*Waves at new people* + real life stuff + writing

[swirlsofpurple]

Hello new people and welcome to my livejournal. Thank you for friending J.

As I do non-fiction posts relatively rarely and am not sure what to say I’m just going to dive right in and talk about some of my real life stuff and writing that’s going on at the moment.

I’ve decided to put my attempts at a novel on hold for a couple months. I worry about my muse playing with my anxiety issues. My friend pointed out I could just stop writing if it became too much of a problem. Because yes, just stopping in the middle of writing something is totally something I’m capable of. I totally do not have a fic I started in 2010 that I’m still intending on finishing. I suppose she does have a point though. If it was detrimental to my health I’d have to stop.

My six month probationary period at work finished a week ago. Which yay! Some level of job security. On the other hand I’ve had quite a hard week with my anxiety. I think I was holding on a little too hard on getting through the six month probation without and thought that after I wouldn’t have to be so anxious as I wouldn’t be on probation anymore. I forget that I can’t think so logically when it comes to how my anxiety issues are going to choose to manifest.

Hmm, yeah, I guess I don’t do light and fluffy welcome posts.

Anyway back to the writing, I’m going to focus on shorter pieces for now but still do planning for the novel. I really need to understand the language and voices the characters use properly before I begin anyway. The main premise is a slave rebellion, with slaves fighting to overthrow the regime. Would a slave who has only ever known masters speak like a slave? In terms of submission yes, in terms of phraseology probably not. There are also slave ‘training’ centres so I need to think about what someone trained from birth would’ve been trained to speak like. Would the supposed ‘high quality’ slaves be given different training in use of language and if so wouldn’t the trainers of ‘lower quality’ slaves try to replicate the language usage so they would get more money for them.

But of course before I can do any of that I need to develop the type of English everyone speaks. I want to go beyond mere surface adjustments of the odd word here and there. I have decided that the word ‘waxed’ will be used as a synonym for excited though.

What have you been writing? What writing obstacles are you currently navigating? Come sit by my fire, let’s discuss.

Comments

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

Ha, my novel goes on and off hold so often it's kind of sad. And I guess I already told you what I'm working on, but it's called Home and is related to the stories I wrote in Idol about something called "the Program" and... yeah. We'll see how long that lasts. xD

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Good to know I'm not the only one perpetually putting things on hold ;).

Cool.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

My problem right now is not wanting to write Book 3 and just wanting to work on fluffy/hilarious/amusing college!AU ficlets forever and ever amen.

I mean, Jazz/Dev 5EVER and FUCK JAZZ BEING DEAD IN CANON.

...yeah I do not do well when I finish a book this is probably why I never actually finish writing books.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds fun, also I'm a big fan of ignoring Jazz canon death.

Well, after finishing one book you've definitely earned a break before starting book 3.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

I'm not... ignoring it. Savin gets to play in the RP community as his canon self, too, which means he's been talking to Wes (hah) about the whole process of transitioning from Trauma Surgeon to Emperor.

So I have probably like the first few chapters more or less mapped out in my head because of that. Sigh.

Even when I'm not writing book 3, I'm writing book 3, is what I'm saying.

But Jazz and Devin being cute and sweet and sexy is definitely got more of my attention xD.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

AS IT SHOULD. xD

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Shush, you.

You know how hard Jazz kept showing me the him-finally-flustering-Devin scene?

All. Night. At. Work.

All. Night.

Wtf.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

The one I'm supposed to be writing? Maybe you're supposed to be writing it, then. xD

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

I'm writing their first time thoughhhh. xD Jazz is just --

He's being a little shit, okay?

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

Well maybe you should be telling me what all he was telling you so I can incorporate it. I mean, we could do an RP post but ehhhh.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Even when I'm not writing book 3, I'm writing book 3, is what I'm saying.

Lol, it is inevitable.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Dude it totally is. I've found that my RP over at openveinwriting is like a chapter or three ahead of where I'm at, writing-wise. Which is nice, because it allows me to explore a little bit and sometimes pick a story thread and go nah this won't work in the book.

It's just interesting because Savin's the only real POV character left. Which means a whole book in his POV, essentially. Which should be... hm.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

I think you need to do carefully selected Mitchel POVs (ones that won't reveal too much). And possibly add Amelia as a POV character.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Amelia'll probably get POV's because she's probably the actual Love Interest whereas Mitchel is the leg of the triangle. But his POVs will have to be very very carefully done.

Which is wooork. I don't know if I want to put in that much work. xD

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well. Writing these stupid first-person POVs is wooooork too. And you keep telling me it's worth it, so. :P

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Exploration is always fun. I haven't written much of my first novel and already have ideas for the third one in the series.

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about the anxiety :(. But yay work!

Huh, I'm thinking about your slavery language thing, and I guess my first question would be: where do those slaves originate from? What are they used for? Do they grow up in families? I'm thinking back to ancient Rome, where they had so many different kinds of slaves that some groups had very little in common, and certainly not speech.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

It's okay, I'm dealing. Thanks.

It's a different world, so not anywhere on earth. Some will grow up with family, some in training centres. That's the thing they will be many different kinds, used for all sorts and very different to each other. They basically do all the grunt work. Ooh, I hadn't thought of that, yeah I'll probably have to have variations of speech from one to the next.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Hi, and thanks for adding me! I like the idea of using "waxed" to mean "excited" - it's got a nice ring to it, the way that Firefly used "Shiny!"

I'm not currently working on any writing projects. At some point I should probably gather some of my Idol pieces together - I've got a few multi-part entries that could potentially be worked into a decent story - but I'm a lazy bum and I'm not in a writerly mood right now. :)

I am also interested in your slave ideas. Would the training centers be for more unique skill sets, or to break someone who was born free and sold/captured into slavery?

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you like that idea :).

Ooh, that would be awesome when you do it.

They're more for breaking people/ indoctrinating them with a mindset than teaching skills. But there are different types of training centres also. Some raise slaves from birth. Some train rebellious slaves. One of the slave races goes through a 'change' where they get memories from their previous lives and this often makes them rebellious, so there are centres specialising in slaves going through 'the change'.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Ah - so some of the Training Centers are more like Retraining Centers. I would imagine that with some of the folks who are sold/captured that the centers would do a memory wipe or memory restructuring to erase or inhibit "dangerous" memories, to make for more benign/willing slaves. Perhaps that one race doesn't take to the restructuring very well, due to their brain chemistry or physiology, so their former memories of their life resurfaces more often, perhaps under times of greater stress? Just a thought...

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Ooh, those are awesome ideas. Yeah, I can imagine the centres doing all they could to make them more submissive. A lot of those sold into slavery will already be submissive because the free members of slave races go through a lot of indoctrination during schooling (that's the main part of their education).