Audience of Strangers

Yanked from harald387, here (his has the numbers still in, handy if you want to do this yourself). Links of names in the list are to pictures.

Choose twelve of your original characters in any particular order, without looking at the questions under the cut. Then answer the questions.

1) Mallory Manson
2) Melianthe Blackmoor, Mistress of the Mystic Arts
3) Sam Murdock
4) Velvet van Sloane
5) Jack Hollow
6) Zed Torrain
7) Astrid Iysekch
8) Bloody Boots
9) Staples Peterson
10) Tulsa Andrakis
11) Epworth
12) Jenny Spikestones

You know, I left out Black Shuck for this, on the theory that he is not *technically* an original character, but merely a figure from folklore that I was geeking madly and writing stories about at age... hrm... seven. So this had better be good.

( No peeking at the questions untill you've whipped up that list, unless you're not going to do the meme. )

Out of here in less than 24 hours. For a wonder, Marcon is about the furthest thing from my mind. (I did the pre-reg. Were they supposed to send me anything that confirmed that? I think not.)

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falseidoru writes some beautiful stuff. Read her latest.

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( Mad cut. My manners. )

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For tomorrow (now today): find and collect all paperwork. Pack. Buy last-minute supplies. Friday's strip. /Quite/ pages. Uploads. US cash.

Pre-Hallowe'en party. Card games. Some neat people.

I understand the importance of maintaining a detached and neutral attitude in political discussions--this is not to say it's necessary, merely frequently helpful--but when someone says they'd vote against Bush but they hope he gets in because he'll fuck up the US and it'll be good for the Canadian economy I have brief and transient fantasies of shotguns which are not duct-tape covered props.

Someone I hadn't seen in years asked me how I'd been, and it kind of all just hit me at once--graduated, got job, dead parent, murderously intense jealousy, thousands-of-dollars worth of sick cat, sister opened store, three-day ST confidence fuck-up, moved parent, landlord squabbles, repainting apartment, lost job[1], imminent roommateness of SO--and I couldn't think of anything to say. I have his e-mail, I will get in touch with him.

This whole future thing is terrifying me. I'd prefer an oncoming train--what worries me is the long slow slide away of time and energy and focus until I wake up at thirty-two and realize I never picked anything to focus on and my chances are gone and my leeway's used up and I'd better stop this silly flitting around with daydreams of being an artist and get my sorry ass into a cubicle. Or two.

Someone I hadn't seen in months told me I was going to write a wonderful book someday. I think that was the highlight of the party timespan for me, really. He's rather prone to extravagent confidence in other people, and I'm quite sure he was under the influence, but it was very good to hear.

NaNoWriMo in twenty-one-and-a-bit hours. Tried to rework things a bit on the outline, got bogged down, will refocus after sleep. I'm spending far too much damn time worrying about picking a gender for Brice and Kelly; Zed's always been female, Morgan really has to be male, and while it doesn't matter for Whisk I don't really see any reason to change her. Stupid oversensitive sociopolitical conscience...
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[1] Yeah, okay, not lost. More like casually not-renewed.

Working on the general theory that dammit, if I start writing, I'll at least get more done than I would if I never did...

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( Darkness rose in the east. )

Clearing out old files (my god, did I ever think the G&S filk on trolls was new?), and ran across something I wrote back in early August of 1999, either the 9th or the 10th...

( Just in passing. )

I think I've found a decent description for WHN. Now I just need a name to go with it...

pokes randomly at dictionaries for a few moments, looking for linguisitic origins and synonyms of water. runs across:

v. wa·tered, wa·ter·ing, wa·ters
v. tr.
3. To dilute or weaken by adding water: a bar serving whiskey that had been watered.

Whisk. Very good.

I was reading this article, and came to two depressing realizations:

(1) She's right.

(2) I don't have a hero worthy of my villain. Dammit, I'm not sure I have a hero.

Zed is noticeably lacking in qualities right now. I have a fairly definite idea of her personality, but not so much what drives it. And the necessity of keeping her ignorant for much of the story is extraordinarily limiting.

Brice and Kelly have both personalities and qualities, I think--but they're not the central figures. They can oppose my villain, but they're unlikely to strike any common notes. WHN and Zed strike common notes, but they're ignorant enough of what's going on that much of the potential's dropped.

I think I need to reread Dracula; the Count is a great villain, and about the only thing he has in common with Our Heroes is being a dead white male.

More random thoughts... Common elements are what? The supernatural? The inhuman/archetypal nature, tethered to a human form? Play up what you lose by surrendering to the archetype, maybe... Can I build common elements with the heightened weight of meaning actions get given, as it kicks over to a situation where superstition becomes cause and effect? And can I do that without it turning into an "I zot you with X power!" story/resolution?

Brice, common elements: education, understanding, philosophical understanding of the world? Kelly: idealism, god help us?

Bother. I'm gonna go think about the twins for a bit.