The Book of Lost Trains

Happy birthday to arclevel
“Well, I’m back.” The WriterCon UK MidiMeet was great fun. We stayed on until the Tuesday morning, to avoid possible problems with engineering works on the line like those that made our homeward journey last year somewhat circuitous and nerve-wracking, and saw Oxford with gillo and keswindhover, and Winchester by ourselves, before we set off for home.

I’ll post more about the event later. Those of us who did presentations have been asked to post summaries on writerconuk; mine will have to include the Lost Chapter. Last year the Wombat advised me not to write out a script but to work only from sketchy notes. I obeyed her, it worked reasonably well, and I did the same this year. I prepared a list of topics and first sentences, believing that would be enough to prompt my (normally excellent) memory, and to some extent it worked. Unfortunately I missed out a heading, lost my place, and omitted the topic of Plot altogether. If I do another talk next year (I’m trying to wiggle out of it and push the Wombat into doing one instead) I’ll follow my own instincts and do a much more detailed script. Sorry!

The return trip was comfortable and we had enough space to get out the laptop. I was able to beta-read CW’s next chapter of her BtVS/LotR crossover fic Return of the Key. I don’t like typing on the laptop, and so I didn’t do any writing on my own stories, but I did some planning. I also came up with the idea for one of my strangest crossovers ever...

Since Tolkien’s death his son Christopher has been pillaging his notes and rough drafts for an interminable series of rip-offs books. Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, and so on; until it seems as if it will end up with Unfinished Crosswords and The Book of Lost Buttons. Suppose, however, that J.R.R. Tolkien had made some notes after reading the Reverend Awdry’s Railway Stories? What might have appeared posthumously? Here is my attempt to answer that previously unasked question with the first ever Lord of the Rings/Thomas the Tank Engine crossover fic. Two double-drabbles and a drabble. 2 x 200 + 1 x 100 = 500 words. PG.
( The Book of Lost Trains )

The Book of Lost Trains

Happy birthday to arclevel
“Well, I’m back.” The WriterCon UK MidiMeet was great fun. We stayed on until the Tuesday morning, to avoid possible problems with engineering works on the line like those that made our homeward journey last year somewhat circuitous and nerve-wracking, and saw Oxford with gillo and keswindhover, and Winchester by ourselves, before we set off for home.

I’ll post more about the event later. Those of us who did presentations have been asked to post summaries on writerconuk; mine will have to include the Lost Chapter. Last year the Wombat advised me not to write out a script but to work only from sketchy notes. I obeyed her, it worked reasonably well, and I did the same this year. I prepared a list of topics and first sentences, believing that would be enough to prompt my (normally excellent) memory, and to some extent it worked. Unfortunately I missed out a heading, lost my place, and omitted the topic of Plot altogether. If I do another talk next year (I’m trying to wiggle out of it and push the Wombat into doing one instead) I’ll follow my own instincts and do a much more detailed script. Sorry!

The return trip was comfortable and we had enough space to get out the laptop. I was able to beta-read CW’s next chapter of her BtVS/LotR crossover fic Return of the Key. I don’t like typing on the laptop, and so I didn’t do any writing on my own stories, but I did some planning. I also came up with the idea for one of my strangest crossovers ever...

Since Tolkien’s death his son Christopher has been pillaging his notes and rough drafts for an interminable series of rip-offs books. Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, and so on; until it seems as if it will end up with Unfinished Crosswords and The Book of Lost Buttons. Suppose, however, that J.R.R. Tolkien had made some notes after reading the Reverend Awdry’s Railway Stories? What might have appeared posthumously? Here is my attempt to answer that previously unasked question with the first ever Lord of the Rings/Thomas the Tank Engine crossover fic. Two double-drabbles and a drabble. 2 x 200 + 1 x 100 = 500 words. PG.

( The Book of Lost Trains )