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#276401 07/18/17 08:50 PM
Joined: Jun 2011
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 2,131
I was recently reminded of a story I'd written a long time ago that came back up in the comments, and long since abandoned (credit to PuffyTiger for reminding me). This is a universe I know I'll probably never go back to, because I've had many other ideas develop further that I would like to complete first or explore more. I'm sure we've had threads like this come up before, but I figured, hey, it doesn't hurt to have a place to stick some old ideas and see if anybody else wants to pick it up and play with it.

Think of it like the Goodwill for fic-outlines. goofy Add your own! Or feel free to play with one you like. And please, if any of these ideas already exist or are similar, point me in the direction of the story as well! smile1

1.
Lois and Clark post-show, circa 2008-economic crisis. In a Bernie-Madoff type situation, Murray (or whatever the guy's name is who wants to merchandise for Superman) has made some bad investments with the Superman Foundation's money, and they are nearly bankrupted. Clark, obviously upset because he didn't see any of this coming and all of it happened right under his nose, decides to take more of an interest in the business/political aspect of it all. Clark starts obsessing with this case, and while Lois starts out supportive, she gradually discourages Clark from getting involved in the political side of things, as he already spends enough of his time as Superman, and they have three kids. Clark ignores her warnings, and decides that Superman having a presence in public office might help him clean up the streets in a different way. It might be just what Wells was talking about when talked of them bringing around Utopia. Superman decides to run for Mayor.

Complications ensue. You can take this wherever you'd like. Original plan was for Lois and Clark to be fighting, near the point of breaking up before mending things at the end, Clark Kent to be outed as Superman by a mix-up of his own words, and facing off Bruno Mannheim of the comics as the main antagonist... and possibility of a WHAM or two happening to someone devil , but as fate would have it the idea never panned out.

2.
Clark arrives in Metropolis, but a year too late. How does Lois Luthor fare when a mystery reporter from the Metropolis Star starts investigating her husband through mysterious phonecalls to her desk at LNN? How does this "Charlie King" go about gathering all of this information on Lex when she's been married to the guy for several months now and can only scrounge up minimal evidence? And why does looking at him put butterflies in her stomach? It has all the makings of an affair to remember. (This one I abandoned a long time ago before ever posting about it, but I had a nice full outline. In a lot of ways, Terry's State's Evidence came super close to what I sort of had in mind, but as always, the more fics the better. )

Any ideas that you've abandoned? Who knows, maybe talking it out a little in here might have you picking it back up again, too.

(All that being said: there are also some stories that I've left behind that may look abandoned but are in fact just lying dormant, waiting for a plot bunny with a baseball bat to inspire me again or even just the time to finish it... there's hope for me yet.)


Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eye witness.
--Mark Twain
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Pulitzer
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Hi Mouserocks,

Cool thread. smile I liked reading about your orphaned ideas. The ones I want to share now aren't so much ideas as the starts of stories. They were writing exercises for me; I normally have the general outline of a story in my mind before I ever sit down to type anything, so I wanted to try discovery writing instead. The fact that what I am about to share are unfinished pieces shows you how well that played out for me. blush

***

Unfinished story 1: Cowsheads

I live in Cowsheads. Go ahead and laugh -- Everyone else does. And yes, it is a small town. I love it here. But the thing about small towns is that everyone knows everybody else’s business, so I know that what is happening here ought to be impossible.

“People are starting to sell off their land, for reasons that would seem plausible only if you didn’t know the folks. Take Old Tom, for instance. He claims that he wants to retire to Metropolis. That might sound reasonable to a stranger, but to us as know him, it is preposterous. Tom grew up in the city and hated it with a passion. He would tell anyone who’d listen about all the horrors of city life. No way would he ever go back there.

“Or take Cindy-Anne. She has just been getting the hang of farming on her own after the tragic deaths of her parents. And now she up and says that she’s fallen for a beau she met online and she’s fixing to move to Nebraska to be with him. Never mind that she never met him before or that she won’t even tell anyone his name. The fact that it is a “beau” and not a “belle” would tip off anyone who knows Cindy-Anne that something is not on the level. She never showed an interest in boys.

“Some of the other stories are more believable than these, at least individually. But collectively, they, too, raise a red flag. People who live here don’t move out if they don’t have to. Families hereabouts have owned their land for generations, and selling it is not something they would do lightly. In fact, I can only think of three parcels of land that were sold during my lifetime for a reason other than the last family member dying or becoming too infirm to work the land or because the family couldn’t afford to keep it. At least, there were only three until two months or so ago. That’s when this massive sell-off began.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I suspect something sinister and quite possibly illegal. As the town sheriff, I consider it my duty to try to determine what is happening, but, quite frankly, I feel out of my league. I’ve spoken with the individuals who are selling their land, but although their explanations for selling don’t seem to hold water in my view, the sellers do not appear to feel threatened. They don’t act as if they are being coerced into selling. Still, they don’t seem quite themselves, either. I don’t know how to put it more specifically than that; it’s just a feeling that something is a bit ‘off’ with them. But since they claim to be selling their property of their own free will, there’s nothing more that I can see to do. I did find out that they are selling their property to different individuals or real estate investment companies; no one person is buying all of the land.

“I realize that this situation may seem rather trivial to city folk, but I implore you to look into it nevertheless. As I said, ours is a small town that has remained relatively unchanged for generations. If many more people decide to sell their land, the entire character of our town could change practically overnight. If ever you have held a place dear, if ever you have had a circle of friends whom you wished would always stay together, if ever you have loved anyone or anything enough to dread its changing, then I beg of you to help me.

Sincerely,
George Brennen
98 Maple Street
Cowsheads, OH
(740) 555-2946




As Lois put down the letter, her husband asked her, “So, what do you make of it?” She rolled her eyes at the phrasing of his question. Clark had been in a Sherlock Holmes mood the night before, and had spent a few leisure minutes reading through Conan Doyle’s entire canon of the great detective. Obviously, that hadn’t done anything to get it out of his system.

Lois looked around the bullpen to make sure no one was within hearing distance, and then asked, with a twinkle in her eye, “Isn’t it enough to be Superman? Now you want to be Holmes, as well?”

When Clark just gave her an abashed smile in return, Lois continued, “I refuse to play the role of his bumbling sidekick.”

“Hey, Nigel Bruce’s portrayal aside, Watson was far from bumbling. He really was quite intelligent; he was a doctor, after all. He just downplayed it to better act as a foil to Holmes. He was employing a good literary technique; he was, just like you, a consummate writer.”

Lois smiled at Clark’s obvious attempt to work his way out of the hole he had dug himself. She decided not to let him off quite that easily, “But he still wasn’t as smart as Holmes.”

Clark threw his hands up in mock surrender. “OK, so the analogy between them and us isn’t perfect. What do you think about the letter?”

Lois put the bantering aside and became serious. “Small town sheriff. Perceptive. Realizes when he’s out of his element and is calling in the big guns. I agree with him. Something’s fishy here.” Lois realized how much she had grown in the past few years. Before she had gotten to know Clark, she would have dismissed the sheriff as just a bumpkin who, either out of boredom or ignorance, was making up intrigue where none existed. But through Clark and his parents, she had come to realize that ‘rural resident’ didn’t mean ‘dumb’.

Clark agreed with her analysis of the letter. “I think it’s worth flying out to investigate.”

***

Unfinished story 2: From the Personal Journal of Lois Lane

April 16, 1995

Dear Personal Journal (PJ),

Dr. Friskin encouraged me to start a diary in which I would write about the events of the day and my reactions to them. I refuse to write a diary. Diaries are written by air-headed pre-teenage girls who spend all their time drooling over the latest hunk.

I refuse to do that. I will not waste space on the page dwelling on how easy it is to lose oneself in Superman’s liquid brown eyes, on the joy of looking at or even touching his firm muscles, on how secure I feel in his gentle arms, or on the heavenly nectar of his kiss -- a pleasure I have experienced all too rarely. No, I will not write about such things.

Nor will I contemplate in these pages the more down-to-earth attractiveness of Clark Kent, of how rock-solid his friendship is, on how I can always count on him to be there -- except when he runs off on the flimsiest excuse right in the middle of a heart-to-heart.

And then there’s Dan. Goofy Dan with the hugest smile, the silliest gifts and the corniest lines. He always knows how to make me laugh. And unlike Superman or Clark, he is always there for me. If only he were a little more open about himself and his work.

No, I will not waste perfectly good paper drooling over these men or any others.

And on that affirmation, I will close my inaugural entry into this journal.



April 23, 1995

I can't believe that Clark Kent! His latest excuse to run out on me? He had to pick up his clothes from the dry cleaner. At 10:30 at night! What dry cleaner would be open then? And if there were one open, they would probably be open all night, so he could have picked up his clothes an hour later. And even if they weren’t, he could always have waited until the next day to pick them up. And I ask you, PJ, does Clark Kent look as though he even gets any of his clothes dry cleaned? I think not!

Funny, three completely different men. All claim to be at least my friend. All, at least at times, have seemed to want to be more. Yeah, OK, it’s been subtle with Superman. But you can’t tell me that he hasn’t been at least somewhat attracted to me from day one -- If that line about him being a man just as I am a woman wasn’t flirting, I don’t know what is. And would a man who wasn’t interested in me have me very literally dancing on air?

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. Three men. All seeming to want some sort of a relationship with me, quite possibly beyond the platonic. And all three holding out on me. Clark abandons me without notice. Dan won’t talk much about himself. And Superman hasn’t even told me his real name, for goodness sake!

Is it me? Do I just attract men who fear openness and commitment? Is my judgment in men so awful? It must be -- look at Paul and Claude. They were real gems, too! I must inherit it from mother dearest. Look whom she chose to marry.

Or maybe it’s not me. Maybe it really is them. And come to think of it, it’s not just men that are unreliable and that stab you in the back. Take Linda. Best friend in college - hah!

You’d think I’d have learned by now, wouldn’t you, that you just can’t trust people. They’ll always let you down. I had thought I had had that lesson down pat, but that was before Clark rode and Superman flew into town. Somehow, they both managed to get me to lower my defenses. Which only makes the pain of their rejection that much harder.

If I were smart, I’d say, ‘To hell with them,’ and just throw myself completely into my work, the way I had done before I ever met them. If I were smart, I’d become ‘Mad Dog Lane’ once again. If I were smart, I wouldn’t let anyone get close to me. If they don’t get close, they can’t hurt me. I should just focus on getting that Pulitzer.

Three men have shown some interest in me. Three men have shut me out of some part of their lives.

All I want is one man. One man who will share his life with me and whom I can trust enough to share my life with. Is that too much to ask?



April 30, 1995

I wrote earlier that if I were smart, I wouldn't let anyone get close to me and that I would just focus on getting the Pulitzer. I've thought long and hard about that and have decided that I was wrong. I wrote, "If I were smart, I wouldn’t let anyone get close to me. If they don’t get close, they can’t hurt me." But now I recognize that if I don't let them get close, they can’t touch my soul. I wrote, "I should just focus on getting that Pulitzer." But now I have realized that if I get the Pulitzer and have no one to share my joy with, it would just be a pyrrhic victory.

***

If these story beginnings tickle anyone's fancy and they wish to try to complete them, I would love to read their endings to my beginnings.

Joy,
Lynn





Joined: Jun 2011
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 2,131
Ooh! smile1 I love these! The first one sets up a very intriguing premise (also I love Clark's obsession with Sherlock Holmes). I love how the second one she starts out saying she's not going to talk about boys and that's all she ends up doing. lol


Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eye witness.
--Mark Twain
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Pulitzer
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Thanks, Mouserocks. I'm glad you enjoyed them, and I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to share them despite their unfinished state. You also succeeded in pointing out some of the things I most enjoyed about them myself.

Joy,
Lynn

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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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Hmmm what a full basket of ideas! The one that takes place in Cowheads, Co has promise.

Any takers?


Morgana

A writer's job is to think of new plots and create characters who stay with you long after the final page has been read. If that mission is accomplished than we have done what we set out to do, which is to entertain and hopefully educate.
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Columnist
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I am like you guys. I have so many ideas, but not enough time. I would start more stories, but I know I won't ever finish them. So I will sit down and outline them at one point and maybe get to them at one point. Maybe.

I love seeing all of your ideas though and if I didn't have so many ideas running through my head I would try one or two.


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