Heigh Ho, My Costume’s Ready to Go

Hiya, friends! My convention that I’m cosplaying at is this weekend, and I’m happy to report that, at least costume-wise, I’m ready to go! I did a dry-run of it for a few hours today, which went decently well. I highly recommend dry-running any complicated costume you might be thinking of doing. Saves you problems later on. (I learned this the hard way when I did my most complicated costume to date, Titania from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. This costume included me making boots, armor, fake belts, a lined coat, etc. and involved wig styling. But I didn’t try it out before the con, and ended up only lasting about three hours. I was too hot, my wig was too heavy and wouldn’t stay on even with it being pinned in place, I couldn’t wear a bag because of the chest/back/shoulder armor, I could barely sit comfortably…) (And hence I have never done an armored costume again.) I wore my boots for about eight hours. They hurt a bit near the end, but not too bad. I almost spent a lot more time on my feet than I typically do at the con, so not too worried. I wore my FX contacts for about an hour and a half. I have issues with contacts–my eyes started rejecting them when I was 24–but they felt okay. A little dry, though, so probably worth it to invest in some re-hydrating drops before the con. The biggest issue is that they don’t stay…

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Trying Out Cosplay Again

I know I’ve talked about cosplay here before, friends, but here we are. Actively doing it. Again. It feels a little weird, honestly. It’s been years. 2014 was the last time, to be exact, when I put together an Amy Pond cosplay out of clothes I owned and a red wig I first wore for my Joshua cosplay back in 2009 (but has been ever so useful since then for a number of different characters). And before that was 2011, when I made a steampunk outfit for AnomalyCon, and then 2010 was Agatha Heterodyne for WonderCon… This year I’m doing Crowley from Good Omens. (If you haven’t watched the miniseries yet, I highly recommend it if you have access to it. I’m also re-reading the book, and the series is pretty much spot on, except it’s expanded the emotional arcs for Crowley and Aziraphale.) I used to be a very dedicated cosplayer. I made my own patterns, started costumes months before they were needed so I had time to design and sew. I made armor and shoes from scratch. I (badly) styled wigs. I tried for screen accuracy when appropriate and was not against adding my own flourishes when not. It took a lot of time and money, though, and generally was bad news for writing (I find it hard to spend a lot of time on two different creative endeavors at the same time). I do miss it, though, especially the design aspect, and the problem-solving of taking something…

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Ah, Fanfiction!

Good morning, friends, me again! (Since Siri took my spot last month and now I owe her.) Fanfiction is such a weirdly controversial thing among writers, which is strange to me. Are there writers out there who don’t start off with something derivative when they start storytelling? (I certainly did. One of my first “books” was a re-write of a kids’ puzzle book I was especially fond of, except with a female lead and an actual plot. I took the characters from Sonic the Hedgehog, made whole families (this was before Knuckles and all them showed up, back in the Genesis days), and made stories for my cousins and I to role-play. I tried to write Star Trek novels. (They were bad.)) I think it’s perfectly natural to take something you love and expand on it. Most source material is limited, after all. What happens to the characters outside the book/movie/TV show? After it? Before it? How would those beloved characters act if they were somewhere else? It’s an excellent writing exercise, if nothing else. And I don’t think it should be looked down on as not real writing. I’ve read some dang good fic in my day. I read some yesterday, in fact! (I may have spent most of my day, yesterday, reading fanfiction. I don’t really regret it aside from I really need to get some work done on various projects.) My current fandom fix is Good Omens. The miniseries is out on Amazon, if you guys have…

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