Subject: That was a good prank
Author:
Posted on: 2016-04-07 20:00:00 UTC
I was completely flipping out. I love Jay and Acacia. It wasn't too disappointing, though; I'm laughing at myself, and I don't do that too often (I have a history of taking pranks badly). That was cool, thank you.
I've known for the past month what I was going to post today. I'm going to be gone from tomorrow morning (the kids are off school, so we're heading Up North for a week's holiday), so I had to put aside any complex plans for April Fools' (I still want to convert the Wiki into its Jaycaciaverse counterpart, for instance) and come up with something self-contained, like I did last year.
I'm still going to do that, actually:
Ardolindi: 1st April Episode
And that would be that. Except that last night, I found something.
I was digging through my old files, the ones which have been transferred from computer to computer over the years. Down in the depths of Documents > Files > My Documents > Received Files > Received Files (or something equally convoluted, there's an xkcd for this), I ran into this:
'Love Your Enemies'
('Published' version, just for July)
I do not remember receiving this file, but I know where it must have come from: just after the first Jaycacia Thornbyrd story came out, Jay contacted me over MSN. We chatted a few times (I was mostly very wide-eyed and intimidated), and I guess she must have sent this thing over. The file author is what I think is her real name, so I'm pretty sure it's real.
I knew I had to share it with the Board right away - particularly since I'm going to be gone for a week. I just wish I'd found it on literally any other day. :-/
Anyway, I've left it open for comments if people want to do that. And I would appreciate comments on my story, as well...
hS will maybe be able to post a story without adding something more interesting to the post someday...
-That I spoke to Jay online after writing Jaycacia.
-That I have deeply-embedded legacy files.
-That I planned the Ardolindi April Fools' episode a month ago.
The following is a bunch of filthy lies:
-That I'm going anywhere next week.
-That I received any files from Jay at any time.
Yeah - April Fool. Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up. ;) I was hoping I'd catch a few more people; I guess either you were all offline, or you just weren't fooled.
Oh, and the following is also true:
-I'd really like comments on the Ardolindi story.
(Thanks, Dawn!)
hS
I was completely flipping out. I love Jay and Acacia. It wasn't too disappointing, though; I'm laughing at myself, and I don't do that too often (I have a history of taking pranks badly). That was cool, thank you.
I read both stories, and I was all set to come back when I had time and be fascinated by the insights into Jay's creative process. So you fooled me—good job!
Re. Ardolindi, Constance is a cruel, cruel woman. Nobody deserves to be woken up like that! And, what was it, "slime and malice"? describes the "Orcs" bit of the song nicely. To be honest, I got a bit tired of hearing it over and over. I can only imagine the effect on poor Dafydd's Elven sensibilities.
(BTW, have you got our cowrite slotted in anytime soon? I'm not in a hurry, just wondering. Also, I'm free Tuesday and Wednesday, if you want to chat.)
~Neshomeh
I'm, uh, apparently on call as an emergency plumber for my parents. Don't ask, I don't even get it myself...
hS
They called in an actual emergency plumber.
hS
I'll take a look at it; sorry. :(
hS
Rather enjoyed Ardolindi.
As for the 'Old Doc', was very suspicious- even prior to actually getting to your comment to make clear- especially with the specific outreach to make sure I could read it.
That, and I've had not-quite run-ins with Jay as well so very suspicious indeed.
-July, cheeky
... was just me being nice, since you'd said you couldn't read non-published documents. I wasn't specifically pushing for you to read it.
hS
(Don't ruin this moment.)
-July
Also, I remember mentions in email of a document or somesuch to be shared?
Document shared; if you want a published version then hahahaha I can do that too.
hS
Mind sending a link to the published version in email?
-July, complicating matters
Problem is, you can probably imagine exactly what we're going to say.
I liked it. It was funny. It was thoroughly enjoyable, the characters were likeable, everyone acted like humans (and half-orcs and dwarfs and children) and it was funnily written. I could spend a week looking for a problem I had with it, and I probably wouldn't find anything.
It was a small page of condensed charm.
Just feels lazy to say 'It was good,' without anything else, y'know? Feels like there ought to be something of more substance to say.
...
In order to fix this, I added substance to my post by complaining about a perceived lack of substance.
The good thing about concrit is you can do it even if you don't see anything bad. As you did here, you say why you thought it was good - the 'condensed charm' comment particularly stands out. Since that's pretty much what I'm going for with Ardolindi, it tells me I'm still on-track.
If, instead, you'd said 'It's good, I love the deep-seated angst Dafydd exhibits', then I'd know I was wildly off-base.
So thank you!
hS
Admittedly, I was specifically aiming for positive concrit with what I said.
Substance and all.
I suppose you have a point, though. Probably should've figured that on my own, but, eh.
Would you look at that!
Learning things!
Well, I read the old document first and just
just
Yeah, no words. That's very exciting :D
So then I went on to your story, and started laughing pretty early in. Still laughing, actually. Nicely done!
~DF
(Sorry for getting you all excited over a fake... :-/)
Anyway, thank you! Laughter was definitely the aim here, so I'm glad it worked. ^_^
hS
/... and also in confusion.
This is fascinating, but I'm not sure what to do with it myself. |D
Thank you in any case, hS!