Tag Archives: Sam talks Writing

Posted on by

wizzygold:

sarashouldbestudying:

still-searching47:

maplesyrupao3:

still-searching47:

There has been a murder in Storybrooke.

Detective Belle French is assigned to investigate. The only evidence found was a single vintage playing card concealed beneath the body. She takes the card to the local pawnbroker Mr Gold, along with a photograph of the victim. Hoping because the playing card was old, maybe it could provide a lead, they have nothing else to go on.

Surprisingly Mr Gold is very helpful. He reveals the existence of a hidden high stakes poker game, that is held in the shadows, always moving location between games. The victim had accompanied one of the players at the previous game but apart from that he knows nothing about her. Belle asks him how he knows so much about the game. His answer? He’s one of the players and then the plan is formed.

Belle goes undercover as Lacey, Mr Golds provocatively clad escort for the evening. All the players are in powerful positions around Storybrooke, an open investigation would just make them lawyer up. Belle quietly investigates but when she is nearly caught sneaking around, she gets caught in a completely different manner as Gold disguises her actions with a kiss.

The stakes are high as the conclusion of the case approaches. It’s not just the killer who might fall.

I’d read this fic!

Don’t tempt me! Though thank you 🙂

I saw this inspiration pic thing on my dash this morning. Now I see a lot of these and I love them all, I always like them because they are so pretty, but I hadn’t been particularly inspired by any until this one. I typed up the summary and figured that would be it.

Then I went to do some chores and my mind was still spinning. This is a high class event, where the women are more like ornaments so Belle would have to look the part. So I thought up this scene where Gold gives her his credit card with orders to get a designer outfit, because otherwise “your cover will be blown the second you walk in there”.

I then figured if one of these games takes place at a remote estate and they have to stay overnight, they’d have to share a bed and pretend to fake some noises etc. because they have to keep cover.

I mean it’s kinda like fake dating but with the whole “secret mission” thing which could get them into all sorts of circumstances like the one where they have to make out to avoid detection etc.

Oh who am I kidding? This is going to go on my ideas list.

I want so desperately to read this. Please????

me too!!!!!

Wow, I know it’s probably wrong but I love this response and thanks to @maplesyrupao3 as well. I write for myself because I love writing but well, it’s a really nice boost to get comments like this.

Yup I am definitely going to write this 🙂

Posted on by

I’m writing the next chapter of The War Within and you guys are really going to hate me. I say I can’t do angst and then I do this. To be fair though I’m just working with what canon gave me.

Want a snippet? Might as well.

———

“I can’t lose you too, I just can’t,” Rumplestiltskin whispered brokenly.

Unbidden the memory of the town line came to him, with Belle saying ‘You already have’ and another sob ripped from his throat.

———

Rumple needs a hug bigtime, poor guy.

You know you are a writer …

Posted on by

still-searching47:

… when you are halfway through getting a meal (or doing anything really) and have to stop because this scene just popped into your head and it has to be written right the hell now. At least in rough form because the dialogue is good and you can see the faces, feel the emotions and while the picture is clear and not fuzzy, it needs to be recorded.

… when you have a picture in your mind and you aren’t sure whether it’s an actual scene you saw on the TV, or just something you imagined yourself.

… when watching TV often has no appeal anymore, because there is nothing that compares to the TV in your mind, of your own stories and ideas.

… when you can’t sleep at night because you want to be writing, but when you go to write, you just want to sleep.

I’ll stop for now. Anyone got any others?

… when you know little details about fics for stuff that wouldn’t happen until a long way into the fic, and it’s not even a fic you are writing a the moment. It’s sort of like knowing a little detail about book five of a book series when you are only starting on book one.

Example: My fic ‘Her Happy Ending’ I have about 8k written so it’ll probably become a thing eventually but it’s not on the horizon anytime soon. However, I happen to know that when the Charming’s have their baby son, they are going to call him Nicholas (Nicky) based on someone’s suggestion. Only afterwards are they going to realize to their mild horror that they inadvertently named their son after Rumple because that was his cursed name.

The certain someone who suggested it was very self-satisfied with themselves. Especially when Nicky starts calling Rumple Grandpa because Henry does it and he wants a Grandpa too (and of course both David and Snow’s parents are dead).

… when you have fanfic for your fanfic.

Example: I have this incredible urge for some reason to cross over show canon with the ‘Her Happy Ending’ universe, just for a oneshot because it would be very funny, possibly for no-one but me. However, I just want the Charming’s to be so horrified at what they see because Rumple is so evil etc. and the alternate Charming’s to be like “well Rumplestiltskin is family through Henry” and just shrugging because he’s brilliant with Nicky and isn’t it better to have him with them than against them?

Posted on by

rowofstars:

emospritelet:

rowofstars:

emospritelet:

The never-ending dilemma of the Rumbelle writer:

A first name for Mr Gold

A title for this bloody fic

Is this for your RCIJ fic? Because I am in the same boat.

Yep 🙁

I’ll get one eventually, but in the meantime it’s agonising. It has to be a) one I haven’t used before b) one that has some sort of meaning and c) one that I don’t hate or that I can’t use due to weird family connotations (I can never use Robert, as that’s my brother’s name)

Same on A and B. There aren’t that many names that have been ruined for me, but I try not to reuse names. Unfortunately, the one name that would work really well for this fic, is one I went and used on a one-shot. Ugh.

Why can’t you re-use a name for Gold? I mean he’s always Gold, so why can’t he always be ‘something’ Gold. I’m sorry if that is a stupid question.

Perhaps this is my laziness talking. I can all but guarantee in all my fics if Gold’s first name is mentioned then it will be Nicholas/Nick because I love Rush and that just works for me.

Unless of course I was writing a crossover in which Rush and Gold both appear, in which case I suppose I would have to pick something else like Alexander or Julian or Alastor. Why am I using all my spy names for Gold? He isn’t a shadowy secret agent, he’s just incredibly brilliant at operating in the shadows, pulling strings, manipulating people, playing the subtle long game and … yeah he would make a good secret agent. Sorry that was random.

For fic titles I’m rather fond of using episode titles myself.

Rushbelle WIP

Posted on by

I should name this if I’m going to talk about it.

Anyway, I wrote more today because it was late and I felt like it but … I’m 1,500 words in, there’s several missing scenes around what I’ve written and … I haven’t reached Destiny yet.

Ooops!

Yeah there’s going to be at least a chapter pre-Destiny, maybe two at this rate heh.

Posted on by

thescholarlystrumpet:

Does anyone else find it easier to write when you really *should* be doing something else?

Of course it’s one of the rules of writing.

Another rule is that when you absolutely can’t write for some reason, then writing is all you want to do and all you can think about.

Which is tied symbiotically to the next rule. The rule that states when you have nothing to do but write. The entire day free and clear for nothing but writing, suddenly you want to do anything but writing. “I got laundry right? I should hoover the house … ooooh I have a sudden need to reorganise something.”

I really don’t do angst very well …

Posted on by

woodelf68:

still-searching47:

I have tried not to post random writing stuff on tumblr that much. I used to live tweet my writing sessions sometimes and I felt a bit bad about the spamming. However, sometimes I just got to make a comment.

My WIP list is expanding exponentially, much like the universe .. something that Dr Rush no doubt approves of as a Rushbelle story is the latest on the list.

I was typing out the scenario. Shall I share it? Yeah why not I guess. Basically I have read fics where Belle is a civilian of varying different specializes, one where she was a Lt. but never one where she was a more senior military officer. I was thinking perhaps it would be interesting if she was a Colonel and fought Young for control of Destiny.

Now the problem from the fandom point of view is if Belle is a freshly minted colonel then she is definitely far closer to 40 than 30 and therefore all but eliminating the age difference. However, the age gap has been played with before. I’ve seen it increased and reversed and to be honest age is but a number. I mean their age gap is a couple of hundred years on Once, it’s not really the biggest factor in their relationship.

Anyway, to get back to the point I was going to make (I don’t half ramble sometimes) is I don’t do angst very well because my brain piped up at this point with a twist on the concept.

I have seen fics where Rush and Belle knew one another prior to Destiny, had even worked together and done mutual oblivious pining for one another. However, I have never seen a fic where they were already happily in a relationship.

Yup I don’t want to do the whole angst falling in love thing. I want them to be happily married. I want all the angst to come from external sources. The people that go “Rush is married? Who the hell would marry him?” and of course the stress of working together, which is against regulations but on the other side of the universe, regulations kinda go out the window.

Belle wouldn’t always support Rush in work decisions, she would give him orders he didn’t like, she would refuse his requests and then that could create conflict. There would be favoritism accusations, there would be trust problems given Rush’s reputation with the crew. People would judge her based on her relationship, not on her record.

I don’t know maybe that would make it boring because at the end of the day, they might fight but they would always make up. They love one another and nothing will change that, nothing will tear them apart because they are stronger together.

I just don’t do angst very well.

Not doing angst well is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned! And so many people widen the age gap by making Belle much younger, I see no reason not to make her older for a change. And it’s an interesting idea – presumably when they married, he was just a teacher and had no idea he’d ever be put in a position of coming into conflict with his wife at work. I’m not sure if I can see her as a military officer, when her motto is ‘no one decides my fate but me’. The military is all about surrendering any control of self to your superior officers. 

Oooh thank you for your reply! 🙂

Erm also sorry I started typing out a reply and my mind went into complete overdrive as I started thinking about it. So this got kind of long.

I’m going to put it under a cut so it doesn’t clutter people’s dash and be annoying.

Thinking that he would never be in conflict with Belle at work – I had not thought about this! That is an excellent point 🙂 it’s interesting and now I’m thinking how they met. I’m thinking at college. She would be the undergrad and he would be a lecturers assistant studying for his masters/doctorate or something. He would beg her not to go because the military deploys people everywhere and they would be separated. Plus he would be terrified for her safety.

Then when she got into the Stargate program Rush isn’t an idiot. Belle would be saying she had a safe job studying “deep space radar telemetry” and then be coming home bruised and bashed up on occasion. That would be conflict to because he would be torn between his intense need to know vs his respect for Belle and knowing that she would tell him if she could.

Yup your point about Belle “No one chooses my fate but me” is another reason why I thought this twist would be interesting. It is a core part of her character. However, in my opinion that doesn’t mean she won’t take orders, she just won’t be forced into a cause she doesn’t believe in.

Belle does what she thinks is right regardless of the cost. I think we’ve seen that she will take orders, she’ll just do things her way. Jack O’Neill was kinda famous for that on SG1. RDA asked the actual Air Force General chief when he did a guest spot, whether O’Neill would have made it in the Air Force. The General laughed and said he knew many colonels who were much worse.

I kinda thought the background would run something like Belle opting for ROTC for a couple of reasons.
1) I think that means (I’ll have to check) that the Air Force would pick up part of her schooling. I could imagine maybe she wouldn’t be able to afford college otherwise.
2) She wants to see the world and thinks maybe with the military she could travel a bit.
3) She did kinda always want to be a hero, to show what she could do. The hidden Lacey part of her personality perhaps, pushing back against everyone who said she couldn’t do it.

I figure she never intended to make it a career but with her intelligence and perhaps her college major (not sure what to pick yet) she got recruited to the Stargate program. Not straight away. I’m thinking that she was going to quit when her eight years was up (I need to check that number) but they said before you do that, there’s someone that wants to talk to you.

That had to be like a dream come true. Not just seeing the world but the Galaxy! Also the whole Earth under impending annihilation would make for a greater good “have to do my part” and save the day thing. By this point she would be a Captain probably. I need to check the promotion rules to be sure I can get her to colonel in the time frame.

Anyway, Belle would still be herself. Warm, kind, her door would always be open and she would be willing to listen. I think she would be a much more open leader, in terms of communication and also a lot more logical. I can just see her rolling her eyes and saying “if this were a book then …” and Rush going “but it’s reality sweetheart” and Belle saying “yeah but these cliches become cliches for a reason” and then Rush thinks about it, realises she’s right, kisses her and calls her a genius as he dashes off to fix whatever the problem is.

Yeah I might have thought a bit too much about this, oops.

woodelf68:

I don’t know if it’s a field that could get you to colonel rank, but she’s got a canon interest in other languages; maybe she started out at least as being an interpreter? 

I like that!

I wrote out a response to this and then our power blipped and I lost it all. So first thanks for discussing this with me, it’s a lot of fun to chat about stories and characters, I appreciate it 🙂

I wrote a lot and then I wrote a snippet which popped into my head so I’ll go under the cut again. Snippet is in rough form, just typed it in my phone but figured I would share it anyway.

Anyway, basically I looked it up. If Belle gets an ROTC scholarship she commits to 4 years active service. 4 years service is usually the amount of time needed to make Captain. They mainly give out scholarships for technical or foreign language majors. So languages is an awesome idea!

Candidates are also required to complete 24 hours of study of maths and physical science – I know how she meets Rush!

Having a talent for languages would get her into the Stargate program. She could learn Goa’uld or Ancient etc. fast and become an asset to any off world team. With her love of reading she could be the “cultural” expert, sort of like the Dr Jackson position.

To get promoted beyond Captain (or certainly to colonel) she would need at least a masters degree. The Air Force has a tuition assistance program and she could do it via correspondence (probably) and that would require committing to more years in service. I’m still a bit fuzzy on the rules for this, I shall Google more. Belle loves learning though so I can certainly see how getting a masters degree would be attractive to her.

I did look up and between the ranks after the initial ones there’s 2-3 years minimum service before promotion. On SG1 it took Carter 10+ years to go from Captain to Colonel (I’m not sure how long she was a Captain).

So by the time SGU happened the Stargate program had been operating for 12+ years. Depending on when Belle joined the program will affect her rank when she enters it.

Oh man I want to write this so much now. I came up with this sweet little exchange earlier of when they were doing the initial test dial to Destiny and of course chevron nine will not lock.

*****

(Just wrote this on my phone so it’s not final and probably rubbish)

Frowning, Rush reached over and changed the last symbol on the dialing computer, from the Icarus point of origin, to the symbol for Earth.

“Rush what are you doing?” Young demanded. “I told you to shut it down!”

“Just disproving a theory,” Rush told him, watching the gate spin, practically holding his breath.

The gate hit the Earth symbol and chevron nine – locked. There was the familiar kwoosh of the unstable vortex of the outgoing wormhole before it settled into the shimmering blue puddle. They had done it!

Rush groaned. “Well I just lost a bet with a certain colonel.”

“Colonel Carter?” The airman asked, shooting Rush a curious look, as he directed the MALP through the Stargate.

“No, not that Colonel,” Rush replied absently.

His eyes drifted over the crowd of people watching the successful test. Her chestnut colored hair, carefully tied back in a tidy bun, caught his eye first. She gave him a knowing smirk and Rush smiled softly. Belle would never let him hear the end of this, he had been so certain he was right and that her notion was fanciful. His theory was grounded in science; hers had been based on a logic leap, which admittedly had made sense, but had no basis in fact.

Still it was of no matter, losing a bet with Belle had much the same result as winning and it had been an extremely long six months.

woodelf68:

*Pats myself on back for a good suggestion* I can see her and Rush challenging each other to good-natured but still competitive ‘who can translate this first?’ contests. Go for it! OUAT hiatus is the time for SGU fics!

wizzygold:

I love all of this! and the snippet was wonderful =D I’ll look forward to the rest of the fic if you want to write it c: @still-searching47

Oh yeah I am definitely going to write this! Thank you so much for your kind comments, I’m grinning now 🙂

I just starting posting a WIP, I got RCIJ, an original novella and original novel to write before September. So when I will write it is the question, the next two months are kinda busy but I have patience issues, in that I have zero patience.

I kinda wish I could just write all the time, or plug my brain into the PC and let the stories out because there is never enough time. Although I think all writers think that 🙂

As soon as I finish RCIJ I will probably start. I am super tempted by all my WIP ideas (I got 4 others) but no this one will be my second I think. So I’ll start in a couple of weeks probably. No promises, I never make promises unless I’m sure I can keep them but hopefully that will work out.

Fun!

Tuesday Writing Marathon

Posted on by

To cut a long story short I have a recurring problem with my left arm. Which basically means I can only type one handed right now because it hurts too much to use my left.

I have always sucked at using dictation software. I loathe the sound of my own voice and my brain and my mouth don’t seem to communicate like my brain and my hands do. Everything always comes out really stifled and stilted which means I need to practice. It’s Camp NaNo next month and I have a novel to write!

I’m planning on spending the day writing my RCIJ and my season six fic but prompts are welcome for drabbles if anyone feels like it.

Could be fun 🙂

#I have all day#it is tuesday after all#let’s hope I don’t regret this later#prompt away

#I don’t know if anyone is still doing this#but I need to get used to voice dictation#typing one handed is hard

Serious Question

Posted on by

ripperblackstaff:

worryinglyinnocent:

Do any of you mind if I start making the Friendships and Fandoms chapters shorter? I think my problem at the moment is that I have this ridiculous chapter length paranoia whereby all my chapters must be the same length otherwise I have not put the necessary amount of care and effort into them, and the thought of trying to spin out the current chapter 14 of F&F into 6.5K words is what’s stopping me from doing it. 

So, would people be ok with more shorter chapters that hopefully appear more regularly, or should I stick to the 6.5K for neatness’s sake so that people new to the fic don’t start out thinking “Oh goody, long chapters” and then think “wtf?” when they get halfway through and suddenly the chapters halve in length… 

Answers on a postcard please. I am desperate to get this fic updated. 

Baby, no matter the length, when you feel the chapter is over, then it is 🙂

When someone asks me how long a chapter should be I usually reply with “how long is a piece of string?” Mind you that is also my response for the question about how long a story should be.

Basically when you reach a natural breakpoint and you feel it should split then do that. I have written chapters that are less than 1000 words and I’ve written ones that were 10k. I did wind up splitting the longer one but my point stands, split it where it feels right.

If it helps I read somewhere that the average chapter length for popular novels was about 4k. So I usually aim for 3.5k-4.5k but that depends on scene length. If I don’t want to split the scene then it could be shorter or longer.

In my opinion don’t stress the numbers. Your story is awesome. I personally don’t care whether the next update is 500 words or 5000. I’m all about the story and the characters, I’m not thinking about how long it is, just that I’ve got another glimpse into what happens next in the world of Star Force.

Any update you make means that you care and have put effort in. You are giving us a story to read. I like that whatever sized chunks it comes in.

So yeah just have fun with it 🙂 enjoy the writing!

When you see this, share three lines from a WIP

Posted on by

From my WIP “Her Happy Ending”

—–

“I’m afraid Miss French the library apartment is not fit for habitation. I should have checked it more thoroughly before agreeing to the rental,” Gold told her, idly tapping his cane on the floor.

Belle looked concerned. “I’m sure it will be fine Mr Gold, I won’t get in the way of the repairs.”

“That’s not my concern dearie,” Gold’s eyes softened. “It would be against the terms of the contract, and I always keep my end of the deal. As the apartment is currently unfit, I will rent you a room at the B&B until the repairs are complete.”