{ OMG YAY! }

S4 spoilers behind the cut.

Spooks, S4 starts Monday 12th September! That's one week away! Episode 402 apparently airs the following night, which is new.

( S4 information )

Edit: The trailer can be found here.

{ we have pigeon-shaped in-jokes }

GIP!

Icon by the insanely awesome wliberation.

{ making a list and checking it twice }

Have you ever had one of those days when you have a whole list of things to do so you do that whole list of things and yet still there's a hundred things left undone? Hmm? Dude, today has been like that.

I went to work at eight, got back at ten and then sat down to do four things: (a) check my mail; (b) write down some plots, expland on them; (c) edit a friend's work; (d) edit my own work. During this time, the engineer came to stop the oil pipe from leaking and I made him coffee (which will only come as a shock to you if you, firstly, know how bad I am with anything related to food and/or beverages and, secondly, how much I destest liquid forms of caffeine). I edited 6 people's work, I looked at two fic extracts, I edited my own work, I wrote down some plots, I made 3 icons. I checked my mail, wrote replies, checked my flist, checked my favourites page, I posted in forums and here in the journal. I made a new friend ( hi noorie) and icons for a not-so-new friend (hi wliberation). I talked to Denz, I emailed Manda, I MSN-ed crouchingmajor & natushka. I reorganised my files. I made eight mental lists of things to do and things to pack. I made an actual list of things to put into my Sara essay that I so seriously want to write but don't seem able to do.

It's five pm now so I have to make atta for chappattis.

Phew.

{ the resurrection of fandom }

Edit: There are explicit Spooks, S4 spoilers in the post below.

So, after much to-ing and fro-ing, a once cancelled trip to Hunstanton is back on - just me and Esme. It should be a good day; I'm looking forward to getting away from The Village (dude, are we even a village anymore? But can I really call it town when every urban area within a ten mile radius is town?) It also means I don't have to plan things to do next Tuesday, so yay.

Still haven't heard from the university re:accommodation/term dates. Am nervous and am emailing because my nerves? Mondo, mondo frazzled. In order to deal with this, am concentrating on fact that Spooks is back a week today. ( Cut for S4 spoilers that have *not* been announced on the BBC site yet )

I'm not just excited about this in terms of plot - I'm also pretty excited about the fanfic opportunities this will hopefully raise. It's no secret that the inkwell's been fairly dry recently and that writing hasn;t been coming easily. Post-eps are a great method of writing for fanfic writers, I think, because of the sense of immediacy and the strong canonical links. Last year, I made three ventures into canon and then jumped off the bandwagon (um, that might be flist locked), somewhat. It's the most fanfic I've written for a single fandom, ever. In fact, it's the first fandom I've written for since I wrote a very, very bad Tribe fic (which featured some shockingly awful Mary Sues - yes, plural - and a convoluted religious angle that was very difficult to explain). Since then, I've written drabbles, ficlets and two of three-part fic concerning Don Eppes. A fic that I am incapable of finishing. So, hopefully, with the new series, I'll be able to get back into it.

The problem, as I have tried to explain to three people today, is that I don't watch TV just for entertainment anymore, at leats, not in the way that I used to watch it. Before, I could watch a show and just enjoy the story. Now I look for consistency in plot and characterisation, skill of writing, skill of performance and direction. I worry about how shallow characters are or how ridiculous plots are. With Spooks I don't bother with most of these things; I sit there and get suckered in by the stories. It's a nice change.

For the past four weeks, I've been trying to write a multi-fandom/meta post about characterisation and the evolution thereof. I'm still not quite there but I do want to write it. In that vein, d'y'all think you could answer some questions for me?

• Do you watch shows for character interactions or intricate plotlines?
  
• Have you ever been a fan of a character who underwent a massive overhaul over the course of a series?
  
• If yes, how did you feel about that change?
  
• Do you think characters should change over time or should they stay true to the form in which they first appeared?
  

I suspect that most of my issues with characterisation come from the fact that I watch procedural dramas and get annoyed when they enter the realm of soap opera. I know a lot of people watch these shows for the character stuff; I used to watch CSI and wait for the very Sar-centric episodes. But in the past year, since my focus has changed with regards to tv itself, I find myself approaching my fandoms in a different way.

OK, enough of that for now. Comment, let me know what you think to the above questions. Go off on a tangent. I'd like to know what people think. Oh, and I'm leaving this post public. Pimp out the questions - here or in your own journals. I'm looking forward to a substantial report and hopefully some debate, especially because I don't think people talk enough about the bones of fandom. (And I'm such a comment-whore).