An Odyssey of Dreams

I should be working, but people are frustrating me by being unclear as to how many resources I have to finish my experiments, so I'll just update instead.

Life continues, and I'm still in love with grad school to an unholy degree, despite surviving a rather unpleasant two weeks work-wise, all things considered. I did well on my exam, and general well in my other class, so life's not too shabby.

lodessa was here last week, so we did typical New England things like apple picking, typical girlie things like watching the second part of Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version) when I had a really bad day, and typical fandom things like writing Veronica Mars meta. We might even get our act together enough to post it when she gets back to her coast. The P&P had the unexpected side-effect that Doyle's interested in going as Mr. Darcy for Halloween, which I'm totally all for.

lodessa also read the current (let's say 1.3ish) draft of Glamour and gave me feedback I'd not heard before - like how the chapter I think sucks rocks is actually fairly suspenseful, and how I need to make Our Heroine more accessible in the latter parts of the novel. (To be fair to my other editors - I'd not heard that yet 'cause they hadn't gotten that far.) Also, she said the pacing was good, and that's possibly the best thing I'd heard on the subject. We spent the car ride to the train station dissecting, and I'm really excited to go and edit things more... when I have the time. Thanksgiving, maybe?

( TV Watching - VM, Dr. Who, BSG, B5, and why Buffy isn't the best thing since sliced bread - why is sliced bread so cool, anyway? )

The monicker, used in Swordspoint to aptly describe one Lord David Campion has been stuck in my head for days. It has been lodged in association with Felix Harrogate, after reading the opening chapters of The Virtu, and it has brought on a case of speculation regarding characters and character archetypes.

Namely, I love those bastards.

Athos was my favorite Musketeer, not the golden D'Artagnan. But I have a feeling that, were I to reread those books today, Aramis would be coming up neck and neck to my troubled gentleman. Likewise, it is the Comte de Monte-Cristo who captures my imagination, not the young Edmond Dantes.

It is never the hero who attracts me, not in the classic sense. Harry Potter with his loving parents who died on his behalf, guided on your typical hero's journey toward the inevitable triumph (though not without proper amounts of sacrifice) is, to me, quite boring. It is, for that reason, I suspect, that while we ( spoiler! ) in A Song of Ice and Fire, it is Jaime and Tyrion Lannister who hold my affection, along with Jon Snow, who ( more spoiler! ).

It is easy to be a hero when you're Harry Potter. You might be scared out of your mind, but in your heart of hearts you know you're a good guy. You know that good is what you do, and you know that evil is something you can overcome.

But how much more meaningful is it when you're not said Harry Potter? When you're a kingslayer, a kinslayer, a guy who organizes bum fights, a runaway drugged-up academic, or a former child prostitute and an instrument of your own destruction? When you know that evil you've done, whether it served the greater good or not, is evil you've done, and you struggle to do better anyway?

The odd thing, I find, is that I can only think of one female character who fits into this archetype (Elizabeth Bear's Jenny Casey, of Hammered, etc). Why is that?

And who do you think of?

For I am cheap and wish discussion to drag me from my books (as only one remains unread):

( Questions Below, Spoiler for 1x22 )

Turns out I still have that Utena AMV on my computer. Sweet.

Of course, thanks to the lovely danvers I have Madonna's "To Have and Not to Hold" stuck in my head as well. I need ot make some character playlists in general, as it's so much easier to write with one. Unfortunately, my music is in a horrid state of flux while I try to make the music I've had in mp3 format before ID2s were invented into ID3-tagged stuff so that Windows can easily identify it, give me pretty album art, and sort it.

As you might guess, it's is a pain in the ass job. My boyfriend called his version "Project Sisyphus," very aptly. Mine is made even more painful for the trouble of having to sync it all between the laptop, the desktop, and actual CD collection. Add in songs in Russian, Hebrew, and Japanese (with some in Italian and Ukrainian, just for kicks), and I hope to be done sometime next decade.

In other news, I've decided I need a Veronica Mars icon. Preferably something that's nifty about the show as a whole, not necessarily just Veronica, or Veronica/Logan. I don't want my man Weevil to be left out. ;P I do think, as much as I care for Logan, Weevil is my first love. The combination of "Pilot" and "Credit Where Credit's Due" killed me dead.

I have so many half-formed ideas, it saddens me. I want to write that dark!Sheppard fic I was talking about with thepouncer, and I have this McKay/Sheppard/Weir (not entirely that way) fic that Joe Malozzi gave me the plot bunny to, but niether is really fully there in my head. And part of me is really upset that Carson's not Irish because I have such a lovely song I would love to write him singing, but... entirely wrong country.

Then Logan popped into my head for a conversation, and immediately departed, rather pissing me off in the process, because if you're going to bother showing up you should at least bother sticking around long enough for me to write down what you said.

And let's not even ask how the novel is going. It's a scary, scary place in there. At least they're talking, I suppose, which is a good change from the point in my life two months ago when all my creativity said "Screw you!" and left the building.

And to all my new friends, I'm sorry about the bitching. I'll try to make up for it in some form of content later. :)

cadhla wrote a chained sonnet redouble on the murder of Lilly Kane. It's gorgeous and all should love her for it.

...And, you know, read, obviously. ;P

( Spoilerish for those who've not seen the episode )

I'm off to bed. There may be more coherent analysis tomorrow.