Did anybody watch Doctor Who this weekend? Did it seem… shippy to anyone else? Because it seemed like they were trying to make it shippy. Like, an Amy choosing between Rory and The Doctor thing? Don’t mind me over here. I swear to God, it’s not a ship thing, the only Doctor/companion ships I’ve ever sailed were Eight/Grace and Ten/Rose, and those had canonical basis. Though I find Peter Capaldi unbearably attractive (well, really, only as Malcolm, because I’m attracted to incredibly grumpy, surly types of people–you should meet my husband), and you know I dig that May/December vibe, I don’t think I’m imagining this. Let’s go down to the tennis court and talk it out like yeah (and by “tennis court” I mean, “comments section”).
Chapter six of The Afflicted is available on Wattpad. If you’re new around here, I’m writing a New Adult/Horror/Historical novel as a serial on Wattpad, and the latest installment is here. If you’re a writer who has a project you really love, but you feel like you never have time to work on it or it will just never get out there in front of readers, Wattpad is a really good platform. It gives you a reason to work on the project steadily without feeling like you’re taking time away from the work you “should” be doing. Without Wattpad, this story would have probably just stayed on my hard drive until I got discouraged and deleted it.
@Mitzy247 crowned me the pope of Joelism, and @necrophidian willed it into being:
Note the autographed sash. If you’re not following me on Twitter (@Jenny_Trout), this is the stuff you’re missing out on.
Set your DVRs for The Steve Harvey Show on October 17th! My BFF Jill did, and this is what she saw:
Oh, and I have a photo from the show that I’m allowed to share with you! Here’s me, on The Steve Harvey Show:
I hope everyone who gets the show in their area can check it out! And if anyone records it and wants to send me a copy, that would be rad, because I don’t have TV. I’m too cheap to pay for cable.
OMG, you look adorable!
I probably won’t get to see it. 🙁 I’m pretty sure it’s on while I’m at work and while I have cable, I don’t have the fancy cable with DVR and stuff. I’ll see if I can find it online after it airs or something. Or maybe it’s available on OnDemand and I can break into my neighbor’s house and watch hers. OK, I have a key and she lets me do stuff like that, so my attempt at looking badass kind of fails, but whatever.
Also, I gave up on Doctor Who a while ago. I always felt very unsatisfied by the episodes and story arcs.
If you’re the pope of Joelism, can I be a nun or something? What do Joelists do when they take holy orders? I’m thinking you have to sing Billy Joel songs in the shower for ten days straight, or until your family begs you to stop, whichever comes first.
Oh my God I’m so psyched to see you on TV! Totally gonna DVR that and save it for maybe ever. Also, your hair looks amazing. It kinda always does but wow Is it shiny right there.
It didn’t feel shippy to me necessarily, though she did say something that made me think she’s still pining for eleven a bit. I felt like it was a deeper conflict, trying to choose between a good, comfortable life with Danny where she can be the person she wants to be or the excitement and wonder that the doctor brings that is exploring more of her dark side and the things she’s willing to do for him. It’s about the lines she’s willing to cross to keep it. It feels like they’re going in an addiction kind of direction. She’s not being honest with people, herself included. She’s pushing herself more and more, she can’t quite leave. And it’s not just about the doctor but what the doctor represents that she’s struggling with quitting. They even hinted at it when she asked if it’s like an addiction, and he says how would he know, to know you’re addicted you have to try and quit.
Jenny, you don’t need cable to watch TV in most places. I’ve been without cable (well, actually satellite) for over a year and, while I do miss some things (like two thirds of the NSACAR season), I get all the broadcast channels and a good deal of other programming on what’s called sub-channels that most TV stations broadcast nowadays. All you need is a TV with a digital tuner (or an old TV and a digital conversion box) and an antenna (either indoor or outdoor) and your set. It doesn’t even take more than an hour, tops, to set up–unless you need to install an outside antenna. The good news? The Steve Harvey Show is on broadcast TV, so unless none of your local stations carry it (which is almost an impossibility) you’ll be able to catch it.
I don’t have cable, either — I’m not willing to pay for it since I don’t watch enough TV to make it worth it. I still have an analog TV, too. But with the converter box, I get at least 20 stations in the Greater Boston area. Not bad for free.
Yeah, you’re not alone. I too wondered if I was imagining shippy vibes, but I would have to watch it again to pinpoint the exact moments. I think it might be unintended on the writers’ parts though. Although there was that line a few episodes ago where Twelve compares his adventures with Danny’s dates.
(I have shipped the good ships rose/ten and river/doctors just FYI)
I like the concept of “Joelism”.
It’s a damn good excuse to trot out why one of my favourite songs is “All About Soul” (nope, not for the magical-saviour-lady reasons): The couplet below has a lot of sentimental/life-related value for me.
“There are people who have lost every trace of human kindness/There are many who have fallen, there are some who still survive”
I was going to set up Steve Harvey but my channel guide for that whole week says they’re repeats. 🙁 Is it possible it’s showing on different dates? I’m in Texas.
I’d follow you on Twitter, but my enjoyment of your writing still doesn’t offset my loathing of Twitter.
I’ll see if I can find you on TV, but I don’t know when anything is on ever.
You kick ass, now on a spiritual plane (cue mental image of private jet with Billy Joel’s face emblazoned on the side)
That is all.
Spouse and I turned to each other after we finished it and said, “ooookay, where did the last 3 minutes come from?” Then (since lived experience* is such a helpful beast at times), we both said, “Did this just go to the oh-creepy-emotional-affair-place?” And we both nodded. The lying to both, the reckless denial of consequences, the deeply unsettling mutual encouraging of worse instincts… yeah. Big problems. It doesn’t feel shippy to me — it feels self-destructive, as if Moffett knows his time is coming to an end, and he plans to take it all down with him.
OTOH… it’s the first time Peter Capaldi hasn’t been stuck channeling Moffett by way of Conan Doyle through Cumberbatch via Matt Smith. So… can we keep this writer? The episode was fine. The visuals… not so much. Spouse, who is rarely attuned to feminism fails until I point them out, was deeply squicked that when the holographic scientists disappeared, the remainders were 9 men and 3 women, and that none of the women had either lines or actions, but just seemed to be standing around. Spouse, who is a vet, is also getting highly annoyed about the soldier harshing because it stinks of rank hypocrisy.
*we met because our partners started an affair with each other. We’ll have 15 years in the bag in January.
Speaking of feminism fails, did you notice how the only two female characters spent most of the episode literally in storage?
😀 I’m so happy for you right now!
I’m really excited for you to be on Steve Harvey! I wish I got it, but I don’t, so if you ever get that clip, I’d really appreciate it if you posted it. I’d love to see you in action! (Also, that outfit is brilliant. So cute!)
I have a theory that the Doctor is that one boyfriend we all had at some point in our 20s before we learned any better. He treats Clara like crap, but she is so desperate to stay with him that she latches onto any evidence that he cares about her and ignores everything that is telling her otherwise. It’s like watching a car accident in slow motion.
Congrats on Steve Harvey! And your new religious movement!
Article quote time!
“”There’ll be no flirting, that’s for sure,” [Capaldi] told the Sunday Times Magazine. “It’s not what this Doctor’s concerned with. It’s quite a fun relationship, but no, I did call and say, ‘I want no Papa-Nicole moments’. I think there was a bit of tension with that at first, but I was absolutely adamant.”
The Papa-Nicole comment relates to a series of 1990s Renault Clio car adverts which hinted at a romance between an older man and a younger woman, before they were revealed to be father and daughter.”
So if it’s there, Moffat’s sneaking it in. But then he doesn’t seem to know how to write women who don’t fancy the Doctor.
I think a lot of it does have to do with Moffat having no idea how to handle the show or the character. It really seems like he sees the Doctor as an avatar of himself, and then he can’t help these season arcs where cute girls fall in love with him.
Wow she’s morbidly obese.
You must be new here.
Wow that was rude and wildly uncalled for.
I absolutely hate Rose and never understood her appeal. I hate that they actually went with shipping Ten/Rose on the show. Blech.
I can get behind Grace/Eight though because Grace is awesome.
So I went and tried to read the Afflicted on Wattpad and can only see the first page of each chapter. I’ve never used the site before, am I doing something wrong?
Say you’ve read the first page of Chapter 1: http://www.wattpad.com/54452938-the-afflicted-chapter-1
Final sentence of that page is: “She is a china figurine of a grieving widow, her face pretty and emotionless.” Below that sentence you will see a box saying “1”, next to it saying, “of 3”, with an arrow pointing to the right.
Clicking on that arrow should take you to page 2 of Chapter 1.
Clicking the arrows (on the first page of any chapter) just brings me back to the top of that page. I tried filling in the number (deleting 1 and typing in 2 so it says 2 of 3 and hitting enter) and that does nothing either. I was assuming it was a problem with the site, but I’m not sure why I would be the only one with the problem.
Aaaand now I just tried the same things as yesterday and it worked fine. I’m going with my standard “The internet and all technology are secretly magic that sometimes doesn’t work for no reason.”
Or I could just be dumb. But at least now I can read it!
I find it so sad that the show info there says you encourage “‘curvy women’ to love their shapes.” It’s like people in the media can’t fathom a body acceptance movement that celebrates all kinds of bodies. If I know anything about you, you won’t limit your encouragement to “curvy women” only. 🙂
This is a bit off-topic, but speaking of Wattpad, the newest sensation from there is “Lailah,” by Nikki Kelly, which the author sold to a publisher based on its “over 1 million reads.”
But — the original version is still on Wattpad. And when I looked it up, the first page shows 2.6 million views — but it’s just the same blurb as on the jacket, not the actual story or anything. Click to the next page, and the Forward shows 658,000+ views. Next page, the Prologue, is down to 115,000+ views. And the Epilogue had 46,914 reads as of yesterday afternoon. (I do realize that 47,000 complete reads is pretty good for any book.)
The drop-off between the intro and the prologue is so astounding, though, that I’m now wondering if the first page was somehow jiggered. Does anyone have any idea if that’s possible? Because losing 2 million readers in one arrow click is pretty amazing.
And now I’m off to jack up Jenny’s Wattpad readership. 🙂