Entry tags:
Full Metal Panic Fic: "The Sickness" Chapter 1
Title: The Sickness, Chapter 1: This is It: The Apocalypse
Author:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starzki
Genre: Horror/Action/Romance
Rating: M
Word Count: 4163
Warnings: Violence
Story Summary: Alternate Universe. Sousuke Sagara is the long standing, long suffering bodyguard of Lady Kaname, the only daughter in a wealthy family. She has recently been married off to a distant cousin in the hopes that she produce an heir and will never be forced to leave her home. No one expected the zombie apocalypse. In time, it’s only Sousuke and Kaname fighting for survival and just hoping not to get bitten in this strange, new world.
Chapter Summary: The day it all began started out like any other day. In the middle of Kaname sharing good news with her family, tragedy, in the form of a zombie apocalypse, strikes.
Links: ff.net, AO3
NOTES: Oh, Jesus. This story. Oh Jesus. Strap in, everyone, I have things to say. Plus music!
This all started way back in March when I was on tumbr. On my dash, someone I follow had reblogged something from "Imaging your OTP." These are usually some kind of prompt for story ideas that can go something like, "Imagine your OTP gets into a fight over whose turn it is to do the dishes." Well, this time the prompt said, "Imagine your OTP surviving the apocalypse. Character A is pregnant and Character B must protect Character A."
I immediately thought, "How dumb." But then my brain just grabbed hold. Of course I thought about Sousuke and Kaname. And for me, it ain't an apocalypse unless it's a zombie apocalypse. It didn't hurt that I had been watching this AMV of High School of the Dead every day:
(FYI, this is the song whose lyrics I used to name the chapter.)
Furthermore, I'd been watching Downton Abbey where issues of inheritance and entails were major plot points because a family would someday be disinherited (kind of) because there were no male heirs. I don't know what chemistry happened in my brain, but the upshot was me developing this fic.
I seriously thought I would never actually get around to writing it. I don't really do long, multi-chapter fics. I don't have the attention span. Plus, I really tend to only develop the beginning of long stories and I didn't want to abandon a fic halfway through. But my brain did not let this go. I started writing notes. I started developing chapters and doing research as new ideas popped up. I outlined and outlined. I even came up with an ending.
Holy shit, this story might even be good. The writing... we'll see. But the story might be good.
I knew I was serious when I started trying to name the story. I'm a terrible namer. Really, really bad. I spent a week bouncing ideas off ofscribefigaro for names, most of which he laughed at. I wanted to name chapters after lyrics in songs, so I wanted to keep that trend with the main title of the story. Oh, I went through some bad ones. But then I remembered one particular song that I'd heard covered in the Dawn of the Dead remake:
And suddenly, I had a name. (FYI, for the cover, you can find it under "Down With the Sickness" by Lounge Against the Machine.) All I had to do was write the stupid thing.
Easier said than done. I didn't think it was going to happen. But one day I sat down with my new laptop and tried. And it sucked. I had more research to do. Especially with Sousuke and his guns. But thanks to the Internet Movie Gun Database, I had all the information I needed. Then I got stuck on entails. But Scribe had been obsessed with them way back when we first started watching Downton Abbey, so I could just ask him.
Finally, there was the issue of alternate universe world building and how to incorporate information about the universe into the story without it being just boring exposition. And for the record, the world is not the FMP world or the world we live in. It's very much like Japan (I'm keeping Japanese names for local characters) with similar traditions (companies can be passed down through families), but it does have a kind of Downton feel to it, too, with all of the servants and the mansion. Also, a note on the technology: I've decided to place it somewhere similar to early 90's. There wasn't much internet for the common household. No smartphones or even cell phones (for the everyday user). I will probably have to reestablish this in the fic somewhere, but I wanted that clear to people who would read this.
In terms of writing, though, the information dump did not go well. I just took a week or so and slogged through it, figuring out how to introduce it. It wasn't fun. But then I got to finish the chapter and I actually found my groove. I had almost forgotten than this story will be, overall, a romance. So when I started incorporating those touches, I found the chapter's voice. This meant that I had to go back and edit my exposition, but it made it so much smoother.
So, yeah.scribefigaro has looked over it and doesn't hate it (he says he likes it, but he's not over the moon about it like he was the sex scenes in "Overwhelmed"). He says that it's a bit choppy, but it's Sousuke's perspective, so the choppiness kind of fits, in a way. He's not a guy who looks for transitions. I take full responsibility for any writing issues because I'm largely ignoring Scribe's advice with this one.
I sincerely hope that anyone who is still reading these notes has enjoyed the story. Thanks so much for reading.
Author:
starzki Genre: Horror/Action/Romance
Rating: M
Word Count: 4163
Warnings: Violence
Story Summary: Alternate Universe. Sousuke Sagara is the long standing, long suffering bodyguard of Lady Kaname, the only daughter in a wealthy family. She has recently been married off to a distant cousin in the hopes that she produce an heir and will never be forced to leave her home. No one expected the zombie apocalypse. In time, it’s only Sousuke and Kaname fighting for survival and just hoping not to get bitten in this strange, new world.
Chapter Summary: The day it all began started out like any other day. In the middle of Kaname sharing good news with her family, tragedy, in the form of a zombie apocalypse, strikes.
Links: ff.net, AO3
NOTES: Oh, Jesus. This story. Oh Jesus. Strap in, everyone, I have things to say. Plus music!
This all started way back in March when I was on tumbr. On my dash, someone I follow had reblogged something from "Imaging your OTP." These are usually some kind of prompt for story ideas that can go something like, "Imagine your OTP gets into a fight over whose turn it is to do the dishes." Well, this time the prompt said, "Imagine your OTP surviving the apocalypse. Character A is pregnant and Character B must protect Character A."
I immediately thought, "How dumb." But then my brain just grabbed hold. Of course I thought about Sousuke and Kaname. And for me, it ain't an apocalypse unless it's a zombie apocalypse. It didn't hurt that I had been watching this AMV of High School of the Dead every day:
(FYI, this is the song whose lyrics I used to name the chapter.)
Furthermore, I'd been watching Downton Abbey where issues of inheritance and entails were major plot points because a family would someday be disinherited (kind of) because there were no male heirs. I don't know what chemistry happened in my brain, but the upshot was me developing this fic.
I seriously thought I would never actually get around to writing it. I don't really do long, multi-chapter fics. I don't have the attention span. Plus, I really tend to only develop the beginning of long stories and I didn't want to abandon a fic halfway through. But my brain did not let this go. I started writing notes. I started developing chapters and doing research as new ideas popped up. I outlined and outlined. I even came up with an ending.
Holy shit, this story might even be good. The writing... we'll see. But the story might be good.
I knew I was serious when I started trying to name the story. I'm a terrible namer. Really, really bad. I spent a week bouncing ideas off of
scribefigaro for names, most of which he laughed at. I wanted to name chapters after lyrics in songs, so I wanted to keep that trend with the main title of the story. Oh, I went through some bad ones. But then I remembered one particular song that I'd heard covered in the Dawn of the Dead remake:And suddenly, I had a name. (FYI, for the cover, you can find it under "Down With the Sickness" by Lounge Against the Machine.) All I had to do was write the stupid thing.
Easier said than done. I didn't think it was going to happen. But one day I sat down with my new laptop and tried. And it sucked. I had more research to do. Especially with Sousuke and his guns. But thanks to the Internet Movie Gun Database, I had all the information I needed. Then I got stuck on entails. But Scribe had been obsessed with them way back when we first started watching Downton Abbey, so I could just ask him.
Finally, there was the issue of alternate universe world building and how to incorporate information about the universe into the story without it being just boring exposition. And for the record, the world is not the FMP world or the world we live in. It's very much like Japan (I'm keeping Japanese names for local characters) with similar traditions (companies can be passed down through families), but it does have a kind of Downton feel to it, too, with all of the servants and the mansion. Also, a note on the technology: I've decided to place it somewhere similar to early 90's. There wasn't much internet for the common household. No smartphones or even cell phones (for the everyday user). I will probably have to reestablish this in the fic somewhere, but I wanted that clear to people who would read this.
In terms of writing, though, the information dump did not go well. I just took a week or so and slogged through it, figuring out how to introduce it. It wasn't fun. But then I got to finish the chapter and I actually found my groove. I had almost forgotten than this story will be, overall, a romance. So when I started incorporating those touches, I found the chapter's voice. This meant that I had to go back and edit my exposition, but it made it so much smoother.
So, yeah.
scribefigaro has looked over it and doesn't hate it (he says he likes it, but he's not over the moon about it like he was the sex scenes in "Overwhelmed"). He says that it's a bit choppy, but it's Sousuke's perspective, so the choppiness kind of fits, in a way. He's not a guy who looks for transitions. I take full responsibility for any writing issues because I'm largely ignoring Scribe's advice with this one.I sincerely hope that anyone who is still reading these notes has enjoyed the story. Thanks so much for reading.