Questions from a new reader:
1—Do I have too many OCs?
Probably yes, and I'll own that. I started writing GH fiction after Guza basically went on a Q killing spree so I kind of overcompensated in the opposite direction. I also had Edward & Lila and Alan & Monica practice mutual monogamy, so they both have more biological children.
2—Newark, NJ Gangs are accurate as I wrote them (at least per my gang task force cousin and US attorney cousin (two people). Although I think you're probably correct about them having more of a West Coast foothold. That I'm not really sure about.
3—Lois/Ned/what?
So, I twisted canon and in July 1996 Lois was shot while with Sonny. She nearly died, and the baby she was pregnant with (which she and Ned hadn't come clean to the Qs about although she was well into the second trimester for various reasons) did die. Ned was terrified and wanted Sonny out of her life, but she saw that as similar to Ned cutting the Qs out of his life. Sonny is her brother in all the ways that matter so that adds a layer to everything and she is kind of not really grieving because she is just trying to get through the day recovering from her near-death experience and chasing after her toddler, Brooklyn. So yeah, she should have been more supportive of Ned, but I take the stance that she was just in a really bad place herself. Ned presumed that he gave into Katherine's seduction rather than realizing he was raped so when he "confessed his transgression" to Lois she took that as a way out. It was really kind of a mess but they were (and to an extent this back story makes it believable to the Qs that Ned could have had a ONS with Carly—although in reality Carly's baby is Jason's but only Carly, Ned, and Jason know that).
4—How can Lois be a physician?
On canon GH Lois graduated from high school super early (and she was supposed to be so smart remember even Edward was impressed) so this takes the view that she finished college in 1987 and had her MD in 1991. She was engaged to another physician, Jeremy Kinder (who subsequently started going by his middle name—Jonathan and ended up on AMC's canvas) who was really an abusive sociopath. She left him and ended up in PC with Sonny in June 1992 after completing her internship and left medicine behind at that point to work in Sonny's club. She and Ned were not in overlapping orbits until he showed up at open mic at Luke's when he was having a mid-life crisis at twenty-five after his divorce from Jenny Eckert. When she divorced Ned and fled back to Brooklyn in Fall 1996 she lucked out that one of her former attendings from internship had an open PGY2 spot in Neurology and he thought of her. She basically took it and the rest is history (and in the late 90s this might have even been possible). In current day, I think someone who did this would have a hard time getting a chance to get back into residency (although I suppose that doors could open at PCGH if she used her Q connections but obviously that wouldn't be a path she would be taking).
5-Technically the age of consent in NY is 17 so if two sixteen-year-olds are having sexual relations then they can both be charged (and there is case law precedent of this being done). So, JR and Tiffany could both be charged (NY grand jury rules might create a loophole for Tiffany although they really shouldn't).
6—How old is Carly?
When I started writing this, I had seen 11-5-1972 as Carly's birthdate and it seemed to work so I went with it so at the time this is set she is twenty-four about to turn twenty-five. For reference:
*Brenda & AJ are 20. Keesha is 21. Jason is 23
*Lois turned 28 in July
*Jax is 30. Ned will be 30 in February.
*Monica turned 40 in August
*Bobbie is 42
*Alan is 45
*Tony is 47
7—Is Carly becoming a Stepford wife? Is she becoming a perfect Q wife?
So I actually started writing this with the premise of how would things be different if Carly was clearly a decent human underneath it all when she was pregnant with Michael (canon Carly who drugged AJ and considered inducing her baby early to avoid getting caught in her multitude of lies likely acted out of desperation but it was all just a little too much) so I started from a place where Carly had only been sleeping with 2 men (Tony & Jason) and was actually transparent with the father of her child and let things go from there. I really try to have characters grow and evolve (with the caveat that we all have our moments of struggling and sometimes we backslide) in logical and believable ways so if I write future Carly stuff in this verse then she will be similar but perhaps more fully evolved. I would argue that she still has some spunk and some wacky plans because umm it was her idea to get Jason to get Ned to marry her and claim the baby and she picked Ned because he was kind of cool and AJ was too boring. She and Ned are both super broken but they also have a lot of mommy issues common ground and I think they're genuinely coming to care for each other and to an extent Carly out of respect for Ned will try to make it work with his family. Plus she truly likes Lila (and I think even on canon she actually did). So if you're referring to the scene where she is at the reception with Ned and wearing Lila's jewelry yeah some of that is smoozing, some of that is trying to do what she thinks Ned wants her to do because she realizes he is doing her/the baby a favor, and some of that is probably that she really likes Lila and I think in 1997 even cannon Carly was just looking for a family connection. After that it gets into a part where she is really sick and super scared about the baby and that brings out a lot of insecurity and then she gets to a point where she is physically unable to do much. I think you'll see her coming back and being somewhat savvy and somewhat scheming but also really wanting to be fair to Ned and Michael, so I don't think she'll be Stepford and maybe she won't even be a perfect Q wife. She probably gets worse before she gets better so don't give up on her yet.
Thanks so much for all of your thoughts and feedback! You definitely made me think which really helps!