liz_marcs | shh...writer at work

Oooooh, boy.

I'm an ex-Catholic, but even I'm a little worried about my Psalm Challenge. It's almost done. Just needs a few middle sections and a clean up, but I know there are some Catholics on my Flist, so I was wondering if one of you might be willing to beta this puppy for me. Oh, and an Episcopalian too, if it's not too much to ask.

It should be ready for beady eyes by this weekend. Once done, I'm sending it off to

musesfool for her Psalm challenge.

FYI, it dovetails just slighty with that Homicide/BtVS cross I've been picking at. It actually happens before Faith and Xander meet up with Bayliss, so there's no giving anything away there.

Good thing there's are slash and writing sex workshops at

writercon. There's some slash imagery (no actually slash) from Bayliss in the cross I'm picking at and I'm not entirely sure how to write it. And no, I'm not 100% sure reading slash stories (I've read them) is going to help, especially since at least one scene is a little brutal.

Speaking of

writercon, I'm officially on two panels, both on Sunday.

Me along with

nwhepcat and nine others are going to be part of the Writer's Salon workshop. Right now it looks like they'll be breaking down the larger Sunday morning group into sections. I'm tentatively planning on a "how to develop a plot" workshop with brainstorming for people who want to talk about turning an idea into a plot plan or how to deal when a plot takes a left Cleveland. I'm secretly calling it: "Write yourself out of this, genius."

Sunday afternoon I'm part of the Writer's Block workshop. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet, but I remember when I taught writing for a summer at my local Community College, one thing I had people do was write for 10 minutes about anything they wanted. I told them not to think, just start writing whatever popped into their heads and to not lift the pen once during that ten minutes and to not stop writing for 10 minutes.

You'd be shocked what people came up with. *grins* And all of them were able to turn it into a "letter" to a friend by only tweaking the order of the sentences and the grammar. It turned out to be a pretty popular feature. Considering the Writer's Block workshop is so short, I doubt something like that will happen. More information as I get it.

*No, really. I'm shy. Very shy. I swear by all that's holy.*

Something tells me that no one's gonna believe me now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*Waves* Hi. I'm a lazy, having doubts and issues w/ the Catholic Church, Catholic. Went to church every Sunday up until a couple of years ago. I was actually a Eucharistic Minister for a couple of weeks. I had to quit when they scheduled me for the 7:30 AM Mass. That's just way to early for me. Now I only go for Christmas, Easter, Weddings, Funerals, and Memorial Masses for relatives. Does that count?

I've only beta'd a couple of ER fics a couple of years ago, but I'm willing to give it a shot...unless you want someone more experienced?

I love you. No. Seriously. Actually, you're perfect.

The sad thing was, in high school I was the whole shebang, too. Now...*eeeeep* I haven't forgotten everything, though.

The church the story is set it in (story is not longer than 20 to 25 pages...) actually exists and geographically and mythologically speaking the layout of the area and the basilica is accurate. This more a Catholic reading it keeping in mind the narrator (Xander) is at best iffy on the concept of religion while he's waiting for a Slayer (and finds more than he bargained for) to show.

Like I said, I need a couple of days to finish a major section in the middle and polish. I'll be shooting it over to you Saturday or so. No rush on the beta'ing.

Mostly, this is just a read to make sure I'm not a little too over-the-top in ignorance.

Hi. I was just wondering if you tried to send the story to me yet? Sometimes my filters filter out more than they should, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't delete it by mistake. hpchick11@yahoo.com

I was raised Episcopalian, and while I no longer practice I am still pretty familiar with the religion and how it works -- both clergy and lay.

I'm a big fan of your writing, so I'm willing to beta anything you ever desire. This certainly falls under that rather spacious umbrella.

Aaaaand I love you too.

The story is told from the point of view of Xander who's pretty iffy on the concept of religion. I know it's canon that he was Episcopalian (Hell's Bells mentions it in passing), but I got the impression he probably spent zero time in a church (he has a minister-->enough to make the wedding look "normal"; he's basically being married in a Moosehead lodge--->not even surface religious to the point that he's willing to pay extra to not get married in a church setting).

I dated an Episcopalian (not devout at all) for a long time who once explained that he knew he was baptised, not sure on the first communion, definitely not confirmed. Understands the concepts of saints, but really knows squat about anything else. That's kind of where Xander is at as far as religious education. He knows more about pagan dieties simply because it's part of his job, knows almost zero about Christianity.

I just need some reality checking: How much would Xander know if he were walking around a Catholic cathedral (no worries, all the "facts" about the cathedral in the story are accurate so that's covered) waiting for a Slayer to show? And how many concepts would he find bizare considering he's almost never stepped inside a church and probably has very little by way of education in what Episcopalians believe or not believe? And since he's probably hasn't stepped into a church since he was a little kid unless it was for a wedding or funeral.

So, like I mentioned above: I have one major section in the middle that still needs to be written and then I have to clean it up. I'll be shooting it to you by Saturday.

Thank you so much man for the fact/reality check.

Cool, sounds good to me. I have changed my LiveJournal settings so that, as one on my friends list, you can see my e-mail address. When do you need me to get it back to you by?

The cool thing about your set-up is that Episcopalianism is basically an Americanized version of the Church of England, which is (as I'm sure you know) a king's offshoot of Catholocism. A lot of the icons and imagery are the same, but things are a whole lot less specific. First communion is not really an event in the Episcopal church, but Baptism and Confirmation both are. They don't have crucifixes, instead just crosses (at least, the two or three I've been into followed this trend). Pretty much anything Xander sees in there will remind him of something, so you should have your pick as to what works best in your story. There are minor differences in the Lord's Prayer (wording, mostly, and how it's said and sung) and other hymns, but even the services aren't terribly different.

[quote] Sunday afternoon I'm part of the Writer's Block workshop. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet, [/quote]

Funniest thing I've read today. :)

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