I always meant to post these photos, but it's only now (thanks to an inquiring mind on the internet) that I'm actually doing so.

A few years back, I got an opportunity to see some tall ships up close. I went my home-made Hornblower costume, and two separate people asked if I was part of a ship's crew. That made my day in a huge way, let me tell you.

And actually getting to walk around on wooden decks was unbelievably awesome. If the Grand Turk had been there, I probably could have died happy.

( Enough of that, here's the pics. )

So while I was searching for inspiration for my novel last month, I discovered that a lot of Hornblower actors have done films revolving around a certain theme. It was so weird that I felt compelled to share it with you.

( This is SO weird, you guys )

So the Alphabet Soup is officially underway, and I managed to grab "C", the one I really wanted. There were thirty-one prompts, and I've decided to write on fourteen of them, plus one of my own. I'm not sure which one I'll actually submit to the challenge yet, so I may need your help in deciding.

With that in mind, here's the first one.


( C is for Cry )

Check out this painting. It's called In Love, and was painted in 1888 by Marcus Stone. It's a pretty picture, and apparently has been used for several book covers. But what I really want you to notice is the guy in this picture.

( Ignore this; I'm still trying to get LJ cuts to work. )



Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees a resemblance...



Or am I going insane?

I mentioned earlier that lokei will be doing a Horatio Alphabet Soup Fic in a few weeks, and I'm planning on participating. So I've starting thinking of stories I could write. There are so many facets to Horatio's personality that I could probably cover all of them.

One story I would love to write involves Horatio and his (mainly fanon) love of coffee. So I started trying to figure out a story with that theme, titling it "C is For Coffee".

And then I froze in stupefied horror/amusement, because suddenly THIS song was going through my head;



...except now Horatio was singing it about coffee. AUGH SO UNDIGNIFIED GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!

OH GOD NOW I'M IMAGINING IOAN SINGING THIS TO HIS DAUGHTER. MY BRAIN'S TRYING TO KILL ME.

This is worse than the recurring image I have in my mind of the HTHS singing "Lady Marmalade" while dressed in drag. At least that one is me imagining the actors in drag (and enjoying themselves, I may add).

That is all. I'm hoping my next post about Horatio will be more dignified.

Current Word Count: 41,290.

How ahead of the official schedule I am: 1,290 words.

How behind I am according to my own schedule: 5,000 words.

How many words I need at the moment in order to win: 8, 780.

(The extra seventy are due to my Word Processor's strange habit of making the placeholder "***" count as a word, and I'm not sure the official word counter will accept that.)

Number of sections my novel is divided into: 10.

How many sections I've basically completed: 7.

Number of places where I'm stuck, plot wise: 1.

Current character death toll (either seen or offstage): 12.

Number of semi-superfluous scenes: 10.

How much I love writing for my Ioan-inspired character: Too much to count.

Only a week to go, and then I promise I'll go back to more interesting topics. Maybe I'll write that story bouncing around my head where the HTHS visits the Moulin Rouge...

Current word count: 32,016

I had a little free time this morning, but instead of working on my novel, I decided to write this little short story in order to give my brain a break. I dedicate this fic to romanticalgirl , who writes great stories and was (as previously noted) kind enough to write one of my requests.

Title: Commiserations
Rating: PG for language and discussions of slash.
Summary: A slightly drunk Reed Richards is complaining about the impending reboot of the Fantastic Four. His drinking partner is anything but sympathetic.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters mentioned in this story (for which I think they are all extremely grateful).

It's four in the morning, but I don't much care, because I made it to 25,000 words. It was slow going initially, but then things just started falling into place, and I stopped noticing the word count. I love it when that happens.

Halfway there!

Current word count: 25,143.

New goal: Get to 30,000 words by the 15th.

Story based Goal: To complete Chapter 5 of the novel.

In other news, romanticalgirl was absolutely wonderful and wrote a fic for me. I think that may have had something to do with my burst of inspiration; her stories often do that to me. Thanks again, romanticalgirl ! You're awesome!

And while I was taking a break from writing to surf deviantart; I saw something that was simultaneously amusing and disturbing...



I'm not sure there's anything I can say to make this any weirder. Feel free to have a go yourselves, though.

Current Word Count: 22,038.
Goal for today: To reach the halfway mark.

I'm currently a day (or 2,000 words) behind my preferred schedule, but I'm not too worried, especially with the weekend coming up.

I'm pleased with the way the novel's shaping up. All of the characters are behaving themselves, and I keep coming up with new ways to make sure the story ties together.

And then there are the moments where I sit back and realize that what I've just written is actually pretty good. The death scene I mentioned in my last post was one of them. And oddly enough, so was yesterday, where I wrote 2,000 words of porn.

Yes, you read that correctly.

( There's a reason I'm using this icon instead of the Plot Bunnies one= )

Dear William,

Up until today, I had written a grand total of two scenes with you. And yet in those two scenes, you showed your playfulness and sweet nature. What's more, you've been lurking in my mind, whispering ideas for further scenes. You made it supremely hard to do what I had to do.

Of course, it helps that you're based off of Ioan, so of course I'm not going to make you an arse. But you've worked hard to make yourself likable, which I think will help the novel overall.

And today, I took a deep breath, sat down, and wrote your murder/death scene.

William, you outdid yourself. The scene leading up to your death was pitch-perfect. Not a single line seemed forced, and every action seemed perfectly natural. I could almost see Ioan acting it out in a film version.

And then, when you were stabbed, you faced the end calmly and bravely. Despite the fact that you bled to death in the entrance hall of your home, you bore it as stoically as if you'd been killed in battle. You didn't give any signs that you were pissed at me for doing this to you.

I am so sorry I put you through this, but if all goes well, you won't have died in vain. Your death has added 1,534 words to the novel, and your sacrifice will set off a series of events that lead to some of the better scenes in the story. Besides, now I can write those sweet moments you've been nagging me about for the past few days.

Thank you for making it easy for me to write something so emotionally painful. I owe you big.

With respect and affection,
Ioanite

********************************************************************************************

Current word count: 13,673

If you want to read the scene, you can find it here, under "Novel Info" (although it may not work if you don't have an account): 

www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/554136

And if you're morbid and would like an idea of how gut-wrenchingly awful I felt writing the moment where William slips away, here's a photo that's fairly similar to the expression on his face when he died.

( Click only if you WANT to feel depressed )

God, I need to cuddle with Ioan right now.

Current Word-Count: 6,062.

I'm pleased with my current word-rate. Like so many people, I did the calculations and discovered I need to write 1,666 words a day if I want to make the goal (a number that I think is wildly appropriate, given the plot of my story). In order to have a safety cushion, I write to the next thousand (I.E, if the goal is 7,856, I'll get to 8,000 before calling it a day).

Things that are going well:

1. I wrote in my last post that I thought what I'd sketched out in my head would net me 5,000 words. 6,000 words later, and there's still more from my original outline I can put in, in addition to more recent inspirations.

2. The dialogue is working fairly well. I have affectionate banter between my married couple and interesting exchanges between my other "couple".

3. The centerpiece of the story--a meeting between two of the main characters--is making excellent progress.

Things that I'm not too thrilled with:

1. I'm having trouble keeping the naming system clear. Since a lot of the scenes feature one character watching or talking with a mysterious character, I try really hard to keep it secret until the last minute, but it just garbles the syntax.

2. I cannot write accents to save my life. One of my characters is supposed to have a lower class accent, but I'm afraid to write it out that way for fear I'll take it to an extreme and be mocked for it.

3. As one would expect from me, there is a character in this story based on Ioan. He's a combination of William Wilberforce and Kenneth Grahame (from the upcoming "Banking on Mr. Toad"), and while I haven't written much with him, he's great to write for. The problem is, I'm growing extremely fond of his character. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a bad thing, except that if I want this novel to work, I have to kill him off. It would be one thing if his death scene happened offstage, or if it was painless, or if he died but came back through dreams or seances or something. But no, I had to decide that this story would feature a brutal death scene of a Ioan inspired character, and what's more, that he will have a goodbye scene. It's going to be very painful to write, and I have to do it quickly, or else I won't be able to do it at all, and the story's ruined. So you may see another post on here in a few days with me all depressed and in need of a hug. Maybe I'll even post the offending passage on here.

One way or another, wish me luck. Similarly, good luck to my fellow participants!

(And by the way, bumble_85 and whatever_freak , what are your screen names over on the official site? I'd love to add you to my Writing Buddies list.)

For whatever reason (the challenge, perhaps?) I've signed up to participate in National Novel Writing Month. I have an idea that I'm sketching out in my head, and I'm just waiting for November First so I can put it down on paper. The parts I've thought through so far could probably net me about 5,000 words, which is a start, I suppose.

Anyone else on my friends-list participating as well?

In unrelated news, it's been snowing pretty hard these last two days. The skies are almost perpetually grey, and the snowfall ranges from light flurries to giant flakes, but it's practically nonstop. It's going to be fun trying to get to this weekend's Halloween Party, let me tell you.

I'll leave you with some cuteness to brighten up your day.

( Guess the theme of these pictures... )

I have been posting WAY too infrequently on here. I blame life. Since I've just finished a big project, I decided that it's high time for a post.

I'm sure most people on LJ are aware of the community fandom_secrets. Reading some of the secrets, I was tempted to post some of my own, but frankly, if there's something I like or hate about a fandom, I'm going to be vocal about it and not care who knows it (Exhibit A; the fact that I pimp out the Hornblower miniseries at the drop of a hat).

With that in mind, here are two Ioan/Hornblower "secrets" of mine.

( Trust me, none of them are inappropriate. They are, however, extremely weird. )

A Very Happy Birthday to both Ioan and heidi_wiggin!!!

I hope both of you had a great day, celebrating in whatever way you saw fit.

Happy Anniversary, Ioan and Alice!

I was going to make another MMV, like I did last year, but I figure no present can top their new child, so I'll just wish them well.

And Ioan, I hope you spoiled Alice rotten. After what she went through to bring Ella Betsi into the world, she deserves it.

For one week, recommend/share:

Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a youtube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy

Being a movie buff, my rec for today will be a film.

( Day 7: Swash Your Buckles, Me Hearties! )

For one week, recommend/share:

Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a youtube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy

For one week, recommend/share:

Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a youtube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy

( Day 5: A Quite Interesting Clip )

Despite the fact that I am still reeling from Ioan's new parenthood (especially the 40 hour labor part; I just keep gaping in amazement), I figure I need to keep doing this meme. I've committed myself, and I don't want to back out.

For one week, recommend/share:

Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a youtube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy

( Day 4: Stand-Up Comic (Strip) )