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From what I can tell, Guardian approaches time the same way epic poetry does - that is, it almost always seems to be measured in numbers more notable for dramatic value than likelihood (ten thousand years! a thousand years! ten years! NOW!).

Even so, I've put together a timeline of the Special Investigation Department's history. Please be aware that it contains spoilers for the entire series.

( SID Timeline )

If you have any additions or I got something wrong, please let me know! I'd be very grateful for input on how much time passes between the SID-relevant events of the series itself, for one thing.

Alternately, tell me about your SID feels! :-)

The m/m novel the Guardian series is based on can be read online – most of it has already been translated into English. It has a large fanbase, and many Guardian fans enjoy both canons. However, before reading the novel as a fan of the series, it may be good to know one thing:

The Guardian novel is very different from the Guardian series.

If you decide to check out the novel, I would strongly recommend reading it as its own thing, entirely independent of the series. Because otherwise, things get weird. ( Text and pics behind the cut! )

Some pairings have potential names that are just so good.

Consider:
- Loki/Tony = Loony (what could be more fitting?)
- Brienne/Jaime = BJ (well duh)
- Kaner/Tazer = Kata (from a tantric discipline, of course)

Can you think of any others?

Parts of a plot idea have been stuck in my head for months, but they will not come together into something coherent. They will also not go away. Argh!

Warning: rambly meta with no real point ahead.

I've just come across an author warning for an amoral main character. The character in question is amoral in canon, so for a moment, it seemed odd to me that the adherence to canon characterization was considered warnings-worthy... but then, I realized that it actually isn't odd, but rather directly related to the prevalent fannish tendency to white-wash beloved characters of all their canon sins.

It's a time-honored fannish tradition to take a villain or an otherwise morally impeachable canon character and turn them into a misunderstood dear with a secretly white vest. It's happened in every fandom I've ever known that had a popular "bad" (or ambiguous) guy. I don't speak of the somewhat different fannish tradition of trying to fill the blanks canon leaves to create actual well-rounded characters; to ascribe reasons to actions; to provide the antagonist's point of view, and other such things. I also don't speak of working with a morally dubious canon character to turn him into a relatable, even sympathetic figure, despite his failings. I mean the actual white-washing of a character to absolve him of all sins.

In extreme cases, this white-washing can involve ignoring the canon character pretty much entirely. For example, I will never forget the fan who remarked that serial killing, sociopathic and sadistic character X was her favorite because she was just like him. She went on to explain this rather alarming statement by saying that X was very intelligent, and so was she. While X was very intelligent, it was hardly his defining trait; she might as well have said that she wore the same size shoes. However, the (canonically extremely unsubtle) sadistic, serial killing sociopathy fell to the wayside in the face of the fan's liking for the character, and all that remained for her was the positive trait of intelligence.
Disclaimer: X is also my favorite. Fortunately, however, I am nothing like him. I'm pretty sure we don't even have the same shoe size.

Long rambly story short: In the context of a fandom that is used to being shown a canonically amoral character as a fluffy white-vest-wearing bunny in fanfic, a warning for writing him as an amoral character does make sense.

Sorry for rambling. ;-)

Dear writers,

what is this pleasing scent of clean sweat that I've been stumbling across in so many sex scenes? Perhaps I am simply not enough of a connoisseur of perspiration, but I can honestly say that I have never smelled anything that I would consider both a clean scent and a sweat scent. So far, every time I personally have smelled sweat, it has been because it was laced with the pungent waste products of bacteria. In fact, I believe that perspiration itself has no scent, and it is only ever when it is not clean that it smells like anything at all.

Perhaps some women find the odor of sweat sexy, in moderation? Or certain strains of sweat-scents...? Or perhaps the "clean sweat" trope is merely intended to show that the character in question is athletic and/or physically active, and is not intended to allude to any actual scent at all?

Whatever the reason for the sudden infestation of clean sweat in my reading material, I am not a fan. I have a very sensitive nose and a very active imagination, so when I read something like, say, "Chad's athletic physique was redolent of soap, clean sweat and cologne, and Dirk sucked down deep draughts of air laden with the overpowering odor"...

Ugh. Instant mood killer. Go take a shower, Chad, you sweaty brat! Then we'll talk.

I've noticed this before: My characters seem to spend a lot of time in bathrooms, much of it traumatized.*

Wonder what other kind of odd tropes are hanging out in my stories. Hmm...


* J&R should thank their lucky stars that they're not in an X-Files story. Trust me, boys. This is nothing.

Today, I organized my epic.

Which epic, you ask? Oh, the one that started out as a short fling on my part with a fandom… and that somehow exploded into the longest fanfic novel I have ever written. And that isn't finished yet. (How do I get myself into these things? It's a long story. Not quite as long as the epic, though. *g*)

When an author's delusion she is writing a short story collides with burgeoning inspiration, the resulting writing process can be chaotic. But today, I have girded my loins and heroically waded into the fictional jungle, there to ruthlessly index, streamline and organize. As it turns out, the chaos wasn't nearly as bad as I feared – and now I totally have that epic's number. ;-)

( The Epic's Number(s) )

Phew.

Today, I bring to you something I'm sure nobody expected from me: a bit of writing meta. :-)


My usual writing method is very straightforward and methodical: I start at the beginning and keep writing until I get to the end.

It helps if I don't know too much about what happens along the way, but just let the story unfold as I write. This is because if I want to find out what happens next, I have a motive for writing;(  if I already know everything that happens, I tend to lose interest. )

So… Do any of you usually use the alinear writing method? How do you motivate and/or inspire yourselves when the time comes to go back to the beginning – or don't you need to? Do you have a different writing method altogether? Do you have any general tips and tricks on motivation and inspiration?


This is all related to the new quasi-fandom I mentioned in my previous post… I think that I will soon have to out myself completely here, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe I can interest some of you. :-)


But now for something completely different.

Have some Snape/Nazgûl slash: vulgarweed's "Black Is the Colour" reveals the secret of just where all of those villains shop for clothes anyway (Bram's of Carpathia: The Very Finest in Sinister Menswear, if you must know), what undead witch kings use as a pickup line, and many other things you will not want to miss.



* I've done this several times, once with a really long scifi novel that I still vaguely wish could be saved – but that I still have no idea *how* to save. (Besides which so much time has passed that I'd have to rewrite the entire thing anyway to adjust the main character – he's noticably from a different phase. *g*)