the man who sold the world.... on ebay

- Does your character believe in true love or soul mates? Love at first sight?
- Are they or have they ever been in love?
- What are their general feelings about sex?
- How do they feel about sex without love?
- What about sex before marriage?
- What counts as cheating and is cheating forgivable?
- Have they or would they ever cheat?
- Are they a virgin?
- First partner? Most recent?
- What sort of experience do they have with sex?
- How comfortable are they with their body?
- With their partner's body?
- Who gave them "The Talk"?
- Post-sex habits? Weird habits?

Mady and I were liveblogging the Republican debate tonight in chat. (It was awesome and horrifying. Like Cthulhu.) And I said that Newt Gingrich would basically be like, Pansy's idol. He's mean, he's really good at spin, and, like the honey badger, he don't care.

So it is my new headcanon that Pansy's grandpa looks like Newt Gingrich.





Also, I have started using GoodReads a lot, so if you haven't already, you should add me!

ETA: the comments of this post may or may not now include celebing GOP candidates.

OKAY.

I have a discussion topic for all of you guys. Ostensibly, this is to help me out some, but I'm also interested in the topic in general. Every once in a while over the course of writing my novel, Cate and I have a conversation that goes something like this:

Me: Do I have to have romance?
Cate: Yes.
Me: Ugh I hate writing romance.
Cate: If you don't do it, they'll make you add it in if you ever get an agent/editor anyway.
Me: :'(

Anyway, I am not enjoying writing romance, partly because I do not like a lot of romance tropes that appear in YA. (They see each other. They instantly are draw to each other. Electricity happens when they touch. They are in love after sharing all of three scenes together. LOVE TRIANGLE! Even when given the opportunity, characters will not have sex.) It makes me gag. In trying to avoid all of the things I hate about YA romance, it's been really difficult to enjoy writing it at all. Since soon (hopefully) I'll be going through to do my first round of edits, and that's item #2 for me to pay attention to, I have some questions.

Most of the people reading this are shippers, in the sense that most of you either write romantic relationships, read and enjoy romantic relationships, or both. You're also mostly sensible people, so, I trust your opinions. Help a sister out and give me your thoughts:

Aside from the nebulous, difficult-to-define 'chemistry,' what makes a relationship interesting to you? As a reader, what are your favourite 'types' of relationships to see? What are your insta-turn-offs in a relationship? Do you have different expectations reading in RP versus reading a book? Don't you wish there were more books out there without a romantic plot tumor subplot?

The past week has nooooot been good for me. I know I am going through a particularly bad depressed period, which only does a little bit to make it more manageable. I'm trying to set goals for myself each day. Today's goals were to do adds, get the pcal up, and catch up on RP. 2/3 ain't bad (cue Meatloaf song). I'm doing okay for the third at TM, but I have to catch up at Bliss and HF. Unfortunately, today's efforts were hampered by a headache I've had ALL GODDAMNED DAY. It has gotten better but it won't go the fuck away. It feels like someone's pinching a nerve in my brain.

There is other stuff making me depressed. Cate knows what it is, but IDK if she would be >:[ if I told y'all.

I want to write an app. Pimp shit to me.


(Also, YES I AM SPAMMING. DWI.)

The GOP presidential candidates as Inner Circle Death Eaters.

Discuss.

So, I started reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver last night, and, as can be expected from a book that Cate gave five stars and a glowing review to, it is awful. Not awful in the sense that Divergent was awful, because it hasn't (yet) reached those levels of stupid. (THE LOVE INTEREST'S NAME IS FOUR.) But it is awful in the sense that it is completely and utterly mediocre on every level and fulfilling every one of my expectations in the most boring way possible. I really am hoping that the whole 'dystopian action romance' thing GOES AWAY because I am tired of reading these books. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. Sadly, it is probably too late to write a book like this and cash in on the trend, but if you wanted to make it as a YA author about a year to a year and a half ago, this is how to write a YA dystopian, as exemplified by Lauren Oliver:

( Before the Change, we put our long entries under what was called a 'cut.' But in order to excise the inherent violence in us, the society decreed that they would now be called 'hugs.' It's better now. They do these things to keep us safe. )

Random thoughts:

-- I am feeling so out of it and lousy the last couple of days. I feel like my depression is getting worse because my sudden drop in productivity is kinda telling, but IDK, we'll see. Am going to try to start sleeping earlier.
-- Feeling really unmotivated to RP tonight. Will do it tomorrow.
-- Unrelated, but I've read 5 books so far this year! Yay!
-- For some reason, I really miss playing Jill rn. :[
-- I have a really long Glee-related rant half-written.
-- This is completely random, but I wanted so much more from Watch the Throne than I got. Yeah I know that is old news but iTunes shuffle just reminded me. First this, then you name your kid Blue Ivy, Jay-Z? IDEK what to say.

OH YEAH. I will be glad when this SOPA protest stuff is over. I already wrote both my senators and my congressman. :(

( I liveblog Glee. comments featuring 'say it in gifs' by Mady and Meg )

It's a little weird that infinitemod has started when it feels like I've been hearing Loren talk about it foreeeever. But it's exciting~ And FUN. AND I CAN USE EMOTICONS IN RP AGAIN.

Anyway, I AM FINALLY DOING THE POST I MEANT TO DO AGES AGO WITH REGARDS TO PLOT REQUESTS.

I want someone to play Milo (tollbooths)'s step-sister, Cassandra. She's 18, but her age is negotiable. Also, I think her name could change too? IDK, you have to ask the mods about that because she's on the NPC list. ANYWAY. Cassandra's personality and most of her background is totally open~, except that she and Milo get along and are like best friends for life now, and that her dad married his mom when Milo was twelve and she was about ten. For those of you who were in MP, Milo's more or less the same. A little less needy, but yeah. Basically, I think it would be fun to play step-siblings, as that's something I've never done before. PLEASE? :]

(Tangentially, umm, since they're step-siblings she doesn't have to look like Max Minghella. When Loren thought she was his sister she was like, "omg she'd be impossible to PB, half Chinese and looks like Eyebrows." But she can look like anything~)

Someone should play Nadia (seeturtles)'s roommate, Janelle. Well, she was her roommate in the Disney intern program. Nadia, who some people call "Sea Turtles," was a marine biology intern. She does fish farming now. :\ She's 24 now, but Janelle could be a little older or a little younger. Their other roommate, Valerie, Blissed in 2015. :( But I see Janelle being Nadia's bff. And since Nadia's kind of like the Epcot Team Mom, she kind of needs a bff. Besides Ben, he's a dude.

( the sole purpose of this is to make Mady and Ash feel like they watch too much TV )

So, Xan reminded me of this fic called Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness, which I had read about on TVTropes but just now am remembering, but oh my god I've spent most of the evening reading critiques of it, and some of the thing itself, and I can't look away, even though it's so terrible. Apparently, this shit is set during DH, with Neville as the focus~ and it features lots of misogyny, gorn, and every guy in the DA randomly became really hot and muscled, especially Neville.

TVTropes page of this shit.

And once again, I'm reminded of how lucky I am that I mostly stay on IJ RP in terms of fandom and nobody sucks like this.

Also, I'm writing this to remind myself that Xan suggested I do a tl;dr about where I think Pansy will be at the end of TM, but I'm too tired/lazy to do it now. I also want to write a little about her motivations yesterday in Dark Arts class because I'm not sure they were 100% apparent. Maybe they were. IDK. Tomorrow is another day!

Omg, I had way, way too much fun with this. :X

I have a bit of shocking news for you guys. I LOVE PLAYING MICHAEL. It's kind of sad considering I have wanted to for two years, I was like, omg what if this is a total let down. I will cry and fail and it will be ALL KINDS OF AWFUL. But that has not happened. Now I'm going to jinx myself and I will lose my mojo. Touch wood.

Anyway, I said in my last post that I wanted to do a post like the one I did with Camilla and Zacharias about Michael and Edmund, but they are so different it's hard to come up with a bunch of traits to do a comparison/contrast with. I'm still going to try, though!

( blah blah blah, the summary of this is kind of 'sometimes I miss my BW characters still' )

For those of you who haven't heard in chat, I have had a terrible cold for the past couple of days and the amount of medicine I'm doped up on is contributing to a certain sense of out-of-it-ness that involves weird typos, commenting with the wrong journals, and slightly loopier comments than usual. Nngh. Also, my sleep is so fucked up I can't even. Yesterday, I slept from like, 4-6, 8-10:30, then 3-6PM. Because I can't sleep for long. Last night I managed to sleep from 4-1 which is good, but now I'm exhausted and want to go to bed. Would like to feel better now.

(Also, one stuffed up nostril? Worst feeling ever.)

In other news, the first few days of tallymarks have been super fun and I am very pleased even though most of my comments have been done in a haze of cold medicine. Predictably, playing Michael is coming way easier than playing Pansy. Right now, I'm not really sure why I signed myself up to play the game's main student villain -- not that I'm not liking playing her, but I still haven't found the right balance between Pansy being nasty and Pansy being human and not a caricature. I had this problem with Bellatrix, too, so I assume I'll get the hang of it eventually, but yeah, she's a lot more difficult.

Meanwhile, I've done something like 700 comments with Michael since the game started, which is kind of obsurd. Obviously I am enjoying playing him. :X But also, I'm not sure I've ever played someone who was quite as friendly as he is -- it seems more natural for him than any other character I've played that he not only will talk to just about anyone, but actually seeks them out and talks to them. He likes almost everybody and it's kind of weird. I feel like he'd be that person who makes conversation with the person sitting next to them on an airplane and finds out their whole life story. (I hate those kind of people IRL, I'm like, omg please leave me alone.) Initially I was worried about him not being charming enough but other characters seem to like him so. Hurrah.

For Zacharias, I did a post about Camilla versus Z and how they are similar and different and I am planning on doing one of those for Michael and Edmund too but I can't think that deeply right now. Summary: Michael is probably the reason that Edmund shakes his cane and says "KIDS THESE DAYS."


Oh yeah, for some reason, I smell cake despite not being able to smell anything, but THE CAKE IS A LIE.

( books, movies, and television of 2012 )

For those of you who don't know, New Year's Eve is kind of a tough time for me. I had a really really shitty New Years 2010 for reasons I won't detail here, but it sucked hard and in some ways I'm still not over it. Then New Years 2011, the not being over it caught up with me and I drank to forget and actually blacked out for the first and only time ever and threw up on my couch. I'd never really had a fun New Years before then, either. I was starting to worry that I would just permanently associate this night with alcohol abuse and misery.

SO, the fact that I:

1) went out on New Years and WAS NOT afraid
2) Got drunk, but not so drunk as to be sick
3) Had a good time (if not an EPICALLY AWESOME OMG BEST NIGHT EVER!!!) time

is an accomplishment.

For the record, I'm only a little drunk now and have eaten my weight in pizza and french fries so perhaps I will be TOTALLY sober soon. The bonus to having a friend whose parents own a pizza parlour? ALL YOUR DRUNK MUNCHIES ARE SATISFIED.

Well Xan posted about her Frank ideas and I've been meaning to write up some ideas I have for MWPP characters for a while, so, I may as well now while I'm thinking about it. This is kind of just all mashed together, so... whatever.

( Marlene McKinnon and Frank Longbottom )

Now, speaking of finishing 3 books. Since I know how Project Soul Collectors is going to end and it's almost finished, I just need to actually write it. But I have been thinking about what my next project will be (not a sequel, even if I do have a sequel ~idea~). Of the various concepts I have banging around in my brain, this is the one I want to ask people about.

In November, I read a book called Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare by James Shapiro, which is on the surface about the Shakespeare authorship "controversy" but in a larger sense, it's about the history of Shakespeare studies. (I thought it was really good, but it is kind of esoteric, so I wouldn't recommend the book unless you really like Shakespeare, or you for some reason need proof that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare and that claims otherwise are classist claptrap.)

ANYWAY, described in this book is the tale of the Ireland family. Samuel Ireland was a bookseller and Shakespeare fanatic who was intent on finding relics of Shakespeare's life. This was the 1790s, and Shakespeare's death was recent enough that people still had some hope that there was a trunk full of his diaries in somebody's Warwickshire attic. Then, his son, William Henry, who was about eighteen years old, happened upon a deed that Shakespeare had signed. His father was elated. He then found correspondence between Shakespeare and his benefactor, the Earl of Southampton, letters to his wife and from Elizabeth I, proof that he was a Protestant, and, most miraculously, the manuscript of a lost play, Vortigern and Rowena.

If you're reading this and wondering why you haven't heard of Vortigern and Rowena, what, is it like Timon of Athens and it's not any good and no one gives a shit. Well. It's not very good. Because William Henry Ireland wrote it. As you may have predicted, it was forged. All forged. This was discovered by another eminent Shakespeare scholar of the day, right before Vortigern and Rowena was set to premier at Drury Lane (not just the home of the muffin man, but one of England's most prestigious theatres at the time). The Irelands were disgraced, Vortigern and Rowena was a total flop, and some people are still trying to figure out if Shakespeare himself was a recusant Catholic.

I thought this was an absolutely wonderful story and wanted to write about it, even if it was adapted. For instance, I'd want my protagonist to be a girl, and continuing in the fantasy vein, she'd use magic to create her forgeries. Therefore, I have two questions:

1) Is this something you'd be interested in reading?
2) Does it sound better as a historical novel set in the 1790s (I SUCK AT PICKING POPULAR PERIODS), or as a contemporary fantasy?

THANK YOU, AND GOOD NIGHT.

So, two nights ago I was hanging out with one of my closest RL friends, Miranda. Miranda is also a writer (of ~literary~ stuff) and tbh she would probably be an awesome RPer and would like it if she weren't the world's busiest person ever. Anyway, we were talking and she was like, "For some reason, I find women aged 30-60 the hardest to write. Men that age are way easier, and once youg get to a certain point, you can just be like, well they're old." And I was like, "Oh I'm totally the opposite, older men are totally harder." Then she said, "Well, writing young women is way easier for me than writing young men." And I said, "I find them about equal."

It got me thinking~. Actually, if I were going to be totally honest, I'd say that right now, the easiest demographic for me to write is teenage boys. This is somewhat disconcerting to me. Mostly because I am not and never have been a teenage boy, and I actually wasn't good friends with like, any teenage boys when I was a teenager, and I also didn't really date until I was a sophomore in college. But I was friendly with lots of them. Both of my works-in-progress right now, I am writing a teen male POV. I keep saying I'm sick of it, but then I go play teen boys in RP.

So... why? Why is this easy for me? TBH in high school my friends used to say I was the designated dude in my (all girl) group of friends. Why? I don't know. I know that lots of players have gender preferences. Have any of you figured out why?

( And now for some stuff about New Years's Resolutions )

I was going to write a second question, but I'm just going to do 2 CDJ posts. LOL sorry doods.