A Family Business 6/6 [COMPLETE]
I have a bunch of backlog comments to respond to, really awesome, thinky comments about last week's episode. I kind of lose at multitasking this week. Even law school has taken back-burner to finishing my story.
But finish it I did! In total it is somewhere upwards of 23,000 words, officially the longest, most complex story I've ever written. It's taken me a long time to get to this point as a writer and I never would have made it this far without the fangirls who have supported me along the way. One of the greatest things about our corner of fandom is the way we encourage each other to do new things and reach new heights. Ya'll are pretty amazing.
Title: A Family Business
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. It’s all Kripke’s and the CW’s and blah blah blah. We all know who the real brain trust is around here.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: General for the series. Takes place in two time periods, one pre-series and the other situated at some point between 3x04 (Sin City) and 3x05 (Bedtime Stories).
Summary: In 1996, John Winchester is hunting a creature who mauled a man to death. John's top suspect is the man's teenaged daughter, sole witness to the tragedy, but Sam and Dean aren't so sure. And in 2007, Sam and Dean are looking into a rash of missing persons and trying not to think about Dean's deal.
You can start from the beginning with Chapter One, at any chapter from the story specific tag, or go directly to Chapter Six
( He couldn’t stop asking these questions, poking at and examining the parts of their lives that were the hardest to comprehend and endure. )
I, personally, love reading forewards or notes or any blurb where the author talks about the writing process and the story as a whole. So I hope you don't mind if I spend a little time of my own blathering about my baby.
This story was quite a process and owes a lot to all sorts of people and influences. In some ways it began as a framing shot. I could see in my mind's eye Dean watching Gillian in the past as John drove away and then Sam doing the same with Angela in the present. Over a year and a half ago I told the Baylor Sister about this shot and how vivid it was in my mind, even though I didn't know, then, what the plot would be. I've always been fascinated by the impact that the Winchesters have on the people they save and this seemed like an excellent way to comment on one possible outcome.
Around that same time hiyacynth was deep in the process of writing Mockingbird. She and I spent a lot of time talking about that story. She was so excited about the characters and the plot and, I have to admit, I got a little jealous of the ongoing creative explosion that was going on in her mind. That's when I seriously sat down and started plotting out who my characters were and what had happened to them. After she was done with Mockingbird she turned right around and let me natter at her about what was starting to form in my head. I can honestly say that without her support I never would've gotten past the first part of the first chapter, let alone to 20,000+ words.
Actually, before this story I've always felt very hesitant about talking about my stories and ideas with other people, especially with people I feel are exceptionally good writers. This whole process has really helped me overcome that reticence, and thank goodness for that.
So, this story is an ode to my love of SPN and the support of my awesome fangirls. It's also an ode to the great state of Michigan. I've found that Michigan is a love it or hate it type of place and I fall firmly on the 'love it' side of the spectrum. I've grown up learning about its history and its funny cultural quirks and subcultures and I wanted to share a little of that with the world at large. You know, things like how I can go down to the local convenience store Quality Dairy and have a whole discussion with the cashier about how much we prefer QD doughnuts to Krispy Kreme. You know, the kinds of moments you can only have if you really live somewhere.
It's my home and as much as I enjoy seeing different parts of the world I think I'll always come back here in the end.
Yeah, a lot of things went into this. There's a lot of me in here, but at the end of the day I knew this story had to be about Sam&Dean. I knew that, like all great SPN episodes, the original characters had to reflect what was going on with the Winchesters. I have to admit that if I had set the story in s.2, as I originally thought I would, a lot of things about the final culmination in the forest would have been different. It became a very Sam-focused story which was not something I expected at the start. And it's all the better for it.
I was also influenced by a bunch of things, both overtly referenced and not. It's pretty obvious that I had Tolkien and the Old Forest on the brain when I was plotting Chapter 5. I also had a little Neil Gaiman and American Gods floating around in there, as well as a book called Seventh Heart by Marina Fitch which also ends in one sister sacrificing for another.
It's been quite a ride ane while I'm grateful the story is finished it will be decidedly strange to not be tromping around in the Dewars' heads anymore. But, never fear, I don't think this will be the end of my multi-part writing days; I have a ginormous au that's been simmering in the back of my mind while I've focused on A Family Business. I think it might be just about time to bring that out to play.
Law school, what about law schoo? Pfft. That can just wait its turn, I have more stories to tell.
But finish it I did! In total it is somewhere upwards of 23,000 words, officially the longest, most complex story I've ever written. It's taken me a long time to get to this point as a writer and I never would have made it this far without the fangirls who have supported me along the way. One of the greatest things about our corner of fandom is the way we encourage each other to do new things and reach new heights. Ya'll are pretty amazing.
Title: A Family Business
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. It’s all Kripke’s and the CW’s and blah blah blah. We all know who the real brain trust is around here.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: General for the series. Takes place in two time periods, one pre-series and the other situated at some point between 3x04 (Sin City) and 3x05 (Bedtime Stories).
Summary: In 1996, John Winchester is hunting a creature who mauled a man to death. John's top suspect is the man's teenaged daughter, sole witness to the tragedy, but Sam and Dean aren't so sure. And in 2007, Sam and Dean are looking into a rash of missing persons and trying not to think about Dean's deal.
You can start from the beginning with Chapter One, at any chapter from the story specific tag, or go directly to Chapter Six
( He couldn’t stop asking these questions, poking at and examining the parts of their lives that were the hardest to comprehend and endure. )
I, personally, love reading forewards or notes or any blurb where the author talks about the writing process and the story as a whole. So I hope you don't mind if I spend a little time of my own blathering about my baby.
This story was quite a process and owes a lot to all sorts of people and influences. In some ways it began as a framing shot. I could see in my mind's eye Dean watching Gillian in the past as John drove away and then Sam doing the same with Angela in the present. Over a year and a half ago I told the Baylor Sister about this shot and how vivid it was in my mind, even though I didn't know, then, what the plot would be. I've always been fascinated by the impact that the Winchesters have on the people they save and this seemed like an excellent way to comment on one possible outcome.
Around that same time hiyacynth was deep in the process of writing Mockingbird. She and I spent a lot of time talking about that story. She was so excited about the characters and the plot and, I have to admit, I got a little jealous of the ongoing creative explosion that was going on in her mind. That's when I seriously sat down and started plotting out who my characters were and what had happened to them. After she was done with Mockingbird she turned right around and let me natter at her about what was starting to form in my head. I can honestly say that without her support I never would've gotten past the first part of the first chapter, let alone to 20,000+ words.
Actually, before this story I've always felt very hesitant about talking about my stories and ideas with other people, especially with people I feel are exceptionally good writers. This whole process has really helped me overcome that reticence, and thank goodness for that.
So, this story is an ode to my love of SPN and the support of my awesome fangirls. It's also an ode to the great state of Michigan. I've found that Michigan is a love it or hate it type of place and I fall firmly on the 'love it' side of the spectrum. I've grown up learning about its history and its funny cultural quirks and subcultures and I wanted to share a little of that with the world at large. You know, things like how I can go down to the local convenience store Quality Dairy and have a whole discussion with the cashier about how much we prefer QD doughnuts to Krispy Kreme. You know, the kinds of moments you can only have if you really live somewhere.
It's my home and as much as I enjoy seeing different parts of the world I think I'll always come back here in the end.
Yeah, a lot of things went into this. There's a lot of me in here, but at the end of the day I knew this story had to be about Sam&Dean. I knew that, like all great SPN episodes, the original characters had to reflect what was going on with the Winchesters. I have to admit that if I had set the story in s.2, as I originally thought I would, a lot of things about the final culmination in the forest would have been different. It became a very Sam-focused story which was not something I expected at the start. And it's all the better for it.
I was also influenced by a bunch of things, both overtly referenced and not. It's pretty obvious that I had Tolkien and the Old Forest on the brain when I was plotting Chapter 5. I also had a little Neil Gaiman and American Gods floating around in there, as well as a book called Seventh Heart by Marina Fitch which also ends in one sister sacrificing for another.
It's been quite a ride ane while I'm grateful the story is finished it will be decidedly strange to not be tromping around in the Dewars' heads anymore. But, never fear, I don't think this will be the end of my multi-part writing days; I have a ginormous au that's been simmering in the back of my mind while I've focused on A Family Business. I think it might be just about time to bring that out to play.
Law school, what about law schoo? Pfft. That can just wait its turn, I have more stories to tell.