Time to 'fess up...

[shimotsuki]

Okay, I'm sort of blocked on my next fic for the current Jumble at metamorfic_moon.

I suspected I would have a harder time with this one, since I usually write character studies (or one- or two-chapter fics where whatever plot I manage to write is really just an excuse for some poor hapless characters to undergo an experience of my choosing so I can watch them deal with it). For this Jumble, I swore up and down that if I got action/adventure for my genre prompt, I would go for it, because I want to learn to handle more genres.

Well, I did get a/a. Trouble is, days have gone by and I'm still at the point of choreographing various scenarios in my head, waiting for that feeling of "aha, there's the plotbunny I'm going to follow." Nothing I've thought of so far feels like it's something that wants me to write it.

I've already had a look at the a/a writing discussion at metamorfic_moon. That was extremely helpful, especially the suggestions by jesspallas, whose a/a fics Oblivious and Imperius are some of my favorite long fics ever. So I've got some technical ideas I'm dying to try, but NO PLOT.

Here are some ideas I've been pushing around. Any opinions? Does anything stand out as something you think you'd like to read?

a/a plot sampler

• It's OotP year. Fred & George have just quit school. They show up at 12GP and worm their way into the Order. Remus and Tonks take them out on what is supposed to be a basic training mission, but complications arise and a/a ensues.
  
  Possible sources of said complications:
  • Tonks and Remus get separated from the twins, and then some Death Eaters, um, do something, which F&G have to handle on their own until the group all find each other again. (Too boring? Too much Fred & George?)
    
  • The mission is to find something (document?) in some large and fortified building (St. Mungo's? the Ministry? Gringotts?) while sneaking around and avoiding both bureaucrats/goblins as well as the Death Eaters who are also loose in the building. (Too much like the Feral Institute scenes in Imperius?)
    
  • Each of the four ends up tailing some different Death Eater or suspicious character around Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, with various and sundry near misses and narrow escapes. (Might be too many details to keep track of for my first a/a?)
  
  
• It's HBP year. Remus needs emergency help related to his mission with Greyback's pack. Tonks is with the twins at the time and enlists their help. Everyone runs around avoiding, and possibly also fighting with, (untransformed) werewolves. Things are not good between Remus and Tonks; possible comic relief if the twins don't realize what's wrong with them. (Too clichéd?)
  
  
• It's Sept 1 of DH year. Remus is visiting Fred and George at WWW's new Hogsmeade branch when a werewolf who knows Remus from his HBP-year mission spots him and runs up to warn him that Greyback is planning to meet the Hogwarts Express. Tonks is on duty in Hogsmeade and gets involved. (Problem here is it's guaranteed to be made non-canon when DH comes out, but maybe I shouldn't let that worry me. Also, it feels clichéd again. But honestly, all of these ideas do, which is one reason I'm feeling stuck.)

Anything sound appealing? Any other ideas? I'll keep thinking; maybe inspiration will strike after all.

Comments

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

Have to second godricgal's suggestion about thinking of a prompt element in relation to canon. That was exactly how my plot unfolded from wondering what to do with Snidgets to a POA-era mystery fic with loads of canon tie-ins.

Of your ideas, I actually really like the first one best. But it's up to you. Trying to force a plot can be really hard on you as a writer, but if you can think of some ties that will make in unfold more organically, it can be a little easier.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for weighing in with suggestions.

I started out with that first plot and then got cold feet, but it seems to be catching people's fancy, so I'm feeling motivated to give it another chance this evening. (Actually, another problem when I tried this was discovering I had already written 1000 words and everyone was still sitting around the Grimmauld kitchen talking about the mission and whether Molly was going to let the twins go or not. But what that really means is, I just have to rein in my dialogue muse a bit more. Heh.)