WIP Meme

[menolly_au]

I saw this meme on someone's journal and it looked like fun.

Post three whole paragraphs from every WIP you're currently working on, even if it's very short. Then invite people to ask questions about your WIP. With any luck, you'll get talking about writing, and the motivation to take that WIP one step closer to completion will appear as if by magic!

I'm not going to inflict every WIP I have on you and I'm not so much working on these as they are sitting unloved in Google Docs while I keep getting distracted by new shiny ideas but here you go. I'm also taking a liberal interpretation of the word 'paragraph'.

Of course I'm mostly doing this in the hopes that someone else will take up the meme so I can get a peek at your WIPs :) Also, I'm procrastinating doing any actual writing :)



1) Wilson Recovery after Liver Operation (Sick!Wilson/caring!House)

House walked confidently into the recovery room at the hospital as if he belonged there. As far as he was concerned he did. Wilson was here after all. Wilson who had given up half a liver for that jerk Tucker. Now he was being rolled back into the room on a guerney, looking small and fragile - broken.

A nurse came up to him, her stern demeanour conveying that she was taking no prisoners. His reputation, as always, had apparently preceded him.

“Doctor House, you can't be in here. Only authorised personnel allowed, no visitors, you know the rules.”

“I'm his doctor. Go away.” He turned away from her and towards Wilson's bed.

“You're not the doctor on this case.” The nurse waved Wilson's chart in his face. “Dr Gilmore is his attending. You need to leave.”

“No.” House answered, looking around for a chair. Not finding one he hopped onto the bed next to Wilson's. Luckily it was currently unoccupied.

The nurse floundered, looking around for help and finding none. Short of calling security she had no way of physically removing House from the room and she knew it.

“I'll be reporting this,” she threatened, rather weakly. House ignored her; his eyes intent on Wilson. His gaze flicked over the monitors, watching for any signs of distress, then back to Wilson. He'd never seen Wilson like this before, never seen him in a hospital bed. It had always been House in the hospital and Wilson visiting. House didn't know why he felt compelled to stay here now, his being here was not going to make any difference in Wilson's recovery. It wasn't like he believed in the waiting room theory he had espoused to Stacy. He wasn't one of those pathetic people who thought that being closer to his 'loved one' would somehow help them.

He didn't leave.


2) Greg & Blythe (Mom & son have a chat)

Dominika answered the door and came back with Blythe in tow. His Mom was wearing her 'look how tolerant I am of my wayward son' expression. She had perfected that over his childhood and the few times he'd met his parents as an adult.

"We had dinner arrangements, Greg."

He put down the video game controller and looked at her. "Well, after how the last dinner went I thought I'd take a raincheck. I'm sure you and Thomas will have a good time, maybe you could take Wilson, he always enjoys a free show."

"I don't think we'd be welcome back at that restaurant. It's my last night in town Greg, I'm going home tomorrow, would it be so terrible for you to spend a few hours with me? I hardly ever see you."

House looked down at the floor, his Mom usually allowed him to dodge these social engagements, although he knew he disappointed her when he did so. He had thought she would let this one slide as well.

"I will go out Greg, you have a nice visit with your mother," Dominika said, picking up her coat and purse. He shot her a look of betrayal but she just smiled at him. 

When the door had closed behind Dominika his Mom took a seat. "She seems like a nice girl."

"The best green card wife a man could have." He sighed and scratched his eyebrow, this would be a long evening. "It's just a fake marriage Mom, don't start knitting clothes for the grandkids."

"She seems to like you, and you're comfortable with her," Blythe looked around the apartment, Domnika's feminine touches were obvious, he'd gotten used to them over the last few months. "Maybe you could become something more? "

"I drove a car through the house of my last girlfriend, Mom, do you really think I should have another one any time soon? "

Comments

[yarroway.livejournal.com]

I like the excerpt from the first one. Most of us just ignore things like nurses and hospital policies, so it was good to see House up against them and thinking about why.

You got Blythe's voice down really well. Loved House's question to Blythe. Actually that's a great hook. It made me want to read more of the fic. I'd love to see what you do with Blythe, and where you take S8 House.

Wait! I get to ask questions, right? Sheesh. Get me before coffee and my brain doesn't work nearly so well.

1) Is #1 a straightforward recovery fic?

2) Is this piece focused on Blythe/House or is that just this one section?

3) How much more is there to both of these?

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Questions, comments, conversation, it's all good :)

1)The first one came out of a conversation at Camp sick!Wilson 2 or 3 years ago about how we wished Wilson's recovery hadn't been glossed over, and maybe he would have had complications, or there would have been scenes with House doctoring him, soothing his fevered brow etc :) It was supposed to take Wison in detail through his hospital stay with some nice exploration of the pain he was in, trouble he had asjusting to the wheelchair, then to walking etc etc. Along the way he might have a couple of minor setbacks, House would be concerned, and there might be some Serious Conversation about House's stay in Mayfield, why exactly Wilson donated his kidney etc etc. There's 3.500 words of it but then it sort of stalled out, but I quite liked what I had so far and am reluctant to call if officially abandoned :)

2) Yes, the whole thing was going to be basically Blythe and House have a conversation - leading to the revelation of who House's actual father was (turned out he had tragically died in Vietnam - I think that was the plan anyway). There's 2000 words of it so far.

[yarroway.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I'm so greedy. You're one of my favorite writers, and I want to read simply everything.

I love recovery fics. And a fic delving into House's relationship with Blythe and woman would be a wonderful treat.

Next question: what is stopping you from finishing them?

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Aw, shucks, thanks :)

The recovery fic, basically was just too large a project, and really I know nothing about the day to day recovery process after such an ooperation. When I started it I'd really only written small things (30 days was actually the first multi chapter story I posted under the menolly ID) and I just wasn't ready to write such a long thing. I added a few words to it recently but I think I've just lost all impetus to work on such a long story. Maybe I will try and bring it to a stopping point and post it as is.

The House & Blythe thing, it was meant to be posted shortly after that episode, I can't remember why I stopped working on it - probably got distracted by new canon and new stories. I think i will finish that one at some point as it's not supposed to be so long. I think it just seems a bit irrelevant now, with the series finished. And then I look at it and think 'hmm, so basically this fic consists of two people having a conversation?' - wow , that's exciting ;)

[yarroway.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd enjoy it...but that's just me. :)

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

Conversations between Blythe and House are always interesting. House seems more aware of the unacceptability of his response to the situation with Cuddy than I got from the show... although I guess the implication was that he went to jail voluntarily once he admitted to himself that what he'd done was wrong.

Do you accept the canonical revelations of Blythe leading a wild double life before/during her marriage to John (and if so, does that play into this fic at all)?

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I like to think that House is aware that what he did was very wrong, but you're right - I don't get that from the show except by implication from the fact that he didn't fight the jail sentence, (and he apologizes to Wilson but I can't say it was dripping with remorse). Certainly the first few episodes give the oppisite impression.

I guess I have to accept the canonical revelation of Blythe's wild double life unless I'm writing AU but I think the difficulty or reconciling the two contradictory characterisations of Blythe is probably one of the things that stalled this fic. It does come up in this fic - House realises that Blythe has been presenting a persona to the world, much like Wilson, except that he never realised it.

[srsly-yes.livejournal.com]

The HW story could be considered complete, except now I want to read about all the juicy sick!Wilson stuff you mentioned to Yarroway. I like where both are going. Since you have the knack for writing quantity with quality (thank you!), I never imagined you had a WIP folder, which leads me to a couple of general questions: What percentage of your fics see the light of day? What are the chances of a story getting resurrected after it hits your WIP stash?

You really nailed House's sassy answers to the nurse and his mother. The [H]ouse writers couldn't do better. Do you find House easier to write than Wilson?

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I'm much better at finishing what I start now than I was a couple of years ago when most of my WIPs originated. There's no new shiny canon to distract me, sadly. The WIP folder has about eight fics in it. The chances aren't good of something getting finished if I leave it for a more than a few weeks I think, I forget where I was going. Mostly now I concentrate on one or two fics at the most and get them done.

Yes, i find House a lot easier to write than Wilson, I think he's a lot easier to make it at least *sound* like he's in character at least. I find it hard to give Wilson a voice of his own sometimes, although I'm currently rewatching both season 1 and season 6 and Wilson banters a lot more than I remembered, and season 6 House is being particularly unpleasant (and I'm only up to Wilson). I think I soften him a bit lot in my stories.

[readingrat.livejournal.com]

Every time I'm offline for two days, I seem to miss all the fun. Three memes to look through ...

I really like both excerpts. The first one captures House's essence very well: the rule breaking, the childish behaviour (hopping onto the empty bed), the contradiction between his professed beliefs (being close to loved ones doesn't help them to recover) and his actions. I agree with srsly_yes - the story can stand as it is.

The second one has a great atmosphere. It conveys Dominika's adaptability, House's unwillingness to deal with Blythe, his rather despondent attitude towards relationships, and Blythe's mix of discerning coupled with her ability to completely ignore the realities of a situation, all in a few sentences. This one has the potential to explore the nature of relationships - Blythe's current one with Thomas, the one with House's biological father, and her arrangement with John. The latter is probably the closest to what House has with Dominika: an arrangement based on practical considerations rather than mutual attraction, one in which both sides have to make compromises.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) I rather like what I've written too which is why I am reluctant to completely abandon them :) That's a good point about a parallel betwen House/Dominika and Blythe/John. Certainly Blythe was apparently nowhere near faithful to John, at any stage - as Thomas seemed to have been around when House was a child and I think the implication is there that the affair continued, and amazingly Blythe wasn't even faithful to the guy she was having an affair with apparently! I think that's where I stalled out - coming up for a reasonable explanation for why Blythe slept with at least one other guy at the same time she was sleeping with Thomas, a guy with identical birthmarks to Thomas...

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the first one very much, esp. since the recovery was glossed over. A few days in the hospital bed, some wincing, and that's it. The way you portray House being aware of hospital policy and what he tells other---and how neither apply to him--was delicious. I would love to see more of this fic, esp. if there's going to be more content. My only nitpicky thing (warning: writerlyness) is that sentences such as :

His reputation, as always, had apparently preceded him

Luckily it was currently unoccupied

I find "apparently" and "currently" somehow redundant and trying a bit too hard for a laugh or snark or whatever. That kind of phrasing comes up a lot in House fics, when the unadorned sentence conveys the wit and meaning more concisely. Not sure if this is picking at your style, which I'm rarely aware of (a good thing) or that this needs polishing.

The second one was beautifully portrayed, in the moment, and all of the characters were fleshed out with perfect voices. I also want to see much more of this one. I'm of the opinion that Blythe's "wild past" was totally OOC. Esp. if she was an army wife who had to keep traveling. And there were apparently no repercussions from John for her behavior? That she didn't try to visit him in prison was, to me, incredibly hurtful. I never understood that. Is any of that going to be addressed, or do you feel no obligation to do so? (In my own writing, I ignore it--they portrayed her so perfectly before that.)

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

That's a good point about the redundant words, i could say that they would have disappeared upoon revising but I would be lying :) Thank you, I agree with you on both of those.

I agree with you about Blythe - I think the writers went for the cheap laugh (inevitable with the casting of Billy Connelly(!) as House's bio dad) and ignored anything they had previously set up, and the ending with Thomas not being bio-dad was ridiculous. Some of that I try to address in this fic, but it is difficult and I think that's a big reason why I stalled on this.

[sassyjumper.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see either/both of these continued. I really disliked how the portrayed Blythe this last time around. Not because I don't like people with a secret wild side -- but because it seemed arbitrary, and played out as if they paid no attention to how her character had been written in the past (as opposed to a conscious choice). If you could somehow reconcile the "Two Blythes," I'd like that ;)

Probably goes without saying that I love caring!House, sick!Wilson :)

I don't really have any intelligent questions -- Sorry! The ones that popped to mind have been asked. But I would like to agree with one of your answers: I find House a lot easier to write, too! Could be because we've got so much more canon House to work with - But I'm not sure that's the whole reason.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

No intelligent questions needed :)

I think the fact that we so much of House in canon is part of it, there are so many things you can put in which immediately identify the character as House - the limp, the pill taking, the snark, the piano/guitar playing, the sexually crude remarks, soap opera watching, heavy drinking, epiphanies, speaking multiple languages etc etc. With Wilson I find I have him rubbing the back of his neck a lot and waving his arms around in an amusing fashion :) We also know a fair bit about House's family (even if its vague and contradictory) but we don't even know the name of Wilson's other brother, or anything at all about his parents or upbringing etc. Wilson's character in the show pretty much revolves around his interactions with House, and it's easy to slip into making him sort of a House-accessory in fic.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

These are awesome. I'm a sucker for caring!House, and there is simply not enough Blythe!fic in the fandom. She's a character (one of many characters) I'd like to know more about. I really hope you continue with both of these. :D

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I found what they did with Blythe so frustrating in that episode that I started writing this to try and explain it to myself. But apparently I found it a struggle and that's why I stopped, I'd like to finish it some day.

[rslhilson.livejournal.com]

I also wish we could have seen more of the recovery in canon. Is #1 something that you think you'll be able to finish soon?

Re: #2, there aren't enough fics that portray Blythe well, but I can tell even from that segment that you've nailed it. Does Wilson factor into their chat at all, or do they mostly stay on the topic of Dominica (and perhaps Cuddy)?

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I'm never going to finish #1 the way I originally envisaged, but I would like to bring it to some sort of stopping point and post what I have, because it's a shame to waste it. I'm rewatching season 6 and just saw Wilson so maybe I'll be inspired to pick it up again :)

#2 is just going to be House & Blythe, and the topic of conversation is mostly about House's parentage, Cuddy & Dominika don't really factor in after this excerpt from what I remember. Nor does Wilson sadly.

It's funny, when I look over my list of WIPs the majority are ones that don't have both guys in them - there's probably a message in that.

[barefootpuddles.livejournal.com]

Like Nightdog, I am a sucker for caring House so for that reason alone I hope to decide to right more. I also am very interested in Blythe. We got all this new information about her at the end of the show and so there has been little new exploration of her character by writers. I would LOVE to read more of your take on her.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I think it's just a struggle to make any sense of Blythe, since what we saw was so contradictory to the previous characterisation, and then add on the stuff with the birthmarks and Thomas not being bio-dad, it's all a bit baffling. I really do want to finish that one, maybe I should sit through the episode again to try and get back in the mood for it :)