Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.8
Episode 2.8 – “Rose”
We start off with Elena being delivered by the guy who snatched her to what is obviously a vampire in the darkly tinted SUV. Nice to see vampires operating without the magic rings. I guess he’s not worried about leaving a body behind though, as he feeds on the guy and leaves him for dead.
Jeremy is slow to figure out that Elena isn’t at home (why didn’t he notice she didn’t come home the night before? Hadn’t she called him and said she was on her way?) He tries to tell Stefan that if Elena wants him to cover for her with Jenna then she has to let him know. They manage to puzzle out that Elena’s gone missing.
Caroline tells Damon all about what went on with Tyler accidentally killing Sarah and going all wolfy. Damon can’t understand why Caroline would have covered for Tyler since he’s such a tool. But she maintains that the werewolf road leads straight to vampire boulevard and by helping Tyler she was helping to keep their secrets too. Damon tries to impress upon her how much she needs to keep what they are a secret from Tyler since he can’t be trusted. Caroline felt bad for Tyler because he was freaking out so much but she understands that she shouldn’t try to be friends with him, it’s too dangerous for all of them.
Tyler is freaking out about Sarah’s death at school once he comes upon the memorial for her at her locker. He seems a bit worried about Aimee’s disappearance too. He spots Caroline and demands to know how she knew he was a werewolf, but she plays the airhead card and pretends she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He confronts her again after school, demanding to know why she lied to him. His temper is showing and he tries to keep her from leaving by grabbing onto her but her temper kicks in too and she reveals that she’s strong enough to push him away. Really not the best way to get him to drop his questions!
So Far So Good for NaNoWriMo!
At the end of day 3 I’m up to 8099 in words written, not too shabby I think. It’s definitely a different vibe writing fanfic for NaNo rather than an original novel. I don’t have the freedom of writing complete unpolished crap because it’s a first draft and won’t be seen in this incarnation since I’m posting updates as I go and I’ve got to make sure they’re up to snuff before they get posted. And I also don’t have the benefit of having the fairly detailed outline I had for the other 3 novels I’ve written during the month long writing challenges since I just didn’t have time to get anything down this time.
But on the plus side, it’s gratifying to have people see the results right away. And I’m normally a pretty ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ kind of writer when it comes to fanfic, so that’s okay. And there’s less pressure to come up with something super awesome that I have to then figure out a way to market because my fanfic is just for fun and for the fans. With things so stressful at work, I’m glad I went this route even if I won’t end up with a book to publish at the end of the month.
I wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone for all the support and feedback on fanfic.net! I had over 55,000 hits for my fics last month alone, that is amazing! You guys are the reason I write there, and I’m so touched to have so many people reading.
In other news, I heard back from a publisher today who’s about halfway through reading Pretty Witches All in a Row. He emailed me to let me know that he’s really enjoying it so far and with a little editing he thinks I’ve got the makings of a great book. How cool is that?
Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.7
Episode 2.7 – “Masquerade”
Sorry this one is a little late, Halloween weekend is getting away from me.
This is a jam packed episode! Let’s get right to it.
We start off with Caroline all shaky, recounting a run in with Katherine to Damon. Stefan shows up looking like Mr. Rogers (really Stefan? A cardigan and checked shirt? I know you’re a hundred and fifty, but do you have to dress like it?). It seems that Caroline was at the Grill, making moon eyes at Matt when Katherine appeared wanting Caroline to deliver the message “I want the moonstone or I will rip this town apart until it rains blood. Tonight, at the masquerade ball.” Damon wants to kill her, Caroline wants to give her the moonstone so she’ll leave. “You’re not gonna kill her,” Stefan says. “Because I am.”
Jenna comes home from the hospital thinking she walked into a knife. Jeremy wants to know what they’re gonna do about Katherine. Elena doesn’t want to do anything, thinking she’s already won, best to just leave it that way. Jeremy thinks she’s being naïve and leaves. Elena invites Matt to hang out with them that night too, but he declines, he’s going to the party. (don’t forget, Katherine compelled him to go there and provoke Tyler into killing him)
Katherine comes home from a shopping spree, and finds an old witchy friend waiting for her in her room. Well sort of friends. The witch Lucy says she’s her buddy but they also come out and say that she doesn’t have a choice but to come when Katherine calls. So clearly there is a debt owed there. They get ready for the masquerade together, with Katherine straightening her hair so she can impersonate Elena more effectively. Lucy guesses that she wants the moonstone so she can break the curse, but Katherine doesn’t say why, she just wants to focus on getting it back.
Back at the Salvatore mansion, they’re getting the wagons into a circle. We’ve got everyone there conspiring together except for Elena. Bonnie brings the grimoire, but asks what’s going on? Quick shot of Alaric and Damon going over some weapons, and Caroline bringing them supplies and Jeremy shows up, all in the know to say “We’re gonna kill Katherine.” “I can explain…” Stefan pipes up when Bonnie seems stricken by the notion and then clarifies with: “We’re gonna kill Katherine.” (Oh man I laughed so hard when he said that!)
NaNoWriMo Fast Approaches…
And I am having some serious waffling issues. So far I think I’ve chosen and discarded easily a half dozen ideas on what to write about. I had started with the sequel to Angel of Mercy, No Mercy for the Wicked. But then I decided to go with something fresh and something my eleven year old might enjoy reading. I even sat down with her and did some brainstorming, which was a lot of fun. I helped her decide what she’s gonna write for NaNo!
Only the thing is… we can’t seem to agree on anything for me to write on that she wants to read! She’ll like part of my idea, but not others, or we’ll have a serious disagreement on what the characters should be like. So I’m thinking… writing kids books is not my forte. 
Which is fine, and I thought I’d still try and tackle a young adult book since it’d be smaller overall and I’m so pressed for time.
But then I started editing down Moonsong and felt like writing a sequel to that one… and ugh there are too many choices! And I’m still trying to refine my three completed books and pitch them to agents and publishers. To top things off, work continues to consume more of my time than I would like and I’ve started to entertain the notion of not writing anything for Nano.
I know. Sacriligious! It pains me to even think of not doing it.
Then I thought about having one of my new fanfics count as a NaNo entry. After all, I could start it in the month of November and then I could kill two birds with one stone. But somehow that seems like cheating. It’s national NOVEL writing month, does fanfic count?
So now here I am, 4 ish days from the start and I have no idea if I’ll be doing it, or what I’ll be writing about. Yikes!
What do you guys think? Any ideas? Comments? Does Fanfic count as writing towards Nano?
Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.6
Episode 2.5 – “Plan B”
We begin with Stefan and Elena in bed together and I’m thinking… they’re being kinda risky aren’t they? In broad daylight? Pillow talk centers around what might happen if Katherine finds out they’re still together.
Cut to scenes of Katherine and Mason rolling around in the sheets as well. Katherine wants to know where the moonstone is and Mason says that he doesn’t trust anyone (i.e. her), but he’ll give her the moonstone later that night. Is it just me or is this a little gimmicky with all the back and forth? Saying some of the same lines to each other but in different couples?
Jeremy shows up at the Salvatore mansion, wanting to join in on Damon’s reindeer games. Damon tries to shut the door on him repeatedly, so Jeremy keeps dribbling out pieces of intel where the Lockwoods are concerned. He tells Damon that Tyler’s not a werewolf yet, and that he’ll have to kill someone to activate the curse. Also that Mason’s looking for the moonstone and that he knows where it is. Damon relents and lets him into the house. Why do I think Elena won’t be too thrilled at this development?
Alaric comes over with a box of goodies and doesn’t look too happy to see Jeremy there cutting in on his bromance time. He thinks the moonstone is the key to breaking the curse that keeps werewolves from shifting on only full moons. Jeremy agrees to get the moonstone for them from Tyler.
At the Lockwood place, they’re prepping the house for a Masquerade ball, so the house is positively swarming with people. Jenna confronts Stefan and lets him know that she’s heard him in Elena’s bedroom that morning, apparently she’s a light sleeper.
Bonnie and Elena have a little bonding moment, while setting things up for the party. Bonnie is still resistant to have anything to do with Caroline since she’s become a vampire and Elena urges her to give her another chance. Elena realizes how far apart she’s grown from Bonnie (given Bonnie’s attitude towards vamps, that’s not exactly a shocker) and fills her in on all the happenings lately, including the fact that she and Stefan have been pretending to fight. Bonnie asks her “I know where I stand Elena, and I know where you stand. But where do we stand?” “You’re my best friend.” Elena replies. Personally, I don’t see a whole lot of a future for this friendship unless Bonnie can take the sanctimonious stick out of her…
NaNoWriMo – To Sequel or Not To Sequel?
Okay I know I posted that I’d be writing the sequel to Angel of Mercy for the NaNoWriMo challenge in November, but the more I think about it the more I think I’ll be going with something new. I’ve been going back and forth as to what makes more sense, since my writing time is limited between the books/editing/queries/fanfics/RP, so I want to get the most bang for my buck so to speak when I pick up a new challenge. I’ve been worried about writing a sequel to a book that hasn’t sold in case there are any major edits suggested by an agent or publisher that might eventually make an already written sequel need to be overhauled later. Or whether or not sequels make you more attractive or less attractive to an agent or publisher.
I’ve decided that I’m definitely overthinking this.
NaNoWriMo is just about writing. Period. Not marketing, or selling, just writing. So I’ll simply go with whatever characters are screaming the loudest to get their story told. Simple as that. So stay tuned to see what it ends up being. I’ve got at least 8 ideas simmering in the back of my mind right now and a new one could get queued up to the front of the line at any moment. Or inspiration might strike for a new one (got one driving the other day, inspired by a cover of the Aerosmith song “Dream On” by Kelly Sweet. Still might write that one, it’s about a teen girl that moves to a new town with her mother who has something to hide…)
In the meantime new ideas for fanfics keep rolling in too. In addition to the two I’ve got going now for Vampire Diaries and True Blood. I’ve got an idea for one that combines the movie Unknown with Tabula Rasa from Buffy with the cast of Vampire Diaries – essentially they’re trapped in a warehouse with amnesia, don’t even know that some of them are vampires! Also I wanted to write the sequel to Road Trip with Damon and Elena on a European Roadtrip. And then I have an idea for one with Eric and Sookie from True Blood, only this time she’s got amnesia and Eric convinces her that she is His and always has been. (I know, I’m on an amnesia kick lately, I don’t know what that’s about!)
So much to write and so little time!
