Plot, Plot, Plot

[coalitiongirl]

 So we now have our writers and you've looked through all the technical details, and now it's time to talk plot! We've got seven days to suggest and discuss any ideas you have in the comments, and here are two things to keep in mind:

• Each chapter should ideally be a story in itself. We're each getting one opportunity to write and so we want a plot that allows for each writer to play within the 'verse without being caught up in transitional chapters or the like!
• At the same time, we also want to have one coherent ongoing plot that allows for development so it doesn't read like a series of short stories.

So this can work in several ways.

• We could rewrite a season. We have exactly as many writers as there are episodes, and we could each tackle one. (I'm wary of this option simply because there's the OUATVS and because I don't know about the rest of you, but I find episode rewrites kind of dull, especially when we have many stronger writers than the OUAT ones?)
• We can settle on a theme with stronger individual chapter plots and a weaker overall plot. I suggested tropes before- it could be something like "some kind of magical trickster has come to town and keeps casting wacky spells," and then we go from there. (I've seen people do that way back when SQW did magical mishaps.) In that, the story would be very much about individual chapters and character/relationship development, but it's tricky because the latter sometimes gets lost in the process.
• We can settle on one standard plot that we like and write to it- this is generally easy and straightforward, though you do need a more intricately organized outline from the start so you don't run out of plot along the way. 

Please drop your suggestions in the comments and discuss them! Reply to each other and talk about what you want to write and what you think might work for a story like this. This post closes on May 2, and we'll poll for your favorite option of the ones suggested from May 3-5.

Oh, and I don't think we'll do a totally alternate universe this time around because many people aren't used to writing out of the 'verse. Anything that takes place within the OUAT universe, even if it's a complete deviation from canon, is fair game.

Comments

[coalitiongirl]

Another concept- maybe something lighter, less dependent on good and coherent plotting (because so many cooks here!). So really, Option Two of the different types I suggested.

We can really go AU at any point in S2-4, insert a mischief maker of some sort, and each pick a trope (from this list or really anything you want to explore) and then we have twenty-two chapters about Regina and Emma combatting this threat, coping with this threat, and falling in love along the way. There's a lot more space to play in a story like that and we aren't as constrained by our format or the number of authors!

[devje]

For me, this option makes more sense because I cannot see any way that 20-odd people can maintain a coherent plot, especially given the massive variations in writing styles and tone among us.

I know it's been done before—both in SQ by single authors and in other fandoms in similar round robin posts—but portal jumping through alt universes or timeline jumping within the canon universe gives everyone a chance to write the characters they want to include without setting up a world which means others end up having to work with characters in whom they have no interest. Or, there's the Groundhog Day scenario where it's the same day over and over until they get it right. Or, a mix of the two, where they flip around the canon timeline fixing all the huge loose ends and unexplored plot threads (like S2) and righting various wrongs (God, I loved Quantum Leap).

I'm gonna shut up now because plot is so not my forté.

[coalitiongirl]

No wait keep talking. I think this is something to work with, maybe? I mean, I feel like a lot of these will take more setup than each writer can afford with only one chapter (particularly canon timeline stuff, because that's the kind of thing where everyone needs to pack a punch but it's hard with only a little bit of space), but maybe some kind of alternate timelines thing?

I feel a little silly linking to my own work, but I did something like what I'm thinking of in very brief flashes in this chapter, the idea of hundreds of possibilities within the 'verse and each one promising a whole story within it.

The trick would become to create an overarching thread to tie them all together- are Regina and Emma moving out of their own bodies through these 'verses? Are they doing it together or apart or sometimes together and sometimes apart? Maybe they begin this journey as enemies and slowly fall in love along the way? idkkkkk. Anyone?

[snarkingturtle]

Sometimes apart could be a logistical issue, just in terms of making sure that people who want to write interactions between them don't end up with a chapter where they're supposed to be separated. So my vote would be to keep them together.

In terms of a way to tie them all together...maybe they need to collect something from each 'verse, and it's only once they've Collected All the Things that they can go back home? Or if they're timeline jumping it could be realizations they need to have, but that runs the risk of a) being a little too It's a Wonderful Life, and b) turning into a regurgitation of canon in a boring way. We wouldn't want scenes that are basically just what happened on screen with an aha moment tacked onto the end.

They could also have some kind of big bad chasing them through time/the different 'verses, so there's a common enemy tying all of the parts together. It wouldn't even need to feature prominently in each chapter, but just some kind of reminder that it's all connected.

I don't know this is maybe stupid it is maybe too late for me to be having ideas.

[madasaboxofcats]

I understand the benefits of this idea/type of thing, but man, I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around how that would work without it looking like a scattered, incoherent mess. Anybody have any good examples from other fandoms (or SQ, if it's been done) of how this would work on a macro scale like we'd be attempting?

[coalitiongirl]

I was thinking about this fic (i think, i only vaguely remember it for the combining of all the prompts), where each chapter was a different trope and they all tied together. what i would say is that maybe we split up into about six groups/tropes/magical THINGS and then each one tackles one trope! and each group will also write relationship/plot developments that go on through their trope.

[madasaboxofcats]

Are you saying that we split into 6 groups, choose a theme/trope, and each write something that furthers that particular trope? So we'd have 6 total tropes, with 22 total chapters? Or are we talking about each individual author tackling a different trope?

[coalitiongirl]

The former! So it's a full story split into six parts, basically. (People can splinter off if they want to but this leads to a more cohesive fic, I think!)

[madasaboxofcats]

Makes sense. I could get on board with that.

I imagine we could take a similar approach to whatever we decide, too -- split up into groups, each handle a particular plot point or set of plot points, and decide within the smaller group how to divide the arc.

[coalitiongirl]

Yes, that was my initial plan when I thought there'd be like ten of us lmao. Groups of three (or four in this case) working together on our chapters.

[paradoxalpoised]

I really like that. It sounds a lot more doable and manageable for a quality result. I mean I know nothing about tropes and writing them, but it sounds really reasonable to do things on that scale.

Maybe we should decide on if we're going to write in groups or not first, then we can decide on themes and lines of plot and possibly assign portions of plot or chosen trope or such to each group, like you said, and work like that.

Should we plan all 22 chapters (with each author having their say of course) is what I'm really asking, and then everyone kind of writes what they will with their own spin to their assignment?

Because leaving everyone to its own devices kinds of feels like we're going to have a big nightmare for continuity. And poor Turtle has volunteered to be a tribute.

Or I can totally shut up.

C.

[coalitiongirl]

See, there are two ways of writing this, and I think we'd have to do each one differently.

One is with the strong plot, no groups. Person A writes, Person B follows up from there, and so on and so forth. We have a few guidelines (a loose outline so, say, people writing chapters 7-9 know they'll be building up/writing a villain reveal, but they do it on their own time) but overall it's more about picking up threads and continuing with your own style.

The second would be like this, with the tropes organized by group and and each group having a (probably mostly romantic) piece of the arc. It's a bit different because there are smaller teams and each one is completing their own little arc, so it demands more cooperation than just writing from someone else's end line would be.

[pauavalon]

Hum! Sounds like a really good idea to integrate all the different styles, writing something that doesn't really step into either what has been written before or what we would like to write by our own, and freeing ourselves from canon constraints.

Yes, the continuity and coherence should be a challenge, but we can overcome that if we organize the work properly.

So, if I have understood correctly, there are several things we should be deciding:

1. From which canon timeline point we would be addressing the story (personally, I am incline to pick a point in an indetermined future, after all current canon crisis is solved; but it could be any point after season 2 or 3, imo, too; maybe connecting with the other idea of writing about what could have happened post Neverland if new curse hadn't been casted?).

2. The general plot that would run throughout the whole fic. Should we have a new villain/mischief maker? What would be the main force driving our characters (especially, E&R) to action?

3. The 6 subplots that would be organized around certain tropes and to be more especifically worked by a smaller group of writers.

4. Tone: I think you suggested to keep it drama, and insert angst/fluff/humor at times. I like the idea, but I am still concerned with the tone/style unity, more that plot coherence.

Is that all?

[coalitiongirl]

I think the beauty of a round-robin is that we ARE writing differently. so they don't have to match each other in tone as long as it's the same narrative. someone can write an emotional discussion of Regina's mommy issues and the next chapter can be a comedy about Henry playing matchmaker as long as it all connects. I don't have a preference for drama or angst or anything else as long as it isn't a genre that forces everyone to conform to a mood (with a super serious subject matter, like some kind of trauma).

[devje]

There was a Buffy-Faith fic I had in mind (which I can’t find now because it’s been poss 8-10 years since I read it), in which Buffy got sent—by magical lightning is my recollection, but it was basically a portal—to a series of different parallel universes.

In every parallel universe, she met Faith. In some, they were together; in others, she was married to Angel or Spike or even Riley, or Faith was with someone else; but in each reality, she had to resolve some issue in Alt-Buffy’s or Alt-Faith's life to make that version of Buffy and Faith happy in order to move on, i.e. the Quantum Leap effect.

The chapters therefore didn’t have to be linked at all, except by those two characters. So, people could include other characters/pairings they liked/missed/always wanted to see together into their version of the reality. They could establish realities in which canon business they hated had never happened. They could write a 1,500 word chapter of pure smut (Buffy wakes up next to Faith; teh sexy times happen; le fin) or 8,500 words of we’re-with-other-people-but-I-see-how-you-look-at-me angst. Xander could be reunited with Anya; Dawn never needed to happen; Joyce/Tara could still be alive. For complete AU fans, they could be themselves, but somewhere else entirely with no Sunnyvale or vampires or what-have-you.

The only through-line in all of them was that they were obviously Meant For Each Other.

[coalitiongirl]

I like this idea a lot! The only thing that makes me wary is that it only really allows for one character arc? Unless we have a way to express the other's story at the same time (either both of them are traveling- but that could get confusing- or maybe we see the other back home. maybe it's a situation where, say, Emma is unconscious and Regina's been sent by Henry to save her, and somehow she winds up traveling these AUs- and once she fixes each one, it's suddenly "her" Emma instead of the other Emma, and at first it's awkward and uncomfortable, or even adversarial, but over time and clarity (because Emma's seeing these too) they begin to share truths and grow closer and finally fall in love.

The other thing is suggest is that we start this off with Emma and Regina being at odds (S1, S2, early S4 if we're doing Regina POV, or an invented time) just because it allows for more ongoing character development so it doesn't feel like 22 separate stories.

[snarkingturtle]

I think that even if character B does spend a part of the chapter as "herself" it still runs the risk of character B feeling like a side character to A's main character. Having only one character really drive the action could make the other one feel like their sidekick.

[coalitiongirl]

Yeah, I mean that would still make the story really only one of theirs- but tbh, I've almost exclusively written fics like that in the past- with one main character and one supporting but the relationship as the focus- and I think they generally can work? I worry a little about too much spreading out character-wise when there are so many writers- it might be easier to zero in on one character and have it her journey while the other shares in it.

[snarkingturtle]

I think it can work when done well--I've never felt like E or R was a sidekick in one of your fics. But I have read SQ fics that very much felt like a character study of one of them, with the other just kind of there in the background, that didn't work for me.

Part of where it gets complicated is that since there are so many of us we might have different allegiances--like, I love Emma, but at the end of the day I am here for Regina, so writing an Emma centric fic where Regina isn't doing much would be hard for me. And others are probably the opposite! Which is cool! But means that if we're only focusing on one of them, it might not be the one that at least some writers are attached to.

[coalitiongirl]

Hm. I think that in this case- if we're dealing with other worlds and journeys, it almost requires that the other character is super prominently there? Like you can't fade Emma out of a story when the story is Emma and Regina is the one traveling through it.

I think we'd have to see where people took it! I'd rather read this as Regina's journey because I feel like that'd be a more extreme shift in worldview for her (whereas Emma's would go from, "eh, terrible person" to "I LOVE HER SO MUCH" without as much conflict, lbr), but the plus side to having lots of writers is that some will focus on Emma automatically, some will focus on Regina automatically. And so the story itself becomes both of them. (We could also have the POV option any time for Emma, too, even as an observer to another world.)

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry I'm butting in, I'm not even a writer) maybe Emma and Regina could both travel to other realms, but separately? Emma's in one realm while Regina's in another, so every writer can choose the character they want to write about. Emma and Regina could have different experiences, different arcs, but still be somehow connected? Maybe they finally meet in one of the realms and don't recognize each other as "real" E & R at first? But then they do and they come together and that's what finally brings them home?
L.

[allaine]

I like this idea, I have experience with this kind of story. I wrote a version of this for the Justice League universe :)

[snarkingturtle]

A couple concerns that I have about a trope demon are:

-making sure that the tropes make sense together and aren't too random (there should be some kind of common thread/type of mischief the antagonist is drawn to--like for example I could see dopplegangers, body switch, stuck together, rhymes with blinvisible, and new uncontrollable power working well together as a set of tropes, because they all have to do with losing some sort of control over your body. or truth serum and mind reading both match nicely (didn't do a thorough enough comb-through of tropes to pick more for that group), because of the invasion-of-privacy/private thoughts element. you get the idea.)

-picking tropes that preferably haven't been done too much already in a sqw (unless we think we can do something really new and different with them)

-making sure that everyone is comfortable with the trope their team has picked (would there be a veto option, or would it be majority rules?)

But other than that, I think that it would be a good way to wrangle this many writers, and, like you said, be less dependent on really mapped out plotting.