Disclaimer – Middle-Earth does not belong to me. LotR and everything related to it was created by the Professor. OFUM belongs to Miss Cam, and the PPC were created by Jay and Acacia. The characters are mine, however.
~*The Musings of an Overactive Imagination; or How Not to Handle Writer's Block*~
It was the worst thing that had ever happened: I had been assigned a story to write, but had encountered a neigh-impenetrable writer's block. I was brainstorming yet still unable to write anything when they all decided to show up. The characters in my head, that is. It started with Hobbits Rosie and Ben, my only married couple, and a 21-year-old girl named Sila.
"Having trouble are we?" Sila leaned over my shoulder and looked at the blank computer screen in front of me.
"Yeah," I agreed, "You could say that."
"Why don't you just start writing?" she offered.
"But I thought she was writing!" Ben cocked his head, and looked at our conversation, which was emerging on the screen as we talked. Rosie smiled and gave Ben a kiss on the cheek.
"She meant that Liz should start writing her story, dearest."
"Oh."
"Why can't you all just be quiet for awhile?" I sighed, trying not to be rude. It's not a good idea to be rude to people who live inside your head, after all.
"But if we aren't talking to you," Rosie rolled her eyes a little, "It gets too…boring, if you follow me." I cringed a little, knowing exactly what those two, at any rate, would be doing if they were bored.
"Unfortunately I do." I muttered, though I don't think she heard me. I looked up as 'The Boys'—otherwise known as Jon, Cory, and Sila's boyfriend Folcwine—walked in and made themselves comfortable.
"Great, we're having another party!" Jon exclaimed, and nudged Folcwine, who blushed and sat quietly in a corner. Sila noticed the movement and blushed also, much to Jon's obvious delight.
"It's not a party," Sila said in a dignified voice. "We're trying to help Liz with her writer's block."
"Aw, that's too bad." Jon winked at Sila, causing yet more blushing. Cory, who had settled down in a chair, emitted a soft snore, testifying to his late night the night before. I sighed as I heard a group of giggling girls nearing the doorway: my four agents of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, and utterly hopeless cases, maturity-wise.
"Ooo, are we writing another fanfic?" Scooter bounced in first, Liza close on her tail, and peered at the computer. "Can it be PPC again?"
"Or OFUN," Took suggested as she plopped down on Jon's lap and ruffled his hair. "It doesn't matter to me."
"Yeah," Tog frowned, "But if she writes OFUN, you're the only one who gets to be in it!" Took giggled a little as Jon tickled her.
"So? Why is that a problem?" she asked. I grimaced, knowing exactly where this conversation would head if I didn't stop it.
"Um…girls?"
"How is it fair if you get to be in a fic but no one else does?" Tog asked indignantly.
"Girls?" my voice held slightly more urgency.
"Well," Took explained, "I think I'm her least-used character, so I really do deserve it…"
"YOU? Try ME!" Liza briefly entered the conversation, but quickly turned back to her original conversation with Scooter on sword fighting.
"At least you're going to be in the official OFUN fic when Ash finishes it…" Tog started.
"GIRLS!" I shouted. They both turned to me, with an exasperated look of 'what do you want?' on their faces. "Please stop," I ordered quietly. "You're giving me a headache."
"Sorry, Liz." Took smiled apologetically.
"It's okay," I sighed again and let my head sink into my hands. I didn't even look up when I heard a large group of Hobbits enter.
"Oh, look, we're having another party!" Rowan's here, I noted whilst I examined the surface of my desk.
"Really?" And Roo.
"Can we come this time?" And Sadie, which unfortunately meant that all 9 of her brothers and sisters probably were too. The Brood, I liked to call them most days. The Terrors of the West I called them on bad days.
"It's not a party," Jon explained, nuzzling his nose into Took's curls. "Liz has writer's block."
"Oh, Dee," Frodo exclaimed, "Maybe she's writing about us!" Yes, The Terrors are definitely all here. I sighed inwardly, and realized that I had been sighing a lot since everyone started showing up.
"Can it be about a time when we didn't get in trouble?" Paddie complained, and (from the sounds of it) pushed Frodo off the last chair in the room so he could sit down.
"It's not a fanfic, guys." I said to my desk.
"It's not?" everyone chorused. It was rather funny, hearing them do that.
"But you ALWAYS write fan fiction," Sam commented, restoring Frodo to the chair he had originally claimed.
"Without fail!" Esmie added.
"Well, not this time." I sat back in my chair and started staring at the ceiling. "It's for my creative writing class."
"Oh, so we're not good enough for your class, huh?" Ruby sniffed indignantly.
"Quiet, Ruby." Elfstan commented as he broke up a bit of a tussle between Sam and Paddie. I noticed with slight confusion that the littlest girls in the Brood were absent from our little 'get together'.
"Why should I be? She obviously doesn't think we're worth of showing to her classmates, so—"
"Quiet, Ruby!" Tom said forcefully, with an icy glare directed at his little sister.
"Fine!" Ruby shouted in true drama queen form, and sat in the corner to sulk.
"You know," Rosie said thoughtfully, taking in the large majority of Hobbits in the room, "I never really noticed how many hobbits you have running around, Liz."
"Yeah, it's kind of crazy, huh?" I laughed a little.
"Completely crazy." Rowan agreed.
"Utterly nuts." Sila commented.
"Totally cracked." Ben supplied.
"Fully insane." Jon shrugged
"Absolutely whacked." Roo snickered.
"Entirely cuckoo!" Sadie exclaimed seriously.
"Um, I think that's enough." I rolled my eyes. "Please just…that's enough." Ben smiled and surveyed the diverse group of people that were now crowded into my computer room.
"This is quite a group," he declared happily. Rosie grinned and nuzzled his ear.
"Yeah, and we're even missing some!" Scooter noted.
"What does that have to do with anything, Scoot?" Tog tried not to laugh.
"Just that some people aren't here."
"Who would that be?" I asked, not wanting to let those two get started. "I can't keep track of everyone, you know."
"Well," Scooter thought for a moment and slowly listed off the missing members of my 'asylum'. "Starry's at classes, Vinca and Poppy are taking a nap," So that's where they are, "Cory's asleep, so he's not really here …"
"And we banished Janey to the broom closet a couple months ago." Tog added. I frowned and did a small calculation in my head.
"But…I didn't even create Janey until a couple months ago."
"Exactly."
"Er…right…" I tried not to let my eye twitch, but was unsuccessful.
"She's a Mary-Sue! A 'look-at-me-I'm-so-perfect' Mary-fricking-SUE!" Tog threw up her hands in exasperation. "You set loose in your mind the most feared creature in fan fiction history! What do you expect us to do with her?" I was (thankfully) saved the embarrassment of answering when Starry, my resident witch-in-training, ran in.
"Hey, am I late for the party?"
"It's not a party." Everyone chorused. Really, it was so funny when they did that.
"Oh…ok…" Starry shrugged and flopped down on the floor, unknowingly giving Jon a quick glimpse at what was under her skirt. And from the look on his face, it was something lacy.
"We're trying to help Liz with her writer's block." Roo smiled sweetly and poked Jon in the ribs rather hard, causing him to let out a little yelp and tip Took ungracefully off his lap.
"Hey, by the way, Sila," Starry caught the glance of the older girl, "Janey's making quite a ruckus. Sounds like she's trying to break through the door."
"Well, I'm still not letting her out of that closet." Sila growled in distaste. "And tell her that if she breaks into song one more time, I SWEAR I'm going to kill her!"
"Not if I kill her first." Rosie muttered, shooting an accusing glare at Ben.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," Rosie replied icily, causing Ben to cringe. "It's just that you seemed to be all eyes for that…that…SUE when she showed up."
"You, too, buddy." Sila poked Folcwine, who looked to be on the verge of joining Cory in dreamland.
"What?"
"Well don't anyone forget Jon." Ben sulked, trying to get the attention off himself.
"Or Cory." Jon commented cheerfully, dumping Cory out of his chair.
"Huh? What? I'm awake!" Cory sat up and blearily rubbed his eyes. Several of the Hobbits snickered.
"Why in the WORLD can't you all just…go home and be quiet?" I groaned, dreading the amount of work I needed to get done.
"You mean to the pub?" Sadie asked
"That would be home, Dimwit," Ruby snipped at her sister. Sadie only stuck her tongue out and fell silent. I looked toward the smallish but well-kept building that only existed in my head and almost smiled. The Drown'd Duck was such a silly name for a pub.
"Yes." I declared. "Go in there. The walls will muffle the noise, hopefully." I added to myself. Rosie patted me on the back knowingly, and I made a mental note that this was why she had always been my favorite character.
"Alright, everyone, clear out!" Rosie took charge of the room. "Liz is stressed and she doesn't need all of us bothering her. Back to the pub, that's right. No, not now, Ben!" she warded off a would-be kiss from her disappointed husband as they walked out the door, the younger Brood members in tow.
"And don't let the boys near the bar!" Sila announced to everyone.
"And don't make too much noise!" Tom added urgently. "We don't want to wake—" he cringed as he heard a crash and the delighted squealing of little girls coming from the pub.
"So much for naptime." Elfstan sighed.
"Alright, everyone, come on. Out we go…" Sila shooed everyone out and glanced back at me one more time. "Good luck with the writing, Liz."
"Thanks, Sila." I smiled.
"No problem." she grinned at me and went inside the Duck. Just as I was turning back to my computer, I heard a muffled scream from inside. "Oh, what did you boys DO to my PUB!?" Sila shrieked. I chuckled quietly and finally started writing.
~*The Musings of an Overactive Imagination; or How Not to Handle Writer's Block*~
It was the worst thing that had ever happened: I had been assigned a story to write, but had encountered a neigh-impenetrable writer's block. I was brainstorming yet still unable to write anything when they all decided to show up. The characters in my head, that is. It started with Hobbits Rosie and Ben, my only married couple, and a 21-year-old girl named Sila.
"Having trouble are we?" Sila leaned over my shoulder and looked at the blank computer screen in front of me.
"Yeah," I agreed, "You could say that."
"Why don't you just start writing?" she offered.
"But I thought she was writing!" Ben cocked his head, and looked at our conversation, which was emerging on the screen as we talked. Rosie smiled and gave Ben a kiss on the cheek.
"She meant that Liz should start writing her story, dearest."
"Oh."
"Why can't you all just be quiet for awhile?" I sighed, trying not to be rude. It's not a good idea to be rude to people who live inside your head, after all.
"But if we aren't talking to you," Rosie rolled her eyes a little, "It gets too…boring, if you follow me." I cringed a little, knowing exactly what those two, at any rate, would be doing if they were bored.
"Unfortunately I do." I muttered, though I don't think she heard me. I looked up as 'The Boys'—otherwise known as Jon, Cory, and Sila's boyfriend Folcwine—walked in and made themselves comfortable.
"Great, we're having another party!" Jon exclaimed, and nudged Folcwine, who blushed and sat quietly in a corner. Sila noticed the movement and blushed also, much to Jon's obvious delight.
"It's not a party," Sila said in a dignified voice. "We're trying to help Liz with her writer's block."
"Aw, that's too bad." Jon winked at Sila, causing yet more blushing. Cory, who had settled down in a chair, emitted a soft snore, testifying to his late night the night before. I sighed as I heard a group of giggling girls nearing the doorway: my four agents of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, and utterly hopeless cases, maturity-wise.
"Ooo, are we writing another fanfic?" Scooter bounced in first, Liza close on her tail, and peered at the computer. "Can it be PPC again?"
"Or OFUN," Took suggested as she plopped down on Jon's lap and ruffled his hair. "It doesn't matter to me."
"Yeah," Tog frowned, "But if she writes OFUN, you're the only one who gets to be in it!" Took giggled a little as Jon tickled her.
"So? Why is that a problem?" she asked. I grimaced, knowing exactly where this conversation would head if I didn't stop it.
"Um…girls?"
"How is it fair if you get to be in a fic but no one else does?" Tog asked indignantly.
"Girls?" my voice held slightly more urgency.
"Well," Took explained, "I think I'm her least-used character, so I really do deserve it…"
"YOU? Try ME!" Liza briefly entered the conversation, but quickly turned back to her original conversation with Scooter on sword fighting.
"At least you're going to be in the official OFUN fic when Ash finishes it…" Tog started.
"GIRLS!" I shouted. They both turned to me, with an exasperated look of 'what do you want?' on their faces. "Please stop," I ordered quietly. "You're giving me a headache."
"Sorry, Liz." Took smiled apologetically.
"It's okay," I sighed again and let my head sink into my hands. I didn't even look up when I heard a large group of Hobbits enter.
"Oh, look, we're having another party!" Rowan's here, I noted whilst I examined the surface of my desk.
"Really?" And Roo.
"Can we come this time?" And Sadie, which unfortunately meant that all 9 of her brothers and sisters probably were too. The Brood, I liked to call them most days. The Terrors of the West I called them on bad days.
"It's not a party," Jon explained, nuzzling his nose into Took's curls. "Liz has writer's block."
"Oh, Dee," Frodo exclaimed, "Maybe she's writing about us!" Yes, The Terrors are definitely all here. I sighed inwardly, and realized that I had been sighing a lot since everyone started showing up.
"Can it be about a time when we didn't get in trouble?" Paddie complained, and (from the sounds of it) pushed Frodo off the last chair in the room so he could sit down.
"It's not a fanfic, guys." I said to my desk.
"It's not?" everyone chorused. It was rather funny, hearing them do that.
"But you ALWAYS write fan fiction," Sam commented, restoring Frodo to the chair he had originally claimed.
"Without fail!" Esmie added.
"Well, not this time." I sat back in my chair and started staring at the ceiling. "It's for my creative writing class."
"Oh, so we're not good enough for your class, huh?" Ruby sniffed indignantly.
"Quiet, Ruby." Elfstan commented as he broke up a bit of a tussle between Sam and Paddie. I noticed with slight confusion that the littlest girls in the Brood were absent from our little 'get together'.
"Why should I be? She obviously doesn't think we're worth of showing to her classmates, so—"
"Quiet, Ruby!" Tom said forcefully, with an icy glare directed at his little sister.
"Fine!" Ruby shouted in true drama queen form, and sat in the corner to sulk.
"You know," Rosie said thoughtfully, taking in the large majority of Hobbits in the room, "I never really noticed how many hobbits you have running around, Liz."
"Yeah, it's kind of crazy, huh?" I laughed a little.
"Completely crazy." Rowan agreed.
"Utterly nuts." Sila commented.
"Totally cracked." Ben supplied.
"Fully insane." Jon shrugged
"Absolutely whacked." Roo snickered.
"Entirely cuckoo!" Sadie exclaimed seriously.
"Um, I think that's enough." I rolled my eyes. "Please just…that's enough." Ben smiled and surveyed the diverse group of people that were now crowded into my computer room.
"This is quite a group," he declared happily. Rosie grinned and nuzzled his ear.
"Yeah, and we're even missing some!" Scooter noted.
"What does that have to do with anything, Scoot?" Tog tried not to laugh.
"Just that some people aren't here."
"Who would that be?" I asked, not wanting to let those two get started. "I can't keep track of everyone, you know."
"Well," Scooter thought for a moment and slowly listed off the missing members of my 'asylum'. "Starry's at classes, Vinca and Poppy are taking a nap," So that's where they are, "Cory's asleep, so he's not really here …"
"And we banished Janey to the broom closet a couple months ago." Tog added. I frowned and did a small calculation in my head.
"But…I didn't even create Janey until a couple months ago."
"Exactly."
"Er…right…" I tried not to let my eye twitch, but was unsuccessful.
"She's a Mary-Sue! A 'look-at-me-I'm-so-perfect' Mary-fricking-SUE!" Tog threw up her hands in exasperation. "You set loose in your mind the most feared creature in fan fiction history! What do you expect us to do with her?" I was (thankfully) saved the embarrassment of answering when Starry, my resident witch-in-training, ran in.
"Hey, am I late for the party?"
"It's not a party." Everyone chorused. Really, it was so funny when they did that.
"Oh…ok…" Starry shrugged and flopped down on the floor, unknowingly giving Jon a quick glimpse at what was under her skirt. And from the look on his face, it was something lacy.
"We're trying to help Liz with her writer's block." Roo smiled sweetly and poked Jon in the ribs rather hard, causing him to let out a little yelp and tip Took ungracefully off his lap.
"Hey, by the way, Sila," Starry caught the glance of the older girl, "Janey's making quite a ruckus. Sounds like she's trying to break through the door."
"Well, I'm still not letting her out of that closet." Sila growled in distaste. "And tell her that if she breaks into song one more time, I SWEAR I'm going to kill her!"
"Not if I kill her first." Rosie muttered, shooting an accusing glare at Ben.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," Rosie replied icily, causing Ben to cringe. "It's just that you seemed to be all eyes for that…that…SUE when she showed up."
"You, too, buddy." Sila poked Folcwine, who looked to be on the verge of joining Cory in dreamland.
"What?"
"Well don't anyone forget Jon." Ben sulked, trying to get the attention off himself.
"Or Cory." Jon commented cheerfully, dumping Cory out of his chair.
"Huh? What? I'm awake!" Cory sat up and blearily rubbed his eyes. Several of the Hobbits snickered.
"Why in the WORLD can't you all just…go home and be quiet?" I groaned, dreading the amount of work I needed to get done.
"You mean to the pub?" Sadie asked
"That would be home, Dimwit," Ruby snipped at her sister. Sadie only stuck her tongue out and fell silent. I looked toward the smallish but well-kept building that only existed in my head and almost smiled. The Drown'd Duck was such a silly name for a pub.
"Yes." I declared. "Go in there. The walls will muffle the noise, hopefully." I added to myself. Rosie patted me on the back knowingly, and I made a mental note that this was why she had always been my favorite character.
"Alright, everyone, clear out!" Rosie took charge of the room. "Liz is stressed and she doesn't need all of us bothering her. Back to the pub, that's right. No, not now, Ben!" she warded off a would-be kiss from her disappointed husband as they walked out the door, the younger Brood members in tow.
"And don't let the boys near the bar!" Sila announced to everyone.
"And don't make too much noise!" Tom added urgently. "We don't want to wake—" he cringed as he heard a crash and the delighted squealing of little girls coming from the pub.
"So much for naptime." Elfstan sighed.
"Alright, everyone, come on. Out we go…" Sila shooed everyone out and glanced back at me one more time. "Good luck with the writing, Liz."
"Thanks, Sila." I smiled.
"No problem." she grinned at me and went inside the Duck. Just as I was turning back to my computer, I heard a muffled scream from inside. "Oh, what did you boys DO to my PUB!?" Sila shrieked. I chuckled quietly and finally started writing.