Chevalier Mal Fet
Happy New Year, all! Time for Yuletide reveals!
This year I wrote:
Title: The Knight Who Trespasses
Fandom: Arthurian Mythology
Rating: M
Pairings: Guinevere/Arthur Pendragon, Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon
Wordcount: 3614
Summary: “They made me see that the world was beautiful if you were beautiful, and that you couldn't get unless you gave. And you had to give without wanting to get.” T.H. White - The Once and Future King. In which Lancelot wears a token, wins a tournament, and receives a prize.
I can't remember the last time I did this much research for a fic, but it was so much fun. I mean, it helps that I am a huge Arthurian romance and general medieval lit nerd, and that I had my own copy of Malory and Gawain and the Green Knight already sitting out on my bookcase, but, yeah. Research.
This is one fic where I was almost tempted to make footnotes, just to keep track of where everything was coming from. The basic characterization/background/timeline is from Malory's Morte D'Arthur (since that's the most exhaustive, and also since I couldn't find a copy of the Vulgate/Post-Vulgate Cycles anywhere online, woe). In my head, this takes place somewhere in the early part of Book V - Mordred has been born but isn't at the court, Galahad is a baby (and Lancelot doesn't know about him), and the conflict between Tristan and Mark over Iseult is in the early stages. I also played around with some other sources as well - most of the non-Malory bits, as well as the verses at the beginning, are from the Stanzaic Mort D'Arthure (which is similar enough that you can see where Malory lifted it for source-text), but there are also a few bits of scene-setting from the very much different Alliterative Mort D'Arthur (where Lancelot is a useless dork and everything is all the time swords). Gawain and the Green Knight has definitely happened in this story, but Gawain and Dame Ragnell not so much. And some half-remembered Marie de France and a very little bit of Once and Future King may have snuck in unawares (but not that bit in Lanval where Guinevere calls a knight a fag because he doesn't want to sleep with her. Because that was silly.) No Tennyson, though, and absolutely no Mists of Avalon.
Mostly I just really, really enjoyed a chance to write Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot, which is one of those pairings that is just baseline to reading the canon to me - I cannot make sense of their story except as three people who are all knotted up in love and duty and obligation, with too many feelings to disentangle themselves and no way out that they can see. The tragedy wouldn't be half so wrenching if Lancelot hadn't been so devoted to his king, if Guinevere's choice hadn't been so impossible, and if Arthur hadn't trusted them both with everything in him. (and this isn't just the fangirl in me - there are a few places in Malory where Arthur's reactions are...odd, and very hard to reconcile with him not already knowing what Guinevere and Lancelot were getting up to. Not at all convinced there weren't a few medieval shippers on board there.) Trying to make a story about the relationship between the three of them, and the delicate balance of rumor and public perception around them, was pretty interesting. Hopefully I didn't bore everyone around me by blathering about this constantly all month.
This entry was originally posted at http://masterofmidgets.dreamwidth.org/278799.html. You can also comment there using OpenID.
This year I wrote:
Title: The Knight Who Trespasses
Fandom: Arthurian Mythology
Rating: M
Pairings: Guinevere/Arthur Pendragon, Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon
Wordcount: 3614
Summary: “They made me see that the world was beautiful if you were beautiful, and that you couldn't get unless you gave. And you had to give without wanting to get.” T.H. White - The Once and Future King. In which Lancelot wears a token, wins a tournament, and receives a prize.
I can't remember the last time I did this much research for a fic, but it was so much fun. I mean, it helps that I am a huge Arthurian romance and general medieval lit nerd, and that I had my own copy of Malory and Gawain and the Green Knight already sitting out on my bookcase, but, yeah. Research.
This is one fic where I was almost tempted to make footnotes, just to keep track of where everything was coming from. The basic characterization/background/timeline is from Malory's Morte D'Arthur (since that's the most exhaustive, and also since I couldn't find a copy of the Vulgate/Post-Vulgate Cycles anywhere online, woe). In my head, this takes place somewhere in the early part of Book V - Mordred has been born but isn't at the court, Galahad is a baby (and Lancelot doesn't know about him), and the conflict between Tristan and Mark over Iseult is in the early stages. I also played around with some other sources as well - most of the non-Malory bits, as well as the verses at the beginning, are from the Stanzaic Mort D'Arthure (which is similar enough that you can see where Malory lifted it for source-text), but there are also a few bits of scene-setting from the very much different Alliterative Mort D'Arthur (where Lancelot is a useless dork and everything is all the time swords). Gawain and the Green Knight has definitely happened in this story, but Gawain and Dame Ragnell not so much. And some half-remembered Marie de France and a very little bit of Once and Future King may have snuck in unawares (but not that bit in Lanval where Guinevere calls a knight a fag because he doesn't want to sleep with her. Because that was silly.) No Tennyson, though, and absolutely no Mists of Avalon.
Mostly I just really, really enjoyed a chance to write Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot, which is one of those pairings that is just baseline to reading the canon to me - I cannot make sense of their story except as three people who are all knotted up in love and duty and obligation, with too many feelings to disentangle themselves and no way out that they can see. The tragedy wouldn't be half so wrenching if Lancelot hadn't been so devoted to his king, if Guinevere's choice hadn't been so impossible, and if Arthur hadn't trusted them both with everything in him. (and this isn't just the fangirl in me - there are a few places in Malory where Arthur's reactions are...odd, and very hard to reconcile with him not already knowing what Guinevere and Lancelot were getting up to. Not at all convinced there weren't a few medieval shippers on board there.) Trying to make a story about the relationship between the three of them, and the delicate balance of rumor and public perception around them, was pretty interesting. Hopefully I didn't bore everyone around me by blathering about this constantly all month.
This entry was originally posted at http://masterofmidgets.dreamwidth.org/278799.html. You can also comment there using OpenID.