#(or actually -- blanche and sophia trust that rose is the best candidate among them to get through to dorothy when she's like this) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-eclectic-wonderer · 5 months ago

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5, 18 & 19 for the fanfic ask!

Hello and thank you for the questions!!

5. first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

“I have to say, Blanche,” Rose says, settling back against Blanche’s side, “I know you explained it to me, but I still don’t get it.”

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

I don't really keep deleted sentences/paragraphs, unless they're full concepts for a scene that I might want to use in another WIP, but I did find a couple of sentences from an early draft of i would have said impossible [...] that got heavily edited by the final cut. I'll bold the parts that got kept in the final work:

"She likes to think she hid it well. She tried to, at least; bit back the most acidic jokes, tried to keep a hold on her sarcasm. It's not her roommates' fault if she's had a bad day, is it? So she tries. She listens, and she's patient, and she's affectionate -- and they seem happy. That must count as a success.

And yet, when she's finally alone in her room and ready to call it a night -- then Rose comes, carrying tea and cookies on a tray.

It's strange. She told Ma earlier that she'd like to be alone tonight, and before the door opened she only wanted to get into bed and forget everything until tomorrow morning. Then Rose came in, and she'd be lying if she said a single hint of her perfume and a single glance at her reassuring smile aren't enough to calm her nerves."

The gist of the passage remained more or less the same, but I hope it counts anyway!

19. the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

I'm not sure I can choose the most interesting one -- I love learning and I've had a lot of fun with every rabbit hole I've found myself in for a fic! The most charming one, though, was definitely the little ornithology detour I went on while I was writing sonata for trio, which was a classic case of 'I only needed to find the right simile to add in this sentence, how the hell did I end up on the Wikipedia page for the American Robin?'. I learned a lot, and birds are so cute -- especially robins!! I had a great time reading about them :)

(I'm not counting my research on karst and sinkholes as a valid answer for this questions, because I already knew the topic well enough, but I did spend a lot of time fact-checking what I wrote. I don't want to spread misinformation!)

[✍️ more fic writer asks!]

#i toured all my current wips and that was the most interesting first sentence in a fifth paragraph im afraid #i tend not to keep stuff i delete bc they're usually either less solid versions of sentences that *do* make it in the final work #or the rambles i wrote during my first draft of the work #and those tend to be very unstructured and clunky. when i write those i'm just concerned with putting my thoughts to paper yk?#so they're generally not that interesting (to me at least)#in this case specifically i ended up changing the first paragraph because i thought it gave the impression that the girls #don't notice when dorothy's upset -- and i think they do. they just decide to let her be in this instance #(or actually -- blanche and sophia trust that rose is the best candidate among them to get through to dorothy when she's like this)#and i didn't like the flow of the other two sentences #also i felt like an additional line of description of rose's tea tray would add to the scene #the american robin!! my bird friend!!! the first to sing at morning and last to sing in the evening with a cheery carol!!#perfect metaphor for rose's humming #oh and there's also the fact that i'm learning a lot about the us' geography bc of a little pet project of mine! for example #i now know that Chicago is located near the Great Lakes!! good job me #oh and also -- at some point i had to research old cars and things that can go wrong with an old car and i spent *a lot* on those #always check your air intake hose kids #but anyway. thanks for the questions!!!#writing #ask game

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