terajk | Entries tagged with that epic thing i'm doing

The good news: I now have sort of a story for the Toph-Azula epic thing!

The bad news: It is TERRIBLE. One of the Disgaea demons decides to take over the human world and Laharl (who may or may not be Overlord) cannot let this stand, because if anyone is going to take over the humans, it's him. So he takes Etna to get the rogue demon back, and Etna keeps trying to assassinate Laharl, as is her way. And Azula and Toph (and possibly June) are the only people who can stop ALL of them. (For the Disgaea definition of "stop," which is "have some jerks you don't like force themselves onto your team.") Then, if Laharl isn't Overlord, they all go to kill his dad and, thus, shatter Disgaea canon into pieces.

Who is this rogue demon who could spell the world's doom? Horror of horrors, it is AXEL.

*weeps in shame*

So now that I've written my very first crossover ever (Aladdin/ATLA), I want a whole 'verse like this: Sokka and Aladdin ~~getting into lots of trouble~~ making cunning plans and having lots of adventures and arguments! ("That carpet isn't really magic"); Abu/Appa/Iago/Momo shenanigans! Jasmine and Toph teaching each other bending! Aladdin not being a bender and the Genie unable to make him one! (Which complicates his disguise as, you know, a prince). Although the Genie might be able to make Sokka one, since the creators have said he has bending potential, but never realized it.

OMG WANT.

*I still don't know who/what their threat is. (I REALLY don't want to have to go for undead hordes, ladies). I do know it isn't June, since June wants to join them in whatever they're doing and since they both want to have wild, passionate sex with her. Not at the same time, since they don't like each other...which means I will have to write at least TWO separate sex scenes, and I am the worst sex writer ever. Toph and Azula did this to me on purpose, because they are jerks.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: "Prince Ali"--Aladdin

Brain: You know what we need for that Toph-Azula thing? Emotion porn.

Me: What.

Brain: Tender, vulnerable, Victorian-novel style emotion porn.

Me: We...watched Ponyo and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus too close together, I think.

Brain: We already wrote emotion porn. Just back it up a little.

Me: But they would never discuss their feelings in such an open, obvious manner! The writing is unpublishable drivel by default!

Brain: You really are a doofus. Of course it is; the emotion porn is for US. Once we have all their actual feelings worked out, then we know what they are. And then they can ignore and hide them and cycle through them really fast to get rid of them, and THEN we might be able to find an antagonist for them. You know we work in tiny bits and build up on them, right?

Me: Oh. My. God.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: "Toes"--the Zac Brown Band

Thanks to y'all, I now have antagonists! Here's how the not-zombie apocalypse lines up so far:

( Spoilers! )

I know--the not-zombie apocalypse needs work.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: My Life Would Suck Without You--Kelly Clarkson

Poll #4922 This is more essential to the plot than it looks.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

View Respondents

It's 15-20 years after the War. Is Momo alive?

View Answers

Yes.
3 (100.0%)

No.
0 (0.0%)

Sort of (Zombie lemur!)
1 (33.3%)

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: "You Are A Pirate"--Lazy Town

Poll #4899 Pick the antagonist!

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Who/what is threatening Toph and Azula?

View Answers

Systemic disablism/ableism
3 (75.0%)

Zombie hordes
0 (0.0%)

Long Feng
0 (0.0%)

Long Feng's zombie hordes
1 (25.0%)

The spirit of Admiral Zhao
0 (0.0%)

Wan Shi Tong (Libraries are an accessibility violation)
2 (50.0%)

June the bounty hunter
1 (25.0%)

Law and order
0 (0.0%)

Zuko
0 (0.0%)

Teo (for conforming to the "good cripple" stereotype)
0 (0.0%)

Something else I will explain in comments
0 (0.0%)

You can vote for as many as you want. However, if you vote for "Zombie hordes" and "Long Feng's zombie hordes," you are voting for two separate groups of zombie hordes. Which you could totally do.

Just because we have no antagonist, you cannot latch onto the zombie apocalypse meme. Stop trying.

But zombies are the duct tape of literature!

No. They are the duct tape of film--and we can barely make icons. Besides, what could Toph do against zombies?

Maybe you need to light them on fire and then bury the ashes.

Now you've made Ash Williams cry. Although we want Toph and Azula to need to handle the threat by themselves, we don't want everyone else to be DEAD.

They're not dead--they're zombies!

But you just said--

I say a lot of things.

You know that flesh-eating plague zombies only go back to 1960s Pittsburgh. The Avatarverse wouldn't have zombies.

But it could have a disease that makes people kill each other but doesn't make them undead.

Then why would those people need to be burned AND buried?

Uh.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: the sofa
Current Music: "The Irish Rover"

There is still no antagonist, (We have six days, brain) but there is an ending.

The truth is, Azula needs a job. A really important job. I think someone pointed that out in

lizbee's thread about Azula redemption-fic, but I can't find it right now. This job also needs to fit her particular brand of sociopathy, which actually cuts out a lot of jobs most sociopaths could do. (Things that require you to charm the pants off people.) I've also been wondering if she and Toph can...have some kind of relationship after all ~~I will torture them with~~ they'll have been through.

And, Internet, I have found the answer to both of these.

( Squeeeeee! )

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: "The Greenland Whale Fisheries"

In which I realize that world-building is about more than just the physical construction of a geographical place.

I know--the Avatarverse is a fantasy long-ago place, inspired by Asian cultures. It has airships and wheelchairs that fly and war balloons and sandwiches. Yet, my inner Sokka chafes. (Yes, I have one. A loud one. Why are you laughing?):

( The existence of mental health facilities/asylums/places to warehouse 'crazy' people is unlikely. )

ETA: Yes, this screws up what little plot I have, including the B plot. But I want to watch and see what happens. I have no idea if what I'm seeing with Zuko and Mai's wedding is a good or bad thing--you know, for me the story. If the story breaks completely, I can always fall back on Word of God. (Sokka, hush).

( And the problem of the B plot I just broke has a solution )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Going To The Zoo-Peter, Paul & Mary-Carry It On - [Disc 3]

(These are notes for my project for NaNoWriMo. Read at your own risk).

( Abandon hope, all ye who enter here )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: The Marvelous Toy-Peter, Paul & Mary-Carry It On - [Disc 3]

I have just done something incredibly silly. And it is 15 percent

rydra_wong's fault.

Although I've never successfully written a novel, ever, and have only recently begun to successfully write fiction ("successful" being defined as "finished two stories I've started"), I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month. To do (a horrible draft of) the Toph-Azula thing. That as of yet has no plot. Or Big Bad. Or geography. (I fail geography forever). And my world-building sucks.

Damn you, NaNoWriMo, and your lure of: "Hey, it just has to be written! It doesn't have to be any good!"

Guess where I'm spending my October? AT THE LIBRARY!!!!!