hth | "i should totally write a novel," she said for the ten thousandth time

So just out of curiosity and not for any pressing reason at all (don't pressure me!), I've started doing an earnest outline of something I've wanted to write for literally years now. (Outlining is sometimes my friend and sometimes not so much in fic, but whenever I write anything long, I inevitably get hopelessly stalled at chapter five or six going, "Now, what did I think was going on here? What am I doing?" so I figure it's utterly pointless to start without one at this level.) Outlines are fun, because they punch through that laziness that makes you totally able to hold on, in your head to, "And this is the part where they have adventures and my protagonist looks totally cool," to the point where you actually have to work that shit out (in fanfic, this is the part I never have to write at all, because it's on tv). Also, they make you realize which characters you have invented solely because you thought they'd be cool, and not because they contribute anything to the plot whatsoever. Those characters have to be beaten with a shovel and sent away, which has already been the fate of two fine souls and arguably a third whom I have demoted to important-character's-small-child.

Here, then, is my totally hypothetical question.

Say you're a faerie knight in a fictional but contemporary city who is assigned to take care of a spoiled princess. Say that you pretty thoroughly begrudge this job, because all around you the city is falling apart from civil strife and monster attacks, and here you sit, playing honor guard while the princess takes tea, but you do your duty, until the point at which your lady's husband sends you on a few sub rosa errands that culminate in you unwittingly leading his police force straight to a pregnant faerie and her nice human landlords, whereupon violence ensues. You have no idea what the hell is going on, but you haven't trusted any of the High Court to be able to run this city for a long time, and now you think they might be evil, baby-murdering bastards to boot, so you have had it. On the advice of a friend you're not entirely sure you trust, but who seems to know a lot more than you do about politics and things, you agree to secede from this Court and establish yourself as the war duke of a second city Court, which you expect will draw to your cause the many, many faeries that your former lord and lady have made enemies of over the years, not to mention your own order of knights whom you know will be loyal to you, and *your* Court will actually protect the city, and without a creepy secret police force that kills humans and pregnant women. Civil war will naturally ensue, and you may or may not have sex with a hot bartender named John (no relation) at some point in the novel; you will almost certainly marry the pregnant woman and have a falling out with your maybe-trustworthy-maybe-not kingmaking friend over the crucially divisive issue of werewolves. GIVEN ALL OF THIS, in what sort of establishment will you set up your war room? Bearing in mind that there is already a key bar location in this story, so definitely no more bars, and probably nothing in the general restaurant family for that same reason. I have tossed around the idea of a university library and an expensive apartment building still under construction, a theater and an auto bodyshop, but I have not yet hit on anything that I feel has the right type of unexpected fabulousness.

Sell me on something, and you win -- uh -- cookies, and a line of credit in yet another novel that I arguably will never finish, but then again, I might!

(On reading over my thumbnail account of the plot, I am slightly chagrined at how, well, thinly-veiled-social-commentary it all sounds, like the Borderlands redux of V for Vendetta. It isn't meant in that way, if only because my villain is much better-looking and more interesting than anyone I dislike in RL.)

At some point, if I finish with the outline stage and actually make the commitment to write this thing, I will probably establish an lj filter so that I can complain about it extensively without bothering all the nice people who are really only here on the hopes that I will continue to make Rodney McKay strip Ronon naked and lick him (hint: yes). If you want to be on my OMG, I'M WRITING A NOVEL, WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? filter, leave a comment, and I'll add you when said filter comes into existence.

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Well, every time I've been in this situation, I've opted for the university library, though in retrospect that may not have been the most sound decision from the standpoint of people not hearing the super-secret plans my cohorts and I were making at the time. I think that if I had it to do over again, I'd probably go with the storage area of the art gallery owned by a friend of mine who is sympathetic to the cause. People in power expect universities to be full of left-leaning, bleeding-heart rebels who are itching for a regime change. They only expect art galleries to be full of rich simps who can't tie their own cravats (odd fish).

That's just my take, though.

Oh, and I would like to be on your filter list as well. Thanks in advance.

Hairdressing salon. Abandoned or otherwise.

Filter, yes please, if there's room. :)

Hi, lurker here! I was reading your post, and as a friend of mine just recently attended a party at one, I thought I would suggest a warehouse for the war room. I believe that they are generally out of the way of the general populace so that protects them from discovery and they're also quite large, so lots of room for people to meet in. Plus, there's the whole dark and creepy stigma attached to warehouses, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Hope that helps!

Filter, yes please!

Wow, what a cool idea. Book-wise, I think you should set the war room in the university library. Anything you need, referencewise, will be there. If you're thinking visuals, like, when the book is optioned for a movie, then I'd say an old, gothic library. :-)

Hmmm. Yep, a library.

I have absolutely no good ideas for you, but I would love to be on the filter, based on this summary!

How about an electronic superstore type place? That way they could have the place protected by (and personal access to) state-of-the-art cameras, alarms, surveillance gadgets, etc. all out in plain sight. (Or is that too contemporary?)

I'd love to be on the novel filter. :)

I need to think about where the war room would be, but please put me on the filter when you set it up!

Having thought about this a little more, maybe an old bathhouse? There's one in my neighborhood where part of the movie Ragtime was filmed, which has since been converted to a photo studio (and party rental space). Or possibly a former hospital or clinic, like one from the last century which was closed down and converted to other uses but still has some of the old architecture (like an operating theatre) intact. Or if you want to be really cliche, there's always the old church turned nightclub option (what? I'm from NYC, all this stuff actually exists here)... Really, though, I would say being cliche doesn't even matter because so much of the fabulousness will be in the description anyway.

I like Dave's storage room idea. Or even combine it with the warehouse idea. Something full of abandoned things that could hold who knows what treasures.

Also, list me.

Haven't looked at any other comments yet, but I think a department store is a good possibility. Because a department store will have stuff in it, which is always useful, so when it occurs to you that your current plotpoint can only besolved by the application of an eggbeater, someone can just go down to housewares and get it.

Or, perhaps even better, a department store that hasn't opened yet, where they are filling it with inventory, so some things they have and some things they haven't, you can never be sure, and also, there's a time limit on how long they can plan and h eadquarter there, they have to take the conspiracy to the next level because they will be convicted in six weeks or whatever.

and, um, yes please to the filter

I'd love to be on the filter, and for the war room location, I'd say the older hotel that they're renovating. You know the one -- right in the middle of the art district, where the old warehouses (now mostly brewpubs, art galleries, and condos) are, just a couple of blocks off the mass transit line. The one with the morning glories growing all over it.

I think the library is maybe a bit cliché because of Buffy.

Hm, maybe the apartment of some crazy friend (artist? computer geek? artistic computer geek?) A very basic gym (with boxing ring and such)? Storage area of some shop. Abandoned warehouse. Hidden room in the underground or a closed underground station?

And yes, please put me on that filter ;-) Misery loves company *g* And that idea sounds great. Just like the kind of book I like to read :-)

Um, maybe an antiques store? or a local government building subbasement (abandoned for earthquake safety code issues? he knows the janitor? hidden steam tunnels beneath a university? I dunno)

and kin I be on the filter plis?

Ooh! An antique store is kinda cool!

OK, I'm thinking something totally incongruous, like maybe a Home Depot, one of the big office supply stores, a mardi gras (or simply a parade) float warehouse or maybe a toy store. I agree that the library is too cliche, but I kinda like the idea of an old abandoned theater even if it is a bit obvious. Or you could go with something really over the top like the pumping station to a waste treatment plant. *G*

And yes please, add me to the filter when you make it. This sounds absolutely fascinating. I love Borderlands type settings as much as post apocalyptic.

Hm, this sounds fun! Especially coming from you. Feel free to put me on the filter.
War room... I'd lean towards university library if *I* were the war duke, and a nice old one with gothic architecture has ambiance, but isn't necessarily that striking (and as someone said, it's a little Buffy, but then, warehouses and hotels also have fandom niches). Hm. What do you *need* for your war room? Just a place to meet and stick maps on the walls? Are people going to make stirring speeches? Does the war duke need to make PowerPoint presentations about the Werewolf Issue (or, you know, do anything else that requires technology)?

Hm... weird old abandoned office building (like, something with classy architecture)? Has conference rooms, technology if you need it, could be centrally-located, I dunno... It doesn't really have unexpected fabulousness, though. I kind of like the autobody shop idea. Or a funky indie bookstore with an eccentric owner and cats? *shrug*

I am saddened that you excluded restaurant-related things, because my first thought was "back room of a bakery!" There's just something already sorta magical about bread rising, and it's got that incongruity as well, and if anyone's being followed you've got a good reason to be there. (You can also see the entire public area, thus keeping an eye on the potentially-evil without having to do anything more than stand behind a counter.)

Then you have the general category of helpful blue-collar-ish things: locksmith, operational warehouse (plumbing fixtures!), though really that's too loud, junkyard, plastics factory. Or the wide-open-spaces (prevent spying and have many ways to run away) category: big nurseries, flower farms, whatever.

Or... I'm out of thoughts. Maybe they should just all pretend to be dental hygenists and rent out the Grand Conference Room of the Hilton for the duration. It would definitely be unexpected.

... and I forgot to ask you to add me to the filter, please.

Filter me!

I had my wedding in a small place in NYC that was formerly the carriage house of the Rockefellers. A solid brick building on the inside, long but with a short front onto the street, a very large front door; two floors inside (originally a loft or attic over the main room, I should think) which had been redone: stucco-like gold and cream plaster mixed with exposed brick, and hardwood floors. A tiny little walled-in garden out back with a trellis covered with flowers. (I reserve the right to use this location myself sometime, but I don't mind sharing it if you don't. *g*)

I was quite intrigued reading this :-) so i'd love to hear more (though you don't have me friended, so I'm not sure how you would/could filter...)...bu yes, if posible filter, please?

as for location..there's a reason i don't write, which is mostly that have *no* imagination...but I kind of like the various stores that have popped up, only, it should be something both mundane and wacko where they can find the oddest stuff....

An abandoned and decommissioned school for the deaf. Because my school bought one to hold some classes in, and it was awesome. Mostly because the fire alarm was tied into strobe lights, and occasionally the whole thing would go off.

I would like to be on your filter, as this sounds very interesting!

Location, hrm ...What about something like a museum basement? Cool stuff available everywhere, plus added weirdoes for free. Or an unused classroom in the back of some brokedown buildling! You know, the classroom with all the broken-down desks in a giant pile covered with an inch of dust? Because no one would voluntarily go in there unless they really, really had to.

Please filter me in? This sounds like the kind of fun I adore *g*

1) please put me on this filter.
2) he must have sex with the hot bartender named John.
3) The problem with mercedes lackey is that now you can never, ever go the indie bookstore/coffeeshop route with these things.
4) The single coolest place I ever filmed anything was an old flat-bottomed tug that is now permanently anchored off Pier 45 in the Hudson River. There is lots of old rusty boat equipment around, and everything has a patina of age, and people throw the most fabulous parties out there (when it's not being used as the film home of a sixty-seven-year-old Indian drug dealer. We laid a floor of sod -- yes, grass -- and brought in all this awesome silver baroque Indian furniture, against the backdrop of this rusting hulk.)
5) However, if you don't go for somewhere cool and awesome, I would vote for the auto body shop.

Filter, yes please.

Secret meetings in museums! I love museums. Secret meetings in music stores? A tattoo/piercing parlor? An urban fantasy trope is bookstores, but that might put people too much in mind of Buffy? I think someone above suggested a library -- Buffy's also a problem there. Although if you can somehow make it work, it could be really cool, and, frankly, editors don't care about similar elements as long as the work isn't derivative. Especially since one or two similar elements can get you blurbs that talk about how much *better* your work is than the other work that uses those elements -- always a good thing.

Uh, if you've an eye to publishing, anyway.

One of those gaming places with laser tag and such. One hundred kids fighting one hundred imaginary battles a day = fey war mojo.

Maybe I'm being too White Wolfy about this...

filter please.

some sort of govt building filled with rooms that are mostly equiped with:
at least a dozen fold up chairs
2 fold up tables
1 table up against a wall with an urn and jars of instant coffee & styrofoam cups
lecturn
whiteboard

Used for lamaze classes, AA meetings, Remaining Men Together workshops, etc. I remember one that had Hare Krishna set up inside & served people delicious vegetarian slop out of buckets in one room, PFLAG in another room, and a domestic abuse survivors support group in another.

Could still be on a uni campus, or formally been a church or warehouse or whatever. But I like the idea of all that shared space, different interests piling in on top of each other, plus then they could plan to defend the pregnant women who are next door breathing in time.

dude, i love this idea! in a city, if you need a meeting space, you just rent one. ;)

(oh, and i would love to be filtered in.)

No ideas for you, yet, but I'd love to be on the filter.

but how about a furniture warehouse? You can have a "throne" and a bunch of tables for gatherin' round your peeps. You could stockpile weapons there, too.

Filter me! (And, um, yes, with the Rodney and the Ronon and the... licking. Dear god, yes.)

Disused daycare/preschool, because undersized furniture is endlessly hilarious. They're built/arranged so you can see the yard/all approaches when watching children play/defending the fort, and they have surprisingly serious fences. Also there's undersized playground equipment.

The story sounds really nifty.

Ooh, filter, please. Also:
An old, abandoned theatre! Theatres are known for attracting wacky people, so you can have all sorts of dynamic happenstance. There are all sorts of fun crawl spaces both above and below, which are good for hiding people, or things (like bodies), and also good for convenient effects, or if you need something, there's probably lots of the basics lying around. I practically live in my theatre, and I know people who have done it. So a war room would be great there. And if other people got in, you could listen in and set them up and stuff. It would be awesome.

Please add me to the filter. I have a real thing for eavesdropping on the creative process *g*

I like the theater. Could always pretend to be rehearsing/writing a war play or history play if someone wanders in. But I like the art gallery idea as well. Alas, I have no original ideas - that's why I'm just a reader and not a writer!

As someone who has admired your writing through several fandoms, and is trying to get that pro novel going herself, I'd be honoured to be added to your filter.
Thank you,
~ Stormy Stormheller (Duet Press)

Filter for me too please. I love reading progress reports for people's writing: I even like the one on C J Cherryh's website where all she does is post a word count and talk at great length about her ice-skating lessons.

Filter: yes please, if I may.

Room? Well, the crucial issue would be amenities. Nothing brings a war planning session to a screeching holt quicker that running out of milk for the coffee. So situated near a snack-bar would a proviso, I'd think.

I once lived next to a tiny old wooden church, which was hired out regularly for non-alcoholic related functions. It was smack in the middle of the suburbs, close to public transport (it's all about the amenities!) and down the road from a little corner store. You could hide all sorts of nefarious goings on if you operated out of a church.

I have no idea for a location, but I would absolutely love to be on your filter if that'd be okay.

seeing the post directly after this one, i think you probably already have so many ideas for a war room that you maybe don't need my input. but, if it's not too much to ask, could i be on the filter? i love reading about worldbuilding. ♥

Well, if the tattoo parlor is out, then of course you set up court in the gym if you are an excercise freak or the local coffee house upstairs rooms if you are a Bookish Type.