Marie Brennan's Blog, page 253

thoughts on Inception

Saw it a second time tonight (with my brother and sister-in-law, who hadn't been yet), and have a much clearer sense of the film this time around. Most of the things that were bugging me as inconsistencies turn out not to be; I just hadn't caught the explanations that cleared them up. (Things like the distinction between the dreamer and the subject of the process -- I had assumed they were the same person.)

(Which isn't a spoiler, if you just flinched, thinking I'd given something away. I'm...

Last chance . . . .

You have until 11:59 EST to send in your drink recipe for the A Star Shall Fall launch party, and possibly win a signed copy of Deeds of Men.

I'm looking forward to tasting these . . . .

what this plot has been lacking

Ectoplasm is the answer!

(Thank you, moonandserpent .)

Sirens schedule

There is now a proper schedule for Sirens, with times and rooms and everything; look at the bottom of that page for details.

Fortunately, the setup of the schedule -- which has blocks for panel etc. programming that are separate from the blocks for other kinds of stuff -- means my GoH obligations won't cause me to miss anything I wanted to do. But sadly, the workshop I volunteered to run is directly opposite a panel about YA that I really wanted to go to. Woe is me!

Oh well; I'll just have to...

Never underestimate the importance of body language.

Last night I was watching Brick while ironing my gi (fabulous movie, btw; noir set in a high school, and it works), and thinking about how Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of those actors I don't often see, but generally enjoy when I do. Then I thought about N.K. Jemisin's guest post on Whatever about Inception , and a comment in the thread there about JGL, and I realized what it is that gets me about his performances:

He understands how to use body language.

Most guys look good in three-piece suits...

on a calmer note

Dear Book,

Don't think you're safe just because I'm not using the angry kitten icon anymore. That's Hel up there, and she will cut you.

But we may -- may -- have resolved the problem. By dint of doing . . . not a lot, actually. Going back to a plan that fell by the wayside, and trying to find some way to insert more downtime at a particular point. Easy enough on Eliza's side; I just have to find some justification for why Dead Rick's plot can skip over a month or so. If I can do that, ever...

Not *again*.

Dear Book:

I hate you.

No, really. We've gotten to that stage of the writing, the stage where I really just want to light you on fire. It happens almost every book (except for the rare ones that just sail straight out of my head -- of which you are SO not one), but this time, I really, really mean it. Why? Because I just figured out that I could solve about 90% of my pacing problems . . . by moving your start date back three months.

This falls into the category of "annoying change" rather th...

August 11th is Crankypants Day

Continuing the theme from last night, I am having an extremely crankypants day. The cloudy weather isn't helping; this is the kind of day where I could really use to go sit in warmth and sunshine, and there is neither to be had.

Halp?

Please to be posting good news, or funny anecdotes, or pictures of adorable kittens. I could use it today.

more excerpt, more discussion, more everything!

Twenty days and counting; the last piece of the excerpt has gone up. (Beginning is here.)

Over on the sirenscon LJ, the discussion of Midnight and Ashes continues with a new question, regarding time and point of view in the novels. The first question, about the connection between the mortal and faerie worlds, is still open; you don't need to be a con attendee or even an LJ user to jump in.

And speaking of things you don't have to be a con attendee to do, there are four days left to submit a r...

>_<

Some nights are simply a bust.

Wrote a few hundred words. Got the sense they were probably the wrong few hundred words. Stopped. Pondered skipping to next scene. Remembered that next scene isn't the scene we thought was next, because another scene has to happen first. Tried to figure out how to stage that one. Failed. Attempted to step back and regroup. Brain refused. Contemplated doing more reading for the book instead of writing. Brain refused that, too.

Not yet tired enough for sle...