remains of the creative day ~

[lookingland]

i dinna quite finish James today. i still might, but i wanted to post what i had so far. i love the riding outfit. it's so snotty. and i love cadmium red (it's such a joy to paint with). i will finish this for sure during the week ~ after i finish drawing the other couple of outfits i wanted to. i also sketched an Emmaline, but have yet to commit her to real paper at this point. we'll see about that.


otherwise i have struggled some today. finished a draft of one of the stories i have been working on, but it feels weak. it's missing something (coherence? cohesion? co-something?). i feel like i really had a strong sense of what i was writing when i started it, but it's muddly now that it's semi-finished (at an alarming 5,700 words). it feels suddenly oddly pointless as a story and i'm not quite sure how to fix that.

Stars in Their Courses

synopsis: James ropes Lewis into trying to have a heart-to-heart with a woman who has been recently raped. Anyone who knows Lewis well enough ought to know this is destined for disaster.

a wee darling: He had left Camp Faiger in heavy buckskin trousers, a worn cotton blouse, a brown worsted coat on the verge of needing patches, and boots so bent and scuffed they appeared to have fought the late war all on their own.

mean things: Interestingly, this one of those rare instances where James isn't actually trying to be a jerk but comes off like one anyway. The meanest behavior actually comes from the woman, who jumps to unfortunate conclusions about everyone else's intentions.

nice things: i absolutely adore how Emmaline defends Lewis (i adore Emmaline, period). i think this moment and the final scene in which James gives Lewis an astrology lesson (metaphorically speaking - which is where the title comes from) are what inspired me to write the story.

random fact: i confess to perpetrating appalling things against the woman character in this story because, frankly, i don't like her. it seems strange not to like a character i created it, i guess, but sometimes characters are just that unpleasant.

I'm going to give the story a once more over and then maybe send it to a few peeps of distinction to get some needed perspective on it. then i can start doing illustrations for it. eeeeek!

: D

Comments

Fanning self

[(Anonymous)]

men in kilts...men in kilts...gasp...sputter.


:-D

Wow, you're really percolating kiddo! Much work being done (are you APPRECIATING? gotta, it's in the rules)

James was quite the spiff-meister wasn't he? I never realized James was so dark headed --had him pictured a medium brown ...doncha ask me why.

I also didn't realize the fourth Eleison was out--what door have I been standing behind? sheesh.

Keep on, boo boo.

X,

mooey

Re: Fanning self

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm kicking myself for not having a Scottish character at the moment. that might need to be hugely rectified.

that's inneresting about James's hair. i wonder if maybe it's because he goes salt and pepper pretty quick so most drawings i've posted of him probably show him with sort of brindled hair, which mighta left the impression that he was more of a brownie than a darkie.

and yes, i be appreciatin'. thankie moo!

: D