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AN EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK INTO THE INESTIMABLE WRTING PROCESS OF ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feuille
There’s this city, called Ahgendt. It’s a stratocratic, isolated city with strictly limited immigration and emigration. There are curfews and lots of dark alleyways for nasty things to hide in, but the Military say that vampires are not real, and do horrible things to people who say otherwise...
There’s this surly vampire hunter, Latimer Bryce. He gets hired by a bunch of aristocrats with very long names to go and kill vampires. He does this, but not before kidnapping an aristocratic young woman, Aurelia-Sael Tierney-Waite and chaining her up in his spare room on suspicion of being a vampire. For some reason, Bryce and Aurelia make great friends, even though Bryce discovers that Aurelia is a mysterious shapeshifting panther-girl.
There’s this sweet and determined Military officer, Nathaniel Aplin-Fletcher, who has the misfortune to be a complete and utter woobie. He is tasked by his bluff father figure, General Larkin-Hess, to go into the Lawless districts where Bryce lives and help him kill vampires. He brings along his woobie-tastic totally-in-love-with-him BFF Avery, his woobie-tastic wacky sidekick Kennedy, Kennedy’s not-a-woobie sidekick Archie, and a random Ensign called Josef, who had the misfortune to have no personality whatsoever.
Bryce and Nathaniel used to be an item. A hot item. They have not seen each other for nearly ten years, but once they start working together the sparks fly. Bryce gets high on painkillers after surviving a vampire attack and makes out with Nathaniel, who thinks this is a great idea but doesn’t understand why (totally-in-love-with-him) Avery is so annoyed.
The wacky vampire-hunting group get very little vampire-hunting done before they discover the existence of an organised group of shapeshifters, called the werecreatures, who have technologically improbable surveillance techniques (they’re always watching) and a hidden agenda. On Aurelia’s suggestion, they attempt to negotiate with the werecreatures before ...something happens (what? We do not need to know). During the negotiation, Aurelia decides to try to kill the werecreatures (why? We do not need to know) but her attempt is interrupted by vampires turning up and kidnapping the adorable Archie.
Kennedy is bereft without his other half, and so returns home to his fiancée. Josef goes with him, never to be seen or heard of again. (Sorry, Josef.) The remaining team decides to infiltrate the secret vampire base in order to rescue Archie. In preparation for this serious and difficult mission, they go shopping. (No, seriously.) Then they go to a club and wait for Nathaniel to get roofied by a Brian Molko lookalike vampire. (It seemed like a good idea at the time?)
For some reason, their half-baked plans actually work and the intrepid group get taken to the lair of the super-evil, super powerful telepathic vampires, one of which is a brown-haired Lestat. (Also they have Bene Gesserit powers?). Thank goodness their plans were successful...? Archie is chained up against the wall and, like any good sidekick, immediately asks after Kennedy’s welfare. (Kennedy is at home sobbing into his pillow while his fiancée tuts and makes tea. Seriously.)
Suddenly Aurelia reveals her master plan, which is to bargain for the intrepid team’s freedom by giving up information on the werecreatures’ location to the super-evil vampires. The vampires want to kill the werecreatures so readily agree to her terms, but because they are super-evil they insist on eating one of the team first, and ask Aurelia to choose. She chooses Avery, because if anyone else died it would be too sad. Avery gets gruesomely eaten, but not before he gives Nathaniel one last meaningful look.
Nathaniel is rather irritated at this turn of events, and beats up the defenceless young woman while Bryce, her sworn protector, looks on. Archie, still chained to the wall, wonders what’s going on while simultaneously thankful that Kennedy isn’t here to see the traumatic events.
Aurelia goes with the super-evil vampires and invades the werecreature base that was once her home, all the while having numerous italicised flashbacks that give her migraines. The telepathic super-evil vampires find this rather amusing and play squash with werecreature lab technicians until the grand finale gets skipped over, and the intrepid team (minus one) can go home.
The intrepid team hang out at home, getting debriefed by a bunch of old white dudes in suits, and Nathaniel is very upset. Bryce is also upset when it turns out that after going home, Aurelia suddenly went mad and died. Both of them are less upset once they get back together and have lots of comfort sex. The vampire base is attacked by random Military officers, completely off-screen, and only brown-haired Lestat and the Brian Molko-lookalike survive. They head off into the sunset to live an undead life of debauchery, and back at the ranch everything’s now okay.
If you got through all of that, then well done, and as a reward, have a fun quiz! It's the
Which episode of Hornblower does this reference come from? Which character utters the infamous words? (Just to help with context, Larkin-Hess is played by this man.)
Quote Number 1!
Transcription: Nathaniel was utterly terrified at the prospect. How did they know his fears, the ones he had told no one, not even Latimer? Keeping his breath miraculously calm, he said, "It wouldn't be like that."
"It would be just like that."
Quote Number 2!
Transcription: "Commander, do not distress yourself further." Larkin-Hess looked troubled. "Carry on."
Quote Number 3!
Circled by the side of the main text: My God, Kennedy...
Quote Number 4!
Transcription: Larkin-Hess looked horrified. "We should not be punishing this man; we should be promoting him!
Quote Number 5!
Transcription: Sovran said his officer would be a first Lieutenant named Buckland
So this draft was written way back in 2004, when I was a wee 16-year-old, and currently I am just starting the fourth draft. How on Earth have I wrangled such brilliance into a form I myself would want to read, you might wonder: well wonder not, because over the next few days you shall be able to see for yourself how this wondrous first draft has taken shape into a proper story to be proud of.
Also, the graffiti I had to put up with from friends while toiling away at the page:
There’s this surly vampire hunter, Latimer Bryce. He gets hired by a bunch of aristocrats with very long names to go and kill vampires. He does this, but not before kidnapping an aristocratic young woman, Aurelia-Sael Tierney-Waite and chaining her up in his spare room on suspicion of being a vampire. For some reason, Bryce and Aurelia make great friends, even though Bryce discovers that Aurelia is a mysterious shapeshifting panther-girl.
There’s this sweet and determined Military officer, Nathaniel Aplin-Fletcher, who has the misfortune to be a complete and utter woobie. He is tasked by his bluff father figure, General Larkin-Hess, to go into the Lawless districts where Bryce lives and help him kill vampires. He brings along his woobie-tastic totally-in-love-with-him BFF Avery, his woobie-tastic wacky sidekick Kennedy, Kennedy’s not-a-woobie sidekick Archie, and a random Ensign called Josef, who had the misfortune to have no personality whatsoever.
Bryce and Nathaniel used to be an item. A hot item. They have not seen each other for nearly ten years, but once they start working together the sparks fly. Bryce gets high on painkillers after surviving a vampire attack and makes out with Nathaniel, who thinks this is a great idea but doesn’t understand why (totally-in-love-with-him) Avery is so annoyed.
The wacky vampire-hunting group get very little vampire-hunting done before they discover the existence of an organised group of shapeshifters, called the werecreatures, who have technologically improbable surveillance techniques (they’re always watching) and a hidden agenda. On Aurelia’s suggestion, they attempt to negotiate with the werecreatures before ...something happens (what? We do not need to know). During the negotiation, Aurelia decides to try to kill the werecreatures (why? We do not need to know) but her attempt is interrupted by vampires turning up and kidnapping the adorable Archie.
Kennedy is bereft without his other half, and so returns home to his fiancée. Josef goes with him, never to be seen or heard of again. (Sorry, Josef.) The remaining team decides to infiltrate the secret vampire base in order to rescue Archie. In preparation for this serious and difficult mission, they go shopping. (No, seriously.) Then they go to a club and wait for Nathaniel to get roofied by a Brian Molko lookalike vampire. (It seemed like a good idea at the time?)
For some reason, their half-baked plans actually work and the intrepid group get taken to the lair of the super-evil, super powerful telepathic vampires, one of which is a brown-haired Lestat. (Also they have Bene Gesserit powers?). Thank goodness their plans were successful...? Archie is chained up against the wall and, like any good sidekick, immediately asks after Kennedy’s welfare. (Kennedy is at home sobbing into his pillow while his fiancée tuts and makes tea. Seriously.)
Suddenly Aurelia reveals her master plan, which is to bargain for the intrepid team’s freedom by giving up information on the werecreatures’ location to the super-evil vampires. The vampires want to kill the werecreatures so readily agree to her terms, but because they are super-evil they insist on eating one of the team first, and ask Aurelia to choose. She chooses Avery, because if anyone else died it would be too sad. Avery gets gruesomely eaten, but not before he gives Nathaniel one last meaningful look.
Nathaniel is rather irritated at this turn of events, and beats up the defenceless young woman while Bryce, her sworn protector, looks on. Archie, still chained to the wall, wonders what’s going on while simultaneously thankful that Kennedy isn’t here to see the traumatic events.
Aurelia goes with the super-evil vampires and invades the werecreature base that was once her home, all the while having numerous italicised flashbacks that give her migraines. The telepathic super-evil vampires find this rather amusing and play squash with werecreature lab technicians until the grand finale gets skipped over, and the intrepid team (minus one) can go home.
The intrepid team hang out at home, getting debriefed by a bunch of old white dudes in suits, and Nathaniel is very upset. Bryce is also upset when it turns out that after going home, Aurelia suddenly went mad and died. Both of them are less upset once they get back together and have lots of comfort sex. The vampire base is attacked by random Military officers, completely off-screen, and only brown-haired Lestat and the Brian Molko-lookalike survive. They head off into the sunset to live an undead life of debauchery, and back at the ranch everything’s now okay.
If you got through all of that, then well done, and as a reward, have a fun quiz! It's the
Which episode of Hornblower does this reference come from? Which character utters the infamous words? (Just to help with context, Larkin-Hess is played by this man.)
Quote Number 1!
Transcription: Nathaniel was utterly terrified at the prospect. How did they know his fears, the ones he had told no one, not even Latimer? Keeping his breath miraculously calm, he said, "It wouldn't be like that."
"It would be just like that."
Quote Number 2!
Transcription: "Commander, do not distress yourself further." Larkin-Hess looked troubled. "Carry on."
Quote Number 3!
Circled by the side of the main text: My God, Kennedy...
Quote Number 4!
Transcription: Larkin-Hess looked horrified. "We should not be punishing this man; we should be promoting him!
Quote Number 5!
Transcription: Sovran said his officer would be a first Lieutenant named Buckland
So this draft was written way back in 2004, when I was a wee 16-year-old, and currently I am just starting the fourth draft. How on Earth have I wrangled such brilliance into a form I myself would want to read, you might wonder: well wonder not, because over the next few days you shall be able to see for yourself how this wondrous first draft has taken shape into a proper story to be proud of.
Also, the graffiti I had to put up with from friends while toiling away at the page:
no subject
There's actually a lot less graffiti than I was expecting. Aside from the word 'hippenbuben' scrawled across page 112 and several tombstones in the margins at points when people die...the most graffiti there is is just me working out my current word count!
I hope Harriet enjoyed it :D