Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Labrat's Pig Candle and Lois's Keys

I really tried to fit this into a poll, but my mind got all twirly on the options.

Ok. I was reading Are You Lonesome Tonight? and enjoying Labrat's description of the pig candle that Lois and Clark find in his apartment. This great absurd moment in the middle of amnesia/world ending angst. And it got me to wondering...where did the pig candle come from? Thin air? Muse amusing itself? Or...is that ridiculous pig candle sitting on Lab's desk right this minute?

I sent her an urgent email demanding she account for the pig candle. She isn't unfamiliar with me, so she answered. And...I won't spoil it, but I was pleased with what I found out. And I even saw a picture.

Which got me to thinking about this: In Lois Unbuttoned when Clark is staring at Lois's locked door and wishing to escape, she tells him that the spare key is in a glass dish on his left. And it is...in my mother-in-law's house. (This is beside the point, but it sort of unnerves me that she can lock me into her house...never mind...but when I needed a place to put a spare key, I used hers.)

SO we have At Last reached this Burning Question:

Writers, are your 'props' real? The stuff you use in a story- the rugs, the mugs, the pillows, the earrings, the...stuff. Is it real?

And if yes, then, you know, I'm going to want to know more. What have you used from your RL and where have you used it? Specifics make me very happy.

OR- does this whole spill read like the rantings of a crazy person? Your muse provides and you've never inserted your own mantle above any fireplace in any cozy-Lois-and-Clark-in-a-cabin story ever?

I want to know. Do you mind?

CC

Hey, CC,

Funny you should mention that. I have used a couple of very specific details in a story. Unfortunately, those details have not been posted yet. They're included in the new one on the boards right now, A Gift For Life. After I post the section, I'll definitely come back and clarify for you.

And I know I've used other examples... Oh, yeah... In Purgatory, Lois built and lived at Port Royal... I live close to Augusta, GA, and several years ago, a high-rise luxury hotel was built on the river named-- you guessed it-- Port Royal! However, the visionaries behind this creation did not take into account that Augusta, though a decent sized city, is heavily populated with what I like to call 'good-ole boys'. So, aside from during the 'Masters', there wasn't much call for $150+/night hotel rooms. Port Royal has since been converted to very nice, luxury condos. Not sure what they call it now, but Port Royal always appealed to me. When I saw the chance to use it, I did. (And since, hearing that name in Pirates of the Carribean always brings a grin to my face!)

In The Way It Should Have Been, I described a fishing trip between Clark and Taylor. I'd patterned that after various trips my husband and boys have taken together. I also dedicated that scene to my husband and Taylor was patterned after my oldest son, Hoyt. Can't get much closer to home than that!

I know there's more, but drawing a blank now. Those are the ones that jumped right out at me.

Next...

SQD

Oh, good times.

So I got sick one weekend. And NyQuil pretty well gets me drunk and knocks me out. But when I wrote my story that weekend during a semi-non-drunk period, I didn't want to name it NyQuil because that sounded boring to me. So I named it Robitussin after the Robitussin shot I took before I sat down to write.

The martini Clark drinks in That Old Spoof of Mine is actually the martini that my dad drinks. I'm anti-vodka.

Everything else is out of thin air. (Of course, I'll give you props if you ever find an evil villain that wraps himself in Christmas tree lights.)

JD

Hi CC,
I think that when I write (and I'd like to generalize this for others, but I'm not sure that I should

And the park in "Two Faces of Clark" was fashioned after Edwards' Gardens in Toronto.

So, I guess I definitely use my own view of the world to create my Lois and Clark world.

gerry

Well, I don't know if this counts as a prop, but when I was writing "J is for JetSet" I had to get L&C from the Smallville post office to the main highway... so I used the real directions to get from my local post office to the main highway

Can't remember any other examples, but I expect there are some. As they say, we should write what we know...

PJ

Interesting question, CC.

I haven't used props from my RL - at least, not purposefully, as far as I remember. I like making up the needed things. It kinda gives the story a touch of my personal taste I sometimes do insert experiences of my RL in my stories, but that's mostly character traits or habits. For example, in "What A Fish Knows", Nicole and Andrew are playing cards. I like playing cards with my brothers and have been doing so since I learned counting to ten

Of course, as you may have noticed, I don't spend too much time describing the surrounding objects. Detailed description is my second weakest point at writing (first is introspection). So I'm not say I exclude describing RL objects - just that, the very few times I do describe something in detail, I prefer making it up, so that it's more original.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Well, I do use memories of places I've been to help describe new settings. I never use the exact setting, but it's easier to get a handle on a place if I've seen something like it before.

For example, in "One Super Date," Superman takes Lois to a French restaurant. As it happens, I'd recently gone to a restaurant in Grammercy (a neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan) which was owned and operated by a family of French emigrees. The name of the restaurant is different, and I tweaked a few things to better suit the story. When I was trying to think up what kind of restaurant to use, though, that place came to mind. So we have a French restaurant in the city, staffed by people with noticable accents, etc. I don't think the cozy wood panel walls made it into the story, but they were definitely in my mind as I was writing.

There's also the Munchkin-like village at the beginning of King of the Green City. Few FoLCs will recognize it, but it was a deliberate parody of MIT campus.

Finally, the museum in "Cape of Good Hope" was inspired by, of all things, and episode of Darkwing Duck. I haven't been to that museum (obviously), but it was something I'd seen that made its way into my subconcious, got processed, and ended up as a similar setting in the story.

I think that's about it for me. I don't tend to use "props" like the ones you're talking about. When I do, I ask, for example, the Lois in my head what she has.

Oh, wait. "A Purebred Superhero" features a Golden Retriever. I've had one Golden or another pretty much all my life. Again, not quite a prop, but an element from my life that made it into the story.

Paul

I tend to just pull stuff out of thin air most of the time. Although I have used stuff from RL in my original stories. There was a sci-fi story I wrote a while back. I don't think I posted it here. It took place on a farm that was based on my grandparents' farm that I remember from my childhood. The fishing aliens were somewhat inspired by RL. Minnesota is known for lakes, after all.

I don't tend to use real props - objects such as CC describes. But I will sometimes use real places, real recipes and real events.

The one which comes most quickly to mind is the awful dinner Lois and Clark attend at the end of When Lightning Strikes Twice: the meal - food, interminable speeches and all - was a dinner I had to attend for work only a few nights before. It seemed too good an opportunity to waste, and besides, I had to work off my disgust at the wasted evening somehow!

Sorry, no pig candles on my desk...


Wendy