Writing a novel...

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. - W. Somerset Maugham.

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From February 20, 2009: How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?

Two methods. Large books, hardcovers, and graphic novels have to be shelved where they will fit. As much as possible, they are grouped by subject. Groupings include the following:

• Doctor Who and Torchwood are together by the bathroom door; with library books and borrowed graphic novels on the bottom shelf.
  
• poetry, cookbooks, classics and Shakespeare are in the shelves by the kitchen door, along with borrowed books
  
• Dorothy Dunnett hardcovers have their own shelves
  
• Reference works, dictionaries (I have quite a collection of dictionaries now: besides Chambers, which is the best, and Mirriam-Webster, which I keep for the etymological dates, there's the dictionary of slang, dictionary of myths, dictionary of medieval weapons, illustrated dictionary, science dictionary, and so on.
  
• Esperanto books are together
  
• Latin books are together
  
• history and biography loosely grouped by subject/period

Then there is the paperback fiction. Shelved alphabetically by author, but seriously in need of being done all over again, as some of the books are disordered now.

I have a new spot in my DVD shelving for "newly acquired paperbacks".

The Doctor vs. Wolverine and the FBI...

From fannish5: Pick a reality tv show and list 5 characters you would like to see compete on that show. Bonus question: who would win?

I don't do reality shows, except for the Andrew Lloyd Webber ones. I don't even know what the other ones are.

But if there were a reality show for competing alien hunters: hmm. I'd make two teams. Say, the UK team vs the US team.

Team one: The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Captain Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Sapphire and Steel, and as a bonus, Myfanwy the Pterodactyl.

Team two: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, Wolverine, Buffy, Lex Luthor (hey, this is my list, I can put whoever I want on it), Sarah Connor (ditto) and as a bonus, Lockheed the Dragon.

Who would win? Team One, because the Doctor is there. Universes may fall, allies may die en masse, the world goes to hell, but the Doctor always wins through, and Jack at least would survive. And probably Myfanwy along with him. She's a tough old bird. Proto-bird.

Assuming they don't all die, Team One would still win, because the Doctor has a sonic screwdriver. Besides, everyone loves him. Team Two would end up allying with him and pooling resources, Lockheed could teach Myfanwy to breathe fire (with barebecue sauce as fuel), and far too many people would end up in bed with Captain Jack.

That's my kind of adventure.

Captain John Hart and other questions from sistercarrion...

sistercarrion posted: "Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given."

The subjects she gave me: I'm going to cheat slightly here and use one of my own ones, because, well, it's true! So: Your take on Captain John, your unusual LJ name, Writers Block questions ;), reviews, fanfic

Oooh. Fun.

1. Your take on Captain John Hart

I love him with a passionate passion. Now, everyone knows I love Torchwood, but if the show has a flaw - and yes, it has a few - it's that it sometimes lacks humour. Captain John Hart has enough humour to light up the sky.

But it isn't simple humour. It's dark humour, it's needy humour, it's joking-in-the-face-of-heartbreak-and-fear humour. It's defiant humour, because he's a defiant kind of guy. He's desperate, he's lost, he's vulnerable, he's rootless, he has no anchor - he wants Jack to be his anchor, but Jack isn't having any of that.

I'd love to explore John's ongoing story. I'd love to see him find the kind of redemption that Jack found when he met the Doctor - but I don't want to see John lose his edge. I want to see more of Captain John's adventures, minus interference from Gray. How much of what he said in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was complete bullshit? And how much was based on truths clear enough that Jack believed it, knowing him as he did?

I wish people would write more Jack/John fic, including myself.

2. ( your unusual LJ name )

3. ( Writers Block questions )

4. ( reviews )

This leads nicely into:
5. ( fanfic )

I usually only read stories in any one fandom for the duration of my involvement in that fandom, though I sometimes reread old favourites in fandoms I have followed in the past.

A few outstanding favourites of all time: "They Say of the Elves" by Brancher (Lord of the Rings), "Object of Desire" by Courtney Grey (The Professionals), "A Nice Friendly Game" by koimistress (Smallville). I've yet to find anything of quite that calibre in Torchwood fandom, but I live in hope and scrutinize rec lits - more, more, we need more!


P.S. Did I just write all that about Captain John Hart without mentioning the word "cheekbones"? Or using the word "sexy"?

I must be slipping.

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I got this one from przed, who said: "Apparently the Beeb reckons most people will only have read 6 of these books... Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started, but didn't finish."

I think my count here is 54 of the books. Some of them seem like odd choices to me, for a list like this. And some of them (like To Kill a Mockingbird and A Tale of Two Cities) are among my very favourite books.

( Pride and Prejudice )