Check-in + chat plans

[luzula]

Hello AU-makers! I hope you've all had a chance to check out the works from the first round (which reminds me, there's still one I haven't read).

There are now 8 weeks left to the second posting weekend and 18 to the third one! So, do you know what you're making? I know some of you are working on longer works that you posted a teaser for in the first round. How's the progress with those? If you're making something new, do you know what, and have you started work on it? Feel free to use this space to brainstorm. : )

I thought we'd have a brainstorming and support chat on Saturday May 4th, at 19.00 UTC (what time is this for me?). If you want to chat, please comment and tell me if the time works!

Comments

[seascribble]

The last chat was super helpful for me (although I haven't had a chance to work on all of the ideas yet). I'll probably be late to this one because work is stupid, but if it's still going when I get home, I'll try to pop in.

[luzula]

Cool! We'll see what other people say about the time, but would it help to put it one hour later?

[seascribble]

If that works for everyone else, pushing it back would help some, yeah.

[brigantine]

Yipe! 8 weeks isn't really all that long. Well, it doesn't seem like it.

On the up side, I've got a lot of ideas for the fic rattling around in my brain. On the down side, they're rattling round in my brain, not organized on the page. Heh. Oops.

I'mma see if I can make some progress on throwing down a rough draft this weekend. *cracks knuckles and looks determined*

If this thing works out the way I'm hoping, it should be fun to put together. :)

[luzula]

Yay! Still really looking forward to seeing what you'll make. *cheers you on with the draft-writing*

[garonne]

Ooh, I'm looking forward to the chat. 19h UTC and one hour later are both fine for me :)

As for my fic... well, it's progressing about as fast as a glacier, but hey, that's better than not progressing at all, right?

[luzula]

Any progress is good progress! You really hooked me with that first part you posted, so I am looking forward to the rest. : )

(Also, I've personally seen a glacier which flows at the speed of 2 meters per day. *g*)

[ride_4ever]

Starting the Skype chat one hour later would increase my chances of participating, but I still can't be 100% sure I'll make it. Ironically, the schedule conflict itself is related to the writing of dS AU...I have an appointment with a travel agent at just about the same time as the Skype chat, and the appointment is to plan my trip from the States to England to spend several weeks IRL with ButterflyGhost to work on our AU for the dS C6D BB.

[luzula]

I'll chalk up another vote for starting it later, then.

And hey, that's so cool that you guys are meeting up in person to write. I'm sure you'll have a great time!

[sage]

Hi I am back! \o/

I'll be around all day on the 4th, so whenever chat happens is great.

I made another character this week, except for the antennae, which need blocking. If RL issues cooperate, I should be able to finally make some real progress here. Knock wood.

[ride_4ever]

*knocks wood with you*

[luzula]

Ooh, a new character! I am curious to see them now. : )

...and I suppose I should reply to the post myself. *goes and does that*

[luzula]

Well, I didn't end up finishing my podfic collaboration with Inga for the last round, because she got a cold. So we'll definitely be doing that for this round instead.

Other than that, I don't know. I've started work on my Temeraire fusion again, but depending on how much it grows, it might end up becoming my Big Bang instead. Anyway, I doubt it'll be done by the second round of posting even if it doesn't grow to 20,000 words.

I do also have other AU ideas. For example, I have a prequel to the Fraser/Thatcher-in-space snippets I've been writing in my head, although to be honest I worry that the "in space" will be kind of pasted on, since it's mostly about romance and partnership. I'd have to work on the relevance of the setting if it's not just to be a story that could just as well have been set in ordinary canon, only with added spaceships. Also, I don't know if I'd have time to do that fic along with the Temeraire one, because the F/T one would definitely be 5,000-10,000 words long.

Hmm, what else. There's my SF AU with actual worldbuilding and SF-relevant plot, but I'm saving that for next year's Big Bang if there is one. So I might do another podfic for this round? Or hey, maybe I should write a bit of that Caroline-survives-and-becomes-a-Mountie idea from the brainstorming post. It would satisfy my id, at least. : )

[desireearmfeldt]

Or hey, maybe I should write a bit of that Caroline-survives-and-becomes-a-Mountie idea from the brainstorming post.

This needs to be written! :)

[luzula]

Well, I think it would be pretty easy for me to write, at least a bit of it? I think it'd start out with her not being murdered in the pilot, because she'd be sensible enough to not go out there alone, and to get help from Benton and Buck with the dam case.

[desireearmfeldt]

An intriguing question is: what's become of Bob in this universe? Is he hanging around on the other side waiting for resolution with Caroline (as she is in canon)? Is he a ghost (and if so, who does he haunt and when)? Is he peacefully dead and now mostly irrelevant?

(From the bit you describe, I could imagine a short one-shot: the three of them solve the case together, no one gets murdered, there are no dead-family loose ends to be tied off and no reason for Benton to be exiled to Chicago, and everyone lives happily ever after in Canada.

But I could also imagine more long and involved versions... And certainly a version with Caroline, Benton and Buck working together could easily still involve Benton and/or Caroline investigating in Chicago -- the hired killers came from there, after all -- and one or both of them ending up getting exiled for exposing Gerard...In fact, there might be an interesting debate about who will take the brunt of the RCMP's displeasure and/or the advantages of "exile" in Chicago...)

[luzula]

Well, in my head Caroline and Buck get married some time after Bob dies. And hmm, I haven't decided what would become of Muldoon--I mean, he's much of the reason Bob is around haunting people. If Muldoon is not caught way back when, I suppose Bob could still be around, haunting people. I am almost tempted to have Muldoon work together with Gerard, thus melding the pilot plot with CotW? And yeah, they could still end up in Chicago, although mixing in any Rays with this would kind of muddy the family issues that it would mostly be about.

Damn you, making my plot grow! :P

[desireearmfeldt]

(Oops...I realize, of course, that I have out-of-control-plot-length disease; I didn't realize it was contagious. :) )

Remember that the reason canon!Bob never does anything about Muldoon is he thinks he (Bob) has already killed him. Maybe that happens to Caroline, leaving Muldoon free to reappear years later -- or she actually kills him -- or she successfully arrests him...

I think it kind of depends on whether your take is that you want Bob to be an Unresolved Issue for those who survive him (and perhaps for himself), like Caroline is in canon, or whether you're going for the idea that unlike canon!Bob, AU!Caroline has dealt with Bob's murder and her subsequent raising of Benton in such a way as to not leave Unresolved Issues splattered all over the scenery. :)

Maybe they visit Chicago only peripherally, and going back to Chicago -- or not doing so -- is part of the ending of the story, one way to illustrate how things are similar & different from canon as a consequence of the AU's what-if premise.

[luzula]

Good points, yes. Maybe I'll have to move this one from "short one-shot" to "longer story" in my head...we'll see. : )

[ride_4ever]

It does indeed!

*waves to des*

[desireearmfeldt]

*waves from the depths of the Giant Monster Project That Ate My Brain And Will Go On Forever (Of Which We Do Not Speak)*

[ride_4ever]

OWWDNS...at least at this juncture....

[sage]

So many options! This is awesome! \o/

[luzula]

I know, so many options! : ) I love that I still have so many ideas despite having been in the fandom for six years or so.

[ride_4ever]

Yay ideas, so many ideas!

I've been in the fandom only half as long as you, but srsly I have so many ideas that my ideas themselves HAVE ideas!

[desireearmfeldt]

(We will not speak of *that* at this juncture, either. :) )

[garonne]

I'm an idiot. I've realised I'm not free this Saturday at all. I'm going to the opera - which I organised ages and ages ago and which I'm very excited about and everything, BUT… *sigh* That makes three chats in a row I've missed, counting the C6D Big Bang one too.

You guys have fun, and hopefully next time it'll be a case of fourth time lucky… :)

[luzula]

Gah, I'm sorry to hear that! I don't want to change the date this close, but I hope you can make it to the next one. And have fun at the opera!

[garonne]

Don't worry, I certainly wasn't expecting you to try and change the time! :)

Actually the opera starts quite early in the evening, so I could be home in time anyway. I made myself a Skype account just now, just in case!

[ride_4ever]

Now I'm sure that I'm going to miss this chat (see dS-related explanation above). My co-writer, ButterflyGhost, may be representing the both of us here as she just did for the dSC6D BB chat that I had to miss.

Both chats were at a day and time that's really good for me...when IRL doesn't interfere.

[luzula]

Well, I hope you can make the next one! I'm glad the time/day works in general, at least.