Meme: "My List of Shame", or "All the WIPs"

[black_sluggard]

claudiapriscus recently made a post about her (very debatable) suckitude due to her massive number of WIPs, and outlined several of them meme-style in her journal. I commented that if I tried to do a similar post, I would be writing all goddamned week...

And yet, here I am.

claudiapriscus:
"And that leads me to this: my list of shame. The usual memes just do sentences from WIPs, but I kind of like the idea of describing the story and the point and triyng to explain why I haven't gotten around to finishing it. It's very motivational. You all should do it too!"


"A Reason to Live" (The Walking Dead, R, Gen):
Background: This one is special, because if I manage to finish it, it holds the potential to be not only the first multi-chapter fic I've ever completed for a fandom other than Castle, but my first completed multi-chapter gen fic. While the latter isn't something to be "proud" of, I do like the idea of managing to write a story without some kind of romantic entanglement involved.
This fic is for The Walking Dead. It's basically another sentient zombie fic, kind of like the Life AU, only in a world dominated by "standard" zombies.
Plot: Shane (prior to what ultimately happened to him in canon) succumbs to an illness that, at first, seems to simply be some flu-like bug. But when his fever breaks, his temperature continues to drop, and when his heart finally stops, the group is left wondering what the hell to do. I mean, they all know how to handle walkers, but what do you do with one who still has his mind?
Theme: "Redemption through inhumanity."
In canon, Shane is an utter bastard, and this fic is me inflicting him with a posthumous change of heart.
The Delay: Most of the people following my journal are Castle fans, so part of it is pandering to existing readers (I love you guys). Another part is that I know the voices so much better for that fandom, that writing for it (and Kevin and Javi in particular) is almost effortless. But I've a lot looser grasp of the characters in The Walking Dead, which can be a huge burden in a fandom that is heavily based on an ensemble.
Also, I don't quite have an ending for this fic.

"Climate Change" (The Avengers, R, Steve/Loki):
Background: Kind of an oddball pairing, yeah. Normally I'm a Steve/Tony or Steve/Bucky shipper, but it's maybe just the improbability of this pairing that called to me.
That and avengerkink. God, when will I learn to stay away from the kink memes?
Plot: Dr. Doom happens during a fight, and both Steve and Loki vanish. The Avengers spend five years trying to locate their lost companion (and Thor's crazy brother) before learning that the pair had been teleported to Jotunheim and mount an effort to rescue them.
Theme: "Enemy Mine meets Foe-Yay".
Loki and Steve are stuck depending on each other for survival and company in a very hostile environment. Steve tries to get Loki to get over his issues about being a Jotun, Loki tries to help Steve get over his fear of the cold—if by "help" you mean "turns him into a Jotun so that Cap can share his misery".
Also sex happens. And did I mention this is an mpreg fic? What am I saying? It's Loki. Of course it's an mpreg fic...
The Delay: Similar to "A Reason to Live", I love the story and all the angst in it, but I'm still lacking an actual ending to the story.

"Mere Mortals" (Heroes, PG, Sylar/Hesam):
Background: Yes, you read that pairing right. Sylar and Peter's EMT partner Hesam. Because I love the non-special characters on the show, and they never get enough love.
Plus, Sylar's like the color black. He goes well with just about anything.
Plot: After escaping his mental prison, Sylar is doing his best to reform. Unfortunately, so far all this means is staying cooped up in Peter's apartment because after eight years spent in a nightmare of solitude he finds himself overwhelmed by the outside world. Living vicariously through Peter's stories about his day, Sylar decides he likes Hesam before he even has a chance to meet him.
Unfortunately, once he does finally meet the man, he finds he's got a new set of problems entirely...
Theme: "Awkward Sylar is awkward".
No, really, that's pretty much it. He's possibly the most powerful being on the planet, but when he's not playing a part he's socially helpless. And having him fall for a normal human is just a gold mine of possible fun I couldn't resist.
The Delay: Lack of an ending. I've got a lot of good dialog for this fic (especially once Peter finds out about Sylar's crush), and the vague plan of pairing, but I honestly don't have a clue how to bring it all together.

"If Shadows Offend" (Castle, R, Javier/Kevin, Kevin/Jenny):
Background: I've already got a banner for this fic, but while I have it plotted out more or less in its entirety, I haven't actually started writing it.
Plot: The world as we know it ends in a bizarre and spectacular manner. Nothing will ever be the same. The team at the 12th deals with the fallout, just trying to keep themselves and their loved ones alive.
This is my post-apocalyptic AU with the humanoid abominations, clones, and non-Euclidean love-triangles.
Theme: "Redefining what makes you who you are when everything you had was taken away."
I know I've explored this theme extensively in other stories—"Sui Generis" and "Black Edelweiss" come immediately to mind—but I feel this story approaches that theme very differently.
Because it is very different being a copy when the original is still around for comparison. He gets to be everything you remember being, gets to have the woman you love, gets to be the one that everyone considers real. And what do you do when you've lost everything you had, but it's still right there, just out of reach? You latch on to something new to keep you sane—or something old that you never even knew was there.
The Delay: Mostly occupation with other fic (again, "Sui Generis" and "Black Edelweiss" come immediately to mind).

"Bulletproof" (Castle, PG, Javier/Kevin):
Background: This is that superhero fic I've been promising to roachstar for what feels like ages. It's not quite the Lois & Clark fusion I think she was looking for, but I feel it adequately grabs the dynamic she wanted.
Plot: In an AU where there were once superheroes before the government cracked down and shuffled most of them into military programs, Kevin is stunned by the sudden reappearance of a childhood hero (and lustful teenage fantasy). He also learns that Javier is full of surprises...
Theme: "Superheroes. Full stop."
This plays all tropes fairly straight, and examines some issues with hero worship, secrets, and the loneliness of the mask.
The Delay: Not really knowing what to do for an ending.

"In Cold Blood" (Castle, R, Javier/Kevin):
Background: Because after the werewolves, zombies, aliens, superheroes and magical mice there was ever a doubt I'd get around to vampires someday?
Plot: Kevin and Jenny are murdered in their home, and Javier is grieving. It could end there, but when Javier's final farewell to his partner reveals him to be less dead than previously thought (though still a good ways off from "alive"), it turns into a battle against an unknown foe as Javier and Kevin race to catch the murderers before they manage to finish what they started.
Theme: "These vampires do not sparkle!"
Just the way I imagine the vampires in this story working in my head, this one is going to be very, very dark. Kevin is still Kevin, but he's also become something that is truly dangerous and terrifying. Even to him.
The Delay: Other fic, again. Also, the villain is so vague in my mind, that I've been having trouble plotting out a climax to the story, even though I know exactly how I want it to end.

Comments

[roachstar.livejournal.com]

Can't WAIT for all the Javi/Kevin ones! :D

[black_sluggard]

Well that pretty much goes without saying. :P

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Cool! I found it helped me a lot to just get them all written down where I could see them and think straight. And I just really love seeing the roadblocks others are dealing with, just because they all basically come down to the same things. An unfinished story in limbo is such a mental drag. Specially when its the kind where you have the shape of it, as if it already exists somewhere and is just waiting (and waiting and waiting) to be realized. And then you just can't get it there, urgh.

I really like your au sane zombie idea...even from outside the show context. And not just the premise but the theme.

[black_sluggard]

Specially when its the kind where you have the shape of it, as if it already exists somewhere and is just waiting (and waiting and waiting) to be realized. And then you just can't get it there, urgh.
This, just so much... So many of my fics sit completely plotted out for ages without seeing much actual realization.

I really like your au sane zombie idea...even from outside the show context. And not just the premise but the theme.
I'm kind of obsessed with the whole idea of sentient zombies. On the whole, zombies are sort of a modern mythical metaphor for the seemingly faceless things that threaten society: disease, mental illness, mob violence. It's us being afraid of ourselves and what we and and the strangers that surround us are capable of.

But those things really aren't faceless, and for me, giving the zombies back their identity is sort of my way of turning the metaphor around. In particular, the Life AU is sort of a weird metaphor for the stigma surrounding mental illness, and the loss of identity that comes from a diagnosis of mental illness, when people are shunted into a societal category that makes them untouchable and "other".

(and, okay, there's also an awful lot of porn in there, but give me a break)

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Well duh, if the internet has taught me anything, it's that there's always porn. (Maybe in a hundred years, everything will just have random bits of porn. Even PhD dissertations.)

But yeah, that's a really interesting idea to play around with, and it makes the zombie plague combine several of the more fascinating genre ideas- the collective, where the individual is turned into part of some mass other, the cursed, where the person is kept from full inclusion in the community in whatever way- relationships, proximity, awareness of difference-(frequently self-imposed) because of lycanthropy/vampirism/etc, and the altered perspective story, which has elements of horror in it, where you find yourself changed and find a different perspective as a result (can be played for horror or not), and there's definitely an element of reestablishing identity there....

all good stuff.

And zombies are such multipurpose horrors. Threats to society, the danger of society, the danger of the lack/breakdown of society. Sometimes all three. Because on the one hand, you've got the forced conformity and the dangers of communal/social impulses (both in the zombies themselves and how it's always social impulses that bring about the end), and on the other, you have the breakdown of the bonds that create community (e.g. zombies reject the social pact. You can't trust your neighbor not to try and eat you. And anyone could be a ticking time bomb of zombie germs), and without those bonds, the human race heads for extinction. So it's a very useful metaphor for so many things.

[game-byrd.livejournal.com]

Those are awesome! And a wonderful idea. I have the following classifications:

Dead-fic - I'm not going to finish it, mostly because I'm not interested in finishing it.

Needs a sequel - I think it's finished, but a bunch of people have begged me for a sequel, so there's an outside chance that I'll write one to make them happy

On the chalkboard (or on the back burner) - An idea that I'd genuinely like to write, or one that I've started writing, never published, and didn't finish.

Active WIP - One that I'm actively working on, which currently includes only Shattered Salvation and More Between Us. Oh, and All Effed Up. They're all progressing fine. I don't operate well with more than a few ongoing stories. Generally, my imagination latches onto something and won't freaking let go.

Completed - Done.

I think I'll steal your idea and write up where my story ideas are!

By the way, I would read the shit out of "Mere Mortals" - that's an awesome premise. Same for "Climate Change". But I agree that seeing your way to a satisfying conclusion in either of those is difficult. Maybe loving estrangement for Loki and Steve, after they're rescued, although I wonder about their child ... would it have matured like many magical creatures do? Would it be a feral beast wanting nothing to do with either parent? Or would it be helpless/immature and need nurturing and care by one or both parents?