A dilemma

[julian_griffith]

 Have, oh, half a scene left on the Advent-calendar story. May even take a crack at it tonight. Between health issues and election stuff (I did a whole lot of displacement activity to keep myself from freaking out) and today's snowstorm, I haven't poked at it in a few days. Naughty of me.

The bigger dilemma is this: I had thought I wanted to try to write a F/F story for Riptide's open call -- with a 12/20 deadline. Julia, Marchioness of Brackley (Caroline's kissing BFF from school) and Mary Campbell, widow of a captain in Rockingham's regiment. But, apart from knowing that they meet through Caroline and that they get together, I have no real feeling for the conflict in the story. Nothing to make a plot.

Meanwhile, I have been bitten by one HELL of a plotbunny. Apparently that Three Musketeers slashfic jump-started my brain. And this one's het, for all love -- an Athos-like character (hey, public domain!) and a woman playwright. Who has a FABULOUS backstory, if I do say so myself. And they've been occasional lovers for quite a while -- but now Olivier (THAT part of his name, I'm keeping) is on the point of getting his lands and title back, and he wants Mimi to marry him. And, despite loving him, she has reservations. A LOT of them.

I want to write this so bad I can taste it.

Blow off the f/f story? Or give it a try anyway and hope Mimi/Olivier keeps?

Comments

[laylah]

My $0.02 -- if you miss any given submission call, there will always be others. I've made tentative plans (and started rough drafts) for probably twice as many calls as I've actually subbed to this year; currently I'm repurposing one of the ones that didn't work out this summer to work for a different market.

Write the story that you have the inspiration and enthusiasm for. It'll be a stronger piece and you'll enjoy the process more.

[julian_griffith]

That's about what I thought. I know Julia and Mary exist, and they could just as well go to a Storm Moon call for June, at which point I'll likely know more about them.

Mimi and Olivier are SO DAMN AWESOME, in my head, right now. I'd better let them run it. And Olivier is going to be canonically bisexual, and the gender dynamics are going to be noticeably queered because of it. Even when I write straight sex, it's usually queered somehow, though not always as explicitly as What Lucius Gets, which is something I will treasure forever.

[ankaret]

Write the one that's trying to break out of your brain with pickaxes. It's a submission call, not a signed contract, and trying to write when you haven't got a handle on the conflict is just asking for trouble.