well I dallied long enough

[tlvop]

Here's my actual yuletide reveal post, vs. my brief sketching out of one.

 

Full-Size Fics

The Thief Series (Meghan Walen Turner): The Princess of Eddis for netgirl_y2k

Okay so I had way too much fun writing this fic. Basically I got to write a pre-teen girl having Adventures(!!). Becca when she beta'd said that Helen was IC but very clearly a me!character. This makes me laugh. Basically it is about Helen and Irene hanging out without any Eugenides running around. The only way I could do this is by make them tiny!

IT WAS WAY TOO MUCH FUN CAN YOU TELL.

Many thanks to the lovely netgirl_y2k for leaving a very sweet comment on her LJ and then again on the post *_*. It made me happy every time I thought about it, and whenever I was feeling down about my writing for other reasons I went and scanned back through paceus 's comments from last year and hers from this year. <333 yuletide recipients!

The Dalemark Quartet (Diana Wynne Jones): Aftermath for morganize 

So, just about anyone who knows me well has heard me talk about how much I love Dalemark, in particular Spellcoats, so this prompt was AWESOME. Especially as it was about Hern, who is really snarky and like proto-Mitt, and we know how much I love Mitt. I've had a long-standing resentment against Spellcoats for its lack of discussing anything that happens after-the-fact. The story medium doesn't allow for it, which I get, but you sit there and wonder!

So I wrote the fic about how Hern is alone except for his annoying little brother, is the king of a country kind of unexpectedly, and is really really pragmatic and pessimistic.

This is the black sheep of my fics, the one that no one really likes or has commented on (besides two very sweet people who I'm glad made the move to <3). I understand why! It is in an utterly different tone from the book (primarily because the characters narrating are on the opposite sides of their little family spectrum). Also, Hern says things that are totally different from canon (like "THEY'RE ALL DEAD") because he doesn't actually know what the readers  know but I am not sure the fact that I wasn't violating canon came through! I am hesitant to say that it is also poorly written: I enjoy it (which I know is what's important, even though my person I wrote for didn't even like it enough to leave a comment and adored her other fic w/the same character in the same canon, so I do still feel kind of horrendously guilty for not pleasing her), and Becca is prone to telling me when my writing is being stupid (in nicer words than that) but didn't so :).

Teeny ficlets

The Sarah Connor Chronicles Things, Upside Down for BOF Oddity (unknown LJ user name?)

Heeheehee. I wrote this fic because shati has influenced how I view John Henry. It's creepy on purpose but thankfully other people also found it hilarious. Otherwise I would just feel like a creepster. :D. (Am I??? DUN DUN DUN)

I actually adore Agent Ellison a lot. He is so grumpy and practical and makes melodramatic biblical references that I get. That...is never the type of character I adore.

Shhh.

People liked this, which made me so happy! I wasn't even expecting reviews for it as it is TINY and was written in less than ten minutes. I used it as an excuse to tell the person who beta'd for me about how hilariously cracking TSCC is. They...might be really disappointed when they find out that it is also dark. I warned them! But I was going "hee hee" a lot.

Oh, and the title is from a verse in Isaiah where God is all "why are you questioning me about the works of my hands???" which is an amazing verse and kind of propelled me through a lot of issues last semester (because people telling me "shut up that's wrong" in conjunction with "FYI I LOVE YOU" works much better for my insecurities than just the latter) but it always makes me LAUGH re: John Henry and his suggestion that God should've created humans with more ball-and-socket joints. <333 John Henry.

Fringe Cleanliness and Hard Work for vivien529 

Okay, so dearest Vivien had NO FIC. LIKE. NONE. It was really terrifying (er, and then she had 11. BUT IT WAS AN ISSUE OKAY :D). And silveraspen told us all "does anyone know fringe???" and I do! I cannot write Peter (Who,when I tried, went "hulk hulk, slight drop of shoulders and raise of eyebrow to indicate endearing version of hulking". GEN, FOUND YOU A NEW CHARACTER. :D) and my Olivia voice was like "i am supremely competently cold beyond your level of brain capacity at this time of night".

So I started writing about  Astrid, which was great because she basically settled in my head and started talking. It's kind of a slow, muddle-y fic, and I do think othjer people handled Astrid's competence better this year (see this fic as an example), but I'm still fond of it. It was a lot of fun to write!!! And Viv liked it so, SCORE.

I took the name from a quote I forget from a feminist about the age of cleanliness and hardwork! I remember actually the quote not quite fitting with the fic, but really enjoying the concept of those two being interrelated.

Aspen was my amazing beta, and stopped me from writing some really stupid sentences which turned back on themselves like overlong nails. Or something...less disgusting. <333

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General comments: yuletide this year was overall great, though in some ways incredibly disheartening. I still feel kind of like I "failed" it but in the long run I am happy with the fics I wrote (and got an amazing fic in return <3! thanks, nextian :D!) even though I worry that they might've not served their intended purpose.

Also, some people have mentioned vaguely that I should go back and add "character of color" tags to my two yuletide madness fic as both Astrid and Agent Ellison are African-American. I am not sure if I should do this, and would like your advice? I kind of wrote it disregarding race, as I know my privelege, lack of real knowledge, etc. makes writing-while-regarding kind of a minefield? And I don't want to claim it as CoC fic on that basis? But at the same time, maybe I should because they are.

UM HALP PLEASE.