shadowsong26

So, after finishing NaNo last month, I've been trying to get back into writing in my established origfic universes, but I haven't gotten anything done (been writing some fanfic and stuff, but I miss these worlds).

Anyway, I'm putting out a general request for prompts. The two worlds I primarily write in are Feredar (which is basically a standard high-fantasy framework for a story that more focuses on political/familial relationships. Also, there's a serial killer running around because why not; this story also has a character sheet and a list of AUs a mile long) and Lux, (which is the Apocalypse IN SPACE; the main character is a linguist/translator who is romantically involved with Lucifer). I also occasionally drift into The Institute Files, (which is a series of short stories about the titular Institute that studies extranormal beings that universally end horribly).

Anyway, if you have any ideas for things I could write in any of these universes, I'd really appreciate it!

How do you define YA fantasy/sci-fi/horror/speculative fiction as opposed to adult f/s-f/h/sf? I'm pretty sure it's not about the issues tackled--look at The Hunger Games, or Harry Potter, or the Heralds of Valdemar books. All of those deal with some pretty complex, adult issues, and all are primarily (at least initially, I think) aimed at teen readers. And I'm not sure protagonist age is a good indicator, either. Not many adult f/s-f/h/sf protagonists are under eighteen, but some are around that age, and some YA protagonists are older (see Dragonlance and some of the Heralds of Valdemar books). I know I can pick a passage from...say...Twilight and compare it to one from The Vampire Chronicles (trying to keep all other factors like genre, sub-genre, etc. the same) and know that Twilight is aimed at teens and The Vampire Chronicles at adults, but...I was just wondering if anyone knew exactly what goes into that?

/random question
/is possibly overly obsessed with analysis/genre categorization
/writing something that's supposed to be YA and unsure how to make sure it's differentiated from adult-aimed origfic written in the past

so, i may have lost basically my entire aim contact list.

i can't log into my primary account (the one i've had for like twelve years) on any computer, or through trillian, or aim express, or anything else i've tried. i can access the aol mail part of it, but even there i can't access aim. i set up a new account so i can im people, but i had to go onto a different computer to do that. however, once i had it set up, it worked just fine.

so, even though i linked the new account to the old one, i can't access the old buddy list.

granted, most of those people i very rarely talk to, but i do talk to them sometimes. :(

argh. this is superspecial annoying. any suggestions on how to get my contact list back?


EDIT: and now it's working again. wtf.