I don't often write out Fern stories. I only have a handful of them that can even be called proper stories. I really only write them when I have a very clear idea of what happens, because I know that the details will fade over time. But that also makes them very easy to write, since I don't have to figure much out as I go (I've said all of this before).
Most of Fern's stuff is just notes in a notebook. And it's not a very big notebook. About half the size of a sheet of paper. And only the front of one page was written about Spider-man 2. Most of it was how Fern meets and gets to know Peter and MJ (which I realized doesn't actually work, because MJ doesn't want anything to do with Peter at that point in the movie. Fern will have to meet MJ later).
I feel like sharing some of the process of how I turned that one small page of notes into a "proper" story.
It all started when I saw Spider-man No Way Home. It showed Peter (all three Peters) saving a cast of villains. It made me figure out how Fern would do that, but for a single character (Fern also interferes with Spider-man No Way Home. She knows what it's like for someone to get "erased," and she's not about to let that happen here, especially to someone who worked so hard to help her friends). It was only after re-watching the original two Spider-man movies that I really got into it though. I think because I was so impressed with the character development in the few minutes we get with Otto before he's taken over (I'm trying to get used to calling him Otto instead of Doc, since I need to do that in the story). And on top of that, watching these movies corresponded, I think coincidentally, with me fixing Fern's timeline and realizing that Otto is the first person... that Fern recruits for her superhero team. I'd never really thought of it that way, but that's kinda what it ends up as.
On that short page of Fern notes, I had squeezed in a single sentence onto the last line: "She also saves the doctor from drowning." I told you I hadn't really thought about how he fit in. Which is why it was so interesting writing that out as a story last month (as I posted about, twice). That single line became many pages, though a lot of that was introducing Fern's town.
From there, I realized that those mechanical arms couldn't stay on Doc forever. They would end up doing real damage. Fern may not be a particularly talented healer (she can heal some nasty stuff, though it backfires badly onto her), but luckily she knows some master healers. And with Ben's mechanical expertise, they could end up getting the metal arms off. It would be a slow process, step by step so no nerves or anything important would get damaged. But then they could repair the arms, and Otto could use them again. (In the movie, when the doctors are about to try to remove the arms, they joke about it. What jerks. As far as they know, taking those arms off would leave him crippled for life).
Most of my page of notes was about Fern meeting and helping Peter. I wasted two nights last week by writing out that part of the story (I seem to see Fern stories as mostly a waste of time XD). Thinking of what Fern and Spider-man
would talk about. They don't get the chance yet, but later on they're
going to brainstorm about webs and stuff. Peter mentions some strange guy with mechanical arms that
robbed a bank. That person had lost control of himself to those robotic arms. Peter tells Fern that he might need help fighting that guy.
When MJ is kidnapped, Fern dashes in to help. It's only when she's on her way that she realizes that she has no way to fight robotic arms. If she turns into something big, like a bear, she'll just be a big target. If Doc can throw cars around, he could do the same to an angry bear. She doesn't even have any of her good weapons yet. Even if she did have something, it would have been of limited use. It's a trouble she runs into later as well - "I could kill this person with my weapon, but I can't kill someone just like that." I had some sense of Fern being outmatched back when I wrote the notes (probably 15 + years ago), because Fern loses the fight on top of the train. She does the best she can by turning into a hawk and dodging in to use her talons. But all that can do is distract. Both she and Peter get knocked out one after the other.
She wakes, somewhat battered, and goes to help Peter stop the machine. She's learned that she can't do much to fight Doc, so she keeps MJ safe as the artificial sun turns into a black hole. The two girls do what they can to distract Doc until Peter incapacitates him.
I always wondered why Peter didn't try to reason with Otto
before. But I guess there wasn't an opportunity - the guy was kinda
hard to pin down. I just realized that moment should have a big
effect on Fern. She had once been controlled by something herself. She
knows what it's like. Peter had even mentioned to her that Doc wasn't in control of himself, but Fern charged in fighting. A fight that she was completely outmatched for. She didn't even consider that the person she was facing might need help too. She might have ended up letting someone die who turned out to be a good friend (If she had called Ben in, he could have fixed the problem in a heartbeat).
I just rewatched Spiderman No Way Home yesterday. I still don't like the idea of the multiverse stuff. But it is really fun seeing all the Spider-mans being buds (I love when Ned promises not to become a super villain, and the second Spider-man gives him a "good-on-ya" pat on the back). Though I almost feel like I'm missing something? Tobey Maguire's Peter seems to recognize Ned and MJ? And seems to initially mistrust the second Peter? Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
I never cared for the second set of Spider-man movies, though now I may go back and watch them again. I want to know more about Max. But I get the sense that they didn't give him a particularly good role in that movie. All I remember is the poor guy getting electrocuted. I didn't even want to watch that movie, since I hadn't liked the first one. But I was on a group trip, and I was outvoted. Now I'm glad I saw it, if purely for the sake of understanding No Way Home (I don't actually remember the lizard guy at all, but I assume he was in the first movie of that set).
Watching the Cinema Therapy movies has lead to me blundering into spoilers. I'll click on a video about Spider-man for example, not considering that it will discuss Spider-man films that I had not yet seen. Which is why I knew that old characters would be appearing in this movie. Man, if I didn't know ahead of time, I would have lost it to see so many familiar faces reappear. Then again, maybe it's good that I knew to expect multiverse stuff, or I would have been irritated by that (In the case of Guardians of the Galaxy 3, I was really grateful for the spoilers about Rocket's history. I was able to brace myself).
It turns out that I had missed quite a lot in Spider-man No Way Home. I'll bet that during the first half, I was actually watching the movie while I drank tea and ate lunch. And then during the second half I probably started some project (drawing or sewing maybe). I completely missed that the magic box that held the spell broke, and was confused to see that the sky was cracking open. I missed how when Otto is still under the control of the machine, he refers to himself as "we." Because it's not him in control, but the four robotic arms. And he doesn't realize it, because when Peter starts controlling the arms, he says, "don't listen to him, listen to ME!" Even though the arms don't listen to him - it's the other way around. The moment Otto does come back to his senses, he offers to help. I'm still a bit confused why he ran away - I guess they needed him out of the picture purely for plot purposes. But during the end, he comes back to fight, outsmarting a foe so he can get in close enough to cure him, even stopping a couple freaking bombs. When everything is falling apart, he's one of the last people with any powers. He helps get some of the others to safety. I knew he'd make a good superhero! (Seriously, why doesn't this guy get more roles like this? Almost every character I've seen him play is mean. But if this video is anything to judge by, he seems to be the funniest guy on set). On top of all that, I missed that he got one of the mechanical arms chopped off. Damn. I'm still confused what happens to him when he's sent back home. It sounds like he was pulled out of his world about am minute before he died. Is he going to use that little power reactor to safely deactivate the machine? And also, there's still the problem of the mechanical arms being melted to his spine. They can't stay there forever.
So, there you have it. Another long, frivolous post about stories that I've never shared (when I should be writing more important things). @_@
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