YAY.
Shocking no one, I wrote
Life As a Symptom, the Frank/Gerard office AU.
Oh, man, I struggled this year. I guess my mojo's just not fully back, because I started two separate attempts in a totally different setting (well, both attempts were in the same setting, just different POVs.) And I LIKED that setting, but it seemed to be building up to something I couldn't write in a week, a part of a much longer and more involved story. And it felt like the setting was over-taking the characters, so I got rid of it entirely.
(I had those attempts saved as "no tags" and "other no tags", so when I started the third (the current fic) I didn't call it ANYTHING. AT ALL. It was called "I think it" up until I posted it. BECAUSE WHAT IF THAT DIDN'T PAN OUT, EITHER. DDDD:)
So, like, I started writing the third attempt, and that's when it CLICKED. I basically wound up giving Gerard my writer's block, and somehow that worked for me. SORRY, GERARD. (I also gave him my first job. Again - SORRY, GERARD.) BUT I also gave him a Frank, so he shouldn't really be complaining at this point.
IDK, it's definitely not the greatest and not my favorite thing I've written, but it WAS fun, and I wrote a whole FIC, and I feel pretty good about that. (Also, this really proves that I have become incapable of writing ANYTHING under 10,000 words at this point. This is kind of a problem. D:) The part I struggled with the most is not making it read like wedding fic set into a different world. Iiiiiit's basically the same set-up, when you think about it. They just had less sex in this one, and there was no wedding. But there was a Gabe. *hands*
But I'm thrilled that people seem to have enjoyed it! This is very exciting! I really felt, for a while, that I was sending a dud out into the world. So, thank you for making me feel better. :D
So, in the interest of full disclosure, here are the two discarded drafts for your dubious pleasure. Hint: this would have given me away EVEN MORE THAN THE FINAL PRODUCT.
The office setting here is: academia. *jazz hands*
( Draft 1: )( Draft 2: )AND NOW TO LEAVE THE FEEDBACK THAT I OWE. It is a LOT.