As usual, when I sit down and try to write I've got too many ideas. Add that to the fact that I've been sitting on several story ideas I've only recently gotten around to feeling comfortable sharing for various reasons and I've got a whole bunch of things sitting on the backburner I want to try to dedicate my energy to. So help me pick from the following list please? All the titles are basically working titles. Crossovers Obligatory Harry Potter AU: Focused on alpha kids for now, kinda dark in comparison to most of the HP universe. Pros: likely to be easy to write, interesting b/c unexplored territory for me + magic, possibility to explore HP headcanons and kids development Cons: somewhat underdeveloped, could just draw a series of comics probably (but I would still have to draw them?), no coherent plot or point/ending atm Avatar( the Last Airbender )stuck: Never mind I'd have to watch Korra to figure out how to do what I want in a canon-compliant way Game of Thrones-stuck: Have not actually checked out the archive to see if it's been done before, but it'd basically be a re-working of the TV series's mythos for Derse and Prospit and canon relationships, complete with enormously complicated inheritance schemes and orphaned Strider-Lalondes Pros: I've written a couple of scenes already, doesn't have to stick too closely to GOT canon cause there's enough in the Derse/Prospit conflict/Homestuck canon in general to substitute Cons: I really have no idea where to go with this one. I'm drawn to the idea of Dirk playing deadly politics without fully realizing the repercussions but that's not going to drive the story when he dies, ya know? I think I might have more ideas when Homestuck proper ends. Series (Reverse) Petstuck: Spoiler: Spoilered for rape/forced sex Humans are raised as companions for trolls on Alternia. The alpha kids grew up in disparate situations and were thrown into a breeding facility where they had the betas. They were given to their respective patron trolls, who live in Alpha/Beta pairs. So Jane and John live with Aranea and Vriska, Jake and Jade with Kankri and Karkat, Dirk and Rose with Porrim and Kanaya, Roxy and Dave with Latula and Terezi. I thought of this more or less in response to being raped and the frustrations of knowing I couldn't do anything about it legalwise so there's that. Pros: vent work, has an actual ending Cons: emotionally exhausting, I couldn't work on it in public cause I'd probably end up crying on a regular basis Mentalstuck: Serious and seriously long longfic about humanstucks and various neuroses/conditions I wanted to explore. Brainbent-inspired fo sho, but not concentrated on an institution. And when I say long, I mean that there are 6 multi-chapter fics in the main series each focused on two beta humanstuck trolls and at least one side fic about kids and such Pros: Has the possibility to be fairly original from what I can tell, if for no other reason that it'll require a lot of effort on my part Cons: A lot of research, and long like I said Planetstuck: All the beta kids live on various planet or planet-like places around the universe after humanity developed space travel and ran smack dab into the expanding Alternian empire, which has been hunting them down ever since. John lives on a bluish planet with a small colony of humans and his father (and mostly harmless aliens) who mostly subsist on fungi. Rose lives with her mom on now-abandoned Earth inside a hydro power station. Dave lives in a space station that's busy enough that he and Bro go basically unnoticed. Jade lives with Bec on the alien jungle planet her grandfather's ship crash landed into when he was much younger. Has the possibility of bringing in the beta trolls as young adults and a fully developed backstory with the Alphas. Pros: I LOVE sci fi, pretty well fleshed out Cons: I've never written sci fi before, only possible conclusions in sight, I think it's been done before? Beforus AU: What it says on the tin. I've been drawing for this a lot. Pros: Probably going to be a series of oneshots or a relaxed sort of story about one character, so probably way less stressful to write than any of the other ones on this list. Cons: Actually requires a lot of planning to make sure everyone's time line is consistent. May never be finished. Sciencestuck: Based off a kink meme request for the trolls as scientists. It's a universe where the Alternians have integrated into Earth peacefully after the Condesce was killed (details smetails) and all the trolls are now working with the kids to create an interracial understanding of each other's biology and such. Pros: much lower stress compared to the other ideas, I've already sorted everyone into professions Cons: the plot I thought up is not really science related, I don't know enough about each respective profession to make a science-centered plot interesting I'm actually thinking this would make a good roleplay. (Dibs on Feferi.) Robotstuck: The alpha kids use the alpha trolls, who are a network of robots that perform various functions in the kid's civilization, to instantiate a new generation of robots, the beta trolls, who are sent on a mission to find and protect the beta kids because the civilization of the alpha kids is crumbling. Pros: Fun for me to write Cons: This doesn't really need to be a fanfic.
GoT-stuck sounds pretty cool :P I also like Sciencestuck but I agree it would possibly be better suited to a roleplay. If I could ever get my shit together long enough to roleplay I might be interested, actually... Petstuck would be interesting but it's whether you've got the emotional spoons to write it. That sucks, by the way. *comforting gesture of your choice*
They all sound interesting, that's the problem! Yeah if you do it roleplay style all the research gets crowdsourced, definitely a big bonus. I haven't roleplayed in forever. Aaaaand yeah it does, thanks.
I'd say make a more fleshed-out outline of what you want to do for each one (think summaries of plot arcs and chapters), work on it a little in private (write a few whole chapters and see how you feel about it), then once you have something more coherent just start posting all the things. Cons: No immediate feedback; takes a lot of work for little up-front reward Pros: You know what's more doable for you right now, and what you should maybe leave for later or wait to read or set up as RP/crowdsource. I'd personally say stay away from reverse petstuck, but that's also because I don't like the petstuck premise to begin with, and because I'm worried about your health (because I have a compulsive need to MOM EVERYONE apparently). Idea: Have you reached out to fandom friends to see if they want to collab with you on any of this? "Collab" could mean fic exchanges where both of you are working out of the same AU but exchanging coherent mini-stories that follow a linear progression, could be both of you writing parts of the same chapter so both of you have full authorship, could mean you writing the dialog of a comic and them doing the art or vice versa, could be you writing and them illustrating (a picture is worth a thousand words) or vice-versa. Cons: It's not "completely yours." You're giving up control of what you might feel is "your baby." The other party may make something "canon" in your AU that you don't want to be. Pros: It's not all on your shoulders. This is also a GREAT way to make some really solid fandom friends (I'm dating someone who started as my "porn plugin"/collaborator). Basically: more Homestuck AUs please and thank. Also, don't worry if someone's "done it before" or "done it better." This is about you, and what you want to play with.
I actually don't like the petstuck premise either, that's why I thought of it. It's relatively easy to disconnect from the trolls, they're aliens. It's a lot harder to do that when the people being treated like that are human. I don't know who I would colab with. :T I'll think about the outlining, thanks. I've done some outlining for Mentalstuck, that's how I came to the conclusion that it would take a lot of time, effort and experience. But I should try to work out the smaller projects, absolutely. Thanks for the advice.
I wanna dump more ideas here cause I've been working things out in my head and maybe writing down my plans will motivate me to write. Spoiler: Eventual planetstuck spoilers and more implied forced sex So because the other planets are places around the universe there has to be a place for Derse and Prospit right? Well I figured since I already have humans abandoning Earth to escape the Condesce they should be two ships. Prospit took the first wave out and Derse collected the survivors of the troll's first attack. Now people were paired up and "asked" to reproduce so as to keep the human race going because suddenly we're all shifting from a post-industrial global society to one without a leisure class. Meanwhile the Condesce assigns special teams to track down and destroy the two ships. So for humans the distinction between being a Derse or Prospit child is a distinction between cultures, while for trolls being assigned Derse or Prospit is an honor that you can brag about.
