So, I don't do Twitter, and I haven't really felt a need to. HOWEVER, today I realized I could set up a nice small account for this fic series and just use it for update announcements and things. I mean, I love having this blog and I think I make pretty decent use of it (Well, I mean to use it MORE than I do, but at least I use it); but it's hard to remember to check blogs if you don't have a "friends list" feed page, which not everyone is able to have, so a Twitter account could send out announcements when I've updated a fic or the blog or something else along those lines.
Then again, though, I'm not sure if it would just be overkill. After all I only have 7 people following this blog and I'm not sure how many people actually read the fics due to how time-consuming they are. So would it be worthwhile? I guess it couldn't *hurt* anyway...
I'd love comments/thoughts if anyone has them?
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Three happy chappies in snappy sarapes
Every so often I get "The Three Caballeros" stuck in my head and I really mean STUCK. :P Actually I think I'm going to go watch it if I can find it on YouTube. Just 'cause. I have such a mad crush on Jose Carioca and was sort of shocked to find out that so does half of deviantART, but I digress...
So! Anyway, moving on, and getting back to the point of my single-minded blog; if you've been following TWC3 you know I've recently posted the 8th chapter out of 9. I'm working on the 9th chapter and I already have a deleted scene :P It's a scene I like, but it makes the chapter too long and it's not necessary for the fic as a whole to make sense. So I'm removing it and putting it up here, but I will note that I consider it canon (it was in ALL my earlier outlines, sigh, I hated taking it out but eh. It's genuinely expendable, just something I wanted but isn't needed).
I'm not spoiling anything when I give the context, because - assuming you've read the second-to-last chapter of the fic, you already know how the action plot wraps up. Therefore, this doesn't really give anything away. However, it's really just fluff for the sake of fluff... a bit of schmoopy LP/Beth stuff, yet again. So I guess this is the right place for it. ^_~
***
He picked up the phone, dialed, and then hung up before it rang. What was the best way to do this? Should he be straightforward and get right to it, or make small talk for a while to play it down? Small talk, he decided. That way she'd feel like it wasn't the *only* reason he was calling her. Which it wasn't, he amended to himself hastily. He'd have called her anyway - or, well, he *should* get into the habit of calling her. He'd call her tomorrow to let her know that she should come in, and then keep talking to her after telling her. Perfect.
He dialed again and let it ring.
"Bindler's Hardware, how can I help you." She picked up midway through the second ring, and he thought she sounded tired or maybe just unhappy. He remembered the five-minute rule just before he spoke.
"Uh, hey Beth, it's Launchpad." Maybe he *should* get right to the point, though he really didn't want to.
"Oh, hi!" she said, infinitely more enthusiastic, but he thought he could still detect an edge of flatness to her voice. "Everything okay?"
"Oh, sure, yeah, fine," he said; so much for getting right to the point. "How're things goin' there?"
There was a brief hesitation, and then she said, "Yeah, just fine too... Fine... Henny just got in, actually, so just a few more hours and my shift's done for the day."
"I thought you closed on Thursdays?"
"Yeah, I - I usually do," she said, then with amusement in her voice added, "and I can't believe you remember that."
"Oh yeah, well... just stuck with me, I guess," he said. He felt a little embarrassed now that she'd made a thing out of it, but it wasn't anything, really... It was just easier to know when Beth was in the store and when she wasn't, so that he didn't get stuck dealing only with Henny if he needed to drop by for something.
"Okay - well no problem, just... anyway she's had me close a few times already this week so I asked her to let me have this evening off. That way I can get over there a little earlier, have some time to unwind before I take on Gos, things like that." She laughed.
"Uh, yeah," he said, forcing a laugh as well. "So she letcha switch? Well that's good! After what you were sayin' yesterday it seemed like she might not do stuff like that... So I guess things aren't all that bad!" He wasn't stalling, he was focusing on the positive.
Unfortunately Beth gave a sigh. "Actually now that you mention it..." She lowered her voice. "You'd think I'd asked for an extra week of paid vacation or something. I mean - she has me switch shifts with her *all the time*, something like four times just this month, but heaven forbid *I* ask for something. And I'd *better* not refuse when she needs an evening or a morning free, because if I do, of *course* it's not because I have plans or it's the last minute, it's obviously because I just want to be a jerk. You know-" She cut herself off and sighed again. "I'm sorry, Launchpad, you don't want to hear this. I shouldn't even be saying these things. I just - I'm kind of stressed out right now, and -"
"Hey, you can *always* tell me stuff. I'm here to listen! Even if you just need to vent for, like, a half an hour straight."
There was a sound in the background of her end of the line then, something kind of like a foghorn. Launchpad listened closely but couldn't figure out what it was. "Uh - did somethin' just happen...?"
In a strained voice, Beth said, "That was Henny. I have two minutes left."
"Ah. Yeah, right. Sorry, well... uh... I guess I'll get to the point, then..." He went over a few options of how to lead into the statement quickly in his head, and began, "Well, see, here's the thing-"
"You don't want me to come babysit tonight, do you," she said flatly.
He felt incredibly guilty. "Uh, how'd ya guess?" he asked, hoping if he stayed cheerful he could make it seem unimportant.
She didn't buy it. "Your voice - you obviously had bad news, and you know, that's just the kind of week it's been." She caught herself. "It's not a big deal actually, I'm just being dramatic... You know how it is, one little thing just to validate feeling bad about the big things. Really, I can use another evening off to get some rest."
"Yeah! Get to bed early or - y'know, go out to a movie or somethin'!" Should he offer to take her out to a movie? Nah, she probably wouldn't know how to take that. He had another idea, and this one made more sense. "Y'know, you should come over sometime, but *not* to babysit. Just come on by an' hang out-"
"Hang on." She turned her head away from the phone or something, just enough so that she wasn't shouting directly into the receiver when she said, "Just a *minute*, okay?! I'm ALMOST DONE!"
"Uh, sorry -"
"Don't worry, it's not you... I'm sorry, I probably made you go deaf. She's been like this all *week*." Beth sounded slightly desperate at the end of the last sentence. "What were you saying?"
"Oh, you should just come over and we can hang out-"
Henny yelled in the background again, and this time Launchpad could hear her clearly. Beth yelled back almost immediately, and he was so surprised by the whole thing that he just kept on talking, which resulted in the three of them going all together at once:
"*Store rules are in place for a reason, Beth, an' five minutes means five minutes!*"
"I am NEARLY DONE, Henny, and I still have thirty-five seconds left!"
"-it's been a while, and I miss you!"
He fell silent. Beth and Henny did not, and he got to hear Henny sniping about the exact time by her watch since the phone had started ringing, and Beth started saying into the phone "So anyway *Dad*, thanks for letting me know about Mom, I hope she's out of the hospital soon! Yes, I'll call as soon as I can get home, unfortunately my *manager* feels I spend too much time on the phone!"
Wow. This was crazy.
Henny's voice faded away and Beth took a moment to recover before saying, in a shaky voice, "I am *so sorry.*"
"No, don't be. That sounds *awful*."
"You have no idea," she said; her voice sounded small.
He was at a loss; words weren't his strong suit in moments like these, but she wasn't there in the room with him, so words were all he had to offer. "Your mom's not really in the hospital, is she?"
Beth laughed sharply. "No, of course not. God, wouldn't that just be the topper? No, I just - was being stupid. I wanted her to leave me alone."
"Don't get real upset, okay? You're gettin' out soon, maybe spend the afternoon lookin' at the want ads and see if you can find another place that's hiring."
"Yeah, right." She took a long breath and let it out. "Okay, I should go now or she'll nail me for being over by 47 seconds. Thanks for calling me."
"No problemo. I'll call tomorrow too, okay?"
She paused, just for the briefest second. "Do - do you want to cancel tomorrow night too?"
"Huh? NO! No, I'll just call to check in! We'll DEFINITELy see you tomorrow night!"
"Oh good... okay. Thanks." She sounded deeply relieved. "Um, geez, I should've asked this before now, but is Drake OK?"
"Oh yeah - fine, no, he just... doctor said, to be on the safe side, y'know. Stomach bugs can spread real quick."
"Stomach..." She mused slightly, but didn't finish. Instead she said, "I - I'm not going to ask if you've had a chance to... talk to him yet, about what I was saying... I mean... if you have, well, tell me tomorrow, okay?"
"Oh yeah. You bet. Actually with him bein' sick and all-"
"Right. Well, tomorrow. Thanks again for calling."
When they'd both hung up, he wondered where exactly "I miss you" had come from.
So! Anyway, moving on, and getting back to the point of my single-minded blog; if you've been following TWC3 you know I've recently posted the 8th chapter out of 9. I'm working on the 9th chapter and I already have a deleted scene :P It's a scene I like, but it makes the chapter too long and it's not necessary for the fic as a whole to make sense. So I'm removing it and putting it up here, but I will note that I consider it canon (it was in ALL my earlier outlines, sigh, I hated taking it out but eh. It's genuinely expendable, just something I wanted but isn't needed).
I'm not spoiling anything when I give the context, because - assuming you've read the second-to-last chapter of the fic, you already know how the action plot wraps up. Therefore, this doesn't really give anything away. However, it's really just fluff for the sake of fluff... a bit of schmoopy LP/Beth stuff, yet again. So I guess this is the right place for it. ^_~
***
He picked up the phone, dialed, and then hung up before it rang. What was the best way to do this? Should he be straightforward and get right to it, or make small talk for a while to play it down? Small talk, he decided. That way she'd feel like it wasn't the *only* reason he was calling her. Which it wasn't, he amended to himself hastily. He'd have called her anyway - or, well, he *should* get into the habit of calling her. He'd call her tomorrow to let her know that she should come in, and then keep talking to her after telling her. Perfect.
He dialed again and let it ring.
"Bindler's Hardware, how can I help you." She picked up midway through the second ring, and he thought she sounded tired or maybe just unhappy. He remembered the five-minute rule just before he spoke.
"Uh, hey Beth, it's Launchpad." Maybe he *should* get right to the point, though he really didn't want to.
"Oh, hi!" she said, infinitely more enthusiastic, but he thought he could still detect an edge of flatness to her voice. "Everything okay?"
"Oh, sure, yeah, fine," he said; so much for getting right to the point. "How're things goin' there?"
There was a brief hesitation, and then she said, "Yeah, just fine too... Fine... Henny just got in, actually, so just a few more hours and my shift's done for the day."
"I thought you closed on Thursdays?"
"Yeah, I - I usually do," she said, then with amusement in her voice added, "and I can't believe you remember that."
"Oh yeah, well... just stuck with me, I guess," he said. He felt a little embarrassed now that she'd made a thing out of it, but it wasn't anything, really... It was just easier to know when Beth was in the store and when she wasn't, so that he didn't get stuck dealing only with Henny if he needed to drop by for something.
"Okay - well no problem, just... anyway she's had me close a few times already this week so I asked her to let me have this evening off. That way I can get over there a little earlier, have some time to unwind before I take on Gos, things like that." She laughed.
"Uh, yeah," he said, forcing a laugh as well. "So she letcha switch? Well that's good! After what you were sayin' yesterday it seemed like she might not do stuff like that... So I guess things aren't all that bad!" He wasn't stalling, he was focusing on the positive.
Unfortunately Beth gave a sigh. "Actually now that you mention it..." She lowered her voice. "You'd think I'd asked for an extra week of paid vacation or something. I mean - she has me switch shifts with her *all the time*, something like four times just this month, but heaven forbid *I* ask for something. And I'd *better* not refuse when she needs an evening or a morning free, because if I do, of *course* it's not because I have plans or it's the last minute, it's obviously because I just want to be a jerk. You know-" She cut herself off and sighed again. "I'm sorry, Launchpad, you don't want to hear this. I shouldn't even be saying these things. I just - I'm kind of stressed out right now, and -"
"Hey, you can *always* tell me stuff. I'm here to listen! Even if you just need to vent for, like, a half an hour straight."
There was a sound in the background of her end of the line then, something kind of like a foghorn. Launchpad listened closely but couldn't figure out what it was. "Uh - did somethin' just happen...?"
In a strained voice, Beth said, "That was Henny. I have two minutes left."
"Ah. Yeah, right. Sorry, well... uh... I guess I'll get to the point, then..." He went over a few options of how to lead into the statement quickly in his head, and began, "Well, see, here's the thing-"
"You don't want me to come babysit tonight, do you," she said flatly.
He felt incredibly guilty. "Uh, how'd ya guess?" he asked, hoping if he stayed cheerful he could make it seem unimportant.
She didn't buy it. "Your voice - you obviously had bad news, and you know, that's just the kind of week it's been." She caught herself. "It's not a big deal actually, I'm just being dramatic... You know how it is, one little thing just to validate feeling bad about the big things. Really, I can use another evening off to get some rest."
"Yeah! Get to bed early or - y'know, go out to a movie or somethin'!" Should he offer to take her out to a movie? Nah, she probably wouldn't know how to take that. He had another idea, and this one made more sense. "Y'know, you should come over sometime, but *not* to babysit. Just come on by an' hang out-"
"Hang on." She turned her head away from the phone or something, just enough so that she wasn't shouting directly into the receiver when she said, "Just a *minute*, okay?! I'm ALMOST DONE!"
"Uh, sorry -"
"Don't worry, it's not you... I'm sorry, I probably made you go deaf. She's been like this all *week*." Beth sounded slightly desperate at the end of the last sentence. "What were you saying?"
"Oh, you should just come over and we can hang out-"
Henny yelled in the background again, and this time Launchpad could hear her clearly. Beth yelled back almost immediately, and he was so surprised by the whole thing that he just kept on talking, which resulted in the three of them going all together at once:
"*Store rules are in place for a reason, Beth, an' five minutes means five minutes!*"
"I am NEARLY DONE, Henny, and I still have thirty-five seconds left!"
"-it's been a while, and I miss you!"
He fell silent. Beth and Henny did not, and he got to hear Henny sniping about the exact time by her watch since the phone had started ringing, and Beth started saying into the phone "So anyway *Dad*, thanks for letting me know about Mom, I hope she's out of the hospital soon! Yes, I'll call as soon as I can get home, unfortunately my *manager* feels I spend too much time on the phone!"
Wow. This was crazy.
Henny's voice faded away and Beth took a moment to recover before saying, in a shaky voice, "I am *so sorry.*"
"No, don't be. That sounds *awful*."
"You have no idea," she said; her voice sounded small.
He was at a loss; words weren't his strong suit in moments like these, but she wasn't there in the room with him, so words were all he had to offer. "Your mom's not really in the hospital, is she?"
Beth laughed sharply. "No, of course not. God, wouldn't that just be the topper? No, I just - was being stupid. I wanted her to leave me alone."
"Don't get real upset, okay? You're gettin' out soon, maybe spend the afternoon lookin' at the want ads and see if you can find another place that's hiring."
"Yeah, right." She took a long breath and let it out. "Okay, I should go now or she'll nail me for being over by 47 seconds. Thanks for calling me."
"No problemo. I'll call tomorrow too, okay?"
She paused, just for the briefest second. "Do - do you want to cancel tomorrow night too?"
"Huh? NO! No, I'll just call to check in! We'll DEFINITELy see you tomorrow night!"
"Oh good... okay. Thanks." She sounded deeply relieved. "Um, geez, I should've asked this before now, but is Drake OK?"
"Oh yeah - fine, no, he just... doctor said, to be on the safe side, y'know. Stomach bugs can spread real quick."
"Stomach..." She mused slightly, but didn't finish. Instead she said, "I - I'm not going to ask if you've had a chance to... talk to him yet, about what I was saying... I mean... if you have, well, tell me tomorrow, okay?"
"Oh yeah. You bet. Actually with him bein' sick and all-"
"Right. Well, tomorrow. Thanks again for calling."
When they'd both hung up, he wondered where exactly "I miss you" had come from.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
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***.
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.
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.
Friday, July 29, 2011
On-Schedule
So! I actually managed to update TWC3 a second time this month! If I can get the last two chapters done on-schedule then we'll be done around the end of August/beginning of September :)
It's not up yet on AO3, but here's the FF.net link.
Since this is winding down, and I haven't done any chapter notes or much talking about the fic itself, I thought I'd make a post about... well, about the fic itself. :) I've whined a lot about how no one really seems to like this one - which is inaccurate, as I have had multiple people contact me via DA and so forth to say that they've started reading with this one, and they find it quite enjoyable. So what I'm really whining about is the lack of reviews on FF.net, when I think about it. Aaaand, whatever. I'll keep whining about that ON FF.net, because I can see how many hits the story gets so I know people are looking at it and I'm just choosing to be all guilt-pushy there, but I'll skip the whining elsewhere. I know you guys. We cool. :D
Oh, wow, that was a digression!
So to get back to what I was talking about, I haven't really posted much about this particular fic and what's gone into the rewrite. With TWC2 I did at least some partial listings of the things I'd changed from the original version, and now that TWC3 is winding down some, I thought it'd be fun to do the same with this one. I can be almost complete, too, since it's nearly over!
In a lot of ways this one is actually very similar to its progenitor: more than either of the others, I really used the original as an outline and just filled the details in more strongly. With TWC2, for instance, I had to change a number of the plot details to make them less hokey, or the order of the events to make them more understandable, etc. With this one, it's largely the same: the outline for both is:
I: Beth gets yelled at/humiliated by Drake and LP comes to her defense, and then she finds out about Drake being Darkwing;
II: Darkwing encounters Quackerjack, who uses his ray gun to minimize him (haha, I like that term), at which point DW gets away but LP and Gosalyn are struck by the change being more than just cosmetic;
III: Darkwing and Gos ditch Launchpad to fight Quackerjack, which they do and they win, and then at the end Beth... Well I can't say yet 'cause it's a spoiler. DUN-DUN-DUN!!! Okay, okay, you got me, I'll spill. She runs away with Negaduck and has his nega-babies. YEAH YOU HEARD ME!
Okay, so, aside from that minor point at the end which may possibly not be true, that's pretty straightforward. I ended up just doing each as 3-chapter acts instead of one chapter each. And I STILL could barely fit all the Beth stuff into the first act, man, even with three chapters :P I do go on and on! So now for the differences:
1. There NEEDED to be a lot more detail in the Beth section at the beginning, because initially Drake just was fed up with her babbling and snapped at her. I mean, it's simple and not fully OOC, but it did make him look like a gigantic jerk. And while Drake can be a gigantic jerk, there's a right way and a wrong way; and he needed to have a reason within his head that made him certain he was NOT being a gigantic jerk. At least not for no reason at all. :D I actually came up with the idea for the whole "nobody can be that BORING" etc while walking to work one day, about a year ago - it just clicked. I'd been sweating over rewriting the scene for MONTHS, not sure if I could make it actually work IC, and then it just fell together. This was also when I decided to really go and just *run* with the idea that DW would think Beth was a superhero, and this was his (flimsy, I admit) reason for letting her stick around and babysit when it wasn't really strictly necessary. So, all this actually took a lot of thought and in the original was way quicker and weaker.
2. In the same vein, I had to *really* punch up the confrontation between Drake and LP. I won't go into the details on it since that's not needed, but I did struggle to make it something that made sense for LP at this point, and it was a challenge. I'm still worried as to whether I pulled it off, though no one to date has told me I didn't. And, again, the discussion between Beth and LP afterwards was very much extended past the original. The idea of LP trying to "talk Beth up" to Drake started as my idea of a way to get him thinking of her more often and - since he ultimately falls for her himself - this might be the impetus to get him to look at her that way or that might just be the excuse he gives himself when he realizes he's doing that.
3. Beth's discovery of DW's secret identity was largely the same but I had to change some details, including why Gosalyn wasn't present (and it's an excuse to bring Honker into the series earlier! I wish I'd had a part for him in the rest of the fic) and just precisely how Beth stumbles onto it. I absolutely wanted her to stumble onto it, too, because as smart as she is, she doesn't think of unexpected things very often so although she probably would put two and two together EVENTUALLY, it wouldn't happen for quite some time. :)
4. I needed more for Launchpad to do in this fic (this is a theme in nearly all my rewrites; he needs more REAL screen time) and thus came the "Harv" sequence. In the original, Quackerjack dealt largely with just DW, though Launchpad did ultimately still rescue Darkwing after getting zapped by the ray. One thing missing in the rewrites: I have to admit that I loved all the Quackerjack and Mr. Banana Brain interactions that were in the original. I can't shoehorn them in unless they feel right, so there arent' nearly as many, and I kinda miss them. :)
5. Almost everything after Darkwing gets child-ized is pretty close to the original, just fleshed out; the phone conversation with Beth ended up a little longer than I intended it, but I think it was needed, because I wanted to show the ease that Beth and Launchpad have between themselves even if she's kind of resistant to it/doesn't realize it's there. I needed some kind of positive interaction between them that didn't involve angsting over Drake. ;) I also had to stick in some mounting tension with Henny, and LP really ought to encourage her to get a backbone, don't you think? In the nice, non-accusatory Launchpad style.
6. Played up the loneliness Launchpad feels when Gos and Darkwing only want to hang out with each other. I hadn't intended it to dovetail like that when I started out having him thinking about how he was kind of lonely in general (back in Act I), but it fit like a glove and was actually already in the original fic. Like I said, I just played it up.
7. The Darkwing and Gos caper is at once directly following the original fic (I'm even referencing it as I go, for the general structure and for content ideas to flesh out) and also incredibly different. Action is NOT MY THING. I'm not good at it. If this reads well, I'm lucky, because I really struggle with it. Things I want to address in the next chapter or two include why DW is acting like such a complete brat (there's a reason, it's not JUST that he actually is one :D), and of course how Gos is going to get free/how the good guys will win.
Finally, upcoming in the last chapter: How will Darkwing return to his normal age? Will Beth find out that Drake thinks she's a supervillain? Will she BECOME one??? What will Launchpad think when Darkwing gives his latest opinion on Beth? Will all of this actually be addressed? NO. :D Some of it will. There's a plot climax coming in Act III chapter 2, and then in the "aftermath" of chapter 3, we'll see the Beth and the Launchpad stuff come to a point. (Not the Beth/Launchpad stuff. Beth stuff and Launchpad stuff, and in some ways the two will meet.)
So in a sense I've always felt like it's not fair to have so much Beth in a story that doesn't really involve her, but in another sense, this is one of the most important stories in the first five so a lot HAS to happen. I hope you'll read on, good friends. :)
It's not up yet on AO3, but here's the FF.net link.
Since this is winding down, and I haven't done any chapter notes or much talking about the fic itself, I thought I'd make a post about... well, about the fic itself. :) I've whined a lot about how no one really seems to like this one - which is inaccurate, as I have had multiple people contact me via DA and so forth to say that they've started reading with this one, and they find it quite enjoyable. So what I'm really whining about is the lack of reviews on FF.net, when I think about it. Aaaand, whatever. I'll keep whining about that ON FF.net, because I can see how many hits the story gets so I know people are looking at it and I'm just choosing to be all guilt-pushy there, but I'll skip the whining elsewhere. I know you guys. We cool. :D
Oh, wow, that was a digression!
So to get back to what I was talking about, I haven't really posted much about this particular fic and what's gone into the rewrite. With TWC2 I did at least some partial listings of the things I'd changed from the original version, and now that TWC3 is winding down some, I thought it'd be fun to do the same with this one. I can be almost complete, too, since it's nearly over!
In a lot of ways this one is actually very similar to its progenitor: more than either of the others, I really used the original as an outline and just filled the details in more strongly. With TWC2, for instance, I had to change a number of the plot details to make them less hokey, or the order of the events to make them more understandable, etc. With this one, it's largely the same: the outline for both is:
I: Beth gets yelled at/humiliated by Drake and LP comes to her defense, and then she finds out about Drake being Darkwing;
II: Darkwing encounters Quackerjack, who uses his ray gun to minimize him (haha, I like that term), at which point DW gets away but LP and Gosalyn are struck by the change being more than just cosmetic;
III: Darkwing and Gos ditch Launchpad to fight Quackerjack, which they do and they win, and then at the end Beth... Well I can't say yet 'cause it's a spoiler. DUN-DUN-DUN!!! Okay, okay, you got me, I'll spill. She runs away with Negaduck and has his nega-babies. YEAH YOU HEARD ME!
Okay, so, aside from that minor point at the end which may possibly not be true, that's pretty straightforward. I ended up just doing each as 3-chapter acts instead of one chapter each. And I STILL could barely fit all the Beth stuff into the first act, man, even with three chapters :P I do go on and on! So now for the differences:
1. There NEEDED to be a lot more detail in the Beth section at the beginning, because initially Drake just was fed up with her babbling and snapped at her. I mean, it's simple and not fully OOC, but it did make him look like a gigantic jerk. And while Drake can be a gigantic jerk, there's a right way and a wrong way; and he needed to have a reason within his head that made him certain he was NOT being a gigantic jerk. At least not for no reason at all. :D I actually came up with the idea for the whole "nobody can be that BORING" etc while walking to work one day, about a year ago - it just clicked. I'd been sweating over rewriting the scene for MONTHS, not sure if I could make it actually work IC, and then it just fell together. This was also when I decided to really go and just *run* with the idea that DW would think Beth was a superhero, and this was his (flimsy, I admit) reason for letting her stick around and babysit when it wasn't really strictly necessary. So, all this actually took a lot of thought and in the original was way quicker and weaker.
2. In the same vein, I had to *really* punch up the confrontation between Drake and LP. I won't go into the details on it since that's not needed, but I did struggle to make it something that made sense for LP at this point, and it was a challenge. I'm still worried as to whether I pulled it off, though no one to date has told me I didn't. And, again, the discussion between Beth and LP afterwards was very much extended past the original. The idea of LP trying to "talk Beth up" to Drake started as my idea of a way to get him thinking of her more often and - since he ultimately falls for her himself - this might be the impetus to get him to look at her that way or that might just be the excuse he gives himself when he realizes he's doing that.
3. Beth's discovery of DW's secret identity was largely the same but I had to change some details, including why Gosalyn wasn't present (and it's an excuse to bring Honker into the series earlier! I wish I'd had a part for him in the rest of the fic) and just precisely how Beth stumbles onto it. I absolutely wanted her to stumble onto it, too, because as smart as she is, she doesn't think of unexpected things very often so although she probably would put two and two together EVENTUALLY, it wouldn't happen for quite some time. :)
4. I needed more for Launchpad to do in this fic (this is a theme in nearly all my rewrites; he needs more REAL screen time) and thus came the "Harv" sequence. In the original, Quackerjack dealt largely with just DW, though Launchpad did ultimately still rescue Darkwing after getting zapped by the ray. One thing missing in the rewrites: I have to admit that I loved all the Quackerjack and Mr. Banana Brain interactions that were in the original. I can't shoehorn them in unless they feel right, so there arent' nearly as many, and I kinda miss them. :)
5. Almost everything after Darkwing gets child-ized is pretty close to the original, just fleshed out; the phone conversation with Beth ended up a little longer than I intended it, but I think it was needed, because I wanted to show the ease that Beth and Launchpad have between themselves even if she's kind of resistant to it/doesn't realize it's there. I needed some kind of positive interaction between them that didn't involve angsting over Drake. ;) I also had to stick in some mounting tension with Henny, and LP really ought to encourage her to get a backbone, don't you think? In the nice, non-accusatory Launchpad style.
6. Played up the loneliness Launchpad feels when Gos and Darkwing only want to hang out with each other. I hadn't intended it to dovetail like that when I started out having him thinking about how he was kind of lonely in general (back in Act I), but it fit like a glove and was actually already in the original fic. Like I said, I just played it up.
7. The Darkwing and Gos caper is at once directly following the original fic (I'm even referencing it as I go, for the general structure and for content ideas to flesh out) and also incredibly different. Action is NOT MY THING. I'm not good at it. If this reads well, I'm lucky, because I really struggle with it. Things I want to address in the next chapter or two include why DW is acting like such a complete brat (there's a reason, it's not JUST that he actually is one :D), and of course how Gos is going to get free/how the good guys will win.
Finally, upcoming in the last chapter: How will Darkwing return to his normal age? Will Beth find out that Drake thinks she's a supervillain? Will she BECOME one??? What will Launchpad think when Darkwing gives his latest opinion on Beth? Will all of this actually be addressed? NO. :D Some of it will. There's a plot climax coming in Act III chapter 2, and then in the "aftermath" of chapter 3, we'll see the Beth and the Launchpad stuff come to a point. (Not the Beth/Launchpad stuff. Beth stuff and Launchpad stuff, and in some ways the two will meet.)
So in a sense I've always felt like it's not fair to have so much Beth in a story that doesn't really involve her, but in another sense, this is one of the most important stories in the first five so a lot HAS to happen. I hope you'll read on, good friends. :)
Sunday, July 17, 2011
News and Updates
1: I am sticky and gross. Our air conditioning is broken and appears to have been for most of the day but we did not notice until bedtime when we realized it was hotter than usual and tried turning the thermostat down to no avail. The fan is blowing outside but no cold air inside. STICKY AND GROSS!
2: Updated TWC3 yesterday; trying to make a schedule of finishing a chapter every two weeks here on out so I can be done at the start of September. (I'd hoped to be done in July but whatever) So I have three more chapters. So I thought I'd start tonight and didn't.
3: Good news though: I DID get the rough outline of the act done so at least I know what'll have to happen in each chapter. As usual I'm cramming way too much in at the end. Necessary for the pacing of the chapter breaks, maddening for the readers. :P Especially because, spoiler alert, the climax of the actual PLOT happens in the penultimate chapter. BOOOOOO! BAD STORYTELLING! *hides*
And that is all! Good night everyone!
2: Updated TWC3 yesterday; trying to make a schedule of finishing a chapter every two weeks here on out so I can be done at the start of September. (I'd hoped to be done in July but whatever) So I have three more chapters. So I thought I'd start tonight and didn't.
3: Good news though: I DID get the rough outline of the act done so at least I know what'll have to happen in each chapter. As usual I'm cramming way too much in at the end. Necessary for the pacing of the chapter breaks, maddening for the readers. :P Especially because, spoiler alert, the climax of the actual PLOT happens in the penultimate chapter. BOOOOOO! BAD STORYTELLING! *hides*
And that is all! Good night everyone!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Allow me a strange interlude
Okay, I need to take just one second to whine.
NOBODY likes TWC3. Man alive. Nobody's commenting, nobody's *reading*, I guess my best bet is to get this one over and done with and move on, and hope I can do a better job on TWC4. I wish someone would at least mention what I'm doing *wrong*, but... well, I guess if they're not reading it, there's not much they can say. ^_^;
I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me a bit, but you know, I'd also be untruthful if I said it was making me consider not writing anymore or anything. I just do wish I knew what was stinking up the room about it. Maybe the fact that it's a Quackerjack story with barely any Quackerjack? I dunno. :P
NOBODY likes TWC3. Man alive. Nobody's commenting, nobody's *reading*, I guess my best bet is to get this one over and done with and move on, and hope I can do a better job on TWC4. I wish someone would at least mention what I'm doing *wrong*, but... well, I guess if they're not reading it, there's not much they can say. ^_^;
I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me a bit, but you know, I'd also be untruthful if I said it was making me consider not writing anymore or anything. I just do wish I knew what was stinking up the room about it. Maybe the fact that it's a Quackerjack story with barely any Quackerjack? I dunno. :P
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