NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon Of The Day - December 2nd: Thank Goodness It's Over Party

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 16: ML Appreciation Day

It's Municipal Liaison Appreciation Day! Time to show some heartfelt appreciation to all our wonderful volunteers who facilitate our NaNo communities. Everyone who organizes Write-Ins, who hosts and moderates a forum or server, sends carepackages and encouragements: thank you! What I love about NaNo is the self-challenge and the call to creativity, as well as the feeling of community: how all of us are writing our own stories on our own and yet together.

Day 16: ML Appreciation Day

Who would you like to show special appreciation to today? Send some virtual flowers? A surprise plotbunny? A lovable raptor? A nice message filled with kind words?

Lucy Preston - Sheer Exuberance of Being or The Impossible Made Real

It's such a pleasure to experiment with different art & illustration styles. This was an experiment in colour and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Lucy Preston is such a marvelous character - fierce, loyal and kind to a fault but also ruthless and with a backbone of steel. She's been living in my mind in many adaptations through the show & the fanfic reimaginings and I love reading about her.

Now that I'm posting these fanarts publically, I'm writing short accompanying texts on AO3 and I find myself in a melancholic mood apparently :-) So, please do check them out & leave me a comment ❤️.

Now also on AO3

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 19: Rescue Mission Alert

Uh'oh! Someone is in trouble! Time to break out all the stops & plan the rescue mission! Have you got your Loveable Dragon? Feisty Princess? Hidden tower far away? Adventure Map? Story Ninjas? Bumbling Knight? Superskilled and sly Character Assassin accompanied by the ever elusive & infamous Traveling Shovel of Death?

Day 19: Rescue Mission Alert

While your characters are off endangering themselves and saving each other: how are you holding up yourself? In need of rescue yet? Have you been feeding your plot bunnies? Or are they so vicious they are running away with you? What is the goal you set for yourself? Plan your own mission and consider: what do you need to keep your momentum going for the next few days? Remember: there is still a large chunk of the month left & we can do this!

The Timeless story Burn the Witch by @barefootwithneonhands intrigues me. It explores a darker Lucy returning from her time in Rittenhouse viewed through her teammates eyes, and has her take direct action in their fight.

It's got mystery (the Bell Witch), lots of humor - especially from Rufus, tender moments between Denise & Michelle, heartbreak as to what Lucy went through and a realness to who she is now having gone through that and what she is truly willing to do combined with the vulnerability of being truly seen.

I like how Lucy is so unapologetic. The small hint with the 20 dollar bill that she succeeded and the way her team questions, but supports her. Little details like Wyatt listening to history podcasts while exercising and Denise pinching her nose in frustration as she contemplates the list of people she cannot kill make me smile.

Marianne' Cartoons: Day 2: Are You Having Fun?

Day two of NaNoWriMo is upon us! The early beginnings of a project can feel giddy and exhilarating and fun. We get to meet our characters and write our hearts out. It's like being a kid at a playground and having a blast. Perhaps you have build up a nice cushion of words and face the NaNo challenge with confidence. Give yourself a pat on the back and keep writing. Perhaps yesterday was a struggle and self doubt is creeping in early. Give yourself a nice warm hug and keep writing. Your story is your playground. It is wild, and limitless in its possibilities and you get to play! Sometimes it's scary; mostly it's fun. Sometimes we fall, but we always get back up and keep going! What brought you joy today? What inspired your characters? You got this. Let's write!

Lately, I've been fascinated by The Hunger Games AU story A Standing Engagement by @bettsfic featuring Annie Cresta & Finnick Odair.

The Hunger Games is a dark dystopian reality that in so many ways mirrors our own, and it's gruesomeness is portrayed so hauntingly in this story. Annie Cresta is given a different backstory from canon, and lives in the capital. Her past is still dark. Life in the capital is heartbreaking: constant monitoring, putting on a display, not showing your real self and the dark undercurrents of danger & exploitation are always there.

Annie has lost most of her childhood memories, and lives in a world where image matters more than truth. Narration is by necessity unreliable as Annie does not know nor trust in what is truly happening, and doesn't remember except in haunting tainted glimpses. Annie pays Finnick to pretend to love her & act like he truly cares, and therefore, what trust can there be that what Finnick says & does is honest and real?

We see Finnick only through Annie's eyes and supplement that knowledge from what we know from canon: I think that leads us to trust Finnick's honesty in caring for & loving Annie earlier than the story itself warrants. Chapter 8/16 has just been published, and the truth of his love is acknowledged. Yet, that very truth is dangerous & puts them both in jeopardy - which we already know from canon. And so, this story weaves an interesting tale.

Their history - the fisherman's boy and the screaming girl - is referenced in small glimpses and details and I enjoy going back and rereading after new chapters to see earlier hints in a different light, like the best kind of stories do.

In our view of Finnick & his exploitation, we see our own celebrity culture: objectiving to such a degree we no longer acknowledge people as humans. The story is clever in its examination of what that does and means.

Annie & Finnick are both starkly lonely and vulnerable and yet able to reach each other behind all the masks. I'm curious to read where this story is going next now that the monthly meetings can no longer take place and the next Hunger Games are around the corner.

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 20: Magical Portals & New Discoveries!

A story contains untold magnitudes and there are so many possible choices: who is telling the story to whom? Where are they located? How honest are they? What choices do your characters make when confronted with the plottwists you dreamt up?  The sheer creative act of storytelling requires bravery. Shifting through this realm of possibilities and finding which door you want to open and which approach you'll take.

Day 20: Magical Portals & New Discoveries

Storytelling transforms. It lifts you up from your everyday life and places you in the midst of this world of yours. It allows you to look at the world through another's eyes and walk in their shoes. It's a magical portal all by itself and that's not even including all those hidden portals we so often find in fiction. Are there any portals in your story? Ways your characters leave their regular lives and get thrust into adventure? Allow yourself to be amazed & keep writing away!

The Timeless story Q&A by @somekindofflowergirl features Lucy & Flynn talking: "Lucy & Flynn develop routine during their nighttime chats. She's allowed one loaded question and he's allowed one loaded apology."

It's a thoughtful, mature and slow story that explores trust, respect & friendship before it eventually blossoms into romantic love. I like the intimacy in the story, the lack of rushing and their tactility. The small scene at the end with Rufus where they acknowledge what him & Jiya are owed is marvelous.

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - Day 07: Maps

Have you drawn a story map yet? What does your narrative’s landscape look like? We are all on this writing expedition together with different maps to guide our way. I like creative and associative maps and it was fun to draw this filled with funky little writing places we can explore.

Day 07: Getting Lost in the Realm of Possibilities

What are the central features on your map? The sightseeing marvels no reader should miss? What monsters are lurking in those empty spaces only barely sketched in because no adventurer has ever returned to carry tales? Any hidden treasures that your main character has buried in the early days and now can’t find again? 

NaNoWriMo - My Cartoon of the Day - December 1st: Time to Rest & Recoup

We did it! The rush to the finish line is done. It's over and dusted. We are DONE. November is gone and over with and our NaNo season is coming to a close. For today: rest & start recouping. Bask in the glory of having completed your challenge and the satisfaction of having had the courage to attempt it. If you did not achieve what you set out to do: face your feelings, acknowledge them and rest in the knowledge that I am proud of you for attempting it.

Any word you wrote is one you did not have before. Life interferes sometimes and serendipity happens. For me: November is a month of creativity. It is rare that I manage to complete NaNo in all the years I have been trying - but I embrace the effort, the attempt, the striving & desire to tell stories.

Dec 1st: Time to Rest & Recoup

Take a moment to reflect and breathe. How do you feel? What did you enjoy most about NaNo this year? What did it teach you? What did you learn? Would you like to maintain your daily writing habit? Is your story finished? What would you like to integrate into your daily life now that NaNo is over? Who were your biggest supporters and how would you like to thank them? What do you need to recoup? To rest? To breathe? To celebrate? I'll see you tomorrow for the Thank-Goodness-It's-Over-Party and the final bonus cartoon!