hope: Art of a woman writing from tour poster (merlin - gwaine & merlin in castle)
puddingsmith ([personal profile] hope) wrote2011-03-28 09:37 pm

four dozen pickled eggs?!

EPIC ROMANCE: I finally just finished this very long scene, which is mainly politics and exposition and original characters. I think it still needs a lot of work (i.e. paring back me going over the top with 'formal' language), and I still have the lingering uncertainty that contributed to it being difficult to write - that it's not porn, that it's original characters, that it's world- and character-building (of OCs), and that that's not what people enjoy in fanfiction.

But the story is epic! It's a big political setting for a hardcore romance, okay? (And I just keep reminding myself that *I* like epic stories that have solid world-building behind them; it makes the id aspects of it all the more grounded and therefore resonant.)

So, current wordcount: 14,178
Current mood: Gwaine is a sullen little butterfly.

Anyway, ALSO TODAY I made [personal profile] nixwilliams watch most of the Gwaine episodes of Merlin, which he hadn't seen before. I think that was largely successful :D It was good to watch again, and I did discover that I actually need to watch it with someone else laughing and making off-colour jokes about it, lest I get preoccupied with the fail.

And very amusing to be paying more attention to my fave characters now that I have those fannish goggles on; you can wring so much more nuance out of it. Like these series of looks in "The Eye of the Phoenix":

Arthur: *says/does something brattish*
Merlin: *gives Gwaine "ISN'T ARTHUR JUST THE GREATEST?" eyes*
Gwaine: *gives Merlin "Are you for real?" eyes*

(Which just cements my belief that Gwaine's decree of Arthur being a worthy noble is him just going, "okay, I suppose this noble is tolerable enough that I can stick around for Merlin without having to storm off in a sulk".)

That whole episode is basically just one big delightful romantic misunderstanding romp, where Gwaine is clearly all hearteyes about Merlin, and Merlin is totally oblivious/preoccupied by Arthur. And Arthur is self-absorbed and brattish in general, the usual farce of his ignorance of Merlin's magic dialled up to comedic 11.

(Also, in his first episode Gwaine refers to Arthur as a thoroughbred. This amuses me.)

Anyway, that descended into a bit of a ramble. How was your weekend?

[personal profile] hab318princess 2011-03-28 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
looking forward to working with my Gwain lookalike... oh yeah, I work with a Consultant (well, he'll be as of Friday)... who looks like Gwaine, so this ramble was quite fun to read :D

[personal profile] hab318princess 2011-03-29 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
yep, he's fun (and he hugs :D)

[personal profile] nixwilliams 2011-03-29 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
I LIKED IT!

[identity profile] lolafeist.livejournal.com 2011-03-28 01:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Epic romance is canon era?

I think some readers love world building. I do!! If you look at a fic like Arcane Asylum, it has tons of world building and a ton of fans. So don't be too discouraged about what folks want to read in fanfic.

(Plus, and I guess I'm selfish here, I love it when a fic author writes something different. I've been devouring [livejournal.com profile] helfta's stuff because it's so unusual for fanfiction.)

[identity profile] lolafeist.livejournal.com 2011-03-29 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Augh, I'm so excited about it. I love canon setting. I love Gwaine. *happysigh*

[identity profile] ella-bane.livejournal.com 2011-03-28 02:06 pm (UTC)(link)

Arthur: *says/does something brattish*
Merlin: *gives Gwaine "ISN'T ARTHUR JUST THE GREATEST?" eyes*
Gwaine: *gives Merlin "Are you for real?" eyes*


DYING NOW.

Good luck to you! Hey, you said your fic had hard-core romance -- that's what readers want, and if it's framed by a complex world, even better! Go you. <3