The Elena/Damon scene from last night's episode of the Vampire Diaries just broke my heart.  Damon finally declares his love for Elena but he loves her and his brother too much to let her remember so he erases her memory.  Oh my gawd my heart just broke for him.  Particularly, when he compells her and the camera focuses on that tear that falls from his beautiful blue eyes.  (My husband actually asked me if Ian was wearing contacts and I had to tell him no, Ian is really THAT pretty.)

Campers, come in here and declare your love for this bad boy vampire.  If you're not a Damon fan, what other "bad boy" characters do you love and why.  I find that the bad characters are usually so much more complex and interesting than the good ones.  What do you think?

(ETA:  ok, sorry for peeps who haven't seen the episode yet.  I've made the text white so it's not so visible.)

taken today in Brazil.  source

This is my first campfire.....

In reviewing the many individuals, sites and fictional Twitter personas (!) celebrated through the Fandom People Awards, I noticed The Lazy Yet Discerning Ficster was mentioned more than once.

This group blog announced on May 28 that they were expanding and moving from Blogspot to Wordpress and would be back in a few short weeks.  In the thirty-two weeks since then there have been a handful of posts, but not the steady stream of interesting features we had come to know and love.

My questions for you are:

1) What's the deal?  Is it ever coming back?  I know some TLYDF folks are active on these boards so perhaps I can get a status update.

2) If you read it, how and when did you find out about it?

In my case, my beta told me about it in April 2009.  At first I had a hard time remembering the name.

3) If you read it, what were your favorites posts or features?

In my opinion, TLYDF is awesome, and I don't intend to change that to the past tense regardless of the answer to question 1, because all the content is still there.

It has beautiful design, and it is chock full of great information, advice and laughs for writers and readers.  Here are some of the posts that stick in my memory:

I really like the Character Exploration pieces.  I found some good fics through those.  If you are not familiar with these, definitely check them out.  For each major & minor character there is an essay discussing the various ways writers have portrayed him or her, with fic examples for each.  In the Leah piece, for instance, Romantic Leah, Independent Leah and Human Leah were compared and contrasted.

It was my burning ambition to be mentioned in TLYDF and my dream came true in March 2010 with gisellelx's two-part essay on canon stories! OK, I wasn't actually mentioned in part 2, but (she said bravely) I'm dealing with my feelings about that and I'm going to be just fine.  Plus one of my recommendations was published in a Quickie Fickie that same month. 

There was a fascinating essay in April 2009 on what factors lead to a story receiving 1,000 reviews.  Back then we thought that was a lot.  Now there are stories that are waaaay past that and still racking them up, but in my book it's still quite a healthy amount of (mostly positive) feedback.  I'd love to hit 1,000 reviews on a story but the closest I've come is 702.  Granted the story is finished with only 16 chapters so that's a pretty respectable rate and I'm not complaining.  But if 298 people want to throw me a review or if a mere 19 more people review every chapter (please note: a smiley face or "Luv it!" is perfectly fine), I'd be ecstatic.  Just saying.

I have also repeatedly read and recommended Minisinoo's excellent article on POV.  Really, there are so many great essays on the craft of writing.  Click on one of the labels such as Craft, Newbie Power, Riting Skool, Style Series, Tutorials or Writing and prepare to be drenched in a wave of knowledge.  Another great piece was Angstgoddess003 on Photo Manipulation.  That is not something I do.  Luckily I have an awesome friend/beta who likes to make banners and will make corrections and alternate versions as if I'm paying her.  But it was really interesting to learn how it's done. 

I could go on and on, but I've said enough.  What did you learn, what do you love, what fics or authors did you find in TLYDF? 

Show me what you love!

I said, SHOW...not tell... I want Pictures because I'm a photographer and I like them.

Here's my LOVE LIST:

and again because I love himn a lot.....

(a few of these pics I even shot myself!)

Now...your turn...SHOW me one thing you love...or many.. but

NO WORDS!

***

and a quick housekeeping note:

It's currently FFFA, for the newbies this means you can post whatever the heck you want, PG-13ish on the front page.  Just remember to keep things friendly okay?  We like the Forest to remain happy and I don't want anyone to piss off Jennyfly.  Capice?  FFFA will run until 5pm EST Saturday.  Thx.

What do you think?

Oh snap! The grand dame of vampire literature, Anne Rice, had some not-so-nice things to say about Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight Saga" universe in a recent interview with New Jersey's The Star-Ledger while promoting her new novel "Of Love and Evil." We're wondering if this will spark a verbal smack-down in the bloodsucking book world!
 

"['Twilight']’s based on a really silly premise: that immortals would go to high school. It's a failure of imagination, but at the same time, that silly premise has provided Stephenie Meyer with huge success," Anne said. "The idea that if you are immortal you would go to high school instead of Katmandu or Paris or Venice, it’s the vampire dumbed down for kids. But it's worked. It's successful. It makes kids really happy."
It's not too surprising that Anne had less-than-sweet nothings to whisper about the series that has made vampires the hottest supernatural property around and virtually diluted a genre that had been a sophisticated cultural metaphor. Still, wow, those are some pretty harsh words towards Stephenie! Anne did add that "it's almost like a stroke of genius to put vampires in high school," but that still sounds a bit derogatory to us.

Copied from lovingtruebloodindallas

I personally have never read the books. Not because I think they are stupid but I have read so much ff that I think I know everything from them. Just don't start a fight please. I actually like reading ff that doesn't have the cullens in high school.

Anyone out there want to give the first two and a half chapters of my very first fic a go? I'm SO lucky to have the lovely miss Quothme for a beta, but I'm thinking I might need some further help with plot development. I haven't dared to post what I've got so far, seeing as the last time I tried that I ended up being unable to finish the story, but I'd love some additional feedback.

Any takers? Here's a teaser, to see if you're interested, 'cause why not?

'Hung on the gray wall near the open kitchen door, the telephone rang.

Once. 

Twice.

Three times.

Just before the fourth ring sounded, a very pale hand reached from the doorway and seized the phone, quickly lifting it from its cradle and drawing it into the kitchen. The receiver rounded the corner and disappeared, its white, spiraled cord straightening to stretch the distance.

“Cullen & Sons,” drawled a soothing, gentle voice.'

FYT:

I saw this article on Yahoo and thought it'd be a nice heads up for everyone.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifier/148/minnesota-mom-hit-with-15-million-fine-for-downloading-24-songs/

Basically, a mom was hit from the courts to pay 1.5 million for downloading 24 songs...illegally rather than paying for it.

What's your take on what she did?  Was she within her rights to do so or should she pay the piper for her crime??

This was something that came to me yesterday, so I was desperately waiting for Friday to show up to post this

Let's play a game

We all know that there are tons of us here, and we're all from different places, and everyone will have their own little sayings and such

So post sayings that are local to you, or words that you say, and then someone has to guess what they actually mean 

I'll go first, mine will be in the comments :)

Oh and lets spell phonetically, so we can say it out loud :D

hopefully other will find this as interesting as I do =P

LMAO, somehow...not sure how but I blame Jazzy and bloodlust =P this has become a campfire for the aussies....so if you are from down under feel free to come in here and talk about your national anthem...as they appear to be =P LOL.

The winners have been announced for the Fandom People Awards:

http://fandompeopleawards.blogspot.com/2010/11/results-revealed.html\

At the request of Ranger Jennyfly I am going to post some of the highlights (ie those listed as 'top' winners').  If I did all the winners it would take forever because there are tons of them.  So be sure to go check them out because I saw lots of familiar names there. (ADF won a few)

*yes they did more than one winner for many of the categories

Most Responsive Author On Twitter:

llyinperth,      AngstGoddess003,      carenl/nerac,      DanielGale/AnnettesKitty,     EBalways,      EmilyBowden,      grownasswoman20,      Hmonster04, Hunterhunting,      JandMsMommy/AndyMCope,      JMCullen09,      Katinki01, KiyaRaven,      Lalina2005,      LambCullen,      LolaShoes,      m81170, Mac214,      MissBettySmith,      MrsTheKing, MsKathy,      Nolebucgrl, QuietRuby,      RochelleAllison,      SnowqueensIcedragon,      Sophiejax/Jaxon22,      Suzie55, SweetLolaPop,      teamsmella23,      TwistedCoincidence,      Wytchwmn75

Author Who Replies To Reviews:    

Annetteskitty/Danielgaleh00rs,     AwesomeSauce76,      brkfastatbellas,     Chicklette,     Coldplaywhore,     EBalways, edwardandbellabelong2gether,     FL95,     GoldenMeadow, Gondolier,     isakassees,     JandMsMommy/AndyMCope,     Katinki, 
KitsuShel ,Lalina,     LJSummers,     Mac214, MissBettySmith,     MrsTheKing,     MsAmbrosia,     MsKathy, Nolebucgrl,     QuietRuby,     RochelleAllison, SavannahVee,     TallulahBelle,     Theladyingrey42,     todream3

Author With Most Consistent Updates:

Antiaol,      belladonna1472,      BrattyVamp,      camoozle, CescaMarie,      Coldplaywhore,    Danieller123,    EBalways,      edwardandbellabelong2gether,     Hmonster4,   Hunterhunting,      InsantKarmaGirl,      Isakassess,      itzmegan73,      Jaxon22,      Jonnyboy7, katinki,     KitsuShel,     LadyExcalibur2010,   Lalina, lambiexx/lambcullen,   Mac214,    MissBettySmith,      MorganLocklear,
nolebucgrl,      QuietRuby,      RochelleAlison, SebastienRoubichaud,      SnowqueensIcedragon,      SnowWhiteHeart,      spanglemaker9,      SydneyAlice,       tarasueme, Teambella23,      Twistedcoincidence     

Author Who Uses Their Popularity To Spread The Word On Great Fic:

AngryBadgerGirl,     angstgoddess003,     Antiaol,     carenl/nerac, Chicklette,     Coldplaywhore,     Cosmogirl7481,     EdwardsBloodType,     feathersmmmm,   greeneyedgirl17,    Hmonster4,     Hunterhunting,     JandMsMommy/AndyMCope,     Kassiah,     Lambcullen/lambiexx, LolaShoes,     Mac214,     MrsTheKing,     MsKathy,     Ninapolitan,     SebastienRobichaud,  SnowqueensIcedragon, spanglemaker9,     TallulahBelle,     Teambella23,     WriteonTime123    

I'm going to put the rest of the categories in the comments because otherwise this post would get REALLY long.  If you see names of people in here you don't like please don't bash.  This is supposed to be a celebration.  Play nice and congrats to all the winners.
    

November 5th is Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, and Sunday, November 7th will mark the new year under the Indian calendar.  So to all my fellow campers who celebrate, and even those who don't, here's wishing you:

 

So. I'm getting married in 3 months (yay me) and we're using the good old ipod for all our music (because it's free & OMG why are bands/dj's so expensive?) Problem is, I've lost A LOT of music from the computer because we had to reboot it, so I need all the help I can get.

Your mission, if you choose to accept :p is to throw some tunes at me. I've done up a list of songs I've thought of so far (it will be in the comments) It's an extremely small list, but with all your help, I hope to have a crap load more :)

Thank you in advance & also thanks to GAW for the approval of this. I couldn't wait the whole 90mins till FFFA lol

Hi Everyone,

Popping my Campfire cherry here.

madelynprad's "The Romantic Man" campfire inspired me.

Which would you rather have?

The Grand Gesture - once a year at most, but none of the little things...

The Daily Little Things - That little thing he does only for you on a regular basis...

This campfire was approved by jandco <waves> Thanks!

The purple fonted one asked me to post today's watchalong as she is doing one of her least favorite things and taking down Halloween.

This episode features the glorious beauty of the DB in all his half naked hottness. You're welcome.

Also, aren't we all loving the cray-cray that is Faith? I know I do!

I have little problem with Plot Bunnies.....

I have way too many ideas and no time to write.

Anyone want some of my friends to play with?

And a big fat scarlet one at that......

So I haven't been around much lately, and I have to confess why.....

I fell in love, head over heels in love, with a character that has far and away eclipsed Edward A. Masen-Cullen in my dark dark heart.

I know, I know, blasphemy you say, which is in fact what I said when someone else said this in a rec campfire a million years ago that started me down this adulterous path.

Who is this devilish fiend who has stolen away my affections, you may ask? (and even if you don't, I am clearly going to tell you...)
 

None other than Jamie Fraser, a ginger haired 18th century highlander, and mere mortal at that!

He is the male lead in Diana Gabaladon's Outlander series, and I think my heart did not love till now.

So, tell me campers, have you been unfaithful? Has some fictional rouge stolen your heart, and if so, did you feel an odd momentary guilt, like I did? Did you come back to Edward and Bella and fanfic, (probably if you're reading this...) was it difficult to come back to it?

as I reach the end of the completed outlander books, I am looking around thinking, "what next" and as exciting as it is that I'll have lot's of updates piled up... I worry that the spark may have gone out....

thoughts? or picspams of your fantasy Jamie? or any sexy men in kilts.. really, whatever you think is best ;)

Note: as mentioned by another camper, I have heard that Oulander is available for a limited time as an e-book for FREE! IDK for sure of where all it is offered, but I saw it on the Borders website, so I know it's available there!!!!! Thought that might interest some of yous.

And the beat goes on, baby!

Okay, well, the campfires do, anyway!

We've done Pre-Twilight, Twilight and New Moon AU Fic recs. Today, bring me ECLIPSE AU (or canon!) FIC RECS for those who are looking for something SPECIFIC.

These are stories that start with the situations in Eclipse to some degree and branch from there. They may stay in canon or might go somewhere else ENTIRELY.  The only thing is, they have to be supernatural. That means vampires and werewolves, Campers!

So...what've you got to share with us?  Bring it!

Thank you so much for sharing your favorites around the fire!  Due to an added topic, I will resume the Book AU Rec Lists next week! :)

My friend just discovered the joy that is fanfic.

She's slightly obsessed with the vampfic, so give me some of your favs that I can rec to her.  

She's new, so I figure easing her into the AU, AH, etc. would be best.

Hello Campers!

I'm bored. I have a ton of work to do but I'm sort of overwhelmed by it all, not sure where to start, so I'm putzing around the internet for a while before I finally get down to business. So talk to me! Tell me things...

What are you doing right now...

What SHOULD you be doing...

What do you WANT to be doing...

I'm having a bit of a Auden, ee cummings kinda morning. Pretty words making me feel better about a boring Thursday morning. Bobby Long is singing to me as well. He's the poet of my heart.

What's your favorite Song? Favorite Poem?

Share some words with me....your own, or someone elses, idc....

this is slightly cut off at the beginning but guuhhhh the words and his voice....kills me

I've got a few fav poems, I'll post in the comments.