A writer's work is never done...
Dec. 26th, 2022 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42(Will They Come? spoilers in this post)
since I was hit by bad feelings over the weekend, as I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to say fuck it and get a little more writing/editing done just to make myself happy. so I started the WTC? edit where everything is the same except Kylie (now named Julie) is trans. And it's going really well and I'm super proud of it. Obviously I would like a trans person to read it before I post it, because I don't want it to be offensive and, when I'm not writing from my own experience, I get concerned about that (not to mention that is one thing I REALLY would hate to accidentally get wrong, seeing as there's been so much abysmal trans rep in mainstream media- not saying WTC? is mainstream at all, lol, but you know, people generally read fic to entertain themselves and escape their own lives, and I don't want to ruin that experience for anyone), but I'm just really happy with 1. how well being trans fits Julie's character, and 2. how awesome a character she is. I love her so much!! My precious daughter...
(Although now in this version, I'm starting to wish that she and Jack would get together! But her being aro and them being platonic is also really important to me, as well... even though it breaks poor Jack's heart :/ oh well, he'll get over it when I write the follow-up story that's set three years after WTC? ends, where he has a new girlfriend and hasn't seen Julie since the ending of WTC? and then she comes back and things get. Interesting. But I promise, everyone in this story gets a happy ending eventually.)
I'm also realizing that I really, really need to reform Jagger at some point, because I always like creating these obnoxious scumbag characters... and then I forget to either 1. give them a reformation arc, or 2. justify the reformation that they do receive. Jagger protecting Jack during the siege of Hunger City is supposed to be his reform moment, but he really only does it because he believes Jack is a central figure to his self-made religion, not to mention that by the end, he's still a bit scummy, so I need to give him an actual concrete moment where he realizes that jealousy is toxic and that his attitude towards girls/women is terrible. Maybe he can have a scene where he protects Julie instead... I dunno.
...Actually, what I really need to do is write a follow-up story about the rest of the Diamond Dogs/Nadsats, because their stories don't all get resolved and are kind of shoved to the background at the end of WTC?. I especially want to explore Jagger's past and see if he ends up finding his family (I actually wrote a story like this once after writing WTC?, but it was lost to the great hard drive wipe of our school-issued laptops), but I'd also like to develop Widdy & Dice's relationship and also figure out just what is going on with Sledge, anyway.
And actually, while I'm on a roll talking about my story, I might as well talk about the short story/possible novella if I end up needing to cover more ground in it that I have in my head that's set after the events of WTC?. (I want to do more work on SF: ALS before starting this one. Maybe I'll write it after I finish Part 2 of SF: ALS.) So, the premise is that Jack's friends and family are gathering to celebrate his 21st birthday. Several characters have different problems/arcs going on that will eventually be resolved by the end of the story:
-Jack has been dating a new character, Shalaya, for some time now, and is madly in love with her (and she with him). However, when his old flame/first crush returns, he worries about how she's going to react to seeing them together, and is also nervous in general to see her again after three years have passed.
-Julie has returned to Hunger City after three years, having learned a lot about the world and the People's various cultures. When she returns, she not only has to navigate the culture shock of human society again, but also deal with seeing Jack, who she was hoping had gotten over her in the time she spent away. She's also done some self-discovery, and realizes why it was that she never had any feelings for Jack or anyone whom she tried to date, and she wants to tell Jack about that but doesn't know how.
-Floyd forgot Jack's birthday, and is worried that this means he's getting old, which means that he's getting closer to Ziggy outliving him. He hasn't discussed the difference between human and Aresian aging with Ziggy before, and is reluctant to bring it up. Also, after Floyd hears Haushinka refer to Ziggy with female pronouns, he gets confused because he hasn't heard anyone refer to Ziggy with female pronouns, and realizes he also hasn't ever discussed Ziggy's gender with Ziggy before. (Side note: I don't know if I can work it into this story or if I'll have to write another one- oh PLEASE, don't tempt me- but I think it would be interesting to have Julie and Ziggy discuss their views on gender, even though I don't think I'd be able to do that conversation proper justice. I just think it would be nice for Julie to be introduced to the Aresian concept of gender, or lack thereof.)
Other things I want to include in this story: Haushinka having a boyfriend (since she deserves ONE good relationship in her life), Jack wearing a traditional kimono & hakama to celebrate his birthday (since Haushinka is Japanese-American and I'd like to reference that part of Jack's heritage more), Floyd slipping and calling Ziggy "Zigzag" in front of Haushinka, Ziggy performing the "Happy Birthday" song for Jack on electric guitar, Julie jumping into Jack's arms upon meeting him again, and something that sufficiently explains what happened to Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, and Dice (who are all going to be at the party but I haven't decided yet what they're going to do).
since I was hit by bad feelings over the weekend, as I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to say fuck it and get a little more writing/editing done just to make myself happy. so I started the WTC? edit where everything is the same except Kylie (now named Julie) is trans. And it's going really well and I'm super proud of it. Obviously I would like a trans person to read it before I post it, because I don't want it to be offensive and, when I'm not writing from my own experience, I get concerned about that (not to mention that is one thing I REALLY would hate to accidentally get wrong, seeing as there's been so much abysmal trans rep in mainstream media- not saying WTC? is mainstream at all, lol, but you know, people generally read fic to entertain themselves and escape their own lives, and I don't want to ruin that experience for anyone), but I'm just really happy with 1. how well being trans fits Julie's character, and 2. how awesome a character she is. I love her so much!! My precious daughter...
(Although now in this version, I'm starting to wish that she and Jack would get together! But her being aro and them being platonic is also really important to me, as well... even though it breaks poor Jack's heart :/ oh well, he'll get over it when I write the follow-up story that's set three years after WTC? ends, where he has a new girlfriend and hasn't seen Julie since the ending of WTC? and then she comes back and things get. Interesting. But I promise, everyone in this story gets a happy ending eventually.)
I'm also realizing that I really, really need to reform Jagger at some point, because I always like creating these obnoxious scumbag characters... and then I forget to either 1. give them a reformation arc, or 2. justify the reformation that they do receive. Jagger protecting Jack during the siege of Hunger City is supposed to be his reform moment, but he really only does it because he believes Jack is a central figure to his self-made religion, not to mention that by the end, he's still a bit scummy, so I need to give him an actual concrete moment where he realizes that jealousy is toxic and that his attitude towards girls/women is terrible. Maybe he can have a scene where he protects Julie instead... I dunno.
...Actually, what I really need to do is write a follow-up story about the rest of the Diamond Dogs/Nadsats, because their stories don't all get resolved and are kind of shoved to the background at the end of WTC?. I especially want to explore Jagger's past and see if he ends up finding his family (I actually wrote a story like this once after writing WTC?, but it was lost to the great hard drive wipe of our school-issued laptops), but I'd also like to develop Widdy & Dice's relationship and also figure out just what is going on with Sledge, anyway.
And actually, while I'm on a roll talking about my story, I might as well talk about the short story/possible novella if I end up needing to cover more ground in it that I have in my head that's set after the events of WTC?. (I want to do more work on SF: ALS before starting this one. Maybe I'll write it after I finish Part 2 of SF: ALS.) So, the premise is that Jack's friends and family are gathering to celebrate his 21st birthday. Several characters have different problems/arcs going on that will eventually be resolved by the end of the story:
-Jack has been dating a new character, Shalaya, for some time now, and is madly in love with her (and she with him). However, when his old flame/first crush returns, he worries about how she's going to react to seeing them together, and is also nervous in general to see her again after three years have passed.
-Julie has returned to Hunger City after three years, having learned a lot about the world and the People's various cultures. When she returns, she not only has to navigate the culture shock of human society again, but also deal with seeing Jack, who she was hoping had gotten over her in the time she spent away. She's also done some self-discovery, and realizes why it was that she never had any feelings for Jack or anyone whom she tried to date, and she wants to tell Jack about that but doesn't know how.
-Floyd forgot Jack's birthday, and is worried that this means he's getting old, which means that he's getting closer to Ziggy outliving him. He hasn't discussed the difference between human and Aresian aging with Ziggy before, and is reluctant to bring it up. Also, after Floyd hears Haushinka refer to Ziggy with female pronouns, he gets confused because he hasn't heard anyone refer to Ziggy with female pronouns, and realizes he also hasn't ever discussed Ziggy's gender with Ziggy before. (Side note: I don't know if I can work it into this story or if I'll have to write another one- oh PLEASE, don't tempt me- but I think it would be interesting to have Julie and Ziggy discuss their views on gender, even though I don't think I'd be able to do that conversation proper justice. I just think it would be nice for Julie to be introduced to the Aresian concept of gender, or lack thereof.)
Other things I want to include in this story: Haushinka having a boyfriend (since she deserves ONE good relationship in her life), Jack wearing a traditional kimono & hakama to celebrate his birthday (since Haushinka is Japanese-American and I'd like to reference that part of Jack's heritage more), Floyd slipping and calling Ziggy "Zigzag" in front of Haushinka, Ziggy performing the "Happy Birthday" song for Jack on electric guitar, Julie jumping into Jack's arms upon meeting him again, and something that sufficiently explains what happened to Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, and Dice (who are all going to be at the party but I haven't decided yet what they're going to do).
