opalmatrix: An intelligent-looking black dog whose collar has mysterious runes on it. The caption is 'Yuletide.' (Yuletide Dog)

This year I wrote two treats in addition to my actual assignment, all for book fandoms.

The assignment I picked was Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Sutcliff, for which I wrote He Who Waits (note: rated E on AO3, although I would describe as a "hard R"). I had actually matched my recipient on two fandoms, the first time that this has happened to me. I was feeling blocked on the second fandom, The Silver Branch by Sutcliff, because I had also requested it! Mysteriously, I could not be sure I had read FW: it's one of Sutcliff's later books, written the year I graduated college, and even after reading the second-hand copy I bought for the challenge, I wasn't sure that I had read it before: some of the details about Connla and what became of him are the only things that seemed familiar.

I took the book with me when we took an impromptu trip out of town for a week, read it through again, and by the time I came back, I had the rough outlines of a story. My recipient was interested both in the possibilities of a romance between Alexios and Hilarion and in a look at the implications of a male/male relationship in the Roman culture. I wrote mainly the former, but I tried to give a nod to the more serious issue as well. I really have to thank my Beta readers, smillaraaq and carmarthen, on this one: in addition to the basic SPAG, they pointed out a couple of serious canon violations, vetted my Roman cultural and language details, and helped make the last section less hurried and more amusing, authentic, and romantic.

While I was working on the FW story, a question my recipient had asked about The Silver Branch kept tickling the back of my mind: if one assumes that Flavius of SB is Alexios' father, how does the family tree work out, and what becomes of Justin and Cullen? I realized that by focusing on this, I could avoid skirting too close to my own request. I wrote the treat Coming Around Again from Justin's POV, because I've always felt very close to him, and I included a scene with Aunt Honoria because she is awesome. It turns out that she is one of my recipient's favorite characters, so that made everyone happy!

I saw a request for P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath flash by on the Pinch Hits mailing list. I was too slow to pick it up (and at that point, I was not at all sure that I would be able to finish a real pinch hit in time), so I went back and wrote a treat. Those Who Help Themselves is fluff: a romp involving cold weather, the smell of hot, tasty food, and a squad of always-hungry military academy students.


After I finished "He Who Waits," I realized that its last few words are identical to the last words of another story of mine. I'll write short fic for the first person who correctly identifies the other story. I will be asking for a prompt for this.

XD

opalmatrix: Portrait of Inami, an older female character (Default)

With one exception, my most heavily viewed stories are all from writing challenges:

  1. Return: 2009 CE - 1327 hits (Good Omens, rated T, 1004 words; Purimgifts 2010)
  2. Aedificāre - 1289 hits (Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, rated T, 7305 words; Yuletide 2010)
  3. Turning Points - 1143 hits (Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, rated G, 3,123 words; Yuletide 2009)
  4. In Harmony - 429 hits (Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, rated G, 1217 words; Yuletide treat 2010)
  5. Like New - 333 hits (Abhorsen/Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, rated G, 1492 words; Yuletide treat 2009)
  6. Perfect Fit - 273 hits (Discworld by Terry Pratchett, rated M, 551 words; Springkink)
  7. Like Likes Like - 258 hits (xxxHolic/Pet Shop of Horrors crossover, rated T, 2005 words; Springkink)
  8. Return: 950 CE - 249 hits (Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon, rated G, 866 words; Purimgifts 2010)
  9. Return: 700 BCE - 237 hits (Torah, a/k/a Hebrew Bible, rated G, 588 words; Purimgifts 2010)
  10. Flesh of My Flesh - 210 hits (Saiyuki, rated T, 142 words; not from a challenge)

I'm guessing that Aedificāre will soon surpass Return: 2009 CE - the movie The Eagle and recs in communities drawing on that buzz have given it a huge boost.

opalmatrix: Portrait of Inami, an older female character (Gojyo - King of Hearts)

See here.

The offer is for a shortfic of at least 500 words, minimum bid $5, basically for any of my usual fandoms.

opalmatrix: Portrait of Inami, an older female character (Yuletide flame)

Writing Turning Points was a little different from the previous Yuletide stories I've done, because the original story is very firmly fixed in its real-world historical era. I felt I needed to research the time in which my future fic took place. In addition to re-reading Noel Streatfield's Ballet Shoes, I also re-read Curtain Up (a/k/a Theater Shoes), and The Painted Garden (a/k/a Movie Shoes), which mention the sisters' later lives. I also looked up information on clothing (because clothes were always important in the book - the girls were not well-off and had trouble getting appropriate clothes for various occasions) and U.S. food of the era (because food was discussed in specific a number of times in the original), and I nailed down a number of details of the canon timeline and my fanon's details about the sisters' "current" lives, just for my own comfort.

cut for details )

FYI: see this also for samples of the original Ruth Gervis illustrations for Ballet Shoes.

opalmatrix: The four Saiyuki boys, with the caption on the road again (saiyuki)

There's not much point in reading these 'til you've read the story, "A Stitch in Time," a Saiyuki AU, which is here.

Where it came from ...  )
opalmatrix: Portrait of Inami, an older female character (Tenpou - clean desk)

Baaaah, I am a sheep. All the cool kids were doing it, hence I flock. There was, of course, the question of Yuletide fics, which are written in year x but get revealed on Jan. 1st of year x + 1. I decided that I would include my Yuletide 2008 stories, which were written in December.

I did lots of sayuki_time writing prompts, and I think that they helped a lot, especially because I tend to be wordy, and the shorter timed prompts curbed that. I also learned a lot from my beta readers on my longer pieces, especially sanada, smillaraaq, kispexi2 , redbrunja , and my sister A.

Cut for the big list )
opalmatrix: The four Saiyuki boys, with the caption on the road again (saiyuki)

You probably shouldn't read these notes until you've read the story! As a whole, "Down from the Red Hills" is rated NC-17. The first part is here.

Read on for info about the setting of the story ...  )

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