Oh the muddy middle definitely.

Unless my mental headscape is bad in which case everything is equally difficult but presuming things are running how they should…

In the beginning everything is bright and shiny. I’m enthusiastic and I’m feeling positive. This is it! This is a great idea, ooh-rah.

Uh-oh. I hate everything. I hate the story. Why did I think I could write again? This is a terrible idea. Well alright maybe the idea is ok but the execution is definitely lacking. Nothing makes sense, every word is just awful. This is definitely the worst thing I’ve ever written. I want to burn it in fire. It’s dragging, it’s boring, I’m just repeating myself. How many words have I got? Ugh recount must be lying. Oh this is interminable. This is terrible.

Woah I can breathe again. There is light at the end of this dismal and dark tunnel. I never want to see this story again but whoop downhill, massive race to the end because I want this to be over with! Mad rush, big finish. Oh phew it’s done, I’ve typed the end.

So yeah the beginning has enthusiasm, and the end has proximity to well the end – it’s the middle that causes all the problems.

Characters, I’m certain it’s characters because they drive the story. The character makes the plot because it’s not about “what happens to them” it’s about “the journey the character makes and what changes about them”. I don’t know if that makes sense.

Like, ok I might start with something that seems like “plot” first e.g. the ConArtist!Belle and Mark!Gold AU fic that basically popped into my head due to my love of Leverage and Hustle. I just sort of wondered about a crew like that hearing Gold’s “bad reputation” and going to take him down but Belle realizes he’s not the man she thought, and she was glad and very much in love, but Gold thinks she’s someone she’s not.

So immediately it turns back to the characters. Without them there is no story. I mean even a “case of the week” show like Leverage still springs from the characters. The cons are secondary to the subplot of something a character is going through, or the character works it out through the con. For example I mean Parker in Leverage had an amazing character journey. She went from being completely closed off and stabbing people with forks because she didn’t know how to talk with them. To showing her compassionate heart, to falling in love and building a family with the team, making friends and well she got better at being a con artist and able to perform a role. I love Parker.

Anyway, characters create the plot. I might have a “situation” but if there’s no character journey, if nothing happens to change life for the characters, then there’s no plot. I’ve written series fics before and after the first couple, I don’t need to “think of a plot” because the characters have it covered. Based on what happened to them in the first couple of ‘episodes’ they now are telling me what needs to happen next.

TLDR: Characters definitely.

Sorry for the delay! It’s been a hectic few days and I’m really tired. I did actually type out a long answer to this Tuesday night but I wanted to go over it before I posted. I love this question! Thank you so much for asking it! 🙂

There are three event fics:
– RCIJ (super secret *mimes zipping mouth shut*)
– Next months Monthly Rumbelling
– Rumbelle Vacation fic

The AMR fic is going to be another oneshot in the In Your Arms verse. It’s going to be a month or so after To Be Loved and it’ll summarize what happened in between the two fics, and also tackle the “should we move in together?” question. The Rumbelle Vacation fic as the spreadsheet says is going to be set at the North York Moors Railway. Gideon is going to be a small child, maybe 3-4 and the fluff I have planned is so fluffy I have no teeth left 🙂

In terms of ‘other fics’ I have a ton of ideas but this post would get extremely long if I talked about all of them.

Anything with smut is on hold for now because I’m just really not inspired that way at the moment. Also there are a few ideas which I’m more drawn to than others.

Nightwalkers
It’s going to be novel length and so I want to finish it before I start posting. I’ve had the first three chapters done since November. Basically be prepared for all the tropes – fake dating, bedsharing, “let’s hide in this small closet”, “let’s kiss as an alibi”, “oh no we’re tied up and we’re having to ‘wriggle’ and that’s awkward” hehe. In terms of plot Belle is a cop and she has to go undercover as Gold’s escort to infiltrate a high stakes poker game, because one of the players is a murderer.

Enchanted Forest AU
Rumple is the dark one, married to Belle, they’ve had TLK, he’s the hero of Avonlea. #NoSpoilers as to how that happened. Lots of Swanfire angst with a happy ending. As much as I keep going on about how much I want to write this I probably haven’t because there’s an 18 year time jump in the middle between the Rumbelle plot and the Swanfire plot, and I’ve never quite worked out how to handle that.

One Night Stand turns true love
I reblogged a prompt and whoops planned the whole thing – “You were supposed to be a one night stand, but we ended up talking till dawn instead of sex. And wow we really click, so do you maybe want to have breakfast and stay longer?”

Belle is a single parent
I am very attached to this concept. I think it has so much story potential so much so I have three story ideas from it. One is sort of like a remix of Transposing Digits where Gold still has Bae, but Belle has a daughter as well. It’s extremely fluffy. The other two scenarios? Not so much. One has Gold as Belle’s kids teacher and they met at a parent-teacher conference. Now you’re probably thinking Gold is the stern teacher and nobody can understand why he teaches, all the kids hate him? Yeah no he’s more like spinner!Rum, he’s kind, soft spoken, a little hesitant but he can put iron in his voice to say “stop that” so the kids don’t run riot. He loves children but he’s never had any because he’s terrified of interacting with them outside the teacher-student boundaries. He’s convinced he’d be a terrible father.

Gold has OCD
Yes I combined this with Belle as a single parent because it made everything more difficult. I have so many notes on this already I’m sort of wondering why the story hasn’t written itself, it’s practically all there. It’s probably the most angsty thing I’ve ever planned. I feel really sorry for Gold. Neal is a teenager in this and I feel sorry for him too. It’s a big mess.

Enchanted Forest AU
Fiona was blasted before she cut Rumple’s fate so he still had magic but Malcolm ditched him, the fairies lost track of him, so Rumple grew up a peasant and hid his magic. Nearby Princess Belle is also hiding her magic but she hears rumors about Rumple and goes to him for lessons.

BraveWarrior
I have a mighty need to write a full fic. I ship them a ridiculous amount. The idea is that Merida gets in fights to protect her brothers and the court sentence her to anger management. Her parole officer decides that if Merida wants to hit something than she should do so in a controlled environment, and signs her up for Mulan’s self-defense classes. It’s like a modern day AU of the lessons they had in The Bear King. Only this ends with them going out for coffee, and to the movies, and cooking each other dinner and all kinds of sweet dating fluff. I have so many BraveWarrior ideas. I want to write all the things!

*****

Oh did I say a few ideas? Oops. Well it is only a small sampling of the ones on my list. Oh and the above doesn’t even take into account the continuations I’ve promised. I have three outstanding prompts for different verses…

Thank you! I love this meme, I just wish I had more WIP’s written heh. I feel like I’m just looking in the same documents at the moment.

Untitled GoldenLace Bonnie and Clyde
Gold sniffed. “I still have standards.”

Lacey followed Gold round the house, avoiding the main door. To one side, half hidden by ivy was a discrete wooden door. Gold fished in his pocket and produced a key, pushing the door open.

*****

“Not to be cliché dearie,” Gold said evenly. “But that really depends on who is
asking.”

*****

She covered it by taking another gulp of wine and wrenching her gaze away from Gold. His eyes had been glittering and it was damn hypnotic. For the first time tonight, she stopped congratulating herself, and began to wonder if maybe she was slightly out of her depth.

*****

Lacey scowled at him and slunk over to the couch. She sat down, deliberately crossing
her legs slowly to see if Gold would look at them. His eyes flickered and she gave herself a mental point. He might be trying to be a superior jack-ass but she wasn’t without a few tricks up her sleeve.

From upcoming WIP – Nightwalkers

She could hear muffled voices and then an outbreak of laughter. The door was open
and Belle could see two uniformed officers leaning against the desk, clearly teasing one another. A young man with dark hair and an easy smile, and a young woman with long blonde hair.

*****

“Ah,” Gold murmured in satisfaction. “I knew you were going to ask me that. Cora handles it and as she doesn’t know you, there’s no way you’ll get hired. I told you dearie, Cora is paranoid about cheating. No, the only way you’ll be able to go
undercover in that game, is as my escort.”

*****

Something about this man just unnerved her, perhaps because he never acted like she would expect. Gold had layers, he was a mystery, and damn her if she didn’t find that
even more attractive.

*****

It was a small town and had somehow managed to hold out against big commerce,
maintaining all independent stores down the single main street which cut through the town. There was a large out of town shopping development half an hour away, but it might as well have been a world away.

From upcoming WIP – The Winning Bid

Belle French glared at the stack of bills which were rife with ‘final reminders’. She had managed to juggle the bills for a time, getting further behind with some, to pay off enough of others to keep the wolf from the door.

*****

Impatiently Belle stormed to the door, and clattered down the stairs, slipping out the side door of the flower shop. Game of Thorns barely broke even most months, but it
kept her father from sinking into despair, and so it was still operating.

Awww thank you *blushes* you are far too kind. Your words mean a lot and I hope the story will continue to live up to expectations. I know, I know, I need to update Painting Layers of Love. I want to and I will, it’s been a difficult few months and time has just vanished on me. I’m trying hard to get back into it.

Regarding your suggestion of Gold suffering with OCD … yeah that’s going to be a thing. I started thinking about it and *poof* a plot came into existence. No promises as to when, I have so many fics on the list and of course WIP’s come first, but this is definitely something I’d like to write.

Ask Me? What do you want to see me write?

Touch deprived characters 100%.

Magical healing sex basically sounds like an excuse for PWP and I like my plot. It could be a fun oneshot, I’ll have to see if it’s on the AMR prompt list actually. I suppose “fuck or die” is the most extreme version of it but that has consent issues which I run a mile from. If the characters are already together then I guess it’s alright. I suppose it might also be ok if their mental state wasn’t impaired, so they could make their own decisions, but the situation would sort of force them one way so I’m a bit dubious.

I do have on my ideas list a rejected prompt from The Great Rumbelle Blow-off which was “Rumple has a boner that won’t go away until Belle decides to do something about it” but that’s established relationship, so the ‘conflict’ would just be that Rumple was embarrassed to admit the magical mishap and ask for help. An AU scenario could be that say Belle worked for an organisation and had to keep her work secret even from her husband, then there’s a mishap and she gets sex pollen basically. So she needs Gold but how would they explain it to him without revealing the secret? They can’t just send Belle home for Gold to ‘cure’ her as she wouldn’t be acting like herself and he would understandably be concerned.

Anyway I picked touch deprived characters because it’s a chance for sweet loving slow burn romance. Where they support one another, and take their time, and there’s a lot of emotions and they care for each other. It can be angsty, I mean it doesn’t have to be a new relationship, it could be an established relationship but say Gold was imprisoned and kept in solitary for some reason, and then when he’s released they have to rebuild their relationship. Basically there are options and like I said it’s sweet and loving, full of mutual support and that’s very much what I like to read.

Ask Me? Tropes

This ask is like asking me to choose between my hands or something – I’m attached to both! Seriously sweet merlin I love both.

I mean fantasy is magic and monsters and nothing we were ever trained for. Sci-fi is aliens and spaceships and any kind of cool tech toys you want to write about. Mashing them together is fun. That way you can have both. Although I suppose in doing so I reveal my answer.

At the end of the day I come down on the “magic is science we don’t yet understand” side. I look at fantasy through a sci-fi lens. I love Stargate a little more than I love Once Upon a Time. So there it is really. Give me my space battles, and alien invasions. Give me energy shields, and energy weapons and Iron Man suits and transport beams.

Though I still think mashing them together is best. I just don’t like to choose.

Ask Me? Tropes

Historical AU could be anything. Stargate SG1 is good inspiration for that actually because they explore a new historical world most episodes. There are so many settings. However, this is me we’re talking about so of course the first thing that comes to mind is Regency. I know it’s cliche and probably not true to life but I seriously don’t care. I will never get tired of deb balls, and dance cards, and “may I have this dance” and arranged marriages.

There’s walks in the park as they court with chaperones and slow discovery of one another. There’s scheming for titles and scandals and estates in the country and townhouses and horses and I don’t know just it’s a fun genre. Probably not historically accurate but I care more about enjoyment than accuracy to be honest *hides in box of shame*

Hmm my thinking about Future AU was basically it was similar to sci-fi AU because of the ‘futuristic’ technology. I mean if we think about how far our technology has come in the past 100 years, it could be possibly to theorize in another 100 years we’ll have spaceships capable of travel within our solar system at the very least. However, I started googling as I was trying to write this answer and I was confusing myself, and now my googling has confused me even further so now I don’t even know what Future AU is.

I mean is Future AU just anything post-canon? Like the show ends, if the pick it up then and continue wouldn’t that be a future AU? Like I said I’m very confused now. So I think my answer is going to be Historical AU because I know for definite what that one is.

Ask Me? Tropes