my heart is a glorious machine;

I've been meaning to do this meme for some time (nicked from last_archangel), but I wanted to fill the empty slots in my icons first. I am currently a bit stuck in the Novel -- started the fourth chapter and realised I have no idea what to do with it -- so perhaps a little fictionplay will reconnect the wires in my head? I hope so. 

P.S. I am faintly disturbed -- or is it amused? -- by the fact that all of my fictional relationships seem to have their roots in Remus/Tonks. I mean, first off, there's Ian Braddock, reclusive teacher, in love with cheerful, clumsy, neon-haired Tuesday Aiken; and then we have Mr Caruthers, who probably would argue that he is too old, too poor, and too dangerous for Evy (I almost want to make him say at at some point, for the in-joke hilarity of it all), plus there's this whole awkward mess in the sequel (AAAARGH) in which there is a War, and he has to go do dangerous undercover stuff probably with vampires, which makes him distance himself from Evy -- For Her Own Good!, and nearly has a nervous breakdown, and someone probably has to operate on him to remove his nobility gland or something. (Of course by this time they are married, so it's more like a cross between Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, except they don't die at the end. Or look like they died but totally didn't I mean look JKR wrote that they looked as though they were sleeping she definitely did not use the word "dead" I MEAN COME ON.)

That's not even counting that I have two-thirds of an idea for a story (mostly images and snatches) about John and Emily Lewis and how they manage their marriage and his lycanthropy...

You guys, I am cross and depressed and faintly nauseated, and ABC has proven themselves to be a fat lot of pillocks by cancelling Pushing Daisies, and I've pretty much eaten all of my candy, and I don't want to go to work tomorrow, and, worst of all, my NaNo has a PHD in horribleness, and not in the nifty-goggles, I-will-kill-you-all kind of way. SO MUCH EXPOSITION SANDWICHED IN BETWEEN POINTLESS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT NOTHING. There is no pacing, no imagination, and my characters are all flat cliches who aren't even consistent. Also I don't even know where my plot is. I'm seventy-odd pages in, and still no Primary Vampire. But then, I don't even know what the end goal of this novel is -- or, for that matter, WHY THERE IS A VAMPIRE PROBLEM. Seriously, this is...kind of a big deal. Like, I have this whole idiotic CRAZY LONG section in which people are trying to convince Evy that they really, really need her on the vampire fighting front. Except THEY CANNOT GIVE HER ANY GOOD REASONS FOR HER TO BE DRAGGED INTO THIS. There's a lot of "but!" and "what if?" that is mostly me fishing for ideas as I write.

Seriously, I have absolutely no idea why the vampires are a threat. I have a vague inkling as to why Evy might be especially useful, but that kind of falls flat when THERE IS NO PARTICULAR THREAT. It's just, oh hey, vampires are evil. Some could kill us. WE NEED YOU, EVANGELINE. Also there was a vampire attack on the library and about thirteen people died, but NO ONE KNOWS WHY. ASLJKGDWJDGDGH. And it's especially difficult because I'm trying to walk the line between inconsequential and lame and OBNOXIOUSLY EPIC. This means: no gigantic vampire army trying to overthrow the king and take over England AND THEN THE WORLLLLD. Vampires =/= human, anyway. They don't want the same things humans want. What they want, I have no idea. The only thing I've been able to fall back on in my head is the idea that there's something going on with vampires being experimented on because of the oncoming WWI, except -- did anyone know WWI was coming? At all? There was a lot of tension, though, I suppose, so anyone could be interested in making their own little vampire army. (See? Now I run up against things that sound stupid when you type them up. VAMPIRE. ARMY. *FACEPALM*) Heck, the Russians could be all "LET US OVERTHROW THE VICIOUS ROMANOVS WITH...VAMPIRES!" Even so, that idea hasn't turned into anything more than extremely murky thus far.

So, um, a little help here? I'm not asking for you to fix my plot here, but I am just...defeated. I am at the end of my writing rope. (See? I used a really limp cliche. That evidences how bad things have gotten.) I am desperate for some kind of inspiration.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Prompt me. Please. Anything. A song, a quote, a poem, a picture, a plot device, a suggestion. Anything. I need to write at least a thousand words before I go to bed.

Guys, I need to write something. Give me a prompt. Fanfiction (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Firefly, Emily of New Moon, primarily, but I might have my arm twisted to write in another universe) or original (which could mean any projects I have hinted about or been blatant about, or it could mean something entirely mad; I do want to write short stories based on ballads someday) -- my fingers are positively tingling and yet nothing is coming out of them. As though I haven't got countless projects I ought to go bash into shape (but lots of them are great big complicated things! and I need a dark room and some of those fresh mint chocolate cookies I made today and some atmospheric music and my laptop for those! really I do!), but, you know.

Currently I am listening to a really fabulous Nickel Creek concert streaming from NPR (ASGLKHGH THEY JUST STARTED ON "THE HOUSE CARPENTER" LOVE LOVE LOVE). You ought to have a listen, you ought. If not only because Chris Thile is positively adorable between songs, and because "The House Carpenter" is three times better live (blimey, this is nearly as good as it was at Grey Fox) and also because four instruments may never have made so much noise, though I think Crooked Still and the Sparrow Quartet might be able to give them a run for their money.