Warning this post contains spoilers for Season Six of Once Upon a Time.
Confession time I’m actually writing fanfiction again these days. I first started writing fanfic when I was 11 and it was predictably terrible. By the time I was 16 I had decided to try and begin writing original works. I think I wrote my last fanfic in 2009 and then I quit. I closed the door on that chapter of my writing life and moved on.
Well a couple of months ago I was struggling. The sequel to my Crime/Sci-Fi novel was going badly, I loathed it so much and writing was an absolute chore. For fun I decided to write a short fanfic story, just to remember what it was like to enjoy writing.
One short story led to another, which led to another, which eventually led to the long multi-chapter work in progress I’m currently writing. Why am I doing this? I hear you ask. Isn’t a waste of time? Shouldn’t I be concentrating on my original novels?
I’m going to tell you a secret now.
I have written more original work in the last couple of months, bearing in mind my issues with my arm, than I did in twice that amount of time in the few months before that. When I’m ill or in pain I don’t do anything. The less I do, the worse I feel, so I do even less and it’s a downward spiral.
What I have learned recently is swapping projects makes me a lot more productive, because if I get fatigued with one, then I can move to another. Adding 1,000 words a day to multiple projects, adds up to a lot of words. The more I do, the better I feel, which leads me to do even more and it’s an upward spiral.
As a random aside I recently decided to start tracking how many words I’m writing these days. I only began an accurate account mid-June, so the count for the first half of the year is retroactive and incomplete. Seeing that I’ve done more than I thought, is quite a nice boost. Maybe I’m getting somewhere after all.
I love writing. I love stories, I love characters, I would write all day, everyday if I could. I often feel that if I’m not writing, then I’m just wasting my time. I want to write for a job but writing is also my hobby. If I put in my work hours, get my daily quota on my original stuff and then go and watch TV, then that’s fair. If I replace watching TV, with writing fanfic, then what does that hurt? I wouldn’t have been writing original stuff then anyway. Everyone needs a mental break from work, nobody can focus 100% of the time on serious stuff. Yes, I’m being a little defensive because I do feel guilty. However, like I said the results speak for themselves.
I am doing better because of it and that can only be a good thing.
Which leads me to the point of this post – kinda. My WIP fanfic is called The War Within and it’s an Alternate Season Six. It’s where I pick up from the events of the season five finale and I write what happens next.
It is not season six speculation. I do not believe for one moment, that my fanfic will match events in the show. I have written the fanfic in accordance with canon but I have written what I would like to see, not what I actually think will happen. The fanfic isn’t a vehicle for my theories.
Season Six Theory
There’s some filming pictures showing Belle and Hook at the docks and maybe they filmed a scene together. I have seen a lot of comments saying that it’s a dream and there are good reasons for that.
1) They are filming the first couple of episodes so it’s still early in the season. Belle was in another realm, under a sleeping curse at the end of the season five finale.
2) She’s wearing the same dress but not the same coat, she appeared to be wearing in the underworld.
To be honest I don’t really remember the dress because the coat covered everything but I’m very willing to take people’s word on that. I don’t tend to notice stuff with the wardrobe much.
Anyway, my point is maybe Belle is awake and back in Storybrooke in the premiere/episode 2. It is entirely possible because of – Camelot.
Six weeks passed in show time, between the season 4 finale and the present day Storybrooke events of 5A. They decided to show that 6 week time in flashbacks throughout 5A because the Once people are addicted to flashbacks and don’t like to tell the story in a linear fashion.
I know that they said that the action would pick up seconds after the season 5 finale. Maybe it does. The action picked up seconds after the season 4 finale but by the end of the premiere, they had skipped 6 weeks.
This is just a theory and I am probably wrong. To be honest this is why I don’t generally place a lot of stock in spoilers. In my opinion without context, it’s impossible to really understand what is going on. Generally speaking I prefer not to rule anything out.
However, what if the season premiere picks up seconds after the season 5 finale? Some stuff happens, maybe Hyde gets control of all the magic in town (hence why we see people sword fighting) and essentially he owns the place. The heroes try and fight back but if Hyde isn’t killing people then they are just fighting for control. It would be better to cautious, bide their time and then ‘retake the kingdom’, like Snow and David did to King George and Regina.
They could flashforward a year and then that’s where things pick up in episode 2. Belle and Rumple return to Storybrooke. Belle is wearing the same dress because she didn’t exactly pack for a trip, and her steampunk clothing doesn’t fit with Storybrooke. Then they would be able to do all manner of flashbacks throughout the season of what happened in the missing year.
It would sort of help the Jared being so much older than Henry problem. It would help them avoid all manner of messiness of Regina just being ‘over’ Robin so quickly, of Zelena being a bonded part of the group, of Emma and Hook getting married etc. because finally some time would have passed. Right now as it stands everything has happened in such a short time period, there’s not been time for feelings to develop/change etc.
I think that could work. Like I said I’m probably wrong but for now, without any other information, this is my theory. With what little we know, we could develop a ton of different theories. Until September 25th, we’re not going to know for certain how anything will turn out.