Fanfic Meme

[omorka]

Ganked from scarfman:

Give me the title of a story I've never written, and feedback telling me what you liked best about it, and I will tell you any of: the first sentence, the last sentence, the thing that made me want to write it, the biggest problem I had while writing it, why it almost never got posted, the scene that hit the cutting room floor but that I wish I'd been able to salvage, or something else that I want readers to know

Comments

[fiona-conn.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm.... this is going to be hard to choose.

I enjoyed Egon's development in Telltale Heart. Him and Janine. While the cliche of Janine going off with some other man left me twitching slightly, I loved the metaphor of the monster under both their floorboards being their guilty consciences. I don't always think of Egon as being the covert, sneaky type, but then again, where Janine's concerned, I guess he feels it justified -- though even as I say this, I am put in mind of Egon miming costs to Peter in the movie!

Peter needs more love, on that note -- I really do think he's more instrumental in the conclusion than we give him credit for. And my heart jumped with glee as Peter and Egon kicked in Janine's apartment door to come to her rescue at just the right moment. <3

Mucho giggles at Peter's warning to the Monster under the Floorboards: "just stay clear of my buddies in future, okay?" :3

Janine'll want closure, and Egon still needs closure for his bogeyman issues. If that's coming up next, can we have Peter doing his thing as a psychologist and treating them through their PTSD? :D

~Fiona

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, now that I'm a few fics down from that, I have to say - that was a tough one to write. I wanted it, deep down, to end up as P/E/J, and it just wouldn't go there. I think that's because it would have made what the Monster represented (you got that there really was only one, right? I'm not sure how well that came through, especially since Egon's the one who figured it out, and he didn't exactly want to tell Janine that) so much more complicated, and probably too close to what the Bogeyman is starting to mean in my fics. I don't want the Boguester diluted, so maybe it's for the best.

Ah, well. Something for the pure E/J shippers to enjoy, I guess. :-) Although, I'll admit, I do think of Egon as - well, not covert, exactly, but subtle in a very sneaky manner, when he needs to be! (Hee, I love the 'what do we charge for this, again?' scene so much. That, and Janine sneaking a peek during Peck's first scene. It's tiny character bits like that that make GB/RGB such a fun canon!)

My real regret in this fic is how little Winston and Ray get to do, to be honest. At one point there was a chase sequence involving Ecto and a floating eyeball that was supposed to be a free-roaming part of the Monster, but it really didn't end up fitting with the rest of the fic, tonally - and it was Winston's best scene. *sigh* I always feel like I'm shortchanging him. At least Ray occasionally gets his own fic.

I'd love to do a followup psychologist!Peter piece, but I'm not sure how to make it interesting, to be honest - an awful lot of it would just be the three of them, in pairs and then as a group, talking. Not very plotty! And I already feel that a lot of my stuff is too much dialogue and not enough action.

[fiona-conn.livejournal.com]

I think that's because it would have made what the Monster represented (you got that there really was only one, right? I'm not sure how well that came through, especially since Egon's the one who figured it out, and he didn't exactly want to tell Janine that) so much more complicated, and probably too close to what the Bogeyman is starting to mean in my fics. I don't want the Boguester diluted, so maybe it's for the best.

See, when I read your stuff featuring the Bogeyman, the concept I got out of it was the Bogeyman represents fears/neediness for approval, the kind of idea that people keep things "in the closet" so that they don't risk disapproval from those around them, where as the Monster under the Floorboards (and yes, I got that there was just one *g*), represented the conscience. He's a bit like Jiminy Cricket that way. 'Cept feeding on guilt instead of using it as a guide -- though, arguably, it did form a very good motivator. ^_~ If the Boguester is the things we learn are "wrong" by fear -- e.g., that lies are wrong because mum/dad spanks us (or because you've read Pinocchio one too many times and know that it makes your nose grow) -- then the Monster under the Floorboards is the things we learn are wrong because we see it visibly hurting those around us. It's the beating heart that tells us we're wrong because we've broken somebody else's beating heart.

Anyway, rambling now. But I just LOVE metaphorical imagery in fiction. <3

[scarfman]

I liked Swing Low because I just generally like crossovers; and because, while you teamed up the two most similar characters possible out of the combined two casts, you hung the plot on their differences instead of on their similarities like newbie crossover writers do.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad you said that - I've been worried that the crossover came over as total crack. I've never seen anyone else cross those two fandoms over, but that's probably because one of them's so small.

That one started out as almost a rivalry between those two characters, and since one's an M.D. and the other's a Ph.D., the working title was Doctor, Doctor - and then later Paradox for the terrible two-way pun. It wasn't until I was writing the antepenultimate scene that I realized that the main theme wasn't the conflict between the two 'canon groups' at all - it was really all about homecoming, and how it was possible for the one group and probably not for the other. At that point, I had to go back and rewrite the scene at the river completely (originally it was a lot shorter and almost all dialogue), and then suddenly it all clicked and it became Swing Low instead.

Of course, that continues my nearly-unbroken streak of naming fics from song lyrics, but then, that would have been true if it had stayed "Doctor, Doctor," and at least this time iTunes didn't name it for me! :-)

[peoriapeoria.livejournal.com]

I found Bubbles Break very poignant, especially the part in the science hall auditorium. Will there be a sequel for Peter and Egon to deal with their professings and protestations? And, if not hawt monkey love, at least one fantasy?

Must reread soon.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, would you believe that started as a really fluffy songfic? The scene in the chemistry lab (just before the auditorium) originally started with Peter teasing Egon about his sweet tooth (me crossing over movie- and cartoon-canon again) and ended with the two of them kissing, and it was inspired by Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me." You can still see some of that original scene in the middle, when Peter's playing around with the glassware and Egon's changed from being defensive to realizing what Peter's actually saying.

But then the auditorium scene happened, and the lab sequence had to get dialed way back or else the tonal shift would just be too much. At least the kiss stayed, even if I had to move it back to the firehouse because Egon's so protective of his reputation.

I've got so many sequels and unwritten plot bunnies on my plate - I don't know if I'll have time to get around to this one, and if I do, I'm afraid it'll just end up being Yet Another P/E First Time smut!fic. I wrote that already, you know? *sigh* But at the same time, it does seem a shame to leave them hanging like that.