When reading, on the whole I tend to avoid AUs, fusions, and crossovers—I see fusions as more like crossovers, so I'm putting in all three—except for divergent AUs. It is often intriguing to see alternative paths the characters might have taken had things worked out otherwise. On the other hand, I tend to avoid most of the college/fairy tale/omegaverse type of thing. Well, unless it's an author I otherwise trust.

Perversely, I've written some fusions myself. I like to do them straight. The latest one, "The Mystery of Mantlemass", fuses Time Team with Barbara Willard's Chronicles of Mantlemass. The story runs from the first letter to post-production, as the archeologists locate the long-lost manor and foundry from Willard's multi-generational YA historical series.

I think, when I am bitten by a notion that requires a fusion, the impetus is much the same as it is with any other persistent plot bunny: there's something that wants to be said.

Willard's final story in the series, "One of Us", is set at the time of publication (1981); and its theme is the loss of family history, since practically nothing remains from the 150-odd years covered in the series. As I reread the books last fall, though, it occurred to me that more might actually be discovered than Willard realized. The involvement of Time Team was obvious. Fortunately, there was a very prompt prompt in Yuletide; so I was inspired to write it all out as a treat.

Challenge #4:  In your own space, make a list of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, and/or that you'd like someone to create or do for you.

Challenge #5:  In your own space, talk about an idea you wish you had the time / talent / energy to do.

I have a lot of unwritten plot bunnies. Occasionally, there's almost immediately an exchange in which the idea fits closely to someone's prompt (and doesn't hit any DNWs), so I get it written quickly. Or I get the idea a bit late to write that time, but the same person makes the same request in a subsequent exchange; so I do it then.

Other plots linger for years. Most frustrating, perhaps, are the ones that get only partly written, but are too large for the time/energy available. A chunk gets cut off, trimmed to a conclusion, and posted; but the rest of the story just frets away at me.

Once upon a time, I was a self-starter. However, for years now, I have felt an enormous inertia that makes it hard to write without the sort of strong motivation provided by a gift exchange, i.e. a deadline by which it has to be done, someone (the recip) expecting it to be done so they can read it, and a fair dose of guilt because someone else is writing for me and I have to pay for my gift. The trouble is, of course, that when one signs up for an exchange, one probably won't get an assignment that fits anything in the ever-enlarging plot warren.

What I need, therefore, is someone to keep my nose more or less near the grindstone: "accountability buddy" is the phrase used in Challenge #4. In 2020 there was fearbuddies: it helped me write the next two ficlets in a series I started for worldbuildingex; but I ran out of time to finish the whole thing. Then late last year, I heard of mini_wrimo, only that won't run again till the fall.

I don't need a beta, or even a cheerleader. What I need is basically what Fear Buddies gave me: someone to send installments to, say twice a week. They don't have to read them, you understand. I just need the deadline, however little I actually get done; and I need someone at the other end whose mere existence makes me feel guilty.

Which brings me to Challenge #5.

As I said above, between worldbuildingex and fearbuddies I've done the first five ficlets (or chapters) of an Arrowverse backstory about Leonard Snart's childhood and youth. Also the first couple of stories in an even more ambitious sequence about the Flash rescuing him from the Oculus explosion, after which he returns to Central City and starts the Rogues. I'd kind of like to finish both of them.

But I'm not going to even mention anything in other fandoms. That's quite enough to be getting along with. (More than enough, really, on past form.)