a world where I could be so dependable
Today is our annual departmental outing. As usual, it is fraught with complications. Sigh.
*
There was fic yesterday:
The Pillars of Heaven
Supernatural; Dean and Sam; g; spoilers through AHBL2; 800 words
Together, they'll keep their world spinning on its axis.
I was planning on writing something else, but when I opened that document up, it just wasn't happening, and for some reason, I started thinking of the pilot, and of how familiar the scenario must have been for Dean, that primal childhood scene reenacted, and how he'd carried Sam his whole life, carried his whole world in his arms, on his shoulders, like Atlas. So I opened a new document and typed "Atlas" at the top and started looking for some kind of structure to hang it on.
The longer I've been writing fanfic, the more enamored I've become of playing with structure, building stories around poems, or with a back-and-forth between past and present, or telling it backwards, or out of order or in a series of connected drabbles.
Usually when I try this, I start with word count limits that most often get tossed aside once the words are flowing, but I guess maybe so many years of writing poetry has left me with an appreciation of small word counts with high impact in a formal structure, so I do start that way quite a bit. "The Calendar Hung Itself" was supposed to have equal length sections, but that quickly fell by the wayside, and the year in the life story that got jossed was going to have sections of increasing word count from January to June, and then sections of decreasing word count from July to December, to mimic how the days get longer and then shorter.
All of which is not to the point in this case, because I didn't have any word count in mind, I just had the image of Dean holding Sam as a baby, then again the image of him pulling Sam out of the apartment while Sam reached for Jess, and then again on the ground in Cold Oak, how this was the world he'd carried, and how in his mind, he'd let it fall, and it was over. Nothing else mattered.
So, you know, Atlas.
But I couldn't remember any poems about Atlas, and a cursory search via Google and Bartleby didn't reveal anything I could use at first glance for section headers. So I stuck in the roman numerals and kept writing.
And then! inspiration! Sam's promises, in addition to being new weight added on top of old, are also binding Dean like the chains that bind Prometheus to the rocks, and they rip out his heart (liver) over and over again, every time Sam makes him reaffirm them.
Once I had that image, it was easy enough to figure that the next section had to be Achilles, and yes, the first word of that section is "Anger" and yes, that is deliberate. This is me we're talking about, after all. Even though the section focused less on Dean's rage, which I imagine became a cold, numb thing fueled by towering grief and desperation (much like Achilles') (and Achilles also couldn't let Patroclus' body go at first), and the deal he makes - Achilles chooses everlasting glory over a long life; Dean chooses Sam's life over his own.
And of course, lastly, Odysseus. Both Dean and Sam become Odysseus in the last section - Dean because he thinks he's on the last leg of his journey, he'll be going "home" in a year, or at least his trip will be over and he can rest, and Sam can outwit the devil, like wily Odysseus outwitting gods and monsters. Of course, Sam also becomes Atlas, taking some of the weight Dean is carrying onto himself (not Hercules, because Hercules has no intention of keeping the weight for longer than he needs Atlas' help, and he gives the world back), and together they hold up (or, even, are) the pillars of heaven, the world (yes, yes, I know there's some debate over whether it's the world Atlas is holding up or just the heavens or the pillars which separate heaven from earth, but work with me here, okay?), together they make the world spin on its axis.
The title was going to be "Classical Mythology" and the summary was going to be something about Dean and heroes, but I couldn't decide if I liked that title or "The Pillars of Heaven" better, and luzdeestrellas picked the latter. *g*
And wow, I have a lot to say about such a short story, and I'm really glad other people liked the structure, because I think the structure is the most interesting thing about it, the intertextuality of knowing the myths makes it a richer, more layered story than it appears on the surface. I don't feel the writing is particularly stellar (believe me, I'd tell you if I did *g*), though I like the timing chain simile, but the structure is really what carries the story. And also reveals how geeky I am. Um, not that that was a surprise.
Anyway. Off to read the flist now before it's time to leave. Well, if work would stop interrupting me before I can hit post! Sheesh!
***
*
There was fic yesterday:
The Pillars of Heaven
Supernatural; Dean and Sam; g; spoilers through AHBL2; 800 words
Together, they'll keep their world spinning on its axis.
I was planning on writing something else, but when I opened that document up, it just wasn't happening, and for some reason, I started thinking of the pilot, and of how familiar the scenario must have been for Dean, that primal childhood scene reenacted, and how he'd carried Sam his whole life, carried his whole world in his arms, on his shoulders, like Atlas. So I opened a new document and typed "Atlas" at the top and started looking for some kind of structure to hang it on.
The longer I've been writing fanfic, the more enamored I've become of playing with structure, building stories around poems, or with a back-and-forth between past and present, or telling it backwards, or out of order or in a series of connected drabbles.
Usually when I try this, I start with word count limits that most often get tossed aside once the words are flowing, but I guess maybe so many years of writing poetry has left me with an appreciation of small word counts with high impact in a formal structure, so I do start that way quite a bit. "The Calendar Hung Itself" was supposed to have equal length sections, but that quickly fell by the wayside, and the year in the life story that got jossed was going to have sections of increasing word count from January to June, and then sections of decreasing word count from July to December, to mimic how the days get longer and then shorter.
All of which is not to the point in this case, because I didn't have any word count in mind, I just had the image of Dean holding Sam as a baby, then again the image of him pulling Sam out of the apartment while Sam reached for Jess, and then again on the ground in Cold Oak, how this was the world he'd carried, and how in his mind, he'd let it fall, and it was over. Nothing else mattered.
So, you know, Atlas.
But I couldn't remember any poems about Atlas, and a cursory search via Google and Bartleby didn't reveal anything I could use at first glance for section headers. So I stuck in the roman numerals and kept writing.
And then! inspiration! Sam's promises, in addition to being new weight added on top of old, are also binding Dean like the chains that bind Prometheus to the rocks, and they rip out his heart (liver) over and over again, every time Sam makes him reaffirm them.
Once I had that image, it was easy enough to figure that the next section had to be Achilles, and yes, the first word of that section is "Anger" and yes, that is deliberate. This is me we're talking about, after all. Even though the section focused less on Dean's rage, which I imagine became a cold, numb thing fueled by towering grief and desperation (much like Achilles') (and Achilles also couldn't let Patroclus' body go at first), and the deal he makes - Achilles chooses everlasting glory over a long life; Dean chooses Sam's life over his own.
And of course, lastly, Odysseus. Both Dean and Sam become Odysseus in the last section - Dean because he thinks he's on the last leg of his journey, he'll be going "home" in a year, or at least his trip will be over and he can rest, and Sam can outwit the devil, like wily Odysseus outwitting gods and monsters. Of course, Sam also becomes Atlas, taking some of the weight Dean is carrying onto himself (not Hercules, because Hercules has no intention of keeping the weight for longer than he needs Atlas' help, and he gives the world back), and together they hold up (or, even, are) the pillars of heaven, the world (yes, yes, I know there's some debate over whether it's the world Atlas is holding up or just the heavens or the pillars which separate heaven from earth, but work with me here, okay?), together they make the world spin on its axis.
The title was going to be "Classical Mythology" and the summary was going to be something about Dean and heroes, but I couldn't decide if I liked that title or "The Pillars of Heaven" better, and luzdeestrellas picked the latter. *g*
And wow, I have a lot to say about such a short story, and I'm really glad other people liked the structure, because I think the structure is the most interesting thing about it, the intertextuality of knowing the myths makes it a richer, more layered story than it appears on the surface. I don't feel the writing is particularly stellar (believe me, I'd tell you if I did *g*), though I like the timing chain simile, but the structure is really what carries the story. And also reveals how geeky I am. Um, not that that was a surprise.
Anyway. Off to read the flist now before it's time to leave. Well, if work would stop interrupting me before I can hit post! Sheesh!
***