Can not sleep...

[jedi_of_urth]

...muses won't let me. The muses have been in overdrive but apparently their version os rest involved backing into the usual territory of reminding me how much more I need to think about before I can attack certain sections of the story. This is not restful enough for my sleep but they also refuse to give me any more thought on the actual writing side even though I'm up.

FYI, I wrote more that 13,500 words *today* (well technically it was yesterday but since I haven't slept it feels like it's the same day). In one day I basically doubled my writing for the past six weeks of bigbanghood and it's all in medieval soup opera territory with little plot to be seen (a little sneaked in but now I have no idea how to get it back in focus). If I could write like that regularly, I'd have no worries about NaNoWriMo because I'd need like a week and of course no one would care about the lack of plot there (not that it's too much of a deterrent in fanfic always either I admit. Spending huge amounts of time on Guy's tortured backstory is kind of the point of the story after all.)

It it weren't spread over two stories I'd almost have myself a 30k story as is, now I need to get one and preferably both of them back on track to to tell the full story, in admittedly probably a more than 30k words each (and on one of them, but unfortunately not the one I worked on today) I'd already intended it to be part of a series, but even the one part I thought I do for BBH is looking like it's going to be longer than I intended.

I do have some modly stuff I'm reminded I need to do for the comm, but maybe the muses will late me sleep now that I've bragged about them to the world (of at least my corner of the interwebs).


Any complete nonsensical aspects of this post should in no way be taken as a reflection on my actual writing ability, but should be blamed on the muses for not letting me rest when I wanted to.

Comments

[beabuthers.livejournal.com]

holy pickles, batman! 13,500 words??? I thought I was doing good with my 1k here and there! hahaha

Well, good job!!

...and I won't feel too bad if mine is longer than 30k now. :) *whistles innocently*

[jedi_of_urth]

Mine stand at about 17k and 13k but only after the mad writing yesterday. That's...very rarely happened to me, I just didn't have to fight with the words at all for once.

My writing days usually fall into three categories days when I totally forget to write, days of the 500-1000 words or writing, and days in the 1k-1.5k range, the rare day when I get closer to 2k I'm proud of myself. I always remind myself that that only works because I'm on track of BBH (about, not generously so) but I was wanting to use this as warm up for NaNo and that would certainly not be enough on that schedule. Well *this* would be, if it came about after I'd already had more time than all of NaNo. As long as the muses stick around we may end up with gigantor stories and them actually getting written.

Yay for you, consistently writing a decent amount is better than the unfocused way I've been going at it so far. Even if this only helps me get the drive to actually regularly work on BBH, I'll be better off.

But that was still crazy.

[karen747.livejournal.com]

13.5k words??? In one day? Holy, freaking...Wow!
::bows, genuflects, and feeds the muses virtual chocolate::

OMG, well done! If for any reason you'd like some input from a neutral external source (and frankly, usually I don't, so I understand, if "NO" is the answer)... I only offer as you wrote, "...but now I have no idea how to get it back in focus." Good luck! I can't wait to read it! ;-)

[jedi_of_urth]

I had been thinking this particular story would fall into the shorter section for BBH fics, until I write almost that much in one day and didn't cover near as much as I thought that number of words would cover.

But until then I had been writing earlier childhood stuff (Bad Blood and before) which actually I realize now makes sense being more glossy and not dwelling on two many specific moments plus I was struggling to fit bits of canon together into some kind of clearer story. But yesterday I skipped forward to writing the drama of Guy's first real love (because I thought he needed someone besides Marian earlier in his life and holy cow, if I've written this much about the emotional drama with an OC, I can't even begin to think what its going to be like once I actually *do* get to Marian) but that's another decade or so down the road and I need to do some plot stuff before I get back on the medieval soup opera drama and I also need to back up and do the rest of the stuff that comes before the drama I've been writing, and basically this is going to be crazy long I now expect.

So far today is still above my standard writing numbers for a day, but I doubt I'll have quite so much crazy as yesterday. And the muses were a little helpful while keeping me up in how to manage the time gap I'm faced with so I don't think I need the help and yeah I'd rather work it out on my own, but I'll keep it in mind.

I don't know if the muses like virtual chocolate or not, I don't but I suppose they might.

[karen747.livejournal.com]

Completely understood. Just thought I'd toss it out there. ;-)

Unbelieveable output! ::bows to YOU and gives YOU peanut butter cookie dough ice cream::
(The chocolate for the muses was a.) because I forgot your dislike and thought you could snake some from them, b.) was projecting like mad, c.) it has caffeine, which at that point I thought could be useful! ;-))

Thank you for giving him someone BEFORE Marian. Wonderful! I mean, the dude is emotionally stunted, but 35 years stunted? Uhhh....no. Hormones at least. So, Bravo in advance! I seriously can't wait. Continued good luck tangoing with your muses. Ole!

[jedi_of_urth]

Plus somehow I've got to back plot and somehow make the whole Annie and Seth debacle in character, Marian and even Annie couldn't be the first woman who came along. Plus, the more dysfunctional his past the more it explains how stunted he is by the time we meet up with him. I've just about got him in line where Annie makes sense (given the time line I've got in mind), but leaving Seth in the forest...no matter how screwed up I make him I'm not sure any explanation is going to be truly in character even for fanfic universes but I think I'll have him screwed up enough and in the right ways by that point that it will make as much sense as it can.

No matter how seriously romantic it would be to think Marian was the only woman he ever looked at like that I just don't feel it's realistic, not for Guy of Gisborne. He might not be a horndog like Robin, but some woman along the line was going to realize how hot the man was and he's not going to say no when the last time he was Marian she was five years old and he certainly wasn't in love with her then.

Even in my own story I can't decide whether I more want to hug Guy or slap him, because yeah he's a damaged little puppy, but he still makes some really dumb choices. He's such a very stupid woobie because he has a tendency to consider the options, recognize that he's probably making the wrong choice, and then does it anyway. He's so easy to love, and so bloody difficult about it at the same time. Which is so very Guy that I think it means I'm getting it right. I really hope it holds true for other people too.

[karen747.livejournal.com]

***Even in my own story I can't decide whether I more want to hug Guy or slap him, because yeah he's a damaged little puppy, but he still makes some really dumb choices. He's such a very stupid woobie because he has a tendency to consider the options, recognize that he's probably making the wrong choice, and then does it anyway. He's so easy to love, and so bloody difficult about it at the same time. Which is so very Guy that I think it means I'm getting it right. I really hope it holds true for other people too.***

Yes, yes, YES!! To ALL of this! He's such a clueless woobie, that you want to give him soup and a hug...after you've slapped him upside the head for his utter stupidity. and I think this duality is what a.) makes him an interested, well-rounded character, b.) is why we bother to still write things about/with him. And yes, okay, he's visually attractive too, but...if he was boring? Yawn! So, sounds like you're nailing it!

Question: I read an interesting fic a few nights back which raised a good point. (I won't say tom much about it so as not to distract you.) Did Guy actually leave Seth in the forest? Himself? Come later? Did a guard do it at Guy's urging? Did said guard know that Seth was Guy's? I'll clearly have to rewatch 1x04, but it did make me start wondering...Or maybe in that instance did and is just he's hideous and irredeemable. He has killed so many people after all, but your own baby...well... I have read a few ways it was dealt with. Will await your take with glee. Bonne chance! ;-)

[jedi_of_urth]

you want to give him soup and a hug...after you've slapped him upside the head for his utter stupidity. and I think this duality is what a.) makes him an interested, well-rounded character, b.) is why we bother to still write things about/with him. And yes, okay, he's visually attractive too, but...if he was boring? Yawn!

If it were a purely visual thing there are plenty of other character I would like that I do in fact HATE WITH A BURNING FIRE OF HATE (Spike and Sylar I'm glaring at you so hard I'm probably forgetting other characters, plus there's always Heathcliff for a classic example). Guy is so not my type of character usually and yet in this one case, I *love* him, and I *get* him even which at least as unusual (I confess I didn't the first time I watched season 1, but once I really got into the show and I watched it again, I even get him then). He's still so very human, destructively so a lot of times but he's the most real character on the show as far as I'm concerned so he's fascinating.

Guy is kind of like an expanded version of s3 Doctor Who. The Doctor went dark that season, but even when he was inflicting horrible punishments on people...I couldn't help thinking he just needed a hug. The poor heartbroken man was so alone and he lashed out at the world in some really iffy ways, and the Doctor's moral compass is a lot more reliable than Guy's (The Doctor's sometimes takes a while to remember to return to north, but Guy's has been demagnetized entirely so it's basically useless except the rare time he realizes it points at Marian, and I'm not sure this is a great metaphor so moving on)

Actually...if I can find wiggle room in what I remember of whether Guy left Seth there or not, I think it suddenly becomes a lot easier to work with because Vasey would *totally* screw him over like that (*cough*wouldn't be the first time or the last *cough*). I've read a couple of decent fanfic explanations for it, and I actually had a whole conspiracy constructed around it until...it actually started to make *some* sense and I thought maybe I could make it all make sense, but it wouldn't take too many conspiracy elements to make it make sense...I'll have to give this some thought as I near that section.

Actually come to think of it it's not unreasonable that he didn't, because as I recall Seth was still warm as if he hadn't been there too long, but Guy had been back in Locksley so as to chase after the Outlaws when they stole the horses, so there probably is wiggle room to be found. I will probably need to start rewatching things as I get up to show time, for quotes, to make sure I remember the plots correctly as in what order Guy knew and did what. But making sure to watch it from his perspective this time and not just a fan looking for reasons to forgive him like I did last time.

[karen747.livejournal.com]

***Guy is kind of like an expanded version of s3 Doctor Who. The Doctor went dark that season, but even when he was inflicting horrible punishments on people...I couldn't help thinking he just needed a hug. The poor heartbroken man was so alone and he lashed out at the world in some really iffy ways, and the Doctor's moral compass is a lot more reliable than Guy's (The Doctor's sometimes takes a while to remember to return to north, but Guy's has been demagnetized entirely so it's basically useless except the rare time he realizes it points at Marian, and I'm not sure this is a great metaphor so moving on)***

LOL. You're so funny, I kept visualizing a compass whirling around and around and... and I AGREE with you re: THE DOCTOR. He was very much THE LONELY GOD that season. Guy DOES occasionally do something NON-Marian related that still suggests something going on. Ex. 2x3. Sherry told him to off the kids. He could/ would not. No Marian around. (Though perhaps he knew how she'd react if she heard...So she's his "North?")

***Actually...if I can find wiggle room in what I remember of whether Guy left Seth there or not, I think it suddenly becomes a lot easier to work with.....Actually come to think of it it's not unreasonable that he didn't, because as I recall Seth was still warm as if he hadn't been there too long, but Guy had been back in Locksley so as to chase after the Outlaws when they stole the horses, so there probably is wiggle room to be found.***

Exactly what I was wondering...Everyone always trots this out as evidence of guys total wickedness, but was it really? No angel, to be sure, BUT....Seth is warm, Guy is behind the soldiers, then rides into the forest, is smacked by a small branch (poor Richard), and (still) smirks into uncharacteristically bright lights in mid-forest. Cut to opening credits.

***I will probably need to start rewatching things as I get up to show time, for quotes, to make sure I remember the plots correctly as in what order Guy knew and did what. But making sure to watch it from his perspective this time and not just a fan looking for reasons to forgive him like I did last time.

Yes! I did that with 3x10,11,12,13 (parts thereof) just to make sure I was on track with the Gizzies, re: the little things - eye movements, etc. (And, let it be said yet again, while rewatching - Malcolm is a total and utter prick! But there you go...We all got that on the FIRST go-round, I'm sure.
Good Luck! Can't wait to read! (Enjoy the icecream.;-)

[jedi_of_urth]

Guy DOES occasionally do something NON-Marian related that still suggests something going on. Ex. 2x3. Sherry told him to off the kids. He could/ would not. No Marian around

Plus he was still in 'Marian grrrr" mode in 2x03 but yeah. He compass may be drifty, but the point of a drifty compass here is that his morality has no set direction, sometimes it points northerly just by chance (but yeah, I think there are some lines even Guy thinks he won't cross, even though Vasey delights in proving that he totally will because until he does his corruption of Guy is incomplete).

All of 1x04 is kind of an OOC mess. Guy's no saint to be sure, but with his later portrayal as a hopeless romantic in desperate search of family and connection, to the point where *because* of that need he does horrible things and lash out when he loses them, 'Parenthood' really stands out as not fitting that with the usual implications/interpretations. If he had say packed Annie off as soon as he found out she was pregnant and never told her to contact him again, that's still cold-hearted and the good guys could have still found it dishonorable, but also could have been in character. Leaving his own infant child to die in the forest? Pretty much in contrast to 90% of Guy's characterization.

And really, if he'd left the kid there to die and didn't want anyone to ever find out...smirking when Robin rode away with the baby was probably also not the most in character response either. If he'd really intended the kid to die he'd have been worried for his reputation with Robin getting his hands on the kid. That's the problem with writing about the ep, as soon as I get one factor to fit(ish) I realize something else doesn't, which all the more proves that for it to make sense something else is going to have to be involved in the story.

Plus, the more I think about this, the more I think there's also some interesting possibilities in pathos for him not realizing that the kid Robin is carting around is Seth all while smirking that 'haha, Hood has to watch a baby.'

Oh course by late s3 I was already more or less watching the show from Guy's POV, especially in 3x10 which boiled down to 'Guy's an emo teenager, and he's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, and that never changes, but damn he got a raw deal. Also the Locksley males are assholes." But I still definitely need to rewatch it because some of the details are fuzzy and it's kind of important to get that section of his life right when I write it.