for the latest chapter of Relight My Fire, I wanted to capture that feeling when 2 ppl subconsciously don't want to part company so they keep finding reasons to still hang out, that 'date that they don't even realise is a date' vibe, the concept of two lonely souls desperately yearning for companionship
the result is 11 sort-of vignettes / 14,700+ words on Carla and Lisa's loneliness & burgeoning connection
Chapter 4: She’s in the Air, in Between Molecules of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
Summary:
Lisa Swain — widow, full-time firefighter, and mum to a feisty teenager — is simply going through the motions of living since her wife's untimely death. Unable to process her grief, and struggling through an increasingly fractious relationship with her daughter, Lisa's world is turned on its head when she meets Carla, a fierce but big-hearted factory owner. When a spark ignites between the two, will Lisa be able to open herself up to the potential for growth, no matter how hard or painful, or will she douse the fire before it takes hold
aka the firefighter!Lisa au
Chapter summary:
The Weatherfield Spring Fayre arrives, offering Carla and Lisa a chance to learn what they have in common.
2 days ago, RMF chapter 5 was at about 2.7k words, and now I have reached 8k words. I have somehow managed to absolutely lock tf in these past couple days but there is still so much of the chapter plan to get through, so I fear this may be another long one, lads!
Chapter 1: Breathe the Smoke of What is Left Behind
Summary:
Lisa Swain — widow, full-time firefighter, and mum to a feisty teenager — is simply going through the motions of living since her wife's untimely death. Unable to process her grief, and struggling through an increasingly fractious relationship with her daughter, Lisa's world is turned on its head when she meets Carla, a fierce but big-hearted factory owner. When a spark ignites between the two, will Lisa be able to open herself up to the potential for growth, no matter how hard or painful, or will she douse the fire before it takes hold?
aka the firefighter!Lisa au
Relight My Fire update for anyone wondering is that i am almost 8k words into chapter 4. still got a ways to go. there has been so much yapping. also some crying. these milves are very lonely ok
have decided I can afford to be a bit more annoying about talking about my fic so here is an update to say that i have written 1.7k words of chapter 3, and 1.5k of chapter 4 because for some reason that is where the muse has taken me, and who am I to question the muse. Suffice to say, while the first two chapters were quite action-oriented and plot focused, it so far feels like these next two are going to have a lot more dialogue
Also I've just realised I haven't gone a single chapter yet without somebody making a cup of tea in one of the scenes...
🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?
tbh i haven't written much comedy yet. Complicit is meant to be dark and moody, so I've not brought any humour into that so far. Relight My Fire has had a small amount of subtle humour, e.g. the ending of the first chapter, Lisa just… embarrassing herself in the second, Carla's exasperation towards Roy, Carla eyeing up the firefighter who turned out to be gay and meanwhile not realising that he's ribbing Lisa about her, etc
But I'm currently writing a one-shot that should at least be fun, even if I don't pull off making it actually funny. there's a tension in it between Sally who has the perfect excuse for being quite invasive about Carla and Lisa's relationship (because she's asking them the Mrs & Mrs questions at the hen do) and Lisa, who of course is very hesitant to reveal too much. unfortunately for her, Carla is quite drunk and happily blabbing. It's a bit of an exercise in fine-tuning comedic timing and playing with some incongruity, cos I don't want to over rely on sarcasm.
Anyway, bearing in mind that this is extremely first draft, writing this gave me a giggle:
Sally almost curtseys, bowing her head obsequiously, then re-examines her sheet of paper. Suddenly she looks all too pleased with herself.
“Ah yes, well, following on from the previous question… though I must warn you, they do get a little bit more naughty from here…”
“Invasive, more like,” Carla mutters so only Lisa can hear.
“So the next one,” Sally continues, cheerily: “after how many dates did you first sleep together?”
“Oh my God,” Betsy groans at the bar, as more laughter fills the room.
“I’m sorry, Betsy,” Sally calls out, sounding not at all sorry, “but this is a very commonly asked question for this type of game.”
“That doesn't mean you have to ask them,” Betsy mutters.
“Now where would be the fun in that?”
“Can we guess?” asks Izzy, then without waiting for a response, she throws out: “first date?”
“Er, no…” Lisa replies, hearing how strained her voice is.
Carla snorts softly at her side.
“Second?” asks Fiz.
Carla shakes her head.
“The third date?” Maria asks, though she sounds skeptical.
“I'm gonna put them out of their misery,” Carla tells Lisa with a pointed look.
🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?
a bit of a mixture, tbh but I lean more towards the latter. for RMF i have a general idea of the full structure, with the first act the most heavily outlined, while the others are more vague at the moment. With Complicit, I know how it needs to end but I'm very open to wherever the muse wants to take me on the journey to get there. the first one-shot that i wrote, energy, was only 1k words and just spilled out of me in 3 hours so there was no planning there, and the Mrs & Mrs one-shot is structured by the questions that Sally asks - I did some research online to get example questions and then decided on the ones that could actually be interesting or revealing if we saw Carla and Lisa answering them, organised them into groups, and those are forming the spine of the narrative structure.
👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!
as mentioned, my newest idea is the Mrs & Mrs one-shot. it occurred to me recently that it could be fun to write those scenes that we didn't get to see on the show, because there's a big community vibe, and probably lots of teasing, but also so much love, and a chance for the characters to look back on and recontextualise their relationship in much more positive circumstances than they did in the 15 minute long scene we got from the soap back in November
🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?
erm, I just use whatever tags are relevant to the story I'm writing. looking at what i've got so far, it looks like angst is the one that features in all of them, which makes me sound like a super heavy angst writer lol but I think anyone who reads my stuff knows that I keep it balanced
