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thatotherpervso, I think it's entirely possible that Owned may end up being *longer* than Needs Must was. it's nowhere close right now - I'm at ~35k, and needs must ended up at ~99k, but when I look at the sheer quantity of chapter-length events that I *really want* to include, it's a little absurd. that 35k has only breached the very first phase of their relationship.
this happens to me in most fics I'm enthusiastic about, really - when I'm at the height of being enamored with that particular version of that particular pairing, my brain ends up generating tons and tons of possible porn scenarios - and then as I go, things get dropped along the way, because either they A) don't emotionally resonate with where the characters are when I get to that point of the story, or B) end up being emotionally redundant with some scene I've already written and I try to avoid superfluous smut in a longer fic.
but here's my problem: I don't have a plot for Owned. lol. I mean, I have bits and pieces of plot-type things - pieces of their backstories I'd like to include, for example. in the present tense, I have vague plot-type ambitions related to what Mike does for a living and how it hooks into / changes the canon universe, but I don't really feel the desire to do the sort of alternate-episode thing I did in Needs Must - the ideas I have are more macro, how the basic premise of the series (Mike needing money --> Mike being a fraud) is subtly different in this verse than canon. I really just want to focus on their personal relationship, and their jobs will be part of that - it's such a huge part of who they are as characters and why they enjoy one another - but I don't really want to get into the nitty-gritty of the case details.
which would be *fine*, if I had significant relationship drama planned instead. when I reached this point in the process of writing Needs Must (when I had accumulated this kind of word count), I already knew the arc - and the arc was driven by Harvey inviting Mike to work with him, them settling in, Harvey pushing him away, Mike's personal development, and then their reunion. the case stuff filled itself in as I wrote the relationship arc, so even though the case stuff ended up serving a big chunk of the focus/word count in the latter part of the fic, it was really not what was driving things.
in Owned, I have small struggles and conflicts in mind, but this Harvey is relatively stable - no big skeleton in the closet, no self-sabotage likely to occur - and Mike has some issues related to some of his deepest fantasies, but if there's any larger arc there, I'm not sure where it's going. it certainly hasn't taken shape in my mind. what I have is a fuck-off long PWP - which, I'm sure lots of people won't complain about 100k of porn, porn and more porn, but my problem becomes....how the fuck am I gonna know when this thing is finished? and how do you pace something that has no end-point?
AM I GOING TO BE WRITING THIS FIC FOREVER? lol. which again, on the one hand - yay. because even though it's not flowing as quickly as Needs Must did, it is immensely enjoyable to write and wallow around in. on the other hand, so many plot bunnies, so little time.
this happens to me in most fics I'm enthusiastic about, really - when I'm at the height of being enamored with that particular version of that particular pairing, my brain ends up generating tons and tons of possible porn scenarios - and then as I go, things get dropped along the way, because either they A) don't emotionally resonate with where the characters are when I get to that point of the story, or B) end up being emotionally redundant with some scene I've already written and I try to avoid superfluous smut in a longer fic.
but here's my problem: I don't have a plot for Owned. lol. I mean, I have bits and pieces of plot-type things - pieces of their backstories I'd like to include, for example. in the present tense, I have vague plot-type ambitions related to what Mike does for a living and how it hooks into / changes the canon universe, but I don't really feel the desire to do the sort of alternate-episode thing I did in Needs Must - the ideas I have are more macro, how the basic premise of the series (Mike needing money --> Mike being a fraud) is subtly different in this verse than canon. I really just want to focus on their personal relationship, and their jobs will be part of that - it's such a huge part of who they are as characters and why they enjoy one another - but I don't really want to get into the nitty-gritty of the case details.
which would be *fine*, if I had significant relationship drama planned instead. when I reached this point in the process of writing Needs Must (when I had accumulated this kind of word count), I already knew the arc - and the arc was driven by Harvey inviting Mike to work with him, them settling in, Harvey pushing him away, Mike's personal development, and then their reunion. the case stuff filled itself in as I wrote the relationship arc, so even though the case stuff ended up serving a big chunk of the focus/word count in the latter part of the fic, it was really not what was driving things.
in Owned, I have small struggles and conflicts in mind, but this Harvey is relatively stable - no big skeleton in the closet, no self-sabotage likely to occur - and Mike has some issues related to some of his deepest fantasies, but if there's any larger arc there, I'm not sure where it's going. it certainly hasn't taken shape in my mind. what I have is a fuck-off long PWP - which, I'm sure lots of people won't complain about 100k of porn, porn and more porn, but my problem becomes....how the fuck am I gonna know when this thing is finished? and how do you pace something that has no end-point?
AM I GOING TO BE WRITING THIS FIC FOREVER? lol. which again, on the one hand - yay. because even though it's not flowing as quickly as Needs Must did, it is immensely enjoyable to write and wallow around in. on the other hand, so many plot bunnies, so little time.
