cookiegirl

Doing laundry finally. No one was down there - so it's easy. Always easier when no one is downstairs.

The internet was annoying me again today. Probably best not to vent about it? Venting about the internet on the internet never ends well?

A weird side-effect of both the Buffy Revival being cancelled and my Buffy re-watch - is the oddest desire to write fanfic? Except fanfic that takes place 25 years after the series ended. Not sure there's anywhere to really share it? The Buffy fandom is pretty much dead on DW and Ao3. But that's okay, I can just write it in my head.

I've finally broken the reading slump - and found a book I want to sink into and devour whole. It's taken...quite a few books? I think it's more of a mood thing than a book thing? I'm in the mood for a certain story trope and writing style - specifically one that sparks my own creative/story telling juices. The book that's currently engrossing me is Inheritance by Illona Andrews - the writers wrote it as a serial on their blog during the pandemic, and have now self-published it.
It's engrossing. Does remind of a video game at various points.

Here's the synopsis - it's convoluted, but I like convoluted world building and plots that are close to impossible to summarize.
( Read more... )

Illona Andrews is possibly among the very few writers in which I've gobbled up everything they've written. There's a handful of others. Jane Austen, I did for the most part. James Joyce. William Gibson. Anne McCaffrey - I read just about everything she wrote. Courtney Milan - up to a point. I usually just read one series of the writers and nothing else. Neil Gaiman - I read way too much of - mainly because people kept rec'ing him to me, and I kept thinking - I should like this. Why don't I like this more than I do? I finally realized: It's because his characters lack emotional resonance and feel a bit like ciphers, and all the work is put into the world-building.

Illona Andrews does a good job with four or five story tropes that I love:
* Enemies to Partners to Lovers trope
* Problem solving and working collaboratively to do it, figuring things out logically
* Blending myth and science
* Questioning authority and social systems
* Survival in the midst of impossible circumstances

It's hard to articulate what I like sometimes. I'm not sure I did it well there.

This may come as shock to folks - considering I spend all my time reading and writing - for a living and for pleasure or so it seems? But neither come easily. Never have. Never will. ( Read more... )

Off to bed. Friday finally. I don't know about anyone else? But it's been a long and cold week. I'm ready for spring. Good think it allegedly starts tomorrow - at least per the calendar. Weather wise? It's up in the air at the moment.