Hamlet of DOOM: in progress
Okay, okay. It has become clear to me that I need a place to corral all of the various things I've posted about this universe, and stick them into one pen.
Hence.
The Hamlet of DOOM was originally conceived here. Since then, the pun has become a good deal more obscure, since none of the stories actually reflect the tiny and cute genesis. The original idea was meant to be a joke on criticism, since everyone is always writing comparative essays; I had done a number of them, the semester that I initially came up with the idea, and thought it would be fun to make throwaway crossover jokes about it all. There was the added charm of imagining that Shakespeare's characters could all live independent lives from the plays, which was a pretty weak nod at theory, and a fun crossover jaunt.
IT WAS LAME. I KNOW.
I hated it for a while. About a year later, I tried reconciling some of the things I'd written with the original idea, and engaged in some completely frustrating copy&paste work. In the end, the stories I was interested in had nothing to do with each other, aside from sort of being in the same place. What I have now is pretty much a collection of stories that arise out of the same process, and have some vaguely similar features. They do connect, although only occasionally in an obvious way. Which is similar to the whole process, in a way.
These stories are all modern AU's, and written in modern English, with various regional slants, either North American or British. The question behind each one reflects this, "what if the play had not happened in the way that it did?" Which makes it sound way less overthought than it actually is; most of the plots and characterization are just more speculative manifestations of criticism and production history.
OR CRACKY WEIRD IDEAS ABOUT PEOPLE.
Henry IV Hal and John are demonhunters! This one really doesn't make sense, at all, but it's here.
Henry IV Richard and Henry, per actual plot idea, hang out and drink beer, here.
Richard II Richard and Henry are heterosexuals, magical heterosexuals who attend Hogwarts, here.
Merchant of Venice Antonio angsts about Bassanio, here.
Merchant of Venice/Cymbeline Portia and Iachimo hang out at a bar, here.
Hence.
The Hamlet of DOOM was originally conceived here. Since then, the pun has become a good deal more obscure, since none of the stories actually reflect the tiny and cute genesis. The original idea was meant to be a joke on criticism, since everyone is always writing comparative essays; I had done a number of them, the semester that I initially came up with the idea, and thought it would be fun to make throwaway crossover jokes about it all. There was the added charm of imagining that Shakespeare's characters could all live independent lives from the plays, which was a pretty weak nod at theory, and a fun crossover jaunt.
IT WAS LAME. I KNOW.
I hated it for a while. About a year later, I tried reconciling some of the things I'd written with the original idea, and engaged in some completely frustrating copy&paste work. In the end, the stories I was interested in had nothing to do with each other, aside from sort of being in the same place. What I have now is pretty much a collection of stories that arise out of the same process, and have some vaguely similar features. They do connect, although only occasionally in an obvious way. Which is similar to the whole process, in a way.
These stories are all modern AU's, and written in modern English, with various regional slants, either North American or British. The question behind each one reflects this, "what if the play had not happened in the way that it did?" Which makes it sound way less overthought than it actually is; most of the plots and characterization are just more speculative manifestations of criticism and production history.
OR CRACKY WEIRD IDEAS ABOUT PEOPLE.
Henry IV Hal and John are demonhunters! This one really doesn't make sense, at all, but it's here.
Henry IV Richard and Henry, per actual plot idea, hang out and drink beer, here.
Richard II Richard and Henry are heterosexuals, magical heterosexuals who attend Hogwarts, here.
Merchant of Venice Antonio angsts about Bassanio, here.
Merchant of Venice/Cymbeline Portia and Iachimo hang out at a bar, here.