The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette (Patreon)

Volume 4, Issue 16 - Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019

Howdy, patrons!

Welcome to September! I hope that you had a wonderful Labo(u)r Day weekend if you were in the United States or Canada. Here at the Burrow we caught up on a few shows like Supergirl Season 1, The Magicians Season 4, and the first season of The Handmaid's Tale. They're quite different, but each entertaining in their own way. Supergirl has been especially interesting because we've been watching it through the lens of the broader Arrowverse -- the stable of shows that include Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. Each show has claimed a vibe, but for the most part they're goofy fun.

Supergirl feels like someone attempting to replicate the success of the Arrowverse on network TV, and it doesn't quite work. The casting is generally excellent -- Calista Flockhart is no longer Ally McBeal to me, she's CAT MOTHAFUCKIN' GRANT -- but the series devotes a lot of time to elements that don't work. Worse, a lot of characters fall into a bad storyline and end up becoming the worst versions of themselves to accommodate the plot. Almost everyone, at one point, becomes a jealous and selfish asshole. It gets to the point where you just don't want romance to exist on the show, period. 

I've been thinking a lot about how to write a proper romance recently, obviously. With Crushing The Competition, I want a romantic element that drives story beats and character decisions. In order to do that, though, you have to add barriers and complications -- and those can be some of the trickiest things to believably pull off in a romance. You can't keep the love interests apart for too long or else the separation becomes just unbelievable, but once the characters pair off that particular story engine goes idle. It's really difficult to write two characters in a loving, stable relationship because the problems that pop up are often low-stakes and the resolution is a foregone conclusion. Stable relationships in fiction can be heartwarming, but they're rarely satisfying.

Of course, Ralph and Argo are nowhere near to that stage yet. I've been thinking about what really jumps out at me in romances and how the things I like can be woven into the narrative here. For me, it all comes down to character: I love spending time with interesting, funny, flawed people who are willing to be vulnerable for the sake of love. Nothing makes me happier than someone finding another person to navigate the chaos of modern life with. 

That...might be a difficult trick to pull off with Ralph and Argo as they stand, but I'm going to aim for it. I think the serial really should be something lighter, funnier, and more dynamic -- which means that Ralph might have to open up and actually show us what he wants. I think I've been afraid to really dive into Ralph as a character because a lot of his issues are a lot of MY issues, especially when it comes to sexual preferences and relationships. He knows what he wants, sort of, and it's just not available in an expression he groks with. That's a longer conversation about macro/micro than I have space for just yet, though. 

I would love to tell you that episode 22 of Crushing The Competition is already written and will definitely be posted on Thursday, but you don't pay me to lie to you. I'm working on it, and I'll make every effort to have it up this week. I'm trying to be better about time management, especially on the three things that I'm done fucking around with, but as with everything, it's a process.

If you're tired of waiting for me to write macro fiction with amazing characters and well-built narratives, may I recommend Kyrm? He's a newer author on the scene and he does some great work. His FA and Patreon are below; if you dig what I write, you'll find a lot more stories, much more polished than mine, there.

FA: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/kyrm/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kyrm

That's all for now, folks! See you Thursday!

- Jakebe