Writing struggles

Oct. 29th, 2025 12:18 pm
lea_hazel: Typewriter (Basic: Writing)
[personal profile] lea_hazel
Yesterday was supposed to be a good writing day, but it wasn't. I'm trying to make up for it today, but I still don't know if I'll quite make it.

On the other hand, I did manage to weave in a wolpertinger reference, which was great fun for me. Not least because it's fun to say. Wolpertinger. Hehe.

A very belated watching post

Oct. 28th, 2025 06:34 pm
thisbluespirit: (TV)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
I see the last time I properly did some little write-ups of anything I'd been watching was about June, and that was a catch up one, so I'm forever out of date, but I'll see if I can do better now!


Suspected Person (1942) - a UK B-movie thriller, which I recorded off TPTV because it featured Clifford Evans, Patricia Roc and William Hartnell, and indeed, generally, the only thing worth saying about it was that I did enjoy watching Patricia Roc and Clifford Evans play brother and sister, and William Hartnell did his best to try and steal the film in his scenes, but everything else was very meh and run of the mill. Fine if you want a bonus bit of Hartnell! Or CE & PR, but not of any note for anything else, really. I only wrote this here, because it does prove I still have judgment and therefore my comments on the rest might be worth more.


Death Valley (BBC TV 2025) This was one of the many cosy detective shows I watched over the summer, and it was pretty good! A bit uneven, in that the two main characters were great & so was their odd friendship, but quite a few of the mysteries were very so-so, even for this kind of thing, although they did get better. Gwyneth Keyworth as Janie Mallowan, socially awkward detective with issues, and Timothy Spall as John Chapel, reclusive actor who used to play Maigret/Poirot her favourite TV detective Caesar, were very good together, though & I enjoyed them a lot.


Stephen Poliakoff's The Tribe (BBC 1998), only available via somebody's VHS recording on YT, unless you live in R1, where you might be able to snag a DVD, but the BBC somehow didn't even include it on their Poliakoff at the BBC set. (Why, yes, I AM annoyed that I cannot have a DVD of the Stephen Poliakoff that stars Jeremy Northam, even if it seems reasonable even on small acquaintance with Poliakoff to suggest that it is second tier Poliakoff. Is that not what completist DVD sets for significant playwrghts are for?) It stars Jeremy Northam, Joely Richardson, Anna Friel, Trevor Eve & Laura Fraser, plus Jonathan Rhys Meyers & Julian Rhind-Tutt & is all about a very 90s collection of concerns - creating different kinds of living spaces and the hypocrisy of those who grew up in the 60s having the sexual freedom of expression and creativity that they refuse to allow the 90s to have.

More details about The Tribe ) Anyway, it and its themes still linger in my head, so I'm very grateful to the YT uploader.


The Halfway House (1944), starring Mervyn & Glynis Johns and Esmond Knight. This is another film I recorded off TPTV because it's summary was "a bunch of strangers get stranded together." For WWII moralising and ghosts )

Anyway, I have no regrets over every film I've recorded off TPTV because of the summary being "bunch of random mid-century Brits get stranded somewhere," and I will continue to snag any others I see - if there are any more!

Alphabetical Fic Meme

Oct. 26th, 2025 05:46 pm
thisbluespirit: (writing)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
New-to-me fic meme snagged from [personal profile] astrogirl:

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'a’ and ’t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

LIke [personal profile] astrogirl, I went for the first fic for each letter, saving only once or twice where I really didn't want to, because it's not as if it's a rule in this meme.

A - An Absolutely True And In No Way Fabricated Account of the Difficult, Dangerous and Entirely Improbable Invention of the Biscuit (Bleak Expectations, Sir Philip Bin)
B - Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me (Public Eye, Frank Marker/Helen Mortimer)
C - Cameo (Sapphire & Steel, Jasper, Tin, Jet)
D - Damned Giraffe (Discworld, Death, Death of Rats, A Giraffe)
E - Each A Glimpse And Gone Forever (Chalet School/Doctor Who, Seventh Doctor, Hilda Annersley, Ace McShane)
F - Fading Fast (Spooks, Ruth Evershed/Harry Pearce, Beth Bailey)
G - A Gallifreyan at Blandings (Blandings/Doctor Who, Tenth Doctor, Galahad Threepwood, Earl of Emsworth, Constance Keeble, Beach, the Empress of Blandings).
H - Half an Angel (Shadow of the Tower, Henry VII/Elizabeth of York)
I - I Do, I Do, I Do (The Month of Sundays Remix) (Doctor Who, Thirteenth Doctor/Most of her other selves, Yaz, Graham, Ryan).
J - Jo Grant, Assassin For Hire (Doctor Who. Jo Grant, the Brigadier, Third Doctor).
K - Keeping Secrets (Blake's 7, Dayna Mellanby/Del Tarrant)
L - Ladies in Waiting (The Hardest Part) (15th C RPF, Margaret Beaufort, Elizabeth of York).
M - Made For Each Other (Adam Adamant Lives! Adam Adamant & Georgina Jones).
N - Nature Is Red (Doctor Who, Tenth Doctor/Leela).
O - Of Elements and Existence (Sapphire & Steel/Discworld, Steel, Death, Sapphire, Ridcully, Silver, Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, Ponder Stibbons).
P - Painted Smiles (Blake's 7, Servalan).
Q - Quandrangle (Sapphire & Steel, Sapphire & Silver & Steel).
R - Random Factors (Good Omens/Doctor Who, Aziraphale, Vicki Pallister).
S - Salt of the Earth (Doctor Who, Mrs Martha Tyler, Jack Harkness, Twelfth Doctor).
T - Take the Second Path (OUaT, Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Rumplestiltskin, Cora Mills).
U - Unbreakable (OUaT, Regina Mills).
V - Valley of the Shadow (Dracula 1968, Jonathan Harker/Mina Harker).
W - Waiting For the Sky to Fall (Enemy at the Door, Philip Martel & Dieter Richter).
X -
Y - you asked me how i knew (my true love was true) (The Lady Vanishes, Iris Henderson/Gilbert Redman).
Z -



That was an interesting way to go through the fic, and a pretty representative mix of fandoms, really. Most surprising thing to me was that I only have one work beginning with K. And that's 24/26, as I don't have either an X or a Z, but those are hard letters to casually have in your titles. I clearly need to work on that, presumably in the SFF fandoms, heh.

Yuletide Letter 2025

Oct. 24th, 2025 01:43 pm
be_themoon: I want a better world. By me. (Default)
[personal profile] be_themoon
Dearest Yulegiver, I would first like to say thank you in advance!! I know I give pretty vague guidance, but genuinely I'm not hard to please at all, especially when being the gift of something in one of these very small fandoms! My main hope is that you have fun and enjoy writing it in the knowledge I'm going to have fun reading it. 

GENERAL LIKES


Character heavy stories, competency porn, codependency, happy or bittersweet endings, queer people as a normal facet of life, banter, worldbuilding, weird magic, women having genuine agency, bravery in the face of defeat, sparring (especially as a source of sexual tension). 

GENERAL DISLIKES

No death of children or rape as a central storyline please. I'm okay with it being included (and know it comes with the territory of some of the fandoms I've requested) just prefer it to not be a main focus. I would also prefer a story that isn't truly bleak or grim dark -  I do love a tragic story but prefer if the getting there makes the ending earned and their lives still having been worth living rather than just rocks into a void, if that makes sense? Bittersweet endings very welcomed, happy ones too!

THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH

I love the story of this (both book and movie form!) and will never be tired of looking for more of it! I'd love to see something featuring Cottia, whether that's during or before or after the story's events. I love all three of them as a trio together, whether romantically or platonically, and am so curious about the life they'll build together afterwards! 

SWORD AT SUNSET

Everything about this was so haunting and desperately driven, but in particular I'd love anything focusing on Guenhumara and everything she went through. I would also absolutely accept anything about the weird, weird magical stuff and other women in the story in a heartbeat, even if it doesn't feature Guenhumara! 

HARDY BOYS

I'm just terribly fond of these two nonsense codependent teenage detectives and am absolutely fascinated by what happens to them as they get older! As you may be able to tell from my own writing, I'm happy for it to be platonic or romantic.

IN OTHER LANDS

I have been obsessed with this story since it was coming out in livejournal posts a.... look, a long time ago. I love the main trio so, so much, and I would happily read anything about them or honestly a story from another character's POV entirely where they're getting up to nonsense in the background. I'd particularly be tickled with something set during Serene's time away with her people, it's such a fascinating piece of culture building and would be so fun to see expanded on further. (PS, if you haven't read Tears Waiting to Be Diamonds, a free story set a few years after the book, and you love this book as much as I do, you absolutely have to. Here's Part One.)

PELLINOR

Expounding on anything from the appendices and what happens after the story ends would make me delighted! I'm particularly interested in Maerad and Cadvan and their lives, which seem to have been both entwined and separate, and worldbuilding around the Bards and their schools and the varying kinds of magic! Worldbuilding centric or Maerad centric or a combination thereof is top of my list but I have a great fondness for all the characters and will be happy for anything.

ALEX RIDER

The books left an indelible imprint on me a long time ago and I really, really enjoyed the show and it's adapting of them! I was especially delighted by the addition of Kyra and would love to see some more exploration of her - show canon only, show canon with book canon brought in, however you like. I'd also be delighted for something that focuses on the very real trauma that Alex has been through and how he's handling it, or a fun romp where Alex and Tom and Kyra get to actually just be teenagers together for a bit, or honestly any number of things those are just the three that first spring to mind. 

Starfall Stories 50

Oct. 23rd, 2025 08:22 pm
thisbluespirit: (viyony)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
I've left it a while since I did a crosspost for [community profile] rainbowfic, which was because I was doing a very long sequence divided up into five parts and wasn't sure what to do about it now it's complete - it's something like 28k altogether (this is what has been absorbing my whole writing time for four months, when I've had any). Anyway, I've decided I might as well crosspost all the parts at once and move on. People certainly aren't obliged to read any of it, let alone all of it.


Name: Calla Island
Word Count: 5053
Rating: PG
Summary: Viyony visits Calla Island, the ancestral seat of the Allin family.


Name: Dazzled
Word Count: 5364
Rating: PG
Summary: Viyony explores a sacred cave and gets considerably more than she bargained for.


Name: Assignations
Word Count: 8293
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Death, blood, injury.
Summary: Viyony arranges an assignation with Leion, but she's not the only one with plans for midnight.


Name: Storms
Word Count: 5326
Rating: PG
Warnings: Threat of drowning, sea-sickness.
Summary: Viyony's determined to get Leion off the island.


Name: Harbour
Word Count: 5079
Rating: Teen
Summary: Leion takes Viyony home.

Yuletide 2025 letter

Oct. 23rd, 2025 12:34 pm
lea_hazel: I am surrounded by tiny red hearts (Feel: Love)
[personal profile] lea_hazel
Hello, Yuletide writer! Please feel free to peruse my letters from years past for additional prompts and ideas, if none of what you find in this letter sparks inspiration. Especially for fandoms that I've requested before, like The Saint of Steel in 2024, or Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem, practically every year.

General likes/dislikes )

Opt-ins )

DNWs )

Requested fandoms and prompts:

Long Live the Queen )

Galaxy Princess Zorana )

Palia )

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher )

Lego Castle Theme (Toys) )

October Daye Series - Seanan McGuire )

Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem )

reading the tide

Oct. 21st, 2025 11:52 am
lea_hazel: Neuron cell (Science: Brains)
[personal profile] lea_hazel
My tear through Yuletide-nominated fandoms continues. I'm still watching the Blue Prince videos, and last night, I finished reading K.J. Charles's All of Us Murderers, which is a savage, hilarious, and lovely gothic horror pastiche. All of KJC's familiar trademarks are at play.

Often, I highlight lines in my Kobo e-books. Usually, it's blue for lines that I particularly like, and then pink for anything that I think might be foreshadowing. About halfway through the book, I started journaling my thoughts and suspicions, much of it based on my knowledge of gothic horror themes and conventions. I did not suspect all the right people, and some of my guesses were off the mark, but I did pretty well. It's not a classic "fair-play whodunnit", but it definitely felt good to make lists of facts and suppositions, and to try and draw conclusions from them.

Early in the book, I was prepared to hold onto my negative feelings for the second male lead (Gideon), part and parcel of my uncomfortable habit of questioning why characters don't just up and leave the plot. Real winners quit, and all. But the book does a very good job of both explaining why Zeb didn't leave, and of selling me on the romantic plot, so that by the time that unfolds, I had zero reservations.

It also has one specific (hilarious) line that is very clearly there for us writers.

Increasingly, I can no longer claim I'm not a horror reader. More like, I'm a selective and cautious horror reader.

Dear Yuletide Letter 2025

Oct. 20th, 2025 08:47 pm
thisbluespirit: (writing)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
Thank you for writing for me! This letter is bound to be long, so tl;dr: I love all kinds of different things at different times, I love these fandoms and characters, and I'm sure to enjoy whatever you come up with.

Any prompts are intended purely for inspiration, not to restrict your choices. Take what's useful and leave what isn't. I hope you have a lovely Yuletide.

Fandoms: Enigma (2001), Indigo Saga - Louise Cooper, The Schoolmistress (BBC Radio), & Wish Me Luck (TV) )

Once you cross the line

Oct. 20th, 2025 07:29 pm
lea_hazel: Don't make me look up from my book (Basic: Reading)
[personal profile] lea_hazel
On an unrelated note, I've been watching a series of (rather long) LP videos of professional puzzle experts playing Blue Prince. Starting with this video, where the comments say they solve certain puzzles much sooner than the average player, but still make enough frustrating mistakes that the livestream chat has to be heavily moderated for spoilers. And then all the way through the tenth video, when they reach the coveted room 46 and see the associated cut scene.

The Yuletide comment that recommended the game (which I am prudently not buying, for time management reasons) spoiled me for two or so key aspects of the lore, both of which are hinted at in the solved puzzles, but not necessarily definitively stated. I guess it depends how well you excel at reading subtext.

Making up my mind

Oct. 19th, 2025 11:27 am
lea_hazel: The Little Mermaid (Default)
[personal profile] lea_hazel
I nominated some fandoms I'm excited about for this year's Yuletide, but given the workload on the new project (and some other factors), I've been putting off signing up. Part of me is not entirely sure that it's a good idea for my time management. If I'm stressed about making a gift on time, I won't even enjoy the process (or the gift I receive) as much. So I'm thinking about it.

Meanwhile, I'm taking a short break from playing Galaxy Princess Zorana and watching a bunch of Blue Prince videos on YouTube.
enamoured: the name of a favorite Facebook group: Disney Gave Me Unrealistic Expectations About Love. (disney gave me unrealistic expectations)
[personal profile] enamoured
Dear Yuletide Writer,

Hey there. I hope you're enthusiastic to excited about writing something for me!

A quick overview: I'm brandnewsoul on AO3, and you can also check me out on Tumblr at viewparadise. Bookmarks can kind of give you an idea of what I'm interested in reading, and the Tumblr is to, IDK, give you an idea of what piques my interest/hopefully link you to some fun stuff to look at.

As far as things that I enjoy in stories: pining that leads to love, banter, that moment when Character A really Sees Character B, rivals to lovers, epistolary works, teamwork making the dream work, angst that leads to a happy ending, silliness, smarts and snark. I'm not into character death, noncon, or Dead Dove situations.

So, here's what I'm wishing for: American Girl: Samantha, Sinners, Salute Your Shorts, Roman Holiday, The Sting. )

Thanks again, and happy Yuletide!

Profile

isurrendered: espectacular! (Default)
I SURRENDER: The TV meme that ate Manhattan

May 2021

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
1617181920 2122
23242526272829
3031     

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags