One of the myths we have about creativity is that sometimes we have a calling, that you know that every day of your life, when in truth, half of writing a first draft is very much about failure.

[…]

I used to believe in the myth of the big idea: The big idea hits and you never look back. It’s sort of like when you meet a couple that’s been together for a long time and the question you ask is “How did you guys meet?” And there’s always a great story. But the real question — and the one that hopefully you’re too polite to ask — isn’t “How did you guys meet?” but “How did you stick together?” That’s the story of writing a book. How did you stick with it? How did you get through the day-to-day? I think one of the reasons you get so many questions about process — “Do you plot?” “How do you do it?” “How do you do it every day?” — is because people want to believe there’s a way to take the pain out of the process of writing. And there really isn’t. You’re going to have days that are terrible.

Advice on writing your first book from Leigh Bardugo and other published authors. Complement with the collected advice of literary icons and Neil Gaiman on why you should finish things. (via explore-blog)

Fic: Held [1/5]

[feltelures]

Title: Held
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Action/Pre-slash
Rating & Warnings: PG (references to torture; panic attack; innuendo)
Betas: tinsnip and Yosie
Words: This part 1406, approximately 16 000 overall
Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Summary: “…[T]he dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot one, and there’ll be another one along in a minute.” - Terry Pratchett. Approximately six weeks after The Circle’s fall from power, a fragment of the organisation returns to lash out against the only Cardassian living on Deep Space Nine. What the terrorists didn’t anticipate, however, was being interrupted mid-abduction.
Author’s Notes: This fic is what I’ve mentally termed my Bajoran baby. I’ve been working on it for approximately half a year now—so actually, I suppose it counts as a long Bajoran pregnancy.

I had several goals in writing this fic, some of which won’t become clear until later on. The primary one was to challenge myself to write an episode of DS9, using its format, plot structure, and some of its tropes. (Some of said tropes, however, I played around with a little.) It was a fun exercise that took me well outside my usual style, and someday, I may very well try it again.

Another reason for writing this was to tie up a few loose ends from the three-part Season 2 opening: “The Homecoming,” “The Circle,” and “The Siege.” There were several things about those episodes that make sense from a series production point of view, such as why The Circle was never heard from again even if it’s very difficult to completely wipe out a terrorist cell all in one go—especially one with that level of support. And, well, why they attacked Quark as opposed to Garak, since, you know, budgets and hiring actors, and so forth. But these weren’t very satisfying to me from a storytelling point of view, and so I decided to play around with the situation.

A huge thank you goes to tinsnip, who gave me an extremely thorough beta involving just about everything and who suggested the title for the story (you don’t want to know what it would have been called if I were left my own devices), and to Yosie, who’s been reading my writing for thirteen years now (!) and knows where I make my mistakes. This is a hell of a lot better story thanks to them. <3

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy my Bajoran baby, haha.

Crossposted to AO3 and my writing journal.

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[absolutlylostmymind]

Episode “Nor the battle to the strong” (5x04)

3x18 Distant Voices

[fangirljava]

I adore the familiarity it implies when Garak apologizes Bashir’s grumpiness.

The tennis scene! I didn’t get before, why the fandom loves it. I know now <3
“How did you know about her?”
“I’m a part of you, remember? I know what you know. Well, maybe a little more.”
“Still the man of mystery.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t have me any other way.”
What part of Bashir is Garak representing, I wonder.

“After all our lunches together.”
The way Garak emphasizes the word, it can really mean just about anything :)
When it comes to Bashir’s mind casting Garak as the villain, I don’t think it did. The thing is, he didn’t know Garak was the Lethean. The way I see it, Garak represented mostly himself. The Lethean disguised himself as Garak. Because of the people who are closest to Bashir, he is the one who surprises Bashir the most. He is the one who has all that history and all these sides to him Bashir doesn’t know.

“You still don’t trust me. There is hope for you yet.”
Garak, one day, you’ll tell all your dirty secrets to Bashir and he will still love you and I don’t care if I have to be the one to write it.

Aww, those two. I just want to squish them.

[cosmiccoz]

Deep Space Nine’s “Gul Dukat”, (who appeared in all 7 seasons) and in his bajorian guise as “Anjohl”. 

Without a doubt the most developed antagonist Star Trek ever produced. He could slide between antihero and villain without a blink.  

Here ends my ‘Alaimo in Star Trek’ spam. Hope some of you enjoyed the varied characters and commentary. ; )

[micathemineral]

So I spent about an hour creating a mock-up art history textbook excerpt for a fictional culture. This is what my life has become.

julian

that is a completely unacceptable eyes:face ratio

let’s try that again