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Navel-gazing about fanfic timelines
We're now 3 years out from the Agent Carter cancellation, and I have written A LOT for it, mostly post-S2 continuation stories, and I'm starting to run into the problem of feeling like I've already "been there, done that" when it comes to writing new takes on all the major post-canon stuff (the shooting at the end of S2, the founding of SHIELD, etc). It feels like, whenever I go to write something new, I'm essentially having to reinvent the wheel in order to tell the story I want to tell - e.g. I have to go through describing some of the same things in order to get to the new stuff. And yes, I realize that springboarding off an existing story is always possible, but I have stories all along the several years post-S2, none of which are in continuity with each other. I would love to have an actual continuity for this and be able to just jump into that anywhere and write new stories in it.
So then with Iron Fist, I'm in exactly the same position as with AC - a fairly short-lived show that is now cancelled and ended with a number of unanswered questions and jumping-off points for fanfic. So THIS time I decided that I'd do what I wished I'd done with AC and put the stories in continuity with each other.
... so now I have a bunch of new problems. XD
All of this is going under a cut because it's spoilery for the end of S2 and also generally navel-gazey.
Obviously not every story I've written is going to work in continuity with the others, so what I mainly wanted to do was put together the ones that do work together into a post-canon continuity mainly focused on Danny and Ward's road trip, and whatever Colleen is doing back in NYC (at this point I haven't explored that much, though I have ideas for some things that could lead into an overall arc that'll eventually bring Danny and Ward back to New York and merge the two storylines).
But I'm already starting to run into issues with how, exactly, to handle certain things - mostly because (as with the AC stories) these are being for the most part written separately as standalones. I do plan some bridging stories, but in general I'm still at the point in writing for this canon where I'm getting seized with ideas and running off with them rather than specifically planning stories to work with each other.
For the most part, it does work, in the same way that I think a lot of the AC ones would, too, because my headcanons are fairly consistent. But it's the specific plot details that are already starting to trip me up. Case in point: I want Steady Gun Hand to be part of the overall continuity, because the Danny characterization follows very consistently from Thicker Than Water - they both deal with Danny's struggle to deal with, and reconcile with, the "weapon" side of his nature, which is his big post-canon theme that I wanted to deal with in this series.
But in Steady Gun Hand, Danny figures out how to heal people using his new power set, which is something that he needs to be able to do for this story (it's key to the climax!) ... but I'm not entirely sure if I want him to be able to do that from here on out in my main post-canon timeline, just because it's going to potentially be a plot headache and eliminate a number of other stories from potentially being part of that continuity - the cactus fic, for example, which I also kinda wanted to be part of this (incorporating it would neatly take care of Danny and Colleen reconciling; otherwise I need to write that again, in continuity with the previous stories), but Danny doesn't appear to have the ability to heal in that one. Which I could work around just by adding a line or two to indicate that it didn't work for him in this specific instance, or something. But then I run into the issue of whether I want Ward having been turned into A POTTED CACTUS to be canon in a storyline that is otherwise reasonably serious, or at least as much so as this show gets. However, if I don't keep it, there's a lot of Danny & Colleen stuff, and some stuff about the guns and Colleen's tattoo and her relationship with Ward, that I'll need to work through again in a different story.
(Also, if all of these are happening in continuity with each other, the universe really has it in for Ward to an almost hilarious degree.)
There are also situations where I've already written two different versions of something important, e.g. I've got two different stories springboarding off Joy's comment in S2 that Ward used to be an artist until Harold made him stop, one of which was written as a Yuletide treat, the other for a prompt elsewhere. Both of them have aspects I like, but they're mutually exclusive with each other. One of them is definitely canon for the main post-S2 continuity, because he's got a sketchbook in that. But they can't both be.
It's making me realize how much of my fanfic writing style is basically just going "Whee!" and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. And also making me realize how increasingly limiting it's going to be, having to keep the stories in continuity with each other and stick to just one version of every major thing that happens, which is then going to cut off future story possibilities. Not that everything I'm going to write will end up being part of this, but I was hoping it'd be a bit more than 4 stories out of 34 ...
Not really sure what the point is of all of this, if anything. I'm mostly just thinking out loud while trying to figure out which stories actually work with this continuity and which ones don't.
So then with Iron Fist, I'm in exactly the same position as with AC - a fairly short-lived show that is now cancelled and ended with a number of unanswered questions and jumping-off points for fanfic. So THIS time I decided that I'd do what I wished I'd done with AC and put the stories in continuity with each other.
... so now I have a bunch of new problems. XD
All of this is going under a cut because it's spoilery for the end of S2 and also generally navel-gazey.
Obviously not every story I've written is going to work in continuity with the others, so what I mainly wanted to do was put together the ones that do work together into a post-canon continuity mainly focused on Danny and Ward's road trip, and whatever Colleen is doing back in NYC (at this point I haven't explored that much, though I have ideas for some things that could lead into an overall arc that'll eventually bring Danny and Ward back to New York and merge the two storylines).
But I'm already starting to run into issues with how, exactly, to handle certain things - mostly because (as with the AC stories) these are being for the most part written separately as standalones. I do plan some bridging stories, but in general I'm still at the point in writing for this canon where I'm getting seized with ideas and running off with them rather than specifically planning stories to work with each other.
For the most part, it does work, in the same way that I think a lot of the AC ones would, too, because my headcanons are fairly consistent. But it's the specific plot details that are already starting to trip me up. Case in point: I want Steady Gun Hand to be part of the overall continuity, because the Danny characterization follows very consistently from Thicker Than Water - they both deal with Danny's struggle to deal with, and reconcile with, the "weapon" side of his nature, which is his big post-canon theme that I wanted to deal with in this series.
But in Steady Gun Hand, Danny figures out how to heal people using his new power set, which is something that he needs to be able to do for this story (it's key to the climax!) ... but I'm not entirely sure if I want him to be able to do that from here on out in my main post-canon timeline, just because it's going to potentially be a plot headache and eliminate a number of other stories from potentially being part of that continuity - the cactus fic, for example, which I also kinda wanted to be part of this (incorporating it would neatly take care of Danny and Colleen reconciling; otherwise I need to write that again, in continuity with the previous stories), but Danny doesn't appear to have the ability to heal in that one. Which I could work around just by adding a line or two to indicate that it didn't work for him in this specific instance, or something. But then I run into the issue of whether I want Ward having been turned into A POTTED CACTUS to be canon in a storyline that is otherwise reasonably serious, or at least as much so as this show gets. However, if I don't keep it, there's a lot of Danny & Colleen stuff, and some stuff about the guns and Colleen's tattoo and her relationship with Ward, that I'll need to work through again in a different story.
(Also, if all of these are happening in continuity with each other, the universe really has it in for Ward to an almost hilarious degree.)
There are also situations where I've already written two different versions of something important, e.g. I've got two different stories springboarding off Joy's comment in S2 that Ward used to be an artist until Harold made him stop, one of which was written as a Yuletide treat, the other for a prompt elsewhere. Both of them have aspects I like, but they're mutually exclusive with each other. One of them is definitely canon for the main post-S2 continuity, because he's got a sketchbook in that. But they can't both be.
It's making me realize how much of my fanfic writing style is basically just going "Whee!" and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. And also making me realize how increasingly limiting it's going to be, having to keep the stories in continuity with each other and stick to just one version of every major thing that happens, which is then going to cut off future story possibilities. Not that everything I'm going to write will end up being part of this, but I was hoping it'd be a bit more than 4 stories out of 34 ...
Not really sure what the point is of all of this, if anything. I'm mostly just thinking out loud while trying to figure out which stories actually work with this continuity and which ones don't.
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The important thing is to feel inspired and to feel like you are getting stuff done, however that happens.
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I don't think I have a problem with the different versions existing in superposition, as it were. If the emotional through-line is present, it doesn't really matter to me whether Ward turning into a cactus is canon or crack. I don't know if that helps at all.
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Okay, great!
Like you said, what matters is whether it makes emotional sense.
And that is the principle on which the canonical show so compellingly and often plot-nonsensically ran. So I think you're on safe ground.
(Seriously, anyone could have turned into a cactus in Season 1.)
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Haha - yes! This thought had crossed my mind as well. The show makes hay quite effectively out of the fact that the emotional underpinnings are solid, even when the plot (frequently) isn't.
(Seriously, anyone could have turned into a cactus in Season 1.)
This made me literally LOL, but ... you aren't wrong. XD
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That would have been delightful.
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Yeah, I think that's not only how people read fic (although it tends to be pointed out more in fic) but how we read in general -- there's the famous example of ACD apparently forgetting Watson was married and then marrying him off again and having his wife die but whoops she pops up again (paraphrasing). There are some fun elaborate theories to account for it all, but most people ignore it because Watson being married doesn't play a huge part in the series -- he mentions a few times it's kept him from seeing Holmes, but I think that's it. The emotional throughline is that Holmes and Watson have the main enduring relationship in the series, and that stays the same.
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With more cracky elements like Ward being turned into a cactus I would be mildly surprised (but not bothered) if it was ever referred to in a different story (again, unless it's labeled as part of a series), but would not even register if Danny and Colleen had clearly already reconciled as they do in the cactus story in some other story. Like, if it even occurred to me to wonder if Ward had been a cactus in that continuity, I'd just hold it in my head as "Well fic isn't a consistent canon" and lean toward "probably not" unless it was actually mentioned.
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Also, I think "off beat" cracky stories are perfectly well placed in an otherwise more 'serious' universe, in the same way that you can have a moment of humour in an angstfest. IMHO!
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Continuity is hard. I like your idea of it having a lot of conditions or cases where it wouldn't work. Could you do something like, Danny learns how to heal, then discovers a delayed massive cost and thus preventing him from using it in your later stories? You'd have to have him grapple with the angst of choice and maybe do some rewrites, but shows constantly bring in something new, realise it solves too many problems and then write in a catch that mostly nullifies it.
As for the ones that are completely contradictory... choosing sucks. Perhaps in some cases you could keep both as extras but write a third covering the main bits you want to keep spefically for the continuity? Sounds like a lot of work.
One big continuity with stories peppered in wherever you feel like writing is great. I've got a few favourite authors who work like that and it's like curling up in a favourite old jumper every time a new fic comes out. But that said...
You ever seen the sketch about someone who's made a cake for a party, gets there and finds there's already a similar cake on the table, and is sad, but someone else comes along and goes "YAY TWO CAKES!" ? If you find you're just as happy writing the same stuff over and over, hell yeah, do it :)
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--But following what people have said above, most people don't recall every exact detail of fics, as long as the emotional continuity tracks. You'd probably be fine with putting a note like "this is in the same continuity as Y story, except for X detail is changed" and no one will mind?
(Especially since you're writing for comics(adjacent) canon anyway, so retcons and rewrites are the name of the game!)
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ITA that most fic readers aren't going to be tracking series details super rigorously, and I've seen series with A/N like "I wrote this as a one-shot before realizing I wanted to have Dottie go back to Russia before seeing Peggy again" or whatever, and people seem fine with it. I personally think trying to stick to a really consistent timeline in fic results mainly in tears before bedtime, although I know a couple of people who do it and enjoy it. (They depend a lot on Scrivener and outlining and revising earlier fics to match up with later interpretations, but it sounds like you don't want to do that.) I mean, the bit you wrote about the Ward!potted cactus (LOL) story already sounds like an explanatory A/N. If you don't want to have to revise and restructure heavily, but you also don't want to ditch the majority of what you've written, maybe a loosely structured series with notes could be a third way? IDK.
Anyway, I miss Peggy and her whole crew, SO MUCH. I'm really happy Hayley Atwell has gone on to some good roles, but I can't believe we're apparently never getting an Agent Carter movie, or even more MCU cameos.