NaNo: The Day of Excuses
Nov. 22nd, 2009 01:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenconversesWord Count: 34,106
I'm behind by about 2,500 words, I think. I didn't write anything on Thursday because I drank a bit and then couldn't focus the rest of the night. Didn't do much on Friday, either, because my roommate had people over to drink and they didn't leave until like 11ish. Plus, I made icons. I have my excuses and I'm not afraid to use them!
I am a bit worried that 34K in, and I haven't gotten anywhere near the important plot points yet. Probably because I'm stuck in the middle and keep dragging out scenes that don't need to be extended.
I have discovered that when I'm stuck, inserting Nico into any scene will guarantee me at least 300 extra words. Plus, it's never not fun to write all the characters' OMG NICO WTF YOU'RE A CREEP reactions.
Instead of a selection today, I want to do another meme! I've seen this one floating around the last couple of weeks, so let's have a go at it.
Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.
I'm behind by about 2,500 words, I think. I didn't write anything on Thursday because I drank a bit and then couldn't focus the rest of the night. Didn't do much on Friday, either, because my roommate had people over to drink and they didn't leave until like 11ish. Plus, I made icons. I have my excuses and I'm not afraid to use them!
I am a bit worried that 34K in, and I haven't gotten anywhere near the important plot points yet. Probably because I'm stuck in the middle and keep dragging out scenes that don't need to be extended.
I have discovered that when I'm stuck, inserting Nico into any scene will guarantee me at least 300 extra words. Plus, it's never not fun to write all the characters' OMG NICO WTF YOU'RE A CREEP reactions.
Instead of a selection today, I want to do another meme! I've seen this one floating around the last couple of weeks, so let's have a go at it.
Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 05:43 pm (UTC)Okay, it wasn’t completely romantic because Nico kept making gagging noises in the background, the New Jersey Port of Authority was yelling at them through megaphones from at the base of the statue, and the media helicopters kept making passes with glaring spotlights, but having Annabeth in his arms and the view of New York City at night more than made up for it.
“Sorry I was late for prom,” Percy muttered, swaying her slowly around so she could get a better view of the city.
THIS.
THIS.
By what stroke of genius did you write this? I REALLY want to know where your brain comes UP with this stuff, because fjdhcsiuhkjfr. I don't think it could be possible that there's a more perfect Percy/Annabeth snippet. I mean, really? It's like you called up Rick Riordan and was like, "Yo, Rick, my homey! So, can you, like, write me this perfectly romantic Percy/Annabeth scene that's not so romantic it's sappy, but romantic enough, and yet totally contains that tongue-in-cheek hero humor that keeps us all hooked on your books?" And he was like, "Sure,
And wow, that was kind of long-winded. But.
Commentary!
Date: 2009-11-22 10:14 pm (UTC)This scene is basically the resolution to the fight Percy and Annabeth had earlier, which was, essentially, about the wackiness that controls their lives. Even though they both kind of hate that they can't be normal, they both realize that being normal sucks and they just need to embrace the wackiness to be happy. Also, I needed a romantic scene to make up for the brief, OMG THEY'RE BREAKING UP? heart attack I might've given readers in the middle.
I think the slow dancing on the Statue's head came about because I couldn't figure out how to get the three of them down from there, actually. The fact that Nico could shadow travel must have escaped me while I was writing, but anyway, in my mind, the three of them were just sitting there, huffing and puffing, and trying to figure out how to get down without the mortals noticing. Well, Annabeth and Nico were, but Percy was actually more worried about how he was going to get back to the prom in time to keep his promise about owing Annabeth a dance because she was still sort of mad at him...and then it hits him that they're on top of the Statue of Liberty's head with a fantastic view of the city, so why the hell do they need to go to their school gym to dance? Paper mache decorations, other awkward high school couples, and a bad DJ would be a terrible way to end the night they'd just had.
So he asks her, just sort of in an off-handed kind of way, and Annabeth gives him that look like she's pretty sure he's gone insane, but gets up anyway because he's just being Percy and she can't say no to him when he's being earnest, even if she's annoyed with him. Nico makes some sarcastic comment, but they both tell him to shut up so they can dance.
I added the "Nico gagging in the background" line as a last minute thing because I'd forgotten that Nico had been involved with the fighting at all, and realized he had disappeared somewhere in the middle of the fic. Everything else I just threw in there because a.) I think sea monsters attacking the SoL would be pretty hard for the mortals to ignore, even with the Mist, because you don't just mess with Lady Liberty and b.) to add some more humor so it wouldn't be completely sappy.
Percy needed to apologize for being late at some point too, and that seemed to be a pretty good point to wrap up the fic and come full circle to the way it started. By that point, Annabeth's no longer mad at him because how on Earth could you still be mad at your boyfriend while you're slow dancing on top of the Statue of Liberty?
The tl;dr version: I wrote this scene because I clearly want Percy to be my hapless and clueless boyfriend and do something this awesome.
Re: Commentary!
Date: 2009-11-23 06:32 am (UTC)And yes, I will take prom on top of the Statue of Liberty any day.
In conclusion, that scene needs to be canon, y/y.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 03:11 am (UTC)Percy comes out of the kitchen, wearing nothing but his sweatpants and munching on an apple, when he looks at her sitting on the couch, and asks, “You wanna get married today?”
This is the last thing she expects to hear from him, and it startles her momentarily.
Annabeth sets the newspaper down and just stares at him.
“Did I just hear what I thought I did?” she asks, pushing her reading glasses into her hair. “Because you did just ask me if I wanted to get married today, right?”
Casually, as if their whole future together was not hanging in the balance by his answer, Percy nods and takes another bite of his apple.
“Yeah. So you wanna do it?”
Annabeth stares at him uncomprehendingly. They haven’t mentioned anything about the subject of marriage in the last couple of months – they haven’t even talked engagement yet and she knows he most certainly does not have a ring. Percy is sort of lacking a fair amount of common sense, but this is just ridiculous.
“Do you even know what you’re asking, Seaweed Brain? Because normal people in a relationship just don’t up and decide to get married one morning,” Annabeth replies, feeling the beginning of a panic creeping up on her. “They plan these things out because there has to be announcement and cake needs to be ordered, and they need to invite people, and they have to get dresses and ties and tuxes and – ”
“I’m not asking for a wedding; I just want to get married,” Percy interrupts, still too infuriatingly calm for her liking. “Think about it for a second, Annabeth. Is there any real reason why we can’t married today?”
Momentarily jogged out of her panic, Annabeth leans back into the sofa and really does think about it. She and Percy are both out of college and have stable jobs; they’ve been living together for almost three years, and they’ve been a couple even longer than that. Even though they haven’t really talked about marriage, she knows they just assumed that one day they would wind up that way …
Annabeth glances out the window, where the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful bright blue. It’s a gorgeous spring day outside, exactly the sort of day she would have liked to have on her wedding day.
Sighing reluctantly, she throws her hands up in the air and says, “Fine. Let’s get married today, Percy.”
-
ALL RIGHT--GO.
~GOING~
Date: 2009-11-23 03:41 am (UTC)The reason I love this scene so much more than the others and probably the reason it gripped me right away was because I based it on how my parents got engaged. When I asked my mom how my dad proposed to her, she gave this sardonic little laugh and said there was no "traditional" proposal. After a couple of months of dating, he just turned to her one day and said something along the lines of, "So, are we going to get married or what?" This story of theirs has always stuck with me, not because it's particularly romantic (because it totally isn't, but that's my dad for you), but because it's just so real - and I wanted to give Percy and Annabeth that same kind of realism.
Percy's kind of like my dad in the sense that there's no way he'd get away with doing something traditionally romantic like proposing on one knee - he's just not that guy and I think Annabeth would just laugh in his face if he tried. Percy just goes with the flow and when he does something, he does it because it just feels right.
And I really didn't think Percy and Annabeth needed all the pomp and circumstance that goes with a traditional wedding. Out of everything that's happened in their lives and their relationship, a wedding wouldn't be for them -- it'd be for everyone else. This scenario just makes it all for them.
At the beginning of the scene, he's most likely just gotten out of the shower or out of bed, and he's having mid-morning breakfast when he spies Annabeth sitting in the living room. I imagined he would just see her sitting there, reading a paper and just being Annabeth, and be struck by the fact that he really, really wants to spend the rest of his life with her, and he wants to start today. He knows that he's going to freak her out by asking this because Annabeth likes plans, but he also knows that there's no way she'll say no because, duh, she loves him. By now, he's been able to work out how to get the response he wants from Annabeth and that's by poking as many holes as he can in her logic.
I think Annabeth's are pretty clear throughout this scene - she mostly thinks Percy's gone a bit insane - but one thing I didn't make clear but was thinking of the entire time I was writing it was that the only reason that Annabeth agrees to Percy's insanity is because she has nothing better to do that day, ahaha.
Stuff.
Date: 2009-11-23 09:20 pm (UTC)“Bah,” Hades said, waving his hand dismissively, as if dooming a young girl to a horrible fate as a mummy in outdated clothing was a trivial matter.
“ – and who could be a better bodyguard than someone who can see death coming? Besides, his kids are known to be pretty asexual anyway. Something about being around death all the time that kills off the sex drive, plus they're not the most attractive people in the universe…no offense meant, Uncle. I don’t expect to have any problems with him.”
(Am I sensing one-sided Apollo/Rachel vibes or is that totally my imagination? Because he and Cassandra didn't work out so well, either.)
Re: Stuff.
Date: 2009-11-23 11:06 pm (UTC)This selection occurred because I needed to have Apollo address the fact that he'd be letting a 20-year-old single male live with the Oracle and that it could potentially be a bad thing. Apollo hasn't paid much attention to Nico; he knows who he is, obviously, but so far, Nico hasn't done much to get on his radar. He's basing all experiences with prior children of Hades on how Nico will react, and based on that, he doesn't think that Nico could possibly fall in love with Rachel because, in his experience, children of Hades don't love and that Nico couldn't possibly compete with him for Rachel's attention in any way, shape or form.
Of course, he's wrong, and he'll have to face that fact soon enough.
Also, I can say enough how much I enjoyed writing Hades throughout this scene. He's always my favorite god to write, aside from Mr. D.
Re: Stuff.
Date: 2009-11-23 11:23 pm (UTC)Re: Stuff.
Date: 2009-11-24 05:48 am (UTC)Now I'm really excited for the next chapter.
Re: Stuff.
Date: 2009-11-24 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-30 02:19 am (UTC)I think "In the Loop" was the first thing I read by you, and it was fantastic. I so want commentary on this last bit, because it includes one of the best last lines ever:
Like any good demigod worth his salt, Nico liked experimenting, especially when it yielded good results like having Percy’s hands in his jeans and on his ass.
He just hoped Annabeth wasn’t going to kick both their asses if she found out.
He must’ve expressed that wish out loud, because Percy chuckled against his neck and said, “This was her idea, Nico. You know how Annabeth likes experiments…”
All right, that settled it.
If he was missing out on sex and potential threesomes, Nico was going to find his way in the loop and build a goddamn house there.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-30 07:00 am (UTC)Anyway, this was the first fic I did in Nico's POV, so that was an experience. When I crawled inside Nico's head (yeah, that doesn't sound like creepy writer at all), his big thing was that he gets left out of everything and that everyone always forgets about him, so that's where the central theme and the title came from.
I like to have my fics, even short little one shots, come full circle from the beginning to the end, so I knew the last line would have the reflect the first a little. By the end, Nico knew what he was finally missing out on, so I think that's what added to the humor of it - just that desperate, "You people have been holding out me and I don't like it!" attitude he had throughout the fic.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-30 07:10 am (UTC)XD That so totally sounds like Nico, at least from my experiences in his head (ahaha, yeah, we're such creepy people, us writers!). He is totally not cool with being left out, and seriously "D:" at anyone when they do it!
<3