writing progress and a rec
Okay, I used my new icon just because I could, because it is awesome. That's Loki from the Avengers, for those of you who don't know! Awesome, no?
So writing "Spin Control" is a chewy affair currently, mostly because the upcoming two chapters are so frakking long. I considered cutting both of them in the middle and making four chapters out of the original two, but at least in the case of the next one - just sent it off to beta, I fondly call it the "sex chapter" - that is not possible. I would end up with one chapter that is indeed all, "sex, sex, sex" and that would put an emphasis on the sex that the sex does not deserve. So never mind it's an eighteen-pages monster that might or might not fit in one LJ comment, all these scenes belong in one chapter, they're connected, so that's that. The chapter after that, though, I might still split. First I thought I couldn't, but now that I've got a first draft, I'm realizing that it's really damn long, twenty pages so far, and might still grow a little. So I think I can cut it in a way where the first chapter focuses on one set of characters - most notably Chaff, since this is the 73rd Hunger Games chapter - and then the second one will focus on another, most notably Mags and Caramel. Caramel was killing me for a while, but I think I've got a reasonable grasp on him now. That scene definitely took a turn that I didn't expect. Never mind Finnick. Finnick definitely didn't expect it, either.
What's nice is that I reached a part of the story where the character development is starting to pay off, I can see now that Finnick and Haymitch both have become different people. They do things that would have been impossible for them to do in the first couple of chapters, though it's different things for both of them. Finnick becomes more ready to take charge of his life, Haymitch becomes more ready to open up and make emotional commitments. Coming up in the aforementioned two (or three) chapters are, among other things, Haymitch sharing his doubts about his desirability, a heart-to-heart between Finnick and Gale, Finnick getting loud and saying "fuck" a lot, a tribute who might or might not be a sociopath, Haymitch not having to learn how to eat lobster, Mags not being perfect, and Caramel saying something other than "goodbye, gotta be somewhere" when Finnick enters the room. Also Haymitch taking a shower at an inopportune time, and the noises both boys make in the bedroom. I was especially pleased to learn the latter, because I'm me. As I said, they're long chapters. Many things happen. It's the point before the last act where things develop very quickly.
After that I'll just have two more chapters to go until we launch right into the showdown of the 74th Hunger Games and shit hitting the fan in ways that I find pleasing in an evil way. I never said Finnick/Haymitch would make the world a better place.
Much more importantly than all that! lorataprose wrote me a wonderful Spin Control spin-off fic which you can read here and which you absolutely have to read, too, because it's the best thing ever in the whole world of fanfic. I'm not kidding, it's a lovely story and wonderfully satisfying to read for any fan of Finnick or Haymitch, whether you're following SC or not. It's a feel-good fic and there just aren't enough of those in the fandom for anybody to miss this one.
So writing "Spin Control" is a chewy affair currently, mostly because the upcoming two chapters are so frakking long. I considered cutting both of them in the middle and making four chapters out of the original two, but at least in the case of the next one - just sent it off to beta, I fondly call it the "sex chapter" - that is not possible. I would end up with one chapter that is indeed all, "sex, sex, sex" and that would put an emphasis on the sex that the sex does not deserve. So never mind it's an eighteen-pages monster that might or might not fit in one LJ comment, all these scenes belong in one chapter, they're connected, so that's that. The chapter after that, though, I might still split. First I thought I couldn't, but now that I've got a first draft, I'm realizing that it's really damn long, twenty pages so far, and might still grow a little. So I think I can cut it in a way where the first chapter focuses on one set of characters - most notably Chaff, since this is the 73rd Hunger Games chapter - and then the second one will focus on another, most notably Mags and Caramel. Caramel was killing me for a while, but I think I've got a reasonable grasp on him now. That scene definitely took a turn that I didn't expect. Never mind Finnick. Finnick definitely didn't expect it, either.
What's nice is that I reached a part of the story where the character development is starting to pay off, I can see now that Finnick and Haymitch both have become different people. They do things that would have been impossible for them to do in the first couple of chapters, though it's different things for both of them. Finnick becomes more ready to take charge of his life, Haymitch becomes more ready to open up and make emotional commitments. Coming up in the aforementioned two (or three) chapters are, among other things, Haymitch sharing his doubts about his desirability, a heart-to-heart between Finnick and Gale, Finnick getting loud and saying "fuck" a lot, a tribute who might or might not be a sociopath, Haymitch not having to learn how to eat lobster, Mags not being perfect, and Caramel saying something other than "goodbye, gotta be somewhere" when Finnick enters the room. Also Haymitch taking a shower at an inopportune time, and the noises both boys make in the bedroom. I was especially pleased to learn the latter, because I'm me. As I said, they're long chapters. Many things happen. It's the point before the last act where things develop very quickly.
After that I'll just have two more chapters to go until we launch right into the showdown of the 74th Hunger Games and shit hitting the fan in ways that I find pleasing in an evil way. I never said Finnick/Haymitch would make the world a better place.
Much more importantly than all that! lorataprose wrote me a wonderful Spin Control spin-off fic which you can read here and which you absolutely have to read, too, because it's the best thing ever in the whole world of fanfic. I'm not kidding, it's a lovely story and wonderfully satisfying to read for any fan of Finnick or Haymitch, whether you're following SC or not. It's a feel-good fic and there just aren't enough of those in the fandom for anybody to miss this one.