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14 August 2013 @ 12:08 pm

Nothing wants to finish. Or start.

Boy, my Idol story is due tomorrow on the topic of "Unwind," which was my own prompt and which I had an idea for when I submitted the topic... but having started the story, I worry that it's too techie. Or dry. Or something. It would have been fine around Week 5, but I'm not sure it'll cut it in the Top 14. *sigh* Any and all suggestions are welcome at this point. :( Traded prompts with

lrig_rorrim, though I would have otherwise probably gone with one of

alien_writings' awesome suggestions!

My daughter's birthday is today, and I'm putting the finishing touches on her cake. I feel as if my cake efforts are going backwards—this is just a straight frosting affair, and she picked "giraffe" for some reason and selected from the pictures of animated giraffes I was capable of making. The results are not TOO bad, except for the splotches. Something like inverted chocolate non-pareils would have made nice, uniform spots, but giraffes are not leopards and their 'spots' are not round. So, I have frosting splotches that look less like 'giraffe' and more like... those moles your dermatologist warns you about. o_O

Pictures later, but they will not be impressive—not like some of my previous work (click the "cakes" tag to see).

My son's birthday is in a week, and he has no idea what he wants so I have no idea what to get him! Fourteen is a difficult age, and now that he's outgrown LEGOs and has one single video-game obsession, um... \o?

24 comments | Say what you feel

24 comments —

( 24 comments — Say what you feel )

cislyn on August 14th, 2013 07:14 pm (UTC)

Wanna trade prompts? *wry smile* I've got "Where am I?", and I seized upon it super quickly thinking "oh, this has so many possibilities!"

Yeah. Too many possibilities. Sigh.

What is your son's single video game obsession? I might be able to make suggestions based on that (I do video gaming on a few different platforms).

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halfshellvenus on August 14th, 2013 07:22 pm (UTC)

Trading might be possible-- let's consider it!

My son's obsession is League of Legends. Alllll the time. He's forgotten everything else he ever loved. Yikes. He's playing that on his PC (we also have a Wii, and a PS2 that I will probably never get rid of);)

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cislyn on August 14th, 2013 07:33 pm (UTC)

:-/ Alas, I'm not familiar with that game. Might he be interested in a DS or other portable gaming system?

PS2s are the best. :)

I am quite willing to consider trading - I can flail against your topic just as easily as I can against mine. I've got half a dozen or more ideas for what to do with this thing, but none of them are sticking. On the other hand, we've both sunk some amount of time into trying to write for the ones we've got, and it might be better to stick with them - what do you think?

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halfshellvenus on August 14th, 2013 07:49 pm (UTC)

I have an idea for your prompt that I think I could write, AND I have an idea for my prompt that I think you would write better than I would. Up to you! But I'm willing to jump. :D

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alien_writings on August 14th, 2013 07:26 pm (UTC)
Unsolicited Advice! (feel free to ignore)

Maybe you can do something kind of...metaphorical? Like, not with actual physical displacement or confusion, but maybe...someone who was in outer space for a long time returning to their home planet. But because of time dilation they're not much older but everything's changed dramatically in their home?

I had an idea of someone travelling to the future only to find out their Future Self is married (to someone of the opposite sex) with a (biological) kid and the person is like "NO WAY IS THAT ME" because that is NOT a future they would have imagined (or wanted!) for themselves, thus leading them to think this isn't actually the future and asking "Where am I?"

In my opinion amnesia is almost too obvious for this topic, but I can almost imagine a story where someone faked amnesia as some kind of spy gambit or method of escaping from the law.

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cislyn on August 14th, 2013 07:36 pm (UTC)
Re: Unsolicited Advice! (feel free to ignore)

I <3 your ideas, and I always welcome advice.

I've played with ideas of confusion, amnesia, sleep problems, all kinds of things. Also, weird things like encountering an oracle who speaks out a labyrinth, teleportation accidents, a sacrifice to a monster waking up and finding things aren't all they seemed, and someone who never wakes up in the same place he went to sleep. The problem so far is that I don't have a *story* for any of them - that's always the hard part for me, finding the action and applying the verbs and having more than just a concept piece. I'll play with some of your ideas and see if I can get anything to go...

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alien_writings on August 14th, 2013 07:53 pm (UTC)
Re: Unsolicited Advice! (feel free to ignore)

You wouldn't happen to have any idea of anything I could write on, well, anything, would you? I am perfectly able to brainstorm for OTHER PEOPLE, but, as for myself, I've got nothin'. It's kind of sad, really. So...anything you would like to see, on an Idol topic, or anything else?

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cislyn on August 14th, 2013 08:41 pm (UTC)
Re: Unsolicited Advice! (feel free to ignore)

Quick ideas (because now I need to go and write on this shiny new topic, heh): I'd love to see something from a very strange POV, like an earth elemental or a cloud or something. Something close to home and yet very alien. Also, how about the prompt "controlled chaos". That sounds like something you could have fun with. :)

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alien_writings on August 15th, 2013 01:53 am (UTC)
Re: Unsolicited Advice! (feel free to ignore)

I didn't end up using your prompts (this time), but I wrote a thing. So that's good. :)

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alien_writings on August 14th, 2013 07:19 pm (UTC)

Unwind? Fate (including romantic fate) is often compared to a string or thread of some sort, so maybe a story about someone fated for a soulmate they don't LIKE and trying to get out of that? Evil aliens who want to take over the planet by making everyone lose their minds, thus "unwinding" their sanity? Time travel by "unwinding time" to save a loved one from dying -- when the life saving results in an even WORSE disaster? Speaking of loved ones, someone brewing a love potion of sorts designed to "unwind relationships" and break up couples instead of getting them together? Possibly with the same potion-maker making the "unwound" couples hook up with other people, maybe ones they would never be interested in normally?

My glowing brain has romance on its mind with this topic for some reason. I hope these ideas help spark something for you!

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halfshellvenus on August 14th, 2013 07:31 pm (UTC)

Your glowing brain is like some sort of crystal ball, except that it holds possibilities instead of futures! It's like a magic 8 ball that actually HAS answers. :D

I'm seriously pondering these now. I tell you, if we don't trade prompts then one of these is much more likely that the lame things I've got lying in the corner going nowhere right now!

Thanks so much. You are more awesome than you probably realize!

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cislyn on August 14th, 2013 07:48 pm (UTC)

*nods* My first inclination seeing "unwind" was something to do with time travel, because of course it was. Or something to do with a weird mechanical animal that needs a key to be wound up - like a metal bird that sings strange hypnotic songs, created unwittingly by some master craftsman, or a massive clockwork elephant in a zoo after some ecological disaster. Or something. I don't know. All these ideas are also free for the taking. :)

I... have an idea for mine... I'm not sure if it'll work out any better than the dozens of other ideas I've had and rejected but I'm willing to try to write it, since it's sitting up insistently and asking me to do so.

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alien_writings on August 14th, 2013 07:56 pm (UTC)

Thanks!

Right now, my glowing brain has...nothing for ME, which is weird. It's in "temporarily dead" mode in that area, which is, as you can imagine, NOT a pleasant mode. If you have anything you would like to see me write (on an Idol topic or anything else), that would be cool, lol. My brain may have lots of ideas, but it doesn't want to help itself for some reason...brains are weird, I tell ya!

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halfshellvenus on August 14th, 2013 08:40 pm (UTC)

For your fictions, maybe "I remember when..." -- when things were better, different, a special moment in the character's life or between two of the characters.

Or "Never Again," "Betrayed/Betrayal," "This Time For Sure!" "Moonlight", "Fugitive."

Do any of those kick something off?

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alien_writings on August 15th, 2013 01:52 am (UTC)

I wrote a thing. :)

It's based on one of your prompts, but I don't want to say which one.

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adoptedwriter on August 14th, 2013 11:04 pm (UTC)

Happy Birthday to your daughter! AW

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halfshellvenus on August 15th, 2013 12:00 am (UTC)

Thank you! Sweet 16, so the giraffe cake is anyone's guess (other than that she's tall, and volunteered at the zoo this summer). :D

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n3m3sis42 on August 14th, 2013 11:16 pm (UTC)

Awwww, that's funny about the melanoma!giraffe cake. I'm sure it will taste good either way, though. Happy birthday to your daughter!

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halfshellvenus on August 15th, 2013 12:00 am (UTC)

I am totally hoping my daughter will not notice the scariness of the blotches, and instead think "Cool, extra frosting!"

Thanks for the good wishes!

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sweeny_todd on August 15th, 2013 03:20 am (UTC)

*nodnodnod*

giraffe spots are hard to do

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halfshellvenus on August 15th, 2013 03:56 am (UTC)

I don't think I'd even be especially good at drawing them, but frosting-over-frosting, it can be hard to control the spread and bleed! Again, of the splotche and not of a dangerous mole. Though they sound the same, don't they? :O

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tsuki_no_bara on August 15th, 2013 01:07 pm (UTC)

happy birthday to your daughter! and as long as the cake tastes good and the giraffe doesn't look like, i dunno, a yellow zebra, your decoration will be fine. besides, frosting. :D

also and totally unrelated, black hawk down is on right now. i think it's a bit too intense to be showing in the morning, but i'm watching it so i shouldn't complain. and man, are jason isaacs' eyes blue. O.O

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halfshellvenus on August 15th, 2013 05:33 pm (UTC)

and man, are jason isaacs' eyes blue. O.O

See? See?!? I never really noticed them when he had hair (brown OR blond), but when he's bald, boy-- that color is just intense.

I'm not really into bald guys, but that is a really good look for him. :O

Oh-- made it about 1/3 through your Big Bang on vacation before Idol madness kicked in again, but so far, so good! I fully intend to finish it. :D

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tsuki_no_bara on August 16th, 2013 02:25 am (UTC)

i think it's also because he spends most of the movie covered in dirt and grime and the contrast is especially striking.

i'm glad you like my bang so far! you can totally take your time finishing it - it's not going anywhere.

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