Whittering Away...

[fangrrl_squees]

I'm trying very hard to not let my enthusiasm get ahead of me re: setting up The Gentlewomen's Science Fiction Society And Intemperance Union podcast. I have to find a balance between "Ayie! Must do everything right now" and a pace/approach that won't have the contributors throttling me. It's hard to produce a podcast when throttled.

The crew is a fantastic cross-section of fandom. Name a topic, I've got someone who can speak on it.

With luck, the first eps will be available at the very end of September. I'm currently up to my eyeballs trying to set up a forum for the crew and (hypothetical, as yet) listeners. Having never done anything with PhpBB before, the learning curve has proven annoyingly steep. Fortunately, I've a tech-savvy friend who has offered to help and he'll no-doubt figure it out in a trice.

Elsewise, I need to source various podcast directories, set up an RSS feed for the show and generally figure out how to get the word out about it as the end of September approaches. Not much point in doing this if no-one listens!

***

The Doctor Who costuming website has stalled, awaiting art from the webmeister and further contributions for the character pages. And, oh yeah, we have to migrate it over to the webmeister's domain. Eight months behind schedule and counting! (Typical fandom project, alas)

***

Very bummed to have my sewing stuff scattered across two storage units. Am wondering if I could make a kitchen-table project out of Romana I's The Power of Kroll costume - but it's very low priority as I'd need a Doctor to walk around with that one (it's not as distinctive as her Androids of Tara rig). Desperately wish I could afford the fabric from the Mercy Hartigan costume, of course...

***

I had intended to start writing for the Time Agency Fanfic of Dooooom, over the weekend, but lazing and loafing (and the podcast) took precedence. I'm thinking I can get started tonight, as I really am quite keen. The outline for the second half of the series still needs doing but I've got some pretty good ideas where it's going to go and how - fixing some serious issues with Eps 2 really helped in that regard...

Gosh. All this fandom-media stuff on my plate... I love it!

Comments

a question

[affablestranger.livejournal.com]

Do you get driven nuts when story stuff you're working on is almost gelling in your head but won't come together?

What do you when that happens?

Re: a question

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

That rather depends on where it's jammed and why I think it's jammed.

If it's a case of "too many ideas fighting for precedence" I have to take a deep breath, slow down, and jot down those ideas - 1 or 2 lines each, at the most - and that helps me focus (and minimize the noise they're making) and consider them one at a time.

If I've got what I think is a workable outline (or, at least, a beginning, middle and end) but for some reason, the flesh just ain't growing on the bones, I step back and just leave it all alone for a bit. It's usually just a sign that I've worn myself out a bit with the pre-writing prep and need a break.

More rarely, it's a case of "The premise is good, but the plot is all wrong, but I haven't acknowledged (or even recognized) that yet". In which case, I grit my teeth, make myself accept the very likely possiblity that the story is ALL WRONG, drive a stake through it's heart and try to come at it from another angle - where I get those angles from derives from any number of sources. From good ol' clustering/free-form ideas generation (the only time I get the dishes done is when I'm wrestling with an idea!) to simply flipping on A Cable Channel Full of Documentaries and seeing if an inspiration particle gets knocked loose.... But the hardest part is definitely letting go of the original idea and accepting that, this time, it's not going to work.

If I find myself with, say, a premise I want to play with, but no real story, I like to play "What if..." (usually when I'm doing chores, NOT in front of a computer) and see what falls out.

A trick I frequently fall back on when I'm stumped is "Think of something that the character/setting/story would NEVER allow to happen. Now make it happen and figure out WHY it could happen." It forces me out of ruts that I've established and makes me approach the character and their setting from a new angle - even if I dislike the "they'd never do X" thing that I came up with (y'know, murder, child abuse, sex with unsuitable people, etc, etc).

I know what's wrong with the Time Agency idea at the moment (for a start, they're not a very nice bunch of people and I'm having a hard time liking them - which means they're not going to be very likable in the scripts. Plus I'm falling into the trap of Torchwood's first season - half the crises they need to fix, THEY CREATED. D'oh!).

What I really need a weekend when I'm not brainfried or distracted to hammer some things out... But that's not going to happen, soon! Thank god for my commute and the attendant "quiet" time. ;)

Re: a question

[affablestranger.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck at a weird place. Rare for me, I'm stuck for a beginning. I've the middle and end kind of outlined. It's just the actual start-up that's bananasing for me. As I mentioned, it's a very unusual sitch for me. Normally, I come up with the beginning, the hook, first. (I must admit there are a few flying around in my head, but so far they're non-starters when I sit down with them.)

Re: a question

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

I have an early edition of Story Forge (back when it was still "The Writer's Tarot" - same content, different name).

I don't know if the creator still has some WT copies for sale, but he might - and I frakkin' LOVE it for knocking ideas loose.

When I'm short a beginning, I tend to go at it in what is probably a horrible way - I sort-of "reverse engineer" the situation "Alright, so I need the protagonists on Mars with the bomb counting down by page 15, so, how'd they get to Mars? Did they even want to go? How did the bomb get there?" Etc...

But I acknowledge that such a dry approach isn't for everyone...

[dakron.livejournal.com]

One question, is everyone in the Time Agency a captain?

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yep.

I've decided it's an inside joke amongst the field agents that they all carry the rank of Captain. :)