Tag Archives: Sam talks Writing

Miracles Happen!Belle: I’m so happy that your dream of seeing the world is coming true. So, you’re in the North Yorkshire Moors. Do you plan to see Haworth Parsonage in West Yorkshire (I suck at geography, so I’m not sure how far you are from that) where Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre? I know you love books, so I thought it might interest you. Well, wherever you go, have a wonderful time!

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Belle: Ooooh no I didn’t know that! *checks online* It’s about two and a half hours from here … but I suppose when we leave to go … oh there’s a museum, oh Rumple …

Rumple: I take it we’re making a detour? *smiles*

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Miracles Happen Fic Rambles …
… well alright not really fic rambles but a related rant

My official reason for not including a gift shop segment is because I think it’s fairly predictable that Rumple would buy Belle and Gideon anything they wanted. My unofficial reason is I’m still bitter about the change to the Thomas the Tank Engine models. I feel so old complaining that they “don’t make them like they used to” but I have the proper diecast collection!

The new ones are plastic! With detachable magnetic tenders! So very wrong. I mean I’m not a kid anymore but I confess I used to still buy models I didn’t have to complete my collection when I visited heritage railways. Then they changed the models and I couldn’t do that anymore. So yeah I didn’t write a gift shop section in case it turned into a several hundred word rant about the models.

I mean I’m not a proper collector. My models are in a plastic tub under my bed, not in boxes or anything. The ones I’ve had since I was little are dented and chipped where they have been thoroughly played with. I just … it’s weird, I’m not a train enthusiast exactly because I don’t know anything about them. I like the smell of steam trains, I like visiting heritage railways but that’s kinda it. I think it’s just like a nostalgia thing, a touchstone to a happy thing from my childhood. The models were usually less than $5 so it’s not like it was an expensive souvenir either. Ooops I’m all grumpy now.

In happier news did you know that the proper Thomas the Tank Engine series is on Amazon Prime? The one narrated by Ringo Starr that was filmed with models and not “new” animation. Geez I really don’t like progress do I? *hides* It’s not something I would ever sit and watch myself but if/when my cousins eventually have kids, I’m going to introduce them to it hehe 🙂

You can see why I didn’t make this my authors note *rolls eyes at self*

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My focus has been shot the last few days. Everything has felt like too much effort. I actually spent about two hours this morning literally just sitting and basically staring into space. Why do that? It’s so pointless. Wtf me right? I haven’t even been posting the facts/challenge in the NaNo cabin last couple of days because I’ve felt so blah. I am actually sorry for that.

I was alright last week when I was doing about six things at once. I still think I could have done more, and that I could have done things faster, but things at least got done. This week? Not so much. It’s like if I only have one non-critical thing to do, my subconcious decides it’s naptime and doesn’t want to do anything more strenuous than laying on the couch watching TV (I wish I was joking, I know I’m awful).

Anyway, this morning I opened up my fic for the Rumbelle Vacation event. I’ve been trying to write it all week, it’s not going to be the first fic in the world and it’s certainly not going to be the longest, there’s literally no reason to have procrastinated on it this badly. It got to about 2pm and I still hadn’t done anything so I was like screw it, I’ll try something really weird.

I have two monitors so I opened up a video game in one window and kept the fic open in the other. I chose a boring activity in game (archaeology and leveling pets) so there’s a lot of flying around, not much doing anything and nothing that I can’t ignore if I get a flow going.

I wrote 1k in an hour. When I’m on form I can do twice that, so it’s not anything to jump up and down about, but it’s more than I’d written all day. Actually it’s nearly as much as I’ve written all month (this month I tell you). So I have no clue why I’m writing all this down and you are probably wondering the same (if you’ve bothered reading this far) but I just found it amusing.

Another few hundred words and I’ll have this fic finished, which given that I have to post on Tuesday is just as well heh 🙂

theoneandonlylittlebird reblogged your post and added: “My focus has been shot the last few days. Everything has felt like too…”

So I read all of that and so sorry you’re feeling like this…

BUT OMG??!!! you can write 2k/hour? Like holy shit you’re speedy! When things are good I can write ~1k per hour… I stare off into space for long periods at a time, the type then repeat. I wonder what focus like that would be like???

Seriously, that impresses the crap out of me.

But stepping away from my shock and awe, sorry you’re feelin’ less than stellar. Big hugs!

Awww you are sweet, thank you! Good news I have finished the fic! I need to title it, write a synopsis and read through it to check for errors, but the draft is done at least 🙂

Anyway, I haven’t done 2k in an hour in a long time, I might be capable of it but it doesn’t happen very often. Besides it’s not really about speed, it’s about the individual writers process. Like you probably put a great deal more thought into what you write, so you probably produce a much more polished first draft. I’m very much run, run, run and then I often wind up with a mess I have to fix. That’s what works for me. I find blank pages harder to deal with.

I know some people that write a lot faster than I do. Writing is a journey. It’s better with friends because who doesn’t like company and encouragement? But everybody’s journey is still different *hugs* I hope that made sense. If you want to try and get faster than time yourself. Do sprints of say 15 minutes at a time and track how many words you write. Over time I promise the numbers will go up, but only do that if you want. Like I said it’s not for everyone. Only do what works for you! 🙂

I LOVE THIS IDEA!! #4

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Ok upping the ante hehe 🙂 Thank you!

Your songs are:
– Bring Me to Life
– Captain America
– Presidente
– If I Never See Your Face Again

——————

Captain America was a comic book legend; a super-soldier turned superhero who threw his trusty shield and always stood up for what was right. Mulan had been one of the few who hadn’t laughed when they’d been handpicked for a new elite unit. They were the best of the best; and the government hoped they’d be even better with the new experimental serum.

Mulan was the only survivor of those experiments. The serum made her stronger, and faster, and she shrugged off injuries easier. One soldier doesn’t make a unit so Mulan recruited her own, to make a team of five: Philip Prince, Ruby Lucas, Belle French and Merida Dunbroch. The President hadn’t been thrilled at the ratio of men and women, in his opinion the 4:1 should have been the other way round, but Mulan had picked the best and not even the commander in chief could argue with that.

They had laughed about being a comic book team, the super-soldier and her Howling Commandos. However truthfully Mulan hadn’t expected to have anything in common with Steve Rogers except for the serum. That was until she’d gone into the ice … and survived.

When Mulan was pulled out and revived she was cold inside. It was a chill she just couldn’t shake. People started whispering that the ice had frozen her, and Mulan wasn’t sure she disagreed. She was quieter than normal, had few smiles to share, nothing but darkness in her eyes. She trained, barely slept, ate mechanically and then trained some more. She was technically alive but she’d lost herself out there.

“That’s it!” Merida exclaimed, throwing up her hands dramatically as she strode into the training room. “You and me are out of here.”

“I have to finish training,” Mulan argued.

Merida snorted. “You’ve done enough training for a lifetime. Now, let’s go.”

Mulan felt Merida grab her arm and she tensed for half a second. People had learned not to touch her but this was Merida, and so Mulan relaxed and let herself be dragged along. She still didn’t want to go but Merida was stubborn, she’d hound her night and day until she gave in anyway. Besides it was Merida, her oldest and best friend.

“I thought we were going somewhere,” Mulan said mildly, an hour later after Merida pulled off the road into a small forest clearing.

“We are, here,” Merida answered. “Middle of nowhere. Best place.”

“For what?” Mulan said doubtfully.

“Ach I dinnae want to be overheard. You know what me brothers are like, they’d never let me hear the end of it,” Merida exclaimed. “You were gone for two years! Two!”

“Lucky it wasn’t seventy,” Mulan said dryly.

Merida gave her a dirty look. “Now’s not the time for jokes. We could have lost you! I could have lost you! When I thought I would never see your face again I knew … I knew … oh dammit it all to hell.”

The next thing Mulan knew Merida had grabbed her again, but this time it wasn’t to drag her somewhere, not unless closer together counted. Merida’s lips pressed against hers, and Mulan froze. Then a beat later her arms moved, to wrap around Merida, as she kissed her back. Merida’s hand curled round her neck, lightly scratching her nape. Mulan pulled back, taking a shuddering breath.

For the first time since the ice warmth was flooding through her. It was flowing from her lips, and her neck, and everywhere Merida had touched. Merida was almost literally bringing her back to life.

“Alright?” Merida asked awkwardly.

Mulan gave a genuine smile, another first since the ice. “Kiss me again, it’s working.”

——————

A/N: Should I be sorry for stealing the Rumbelle line? Probably. It’s just it was perfect *hides*

Sorry to hear that you’ve had some bad days. ::hugs:: Hope that your weekend is better. Anyway, Shuffle Challenge: #3 for Rumbelle. :~)

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*hugs back* thank you so much!

Ok your songs are:
– Jedi Rocks
– Everyday is a Holiday
– Do You Want To

——————

“No absolutely not,” Rumple said firmly but the pleading eyes didn’t relent. He squirmed and sighed. “Fine, one tube but no pudding with dinner.”

“Thanks papa!” Gideon called over his shoulder as he sprinted back over to the concession stall.

Belle chuckled. “You know he’s crazy for anything Star Wars related. The second he saw those limited edition candies …”

“Jedi Rocks,” Rumple grumbled. “Just pure sugar and E numbers.”

“We are are on holiday Rumple,” Belle teased, looping her arm through his.

“Technically everyday is a holiday,” Rumple pointed out, unwilling to concede the point. Belle raised both of her eyebrows, her eyes gaining intensity, it was the exact look she gave him when she wasn’t impressed with his showboating. “This is your fault for saying ask your father.”

“What’s your fault papa?” Gideon asked brightly, his eyes sparkling. He ripped open the tube and crunched one of the rocks, his smile practically splitting his face, and Rumple’s heart melted.

“Nothing son. Your mother was just teasing me,” Rumple told him.

Gideon nodded, chewing on another candy. Rumple glanced around the amusement park. They’d left Storybrooke over a year ago intending to take a two week vacation. That had been extended over and over again as they’d just not gone back home. There was always somewhere new to see and Gideon was the perfect age for such a long trip. He was old enough to remember but young enough that he’d still have time to learn everything he’d need for his exams.

Although, today’s amusement park excursion aside, their vacation was extremely educational. Gideon was getting to see historical locations in person, to immerse himself in different cultures and learn the language. It was the experience of a lifetime.

“Papa,” Gideon started.

Rumple winced, that was the ‘I want something’ tone. “Yes Gideon?”

“Do you want to ride the coaster?”

“Erm …” Rumple glanced over towards the rapidly moving car that was careening upside-down along the track. “Ask your mother.”

For the song prompt thing- how about a 3 to get you going? :)

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Ooooh thank you! I know it’s a probably a weird prompt meme thing but I got a bit tired of reblogging the same 50 sentences. So this is just something a bit different 🙂

Right your songs are:
– Club Foot
– Everlasting Love
– Inflate My Ego

——————

“If I can’t have you,” James snarled. “Then no-one will!”

Belle shuddered at the menacing tone. Gold frowned and grabbed the remote, hitting pause on the movie. Belle was laying back against his chest, his arms wrapped around her, just another typical night at home. He’d been warm, comfortable, drowsy; Belle was in his arms and all was right with the world, until he’d felt her distress. Now their position wasn’t comfortable because he couldn’t see her expression.

“Sweetheart?” Gold shifted and with obvious reluctance Belle moved, curling her legs up against her and wrapping her arms around herself. “Hey?”

Gold put a finger under her chin and very gently pressed, encouraging her to look at him. Belle did for half a second before her eyes dropped.

“It’s stupid,” Belle muttered.

“Nothing you feel could ever be stupid,” Gold quoted, and Belle’s lips quirked in amusement, as he repeated the same phrase she often said firmly to him.

Belle shrugged and sighed. “I was half asleep really. So comfortable and warm, I was with you.” She smiled and reached for his hand. “It was the tone more than the words. If I hadn’t been half-asleep it probably wouldn’t have registered. You know me, I don’t scare easily …”

Gold laughed. “You my love are practically fearless.”

“Exactly.” Belle nodded once in acceptance. “But that night I felt a flash of pure terror … and then you saved me.”

“I think you saved me actually,” Gold disagreed.

“You don’t need to inflate my ego.” Belle rolled her eyes but she was smiling now at least.

Gold would compliment her all night if it brought light to her eyes, and besides he was telling the truth. He would have been fish food if Belle hadn’t been there. The fact that he might have possibly saved her first was irrelevant. As far as he was concerned, she was his hero.

“Oh I thought that was part of my job description as your husband?” Gold arched an eyebrow, a smile playing across his face.

“No the only criteria for that Mr Gold is everlasting love,” Belle said tartly. “Anything else is just like a gift of a rose.”

“Anything else?” Gold questioned with a glint in his eyes.

Belle bit her lip thoughtfully and then smirked, and turned to press up against him once more. She lowered her lips to within an inch of his. “Well maybe just one or two things …”

——————

A/N: Club Foot is about loving something so much and then having to kill it, at least I think. I had to look that one up as the lyrics weren’t clear and the title wasn’t easy either. I managed to get the other two titles in there though! 🙂

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I’m having a bad few days. Somebody save me from playing yet more video games and focus me on writing again. Yeah please hit up my askbox!

I thought of this one the other day which I thought would be cool.

SEND ME A NUMBER BETWEEN 1-5. I WILL PUT ITUNES ON SHUFFLE AND THE CHALLENGE IS TO WRITE A FICLET USING THOSE SONGS/SONG TITLES AS THE PROMPTS. ALL OF THEM HAVE TO BE INCLUDED SO THE HIGHER THE NUMBER, THE HARDER IT GETS.

I have nearly 14,500 songs. So there’s a fair bit of variety in there.

Go on! Challenge me 🙂

Where do you think Gideon and Chin went on their first date? And as Gideon was growing up, was Rumple the more overprotective “I want to know where you are, where you’re going, who you’re with, what time you’ll be home” parent? Or was that Belle?

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Gideon: It’s hard to pin down our first date to be honest. I’d dated before, inviting the guys I liked out for hamburgers or to get a drink, but with Chin it just didn’t happen like that. We met in the library study hall, when he sat down opposite me, and we just clicked. He became my best friend, I invited him home for Christmas so he didn’t have to spend it in the dorms, and after we’d been there a couple of days mom asked how long we’d been together.

I told her that we weren’t! But the idea wouldn’t leave me alone and I started paying more attention. When we spent evenings watching movies we’d curl up together, when we cooked we worked in sync because we knew what the other needed. It’s like we’d become a couple and kinda skipped the dating part.

So would our first date be one of the hundreds of things we did together since we met? Or would it be what we did the night I screwed up my courage and kissed him? I was so terrified of losing his friendship. I called papa and he told me not to wait because I would regret it. That no matter what happened it would be the right thing. That the important thing was to be honest, a lesson he’d learned the hard way and tried never to forget.

Anyway we went out for dinner – hamburgers for good luck – and I kissed him. He kissed me back, I admitted I’d been nervous, he admitted that if I hadn’t made a move soon then he would have, and the rest as they say is history.

*****

Belle: *glances at Rumple with amusement* It was me, much to my surprise. I couldn’t understand why Rumple was so laid back, well until Gideon and Nadia started dating and then I had to have a stern word, but then …

Rumple: *winces* Sweetheart …

Belle: Not now darling, I think they should know don’t you? *Rumple shakes his head and Belle’s smile deepens* It’s really not all that bad. My husband the sorcerer just placed a couple of charms on them. They weren’t invasive. One was a health monitor which would detect if they were hurt or unwell. Another would detect if they were in danger. There was a locator charm but that only activated if either the health or danger monitor triggered. It wasn’t spying because he couldn’t check where they were at will; he was just making sure they were safe when they were on their own. The only mistake he made was … what was it Rumple?

Rumple: I didn’t talk with you about it first, and I didn’t explain it to Gideon and Nadia. Placing spells on anyone other than an enemy without asking permission isn’t allowed.

Belle: And what happened when we talked with them?

Rumple: *whispers* They agreed to the charms. Gideon’s condition was that we placed the same monitors on the two of us, and that both he and I were keyed into them. He has magic too and we all care for one another.

Belle: Exactly. *kisses him lovingly* See it all worked out. Your intention wasn’t wrong but …

Rumple: What we had was a failure to communicate.

For TMI: Do you have structured ideas of how your story is supposed to go, or make it up as you write?

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Ooooh good question!

I’m afraid I don’t have a simple answer because honestly – it depends.

When I write a long story then I usually write a scene by scene outline before I start writing. This is because if it’s novel length I’m more than likely going to get confused and write myself into a corner. The exception to this is Painting Layers of Love because I’m experimentally writing that with prompts and as responses to people’s comments. I’m letting it develop organically and letting the characters drive more so than usual.

With all stories (short or long) I have clear images in my head for parts of the story. I usually have a jumping off point and I usually have an ending – it’s getting from A to B that I have to work out. Sometimes I just start typing and see what happens, sometimes I write up plans and essentially type out the entire story as a long summary. Quite often it’s somewhere in between. What I do depends on how inspired I am when I get the idea and whether I can start writing immediately, or if I need to put the idea on ice for a little while.

I usually have a fair idea of structure. I definitely fall down more on the side of planner than pantser but I’ve grown to appreciate a mix of the methods. I use what’s appropriate for the story and the situation. Novels I tend to plan to death but fanfic I’m more loose with and how many notes I have depends on the story. Sometimes this means I get stuck. I know where I need to be sometimes but not exactly how to get there. That’s when I talk with some amazing fic friends who have never let me down yet. I’m so lucky to have them!

ask game for writers – 4,5,6,7

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Thank you anon 🙂

4) Do you have writing habits or rituals?
Answered here 🙂

5) Books or authors that influenced your style the most?
Answered here 🙂

6) Favorite character you ever created?
Hmm I just scanned my masterlist and this is a tricky one. I don’t believe I’ve created any OC’s in anything I’ve posted. I’ve made some minor characters my own perhaps like Mitchell Herman (Cinderella’s father-in-law) but I’ve tried to base every character on an existing one. OC’s are something that are very hard to get right. Robin4 has created a number of incredible OC’s, I wish with all my heart that Morgan was real, I’m a big fan of Morgan heh.

Anyway, I wrote a lot of OC’s when I first started writing fanfic *gulp* maybe … 16 years ago? Man I feel old now and that was because I was inexperienced. I threw an OC into the mix to make things happen – I was 11 and I learned that was a bad idea. Seriously, I’m so glad I don’t think any of that is still floating around the internet *cringes* but my point is I shy away these days from posting OC work. I’m wary of getting it wrong, I’m terrified of conflict and I can picture the disdainful insults already. Especially in a fandom that is so invested in the ships.

That’s not to say I haven’t got some OC fanfic on my hard drive. Back in between season 4 and 5 when I discovered the show, I created a son for Rumbelle. I gave him several different backgrounds as I played around with different scenarios. I was privately quite amused when Gideon hit the screen, because one of my favorite backgrounds involved my Rumbelle son being taken as a baby, and raised to be the right hand of a villain which well is a little familiar. The show made my OC real kinda.

7) Favorite author?
I’m fairly certain I’ve answered this before. The most enjoyable book series I’ve ever read was the Diagnosis Murder series by Lee Goldberg. TV-tie-in books, pure trash really but I loved them. It picked up and continued from the high point of the series, written by one of the executive producers who really “got” the characters and it was like having the show in book form. I admit there was a nostalgia element, it was like a slice of childhood as I haven’t really seen the show in years.

However, would I say he was my favorite author? I don’t know. I’ve not read anything else by him so how much was the subject matter and how much was his style? What even was his style? I mean he evoked the feel of the show with the irreverent tone and humorous descriptions. Would another book of his read the same? I don’t know. Plus if I say he’s my favorite author then that’s not very “well read” of me is it? Oh well I’m afraid that’s the only answer I have right now. I guess I’ll have to think on it some more.