The Trouble With Trying to Write At Fuck O'Clock in the Morning

[mllelaurel]

I'm currently working on three distinct fics, all in the Doctor Who fandom.

The first is technically five different fics, seeing as how it belongs to the "Five Things" subspecies. "Five Things that Jack Harkness Doesn't Remember," to be precise. Currently, it's more like "Five Things Jack Doesn't Remember and Wouldn't Tell Lily About, Even if He Did." Part one has a major OC, and her presence makes me second-guess every line. Part two...also has an OC, actually. Much like the spoon there is no part three. No, really. Part four is about half done, and one hundred percent twee sap. Part five went for a drink and refused to talk about it. At least the behavior semi-matches the plot.

The second fic involves Sarah Jane meeting Jack. In Aberdeen. Currently it contains Sarah, but no Jack. It also contains a random petrol pump guy, who I'm pretty sure isn't Jack, and utterly made up locations, seeing as I've never been to Aberdeen. Draft one once contained a park bench, but that's gone the way of the dinosaurs.

The third fic chronicles the history of an old leather jacket, through the use of at least two bits of fanon. Fanon A) Rose has hung onto Nine's jacket; and B) That jacket once belonged to one Fitz Kreiner. Both may be cliche by now, but I hang my hopes on the possibility that no one's thought to put them together. The problems with this fic are manifold:

- No matter how many times I start, the first line winds up sounding glib and twee ('twee' is my happy word of the day, it seems).
- I know Rose is a smart girl. She's a smart girl in my head. She keeps turning out a frelling twit, on paper. Whyyyyy?
- First, Fitz sounded like Jack. So I changed up a few things. Now he sounds like Spike, god help me. Closer, but no cigar.
- Repeat after me: we do not watch Doctor Who for the science; we do not read the Doctor Who fic for the science... I suppose it's my own fault for deciding that the Time War needed dealt with. Currently, we have a telepathically-operated spacio-temporal WMD, powered by Gallifrey's unique position in space-time. I can talk skience fiction jargon. Writing it like it makes sense is another matter altogether.
- Too late, I realize that I'll have to write three separate and distinct Doctor voices. Ironically, Eight - the one I've seen least of - is the only one turning out at all decent.
- The fic seems to have the fictional equivallent of Bipolar Disorder.
- Instead of actually writing, I've A) bickered with my Fitz muse; B) Argued (irrellevant to fic) politics with Eight muse; C) nearly tripped over my cat five times; and D) Typed up this post.

Comments

[amberite.livejournal.com]

Rose uses a simple vocabulary. (She clearly understands a larger one, as she doesn't go "what?" a lot, but she speaks simply.) The best way I've found to make things work for me is to think (and draft) in big words and then break them into more Rose-like ones. But I'm a draft-as-I-go writer; ymmv. :-)

[amberite.livejournal.com]

telepathically-operated spacio-temporal WMD, powered by Gallifrey's unique position in space-time

Also, that's totally leet. Yay!

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

That's an excellent point. (I'm also constantly terrified I'm going to slip some American slang into her dialogue, but that's a whole other mess.) Weirdly enough, she sounds totally fine, when the fic is from her point of view. When someone else is the POV character, though... Oi.

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping the final product lives up to expectations. *g*

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

I'm writing again, too. My biggest problem? All I really want to do is flat out, unredeemed, pain I'm not posting it, but as soon as I'm done with the hurting part of the plot I seem to decide I'm done.

Weirdest. Thing. Ever.

[mllelaurel.livejournal.com]

Try posting it, maybe? That could trigger a desire to continue, or at least closure. Plus other people would get to see. *g*