Category Archives: Vampire Diaries
Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.19
Episode 2.19 – “Klaus”
Okay so I know that season 2 is long gone now, but I just hate leaving things unfinished, so I thought I’d continue with the recaps at least through the end of this season.
As we start the show, Elena has just removed the dagger from Elijah’s chest and sits there, calmly waiting for him to wake up. (I don’t think I’d be quite so calm!) When Elijah opens his eyes for the first time, he mistakes her for Katherine (or Katarina, as he calls her) and we are transported back to England 1492 with another period flashback. Will we get to see the elusive Klaus? I’m assuming so from the title of the episode. Everybody gets their silly hair of course, but when Elijah sees Katarina, he’s very taken with her as she reminds him of someone else. Klaus makes a grand entrance, and proceeds to woo Katarina without any real interest in her; something she picks up on, even as she acknowledges that he’s very charming. Elijah points out that many unions have been built on less but Katarina insists that she wants more. She makes a very pretty speech about love, saying that there’s no point in living without it. Elijah says he doesn’t believe in love and might have said more but Klaus returns and spirits her away.
Goodbye Gray Skies, Now What?
I’ve finally wrapped up my True Blood fanfic Gray Skies Are Gonna Clear Up after 4o chapters and as always, I find myself looking around asking, now what? The short answer is writing, duh, but writing what? I’ve just started another TVD fic Dark Side of the Moon and I’m having a good time playing with Damon and company after a too long hiatus, but I do find that I like flipping back and forth between fics, it helps keep me sharp. I really enjoyed coming up with a tie in for Eric and Rob (original character) and I’m considering a spin off for them that’s either in the past or the future, but I haven’t quite decided what I might do there yet.
I could always start another book, I’ve got another stand alone novel idea all prepped and ready to go. Okay so it’s not fully mapped out, but I have the basic premise in mind. Or I could do a sequel to one of my other four books, each of them can definitely work as part of a series, especially Angel of Mercy which ends on a definite cliffhanger. I am enjoying the lazy pace of posting to fanfic though, I am addicted to the instant feedback for one (hey, it’s been an hour since my last update, where are my reviews?!) and I love, love, love writing Damon, he’s gotta be the most fun to write for, hands down.
I do intend to get back to finishing the Vampire Diaries recaps too, it bothers me that I didn’t finish them, even though everyone’s probably seen them by now. I’ll tackle the next one this weekend, I’ve got them all on Tivo. We’ve also got some private ventures going on, working on setting up an online store of all kinds of interesting, eclectic gifts and that’s taking up some of my time too and on top of that some home remodeling stuff we’ve been putting off for far too long. So… just a little to keep me busy these days. 
1st Draft is Done!!!
Okay apart from missing chapter 9 (I can’t wrap my head around whether or not to include it or skip it!). Right now it’s about 77,000 words, and there are some bits I know I need to flesh out more so I should hit 80K easy even without the chapter 9 if I decide to leave it out. So, now it’s revision time, but some of the pressure is off so that will hopefully leave me some more time for fun writing as I’ve been really behind on my True Blood fanfic (it’s been about 2.5 weeks since I updated, I think that’s a new record for me) and I am dying to start another Vampire Diaries fanfic (I seriously have about 6 different ideas spinning around in my head). Only when I was taking a shower today inspiration hit for another book idea… so we’ll see what happens. 
Work has been crazy busy lately and all of my writing has taken a hit because of it as I’ve been more braindead when I get home and less productive, but it’s a huge weight off to have the 1st draft done of The Touch and find that it came out alright.
Vacation is coming up all next week and we’ll see if I end up taking a vacation from writing too or if I let myself do some fun writing as relaxation… we’ll see. I just got the new Sookie Stackhouse book to read too so I’m looking forward to delving into that.
Sorry I haven’t updated the Vampire Diaries recap but I just haven’t had the time and based on web traffic I’m not convinced too many people were really following it anyway, so it became lower on the priority list of what to work on. I’ve got all the eps on Tivo, so if I get the time I could still write them out, but right now I’m not making any promises.
Well off to start the first of many rewrites before Justified is on tonight! 10pm on FX, don’t forget to watch!
Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.18
Episode 2.18 – “The Last Dance”
Klaus in Alaric’s body is getting a crash course on Alaric’s life from Katherine while he looks for something to wear out of his limited wardrobe. Katherine pleads with him to kill her and spare her the torture, but he’s not done with her yet. He searched for her for over five hundred years and her death is going to last at least half that long if he gets his wish. Before he leaves, he compels her to stab her own leg with a knife over and over again. The wounds heal quickly, but still cause her considerable pain and blood loss. The torture begins!
Elena officially signs the papers that give her ownership of the Salvatore boarding house. She invites Stephan in right away but makes Damon promise to obey her and he does so reluctantly (why do I not believe him?). But just as soon as she secures her safety, she and Bonnie leave to go to school despite Damon and Stephan’s protests that they didn’t give her a safe house so she could leave it. Bonnie promises to stick by her side and since she’s the best weapon they have against Klaus, they agree to let her go.
Klaus has a little trouble fitting into Alaric’s life when it comes to teaching about the 60’s. All he can say about them is that they kind of sucked except for the Beatles. Unfortunately we only get to watch him flounder his way through it for a few minutes before we’re shown the preparations for the dance. Jeremy continues to push Bonnie to tell the others that it could kill her to harness the power of the other witches but she won’t budge. He leaves in a snit once Elena arrives in the cafeteria. Random girl we’ve never seen before this episode shows up to tell Elena that a totally hot guy named Klaus asked if she’s going to the dance tonight and if she’ll save him the last dance. Bonnie and Elena look suitably freaked out, but the girl doesn’t seem to notice.
Damon and Stefan plan to go to the dance to try and spot Klaus and keep Elena safe. In the midst of making plans with Elena and Bonnie, “Alaric” shows up, proving that Klaus needs no invitation to enter the house while in his body. He learns that Bonnie not only has her powers but is capable of channeling the power of the witches. There’s also a live demonstration when she easily bats down a surprise attack from Damon who wants to test how strong she is. So much for the secret weapon!
Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.17
Episode 2.17 – “Know Thy Enemy”
And we’re back! After a crazy 6 week hiatus, I spent most of the day in giddy anticipation and the show definitely did not disappoint! The episode was chockablock with “holy crap!” moments, so let’s dive right in, shall we?
Elena keeps Jenna from inviting Isobel into the house, but the damage is done when Isobel comes out swinging with “So you’re the woman dating my husband.” Poor Jenna! She looks like she’s having a Twin Peaks experience. Elena slams the door in Isobel’s face, but Jenna is devastated that everyone but her knew that Ric’s wife was still alive. Locking herself in the bedroom, Jenna refuses to talk to anyone, looking like she’s having a panic attack.
Alaric shows up to try to talk to Jenna, but she’s already packed a bag, planning on staying at the University since she has a thesis to write and doesn’t want to stay in the house on the count of all the rage and betrayal she’s feeling at the moment. Jenna leaves, telling them she just doesn’t have it in her to listen to any more of their lies. John shows up, is pretty much a jerk so Alaric gets in a good solid punch to his jaw and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
At casa de Salvatore, Stefan is about to go see Elena and try to figure out what Isobel wanted, when Katherine (with lots of curly hair this ep) suggests that they might not want to mention to Isobel that she’s in town if they happen to run into her. Besides, it’ll work better if they need her to swap places with Elena again if fewer people know she’s around.
Poor Elena is freaking out with the idea that Jenna is about to find out what’s really going on, and Matt is MIA after having found out. Just when she can’t feel any more powerless in her own home, John comes in to talk to her, after having invited Isobel in against her wishes. He begs her and Stefan to listen to what she has to say, feeling that they can trust her. Isobel tells them that she’s been doing everything she can to try and find Klaus. While she hasn’t been able to find him, there are rumors going around that there is a doppelganger out there and Elena’s in more danger than ever, as vampires looking to gain favor with Klaus will come after her. Isobel offers to take Elena to a safehouse with a deed in Elena’s name, leaving out the part where THIS IS ALL A HUGE TRAP! Luckily, Elena isn’t buying it, and tells her to get the hell out of her house.
Isobel doesn’t sulk for very long, leaving them behind to hole up in her new place; the nicest foreclosure in town. In a nice “holy crap!” moment, Katherine shows up and after a little playful tussle, they embrace as friends. Okay that’s gotta be creepy for Isobel to be huggy friends with an old vampire that looks exactly like her daughter who she doesn’t give a damn about. I’m just saying. Anyway, Isobel says that she’s been busy making a deal with Klaus to keep Katherine safe by delivering the moonstone and Elena. The only reason that Isobel even went to Elena’s house was to see Jenna because she got jealous that Ric was dating “Auntie Vanilla”. If Katherine can get the moonstone, Isobel will deliver both to one of Klaus’ witches who has negotiated Katherine’s freedom.
Writing Tips
The new book is going well, I’ve just crested the 18k word mark and the 2k per day quota is working out fine. In getting a very nice review on my True Blood fanfic, someone asked for some writing tips and I decided to share them here in case anyone is interested.
The number one piece of advice I can give is to write every day, I suppose that applies to either. Unless there’s some kind of cataclysmic event that prevents you, even a few hundred words per day will help you keep connected to your story and keep your momentum going.
For novels, I always make sure I have an outline before I start so I know how the beginning, middle and end are going to turn out, and hopefully plenty of bits in between. When you think you’re ready to start writing, don’t. Take another couple of days to revisit that outline, adding to it and fleshing it out (I even add bits of dialogue that come to me along the way). When you get stuck on the novel later you’ll be glad for the pre-work you’ve done to get you back on track.
Also, don’t stop writing if you get stuck on a scene. It’s okay to keep going even if you know a scene isn’t working just right. You can always go back and fix a scene later but you can’t fix what you never write in the first place. This I learned from NaNoWriMo which encourages you to just write like crazy for a month with absolutely no editing until you’re done with the first draft. Before I started writing this way I was always a victim of my inner editor and I’d never get past a few chapters.
Also, also, I find it helpful to set a daily quota for myself when working on a book. Even if it’s self imposed and no one else will ever know if I make that quota or not, it keeps me on track. I’ve done it with a 3k a day quota and written a 100k book in 30 days (which is rough with a full time job I admit, but can be done) and I’ve done it with 1500 words per day (which is easier on the schedule but doesn’t quite move things along as well as I’d like) and the one I’m working on now is coming in at about 2k words per day. This seems to work well, and I can still enjoy some evening time with the family and I should be done in just over a month’s time if I get a little extra in on weekends. But of course YMMV.
Also, also, also, you’ll want to keep your first book in the 80k to 90k range at the most or publishers won’t take a chance on it.
In other thoughts, who else is excited that Vampire Diaries is coming back on the air soon?!?
