Tomorrow, When the War Began
I just realized that I never managed my annual Yuletide post-mortem. Novel, on February 1st - I'm only a month late. :)
Life got away from me this year. While I had grand plans for multiple treats, work, wedding planning, and travel all added up to enough time for exactly one fic, my assignment (and even that was a near thing). Luckily, it was kind of the story I most wanted to tell.
I wrote The Once and Future, in Edge of Tomorrow fandom. Sara dragged me kicking and screaming into this movie, declaring it a must-watch despite my aversion to Cruise. And man, was she right. It's smart, it's fast, and it's unexpectedly funny as hell. Most of all, it features a flawless performance by Emily Blunt, who is both a costar in every sense of the word and the true hero of the story. I can honestly say that this is the first Yuletide when I've gotten my assignment and gone "yes, that's exactly what I wanted to write". My recipient seemed to love exactly what I did about the movie, but more than that, it's literally a wide-open canon, with infinite possibilities and tons of little throwaway moments to expand and explore. The whole film hinges on the fact that Cage is not the first to experience what he's going through, and I thought, what if Rita wasn't, either? I grew entirely too attached to Hendricks (who I really wanted to be Idris Elba, but somehow morphed into Justin Theroux in my head the moment he first opened his mouth) and really, really hated killing him. Over and over. Ad infinitum. But I loved loved loved writing Rita, with all her honor and competence and repressed attachment, and getting to see things (and Cage) through her eyes. Plus, I got to write a non-linear storyline, which you know is one of my favorite things in all the world.
Plus, that Scandal fic that made me flail like a crazy flaily thing? Yeah.
martinigrl wrote it. She totally failed at stealth this time around (unlike last year, when she was actually assigned to me and delivered the most perfect Fiona Gallagher fic ever written), but it was absolutely the best present ever.
All in all, another good Yuletide down. Until next year.
Life got away from me this year. While I had grand plans for multiple treats, work, wedding planning, and travel all added up to enough time for exactly one fic, my assignment (and even that was a near thing). Luckily, it was kind of the story I most wanted to tell.
I wrote The Once and Future, in Edge of Tomorrow fandom. Sara dragged me kicking and screaming into this movie, declaring it a must-watch despite my aversion to Cruise. And man, was she right. It's smart, it's fast, and it's unexpectedly funny as hell. Most of all, it features a flawless performance by Emily Blunt, who is both a costar in every sense of the word and the true hero of the story. I can honestly say that this is the first Yuletide when I've gotten my assignment and gone "yes, that's exactly what I wanted to write". My recipient seemed to love exactly what I did about the movie, but more than that, it's literally a wide-open canon, with infinite possibilities and tons of little throwaway moments to expand and explore. The whole film hinges on the fact that Cage is not the first to experience what he's going through, and I thought, what if Rita wasn't, either? I grew entirely too attached to Hendricks (who I really wanted to be Idris Elba, but somehow morphed into Justin Theroux in my head the moment he first opened his mouth) and really, really hated killing him. Over and over. Ad infinitum. But I loved loved loved writing Rita, with all her honor and competence and repressed attachment, and getting to see things (and Cage) through her eyes. Plus, I got to write a non-linear storyline, which you know is one of my favorite things in all the world.
Plus, that Scandal fic that made me flail like a crazy flaily thing? Yeah.
martinigrl wrote it. She totally failed at stealth this time around (unlike last year, when she was actually assigned to me and delivered the most perfect Fiona Gallagher fic ever written), but it was absolutely the best present ever.
All in all, another good Yuletide down. Until next year.