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Early morning, Thinking about The-*-Episode & setting

Mar26

* Option 1: set it in an extant verse (*ducks Kelkyag*)
– Aunt Family
– Fairy Town (Still not sure those aren’t the same ‘verse)
– Stranded
– Fae Apoc
– Tir Na Cali

This isn’t the ideal option but it does avoid so much world building.

* Option 2: generic no-details Urban Fantasy verse
This is even less ideal, on the other hand, leaves me free to change things as I go.

* Option 3: custom-build an UF ‘verse in 6 days.
– I have an idea of shifting walls between realities, shifting magic levels, a belief-based ‘verse, possibly.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/697061.html. You can comment here or there.

So I went through episode descriptions for the first 10 seasons of CSI…

Mar25

And then x-referenced against my/T’s memory of Bones and mine of Leverage.
Um. I’m gonna need a longer month.
(one * per show we could find/remember it in)

(this is in re http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/696410.html <– that post for Campnano)

Just a limb found *
Attack on a member of the team (finale)
Amish *
Fetish death **
Mistaken Identity *
Body Farm **
Hockey***
Monks**
Dwarf**
Magic Show*
Classical Music*
Rock Music **
Rap/Hip Hop/R&B Music**
Guitar Camp*
AU Episode*
Murder is suicide or suicide is murder *
Garbage dump*
Poker**
Horse**
Body Mod *
Officer Down **
Really gross decomp**
Home Invasions*
Buried Alive **
Furry**
Juror Murder/tampering/etc.**
no-money game tournament (scrabble, chess, etc)***
Marathon *
Looks supernatural **
Mental institution * (the older/creepier the better)
Crop Circles*
Cult**
Wedding*
Sci-fi Convention **
Hoarders*

People involve:
Crazy Cat Lady*
Cheerleader/High school Sports*
Psychic **
Sex change*
Flight Attendant** (on a plane?)*
Prostitutes*
Deaf *

Family of a team member involved***

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/696748.html. You can comment here or there.

Camp Nano: Help me Plan!

Mar25

Okay, so I’ve been tossing an idea around for ages and I’ve decided (it was @inventrix’s fault 😉 to make a go at if for April CampNano.

Basic idea: Every Crime Procedural, every Medical Show, every Serious Detective Show (maybe not those; I don’t watch those) seems to go through a series of episodes – there’s The Bondage Episode, the Furry Episode (Bones combined those into the pony play episode), the little people episode, the wrestling episode (Bones, again, combined those into little people wrestling), the Hoarders episode… and so on.

What I need:

A list of episodes.

A cast, or ideas about a cast.

A hook. I’m thiiiinking it’s urban fantasy, but not absolutely certain.

Ideas for takes on those types of episodes.

Help?

(Eta: looking at writing either 4-10,000-word episodes or 8-5,000-word orrr 6-6,667-word episodes, at least to begin with.)

(Eta2: @pritchmr – this is a cool webiste with tons of TV tropes http://designthroughstorytelling.net/periodic/ )

Episode Idea List
cult!
computer hacker
mild-mannered-academic-is-actually-a-killer
government conspiracy
non-government conspiracy (Illuminati)
crazy house party gone wrong
missing child
serial killer
Buried treasure
supernatural problem is actually a frame-up
[Supernatural] critters gone rabid/feral
– Something that started or happened a long time ago (e.g. something triggered by someone trying to retrieve the loot from a famous crime, or finding a dead body long after the death and having to figure out what happened)
– What looks like a murder turns out to be an accident in the end.
– LARP
cross-cultural misunderstanding gone horribly awry
operating in unfamiliar territory (possibly not useful for such a short run)
lying to protect the actual guilty/responsible party
being from some other world
Circus!

Urban Fantasy Episodes Idea List
The Werewolves
The Fae

Cast Ideas
the nerdy one,
the pretty one,
the sassy/snarky one,
the pragmatic/”brawn” one,
the smart but quiet one.
Kid genius (Shut up, Wesley!) – why not a girl kid genius for once? Need not be obnoxious.
unstable personality in some way
roll “the pretty one” and “the brawny one” togther into the rogue/acrobat/cat burgler; have the obvious combat heavy be a gunbunny or spellslinger.
the pet or mascot
the “pet” is the mentor.
the student/apprentice with common sense the teacher lacks.
the charismatic one (sometimes overlaps with the con man?).
the anti-bureaucrat (the one who can find records and cut red tape).
the nosy reporter.
the one who has a fling-of-the-week
the steady couple (trio, …)

UF Cast Ideas
a witch/wizard,
a vampire,
a werewulf or an ordinary human who turns into a werewulf at some point,
an ordinary human,
someone in a mentor role

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/696410.html. You can comment here or there.

Just Realized… (Giraffe Call Perks)

Mar15

…that I had both a new prompter and a new donor for this last Giraffe Call!

That means you-all get TWO new pieces of setting information, which, of course, after FebCreate may not be the most startling thing, but um… these are longer?

So!

What setting would you like to know more about?

And what would you like to know?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/693863.html. You can comment here or there.

A Summary of Recent Writing

Mar12

The Last Summary

Other Trees, Same Forest

Links
Potential Sumbission Locations
A rather different take on mpreg
Character Buildinator

Signal Boost
A Poem by JJ Hunter

Building the Trees

February World-Building
February World-Building Q27<, Unicorn/Factory
February World-Building Qxx, Fae Apoc
February World-Building Q28, Meta
February World-Building Q29, Addergoole
February World-Building Q30, Facets
March: Women’s History
March is Women’s History Month – Ask Questions

Sprouts

Facets of Dusk
Wrong Door
Tír na Cali
The Collar Job, Part VII
The Collar Job, Part IX

Space Accountant
Betting Time
Fairy Town
Give and Take

A Scene Description, Unknown World

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/691749.html. You can comment here or there.

A Scene Description (@korionfray)

Mar12

So, the writer in my attic, K Orion Fray, sends out a weekly writing inspiration e-mail, which includes a writing prompt.

A prompt from several weeks ago:

Write for ten minutes, and describe something. It can be a person, a place, or and object – but just describe it. Use as many of the senses as you can, and don’t skimp!

Description in line is something I need work at. So I rolled up three random names and a couple random outfits and went to work.

Marje Allise strode into the room, two steps and leagues ahead of Ket Vasquez. She was dressed in k.d. lang chic today, her indigo suit pattered all over with black designs. It didn’t do to look too closely at the patterns, a lesson Kara had learned the hard way.

“All right.” Marje appropriated the nearest chair, swung it around, and plopped down backwards in it, leaning on the headrest. Her hair, for a moment, failed to obey the commands implicit in the styling gel Marje bought in bulk; one cinnamon-colored curl dangled over her patrician nose, softening the Sergeant’s habitual glare. “Give me what you’ve got.”

Behind her, Ket fiddled with the valises, setting them up on the rickety side table, rearranging them, opening and closing them. Even his suit was a pale imitation of Marje’s: black instead of midnight indigo, the patterns grey and mauve instead of black. He was wearing a fedora, as if that helped. At least it covered up his perpetually-tousled hair.

Kira dragged her eyes away from the boy, found them settling on the way the patterns on Marje’s suit traced her broad shoulders, and dragged her eyes away again. The Sergeant had asked her a question. She coughed.

“Ah, yes. What I’ve, that is, what we’ve….”

“Agent.” Marje didn’t need her voice to fill space. Her presence did that all on her own. So her voice was quiet – not a whisper, not the sort of quiet that hid from listeners, just the voice that had no need to raise itself.

“Yessir?” Kira swallowed around a lump in her throat.

A Scene Description
A Place Description
A Deletion

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/690834.html. You can comment here or there.

Character Buildinator! (Hattip @inventrix)

Mar11

http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/character-build.htm

Gives you results like:

Coroner/Gardener/Velociraptor
Gemologist/Songwriter/Dragon/Sculptor

(why don’t I have a tag for “generators?”)

There’s also a character interests generator – Your character’s interests include candle-making, owls, web design, and old castles.

A skills generator – Your character’s skills include martial arts, horseback riding, and playing the guitar.

And check this out, a personality generator:

Courteous: Typically
Risk-Taking: Often
Ambitious: Sometimes
Curious: Often
Self-Controlled: Sometimes
Nurturing: Generally
Trusting: Never
Honest: Sometimes
Loyal: Usually
Affectionate: Never
Romantic: Never
Flirty: Never
Sympathetic: Generally
Altruistic: Sometimes
Optimistic: Usually
Observant: Usually
Logical: Sometimes
Social: Fairly outgoing
Emotions: Fairly controlled

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/690344.html. You can comment here or there.

February is World Building Month. Day Twenty-Eight: Meta

Mar10

[personal profile] piratekitten has declared February world-building month.

I’m finishing this up in March!

The question post is here, please feel free to add more questions!

The twenty-eighth question comes from [personal profile] rix_scaedu and is a meta-question

Do any of your universes have a “big bad” or a “he who must not be named”?)

No.

Next question?

😀

Okay, that’s not entirely fair.

Unicorn/Factory has the unknown, un-met Governors, who seem to have some control over everything and motives that are questionable at best.

Faerie Apocalypse has the Departed Gods (who Return), a group of powerful fae who have been trapped in another world.

One could possibly argue that Regine in Addergoole is a big bad, although she is not nearly as Big nor as Bad as most end bosses.

But in Tír na Cali, the main antagonist is the setting. Dragons Next Door, human ignorance is the main bad guy. Reiassan and Stranded both have bad guys for the individual story.

I’m not a big fan of bad guys, I suppose, despite the recent Bad Guy Giraffe Call. I prefer settings where the world itself makes the antagonist, or writing small villains who are either misunderstood (they weren’t actually bad in the grand scheme of things) or that can be redeemed.

That being said, writing a Xanatos Gambit style Big Bad From The Shadows might be an entertaining project at some point.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/689603.html. You can comment here or there.

March Is Women’s History Month

Mar9

March is Women’s History Month, I’m told.

And I liked Febcreate, so I’ll do MarWomen.

Ask me something about one of my female characters, anything, or ask me to write one of my female characters in a specific situations

First sixteen questions/prompts will get answered/written to. 🙂

(I will note: March’s project is the Rin & Girey novella and finishing Addergoole: Book one, if you want to give a timely prompt/question)

And I challenge all y’all who write to do the same. Write something about your women characters. Write something about women in history. Tell us about your female characters.

1.2. Shahin and/or Kailani as tweens?
3. That conversation that Rin and her mom were in the middle of!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/688938.html. You can comment here or there.