botherd

I kind of feel like I'm at a loose end now NaNo is over! It's been a weird one this year (but then, I feel like it's always a different experience and a different challenge) but although it's not perfect, I'm mostly satisfied with how it turned out. I've never written an ensemble fic before and it's given me an all-new respect for the Skins writers, because you know how they get criticised for weird pacing and not focusing equally on all the characters and dropping storylines and all of that? Yeah, well, THAT SHIT IS HARD. I mean, I think I did okay at juggling nine characters, but I know that Thomas and Freddie got shafted and now nobody will know that in the background they were totally having a torrid love affair. :(

More for my own reference than anything else, here's what I'm working on next:

- Yuletide main assignment (due 21st Dec)
- Yuletide pinch-hit (21st Dec)
- skins_holiday assignment (21st-31st Dec)
- apocabigbang (5th Feb)

Plus, you know, there's that 30k 80s AU lingering on my hard drive that just needs a bit of polishing. I should probably get on that.

ALSO I still really want to write Katie/Emily(/Naomi) but I'm not sure if I could make it work.

- I signed up for apocabigbang! Looking forward to doing another BB challenge, and it seems like quite a few Skins writers are doing it too, so that's cool. So far I have a title and a vague premise, but I've yet to figure out, um, what actually caused the apocalypse. But, you know, details. ;)

- New Effy moodtheme! ♥

- I know I've been promising that the 80s AU will be posted "soon" for over a month now, but it is actually nearing completion now. It still needs a bit of work, but I'm mostly happy with it, I think. It's not really as 80s-tastic as I intended, and it's not 80s in a lulzy way, but I'm still pleased with how the story's turned out.

- I have this week's Glee downloaded but IDK, this show isn't really living up to expectations for me. I like some of the characters and some of the musical numbers, but I'm not sure if I like them enough to overlook the massive amounts of general privilege!fail.

- Back to the apocalypse: rec me songs about the end of the world? I have a handful, but I'd like more.

GUYS, GUYS, THIS IS WHY I LOVE LILY THE BEST. a) UNF, I WOULD HIT THAT LIKE THE FIST OF AN ANGRY GOD, and b) OMG, HER FACE WHEN KAT DARES TO SUGGEST THAT NAOMI ISN'T 'NICE'. I just. ♥ ♥ ♥

(In other news, the first draft of the 80s AU should be finished today or tomorrow, then I'm anticipating a week or so of typing up/editing/betaing etc. Should be due about a week on Friday??)

- So I saw the latest episode of True Blood. ( Thoughts )

- As ~research (lol) for my fic, I rewatched the Effy episodes from series two and three and omg, the urge to hug a fictional character has never been so strong. It's weird; it took me a long time to warm up to Effy (I didn't much like anyone from the first cast) and now all I want to do is give her a massive hug and feed her chocolate and somehow make it all okay. IDK, she just makes me SO SAD. brb, rewriting my 80s AU (where her circumstances are, if possible, even worse; I'M SO SORRY, EFFY) to include a million gratuitous hugging scenes.

- Speaking of! I'm about 10,000 words into the 80s AU and I... kind of still feel like I'm setting things up? It's hard to tell how long it's going to be in the end, because it keeps running away from me and getting longer and longer. Still really excited about writing it, though, even if probably won't be finished for MONTHS.

- Earlier today I started thinking about Yuletide. WTF, SELF, IT'S AUGUST. But, yeah, I'm already planning out what I'll request and offer to write. I think last year Skins was a listed fandom, but I'm sure this year it'll be considered too big (which makes me all kinds of happy, really, because I heart this fandom and all the creative types in it so fucking much, and I don't think I say that enough).

♥

- Kaya Scodelario continues to be hilarious and adorable on Twitter. Her nan drove through a fence on a quadbike! AMAZING. Kat and Meg need to do a hilarious interview at some godawful film premiere if they want me to remember how much I love them.

- Yesterday was the Caribbean Carnival in Leicester, which is one of the few things about my home town that's actually pretty awesome. (I didn't actually know it was on, but I was in town and, well, it's kind of hard to miss.) I got a few (rubbish) photos of some of the cooler parts on the parade ( under the cut )

- I'm making slow progress on the 80s AU, which is up to about 4000 words at the moment. I'm kind of enjoying writing it, but this is my first time writing an AU and it's HARD. I feel like I have to have a completely different approach to characterisation; most of the relationships on the show are very much tied to the circumstances, so if the circumstances change the character dynamics do too. (For example, Emily isn't in the fic, so Katie and Naomi's relationship is completely different and I have to figure out how to make it still seem authentic.) UGH, WRITING. WHY DO I BOTHER.

- I've been re-watching Weeds from the beginning and fuck, I'd forgotten how good the early seasons were. Conrad and Heylia > Esteban. (Also, the early seasons had the advantage of not having a stupid pregnancy/baby storyline. I don't mind it a huge amount, but I don't think there's ever been a baby storyline that I've actively enjoyed. In like, ANYTHING EVER.)

- Is it just me, or has LJ been a bit useless at emailing notifications lately? I think I've got most of them, but if I haven't replied to comments or whatever, I promise I'm not just ignoring you.