Just a little progress update

~In A Tight Spot~

Bad things happened to heroes. That wasn’t news. Steph had been threatened, beaten up, and kidnapped (once by her own dad), and a couple times the bad guys had tried to kill her. None had succeeded, and even during the other stuff she hadn’t felt like she was in a huge amount of danger. Well, not most of the time. There was always Batman or Batgirl or Robin on the way. Plus the people who tried to hurt her often underestimated her, and that worked to Steph’s advantage. Especially as Robin—the bad guys were too busy laughing at a blonde Robin with boobs, and they let down their guard enough for her to get her licks in.

Now, though, she was scared. After standing up and moving her arms rhythmically within the limits of the cuffs, she got enough feeling back to try working on escaping. First she took stock of her situation. The cuffs were welded to a chain that ran up to a high ceiling somewhere in the darkness overheard. She was nauseous from the blow to her head, and aching all over from the fight earlier and hanging unconscious by her wrists. Her kit was gone, including the lock-picks normally stashed in her gauntlets. She just had her costume itself and her wits.

After a few moments, Steph realized why this situation frightened her so much. It wasn’t being held captive, it wasn’t waking up alone in a big dark room and having to wonder what the bad guys wanted. It was a small detail: the welded cuffs. Someone had taken the time and trouble to weld a set of steel handcuffs to a chain. That meant they used this setup a lot, and didn’t want any chance of someone slipping away.

It meant this might’ve been an unplanned capture, but whoever had her had done this before.

~Love and Other Headaches:
Won't See Me Closing In
[Chapter Thirty-Three]

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March 2019

A Minute Ago | | Um, No | A Minute From Now

kalalanekent

10 July 2007 @ 02:19 pm

Just a little progress update

Can I just have a normal relaxing day? Is it possible? Or even negotiable? *sigh*

Well, I can announce that the current chapter, When Your Angels Can't Sing, is up to 1,458 words and three pages. Lois has been reunited with her twins, as well as most of the supporting cast, and Kal-El is heading to S.T.A.R. Labs, where he can get more specialized help. We're not playing S.T.A.R. the way it has been in the past, except that it's a military installation. The waiting begins...

And in other news, tomorrow is the lovely and talented

anissa7118's birthday. She has it off and will be spending a day to herself. The Author will be working a regular shift. But we'll be out of town Saturday and most of Sunday while I take her to Orlando. And yes, we'll post before we leave. (psst! B, head's up!)

Wish me luck today at work! It's already 98 degrees and rising here in nasty, stinkin' Florida. And that makes for crabby, evil Bridezillas and rich people.

Tags: happy birthday, little secrets progress reports

13 comments | Notes To The Assistant Editor

13 comments —

( 13 comments — Notes To The Assistant Editor )

htbthomas on July 10th, 2007 07:09 pm (UTC)

*head pops up*

Okie dokie!

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kalalanekent on July 11th, 2007 05:35 pm (UTC)

Thanks, Mom. *hugs*

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mr_beeto on July 10th, 2007 10:12 pm (UTC)

So you're going to insist on making it interesting, huh?

Actually, that part of the attraction I think. The fluffy, CLOIS fairy tales are nice every once in a while, but something with a little meat on it, and consistently takes the unexpected turn and keeps you guessing is so much more interesting. Though, you may give some of us a stroke if you keep ratcheting up the angst.

I can't wait to see what you've come up with this time. I'm sure it will be magnificent, as usual.

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kalalanekent on July 11th, 2007 05:38 pm (UTC)

Well, I still have to finish this Act out, then we might just get a little possible happiness up ahead. *grins*

And as to fairytale, one of our 12 Days fics this round will make it clear that not all relationships are perfect. Even these two fight sometimes...

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mr_beeto on July 11th, 2007 09:50 pm (UTC)

I have a friend who is of the opinion that a relationship isn't real until after the happy couple has had their first major argument. Once they get through that, and make up, they've got a chance. His point was that people have to get past the "polite" stage and be honest with each other. Though, I think your happy couple is well past the polite stage.

<Soapbox>
I know I mentioned it in a post long ago, but part of my motivation in writing my own fic was to introduce realism into the fandom, after reading one too many fluffy CLOIS fantasies. I like the fluff sometimes, but something with some meat is so much more satisfying. Not everything is perfect, and things don't magically happen. You need credible threats from opponents that can stand toe to toe with Superman, figuratively speaking, with a believable chance of winning. The oversimplified Lex just to have someone for Superman to fight just doesn't thrill me. Neither do the stories where Richard just magically disappears with his former friends and family hardly noticing his absence. For me, the drama is the glue that binds everything else together. Without the drama, you wouldn't have readers drooling for the next installment, as we are for your next chapter.
</Soapbox>

Okay, I've stepped off my soapbox. Can't wait to see you next chapter.

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kalalanekent on July 13th, 2007 05:37 pm (UTC)

I love your soapbox. And you always manage to say what I want to so much more eloquently. And the fluff was part of the reason I wanted to write Little Secrets. They're deeply in love, very committed, but the outside world and its pressure are always present in this tale. This is supposed to be a somewhat realistic world, the world of Superman. He's the fantasic. And things will never be easy or perfect all the time in their lives, but that doesn't change how they feel. Never has, never will, even if they momentarily doubt that they can make it last.

That's what makes it special. It means more when you have to work for it.

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mr_beeto on July 13th, 2007 09:53 pm (UTC)

I think that realism is a prerequisite for a good fic. Actually, it was the fluff storyline that first came to me as well in Home is Where the Heart Is. The other stuff came later to try to make the tale less boring and more realistic, like Richard's heartache over losing Lois, his subsequent recovery, the Krypto-tech and (as one reviewer describes it) the "chess game" between Supes and Luthor. Relationship-wise, things were kind of easy for my Clark and Lois. What can I say? I guess I'm just too much of a CLOIS shipper to prolong their pain.

I've got another plot bunny sprinting through my mind, and there probably is already enough there to put out several chapters, but I'm drawing a blank on the drama - I don't really want to rehash what I did in the first story, and that "chess game" will be hard to top. (It's a different universe than Home, one where Kal-El returns from Krypton with 12-year old Kara Zor-El in tow). Unless I can find some inspiration for a credible action storyline, this story idea won't be going anywhere.

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kalalanekent on July 21st, 2007 07:51 pm (UTC)

Mister, I will have you know that you've got me so intrigued with this plot bunny, she's hopped around after me all week! I absolutely think that that would be such an interesting story. Question is, will she still have had Jason while he was gone? He comes home with Kara, she has Jason as per the film? Or we'd just have Kara? I'd love to see the look on Lois' face. What a situation for the two of them to find themselves in...

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mr_beeto on July 22nd, 2007 02:41 am (UTC)

Yes, we'll still have Jason. Everything from S:TM, SII:DC and SR remains cannon. I only introduce Kara to fix a problem with the SR story. I always thought that the reason for Superman to return to Krypton was weak. My fix for that is to give him a REAL reason to go back: answering an automated distress signal from Kara's ship, which got caught in the shock-wave of the Supernova and disabled. He takes responsibility for her, and her forged birth certificate lists Clark Kent as her father. The cover story was she's Clark's from a college sweatheart, who never told him about her. He didn't find out until her mother passed away.

Lois first meets Kara Kent, Clark's daughter. She and Jason take quite a liking to each other, and she calls him "squirt". I think in my AU, Richard is the one who gets knocked out when the Gertrude sinks, and it's Kara who pulls them out. When Supergirl calls Jason "Squirt" the light bulb goes off over Lois' head -- and Clark's got some 'splaining to do!

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mr_beeto on July 22nd, 2007 04:31 am (UTC)

Actually, I have a few Kara-centric plot bunnies hopping around here (all with here at age 12). It's hard to keep them straight sometimes. I don't want to SPAM your LJ with the details, but if you want to hear more, I'll email the bunnies to you.

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kalalanekent on July 23rd, 2007 06:19 pm (UTC)

'Mail me, Brian. You've got me curious!

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the_scary_kitty on July 11th, 2007 02:26 am (UTC)

So glad I don't live in Florida. Gah, you two are troopers for being able to stand that kind of weather!

As for the fic... I take it the audience should get refills on their oxygen tanks before Saturday? *winks*

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kalalanekent on July 11th, 2007 05:42 pm (UTC)

I can't believe I was born here! I spent some time in Toronto and I'd kill to get back there. As it is, we go to Asheville twice a year, so we deal with it. *whines* I HATE FLORIDA!

Not so much the oxygen, but the tissues.

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