Recent Entries

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What 5 words do you tend to overuse as a writer?

1. Has got to be "just." When I'm not writing for fun (I was going to say "just" for fun!) I have to go through and search for the "justs" and delete half of them! I just... love it, I don't know why. I think it's one of those words that deflects even as it sounds strong?

2. Someone once said they could always tell which fic in an anonymous exchange was mine because mine would have the word eldritch in it. I love the feeling it describes and the feeling of the word itself... but I cut down on it dramatically after that, lol.

After that I'm less sure, but when writing about Clark and Bruce I know I've been guilty of over-using alternate words for blue to describe their eyes! I've committed sins of cerulean, sapphire, azure, cobalt and slate at least.

I'm about to leave for a week in Canada, so I doubt I'll remember to post next week, but I hope everyone's writing is going well!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What kind of vehicle does your current antagonist drive, or how does he get around?

I don't think we've had a question about our antagonists yet! I guess mine would be Lex... I haven't gotten far enough in to see if I have a different character as antagonist yet. And Gotham by Gaslight Lex probably gets around in a luxury carriage whenever possible... I don't know if Mercy is a character in this world yet, but she'd be a good coachman!

And I got a new keyboard! No more random spaces riddling my work...

Who's getting in your main characters' way, and what vehicle are they using to do it in?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What is your current main character's dream vacation destination?

For Gotham by Gaslight Clark, it's probably Metropolis! I believe he's never been there in this canon and he dreams of the bright lights of the big city (circa 1880, of course). He might be switching that to Gotham after meeting Bruce, though...

How's the writing this week? I've been unable to get much done because I've been on a few podcasts about my wrestling book. One of the wrestlers I wrote about posted a video of him holding it and saying everyone should read it, which boosted sales (and my spirits) quite a bit, let me tell you! But it has meant less time for my own writing...

Also, my keyboard is broken and keeps adding extra spaces that I have to go back and delete, which is very annoying. I'm leaving this paragraph untouched to show the results if I don't go back and fix it... with some things a find-and-replace works but with others, not so much. The answer is a new keyboard, but I haven't gotten to it yet! Hope all your hardware is holding together so you can write this week...

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--Who would play your current WiP's main characters in a movie?

Well, for fanfic of course we already have options, so I guess I'd say which version do you see in your fic, or is it an amalgam of different actors? My live-action Clark is most often Brandon Routh and my live-action Bruce usually Christian Bale, simply because those were the dominant versions when I was doing a lot of my writing. I liked Cavill and Affleck fine but they just never clicked as mine, in a way. This might change with the new movie--I'm open-minded to Corenswet's curly-haired Clark, for example!

For people working from older TV fandoms, who would you cast if there was going to be a modern new remake of your favorites?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--Can you post a snippet from your current work?

Well, there's not much to it, alas, but... Clark describes the new stranger in town from Gotham as "A strange mix of subdued vanity, quietly ostentatious." I do really love writing versions of Brucie in different worlds!

How's the writing going with you? I'm eyeing my WiP and hoping to get back into it in more detail once work calms down, so... maybe in a month or so, lolsigh.

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What is your current POV character's weakness?

You mean... his Kryptonite? ^-^ True story, I saw a Reddit post where someone said "Every character has what we call 'their Kryptonite,' or their big weakness. What is Superman's Kryptonite?"

But aside from the obvious Kryptonite and magic (I don't think Gotham by Gaslight Superman has run into either, actually!) I think GbG Clark's biggest weakness is maybe not knowing who he is? He doesn't seem to have access to the Kryptonian background and information that our Clark does, and that means he's lacking a lot of useful information about himself that might come back to bite him. Also, in the GbG universe there's something funky about the Kryptonians that's different from the base world-- there was a Kryptonian colony in Antarctica or something? It isn't clear yet, and I'm really anxious to have the Justice League comic from that work come out (it's apparently due in June!)

Tell me more about your current POV character and their weak points, and I hope your writing is going well!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What writing advice do you have for your younger self?

Heh, honestly, I would tell myself I don't have to have sex scenes in my story unless I really want to write them! Sometimes I would feel like they didn't fit the story, or I wouldn't feel like writing one, but I felt like they had to be there. To be fair, I did get some negative reactions when I wrote stories that didn't end in sex scenes, so I guess I understand why I felt the pressure! But life is too short to force yourself to write something that doesn't feel right.

What advice would you give yourself looking back at your young innocent past?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What is your current POV character's greatest fear?

It's interesting because writing a distinctly AU Superman is always kind of an odd experience! I think this version of Clark's greatest fear is exposing the people who took him in as a baby to danger, but I am not sure who those people are (do the Kents exist in this universe or did he just take the name "Kent" at random? I don't know yet, but surely the Kents exist, right?) It's kind of fascinating working with such a bare-bones AU. It's not like starting from scratch where I can do anything I want, but so much is still unknown! I suppose that's very common when writing comic book characters without a lot of backstory...

I hope everything is purring along for you with your most recent projects, whatever they may be!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What's a song you connect with your current main character?

Oh, that's kind of a tough one, because does that mean Superman in general, or the Superman of Gotham by Gaslight? If the latter, I confess I've been kind of hearing Ennio Morricone songs in my head while writing him--that kind of dramatic spaghetti-Western music works really well!

This week I finally wrote enough to get Clark and Bruce in the same room! They haven't said anything to each other yet--I left Clark startled at realizing this well-dressed stranger from the East is a surprisingly quiet mover--but I feel confident that once they get talking things will move forward at a decent pace. What's on your plate and your playlist this week?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What's the strangest thing you've ever done for the sake of your writing?

Accidentally getting into a whole new fandom because I was doing research on an AU fusion, I suppose! For my wrestling fandom, definitely the strangest thing I've ever done is travel to an incredibly boring strip mall in a suburb of Montreal and have a terrible dinner at a pool hall, because that was where my OTP had their first match against each other. I was just sitting there eating bad pizza and giggling with joy, I suspect I looked like a lunatic. But a happy lunatic!

Please share stories of what you've done for love fandom!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

Whew! *collapses* I've been running around showing a friend Japan for the last few weeks, which has taken a huge amount of my energy, and anything left was taken up with the fact that my book started its pre-sale and is going to be shipped soon! But I'm back, just in time for classes to start, haha. I hope March was as enjoyable as possible and as productive as you needed, and that April looks good!

--What's a quote that defines your current POV character's mindset?

I can't tell from the context of the question if it means a quote by your character or just a quote by anyone which suits them! This version of Clark doesn't have a huge amount of canon dialogue to choose from yet, so I'm going to go with a very Superman quote by Elie Wiesel, "Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all who need us desperately.” I think you can run with it in either direction, if there's a quote that they've made that you think is perfect!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What is your current main character's perfect birthday party?

Oh man, I so wish Bruce were my current main character. NO BIRTHDAY ONLY JUSTICE. Gotham by Gaslight Clark, on the other hand, likes a quiet night with his friends and family (which seems like a very small circle in this universe!)

I just finished my first media interview about my book! I have an appearance on a podcast next week and I'm already quite nervous about it--there are many ways to approach professional wrestling, and this podcast seems to have a rather different approach than mine. The gatekeeping dudebros are strong in this fandom! I'll let you know next week if it was a total disaster... May all of your self-promotion go smoothly this week!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

In good news, it looks like the pre-sale for my book will launch this weekend! I'm super-excited about it (it's about 400 pages long, good grief) and kind of nervous. I hope we get some people signing up for the pre-sale!

But let's talk about current projects!

--Where or who do you turn to when you need ideas?

I know some people turn to things like ChatGPT when they need a creative nudge, and I'm not exactly against the idea, but I can't bring myself to do it yet! I usually review canon or listen to one of my fandom-based playlists, hoping to spark something off of that. It's a very hit-or-miss process!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What's on your current main character's nightstand?

Oh, I like this one as a thought exercise! Clark in the Gaslight universe has a very simple, almost bare room that he lives in, but his nightstand has a hunk of polished turquoise on it and probably some book on astronomy that was out at the time (a little research suggests maybe The Geography of the Heavens by Elijah Burritt).

Now I really love the idea of Clark and Bruce in that era talking about period-accurate astronomy! Which will require some research by me, muahaha...

How about your current POV character? What does their nightstand tell you about them?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What's the weirdest thing about the main character of your current WiP?

Well, being an alien is pretty weird! In this iteration Superman also (I think, based on clues from the text) was raised at least in part by by Native Americans, who saw his rocket as an "egg of the Thunderbird." I love the idea of tying the First Nations Thunderbird to the Kryptonian Flamebird, so I'm running from there. Not "weird" exactly, but interesting! What weird facts are you working into your main character's life and personality this time around?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--How and why did you choose the genre of your latest WiP?

I was going to say that people who write fic have the genre chosen for them, but of course that's not true! One of the joys of fic is bending the genre of the canon and exploring how the characters would behave in a different genre (most obviously switching it to a romance, for example!) I think the one I'm currently working on is sticking pretty close to canon, which in the case of the Gotham by Gaslight sequel I'm basing it on is a kind of superhero/Western hybrid. I'm not as well-versed in Western tropes, and maybe that's why I'm struggling to come up with a plot. Hmm, maybe I should go to TV Tropes and poke around their Western sections to find a trope that appeals with these characters!

What genres are you bending this week?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What is your current main character's superpower?

This question from a list of them cracked me up, because I'm pretty sure they meant it figuratively, but for people writing in superhero fandoms it can be quite literal!

I mean, you all know Superman's powers, and I don't see any sign that they're different in the Gaslight world yet. Of course, his REAL superpower is getting people to trust him and have hope. What are your main character's superpowers, figurative or literal?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--What inspired your most recent WiP?

I know I've asked this before, but I figure the answer may well change as WiPs (and our relationships to them) change. The one I'm hoping to tackle most seriously got inspired by comic books--amazing! Comic books have not been inspiring to me for a while! I think having AU/Elseworlds where Clark and Bruce aren't married and don't have kids really helps (I love Lois, Jon and Damian, but somehow having the characters actually be husbands and fathers makes them much less shippy for me personally).

I'm hoping 2025 is inspiring to you in whatever way you need!

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

--Have the antagonist of your current WiP introduce the main character.

Haha, I really love this idea! I don't know much about Gotham by Gaslight's Lex Luthor, though I do know he runs a place called Luthorville which is some kind of mining-company town he uses to fund his science experiments. I'm sure he has nothing but contempt for the bumbling Clark Kent, sheriff of Smallville, and is confused about why his nefarious plans always seem to unravel when Kent is around. He'll be intrigued by Bruce Wayne but deeply annoyed by Batman once he meets him.

(I spent most of my writing time this week researching the kind of clothing Oscar Wilde wore in order to dress Bruce as an appropriate dandy! Though it does seem as though the actual Bruce in that world is much more sober, so I might have to tone it down a bit. No sunflowers in his lapel, alas).

I hope the holidays are treating you well! How do your antagonists feel about those annoying heroes?

Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

What stage is your current WiP at?

Uhhhh, still at the "put some thoughts on the screen and see how that goes" stage, sadly. But it exists! That's better than it used to be! The holidays are not a time to find a whole lot of time and energy to write, unfortunately. But I'll keep trying! I just want to get a few sentences a week out there until I actually have time to focus. How about you, are things drawing close to finished for you or are you still getting started?