wherein Liz curses herself for deciding to write 30 fics in a unified timeline

[edenfalling]

So far, this writing every day thing is going fairly well, though you will note I have not finished anything but the 15-minute ficlet. Other stuff I've been picking at includes "Lemonade" ch. 16, "Ephemera" ch. 2 (though that was mostly outlining; all I wrote was a half-sentence clarification in one scene), and "The Transient and the Eternal: Far Away."

That last one is weird, because I had a plot sketch for the fic and then Alexiel and Jibril started talking and have basically decided to do the exact opposite of what I wanted them to do. And their reasons are perfectly logical and in-character and I just... I have no idea how I got so turned around. This was supposed to be about heavenly politics and stuff, and instead it's about knowing when to relinquish a duty into someone else's hands and go off and do something that won't empty you out inside but is equally useful and important. Or something like that. I'm not sure; I haven't wrapped the ficlet up yet, so it might swerve on me again.

Also, I really ought to work Lucifer in somehow, and I have not yet hit upon a smooth way to do that.

Also also, this story happens (according to Jibril's POV narrative) five days after the end of "The Transient and the Eternal: If It Wasn't You..." and that fic is complicated and maddening and nearly 3,500 words long already but only (maybe) half-finished. So I am not sure how much sense "Far Away" will make on its own, but there is no earthly way I am going to get "If It Wasn't You..." finished first.

In conclusion, ARGH.

*flees to read more Death Note fic*

Comments

[askerian]

instead it's about knowing when to relinquish a duty into someone else's hands and go off and do something that won't empty you out inside but is equally useful and important.

...eeeeeeee.

Man, I love your Transient and the Eternal series. *__* Will wait for as long as you need to get them out.

[edenfalling]

I have eleven parts left to write, after which I get to edit them and maybe polish up a few scraps (like my original version of "Rent," which dealt with Kira's reaction to the time Setsuna and Sara tried to run away from home as pre-teens) and post the whole mess on ff.net as a unified story. This is how the unfinished parts (chapters? fics? ficlets?) currently stand:

4 - 3. Giving up: Alexiel and Lucifer flee Atziluth. (900 words, about half done)

11 - 15. Stop that: Kira takes Setsuna and Sara into the city to forget about their parents' impending divorce. (2,050 words, maybe one-third done)

20 - 11. Snowfall: Sara asks Lucifer about Jibril. (4,600 words, getting close to the end)

21 - 25. Looking: The statute of limitations has not run out on Kato's murder. (375 words... but I will probably scrap them because the approach is not working. I have an alternate version at 450 words, which I may go back to instead, since I find outsider POVs interesting. I also have a really failed version at 1,250 words -- that one was an interesting study of Okazaki's view of manga events, but had sod-all to do with the actual story I am trying to write for this prompt)

22 - 24. Dreaming: Setsuna and Sara take a brief vacation in hell. (two-sentence scenario sketch)

24 - 18. Clouds: Raphael and Michael pay Sara and Setsuna a visit. (two-sentence scenario sketch)

25 - 8. Babies: Setsuna and Sara mentor a neighbor's child; Lucifer wonders about reincarnation. (3,000 words, getting close to the end)

26 - 6. If only: Sara hates getting old. (625 words, about half done)

27 - 23. If it wasn't you...: Setsuna and Sara die. Jibril wakes up; Alexiel experiences complications. (3,450 words, maybe half done?)

28 - 20. Far away: To conquer heaven or not to conquer heaven; that is the question. (1,000 words, three-quarters done?)

30 - 16. Pillows: And they live happily ever after -- well, mostly. (two-sentence scenario sketch)

[rahirah]

Aw, but timelines are fun. *g*

[edenfalling]

They are! I like making things link up neatly and have ramifications later on -- even if, in this case, the most overt links are silly jokes, like a gag about Setsuna's first false name that runs through three separate fics.

I just get frustrated when one story depends on (or implicitly spoils) stuff that happens in an earlier story, and I have not yet written that earlier story. But whatever, I have been posting these fics all out of order from the beginning. It would be slightly hypocritical to get bent out of shape over continuity issues now. *wry*