keiramarcos: (Default)
Keira Marcos ([personal profile] keiramarcos) wrote2012-08-28 09:06 pm

Writing Update

The thing is that I have a bunch of WIPs. Because I write in serial format-- I can juggle a few without feeling all that guilty about keeping readers waiting (sorry) but I do try to live a guilt-free life. Guilt takes up so much energy and often makes you feel miserable both mentally and phsyically. The problem is that I truly am spoiled for choice so I tried to inspire myself by reading my own work. Most of you can get a good idea of what's on my plate based on excerpts from Evil Author Day. I'm very close to finishing That Old Black Magic (HP - Harry/Draco).  I also have a project with LadyHolder (Dangerous and Beautiful Things which is a Sherlock/Sentinel fusion) and a Star Trek/Sentinel project of my own that is fascinating to play with. 

There are a few others: Beckon the Dark (next novel in the Lantean Legacy series), Valor and Honor (next novella in Ring of Fire), and of course my Halo/Sga project that I will start actively pursueing after I wrap up the SGA arc of TTB. As for my major series stuff (spoilers ahead):


Tangled Destinies  (current word count: 144,526)

I read Forsaken  -- that was a turning point fic for me in that series because it's leading up to the final episode in the first arc of the series. Part ten in that series which will be called "Covet" is the final installment of the first arc and it will center around Sam Kirk (his dissertion of his brother, his reported death on Tarsus, Winona's duplicity, etc etc). I thought it was important to address both Spock's brother and Jim's brother at the end of Arc 1 because in many ways both Spock and Jim were indelibly marked by the conduct of their brothers and their emotional/physical dissertation of them.

In Forsaken, we find that Sybok was vicious to Spock when they were children and as a result Spock is extremely distrustful of his half-brother to the point where he deliberately destroyed the familial bonds they shared. This lead Sybock down a very different road (from his canon one in the original series movies) where he tried to embrace the most difficult and far reaching mental discipline on Vulcan. His success or failure isn't particularily relevent to Spock at this point beyond the fact that he'll do anything to keep Sybock away from the family he's created with his parents and Jim on Earth. After I finish up Covet -- I'll start the second arc. We will skip ahead a few years-- Jim and Spock will have finished undergrad and will be preparing for their wedding ceremony on Betazed. Why will I jump ahead? Because frankly-- I'm ready to write porn for this series and I sincerely wish I hadn't made them meet when they were just sixteen. So jumping ahead until their 19 (almost 20) has so much apppeal that it isn't funny. Arc 2 will take place mostly at Star Fleet academy where we will meet more canon characters (Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, etc etc). I'm really looking forward to that.

Ties That Bind (current word count: 330,817)

When I first started writing this story it was a single novel. A novel that turned into 100,000+ words before I ever posted a single word of it on my site. In fact, it wasn't until I'd reread what I wrote for about the tenth time that it crossed my mind that my readers might like it. Truth is that there were plenty in the beginning who DIDN'T appreciate it and I'm sure there are still plenty of people who visit my site who wouldn't touch the series with someone else's severed hand. BDSM is, in its own way, more divisive than slash (or incest) is in fandom. I wrote the series for myself because frankly I was deeply enamored with Xanthe's series (I still am) and like many other writers who've read her work I was inspired to play with the themes. We exchanged a few emails regarding permissions before I posted the first novella in the Ties That Bind series and she did warn me that the work might not be received well by the fandom at large. I thought I was prepared for it. I wasn't. I mean, I really wasn't. I've received more negative feedback and blowback about Ties That Bind than all my other work combined.

A lot of people don't GET it. In fact, there are people who read it and proclaim to enjoy who don't get it. I know this because of their comments and private emails. I've had more than one person so grossly misunderstand my work that I was truly horrified by their interpretation of the material. Though, the less said about that the better, I guess. I can't make anyone get what my words mean to me and I know that everyone gets something different out of it. The series is 3 novellas from being finished. The final three installments in the SGA arc will be called: Time After Time, Broken Road, and The North Star. I have them all plotted out and while I can't promise you won't be shocked, appalled, and furious at certain points throughout the last three stories I will guarentee you a Happy Ending. I don't believe in anything else.

I'd like to take this AU into different fictional worlds eventually -- Sherlock and Criminal Minds to be specific. I don't know if I will but it all strikes my fancy. Who would I pair in those worlds -- well Sherlock should be obvious (Sherlock/John). Criminal Minds, I'm actually a Morgan/Reid shipper but if I wrote TTB for that show-- it would be Hotchner/Reid. Not to be rude about it, but suggestions for other fandoms to explore for this would not be appreciated. 

Sentinels of Atlantis (current word count: 206,927)

This series was rather unintentional. I started writing it on a whim because I was inspired by Ladyholder's series The Unlikely and Unwilling. I wrote The Gathering and I posted it. The response was really positive so I thought, okay, I can work with that. Then I wrote twenty episodes over a period of six months. I hesitate to talk about this even now because I was so devastated! My harddrive had a failure and I hadn't backed up in more than a year. I lost almost all of the episodes I'd written for SOA and THREE professional projects in the moment that harddrive failed. Recovery was impossible. I spent several hundred dollars trying to recover data because of my professional work. Deadend. I was done. It was horrific.  What was worse? I couldn't rewrite what I'd written for SOA. I tried to make myself do it and I was so disillusioned and bored that I had to back up and start over. I replotted the entire first season from what I had posted on my site forward. 

What did this do? Well, John gained a brother he wouldn't have had otherwise (Matt) and Andrew Sheppard appeared. Some readers don't like Andy -- I had one (lol) tell me she thought the kid was creepy. Well, he IS creepy. He's meant to be. In many ways, Andy is a mirror of John. An online Sentinel at a very young age who is powerful beyond measure -- he hears things he shouldn't, is deeply connected with the psionic plane in ways that many simply don't understand and has been under the unknowing guidance of an ascended Sentinel/Guide pair since he came online. Things will get creepier on the Andy front. Just wait until you meet his Guide! 

Episode 20 (The Search) will be the final episode in Season One of the series. It will be long -- easily longer than the first episode (The Gathering) of the season. We'll tie up some loose ends both on Atlantis and on Earth as we prepare for some major changes (mostly on Earth) as they gear up to face the threat of the Wraith and the Ori.

The first five episodes of Season Two are titled: The Pride, The Sacrifice, The Return, The Lifeline, and The Seige -- I'll be honest I get extremely excited just thinking about these episodes! It's going to be so action packed and fun and scary and some of you may end up sending me slightly threatening emails. Don't worry I'll make you a perfect subject line on my contact form!

Aside: I have no idea when any of that will be posted. Just FYI.

---



[identity profile] seadragonlady.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 07:47 am (UTC)(link)
I always come back to your stories. I have never read any HP or Reboot ST by any other writer. It is your writing that makes them so great. TTTB is one of my all time favorites and I seem to recall mention of a de Sade, Hotcher very briefly there. Squeeeeeeeeeee.

I feel your pain with the loss of data. I don't write, I lack both skill and confidence however in my early pc days I lost everything and spent many a night swearing I had learnt my lesson and now have so many backups including 'out in the ether'. I mean what would I do if couldn't read your stories no matter where I am and I find myself with no Kindle on which you have your own collection name.
popkin16: (♪ there ain't no easy way out)

[personal profile] popkin16 2012-08-29 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
I love your SGA slash series, and I think Ties that Bind is my favorite :) I'm glad to have gotten an update though, since I've been wondering. Thanks for letting us know :)

(And thank you so much for being the perfect fix for my cravings of bad!ass growly John. Guh.)
ext_19310: (Default)

[identity profile] stageira.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
Not a meaningful comment or anything, just that am sort of suffering from the beginning stages of carpal tunnel and am supposed to be resting my right arm so I spent a day and a half re-reading TTB. It was an excellent way to spend some resting time.

*one had waves*
ext_222706: (Bou_excellent)

[identity profile] elfling-eryn.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 09:27 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my.

I have to admit I feel like I cannot wait to see the TTB offspins. Especially Sherlock.
But I will practice patience and tea and jump onto whatever gets updated next :D

[identity profile] witchdoctor2.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 09:30 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, a heady rush of updates to favourites about to come our way in the next few months! Looking forward to them all with bated breathe.

Standing by....

Re: Yay!

[identity profile] batspit.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 10:36 am (UTC)(link)
That you can snark at any self righteous exclusionary religious group that you like without let or hindrance? Oh wait, you can already do that...

[identity profile] batspit.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 10:48 am (UTC)(link)
I cannot WAIT to see TOBM. I'm not sure what it is about that fic but I'm completely addicted.

You realize if you start writing Sherlock in the TTB universe I'm going to have to break my vow to not add another fandom to my reading list right?

What is it with people giving you and Xanthe endless shit on her universe? Pansies who can't accept that potential 'dark' need/desire to control others within themselves I'm thinking. They need to Get Over It. It hits a nerve with those in denial because when you write it, it is REAL so scares them. Your awesome powers of the pen.

Looking forward to the additions to my 'comfort porn' stack. When I'm upset and need something to distract or comfort, your characters are some of my favorite.

Bloody Torchwood.

[identity profile] justalurkr.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 11:25 am (UTC)(link)
CoE left me devastated, and I'm afraid Miracle Day poured salt in the wound. I could have tilted my head and squinted really hard to get past some of the situations with "Okay, maybe Brits want the same glimpse of American in their TV that Americans want to get of Britain by watching BBC imports," but OMG did the element of pandering to the American audience have to be so obvious?

[identity profile] fawkesielady-ed.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
Yay!! I can't wait for more TTB and SoA!! Those are two of my absolute favorite stories that you've written, not that I don't adore all of your work (especially run of fire!).
I don't understand how anyone could not love those stories.
So happy they haven't been shelved :-D
I'll be waiting with baited breath for the next installments!

[identity profile] melodysparks.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
I am in admiration of your work and look forward to reading further. The fact that you have written so much over the years is awe inspiring but I can fully understand how heartbreaking it is to loose so much work when there are problems with your hard drive. I lost hundreds of photographs when my hard drive went way of the dodo and that’s not a good thing for a photographer.

I adore your Lantean Legacy and look forward to any further work in the series. I have read it a few times and love the concept and look forward to anything further you write in the series.

Touching Secrets is a lovely sweet piece and I have the podfic of that on my MP3 player on frequent rotation. Human Nature is superbly written. I have never been a fan of the Keller/McKay pairing precisely because of the whole changing Rodney to her ideal and the way she virtually gave up in the Shrine episode. You handled this splendidly.

I am once again reading The Air that Angels Breathe. I love the idea of John with his own wings and how you mutation is not an fearful thing

The Sentinels of Atlantis is one of my all time favourites and one I would recommend it to anyone (Actually if you don’t mind, could I recommend it in Stargateficrec?) I love how you have taken the Sentinel concept and made it your own and enhancing for the better than the original concept.

I in point of fact really like The Ties That Bind and I enjoy reading both yours and Xanthe’s work. The actuality that many people don’t like the works baffles me. I am a very open minded person and find no offence in any of your work what so ever. Considering that 50 Shades of Grey novel has opened the eyes of many people to the world of BDSM and the sheer number of people whom have read the book would I suppose suggest otherwise. I haven’t actually read those books and from what I have heard from other sources I think I would rather sit back and enjoy your’s and Xanthe’s work again.






Edited 2012-08-29 12:02 (UTC)

[identity profile] countessbecula.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 12:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I love how you give all this information and in there is the unspoken "I love your feedback, but it's my playground, so leave don't try to play". I love all of the stories on your sight that I've read. While, I don't really understand BDSM and the draw of it, I am fascinated by the way you write the characters. I have my favorite stories, of course, and these are the ones I'm dying for you to update, but I wait patiently for you to have the time and read the others over and over and over again with great joy in the mean time. Thank you for ignoring the naysayers and writing as you please.

[identity profile] hab318princess.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
short answer: YAY
long answer: so happy you are still writing and plotting all three - recently I've been on a re-reading spree of all of them, so it's great to know there's more (and happy to bribe you for some Sherlock/John) to come (if you pardon the pun)


[identity profile] kerry-louise.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
*waits very very very very very patiently*

Okay, very impatiently, but I know how it can be when you write several different things at once and it's always been worth the wait *g*

It helps that I tend to re-read almost everything on your site on a loop every couple of months - except the SGA het and Sherlock - while I wait for new parts... it keeps the stories fresh in my mind, for when a new part does come out (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

With regards to TTB - I admit, at first I was... dubious. I've seen BDSM fics that are really just exercises in masochism even Rodney wouldn't enjoy and they can be so one sided and... *wrong* it makes me cringe, but I loved all your other stuff so much, I eventually gave in and it's now one of my favourite stories of anything in any fandom. I love how it's such a true partnership between John and Rodney (and the other pairings) and that Rodney is still so sarcastic and not a whimpering little idiot, just because he's submissive.

I shall eagerly await whatever you post next... and the chance to mock anyone who thinks they can or should tell you what or how to write!

[identity profile] bridges2.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
WEEEEE! So much to look forward to. Matt and Andy rock.

spoiler alert

[identity profile] chimera001.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I love your spoilers!! They make me want to re-read everything all over again. And you have given me inspiration to watch series that I would not have watched otherwise. Heck, I watched the Star Trek reboot because I wanted to read your fic. As for not "getting" TTB, well, I may not exactly get what you get out of it, but I get much from it. I also love Xanthe's work, and yours is just as beautifully written. And I excited about what is coming? You bet!! Am I upset because I don't know when to expect it? Not a chance. I'll just re-read the other stuff again and again, until there is something new.

[identity profile] auntbijou.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, I came to you because of TTB. I can't remember now just how I discovered it... it's possible I was looking for Xanthe's story, because I had read it before and lost the bookmark, but I remember how I felt when I found it. Because finding really good BDSM fic, original or fanfic, is so damn hard, and when I find someone who writes it well, and actually gets what it's about, and gets it right, I tend to hang on and read whatever they write!

I wonder sometimes why BDSM gets fandom so riled up. I mean, we're a pretty pervy bunch anyway, right? So why BDSM? Especially the well-written stuff where the writer either knows what they're talking about or has actually done research. I can understand getting bent out of shape over some of the crap out there where someone who has no clue has written a "slap a collar on 'em, beat the crap out of 'em, and rape 'em till they pass out" story, because that's not BDSM, that's torture and a crime.

And I will freely admit, I find the TTB universe seductive, and I have written drabbles, trying to get a feel for it, though nothing I've posted. Because I totally get the inability to write after a hard-drive crash. I'm still trying to work my own way past that, and it sucks.

And your Sentinal/SGA fusion is totally addictive!! I can't wait for more, but I will because I'm patient like that. Hell, Keira, I love everything you write, and if I had a way to get my greedy little hands on your professional work, I would!! It's entirely possible I already have and just don't know it.

And why are people bothered by Andy? Seriously??? Is it a requirement to like every single character you read??? I mean... one doesn't like every single person one meets in real life, do they? So... why complain about a character they don't like? It's called plot development and moving the story along and building a well-rounded, believable universe!!

Okay, that's it, I need more caffeine before I'm allowed to write any more. Auntie's getting testy! I utterly adore you, and will wait patiently for the next installment of whatever you decide to bestow upon us with your great beneficence!

[identity profile] lady-usako.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I just have to say that I adore you. I really do. I follow you because you make me smile. I have a 'thing' for sarcasm. Your writing is incredible. The first of your stories I'd ever read was 'We've Taken Different Roads'. It is my favorite story, ever. I've lost count of how many times I've read it.

I love TTB. It made me see things about myself that I hadn't before. I've never understood why people need to criticize you about it. You did give warnings. Some people are idiots.

I re-read 'What Might Have Been', 'Tie That Bind', 'Birth of a Serpent King', and 'Tangled Destinies' at least twice a year. I look forward to your updates on my favorites and anything new you come up with. I generally drop whatever I'm doing to read them.

Your Halo/SGA fusion has me interested in the Halo books. My husband has several so I plan to start them when I'm finally get to do the stay-at-home thing in a few months.

[identity profile] jademac2442.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 02:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that is a perfect description of both of them.

I love that you can write your Doms with vulnerability, and you can write your Subs with such strength. Reading TTB seriously. You show that submission does not have to be about weakness and that dominance does not have to be about control.

I think it's one of the most uncommonly beautiful pieces I have ever read, and I honestly do not ever think that I will see its equal. The first time I read it, it brought me to tears.

I am looking forward to you writing for Sherlock more than I looked forward to Christmas as a child.

Kudos and Love

[identity profile] mourninghope.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Keira,

I just wanted to tell you how much I love your work! I am particularly fond of Ties That Bind; the deep commitment and trust you write between the various partners is mind blowing and so emotionally rich that it boggles the mind and I can see how it might leave a sour taste in some readers mouths - if only because their lives are lacking that level of intimacy.

Kudos and Love
A.M. Hope

Writing Update

[identity profile] lilz54.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
YAY!!! Thank you for giving us a glimpse of what you have in works. LOVE your writing so much that I have read them all several times over - and getting ready to start again.

Love all your works with my favorite being Ties That Bind. So you talking about expanding Sherlock and Criminal Minds into this universe gives me something to look forward to.

Glad to see that all the nay sayers didn't stop you from posting or continuing this universe. Bet some of those nay sayers are the same ones that bragging about reading Shades of Grey. I personally have no desire to read those books.

Again, thank you for sharing your wonderful gift of writing with us.

[identity profile] quiltedlives.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Your update made my day!!!!
I absolutly love TTB
I have read TTB and SOA both many times
(along with a few of your other works)
So ... where do we send the chocolates!

[identity profile] summersolstice1.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm hearing you, girl. I'll be on a field trip through the Colorado Plateau for 3 weeks soon, no internet. I'm not sure if it'll be liberating or terrifying, but the latter seems much more likely ;)

[identity profile] jya-bd-cp-ttgb.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry you lost all that paid professional work, but damn glad GuideMatt was born!!!
iadorespike: (Jack/Ianto b&w by tearful_eye)

Re: TTB

[personal profile] iadorespike 2012-08-29 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I stopped watching. Ruined is just the top layer for me. I felt absolutely destroyed. :(

[identity profile] shallanelprin.livejournal.com 2012-08-29 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Every single thing about this post makes me ridiculously happy.

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