I'm stuck at 3500 words and I'm trying really hard. But I'm not really confident I will make the deadline. Just letting you know I haven't given up yet! :-)

edit: just read gently's post, glad to know I'm not the only one a bit worried. Let's try harder ;-)

Thanks for putting spoilers. I thought I wouldn't mind as I'm not as passionate about Downton as about some other show yet, but it's getting better and better so maybe I should come back here only when I've seen all of it :-)

With "strange" I meant reactions to the period... what surprised you, was new for you, confused you.

I just checked for fanfiction and most of it is about Thomas. I wonder why, really. Is he like the secret lead? No really, it just surprised me. Why is he so popular? Is it because he's the most controversial character?

(Still trying to get my hands on series three...)

Oh, what made me watch it? Easy: people kept mentioning it ;-) and I'm a curious one.

January... YES YES YES YES YES!!
I will be on holidays though... again... but still, I'm happy to know when!

 

I had a try at Deflowered. I'm quite unsure what to think about it. It's certainly interesting, especially the OOC. I don't find it disturbing, although the warnings have their right. Didn't know it's possible to be intrigued and bored by a story at the same time - that is surely a first. I cannot explain this... the dynamics are interesting, yet I find it repititive sometimes... too much sex? (I admit, I tried skipping some sex scenes. They're at it all the time! The problem is, the whole relationship happens within these scenes, so I had to come back to them.) It's well written. I like it, and yet it's a WIP that won't break my heart in case it's not updated. Confused me a bit.
As for the reading challenge: I usually avoid stories with these warnings. That's why I tried. I'd say I will still avoid them in the future. Mainly because I can only bear reading such stuff if the fic is written well and very carefully balanced, so I don't have to worry while reading but can "trust" the storytelling. I cannot stomach stories that play very heavy games with the reader's mind. With this story, surprising enough, this wasn't the case even though the content is rough in a way. I think it's good storytelling what's happening here. I would recommend it, I think.

Dorothy83 wrote:

For example - 'to make love' - in English it's cheesy and, while sweet, it tends to feel out of place in Sherlock fics. But in Italian, it doesn't have that 'cheesiness', it sounds exactly right for what John and Sherlock would be doing - literally 'sex with feelings', makes me feel all warm inside.

Oh yes, I know that feeling. For me, it's usually the other way round: that there is an english word for something but there isn't a german one, and then I'm sad ;-) It's not so often that I write english and long for a german word. Don't know why. Maybe it's because for me, English is the language which has more options for description? Is that true? Susi must know ;-)
E.g. it seems to me as if English has more synonyms, which is handy for writing poetry... And I don't like the German way of creating words just by adding words to each other, because that produces long words that don't hold much meaning of their own. Still, I do like German as a language ;-)

 

Come on, somebody help me guessing?
 

I am worried... I don't know. I have written about 3000 words and all I think is: is it boring, omg it's repetitive, where has my plot gone, and dialogue in bits and pieces all over the place...
I slowly realise this is really hard work (big surprise *lol*)

Also I'm worried about expectations. It's my first fic I know, you might all reassure me it's fine, but I'm slowly realising that I can never be as good as I want to be with this fic. I mean, I just read five blog entries about how to write proper dialogue, and now I'm intimidated... not because I don't think I can do it proper one day, but because I know I lack the practice and have limited time. Probably I'm just nervous because I want to do the very best on my first try yeah, I know Tell me again about getting cold feet... mine are very cold now!

But at least, I have written something. Anything. In the beginning, I thought I will never be able to write more than a page... now that I have written some pages I start realising that quality matters not quantity... anyone else still in fanfic writing learning process?

Also I'm getting so annoyed by these dialogues that just happen and that just don't belong into this fic and I feel like I'm writing loads but will never use it... where was the warning that said this can be so frustrating?

edited to add: Oh, should I mention that I still have fun nevertheless?
 

The GIFs are funny. Is the film where there are from online somewhere?

It's very interesting what you discuss.

Funny enough, I get this feeling of "superficial" not at all with normal theatre, but I often get it when watching musicals, or opera. I love musicals, I do like opera (I know most people say it's love or hate it, but I really think I like it, in a non-extreme way...), but both never touch me as deeply as theatre does, spoken words. Maybe music is another language again. I'm sure it is. It's like music is a category of it's own. I think if I had to do categories, for me their would be cinema, theatre, and musical interpretation. I know opera and musicals are very different, but in the end, for myself, they feed the same corner of my brain - the one that loves music.

I could never choose between theatre and cinema. I love both so much. But they are really different, which is why I find this concept of NT live incredibly exciting, because it's bringing together two worlds which in my opinion are different at the core. I was surprised and delighted it worked so well.

Liberty wrote:

For me, seeing live performances has something magical which really doesn't have a lot to do with realism or believability.  When I'm watching a film, there's a detachment because it's on a screen, pre-made.  In the theatre (or at whatever venue it takes place) you're right there in the room with living actors, experiencing it in the moment.

Exactly this. Only that I think "detachement" can be a very positive thing, and turn into quite the opposite.

In theatre, I get this feeling of being part of a play, as audience. Like the audience is the very supporting floor on which the play happens. I think that is true, because acting only works properly with audience. Acting in front of empty seats feels wrong. The audience is important, so I feel myself already a part of the play when I just watch. And then there is this fascination of the play itself, or more even, the way the actors deliver their lines, portray their characters. It's like a st

*rofl*
this is crazy

"I never killed anyone" that had me laugh

and his face... when he says "hellooo.... Benedict"

"I can't think of anyone with more balls than Colin"