Admissions

[itsallovernow]

1. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that there was not a sudden upsurge in shark attacks in the past six months, but instead Yahoo was twigging into what I read and sending me stuff it thought I'd be interested in. Considering I constantly straddle the line of awe at technology's ability to read my mind and utterly creeped out by the Big Brotherness of it all, I am both annoyed and a teeny, tiny bit grateful to know that there aren't packs of hungry sharks roaming the Pacific Coast.

2. I'm already mourning that lack of Olympic Swimming. Yeah, there's still great stuff happening, but the swimming brought me intense joy last week.

3. It is possible that I may be framing the new story I'm working on around iconic lines in noir thrillers. I would be more proud of that if I hadn't realized that creating a whole scene just so I could say, "It's Chinatown, Jake." is possibly not the most mature approach to writing.

4. I'm actually pretty excited to be TV free after the Olympics are over. Sure, I'll miss it, miss commercials, miss the buzz, but I'm drifting away from commercial television anyway, and this will save me money.

5. I have been cannibalizing my experiences for character detail lately (and always, but now at least I'm willing to admit it). So, a challenge: Take 5 cursory details and make a character. Or alternately, tell me the 5 small details that you find iconic in your favorite characters. Not just fannon stuff, but the little things that ping for you.

6. lizlet and I have collectively decided on a phrase that defines a way of life, but I do believe it needs iconizing. So, first 5 people to icon "Keeping the crazy in since 2008" get a drabble of their choice.

Comments

[raithen.livejournal.com]

Claire McLeod, McLeod's Daughters (an aussie show)

She is commited to her land, first, but also the people that are connected to it. You just can't ever seperate her from the land
She loves horses, but tries not to anthropomorphize them, until her favorite mare has a foal.
She has a keen business sense, but doesn't let it stop her from doing what matters to her.
She trains horses the right way, not the fiscally sound way.
She seems cold and tough at times, but she is also really loving, and needs people and compassion. She can show compassion, too.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Pam Beesly from The Office (pre-S4, because the character has grown and changed naturally but radically):

- She wears a pastel or neutral cardigan every day, partly to keep herself boring so her male coworkers don't sexually harass her. (She also wears the same gold hoops, gold unicorn pendant, silver watch, and ugly black shoes.)
- She is kind to her terrible boss Michael, who's really just a socially-backward and lonely kid who happens to have power over everyone in the office. She humors him, tones him down, and makes him feel better about the sad little things that hurt his feelings.
- However, sometimes she lets him hang himself with his own rope because he deserves it or because it's funny.
- The one time we see her drunk she has the courage to do something she clearly shouldn't do and clearly wants to anyhow. And then no one ever talks about it again.
- She drives too fast.

[lomer.livejournal.com]

My favorite characters are smart asses. They use humor to deflect darker emotions, of which they experience thanks to some sort of traumatic experience... however they will not speak about this experience willingly. Smart asses refuse to get emo. They are rebels. They are reluctant heroes. They are survivors.

[fbf.livejournal.com]

I cannot icon for I have not software, but if I could I would crop the pic of us with bras on our heads from the only burbank con i went to. Really, it's just too appropriate.

*loves onyou seriously*

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Hee!! If you send me that pic at some point, I will make us an icon of it:) Because dude:) Loves you!

[lem0nb0mbs.livejournal.com]

I have been cannibalizing my experiences for character detail lately

I have never heard this activity so correctly described before.

I can visualize you sitting cross-legged on the floor, taking apart anecdotes and episodes with a phillips-head screwdriver, a pair of pliers and butter knife, sorting pieces into pyrex mixing bowls and zip-lock bags.

[rubberneck.livejournal.com]

6. sifting your spot on the playground for cool rocks and weird seed pods and empty cicada shells, and sorting them into matchboxes and old rusty-topped baby food jars you find the garage.

[denyeverything1.livejournal.com]

1. Bwah! I'm sorry, that's just too funny. I don't know why, just... sharks! I'm always amused -- and vaguely horrified -- by what Amazon suggests from me based on past purchases. It's also pretty disturbing that they often come up with stuff I already own.

3. One of my -- okay, two of my -- major failings as a writer are a) writing toward the payoff and b) doing everything possible not to cut the joke(s). Talk about self-indulgence. Then again, "It's Chinatown, Jake," is a pretty fun thing to write towards. *g*

[wendelah1]

1.Sharks!!!! They always make me think of Greg Norman. The golfer.

5. My character loves nature, but rarely ventures outside her own garden. She loves language but her poetry isn't really understood during her lifetime. She wants to know God, but she struggles with her faith. Even while her eyesight grows dimmer, her insight into the deeper questions becomes more acute. I think she prefers baking to cleaning and gardening over mending and sewing, because she likes kneading bread and feeling the soil.

I thought all writers cannibalized real life for the work. I don't think we can stop.