Fanfiction: Venez m'aider

[nebroadwe]

Help, help: I am hiding under a quarto volume bound in one-quarter blind-stamped pig over vellum-covered wooden boards with two leather-and-metal clasps and metal catchplates (one intact), that just happens to contain an incunable and three early printed books in need of identification and cataloging, but a deposed king keeps trying to tell me what it's like for him in prison and that his heir wouldn't have lasted six months on the throne if it weren't for his friend the deus ex machina propping him up. If you can read this, please launch anti-plot-bunny ordnance at these coordinates. Repeat, please launch anti-plot-bunny ordnance at these coordinates.

They
are
c
  omi
      ng ...

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of opening the cages of plot bunnies and letting them run free to bedevil my friends.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

And I'm getting kind of curious about this king. I want him to be actually talking about deus ex machina too.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Salvo prepped and LAUNCHED. Carrots ahoy!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

[FX poit! poit! poit! poit! poit! poit! poit!] Reporting multiple impacts in the target area ...

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Gee, thanks. I suppose it's some consolation that I know who to blame. :-)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

He doesn't seem to have a whole lot to say on that head yet; he's a little nuts, you know, and he's fixated on his family and gets his last remaining jollies out of playing head games with his heir.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i tend to encourage the rampant plot bunnies i'm afraid

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd settle for them just not bothering me at work.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Dagnabit, it's not working (http://nebroadwe.livejournal.com/94933.html). Now I've just got lots of well-fed plotbunnies ...

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

where's the fun in that? It's much more fun to torment you there (or in the car or shower, anyplace you can't take notes) then shut up when you're ready to listen

[lyrangalia]

Here bunnies bunnies bunnies... Here bunnies bunnies bunnies...

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

That's it, bunnies, go to lyrangalia. Shoo! Shoo!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

If I had a penny for every time I hopped out of the shower frantically repeating six perfect lines of text over and over and over ... I'd have enough to quit my day job and raise plotbunnies.

[lyrangalia]

*feeds the plotbunnies*

*sends them back to lie in wait for nebroadwe*

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

They say that you learn who your true friends are in adversity. (kanja177, help me out here!)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

you and me both

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Mission accomplished?

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHAHAHAH. Well, send 'em my way, I've got a dearth of ideas at this second.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

They're all yours. See the nice lady with the carrot, bunnies? Go on, go on ...

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

*cough*

I bet those Fire Nation prisons are cold cold cold... if only he had something to keep him warm...

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Well, he tells me he's all ambivalent about warmth these days, or I'd send the plotbunnies to cluster 'round him. No, scratch that -- he's a mean SOB, and I couldn't trust him with a plotbunny, given what he does to his own son:

It's a game they play, the deposed king and his faithless successor. Zuko demands to know where his mother is, and Ozai answers him with silence or taunts him with cryptic reminiscences. Her absence is all that binds them now, a chain as delicate as spider-silk and unyielding as star-steel. Relentlessly Ozai bears down upon it, seeking to force that high-crowned head to bow, those stubborn knees to bend.

You are so like her, he murmurs, and when the boy stretches his neck to hear more, like a hawk straining after poisoned meat, he whispers, She was a traitor, too.

Brrr. Cold, cold, cold ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I'm still waaaaaiting, bunnies....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

See? No carrots here. Stop nuzzling my shoes. Egads, you're all cute, but this complex has a no pets policy; I can't keep you.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

But if we go to ELD's, her DOGS will eat us!

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

Hot Damn. I don't think I'll be posting any Avatar fic anytime soon....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

What's up with Evil Aang 'Fic of Doom these days?

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Curses! My fiendish plot revealed! Maybe I'll just fob 'em all off on kanja177. She likes Teh Cute.

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

AH. WELL. I got about 13,000 words in, successfully laid out or hinted at two of the larger plot threads and one of the smaller ones, but I've now run into issues with both the flashbacks (because the AU portion of it starts with the events in Ba Sing Se at the end of S2, I'm basically tweaking all of Season 3) and the rationalization of some of the characters (mostly balancing Zuko and his idealism vs. his desire to rule a stable Fire Nation, along with Azula and her pride issues). I've made the necessary adjustments to the overall outline but the specific Fire Arc, I think, might need some redrafts.

(How do you prefer your flashbacks in longer fics? Interspersed chapter wise or mixed in like I did in Everything and From Here On? I'm trying to keep both the time line clear and explain how everything got so screwed up, and I suspect the latter would not only be confusing, it would get almost twee?) I might also be taking this a step more serious than I probably should, because I REALLY don't want to repeat some mistakes I made in the early stages of Shadows...

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

Also, Josie says thank you for reminding me that I do actually want to write this fic. Her recent attempts at coaxing me back to it haven't been entirely successful.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Well...okay...maybe...but we like you! *clings*

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Don't I know it. [scratches nearest bunny behind the ears]

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

AH. WELL. I got about 13,000 words in ...

[cheers!]

... but I've now run into issues with both the flashbacks (because the AU portion of it starts with the events in Ba Sing Se at the end of S2, I'm basically tweaking all of Season 3) and the rationalization of some of the characters (mostly balancing Zuko and his idealism vs. his desire to rule a stable Fire Nation, along with Azula and her pride issues). I've made the necessary adjustments to the overall outline but the specific Fire Arc, I think, might need some redrafts.

Anything that long will, with so much more room for the characters to develop their own ideas about the plot [eyes characters]. I'm beginning to find that first (and sometimes second) drafts are for getting down what happened and the basics of why, and subsequent ones get frobbed for characterization and tweaked to make sure events still make sense in light of that. Final drafts are twiddled for language (does Aang cast Ozai's spirit into "endless shade" or "perpetual eclipse" -- and I swear, if I rewrite the last line of the first paragraph of the above-quoted drabble one more time my thesaurus is going to go on strike). I just can't pay attention to everything at once, and plot mechanics are always the hardest things for me to get right, so I have to concentrate on them first.

How do you prefer your flashbacks in longer fics?

I'm going to be completely useless and say, "As dramatically necessary." It depends -- I don't mind being teased with a glimpse here and a glimpse there, building tension for the big reveal, but I think that works best when there's one significant event to explain and when the explanation is tied pretty closely to the climax (or somewhere well up the slope of the rising action). When a larger chunk of backstory qua backstory is involved, it can help just to get it out of the way in one lump, so events in the present can move on. It all depends, too, on how the story answers the "Who knows what and when did they know it?" question. If all the characters have lived the events being flashed back, that's frequently material for well-crafted info-dumping because only the reader needs to be brought up to speed. If only one person knows What Really Happened, and the other characters have to discover it, or if multiple characters have different perspectives, Rashomon-style, on the same event, that's another kettle of fish.

Boy, I'm helpful, eh? ;-)

I might also be taking this a step more serious than I probably should, because I REALLY don't want to repeat some mistakes I made in the early stages of Shadows...

Nah, I think a long novella/novel-length 'fic kind of demands the extra attention. You've got so many more balls in the air, but the payoff for doing it EXACTLY right instead of NEARLY right is immense. And quite satisfying. :-)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Thesaurus to the left!
Keyboard to the right!
Plot, theme, characters!
Write, write, write!

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Bunny: *purrrrrrrrr*

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Technical question: do plotbunnies purr? Do RL bunnies? [googles] Looks like they do. Huh. They also grind their teeth when pleased, which somehow seems even more appropriate.

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

I'm beginning to find that first (and sometimes second) drafts are for getting down what happened and the basics of why, and subsequent ones get frobbed for characterization and tweaked to make sure events still make sense in light of that.

That's exactly what I'm running into now, except that I'm starting to find the task of redrafting the chunk I already have now daunting. I think part of it is just my own insecurity and I need to just sit down one day and just start pounding it out. I think my problem isn't that I'm not getting words out, it's that I wonder... are people going to be patient with me while I explain how this happened? At first glance this set up sounds insane, and am I going to be able to explain my reasoning behind this without just saying "Because I said so!"?

If all the characters have lived the events being flashed back, that's frequently material for well-crafted info-dumping because only the reader needs to be brought up to speed.

That's pretty much the situation - what I'm leaning towards right now is a set up of "Fire Arc Title Chapter 1", "Fire Arc Title Chapter 2" "Flashback Arc Title Chapter 1" "Fire Arc Title Chapter 3" sort of set up. I think in the end it'll be the least confusing, and will clearly mark when I'm going into flashback mode. At least... that's sorta what I'm leaning towards. In the end we're going to have to see how well it meshes, but I can't deny I'm sorta terrified I'm going to get into this and find out my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

You've got so many more balls in the air, but the payoff for doing it EXACTLY right instead of NEARLY right is immense. And quite satisfying. :-)

Well if you're gonna dangle THAT in my face... *opens Word and the outlines*

In truth, for all my bitching I'm actually crazy excited for this story and really want to attempt to do something different. It's always strange for me - my home bases were Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, which were like the kings of crazy epic fics, and neither Avatar nor FMA has many of those. There are always notable exceptions, but compared to Tolkein and Rowling fandoms...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I'm sure plot bunnies purr (and cackle and grind their teeth). And some of them look just as innocent as...Thumper.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to envision mine as the guardian beast of the Cave of Caerbannog.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I think my problem isn't that I'm not getting words out, it's that I wonder... are people going to be patient with me while I explain how this happened? At first glance this set up sounds insane, and am I going to be able to explain my reasoning behind this without just saying "Because I said so!"?

That last one's always a bear -- but as long as the reasoning exists, it's just a matter of letting the characters lay it out in its proper place. I'm always willing to give an intriguing set-up a chance, even if I find myself saying "Well, s/he'd better have a good explanation for that!" at the same time. Sometimes the whoa-Nelly! factor can actually work in the writer's favor, if everyone is behaving in character, but there's obviously been some massive wrench thrown into the works to get them into the situation that they're in. Then not only the plot going forward keeps me reading, but also the hope of hearing about the wrench. In medias res has hung on since Homer for a reason. :-)

That's pretty much the situation - what I'm leaning towards right now is a set up of "Fire Arc Title Chapter 1", "Fire Arc Title Chapter 2" "Flashback Arc Title Chapter 1" "Fire Arc Title Chapter 3" sort of set up. I think in the end it'll be the least confusing, and will clearly mark when I'm going into flashback mode. At least... that's sorta what I'm leaning towards. In the end we're going to have to see how well it meshes, but I can't deny I'm sorta terrified I'm going to get into this and find out my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

Sounds reasonable to me. Resign yourself to the fact that no plan survives first contact with the paper, lay in a supply of heavy-duty antacids, and dig in. :-)

"You've got so many more balls in the air, but the payoff for doing it EXACTLY right instead of NEARLY right is immense. And quite satisfying. :-)"

Well if you're gonna dangle THAT in my face... *opens Word and the outlines*

[rattles pom-poms in an encouraging manner]

In truth, for all my bitching I'm actually crazy excited for this story and really want to attempt to do something different. It's always strange for me - my home bases were Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, which were like the kings of crazy epic fics, and neither Avatar nor FMA has many of those. There are always notable exceptions, but compared to Tolkein and Rowling fandoms...

I can't quite figure that out either, unless its some difference in primary audience for word- and image-based narratives affecting the ficcing culture. Hmm.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

HEEEE.

They sell those, you know. I'm afraid to get one for fear it might incite riots.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

They sell them? [googles] Good grief. (And now I'm imagining how your ELDs might react to the slipper version ...)

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have animal slippers - ELD animal slippers, that silvrethorn got for me one Yule, some time back, and last year, Mom got me turtle slippers. Rogue Marie thinks they're the best thing evar and will bite my feet, trying to get the slippers off. Of course, she's the same way with my gloves.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Heh. I remember the Shepherdy mix one of my friends owned (now gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds, alas) having a protective growly fit when another friend arrived at a party wearing one of those big, furry, Russian-style winter hats. She seemed to be sure it was some strange animal attempting to make inroads on her territory.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Rogue would probably steal my hats, too, given the chance. When they were here alone the other day, I found the two sets of gloves I keep next to my computer (wrist support and scribner gloves) had been separated and I had to do a little search and find to locate one glove from each set.