Ok, so in addition to my novel, I'm also rebooting a fanfiction that I originally wrote four years ago that was well...sub par, mostly because of some wrinkles in the espoused timeline and a few other errors that were not canon to the show, and that wasn't intentional creative license, it was just a bunch of rookie mistakes. Summery: The fanfiction in question is a Criminal Minds/NCIS Crossover story in which Reid (the nerdy FBI Profiler from Criminal Minds) and McGee (the equivalent of Reid in NCIS, who is also his cousin in this and most of my other stories about these shows) are being hunted by a family anialator who killed McGee's mother, Reid's aunt, almost 20 years ago, and wanted to kill them, plus McGee's baby sister, but failed to do so due to the fact that all three were placed in protective custody following the original murder. Now both teams must join forces and solve the 25 year old cold case (the murder of McGee's mother was not this suspect's first) before he manages to kill one agent and for all intents of purposes family member, from each of the two teams. Now though, in the process of re-writing chapter 1... I'm toying around with several different plot devices and I want to know which one you think is the most interesting, is the most realistic, creates the best hook and why. Original: Morgan (another FBI agent from CM) arrives to work late due to sleeping through his alarm thanks to a power outage, Reid has already been shot outside a coffee shop right in front of his cousin. New Possibilities: A. Both men are attacked at the coffee shop they frequent each morning, they manage to avoid getting hit, duck into McGee's car and head to NCIS. B. See A except they go to the FBI instead. C. McGee is shot outside his apartment and his team leader, who was on the original case, sends another agent to warn Reid and try to get the FBI's cooperation. D. The villin/suspect/Unsub, is taking his anger out of surrogates, shooting and killing children, usually relatives that are a lot like McGee, his sister, and Reid were 20 years ago, and McGee is sent to ask for help from the BAU not because their investigation has hit a brick wall, (although it actually has) but because his boss remembers the original case and realizes what's really going on. Things that WILL stay the same: One of them will eventually be shot The teams will cooperate Someone will die PS. I am writing two stories at once because for me it helps stave off writers' block. If I get stuck on one, I work on the other, and I return to it when I get unstuck or I get stuck on the other one. This in general, keeps the creativity flow at, at least a trickle.
