Urge to Write Rising....

[hells_half_acre]

I don't know what it is with me the last few days, but I suddenly want to write ALL THE THINGS. Except, I already have a few things on the go that I need to FINISH.

Today I was listening to Storyboard on Geek and Sundry over at YouTube while I worked - because there are some days where my job is so monotonous that if I don't have something to listen to, I go into a coma. Anyway, Storyboard is "Hangout" with a bunch of fantasy authors talking about writing, and it's something I can tune in and out of as required by my job...

But man, today it made me want to write the epic fantasy novel that I had an idea for ten years ago - so that's what I've been mentally doing for the past two hours, even though I have fanfic to finish... also, my epic fantasy novel doesn't have a plot, it just has a main character... and I don't even know his name or what he looks like, I just know who he is and I love him. So really, all I've been doing for the past two hours is thinking about an awesome guy that I made up ten years ago... and when I put it like that, it sounds rather pathetic.

In completely unrelated news: I follow some teenagers on tumblr who can't tell the difference between legitimate photos and manips... and it makes me want to weep for the future, because honestly, it should be pretty bloody obvious that that's Jensen's head on the body of a porn star. I feel like this should be taught in Junior High at some point: "Okay, Class, today, we're going to cover how to spot manips so that you don't look like an idiot on the internet - you'll thank me later."

Also, completely unrelated: Is it just me or has LJ been crazy quiet as of late? I feel like I even have less people chatting with me here. Maybe it's because I stopped writing epic Harry Potter crossovers? Maybe it's because people have moved on from the show? Maybe people have moved on from LJ? Maybe everyone is on tumblr reblogging manips? I don't know. Tumblr is far more narcissistic than LJ, which is I think part of the reason why I can't get into it that much. I basically only use it to look at pretty pictures of good-looking men... and to keep tabs on the Sherlock fandom.

Comments

[katsheswims.livejournal.com]

LJ has been pretty quiet for me too.

I use Tumblr for the same reasons--the pictures! Though I'm pretty sure I can tell the manips. Most are obvious.

I can't wait to see the next fic you come up with! But take time to write for yourself if you get inspired like you were saying.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

A IRL acquaintance of mine actually got a tumblr recently to post sophisticated photos (he's a photographer) and one of his posts was actually a post of my sister's paintings... but I don't want to follow him or reblog my own sister's paintings because I'm afraid he might realize who I am and see that I usually just post attractive actors with the tag "hello pretty" and then my tumblr will link back here... and he'll have fallen down the rabbit-hole of my true insanity.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent about that. (ETA: Oh, and I've never seen you reblog an obvious manip like it's real, so don't worry!)

Next fic should be my Merlin/SPN crossover. I'm determined to finish it - but I might actually get this one betaed, so I'm not sure how long until it'll show up. (I'm about 2/3rds through it at the moment.)

I'm also supposed to be doing a second draft of my original fiction novel, but I haven't started that yet - even though I was supposed to in January.

But we'll see - I might just write a couple of scenes from the epic fantasy novel for fun.

[katsheswims.livejournal.com]

I get what you mean about being careful with people you know IRL. I do the same thing.

"Oh, and I've never seen you reblog an obvious manip like it's real, so don't worry!"--Yay, that's a relief!

I'm very excited for your SPN/Merlin crossover!

[monicawoe.livejournal.com]

So really, all I've been doing for the past two hours is thinking about an awesome guy that I made up ten years ago... and when I put it like that, it sounds rather pathetic.
That's okay, I'm writing a novel that features a guy I dreamed up when I was like ten, and I still think he's awesome, so...

I feel like this should be taught in Junior High at some point: "Okay, Class, today, we're going to cover how to spot manips so that you don't look like an idiot on the internet - you'll thank me later."
Absolutely crucial class.

I'm still a total tumblr n00b- just starting to figure out GIF-sets, but I just don't get the appeal beyond, as you said looking at pretty pictures of good-looking men (and maybe the occasional cute baby animal), but that's it. LJ is still 1000 times cooler.

[afastmachine.livejournal.com]

LJ is super quiet. I hate it. I've resorted to tumblr for most fandom stuff.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I'm still a total tumblr n00b- just starting to figure out GIF-sets, but I just don't get the appeal beyond, as you said looking at pretty pictures of good-looking men (and maybe the occasional cute baby animal), but that's it. LJ is still 1000 times cooler.

Same! I haven't even really figured out gif-sets - I just reblog other people's. I'm a reblogger. :P I originally went on because I'd get traffic to my fics from tumblr, and I thought "hey, I can look at pretty pictures AND keep track of what people are saying about my fics"... but because of the fact tumblr isn't searchable like LJ, I can't actually do that. So... yeah... plus no one follows me over there, or knows that I'm hells_half_acre from LJ, because I have a different name. So... it's all kind of pointless. Except for the wasted hours of looking at pretty pictures of good-looking men.

That's okay, I'm writing a novel that features a guy I dreamed up when I was like ten, and I still think he's awesome, so...

Yay! I'm not alone! I realized that one of the sub-plots of my novel was a plot that I "wrote" before I could actually write. (I used to draw storyboards for epic stories until I got the writing thing down around the age of 8.)So, really, we're talking about a plot that I came up with as a six year-old, which explains why it's the least plausible plot in the novel. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Do I follow you on tumblr?

[monicawoe.livejournal.com]

When I was seven I wrote ST:TNG and Narnia crossover fanfiction before I had any idea that fanfiction existed. lol
Look I just really wanted Q and Jadis and Aslan to all meet! How awesome would that be?

[khek.livejournal.com]

LJ is really quiet lately. I missed a weekend a couple weeks ago, and I only had to go back 120 entries for three days. I wonder if people lose interest in the winter..? (My work blog stats are really down right now too.)

I see kids at work talking about pictures, and there is this sense out there that if it's posted online, it's true. Manips and facts alike. I don't think anyone is teaching critical thinking skills. Just how to pass pre-written, lowest common denominator tests. It's a little scary.

Write what you want! You can cathc up later, right? :)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Very awesome! No one can blame you. I wrote self-insert ST:TNG fanfiction before I even knew what fanfiction was... and I shipped Geordi/Data before I even knew what sex, let alone slash, was.

Of course, I wrote and did most of these things in my head, because I was a little late to the whole writing/reading game. (learned to write at 7-8, learned to read at 9). So, yeah, even after I learned the whole reading/writing thing, I still did most of my writing in "comic book" or puppet-show form. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe people are just busy. I usually find though that things slow down more in the summer when people are going on vacation and whatnot... maybe everyone is just in the February doldrums (except Australians, who might be too hot to type?).

(My blog stats are down too - and it does make me wonder if people just aren't liking what I'm producing anymore, or if it's just an overall trend. Not that I'd change anything if it were the former - I'm a firm believer in doing whatever the hell I want with my own blog.)

Sigh, it's a shame that critical thinking doesn't seem be taught - I mean, forget manips, I think kids should be sat down at the age of 10 and taught how to find and evaluate the source for all information that they come across. This weird tendency people have to just believe everything they see/read because it's "on the internet" is concerning to say the least.

Write what you want! You can cathc up later, right? :)

Thanks! I don't like having too many things on the go, because then I lose my mental-threads for them. But, I'll see how it goes. :)

[afastmachine.livejournal.com]

Not sure, I'm majorshipper over there. What are you?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

unpredictableevil (yet another reason why not that many people follow me)

I'll go find you...

[afastmachine.livejournal.com]

Just saw the notification, followed you back! :)

[yalumesse]

There are so many classes that would've been more helpful to us at that age than the ones we got. "How to balance your books" and "How to do a job, cook, sleep, and keep your house clean every week without dropping dead of exhaustion" for example.

Not just you - I think it's only been the last week though? Tumblr is an evil people-stealer but I really don't think it can ever replace LJ. Maybe they'll come back?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Maybe. I just find you can't have conversations on tumblr very well. Or maybe I'm just not good at tumblr. :P

Indeed, so many classes that they should have given us, rather than just the academic stuff. I suppose we were supposed to learn that stuff at home, but I don't think my mother got those classes either. :P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Cool. I hope you like pretty pictures of good-looking men. :P

(Seriously, if you ever unfollow me, I'll understand.)

[msninacat.livejournal.com]

I loathe Tumblr so much. I don't even like to use it for the pretty. I have Pinterest for that. It's just so unorganized and impersonal. I got one because a favorite fan artist decided that was where she was gonna post stuff. I've been radio silent because I've had a had time finding a place to put my Internet time now that I'm at home all the time. It used to be what I did at work so I wasn't ignoring my family. I'm still reading and I try to chime in but I don't know the Merlin fandom so I tend to shy away from those posts. Okay. I think I'm rambling now so I'll scoot on.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's my problem with tumblr too... it's just so unorganized, and it's hard to build any sort of relationships on it. I mean, I'm sure some people would disagree with me, but that's my experience.

Good to know you're still lurking around! I certainly don't expect people to chime in on absolutely everything... and Merlin is such a small niche fandom (comprised mostly of teenagers, I find), that I don't expect those posts to get a lot of traction. It's another reason why I want to finish up this Merlin/SPN fic. I know it's only going to appeal to a handful of people on here (far more on AO3 though)... not that I'm only writing for the most amount of readers, mind you - it's just that I do have a bit more fun after the fact when my writing appeals to a broader audience.

Anyway, now I'm rambling... so I'll also scoot. :P

[missyjack.livejournal.com]

I made a post on tumblr yesterday about people posting fake quotes - ie making up thing that Jared or Jensen said, and then every just assumes they are true. So i posted a guide to checking them (basically - Google).

I think the main difference between Tumblr and LJ (or at least of a few years ago) is that reblogging reduces your ability to avoid idiots. I end up seeing shit I DNW but meh whatcha gunna do if you want the pretty?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I try to only follow people who use tags, and then use tumblr savior to blacklist things that I DNW. (I've actually blacklisted "spider", because my arachnophobia is such that even pictures invoke the fight/flight response in me... and just today, I realized that as a result I can no longer see anything relating to spider-man.)

I've seen a lot of J2 fanart based on fake quotes, and it drives me nuts - but there's not much you can do about people being wrong on the internet. :P (There was a post going around at the beginning of this season with false WARDROBE information that gave me a small mental breakdown, so I had to learn to breathe and move on with my life.)

...whatcha gunna do if you want the pretty, indeed.

[missyjack.livejournal.com]

I need a filter top block anyone under 17 I think! I read something and start to get angry and then they post "mum says I have to go to bed"

That said I love so much of the visual meta - where a well-placed quote and picture can provide better meta than 1000 of my babbling words!

Also - did you see who joined Twitter today. i am totes claiming responsibility for that!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Haha, me too. Part of the problem is that I followed some teens when I wanted more Merlin pictures on my dash - now I kinda feel like if I unfollow them I'll hurt their teenage feelings. Even though because of how much I hated the finale, I can't actually stand a lot of the Merlin stuff that's out there anymore. :P

But yes, I love the visual meta. It's absolutely brilliant - even the stuff that I don't necessarily agree with. I can't deny that it's well thought out and beautifully illustrated.

Also - did you see who joined Twitter today. i am totes claiming responsibility for that!

I did! And I followed! And THANK YOU! ;)

[yalumesse]

Nah, tumblr just isn't meant for conversations.

Home isn't the best place for a lot of people to learn these things. And contrariwise, a lot of the stuff we were made to learn at school we could have learned at home. So. Huh.

[franztastisch]

Yeah... I dropped off the SPN bandwagon a while back. :/ And no one talks to me now because all I seem to post about is rugby. So that's my own fault really... :P

I'm interested about your (possible) new story though! And supportive of the idea to FINISH ALL THE THINGS. :P