Yuletide: All is revealed
So, I wrote things for Yuletide. Somewhat more than I expected...
Firstly, and most importantly, my assignment, which was for paranoidangel42. I had, when signing up initially, looked at my list of fandoms I was willing to write and said to myself I might as well have just said I'd write for Paranoidangel. And then laughed, shook my head at myself, reminded myself that Yuletide is a big exchange and added in a bunch of other fandoms... and then got assigned to Paranoidangel! (So, erm, sorry about that - you just got yet more of me instead of somebody new! I had fun writing for you, though! ♥)
Backstitch in Gold (3948 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The House of Eliott
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Beatrice Eliott & Evangeline Eliott, Beatrice Eliott/Jack Maddox
Characters: Beatrice Eliott, Evangeline Eliott, Jack Maddox
Additional Tags: Yuletide, 1920s, Fashion & Couture, Sister-Sister Relationship, Misses Clause Challenge, Women Being Awesome
Summary:
What has been well-stitched together doesn’t easily fray at the seams.
I'd been rewatching HoE recently and was determined to write fic for it, because there's so little of it, and knew what I wanted to do - a sort of big Bea and Evie across-the-years, culminating in a fixit for the ending. But then it seemed to fall flat in various places, and the ending wasn't quite how I remembered it, thus scuppering my planned final section and I floundered for a while. (I had in my head that Bea and Evie had a big row and, actually, they don't. Evie is angry at everyone, but Bea is muted, almost defeated.) However, eventually, I beat it into shape & hopefully it wasn't too bad! (I've learned by now, though, that I pretty much always feel my assignments are terrible - until the next year, when suddenly I realise that last year's was quite good... but this year's is terrible.)
Anyway, it was fun to write Bea & Evie, and I am still very fond of the series. (Which follows the fortunes of a pair of sisters who set up a London fashion house in the 1920s and is good fun & all up on YT if anyone is interested). I did want to work in more characters, though, and more social history... and, yes, well, possibly being unrealistic? I think in my head I wanted to write a big HofE novel, that's all. At least I finally came up with a title I liked. I had the summary before the fic, but it was in danger of being posted as "Untitled House of Eliott fic" as the deadline approached. (Backstitch is the strongest stitch commonly used for sewing & in gold, obviously, but also because that's how Jack refers to Bea early on. Hmm, I'm not sure now why I changed it from "Backstitch in Gold Thread" because that makes more sense! I shall go change it back.)
As ever, I wrote a couple of treats while reading through people's letters, before assignments went out. One was for Clocket, who was having her first Yuletide and had requested S&S and B7, so I thought I'd try and write a little treat, because it's nice to have a treat-filled first Yuletide! Of course, my brain defaulted to S&S and, honestly, I should just have signed my name, because I wasn't exactly very anonymous, unless in the "it's so obvious it must be a double bluff" sense:
Paper Trail (2201 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire & Silver & Steel, Sapphire/Steel
Characters: Steel (Sapphire and Steel), Sapphire (Sapphire and Steel), Silver (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Yuletide
Summary:
Everything connects in surprising ways sometimes...
(With many thanks to Pers who, as ever, beta-ed most of these for me!)
Also, ariadnes_string had requested Hinterland with a supernatural edge, and I thought that sounded like a great prompt - I'm not sure I could write that fandom as it is, but throw in some fantasy/sf/mythological edge, and I'm good. Plus, I do know Aber in rl, so how could I not try? The only thing was, I'd need some help with the Welsh. Luckily, llywela13 came to my rescue (as I'd hoped) with a beta + Welsh picking/translating. I mean, I know signpost Welsh and have my Grandad's Welsh dictionary from 1960, but I don't think I could have made it otherwise. Anyway, the big surprise was that this was probably the most fun to write, even with a worryingly vague memory of the show, aided by random clips and interviews, & the fic I was most pleased with. Happily, it got some very nice comments. (I don't think much if any knowledge of canon is needed; this is not the usual kind of case for Tom and Mared and there is probably *cough* slightly more banter than the show would allow. Even though I deleted one exchange. So it's just a tiny & odd little ghost story, set in one of my favourite rl places.)
Mind, it was nearly a time travel fic, because I went to Aber in the late 90s and the original students' pub/nightclub trip in it thus involved two nightclubs that are now no more. (One of them I knew had gone; it was just a stop gap, but I had to look up current Aber nightlife - the internet is a wonderful thing! - which resulted in pained cries of, "What??!! They've closed down the Bay!!!" Even I went to the Bay (or Y Bae) once in a while. *sigh*)
Ar Haner Nos yn Glir y Daeth (Upon the Midnight Clear) (1920 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Y Gwyll | Hinterland
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom Mathias & Mared Rhys
Characters: Tom Mathias, Mared Rhys, Siân Owens
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Ghosts, References to Welsh Mythology
Summary:
A seemingly open and shut case results in Mathias and Mared hanging about the castle ruins late one night - and they find they're not alone...
The other good thing about getting Paranoidangel was, of course, that we matched on two fandoms, so I had a splendid back-up possibility - Press Gang! She wanted Lynda and Bill Sullivan, and so I had that in the back of my mind as an escape route & then at the last minute it coalesced into actual fic. I really like this one, too, so that was good - at least she'd hopefully enjoy one if not the other! And her prompt was a great one - to look at Lynda and her relationship with her English teacher Bill Sullivan. There's a S4 episode in which Lynda has a dream and he's her guardian angel in it, and Paranoidangel asked, "Is he really?" And this being Press Gang, of course, there's the freedom to play with that idea and simultaneously accept and reject it at the same time, so I did. All of which just reminded me how much I love Press Gang, how unusual it is, and how much is possible to do with it in fic. And, you know, Lynda Day being Lynda Day. More people should write Press Gang! I want to make this happen! Anyway, never mind that, have a Yule fic:
Improbable Angels (1657 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Press Gang
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lynda Day & Bill Sullivan
Characters: Lynda Day, Bill Sullivan (Press Gang), Timothy Winters
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Guardian Angels, Spoilers, Episode: s02e13 The Big Finish?, Episode: s05e01 Head and Heart, Episode: s05e06 There Are Crocodiles, Teacher-Student Relationship
Summary:
Bill Sullivan isn’t Lynda Day’s guardian angel except in her more random dreams; that would be silly.
Then, that all done, and being tired but okay-ish and grateful, I set out to skim the full requests lists and see what ficlets came from it, and so here are my extra Madness treats, including the one that scraped over 1000 words (to my annoyance; it was too flighty for Yuletide!).
Ladies in Waiting (The Hardest Part) (666 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 15th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Margaret Beaufort & Elizabeth of York
Characters: Elizabeth of York Queen of England, Margaret Beaufort
Additional Tags: Female Relationships, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary:
Being left behind to wait is always the most difficult thing.
Blame Shadow of the Tower for this one, but I really enjoyed writing it & got a couple of lovely comments.
The Quality of Mercy (Is Most Definitely Strained) (509 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Blake's 7
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kerr Avon/Servalan
Characters: Kerr Avon, Servalan (Blake's 7)
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Post Gauda Prime, Dubious Consent
Summary:
One of these days, he will kill her.
And then this one. I'm sorry, Clocket! It was a bit dark. I was just looking at B7 fic and Avon/Servalan, and there were a couple where Servalan gets to buy Avon as a slave or captures him at the end, and I was thinking, well, is there fic where it's the other way around? And wrote this. And gave it to Clocket, because she does like Avon/Servalan and dark fic. Er, so I hoped? (Sorry, Clocket!)
Extract from the Memoirs of a Credit Snake (693 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: I Claudius, British Actor RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Snake in the Opening Credits
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Snakes, Humor
Summary:
The stories some serpents could tell had they but world enough and time (and the ability to write)…
And of course this one - I was very amused by the recipient's comment in her letter that she'd even like fic about the snake in the credits of I, Claudius and wrote this total piece of crack. (For research, I watched the intro again, and checked who directed what episodes. I'm just not rewatching IC until I can be sure it won't make me have nightmares about Brian Blessed being poisoned again. There are some things nobody wants to have to face). I wrote it, went over it, hesitated over how terrible it was, and then went what the hell, it's a Madness treat. And posted. And, of course, this is the one fic that's got the most attention, such as that is. Crack wins, every time. Even though I still think it needs a bit more tweaking. I don't think you exactly need canon knowledge to read it. Basically: I Claudius has a snake in the opening credits and was made by 1970s BBC and starred Derek Jacobi. The snake remembers it well, dear reader!
How To Make A Chocolate Cake (The Secret's in the Ingredients) (1200 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sixth Doctor & Evelyn Smythe
Characters: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Cake, Women Being Awesome, Friendship
Summary:
Evelyn agrees to teach the Doctor how to make chocolate cake. It’s not as simple as it sounds…
The one that grew! The recipient wanted Six and Evelyn and cooking, and who can resist that? Pretty much no one, it turns out, as they were kind of overwhelmed by Six, Evelyn, and chocolate cake, but you can't have too much of a good thing, can you? (One of them had almost exactly the same premise as mine, too. I did feel I should maybe have left well enough alone, but, hey, if there were enough Six and Evelyn in the world, they wouldn't be eligible for Yuletide!)
I am pleased, though, that I managed to have more than one fic I could tag for the Misses Clause challenge (Yuletide sub-challenge for fic focusing on female characters), as I've never quite written something that qualified, because I've written stuff that focused on a male and female characters together in previous years.
Also I now know that it was Clocketpatch who risked complete obscurity by writing me that last minute Public Eye/Sapphire & Steel treat. (Thanks so much, Clocket! You're amazing!) My other wonderful gift was by DesertScribe, who's new to me, but whom I hope hasn't written their last S&S fic, because that one was excellent. ♥
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there:
Firstly, and most importantly, my assignment, which was for paranoidangel42. I had, when signing up initially, looked at my list of fandoms I was willing to write and said to myself I might as well have just said I'd write for Paranoidangel. And then laughed, shook my head at myself, reminded myself that Yuletide is a big exchange and added in a bunch of other fandoms... and then got assigned to Paranoidangel! (So, erm, sorry about that - you just got yet more of me instead of somebody new! I had fun writing for you, though! ♥)
Backstitch in Gold (3948 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The House of Eliott
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Beatrice Eliott & Evangeline Eliott, Beatrice Eliott/Jack Maddox
Characters: Beatrice Eliott, Evangeline Eliott, Jack Maddox
Additional Tags: Yuletide, 1920s, Fashion & Couture, Sister-Sister Relationship, Misses Clause Challenge, Women Being Awesome
Summary:
What has been well-stitched together doesn’t easily fray at the seams.
I'd been rewatching HoE recently and was determined to write fic for it, because there's so little of it, and knew what I wanted to do - a sort of big Bea and Evie across-the-years, culminating in a fixit for the ending. But then it seemed to fall flat in various places, and the ending wasn't quite how I remembered it, thus scuppering my planned final section and I floundered for a while. (I had in my head that Bea and Evie had a big row and, actually, they don't. Evie is angry at everyone, but Bea is muted, almost defeated.) However, eventually, I beat it into shape & hopefully it wasn't too bad! (I've learned by now, though, that I pretty much always feel my assignments are terrible - until the next year, when suddenly I realise that last year's was quite good... but this year's is terrible.)
Anyway, it was fun to write Bea & Evie, and I am still very fond of the series. (Which follows the fortunes of a pair of sisters who set up a London fashion house in the 1920s and is good fun & all up on YT if anyone is interested). I did want to work in more characters, though, and more social history... and, yes, well, possibly being unrealistic? I think in my head I wanted to write a big HofE novel, that's all. At least I finally came up with a title I liked. I had the summary before the fic, but it was in danger of being posted as "Untitled House of Eliott fic" as the deadline approached. (Backstitch is the strongest stitch commonly used for sewing & in gold, obviously, but also because that's how Jack refers to Bea early on. Hmm, I'm not sure now why I changed it from "Backstitch in Gold Thread" because that makes more sense! I shall go change it back.)
As ever, I wrote a couple of treats while reading through people's letters, before assignments went out. One was for Clocket, who was having her first Yuletide and had requested S&S and B7, so I thought I'd try and write a little treat, because it's nice to have a treat-filled first Yuletide! Of course, my brain defaulted to S&S and, honestly, I should just have signed my name, because I wasn't exactly very anonymous, unless in the "it's so obvious it must be a double bluff" sense:
Paper Trail (2201 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire & Silver & Steel, Sapphire/Steel
Characters: Steel (Sapphire and Steel), Sapphire (Sapphire and Steel), Silver (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Yuletide
Summary:
Everything connects in surprising ways sometimes...
(With many thanks to Pers who, as ever, beta-ed most of these for me!)
Also, ariadnes_string had requested Hinterland with a supernatural edge, and I thought that sounded like a great prompt - I'm not sure I could write that fandom as it is, but throw in some fantasy/sf/mythological edge, and I'm good. Plus, I do know Aber in rl, so how could I not try? The only thing was, I'd need some help with the Welsh. Luckily, llywela13 came to my rescue (as I'd hoped) with a beta + Welsh picking/translating. I mean, I know signpost Welsh and have my Grandad's Welsh dictionary from 1960, but I don't think I could have made it otherwise. Anyway, the big surprise was that this was probably the most fun to write, even with a worryingly vague memory of the show, aided by random clips and interviews, & the fic I was most pleased with. Happily, it got some very nice comments. (I don't think much if any knowledge of canon is needed; this is not the usual kind of case for Tom and Mared and there is probably *cough* slightly more banter than the show would allow. Even though I deleted one exchange. So it's just a tiny & odd little ghost story, set in one of my favourite rl places.)
Mind, it was nearly a time travel fic, because I went to Aber in the late 90s and the original students' pub/nightclub trip in it thus involved two nightclubs that are now no more. (One of them I knew had gone; it was just a stop gap, but I had to look up current Aber nightlife - the internet is a wonderful thing! - which resulted in pained cries of, "What??!! They've closed down the Bay!!!" Even I went to the Bay (or Y Bae) once in a while. *sigh*)
Ar Haner Nos yn Glir y Daeth (Upon the Midnight Clear) (1920 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Y Gwyll | Hinterland
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom Mathias & Mared Rhys
Characters: Tom Mathias, Mared Rhys, Siân Owens
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Ghosts, References to Welsh Mythology
Summary:
A seemingly open and shut case results in Mathias and Mared hanging about the castle ruins late one night - and they find they're not alone...
The other good thing about getting Paranoidangel was, of course, that we matched on two fandoms, so I had a splendid back-up possibility - Press Gang! She wanted Lynda and Bill Sullivan, and so I had that in the back of my mind as an escape route & then at the last minute it coalesced into actual fic. I really like this one, too, so that was good - at least she'd hopefully enjoy one if not the other! And her prompt was a great one - to look at Lynda and her relationship with her English teacher Bill Sullivan. There's a S4 episode in which Lynda has a dream and he's her guardian angel in it, and Paranoidangel asked, "Is he really?" And this being Press Gang, of course, there's the freedom to play with that idea and simultaneously accept and reject it at the same time, so I did. All of which just reminded me how much I love Press Gang, how unusual it is, and how much is possible to do with it in fic. And, you know, Lynda Day being Lynda Day. More people should write Press Gang! I want to make this happen! Anyway, never mind that, have a Yule fic:
Improbable Angels (1657 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Press Gang
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lynda Day & Bill Sullivan
Characters: Lynda Day, Bill Sullivan (Press Gang), Timothy Winters
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Guardian Angels, Spoilers, Episode: s02e13 The Big Finish?, Episode: s05e01 Head and Heart, Episode: s05e06 There Are Crocodiles, Teacher-Student Relationship
Summary:
Bill Sullivan isn’t Lynda Day’s guardian angel except in her more random dreams; that would be silly.
Then, that all done, and being tired but okay-ish and grateful, I set out to skim the full requests lists and see what ficlets came from it, and so here are my extra Madness treats, including the one that scraped over 1000 words (to my annoyance; it was too flighty for Yuletide!).
Ladies in Waiting (The Hardest Part) (666 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 15th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Margaret Beaufort & Elizabeth of York
Characters: Elizabeth of York Queen of England, Margaret Beaufort
Additional Tags: Female Relationships, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary:
Being left behind to wait is always the most difficult thing.
Blame Shadow of the Tower for this one, but I really enjoyed writing it & got a couple of lovely comments.
The Quality of Mercy (Is Most Definitely Strained) (509 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Blake's 7
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kerr Avon/Servalan
Characters: Kerr Avon, Servalan (Blake's 7)
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Post Gauda Prime, Dubious Consent
Summary:
One of these days, he will kill her.
And then this one. I'm sorry, Clocket! It was a bit dark. I was just looking at B7 fic and Avon/Servalan, and there were a couple where Servalan gets to buy Avon as a slave or captures him at the end, and I was thinking, well, is there fic where it's the other way around? And wrote this. And gave it to Clocket, because she does like Avon/Servalan and dark fic. Er, so I hoped? (Sorry, Clocket!)
Extract from the Memoirs of a Credit Snake (693 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: I Claudius, British Actor RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Snake in the Opening Credits
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Snakes, Humor
Summary:
The stories some serpents could tell had they but world enough and time (and the ability to write)…
And of course this one - I was very amused by the recipient's comment in her letter that she'd even like fic about the snake in the credits of I, Claudius and wrote this total piece of crack. (For research, I watched the intro again, and checked who directed what episodes. I'm just not rewatching IC until I can be sure it won't make me have nightmares about Brian Blessed being poisoned again. There are some things nobody wants to have to face). I wrote it, went over it, hesitated over how terrible it was, and then went what the hell, it's a Madness treat. And posted. And, of course, this is the one fic that's got the most attention, such as that is. Crack wins, every time. Even though I still think it needs a bit more tweaking. I don't think you exactly need canon knowledge to read it. Basically: I Claudius has a snake in the opening credits and was made by 1970s BBC and starred Derek Jacobi. The snake remembers it well, dear reader!
How To Make A Chocolate Cake (The Secret's in the Ingredients) (1200 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sixth Doctor & Evelyn Smythe
Characters: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Cake, Women Being Awesome, Friendship
Summary:
Evelyn agrees to teach the Doctor how to make chocolate cake. It’s not as simple as it sounds…
The one that grew! The recipient wanted Six and Evelyn and cooking, and who can resist that? Pretty much no one, it turns out, as they were kind of overwhelmed by Six, Evelyn, and chocolate cake, but you can't have too much of a good thing, can you? (One of them had almost exactly the same premise as mine, too. I did feel I should maybe have left well enough alone, but, hey, if there were enough Six and Evelyn in the world, they wouldn't be eligible for Yuletide!)
I am pleased, though, that I managed to have more than one fic I could tag for the Misses Clause challenge (Yuletide sub-challenge for fic focusing on female characters), as I've never quite written something that qualified, because I've written stuff that focused on a male and female characters together in previous years.
Also I now know that it was Clocketpatch who risked complete obscurity by writing me that last minute Public Eye/Sapphire & Steel treat. (Thanks so much, Clocket! You're amazing!) My other wonderful gift was by DesertScribe, who's new to me, but whom I hope hasn't written their last S&S fic, because that one was excellent. ♥
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there: