Eclectic entry... this and that...
Feb. 24th, 2009 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartOkay, I'm back for the moment, although only temporarily. The next weeks promise to be totally crazy again. Especially choir-wise.
On March 5, we've been invited by the local administration to sing on the opening feast of this year's teachers' workshop for the 11th district of Budapest. That wouldn't be that bad, as we're singing three folklore pieces we supposedly know already. Whether we really know them well enough is another pair of boots entirely. Two of them sucked spectaculary on our latest concert in November, and we haven't done much about them since, because we're preparing ourselves for the international choir festival in BAd Ischl, Austria, in early May.
On March 8, we're about to give a short independent concern - in the National Gallery, which is situated in the Royal Palace district. o_O We're all shitting our pants about that one. A spectacular failure on a location like that would be the blamage of the century. We're supposed to sing 9 or 10 pieces, most of them the "supposedly known" category, but we've seen how well that's worked before - NOT!
Also, as I said, there's the Bad Ischl festival in two months' time. There we have to bring 6 pieces, 5 of which are brand new, beautiful but insanely complicated. So we have additional rehearsals every other day, and are busily panicking. We've just put together the Mendelssohn psalm, and that's the easiest of all. At least we have much pleasure with that one.
The two Hungarian folk songs, all sung in four or six voices, respectively, are really hard to learn. The rhythm is very unusual, and the piano parts are practically independent melodies, so they don't help a bit. My personal problem is that the contralto part, too, is in a height that would be more suited for mezzosopranos than contraltos; it's killing my throat and my vocal cords.
And then there is a German folkloristic piece which I haven't even seen yet, and an Ave Maria by Head, which is ethereally beautiful, but very, very complicated. Gosh, I really don't know how we're going to manage all this in two months. After all, we all have full-time jobs in that school, too. Plus, due to the insane weather, half the people are always ill - and always another percentage, which doesn't make it exactly easy.
And, as if I hadn't enough unfinished fanfic pieces, I've been strongly inspired to write original sci-fi lately. The "Windswept" universe is bothering me to be created every time I ride the bus, as that's the only time when my mind isn't occupied with something else.
Really - what sense would it have to write original sci-fi? No-one'd be reading it anyway. Only a handful of people are interested in my sci-fi fanfics, as I tend to write complex plots, and people just get bored with the twist. Honestly, who would waste their times in original sci-fi, where not even the familiar charcters would attract them?
In the meantime, an ungodly amount of highly interesting DVDs are waiting for being finally watched, and I just can't find the time. :(
On March 5, we've been invited by the local administration to sing on the opening feast of this year's teachers' workshop for the 11th district of Budapest. That wouldn't be that bad, as we're singing three folklore pieces we supposedly know already. Whether we really know them well enough is another pair of boots entirely. Two of them sucked spectaculary on our latest concert in November, and we haven't done much about them since, because we're preparing ourselves for the international choir festival in BAd Ischl, Austria, in early May.
On March 8, we're about to give a short independent concern - in the National Gallery, which is situated in the Royal Palace district. o_O We're all shitting our pants about that one. A spectacular failure on a location like that would be the blamage of the century. We're supposed to sing 9 or 10 pieces, most of them the "supposedly known" category, but we've seen how well that's worked before - NOT!
Also, as I said, there's the Bad Ischl festival in two months' time. There we have to bring 6 pieces, 5 of which are brand new, beautiful but insanely complicated. So we have additional rehearsals every other day, and are busily panicking. We've just put together the Mendelssohn psalm, and that's the easiest of all. At least we have much pleasure with that one.
The two Hungarian folk songs, all sung in four or six voices, respectively, are really hard to learn. The rhythm is very unusual, and the piano parts are practically independent melodies, so they don't help a bit. My personal problem is that the contralto part, too, is in a height that would be more suited for mezzosopranos than contraltos; it's killing my throat and my vocal cords.
And then there is a German folkloristic piece which I haven't even seen yet, and an Ave Maria by Head, which is ethereally beautiful, but very, very complicated. Gosh, I really don't know how we're going to manage all this in two months. After all, we all have full-time jobs in that school, too. Plus, due to the insane weather, half the people are always ill - and always another percentage, which doesn't make it exactly easy.
And, as if I hadn't enough unfinished fanfic pieces, I've been strongly inspired to write original sci-fi lately. The "Windswept" universe is bothering me to be created every time I ride the bus, as that's the only time when my mind isn't occupied with something else.
Really - what sense would it have to write original sci-fi? No-one'd be reading it anyway. Only a handful of people are interested in my sci-fi fanfics, as I tend to write complex plots, and people just get bored with the twist. Honestly, who would waste their times in original sci-fi, where not even the familiar charcters would attract them?
In the meantime, an ungodly amount of highly interesting DVDs are waiting for being finally watched, and I just can't find the time. :(
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 08:28 pm (UTC)Do you post on FictionPress if it is original? Or why not try for publishing? You are certainly good enough!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 08:31 pm (UTC)As for publishing - for that you either need contacts, or lots of money. I haven't got either of those. Besides, only bits and peices do exist from "Windswept", save from a short introduction, so... I'm afraid it will go the way of "The Dark Empire", which used to be a vaguely outlined original fantasy series. With lot of horror, sex and violence.
I used to write original stuff a lot - my finished original fantasy novel was 1,500 pages, which I wrote on an old-fashioned, mechanical typewriter. Then I borrowed the middle piece someone and never got it back. I can't even remember whom. That has been fifteen or so years ago, and I never found the strength to recreate those 200-300 pages. *sighs*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 08:40 pm (UTC)So did I. And the only story I finished the old pc I hate ate the last chapters, which were only there and nowhere else - same thing I never had the energy to re-write.
How does it work where you are then? Can't you look up literary agents and send them a synopsis and a few chapters and see what they say?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 10:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-25 11:20 am (UTC)The Windswept universe, that's an interesting name. Can you tell me a bit more about it or is it still in that planning state where you can't put it into words to explain to another person? (For me, the natural state of trying to explain my universes/plot bunnies *laughs*)
I write original only, so yeah, I can definitely feel your pain. At least with fanfiction, if the fandom is sufficiently large, you'll have a few guaranteed reviews and if you're really lucky, you might even land a success. With original fiction... Well, I can definitely second lethe's FictionPress recommendation. I haven't posted there in ages and what I did post didn't really get a response, but then that's written in German. I read some longer stories on FictionPress that were very well-received, but at that time I was trying to get myself into a mood for writing Romance and so read Romance stories. I'm not familiar with the science-fiction category on FictionPress.
But yes, I can definitely feel your frustration. When I let myself think about it, I feel the same depression when I think about my "Areis" story (which will probably never get so far that I can actually re-post the first chapters, let alone edit/write/post the whole thing, especially since my outline STILL keeps growing, but anyway...) When I started out, it's a straight-laced m/m romance and I knew that I'd have an audience with the small community of German original slashers. But then my simple plot turned into a monster with family drama, a complicated history of several nations and plenty of politics complete with rebellions and counter-rebellions. The romance will only be a sub-plot now, which really suits my writing style better. But that loses me the romance audience and I don't even know if there IS an audience for such an extreme niche story. But I still absolutely refuse to turn my prince into a princess just to have a small chance to get a few more reviews, which probably wouldn't work out anyway.
*blush* Sorry for the rant.
Anyway, I think it'd still make sense to write an original sci-fi if that's what you want and your muses inspire you for. You'll have fun plotting, world building and writing. And hey, there's a chance your story will become one of these successes on FictionPress! It's even possible that you realise that an original audience suits your writing style better, since there are no set fan bases to flame you if you write their fav character in a negative light or ignore you if you write about lesser known/popular characters.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-25 09:20 pm (UTC)It really isn't much. The only existing scene is a half-page draft I haven't even typed up yet.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-28 11:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-28 07:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-01 11:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-01 12:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-01 04:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-25 09:23 pm (UTC)Ohhhh, sounds interesting. I would definitely be interested to read some original SF by you. If it is not written in Hungarian, that is. :)
Really - what sense would it have to write original sci-fi? No-one'd be reading it anyway.
*Raises hand timidly* I would? I'm not so much into Voyager fanfic, these days, but something new and original could really hook me on. :)
Winswept outline, Part 1
Date: 2009-02-25 10:50 pm (UTC)Note: This universe is based on the artwork of Louis Royo. The names are likely to be changed, as this is all very temporary at this moment.
THE PREMISE
The planet Windswept is in the state of post-apocalyptic horror. The southern continent is a dry, hostile desert with sheer, sand-coloured cliffs, where the ingenious people of this world still live in a honeycomb of caves. The greater part is an immense ocean, inhabited by nightmarish creatures that have received a sudden evolutionary burst due to the nuclear war that took place almost a century or so earlier. The northern continent is the smaller of the existing one, but it has been almost completely destroyed in the war.
The dwellers of the desert are a race of winged humanoid creatures, a strange mix between humans and bats, but with a dry, sandy skin. They are called the Furies, and they can interbreed with humans. A different offshot of them have huge, horizontal spikes instead of wings, lives under the desert sand and is called the Burrowers. Human/Fury hybrids have become a small but important percentage of the population, as they are more innovative in their thinking than pure-blooded Furies, although physically weaker and less resistant to the harsh sunlight and the radiation.
The primary species of the ocean seems to be the Kraken: a race of tentacled sea monsters big enough to be mistaken for small islands. While the scream of the Furies can shatter glass, the Kraken are said to have strange mental powers, which is how they can rule over the other sea creatures.
TBC below
Winswept outline, Part 2
Date: 2009-02-25 10:51 pm (UTC)The humans built cities and searched the ocean for resources. Unfortunately, they were divided from the beginning. One group, the Technocrats, wanted to turn their entire colony into a high-tech lab, to develop never-before-seen technologies, with an emphasis on cybernetics and weapons. They experimented with the blending of man and machine, as they believed that cyborgs were the next logical step in the human evolution.
The other group, the Earth-children, wanted to settle on biomechanics. They didn’t want simple bionics, but to *grow* actual, live technology, including organic, sentient buildings and starships. As the resources were limited, a bitter fight began between those two groups, and in the end, under still somewhat undefined circumstances, the conflict ended in a terrible war, involving nuclear bombs on one side and biological warfare on the other one.
Today, there are only a handful of humans living still on Windswept, like rats among the ruins of the cities on the northern continent. But even there, they are not safe. The sea creatures leave the water to hunt them, and slavers from the original ship – that gave the planet its current name – are visiting the planet regularly to capture them.
Because the original colony ship, the Windswept, is still out there, looming somewhere in orbit, manned by cyborgs and controlled by an AI that had somehow gained self-awareness. It’s badly battered, but still functioning well enough to sustain a large population. Thousands of human slaves are kept on the lower decks to do the more mundane tasks, as the cyborgs aren’t numerous enough to maintain such a huge vessel on their own. Due to a cruel joke or their creator, or because of their construction hasn’t been fully finished before the war (the true reason isn’t known), all cyborgs are male, with functional male organs and the needs that go with those. Many human slave girls are separated from the rest to serve the needs of their cyborg masters.
TBC below
Winswept outline, Part 3
Date: 2009-02-25 10:52 pm (UTC)The other, larger group still free, the descendants of the Earth-children, are always in space. They live aboard their huge, organic ship, the Leviathan, that can house at least twenty thousand people – not that they’d come near to that number. They have managed to salvage the hibernation technology of the old Windswept, and extracted the still cryogenically frozen embryos, only a third of which had been used to populate the colony centuries earlier. From time to time, they add new individuals to their population from those storage units, to keep the gene pool healthy. They, too, often raid the Windswept, but their main goal is the freeing of the slaves. Some of them have a thin trace of Fury blood in their veins, but it’s usually not visible.
The two groups have agreed in a truce, as long as the cyborgs of the ship Windswept still are a serious threat for both. They also both intend to gain back the northern continent of the planet, but for that, they’d have to eradicate the Kraken from the ocean, which is a questionable task, both ethically and from the point of it being physically possible or not. There are no real guarantees that they’d be able to coexist in a peaceful manner, should any of those common threats be removed.
That's basically it. There is a short character list, too, but it's all in a very rough state yet.
Re: Winswept outline, Part 3
Date: 2009-02-26 09:37 pm (UTC)Re: Winswept outline, Part 3
Date: 2009-02-26 10:22 pm (UTC)I'd be happy to discuss the possibilities with you - it always helps me to get new ideas. This whole concept is still way too vague to start the actual writing right now.
To answer your questions:
1) The Earth-children have helped the interbreeding with the Furies via genetic manipulation, because they thought it would help them adapt better to the alien biotop of the planet.
2) With the Kraken, it's rather an either them or us question. Ocean life has just begun to spread onto the southern continent, where the humans used to live (or still live in small numbers), so there would be a bitter fight for territory. Some of the Earth-children are for making contact with ocean-bound life, but the Kraken are not very cooperative, either. They are intelligent, yes, but in a fairly rudimentary manner.
3) Yes, eradicatin the Kraken would be genocide. In my personal opinion, the humans would better abandon the planet, pick up their toys and find a better place. Unfortunately, neither group is willing to do just that. Plus, that would render the planet-dwellers to Kraken food, so...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-25 11:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-26 10:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-27 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-07 12:39 am (UTC)REALLY?
Having read your fanfic, I can only drool at the notion of reading in your very own universe. (Put a copyright statement on every bit of it, BTW!]
Where do I buy it? THAT is something I'd sneak into my bookbag to read at work... [wipes drool
Good luck with the choir: it sounds both exciting and scary, which can be a stressful combination. But what an opportunity! Wish I could snap my fingers and attend the concerts...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-07 10:04 am (UTC)Plus, the site puts a copyright statement on every piece that is posted there, so no worries. Besides, my creative grammar would reveal any plagiarists at once, right? ;))