Writing process notes: DegSep ficlet
Feb. 2nd, 2005 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeI thought I'd post a little bit about how I write, or rather, the funny things I put myself through when I'm writing:
I'm working on a "Matrix" ficlet related to the Merovingian-centric paralell track to Laurie's "DegSep" universe (I'll explain that at another time), and specifically, I'm writing about Ref's visit to the Oracle. Of course the Oracle's message to her contains something vaguely hinting at Ref's future affair with the Merv, and I was trying to come up with a song to have playing in on the radio in the background. I was beating my brains out, trying to come up with something that would really fit. Something other than Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning to See the Light", which plays in the background in the scene where Neo first encounters the Oracle.... So, I was flipping through the soon-to-be-well-thumbed copy of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", which I bought just before New Year's, and my gaze happened to fall on this quote, a few lines from the song "Iko Iko", as sung by the 1960s girl group the Dixie Cups:
"Look at my king all dressed in red
Iko iko on day
I'll bet you five dollars he'll kill you dead
Jockamo feena nay"
Now, nothing could fit better and be more suggestive of things to come: "Jockamo" sounds eerily like "Giacomo", Ref's bodyguard Jack's Matrix-side name, plus according to some notes on the song which I dug up when I found the lyrics online, "Jockamo" is Cajun French for a jester or a jokester, and Jack is notorious for his hotfoot sense of humor. And then there's that reference to a "king all dressed in red"... ::Looks up at her new Merv usericon...::
Also, I finally nailed down the appearance and personality of Enlil, the captain of the "Gilgamesh", who unplugged Ref and subsequently became one of her mentors. I sometimes create a character and have no idea what they look like until I actually start writing about them, and then they suddenly manifest whole and entire on the page. Enlil's a *big* guy who looks like he might be of Middle Eastern ancestry, almost seven feet tall and nearly 300 pounds of muscle. Looks terrifying, but he's a gentle giant for the most part. In the real world, he's missing one eye, which he lost when he was hit in the face with shrapnel during a Sentinal attack, but he's too good at what he does to be discharged from the fleet.
I'm working on a "Matrix" ficlet related to the Merovingian-centric paralell track to Laurie's "DegSep" universe (I'll explain that at another time), and specifically, I'm writing about Ref's visit to the Oracle. Of course the Oracle's message to her contains something vaguely hinting at Ref's future affair with the Merv, and I was trying to come up with a song to have playing in on the radio in the background. I was beating my brains out, trying to come up with something that would really fit. Something other than Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning to See the Light", which plays in the background in the scene where Neo first encounters the Oracle.... So, I was flipping through the soon-to-be-well-thumbed copy of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", which I bought just before New Year's, and my gaze happened to fall on this quote, a few lines from the song "Iko Iko", as sung by the 1960s girl group the Dixie Cups:
"Look at my king all dressed in red
Iko iko on day
I'll bet you five dollars he'll kill you dead
Jockamo feena nay"
Now, nothing could fit better and be more suggestive of things to come: "Jockamo" sounds eerily like "Giacomo", Ref's bodyguard Jack's Matrix-side name, plus according to some notes on the song which I dug up when I found the lyrics online, "Jockamo" is Cajun French for a jester or a jokester, and Jack is notorious for his hotfoot sense of humor. And then there's that reference to a "king all dressed in red"... ::Looks up at her new Merv usericon...::
Also, I finally nailed down the appearance and personality of Enlil, the captain of the "Gilgamesh", who unplugged Ref and subsequently became one of her mentors. I sometimes create a character and have no idea what they look like until I actually start writing about them, and then they suddenly manifest whole and entire on the page. Enlil's a *big* guy who looks like he might be of Middle Eastern ancestry, almost seven feet tall and nearly 300 pounds of muscle. Looks terrifying, but he's a gentle giant for the most part. In the real world, he's missing one eye, which he lost when he was hit in the face with shrapnel during a Sentinal attack, but he's too good at what he does to be discharged from the fleet.
