Speaking for the Dead - Notes & Thank Yous
Notes:
Just some quick notes about a few things from the story.
The information that I’ve provided about Dean’s necromancy is, for the most part, completely made up. I did a little research into the history and development of this ability, but when I couldn’t find anything to support what I wanted to do, I threw it all out the window. And out of a sleep deprived and caffeine free brain, this version of Necromancy was born.
Also, the differences in what a Rawhead is and what they can do was taken partly from the show, and partly from a class I took while I was still in school. I audited a Myth and Legends course my school offered. And while I forgot to write down the text we were referencing (and I sold those books - stupid, stupid me, but I had rent to pay) I cannot tell you the name of the stories/poems I took my information from. Though the idea of a Rawhead and Bloody Bones had spawned nearly two dozen back to front pages of notes.
Thank You’s:
First to my readers - I love you all, and thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it!
And now to the people who helped make this story a reality!
There are so many people to thank for helping me get this story out of my head and on to paper. And if I forget someone, I’m so sorry! The only explanation I can offer is that “Speaking for the Dead” ate my brain. But know that I am beyond thankful for all the support/hand-holding/ass-into-gear-kicking you offered me!
First and foremost is silentpoetry1. She jumped into the role of cheerleader/hand-holder/ass-kicker with an excitement and zeal that could never be matched! I don’t even know where to begin with my thank you. But without her constant source of understanding and support “Speaking for the Dead” would probably still be a 10,000 word mess gathering dust on my hard drive.
She listened to me bitch and whine and complain that my story wasn’t working. And she even let me get away with it for all of a minute before beating my defeatist attitude back with an enthusiasm and unfaltering faith. She made it easier for me to crunch out that first draft by reminding me I could always go back and edit. It didn’t have to be perfect the first time around.
She is also recording podfic for this story! If you’ve all gotten to this point through following the links at the bottom of each post, you know that’s a lot of words to be reading out loud one right after the other. But she's doing it! And she doesn’t want to kill me for putting in all those extra words that keep getting in her way! (At least she doesn't want to kill me much)
She is made of wonderful and awesome, and I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her!
So for getting me to the finish line - sometimes willingly, sometimes kicking and screaming - I thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. Thank you!
Thank you to xplodey_di for helping me to the original idea and outline for “Speaking for the Dead” out of my head and onto paper. I’m pretty sure there were entire days you’d rather have beaten me over the head than listen to me talk about this fic one-more-time. You helped me flesh out an abstract idea that had just sort of winked at me from across the street into the-fic-that-ate-my-brain! Thank you!
To my betas: asm_z and dreamboat_kicks. These two women have put just as much blood and sweat into this story as I have. They took something that was riddled with mistakes, fractured sentences, dangling modifiers, and comma splices, and beat it into shape. To be honest, I am more surprised that neither of them have come to kill me yet with all that I demanded for this story. They gave up time with family and friends, worked on this through a hectic change of residence and I am in awe of what they were able to find under all the useless crap I threw at them.
Thank you! Thank you both so much!
And last but not least, thank you to alteredloc for the beautiful pieces of art you've all gotten to see as you read through this story. I tried to stalk her on LJ as soon as I found out that my story had gotten picked up. Little did I know she had a locked journal and when I couldn't find anything with her name on it I kind of got freaked out. But then I got this awesome e-mail from her, where we both sort of flailed all over the screen at one another. And then, about a week after I sent her a copy of the original first draft, she sent me the first draft of the poster you can see on the Master Post.
I was in awe! I loved the colours and the textures. I loved the flow and the way everything sort of moved and tied in together. I stopped being worried about my artist and just sort of went *face* + *monitor* = *facescreen* and just couldn't stop staring!
So, for all the hard work you put into the art you made for this story. For freaking out and flailing with me. For counting down the days and then the minutes until we could post. Thank you!
To everyone I forgot to name, either because I couldn't remember your user name (and didn't want to look like an idiot saying "You know who you are, person-who-did-this")or because I didn't think you would appreciate me plastering your real name all over the web in a public post -- Thank you. Thank you for your support and encouragement.