Fpreg!
Yesterday I notebooked 10.5 pages of the fpreg fic I told projectjulie about a few weeks ago, mostly while on the train to and from school. It's weird, because the actual events of the pregnancy sort of takes the place of the plot in your typical "character arc happens alongside plot arc" fic, and writing about Kennedy pregnant is very different than writing about her fighting vampires to keep them from getting the Holy McGuffin of Whatever which will do Something or Other and end the world. The story is really just about characters and relationships with the Hellmouth doing little more than making a cameo at the beginning to set things in motion.
And if the pregnancy is the plot, does that mean it has to cover nine months? I don't think so--most likely, I'll have the characters work out the relationship issues among themselves and then fast forward to the birth in some kind of epilogue-coda-ish thing. But really; I'm sailing blind here. It's much easier to know when our heroes have won and the story is finished when the villains are vanquished and the world is saved.
In a way, that's what is causing me so much difficulty with To Love in Hearts, too. I find I'm not really all that interested in deciding whatever the Sisterhood of the Jhe's new plan to end the world really is, wanting much more to focus on the true love story of Faith and Kennedy. I know what the Jhe will do at a critical point, and what the consequences will be, but I'm mostly content having Buffy in Europe fighting the Sisterhood while Faith and Kennedy are in Cleveland. Buffy doesn't have a character arc in this story (and I don't really see anyway to give her one) so there's really no point in dwelling on her actions.
But without the plotty story to structure the romantic one, I find myself flailing somewhat. At times it's a good thing, because it forces me to stretch myself and really think about the character dynamics. But sometimes they just need a little push, and when I find myself bending over backwards to get the Catholic priest in the story to give them that push, well, I don't know what it means.
But I'm having fun writing the fpreg story--which really needs a title--because I find that if I push in the write direction, I can get various things I've thought about the relationships and characters--and new things I'm just learning, despite having written with these characters in this 'verse for the last four or five years--to manifest them in powerful ways, and that's always a good thing.
. . .
Good luck to inlovewithnight on her thesis defense.
And if the pregnancy is the plot, does that mean it has to cover nine months? I don't think so--most likely, I'll have the characters work out the relationship issues among themselves and then fast forward to the birth in some kind of epilogue-coda-ish thing. But really; I'm sailing blind here. It's much easier to know when our heroes have won and the story is finished when the villains are vanquished and the world is saved.
In a way, that's what is causing me so much difficulty with To Love in Hearts, too. I find I'm not really all that interested in deciding whatever the Sisterhood of the Jhe's new plan to end the world really is, wanting much more to focus on the true love story of Faith and Kennedy. I know what the Jhe will do at a critical point, and what the consequences will be, but I'm mostly content having Buffy in Europe fighting the Sisterhood while Faith and Kennedy are in Cleveland. Buffy doesn't have a character arc in this story (and I don't really see anyway to give her one) so there's really no point in dwelling on her actions.
But without the plotty story to structure the romantic one, I find myself flailing somewhat. At times it's a good thing, because it forces me to stretch myself and really think about the character dynamics. But sometimes they just need a little push, and when I find myself bending over backwards to get the Catholic priest in the story to give them that push, well, I don't know what it means.
But I'm having fun writing the fpreg story--which really needs a title--because I find that if I push in the write direction, I can get various things I've thought about the relationships and characters--and new things I'm just learning, despite having written with these characters in this 'verse for the last four or five years--to manifest them in powerful ways, and that's always a good thing.
. . .
Good luck to inlovewithnight on her thesis defense.