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[adiva_calandia]

I am suddenly, kind of out of the blue, in a fantastic mood. I put this down to a few things:

1) Caffeine.

2) Last week I saw a show, one of the MFA Playwrighting program's thesis projects, called Grae Matters. I didn't get a chance to ask all the questions I wanted to ask of the playwright and director and cast at the post-mortem on Monday -- but I did get to talk to the playwright today while working for Doc. Note this name, theatrical types -- Carol Godart. She's amazing. I got to ask her about a few staging facets of her show, including "Why did you cast the dual part of a teenage girl and a four-year-old girl with a male actor?" She asked me what I thought her reasoning might be, so I told her, and she beamed and looked at Doc and said "Can I take her on all my trips?"

Which is so encouraging, really. I'm not just bullshitting my way through school, I'm learning and applying things and I understand them.

3) "Simple Man," which I think I'm going to retitle "Adelphaki," which if I'm doing everything right means "little brother." Three things, here. For one, I realized a few minutes ago that I could actually submit this somewhere as an original piece, since even though in my mind it's a piece of fanfic, it actually involves characters totally in the public domain. (Hell, I'm wondering if I should rework it as a companion piece to Pandora, though I'm not sure it works thematically with that at all.) I wonder if it fits into all these Trickster myths I write -- stylistically it doesn't, pantheon-wise it doesn't, but . . . Maybe that's going to be the collection. Myths Taken. (And then all the Robert Asprin fans will pick it up out of confusion, and the high-brow fantasy sci-fi readers will avoid it like the plague. Hmm. But I'm such a sucker for bad puns!)

For another, I noticed another bit of accidental brilliance. batyatoon pointed out that the first description of Pandora echoes the earlier lists of gifts that Epimetheus is so excited about. What I noticed, rereading, was that at the beginning, when Zeus came to them, Epimetheus was "so relieved that [he] threw back [his] head and laughed." Later, when he got the news about Atlas, he threw back his head again, and he "screamed to the heavens." Echoing motions makes me all tingly.

And finally, on a reread, I am still way too pleased with myself for the second-person thing. Because then you can read it as Epimetheus, of the long memory, talking to himself, and remembering, and accusing himself. "Coward that you were, fool that you were." Just. That makes me so gleeful. And breaks me into little tiny pieces, but it's kind of awesome nevertheless.

(It excited me, also, that I can write things that even I can analyze and find new things in. I are srs writer, guys!)

4) Listening to Dvorak's cello concerto at the end of Art History. Guh. Just guh. Cello.


So on the whole: in a good mood. I'm gonna go work out while I have the energy, because I am pretty certain I won't actually get much homework done tonight anyway, and maybe doing something productive like working out will inspire me to do more productive stuff.

Comments

[newredshoes]

Accidental brilliance is always the shiniest.

*looks through the Mastronarde* I'm not up on my diminutives, but lemme check if that's right-ish! --aha, wrong language. My Italian texts taught that, but not my Greek.

I would definitely, definitely encourage you to write and develop more with this. Dead serious, if you want someone else to bounce things off of and to beta? I do it for a paycheck now.

I love Pandora, but I think this piece is stronger separately.

...do I have more? ....nope! Just eating popcorn now. But, yes! *finger-waggles* I've thought about doing the publishing thing with my Prometheus-pieces, once there are enough of them. We should talk.

[adiva_calandia]

I asked ceitfianna, and she said adelphaki seemed like the best to her. So!

I will totally take you up on beta-ing, and we should totally talk collections. And I wholeheartedly extend the offer of beta-ing to you!

Man, Pandora. *eyes it* Maybe my project this summer will be rewriting that from the ground up, seeing if I Can make it have a structure and arc and fun stuff like that. I have some ideas blatantly stolen from Tom Stoppard involving Aeschylus.

[batyatoon]

Because then you can read it as Epimetheus, of the long memory, talking to himself

I think I thought that's what you had in mind all along.

Oh my poor boy.

*squishes you* *and him*

[adiva_calandia]

*cheerful* A terrible person is me.

[ashen_key]

I could actually submit this somewhere as an original piece

Oh, HELL yes. My Mordred? Actually comes from a zillion story ideas in my head - eventually, I intend on getting something that's small and workable and sending it somewhere. And same with Kore-Persephone, if I get the thing in my head to work. Same with Medusa, and I'm sure you get the picture.

It's public domain a.k.a. everybody's sandbox and yes, yes you can.

And yes, yes you SHOULD.

[adiva_calandia]

Yay public domain! \o/

I really like playing in the sandboxes of the gods. And all things considered, it's probably safer to play in the sandbox of the Greeks than it is to play in the sandbox of the Tricksters, because I know that Raven, at least, if not Coyote, is still very much a part of Native American belief systems. But judging by the number of retellings of Greek myths out there, I'm not likely to offend anyone with those.

Anyhoo. If I submit it anywhere, y'all will be the first to know. *grin* There's a campus literary magazine that I might look into.

[genarti]

You can and, I think, absolutely should see about editing that story for publication. It's public domain, as you say, and it's a reinterpretation of myth, and it's awesome. I just. So very, very well done.

(And I love, love, love going back and finding accidental brilliance and things to analyze in your own work. SO MUCH FUN.)

I am not steeped in the mythology in the way Esther is, but if you want another beta I'd be happy to help as I can. :)