behindthec | so press repeat, i'll start again with "once upon a time."

lookit me, all fangirling red's lyrics. ♥

so, this kinda doubles as the start of my outline, more for my benefit than anything else; it's slightly spoilery and hella rambly, so don't read if you don't want, but if you're following the development of this fic, you may find it interesting.

things we now know about "19th century scottish peasant AU":

- it is now irish. :P

-

j_plash is now my official partner on this. i'm going to be doing the primary writing (though i may beg bits of scenes/lines from her), since i may want to adapt this into an actualfax novel someday. but it looks like she's going to do most of the plotting and organization because our brains appear to be about 95% on the same wavelength for this and my ideas are all over the place, whereas she seems to have clear images, like she can put into words everything i want to do. she's done *research* on slave fics, knows everything about them and how to keep them from being cliche and cringeworthy. how do i get so lucky to work with people like this?!

- brendon is... some kind of instrument repair dude, who plays (guitarish things?) on the street for cash. (or possibly some kind of piano-maker's apprentice?) not sure if he's technically homeless, but he's street-smart and plucky. jack dawson-esque. he later gets rich by developing his own piano-making business (this is apparently actually lucrative), and maybe starting a music studio of sorts. shane his business partner. jon is the 19th century equivalent of a tech at the cabaret where ryan is eventually taken (jon has no idea the performers are slaves; it's just a job for him -- ETA: or maybe he does know and he's secretly helping the slaves, like, bringing them things like food and books and goodies all the time, and working underground with one tom conrad on a plan to seize this joint and set everyone free at some point? just idealist enough to be jon :/), and eventually helps ryan and brendon escape. SHANE, ngh, gets to have a sexy spanish accent. fucking HELL yes. :D

- ryan plays the harp, or dulcimer (undecided). it's locked in the attic, it was his mother's, i think she died in childbirth (hence ryan's dad's resentment toward him). can you teach yourself the harp?

- has been concluded that they have one kiss before ryan is ~taken. ryan is taken b/c his father is going to be whisked away to debtor's prison if he doesn't pay up, so... i guess he sells ryan? or they take him? idk how it works, either way ryan's dad kills himself within days after ryan's taken.

- his dad is a blacksmith, and ryan tries to make all the armor and weapons pretty with his ~artsy designs and stuff, which pisses his dad off, obv. will expand more on this, lol.

- very clear images of when brendon buys ryan for a night. "he's pricey." brendon replies tightly, "i can manage." "of course, sir. but i must warn you, he's also a bit... feisty." b smiles smugly, all his hatred toward ryan's master wrapped up in one smirk. "i can manage that too." UNF, i love rich-powerful-no-BS-but-still-really-decent-person!businessman!bden.

- ryan possibly needs a new name. a stage/courtesan name. or a slave name he went by all these years, given him by his first master. something that brendon would still recognize though. it'd be his favorite flower, "lily." his mother's name. so when brendon asks what That Boy's name is, not 100% sure it's ryan, he'll still get it. or. something. idk. this brings us back to the tattoo question i posted on my twitter. i think it's feasible he could have one (an image of a lily, something for brendon to recognize him later when he sees him for the first time in 8 yrs and can't be sure). the lily will be a running motif throughout, though, in various forms.

- i have this other line, for after brendon finds him and ryan just can't believe brendon actually found him, and brendon whispers, "even in death, i would find you" -- SEE NEW ICON. :D icon illustrates the scene when brendon buys ryan for a night, but there are a couple hours between purchase time and the time he actually gets to see ryan, so he's sitting in his hotel room, as seen here, angsting and just trying to breathe, and reminiscing about the ryan he knew when he was 15-16. i half stole it from an episode of xena, i think she said, "even in death, i'll never leave you." whatever, i'm using it as my tagline. though it implies one of them might die in the end, and i can't do that in fic, not to you guys. i might do it if i adapt it into a novel, though.

- there are four ~stages to ryan's journey: year 1, he spends in a slave house where new captures are taught to be... this sort of slave. it's grueling and traumatizing and everything you'd think it'd be. year 2, ryan is bought by spencer's dad and he and spence start up a heartbreaking but deep friendship that actually gives ryan some hope. year 3, something Happens and spencer's dad sells him /o\ to the first guy who'll pay a decent price, who happens to be the cruelest master ryan will ever encounter. this is the year that breaks him. year 4, he's bought by the guy who runs the uber-high-class cabaret/brothel, it's a very underground sort of thing, but very well known in the right circles. he's going to be a fascinating character to create and write, because he's going to be hard to just hate outright. he's very fucked in the head, has an intense personal attachment to ryan, treats him very "well" (assuming ryan behaves), but has this delusion that he's doing these boys a favor, giving them this high-class life and protecting them from the world. it's really sick, but devastating too. i can't wait to explore his character. anyway, so for four years, he schools ryan in performance and high class hookerdom. this is the big turning point: ryan slowly shuts down and turns into this cold, jaded, haughty figure, almost viciously cold-hearted unless you're paying (and you're paying a LOT) -- a shell, almost no memory of his past, no hope, no belief in anything good left in the world. he's become brilliantly talented at what he does and well aware of it, making a 180 from broken, listless surrender to instead using his skills to his advantage, making himself valued and needed and craved and adored, even if he hates it. he uses it as a sort of power. it's heartbreaking, but kind of amazing. by the time brendon returns, ryan doesn't even believe brendon's come to save him.

- more details are in this and all the other threads she and i have in that entry. seriously, they are endless.

so. yes. \o/

if anyone has photoshop skills and cares to do something with these pics, go for it. i'm not looking for anything specific, just something i could use as a banner maybe, or just for fun. that's how i see the two of them in this fic (in both their peasant and courtesan/businessman stages, respectively). i'm also looking for a title as we speak (can't start a fic without the title; i work the entire fic around it). i generally use lyrics, or lines from poetry, so if anything inspires you, throw it my way. i'm really not as lazy as i seem; i just like my fics to be interactive, and it seems like you guys like it too. speaking of,

maddylonglegs has already completed some artwork for the fic, and it's gorgeous. all artwork welcome, from anyone who feels inspired. there is going to be a lot of visuality in this fic, a lot of striking imagery. i can describe any scene you feel like drawing in intense detail. i have a lot of clear visuals for this. there's lots of fancy costumes, too. god, i wish i could draw/paint/anything.

i probably won't start actually writing for months, though. it'll take a lot of research and very intense planning. it's going to be very complex and intricate and rich and epic, way more so than anything i've ever tackled. i'm probably going to have to read -- shudder -- actual books from/about this era, so i can get a feel for what i'm doing. still, i'm excited.

all thoughts/questions/comments welcome. i kind of love talking about this fic.

for now, i'm going to take advantage of all my free time and go do some yoga. *yawns and stretches* i leave you all with recs.

http://miss-begonia.livejournal.com/221200.html
really, really beautiful words; she has an amazing way with language. love the style too. still, to me this is one of those AUs that feels more like original fiction than fic; i don't really see a lot of the RL boys in this, really, but nonetheless it's a gorgeous piece of writing.

http://reni-days.livejournal.com/26251.html
reni never disappoints. ever. her stuff is so fucking enjoyable and readable and fun, always such a treat. i ~sekritly want to prompt her every day and have her write me things forever. *hides under confessionrock*

http://moku-youbi.livejournal.com/24917.html
pirates. PIRATES. also the only fic i've ever read where i was totally OTPing joncer. usually they don't intrigue me at all because they just seem so easy, no room for angst/complexity, but this totally sucked me in (lol). she has a tendency to do that. "saturation" was the one gsf (well, threesome, whatever) fic that totally changed my views on polyamory forever; no going back.

speaking of moku, i've been pimping this out lately in hopes that the powers that be (i.e. you all) will bring more spyro into the world. *bden puppy eyes?* i've been craving it like mad lately. any spyro at all, any era, any genre, even non-porn, anything so long as they ain't chicks.

j_plash is helping with the spyro revolution, one commentfic at a time. she's spoiling me so hard i'm never going to actually get around to writing any of this fic. i'll just let her randomly improvise all the most exciting parts. XD

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

miarae.livejournal.com

I'm so freaking excited about this fic. I'm going to love and adore it and stalk every bit of your LJ to find out more. If you ever need someone to bounce ideas off, I'm totally here, though I bet I'll mostly be fangirling.

My own Spyro fic is still sadly existence-less. Real life getting in the way x_x And not in the positive way. But I'm still thinking about it, so don't give up on me yet ;)

♥

From:

lolab.livejournal.com

YAY! i'm happy. i will always be bouncing ideas for this one. i feel so lost. i know nothing about the time period or locations or anything.

bah. i understand about RL, no worries. but i am very, very excited for whenever you write it. :)