Icons

Okay, made an icon for Jenn, since her teeth are giving her trouble, and her ex-dentist sounds like a bit of nightmare. Was going to just link to the Geocities page, but that has the fun side-effect of not showing up as an image, and the link not working, as and when it feels like it. Instead, I loaded up the icon on my LJ account, and tried to post a comment in Jenn's.

The irritating bit was that it would only post my default icon. With just two icons at LJ, I can choose which one will appear. With three, it only shows the default icon. that's just wierd. Is LJ supposed to do that, or is it just me that gets this preferential treatment?

TV Crushes

Just watched Family Ties, and was reminded of my TV crush on Alex Keating (Micheal J Fox, for those of you who weren't quite as absorbed as I was). It was something to do with the suits, the intelligence, the arrogance, the competitiveness, the sense of humour and the fact that deep down, he really did care about his family.

Now, if I'm going through TV crushes:
1) Ernie, from Sesame Street - Good sense of humour, amusing laugh (his sniggers still crack me up, even at 21) and cared about his friends. (Hey, I was four...)
2) Alex Keating, from Family Ties - As mentioned above he had a lot of pros, plus he was cute and (could be) charming.
3) Gambit, from X-Men cartoons - The accent. Really, it all came down to the voice.
4) I grew up a bit, and full-blown TV crushes turned into mini-crushlets... Jen from Dawson's Creek (very cute, sweet and funny); CJ from West Wing (doesn't everybody have a crush on CJ? Or at least want to be her when they grow up?); Lex from Smallville (once again, doesn't everybody want Lex? In one form or another...).

They just don't have the same impact as those crushes of youth. Maybe it's just age. As you get older, you start to realise that the characters are not too original, so it's easier to get over them. That, or like maturity actually does exist, and can apply to TV (but I think that's stretching a bit, don't you?).

Thinking about writing...

Reading through the SV fan fiction resources FAQ, written by TaraLJC, I came across the following advice:

5. Don't set out to write a series from the get-go. Write a self-contained, stand-alone story, and if, down the road, you write a sequel, so be it. If you are determined to write a trilogy, then plot accordingly, and keep each of the individual segments self-contained, with their own conflicts and plots that are identified and resolved by the end of each segment. Carrying sub-plots over from one to the next is fine, but ending in the "middle" of a story on a cliff-hanger is ill-advised. It's a cheap, manipulative device ...

So true. Not to mention, it can completely overwhelm you. Starting a great big huge series, even when you have it perfectly plotted in your mind, can be seriously daunting. Trust me, I speak from the voice of experience. Last SM (Sailor Moon, not BDSM) fic I wrote was a series that was far too ambitious. After a few stories I lost the urge or inclination to continue, and left the fandom altogether. (Now, I just don't want to go back to it, so it'll sit there gathering metaphorical dust forever.)

All in all, there's some seriously good advice on the site. I'm really wandering through it, considering getting back into fanfic writing. I was never a prolific writer, but I used to enjoy playing around. Plus, there's a certain satisfaction that comes from getting your ideas out in words, making them work together, and getting other people to understand what you're trying to get across.

Icons

Okay, does anyone have any idea why the only icon I can use is my "default" icon? I try to select any other, it won't show them. If I select no default, it shows no picture. Is this something to do with having a free account limit of three icons, and having three uploaded? Do I need to only use two to be able to choose which shows up on a comment?