Ready, Steady, Write!

As you know we are all about fun over here and we thought that, on our sixth Fiction Friday Blog, maybe it was time to get you all involved as well. Fan Fiction can be lots of fun and it is even more fun when several people with a common like all join in on a ‘prompt’. A prompt can simply be a phrase, a few words or more around which you must base your story.

Examples from LilMisfit

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10492635/1/Sergeant-vs-SEAL

This prompt was given to me by a fellow Homeland fan via Tumblr, and was simply the words “Big Game”. At the time the World Cup was in full swing and while most of the fics I read were centered around that, I took my story in an alternate direction and wrote a one-shot involving Brody, Carrie, and the tall, dark, handsome and bearded Navy SEAL team introduced in S3, all playing pool together on base before Brody loaded out for Tehran. I found the dynamic between Brody and the SEAL team that trained him to be an interesting one, and wanted to see that camaraderie and friendship developed further.

I also wanted to squeeze in at least one tender, playful moment between Carrie & Brody prior to the tragic  events of Tehran.While I’m used to/enjoy writing longer multi chap fics that need to be plotted out ahead of time, I like being able to go off a prompt and come up with something short and sweet. It’s fun to see where your mind takes you based off of just a word or a sentence.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10822123/1/State-Of-Affairs

Another prompt I received was from another Tumblr user who was my go-to fangirl friend when the show was at it’s height. We’d rant and rave and frantically message each other back and forth during episodes, as we had the same likes/dislikes about the show. Her and I both were unhappy with directions Homeland had taken in later seasons, and would often come up with AU or alternate universe scenarios. One of these involved a friendship of sorts developing between Carrie and Mike Faber, and Jessica and Brody being taken along for the ride. In response to my friend’s prompt which Bookworm has copied/pasted below, I wrote this fic centered around Jessica & Mike and Carrie & Brody attending a Marine Corp ball. Drunkenness and bonding and some fluffiness ensues. While it is technically a one-shot it is fairly long, but I realized I had a lot I needed to include. 🙂

Examples from TBkWrm

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10560730/1/One-Hot-Day

The prompt for this one was simply ‘Heatwave’ and what the characters were doing while it was occurring. This left the door open for us to pick anything and run with it. I love doing backstory for characters and this is why I chose to go for Jess and Brody’s wedding day. When we meet them in Homeland they have been changed drastically throughout their shared, but separate experience of Brody’s captivity. They were clearly no longer compatible through no fault of their own. I wanted to look back at a day when they were very much in love with one another.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10960535/1/Make-it-work

This story was written for the prompt from one of LilMisfit’s friends on Tumblr. It was:

“Post 2×11 Carrie/Brody and Mike/Jess are together, and Carrie and Mike have become good friends, easing the tension whenever the four of them have to be in the same place.”

 There can be nothing worse than reading a story that is full of unnecessary swearing. However, if it fits with the character then it is understandable. Anyone who watches or has watched Homeland knows that Carrie has some mouth on her and therefore I felt it had its place in this one.

The other element of this prompt is that it takes place after 2×11, but basically ignores 2×12 in that Brody is not a suspect in the Langley Bombing and did not have to go on the run. He’s free to be a father to his new born and he’s equally proud and terrified. Brody can be a decent father. We saw that from his interactions with Issa. The problem is that in that relationship a broken Brody, whether he realised it or not, was actually leaning on the child for emotional support. Similar could be said about his relationship with Dana. She’d grown up without him. It is no surprise Brody has the best relationship with Dana. She cuts through the bull and accepts easier than anyone else that he has changed. His relationship with Chris is practically non-existent. Almost every interaction we see Chris have with Brody is a negative one that won’t do Chris’s emotional growth any good. All in all, Brody’s interactions with those 3 mean that he’s terrified of being a dad again. He doubts his ability to cope and knows that it can all go to hell quickly. However, once Baby is here, he’s determined to make it work. I enjoyed making Carrie and Mike’s new found friendship the central beam that is holding it all together.

So, enough from us. What we would like you all to do is have a go at writing your own story. When it comes to doing prompts, we prefer to make them one shots i.e. one chapter. This is to encourage as many people to take part as possible. However, if you wish to make it multi-chapter feel free. They can be as long as you like.

Our prompt for all of you is:

‘Take your favorite DL character and write him waking up from a crazy dream? It can be either something comical or something nightmarish, maybe the dream could even be in relation to other roles he’s played e.g. Charlie dreams about Brody or vice versa.’ 

Please let us have a link to your story via twitter (to any of the four of us @fanfundamian, @zarqa @littlenissfit52 or @TBkWrm) or Facebook. Once complete, we will share them next month. Please let us have the links by 24^th September.

We hope that as many of you as possible will join in and we look forward to reading and sharing your creations.

Don’t for get to have Fun.

See you next month!