Brain. Dribble. Out. Ears.

[auronlu]

So, after getting yet another sinus infection -- world, this is NOT FAIR; I had sinuplasty and other surgery done a month and a half ago so I'd stop having these things! -- I've discovered a way to make the time go a little easier while spending fifteen to twenty minutes every few hours in neti pot meditation.

Copy and paste several chapters of a fanfic into a text-to-speech app, and have my computer read it out to me while I poach my nose. (I've got cheapo speakers with a long cord, so I prop the speakers on the towel rack and leave the computer safely in the next room).

NaturalreaderFree + the Alex voice works fairly well, except that I have to global replace "—" with "..." because it reads em-dash oddly.

Anyway, I've been doing this for a few days with owlmoose's epic, Death Shall Have No Dominion. I'd read a good chunk of it in the past, but between my fears of overlap between it and LHaD, and grad school, I'd fallen hopelessly behind. So I started from the beginning and read it again.

I've been reading a few chapters at a time, but tonight I got sucked in and read the last 15 chapters all at once. Of course. It was a good yarn, as I knew it would be. I just wish I'd read it all while her co-author kunstarniki was still with us.

Brain is now dribbling out ears. I should sleep -- siiiick -- but I am selfish about my creative writing-time. Maybe I can get a little bit done before I conk out.

Comments

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Now you have me wondering what the story would be like, read aloud.

I'm glad you got sucked in! Well, maybe not glad for your health, but. >.> Did you write the comments as you were reading and then pop them on the chapters in batches?

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

The ones before your birthday were collected over time, but most of the comments since then were written as I read, or else written the day after I'd read one the night before.

I'm a fairly fast reader once I get going, as you may have noticed last night! (I wasn't doing text-to speech after chapter 17 or so; that was over dinner and after).

By the way, should I get the urge to chew on another of your longfics, what should I tackle next?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

AGL. A Guardian's Legacy. My big epic Auron fic, his past and his future. It's the second thing I ever wrote (before I knew that fandom frowned stories about beloved characters that are chock-full-o OCs -- at least one of whom, you already know!), and my first big project, and my baby. I admit that now I cringe at it in places, but other parts of it I still love. It's oh-so-long (46 chapters, plus prologue and epilogue), but if you are inspired to read it, I would love your take.

There's also The Confessional, which was my first collaboration with Ikon. It deviates from canon in some places, but I do think we did a good job of telling the same story from four viewpoints with minimal behind-the-scenes communication.