Second wind!

[iesika]

I bit the bullet, last night, and decided not to try keeping Close To Home (my Tim/Kon for scifibigbang ) canon-compliant. I'll probably introduce certain things (I'm keeping Kon with Cassie, when this starts, for example) but New Things keep causing me problems, and the time-line is confusing me sooo much. Kon took the wrong science class! Tim's comic is all out of order and intriguing/confusing! Will Bruce be back by spring? Will Tim and Dick have Resolved Their Issues? 

It felt like a huge load off my shoulders, actually, so I was able to sit down and spend a few hours working out a much better outline, with some changes, and dialog/notation for some of the more important scenes. I'm setting myself the rather ambitious but necessary goal of finishing a rough by the end of October, so that I can edit and also decide if I'm going to smush the whole thing together or actually leave it as three fics (this may come down to a time thing). The Ma Kent/Alfred still gets to be a side fic, though, either way.

None of the rest of this post is likely to make sense except to the two people who have read significant portions of the in-progress draft.

I've decided what to do with Cassie, finally. That's always the biggest challenge in a believable fic where one of the characters is already in a relationship. I didn't want to just ignore Cassie, and I didn't want to bastardize her, or Kon, so I went with the third option: I made everybody jerks! So now Cassie is a little tiny bit clingy and bitter but gets to be the unheard voice of reason, Kon is more than a little dense and way too trusting, and Tim is quietly manipulative and a little insane. Feel free to argue with my characterization, but I don't think I'm straying too far from the status quo, here. I'm now actually kind of looking forward to the confrontation I was dreading, but not as much as I'm looking forward to some of the Kon/ OC interactions coming up. I'm kind of fighting not to write this out of order, because I'm afraid I'll never get back to the mother's interrogation and the funeral if I let Kon skip ahead to being a Big Damned Hero. Except, for once, it won't be Kon being the hero...it will be Conner Kent.

I'm almost past the part of the story that's difficult and not as fun to write! Only one more infodump! After that, there will only be subtle clues in trickles, at least until the next major twist... And also wacky high school shenanigans! Unrequited crushes! Disapproving Superman! More Ma Kent! And a really awful school dance! Oh, and, you know, the plot. With the murders and the mystery and stuff.

I think I also need to sit down and determine exactly how many plot-lines and character arcs this thing is going to have.

ETA: I think I've got 12 sub-plots. OMG WHAT AM I DOING!?!

Comments

[glymr]

I just want to say, I can't wait to read this story!

[iesika.livejournal.com]

What a coincidence, because I can't wait until it's done!

[museofspeed.livejournal.com]

This mostly sounds pretty good, but...

Feel free to argue with my characterization

*argues with characterization*

Look, I appreciate that you're trying to stay close to canon. But if you're going to write Tim/Kon, please don't start it out Kon/Cassie. Or if you do, have it only mention it as something that happened in the past. Have Cassie have moved on. He was dead for a long time. But I find it extremely hard to believe the Kon in Adventure Comics #2 would ever break up with Cassie, and Cassie as "clingy" and "bitter?" You're making my Young Justice loving heart hurt.

Admittedly, Cassie has been written extremely poorly in the comics lately too, but nnngh. Not an excuse.

Clear that up, though, and this could be good. I wish you luck!

[iesika.livejournal.com]

I actually really, really hate the Mysteriously Absent Girlfriend trope. Don't start a (long form) story by telling me "Kon and Cassie are just friends now" if you're not going to give me a damned good reason why. It would be particularly silly and clumsy in this story, since a huge part of it is about teens and sexual orientation, and starting Kon out with Cassie makes way more sense, narratively, than the alternative. And gives me more DRAMA to play with.

About her characterization - I did say "a little tiny bit," and I think she'll be pretty justified in the story. I can't tell you the circumstances, because that would give a lot away, but I should maybe have said that Cassie will be displeased with (and feeling sorry for) Kon, and bitter and disillusioned about Tim (he's going to give her reason). She's actually the one out of the three that comes out of the mess the best - that is, she hasn't lied to anyone, or been fooled by anyone, and she's the only person who saw it all coming.

I never promised the story would have a happy ending. I'm really not a happy ending kind of girl, if you haven't noticed.

But if it makes you happier, I'm kind of planning a short Tim and Cassie YJ era fic. It's in kind of a long queue though.

[museofspeed.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean "mysteriously" absent. It's reasonable enough to say she'd moved on while he was dead for two years. Hell, as much as I love Kon/Cassie, I sort of wish she had.

Since I only have what you're telling me to go on, it's kind of pointless to argue further than what I've said. So good luck.

...I really, really, really hate Tim/Cassie. Soooo that doesn't so much help. :-P

[iesika.livejournal.com]

Tim-and-Cassie, not Tim/Cassie, actually, because I love gen. Here's the inspiration/premise: Jack Drake and Helena Sandsmark are in the same business.

[faile-neume.livejournal.com]

I think it was a good idea not to make it canon compliant, because I could see how much trouble it was going to cause you and how stuck you'd be when waiting for new issues to come out and all the timeline nonsense.

But I'm glad that it's going okay so far and I can't wait to read more.

[iesika.livejournal.com]

I really was kind of stuck. I kept waiting for new issues to come out, and then freaking out when new things were introduced, and if I didn't make a command decision, I knew I would get NOTHING done before Adventure #3, at the earliest.

I've been working on it a little this afternoon, prepping to write the next few scenes. I'm trying to leave myself a little wiggle room - the other Bats won't appear until very, very late, so I still have some time to decide for sure what to do about Bruce. I'd really like to have him back, but it's not a deal-breaker. I do know I don't want Impostor Bruce. But it doesn't make a lot of sense for Tim to be back without him, so I think I'm going to have to include him.

BUT THAT IS FOR LATER. For now, there will be detectivey things.

[faile-neume.livejournal.com]

Exactly, and even if when the new issues come out and there's some smaller elements you want to include I am sure you can go back and we-work some bits.

Good work on gettng some planning done! As for Bruce, the good thing about his death is that he isn't actually dead. He's easier to bring back than , say, Ollie was, because you don't have to include magic/SCIENCE/other shit. Basically you just go "Tim figured it out and called in a favor with Booster"

[iesika.livejournal.com]

But I don't wanna. I either want to know how he got back, or I guess not mention it and have him just back.

[faile-neume.livejournal.com]

Then just have him back and Tim can make some comment to Kon about how awesome his detective work is.

[caerfree.livejournal.com]

Adore your icon!!!

[iesika.livejournal.com]

This old thang? Okay, actually, it's brand new and I just made it and I love it really a lot.

The image comes from Tiny Titans, which is one of the best comics DC has made in a very long time.