Junk Drawer of Crack

Old game flashback

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 02:38:35 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

Man, I hide things in the strangest places. Tonight, I was looking through some old fic documents (again), when what did I stumble over, but the Van Game. It still cracks me up!

I have to assume you remember the Van Game. Springing from my daughter mishearing the song lyrics to Papa Was a Rolling Stone, and barreling on from there; apparently I started collecting all the other lyrics we threw that van into, and then for some reason archived them on the same document housing a Olivier/Riza drabble. I can only assume I did this because I am a deeply flawed human being with all the organizational skills of a cyclone.

So here, have some vans.

Papa was a rolling stone, wherever he lay his hat was his home. And when he died, all he left me was a van.

And it's 1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, I'm gonna go drive my van.

All my vans are brown, and the sky is grey. I went for a drive on a winters day.

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your van?

Jeremiah was a bullfrog. Drove an old van of mine.

Goodness, gracious, GREAT VANS A-FIRE!

Ain't no drag- Papa's got a brand new van! HEY!

At first I was afraid, I was petrified. I thought I could never live without you by my side. But then I spent oh so many nights thinking how you'd done me wrong and I grew strong. Then I drove my van along.

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane. Ain't got time to take a fast van.

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Chevrolet van

Imagine there's no heaven, above us only sky... imagine all the people living in a van

Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a van of wealth and taste

I wanna drive your va-a-an

Sittin' on the dock of the bay, watchin' the vans drive away

We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Van

Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked, the way she acted, the color of her van

I'm a picker, I'm a grinner, I'm a lover and I'm a sinner. I play my music in my van

Wastin' away again in Margaritaville... some people say that there's a woman to blame but I know, it's my own van's fault.

Driving that train, high on cocaine. Casey Jones you better watch my van!

Devil went down to Georgia. He was looking for a van to steal.

Girls go crazy 'bout a sharp dressed van.

...and the jailer man and Sailor Sam were searching everyone, for the van on the run, van on the run...

How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a van?

I can see clearly now, the van has gone...

It's raining vans, Hallelujah, It's raining vans!...

I can't get no Van-isfaction

Well Frank Zappa and the Mothers were at the best place in town
but some stupid with a flare gun burned the van to the ground

Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a van song and make it better...

Up against the van, Redneck Mother

Don't let the van go down on me

Take my van, we'll make it I swear, Whoa-oh livin' on a prayer...

You can tell my the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's van, no time to talk

I'm a SOUL VAN! I'm a SOUL VAN!

I got vans, they're multiplying... And I'm losing control

...you better shape up, cos I need a van. And my heart is set on you...

Stand by your van! And show the world you love him.

Van on the rocks, ain't no big surprise. Pour me some gas and I'll tell you some lies...

Roxanne, you don't have to drive that van tonight...

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drive-by inspiration

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 20:51:28 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

Real quick post here, I was just trawling back through my 2018 paperjournal, in the course of an admittedly insane project to type up various entries from the Couch to 80k bootcamp, for future nefarious purposes.

Anyway, I stumbled over this excellent gem which has served me so very well the last couple years, and thought I ought to share it:

Quoting here from Tim Clare's blog, 13 May, 2004.

"...when you’re writing, trying to innoculate yourself against mistakes is a surefire means of putting your creativity in a coma. A better tactic would be:

What are 10 things that could happen next?

By which I mean, 10 mutually-exclusive things. The brain responds much better to a bulk demand than a request for a single right answer. Embedded in the question is the knowledge that at least 9 of the answers will be thrown away. That’s hugely liberating, and it stimulates the flow of ideas. You can go further:

What’s the dumbest fucking thing that could happen next? What’s the worst, most offensive thing that could happen? What are 10 other scenes in fiction I could steal from? What have I done before that I could repeat here?

By deliberately going for the stuff your rational mind tells you will be bad, you’re freeing yourself from the burden of producing brilliant ideas everytime. Instead, you can have fun. With each stupid, unworkable, rude idea, your creative mind will gain a little more bulk..."

You guys, no lie, this shit is lifesaving. So many times now, I've saved myself from a meltdown at a stuck spot in a story by going, "Alright, time out, just gonna list off the stupidest/awfullest/most ludicrous shit that could happen next." Alternate lists have included, "What is this character's fucking problem: anything goes", and "All possible & impossible things the narrator discovers down this evil well".

It doesn't matter whether you use anything from the Time-Out lists. What matters is that your idea and word-making machinery gets unstuck, that your brain limbers up, and the more you practice this silly exercise, the better you get at it.

On a side note, I'm looking to put a bunch of my lists and exercises up for adoption on the HitRecord remix community at some point, so that should be fun. Gotta type all that nonsense up first, though, so back to the salt mines with me.

Peace out, happy writing.

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Visual reference

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 18:25:09 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

O hai! Remember this lovely image, the one that kickstarted our Yakuza-verse? I just dug it up today, and it made me just as happy as it ever has.

No relevance to anything, really, but it's always nice to look at.

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Excerpts from Catboy Safety Meetings

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 16:55:24 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

- This month's Catboy Safety topic: Anticipating Accidents. That's a fic prompts if I ever heard one.

- Catboy safety meeting ARE YOU READY FOR THIS.

- How do you anticipate accidents with catboys.

- The catboys should look over their work area and make sure everything is ship shape. Chemicals properly labeled and stored.

- Personal protective equipment should be available and in proper shape. Malfunctioning equipment should be locked out from use.

-(Distracted by fantasy of catboys in hardhats and aprons.)

- If your catboy is to wear a respirator, make sure he's consulted with a doctor to make sure he doesn't have any respiratory problems, and that he's trained in the use of a respirator.

- If your catboy is working on scaffolding make sure he has a safety harness if necessary, and that the other catboys in the area are wearing the proper head protection. (see illustration: catboys in climbing harness and hardhats)

- Ok, so if a catboy slips at work, he needs to report it immediately to a supervisor so the cause of the slip can be addressed and no one else gets hurt.

- Also if the catboy is hurt or god forbid needs to see the Catboy Doctor, a report needs to be filed with Catboy Resources.

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Hello, random!

Sun, 16 Feb 2020 02:08:21 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

Submitted largely without context: a smattering of text messages I saved, for Reasons. Apparently. I don't recall those reasons just now, but I'm sure glad Past Me thought to preserve some of these. (I have more, these are just the ones I found already in a document; I'm too lazy to dig the others out of my paper journal right now.)

RANDOM TEXTS

-He is proud of it, and Roy does his best not to look down his nose at pre-fab furniture.
This one, I recall. It came from a conversation about Ed setting up a bunch of Ikea furniture in his new place, if I'm not mistaken.

-**commiserates** Honestly, there should be a support group for us. Oh, wait. That **is** us. ;D
I kinda feel like this one belongs on TFLN

-Tezuka was probably framed by implication, and too proud to argue his innocence. Maybe Mori just came to the library on Sat to study, since his brother was hosting a party of noisy middle schoolers at home.
No idea, but I WANT TO KNOW!

-Oh my god, it would be like a Hallmark mini series for the profoundly disturbed. XD. Arai and CatRoy present A Very Special Christmas Special.
*grabby hands*

-Cogitating ur algorthims, hee, man I am so saving that.

-And of course there's winsome CatRoy with ears and raggedy overalls & a little band-aid on his cheek to consider. :)

Our insanity is the best insanity. :D

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A Man and His Curse

Tue, 11 Feb 2020 00:12:11 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

In the interest of not losing everything in a comment swarm on one prompt post, I'm going to throw this thing up here, where we can prod it to our satisfaction without creating a total mess. Or something. Probably just moving the mess, but that will do for now.

( A Man and His Curse )

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Writing Games, Round 3: Pestering plots

Sun, 26 Jan 2020 05:38:12 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

Sometimes I get into a mood to invent these games, and then it's really hard to stop.
Fair warning, this new one is hot off the scribble-board, and I haven't test driven it yet. No idea how well it's gonna work.

This round is about taking a snapshot of a premise, just a hint of a plot, and shaking it until candy falls out. It's the kind of thing I'll sometimes do while in the shower, or driving home from work, or waiting on the microwave to give me food. It's not a thing I've ever tried to pin down and formalize though, so we'll have to see what happens.

Basically, these are all just fancy list exercises. You could answer them with lists of items, or a few descriptive sentences. Maybe you'll stumble over some character and atmosphere or backstory along the way, that would be fun.

**A note about the last two: that's when the whole thing started getting away from me. You could pick just one of the questions to answer, or have a go at as many as you want.

In fact, now I'm thinking about it, maybe you'll find you have some additional questions to ask of the scenario? That might be neat. And if you want to carry the game further and add some little plot snippets of your own, with questions, that would be awesome.

Remember: there's no wrong answers, no right answers. Don't think too hard; we're teasing stuff out of dreamspace, here. Also, you can have a lot of fun if you explore situations with all five senses.

Okay, let's do it.

( Read more... )

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Writing Games, Round 2: Pestering characters

Sun, 26 Jan 2020 03:07:58 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

So this entry includes 2 different types of Character Interview games. The first (borrowed from Andrew Cowan in "The Art of Writing Fiction": Exercise 33. Q&A Gimmick) is organized in such a way that it guides you up to the threshold of a scene, in a really painless way. The questions are contiguous, and all address the same narrator. I've run this exercise a few times when my brain was just a big staring blank, and there's things I like about it, along with things I don't so much like.

Give it a shot, see what you think.
( Read more... )

Now this second portion, is all the questionnaire prompts I came up with, in the course of tweaking things I found unsatisfactory about Cowan's exercise. (His Q&A is a great basis for all manner of tomfoolery; you might find considerable entertainment in cracking out your own versions.)

First off, this list is in no way meant to be contiguous. I just add to the damn thing at random, when the mood strikes me. So pick any questions, in any order. There's nothing saying you have to stick with the same character for all of them, either.

Maybe the character responds with a scene, a paragraph, or a sentence. The point of this is really to snapshot an imaginary person at a random moment, to catch them off guard and get them to respond off the top of their head.

I dunno about you, but I often get characters that just clam up at certain scenes, they balk terribly at giving me information I need in order to proceed with a story. I've been collecting all these questions partly for the sake of helping in those times when, to paraphrase Ray Bradbury, my Muse doesn't like me anymore.

But they can also be fun to kick around in times when you don't know what to write, or who to write about, or you're just trying to break the rust on all the creative machinery.

Answers could be serious, absurd, gonzo, full of melancholy yearning, or a grudging bare minimum of info. The way the information is conveyed might be more compelling than the answer itself. Who knows what you'll discover?

Ready? Set, go nuts:
( Read more... )

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In which I am evil

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 01:56:53 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

So.... found this ol' thing. I thought it would take some work to bring it to a point at which it could be posted, but then discovered that Past Me had already handled that. What's more, Past Me was wicked enough to leave it open-ended, so feel free to jump in if your spirit is so moved.

( Tezuka's wish )

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Who Is the Winter Bucky?

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:55:05 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

Just a character sketch, exploring Roy's newfound friend.

( Who Is the Winter Bucky? )

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So of course I found more...

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:48:13 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

....and I'm not certain if this is in the Winter Bucky arc, or from earlier in the story when Roy was still convalescing. In fact, I suspect the latter, since they seem to be more focused on making space in the attic and playing dress-up than finding blankets. Either way, it needs to live here. Definitely from when Roy was convalescing. I just found the first half, and am adding it now.

(and credit where it's due, this is Whimsey's work; I'm just coding it. Whimsey, Please let me know if I did it wrong; this is where the paragraph break issue comes in.)

( Roy and Ed and coats for keeps )

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Moar CatRoy and the Winter Bucky

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:17:28 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

There's a bit of a time lapse between the last post and this one, but I'm not sure if we filled that space in or not. If we did, I don't think I've come across it yet to archive. I'll sort it out later, should something come up.

( Roy and Ed and blankets for Bucky )

I love these guys. So much.

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Adventures addendum! CatRoy and the Winter Bucky arc!

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:03:43 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

Full disclosure- it's been long enough that I really don't remember where this arc began, or in what order all the pieces fall. I know Whimsey has a bunch of bits too, but I have a feeling that these will all end up posting willy-nilly, and may require some date editing to get them properly ordered (if left scattered in non-chronological fashion, I will probably lose my ever-lovin' mind), but let's at least start by rescuing them from the FB Hollow, and getting them properly stored here. I mean, what good is an archive if we're not actually archiving?

So this is me, working on the backlog. And Whimsey? Lemme know if you want me to post up your stuff too; I can likely copy/paste and handle formatting, but if you'd prefer to do it yourself (I've noticed that you handle some of your paragraph breaks differently than I do) from the original files, that's cool too. I would just love to see it all here (especially since Adventures is such a goddamn breath of fresh air and a sorely needed pick-me-up at times).

Edited to add- Oh hey, the document I found on my computer was a collection! I'd apparently had more or less this same thought some time back, so there are selections from both of us in there! Hooray!!! That makes this all SO much easier! But for sure let me know if you see something that needs fixing.

Arright, without further ado, let us once more return to the Depression-era tale of two misfit pals, looking for a home...

( CatRoy and the Winter Bucky )

I miss all my icons. :(

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Who wants to play a writing game?

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 04:00:24 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

One thing I've learned about myself over the last year and half, is that I really enjoy coming up with stuff like this. Exercises that climb right into the nuts and bolts of story invention. Games that remind us how much fun it can be, just horsing around with some make-believe.

I'm purposefully keeping these as undemanding as possible, just some gentle stretching of the ol' brain parts to warm it up. These games do not care about prose quality, or logic, or continuity. They're entirely about generating any kind of ideas, making any sort of connections from the subconscious. Just relax, and see how weird or silly or fantastical you can get.

And I'll tell you straight up that the inspiration for these comes from author Tim Clare, because he is a really damn good creative writing teacher, and his whole approach to stimulating creativity has done me more good than I can express.

Gonna start off with 5 different short games, here. You can pick one you like and give it a whirl in the comments, or do as many as you want. The main focus to all of these, is about not thinking too hard; there is no possible wrong answer to these prompts. And not any one right answer, either. Try to let your brain just doodle on the page, see where the riffing leads you.

Also, any time or quantity limits I put down are merely guidelines. If you find yourself running a bit over 10 minutes, or 10 items, or whatever, that's fine, follow your momentum. But there's no need to stress out over it, you can always do an exercise more than once.

You can invent all the people and places out of thin air, but fic characters and fandom settings are entirely welcome too.

Any other questions, hit me up. And if anybody's up for it, we could go for a bonus round, where we remix or explore each others' exercises!

Alrighty, let's dive in.
( Read more... )

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scraps for the Junk Drawer

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 04:15:15 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

I just felt compelled to share this tumblr thread with the most excellent character development prompt. Remember back when we were all playing the Trope Subversion game? Hahahaha, no really I love this.

https://bendingsignpost.tumblr.com/post/189833020285/meganwhalenturner-roachpatrol

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Prom S2 Ep. 1.6

Sun, 12 Jan 2020 05:58:36 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

Jesus, this stupid thing was a long grind to write. But hey, another couple inches worth of character development, yay.

( Read more... )

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random found Prom snippet

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 03:48:04 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

So, after rereading everything of Prom I could find on the Hollow, I came to the realization that there were lots of bits and bobs that probably exist only in transcribed texts, or even more ephemeral pieces of communication. Because there are certainly more details that I can recall about that monster of a story than actually live in the published Prom posts. So I decided that it would probably be smart to do a deep dive into my *highly* nested folders (my current document storage- especially archived folders- are assembled in a fashion much akin to the construction of the Winchester Mystery House) and see if I could dig up any of the aforementioned ephemeral bits.

Which is how I found this. It's just a scrap of a thing, barely more than 500 words, but I'm gonna jettison it out there anyway, in the interest of getting more material safe in one place. Before you ask any questions though, I have no recollection whatsoever as to how this ties into the story. In fact, I only have some inkling as to what may be going through certain people's minds because of the working title of the document- "shoulder injury". So, this is me, chucking random pinecones at hornets' nests. Did you miss me?

( It is the first spring tournament. )

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Prom S2 EP 1.5, Addendum

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 03:30:13 GMT

Posted by: pandoraculpa

Um, hi. I'm terrified, and this is likely awful. But it's the first thing I've written in a truly appalling amount of time, and Whimsey is probably interested, so here goes.

( “So, Arai-kun told us you were the person to talk to about the students at Hawthorne,” )

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Prom S2 Ep. 1.5B

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 19:34:12 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

Decided to split 1.5 across two entries, on the grounds that it seemed unreasonably long.

I also want to note that Prom is an Open Source Universe, fully open to collaboration. So if some enterprising individual wanted to dive in and contribute, play with the toys in the sandbox, explore previously uncharted realms, that would be super neato. I'd love to see someone have a go with the upperclassmen, or OMG the faculty!! hahahaha.

ok anyway, Friday Fic! I have no earthly idea how this arc resolves, yet (apart from one eventuality, a ways in the future)! Yay!

( Read more... )

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Prom S2 Ep. 1.5

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 19:07:47 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

~~Sorry, this entry has encountered technical difficulties.~~
Whoops, little hiccup there, thanks to my failure to properly check my reference sources.

I would like to understand how I can somehow crank out like 11,000 words in five days on this completely ridiculous caper, and yet still go into total vapor lock on stories that anyone else in the world might be interested in. What we're seeing here, is that most perplexing and elusive of all writing laboratory specimens: the story that writes itself.

Also, I've given up trying to restrain it. Just gonna let the whole mess roll downhill and see where it ends up.

In other news, I am a gigantic dweeb. Watch, I'll prove it:

( Read more... )

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Prom S2 Ep. 1.4

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 20:52:26 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

I really didn't think this would run more than 3 installments. But it's like, the harder I try to cut to the big dramatic mic drop of the thing, the further that point recedes. And I know it's the kind of hairball you end up untangling in the edit/revision process, but guess what I don't really do with these stories.

Whatever. It's wordbuilding! haha.

( Read more... )

(okay y'know what, just blame the Ed & Arai Vaudeville Act, I can't seem to resist getting dragged along by it.)

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Prom S2 Ep. 1.3

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 18:27:56 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

I'll be honest. I spend at least a third of my time with these installments, face in my hands, laughing like hell at these people.

The rest of the time I'm staring at the whole thing, desperately wondering where the hell it's going, and how long it's gonna take to get there.

( Read more... )

[Casting note: I realized in the middle of things, that Arai's soccer coach is an incarnation of Tsukumo Ryuusuke, from the JDrama Mr. Brain. Which, if you've never seen it, is delightful.]

[Amended Casting Note: It struck me right in the face on Friday, that Joe Odagiri is really the fella I'd like for Soccer Coach (and also Onuma, if I'm being honest). He's a terrific actor in all sorts of roles, but for the purposes of this fantasy casting, may I direct your attention to the live action series Juhan Shuttai. Because it's a lovely show, and a happy place to park your brain for 10 episodes.]

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Prom Season 2, Ep1.2

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 22:27:48 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

And the plot plottens. Slowly.

( Read more... )

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alright so Prom I guess

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 20:03:42 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

Some disclaimers:

1. As usual, I have no idea what's happening.
2. Not sure this could be called a reboot, more like an arc pivot point? I'm calling it Season 2 for now, whatever that means. [see Item 1]
3. The last entry on this was dated June of 2011. It was an escapist project back then, and boy howdy it is Escapist With a Vengeance right now, in this Year of Our Worst Timeline, 2019.
4. Also I've largely forgotten any intentions we may have had with this story's threads. So I'm picking up with the last trailing arc bit I vaguely recall. (I know continuity was never remotely the point of this enterprise, but I'm flirting with it anyway. What can I say; I like seeing characters evolve over time. And it has been a minute, with these fellas.)
5. A lot of nifty fandoms have happened since 2011. Just putting that out there. Heh heh hehehehe.

For anyone looking for some clue about what the sam hill is going on here, may I direct your attention to the promfic tag. This may or may not help matters.

This entry picks up more or less from the situation that culminated in this entry.

I think that's about it for the preamble. Hit me up in the comments, with questions, screaming, wild ideas, speculation, etc.

WTF Hollow Now Presents, Part 1 of the Season 2 Premiere of Prom:

( Read more... )

(for the record, I'm still cackling over the audacity of this.)

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Followup Announcement: Fox Country

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 06:29:20 GMT

Posted by: evil_whimsey

Shucks, it plum slipped my mind to note this. But on the distant off chance that any innocent wandering soul happened to be following the Epic Goddamn Saga of Fox Country over here, guess what!

The whole thing is DONE and more or less tidy, over here at AO3.

Okay, I really am done hogging the PA system for now, everybody go enjoy your weekend.

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