Nothing is True. Everything is Connected.
Tag: <span>Alien: Blog Post</span>

Tag: Alien: Blog Post

Sylum Advent: 2012 / Sylum Events0

Stories by Gil Grissom – Archived

*peers out from poofy fur*

 

I feel like a Tribble.

 

I did manage to prod my minion into uploading stories to the Sylum Archive.  The following can now be found on the Sylum Archive:

 

A Break in the Shadows

Of Bondings and New Beginnings

On the Shores of Cape Sounion

The Other Side of the Coin

The Perfect Gift

 

That brings all the past Advent stories up to date, with the exception of Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye, which is going through rewrites and edits, and will be up ASAP, after edits are done and it’s been beta-read.

 

NOTE ON PICSPAMS: Advent Calendar Picspams will be deleted as of the 15th of this month, as we begin to get the site ready for the upcoming Advent, so if you want these picspams, please go through and save the images/zip files to your computer. They will not be available after the 15th.

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Alien0

Project: 2013

As 2012 starts to come to a close, and I zap my owners with cattle prods to get them to finish up the odds and ends and edits of several stories scheduled to come out for this year’s Advent, I’ve already started looking toward the new year.

 

(points up…this is what Gil is doing right now)

 The biggest project by far is the next storyline for Border Clan, centered around Dom and Brian and their new Mate, Ronon. It will continue the storylines you will find threaded throughout many of the Advent fics of 2012, and will span a timeline of five to six years. I have ideas for the story that I’ve been lobbing at Gil’s head over the last couple of months, usually when she least suspects it.

 

Another story that will be written and likely posted during 2013’s Seven Days is the story of Don and Charlie Eppes, and how they managed to get themselves into a spot of trouble and ended up being turned. I was supposed to prod my Gil into writing this for Advent, but alas, she seems to think that school is of more importance than trying to squeeze in another long story among several others at the end of the year. I tried to get her to change her mind, but I ended up with this look:

 

I decided that in this case that it was probably better to leave it be and not risk getting my fur singed off from the fire coming out of her nostrils.

There will be more coming out for the Criminal Minds characters…I’m anticipating several stories, both timestamps and longer fics, coming out throughout the year, to move said chess pieces where they need to be for upcoming storylines. *cackles evilly*

I am also attempting to cajole Gil into working on some of the Old West stories, as well as the stories involving David Crockett and Daniel Boone, and the Magnificent Seven group. They’re beginning to insist on their stories being told as well, and well, most of them are kind of cute and tend to get naked at the slightest provocation, so I can totally get behind that.

It is likely there will be more from fandoms such as Hawaii 5-0, NCIS LA, and SGA as I prod my other owner into submitting to my will. I’m not sure exactly what I will be torturing her with, but we shall find out soon enough.

In July, at the Gathering, I will be combining forces with Bob, Bob 2, and several of their minions to continue plotting for future stories and solidifying timelines so that we are better able to hit our owners with new and altered storylines that will inevitably go epic.

Why do I get the distinct feeling that when the Bobs knock, the door will be answered and we will get this response?

 

 

Ah, well. Such is life, I suppose. Now if you will excuse me, Gil needs to resume her school work, and I need my nap so that in a few hours I will be fresh to clamp my razor sharp Wraith-teeth on her leg and get her to writing for tonight.

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Alien / The Bobs3

The Dreaded Curveball

There are a lot of things that can irritate an author when they’re working on a series, especially one that is as involved as Sylum. *looks at Gil’s glare and cackles evilly*

 

One of the bigger irritants is the dreaded curveball. What’s the curveball? It’s when something – usually a character, but sometimes a storyline – sneaks up and derails the story in some way. Sometimes it’s minor, such as a person just showing up when they weren’t supposed to, but doesn’t alter the story much. Sometimes it’s major, like when characters show up and alter an entire storyline that affects more than one arc, and you find yourself throwing out future stories and adding a dozen more. In other words, your story goes left or flips a U-turn when it should have gone right, and the writer is sitting there wondering what the hell just happened.

 

Why this subject? Because this has happened in the most recent story Gil is working on. A character was supposed to only make a small cameo, once the character was approved. Now? Well, now he’s horned in on the entire plotline, so Gil’s had to rearrange everything that was previously outlined to fit him in, and who the hell knows what else will change with the new additions. It will definitely change the group dynamic. Dread and excitement are pretty much present in equal amounts, because even I have no idea what’s going to happen.

 

*cackles gleefully again and watches Gil glare* What?

 

Anyway, Bob threw a curveball a couple of stories back when it was suggested (Oh, look, Gil is eyeing Nico pointedly) that Brian would look good in a military uniform. There was a lot of rearranging and adjustments to future stories and storylines that happened because of that. It’s actually done a lot for this storyline in Border, but boy, was it a pain in the ass to get it to the final draft. Even I had issues with it, and I was the one who lobbed the plotbunny at Gil’s head.

 

You don’t even want to know the trouble Bob and Bob 2 have caused for their writers.  *high fives Bob and Bob 2*

 

So what does a writer do when their bunny wranglers throw them a curveball? *tries to look innocent and fails utterly*

 

Honestly, just go with it. The thing is, if an idea comes up and it just clicks and it works, don’t fight it. In the end, it’s more than likely it’s going to make your story better, and if you try to stop it, to force your story a certain way just because that was the original plan, it’s not only going to be much more difficult to write, it’s very likely going to show in the final product, because it usually shows when you’ve written a story you really don’t want to write or don’t really believe in.

 

If it does end up you don’t like it, you can always backtrack and rewrite. Sometimes that happens. Even I have my off days, and things don’t turn out so well the first time, but the point is, with writing, you have to try things out, even if it means more work in the long run. You never really know what’s going to work, but if you really care about your story and want the best you can tell, you have to get in there and do the work: the writing, the editing, the rewriting…. Even when we’re evil and throw you the dreaded curveballs of doooooom.

 

*lobs a plot bunny at Gil and runs*

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Alien / The Bobs2

Alien’s Summer of Fun

*hops in with shades and a towel*

 

Hello, everyone. I saw that Bob was talking about what he was doing to torment BJ, and I thought I’d give you the inside scoop on what kind of torture I have in store for my owners.

 

First, there’s the next story for Border Clan, entitled Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye. It takes place in the early summer of 2006 and involves many of Border’s members. I’ve been jumping on top of Gil’s head daily to get more and more words written, and it’s coming along swimmingly if I may say so.

 

I’ve also started my annual poking for stories from Shep for Oceania Clan, most notably from the H50 and NCIS LA characters. She has no idea about the teeth-sharpening appointment I had a couple of days ago just especially for her. *cackles evilly and prepares to bite*

 

*coughs* Okay, where was I?

 

Oh, yes. I also have many fun things planned for Gil for the latter half of the year.

 

I’ve decided that Don and Charlie Eppes need to come out and play, and their story has to be told, and on the other side of the country, the men and women of the BAU will find themselves in a little bit of a windstorm soon enough.

 

Daniel Boone and David Crockett are getting most insistent that their own stories need to be told, and they’re tied up with the stories of other characters within Border, most notably Chris Larabee and Jason Doyle, who will be making his Border debut in Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye.  He’s been around for some time, but had been busy elsewhere until recently.  I fully plan to brand my taser and threaten her until she begins the detailed outlines for these stories.

 

I prodded Gil’s short timestamp that takes place after The Darkest Hour and manipulated it into becoming an at least 10k word fic. *rubs paws together with evil glee* That should teach her to ever think she can write anything short.  There is also a timestamp dealing with Dom, Brian, and their new Mate Ronon that takes place just before and during Evolution that I think needs to be written, just as soon as Evolution is complete. She will be hearing from me about this one soon.

 

I have many other bunnies that I can lob at Gil and Shep’s heads  at any given moment, when they least expect it, for so many characters. I’m also conspiring with the one I call Shadowdancer, the graphic muse that lurks in the dark recesses of the home, making her presence known without ever being seen. We have big plans for Gil. She has no idea what we’re planning, but it should be fun when she finds out.

 

Until then, a small snippet from Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye….

 

His arms flailed about for a moment before he managed to find purchase on her shoulders, and then he tried to shove her away, a movement that was as ineffectual as he feared. Still he continued to struggle against her, becoming more and more lightheaded, his meager attack on her lessening, until he couldn’t move his arms anymore.

 

His vision darkened until it was as if he were looking through tiny pinholes, and he could vaguely hear someone speaking, but his drifting mind couldn’t latch onto any of the words. So this is death, he thought to himself.

 

Then a splash of warm, metallic liquid splashed into his mouth briefly, making him gag, until his body kicked in and drank down what was offered. His mind remained in that vague nothingness until the liquid was gone, and he faded into the black.

 

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