Story repost

Title: New Uses
Author: Brigdh
Labels: YnM, Tatsumi/Watari, R for implications.
Author's Note: Written to threewalls's request: "Tatsumi and Watari, some form of kink, though that can be as subtle (or not) as you like."

***

Shadows, Watari thought, were very useful. Softer than more conventional materials, they were light and delicate enough that sometimes the only way he knew they were there was by looking. But even so they were stronger than, say, handcuffs, and tended not to scrape the skin in that annoying way.

It was fascinating, really. He wondered how to convince Tatsumi to let him try a few experiments-

"Watari?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you bored?" Tatsumi asked, setting his hand in a particularly distracting spot. "Do try to pay attention."

"That's not hard." Watari grinned and moved where he could. "Unlike other things."

Writing Thoughts

Last night I remembered that I'm signed up for yet another ficathon, one that comes up soon. I started plotting out what I wanted to write, though luckily I have a half-formed plot floating around already that can be twisted to fit. (I'm not being vague just to be annoying, by the way; it's another anonymous ficathon.)

I like this part of the process, sketching out various ways for the events to proceed and doing research on a million different topics to see what fits and what doesn't. I probably like it because I don't need to do it often, so I enjoy it when I have an excuse; there tends to be no need to look up Japanese afterlife myths if I'm writing a PWP. And besides, spending several hours on Wikipedia to track down some tiny detail that won't even make it into the finished story at least feels like a far more productive form of procrastination than playing Minesweeper.

Although the whole thing is making clear to me that I really regard plot just as an excuse to make the characters do things. I've got it all laid out- actions and reactions and the final victory, but I still haven't come up with a reason for why everyone is so angry and motivated. I'll think of something eventually, and- hopefully- it'll all feel natural and exciting, and the events will seem to have flowed out of that start. But really? Whatever that main motivation turns to be, it'll just be a MacGuffin. The only things I care about are the characters, and what they do once they're already in the fun situations.

Not that I don't also like the process of actually writing, though to me that does feel a bit more like work, but there's something so fascinating about this point in a story. I just have unconnected images now: single lines of dialouge, the way one character holds himself against a doorframe and laughs, another slumped half-conscious on the ground, hair falling over cheeks and arms, a hazy summer night that muffles all the sounds and one person running between the buildings, a quick, false smile. It'll be better once I manage to connect them into a story and convey them to other people, but in my head, they're most powerful now, when they're only half-formed.