Day late, buck short

[impy]

"Lila?"
"What?"
"With that attitude you'd make a terrible elf."

Realized that Lila fic isn't quite as long as I thought it would be after awhile. Still longer than I originally thought it might be, but not nearly as daunting as it seemed when I last worked on it. *muse* I suspect that if I buckled down with the nog and some carols, I could finish it today. It would still need a day or more to breathe and for edits... but it could be done. I think the first chunk is done. I just can't shake this feeling it needs to be fleshed out more but when I read through what I've got so far, I like it. So... I'm not sure if this slight panic is at the road ahead of me, or if I'm crazy or what.


D1 Favourite sitter: Dawn
D2 Least favourite sitter: Kristy
D3 Favourite regular book: The Ghost At Dawn's House
D4 Least favourite regular book: Kristy's Worst Idea
D5 Favourite mystery: Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic
D6 Least favourite mystery: Jessi and the Jewel Thieves
D7 Favourite super special: Baby-Sitters' Summer Vacation
D8 Least favourite super special: BSC in the USA
D9 Favourite minor character: Alan Gray
D10 Least favourite minor character: Sunny
D11 Favourite sitting charge: Charlotte
D12 Least favourite sitting charge:
  Karen. :P In the Little Sister books Karen's actions can be more easily explained, overlooked, or even sympathized with. But in the regular BSC books, she's annoying as hell 90% of the time. (Less so in Ann's hands.) She's in an awkward position, it's true, in that she's sort of supposed to a bit obnoxious and highstrung, but any of the other kids who act at all like Karen's bad attributes is a Horrible Kid. The Delaney kids, particularly Amanda? She's no more obnoxious than Karen is. She's spoiled, it's true, but so's Karen. Karen just doesn't walk around putting dollar signs on everything. Jenny? Please. She's prissy (this is true) but so is Karen. Karen is one of those incredibly inflexible children who is still somehow lauded for her incredible imagination. She fixates on the rules she wants to obey and she disregards others' opinions and feelings left and right and it's okay.

I could probably deal with this if Karen weren't so prevalent in the series. For a kid who is only around every other weekend for a good chunk of the series, she's in a LOT of books. She's also an incredibly awful friend. Horribly, painfully awful. :/ Sometimes I seriously feel sorry for Nancy... and a little less so for Hannie.

So. Yeah. Karen. Disasters follow her, but they don't call her anything but Karen.

D13 Favourite parent:
  Uhh... can I choose Mimi? I know she's not Claudia's parent and she's only around for the first 26 books, but I think she's the single most important person to influence Claudia... and she was a live in grandparent, so you can't tell me that she didn't take an active part in raising Claudia and to a lesser degree, Janine. The fact that she managed to not judge Claudia but still got her to realize when she was being an incredible jerk to her sister is no easy feat, people.

Otherwise... let me think about this one. *muses and sips nog* I'd say I find it hard to believe people have favorites amongst the parents, but given what I've noticed of this fandom, it doesn't actually surprise me. I'll admit to being rather curious about the Pikes, particularly her friendship with Stacey's mom. It's one of those things that is mentioned and makes you realize that the other adults don't seem to mingle much beyond forced interactions.

But if I had to pick an actual favorite parent, I'm going with Mary Anne's father. The fact that he had a bit of a breakdown after his wife's death doesn't hurt (I'm old school. I believe that the death of your spouse causing a breakdown is a sign of True Love. Shut up.) and the way that he tried so very hard to do right by Mary Anne (and his deceased wife) in raising her but went so overboard and was definitely of the school that you didn't show much emotion... but the man tried. He tried so hard. He just mangled it in the execution... and then he got a second chance. He is pretty much the exact opposite of Kristy's biological father and I kind of dig that as well, in that it adds a little extra depth to the MA/Kristy friendship. Here's one whose father couldn't get away fast enough while the other's father has her on an incredibly short leash for her own protection.

D14 Least favourite parent
D15 Favourite BSC fight
D16 Favourite BSC love interest
D17 Favourite BSC organised event
D18 Favourite vacation spot
D19 Favourite Holiday Book
D20 Favourite couple in the book
D21 Favourite couple not in the book (as in who you wanted to get together but didn't)
D22 BSC member or minor character you could see yourself being friends with
D23 Favourite Friends Forever
D24 Least Favourite Friends Forever
D25 Moments/Scene from the books that sticks out to you the most
D26 Favourite Claudia outfit
D27 Favorite Stacey outfit
D28 One thing you learned from the BSC
D29 Favourite BSC 'villain'
D30 Biggest 'that wouldn't really happen in real life' moment

Comments

[luxken27]

Realized that Lila fic isn't quite as long as I thought it would be after awhile.

*nods* This happens to me sometimes. Hell, it just happened to me, in fact, while I was working on a KI fic! Sometimes its better to overwrite and trim, and sometimes brevity is the soul of wit. Either way, I'm really looking forward to this!

(I also had to break out the Christmas carols yesterday - this KI fic is all about Christmas, and it was a pretty awesome way to set the mood, LOL.)

Karen is one of those incredibly inflexible children who is still somehow lauded for her incredible imagination.

She's also incredibly bossy and loud, which I think is why she gets so much praise and attention. I'm sure the other kids can be just as 'creative' in making up games, etc, but they never get a chance to speak when she's around. I mean, anybody who needs to be reminded what an "inside" voice is vs an "outside" voice... o.O

But if I had to pick an actual favorite parent, I'm going with Mary Anne's father.

:D Once again, we agree! I think he was pretty incredibly sensitive, for a man who didn't like to show much in the way of emotion.