Yuletide Reveals!
Dec. 31st, 2014 06:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
measured_wordsTA DAHHHHHHH!
Yuuuuletiiiiiiiiide!
So! I actually managed to write a fair amount this year – more than I'd expected, in any case! I got extra betas for everything, but as usualnaryrising provided constant encouragement, handholding, and initial SPAG assessment. Well, for almost everything....
My assignment was a total surprise – there were a lot of things it could have been, but when I opened my email there it was! Naraht – Return to Night!
And then a lot of flailing and going 'whyyyy did I doooo thiiiiiiis I'll never manage the Renaultian thing I AM A FOOL AHHHHH!' So, you know, typical assignment reaction.
The fic I wrote is called "Since We Must Part, Drown Night", which is from a John Donne poem, also quoted in the fic. It is Hilary and Julian in the Blitz, which was one of the prompts, sort of. It is also a Crueltide fic, so, yes. It is dark. I explicitly chose not to add any real content tags initially, but I may add some now that people who wanted to have that fresh experience can do so. I haven't decided whether I will use archive tags or not. Also – I was convinced when I write it that Naraht would immediately now who had written it. I think she may still have strong and accurate suspicious but may have been thrown off a bit by the deluge of gift fic she received! I need to thanklilliburlero for the beta, and makioka for an initial read through to assure me that it would, in fact, go over well. Whew!
Writing this fic involved quite a bit of research, at which time I discovered there is sadly little social history written about the RAF. There are a few books from individuals' journals and of course various compilations of people's recollections during the war.... I actually went down some overly ambitious rabbit holes and dug up an interactive map that shows where all the bombs landed in the blitz.... I was a little bit liberal with the specifics in the end – there was a major bombing run on London on the date I gave, but not in that area. I wound up putting Julian in the AAF (Auxiliary Air Force) because, based on what he said in the book, it made sense. A lot of men who were in the flying clubs at school wound up there rather than in the RAF. Also, after poking around some more and doing some more reading on the battle of Britain and the Blitz, I decided I wanted to put in in one of the night fighter squadrons, and the AAF fit the bill. It both seemed thematically appropriate and let me layer on a little bit more angst, heh. Also, it turned out that there was another book written by someone who the gunner for the squadron's flying Ace, John Cunningham. I was really struck, comparing it to other accounts, with the huge discrepancy in what constituted an ace flier vs an ace night flier... The number Julian references are accurate – there are individual fighter pilots from the day squadrons who were shooting down a couple of German planes in a sortie! Other random things I researched – what things were being rationed and when (not sausage, yet, in march 1944, but it would be soon!), different kinds of bomb shelters and how people kitted them out, WWII era hospitals in Ruislip, medical students during the blitz (which both talked about them getting dispersed out to smaller hospitals and also referenced the increase in female med students which seemed perfect for Hilary)... Lots of other things I am probably forgetting. I meant to include a bibliography, but I'm house sitting and don't have everything to hand, alas! I can put one up later if anyone is interested.
I've gotten a few comments saying that people didn't make the bomb shelter connection, but it was honestly the first thing that come to mind! The end I wrote is not the original end I was working towards, but it was as close as I could reasonably come, and I am quite happy with it.
Next time, though, I will have to try to write something about Lisa.
After finishing that beast, I actually managed to score two(!) pinch hits! I didn't know the recips in either case there, so there was somewhat less pressure. I am quite happy with both stories.
The first is an Arkham Horror fic – not the super long and plotty fic of awesomeness that the fandom received this year and which is excellent (and which I recced previously), but a story I am quite proud of nonetheless: Encounters at the Witch House. The recip asked for something exploring the backstory of and/or focusing on one of the female characters, or characters of colour, form the game. I chose Marie Lambeau for a variety of reasons, though I admit I actually haven't had a chance to play the expansion she is from for more than five minutes. Still, the wiki is an excellent resource. I actually wound up going out and buying the game, then pressuring (hard sell I tell you) my friends into playing with me so I could re-capture the feel of it. In the end, I decided to focus on one location, the Witch House, thus the title. Marie's backstory from the cards has a lot to do with her grandmother possibly being a witch, and she herself, so it seemed appropriate. Then I just poked at the encounters you can have there to weave together something more coherent. Thomas F. Malone is the ally you can pick up there in the game – he is originally from Horror at Red Hook, which is one of Lovecraft's most unfortunate, terrible, stories. It is super hella racist and gross. Don't read it :p Malone himself, at least, does not come across as a terrible person, so I decided to stick with him. I did not choose to frame any references to his background in any kind of similar context :p Anyway I had fun writing my story and it seems to have been well received by the tiny fandom :)
My second pinch hit was one I snagged in the ones that went out after the deadline passed. The prompt had very minimal details, but was for Othello. They wanted something exploring Desdemona's motivations and her thoughts on her relationship and marriage. I thought Emilia would be an excellent contrast for this, and I decided to set it early in the play before things went too bananas cray. Unfortunately, I could not for the life of me come up with a decent title, and so it is just called Girl Talk. Which is fair! But lame. This piece turned out to be short, but I am very happy with it regardless. It also surprised me by getting a few recs, so hooray! The recip seemed to enjoy it as well! I actually really like this play and the piece gave me the chance to re-read it and to think about it in new ways. Yuletide is always good for that, really. The two women make a very interesting contrast – I stand by my assessment that Iago and Emilia should not ever have children, ever ever ever. Ever.
After that – I surprised myself by having the time and inspiration to write a full length treat fornaryrising. I had wanted too and had toyed with ideas for it, but really didn't think Id be able to pull off more than a short madness piece. But nope! I jumped on her Books of the Raksura request, and wrote her some smutty Ember/Pearl: Claimed. It's got porn and character introspection and unexpected (to me) fisting. It just seemed to fit! So to speak. So, there. And then she squeed all over me and accused me of being the stealth beta, when in fact that was fishmalk, who apparently will take the time to beta porn for me even when he is visiting his super conservative inlaws. Friendship! Surprise, my dear ^-^
After that, I managed a couple of other things for madness! One I was hoping to push up to full length but I just couldn’t quite make it. Inspired byelf's love of Ghost Soup Infidel Blue and her request for MST3K, I saw a perfect opportunity for a different kind of crossover. Because of course the mads would send them Ghost Soup Infidel red! And of course it would wind up with Robots Crying on Beds! I am actually pretty damned proud of my Joel and bot voices in this, on top of the ridiculous crack, and was glad she seemed to enjoy it so much!
I had wanted to write a ton of drabbles, but that didn't happen – I managed two. However I am please with both! This was for someone who came across the pinch hit list after I'd already claimed my first pinch hit. The request was very similar to what I was already working on, so I dithered a bit, and it got claimed. But talking tonaryrising helped me see that yes there was still stuff I could have written in a different tone for the same character, as the recip here had specifically asked for Marie Lambeau, along with Jim Culver. I guess she's popular! The goal here was to create something that captured more of the ridiculous of the game, where the investigators are running around with a ton of really ridiculous items, chasing after things that sane people would be running away from. And so – Sweet Harmony, titled after Jim's special power. I think it was quite successful for what I'd meant it to achieve, and the recip seemed to like it too!
And finally, we come to what I am calling the drabble that won Yuletide. I wrote this on the 25th, after I'd opened presents and such, trawling through the giant prompts list looking for fandoms I could do something with. Inspiration struck, and the timing on it worked out perfectly: Infidelity: a little Pirate/Nemesis fic where uncertainty is raised and the status quo restored. Whew! It seems to be doing really well for a drabble, and I don't think it has turned up anywhere on an official rec list, either. For a while it had a 1:10 comment ratio (5:50)! For a drabble! In Madness! I really am quite proud of its reception and, I admit, I am happy to flaunt its success in the face of self-professed haters of drabbles, crazy people though they may be.
And that was my yuletide! I kind of feel like there may have been something else, but it has been completely wiped from my mind...
Yuuuuletiiiiiiiiide!
So! I actually managed to write a fair amount this year – more than I'd expected, in any case! I got extra betas for everything, but as usual
naryrising provided constant encouragement, handholding, and initial SPAG assessment. Well, for almost everything....My assignment was a total surprise – there were a lot of things it could have been, but when I opened my email there it was! Naraht – Return to Night!
And then a lot of flailing and going 'whyyyy did I doooo thiiiiiiis I'll never manage the Renaultian thing I AM A FOOL AHHHHH!' So, you know, typical assignment reaction.
The fic I wrote is called "Since We Must Part, Drown Night", which is from a John Donne poem, also quoted in the fic. It is Hilary and Julian in the Blitz, which was one of the prompts, sort of. It is also a Crueltide fic, so, yes. It is dark. I explicitly chose not to add any real content tags initially, but I may add some now that people who wanted to have that fresh experience can do so. I haven't decided whether I will use archive tags or not. Also – I was convinced when I write it that Naraht would immediately now who had written it. I think she may still have strong and accurate suspicious but may have been thrown off a bit by the deluge of gift fic she received! I need to thank
lilliburlero for the beta, and makioka for an initial read through to assure me that it would, in fact, go over well. Whew!Writing this fic involved quite a bit of research, at which time I discovered there is sadly little social history written about the RAF. There are a few books from individuals' journals and of course various compilations of people's recollections during the war.... I actually went down some overly ambitious rabbit holes and dug up an interactive map that shows where all the bombs landed in the blitz.... I was a little bit liberal with the specifics in the end – there was a major bombing run on London on the date I gave, but not in that area. I wound up putting Julian in the AAF (Auxiliary Air Force) because, based on what he said in the book, it made sense. A lot of men who were in the flying clubs at school wound up there rather than in the RAF. Also, after poking around some more and doing some more reading on the battle of Britain and the Blitz, I decided I wanted to put in in one of the night fighter squadrons, and the AAF fit the bill. It both seemed thematically appropriate and let me layer on a little bit more angst, heh. Also, it turned out that there was another book written by someone who the gunner for the squadron's flying Ace, John Cunningham. I was really struck, comparing it to other accounts, with the huge discrepancy in what constituted an ace flier vs an ace night flier... The number Julian references are accurate – there are individual fighter pilots from the day squadrons who were shooting down a couple of German planes in a sortie! Other random things I researched – what things were being rationed and when (not sausage, yet, in march 1944, but it would be soon!), different kinds of bomb shelters and how people kitted them out, WWII era hospitals in Ruislip, medical students during the blitz (which both talked about them getting dispersed out to smaller hospitals and also referenced the increase in female med students which seemed perfect for Hilary)... Lots of other things I am probably forgetting. I meant to include a bibliography, but I'm house sitting and don't have everything to hand, alas! I can put one up later if anyone is interested.
I've gotten a few comments saying that people didn't make the bomb shelter connection, but it was honestly the first thing that come to mind! The end I wrote is not the original end I was working towards, but it was as close as I could reasonably come, and I am quite happy with it.
Next time, though, I will have to try to write something about Lisa.
After finishing that beast, I actually managed to score two(!) pinch hits! I didn't know the recips in either case there, so there was somewhat less pressure. I am quite happy with both stories.
The first is an Arkham Horror fic – not the super long and plotty fic of awesomeness that the fandom received this year and which is excellent (and which I recced previously), but a story I am quite proud of nonetheless: Encounters at the Witch House. The recip asked for something exploring the backstory of and/or focusing on one of the female characters, or characters of colour, form the game. I chose Marie Lambeau for a variety of reasons, though I admit I actually haven't had a chance to play the expansion she is from for more than five minutes. Still, the wiki is an excellent resource. I actually wound up going out and buying the game, then pressuring (hard sell I tell you) my friends into playing with me so I could re-capture the feel of it. In the end, I decided to focus on one location, the Witch House, thus the title. Marie's backstory from the cards has a lot to do with her grandmother possibly being a witch, and she herself, so it seemed appropriate. Then I just poked at the encounters you can have there to weave together something more coherent. Thomas F. Malone is the ally you can pick up there in the game – he is originally from Horror at Red Hook, which is one of Lovecraft's most unfortunate, terrible, stories. It is super hella racist and gross. Don't read it :p Malone himself, at least, does not come across as a terrible person, so I decided to stick with him. I did not choose to frame any references to his background in any kind of similar context :p Anyway I had fun writing my story and it seems to have been well received by the tiny fandom :)
My second pinch hit was one I snagged in the ones that went out after the deadline passed. The prompt had very minimal details, but was for Othello. They wanted something exploring Desdemona's motivations and her thoughts on her relationship and marriage. I thought Emilia would be an excellent contrast for this, and I decided to set it early in the play before things went too bananas cray. Unfortunately, I could not for the life of me come up with a decent title, and so it is just called Girl Talk. Which is fair! But lame. This piece turned out to be short, but I am very happy with it regardless. It also surprised me by getting a few recs, so hooray! The recip seemed to enjoy it as well! I actually really like this play and the piece gave me the chance to re-read it and to think about it in new ways. Yuletide is always good for that, really. The two women make a very interesting contrast – I stand by my assessment that Iago and Emilia should not ever have children, ever ever ever. Ever.
After that – I surprised myself by having the time and inspiration to write a full length treat for
naryrising. I had wanted too and had toyed with ideas for it, but really didn't think Id be able to pull off more than a short madness piece. But nope! I jumped on her Books of the Raksura request, and wrote her some smutty Ember/Pearl: Claimed. It's got porn and character introspection and unexpected (to me) fisting. It just seemed to fit! So to speak. So, there. And then she squeed all over me and accused me of being the stealth beta, when in fact that was fishmalk, who apparently will take the time to beta porn for me even when he is visiting his super conservative inlaws. Friendship! Surprise, my dear ^-^After that, I managed a couple of other things for madness! One I was hoping to push up to full length but I just couldn’t quite make it. Inspired by
elf's love of Ghost Soup Infidel Blue and her request for MST3K, I saw a perfect opportunity for a different kind of crossover. Because of course the mads would send them Ghost Soup Infidel red! And of course it would wind up with Robots Crying on Beds! I am actually pretty damned proud of my Joel and bot voices in this, on top of the ridiculous crack, and was glad she seemed to enjoy it so much!I had wanted to write a ton of drabbles, but that didn't happen – I managed two. However I am please with both! This was for someone who came across the pinch hit list after I'd already claimed my first pinch hit. The request was very similar to what I was already working on, so I dithered a bit, and it got claimed. But talking to
naryrising helped me see that yes there was still stuff I could have written in a different tone for the same character, as the recip here had specifically asked for Marie Lambeau, along with Jim Culver. I guess she's popular! The goal here was to create something that captured more of the ridiculous of the game, where the investigators are running around with a ton of really ridiculous items, chasing after things that sane people would be running away from. And so – Sweet Harmony, titled after Jim's special power. I think it was quite successful for what I'd meant it to achieve, and the recip seemed to like it too!And finally, we come to what I am calling the drabble that won Yuletide. I wrote this on the 25th, after I'd opened presents and such, trawling through the giant prompts list looking for fandoms I could do something with. Inspiration struck, and the timing on it worked out perfectly: Infidelity: a little Pirate/Nemesis fic where uncertainty is raised and the status quo restored. Whew! It seems to be doing really well for a drabble, and I don't think it has turned up anywhere on an official rec list, either. For a while it had a 1:10 comment ratio (5:50)! For a drabble! In Madness! I really am quite proud of its reception and, I admit, I am happy to flaunt its success in the face of self-professed haters of drabbles, crazy people though they may be.
And that was my yuletide! I kind of feel like there may have been something else, but it has been completely wiped from my mind...
