sq_roundrobin | Plot, Plot, Plot

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.

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I'm horrible at plotting cause I normally write at random inspiration strikes and I am way more prone to emotional and aesthetic blusts than to constructing coherent storylines (which is why I admire your ability to do so).

That said, and although I really like the ideas you are already proposing, I'd like to add a new one.

I'm particularly inclined to explore the potential ramifications of the story after the current season finale. The whole Dark!Emma arc is keeping me captive and the hiatus would be a great time to delve into such considerations (tho, I know the fic wouldn't be posted until after season 5 release).

Pro's (imo):
- We would be gathering all the canon (and headcanon) common knowledge we share up til now.
- And we will still be free from canon constraint regarding the development of the story.

Con's:
- Dark!Emma is tough to write and read about. It would possibly require a very angsty tone, and maybe we would like to go for something lighter. Then again, maybe the mood could be leveraged by other characters, flashbacks. Or even... DarkOne!Emma might have this Rumple-ish take in which she's also hilarious but preserving her essense. I don't know what I'm saying anymore... It sounds hella complicated, right?

This makes me wonder something else: should we decide the "tone" of the fic first (angst, humor, fluff...)? Or better come up with a story and later see which tone best suits it?

Edited 2015-04-28 11:53 (UTC)

Ooh, this could be fun. I'm not one to talk about with this tbh because I've already written a Dark!Emma fic and I'm not that interested in writing another, but I think people might have fun with it? You're right though, I don't know what we'll settle on for tone.

Drama is probably the easiest to maintain for a long fic, because it allows for the most variation--some chapters could be on the angstier side, others could bring in moments of fluff or humor, depending on what authors are most comfortable writing.

I agree with you re: drama being the easiest to sustain with long fic. That would be my vote, if we're voting on tone.

This could be a lot of fun! There's a lot of stuff currently happening in late 4b that makes me really uncomfortable, so maybe if we did a post finale fic we could also reestablish those elements in less sketchy ways?

This is what first jumped into my mind when I first started to think of plotty things, but I wasn't sure others would go for it, given that at least one of us (Our Fearless Leader, no less) has tackled Dark!Emma (very successfully, too). But man, there's a lot there that I'd like to play with.

I def. agree with Turtle, though, that we'd want to do some damage control on some of the crap they screwed up pre-finale (for me, that whole "Zelena raped Robin and is preggers with his baby" is a big NO, and also racism). But I really do think this story line has SO much potential.

We could just freely ignore a whole lot of things- it doesn't seem like the Zelena arc is going to pan out as anything other than OQ/WQ stuff later on, so it really isn't necessary that it comes up at all/that Zelena even survived. OR we could have had Marian survive and be hidden somewhere and write her in.

(I actually hesitate to focus too much on recurring characters because I know that they aren't everyone's cup of tea- I mean, I love writing about those two but have about zero interest in writing about Ruby- so maybe anyway these aren't things we want to play with? Like I could have Regina casually call up Marian in my chapter if it's relevant and I want to, but she shouldn't be integral to the main story arc, especially since lots of people haven't watched any of her episodes. Same for any characters- I know at least two people in this RR who don't care for Zelena at all.)

Re: recurring characters -- do we want to limit it to the main cast (Emma, Regina, Henry, Charmings, Rumple, maybe beards if we want to deal with them and get them out of the picture) to avoid those kinds of issues? Or at least set up some kind of "cast list" or boundaries at the outset so that we're not stuck with a cliffhanger that is all about Sneezy or something?

I think we should limit it to the main cast for story arcs (unless there's someone that the plot necessitates) and if you do want to include a minor character, it's fine as long as it isn't necessary? Like...you can have Emma talking to Ruby about something but it all has to be open-ended so that if the next writer doesn't pick it up for another conversation, no one's left hanging.

Yes. Agreed. A+.

I like this idea. I think that way anyone who wants to throw in a conversation or similar that wouldn't seem right between any of the central folks could be feasible. However! We probably would need to decide as a group which minor characters are still around (if they're ones who haven't been on the show within the last season or so, such as Ruby, Mulan, Aurora, etc).

Don't know if I like the idea of doing a post 4b because a) I think the hiatus will be over by the time we finish the story, so some of us will have to write 4b stuff while 5a is going on, and b) I get the feeling many of us might do our own thing with what's gonna happen and I don't know that I want to do a group thing with that because it'll be very fresh.

C.

You are right. Those are big cons to this idea. Plus, the fact that coalitiongirl has already written a Dark!Emma fic and doesn't feel very enthusiast about reincinding... which, taking into account that she's the commander of this ship, as pointed out by sbody before, should be enough to reconsider, lol!

Plot, Plot, Plot

Post season 4 finale???

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