WIP

[serendipity8791]

This is going to suck, but I'm still most proud of these two paragraphs of a WIP Egon/Janine fic, where I am making use of a sorely underutilized plot device (mainly because the writer kept getting derailed by changes to overarching story lines that the editor wanted to see come to fruition earlier).

He exhaled sharply, realizing he had just spent the better part of an hour staring blankly at the equipment in front of him. Vexed over the wasted time, he got up and grabbed for his suit jacket, which he’d previously unceremoniously set at the end of the work bench, with the intention of walking to the nearest sandwich shop to grab lunch and possibly a pastry. As he pulled the garment off the table, he noticed he’d knocked something off the working surface as it tumbled noiselessly to the floor.

He crouched down to retrieve it, recognizing the object instantly by touch; the feel of the red flannel-wrapped bundle now more familiar to him than he’d like to admit. The filling crunched lightly under the pressure from his fingers, releasing its not unpleasant herbal aroma. He absent-mindedly shoved the gris-gris bag in his trouser pocket, checked that he had his wallet on him, and walked out of the lab, shrugging on his jacket.

Comments

[tdotbabs]

Awwww I love this so far!!! Keep going!

[serendipity8791]

I have more, I need to edit and I need to continue. And I froze after I wrote the words "Can we talk?" into Egon's mouth. Yeah, that happened.

[tdotbabs]

Can I be your beta? :D

[serendipity8791]

You mean after it's done? And where shall I send it? Or I could just create a filter and post it on here.

[tdotbabs]

Haaaa blind leading blind time! :D

After it's done just email it to me and I edit it and see how it flows and then give it back to you. :)

[serendipity8791]

Sure, why not? I'll probably still fix stuff a bit first because I'm like that, lol.

[tdotbabs]

Of course! I'm just your second pair of eyes for a final run through. :)

[serendipity8791]

That is always a good thing. :D

[spinner_atropos]

*squeee*

[tdotbabs]

*double squee!!* That GB II fic you just posted was hilarious!!!!! I've missed you!!

[serendipity8791]

Yes, I read that, too! It's even better the second time around. I loved the not-a-hand part, it was obvious and hilarious. Oh, Egon... XD

[tdotbabs]

I loved how Egon just gradually....left. XD

[serendipity8791]

Yup, he was all *slinks away quietly*. I also love how the story hinted at a history, which explained the gaping plot hole of Janine suddenly turning her attention on Louis and not having scenes with Egon at all.

[tdotbabs]

Hey that reminds me. What was Fritz's explanation for that? XD

[serendipity8791]

I can't remember, there is so much fic on that site. I know that between the end of RGB and the beginning of EGB he wrote a fic that fills that years-long gap where she basically gave up on having a decent romantic life, married Louis, then divorced him relatively shortly after. But yeah. Not impressed.

[tdotbabs]

Your icon just matches your whole thing. I love it. XD

But yeah. That sounds thorough and vaguely creepy. I wonder how he meshed the different versions of Peter into one character? In RGB he's a kid. In the movies he's about 15-20 years older.

[serendipity8791]

Hah, that is why I picked it for my comment. XD

I can't remember. I know Peter ends up marrying Dana Barrett (ugh, the "first real love is always the right love" syndrome people always seem to put into fic, I mean, even Ray I think winds up with a girl he used to have a crush on when he was a kid from that one episode of RGB). He uses his own fanon for the ages of the character. You can tell he wishes Egon was youngest, but he couldn't make Ray older than Egon logically, so I think Peter is third oldest. He does seem to base it all off the fact that Egon turned 40 in 1997.

Here is a link to the timeline, which also links to various fanfic, and which reconciles all the things. Sometimes with conjecture and gaping plot holes and disregarding whatever josses his stories.

[serendipity8791]

I forgot to add, in the movies, I think the characters are meant to be pretty close in age to the ages of the actors. So that would have made them (based on actors' ages in 1983, when the movie was being shot): Ray, 32 years old, Peter, 33 years old, Winston, 38 years old, and Egon, 39 years old. Give or take a couple of years, I mean, Ramis has never looked his age, usually looked younger, so you could slash a couple of years off Egon... same for Hudson as Winston, for that matter. IDW seems to have aged Peter a bit, since he's the only one with visible grey in his hair, in the comic.

[spinner_atropos]

Fritz's mega-canon makes my brain hurt.

If we had more GB events around here I'd probably meet him, he's local to me. ¬.¬

[serendipity8791]

Too late, I've linked her to the timeline. XD

[tdotbabs]

Welp, there goes MY brain for the night. That entire thing made my inner being sting. >.

[serendipity8791]

The part that stresses me out the most about the whole timeline thing is that he doesn't even write the individual fanfic chronologically within the timeline.

Ain't nobody got time for that! So, what if someone's individual fan fiction stories contradict one another? It's not the end of the world!

Another thing that bugs me is that, while he's against fangirls inserting themselves into stories for the specific aim to have their self-insert characters date one of the guys (and the resulting fic often winding up crappily written because of the main aim is to write all the romantic and/or sex scenes), he clearly mentally self-inserted into Egon, as in, wishes he were him and it colours his writing, and has a self-insert character in stories around a fictional franchise, and, as far as I can tell, his self-insert character is basically the Egon on that team. Not quite the same, but still annoying as heck.

[spinner_atropos]

I've seen some scaaaaaaaaary anti-Janine (because they want Egon to themselves) fangirls online.

Shit, half of my fics aren't even in the same continuity with each other.

[serendipity8791]

I don't really mind self-inserts when written well and not too Mary Sue-ish, just don't make Janine (or the canon potential love interest, in a different fandom) a catty bitch over it or remove her completely, there can be a realistic reason why it isn't a problem.

I don't have a problem with that, though. And most people in the fandom don't, as far as I can see.

[tdotbabs]

That's...really unfortunate. All I have around me is an obnoxiously arrogant Ghostbusters fan group. Fortunately some pals and I got fed up, so we're starting the Toronto Ghostbusters. :)

[serendipity8791]

:D

[spinner_atropos]

You guys make me feel all warm and fuzzy <3

[serendipity8791]

♥

[tdotbabs]

Someone needs to write smarm fic about us.

[serendipity8791]

So long as it's not hurt/comfort...

[tdotbabs]

I LOVE YOU *cries*

[serendipity8791]

I LOVE YOU TOO! XD

[tdotbabs]

*CRIES*

[spinner_atropos]

*side-eyes you both*

I realized a year or two ago that one of my big rambly neverending projects is hurt/comfort. :(

[tdotbabs]

Yeah, but like, I don't see you going over the top with it like everyone else does. Hurt/comfort can be done right, and I bet you could do it! Me and Seren have both seen the extreme sides of it, and oh how we cringe.

Do you have any stories in that genre you've written?

[serendipity8791]

There's hurt/comfort, and then there's HURT/COMFORT, and the writing skills can make or break the fic, as well. I mean, there is some fanfic out there that is a little too extreme on the hurt and it's sometimes stuff that no matter the amount of comfort, nothing short of months or years of therapy and antidepressants would help the central character help, and yet some ugly crying in bed with their BFFs seems to make everything better, lol.

And, yet, I quite enjoyed a Janine h/c fic once. I like some h/c when it's in the realm of what may be possible.

[spinner_atropos]

Singe's Regina is amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing.

[serendipity8791]

YES! That's the one! And what happens to Janine is pretty horrible, but the way they all rally around her in a supportive way without being overemotional is the most amazing part.