OK, so I don't usually have enough time after I'm done with work to write daily. This is one of the reasons I take so long to post new chapters - each chapter is completed in one day. I usually put off so much to just sit and write that I take a mini-break after posting the new chapters. For about a week I just focus on things I neglected in order to write - laundry, wedding planning, answering emails, packing up holiday decorations, etc.
During this mini-hiatus I also tend to either think up the plot of upcoming chapters or I even think of plot lines or scenarios for future story ideas. Today was one of those occasions in which I thought of a concept for a new story. I'm not sure if I'll do anything with this, and even if I do it will be after I'm done with my chaptered story - unless I have writer's block and need to work on something else to get the juices flowing again.
Anyway, I'm a manager at work, and this is very strange to me. I'm still in my twenties - granted I'm in my MID-twenties, but still - and so I'm still used to listening to authority figures; not BEING the authority figure. Therefore I have a hard time reprimanding my staff. Unfortunately, today was one of those days where I needed to confront an employee and write her up. So, during the four hours I was at work by myself and waiting for her to show up I was trying to psych myself up for the confrontation. I kept imagining myself snarling and growling. I kept reminding myself about how much she screwed up and crossed a MAJOR line with me. I got myself so worked up that I nearly started throwing things. This chick wanted a bitch? I was going to SHOW her a bitch! She had the kitten before, and now she was getting the rabid pitbull! Yeah! Pitbull! Snarling pitbull! She was going to think again before messing with me! And then she showed up.
In my head I kept reminding myself of what she did. I kept telling myself that I'm done trying to be the girl's friend. I'm done being nice and having people walk all over me because of it. Remember, she lies so frequently I wasn't sure if she knew how to tell the truth anymore! I was mentally set. And then I heard myself tell her promotional information she needed for today's shift.
Sure, I was cold, matter-of-fact, and stern about it. I wasn't friendly - it was a start - but I wasn't this badass pitbull I was trying to be. Worst yet was that the confrontation about her behavior didn't occur until the end of the shift. *sigh* I'm a pussycat and I can't avoid it.
Alright, now ready to find out what the hell this has to do with fanfiction???? Well, focusing on my main fandom at the moment - Hey, Arnold! - I had to chuckle at the fact that I was acting fairly similar to Helga G. Pataki, just reversed. She could spend HOURS psyching herself up to be nice to Arnold, to finally show him a new side of her, to finally state exactly what was on her mind. And yet when the crucial time comes - even if she reminds herself of her goals just a second before - she reverts back to what she knows and becomes the bully everyone is used to. Same concept, except I reverted back to the friendly people-pleaser everyone knows. I then thought how much fun it would be to write a story focusing on the conflict between wanting to act one way and then - at the last second - reverting back to the usual default setting. This coupled with the fact that although both Helga and I are Tsunderes, I'm more dere-dere to Helga's tsun-tsun, and also thought it would be fun to show the conflict from a dere-dere's point of view.
Train of Thought chugged along to make me think of inverting Helga to write this story, and then I thought of the canonical anti-Helga - Gloria. How many people actually write fanfiction staring Gloria? It would be such a new take! I just needed an anti-Arnold for her to go all tsun-tsun over! I was thinking maybe Arnold's polar-opposite cousin Arnie. Would it seem too AU or AR to write a Gloria and Arnie fanfic? Basically, I would completely invert the dynamic of the traditional HelgaxArnold romance story. Should I just make it AU/AR and keep Helga and Arnold? Just stuff to think about.
I also thought about an OC I was creating for the sequel I'm planning for "What is Truly Meant to Be: A Hey Arnold Musical" (like I said, I had four hours alone - I had a lot of time to think about fanfiction...). I thought of maybe making her be my Dere-Dere Tsundere character who needs to psych herself up to lash out at Helga, but I'm not too sure if I like that. I'm also nervous that the OC will end up as a Mary Sue, and so I think I'm going to need a Beta reader by the time I'm ready to create her.
FINALLY I actually did think of a few things for my current story. A few lines and images for my sixth chapter (I'm currently working on Chapter 4). I also thought about a LOT of things to thread together the basic plotline of my seventh chapter. Now if only I could back-track and figure out what to do for the NEXT chapter (instead of two or three chapters down the road X-P).
Anyway, this is my current progress. What does everyone think?
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