Prospero - done and dusted by Jane0904

JANE0904'S BLOG

Jane0904

Prospero - done and dusted
Thursday, December 18, 2008

SPOILER ALERT!

So there is it. Prospero’s Legacy . I can’t believe I’ve finished it! Coming in at forty chapters, and over 124,000 words, it is by far the longest story I’ve ever written. In fact, two and a half times as long.

I first had the basic idea two years ago, a simple plot revolving around children being taken from an Alliance facility and used by an Independent faction. It was going to be set on a moon called Prospero, tying up (I thought) quite nicely with Miranda, and River was going to be kidnapped and forced to lead them.

That story got recycled into something else (not particularly recognisable), but I liked the idea of someone having been developed by the Alliance getting kidnapped. I wrote a single sheet, which I actually incorporated into the end of Hope , way back in July 2007, about Mara Tam in a chair, being watched by two scientists as she had nightmares. I used the name Mara because I’d already had Simon use that as an alias, several months earlier. See, it all ties together …

Anyway, it grew. Evolved. I’d drop breadcrumbs, mention the New Browncoats, have Simon’s old mentor Andrew Brooks poisoned by an unnamed source, then becoming more specific, with talk of RePax (including the reappearance of our old friend Niska in Eden ), Anti-Pax, and … so on. All the while I was thinking about the final outline of the major arc I was working towards, and getting more and more scared! I began to wonder if I could ever do it justice, and realised I had thrown so many breadcrumbs it was almost an entire bakery. Something had to be done.

I sat down, drew a web, and tried to draw all the different elements I’d already hinted at into a coherent story. I decided I had to have a sort of prequel, because apart from having Mal being semi-naked and tortured, I also needed to have someone give him some information, and decided that should be Niska. I always envisaged that evil old man coming back from being a Reaver, and wanted it to be part of the over-arching plot. And Mal had to be able to finally deal with Niska once and for all. So Volcano’s Edge was born. And Dillon, Breed and Alex decided to make an entrance, which meant they also wanted to be in at the denouement, so now I had other characters to write for …

Terror is not too strong a word for how I felt as I started to write snippets while writing other stories too. That’s how I tend to write – if I envisage a scene from maybe five chapters ahead, I put it down. It might change over time, might be dumped entirely, but then at least I only have to write the connecting bits.

Oddly enough, the scene at the end of part thirty-nine, where Mal and Zoe look out over Serenity Valley from the ridge where they had held out at the end of the war, was written virtually first. The climax to the story was always going to take place on Hera – it was just the getting there that changed.

I have to admit, though, having Regan and Gabriel involved was almost an afterthought. I had always felt that they were blinkered, but not complicit in River’s Academy experience, and wanted to give them a chance to make things right. Perhaps it was a cliché to have Gabriel die in saving Simon, and originally I wrote it that they never got to say goodbye (as Joss did with Wash), but I changed my mind. What’s wrong with a good old cliché once in a while?

Chiang Goff, Emil Quintana, Vic Ramsey … they all were necessary characters to pull the story forward. But you have no idea how much I agonised over whether to have it be Mal on board Columbine when she was boarded by the Alliance, or Dillon, whether Bennett should just be an Independent sympathiser or have him – as I did in the end – be an old friend. Well, almost. I used that to tie up with Freya’s past. You might have guessed that I like doing that – using little hints to refer back to previous stories. I see my Maya tales as one continuous arc, and try to keep the timeline and histories accurate within it. Sometimes I have to reread my tales myself, just to make sure I got it right!

This story was entirely my own fault, of course. I put off writing it for a good long while, and in the meantime it got more complicated, but all in all I’ve happy with it. There are some slow passages, but I think I’ve made up for them with action, and there has definitely been character development.

In a way, I see it as happening over an entire season, if I’d been in charge of making sure Firefly stayed on air. There are separate stories within, and there would have been other tales in between, but the whole arc would take place over 22 episodes. And I had to leave it so that the threat was removed, the status quo maintained, and the crew of Serenity left to continue on their way, unmolested and unrecognised! Quite a tall order, I'm sure you’ll agree.

More than anything, I hope you liked it. And I am so grateful for all the comments I’ve received – I write for my own pleasure, but hopefully for yours too.

There will, as stated at the end of Prospero’s Legacy , be more. A lot more. There’s the tale of the Kugelman Hoard, there’s Zoe standing for Parliament, there’s … lots. Plus short fluff, longer fluff, angst, smut, Christmas … so basically, watch this space. And keep flyin’!

Jane

COMMENTS

Friday, December 19, 2008 5:59 PM

KATESFRIEND

Thanks for the wonderful ride. Your work has given us all a lot of pleasure and thrills and a little more of the possible 'verse. You efforts sure make life more interesting!

Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:37 PM

FREEVERSE

Thank you Jane, for a masterly arc. It alway makes my day when I find that you have posted. I love the hits at backstories--and forwardstories--to come. When will we get the back story on Freya and Dillon's relationship, for example!

~freeverse

Thursday, December 18, 2008 2:13 PM

AMDOBELL

Kudos to you Jane0904 for explaining your thought processes on the creation of this cool myth. I like it that there is more to follow and smiled at how you write scenes and sections as they come to you and might not use them until many chapters down the line. I do that especially with dialogue and have a notebook in every room of my house so that I will always be ready when inspiration strikes. Some of your little hints dropped into various chapters remind me of the way Joe Straczynski forshadowed upcoming developments with the five year arc of "Babylon 5", so that is very cool. I look forward to more Maya and had to gape in shock at the notion of Zoe standing for Parliament! Really. There may even be tears. Thanks for a wonderful story, Ali D :~)
You can't take the sky from me

Thursday, December 18, 2008 1:49 PM

WAKEUPSOON

Zoe standing for Parliament?
So intrigued its untrue!
I'm really looking forward to more. xD
Anna.x.(:

Thursday, December 18, 2008 7:48 AM

NCBROWNCOAT

Sounds like you write more than a bit like I do, but I have no grand scheme or overarching plot. That makes you a MUCH better writer than me.

I really enjoyed "Prospero's Legacy" and as I'm also reading your older stories over ar http://www.fanfiction.net. I'll be looking again for your hints, foreshadowing etc.

Thursday, December 18, 2008 5:59 AM

ANGELLEMARCS

I love how you explained why you write. Why any of us write...get an idea stuck in your head and then you can't sleep until you write it down. You've never disappointed me. :)

Thursday, December 18, 2008 4:59 AM

SERENITYRIDDLE

Wonderful! Sooo looking forward to what comes next!!!

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