• About
  • About the Brooklyn Project
  • Allies
  • Bound to the Flame Chapters and Artwork
  • Definitions and Erin-isms
  • Erin’s Point-Based Guide for Evaluating Movie Adaptions
  • Novels
  • The Archives of Selay’uu

The Upstairs Archives

~ A random repository of how-to-write and geekery, with an occasional snippet of accidental wisdom.

The Upstairs Archives

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Time Play: A Music Writing Challenge Response

25 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Uncategorized

≈ 13 Comments

I’m sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been swamped with work and school. 😦 I looked at the date on the previous Music Writing Challenge, and it was posted more than a month ago. The one I’m responding to–the second one–is more than five months old. Oops.

Bear in mind, all of the previous Music Writing Challenges are still open, should you wish to send in stories! And hey, at least we got an interesting short story out of it!

This story is written with a few characters from a prospective novel idea I’ve been tossing around for a while. If you want to know more, tell me in the comments, but I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in hearing about it…

Enjoy the tale! 😉


Time Play

                A cold gust of wind blew past Emrys’ face, and he drew his coat tighter against the chill. The summer weather had lasted so long. Could it be that the spell that held them all here was finally breaking down?

Emrys raced towards the square. It was as if he was running into another world. Coreyville from the distant past stared back at him, a Western town, its dust rimed with snow. Emrys whirled around, and an Indian village stared back at him, and a Victorian town, reminiscent of London in the movie adaptions of “A Christmas Carol.” Vague glimpses of a futuristic city caught his eye, half-guessed outlines in the streaming light. It was too bright.

Something was wrong.

Ermys didn’t know where he was running to, to get help or to face the storm. A sharp prick to his shoulder snatched his attention, and he reached over his shoulder to snatch the offending object.

A hypodermic dart?

Suddenly he felt dizzy. The world was fuzzy, graying. As he slumped to the ground, the last thing he heard was, “Sir—we found him.”

Advertisement

Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: The Dangers of Writing

03 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Story Dynamics, Tales from Selay'uu, Uncategorized

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

alternate universe, fanfiction, fun stuff, humor, humor (i hope), selay'uu, star wars

Every once in a while, I set aside time to just go have lunch with my characters. Sometimes it’s originals, like Gervaise, Alex, and Ben. Sometimes, it’s my fanfiction pals–the Doctor, John Watson, Horatio, Will Treaty. Just sitting down with them every once in a while helps me stay sane and keep up.

Today, which will make Rosalie happy, we were rehearsing a scene from “Attack of the Clones”–the AU version–and we were laughing in between takes, trying to figure out a less ridiculous title for it. Unfortunately, in that scene, Obi-Wan gets force-pushed against a wall, and we kept having to do takes, because Dooku was suspiciously absent and Casceny was doubling for him, in between hiding from the Doctor.

Casceny is a time traveler, but not a Time Lord. A brash, loud, boastful little goose with a heart of gold.

And she was hamming it up.

So here Obi-Wan was, still uncomfortable because of the wirework we were having to do (this AU is taking some severe hashing-out to get it to work, I can tell you now), still in harness in between every take. And after that, we go get lunch. I had cheddar grilled cheese, Obi-Wan (who tends to be um… sort of… adventurous I guess? That’s not the right word for it, but whatever) put swiss and asiago on his. Don’t ask me why. Of course he couldn’t do something normal with his grilled cheese.

He flinched as he sat down, and I (naturally) asked him what was wrong.

“The wires aren’t strung correctly,” Obi-Wan said. “I keep getting slammed into the wall. That’s why I’m flopping down after every take. It’s not poor acting. It’s me getting a little stunned after hitting the wall over and over and getting the breath knocked out of me. Kysherin really has taken a dislike to me these past few months.”

“She needs restraining,” I grumbled into my iced tea. “How does kryptonite sound?” Obi-Wan chuckled.

“Better and better all the time.”

“How do you feel about this AU?” I asked bluntly. With Obi-Wan it was no good beating about the bush. He’d take you at your word and answer you in kind. Obi-Wan looked pensive for a long moment.

“It’s frighteningly in character for me,” he said at last. “In that situation, that is exactly who I’d be and what I’d do. I don’t think I would be broken, mentally–I’d still have my wits if not my memory, but even with no voice to act as conscience, I’d still be horrified at what I’d done. Candidly, I’m a little bit frightened that I can be so naive and think better of people than they deserve and be so blind to evil, so inclined to mercy when I should be on my guard instead. On the other hand, if I was given the choice to change that? Never. I never would.”

“You didn’t like the Rako Hardeen fiasco,” I remarked, guessing at what he was getting at. He normally plays along willingly, no matter how dark the AU, remaining a strong refuge for the rest of us who get tired, irritable, frustrated or ready to throw the entire thing in the trash, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy it. Obi-Wan shook his head.

“I don’t like to play parts,” he said. “I start to lose myself in the role. It’s scary, for lack of a better word–yourself and this other character who is not quite you. Or, in the case of Hardeen–entirely not you, but you’re in his skin and you have to act the way he would.”

“There’s a spectrum,” I remark. “Your character is not entirely consistent even through the length of one story. You’re always learning, changing, evolving, and your traits exist on a spectrum. There’s a wide variety of ways I could write your character and it would still read as you. The tricky part is finding the sweet spot for what I’m trying to do.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Obi-Wan replied. “I guess you could say I don’t like my own spectrum.” His eyes twinkled as he glanced down into his water glass.

“It wreaks havoc, though, with the way I’m having to write this AU. You’re changing constantly and it’s hard to keep that in line when I have to write it in blocs according to function.” Obi-Wan laughed.

“I suppose we’re writing all the parts with Dooku this week, then.”

“Are you ready to move forward with the story?” I asked. Obi-Wan gave me a droll look.

“Force no.”

We both laughed.

The Teenaged Superhero Society

Proud Member of the Teenaged Superhero Society

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 300 other subscribers
Follow The Upstairs Archives on WordPress.com

Categories

  • Artwork (19)
  • Living Life with Passion (204)
  • Story Dynamics (156)
  • Tales from Selay'uu (36)
  • Tales of a Wandering Bard (229)
    • Bound to the Flame (21)
    • Shifting Tides Series (20)
      • Battlefield of the Soul (5)
      • The Hero's Dream (15)
  • The Brooklyn Project (11)
  • The Music Writing Challenge (5)
  • Uncategorized (231)

Archives

  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • The Upstairs Archives
    • Join 300 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Upstairs Archives
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar