utterly shocking yuletide reveals
All is revealed for Yuletide now, and thus I thought I'd post about what I wrote. It was my most productive Yuletide ever -- I wrote five fics, four for regular Yuletide and one for Madness. I think my authorship of most of them is really obvious if you have ever met me! I couldn't help it -- there were like four other people who had prompts relating to Anne of Bohemia and she is my forever girl. ;) I'm really quite happy with how these fics came out, and I'd like to thank all of my recipients for their awesome prompts.
These are the ones I wrote:
two kinsmen digged their graves with weeping eyes (1443 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Hollow Crown (2012)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Duke of Aumerle/Richard II, unrequited Richard II/Henry IV
Characters: Duke of Aumerle (Richard II), Henry IV of England, Duke of York (Richard II)
Additional Tags: canon character death, Murder-Suicide Plans, Drawing and Quartering (Hypothetical), Disembowelment Fantasies, Unrelenting Grimness
Summary: In which Aumerle ruins everything.
This was my original assignment, which was for more or less anything Hollow Crown-related, but one of the suggestions was for "dark and wretched" Richard/Aumerle -- after all, in this production (and in the current RSC one) they give Exton's part to Aumerle. Although I have expressed some frustration with the increasing prevalence of this decision in the past, I seized upon the chance to work through it in fic: I think the moment in the production that inspired my take on it is Tom Hughes as Aumerle smirking when he delivers the line "Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought." Thus, the explanation in the fic (his extraordinarily complicated murder-suicide plot is nearly complete!) I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, in the end, and writing the part where Aumerle fantasizes about being drawn and quartered was way too much fun.
a chance that doth redeem all sorrows (9464 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 14th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II, Duke of Aumerle/Richard II
Characters: Anne of Bohemia Queen of England, Richard II of England, Henry IV of England, Thomas Mowbray | Duke of Norfolk, Thomas of Woodstock | Duke of Gloucester
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Gratuitous Mythological References, gratuitous literary references, Terrible Medieval Medicine, The Irish Question, Fix-It (For Most People)
Summary: In June 1394, Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England, makes a seemingly miraculous recovery from the plague.
This one probably wins the prize for "Fic Most Obviously Written by angevin2." I actually started working on it as a treat for Histories Ficathon back in June, or possibly July, so I have been sitting on it for a while, or rather, I am a slow writer so it took me forever to write and before that to figure out where it was going to go (the reason I had never written an "Anne lives" AU before is that she's basically the Edith Keeler of the histories: if she doesn't die the plot doesn't happen). It probably also wins the prize for "Fix-It Fic That Made the Author Cry the Most While Writing It," because, as previously noted, I am perverse. (My fix-it fic theory is that you have to be stingy with the fixes so there is still quite a bit of melancholy in it. This is also why I didn't write the AU where Anne doesn't get the plague at all, although after doing research and having talked to speak_me_fair about medieval plague treatments I am slightly baffled as to how anyone ever survived it at all. Yeesh.)
It's A Terrible Reign (2295 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 14th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: John of Gaunt, Edward the Black Prince
Additional Tags: Pastiche, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dream Visions are Legitimately Medieval, Wicked Chivalrous, Crack Premise Played Straight
Summary: A dying John of Gaunt, with the aid of his long-dead brother, walks the road not taken.
I picked this up as a pinch-hit and then flailed about almost until the deadline for a premise that would both make my recipient happy and that I could write relatively quickly (the latter is not easy), and then, at four o'clock in the morning a couple of days before deadline, the Crackfic Angel came down and said "WRITE IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE OR CHRISTMAS CAROL OR WHATEVER SUPERNATURAL VISITORS SHOW UP AT CHRISTMAS PASTICHE," and after a few moments of I CANNOT DO THAT IT IS CHEESY I realized I totally had to. And then it kept getting sad on me! Most of the events in the fic are drawn from a plan I had for a straight-up AU fic I may or may not ever write, although they are dealt with in somewhat abbreviated form, but this version was a total party to write. (I especially liked writing ghost!Edward.) It also offered some interesting historical perspective: the number of times Gaunt says "you know, that basically happened anyway" is suggestive of how much was actually Edward III's fault. ;)
(also, I am pretty sure my authorship was once again obvious thanks to the reference to AU!Gaunt dying of VD -- I had initially planned not to put that into the fic but then there it was.)
like brambles to the cedars (1090 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Thomas of Woodstock (Play)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II
Additional Tags: Culture Shock, Medieval Ladies Doing Needlework, Inappropriate Hussites
Summary: Queen Anne isn't used to English customs. It doesn't help that her husband and his uncles can't agree on what they are.
I could not, of course, resist the opportunity to write Thomas of Woodstock fic, and this one was in response to one of the best Yuletide prompts I've ever seen. It's one of those pieces that's informed by my scholarly work -- I have an article coming out (someday) about clothing and fashion in this play, and the focus on textile work here (although it's pretty central to the play) is drawn from my own interest in the topic, and also influenced somewhat by a paper I heard a while back about needlework as a site of relationships between women, even if the fic doesn't focus much on that -- in Woodstock, textile-based labor is a) the provenance of women and b) a site of genuine political and moral authority, so I drew on that somewhat for the fic. Also, I'd like to thank ivakas for helping me with the translations of the Czech lyrics in the fic.
And for Yuletide Madness:
Remembrance of a Weeping Queen (601 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 14th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II
Additional Tags: Bittersweet, Queenly Intercession, Miscarriage, queenship, Symbolic Birds
Summary: Anne of Bohemia contemplates her purpose in life.
This was originally meant to be part of a series of interlinked vignettes involving queens (and dowager princesses) and their daughters-in-law -- Isabella of France and Philippa of Hainault, Philippa and Joan of Kent, Joan and Anne, and then this one, since Anne of course didn't have children -- but time and grading and fic-writing caught up to me, so I ended up posting it as a standalone. I'm still really pleased with it, though; I've had this scene in my head for a while and it was nice to get it on paper (well, the screen, ykwim). Poor Anne. She suffers a fair deal in my fics this yuletide, doesn't she? But I did let her recover from the plague so I guess it balances out.
These are the ones I wrote:
two kinsmen digged their graves with weeping eyes (1443 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Hollow Crown (2012)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Duke of Aumerle/Richard II, unrequited Richard II/Henry IV
Characters: Duke of Aumerle (Richard II), Henry IV of England, Duke of York (Richard II)
Additional Tags: canon character death, Murder-Suicide Plans, Drawing and Quartering (Hypothetical), Disembowelment Fantasies, Unrelenting Grimness
Summary: In which Aumerle ruins everything.
This was my original assignment, which was for more or less anything Hollow Crown-related, but one of the suggestions was for "dark and wretched" Richard/Aumerle -- after all, in this production (and in the current RSC one) they give Exton's part to Aumerle. Although I have expressed some frustration with the increasing prevalence of this decision in the past, I seized upon the chance to work through it in fic: I think the moment in the production that inspired my take on it is Tom Hughes as Aumerle smirking when he delivers the line "Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought." Thus, the explanation in the fic (his extraordinarily complicated murder-suicide plot is nearly complete!) I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, in the end, and writing the part where Aumerle fantasizes about being drawn and quartered was way too much fun.
a chance that doth redeem all sorrows (9464 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 14th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II, Duke of Aumerle/Richard II
Characters: Anne of Bohemia Queen of England, Richard II of England, Henry IV of England, Thomas Mowbray | Duke of Norfolk, Thomas of Woodstock | Duke of Gloucester
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Gratuitous Mythological References, gratuitous literary references, Terrible Medieval Medicine, The Irish Question, Fix-It (For Most People)
Summary: In June 1394, Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England, makes a seemingly miraculous recovery from the plague.
This one probably wins the prize for "Fic Most Obviously Written by angevin2." I actually started working on it as a treat for Histories Ficathon back in June, or possibly July, so I have been sitting on it for a while, or rather, I am a slow writer so it took me forever to write and before that to figure out where it was going to go (the reason I had never written an "Anne lives" AU before is that she's basically the Edith Keeler of the histories: if she doesn't die the plot doesn't happen). It probably also wins the prize for "Fix-It Fic That Made the Author Cry the Most While Writing It," because, as previously noted, I am perverse. (My fix-it fic theory is that you have to be stingy with the fixes so there is still quite a bit of melancholy in it. This is also why I didn't write the AU where Anne doesn't get the plague at all, although after doing research and having talked to speak_me_fair about medieval plague treatments I am slightly baffled as to how anyone ever survived it at all. Yeesh.)
It's A Terrible Reign (2295 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 14th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: John of Gaunt, Edward the Black Prince
Additional Tags: Pastiche, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dream Visions are Legitimately Medieval, Wicked Chivalrous, Crack Premise Played Straight
Summary: A dying John of Gaunt, with the aid of his long-dead brother, walks the road not taken.
I picked this up as a pinch-hit and then flailed about almost until the deadline for a premise that would both make my recipient happy and that I could write relatively quickly (the latter is not easy), and then, at four o'clock in the morning a couple of days before deadline, the Crackfic Angel came down and said "WRITE IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE OR CHRISTMAS CAROL OR WHATEVER SUPERNATURAL VISITORS SHOW UP AT CHRISTMAS PASTICHE," and after a few moments of I CANNOT DO THAT IT IS CHEESY I realized I totally had to. And then it kept getting sad on me! Most of the events in the fic are drawn from a plan I had for a straight-up AU fic I may or may not ever write, although they are dealt with in somewhat abbreviated form, but this version was a total party to write. (I especially liked writing ghost!Edward.) It also offered some interesting historical perspective: the number of times Gaunt says "you know, that basically happened anyway" is suggestive of how much was actually Edward III's fault. ;)
(also, I am pretty sure my authorship was once again obvious thanks to the reference to AU!Gaunt dying of VD -- I had initially planned not to put that into the fic but then there it was.)
like brambles to the cedars (1090 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Thomas of Woodstock (Play)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II
Additional Tags: Culture Shock, Medieval Ladies Doing Needlework, Inappropriate Hussites
Summary: Queen Anne isn't used to English customs. It doesn't help that her husband and his uncles can't agree on what they are.
I could not, of course, resist the opportunity to write Thomas of Woodstock fic, and this one was in response to one of the best Yuletide prompts I've ever seen. It's one of those pieces that's informed by my scholarly work -- I have an article coming out (someday) about clothing and fashion in this play, and the focus on textile work here (although it's pretty central to the play) is drawn from my own interest in the topic, and also influenced somewhat by a paper I heard a while back about needlework as a site of relationships between women, even if the fic doesn't focus much on that -- in Woodstock, textile-based labor is a) the provenance of women and b) a site of genuine political and moral authority, so I drew on that somewhat for the fic. Also, I'd like to thank ivakas for helping me with the translations of the Czech lyrics in the fic.
And for Yuletide Madness:
Remembrance of a Weeping Queen (601 words) by angevin2
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 14th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II
Additional Tags: Bittersweet, Queenly Intercession, Miscarriage, queenship, Symbolic Birds
Summary: Anne of Bohemia contemplates her purpose in life.
This was originally meant to be part of a series of interlinked vignettes involving queens (and dowager princesses) and their daughters-in-law -- Isabella of France and Philippa of Hainault, Philippa and Joan of Kent, Joan and Anne, and then this one, since Anne of course didn't have children -- but time and grading and fic-writing caught up to me, so I ended up posting it as a standalone. I'm still really pleased with it, though; I've had this scene in my head for a while and it was nice to get it on paper (well, the screen, ykwim). Poor Anne. She suffers a fair deal in my fics this yuletide, doesn't she? But I did let her recover from the plague so I guess it balances out.