I'll start with the apology.  I am so sorry.  Like countless other enthusiastic young writers, I became involved in the fanfic community with no thought to how life would interfere, and posted several unfinished stories with the intent to finish them all 'someday'.  Someday has become so vague to me that I have to state now, officially, that I have no clue when I will ever get around to finishing my stories.  I'm taking a full courseload at school in order to transfer to a CSU as soon as humanly possible, I've started a new relationship with a fascinating person, and I work when I'm not at school or studying.  There is no way for me to even contemplate finishing these stories that became so dear to me when I started them.

My Yahoo! Group will be shut down with a similar apology, and an open invitation stands to fanfiction authors who have the time and interest to adopt any of my three stories (and the theoretical sequel to Hammurabi). 

This will be my last post; however, I will respond to offers to adopt my stories.

edit:  (starbucksmocha has adopted my Harry Potter stories)

I shall miss this, and miss all of you.

JeansVenus

..."Tourchured"?

..."Felt his arm brake"?

..."Kidnaped"?

I can appreciate the need for beta readers, but...this is above and beyond heinous.  Now that my brain is oozing that special kind of FF.net acid, I'm extra glad I paid attention in AP English.  It sure helps with the rewrites.

And yeah.  I really did see someone spell "tortured" that way.  Sad, isn't it?

Love,

JeansVenus

It's a massive project.  My first fanfiction (which is still a WIP) has a lot of raw potential--and has been sitting idle in ficwad and HPFandom for a couple months.  There's a lot I need to do with it to make it as good as it can be.  So...that's what I'm doing.  I've taken it down from HPFandom and I'm rewriting every chapter, expanding where I see fit, adding new viewpoints and stretching out the timeline.  It needs doing, because otherwise I'm going to keep looking at this bastard and cringing.

It's my priority right now.  I do have a couple rough drafts of chapters for my Spander fic done, but I'm going to ignore that for the most part because I have to concentrate on something.  I'm pretty bad like that.  Yeah.

I expect I'll be doing a lot of ducking and dodging of flailing slaps headed my way, but...it's time for me to return to the fic I started in the first place and never frigging finished. 

Everything gets done.  Always.  I always finish a story.  Which is why I'm feeling massive amounts of guilt regarding my HP fanfic.  It's stagnating, and that's just not like me. 

Please forgive.  I'm coming back as soon as I'm done with my other responsibilities.  *sigh*  I hate being responsible.

J.V.

Are You Damned?

Valhalla

You will die a warrior and be spirited away by warbling wenches to the Hall of the Slain. Meat and mead for ever more, well until Ragnarok, anyway, when you will do battle with giants, giantesses, dwarfs, elves and Nidhug, a dragon who likes to nibble trees. Odin is great!

Are You Damned?

I have an original story that I'm working on right now...it's been in the works for a few (read: several) months.  I love this story, it is my baby.  My characters are all fucked up slackers who can make a better latte or mixed drink than anyone's business, but they can't commit, finish school, or say an honest word to their parents.  Strangely enough, it works.  :)  There's Daniel, the English guy who took off from Oxford and is living in San Francisco on his parents' credit card just because he can--and they think he's at UCSF for the year.  There's Leo, who's freakishly tall and pretends he believes whatever Daniel tells him, because hey, would friends lie?  And there's Maggie, whose rent just went up, and she can't believe she was sweet-talked into letting some fucking asshole slacker move in, because he doesn't know the meaning of the word work.

This story is the first in a series of interconnected tales revolving around Maggie's apartment, the cafe she and Leo work at, and the student center where Daniel does an impressive job pretending to attend college. 

And to think...it all started this last April with the semi-annual visit to San Francisco.

**

Apart from my original fic, I have two fandoms I write in.  On LJ, most people see the Buffyverse side of things.  Which is way cool, really, because the Buffy thing is new and shiny and I still want to pet it when I see my DVDs lying around.

Jossverse-wise, I'm kind of having an OMGWTFisthisforreal? moment with the feedback regarding my Spander story.  Lots of happy cheesy grins at the computer screen where nobody can see them.  Happy fun!

Plans for that...not to tease, or to spoil, so...treading a fine line.  I do have an issue with underage, so...I'll probably be keeping it at "let's be snarky pissed off good friends and have UST kill us" for several chapters after Spike and Dru arrive in Sunnydale.

I have several major plot points for future chapters already drafted out, and I think it should all work just fine.

**

The HP fandom!  How could I forget?  *snorts* Like I could.  I have that Death Eater Mafia AU story on HPFandom (iz fun), and for my next trick, I shall inflict Snape and Sirius upon each other.  Because I'm cool like that. 

Regarding my first foray into fanfiction (To Rewrite History, currently sitting pretty at fifteen chapters)...I'm updating it.  Irregularly.  I've discovered that NANY and The Family Peverell are the preferred stories of the people reading them, so...those are the ones I'm writing for most these days. 

**

Did this have a point?  Yeah.  I think I was waxing ineloquent about my writing projects.  *bliss* writing!

Title: Never, Already, Not Yet
Series: none
Author: JeansVenus
Email: jeansvenus12@yahoo.com
Archive/Distribution: *incredulous cough* Ah, if you want it...sure, ask me.  Otherwise, bloodclaim, my journal, and my personal Yahoo! group
Story Summary: The Powers That Be screwed up badly with Sunnydale.  Xander's sent back to the crux without memories of the future.
Chapter Summary: Xander finds a family of sorts, and has a bizarre encounter in the library while telling the rest of the gang what's happening with his dreams.  Meanwhile, over in the Czech Republic, Dru tells Spike a story.
Warnings: Some profanity, slash in future chapters.
Rating: FRT this chapter, FRM overall
Disclaimer: If I owned the Buffyverse, I wouldn't be freaking out about paying my college tuition.

Previous chapters can be found here in my memories.

**

Title: Hammurabi
Author: JeansVenus
Archive/Dist: my group and personal journal, bloodclaim, and windles-orbit.  If you want it, ask.
Summary: Spike thinks he's driven someone to suicide, and goes to Angel to repent.  Angel finds himself forced into a role he never thought he'd have to play again. 
Spoilers: Up to Season 4 of Buffy
Warnings: Graphic violence/torture, mention of non-con, language, and Angel doing the brooding guilt thing.
Rating: FRAO.  Seriously.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Jossverse, would I worry about my college tuition?  Probably not.


The first half is here.  (The one-shot was too long for a single entry, so I had to cut it in half in a convenient location).

 

 

Title: Hammurabi
Author: JeansVenus
Archive/Dist: my group and personal journal, bloodclaim, and windles-orbit.  If you want it, ask.
Summary: Spike thinks he's driven someone to suicide, and goes to Angel to repent.  Angel finds himself forced into a role he never thought he'd have to play again. 
Spoilers: Up to Season 4 of Buffy
Warnings: Graphic violence/torture, mention of non-con, language, and Angel doing the brooding guilt thing.
Rating: FRAO.  Seriously.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Jossverse, would I worry about my college tuition?  Probably not.

 

I think everyone's heard of the infamous account given by JK Rowling of her portrayal of a *gasp* real person as Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets.  An amusing tale, to be sure, and years old.  The guy didn't recognize his own hubris in print.  A caricature of a character.  Gotta admit, that's pretty clever, the way she did it.

But.  *And I hear wails of people with friends as quirky as mine* BUT.  It's just not the done thing, taking people you know and putting them on paper.  Seriously.  Friendships can be damaged at best, and lawsuits can be drawn up at worst.  As much as we'd like to say we're complimenting our 'oh so quirky and lovable' friends, we're not.  Well, not if we're writing a Lockhart, or a Lolita, or a desperate househusband.  Is it really that charming?

Imagine all of your 'lovable quirks' exaggerated into epic proportions, tacked onto your profession/calling/place in life (lawyer/tarot reader/shiftless college student) and having that version of you sent out in books across the world. 

Sucks, right?

So, that's the really ugly.

The bad is when you take your favorite flaws and foibles from different people you know, to make a patchwork quilt type of character.  Only, instead of sewing all these different pieces together neatly, you never learned the basics.  So we go to the punk staples, right?  Duct tape and safety pins. 

It's an excellent look, but y' know what?  It just doesn't do much to hold a character's personality together.  So why do we have a binge-drinking practicing Muslim college student who reads tarot cards in his spare time and came from Britain?  Are we ever going to figure out WHY we tossed all these adorable and not so adorable details into the mix without doing anything to make them fit?

It rarely works to say "I like this, and this, and this, and those three pieces of my most spectacular friends, too, and I'll make them all into SuperWonderfulCrazyBizarroCharacter!  It'll fit!"

The good is taking one thing.  Really, just one.  You take one behavioral quirk that you find fascinating/irritating/hellish/praiseworthy and you put it into your character's personality CAREFULLY.  This is a needle-and-thread, superglue sort of job.  If it doesn't look right, either pick a different quirk, or pick a different character.  Don't force it.  Readers can feel that forced attempt.

So if you know someone who works at a music store, is functionally tone deaf, and won't eat anything that was 'cute' when it was alive...start digging.  There's bound to be a quirk in there you want to refine for a story...and you won't f*** up a good friendship, either.

Woo!  I think I'll go do this.  'Cause, you know, it sounds like way too much fun.

Your Hair Should Be Orange

Expressive, deep, and one of a kind. You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices.

                                                    What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

...Oh, yeah.