Just thought you should know that the scene at the fire, with Jack speaking Fury’s name for the first time in years, afraid he might lose what’s left of her … or the “wringing the gentleness from her and then taking what was left,” or the balm of her enjoying a peach… amazing. Had to pause before hitting next because I’m blinking back a literal tear.
I love that someone wrote a Jack survived fic, I’m in love with your OCs and the world building.
If you ever want to post about your world building research or inspiration, I am there for it!
First off, sorry it took so long for me to respond. Thank you for reading, and thanks so much for your kind words! It's so nice to hear that what I wrote had an impact. The imagery of light or colors or particular words are often the start of scene ideas for me, so to get them back and know someone else enjoyed them is really encouraging. It brightens my whole week to be honest.
There are a couple fics I can think of where Jack survives similarly, where the canon ending still happens. NancyPants' Truisms is one, with explicit content, and another is You Came Back by By_And_By. Both stories have some really great qualities, and I'd recommend them especially if you're craving a quicker reunion. For my own version, I started writing because I wanted to explore Jack on his own a bit longer. I hope I can fill that particular niche, a truly Jack-centric survival AU. I'm a sucker for a well-placed side character for whom I can spiral a re-imagining. While I can do that on my own (I obviously have for some time with the lag in updates lol), I hope to realize a bit more of it onto the computer screen soon. Knowing others have an interest in this version of Jack is a good reason to try.
Now, I don't really have anywhere to post about my worldbuilding or inspiration, so I'll do little here, but feel free to skip any of it if I go on and on. And of course, I appreciate any level of interest you do have.
I definitely lean more into inspiration than genuine research. While I love little details, I try to not get hung up on them in worldbuilding. I think it suits the vibe of the Mad Max world to just shrug and put in what you need for the story. For example, I had Cirrus offer to grow a fig tree, but I don't know how realistic it is to grow one from seed in hotter, drier conditions. I picked figs because they're common where I am, fairly hardy, and they grow fast enough for the timeline I imagined. I’ve been drafting what comes to me first, then done light research only if it’s something I’ll keep that I know nothing about…mostly cars since they may as well be magic to me, though I don’t think I’ve actually learned much!
Generally, I’m imagining a timeframe where modern society experienced a soft, slower collapse before a ‘final’ defining conflict that ended an era. Since there are people alive who remember the time before their ‘apocalypse’, the world has a mix of old tech and new things needed to fill the gaps. There’s a potential for different levels of awareness of history, or resource availability in pockets of humanity, so I think there’s a lot of room worldbuilding-wise to allow just about anything. I hope it ends up coming across well, but I guess I planned the world-building around my ignorance and lack of research!
Besides my weaknesses, the main inspiration for the worldbuilding is that idea of a world-ending conflict and who defines that end. I’m interested in the isolation and cult aspects of the Citadel, where they believe they’ve outlived the death of the world, so I was drawn to the idea of putting Jack outside of the Wasteland he knows (having decided to make him live). There’s some canon-compliant logic that would lead to other places surviving, but they absolutely must exist in this world as contrast to the Citadel. If there was nothing but the Wasteland Jack knows, then any nihilism or weird Joe death cult stuff is simply accurate. I’ve laid out in my own notes some reasons of why and how Joe presumably led people like Jack’s parents into the middle of nowhere. There would be many people looking for places to survive in that time, and we see in canon that it’s the far-out places like the Green Place that thrive.
I don’t want to lay out too many specifics for the sake of your time, but I hope as I continue the story some of those things will come up and actually build that world. If Jack is well-realized now, then that’s a good sign!
Watching westerns always seems to remind me to get to work over here. I think it’s the drawn-out tension that meetings between people often have in that genre, the desolate landscapes, or especially ones that have themes of meaning in survival. I don’t intend to make this story a ‘western’, but it’s a source of inspiration. Stories of the westward expansion of the United States often have a sense of breaking and rebuilding society, so there’s an obvious connection to what I’m thinking about.
Anyway, I’ll find out in the future if I can do any justice to the inspiration I have. Above all, I hope everyone enjoys this and other FuryJack stories as much as I do. Thanks again for reading and for however far you got into my rambling!
Well then, let me give you a few more of those: “there wasn’t a whiff of torture about the place.” Or, “she’d been wrung out to the rind.” Just, wow. Your word choices throughout are delightful for how unexpected they can be, and tell so much about Jack, how Jack sees the world, and the world itself. It’s art, it’s a beautiful gift. The dang story’s title?!?
When I think about fic as a transformative work, this is a perfect example.
I understand what you mean about delaying any potential reunion, what I love about Jack is the same thing that makes George Miller’s work so special- he gives you just enough information in setting, in dialog to suggest this greater whole. It lets the world and the characters breathe. The little we see of Jack is damn compelling and I’m loving what you’re pulling out of what we were shown of the character. His drive to set things right, his citadel-ingrained habits like the boxing away of memories. (Loved that you started with a physical object in that woven basket of his mother’s, then the aching intangibles that haunt him.) seeing him twist alone and in unfamiliar territory is The Good Stuff.
If you’d told me you had an elaborate map of every wasteland location, and reams of notes on post-apocalyptic life I wouldn’t have been surprised. The pieces of the story you’re making feel so tightly fitted!
I’ve been dabbling with headcannon, and building the larger world around the citadel is fun puzzle to try and solve (especially to try and ground/justify the bonkers whimsy that gives Mad Max its shine); the irradiated cities, scavenging resources, what’s valued, and who survived where. (Loved your vault addition!)
Thank you so much for taking the time to allow me a glimpse behind the curtain!
(I have to ask - is the Death Run a reference by a fellow player of the Mad Max game?)
I really can't overstate how happy I am that Jack's perspective has come through with the turns of phrase I've been feeding him. I love giving a little twist to how he's seeing things, but I wasn't sure if it worked. Definitely going to keep that at the top of the to-do list going forward!
I should mention the inspiration for the story title, since I can't take all the credit there. There's an old Australian poem that I remembered reading once, when I was thinking about what I wanted to write. It's 'Where the Dead Men Lie' by Barcroft Boake, about the men who worked and died in the harsher regions of the country for the profit of others.
"Out on the wastes of the Never Never — That’s where the dead men lie! There where the heat-waves dance for ever — That’s where the dead men lie!"
There's a restlessness to the dead men that reminds me of the jumpy, gritty action of Miller's Wasteland, and of course the Never Never is pretty much the Wasteland itself. Unlike the ghosts that come out at night and haunt the Outback, Jack and those like him are ironically alive.
Anyway, I'm glad that Jack feels connected to his canon self, and I hope to keep drawing that connection thicker. I agree it's that room to breathe that makes characters like this so compelling. You need just enough to get started, then the directions are endless. I hadn't read any of the backstory of Joe being Colonel Moore before the Furiosa saga movie, so when Jack said his parents were soldiers my brain short circuited with the possibilities...It's hard not to try and fit it all into the story at once, but I have some specific stuff for Jack that will force me to finish this, just to get it out there!
I unfortunately have fallen deep enough into this rabbit hole that I *do* have my map of the Wasteland. Since Jack makes maps in this story and knew every inch of his world before, it seemed only fitting to visualize that for myself. Maps are more my speed, and my notes are on the broad points of events or the history I've made up. I think that's just the where the gears of story logic fit together for me, while other things can be left to intuitive decisions down the line. I really like hearing what other people come up with, especially if they approach the puzzle from a different angle, so if there's anything you ever want to share, or if you have a place you do, let me know!
And I've never played the video game! I only know a little about it, so the death run for Jack was thought to go back to the Wasteland to get revenge, which he always presumed was a one-way kind of ride. The video game event sounds interesting though! I might think about what rites of passage Citadel kids like him might've tried.
Thanks again for your kind words! I hope to have more of my own soon enough!
Comment on Dead Men Circle the Never Never
nelipt_kr on Chapter 2 Sat 15 Feb 2025 05:33AM UTC
Last Edited Sat 15 Feb 2025 05:36AM UTC
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