Assorted News

[rheasilvia]

You guys. I have finally brought one of the three Guardian WIPs of Doom to first draft, and sent it to solo. It's called Something Wicked, is around 30k long, not an AU although it definitely seems like one, and just, OMG.

I've long since reached the stage where I can't tell whether the story works in any way, so I can't speak to the quality - it's possible it's completely confusing and incomprehensible. But I am so glad to get it into some kind of finished state. It's been over a year with this thing. Seriously.

Other good things have also happened!

DontStopRun created a podfic of Dangerous Knowledge, my Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty OT3 story! I am super thrilled - it's the second ever podfic for one of my stories, and I love it to bits. :-)

Also, Ominous_Rain wrote a pre-OT3 story for Sleuth, and named Dangerous Knowledge as their story's inspiration!

I am totally fine with being the founder of Sleuth OT3 fanfic. ;-) Although I honestly don't know how fans have been avoiding writing stories about these three all along.

In less good news, RL has surprised me with a major illness that will be taking up a lot of my time the next weeks (maybe months, we'll see). Ack. I mean, it could be much worse, and I'm looking on the bright side as much as possible. But still.

2020, right?

Here is a random Something Wicked Snippet, to celebrate the story reaching first draft stage!

"It's okay. I have a plan." Zhao Yunlan carefully detached her hand from his arm and gave her his best reassuring smile. He didn't think it entirely worked, but that was the benefit of being the boss. You got to do stupidly risky things, and wiser heads didn't have the authority to stop you.

Da Qing followed him into the entrance hall. He shifted into his human shape to hold the door as Zhao Yunlan wheeled his bike outside. For a long, disorienting moment, the cat's form went out of focus before his eyes – or was obscured by another form: Da Qing with long hair, wearing the robes of a cat tribe warrior and the fed-up, mulish expression common to every cat of every age. "So I guess I have no choice but to go with you to your stupid mountains," rang an echo of something that had never happened. "You're only going to fall down some ravine if I let you go alone, you dumb human."

"I'm going with you," his cat was saying now, hair short and stylishly tousled, glaring with worry. "You're bound to fuck things up if I let you out of my sight, you dumb human."

Comments

[clevermanka]

Congratulations on sending your fic to beta! WHAT A GREAT FEELING and also eeeee! New fic eventually incoming!

The RL illness sounds distressing. Good luck and hope it's not as bad as it might be?

[rheasilvia]

OMG yes, I am so, so glad. :-) I won't even tell you how much time I spent editing that monster - it's insane.

Yeah, the illness is pretty sucky. Sorry about the vagueness, I don't mean to be mysterious... maybe I'll just post a brief round-up once it's all over.

Thank you! <3

[clevermanka]

Be as vague as you want! Your health is your business.

[rheasilvia]

At this point I don't really want to talk about it much, hence the vagueness. ;-) Ah well.

[maggie33]

I'm sorry to hear about your illness. I hope things will get better soon.

But congratulations on finishing the fic. And that snippet sounds intriguing. :)

[rheasilvia]

Thank you!! <3 It's been a weird few weeks, for sure. It'll probably be another weird few months, realistically, but hopefully it will be done with after that.

Heee, I am glad the snippet sounds interesting. :-) I am so incredibly glad to finally feel as though this story is more finished than not... here's hoping!!

[riventhorn]

I hope the illness isn't too serious and that you get better soon!

[rheasilvia]

Thank you! I'll make some kind of brief round-up post once the entire thing is behind me... I'm not being intentionally mysterious, I just don't feel like talking about it while it's ongoing, if that makes sense.

[extrapenguin]

Congrats on the full first draft of the Guardian WIP! It's always exciting to reach that point. Wrt the illness, I wish you a swift recovery.

[rheasilvia]

Thank you, it really is a huge relief! I mean, whether or not it can be read and understood (let alone enjoyed *g*) by anyone has yet to be determined, but at least I've finally *finished* the damn thing in some shape or form.

And thank you for the good wishes, too!

[sylvanwitch]

Congrats on finishing your WiP draft and on the podfic--Yay! for good news!

I'm sorry to hear about your illness and hope that you're out the other side of it and healing as soon as that's possible. *hugs*

[rheasilvia]

Yay indeed! I was so happy about the podfic - it was a really wonderful surprise. And I am also so happy about the story draft!! I've been plugging away at that thing for over a year (with looong pauses), and it's such a relief to finally have something to show for all that. :-)

I mean, it may well have to be overhauled in a big way before it can actually be called a proper story, but hey. ;-)

And thank you for the good wishes!! Yeah, I really look forward to being on the other side of this. Argh.

[geeklover80]

I'm sorry about the illness! Glad you're looking on the bright side and I hope you recover as fast as possible!

Stacey

[rheasilvia]

Thank you!! At this stage I mostly try not to think about it, and just take it as it comes. I look forward to having it all behind me!

I hope you're doing well! <3

[ranalore]

Congratulations on finishing the fic! 30k, omg. Anything in the double digits, my mind boggles.

I'm sorry to hear about the illness. I hope it passes as swiftly as possible, and leaves you fully recovered on the other side.

[rheasilvia]

I am so extremely glad - I wasn't sure the story would ever get finished for a while, and that would have been so sad because I already piut enormous amounts of effort into it. Plus it's kind of near and dear to my heart...

So I suspect there will be lots of editing ahead, but at least now I feel that yes, it WILL see the light of day. ;-)

Thank you for the good wishes, I really hope so too! <3

[xparrot]

Yay for the fic! That's awesome, and I'm so curious about it 😊

And sorry about the illness, hope it gets past as soon as possible.

[rheasilvia]

Yay indeed, I am so relieved! I was afraid it would never get finished for a while there, and I'd already put so much work into it - plus it's one of those stories that I really wrote because I want to read it, and other authors persist in not writing it. ;-) No doubt there will need to be a lot of changes before it is generally comprehensible, but I have high hopes it will be postable in the not too distant future! (And if you have the time, could I possibly take you up on your kind offer to be a test reader...? I suspect this thing will need a lot of testing on unsuspecting victims... errrr, readers. *g*)

And thank you!! I hope so too, re: illness... I look forward to having it all behind me, and in the meantime I do my best to repress it. ;-)

[xparrot]

Reaching "the end" is always such a triumphant feeling, and all the moreso when it's been a while coming!

I would love to test-read! Though, um, how fast a turnaround would you be hoping for? Life is busy and not relenting all that much, so I'm not quite sure about my availability at any given time. But I'm definitely interested~ (Though -- this is me being a total wuss, but if it doesn't have a happy ending I'd not be a good choice for a reader ^^;)

[rheasilvia]

No worries, it definitely has a happy ending! In fact, looking back, I don't actually think I've ever written a story that had an unhappy one. If that means I'm a wuss, then I'm owning it! ;-)

It's not urgent, either! I am visiting my mother at the moment and have very limited PC/internet access, so I won't be able to edit the story at all until next week. Depending on how much needs to be changed, I'd hope to have it ready maybe mid-week? And then we'd just see. This story has been in progress for a long time - there's no call for making it race through the final stretch.

It's just a weird and confusing story, and as the author I am far too close to it to be able to see it properly anymore, so your opinion on whether it makes sense (and any helpful hints that might occur to you) would be enormously useful! <3

[xparrot]

Hee... I've written sad endings on a occasion but it's not as bad to write them because I can fix them in my head. But reading them, nope nope. And for Guardian I can't even write them, the canon has more than enough tragedy for me 😝

I am so curious about this fic of yours! I'll pm my email to you and your can send it on whenever 😄

[umadoshi]

Yay for having your fic off to beta! *^^* "not an AU although it definitely seems like one" is intriguing!

I hope your health improves as quickly and smoothly as possible. *hugs*

[rheasilvia]

There is definitely a lot of YAY! :-) And the AU situation really is complicated... maybe I will just declare it an AU to be less confusing, we'll see! :-)

Thank you!! *hugs back* Yes, I hope so too... this year, seriously.

[torch]

I want you to be as well as well can be, but you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Instead I'm going to cheer about the story -- it's such a triumph to get something finished enough for a beta reader to poke at it! (And hopefully tell you not to be daft and it is indeed a story and a fine story at that and here are some small suggestions, etc.)

[rheasilvia]

Thank you!! I think I will post an update once it is all behind me - I don't mean to be all mysterious, I merely embrace the "repression is your helpful ally" mentality in some ways. ;-)

This story has been a bear to write, so I am seriously so relieved it looks as though it will actually be completely finished at some point in the not-too-distant future. And yes, there are definitely going to be suggestions, I think - but I do also hope for reassurance that the story can indeed be brought to a generally readable state. ;-)

[laireshi]

First draft, yay! And I love the snippet :D

I hope the illness goes away soon.

[rheasilvia]

Yay, I'm glad it sounds interesting - and I really look forward to having the revisions done, too, and declaring this thing finished at last. It's been quite a while. :-)

Thank you, I hope so too! <3

[marycrawford]

Oh that unmoored feeling of "is this a story or a scarf for elephants" - yes, that sounds familiar, and bless the beta who can tell you that yes it IS a story. Which I have no doubt about, personally, but I know what it's like from the other side. Hooray, you finished! Boo, go away illness!

Also always here for DQ calling ZYL a dumb human and saving him from himself. <3

[rheasilvia]

LOL, a story or a scarf for elephants! That's lovely - I haven't heard that before, and will definitely try to remember it. Indeed, I do think this particular story may have some scarf-like traits about it... maybe the kind of scarf that's just a big loop, which always confuses me. ;-)

Sadly, Da Qing finds it very necessary to frequently remind his dumb human of how hopeless he is without the kind help of a cat. He chose a particularly difficult human, alas. But what can you do?

<3

[marycrawford]

Hee, I think the scarf for elephants is my personal weird idiolect, so no wonder you haven't heard it - it just seems to sum up that mental state for me at the very end of a draft, where I'm in vague despair and don't know if what I have made is a story or something endless (or a big loop, as you say!) and full of holes and weird threads sticking out and just...maybe an elephant could wear it? And usually it's not nearly as dire as all that, i just have no perspective at that time.

And I've no doubt whatsoever that your story is great and I look forward to reading it!

[unrelaxing]

First of all, congratulations on the first draft! That's exciting - and the snippet! Makes! It! Even! More! Exciting!!

I'm sorry to hear about your health, and hope your recovery is smooth sailing as much as possible, and that you stay safe in the meantime. 2020 is tough.

[rheasilvia]

Thank you - it really is exciting, after all this time! :-) I had all but given up on this story a few times, so having it near completion is a huge relief.

Yeah, 2020 sucks... I hope to put this all behind me as quickly and smoothly as possible. Sigh.

I hope you're doing well!! <3

[naye]

Congrats on sending the fic off to beta and OMG I am having a LOT of feelings about that snippet. These two...!

[rheasilvia]

Icon sibs! :-)

I am so glad that this story looks like it will be finished, after all - it was in progress for so long I'd all but given up on it a few times. Phew. :-)

Poor Da Qing, he adopted his human when he was barely more than a kitten and couldn't tell how much trouble he was going to be. What is a cat to do but to keep reminding his human that he is utterly hopeless without the kind aid of a cat!

[jo_lasalle]

Congratulations on finishing fic! Always such a relief!

I'm up to episode 21 with the sleuth and I'm glad there is fic out there for when I finish. :-)

I'm sorry you got whammied with health stuff - my best wishes!!!

[rheasilvia]

It really is a huge relief! I'd almost given up on this story a few times, so seeing it so near to completion is wonderful. Now I just have to get it into readable shape... should be a snap. Errrm. ;-)

Heeee, I'm very glad you're enjoying Sleuth! Do you see the OT3, too?

Yeah, the health stuff sucks. Thank you for the good wishes; at this point I just hope to put it all behind me as quickly and smoothly as possible...

[jo_lasalle]

I can see the basis for the OT3, yes. It hasn't swept me up at this point - the shippiest moments were between soldier dude and sleuth dude - but I can definitely see the outlines! (Episode 24 right now and curious where the rest will go!)

[tinny]

I've long since reached the stage where I can't tell whether the story works in any way, so I can't speak to the quality - it's possible it's completely confusing and incomprehensible. But I am so glad to get it into some kind of finished state. It's been over a year with this thing. Seriously.

The trials of long stories. /o\ But YAAAAAY for getting it 'done'!


*HUGS*


I love the superimposition of the two Da Qings! This sounds like a very interesting story! <3

[rheasilvia]

YAYYY indeed! :-) I think the biggest issue was that I just completely stopped writing for long. long months, and also that I interrupted writing this story by writing a few others (and not finishing all of them, either). But! Now it is almost done. Phew. :-)

*hugs back*

I really hope it will be interesting, rather than (say) hopelessly confusing. We shall see! :-)

[china_shop]

Coming to this very belatedly, sorry, but:

You guys. I have finally brought one of the three Guardian WIPs of Doom to first draft, and sent it to solo.

WOOOHOOO! That is awesome (and inspirational)!!! YAY YOU!!! *showers you with achieviness sparkles*

and the fed-up, mulish expression common to every cat of every age.

Heeeee! And the echoing of past and future! ♥___♥ *anticipates*

[ariunderscore]

sorry for dropping in on you, but I just saw that your tumblr seems to be sending spam posts - I have no idea if you're still using it, but thought you'd want to know?

https://rheasilvia.tumblr.com/post/653199654081691648/issabella-svmadelyn-irisbleufic-arireadsstuff