December already?

[dbskyler]

I am once again doing the WIP challenge at writethisfanfic this month, and the good news is I forced myself to work on the story last night. The bad news is, I took out more words than I put in, so I am starting off with a negative word count. Hopefully I'll be making up for that by this weekend. Which reminds me, we don't know the December fic_rush weekend yet, do we? I think I'm going to need it again to pull me out of this hole I keep putting myself into.

Not doing Yuletide, but I did hang up a stocking at fandom_stocking. It seems like a fun community, although it does feel a little awkward to advertise my stocking -- like I'm shilling for gifts or something. However, since there are umpteen gazillion stockings, I will go ahead and point mine out for any of you who are so inclined as to stop by: my stocking is here.

I've been going through the extras on the S5 boxset, and so far I am disappointed by the commentaries and the video diaries. Although it was slightly amusing to see the in-vision commentary for Time of Angels and notice the amazing amount of awkwardness between Steven Moffat and Karen Gillan. Can we please get David Tennant back in there, just for a commentary or two? Or Colin Baker? I bet he'd have some great things to say. So would Peter Davison. In fact, I think I'm going to have to go re-rent Arc of Infinity to remind myself of what a good commentary sounds like.

Hope everyone's December is going well so far, and to those of you who celebrate, happy Hanukkah!

Comments

[charamei]

I don't think there's anything wrong with deleting words, as long as what you put back is better. Especially if you've just picked something back up after a long hiatus, there are bound to be problems. Fixing them as you go is always preferable unless it's November.

I don't celebrate it, but have a happy Hanukkah yourself :)

[dbskyler]

I seem to be incapable of writing without editing -- I always edit as I go along, and then edit again when I come back to something, and I sometimes find myself in a perpetual loop where I write something, get rid of it, write something slightly modified, get rid of it, etc. That's one of the reasons why I'm a very slow writer! I don't think I could ever do NaNoWriMo.

I'm doing a pretty bad job of celebrating Hanukkah myself this year. I found my menorah, but I couldn't find any candles. Then I meant to buy some while I was at the grocery store, but I forgot. Hopefully I'll get it together by the last night! Of course, the fact that there was *nothing* in the store to remind me of Hanukkah had something to do with it. Twenty bucks says that the grocery store manager will put up a little display with candles, potato pancake mix and matzoh in around two weeks, when Christmas is closer and Hanukkah is well and truly over. (Even though no one eats matzoh for Hanukkah, the grocery store managers here seem to think that all Jewish holidays require matzoh.)

[charamei]

Oh, I know that loop well - it usually happens to me with beginnings XD I often go through four or five iterations of setting up the plot before I find one that works and get to move on to the interesting bits.

I think writing-without-editing is just as much of a skill as editing-while-writing, in its way. Neither's inherently better, and most people seem to work best with one or t'other; but they can both be extremely useful depending on what you're trying to accomplish at the time.

Myself, I fix in-scene mistakes, spelling errors and continuity blunders as I go, drop notes into the margins whenever I notice something going awry that a scene doesn't outright depend on, and then do a major line-edit at the end. The scene rewrites that I'm doing this month are all from either my dry spell, where I was just forcing myself to put something down no matter how rubbish, or NaNo, where I was writing fluidly but not editing at all as I went. Generally speaking my first drafts are a bit messy in terms of style, and might have some minor continuity glitches, but otherwise they're coherent.

I hope you can get some candles soon :)

[clocketpatch]

It is just about the most awkward thing ever isn't it? (I mean, hanging your virtual stocking out in public... not the commentaries, though they may be, but I haven't seen them), but I figured that with the bazillion and one stockings (all of which seem to be in the Who category, yeah!) if I didn't point it out no one who wanted to find it ever would.

I keep missing fic_rush. It's kind of annoying, because I know the date, mark it down, and really enjoy it but... *grumpy face* Maybe this will be the month!

Happy holidays!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's definitely awkward! But there really are so many stockings, you do have to tell people, or else there isn't much point to it -- you'll just have a stocking sitting there that no one knows about. Besides, I appreciate it when other people mention where their stockings are -- I like looking at what my flist is requesting, even if I can't help out -- so hopefully other people feel the same way about mine.

*crosses fingers for you for fic_rush*

Happy holidays to you, too!

[tempestas-inu.livejournal.com]

I keeping hemming and hawing over whether or not I should get the boxset, partly because I was already disappointed when I heard there wouldn't be deleted scenes. Apparently a crapload of little tidbits here and there were snipped for time/timing, some of which elaborated on plot points and character developments. Series 5 was fine without them for sure, but it still would've been nice to see what didn't make the final versions of the episodes.

I can't believe it's already December, there's so much I need to do! Good luck with your fanfic though, I wish you progress :D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

The boxset does have the two new "bridging" scenes that are very good and worthwhile (they were posted around online, so I assume you've seen them), but otherwise I've been pretty disappointed with the extras. Although I haven't seen all of them yet, so maybe there's a pleasant surprise lurking in there still!

[tempestas-inu.livejournal.com]

Yup, seen 'em, and while they were awesome (especially the Flesh and Stone one) they don't count cuz' they were deliberately filmed to be add ons to their episodes. There was a magazine dedicated to describing the deleted scenes and some of them I would've really liked to actually see.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

No dates for fic_rush yet. Not that I'll be able to participate this month - though I shall endeavour to pop by and cheer at least a couple of times...

DO please email/PM me if you want some cheering from me - or to rant/rave or get feedback!

Shall go and look at your stocking, with no promise to fill it, 'cos Five Weeks of Hell start tomorrow!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's no obligation at all to fill the stocking! Just dropping by to point and laugh at my tastes is perfectly fine. : )

(I feel a little weird that I only requested my two main fandoms -- I do like other shows, but then I didn't want to get into a long or convoluted list, so I decided to stick to the big ones. Besides, when I would've been the only one to request Space:1999 fic for Yuletide, what are my odds of getting it for fandom_stocking?)

Good luck with your Five Weeks of Hell! I'll be sending supportive thoughts your way. *hugs*

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I know there's no obligation - I just thought I'd take a look on the off-chance I might manage to write you something.

*hugs back* Thanks.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Oooh yes. You should do a mini fic_rush with me this weekend :) I've managed to write so much less time, I realised the only way to finish at least one of my WIPs would be to have significantly more of them!

Awkward commentaries? Are they just silent all the time? Odd, Karen Gillan never seemed too quiet in interviews and stuff, but I guess it's different when you're sitting and talking to no one... :|

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

They're not silent, and they do have some interesting things to say, but it's not fun. It's informative without being entertaining, if you get my meaning. First off, I think it was a mistake to do it as an in-vision, because the video highlights the complete lack of chemistry between Gillan and Moffat. They're very clearly work colleagues, not friends, and Karen is obviously The Employee and Moffat is obviously The Big Boss and it's awkward to watch them together. Karen actually seems ill at ease, like she's afraid to say the wrong thing, and Moffat doesn't look like he's having a good time either even though he does most of the talking (by far). In terms of what they say, well, most of it is blather -- that's the case for most commentaries, of course -- with a few interesting facts and opinions here and there. But my attention kept wandering off, and I'd just as soon have had those few interesting facts and opinions written down as liner notes with the DVD. It's definitely not something I would bother listening to again.

Mini fic_rush this weekend? Ooooh, that's an interesting idea. What are you thinking?

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Yikes :( That does indeed sound awkward! I don't get it- isn't anyone watching these things before including them in the DVD? Couldn't anyone say "erm, no, we need to have another version of that/ someone else/ this episode can exist without commentaries, this is terrible"?... eep.

I'm thinking of... turning your post into mini!fic_rush! :) We can definitely re-create the blather ;) And it generally is good to report somewhere on your progress. Or I can spare your journal and we can spam mine. :D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I've seen/heard enough bad commentaries now that I feel pretty confident in saying the answer is no, no one is watching these things and saying "Um, maybe we ought to do this one over." I think it's partly a time/budget constraint, partly a feeling that it's not important if the commentaries aren't good (they're considered trivial extras, and as long as there's something, that's "good enough"), and for this particular commentary, probably also the case that no one had the guts to tell Moffat that he sucked. I don't tend to like RTD's commentaries either, but a least he seems to be having a good time.

Hmm, I feel like doing a post now on what makes a good commentary. This wasn't an awful commentary -- I've seen those too -- but it wasn't good.

Journal spam, yay! You and I are in totally different time zones, but you stay up so incredibly late, it might actually work. Or we can just talk to ourselves, then answer each other back when we're awake and around?

[pitry.livejournal.com]

It's such a shame, really - I don't have time for it anymore, but I used to really try to listen to the commentaries when I got the DVDs. In fact, when I got one of my DW DVDs and realised not all episodes had commentaries I went "WHAAAAAAAT NO!!!!"

It might! Well, I can't promise to be around for too long, seeing as you have a tendency of going to sleep when I wake up, but hey! I've just had dinner so I'm all fed and prepared for 5-6 hours of typing! :D

I shall start with this: SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM! :D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll make a new spam post and you can fill it! Although I can't start now -- it's 10 am, and I have work I have to do today. Although I am currently on LJ and not working, but I do have things I ought to do or else I will just have to do them over the weekend.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Lol, I made one too! :O I shall differ to the greatness of your post, though. Especially as you have a bigger flist! :D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I don't think the bigger flist factors into it -- do you really think anyone is going to be coming by except for you, me and maybe thisbluespirit?

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just checked the other post and four people already! Never mind!

(Of course, tonight when I am ready to write, no one else will be around because you'll all be asleep, LOL.)

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Force Curu to stay and keep you company. Or drag Clocket. Yes. Besides, being +2 GMT, when I wake up I'd be all alone! At best, if I wake up before 10, we'd get to meet ;)

[pitry.livejournal.com]

(also, work is for the weak. You should clai, a Hanukah holiday or... something...;) )

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Work is for the weak, yes, and unfortunately I am very weak. I work from home, and I get to set my own hours (aside from meetings), which means I can play around on LJ guilt-free as I don't bill that time, but on the other hand I find myself constantly playing around on LJ instead of working, and then the work is still there to be done. I need to find a way for the work to do itself while I am playing. It's related to finding a way for my fic to write itself while I am playing. No luck so far, though, rats.

As for declaring a Hanukkah holiday, ha, no one here who isn't Jewish even realizes it's Hanukkah already. I fully expect the grocery stores to wheel out a little display in about two weeks with candles, latke mix and five boxes of matzoh, then wonder why no one is buying anything.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

What? You mean Hanukah *isn't* Christmas for Jews?... 0_0 and meh, we don't get Hanukah holiday either. :( The closest we got was buying a bunch of posh sufganyot at work yesterday. For shame!

Also, complete sympathies on the work-from-home front... I was just like that last year, too. I'll nag some of the programmers at the office and see if they can whip out a fic-writing software for you... :D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Of course Chanukah (just felt like varying the spelling *g*) is Christmas for Jews. They're at the same time, right? Except of course when they're not. And they don't have the same traditions or celebrate the same thing. But other than that, they're exactly alike!

Yum, sufganyot. I'll have to try to lay my hands on some before the week is up.

Thanks for looking into fic-writing software! I bet there'd be quite a market for it. Now how about work-doing software?

[pitry.livejournal.com]

...where was it... I think Studio 60? They had a joke about people developing script-writing software. The network boss threatening the main writer of the show, etc. :)

Work-doing software... on the one hand, I totally need such a thing! On the other, I'm a bit afraid that would be the day Skynet wins.

These were really weird sufganyot, mind! Look, look! You'll have to forgive me it's in Hebrew, their English website doesn't seem to have these pictures. They were good, and not too oily, which is one thing I hate about sufganyot, but weird...

As for spelling, "pshaw!" is all I have to say :D Shouldn't it be khanucca or something anyway? :D (boy that looks bad).

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

OMG, those are chocolate-covered! I've only seen the powdered sugar ones here, and they didn't have anything extra on top. Do they all have jelly inside, or are there different fillings?

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Different fillings! The chocolate covered had chocolate fillings! There was also some with er.... my dictionary says dulce de leche. Caramel-y stuff. And pistachio, vanilla, cream... it's like Berty Botts ever-flavour bean, but tasty and with loads of chocolate :) They also do the classic jam and sugar ones, but I think we're all bored to death with them, really... ;) Except for my boss! He got a classic one.

[thisbluespirit]

That's quite weird - you'd expect them to be a fun combination. I've got Press Gang DVds (as you may have realised...) and S2 came with about 4 commentaries with Steven Moffat and Julia Sawalha and they're very entertaining together .

If it was up to me, I would vote for optional commentaries with Peter and Janet on anything at all. Bonus for Colin Baker joining them at any point, of course. Colin, Peter, Janet and David would probably blow up the DVD boxset, but it'd be interesting... :-)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

No, they weren't a fun combination at all. But I suspect that if you put the two of them together 20 years from now, in a situation where they're just kicking back and relaxing and being nostalgic, it would've gone a lot better.

I agree, Colin, Peter, Janet and David together on a commentary would be amazing! I'd also throw in Phil Collinson and Nick Briggs because I also usually really enjoy listening to them, especially when they're paired with each other or with David.

I found a few Press Gang episodes on YouTube and watched them -- all your fault, by the way *g* -- and I was very impressed! The show is far more adult that I was expecting, even though I had had some sense of that from your wonderful ficlets. Now that I have a way to play region 2 DVDs, I am seriously considering buying Press Gang so I can see the whole thing.

[thisbluespirit]

Dream commentary teams. eh? :lol: Actually, you could also have the red dwarf cast on pretty much anything you liked, too. Just to go completely away from any relevant actors or anything...

And the last part of your comment made me smile so widely you wouldn't believe. You'll get what I meant now when I said it's so hard to recommend, because it is old and strange, but not cheesy, and sometimes v funny, and surreal and sometimes also very dark. :-D And, of course, why I wanted to grow up to be Lynda Day, even if that really wouldn't have been a good idea.

ETA: Was going to ask which ones you saw, but think there is only Monday Tuesday, Shouldn't I Be Taller? and Going Back to Jasper Street and Bad News on YouTube. Which is a really bizarre mix, but I'm happy for Jasper Street to be there for the Kenny and Lynda background - even if it's a bit slower in places than some others.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I was surprised by how not cheesy it was. I mean, it was made in the '80s! But it's really good.

Yes, I saw those episodes, and also The Rest of My Life. The very first one I saw happened to be Monday/Tuesday, so you can imagine how completely blown away I was. I was expecting a cute little '80s-era comedy, and instead I got that episode.

I have to go back and re-read your ficlets now that I know more about the characters and what they look like!

[thisbluespirit]

Well, I think it was made (or shown) 1989-1992/3 ish, so mainly the 90s! Maybe that's less cheesy? Over here, when it was first shown it became a sensation - because while it was never watched by really big audiences (& it was only ever repeated once as far as I'm aware), it got watched by something crazy like 80% of its target (teen) audience, which I don't think ever happened before or since. And it was all from an idea by Bill Moffat, who let the producer have it, but asked if his son could write the show. So she shrugged, and said he could send a script if he wanted... and Steven Moffat got his big break, and wrote every episode. :-) Don't know what happened to him, mind, but it made Julia Sawalha a star...

I kind of watched the show all out of order, and never actually saw S1 and 2 till I bought the DVDs a couple years ago, so that was interesting. (There were some novelisations, which I read to pieces!) I don't think Monday-Tuesday pulls off the shift in tone as well as some later episodes but it does hit quite hard (and I love the device of repeating 'Tuesday's cancelled') - what an ep to start with! You will find if you do watch more that there are some S1 eps that do have an edge of kid reporters investigate, but only here and there, and only in S1.

Shouldn't I Be Taller I liked much better the second time I saw it. I was bothered by some things, including Kenny's lack of reaction to what happens to Lynda the first time - but I now know the reason, which is they filmed the S1 midseason two-parter last; it under-ran so Steven Moffat took Julia Sawalha and Lee Ross's rl friendship and used it, and until that point, Kenny and Lynda weren't long-time best friends, which explains a few odd things in S1.

And I really like The Rest of My Life. (I have become a much bigger fan of S2 since rewatching - my first sight of it on DVD was a bit of a shock, because S3-5 obviously had a bit more spent on production values! :Lol: But the writing across that season as a whole is gorgeous, especially the two part finale.)

And going back to the commentaries, since I mentioned them, you should know if you were thinking of obtaining those DVds that for some reason there are only about 4 episodes with commentaries, on the S2 DVD.

And that was a scary long post, sorry; but I fully hope you get to see more somehow, if only because everyone should get to see Colin as a pink rabbit. :-D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

It was mostly made in the '90s? Then why does Lynda's hair look like that? And why is everyone dressed like it's the mid-'80s?

Oh well, maybe I just fail at decade identification. Anyway, it was still far more serious and adult than I was expecting. It reminds me of SJA, actually -- it's obviously targeted to a young audience, but like that show it doesn't talk down to its audience, and it's genuinely good.

My one big complaint with the show is Spike's accent. Yes, I'm being boring again and complaining about a fake American accent, but it's kind of up there with Peri's accent in how grating it is. I keep wanting to say "No, no, don't do that. Don't."

I was wondering which series I should buy, if I decide to take the plunge. (Or which one I should start off with, anyway.) I don't think I can afford to buy more than one DVD for now. Would you recommend S2? Or one of the others?

[thisbluespirit]

We looked like that in the 90s! :-) I had scrunchies and baggy t-shirts and culottes something like some of Lynda's. And that's Julia Sawalha's hair - it curls like that naturally.

:lol: Oh, dear - poor Dexter Fletcher! They were all cast and everything, and the producer (who was American), decided it would be great if Spike was also American... so he had to attempt the accent at the last minute. He gets marginally better as he goes along, but it was a bit random to say the least. (There are some sly jokes about it along the way, to help you!) He went off to America in rl after this, and learned to do the accent properly, but too late for Press Gang.

Hmm. I don't know - It does help to watch them in order, especially with S1 and 2. I would kind of suggest 1 and 2, but that's not helpful, I realise. I like S3 a lot, and the show does change a bit at that point, so you could go for that. On the other hand, there are only 6 episodes per season in the last three series, so if you want quantity, you need S1 or 2 (they have 12 eps each). ETA: Actually, go for S1 - you get all the setting up at the start, David Collings as the head (and he doesn't appear again till S5), Adrian Edmonson doing a guest spot, and Colin as a pink rabbit.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm misremembering, but those look a lot more like clothes we used to wear in the '80s than the '90s. Of course, it could also be geographic differences? Anyway, from the opening scene I was immediately thinking we were in the mid to late '80s. I guess if it started in '89, though, I was only a few years off!

Poor Dexter indeed. His American accent is better than David Tennant's, if that's any consolation. ; )

[thisbluespirit]

Yeah, I was thinking that after I posted. I can think of US shows I'd seen years ago that I'd assumed were really old, and it turned out, they were pretty much contemporary with when I was watching them. I think things cross the Atlantic much sooner these days than they used to. An dthe first bits were 1989, so it was still the 1980s!

It is, I think! :lol: (And Colin never believes Spike's from America anyway... He thinks he's from Birmingham.)

[thisbluespirit]

I am eyeing everyone's stocking's with interest! Actually, as someone who is going through like a random good fairy (who will probably end up writing nothing, but hey...) I am v disappointed at the lack of obscure things, because if I saw a v small fandom that I knew, I would immediately go for that. But almost everyone has put down such whopping big fandoms - it's a bit disappointing! :-)

(I am odd, yes. And not that I could write Space:1999, either.)

And, yes when is fic_rush? It's already the first weekend, and it'll soon be Christmas, and I'd very much like a fic_rush to help me get the Yuletide fic done; maybe even other Christmassy things, too.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I think the magic of Yuletide is actually getting matched with someone who can write a really obscure fandom. The odds of that one person coming across your stocking are pretty small, so most people went for the bigger fandoms. That's what I did, anyway. Although SJA is a Yuletide fandom this year, so it sort of counts?

No poll up yet for fic_rush, unfortunately. I think lolmac might be in the middle of her cross-country move. I agree, though, a December round would be really useful, and it's better if it happens earlier rather than later. But it takes a fair amount of work to organize a round, so if December isn't working out for the mods, I completely understand.

Do you want to join me and pitry in a mini-fic_rush / mutual journal spamming session this weekend?

[thisbluespirit]

Heh. I'm there! :-)

I was writting some random things and I've remembered that I am actually supposed to be sorting out the next Prompt of the Month... Heh.