What’s With… #WIPpet Wednesday

It’s rough when things are in transition.  I knew when I started this schedule thing here.  This was always intended to be a temporary arrangement.

Today is the last day of my What’s With Wednesday posts.  Two reasons for the change:

1. I need to concentrate on my WIPs more
2. They felt too similar to the Some Words Sunday posts in theme and style

Last week doing my ROW80 check-in visits, I finally got brave enough to ask about this hashtag  floating around — #WIPpet.  Some of it made sense–it was a way for people to share something about their pet project du jour.  I just didn’t know the specifics.

Now I do.

Since today is the first of the month, I have to share something that involves today’s date.

As my first WIPpet post, I’m going to share the first scene of a fanfic I’m writing.  (No moaning about how fanfiction isn’t real writing or a real WIP.  This story has been a sand box for some time, allowing me to explore my characters in absurd situations.  You can learn a lot about your stories when you play with them and allow yourself to just go wild for a moment or two.  As fanfics go, I write multiverse stories; this piece has elements of Doctor Who, Star Trek TOS, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Babylon 5 and other sci fi shows.)

Sparks, flashes–closing his eyes did no good. His optic nerves seemed to broil in his skull.

The fire….

He scrambled trying to gain his footing, reaching for the alarm. His passengers needed to be warned, before they couldn’t get to the escape pod. Wait! he’d forgotten to show it to the pair upon their initial ship tour. He slipped on something wet–the foam extinguishers had been used already? Why couldn’t he remember? What was this pulpy lump he’d collapsed against?

“Shh, Herc. Please, don’t move.”

Gillian? He opened his mouth to warn the man. Something ground at the back of his neck. He wrenched away, and a dying ember exploded into an inferno. He gasped, his breath torn from his lungs.

Pressure. From the circling emptiness, he felt fingers, then palms, the arch of each joint and the firm press of the tips against his breastbone, forcing him back and down. Falling backward, flailing in terror. All around him the conflagration burned, blinding ash. How could everything be so bright yet he see nothing?

“Gillian? Jayce?” he croaked.

Nothing.

No one answered.

That’s it where it all starts.  Like other fanfiction stories, I am developing a fuller world for a secondary character.  In this case, it is Herc Stormsailor.  Though I certainly am giving Jayce his fair due….Oon not so much (can’t stand whiny robot-like characters, even as comic relief).

I’m SO proud of myself….

The laugh is…  I can barely watch the cartoon that inspired all of this stuff.  I certainly don’t see any of my characters as they are in the show.  But I still write this stuff…  Kieri Vestimorn of my (only finished) manuscript, Release, was totally inspired by my playing with Herc Stormsailor’s character and making him into something beyond what the series cast him as.

So, now that you’ve had a laugh, let me tell you about my ROW80 update.

ROW80 Check-in

Things haven’t been as inspired as I’d like them to be.  My husband is at a funeral now for his uncle.  We’re staying home because the Boodle is in a wired, tense, performance mode,  and he would be the only child there under age 18.

Even when one doesn’t go to a family event like this, it weighs on the mind….  There was a lot of back and forth about what would help the most, what sort of things would make his aunt feel best.  I wrote about a page for Swan Song, futzed around the house and did my sponsor duties but not much more.

My heart was not in it… nor was my head (as I was fighting one of my multi-day migraines until yesterday afternoon).  Now the Boodle and I are off for a picnic with his homeschooling group…  I’m not really interested in that, but we’d committed to it weeks ago.

Not the most upbeat post, but honest…  and there is a bright light on the horizon.  I had some fun with this post!  🙂