Writing Wish List / WIP Collection
Mar. 27th, 2013 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelJumping off raphi's post on things she'd like to write for FE fandom, here are some things that have been percolating for weeks or months with no sign of actually getting, you know, written. Or maybe there's a Word file with the appropriate title and I open it and then realize there's almost nothing on the actual page.
"Deeper Devastation," FE13, Lucina/m!Robin. A SRS BZNS piece about Lucina's decision to off Robin and the ramifications of Chrom's blocking her from doing so. Basically, any desire I had to grapple with this died under the onslaught of several dozen mediocre-to-abysmal Lucina/MU stories and various 'fics in which this scene is regurgitated. I mean, seriously, extra commentary on this is about as useful as a piece in which Ninian dies in Eliwood's arms. Don't expect to see any FE13 anything from me until the first wave of FE13 'ficcers ebbs. SIx months? Maybe?
The One With Time Travel, FE4. Seliph, Leif, and Ares are in a subkiddies timeline, and the army realizes it's basically screwed by the time they get to Miletos and have to use the human sacrifice gambit. Seliph coerces Hawk into doing forbidden time travel magic so he can just warn Sigurd about the whole ambush thing, but he overshoots and ends up in 757. This results in a lot of Sigurd's army hooking up and making superbabies, which is good for the war but pisses off Leif and Ares when their girlfriends get replaced by alternate versions.
"New Toy," FE4, Briggid/Dew. Dew's not a kid anymore. Features an embittered Alec who cannot understand why he's not getting any princess tail.
"Sorrow," FE4, Seliph/Larcei but it's not really about that. Basically the Weiss Ritter mauled Seliph Army and quite a few characters died but Lewyn tells him not to worry about it because oh yeah, Valkyrie Staff and then Lewyn drags Seliph off to deal with Manfroy. Mostly just Seliph being weirded out and guilty over himself and his place in the world.
"Aura," FE4, Shanan and Oifaye as bros with a side order of every adult in camp figuring out who Julia is before Lewyn does.
"Public Enemies," FE4. Genfic AU set in a vaguely steampunky Old West. Think that section of The Prestige featuring Tesla except with tumbleweeds. Covers Chapters Seven and Eight, more or less. It had a strong enough beginning and just didn't go anywhere.
Arthur hadn’t grown up under Blume’s tutelage though; the boy was self-taught, a tinkerer who’d produced what he called a “shock box” that summoned arcs of blue-white energy.
“I admit I still can’t fathom how that little black box can do the things that it does,” Oifaye said as he examined the device.
“But you had these back in Sigurd’s time, right?”
“It was a different world then, and not just because I was younger and... innocent.” Naive was the word for it. “No railroads outside of Grandbell, no rifled guns or cannon, and just a few telegraph lines. Electrical energy seemed more... well, like magic.”
It still seemed like magic to him. As Oifaye watched young Arthur’s fingers work the wires inside of his “shock box,” he marveled that the boy could tell any single wire from the rest, much less that Arthur seemed to know what they all did. “Besides, your mother used something very different to summon her thunderbolts. Some sort of coil inside of an orb.”
Arthur’s eyes gleamed at the mention of his mother. Oifaye wasn’t certain of it-- it’d been too long-- but he thought Arthur’s eyes were the same shade of pale violet that Tiltyu’s had been. So had Ishtore, they’d found when they’d recovered his corpse.
“How did it work?”
“Your mother guarded her trade secrets,” Oifaye said, not wanting to admit that Tiltyu hadn’t appeared to know the faintest thing about the powers she controlled. She’d used electricity by instinct, perhaps, or she’d memorized how to produce shocks without understanding the the hows and whys of it. “I don’t know that she even would’ve talked to your father about it.”
“Oh,” said Arthur, and he ducked his head back down to work on his magical box.
“You could try asking Levin,” Oifaye offered, knowing that Arthur almost certainly wouldn’t.
"Prince of Thieves," FE4 postgame. Emperor Seliph sends out Lester and Faval to subdue Verdane, but the cousins get a surprise when one troublesome highwayman turns out to be someone from their parents' past. This was really cute in parts but there wasn't any plot resolution to work toward.
“Hey, buddy. I don’t think so.” Faval said it in an off-handed way, but he was already reaching for his quiver.
“Don’t do it, Faval,” Lester managed to say.
Drawing the Yewfelle here, in this place, would bring down more trouble than either of them could handle. But Faval went and did it anyway; Lester heard the air sing as his cousin pulled back on the shining bow and the light of the holy weapon danced on their faces.
“Briggid’s boy,” muttered the highwayman, and he released his grip on Lester. “And you must be Lex’s kid.”
“What?” Lester rubbed at his neck, wondering if he’d heard correctly.
The highwayman had his blade out...
“Who sent you?”
“Who’d you think?” Faval didn’t waver in his aim; he was still poised to send the Yewfelle’s arrow through the highwayman.
“Grandbell’s new emperor?He’s twice the fool that his father was if he thinks sending you two in here will fix anything.”
“Listen, kiddies. I’d love to talk, but I’d rather do it when you’re not pointing the Yewfelle at my throat. Later.”
And he slipped away into the dark, so that Faval’s arrow passed through empty air and embedded itself in the dirt.
“Who the hell was that?” said Faval as he scowled over the missed shot. “Not many people can dodge like that.”
“I don’t know, but I think I’m glad you didn’t shoot him.” Lester was intrigued by the way the highwayman spoke of the prior generation’s lost heroes-- as though he’d known them, really. “Now, put that away and let’s find a place for the night.”
[then, much later]
“I think the word you want is epitome, Faval,” said Lester. And the word that Dew was looking for was robbery. Or mugging.
Dew just shook his head.
“I’m not even scratching these people,” Faval continued. “It’s not like I’m beating them senseless first and then taking their stuff. Anyway, I thought you were done with morals and crap like that, Dew.”
“These are my own people, fool. I’ve been making a living off Grandbellian idiots who wander into here trying to restore law and order, or Agustrians who trickle over the border looking to set themselves up as lords. These dumb-as-rocks brigands are not worth my time.”
Lester let the jibe about Grandbellian idiots roll off his back.
“Anyone trying to kill me is worth my time,” he said. “And your people aren’t giving us a very nice welcome, Dew, and the fact is... we’re not leaving.”
They were, in fact, slowly eroding the power of the bandit gangs in western Verdane, an impressive feat for their three-man crew. Lester had positive things to report in his letters to the emperor, though the terms “mugging” and “robbery” never went into the reports.
"Falling One Cloud at a Time," FE4, Tiltyu in Alster. Depressing as fuck.
"Holy Martyrs," FE4 postgame, Corple genfic. I really liked this idea but didn't right enough down at the time and now can't reconstruct it. It was about thirteen-year-old Corple ruling Edda and trying to build a new cathedral that would educate future generations about the Crusades and getting all bogged down in bureaucratic and theocratic quibbles over which dead person got allotted which stained-glass window and who counted as a Crusader and who was merely collateral damage. And one of the women hired to wash the cathedral windows turned out to be Sylvia, who was trying to hang out with her son without being an embarrassment to him.
"Labyrinth," FE4 postgame. Set in the Protectorate of Thracia (Leif and Altenna having bit the dust and Arion being AWOL) with Corple trying to helping his aging dad Hannibal govern Southern Thracia while Patty is causing all kinds of distractions in his personal life. Meanwhile up north, a homesick Nanna comes back from Agustria only to get kidnapped by rebels who aren't pleased with this whole Protectorate bullshit and want sovereignty for Conote. The rebel leader turns out to be a hot blond rogue with a ponytail and a potential claim to the throne... albeit on the wrong side of the blanket (guess who?). Lotsa interesting stuff here politically but holy shit that's a complicated project for something maybe three people might ever read.
"Deeper Devastation," FE13, Lucina/m!Robin. A SRS BZNS piece about Lucina's decision to off Robin and the ramifications of Chrom's blocking her from doing so. Basically, any desire I had to grapple with this died under the onslaught of several dozen mediocre-to-abysmal Lucina/MU stories and various 'fics in which this scene is regurgitated. I mean, seriously, extra commentary on this is about as useful as a piece in which Ninian dies in Eliwood's arms. Don't expect to see any FE13 anything from me until the first wave of FE13 'ficcers ebbs. SIx months? Maybe?
The One With Time Travel, FE4. Seliph, Leif, and Ares are in a subkiddies timeline, and the army realizes it's basically screwed by the time they get to Miletos and have to use the human sacrifice gambit. Seliph coerces Hawk into doing forbidden time travel magic so he can just warn Sigurd about the whole ambush thing, but he overshoots and ends up in 757. This results in a lot of Sigurd's army hooking up and making superbabies, which is good for the war but pisses off Leif and Ares when their girlfriends get replaced by alternate versions.
"New Toy," FE4, Briggid/Dew. Dew's not a kid anymore. Features an embittered Alec who cannot understand why he's not getting any princess tail.
"Sorrow," FE4, Seliph/Larcei but it's not really about that. Basically the Weiss Ritter mauled Seliph Army and quite a few characters died but Lewyn tells him not to worry about it because oh yeah, Valkyrie Staff and then Lewyn drags Seliph off to deal with Manfroy. Mostly just Seliph being weirded out and guilty over himself and his place in the world.
"Aura," FE4, Shanan and Oifaye as bros with a side order of every adult in camp figuring out who Julia is before Lewyn does.
"Public Enemies," FE4. Genfic AU set in a vaguely steampunky Old West. Think that section of The Prestige featuring Tesla except with tumbleweeds. Covers Chapters Seven and Eight, more or less. It had a strong enough beginning and just didn't go anywhere.
Arthur hadn’t grown up under Blume’s tutelage though; the boy was self-taught, a tinkerer who’d produced what he called a “shock box” that summoned arcs of blue-white energy.
“I admit I still can’t fathom how that little black box can do the things that it does,” Oifaye said as he examined the device.
“But you had these back in Sigurd’s time, right?”
“It was a different world then, and not just because I was younger and... innocent.” Naive was the word for it. “No railroads outside of Grandbell, no rifled guns or cannon, and just a few telegraph lines. Electrical energy seemed more... well, like magic.”
It still seemed like magic to him. As Oifaye watched young Arthur’s fingers work the wires inside of his “shock box,” he marveled that the boy could tell any single wire from the rest, much less that Arthur seemed to know what they all did. “Besides, your mother used something very different to summon her thunderbolts. Some sort of coil inside of an orb.”
Arthur’s eyes gleamed at the mention of his mother. Oifaye wasn’t certain of it-- it’d been too long-- but he thought Arthur’s eyes were the same shade of pale violet that Tiltyu’s had been. So had Ishtore, they’d found when they’d recovered his corpse.
“How did it work?”
“Your mother guarded her trade secrets,” Oifaye said, not wanting to admit that Tiltyu hadn’t appeared to know the faintest thing about the powers she controlled. She’d used electricity by instinct, perhaps, or she’d memorized how to produce shocks without understanding the the hows and whys of it. “I don’t know that she even would’ve talked to your father about it.”
“Oh,” said Arthur, and he ducked his head back down to work on his magical box.
“You could try asking Levin,” Oifaye offered, knowing that Arthur almost certainly wouldn’t.
"Prince of Thieves," FE4 postgame. Emperor Seliph sends out Lester and Faval to subdue Verdane, but the cousins get a surprise when one troublesome highwayman turns out to be someone from their parents' past. This was really cute in parts but there wasn't any plot resolution to work toward.
“Hey, buddy. I don’t think so.” Faval said it in an off-handed way, but he was already reaching for his quiver.
“Don’t do it, Faval,” Lester managed to say.
Drawing the Yewfelle here, in this place, would bring down more trouble than either of them could handle. But Faval went and did it anyway; Lester heard the air sing as his cousin pulled back on the shining bow and the light of the holy weapon danced on their faces.
“Briggid’s boy,” muttered the highwayman, and he released his grip on Lester. “And you must be Lex’s kid.”
“What?” Lester rubbed at his neck, wondering if he’d heard correctly.
The highwayman had his blade out...
“Who sent you?”
“Who’d you think?” Faval didn’t waver in his aim; he was still poised to send the Yewfelle’s arrow through the highwayman.
“Grandbell’s new emperor?He’s twice the fool that his father was if he thinks sending you two in here will fix anything.”
“Listen, kiddies. I’d love to talk, but I’d rather do it when you’re not pointing the Yewfelle at my throat. Later.”
And he slipped away into the dark, so that Faval’s arrow passed through empty air and embedded itself in the dirt.
“Who the hell was that?” said Faval as he scowled over the missed shot. “Not many people can dodge like that.”
“I don’t know, but I think I’m glad you didn’t shoot him.” Lester was intrigued by the way the highwayman spoke of the prior generation’s lost heroes-- as though he’d known them, really. “Now, put that away and let’s find a place for the night.”
[then, much later]
“I think the word you want is epitome, Faval,” said Lester. And the word that Dew was looking for was robbery. Or mugging.
Dew just shook his head.
“I’m not even scratching these people,” Faval continued. “It’s not like I’m beating them senseless first and then taking their stuff. Anyway, I thought you were done with morals and crap like that, Dew.”
“These are my own people, fool. I’ve been making a living off Grandbellian idiots who wander into here trying to restore law and order, or Agustrians who trickle over the border looking to set themselves up as lords. These dumb-as-rocks brigands are not worth my time.”
Lester let the jibe about Grandbellian idiots roll off his back.
“Anyone trying to kill me is worth my time,” he said. “And your people aren’t giving us a very nice welcome, Dew, and the fact is... we’re not leaving.”
They were, in fact, slowly eroding the power of the bandit gangs in western Verdane, an impressive feat for their three-man crew. Lester had positive things to report in his letters to the emperor, though the terms “mugging” and “robbery” never went into the reports.
"Falling One Cloud at a Time," FE4, Tiltyu in Alster. Depressing as fuck.
"Holy Martyrs," FE4 postgame, Corple genfic. I really liked this idea but didn't right enough down at the time and now can't reconstruct it. It was about thirteen-year-old Corple ruling Edda and trying to build a new cathedral that would educate future generations about the Crusades and getting all bogged down in bureaucratic and theocratic quibbles over which dead person got allotted which stained-glass window and who counted as a Crusader and who was merely collateral damage. And one of the women hired to wash the cathedral windows turned out to be Sylvia, who was trying to hang out with her son without being an embarrassment to him.
"Labyrinth," FE4 postgame. Set in the Protectorate of Thracia (Leif and Altenna having bit the dust and Arion being AWOL) with Corple trying to helping his aging dad Hannibal govern Southern Thracia while Patty is causing all kinds of distractions in his personal life. Meanwhile up north, a homesick Nanna comes back from Agustria only to get kidnapped by rebels who aren't pleased with this whole Protectorate bullshit and want sovereignty for Conote. The rebel leader turns out to be a hot blond rogue with a ponytail and a potential claim to the throne... albeit on the wrong side of the blanket (guess who?). Lotsa interesting stuff here politically but holy shit that's a complicated project for something maybe three people might ever read.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-27 10:02 pm (UTC)Probably because "The One with the Time Travel" and "Aura" sound rather meta.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 08:56 pm (UTC)Yeah, they're pretty meta, but done right, they'd be tons of fun. I don't know that I have the patience to do them right ATM, sadly.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-27 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 08:54 pm (UTC)As for highwayman!Dew... yeah, totally hot. But nothing really happened in that story? I mean, I got to 1,600 words and aside from "Hey look, Dew's alive" and Faval playing the Sociopathic Cop to Lester's Good Cop, there was absolutely nothing going on. Just character interaction for the sake of itself.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 01:29 am (UTC)I wouldn't worry too much about what yonder "first wave" thinks. If it calls to you, why not write it (and put a unique angle on it)? I think you wouldn't have any issues getting ahead of the pack on that.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 02:16 am (UTC)I do not give a damn what these 'ficcers think. I have no desire to be a part of the current slushpile of hastily-penned stories.
If the idea is a good one, it'll be good in six months or a year from now. If it's not a good idea, the time is better spent elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 01:56 pm (UTC)writte some
Date: 2013-03-28 02:13 am (UTC)Both Holy Martyrs and Labyrith are more original premise and you should made it of having the time(your love for corpul, the poor need more love in canon, was a shame that Arionne cockblock him with Altenna).
Re: writte some
Date: 2013-03-28 08:57 pm (UTC)"Labyrinth" actually does go with the premise that he was in love with Altenna, but she's dead in that anyway.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 03:56 am (UTC)HAHA yup. that was def. the most powerful moment of the game for me, and I thought it'd be interesting to see something like what you're talking about—ramifications of that decision, or maybe something where the scene went differently—but then I read the fic that was out there and was like "wait is this just exactly-what-I-played-put-in-prose-form"
"did multiple people write literally just that"
"whelp nevermind back to reading fic for older fandoms"
no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 05:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-28 10:24 pm (UTC)Would be nice how Aless react to the much younger and loli Leen in comparation with the more adult and 'active' Laylea.