"His Part to Play" -- another project to step outside my wheelhouse

I mentioned how I used a new project-- an hour-long comedy pilot called Dream Machine --as an opportunity to try something I'd never done with my writing before. Well, that's not the only piece I've been working on in a manner outside my typical style. The other project I've been picking at is a fan fiction, a sequel to my Endgame story "As Long as He Needs" about the process of Steve coming to the decision to retire to the 1940's.


A portrait of him I drew
A couple months ago, I was struck by an idea for a story I could tell about Steve's life post retirement. It was focused on a particular adventure he could go on at some later point, after he'd already built a life there, the central notion of which was that even though Steve was done being Captain America, he would not fail to take action to do the right thing if needed.

But when I was thinking the story through, it struck me that there was a good deal of groundwork that needed to be laid. I pictured Steve being established in his new life and identity before the central struggle of this story would happen. So his new circumstances and all the stuff that happened before this point needed to be clear. It meant a lot of material that I didn't think made sense to gloss over, but I also found myself nervous about how much time it would take to lay out.

In my previous work, I have been very resistant to ever allowing a story's forward motion to progress slowly. In drama, you tend to lose your audience if you spend too much time "screwing around" (or even setting things up) before getting the narrative moving. I often find it self-indulgent and uninvolving. My preferred form of storytelling is to reveal character through the pursuit of their goals in specific circumstances that show who they are. But the flip side of that is I don't often slow down enough with the plot to allow the character information time to breathe. Which can be a real problem.

So I decided to use this story as a chance to attempt a very slow build. Could I include a massive amount of establishing character information without it becoming boring or pointless? My goal is to not just use it as exposition, but to reveal character, and to subtly build theme and foreshadowing for when the main conflict kicks in. That will keep it relevant and narratively useful rather than just a writer's indulgence in details that are of interest to nobody but them.

I'm trying, at any rate. The story is called "His Part to Play," and it's currently at four chapters on my AO3 profile, all of which are still in this "slow-build" section. I sometimes feel guilty for spending a lot of time and effort on fan fiction when I could be working on writing I could use for actual career work, but using it to practice not only my prose, but an additional skill where I know my work to be weak, makes it more useful. Hopefully I will develop in the making of it, and create something that gives me and others joy in the process.