don't fear the sun.

Lots of things have been happening today.

Got the first scene of the second chapter of my fic written and am very pleased with it, though it wasn't as long as I'd imagined it would be. Not that length is quality, of course, but there are places where I feel it might be missing something. I might need to edit some stuff in it, too, since I'm not sure I'm clear enough on surrounding descriptions and setting and such... Sometimes, I forget that not everyone has the clear picture of the sets for the ballet in mind and might need some immersive description to "get there", be transported or whatever you wanna call it.

Someday soon, I'll need a fandom-ignorant (which means, everybody, pretty much, LOL) person to read over the beginning here and let me know if it works for them or if I need to be more descriptive... I really want to recreate the atmosphere of the ballet, meaning that "touristy Italy" feel. The original Napoli was choreographed after August Bournonville had been on a grand tour to Italy and thus, he took home all the impressions this outside view of the country gave him. A bit like us sending postcards today, I guess.



K. and I went to a cafe in the morning and stayed there until two. I just sat writing the whole time, which was how I managed to finish the whole scene in one sitting. It was soooo nice, and the coffee and such was brilliant. I kinda want to do that more often, but at the same time, I am so drained now, so I know it costs me in the other end of it. She had to go meet a friend in the middle of it and was gone an hour and a half, where I just sat by myself with my computer.

It's my favourite café, too! It's called "Løves Bogcafé" which in Danish means, "The Lion Book Café" and besides coffee and light arrangements of food, they sell lots and lots and lots of books. The atmosphere there is absolutely wonderful. There are readings by the local poetry club, too, every other Wednesday. I used to go before the pandemic and when I still wrote more in Danish, but these days... Yeah. Not ready for that yet.



After we got home, I couldn't concentrate on writing more, so I sat down and watched some ballet. I revisited the 1986 version of "The Lady of the Camellias" with Marcia Haydée as Marguerite and although it's always been my second least favourite of the filmed versions, I have to admit, she is one killer Marguerite, even dancing at an age of almost 50 as she's doing in this recording. And the whole first act is so beautifully filmed, I really love it. The second act was a bit disappointing in comparison to some versions I've seen, but then again - the second act is my least favourite act of them anyway, so. Maybe not so surprising.

I was spotting Nanina (Marguerite's maid) throughout the entire viewing, because I still want to write a Nanina/Marguerite fic and I can only say, this version makes shipping them so easy. I'll definitely make this particular version my go-to version if I'm doing anything for smallfandombang with it...

Watch on YouTube

Speaking of smallfandombang, I've had my fandoms approved, I've signed up, got confirmation and been invited into the sister support community, for later in the process. Very excited about all that. It's where I'll be looking for beta and cheerleading people to help me make this beast of a fic happen and get it finished. And try to sell someone my fandom, hahahah. We'll see about that.



We're having chicken skewers tonight and baked potatoes again. It'll be nice, I really look forward to it. Food has begun being my favourite time of day now, LOL.



Food and writing, the sustenance for your body and soul.

Woke up at five today and had the final scene of my first chapter so clearly envisoned in my head, I had to get out of bed and just get it written. Which means I now have 2/7th of this fic done, with the prologue written and finally, the first chapter, ready to move on to the second.

We're at almost 10.000 words at this point.



I think I said yesterday, in evident tiredness, that the next part was called "Bargaining", well, it's not!! Hahaha, the next part is "Anger". It begins with Gennaro's vigil at the marina, a scene I'm really looking forward to writing - though, it'll be another of those scenes with a bunch of people gathered in the same place, so I have to strike the right balance between observation and internal monologue and focus on the main players. I find some comfort in how easily it went with the last scene of that kind, without me struggling too much, so I just need to write it on a day when I've got enough energy for it. Evidently not today. I'll save it for tomorrow when K. and I are going downtown. Maybe, if I have time today, I'll watch the beginning of act 3 of the ballet to get the right feel for the set-up. It's a scene where the people of Naples hold a vigil for Teresina whom they think has been lost at sea. So, similar.



Today I still have my set of chores and besides that, I'll try getting more of that Napoli plot synopsis translated for my artist welcome note which is honestly becoming more a letter than a note. I sincerely hope my artist likes to read... >_>



Also, at some point - probably my night - an author sign-up post should go up for smallfandombang and I'm so mightily excited about that, I can't even. Can't, can't, can't. Very much looking forward.



In the meantime, I may have gotten a second idea for a small fandom fic I wanna write. Which takes us back to my favourite fandom of all time, The Lady of the Camellias. I watched the beginning of the Bolshoi version of the ballet yesterday and never have a seen a Nanina who was as in lesbians with her mistress than that Nanina. She was also quite young for the role which is normally danced by a character dancer (40+) and it just gave me a massive plot bunny for a story where Nanina, after Marguerite's death and having handed over her diary to Armand, travels back to the village she hears her sister was from to try and find this sister and make her tell her about Marguerite as she was before Paris, because she wants to know the whole person, now that she has nothing of her left, except her memory. It could be an interesting story.



I don't know why I write about death that much these days, though??? Apparently that's just a thing that happens for me right now. Something to consider?

Or something to enjoy. It's such a bittersweet topic and always, always relevant.