It appears that this noir PI AU that I'm dreaming up in my head revolving around a Dean/Castiel pairing is not going away. It's funny, because it's very similar to the two previous noir stories I wrote in that it involves the same basic setup: fast-talking, hard-boiled private eye gets a call from a suspicious fella fatale, takes on their case, and gets sucked into a world of pain. I think that as I've played with this genre though, my writing as a whole has been improving AND my understanding of how to write the genre has improved as well. So hopefully, this future effort will be the most sophisticated one yet.

So here's the pitch: I'm writing Castiel not as his laconic, emotion-lite angelic self, but as his fallen from grace self (as I'd imagine it anyway). I take a further step removed by casting his fallen angel mojo as a snarky, fast talking gumshoe. If that doesn't whet your appetite for a story that is only tangentially about the Supernatural characters, I don't know what does!

Of course there's the fella fatale, as there always is in my stories. In this case, it's Dean. His characterization is going to be the closest to canon, sans the demon hunting and dying and hell bits. In this noir universe, there is no magic and mystery--just plain old humans, screwing each other over in endlessly creative and non-supernatural ways. Not to worry, however: Dean is still messed up beyond all comprehension and he (and Castiel) still have a case to crack.

I'm honestly enjoying writing this. Every day or so a scene comes to me in little bits and pieces--usually the dialogue, the interaction between Castiel (oh, and did I mention this is written in first person POV, and basically hangs with Castiel for the whole story?) and whichever character comes to mind. I wrote a whole scene between Castiel and Chuck (cast in this universe as a snitch slash failed writer) in a bar before I even knew what I was doing. I also wrote, earlier today, the first personal conversation that Dean and Castiel have, talking about past relationships and whatnot. I'm quite pleased with it, despite lacking polish. These are just the first round drafts, after all. I will return to add and edit relentlessly later.

Maybe part of the reason this is so fun is because I'm returning to very similar ground. Retreading, perhaps. My last protagonist (Sirius) was also a wisecracking charmer, playing off fast and loose banter. Castiel's a bit similar, but the banter is nowhere near as cheeky (as the Brit's have it) or light as in Parallax (before you get to the end, anyway). Castiel's a lot more bones down cynical, sad, and a great reader of people. It's nice to write a protagonist who isn't oblivious, for a change. Granted, he's still got his blind spots, but at least I can finally come out and talk about the emotions other characters are feeling rather than referencing them sneakily without my protagonist being aware (the reader knows, but the protag don't!). He's a sharp read of people, calculating, observant. It's fun.