![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
As usual, I'm being affected by the curse of the threequel. I don't know why it is, but it seems like invariably, I run out of steam when trying to work on the third part of a trilogy. (I think the only time it didn't happen was on the Simple Mission project, and maybe that was because the third part was so extremely different from the other two in several ways.)
It's not exactly a case of not knowing what to do with the fic; I have several ideas, just like I did with the others. Although I am pretty sketchy on how the espionage part of the plot is going to go, which admittedly is presenting one of the problems. I love character interaction so much, and the last fic was focused so heavily on that, that it's a bit difficult to try to focus now on constructing a complex adventure plot.
I also need to decide what role Lafe is going to play, as I haven't quite figured that one out yet. I do think, though, that even if he decides to try to steal the jewels, he'll end up not going through with it for Coley's sake. I kind of have an image of Lafe trying to protect Coley in the climax, maybe taking a bullet for him. Lafe survives, but I think in the end he decides to go back to his own time.
Maybe in the end it's mainly a case of starting the next fic too soon after ending the other one. Usually I take a breather before starting another big fic. (Although I started the last fic immediately after another one and it just flowed.) In any case, whatever the reason, I know this usually happens with the third part of any trilogy I work on. And I don't want this fic to get run into the ground. I want to finish it; there's interest and that's awesome and I don't want to let the readers down.
And then there's the Perry fic I'm desperately wrestling with. I'm frustrated with it because I think I really should have ended the original plot instead of spiraling off and continuing some threads of plot in the next section. (Part 2 of the same fic.) If somebody reading it would have told me they thought I should end the original plot before starting the "Part 2", and that "Part 2" should be a separate fic, I would have done it because I would have had another person backing up feelings that I wasn't quite sure on. But no one complained, and so I kept weaving the plots together and making this gigantic mess out of the fic. Part 2 feels so different from Part 1. Even though things were indeed supposed to be complicated behind the scenes, now it's far more bewildering and I'm pulling on my hair trying to make sense out of everything and wishing I could still divide the sections into two fics, but I don't know how at this point, after driving the stakes in so deep.
I think the main reason I combined the ideas into one was because I promised someone that a fic idea we've both been working on would be the next one after The Malevolent Mugging. And then I had this other idea for a fic I really wanted to do first, but I didn't want to go back on what I'd told him, so I tried to splice the new idea into the current fic so there would still be just the one fic to finish before working with my friend's idea. Well, that and also, I was anxious to start the plot of Part 2.
I'm so frustrated with this conglomeration that I feel like starting the collaborated idea fic now. And yet I don't like that idea because I'm worried I won't finish The Malevolent Mugging if I give myself a new Perry fic to work on. Plus, I'm still leery of starting a fic in which Della is the main character. I'm just not sure I can carry that very well. I'm also worried about the villains, because I just don't have a clear picture of what they're like and I think they're going to need to be highly developed for this to work. And I guess I'm worried people will ignore it even with Della as the main character, because it opens with two oneshot episode characters having problems.
So in the end, I'm not sure what I want to work on. **headdesk.** Not to mention that I'm having trouble with my Perry blog. I had a bunch of topics a couple of weeks ago, and then they vanished and I can't remember them, and it seems like mostly I've been yammering about various episodes lately instead of episode angles or character examinations. The blog used to be a lot more varied in topic, and I know there's plenty of other things to discuss, but right now I just can't think and that's driving me nuts too. I've even considered asking people to comment and request things they'd like me to examine. But I don't know if anyone would comment. And maybe if they did, I'd get lots of requests to examine Perry/Della romance or something else that would be very difficult for me.
I just don't know. It's a case of wanting to write, but everything available to work on has assorted problems attached to it. And I don't really have any oneshot fic ideas, except maybe one short little thing that I probably wouldn't post anywhere except on a message board anyway. And the urge to write it isn't very strong. I'd rather try to sort out the threequel.
It's not exactly a case of not knowing what to do with the fic; I have several ideas, just like I did with the others. Although I am pretty sketchy on how the espionage part of the plot is going to go, which admittedly is presenting one of the problems. I love character interaction so much, and the last fic was focused so heavily on that, that it's a bit difficult to try to focus now on constructing a complex adventure plot.
I also need to decide what role Lafe is going to play, as I haven't quite figured that one out yet. I do think, though, that even if he decides to try to steal the jewels, he'll end up not going through with it for Coley's sake. I kind of have an image of Lafe trying to protect Coley in the climax, maybe taking a bullet for him. Lafe survives, but I think in the end he decides to go back to his own time.
Maybe in the end it's mainly a case of starting the next fic too soon after ending the other one. Usually I take a breather before starting another big fic. (Although I started the last fic immediately after another one and it just flowed.) In any case, whatever the reason, I know this usually happens with the third part of any trilogy I work on. And I don't want this fic to get run into the ground. I want to finish it; there's interest and that's awesome and I don't want to let the readers down.
And then there's the Perry fic I'm desperately wrestling with. I'm frustrated with it because I think I really should have ended the original plot instead of spiraling off and continuing some threads of plot in the next section. (Part 2 of the same fic.) If somebody reading it would have told me they thought I should end the original plot before starting the "Part 2", and that "Part 2" should be a separate fic, I would have done it because I would have had another person backing up feelings that I wasn't quite sure on. But no one complained, and so I kept weaving the plots together and making this gigantic mess out of the fic. Part 2 feels so different from Part 1. Even though things were indeed supposed to be complicated behind the scenes, now it's far more bewildering and I'm pulling on my hair trying to make sense out of everything and wishing I could still divide the sections into two fics, but I don't know how at this point, after driving the stakes in so deep.
I think the main reason I combined the ideas into one was because I promised someone that a fic idea we've both been working on would be the next one after The Malevolent Mugging. And then I had this other idea for a fic I really wanted to do first, but I didn't want to go back on what I'd told him, so I tried to splice the new idea into the current fic so there would still be just the one fic to finish before working with my friend's idea. Well, that and also, I was anxious to start the plot of Part 2.
I'm so frustrated with this conglomeration that I feel like starting the collaborated idea fic now. And yet I don't like that idea because I'm worried I won't finish The Malevolent Mugging if I give myself a new Perry fic to work on. Plus, I'm still leery of starting a fic in which Della is the main character. I'm just not sure I can carry that very well. I'm also worried about the villains, because I just don't have a clear picture of what they're like and I think they're going to need to be highly developed for this to work. And I guess I'm worried people will ignore it even with Della as the main character, because it opens with two oneshot episode characters having problems.
So in the end, I'm not sure what I want to work on. **headdesk.** Not to mention that I'm having trouble with my Perry blog. I had a bunch of topics a couple of weeks ago, and then they vanished and I can't remember them, and it seems like mostly I've been yammering about various episodes lately instead of episode angles or character examinations. The blog used to be a lot more varied in topic, and I know there's plenty of other things to discuss, but right now I just can't think and that's driving me nuts too. I've even considered asking people to comment and request things they'd like me to examine. But I don't know if anyone would comment. And maybe if they did, I'd get lots of requests to examine Perry/Della romance or something else that would be very difficult for me.
I just don't know. It's a case of wanting to write, but everything available to work on has assorted problems attached to it. And I don't really have any oneshot fic ideas, except maybe one short little thing that I probably wouldn't post anywhere except on a message board anyway. And the urge to write it isn't very strong. I'd rather try to sort out the threequel.
