underestimated words

[tielan]

First it was three sections. Then it was four. Then it became five with an epilogue.

I'm not even halfway through part five and we're already at 3.8K. They haven't even reached the rescue scene, let alone the aftermath. Of course, this could be because of a somewhat unexpected detour at Planet Angst on the way through to Planet Action.

*facepalm*

There's been an attempt to make it through to Planet Sexytiems, but I put the kibosh on that. *glares at the characters and watches them verrrrry closely* We'll have none of that in this story, thank you very much!

--

I was hoping to start on the sequel to "Give A Girl A Moment" this month. I'm not sure how much impetus I'll have to keep writing it (it's big and epic and kind of all tied in with the MCU) once IM3 comes out and Cap2 starts shooting and the spoilers and spoiler pics start leaking through.

I love my readers and the occasional writers - and I appreciate the comments of "you converted me to Steve/Maria" like you wouldn't believe. Still, I'd love to find someone who not only wants to watch me take Steve/Maria places but who wants and can and will take the pairing places themselves.

Anyway. "Struggling somewhat in my little pocket universes" is probably the appropriate status for my writing state of mind right now. It applies to fanfic and profic quite equally.

Although I did cut off the thumb of the major love-interest in my profic the other night. He got captured by the major antagonist and his right thumb was sent to the female hero as a lure to get her out of her safe stronghold and come play.

Cue interesting thoughts on prosthetics and what they mean in this universe.

She goes out to meet the antagonist, of course. Which makes his move pretty dumb since she was effectively on the bench and happy enough to be there. But he's not the Big Big Bad of the series, he's just one of the Dragons. The Big Big Bad would have been all "You want to moulder out here, fine. I'm going back to the capital to rule the empire. Have fun!"

Anyway, in other news...I kind of want to make a Steve/Peggy Carter-as-007's-M) video to Elton John's "Written In The Stars". Because the angst, ohemgee. But I lack the skill or, you know, any knowledge of video making to do so.

Comments

[hickumu]

Maaaaan, I feel you. I just finished a fic last night after giving up on avoiding a diversion to planet Angst - the characters had turned into kids in the back of the car whining about wanting to see the latest tourist trap and I gave up and indulged them to save my sanity.

Mucho sympathies for you - my initially 3k piece nearly doubled solely thanks to brother issues.

What did your thoughts on prosthetics wind up being? I guess I never thought of a thumb as something that needed prosthetics.

[tielan]

It's steampunk with nanobots, so there's certainly the possibility of him getting a prosthetic, and one which works almost seamlessly. He may never be able to do delicate manipulations, but it would be sufficient to grip things - like a sword, which is going to be an issue in the upcoming war of the third book.

The issue is more social - perceptions of whole humanity vs. man/machine hybrids. He's from a noble social class who value physical wholeness (the concept of the wholeness of the ruler affeting the 'wholeness' of the land - the Wounded or Poisoned King in Celtic mythology).

[hickumu]

Ooooh. I actually came across that issue once before - in a D'n'D manual about elves, of all things, and how they tended to get pretty messed up the longer they lived, so there was a pretty thriving trade in elven prosthetics. But those who relied too heavily on them were seen as sloppy or weak.

What kind of deal are you using for the nanobots? That is a new one on me.

[tielan]

I'm still working that part out somewhat. :)

It's a bit coplicated, because there's a lot of "old school fantasy" elements in the story - including swords and battles - but some pockets of very modern technology, too. I'm thinking that there may have been some kind of 'dark ages' in which a lot of information and expertise was lost, and all they have are the remnants. They can get most of it working, but a lot of it is 'black box' technology.

[hickumu]

I think, if you have it set up like that, you can have a lot of room to work with the nanomachines! That sort of environment can give you a lot of flexibility...and, it's been known to happen. It means your characters aren't expected to know everything.