You guys you guys you guys, look at what lynndyre sent me as a get-well gift!



I have been gazing in a super cow-eyed fashion upon it ever since. The different hair textures, Gimli's playful finger, Legolas's elegant wrist, the peace and sweetness of their expressions... it truly is good for what ails me. ♥_______♥

Thank you again, lynndyre!

Huzzah, my Gimli/Legolas Big Bang story finally seems to be for-reals finished! I added a smidge more frosting at the 11th hour, to weave in a piece of emotional followthrough that marycrawford magically came up with. \o/

She also raked the clutter out of my final attempt at a summary. In the end, I went with something very simple that (I hope) gets across 1) where the story occurs in canon, 2) who the POV character is, and 3) ominous foreboding, which does the twin tasks of 3a) gesturing toward story tone, and 3b) not revealing quite what the problem is, but at least pointing out a hint at its nature and where it began.

So, we'll see! Now, I will spend my time fidgeting and waiting for posting-day signups, which start tomorrow. Posting begins on July 7.

I love finishing things (ummm, shocking?), especially when I have managed to at last climb out of the apparently-mandatory slough of despond I seem to predictably hit in the middle of writing, in which I am convinced the story is BORING, I HATE IT, why did I even AGREE TO DO THIS, everything is RUINED. :D In this case, I dipped into a couple of sloughs (it did take me a while to write I guess), and required some hauling out of the final slough by marycrawford using a block and tackle and elbow grease. I owe her some serious ice cream.

What also helped for sure was rewriting/expanding the ending, and then being able to look back afterward and see just how much that really improved everything. The very first ending was in such a rush, it was skeletal. Like, the deadline was upon me, I was cranky, everything was terrible, etc., and I wanted them to be at the happy ending without them having to actually get to the happy ending.

The amount of time built in for betaing was a big relief, because it let me have time off from looking at the story and feeling rushed, so I could look again later and actually notice the great big problems with that first ending, and know how they could be solved. Some people can totally do that on the fly right up against a deadline, but for me, rushing blurs my vision with panic and it never works out as well.

*fidgets*

ETA: marycrawford points out that hinting at my summary without actually saying what it is might be just too teasing. And since it wouldn't be posting any of the story itself, heck why not? It just goes:

When the Grey Company escapes from the Paths of the Dead with an army of ghosts at their heels, Legolas believes that everyone who entered the Dark Door has emerged again unharmed.

He's wrong.

Some wounds cannot be seen.