Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

--Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

Well, I write slash. And since I still define "slash" as "non-canon-same-sex-relationships" (that is, Clark/Bruce is slash, Midnighter/Apollo or Kate Kane/Renee Montoya isn't), I'm immediately setting off on a path away from canon to some extent.

That said, I do usually like to stick fairly closely to canon having made that one change! Right now both of the long stories I'm working on are non-canon (one is an alternate universe, one is a divergent-history), but that is REALLY unusual for me. But after you've written as much in DC canon as I have (a check of AO3 stats reveals I've written over 1,600,000 words there, most of it Clark/Bruce, of course) you start to want to try something a little different. Recently I'm actually wanting to work in canon more, so that's good!

I got a bunch of writing done this week, most of it emergency "Oh crap I have to get this next chapter written to make my personal arbitrary deadline" writing, but that's still good, I still made them. This is my last weekend free for a while, so I'm hoping to get some good work done during it--wish me luck!
How about you, what are you working on and how close is it to canon right now?

Comments

[me_ya_ri]

*Snort-laugh* Canon, what is this canon you speak of? XD

My favorite thing was to take my characters out of their canon, change everything and then keep them as much the same people as in canon despite everything being different.

Of course, current canon is something I won't touch with a ten-foot pole so I'm automatically off the beaten path when I write fanfic.

Writing hasn't gone as well as I wanted this week, sadly. I mean, I wrote. Pretty much every day. Just 1/4 to 1/2 of what I wanted. My goal for the month was 88K words and I'm probably going to end up around 70K instead. Still good, wonderful even, but not where I wanted to be. I'll try harder next month.

On the other hand I have two books nearly ready to publish (one tomorrow, the other next week), two short stories nearly ready to go out, and another three books in post production to be released over the next month or so so I'm not exactly unhappy with progress. I have room to wiggle and write more next month, even if I have to spend a lot of time rewriting the three books in post production.

It's always super nice to get ahead of my production schedule because it feels like I have room to breathe (and get sick or take a day off or whatever, you know).

Good luck on your writing, especially with the loss of free time!

[mithen]

My favorite thing was to take my characters out of their canon, change everything and then keep them as much the same people as in canon despite everything being different.

That's always such a fun challenge and I'm always amazed at people who are able to do that!

Still good, wonderful even, but not where I wanted to be. I'll try harder next month.

It IS really wonderful, but I understand wanting to meet your personal goals! I'm sure you'll do great in February even if you have fewer days! :) And having two books ready to publish isn't a small thing at all, that's for sure...

It's always super nice to get ahead of my production schedule because it feels like I have room to breathe (and get sick or take a day off or whatever, you know).

I'm so sad because I used to have a backlog of chapters and stuff that could just sit there! I can't quite pin down where I lose the time I had, although I think some of it was that the backlog times were when a friend of mine was dating someone and so stopped expecting me to play video games with him for 8-10 hours every weekend. :) I kind of wish he was dating again for both his sake and mine, sometimes!

[prince0froses]

I love reading aus, but when writing fan fiction I prefer the only canon divergence to be characters gender identities or sexual orientation. The latter obviously for slash reasons. In terms of the former, I have always, always wanted to write trans man Bruce. A sprawling Batman Begins style origin epic in which Bruce (not named Bruce at first) uses the identity of the Batman not only to come to terms with his parents' death but with his gender. Exploration of how it feels to wear the "Wayne heiress" default identity as a mask, only feeling whole when his breasts are bound behind Kevlar. I wanted to write this before I figured myself out, which should have been a clue :p. With my original work as a priority, it has been shelved.

Speaking of which, I somehow struggle with sticking to canon more when I am responsible for the canon XD I would rather dream up fun aus than write I suppose

[mithen]

That sounds like a very cool AU to potentially explore! I don't know if I've ever seen Bruce written as trans--always a girl at times, sure, but that's not the same thing at all.

Speaking of which, I somehow struggle with sticking to canon more when I am responsible for the canon XD I would rather dream up fun aus than write I suppose.

The imagining part is usually the most fun! :)