return of the commentary meme

[jedi_of_urth]

So, being between writing projects I'm kind of in the mood to talk about writing while I get my muses stirred up to work on a new project. So let's revive this meme.

Pick something I have written (or anything else I've posted I suppose) and I will write a "DVD commentary" on it.

Comments

To Find A Light In Darkness

[siberia21.livejournal.com]

You know this one´s ALWAYS on my mind!:D There are three parts of it so far, I know, I don´t have preferences within this serie.... I re-read it and think about it all the time...*sighs*

Re: To Find A Light In Darkness

[jedi_of_urth]

Want to prioritize the list a little? There being multiple stories, one with multiple chapters is a lot to try and do. Or I could just start with TWTS and see how far I take this commentary thing.

[siberia21.livejournal.com]

Truly, I´d be happy with any of them, TWTS as the beginning or TSTWA as the start of some form of their partnership or one of TTESIT chapters (fifth? The chapter is pure perfection!). I didn´t mean to take advantage of your generosity so if any of them suits better for what you have in mind, your choice. Thank you!

[jedi_of_urth]

I think TWTS seems like a good place to start, we'll see if I'm in the mood for anything else once I get through with that.

[siberia21.livejournal.com]

Sounds great!:D Thank you.

[jedi_of_urth]

Also, I may have to do TTESIT chapter 5, because I rewrote huge chunks of that chapter before I was even close to satisfied with it, so I'm really glad to hear you loved it (almost as many times as I rewrote the opening with Damon's involvement before I could properly get into the fic and then went through another phase of thinking I needed to rewrite it when I stalled out around 10k into the story). I could just post the early versions of those scenes as a window into how they took shape but we'll see what appeals to me in a couple days, I'm enjoying commenting on TWTS for now.

[siberia21.livejournal.com]

Oh really? First time I read it, I thought the continuity, connection to both former one shots was pretty brilliant. The switch to Damon´s pov, a few steps back (in time), Damon´s contemplating the blood...it was both surprising and exciting, felt like the beginning of the "real", complex story (both before are very real but can stand on their own, sorry I don´t know if I explain it well).
The chapter five - for some reason - blown me away. It was right there where the both "one shots" left, all the emotions, angst, pulling on heartstrings...powerful! It was perfect that the previous chapters (of part three) were more about developing the storyline, some action and other characters and then it all nicely came back together with them being alone after the long eventful day. Let alone a line like this: "Which meant there was a they, an us, a we to be concerned with." I decided right then and there that the chapter´s going to be my favourite.
Also, I very much liked the chapter with Klaus, it was sensitively written (and I am sure it was balancing on the edge in some parts). So good!
None of the parts had a real ending (fitting the possible follow up) but it does feel very satisfying, it´s not easy either.
I just LOVE the entire serie, period!
I´m sorry, I am not able to shut my mouth when I start thinking of my fav stories (and struggling with English on top).
THANKS for your patience!:)

[jedi_of_urth]

, felt like the beginning of the "real", complex story (both before are very real but can stand on their own, sorry I don´t know if I explain it well).

In general, TTESIT is the start of the larger plot. The first two have too much plot to be PWP, but they're the story of two people dealing with only so much of the plot as they want to deal with. TTESIT has a lot more elements in play, and that was part of why it was important to me to go so far as using other POVs, if only briefly; to make it clear that there was a larger story in play here.

I just really struggled with how far I wanted to take it. There was a version of things where Caroline and Bonnie came along on the rescue mission. Another where I got into more detail about what was going on with Alaric in those scenes instead of putting a lot of it off to scenes with Elena in them, or whether it should be Alaric himself that realized Elena was missing. A version where I thought about having Matt more involved, or maybe tell that opening more through Caroline's eyes rather than Damon's. Once I took the story outside of the Elena/Elijah focus it was harder to figure out what the focus should be.

And then yeah, chapter 5 sort of swings back to the style of the first two installments, where it's the two of them working through the plot stuff as they want to. But it was a difficult tone to walk after the Klaus chapter (which I had a really easy time writing actually, I made a comment at the time that it's easier to write Klaus being a horrible awful person than it is for me to write Stefan and Damon as not so awful that you wonder why Elena spends any time with them). I didn't want her to be completely forgiving or him to be completely apologetic, yet have them moving past it together in spite of that. They couldn't be casual about what Klaus did, but that's not their only concern.

It was a difficult tone to get right, especially since I had in mind it would be the last chapter of this installment and I wasn't going to get to the sexy part in this round, but I wasn't sure how to bring it to some resolution without at least implying they were headed that way. But once I was getting it right, I knew they kind of needed to come together in the end; hence why this chapter ended with the obvious clue that they were back on that track. Of course then I went on and wrote the sex into this installment anyway because I really wasn't satisfied with that as an ending; so again, the final version of this took a while to find.

(This should be a clue as to how much I'm babbling when I have full text to comment on, the commentary's getting pretty long.)

[siberia21.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is perfect! I could happily read your "babbling" all day!:D
I am so glad you decided to continue and I thought the ending (the phone call with Caroline) was perfect.
Thank you!:)