'Compulsion' has its Fan Fiction Birthday on 7th June🎂
Happy birthday!
Tell us something about that fic, anything you like, and we'll help blow out the candles and wish it many happy returns!
You can save this ask until the actual date or reply whenever you like.
AHHH hi El lovely, thank you for sending! Apologies for the delay in response.
Yes, it was the anniversary of Compulsion! I'm super proud of that fic, and I always intended to write an epilogue of Ezra and Beatrice enjoying their happy ending. Maybe one day, it will escape my drafts folder.
I just wanted to pop in and tell you I was thinking about Compulsion.
That's all. Not rushing you or asking for an update. I was just thinkin' bout it. 🖤🖤🖤 And Prospect fans should read it.
MJ, I was just doing a write up on Compulsion. I wrote about 3.3k words. It was very productive, and very (no spoilers sorta) raunchy 😉
Thank you for dropping in!! I hope to share the new chapter soon.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you this snippet:
tw for Ezra's potty mouth
“I lied, Ezra.” It came tumbling out. She couldn’t fight it. “I lied.
“Fuck, Beatrice. Don’t talk,” he sputtered, rolling away from her, and attempting to crawl away.
Skyeeee my darling dear! Will you tell us a little BTS factoid about Beatrice, Ezra, and Cee? I’d love to know how you got into their minds (hehehe) for writing Compulsion!
okay, I wish I had a better answer than...
UHHH??! idk....
For me, it's all whirling around there 24/7 so I feel like I don't have a set process for "getting" into their minds. Sometimes listening to music (Florence and the Machine, Hozier are a good start) helps gets me into the mood, returning to the original source (did a Prospect re-watch recently and took freaking notes like a dork), and staring at (re:sighing over) gifsets of Ezra, Cee, and the movie to look for details helps. Honestly, I try not to read too many Ezra fics, but sometimes I return to my favorites to remember how his voice and cadence sounds.
-more under the cut because I'm prone to rambling-
It honestly helps that @ezrasbirdie is my beta, because she is a great soundboard for bouncing ideas and questions off. (There was a whole debate about where exactly that knife wound ended up on his chest 😉 lots of zooming in on screenshots of Pedro's, which isn't a bad hobby to have now that I think about it.)
I keep a notebook on my bedside, in case ideas strike me in the middle of the night or while I'm trying to sleep. Sometimes finding the right dialogue for me means actually reading it aloud or improvise.
Definitely Ezra is a tough one and I write and rewrite and edit his dialogue the most. Cee was a challenge, only because I wanted her to keep her roots, but also show that she's grown up a little since the last time we saw her, and definitely has become a little more confident with herself.
Beatrice is an blend of myself and real women that I admire, and fiction. Obviously I'm not a Beatrice is, nor is she me.
I wish there was more to share, or was this even the question (!?!?), so here's a BTS peek at the next chapter because I'm feeling generous. 🥰
“Shut up, you b-bastard,” she wheezed, and brought her hands up to cup her own breasts. “You’ve been wanting to fuck me since you laid eyes on me.”
I just wanted to say that I haven’t been able to get Compulsion out of my mind since I read it. Every time my mind is empty it automatically wanders to that world you so masterfully created, wondering what’s happening there.
So I guess I wanted to say thank you so much for putting this out into the world 😊
ASDFGHJKLKJH lovely beautiful starshine anon COME BACK
you are too sweet to come in here on an unsuspecting Sunday and drop this onto me and when I have a headache🥺 you're healing me beautiful anon! 😍
You think about it??! I think about it! The next chapter is a 6k and things just got...interesting... perhaps a sample.
Plan to have Part Two of Compulsion on June 28, if not sooner!
warnings for a smidge feral!Ezra, but my girl Beatrice is a little feral herself.
“I’m no scab!” Beatrice’s throat constricted, her head throbbing even while she fought her panic. “I could give a shit about Corporate. You have my word—”
“Not enough,” he growled between his teeth. He was intending to bruise. Beatrice squirmed, resisting, but he was too strong, the titanium too thick to wrest free. She could hear its inner mechanisms humming as he pressed it deeper into her collarbone, nearing her neck. “Why shouldn’t I toss you to them at the first signal of your betrayal? Hurry now, present your reasons.”
👀👀👀
My cousin is staying with me for a few days more in the city and then I shall have more time to write when I'm not playing host. Otherwise, I haven't gotten around much to it with these last few days of travel.
Thank you for the love of this weird little story!! ❤️
Skye! As someone not familiar with Prospect lore, I have to ask - what aspects of Compulsion are canon? What parts are your creation? And would you be open to sharing your research/creative process for the world building for this series? Love you talented bish 😘
Hi lovely Cee!
Ooo okay, such a great question!! I'd be happy to share some background and provide a little cheatsheet for the Compulsion universe.
Prospect "canon."
Cee and Ezra's history remains the same. I imagine the Compulsion timeline picks up I imagine a year or so after the events of the movie. Ezra's getting used to his prosthetic, he's healed from his wounds, and he and Cee are essentially inseparable. Ezra takes on the role of a father figure for Cee until she becomes of age.
I got the idea for a "corporate expedition" from a line of dialogue, in which Ezra and Damon (Cee's father) are introducing each other. Baylor Corporation is an invention that expands on that idea. I've kept a few names of planets/places that are mentioned in the film (Ephrate, Lao, Kamrea), while also coming up with some of my own (Hephaestus).
Prospect canon brought us such original ideas of the kind of low-tech dystopian future that feels familiar, even antiquated, but entirely alien. It's introduced worlds that are "harvested" for profits. So I took that concept and thought---what if there were other planets that were also subjected to corporate greed? It's not hard to imagine that some kind of other precious gems (like aurelac from the movie) might exist on other worlds, while also simultaneously bringing about ecological, political, and societal strife, much like it does in our world.
Drifting.
The idea is pure science fiction: what if we communicated with an alien consciousness through dreaming?
I've taken inspiration from Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim series, Isaac Asimov's Foundation (on Apple TV), The Last of Us, such SciFi and horror movies like Alien, The Matrix, and Arrival.
We were introduced through Prospect to the strange, messy methods of harvesting aurelac, and concept of The Queen's Lair. The Pearl Mining in Compulsion is very similar---an alien organism that produces a precious gem, but what if this organism was so complex it actually was alive? I chose mycelium, because it fit in nicely with other SciFi themes (see Star Trek Discovery, TLOU, etc.) I watched a fair amount of documentaries on fungi.
What about a Compulsion Event? This idea of "compulsion" was born from the idea that Drifting could go horribly wrong. That exposure to a superior consciousness might produce a dangerous, mind-altering consequence, and, even temporarily, we were compelled to do things against our will. This is the "horror" element that I'm exploring in this series.
An Original Character.
I thought a lot about the types of characters that would exist in this world---miners, drifters, soldiers, workers---alongside Ezra and Cee. Adding the riot and the strike in the background added a sense of urgency to the plot, and I needed a main character who would do well, if not thrive, under that kind of pressure.
Beatrice is a veteran with a traumatic brain injury, and thus discharged from the only world she knew how to operate in. She comes into Drifting because she has no other options, and she has a special talent for it because of her brain injury. Her disability is actually an ability. I wanted to explore themes of recovery and rehabilitation, which fit well into Ezra's storyline post-movie, including PTSD. Beatrice and Ezra share a prominent feature of their lives that others often prejudge, and this seemed like a great starting point for them to connect and relate to one another. While Ezra's disability is visible, Beatrice's disability is entirely invisible.
While, I love a Reader Insert, she has far too complex of a backstory, so the OFC was born.
