The WIPs Meme
Jul. 29th, 2009 07:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lls_mutantThe WIP meme always intrigues me, although I usually only have two stories going at a time- the big one I'm working on, and maybe a one-shot. This time, I actually have a few, although I suspect the one may never see the light of day :P
The Road Not Taken, HP, Lucius-Arthur friends to enemies fic
I sort of wish I'd finish this one because it's a neat idea- Arthur and Lucius knew each other when they were younger and got along pretty well, although they weren't necessarily friends. But they had some big differences that became more important as they grew up, and then one of the other ideas that really drove the nail in the coffin was that Lucius and Narcissa were struggling with infertility as Molly and Arthur were having this huge family.
"Muggle Studies? Why not take Divination and just be done with it?" Lucius asked. "Or are you looking for an easy O?"
"Not at all," Arthur said, sitting up a little straighter. "I think it will be really interesting. Haven't you ever wondered how Muggles deal with not having magic?"
"No," Lucius said with a snort.
"It must be fascinating, the sorts of things they've come up with to compensate. I was talking to Tim Bell- he's a Muggleborn- and he was telling me about how Muggles have developed machines that will take them into space! There's a lot you can do with magic, but going into space isn't one of them."
"So?" Lucius asked. "Who wants to go out there?"
Arthur stared at him. "Are you honestly telling me that you wouldn't go into space if you had the chance?"
"A lot of boring air and gas and stars. Can't see what's so great about it." Lucius shrugged. "But why Muggle Studies? What can you possibly do with it?"
"Do with it?"
"In terms of a career. It won't get you anywhere. You won't be able to use it in anything."
"Oh, I don't know. Obliviators often need to have Muggle Studies backgrounds. Or certain departments in the Ministry. Or even just doing things like keeping Muggles from finding Diagon Alley or Hogwarts or Platform 9 and 3/4."
"But why would you want to do any of that?" Lucius asked incredulously. "None of that pays well or is… is… respectable."
"You sound like your parents," Arthur teased. "Who knows what I'll do? But at least this way I won't be bored silly taking something I'll never use."
"You'll use Muggle Studies?"
"More than Divination," Arthur pointed out, and even Lucius couldn't argue that.
BSG Big Bang, still don't have a title
I am so ludicrously excited about this one. I haven't done much on it yet because I've been trying to finish A Lot to Live Up To first, but it's tugging at my sleeve, demanding my attention. This is the one where Sweet!Eight manages to get the passengers of Raptor 718 to Cavil. And with Felix gone, a the shape of the mutiny then changes, and some things about the attack on the Colony... plus, if it wasn't revealed before where FotE fit in, it doesn't have to stay. Cap6 loses the baby for a definite physical reason, and Starbuck's explanation is completely different.
"I don't know what you expect me to do without a condenser," a man was complaining.
"Well, make one," Laird- she remembered- argued, shrugging as if it was a small matter. "How difficult is a condenser, anyway?"
"One with enough cooling capacity to fit in the space of the scrubbers? Hard."
"Take the tubing benders."
"Great. Tubing benders. The solution to everything," The mechanic rolled his eyes. He glanced in her direction, and the Eight looked down, resisting the urge to tie her shoe. She didn't step away from the Raptor, that would be too obvious. Instead, she emphasized the fact she was studying it, like she was curious. She watched him from under her lowered eyelids; he'd already looked away.
Good. She flipped the panel shut.
A Lot to Live Up To, Part 13, BSG
There's not a whole lot to say about this. I'll be glad when this epic is done, because these last few chapters have been harder. I really enjoyed writing the Hoshi-Dee dynamic, but somewhere along the way it became a Dee epic, so I kind of have to take it to her leaving Lee, and probably through to her suicide. What's making it frustrating is I'm back to navigating canon. Last week, when I wrote Dr. Robert's trial? I love doing stuff like that. Having to incorporate canon scenes? Hate it. Oh well.
"So there he was, right in front of me. Got my guns on him and BANG!"
"How do you know it was a he?" Tyrol asked, looking up from his checklist.
"Because the males don't fly so aggressively. I don't know- I just said he, and that's fine because let's not take this into yet another conversation about Raider sex, okay? I'm trying to regale you with my heroic tale."
"Yeah, well, it's not working, buddy. I'm still married."
"You don't know what you're missing. Right, Dee?" Noel called out as he saw her on the stairs. He jumped down off the wing of his Viper, strode over and picked her up, twirling her around. Dee couldn't help it; she laughed.
"Put me down," she ordered him, still laughing. "I know nothing of the sort."
"And you still have to go through your check," Tyrol said, tapping his clipboard against his hand. But he was smiling. "Come on. You can gloat later- after I'm done with you."
Noel waggled his eyebrows. "Is that a promise?"
Tyrol rolled his eyes and whacked him on the ass with the clipboard. "Get moving." Noel sighed heavily and headed back to his Raptor. "He's frakking nuts," Tyrol told Dee.
Teacher's Pet, BSG
This is going to stay short, but I can't post it until after A Lot to Live Up To is done. It's Noel's final conversation before he's executed, and it's with Laura Roslin. Noel's a little mad he doesn't get an epic, but I'm trying to convince him Hoshi doesn't really, either. Noel doesn't believe me.
"But you knew who I was," Laura said, mystified. "Why didn't you say anything? I would have been…"
Noel shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because of my brother."
Laura closed her eyes and smiled. "Ah, yes. Sean. Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised you know that."
When she opened her eyes, Noel was smiling at her. "You bet," he said. "I got a phone call that night. 'Noel, you're never going to believe who I did last night.'" He mimicked Sean perfectly. "I probably know more about you than you wanted me to know."
"The funny thing is," Laura said, chuckling, "I didn't remember him from my class. Even after I found out he was one of my students, I still couldn't see his face. But you… I remember you." Her smile turned sad. "You used to bring me flowers."
"Yeah, I was a bit of a teacher's pet, wasn't I?" Noel said. He shrugged. "Not so much, these days."
The Hoshi Backstory that Needs a Name, BSG
I've been working on this one intermittently. The thing about it is, I'm not sure on the structure. I really don't want it to turn into another huge big bang- I think I'd rather do a series of stories. Because if I don't watch it, it will and there are really only a few times in Hoshi's life I want to hit: 1.) When he ran away from home at 17, got help, and joined the military (that would make one story) 2.) I had ideas for his first romance, and how that ended spectacularly badly, 3.) his story with Noel, especially the very end because I came up with this one little detail that I LOVE and want to share, 4.) The Pegasus post attacks. But there are huge wastelands in there that I don't even want to get into, so I'll have to see what I do with it. I might just structure it as four chapters.
The youth hostel was listed as one of the least expensive places to stay in Ephyra, but even at that Louis was running out of money fast. He sat on his cot, looking back and forth between the small pile of cubits and the numbers. If he stayed a fourth week, it would break him. If he slept warm nights under a bridge or on the streets, he might be able to buy food for another two weeks, if he ate sparingly.
The girl in the next cot over was named Trina, and she wore a lot of black kohl around her eyes, and her hair was dyed fire red. Louis didn't talk to her much, because the truth was she scared him. She sat on her cot now, smoking a cigarette that he was pretty sure wasn't tobacco and watching him count his money.
"If you're broke, you can always earn a little extra, you know."
"Like with a job?" he asked cautiously. "I've been trying to get one. No one will hire a Sagittaron," he said bitterly.
"They will for a twenty minute one," Trina said, leering. "They won't even ask to see your papers."
He stared at her blankly for a long moment.
"Oh Gods," she said, rolling her eyes, "are Sagittarons really this dumb? Find a guy or a girl, charge them five or ten cubits, and let them frak you into next week. You don't even have to do anything, and you get paid right away in cash."
"Forget it," he said disgustedly.
"You ever even had sex before, Louis?" she asked with idle curiosity.
"It's not your business."
"That's a no then." She blew a plume of smoke. "Wouldn't help you with the girls, but you pick up a guy, and you could probably charge more. Not that you'd get that much anyway, but some of the johns get off on the virgin act."
"Shut up," he told her, and scooped his money back up and put it away. "I'm going out."
He had to get out of there before she said any more.
Original Stuff that doesn't have a name
I wrote this for NaNoWriMo last year, and haven't done anything with it. I really need to, because it's good stuff. But I hit a plot point that I don't know what to do with and I got caught up in fanfic (bad Lissa!), but I WILL pick it back up.
"And then the great water towers of Pakane will fall!" Aramon shouted, and a cheer echoed through the room.
Gailee swayed, looking around the room frantically. It was packed; someone's elbow was digging into her ribs and someone else's knee was against her back. The mass of humanity made it far too warm, and the fact that many of them had not made it to the baths after a full day of physical labor made the smell stronger than she'd like. The lights flickered and that only added to the surreal quality. She took a deep breath and the room steadied.
Aramon was hushing his audience. "When the towers fall," he continued, "chaos will rule the city. The Mayikos will discover that their magic does them nothing, and will not be able to adapt quickly enough. We will then be able to dispatch as many of them as possible. Will Mayikos escape? Yes, of course some of them will. But, my friends, this is not a genocide. Our goal is not the extermination of the Mayikos, but the acquisition of your freedom! This is not murder, this is a message!"
The crowd erupted into a cheer again, and Gailee wondered irritably how they expected that the guards wouldn't know what was going on. But no irate guards charged through the doors to send them all back to their barracks and haul the instigators away, so Aramon must have done something about them. She wondered who'd been given that little job.
"You've been slaves for too long!" Aramon continued. "The Mayikos have stolen your freedoms, stolen your children, stolen your lives! You may not have magic, but you are still human! You still deserve the rights that any other human on this continent enjoys! When your courage fails you and your hand hesitates, remember this. You are not fighting only for yourselves, but for the lives of your friends, your families, and your futures!"
Oh my God, Aramon is Tom Zarek.
Yeah, so those are my WIPs. I also have an idea for one called "Legacy", where Lee's done exploring Earth and wants to settle down, and goes from settlement to settlement and we see different people in different stages of life and all that. But the only thing about that one is it makes reference to something from the Hoshi backstory- the detail that I LOVE- and I need to get that one done. I also have an idea that I just got last night for a fun fic- basically a buddy road trip fic where Gaeta, Zarek, and Baltar explore some of New Caprica shortly after they land.
My head is really freaking populated :P
The Road Not Taken, HP, Lucius-Arthur friends to enemies fic
I sort of wish I'd finish this one because it's a neat idea- Arthur and Lucius knew each other when they were younger and got along pretty well, although they weren't necessarily friends. But they had some big differences that became more important as they grew up, and then one of the other ideas that really drove the nail in the coffin was that Lucius and Narcissa were struggling with infertility as Molly and Arthur were having this huge family.
"Muggle Studies? Why not take Divination and just be done with it?" Lucius asked. "Or are you looking for an easy O?"
"Not at all," Arthur said, sitting up a little straighter. "I think it will be really interesting. Haven't you ever wondered how Muggles deal with not having magic?"
"No," Lucius said with a snort.
"It must be fascinating, the sorts of things they've come up with to compensate. I was talking to Tim Bell- he's a Muggleborn- and he was telling me about how Muggles have developed machines that will take them into space! There's a lot you can do with magic, but going into space isn't one of them."
"So?" Lucius asked. "Who wants to go out there?"
Arthur stared at him. "Are you honestly telling me that you wouldn't go into space if you had the chance?"
"A lot of boring air and gas and stars. Can't see what's so great about it." Lucius shrugged. "But why Muggle Studies? What can you possibly do with it?"
"Do with it?"
"In terms of a career. It won't get you anywhere. You won't be able to use it in anything."
"Oh, I don't know. Obliviators often need to have Muggle Studies backgrounds. Or certain departments in the Ministry. Or even just doing things like keeping Muggles from finding Diagon Alley or Hogwarts or Platform 9 and 3/4."
"But why would you want to do any of that?" Lucius asked incredulously. "None of that pays well or is… is… respectable."
"You sound like your parents," Arthur teased. "Who knows what I'll do? But at least this way I won't be bored silly taking something I'll never use."
"You'll use Muggle Studies?"
"More than Divination," Arthur pointed out, and even Lucius couldn't argue that.
BSG Big Bang, still don't have a title
I am so ludicrously excited about this one. I haven't done much on it yet because I've been trying to finish A Lot to Live Up To first, but it's tugging at my sleeve, demanding my attention. This is the one where Sweet!Eight manages to get the passengers of Raptor 718 to Cavil. And with Felix gone, a the shape of the mutiny then changes, and some things about the attack on the Colony... plus, if it wasn't revealed before where FotE fit in, it doesn't have to stay. Cap6 loses the baby for a definite physical reason, and Starbuck's explanation is completely different.
"I don't know what you expect me to do without a condenser," a man was complaining.
"Well, make one," Laird- she remembered- argued, shrugging as if it was a small matter. "How difficult is a condenser, anyway?"
"One with enough cooling capacity to fit in the space of the scrubbers? Hard."
"Take the tubing benders."
"Great. Tubing benders. The solution to everything," The mechanic rolled his eyes. He glanced in her direction, and the Eight looked down, resisting the urge to tie her shoe. She didn't step away from the Raptor, that would be too obvious. Instead, she emphasized the fact she was studying it, like she was curious. She watched him from under her lowered eyelids; he'd already looked away.
Good. She flipped the panel shut.
A Lot to Live Up To, Part 13, BSG
There's not a whole lot to say about this. I'll be glad when this epic is done, because these last few chapters have been harder. I really enjoyed writing the Hoshi-Dee dynamic, but somewhere along the way it became a Dee epic, so I kind of have to take it to her leaving Lee, and probably through to her suicide. What's making it frustrating is I'm back to navigating canon. Last week, when I wrote Dr. Robert's trial? I love doing stuff like that. Having to incorporate canon scenes? Hate it. Oh well.
"So there he was, right in front of me. Got my guns on him and BANG!"
"How do you know it was a he?" Tyrol asked, looking up from his checklist.
"Because the males don't fly so aggressively. I don't know- I just said he, and that's fine because let's not take this into yet another conversation about Raider sex, okay? I'm trying to regale you with my heroic tale."
"Yeah, well, it's not working, buddy. I'm still married."
"You don't know what you're missing. Right, Dee?" Noel called out as he saw her on the stairs. He jumped down off the wing of his Viper, strode over and picked her up, twirling her around. Dee couldn't help it; she laughed.
"Put me down," she ordered him, still laughing. "I know nothing of the sort."
"And you still have to go through your check," Tyrol said, tapping his clipboard against his hand. But he was smiling. "Come on. You can gloat later- after I'm done with you."
Noel waggled his eyebrows. "Is that a promise?"
Tyrol rolled his eyes and whacked him on the ass with the clipboard. "Get moving." Noel sighed heavily and headed back to his Raptor. "He's frakking nuts," Tyrol told Dee.
Teacher's Pet, BSG
This is going to stay short, but I can't post it until after A Lot to Live Up To is done. It's Noel's final conversation before he's executed, and it's with Laura Roslin. Noel's a little mad he doesn't get an epic, but I'm trying to convince him Hoshi doesn't really, either. Noel doesn't believe me.
"But you knew who I was," Laura said, mystified. "Why didn't you say anything? I would have been…"
Noel shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because of my brother."
Laura closed her eyes and smiled. "Ah, yes. Sean. Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised you know that."
When she opened her eyes, Noel was smiling at her. "You bet," he said. "I got a phone call that night. 'Noel, you're never going to believe who I did last night.'" He mimicked Sean perfectly. "I probably know more about you than you wanted me to know."
"The funny thing is," Laura said, chuckling, "I didn't remember him from my class. Even after I found out he was one of my students, I still couldn't see his face. But you… I remember you." Her smile turned sad. "You used to bring me flowers."
"Yeah, I was a bit of a teacher's pet, wasn't I?" Noel said. He shrugged. "Not so much, these days."
The Hoshi Backstory that Needs a Name, BSG
I've been working on this one intermittently. The thing about it is, I'm not sure on the structure. I really don't want it to turn into another huge big bang- I think I'd rather do a series of stories. Because if I don't watch it, it will and there are really only a few times in Hoshi's life I want to hit: 1.) When he ran away from home at 17, got help, and joined the military (that would make one story) 2.) I had ideas for his first romance, and how that ended spectacularly badly, 3.) his story with Noel, especially the very end because I came up with this one little detail that I LOVE and want to share, 4.) The Pegasus post attacks. But there are huge wastelands in there that I don't even want to get into, so I'll have to see what I do with it. I might just structure it as four chapters.
The youth hostel was listed as one of the least expensive places to stay in Ephyra, but even at that Louis was running out of money fast. He sat on his cot, looking back and forth between the small pile of cubits and the numbers. If he stayed a fourth week, it would break him. If he slept warm nights under a bridge or on the streets, he might be able to buy food for another two weeks, if he ate sparingly.
The girl in the next cot over was named Trina, and she wore a lot of black kohl around her eyes, and her hair was dyed fire red. Louis didn't talk to her much, because the truth was she scared him. She sat on her cot now, smoking a cigarette that he was pretty sure wasn't tobacco and watching him count his money.
"If you're broke, you can always earn a little extra, you know."
"Like with a job?" he asked cautiously. "I've been trying to get one. No one will hire a Sagittaron," he said bitterly.
"They will for a twenty minute one," Trina said, leering. "They won't even ask to see your papers."
He stared at her blankly for a long moment.
"Oh Gods," she said, rolling her eyes, "are Sagittarons really this dumb? Find a guy or a girl, charge them five or ten cubits, and let them frak you into next week. You don't even have to do anything, and you get paid right away in cash."
"Forget it," he said disgustedly.
"You ever even had sex before, Louis?" she asked with idle curiosity.
"It's not your business."
"That's a no then." She blew a plume of smoke. "Wouldn't help you with the girls, but you pick up a guy, and you could probably charge more. Not that you'd get that much anyway, but some of the johns get off on the virgin act."
"Shut up," he told her, and scooped his money back up and put it away. "I'm going out."
He had to get out of there before she said any more.
Original Stuff that doesn't have a name
I wrote this for NaNoWriMo last year, and haven't done anything with it. I really need to, because it's good stuff. But I hit a plot point that I don't know what to do with and I got caught up in fanfic (bad Lissa!), but I WILL pick it back up.
"And then the great water towers of Pakane will fall!" Aramon shouted, and a cheer echoed through the room.
Gailee swayed, looking around the room frantically. It was packed; someone's elbow was digging into her ribs and someone else's knee was against her back. The mass of humanity made it far too warm, and the fact that many of them had not made it to the baths after a full day of physical labor made the smell stronger than she'd like. The lights flickered and that only added to the surreal quality. She took a deep breath and the room steadied.
Aramon was hushing his audience. "When the towers fall," he continued, "chaos will rule the city. The Mayikos will discover that their magic does them nothing, and will not be able to adapt quickly enough. We will then be able to dispatch as many of them as possible. Will Mayikos escape? Yes, of course some of them will. But, my friends, this is not a genocide. Our goal is not the extermination of the Mayikos, but the acquisition of your freedom! This is not murder, this is a message!"
The crowd erupted into a cheer again, and Gailee wondered irritably how they expected that the guards wouldn't know what was going on. But no irate guards charged through the doors to send them all back to their barracks and haul the instigators away, so Aramon must have done something about them. She wondered who'd been given that little job.
"You've been slaves for too long!" Aramon continued. "The Mayikos have stolen your freedoms, stolen your children, stolen your lives! You may not have magic, but you are still human! You still deserve the rights that any other human on this continent enjoys! When your courage fails you and your hand hesitates, remember this. You are not fighting only for yourselves, but for the lives of your friends, your families, and your futures!"
Oh my God, Aramon is Tom Zarek.
Yeah, so those are my WIPs. I also have an idea for one called "Legacy", where Lee's done exploring Earth and wants to settle down, and goes from settlement to settlement and we see different people in different stages of life and all that. But the only thing about that one is it makes reference to something from the Hoshi backstory- the detail that I LOVE- and I need to get that one done. I also have an idea that I just got last night for a fun fic- basically a buddy road trip fic where Gaeta, Zarek, and Baltar explore some of New Caprica shortly after they land.
My head is really freaking populated :P
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 01:58 pm (UTC)I haven't quite given up the ghost on it, but I'm a little dubious. I should finish it- I think I only had a few chapters left. ::sighs::
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 03:35 pm (UTC)Do you have trouble making titles? Just curious because that's one of my biggest problems.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 09:58 pm (UTC)I do have trouble with titles. They either come out very boring (like "Raptor Rides." I love the fic, but the title is just nothing special.) or I steal song lyrics. Almost all of my favorite titles are song lyrics (The Touch of Your Grace, Softly Tread the Sand Below Your Feet, The Rascal King, I'm No Superman, Let the Water Hold You Down, We Could Be Heroes, and Crawling in the Dark are my favorites in that category.) And two of my other favorite titles come from the non-songs- He That Believeth In Me (which obviously comes the Bible, and is my Sirius-Black-wanted-to-be-a-priest story, although I also love the title for Though I Speak With the Tongues of Men and Angels), and Youth's Final Luxury, which comes from the movie Quills and refers to idealism. And I really liked the title Butterfly Casualties (The Time Traveler's Boyfriend Remix), because of the remix title.
I'd say that in general, my favorite titles go with my favorite stories, but I can think of two huge exceptions- I don't like the title for Accidentally In Love or for A Lot to Live Up To. I don't hate them, but I find that finding titles for my epics is often more difficult than for my short pieces. The problem with both titles is they only address a part of what the fic is about.
I'm THINKING my big bang AU might be called "What Consequence This Brings", just because that suits a "what if this one factor changed?" AU. I've toyed with "Walk Through the Fire", but I co-wrote a novel length fic in the Pern fandom called "Through the Fire" a few years ago, and it's too strongly associated. The Hoshi one is hard, too, because it covers so much time and there isn't a single predominant theme.
So yeah, titles suck! :)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 06:13 pm (UTC)Your upcoming fic sounds awesome! I'm very much looking forward to all of it.
Oh my God, Aramon is Tom Zarek.
*snickers* One of my RPG characters is just turning into Sirius. I had him commit a murder in cold blood to fend off the similarity. It would have been too weird otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 09:48 pm (UTC)I had him commit a murder in cold blood to fend off the similarity. It would have been too weird otherwise.
Heheh! Although there were days I wouldn't have put it past Sirius, either. ::misses Sirius a bit::
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 07:27 pm (UTC)(And I totally thought Aramon was Zarek, as well! Heh. Which came first, YFL or that story?)
Teacher's pet is going to hurt a lot, isn't it? I can tell. Does it make me a masochist that I really want more?
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 09:47 pm (UTC)The story came first, then YFL. No wonder I fell for Zarek.
Teacher's pet is going to hurt a bit, I think. It's going to be short, but yeah. ::hugs Noel:: But Noel doesn't get a death scene in any of my fics- the YFL/ALTLUT have the narrators dead before Noel dies, and by the time Softly Tread starts, it's a month after Noel's been executed.
I still wonder if Adama did execute anyone else, or what was meant to happen to Noel. I have to admit, there's a bit of a temptation to write Noel/Hoshi putting things back together on Earth.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 06:33 pm (UTC)It does seem odd to me that it would be solely Gaeta and Zarek who were executed, especially considering Noel's refusal to hop back on Team Adama even at gunpoint. An execution for him makes sense, all things considered, and we never saw him again, so...
no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-02 11:07 pm (UTC)Ohmigosh, I can't wait to read *all* of these! The Big Bang is definitely going to be awesome. And Hoshi's backstory. *pets him* You should just do the scenes you have in your head. Mostly because I'm impatient for all the rest of these too.
Re "Legacy":...and then Lee gets eaten by a dinosaur. }:>
Tubing benders, omg I remember those! (I used to be quite the hand with plumbing 1/4inch stainless tubing, after that summer spent building biofilters.) Are they really called that?