#f1wipamnesty

How this will work:

There are many ways for WIP Amnesty to happen and we have decided on the following format.

- Post your ideas as prompts, first and foremost. You can do this on Tumblr using the hashtag #f1wipamnesty or on the Dreamwidth community found here. This allows everyone who wants to let your plot bunny roam and hopefully turn into something magical.

- If you have some additional writings to share that go with the prompt, we once again direct you to Tumblr (#f1wipamnesty) or Dreamwidth. There will be examples posted up closer to the deadline of how to preferably format it, so we can all prepare accordingly and enjoy each other’s work, even if unfinished.

- Have a look around, see if any ideas spark your interest, let the OP know they’ve caught your eye! More works are always more fun, so don’t hesitate to still tackle a fun idea if someone else has already shown interest.

- There is no deadline for posting any finished fics. This is mainly to get inspired and hopefully give others a chance to write your beloved stories that just didn’t work out.

Feel free to contact us with any questions and we hope to see you all in the tags on April 30th!

Meo & L

charles continues to astral project at random intervals over the course of the season, significantly more frequently than he ever has and always to seb's location--in the aston martin garage, at the aston martin factory, in seb's hotel room, in his home kitchen. seb gets used to it and is actually very curious about how charles can do this and ~why. charles never questioned it, never cared to know.

what charles does think about is if seb only sees him as an ex-teammate, if they're even friends, if he hates him and blames him for losing his ferrari seat, if he's intruding on seb's life by showing up like this completely uninvited. maybe a plot point is when charles stops believing he means something to seb, he stops being able to astral project to seb's location.

Sebastian’s made his career off playing Europeans and slightly antagonistic characters.

Sebastian is already well-known. He’s cordial but not very friendly, professional. He’s not eager to make accommodations to Charles and when they rehearse scenes they sometimes have a different idea about what direction to take things in. Usually they go Sebastian’s way. He’s number 1. He only likes to be filmed from certain angles, sometimes they fight over the light.

A bull is accidentally released onto their set. Charles pushes Sebastian and they both go into the pool, away from the bull. After that he warms up to him and is willing to help him practise his lines and invites him to his home.

He lives in the most beautiful one, high up in the Hollywood Hills, where some smaller silent films had been filmed in the past. You can still see a few strange things in it, like a small theatre. With a backstage. They wander through it, Sebastian showing him how there is a trapdoor, and some ropes where you can lift the curtains and bring them back down. Standing on stage. Standing backstage which is small and cramped. ‘I liked to read my scripts here sometimes. It’s a bit stuffy, but I worked as a stagehand when I was getting my start. Brings back a lot of memories.’

It was owned by an eccentric. It’s status and history is something Sebastian is very proud of. The first time Charles goes to the house he’s enchanted. You can see all of Seb’s stuff, German books and beautiful clothes.

As filming progresses, Seb’s lines are drastically reduced, Charles becomes the lead.

He visits the house again, and it’s almost empty, Sebastian is preparing to move back to Germany, to kickstart a career there. “I really don’t want to be reduced to playing Nazis.” (This happened to Veronica Lake and it killed her career)

While Charles tries to persuade him to stay he ends up going to Berlin. Years later Charles is filming in France and makes a trip to Berlin and runs into him at a theatre.

They act together in a few things. But they’re at different stages in their careers now.

By now the noir spy thriller was released and it’s really quite single-dimensional.

In the 1970s a film maker discovers all the cut footage and wants to restore the original version of their work and meets them both. The first film is a story about one spy hunting another. But it’s obvious that the hunter has met the hunted at some point and there’s something between them. The revised work is that story.

Partly, I don’t have the energy to do research and generally I have no time to actually write the thing.

ETA. The theme is, making money off being foreign/european in Hollywood, until it appears that your identity is not so profitable or becomes unfashionable. By the time they meet again in Berlin, they’re in way different stages in their career, where Leclerc is like Alain Delon type figure, in the lucrative French film scene. And Sebastian’s habituated to living in East Germany, and despite his lost stardom has ended up enjoying a different kind of artistic freedom.

Below are the notes I had for it

Sebastian has snuck into a location where he’s not supposed to be, and is picking a lock. 

Charles surprises him. 

They are rival spies.   

I think I want to write another one first, about people working on movie sets. From Charles’ POV. They’re playing in a spy\noir, cat and mouse. Sebastian’s established, Charles is on his way up. They don’t talk much outside of acting. 

Charles is most fascinated by Sebastian’s house. He lives in the most beautiful one, high up in the Hollywood Hills, where some smaller silent films had been filmed in the past. You can still see a few strange things in it, like a small theatre. With a backstage. They wander through it, Sebastian showing him how there is a trapdoor, and some ropes where you can lift the curtains and bring them back down. Standin on stage. Standing backstage which is small and cramped. ‘I liked to read my scripts here sometimes. It’s a bit stuffy, but I worked as a stagehand when I was getting my start. Brings back a lot of memories.’

It was owned by an eccentric. It’s status and history is something Sebastian is very proud of. The first time Charles goes to the house he’s enchanted. You can see all of Seb’s stuff, German books and beautiful clothes. 

Eventually, he goes there and it’s bare, Seb’s been packing to move out. He wants to sell it.

--------

‘So are we rehearsing for something now? I don’t know anything about this. I was--’

‘I know. A model.’

‘But i am a serious actor now!’

‘I know you are.’ A lot of producers think a beautiful person should be on screen because they’re all just pictures. But that’s not true. And you’re more than that. Don’t waste it. 

During WW1, German Americans were often seen as having dual loyalties. 

Sebastian was born in 1917. His parents had changed their name to Miller. He speaks German, but not in public. His brother does not. Charles finds this out only when they get closer. (or should I just say, he has a german name and performed under it, as things get more heated, closer to america joining WW2, his lines are drastically reduced, Charles becomes the lead. His part is cut). When Charles is invited to his home, after saving him from the bull, he finds that Sebastian’s beautiful home is almost empty. There are mannequins wearing his old costumes, like ghosts. And there are suitcases and boxes. ‘Are you leaving?’

He is selling the valuable items, and getting ready to move to a smaller place. The costumes are the last remaining parts of the decoration. He’s thinking of giving them away to his friends.

It’s getting harder for me to get work. Soon it will be (acting) Nazis or nothing. I don’t want it to end this way and I don’t want to be remembered like this. 

Are you going back to Germany? There’s no way you can go. It’s held by the third reich. 

Why not? Let me tell you, from one immigrant to another, you will never belong here. 

He’s very embittered. He ends up going back to East Germany. Leclerc 5 years later, filming in France makes a trip to Berlin and runs into him at a theatre. 

They act together in a few things. But they’re at different stages in their careers now. 

Years later in the 1970s a film maker wants to restore the original version of their work and meets them both. The first film is a story about one spy hunting another. But it’s obvious that the hunter has met the hunted at some point and there’s something between them. The revised work is that story. 

Charles Leclerc rising actor in Hollywood who moved to Paris to continue acting. Occasionally acted in American films. Think Alain Delon.

Max, the bull, was supposed to burst in on another film set, but was released onto theirs accidentally. 

Charles goes back home every night and thinks about what they said to each other, on set, with someone else’s words. (I wrote this thinking the film was as romance between the two leads. But now I’m not sure, it’s going to be really historical). Do they practice their lines? Charles has a romantic interest, seb reads her lines?

Sebastian is already well-known. He’s cordial but not very friendly, professional. He’s not eager to make accommodations to Charles and when they rehearse scenes they sometimes have a different idea about what direction to take things in. Usually they go Sebastian’s way. He’s number 1. He only likes to be filmed from certain angles,  sometimes they fight over the light. 

The bull. Charles is quick thinking and pushes them both into the pool. 

--

All alone most of the time in his big house. Walking down the sweeping staircases to make scrambled eggs in the middle of the night. Baking bread on Sundays. 

He’s imperious, insecure, mercurial and redeemable. 

– How many can I send in?

However many you want! There’s no limit.

– Does this mean I can never work on this idea again?

Honestly, this is entirely up to you. If you’re not a fan of copying ideas or seeing multiple fics with the same premise, you probably should just leave it after putting it up for adoption. If this isn’t the case, feel free to tinker with it again later. More fic is always better, if you ask me!

– How do I post a fill?

You can leave a link on the corresponding comment on the DreamWidth post, send it to OP or us via DM or the Ask box, reblog the post and add the fic underneath… Whichever works for you!

– So how do I actually format my WIPs to put them up for adoption?

The preferred way is in prompt-form, so you briefly summarize the idea and add any details you don’t want to get lost. Preferred rating, side-characters, if you’re attached to the name of Charles’s old goldfish also be sure to mention that. Any bits and pieces you’ve already written should go under a read-more tag on Tumblr to avoid clogging up the dash, on DreamWidth you can comment on your prompt to add the additional text. Ideally, it looks something like this:

Tumblr

DreamWidth

– Why do you insist on also using DreamWidth, I don’t understand

WIP Amnesty #1: Sebchal - Unsent Text Messages

Inspired by theunsentproject. Throughout the 2019-2020 seasons, Charles writes some messages to Sebastian but never quite sends them, always saving them to his drafts. The messages start from the first time Sebastian gives Charles his number to their post Abu Dhabi 2020 helmet exchange, where basically Charles pours his heart out and confesses his feelings. The kicker is one night, Charles accidentally sends all of his drafts to Sebastian.

I was thinking about writing the fic in a text-message format a la theunsentproject back then, and because Sebastian is that analog babe, maybe he could write his feelings back to Charles with a paper letter.

(excerpt on Dreamdwith)

WIP Amnesty #2: Sebchal - Jazz Musician/Store Clerk Non-Famous AU

Charles is a store clerk trying to get a handle on the music scene, and Sebastian is a big hotshot jazz musician who just arrived in town. Seb just came into town and went into Charles’s store, except boom, Charles doesn’t recognize him. They have a conversation that turns into an argument as Charles thinks that jazz is boring, yet Sebastian has that jazz is love, jazz is life mindset. They part ways in not an amicable way.

The next day, Charles goes to a jazz club (maybe he was dared by Pierre or Alex, idk) and sees Sebastian on stage, and panics because oh no, this was the man he talked with yesterday.

I mostly only had the setting and the cute first-meeting in mind. They were going to go on cute dates where Sebastian shows Charles on a cute musical journey. Also because I’m a Chalex-er at heart, I wanted Charles to have just broken up with Alex and he’s still trying to move on from Alex. To add drama, Charles’s bestest friend Pierre is now fooling around with Alex, so he has to deal with that too. lol. I was thinking of making it into a story that’s not just about jazz and music, but also friendships, family, and personality growth.

(excerpt on Tumblr, Dreamwidth)

WIP Amnesty #3: Sebchal - Ad executive AU

Inspired by Mad Men because I love that show to death. Charles is a househusband who’s unhappily married to an ad executive (the who is not that important, but I was thinking of Max lmao, so let’s just say that it’s him for example). One day, Charles’s partner needs him for a business dinner where everyone brings their partners in. So there, Max’s co-workers and clients all bring their respective SOs, except one charming German who says that he’s recently divorced. He and Charles end up talking all night, forgetting about the business meeting in the first place. Chemistry strikes, and Charles has a profound realization about how he doesn't want to end up unhappy and bitter. He comes home with Sebastian on his mind.

WIP Amnesty #4: Sebchal - Fluffy temporary amnesia + husbands shenanigans

Charles has an accident/surgery that causes him to have temporary amnesia. (The surgery could be really not that serious, as long as Charles gets hooked on the good drugs!) He sees Sebastian and is basically stuck in that 2017-hero-worship era when he sees him, not remembering that Sebastian is his husband. Sebastian has a lot of fun with Charles in this state, teasing him, and telling Charles all about his husband, while Charles seethes in jealousy because Seb has a husband that’s not him!!! This story is basically lots of fluff.

(excerpt on Dreamwidth)

WIP Amnesty #5: Sebchal + Max - Dynamics study

Seb and Charles are in an established relationship. One day, Seb asks Charles about if something had ever happened with him and Max. Charles says truthfully that no, but because after Sebastian asks him, now he can’t actually stop thinking about it. Then, after a meeting of chance with Max, and some arrangement to their schedules, well... ╮(╯_╰)╭

This was written way back in my exploring-Lestappen days. I don’t really vibe with them anymore, but I’ve written too much about this for it to be just put aside 🤪