#archaeopter-ace

thanks for asking <3

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

More than a premise, I have a White Collar/Forever fic that is half-written but half abandonned, cause I got 1- stuck on the plot. 2- distracted by a different fandom. But it's a case fic about Henry's flintlock that will involve both teams and I'm quite happy with the half I've written. :-) The good news is, I think I have figured what was wrong with my plot. The bad news is, it requires lots of re-writing...

I also have a couple of Zorro fics I'm working on/have ideas for. (When I say "couple" I mean "way too many" LOL). One where Zorro would be caught and unmasked. One where Diego has to save the day as Diego. One about how his father figured it out (following canon). But I'm actually working now on a Rosarita/Diego one.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

"Kids will be Kids" is a little humor oneshot where Barbara walks in on the teen guardians of Arcadia messing around.

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"If You're Still Breathing" is going to be a short chapter fic in the "Two Years in the Dark" AU (where Jim is trapped in the Darklands two years instead of two weeks). In this story it's the 1st year anniversary of Jim being trapped in the Darklands. Claire uses a piece of heartstone to fuel an attempt to open a portal to the Darklands... this turns out to be a very Bad Idea.

Have a teaser:

Carefully Claire settled on the ground so she was sitting with her legs wrapped around the heartstone piece. She expanded the Shadow Staff and held it in her right hand while her left rested on the stone. It was warm under her fingers. The energy tingled under her hand: alive and full of potential. The Shadow Staff was the opposite: cold and hungry. It was easy to allow herself to become a conduit between the two. Closing her eyes she drew in a breath and released it.

Focus.

She thought of Jim. Of his dorky little smile and bright blue eyes. Of the terror she felt when she realized he had gone into the Darklands without them. Of her building desperation as the days passed and their hopes of getting him back dwindled.

The staff grew black under her fingertips. The heartstone flickered.

Frustration welled in her as the magic failed to catch on anything, but she was not going to be deterred that easily. She reached out farther, casting about with a mental net.

Her grip on the Shadow Staff tightened until it was biting into her hand. Still she focused.

Farther and farther she pushed.

O: How do you begin a story--with the plot, or the characters?

Right now, with the plot, or a concept I know I want to work with.  I have a set few characters I like to work with and my writing is currently mostly on exploring situations I think they’d be interesting in.

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P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

For most fics, I definitely lean toward being an architect.  Of the oneshots and shorter multi-chapter fics I have rn, I know the course they’re going to take and how they’re going to get there and they won’t deviate too much from that.

For a longer fic (currently only Souls), I’d say mostly architect, but with some gardener thrown in for spice.  For the most part, Souls is extensively planned, but it’s also extremely malleable.  I’ve had the general concept I’ve wanted to build toward in its climax for a while, but it was only really last night that I started to set down what that’ll look like in terms of plot points and it still could change.  Like I have an idea of where it’s going to end up, but I also keep its outline open to changes along the way.

Wirt spotted Wendy, but she was just handing Claire something from one of the first aid kits, not holding the hidden hatchet and trying to kill the thing, so that had to be a good sign.

- Down the Rabbit Hole, Ch. 6

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

For Rose Puppetry, the final chapter.  The entire project started out as a oneshot to deliver on one specific thing, which hasn’t actually happened yet in it, and won’t until the last chapter.  I’m extremely excited to get to finally reveal what that is.

For Dead Souls Living, just all of it.  It’s now occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve really clarified in my various ramblings on the topic is that my current struggle with writing Souls is that I literally keep getting too excited by how close I came to canon to be able to sit and calmly write it.  Like, the fic is currently in Time Out bc I cannot actually think of it without getting at least a little bit giddy.

Just I’m used to carving out my own little space and being satisfied that the best I’ll ever be able to do is compromise with canon so I can be content and enjoy it.  Others get to have canon validate their ships and things, and I can be fine with not being a part of that (even if I did tend to lean toward jealousy at times).  But, it was fine, that’s how fandom worked for me, and I accepted it.

(to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with deciding there’s parts of canon you like and parts you don’t.  I consider figuring out how to compromise and deciding what works best for you in terms of fandom engagement extremely good skills to have.)

At the same time, it is utterly intoxicating to see things like a relationship dynamic, a character arc, or hell even an extremely specific plot point that you care about, that you’ve thought a lot about, play out in the actual canon.  To realize you’re not just scraping together what crumbs you can find to create something (that you doubt is actually in character anyway), and is the best you can really do, given your own interests.  To realize, instead of being on the outside watching everyone else be validated and wondering (craving to know) what that’s like, you’re at the table for the feast itself.  You get to know what it’s like.

It is very hard, I’ve found, not to let it go to your head.

(also why I’m sort of giving myself a cool down period at this point.  It’s all well and good to be excited for canon content, but, if I let that excitement go too far, it could end up sinking into entitlement, and that would suck, like a lot.)

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8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Not particularly right now.  Although that’s largely because I’ve been consumed by reading almost entirely jonmartin fics for the foreseeable future (cause that’s what happens when one of the characters is canonically asexual and his identity is respected by the fandom for the most part, it’s very easy to get obsessed).  In that ship’s case, I’ve found I can be satisfied by what I read that I don’t have a burning itch to write as much for the pairing.