30 Days Meme day 4

Day 4 – Do you have a “muse” character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the story isn’t about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?

Well, here we go. This one should be easy: No, not really. :)

I will elaborate slightly, but not by much. If you define a "muse" character as being a favourite character to write (and thus the one I get ideas for), then Joxer might've been it. But I never felt like I was channeling him or like he was taking over. So I don't think it counts.

In terms of characters who push their way in or take over a scene, a little bit yes with DWD. Actually with Launchpad. Though, infrequently. :) It actually happens mainly with Launchpad and Beth; every time I try to write a couple of lines of dialogue between them it turns into a full conversation and a lot of the time they change topic and wander off course into something completely different. I often end up having just say the heck with it, write out a scene then once I've steered it to end where I want it to, I have to read through the whole thing and cut portions of it. (I did that a lot in the second chapter of TWC4, as mentioned in a previous post.) In the Christmas fic I did, also, there was going to be a brief scene in one chapter where Beth went shopping by herself, and as I wrote it Launchpad invited himself along and the "quick scene" took up the entire chapter. He also took over a pivotal scene in "High, Dry and Flooded" and said one single thing that changed the completely course of the remainder of the fic. And I couldn't stop him from doing it. (I mean, obviously I could have, but as I was writing I realized that it made the most sense to go that way. However I'd been planning the scene for YEARS already and never, ever planned on taking the scene - or the fic, or the series - in that direction.)

And finally in terms of character I like to talk to, I don't have one now but for quite some time it was Ryouga Hibiki. I used to use hiim to do MST3K stuff with. It was a lot of fun b/c it was all verbal sparring, and he was OOC (tremendously so - very surly and sarcastic, which I don't believe Ryouga is smart enouh to be) but OOOOH so fun. XD

Sex and the Single Girl

I've said it before and I'll just restate it up front: I keep the Webfoot Chronicles firmly PG. I'm not above a few minor hints and innuendos here and there but my rule isnt' even that all hanky-panky happens offscreen; my rule is, there is no hanky-panky. This was a conscious choice I made for myself many years ago, in part because it makes *me* more comfortable in general; *I* have an issue with thinking of the characters in the show in sexual situations.

However, I also decided some years ago that in order to really get to understand Beth - which was important to me - I needed to think out almost every aspect of her life, even the things that would not ever come up. To that end I've pondered a lot of her reactions to various situations - not everything by any means, that's not what I'm saying, only that sometimes I take the time to work out a hypothetical that occurs to me even though I know it won't be an issue in my fics, like religion (she's an atheist/agnostic), politics (conservative moderate but holds few strong opinions), and sex.

I've gone back and forth on posting about this subject, and if you read here regularly you may remember back in the summer when I went through a bit of playing with themes in a non-canon fic... The thing that keeps me from bringing it up, though, is my intention to keep TWC on approximately the same maturity level as the cartoon and not alienate people who feel the same way. It's weird to read stuff that, in terms of writing style is admittedly aimed at older readers (above middle school I'd say) but in terms of content is meant to be "family friendly", then go to a blog talking about the characters in adult-oriented situations. So I've avoided it.

However, I ended up doing that AU I posted about a few days ago, and as I mentioned in there, I crossed over into adult territory. There haven't been a lot of comments on it yet (and likely won't be) but I keep starting to explain the background, the differences, etc, why THIS Beth would make this choice and the other wouldn't, and it gets very long, too long for DeviantART. So I guess I'm finally going to make this post.

But, i'm going to be kind of weird and do the real content in the comments. Since there's no option, from what I can see, to do a text cut like you have in LiveJournal, this is sort of my best option both to save on the length of this post (too late) and to allow any readers who really don't want to know this stuff to just avoid it. For those of you guys, you can just rest assured, this subject matter really, truly will NEVER come up in TWC. I promise. :) ...That doesn't mean I will never again write another AU though. 9_9

Guess what I did all freakin' afternoon/night?

I wrote that story. I wrote that GOLDARNED story.

I wrote an 11K word story guys. Why can't I do that on TWC? (I'll tell you why, becuase this had no plot, this is just romance. I can crank that out no problem, TWC fics have action plots and those screw me up.)

I initially said I was writing it just for me, but I wrote so much that I feel like I should od something with it. I'm not sure what yet. If you are interested in reading this fic, please lemme know. I think it stands on its own, and I can fill in the blanks on it in an introduction/notes at the start, and I don't think it actually spoils the Christmas fic. And now I don't actually have to write the middle story. I mean, I might anyway, but I don't have to...

I think my main reason to write it would be because Candy is in it, and though she's in the one I just did too she has a much larger role in the middle fic. And when I wrote her scene in this one I realized that I love her.

But I also love Beth/LP romance and this is freaking FULL of that s***.

WAY too much thought

So I just got back from a mid-afternoon walk break and every so often when I go out on these I end up having a very productive fic idea ... thing. (I don't know, clearly all my writing ability is now gone, lol) Yesterday I tried to do some roughing out on acts 2 and 3 of "Those Daring McQuacks" and ended up playing out a few scenes (and realizing that some of the ones I've been wanting to write are going to have clunky motivation/dialogue and I'll have to do them really carefully... dangit). Today I went to move onto the fic that takes place after it, which is a Christmas fic, and which a few years ago (after I first had the idea) I created a fake "sequel" to. As in yes, I had a fanfic idea for my fanfic; non-canonical follow-up.

So in the end I started not thinking about the Christmas fic - which, btw, I have decided is going to be told in little vignettes, each titled after a Christmas song and each with a lyric from that song hidden inside it, it'll be a nice "Find the song!" game all through! :P But anyway - but instead about the sorta climactic scene in the fanfic-fanfic.

And that's when I got carried away.

First I put a bit too much thought into the ending (instead of how I was going to GET to the ending); then I thought "well, kinda too bad it's NC even in my universe, since if this DID happen, obviously THIS would..." And then I started plotting out the SECOND sequel.

And heck if it's not really goooood >_< So here I am - wanting to write that third fic in a trio that has not been started, without any context at all, on an AU of my own AU; AND, if I do it, even though it is unofficial it will still regardless pretty much take all the wind out of hte sails of what I *actually* have planned for the remainder of the series. D: But I really want to write it out ;_; If I had time and could get away with it I'd write it for ME, but I really like to show things to people so I'd prefer to use my limited free time to actually write things I intend to show to others.

Baawwwwww. Let's all cry a river for Rebecca. ^_^;; All this is really a nice sign that I've been writing this series without real resolution for TOO DARN LONG. (You know how long? 16 years, that's how long. YEAH. TOO LONG, BABY.)

If you want details and by details I mean MASSIVE SPOILERS, you can leave a comment requesting them, and I'll either reply in the comments or just send you an email, whichever you'd prefer.

BED

I wish I went to bed earlier than 11pm most nights, instead of after it. It's just that I want to get things done! And I have no time except from about 9-11 pm!

I'm trying to finish up the first chapter of Act II of TWC3 (wow... anyway). I should have it finished by the end of the week - actually I'm hoping by tomorrow. That's pretty good considering it took me a month to get started on it! The chapter has ended up just sort of coming, since this weekend. Nice. I wish they all flowed like that. :P

I haven't mentioned this but this particular fic is about two things. One of them is obvious: Quackerjack. That's the plot. That's totally and definitely the plot.

But there is another plot that, to me, is the "real" one and I'm embarrassed to admit it but I think I probably should. But it's a spoiler so I won't say it here. I'll leave a comment. Then if you want to know, you can read the comments. *nodnod* Secret-like. Did you get the impression that we are whispering while reading this? Haha, that's what it seemed like to me.

Anyway... comments have spoilers. Avoid if you want to wait for the fic to be finished. My realistic (not optimistic but not very pessimistic either) estimate is that it'll be finished around August or September this year, if I can post two chapters per month between now and then. Since I also want to work on "Those Daring McQuacks in Their Flying Machines" i might not keep that pace, but I'll try!

Btw, should I post a preview of "Flying Machines" here? I mean, the stuff that I haven't posted yet on FF.net? Or should I just let that go?

Music Post!

I don't have much time lately since I'm usually either drawing or at work while I'm on the computer, buuuut I've been wanting to make a post with some music links.

I also need to reply to the comments I got on my last post but that'll come later. :)

Sadly this is a very limited Music Post, with only one song... Way back when I was working retail in the mall this song was on one of our store albums. I liked it and as one often does, tried to think of things to associate it to. I ended up sort of thinking that it fit for Beth, rather late in the series, as she begins to reconsider her love life. No - it's really not perfect - I'm not at a point where I'm radically changing her character.

It's just the statement "I am so different than before"; I take the song as someone contemplating if they'll fall in love again and find someone, and whether it will go well since they've changed and matured. Down the road, this applies to Beth. Ignore the visuals, I just went with the first Youtube video I found. ;D If nothing else - it's a pretty song. ^_^

Double-Post With the Most

I dunno why it is but it's like, if I actually post here, a lot of times I end up DOUBLE-posting. Haha.

So who's up for some over-PG-rated talk? No? You may leave, sir!

To clarify though I'm not about to get smutty. Just some musing on the kind of fic I usually write, and the fact that I don't generally go above a PG rating... even though occasionally I am tempted. *G*

So to be honest, when it comes to sex/adult situations, my rating is kept low due to my own... squidginess with the subject matter. I have never really felt comfortable writing sexy duck stuff, or reading it, to be perfectly honest. I won't turn it down when it's a friend that has written it but I have to put myself into another mindset to do it, and I won't ever seek it out from someone I don't know. It's just not my bag (slash, het, crack pairing, whatever - it doesn't matter, I just don't go beyond PG, a little innuendo. I'll do a "fade to black" and that's about as far as I actively am interested in).

However, I'll admit that I do occasionally find that as i'm writing a scene I have to really, really struggle to keep it... well, "clean". I'm not talking about characters stripping or anything like that but just the undertones. There's a scene in TWC1, when Beth finds out that Drake and LP live in the same house, and there just was no way that I couldn't write it as if she thinks she's discovered that they're a gay couple. She's like, subtly disappointed, right? Yeah. I couldn't bring myself to *say* it but neither could I not write it. To me it was REALLY obvious she'd jump to that conclusion. :D

Likewise, in the chapter of TWC3 that I just posted this evening, LP and Beth have this super-awkward conversation about how she really wants a family but she's never even had a boyfriend; I was trying very hard as I wrote it to not make it obvious that she was really confessing to him that she was a virgin. I mean, if she's never had a boyfriend, DUH, but you know, in a cartoon universe that's not an issue. *G* But that just became the subtext of the scene, and made it about ten times more awkward. These are things that I would assume will likely be more obvious than I thought they were as I wrote them, which means ... they're probably pretty bad. ^^;

The last subject is the topic of actual sexuality, which - well, if I shy away from general innuendo, you'd have to guess that I avoid sexuality like the plague. And I do, but honestly, it's not like it never crosses my mind. One thing about Beth is that she isn't exactly physically demonstrative, but when she hugs someone, they STAY hugged if you know what I mean. You probably don't. :D She's generally never aware of how her actions or things she says come across, and especially not at first, so when Beth hugs someone she gives it her all. She like really, REALLY hugs them. Not in a crushing way but in this way where she presses her entire upper body against them and kind of nestles her head into their shoulder. Drake finds it really uncomfortable but LP finds it really intimate and it gets to him immediately.

From there I end up finding myself writing him just... thinking about touching her, wanting to be in contact with her, putting his hand on her back while he hugs her and just considering the shape of her; these are all actually very sensual and to a certain degree sexual things.

The farthest I'd ever be willing to go in terms of writing a DWD fic would be PG-13. I don't think I could ever write much more than some heavy smooching scenes and then the definite implication of the characters staying the night together... and even that... well it'll never happen in the "official" universe of my fics. (Especially 'cause I'd be selling out; I think Beth is the wait-until-marriage type for certain.)

And I have a lot of trouble writing kissing scenes and the like because I either under-describe or over-describe it; and because I'm genuinely afraid of making it too sexy, or possibly laughably too sexy. ;) Every so often I get it into my head to write one of these and I never do, but today's been one of those days where the whole idea won't stop floating around in there. So, there's the inspiration for this post. *G*

How do the people reading feel about "adult-oriented" material? I know how a couple of people following this blog feel, but offer anyone who'd like the opportunity to reply or weigh in. :)

When you can't wake up in the morning, 'cause your bed lies vacant at night

So, everyone who actively follows me here is on DeviantART, but there might be some pop-ins from time to time... I dunno... just in case, I'm posting this here too. :)

Basically, there's a "10 Things About Your OC" meme that floats around and resurfaces from time to time. I did one for Beth back in October, and then everyone else did cooler ones for their OCs and I felt inadequate, so I've finally gone back and done a second one. *G* I think the only reason I felt inadequate was because I couldn't think of many things that hadn't already been mentioned in fics (mostly in All About Elizabeth, which is full to the brim of Beth's little quirks and secrets) so I felt like a lot of what I DID include was either too short to be interesting, or else just plain uninteresting.

Either way, I didn't post the original here so I'm gonna rectify that, and throw in my "Round 2" for good measure. This one is, I think, a little more engaging.

The first ten:

1. Despite constantly repeating that since her middle name, Marilynn, has two "n"s and therefore she isn't named after Marilyn Monroe, she actually is. Her parents are both film buffs and named all their children after classic movie stars; Beth is named for Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.

2. Her birthday is in July. The date has never been specified, but it's sometime in the second half of the month.

3. She thinks math humor is hilarious.

4. She comes from a science and math background but is not at all mechanically-inclined; she gets the equation and formula parts but not the engineering stuff at all. She could probably kick some butt doing chemically-related stuff for Darkwing but he's more gadget-oriented and she is NOT.

5. She has a long, long list of things she's afraid of, many of which are animals/creepy-crawlies (spiders, bugs, monkeys, etc) and the rest of which are experiences. As a friend of mine put it, she's "afraid of everything" and hates to take risks.

6. She will forgive anyone anything if she gets a good enough explanation, no matter how many times a person has done the same thing to her over and over. There is no "last chance" with Beth.

7. She is a decent singer, a bad actress (and a pretty awful liar), and a godawful dancer.

8. She used to wear her hair short as a little girl, but grew it out after she noticed how much her mother enjoyed styling her older sister's hair.

9. She has contacts but dislikes using them, partly because of the way they feel but mostly because she uses her glasses as a kind of safety device to hide behind.

10. She got really into the idea of actually inventing time travel for a little while in the 80s.



Next ten:

11. She will read anything she can get her hands on. She doesn't really have a favourite genre, though in terms of fiction she prefers classical literature if she can get it; she doesn't like standard "Supermarket Checkout" novels but she'll read them if nothing else is around. The only things she won't read are horror, like Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, Peter Straub, etc.

12. She actually doesn't get a lot of pop culture references, especially from the 70s/early 80s (when she was younger), because her parents didn't let her watch much television. She has since caught up on a few things, but she's still kind of ignorant of a lot of it, so sometimes references will go over her head.

13. One of the things she got into as a kid was Monty Python, although she was unaware of how ribald they sometimes got since she'd only heard their albums and not seen their TV shows. Once she did and she saw some of the racier material, she was a little put off.

14. Related to #13, she's kind of a prude. XD

15. She has really messy handwriting. This has been sort of hinted at in my fics but I've never stated it outright. Especially when she does something in a hurry, you can hardly read it. Drake finds this exasperating since it can slow him down; Launchpad likes to tease her about it.

16. She will never, never, ever be a superhero (or villain for that matter) because she doesn't like being involved in the action. On the rare occasions she has been involved, she's really not enjoyed it. However she will do whatever Darkwing or Launchpad ask her to do, so if one of them asks for her help, she'll provide it.

17. Her relationship with Drake actually gets very complicated since it's almost completely unstated. He does end up liking her, but still gets exasperated with her. However as time goes on he's increasingly fond of her and in the end sort of comes to see her as a sister. A truly exasperating sister he just wants to shake sometimes, but then again, most siblings seem to inspire that kind of thing. *G* But as is said, he never tells Beth he feels this way, so there's always a wall of misunderstanding between them.

18. She was almost entirely unaware of the Supervillains in St. Canard before she met Drake and Launchpad. She wasn't really much aware of Darkwing, either. (Oddly enough she knows all about Gizmoduck.) She knew of Bushroot, the Liquidator, and Negaduck but that was all. Mostly this is because she still doesn't watch much TV and when she reads the news she flips around to what interests her. She was interested in Bushroot's story because she almost joined the botany/biology department at St. Canard U. Liquidator couldn't be avoided after he turned all the water hard, and Negaduck... well, everyone knows Negaduck. She did NOT know much about the Fearsome Five because she was out of the city when they took over, and when she came back she only picked up the basics.

19. The OC she'd get along best with in Darkwing fandom is Ariana McCawber (DisneyPsycho's character). They did meet and hit it off but because of spoilers they don't hang out now.

20. Beth finds it very hard to believe in anything she can't see and explain. I haven't ever thought of religion for her but I suppose if I did, she might be an atheist or most likely an agnostic. As it is she can't believe in magic, ghosts, or unexplainable phenomena and she has a very hard time when confronted with these things.

PS: I've been wanting to do a "Tips for Drawing Beth" post for a while now (which is kind of a joke b/c *I* don't even draw her consistently, lol) so I might do.

And it's you I need to show

So, for lack of a better topic to post about tonight, I thought I would copy DeathByMarshmallows and do a music/soundtrack post.

First though I'll pimp out DBM's blog, right here, 'cause I follow it and she updates fairly often and she's cool, yo. ;D

Moving on - so what I do is, I keep a "Soundtrack" playlist in iTunes and I don't have it organized thematically or anything. Matter of fact it doesn't even contain all my soundtrack songs, but it's got a fair share... all the ones I actually own, anyway. Then there are the ones that have just popped up over the years when I've heard them on the radio, or whatever. Naturally, I don't have iTunes on the computer I'm currently on, so I don't have that playlist. But here's a selection that doesn't cover everything but gives an idea!

Fic-specific - these are nearly all later fics; unfortunately I don't have song inspiration for the earlier ones. :P
- TWC4:
"Strange Magic" by ELO, which is not a Morgana/Drake song as you might think but instead is a scene inspiration for part of this fic, hopefully to be rewritten in 2011. The scene in question doesn't exist in the original version.

- High, Dry, and Flooded:
"That Kind of Love" by Alison Krauss - this is one of my (many) songs for Beth that is perhaps not as tragic/sad/one-sided as I make it sound, but the song still carries that tone for me, so this one plugs in nicely to the scene I want it to go with.
"Love Stinks" by the J. Geils Band is a sort of thematic relation to much of the series, but it's directly referenced in this one so it goes here.

- All About Elizabeth:
This one has more than nearly any other, so naturally I have trouble remembering them all. A lot are from the 80s, since a lot of the fic takes place in flashbacks.
The main one that comes to mind is "Hey Mickey", for a crush that Beth has on a football player. ;D
A non-80s one that I associate with this fic also is "Last Dance with Mary Jane" by Tom Petty, just for this line: "Tired of screwin' up/Tired of goin' down/Tired of myself/Tired of this town". Yes, I am not kind to Beth in most of my song choices. ^_^;;
Towards the end, "I Believe" by Chris Isaak is a great, great song. Peppy, upbeat, and totally cynical about love. This is Beth putting her life back together.

- The House on Avian Way:
The entire soundtrack of "Beetlejuice" is the soundtrack of this fic. I can't go into it more than that. Well, I could - I actually have tracks that match up to specific scenes - but there's no point if you don't have the soundtrack sitting in front of you. *G*

- Untitled Christmas fic:
I have a ton of Christmas songs on my playlist for a fic I'm intending to write (started it in 2007. Maybe this year.:P) This includes "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" by Dean Martin, "Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas" by The Eels, and more than anything, "Last Christmas" by Wham. That song, to me, is just a Beth song anyway. But I need to stop giving this girl sad heartbroken songs!

I have a Beth/LP playlist of sorts, and a few Beth songs in general, but I think I'll save them for another post. I know there are very few songs here but I kind of talked so much about them, I took up enough space! *G* Now I'm just going to listen to "I Believe" because I forgot how awesome that guitar is. Chris Isaak is so badass rockabilly. I love him so much. :D

I believe in lovers walking side by side
I believe that someday I'll be satisfied
I believe the angels listen and God hears us pray
And I believe in a beautiful day
Yeah, I believe it's gonna work out okay
But not for me...
And not for you.

I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe...

I is getting a commission done

I was going to write "I can has commission" and then I thought, man, that is so played. So 2008. Right?

Anyway! I'm splurging for myself because I'm having a crappy time of things and are from my stories makes me happy. So I'm commissioning a couple of scenes illustrated from my fics, by Canti550, and it's gonna be awesome.

The only problem is that I don't actually know what scenes I want done. *headdesk*

I have mostly figured out what fic I want them from, at least one of them anyway; but... I thought I had picked one out yesterday, then I went to find the chapter it was in and decided it wasn't the right one. So I decided on a different one from the same fic and all was well until today when I read over it and thought Oh, no. Too heavy. ARGH. So I'm going back to the first one and thinking maybe that is the better idea, only I'm not sure how it would be distilled.

Well I guess I can leave that up to the artist; I don't have to plan this stuff out for her, do I? ;)

For the record, the fic is "High, Dry, and Flooded" if you're among those who have read it. I guess I'll go with my original pick for the first one and then figure out my second. Does anyone have any suggestions for something they'd like to see Canti550 illustrate? I'm a little overwhelmed seeing as how I have about 15 fics in this stupid series. :P I know it's totally up to me, but I'll be happy to consider suggestions! Also since I'm looking for a Beth/LP scene for my first one, the second one doesn't need to be themed that way, so anything would be good...

Spoiler-free

So, lately I've been picking up some new readership with my rewrites. Which I don't think I ever really expected would happen.

So just to be inclusive I'm going to make a new tag for this blog, either "spoiler-free" or "spoilers", and use it as appropriate to indicate what is and is not safe for new readers. Because I give stuff away all over this blog. XD

I'm just not sure yet what would be better, as in, "quicker".

Characterization notes

Ugh, I have had writer's block the past couple of weeks. Yeah, I know, *again*. Well, in this case it's one of those things where I am not even thinking about writing as much so I can't pull myself together to DO it when I have the time. I did manage to outline my ideas for the last chapter of act II of TWC1, though.

Since the last stuff I posted (and really, practically the last stuff I worked on) was LP-heavy, this is a good time to ramble about my characterization of LP! (uh-huh, sure.) I've never made it any secret at all that I'm a big fan of LP's. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I'm able to write him or anything. *G* Out of all the characters of this show I think I've always been weakest at writing Launchpad... There are a few reasons for this, I've decided over the past few months.

A big reason is because of the disconnect between "Darkwing" Launchpad and "DuckTales" Launchpad. I mean essentially there really are two Launchpads, with the earlier one being the more active one and the later one being much more reduced in role and scope. LP was always comic relief and always kind of good-naturedly dumb, but he had a much more active role in "DuckTales". DWD's Launchpad is a more passive character, often there primarily to provide a punchline more than play an active role in the crimefighting. They definitely stepped outside of that limitation quite often - not only in eps like "Water Way to Go" when LP gets to be the main hero or stuff like that, but just in general at times LP contributed more. But ultimately the character was not the same as on "DuckTales", he was kind of domesticated.

Don't get me wrong; I don't care at all. :D But it made it harder for me to write him, especially with any real sense of personalitiy. My liking for LP didn't translate into deepening him or revitalizing him as a heroic type or anything, it kind of translated as me thinking he was a great guy and would be a great boyfriend (to be honest: I never wanted him to be MY boyfriend. I have Ryouga for that, thanks) and so I just wrote him as Mr. Great Boyfriend. Which is not really fair to LP because it just, ultimately further reduces him.

I also made the huuuuge, but understandable given the age I was in, mistake of injecting the early stories with a healthy dose of angst. Did I say "healthy"? I'm not sure that's the right word for it. ;D It's excessive. I was young. A lot of the stuff that I was writing about was the sort of thing actually going around in my social circles (at least the self-pity and emo stuff, if not the actual events) but that doesn't make it less annoying to read. *G* Somewhere after "The Bride Wore Black" even I was sick of it and I took a vow: I was not going to write ANY more angst if I could help it. Not unless it actually fit the story and character, in any case! And in the past 11 years I've pretty much stuck by that, good for me. :)

So in revisiting these early stories, I'm trying to stick to that vow again. (as we can see, I apparently have decided it's VERY necessary to the plot in AAE, as it's laid on thick and heavy.) I've wanted for a while to improve on my take on Launchpad - he deserves more than just "Beth's would-be boyfriend". I've never even given a fully satisfactory reason as to why he fell for her in the first place. Not only that, but he's barely even Darkwing's sidekick in these stories, so I want to get him at least back up to THAT status.

Which basically means reinventing how I see him, let alone how I write him. It was about six or so months ago that I started realizing I write him as a very, VERY passive character. I'm infrequently "in his head" and when I am, it's usually in response to something someone else is doing rather than him doing anything. So I gave him more action in "High, Dry, and Flooded" - more sidekick action in particular - which was a good start. This attempt at breaking out of the "passive" role also led to me surprising myself by writing his confession to Beth at the end of that story. In the five ore more years I had been planning that fic, that scene was NEVER in the outline. Then about two weeks before I wrote it, it popped into my head. Surprise! ;D And it was totally right, and I never saw it coming.

It's been similar attempts at getting "into his head" in TWC1, perhaps to varying degrees of success. This is sort of my big chance to not only give him a bit more depth, but to in fact decide just HOW I want to present him in these fics. I can essentially start over. I mean, I know it's not going to be very different from what I've been writing lately, but I can lay down a more concrete base to work with.

I want to give him a few more layers, and as with any other character I really care for (and feel for) that means I want him to have some low points too. I want him to get a little irritated, act a little thoughtlessly, generally be wrong some of the time. I do believe that Launchpad is a sweet guy who couldn't be mean if he were being paid to be so; doesn't mean he can't occasionally say or do the wrong thing without realizing it. I don't know exactly how all this will come out, but we'll see. :)

In terms of character traits... well, for one, I don't tend to go with people who say that they think LP is "smarter than he lets on". I'll agree that he seems a bit dimmer than he did on "DuckTales", but I'd rather just write somewhere in between there than speculate that maybe he plays it dumb to keep DW's ego happy. I don't see any evidence of that, I think they just tweaked the character for a show that was based more in comedy than DT had been. LP is... um... not a thinker. So what? I like 'em big and dumb. (Once again, we have Ryouga for evidence.) ^_~ Nah, but seriously, I tend to like characters the way they are - flaws and all. If a character I like has a negative trait I rarely see it as character assassination, unless I think it's too played up at that character's expense (like Joxer on "Xena: Warrior Princess", don't even get me STARTED).

The brief, cartoony, choppy feel of the early stories allowed for a certain suspension of disbelief as regards LP falling for Beth. We may never know WHY, exactly, but it happened and it's established and we'll just go with that, right? Fine... except that I don't write that way anymore. That's why in the end I need to flesh it out. I need to think of the characters as *characters* instead of shadows, and I need a reason why LP would fall for this girl, a girl who thinks of herself as invisible and does a good job of convincing the rest of the world of it, too. I've no doubt that he'd be friendly with her, start up a conversation, find her pleasant enough, but fall in love? Why?

I've got reasons, finally. I hope I'll eventually get to them. For now I'll say, in the course of TWC1, you may be wondering if he's actually falling for her yet. Nope. Not within this story. There may be a little more than he's letting on to himself... maybe... but right now they're both just forging a tenuous friendship. Look for developments in fics to come, however.... IF I ever manage to write 'em. :P