ladyfoxxx | That One Thing Meme

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That One Thing Meme

You know when you get that first idea for a fic, all shiny and exciting and you immediately latch onto ONE scene or ONE moment that you desperately want to write? Sometimes you write thousands of words JUST so you can write that ONE scene or moment?

Well that's what happens to me, anyway. OFTEN. So I did a quick poll earlier on Twitter and it appears I am not alone in this. And now I am desperately interested to know what everyone else's key scenes/moments in fic are.

So! Tell me. What was that scene you wanted to write in that particular fic? Did it come out the way you thought it would? Did it end up being a key scene, or just another scene? Was it a scene a lot of people commented on? Did you (GASP) need to cut the scene out of the fic in the end? ;___;

Okay, I'll start with James Cameron Got It Wrong since I kind of wrote that ridiculously long crazy story for that ONE scene. From the moment I realised I could turn that fic from the Frank/Frank PWP it started out as into something bigger I desperately wanted to write the Frank/Fun Ghoul/Gerard threesome that happens near the end. I had to write SO MANY SCENES to set that up and make that happen, and in the end, by the time I had set it up I ran out of time to WRITE the damn scene before draft deadline - so my first draft of the fic DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THAT SCENE IN IT (heee, thanks mods for letting that one slide).

And of course once I sat down to write it after ALL THIS SETUP I had the hugest case of stage fright because omg what if this scene I spent 40 000 words setting up sucks? I don't know, I'm weird okay. But yeah, I guess it was a pretty key scene in the end because quite often JCGIW is referred to as the F/F/G fic, you know?

OKAY NOW, your turn! Tell me about your key scenes! Comment below or repost to your journal so people can ask you about specific fics!

Is there a particular fic of mine that you'd like to know what my That One Thing scene was? Ask me! (my masterlist is here)

Is there a shiny new plot bunny on your horizon with a key scene you want to write? Tell me!

Talk to meeeee….

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lol. I kinda want to write this Buffy/Teen wolf crossover because og just like Buffy having this talk with Derek about stuff (among them like knowing what he feels like about Laura because Giles killed, Parker used her [tho not to kill her family obviously], etc.), also possibly Xander. And just recently also Xander having a talk with Stiles about not being a hero. Because man, Xander has been there, okay but he saved the world. XD

But it'd be kinda complex because I want it to happen between like ses 8 and 9 of Buffy (that's in the comics but it's considered canon) and at first it was supposed to be between ses 1 and 2 of Teen Wolf but now if I were to actually ever write it, probably post ses. 2 even tho the ses 2 finale left me feeling kinda weird. I had an idea, like more fleshed out and stuff but then we were all lets wait until ses 2 is over before we do anything else. XD

But yes, basically I wanna do that for these two scenes. These bonding moments. rofl. And possibly it'd be like Gen or pre-slash. /o\ Probably pre-slash.

That really is a common starting point for so many crossovers, isn't it? I just want character X and character Y to TALK ABOUT STUFF TOGETHER, because they CLEARLY have a lot in common.

Yeah I have unwritten Misfits/MCR crossover fic where Simon and Gerard bond over the Smiths. I totally get where you're coming from.

lol. Oh, yeah. I bet. *nods*

And hehe. XDD \o/

For Last Chance At Love it was the terrible date. That was the first scene I came up with--Brendon trying so hard and everything going wrong and Spencer hating everything. I'm still not sure if it came out perfectly (I would call it okayish, I guess), but that scene right there was the reason I had to write that fic. The rest was just icing on the cake to make it look nice. ;)

Oh man the terrible date really is a great part of that fic! I had no idea what I wanted was a failtastic TV show date with Bden and Spencer in a fic but THERE YOU GO.

*beams* :D It was hilarious to make up in my mind, and after getting that scene done I realised I had to write it, just for that very scene alone (it was supposed to be "just" notfic for roebling).

So tell me about In Production. :D

I had to go look at my list of stuff on AO3 to think of any examples, but there are a bunch of them.

Chill out and learn to love your pussy (http://archiveofourown.org/works/358736) was written solely for that line, or at least the scene in which Frank says it.

You know what they do to guys like us in community service (Nothing!) (http://archiveofourown.org/works/249367) started with the graffiti scene, surprise surprise. It's pretty obvious it's the centrepiece of the entire fic.

The pieces don't fit but they still make a picture (http://archiveofourown.org/works/216798) started with the scene I copied and pasted as the summary. It was never really about Dallon, it was about Brendon and Spencer.

Square Hole Seeks Square Peg (http://archiveofourown.org/works/189808), not that you're likely to have read that, is all about the final scene. I love Nakatsu/Mizuki and there comically gender/sexuality-confused friendship, and pegging seemed like the only answer.

There's always room for an encore (http://archiveofourown.org/works/166516) was always about the moment at the end when the show's over, the Top Gear boys are hanging around on stage supposedly packing up and staring at the empty band room, and Richard jumps up on Jeremy's bass drum to look down at him. I pretty much wrote the whole fic just to make that point worth it.

Anyway, I could go on, but most of my best examples are either fics I haven't finished yet or things from fandoms you wouldn't know. Five is already a lot!

Every time Frank talks about his pussy in that fic, I fall a little more in love. Trufax.

"Come ON, guys, you get to have tits AND a cock! There's no bad here!"

That line was so good I stole it and named my journal after it. SO GOOD.

Also that moment with Richard up on the drums is totally burned into my memory.

the entire sequel of hobos is mostly based around me wanting mikey to have a cat called sloth ann. one that he finds in a dumpster. while wandering the streets in the morning....

and all of hobos was essentially written because i wanted frank sick and homeless and hurting. because i love hurt. it was just a weird idea that came...i think with the sick!frank meme? and stuck around. and now it's a several k monster with a sequel in the works, and the story of my heart.

okay all of that was really not very interesting at all /o\

There is NOTHING WRONG with writing an entire fic so Mikey can have a cat. Or Frank can be sick and homeess.

WRITE FROM YOUR HEART. WRITE FROM YOUR HEART!

*hugs*

My most annoying one was The Commoner And The Scribe. It started off as notfic based on the four prompts listed for Bob/Brendon in one round of Porn Battle. It mostly centered around brief setup of Brendon having to write all of Bob's notes, and then they would ALL HANG OUT AS A GROUP. LARPING AND FRANK WOULD HATE IT, BUT HE'D GO TO BE WITH GERARD. AND GOING TO MOVIES AND MAKING OUT ON THE WET COUNTER IN THE BATHROOM AND RAY WOULD NOTICE THE WET STAINS AND MOCK. AND MORE GROUP FUN. Yeah. The entire 15k was setting up the Bob/Brendon. I ended up writing LARPing as a oneshot, and the movie theatre scene was never written.

Deeper Meanings Of Wearing Someone Else's shoes failed like that too. I wrote it all so I could have the scene where Pete-inMikey's-Body is furious at Mikey-in-Pete because Mikey is Kinsey 6 and "he" breaks up with Ashlee so he can have sex with guess. I still have that basic idea in it, but I didn't get to use any of the dialogue I'd originally planned.

Just Like Queer as Folk on the other hand, turned out beautifully. That fic was alllll about the opening scene, where Ray comes out as gay and then Gerard thinks it's a great idea to make Ray more comfortable about outing himself to out his relationship with Mikey. Halfeatenmoon had to help me edit it to make it perfect, but I fucking LOVE IT.

And in that way, A State Of Orange was just about the best thing ever. Because the two clearest images in my head were Gerard sharing his sweater with Frank, and then later Frank starting to dissolve in the sun, and my artist drew both of those scenes. AS COMIC PANELS.

If anyone happens to have questions about other fics, here's my masterlist (http://gala-apples.dreamwidth.org/327726.html#cutid1)

ETA: OH, SCENES OF THE FUTURE! I'm writing Darcy/Jane/Thor mixed orientation fic, and I am gleefully/evilly looking forward to the scene where they try their first threesome and Darcy Just Can't Do The Cock Thing. And then stuff happens, and then Darcy and Hogun have a Deep Meaningful Conversation about what it means to date someone that you're not interested in sexxing. And then I'm gonna do Alicia/Mikey/Pete for polybb, and it's quite possibly the H/Ciest thing I've ever written, because they're all anarchist/terrorist people, and Pete does something really insane and brave, and all around him people are dying and having their lives ruined for doing it, but it makes Mikey fall in love with him. And then I have this crazy plot for a horrorbb, I notficced it over a year ago, and the only part of it I can remember is the part where Frank and Mikey fall in love in a mental institution. BUT I LIKE THAT PART, SO EVERYTHING IS GONNA BE OKAY.

Edited 2012-08-30 09:56 (UTC)

Seriously woman, your brain is a terrifying and amazing place.

You're gonna do Alicia/Mikey/Pete for polybb? YAAAAAAY

The whole 4 Gerards thing was born out of the image of all of Gerard's haircuts in the same room. I just wanted them all to bicker at each other and talk about ~~concepts. And then... It totally got away from me and grew porn and feelings! lol

(But does it even count? Cause it's not like I ALWAYS had the BURNING NEED to see that. I just thought about it one day and went from there? Idk!)

Edited 2012-08-30 10:15 (UTC)

It TOTALLY COUNTS. You wanted that scene to exist, you wrote it, and a WHOLE LOT OF AWESOME PORN surrounding it.

Was there a spark for your Jamia/Frank/Gerard one? I am so curious.

I don't think there was? I like wives-fic, and OT3/OT4, so when I saw the prompt for RBB I thought I'd like to try my hand at it! And then I just listened to all the songs and got my ideas from there, it was really guided by the lyrics & atmosphere of the mix. I didn't really have an OT3 bunny that I always wanted to write or anything.

Generally the way stories start for me is with a line more than a scene - which is also why I get stuck so often! lol

Like I said on twitter. Grey Crimson Skies started with me wanting to write Mikey and Frank go to some kind of prom. There's so much seriousness in the stories that I just wanted Frank to spoil Mikey somehow, and I got the idea of their garden lit up and the two of them able to have a night with no responsibilities at all. It's what I was writing towards always, like I light at the end of a tunnel I guess. Of course they go back into that tunnel after but that one shining moment was always a goal. People did comment on the scene, probably because it does stand out a little, especially when the unicorn was also lit up -- I swear, that thing should get oc status *g*

Embers verse started with me thinking about a scene where surly Bob is nursing hostile Mikey. I had no idea how that happened at first, just I knew I wanted a story where they were bitching at each each other with Bob wanting Mikey out of his space, now. From that the whole sprawling verse was born.

Oh god I completely understand bribing yourself to write all the OTHER stuff with the scene you REALLY want as a reward at the end.

Also I am so totally not surprised at all that your That One Thing scene in Embers is Bob nursing hostile Mikey. That scene is so great and one of the first things I think about in embers 'verse, right after the pink jeep and the extremely hot GSF.

♥

Oh I almost forgot to ask - was there a That One Thing scene for Gross Roomies? Because OMG if there is you have to tell me!!

Gross Roomies. Ah, okay, there sort of was. I have this huge thing about people finding out stuff that has previously been hidden. So I first imagined a scene where Frank saw some evidence that Mikey had been experimented with kink. Him moving his arm and revealing bruises on his wrists etc.

That moment was a big thing in my mind, because it was the step between them just being roomies, and Frank suddenly being confronted about things he'd tried not to think about previously.

So yeah, a sort of big thing in that it wasn't actually concrete in terms of detail, but I knew what I wanted to show.

What about boxes?

I wrote 25k of mad science just so tentacle!Frank could have sex with Gerard.

And for one of my due South big bangs, I wrote the whole story around the lines Burnt-out city, broken land, dying world. The stink of soot and the bitter taste of ashes.

25 000 words just for some tentacle sex? Girl you got GAME.

Those lines from your DSBB are gorgeous - are they yours?

Yeah, they're mine. Those words start the story and drive the whole thing. The initial inspiration came from an awful Vin Diesel movie Babylon A.D., not the plot, but the overall atmosphere of the world they lived in. And those words just came to me. \o/

Hi there!

I figured this would be as good an exercise as any if I'm trying to get back into writing fic. This gives me an excuse to look back through my masterlist and start thinking like a writer again.

Okay so first off, the one that springs to mind immediately, XO (http://archiveofourown.org/works/337684) was written around the exchange "I could take you right here, you know"/"Right here against the wall?" Kind of cliche and lame but whatever it worked for me.

Ummm.... the first flash of an idea for what became Obvious and Accidental (http://archiveofourown.org/works/337652) was the part where Gerard is mentally insisting to himself that he and Frank don't act like a couple, all while half-focusing on actions that prove just how much they do. The first line I really remember coming up with there was the part about him searching for the pasta strainer with the smaller holes because "he knows how much more Frank likes the angel hair than regular."

And finally, Won't Be Left With Nothing to Lose (http://archiveofourown.org/works/337748) was sort of always leading up to Gerard sat on the edge of Frank's bed, holding his hand, and Frank blurting out "Can I call you? ...When I get back home, I mean?" I just loved the idea of the brave soldier blushing and kind of shaking his head at himself over this crush he had on his nurse. :)

Yeah whatever XO totally worked for me. Sometimes you just want to write what you want to read. Never fight it because it's highly likely someone else wants the same thing.

Oh god so adorable. Was there a That One Scene in Leather Studded Kiss? (Hahaha you totally saw that one coming)

YES THIS A SQUILLION TIMES THIS

I call it the spark, the scene or image or line of dialogue one thing that makes that fic NEED TO BE, and if I don't have it then I might as well not even open up a document--even if I can drum up the inspiration to write something, it all comes out vaguely flat and lifeless.

The really funny/gratifying thing is, when I post, the scene that gets the most comments or the line that gets the most cites is almost always the spark. It's like, the enthusiasm I have for that bit, and the vividness of the spark in my mind comes through, even when the rest of the story, honestly, maybe isn't that great.

The thing that I do, though, that I guess maybe isn't that normal is I immediately write that scene first, and then start filling in the blanks of how it got there. For instance, in my Merlin BB, the scene where Merlin bolts out of the throne room running, and then pushing Arthur up against the bedroom wall and whispering magic to hide them while soldiers pour into the room and Arthur stares at him in disbelief and shock--that was my spark and I wrote that first. Then I spent two months trying to figure out why the hell he was running from and what the hell came next. [snickers]

The spark is SUCH a good term for it. I've had it be a scene, a scenario, a line of dialogue, but it's the push to make you write it.

the scene that gets the most comments or the line that gets the most cites is almost always the spark. That is SO cool - you obviously put a lot into it and people pick up on that!

I immediately write that scene first, and then start filling in the blanks of how it got there

WOW. I very rarely do that! I think I mostly need to write fic in chronology or IDK I guess I get worried I'll lose motivation to write the rest if I get my favourite part out first or something. Oh that is SO interesting.

I think--I think maybe it's that I'm scared that if I don't capture it, I'll lose it? I like writing fic in order, one bit after another, for a lot of my short stories, and in fact everyone I know who writes that way, especially the long fics, I just think their fic is incredibly well done, tightly plotted, cohesive, organic and *meaningful*. But then I try to write long fics that way, force myself to ignore the spark that gave me the idea in the first place and start at the very beginning and it just feels...wrong. That one bit that I NEED to write, the bit that's flaming brightly in my head, I'm always scared that the fire's going to burn out and I'll lose it if I don't write it down. So I write that, and hope and cross my fingers and keep typing once I've written it all, so the momentum of writing usually sweeps me forward into the next scene. [helpless] Does that make sense?

And even if I don't keep going, the psychic, I don't know, satisfaction of having created that one perfect scene is often enough to just satisfy me. That doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I've got a Merlin story where I doubt if it'll ever be finished, because I wrote the one bit I wanted to see and now I just don't need to know the rest in the same way.

But normally it's like, I don't lose motivation because now I want to know *what happened* to cause the spark, what happened after it finished, so then I start getting ideas for more and more scenes, building the bridges between what I've already written. I'm a big believer in momentum, too, the act of writing and using your creativity causing you to write even more and create even more, like the mechanical act of writing prompts more ideas for how it's going to go next--it's like when you're walking a long distance and at a certain point you stop thinking about walking and how far you've gone and how far there is to go because your legs and hips and brain just fall into a rhythm and an hour later you've reached your destination and you don't even notice the time passing or the effort it took to get there. So then eventually I've got a BBB and it's the last night and I'm scouring it desperately making sure I don't have any "stuff happens in a forest" placeholders. :)

Because I pretty much suck at plot, so everything I've ever done with a cohesive plot sort of happened by momentum and accident combined. I stumble into a bit of plot by chance and just don't stop writing until I've figured out how it ends.

That is so interesting. I totally understand where you are coming from with the angle of "if I don't write it now I'll lose it! I'll figure out how to bridge these scenes later!" I've definitely done that myself and some of my most prolific writing periods have been THAT kind of writing. I know when I was racing to draft deadline on my bbb or desperately trying to put down words on my Nano I was really writing that way - the okay I have this idea, I haven't really thought about it or how it fits with all these other scenes but I'm just going to put these words down RIGHT NOW.

Come to think of it, those kinds of writing sessions have been very productive for me in the past, and they've definitely taken fics I've been working on in directions I probably would never have gone if I'd sat down and tried to think it out first. And honestly I think I've written some of my best stuff under those circumstances so please don't think I'm dissing on your writing habits - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, this is so FASCINATING to me.

Julie and I wrote...what's the OT3verse count at now, anyway? 120K? Purely because we wanted smut about Grant and Gerard fucking after the SING shoot....

OOPS.

You guys have the BEST ideas.

Was there a That One Thing scene for The Big Picture?

Nope. Just the naked tattooed lady photographer picture. *g*

Every time I look at my masterpost, I can't believe I've written so few one-shots. And then I remember there are a bunch I haven't linked, and I think about doing it, and then I don't. :)

There's one bit in "Lying Is the Most Fun a Mormon Boy Can Have Without Freaking the Hell Out," (a slantverse story) where Brendon has to pretend to his parents that he's a dom, not a sub, and that he has a female sub already, and he begs one of the girls to pretend to be his sub. But all the girls are either doms or uncommitted. I wrote the whole fic around this.

Victoria looks at Keltie. Keltie looks at Victoria. Brendon hyperventilates as his parents come up the driveway. Victoria looks at Keltie. Keltie looks at Victoria. Brendon's dad rings the doorbell. “Oh for fuck's sake," snaps Lyn-Z, and she tosses a sofa pillow to the floor and hits her knees just as the door opens.

I'm writing on the sequel to my (as yet unposted) BBB, which was sparked by a scene with Pete and his therapist. I wrote an original trilogy a while back, based on a scene I had in a dream. But mostly, I get the skeleton of a plot, and spend the rest of my time filling it out.

Most stories I write have this little gem of a heart. It's usually a wispy scene that grows solid like BAM zero to sixty and I HAVE to know WHY this is happening. What does it mean for the characters. How does it effect everything. So I start branching out and feeling for other SCENES that do the same thing and I string them together. It's like a chain of events with these Big/Pivotal scenes and supporting scenes that support them.

To End and Begin Again (http://doctor-jasley.dreamwidth.org/76252.html) was interesting because of the musical inspiration. It just rolled out of my head in 12 hours. But that first BIG moment of click was the opening scene where Spencer's talking to Brendon and everything is broken down (being rebuilt) around them and nothing is as it seems. I HAD TO FIGURE OUT WHY.

This is alone the reason I didn't start with the apocalypse happening at the beginning(and instead it's already happened). It felt more emotionally grounded in your mix that way. Then that's when I was punched in the gut with the reveal scene and it made me cry so I knew I had something there.

The Killing Trade (http://doctor-jasley.dreamwidth.org/78387.html) started as an au idea for The Professional(but I don't write straight-up aus, I have to completely reconstruct the story, so that meant I had A LOT to figure out). When I first started writing, I got to ten k and stopped but I had these 3SCENES!!! I NEEDED....it would be 40k-50k before I got to any of those scenes, which I didn't know at the time.

I Just Wanted when Brendon Tells Frank about his Past(which originally was at a different point in the story and under different circumstances). It's an instance of changing radically from the original thought to finished product. Then there was the Pete confrontation and the BIG action scene(though that became more of an emotional series of scenes and less ACTIONY)

My wave three bbbs this year are both examples of a vague IDEA concept that morphed into scouting for scenes. What Defines Us (http://doctor-jasley.dreamwidth.org/79934.html) (which is the only one posted so far. Was supposed to be an Abduction(that teen action movie with that Taylor kid) au but 3k in my brain took a series of turns and it became supernatural/scifi-ish and that CHANGED EVERYTHING.

I don't know about the whole impact those scenes have on people. But maybe that's because, I can and do see SEVERAL if not MANY scenes. So when people comment it's kinda blanket pinpointing. I'm just happy/ecstatic when people comment at all.

(long comment is long)

Yes, almost always. For Sit back, relax, enjoy the show (http://archiveofourown.org/works/482696) it was the image of Pete, fucked out, just collapsing on his knees in front of Patrick and Patrick's control snapping and him coming the second Pete touched him.

For The Dark Ocean Bottom (http://archiveofourown.org/works/311870) it was Ryan playing the piano. Both the image of it, those gorgeous long hands on the keys,but also Brendon's reaction to it, and Ryan's choice of song. That was the scene I wrote first and the rest of the fic was written around it.

Sometimes it's just a line that hits me. For example, the opening line of the fic I'm working on next:

"Trouble walking into my office in a gray suit and too many tattoos"

Now that I am finally on a laptop and not just my phone again, I want to play, because I get scenes like that a lot.

For A Crack in the Sky one of my big ones was the scene right after Gerard walks into the pool at the Paramour--when I wrote the first draft of that I didn't know how the whole Paramour section was going to play out, let alone the rest of the fic, but I already knew that was going to be the "oh shit, this is BAD" moment where things started ramping up to the climax of that section.

With Getaway Mile, I knew the basic idea was going to be the continuing adventures of Frank and Gerard from Shook-Up World, but then I was like "shit, I need a PLOT...maybe Frank gets in trouble with the mob?", and I ended up with the final confrontation with Vince and Leo, and then I pretty much had to see the fic through to get to that scene. Oh, and there was also the fit of self-indulgence where I was like "maybe teenage runaway Gerard awkwardly seduces Grant in a hotel room!" and then that became a major part of the story.

For A World So Small, there are a couple--Frank fainting and Gerard carrying him downstairs, their first meeting, and the scene where Frank takes Gerard out on the moor. Basically, all the most gothic-novel-cliche scenes.

As for future stuff, I'm still trying to make something out of the Labyrinth AU that sprang entirely from the thought of Gerard meeting Frank the Goblin King, and the Elizabethan genderswap story, for which the key scene is currently "Gee gets hurt and that's how Grant finds out she's a girl and then Mikey brings Frank to help her out". Well, I say "trying" when I mostly mean "vaguely poking at now and then". /o\

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