#this post just came into my mind after brainstorming fanfic ideas and tropes

[angrycloudcrown]

i think the idea that the concept of devotion or attachment in fiction HAS to be romantic is stupid. yes i do enjoy the devotion of two unhealthy romantic lovers who love each other more than anything BUT. friends devoted to each other because they have no one else who understands them? friends willing to both die for and kill for each other, and will go down with each other if one friend dies? friends who would never want to engage in anything romantic or sexual with each other, but would give up everything for each other in a heartbeat? friends who would sacrifice their lovers and family for each other? friends who would sacrifice themselves for each other? i feel like boiling complicated dynamics to "oh theyre just in love" sometimes takes away certain things, not all of the time but in a lot of cases. idk anyway platonic devotion/attachment trope ily

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 8: Mountain Lion Mean Notes

Okay, so I was writing up notes on my Troped Western fic and then I clicked something and it all disappeared! I’m very upset and I hate the idea of starting again but like... I guess that’s what I gotta do :/

Mountain Lion Mean on AO3.

Written for @troped-fanfic-challenge​

So as I said in my notes, I watched Hell or High Water on the Sunday the trope document opened and immediately became obsessed, and that was my main inspiration. I saw it and loved it and, like with most things I love, my first thought was how can I do this too?? I didn’t want to do a straight AU of it, because it’s just too good and I don’t want to mess with that kind of perfection, but I knew I wanted a similar mood. I also figured pretty early on that I would try to include a bank robbery.

For the first days after the trope doc opened, I mostly just gathered inspiration and tried to think Western thoughts. In addition to HOHW, my inspiration included:

The Western episode of Charmed

A Western Rock playlist I found on Spotify

This post of southwestern gothic aesthetics

“Ranch Girl” by Maile Meloy (also the inspiration for it is new moon and twilight, which, fun fact, was originally going to be a Western; I didn’t re-read the story but it’s been haunting me since I first read it c. 2001 and is probably a partial inspiration for everything I write)

William Faulkner (especially “A Rose for Emily” and A Light in August) for the “town POV” narration

Sigrid Undset for the floating third-person-POV

The wikipedia article on Westerns, for succinct summaries of the themes of Westerns

The original aesthetic, quoted from my notes: “The vastness of the west, the frontier, a little uncivilized, a little dangerous, tough looking men who don’t talk much, extrajudicial justice, the heat and the desert…“

By the time I sat down to brainstorm, I had a few ideas and a few images already in mind. I wanted to include a bank robbery. I liked the idea of Clarke as a gunslinger and/or purveyor of vigilante justice. I thought I might use Gina as a bartender (this was during the half-moment I thought I might write a Bartender Mechanic fic; obviously neither of these things happened). And I liked the idea of including Murphy as some kinda criminal or unsavory type. The image of Bellamy as a taciturn cowboy came fairly early too.

I was a little uncertain at first if I wanted to do an 1800s western or a neo-western, mostly because I felt like the tropes I was attracted to and the images in my head fit better in the 1800s. But ultimately I settled on neo-western pretty fast, because I thought the imagery and themes would work better in the modern day. Plus I just thought it would be easier tbqh.

My first concern was to not just re-write a shittier HOHW. I was really caught up in the logistics of the bank robbery; including too much of that would necessarily make it a copy of the film, so I tried to keep just the bare bones of the robbery + the general justification (saving the family land). Then I added additional portions of the scheme--not too difficult since I knew I wanted Gunslinger/Vigilante Clarke in there, and I needed some way to show that she takes Justice into her own hands--and additional characters. Again, most notably Clarke, but also Raven and Octavia. The characters have their own backgrounds, personalities, relationships, and motivations, all of which make the story more mine imo. I’m satisfied with the balance of Obvious HOHW Influences and original content.

At some point, I described it to my mom as “Bellamy is Toby, Murphy is Tanner, and Clarke is canon Clarke but in the modern West.” Which I still think is accurate.

Including Clarke, though, and privileging the various relationships among the trio of Bellamy, Clarke, and Murphy, made me feel like I was making an it is new moon and twilight knock off except with Clarke for Raven. I still kind of see it, tbh, in the sense that twilight was itself supposed to be a western--I think it would be fair to say that Mountain Lion Mean IS the fic I set out to write in February 2020--and in the sense that I could have written a different story in the same universe as Mountain Lion Mean that explored the Clarke, Murphy, and Bellamy relationships in a way that is similar to twilight. As is, a lot of that is unsaid and unseen. The two fics have different focuses, so it’s probably only apparent to me just how similar they are. Just like, to me, Mad Women and The Wanheda Tape are the same story even though they have very different aesthetics and plots.

Some excerpts from my notes that I think are fun:

I really want to work with the themes (haha themes) of frontier justice and also the sense that the west is infinite but also small, that nature is hard and impossible to wrangle but that the opportunities are narrow and it’s easy to get trapped in it, the melancholy nature of it, the dichotomy of nature (huge, powerful) versus man (small, struggling against nature and against man). Or some such. Or Murphy just robs banks.

Bellamy owns a struggling ranch. Clarke is a gunslinger (don’t really know if I can use this trope in the current day but possibly?) who doesn’t trust the law. Has a conceal[ed]-carry permit. Is the best shot in three counties. Murphy’s been in and out of prison most of his adult life, mostly for crimes like robbery and assault.

How do they know each other? Possibilities: Murphy knows Bellamy through Octavia (idk why…but I do feel like O should appear, riding a horse) (background Octaven? Just a thought), Bellarke are exes, Murphy used to work on the ranch. Clarke has killed someone (someone Bad) and gotten away with it.

I do like the focus being on these three characters, who have a long history but aren’t currently close, coming together for a mission (to rob a bank) for the benefit of one who is struggling (Bellamy) even thought this is an awful lot like both Hell or High Water and it is new moon and twilight lmao.

I like that mood from HOHW where actually Toby was the most dangerous, and the smartest, and he won—the idea that Bellamy is the taciturn cowboy who’s not good at sharing his feelings but he’s also the mastermind in the end. Is that the twist? You get the impression Vigilante Gunslinger Griffin and Actual Ex-Con Murphy are planning something, but then it turns out to be Bellamy who executes the plan? [Not quite how it turned out lol in that I think it’s decently obvious that Bellamy was a major part of it the whole time but I did try to get some of this in with Octavia in the final scene--to really drive home Bellamy’s importance, as the ring leader, since otherwise one could ask, what does he even do?]

Midway through the planning process I came up with some more images to work from:

B and C out at dusk on the ranch, she’s shooting can, a bit of UST perhaps

M shows up at the bar and there’s an awkward silent entrance—perhaps he’s just out of prison

Murphy or Clarke guns akimbo [I picked Clarke to emphasize that she’s the gunslinger, but I had Murphy shoot out the security cameras to show that they were using his robbery experience]

Bellamy being silent and awkward

At this point, it was just about putting all the pieces together. That’s how I tend to plan Troped fics: I lay out all the pieces I need or want to include and then I figure out the shortest and most efficient distances between them. For example, I knew I needed a bank robbery and for Clarke to administer some vigilante justice--so I use that justice as a way to launder the money. They fake a will for her victim and “give” the money to themselves.

I did worry, and still worry, about the timeline re: the Bellarke marriage and the will because I’m quite sure it doesn’t make sense and doesn’t work. But it also... it doesn’t keep me up at night because the whole point is that it’s a scam!! Worrying about legality in a scam is sorta... lol. What I mean specifically is that I wanted it to be clear that Clarke does not kill Kane FOR this scheme. They use something she already did to their advantage. So she and Bellamy can’t be married at the time Kane is killed. That implies the murder was pre-meditated for the bank robbing purpose. But I’m also fairly sure (and I should know this because I took T&E but like...honestly can’t remember) that the people in the will are counted at the time of death, not the time of probate, or you could like... adopt extra kids or marry or divorce someone to affect the will. Plus all that stuff about simultaneous death etc. etc. Also, on a practical level, if Clarke wasn’t married, Kane wouldn’t have an obvious reason to write her spouse into the will. But I get away with this in my head by saying, first, no one’s going to say the husband that’s standing right there doesn’t count as a husband--the law is the law but it’s implemented by people and they fudge corners all the time. They do what seems to make sense even if you’d lose points for it on a law school exam. And second, the will could have been written with the assumption or hope that Clare would marry. Possibly even, though I don’t say this in the fic exactly, on the condition of marriage--Clarke gets 100% to share 50-50 with her husband if she’s married, 0% if she’s not. Doesn’t really matter. It’s supposed to read as outwardly clever and create Mystery and play with the Exes Aesthetic even if it doesn’t hold up the strictest scrutiny. (JDs don’t @ me.)

I justified including the marriage as a necessity because Kane could possibly leave money to Clarke’s husband but he wouldn’t leave money to some rando. I do stand by that part.

I also decided at some point that I wanted to include Background Octaven but be really subtle about it so it was something else the reader would have to piece together: that Raven has a girlfriend, then that Octavia has a girlfriend but, hey, isn’t Raven a bartender?--and then it comes together in the last scene as we see that their relationship was factored into Bellamy’s plan all along: some of the loot goes directly to Octavia and her partner, officially as payment for Raven’s services, unofficially because Bellamy wants to give O a gift. Anyway. Either it was too obvious or too subtle/boring because no one mentioned it but I thought it was cool lol.

At this point in my planning I basically had everything I needed, so I wrote a quick outline of scenes, as I always do, to see how it would flow scene to scene and if I had a place to put all the necessary plot info. I also ended up doing “what I need from this scene” lists for each scene so that I knew what I had to have on my mind to include before I sat down to write each one.

The actual writing was done over 3 days and fairly easily and quickly. I had a lot of fun not just with planning but with the actual process of creation. I think it’s because I was just honestly excited to be in this universe and play with this aesthetic.

Not to blow my own horn here but some parts that I was particularly pleased with were:

“Arkadia hasn’t seen a drop of rain in thirty-two days. The asphalt on the highway shimmers with heat; the air crackles with heat; the heat rises, stifling and strong, from the parched dirt and the cracks in the pavement.” Like I’m sorry but that’s a good image, I like that a lot. Whenever I felt discouraged, I just read that again and felt better.

The description of past Bellarke because boy howdy do I not care to write romance anymore but that was fun. I thought it was hot.

Transitioning Murphy laughing until the coyotes can hear into Bellamy hearing coyotes at night into Bellamy still hearing them during the day. I don’t know if it worked quite like I wanted to but in my head that is a very Cinematic transition, okay? I also like that even though Clarke and Murphy aren’t literally riding off together in that scene, for the reader, they are leaving the narrative never to be seen again. So they get their Dramatic Exit.

Octavia’s explication of the Theme and Bellamy’s possible motivations. I’m pretty proud of myself for actually having a theme and I think I did a good job of explaining it without being too heavy-handed. I also think it was perhaps risky to end with the POV of Octavia, a character who’s barely been in the fic before the last scene, but ultimately that decision felt right to me and I think it had a good flow, a nice mellow exit from the narrative.

What I didn’t like as much was a lot of the first scene. I think it has some great bits but it was the most re-worked part of the fic, and there are still some paragraphs and phrases that I feel are a little stiff. For example, this is a paragraph that I cut entirely:

Diyoza was sure the Griffin daughter did the deed back in January and she's sure about it still. She even gives a quote to the Sun-Times about it, despite her troubles with Green. But she had no proof then, not even a body to justify a murder charge, and she has little proof now. So no one believes the investigation will come to anything.

As you can see, it gives no new information. There were other sentences and phrases that weren’t doing work but were interrupting the flow, which also got cut, but I’m still not sure that the flow is perfect in the final version.

Also displeased that I edited out a * from the version on AO3, thus letting two scenes run together. How embarrassing!!! It’s fixed now though.

Overall though I’m so pleased! I love this fic and I love that I can love things again. This year has already been so hard, just like being battered again and again by waves of a storm, and it’s only 5 weeks in but this experience was so unabashedly good and I’m so grateful for it.

[carnationbooks]

Double Interview! annundriel and pawspaintsnthings!

Guys! GUYS! We are so excited to be bringing you this interview! It’s the last day of March, and therefore the end of our month featuring Check, Please! This has been a fun month full of hockey, pie, fic, art, and getting to know some of the creators in this delightful fandom. To close it out, we talked with @annundriel​and @pawspaintsnthings​. We think this interview is the perfect end to this month’s series of chats. We hope you enjoy it!

Annundriel’s fic is here on AO3! 

Pawspaintsnthings’ art is here!

They are currently collaborating on an absolutely gorgeous Check, Please! Fairytale AU fancomic which can be read here: The Wolf At The Door (@fairytalecomic)

How did you first get into fandom? What was your first fandom?

Pawspaintsnthings: I honestly can't remember.  I do remember getting "obsessed" with things from a pretty young age, and coming up with alternative ways the show/book/what have you could have gone in my head.  But it was never shared with anyone. My first fandom-like experience was probably, on a small scale, "The Legend of Zelda".  My best friend and I would have sleepovers, and stay up all night drawing Zelda fanart for our own little personal Zine.  I'm talking crayola colored pencils on computer paper.  I think we also wrote a couple of fic together and posted it on fanfiction.net. We filled sketch book after sketch book that our parents bought giant tubs to keep them in, of what was basically fanart.  Though we didn't know that's what it was at the time.

Annundriel: I stumbled across something on the internet while looking for something else, probably. The first thing I remember actively reading fic for was Jane Austen. I got into her works in middle school and then discovered people wrote continuations? And posted them online? And sometimes they were from other points of view or were in different settings and times? It was eye opening, and I loved it.

What inspired you to start writing fic/making art?

Pawspaintsnthings: I've drawn the vast majority of days  since I was tiny.  So it was a pretty smooth transition to have whatever I was really into at the time, be it an anime or video game or book, and just incorporate that into my daily drawing.  When I was really young I wasn't interested in drawing anything but animals.  When I got older, met my best friend, and started watching anime/playing Zelda with her I started drawing people.  I credit fanart with being able to jump right into figure studies in college.  I had at least some comfort with it that I might not have had otherwise. I'm not able to exactly pin point what makes me want to draw fanart.  I've had fandoms that were a huge part of my life for years, that I didn't draw a single piece of fanart for.  And others that sparked my interest for only a couple of weeks that I churned out a few pieces for.  Then there are those, like Check Please, where I almost compulsively make fanart for.  And even within those fandoms that I like to make fanart for, there's usually only very specific elements of the story that scream "draw me!".

Annundriel: Oh gosh, I'm not sure I remember any real sort of catalyst? I liked telling stories and making things up when I was much younger. We had a computer program where half the screen could be used to make an illustration and the other half to type the story and I played with that all the time. I was also always a big reader, and I enjoy thinking about and talking about the media I consume, so I think writing fic became a natural extension of that for me.

How did you get into Check Please? What are your favorite tropes and pairings in this fandom?

Pawspaintsnthings: I was between fandoms and one of my mutuals was posting about it back in September of 2015.   I checked it out, and instantly devoured it. I enjoyed it immensely, but I'm not sure if I knew at the time I was going to be as into it as I became.  I experienced a traumatic injury shorty after reading it, and during the physical part of that recovery I had my first burst of fanart.  I've absolutely used it as a coping mechanism.  There's a lot of hurt/comfort being produced on my end! Ha. I discovered it at a very opportune time for me. 

Definitely Zimbits.  That's the one that poked that muse button for me, and poked it hard. I enjoy a lot of the other pairings on a casual level.  Though I tend to not ship anything that rocks the boat of my preferred ships.  Which goes for all my fandoms. Tropes? I'm a hurt/comfort kinda girl. Just give everyone a hug for me.

Annundriel: I started seeing it a bit on my dash around the time of The Kiss, and I got curious so I sought it out. (And then I dragged marswithghosts down with me.) Trope-wise...I really enjoy stories where the characters accidentally fall in love or they realize, like a bolt out of the blue, that they've fallen. I also really like fake dating and Canadian shack fic and bed sharing and, oh! Historic AUs. Give me a Regency or Victorian AU and I'm happy. Give me something with tall ships and I'm thrilled.

What is your favorite thing you have written/drawn so far?

Pawspaintsnthings: Oh, man.  I lack an emotional attachment to most things I make. Mostly by design.  I get intensely anxious about finished pieces so it's best if I just immediately move on.  Once I finish it I rarely  look at it again. As it is, the act of making it is mostly where the emotion is for me.  If I had to pick a piece I'm most proud of, probably the set of realistic portraits I did of Jack and Bitty.

Annundriel: Hmm...well, I really love The Wolf at the Door. It's been an absolute pleasure to brainstorm and create it with Haylee. Of solo work that I've posted, I have a deep love for Perpetual Motion (http://archiveofourown.org/works/7755439), an AU where Kent doesn't show up at the epikegster. But my real favorites are probably two WIPs: a baseball AU and an AU based loosely on a book called The Scorpio Races.

What is your favorite fic/piece of art by someone else?

Pawspaintsnthings: I'm terrible at this question. I have an intense appreciation for fanart/fanfic and I'm loathe to pick just one favorite.  The most recent works that really made an impact on me though where the fic and gorgeous accompanying art of "Everybody Begs to be Redeemed" by cynical_optimist, QueenOfTheCute, and strangetowns on AO3.

Annundriel: I could name so many! The first that comes to mind, though, is A Little Bit Closer (http://archiveofourown.org/works/7289398) by marswithghosts. It was a gift for finishing my MLIS, and so it holds a very special place in my heart.

What pairings do you like to read in this fandom? What pairings do you like to write or draw? 

Pawspaintsnthings: Mostly Zimbits, but I enjoy reading Ransom/Holster and Shitty/Lardo.   I really only have the muse for Zimbits.  My muse is fickle.

Annundriel: I love to read Jack/Bitty, Dex/Nursey, Shitty/Lardo, Ransom/Holster, Kent/Tater...(I also love Kent/Javier Martinez from the sequel to A Little Bit Closer.) I love to write Jack/Bitty and Dex/Nursey. I'd like to expand that, but I'm a bit nervous!

How does collaborating on a project differ from working on your own? What is your process like when working together?

Pawspaintsnthings: I love collaborations.  It's like taking the spirit/the best parts of fandom and compounding it into one project.  I tend to feel very isolated when I work on my own.  Even with fandom friends that I chat with I don't share a lot of process, and I often to have to fight the urge to withdraw from the going's on of fandom. Which is complicated, but in part because I go to a vulnerable place when I'm making something. Which harkens back to the whole not looking at my art once I finish it business.   So when collaborating I have to push myself to talk a bit more about what I think is cute or why I like an idea.   When making art you can just take an emotion, no matter how intense, and put it out there.  But it's harder with words, and to explain how you want to get to the final peice, and not feel like you just exposed yourself in some way.  Mary and I do all of our collaborating over Twitter  DM's.  We generally have a pretty solid, mostly panel by panel idea of how each update is going to go.  I do some roughs and we make changes to those together.  Then I draw it and Mary works on the script which we finalize together.  It can be hard to find times when our schedules match, as things tend to flow more smoothly when we're actively chatting rather than catching messages at later times. But it works out!  We're both flexible with one another which is important.  

Annundriel: I've done several collaborations throughout my years in fandom, and I think one of the big differences for me between working with a partner/partners versus on your own is the need to remain flexible. You might think something is a really great idea or a great moment or image, and the person you're working with may disagree and vice versa. You have to be able to communicate and compromise.

Can you tell us how the idea for The Wolf At The Door came about?

Pawspaintsnthings: I wanted to try my hand at a longer comic project than I'd ever taken on. I'm in love with all things fairy tale, and had the very basic foundation idea in place when I asked Mary if she'd like to be my partner in the project. From there we worked together to fully flesh it out and bring it to life.  I knew I needed someone with more experience/talent in story telling than I possess, and Mary both fit that bill, and is someone I consider a friend and knew I could work with.

Annundriel: Honestly, I am just so happy Haylee came to me with the idea. We'd talked before about our mutual love of fairy tales and Diana Wynne Jones, and to have the opportunity to put all that love into something creative? So exciting.

Do you have a favorite moment or image from the comic so far? 

Pawspaintsnthings: Well. My favorite moments are definitely to come!  But, so far I'd say that the first comic was really fun for me to draw.  Just an exciting moment for me overall.

Annundriel: I agree with Haylee; some of my favorite moments are coming up! But I absolutely adore the cover Haylee made for the comic. I remember the first time I saw it and how perfectly it fit the feel and the characters. I also really enjoy writing the banter between Bitty and Bun. I love it when Bitty calls Bun "clever clogs" in the first chapter.

Do you have any advice for our readers who might be considering taking on a similar project? 

Pawspaintsnthings: I'm still figuring out a lot of this stuff, and learning as I go.  So I'm certainly no expert.   But I've been so grateful that Mary and I work at similar speeds and have similar communication styles.  It smooths things out, especially when you need to do a lot of communicating via social media.  I'd also say to be sure to go into it expecting to take your time.  I'm a staunch believer in fandom never turning into or feeling like a second job. So if you need to take a break, take a break. If you want to go full throttle, then do that.  

Annundriel: I'd like to second everything Haylee says. Especially the last part. Be kind to yourself, and if you need a break from a project, take it. If you're working with a partner, be honest with them. (I'm a firm believer in communication, period.)

Any more recs for our readers?

Annundriel: I haven't read a lot of fic lately off of tumblr, but recently I really enjoyed @iboatedhere​‘s Graduation Day (http://archiveofourown.org/works/9850652). Also @porcupine-girl​'s Jack Zimmermann is a Masochistic Fuckwit (http://archiveofourown.org/works/8910685). I love all of @marswithghosts​' work. I also really enjoyed @rhysiana​'s Dex/Nursey AU, The Punk and the Florist (http://archiveofourown.org/works/7652692). In the Dex/Nursey vein, I also love akadiene's row upon row (http://archiveofourown.org/works/7559800). I could go on, haha. There are just so many good works out there!

A heartfelt thanks goes out to @annundriel and @pawspaintsnthings for taking the time to answer our questions and give us some insight into their fandom experiences and how they work on creating amazing content for us to enjoy.