La farsa del destino Q&A
I was deeply flattered when phlox told me that La farsa del destina had been nominated to be featured this month. Thank you to everyone who voted for me.
Several of the questions posed to me were answered back in 2010, when I was featured author for March, as well as when Tender Vengeance was featured in July of the same year. I thought the thing to do would be to post a link back to those Q&A’s, with the idea of highlighting anything that’s changed, then move on to answer the questions that are specific to La farsa del destina. The links to those are below.
Featured Author Q&A
Tender Vengeance Q&A
And now on to the current Q&A. Although tbh, there’s a lot of text under that cut. Be warned.
How did you get into D/Hr? How long have you been writing D/Hr? What is your writing process like?
I answered those questions pretty thoroughly in the earlier sessions, and in looking over the earlier posts, there’s really not much to add. My writing process hasn’t changed much, if at all. What has changed over the past three years has been that most of my free time has been taken up writing original fic rather than fanfic. Since writing fanfic is my outlet, my decompress mode, not having time for it lately has been frustrating. But, once I put the current novel to bed, I have no looming deadlines and no contracts. I am going to take a breather before I plunge into the next novel, and get back to updating my WIPS.
How did you come up with the plot for this story?
The Reverse Challenge is possibly the best idea for a writing challenge, ever. IIRC (big if, at this point, but let’s pretend) the writers who volunteered were given a list of question to answer, such as, were there topics we didn’t want to write, or did we not want certain types of art, like manips. So, being pretty open minded, I was up for almost anything. And, we were asked if we were willing to pinch-hit if someone else couldn’t complete the assignment they’d been given. So, there I was, well into my primary Reverse Challenge fic, Penthesilea, or, The Secret Kiss based on Riptey’s incredible drawing, and that was a dark and twisted fic if ever there was one. And, you know, if you’ve read any of my other work, that the dark side is kinda where I live. And a call comes out for the pinch-hitters and given the timing, and the low word count requirement, I figure I can do this. Let’s not even talk about what was going on with my original fic deadlines at that point.
Then I get offered my pics, one of which is Gryffindor_Slytherin’s A Portrait of Royalty, and my reaction to it is just….awww. I thought it was absolutely adorable. And even though I am all about the darkness, this inspired me to write one of my rare attempts at light fluffy stuff where there are no bad guys and everyone gets a happy ending. It was a fairytale portrait and I imagined a slightly cracked fairy tale to go with it, because I just couldn’t imagine the slightest shade of darkness with that pic, and I didn’t think that anyone could. In fact, here’s what I told one of the reviewers shortly after my story was posted, about having been given a choice between a beautiful piece of art that just screamed “angst” which is my usual wheelhouse, and:
….this charming and whimsical piece that couldn't have been angsty if it tried. (Or, I suppose it could, but it would have had to have tried really, really hard: a lot harder than I had energy for, lol!)
And, now, some of you are giggling madly. Because all the pics had two authors, and the other author who took that pic was everythursday/Sage, and she came up with this little thing called Creatures of the Wind.
CotW is not just angsty, it is one of the most lyrically written, heartbreakingly beautiful, utterly devastating pieces of fanfic I’ve ever read. So, I guess that picture must have tried really, really hard to be angsty for her, lol!
I cannot tell you how much I love the fact that such extremely different stories were both inspired by the same picture, or how gratifying it was that both stories won awards in the challenge (even though I usually don’t participate in awards). I also cannot tell you how much pure fun it was to participate in this particular challenge. Suffice it to say that though I haven’t been very active in the fandom lately, I signed up for the next reverse challenge as soon as it was posted.
How did it develop?
Very quickly, lol. And, also, with extreme difficulty. I got the two pictures to choose from on July 31, and decided on Portrait of Royalty on August 3. The deadline to turn in the story was August 28th. Which, when you are talking about a pinch-hit with a mere 1K word limit ought to be pretty doable. Especially for someone whose personal word-count record for one day is 17K (after which I was physically drained, emotionally exhausted, and slept for three days, but still, *G*). Now, each picture had notes from the artist, not necessarily about what they wanted in a story, but about elements of their art, or technical things like a willingness to replace the text of a banner with the title of the story, that kind of stuff. In her note, Griffindor_Slytherin said she’d just gotten a new bird, and that was why Hermione is holding this little yellow bird in her hand. And, that inspired the birds-of-paradise who go twittering about leading people off down different corridors in the enchanted castle. So far, so good.
But then there was Pansy. OMG. Pansy.
Despite this being a Dramione fic written for a Dramione challenge on a Dramione site, Pansy got the idea that she was the main character. I intended her as the catalyst, and the frame, to what is essentially a story about how Draco and Hermione get together.
Pansy thought that the point of the story was how her Epic Fairytale Romance with Draco Malfoy got sidetracked and what she was going to do to get him back. Which, you know, is kind of how the catalyst and framing worked.
Except that she insisted on taking a lot more time and attention than she should have. In early drafts, the opening scene isn’t about her childhood expectations, it’s a long and involved thing of her sitting around getting drunk with Millicent while bewailing Draco’s engagement. And, there are descriptions of the society page announcements and what the witches and wizards in the photos are getting up to (Ron and Hermione snogging wildly in their announcement, Draco and Ria behaving like a demure Victorian couple and only exchanging a chaste kiss in theirs). It all goes on way too long and gets us way too far away from the Dramione point of the story.
Now, keep in mind that I was still wrapping up PotSK, my main reverse challenge fic, plus working on an even more critical deadline for my original fic. Still, by August 8, five days after I chose the picture, I had about 5K done. The deadline had been pushed back to August 21, due to server issues, and that was when I finished up PotSK and sent that off. But, I needed to take the extension for the pinch-hit fic until the 28th.
Because Pansy was still running away with it.
So much so that I threw everything out and started over. Like, three days before it was due. Days which I spent writing like a madwoman, not sleeping, and living on caffeine. (Kind of like I am right now, come to think of it…)
Because writing is like that, sometimes.
So. Yeah. Pansy. Really gave me a hard time on that one, she did. But, clearly, worth the effort.
How long have you been writing it?
Depends on how you define “writing.” I’m quite serious about that answer. Because even though I didn’t sit down and start typing immediately, the writing process really began the minute I got those two pictures on July 31. It isn’t always like that. I see pictures and pieces of art all the time. I love going to museums, and most of my life has been spent in cities with world-class museums. Naturally, inspiration will sometimes strike when I see a picture that particularly moves me, but mainly, I’m just enjoying the art for what it is, and the story the artist has already told. The Reverse Challenge was different. Even before I clicked on the links to each picture, I was in create mode, and from the instant I viewed them, I was deliberately and consciously trying to find inspiration in them, trying to see the kind of story lines they suggested to me. Plus, I could only write a story for one, so even if both were sparking ideas-and both of them were-I had to pick one, and give the other one up to another writer (that was the hardest part of the challenge, believe me!) The deadline was August 28, but as I said, I was also working on PotSK until the 21st, had other writing obligations, and on top of that, I threw out everything I had on this one and started it over. But, even the stuff I discarded was part of the process, and a lot of the scenes and images, as well as the general shape of the thing, made their way into the final version, even if a lot of text got junked. TBH, I went a few hours past the deadline, and later, just before the piece was posted, there was some editing needed. So, one answer is that I worked on the story for about a month, month and a half. And another is that the story in its current form took about five days. And yet another is there are still some typos I’d like to fix, so that’s about three years. *G*
Do you write as the mood strikes or on a schedule?
Yes. Because this was a pinch hit, I had just four weeks to write it. And, as I said, it wasn’t the only iron I had in the fire. So, because it had the earlier deadline, I had to wrap up PotSK first, and then there were the professional obligations which had to take precedence, and there I was working on Lfdd at every spare moment I could shoehorn in within that, because it was due by the 28th. And that was with an extension.
In general, I write every day, whenever I can spare the time. What I write may depend on what mood strikes me, or it may depend on whether I have a contractual deadline by which I must have something finished. I don’t have a schedule per se, because I have a day job, and it really does come down to, can I spend my lunch hour working on this, or is there a meeting I should be going to, or do I have an errand to run? So, no schedules, but also, no sitting around and waiting for the mood to strike. I just don’t have the time.
Did you outline down to every moment, or does the story lead you instead?
I never outline, or almost never. Maybe if I need to clear my head, remind myself of what I’m trying to accomplish, I may scribble something vaguely outline-like. At the same time, I wouldn’t say the story leads me. I always know exactly where I’m going with it, how it will end, main points along the way. But a helluva lot can and does happen along the way. I talked about this in one of the earlier posts. One thing I said then, and still believe, is that a writer has to go with her gut feelings, and that some of the strongest/best/favorite bits of my writing, both pro and fan, has come from things I didn’t know I was going to write until the words were being typed on the page.
What is your favorite thing about this story?
Pansy.
Is there something about it that surprised you?
Pansy.
Was there a part that was difficult to write? If so, why?
Pansy.
Okay, couldn’t resist, because the character really did take things over, and I really did have a hard time reining her in.
I’m not sure I have a favorite thing about the story, per se. I definitely had a lot of fun with Pansy, once I smacked her into submission and kept her as the frame, rather than the focus (or, well, less of the focus than she was trying to be). But I had a lot of fun with all the elements of the story, including the dragon that seems to be a threat but isn’t, and Ron as the literal knight in shining armor, and of course the fun I was poking at the Astoria/Asteria fandom feud, or the little birds flitting about as guides. Also, the dreams that both Ria and Hermione are having, where their worst fears are being realized and which they are experiencing as nightmares, but which are presented to the readers as these kind of slapstick comedies. I mean, the babies popping up every five minutes in Hermione’s nightmare, and Snape being “only a little bit green” from years of moldering in his grave in Ria’s. Horrifying for the characters, but (hopefully) hilarious for us.
At the same time, Pansy being my favorite thing, and the thing that surprised me, and the thing that was the most difficult to write are all true. Canon Pansy is shallow, selfish, and cruel. And, in the early drafts, where I was trying to set her up as the frame that would lead to Draco and Hermione getting together, she’s much more self-centered, and much less sympathetic. None of which worked. But the more I got into her story, and saw it from the point of view of an adolescent girl who has had these fairytale expectations, and been encouraged by her family to have them, only to have life knock them out from under her…I kind of began to feel a bit sorry for her, a bit sympathetic. And that was when both the story and the character blossomed. She surprised me by becoming this very likeable, very competent and talented character, one I became very fond of. And, I really liked that she'd done that. But, man, the false starts before I got there, and throwing out thousands of words of fic because they weren’t what I needed...that was a real bitch.
Do you have a favorite line of dialogue from the story?
So many. Pansy reading the ancient parchment with these ominous, dire-sounding instructions, and the shrugging and just reading the words off the parchment; her terrified run-on sentence to get her explanation of her thwarted destiny out so Ananke won’t eat her heart; the “only a little bit green” line; Draco telling Hermione he saves the Russian and Chinese cursing for truly desperate situations, then later cursing in Russian and Chinese; some of the banter between Ron and Pansy when they run into each other while going off to drown their sorrows.
But I think the last line is probably my overall favorite, because it tells you that Pansy got her fairytale ending, after all, just not the way she expected and not with whom she expected. Every single element of her lifelong fantasy is subverted. She doesn't have this huge elegant wedding, she elopes. She doesn't marry pure-blood royalty, she runs off with a sports star. She isn't married to someone who will bow to her ever wish, and who never argues with her, but to someone who won't pull his punches with her, and will always tell her the truth, pleasant or not. But she is still wildly, deliriously happy, and she's grateful for, maybe a little humbled by, her happiness. So. Yeah. That line.
How did you come up with the title?
As I said in one of the earlier posts, sometimes I need absolute silence when I’m writing, and sometimes I need music, and there, I have pretty eclectic tastes; opera, ballet, Broadway, blues, rock, pop, disco, alternative. I have this really neat 3-disk CD of arias by famous opera stars, most recorded in the 50s and 60s. I was listening to that collection a lot during this time period, and there was one aria, Pace, pace mio Dio, sung by Montserrat Caballé, from La forza del destino, or in English, The Force of Destiny. That particular opera is not one I’m really familiar with, so I had looked it up and found out the plot, which was typically tragic and gut wrenching. The idea of destiny being a force to be reckoned with clearly had a strong influence on the story I came up with for the pinch-hit I was doing, and that was the original title I gave the story: the same title as the opera. But that opera is pretty angsty, which is not the direction I wanted to take this fic. So there were other titles, playing off the title of the picture, like Royal Pains, Royal Opportunity….none of them really worked, until I decided to change one little word of the opera’s English title, and came up with The Farce of Destiny. Ultimately, of course, I went back to the original Italian, with the force/farce change becoming forze/farsa. That just felt right for this story, in ways that even the English version of the title didn't.
What is one thing you want people to take away from this story?
I just want people to take away a good time, an entertaining read. But I suppose if there is a take away, and possibly the thing that lies at the bottom of my being inspired to craft the story as I did, it’s that one’s destiny ultimately lies in one’s own hands. In the end, all of the characters had to take actions, or acknowledge what they wanted, in order to get what they wanted. And they all got their happy endings.
What has inspired you to keep writing it?
Honestly? The deadline, lol! That, and, once I had the idea, I just wanted to beat it into submission and craft the story into something light and entertaining. Because, really? The early drafts when Pansy was running things? Cringe-worthy.
I can only say I’m glad it turned out the way it did, and that so many people have enjoyed it over the past few years since it was posted.
And, I think that answers things pretty thoroughly.
Thank you again to everyone who voted for La farsa del destina as one of the featured stories this month.
The story itself can be found here:
La farsa del destino
Several of the questions posed to me were answered back in 2010, when I was featured author for March, as well as when Tender Vengeance was featured in July of the same year. I thought the thing to do would be to post a link back to those Q&A’s, with the idea of highlighting anything that’s changed, then move on to answer the questions that are specific to La farsa del destina. The links to those are below.
Featured Author Q&A
Tender Vengeance Q&A
And now on to the current Q&A. Although tbh, there’s a lot of text under that cut. Be warned.
How did you get into D/Hr? How long have you been writing D/Hr? What is your writing process like?
I answered those questions pretty thoroughly in the earlier sessions, and in looking over the earlier posts, there’s really not much to add. My writing process hasn’t changed much, if at all. What has changed over the past three years has been that most of my free time has been taken up writing original fic rather than fanfic. Since writing fanfic is my outlet, my decompress mode, not having time for it lately has been frustrating. But, once I put the current novel to bed, I have no looming deadlines and no contracts. I am going to take a breather before I plunge into the next novel, and get back to updating my WIPS.
How did you come up with the plot for this story?
The Reverse Challenge is possibly the best idea for a writing challenge, ever. IIRC (big if, at this point, but let’s pretend) the writers who volunteered were given a list of question to answer, such as, were there topics we didn’t want to write, or did we not want certain types of art, like manips. So, being pretty open minded, I was up for almost anything. And, we were asked if we were willing to pinch-hit if someone else couldn’t complete the assignment they’d been given. So, there I was, well into my primary Reverse Challenge fic, Penthesilea, or, The Secret Kiss based on Riptey’s incredible drawing, and that was a dark and twisted fic if ever there was one. And, you know, if you’ve read any of my other work, that the dark side is kinda where I live. And a call comes out for the pinch-hitters and given the timing, and the low word count requirement, I figure I can do this. Let’s not even talk about what was going on with my original fic deadlines at that point.
Then I get offered my pics, one of which is Gryffindor_Slytherin’s A Portrait of Royalty, and my reaction to it is just….awww. I thought it was absolutely adorable. And even though I am all about the darkness, this inspired me to write one of my rare attempts at light fluffy stuff where there are no bad guys and everyone gets a happy ending. It was a fairytale portrait and I imagined a slightly cracked fairy tale to go with it, because I just couldn’t imagine the slightest shade of darkness with that pic, and I didn’t think that anyone could. In fact, here’s what I told one of the reviewers shortly after my story was posted, about having been given a choice between a beautiful piece of art that just screamed “angst” which is my usual wheelhouse, and:
….this charming and whimsical piece that couldn't have been angsty if it tried. (Or, I suppose it could, but it would have had to have tried really, really hard: a lot harder than I had energy for, lol!)
And, now, some of you are giggling madly. Because all the pics had two authors, and the other author who took that pic was everythursday/Sage, and she came up with this little thing called Creatures of the Wind.
CotW is not just angsty, it is one of the most lyrically written, heartbreakingly beautiful, utterly devastating pieces of fanfic I’ve ever read. So, I guess that picture must have tried really, really hard to be angsty for her, lol!
I cannot tell you how much I love the fact that such extremely different stories were both inspired by the same picture, or how gratifying it was that both stories won awards in the challenge (even though I usually don’t participate in awards). I also cannot tell you how much pure fun it was to participate in this particular challenge. Suffice it to say that though I haven’t been very active in the fandom lately, I signed up for the next reverse challenge as soon as it was posted.
How did it develop?
Very quickly, lol. And, also, with extreme difficulty. I got the two pictures to choose from on July 31, and decided on Portrait of Royalty on August 3. The deadline to turn in the story was August 28th. Which, when you are talking about a pinch-hit with a mere 1K word limit ought to be pretty doable. Especially for someone whose personal word-count record for one day is 17K (after which I was physically drained, emotionally exhausted, and slept for three days, but still, *G*). Now, each picture had notes from the artist, not necessarily about what they wanted in a story, but about elements of their art, or technical things like a willingness to replace the text of a banner with the title of the story, that kind of stuff. In her note, Griffindor_Slytherin said she’d just gotten a new bird, and that was why Hermione is holding this little yellow bird in her hand. And, that inspired the birds-of-paradise who go twittering about leading people off down different corridors in the enchanted castle. So far, so good.
But then there was Pansy. OMG. Pansy.
Despite this being a Dramione fic written for a Dramione challenge on a Dramione site, Pansy got the idea that she was the main character. I intended her as the catalyst, and the frame, to what is essentially a story about how Draco and Hermione get together.
Pansy thought that the point of the story was how her Epic Fairytale Romance with Draco Malfoy got sidetracked and what she was going to do to get him back. Which, you know, is kind of how the catalyst and framing worked.
Except that she insisted on taking a lot more time and attention than she should have. In early drafts, the opening scene isn’t about her childhood expectations, it’s a long and involved thing of her sitting around getting drunk with Millicent while bewailing Draco’s engagement. And, there are descriptions of the society page announcements and what the witches and wizards in the photos are getting up to (Ron and Hermione snogging wildly in their announcement, Draco and Ria behaving like a demure Victorian couple and only exchanging a chaste kiss in theirs). It all goes on way too long and gets us way too far away from the Dramione point of the story.
Now, keep in mind that I was still wrapping up PotSK, my main reverse challenge fic, plus working on an even more critical deadline for my original fic. Still, by August 8, five days after I chose the picture, I had about 5K done. The deadline had been pushed back to August 21, due to server issues, and that was when I finished up PotSK and sent that off. But, I needed to take the extension for the pinch-hit fic until the 28th.
Because Pansy was still running away with it.
So much so that I threw everything out and started over. Like, three days before it was due. Days which I spent writing like a madwoman, not sleeping, and living on caffeine. (Kind of like I am right now, come to think of it…)
Because writing is like that, sometimes.
So. Yeah. Pansy. Really gave me a hard time on that one, she did. But, clearly, worth the effort.
How long have you been writing it?
Depends on how you define “writing.” I’m quite serious about that answer. Because even though I didn’t sit down and start typing immediately, the writing process really began the minute I got those two pictures on July 31. It isn’t always like that. I see pictures and pieces of art all the time. I love going to museums, and most of my life has been spent in cities with world-class museums. Naturally, inspiration will sometimes strike when I see a picture that particularly moves me, but mainly, I’m just enjoying the art for what it is, and the story the artist has already told. The Reverse Challenge was different. Even before I clicked on the links to each picture, I was in create mode, and from the instant I viewed them, I was deliberately and consciously trying to find inspiration in them, trying to see the kind of story lines they suggested to me. Plus, I could only write a story for one, so even if both were sparking ideas-and both of them were-I had to pick one, and give the other one up to another writer (that was the hardest part of the challenge, believe me!) The deadline was August 28, but as I said, I was also working on PotSK until the 21st, had other writing obligations, and on top of that, I threw out everything I had on this one and started it over. But, even the stuff I discarded was part of the process, and a lot of the scenes and images, as well as the general shape of the thing, made their way into the final version, even if a lot of text got junked. TBH, I went a few hours past the deadline, and later, just before the piece was posted, there was some editing needed. So, one answer is that I worked on the story for about a month, month and a half. And another is that the story in its current form took about five days. And yet another is there are still some typos I’d like to fix, so that’s about three years. *G*
Do you write as the mood strikes or on a schedule?
Yes. Because this was a pinch hit, I had just four weeks to write it. And, as I said, it wasn’t the only iron I had in the fire. So, because it had the earlier deadline, I had to wrap up PotSK first, and then there were the professional obligations which had to take precedence, and there I was working on Lfdd at every spare moment I could shoehorn in within that, because it was due by the 28th. And that was with an extension.
In general, I write every day, whenever I can spare the time. What I write may depend on what mood strikes me, or it may depend on whether I have a contractual deadline by which I must have something finished. I don’t have a schedule per se, because I have a day job, and it really does come down to, can I spend my lunch hour working on this, or is there a meeting I should be going to, or do I have an errand to run? So, no schedules, but also, no sitting around and waiting for the mood to strike. I just don’t have the time.
Did you outline down to every moment, or does the story lead you instead?
I never outline, or almost never. Maybe if I need to clear my head, remind myself of what I’m trying to accomplish, I may scribble something vaguely outline-like. At the same time, I wouldn’t say the story leads me. I always know exactly where I’m going with it, how it will end, main points along the way. But a helluva lot can and does happen along the way. I talked about this in one of the earlier posts. One thing I said then, and still believe, is that a writer has to go with her gut feelings, and that some of the strongest/best/favorite bits of my writing, both pro and fan, has come from things I didn’t know I was going to write until the words were being typed on the page.
What is your favorite thing about this story?
Pansy.
Is there something about it that surprised you?
Pansy.
Was there a part that was difficult to write? If so, why?
Pansy.
Okay, couldn’t resist, because the character really did take things over, and I really did have a hard time reining her in.
I’m not sure I have a favorite thing about the story, per se. I definitely had a lot of fun with Pansy, once I smacked her into submission and kept her as the frame, rather than the focus (or, well, less of the focus than she was trying to be). But I had a lot of fun with all the elements of the story, including the dragon that seems to be a threat but isn’t, and Ron as the literal knight in shining armor, and of course the fun I was poking at the Astoria/Asteria fandom feud, or the little birds flitting about as guides. Also, the dreams that both Ria and Hermione are having, where their worst fears are being realized and which they are experiencing as nightmares, but which are presented to the readers as these kind of slapstick comedies. I mean, the babies popping up every five minutes in Hermione’s nightmare, and Snape being “only a little bit green” from years of moldering in his grave in Ria’s. Horrifying for the characters, but (hopefully) hilarious for us.
At the same time, Pansy being my favorite thing, and the thing that surprised me, and the thing that was the most difficult to write are all true. Canon Pansy is shallow, selfish, and cruel. And, in the early drafts, where I was trying to set her up as the frame that would lead to Draco and Hermione getting together, she’s much more self-centered, and much less sympathetic. None of which worked. But the more I got into her story, and saw it from the point of view of an adolescent girl who has had these fairytale expectations, and been encouraged by her family to have them, only to have life knock them out from under her…I kind of began to feel a bit sorry for her, a bit sympathetic. And that was when both the story and the character blossomed. She surprised me by becoming this very likeable, very competent and talented character, one I became very fond of. And, I really liked that she'd done that. But, man, the false starts before I got there, and throwing out thousands of words of fic because they weren’t what I needed...that was a real bitch.
Do you have a favorite line of dialogue from the story?
So many. Pansy reading the ancient parchment with these ominous, dire-sounding instructions, and the shrugging and just reading the words off the parchment; her terrified run-on sentence to get her explanation of her thwarted destiny out so Ananke won’t eat her heart; the “only a little bit green” line; Draco telling Hermione he saves the Russian and Chinese cursing for truly desperate situations, then later cursing in Russian and Chinese; some of the banter between Ron and Pansy when they run into each other while going off to drown their sorrows.
But I think the last line is probably my overall favorite, because it tells you that Pansy got her fairytale ending, after all, just not the way she expected and not with whom she expected. Every single element of her lifelong fantasy is subverted. She doesn't have this huge elegant wedding, she elopes. She doesn't marry pure-blood royalty, she runs off with a sports star. She isn't married to someone who will bow to her ever wish, and who never argues with her, but to someone who won't pull his punches with her, and will always tell her the truth, pleasant or not. But she is still wildly, deliriously happy, and she's grateful for, maybe a little humbled by, her happiness. So. Yeah. That line.
How did you come up with the title?
As I said in one of the earlier posts, sometimes I need absolute silence when I’m writing, and sometimes I need music, and there, I have pretty eclectic tastes; opera, ballet, Broadway, blues, rock, pop, disco, alternative. I have this really neat 3-disk CD of arias by famous opera stars, most recorded in the 50s and 60s. I was listening to that collection a lot during this time period, and there was one aria, Pace, pace mio Dio, sung by Montserrat Caballé, from La forza del destino, or in English, The Force of Destiny. That particular opera is not one I’m really familiar with, so I had looked it up and found out the plot, which was typically tragic and gut wrenching. The idea of destiny being a force to be reckoned with clearly had a strong influence on the story I came up with for the pinch-hit I was doing, and that was the original title I gave the story: the same title as the opera. But that opera is pretty angsty, which is not the direction I wanted to take this fic. So there were other titles, playing off the title of the picture, like Royal Pains, Royal Opportunity….none of them really worked, until I decided to change one little word of the opera’s English title, and came up with The Farce of Destiny. Ultimately, of course, I went back to the original Italian, with the force/farce change becoming forze/farsa. That just felt right for this story, in ways that even the English version of the title didn't.
What is one thing you want people to take away from this story?
I just want people to take away a good time, an entertaining read. But I suppose if there is a take away, and possibly the thing that lies at the bottom of my being inspired to craft the story as I did, it’s that one’s destiny ultimately lies in one’s own hands. In the end, all of the characters had to take actions, or acknowledge what they wanted, in order to get what they wanted. And they all got their happy endings.
What has inspired you to keep writing it?
Honestly? The deadline, lol! That, and, once I had the idea, I just wanted to beat it into submission and craft the story into something light and entertaining. Because, really? The early drafts when Pansy was running things? Cringe-worthy.
I can only say I’m glad it turned out the way it did, and that so many people have enjoyed it over the past few years since it was posted.
And, I think that answers things pretty thoroughly.
Thank you again to everyone who voted for La farsa del destina as one of the featured stories this month.
The story itself can be found here:
La farsa del destino