TST— How has your experience been so far writing the krypton fantasy au?
Much more difficult than I expected, in all honesty. It started as this great idea of having Segdam angst but in a fantasy setting because of the sheer potential on the equivalent of post S2 because a lot of the elements can translate over, right? A world once green and verdant now mostly a desolate wasteland? Some kind of long-ago ice curse! The Guilds? Only a couple need a name change. Doomsday? A Berserker. The Zeta-Beam? An amulet!! Brainiac? Still an Eldritch being. The ruling houses? No real change there. Krypton's destruction? A chain reaction that results in a catastropic volcanic eruption that wipes out the whole Kingdom. So I figured most of the world-building would unfold as is and that the plot would be easy to get on with-
Not so. Partly because there was more worldbuilding to be done (what exactly could the equivalent of the yellow sun be since in this AU all the 'planets' are now kingdoms on the same planet) but mostly because it seems the main conflict is going to have to be built up a lot more than it is.
Because it relies on an epic misunderstanding between the two leads - Seg watches Adam become increasingly distant despite the fact the main threats have been dealt with and starts to wonder if he's becoming homesick, even despite his claims of feeling more at home in Krypton than he ever had on Earth, which is heartbreaking for him because he wants to marry him and doesn't understand why Adam's not opening up. Adam, meanwhile, is convinced he's going to be exiled for treason because of what happened in the Catacombs, that enough people know that they'll not stand for his presence any longer, especially not attached to Seg, not now that he's been elected Prince of Kandor...
And it's not dissimilar to my other Krypton fics where I've had him had similar fears, so you'd think it would be an easy translation. But it isn't, mostly because like...in this AU the quest to save Jor-El would've meant weeks if not months of travelling together and so the question is how has this misunderstanding even arisen? Maybe he might not've been aware there was a chance of Seg being elevated like that but it's the issue of 'how has this mindset of his become entrenched so deep even while the relationship continues?' What's caused him to start thinking like this.
And also part of me is wanting to expand the story anyway like all this world-building I'm doing, do I really want it just for set dressing for this? Or do I want to explore it more? Not an entire series rewrite because there's not a great deal that's really changed, but still. It's possible there might be more build-up needed, should I show more of their relationship here or not? So I've got a lot to think about.
Talk Shop Tuesday
