So I'm going to try something here. I don't have an AO3 account, I don't leave comments, I bookmark stories/authors on my phone and check for updates daily. I do leave kudos though. And since the winter, when I really started reading Swarla fics, I kept telling myself I should comment, I should start leaving comments. But what I felt like saying always felt so much bigger than a comment, and I kept putting it off. I'm going to try and change that, and one by one write about the fic writers I've read and thank in my head every time I read their work.
These are not reviews, they are appreciation posts. I don't know much about writing, I just know how it makes me feel. So I'm going to (slowly) thank each author here. Going to try anyway.
And these are not in any particular order. I am not on Twitter nor AO3. I don't know any of these writers personally. I am not, I repeat not, critiquing fics or rating them or anything like that. I'm just leaving really big comments here for people who wrote stuff that made me happy in some way.
LOVING the family scenes and endearing moments of “I love you” from Lisa and Carla.
However.
It only just now occurred to me will Carla be upset with Lisa over the secrecy about arresting Sarah? Because Sarah is her right hand at the factory? Or will she get it?
What say all of you?
Carla will be:
Angry Lisa wouldn’t confide in her.
Understand that Lisa had to be strictly by the book.
Understand but also ask Lisa to be more open when it risks the factory.
Corrie won’t even address it.
Remaining time: 10 hours 5 minutes
Because Carla supports Lisa so throughly and they are married now and even though Lisa has repeatedly told Carla she can’t talk about work I dunno…it being Sarah I just thought hmmm…I dunno. I’d love a good argument then makeup scene!
My aunt dropped off this amazingly dense, rich chocolate cake with icing that’s actually good and creamy and real. She thought it had hazelnuts so she couldn’t eat it.
I stuffed half that cake in my face. No fork, only hands.
I feel similarly about the Swarla/Connor-Swain scenes this week.
I am blessed with abundance of delectable delights. That may or may not cause me pain.
Seriously though, the scenes of Lisa Swain-focused stories take Corrie to another level. I don’t get to watch all eps with my mum, but I had wanted to watch Wednesday’s with her. She watched it without me, just the Lisa/Betsy scenes, and texted me that she couldn’t watch the rest of the episode. Later she told me she cried. Lisa recounting the climbing wall story made my mother cry and she does NOT cry. My sister and I would always cry at movies and mum famously would be stone faced. It’s the running joke of the family.
Yet Vicky Myers made my mother cry so much so she won’t watch the rest of this week’s eps with me.
When Kit said Sarah was her soulmate I almost gagged. It felt ridiculous! Especially since if Sarah did have a soulmate I think it’s Damon. Or, let’s be real, it’s kinda Gary…But I guess Sarah and Kit do have the same side of doing whatever they want to even if it’s against the law and stuff. Like planting evidence and having people beat up in prison. And stuff.
Anyway, here’s my wishlist for new couples on the street. Which is your fav?
Best New Corrie Couple
Glenda and Kirk
Kit and Maria
Sarah and Gary
Betsy and Brody
Leanne and Idris
Hope and Will (teen pregnancy sl aka Fizz’s nightmare)
at university i had a tutor who would let us, once a term, submit just the notes for an essay rather than the whole thing, and i have taken that into swarla summer, so here's my notes for a fic where lisa gets Really injured :)
i wrote the first scene in one inspired instant, posted it here, had a great chat about where i could go from here, then i proceeded to spend the last two months running down dead ends and getting nowhere. but now i think i'm getting somewhere!!! and this is the result, a proper planning document :)
(apologies if no one can read my terrible handwriting, and i bet i made a ton of spelling mistakes!!)
babble below the cut because i like rambling about the creative process lmao
okay so to start: no i dont make all my notes super pretty. i mostly make all my notes on onenote, or i scribble them down in this notebook, but this is for swarla summer, i had to make it cute!!
the things i find most useful when planning a fic which takes place over a long period of time are: a calender, an idea of the themes, an idea of where you'll start and end, and sometimes a floorplan.
a calender is really useful when a fic is going over more than a few months, because then you can plot in people's birthdays and life events etc. like for hold me tight, a fic very rooted in Time, i knew i needed chapters for halloween, christmas, new years etc, and the calender helps keep u in order. also in this fic in partiuclar, lisa has a very lose grasp on time for a long time, but i as the author need to keep track of who is where and what is happening, even if my pov character can't
the themes / threads helps keep me focused, because i tend to want to cram every idea i have / everything i'm interested in into my current wip, and this helps keep me focused on what really matters. it also gives you a good idea of what the start and end will look like on a really basic level - i.e. lisa and betsy's relationship is poor, to lisa and betsy's relationship is much better. then i can think of how to get there lol
in this case, this fic is Really all about lisa's bodyily experiences - i found this post really helpful for considering all aspects of this. plotting it out like this not only really helps avoid plot holes, but also lends to the general vibe of each part of the fic, based on how lisa's feeling. i pace Very much on vibes, so getting the vibes is key lol
also bonus i Love making floor plans of locations if they're not a canon location (this is the swain's weatherfield flat which i think we only ever see the bathroom of?). this is fun for me because i love floorplans, and it helps keep the fic internally consistent, so i can describe moving through a space much more easily. this isn't essential because your reader probs won't notice if you mess up, but i really like, when writing tv show fic, imagining how it would be shot for TV, and a floorplan really helps with that :)
anyway i've been hacking this fic to pieces (i've probably got just as much in my 'not worth it' document as i have in my 'worth it' one!!) and i think i'm getting somewhere. as always, no promises, and this may come out six months from now or never at all. i do this for fun, and i never make my brain write when its no longer fun.
whoops thats a ramble. hello if you made it to the end!! bingo board time!!
OP this is so cool to see and to wade into even just the smallest wave of your mind! Fantastic post! Love stuff like this! Please everyone tell us MORE about the writing process! It is endlessly diverse and interesting!!!!
New copper on the scene…everyone else being pulled off cases for a new “big drug case”…
…this new DC is gonna be…
Corrupt and working with these new drug dealers.
Reverse Kit aka she’s trying for his job and makes life difficult for him.
Connected to Idris
Just an excuse character to get Kit off the case.
Something something part of Betsy’s storyline.
Connected to Christina in some way.
Voting ended onJul 11
It just always sticks out to me when we get a new character with so many lines. And with Betsy’s storyline coming up I wonder how this woman will be involved.
Because I do think she’s involved. I can’t help it…!
I’m not suuuuuper thrilled about the spoilers but whatever it’ll be great to see Lisa in mother lion mode regardless of the context! And Carla backing her up and balancing her out.
Okie dokie poll time since @belbar74 got my brain humming about the Betsy/Dylan storyline! And I’m not going to include my hopes for a violent storyline that’ll drag Lisa into an existential crisis because that’s probably not on the cards…sigh.
“Not done before” storyline will be…
Mixup at the donor bank - they are siblings!
Betsy has a half-sibling that needs medical help in some way.
Betsy sacrifices college for Dylan, regrets it when he accepts an opportunity.
Betsy becomes a mum! Of a half-sibling as the only living blood relative left.
Betsy is in some way responsible for Dylan being SERIOUSLY injured.
Something something sperm donor.
Something something those thugs that chased them.
Voting ended onJul 3
This “not done before” (possibly) has thrown me because EVERYTHING has been done before in soap, but maybe Duncan Lindsay meant like not done in Corrie before?
I am once again appealing to you to introduce Lisa's wayward younger brother. And since you took my Leanne dreams away PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING make Tracy the object of his adoration and desire.
I NEED a scene of Carla and Lisa coming home to find Lisa's bro and Tracy naked don the sofa I NEED their absolute shocked looks of horror!
And I need Tracy's smug face looking at Carla saying "it runs in the family" aka he's good on the job too...
I LOVED today’s episode! God, I miss what a 45 min ep can do it just fits Corrie soooo much better.
I can’t wait to see the fallout and I’m delighted! More of this kinda build up and reveal, Corrie! I mean, a bit more quickly though, it did drag a bit in May but maybe that’s because shorter eps make everrrry storyline feel scattered and unfocused.
I know it’s awful and I still don’t like the sl idea I posted a few weeks ago…HOWEVER… I do like the idea of what that storyline could provide for Swarla content…
So I’ll say it again, I do want the Betsy/Dylan “coming of age” aka loss of innocence storyline to be that something very bad happens to Betsy at the hands of those Radcliffe wannabes that harassed her, Dylan, and Brody.
I know, I’m awful. If it’s just pregnancy or something like that I’ll be disappointed. Or if it’s literally she’s just leaving the street for a while I’ll be extra gutted.
I want juicy drama with Carla and Betsy sharing even more understanding and Lisa going to the brink of madness not being able to get justice for her baby!
I want to see more of them therefore something bad has to happen.
Can I just say the way Carla Connor, always ALWAYS gets this look when those she loves say they love her back, like, this flicker of disbelief flashes in her countenance. That little inhale of breath. Carla Connor consistently not thinking she’s worthy gets me everytime.
Thank you @balfeys for capturing this moment I’ll have on repeat for far too long!
