keep learning and improving.

11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing/Blogging

(Matt says: Here’s a list of my favorite travel books.)

Photo Credit: 3

The post 11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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tamboradventure · 8 years

Text

11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing

We’re always striving to be better. Creatives tend to be perfectionists. Writing requires you to keep learning and improving.

11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing/Blogging

(Matt says: Here’s a list of my favorite travel books.)

Photo Credit: 3

The post 11 Ways to Improve Your Travel Writing appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/2n6AQQ2 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

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