Yuletide reveal!
Late, I know! But now that all the Yuletide authors have been revealed, I can say that my story was set in Madeleine L'Engle's Time series (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, etc.). These were among my favorite books when I was a kid - right up there with Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia in the list of novels I first adored. My recipient was cyphomandra, whose request was:
I definitely skew more towards the Kairos/Murry books, with my favourite being A Swiftly Tilting Planet, but I do really like the world of these books; the focus on connections, on science as well as art, and family. I would prefer something with a glimpse of the unearthly, if possible, and I'd love to see more of Charles Wallace - what's he like as an adult? Or something in between the earlier books, a breathing space or a more local conflict.
To fulfill that request, I wrote:
A Song by Starlight, a story set three or four years after A Swiftly Tilting Planet, in which Meg and Charles Wallace have another adventure and Charles Wallace graduates from high school (sort of).
terrio, luzdeestrellas, Dorinda and elynross were wonderful editors and hand-holders through the course of the story, and therienne and aka_arduinna literally kept me alive while I wrote it. I adore them all.
I added this series as an offer at the VERY last minute, literally. It was late, and I was awash with insomniac optimism, and I thought, "I love these books! I can do this! I want that story too!" I was sure I wouldn't match up on it, though, because I had a ton of cool thoughts running through my head about it and that's usually a sure sign that Yuletide will surprise me with something else. =)
When I got my FIRST assignment, and it was this, I was slightly terrified but also over the moon, because the ideas I'd had the night I offered it had been percolating and I really, really wanted to do it and I really, really wanted to do it well. And then there was a glitch! And assignments were recalled, and I was horribly sad, because by then WOW did I ever want to write this story. And then assignments were reassigned and I got the same one! And there was much, much rejoicing.
I did approximately 1.5 months of research before I started writing - research that never actually made it into the story, but was fun and interesting. I now know more about bees and colony collapse disorder than any fan alive who is not also a beekeeper. And then I wrote, and then I got horribly sick - like, really horribly badly sick - but I still never, even for a second, thought seriously about not writing the story. I wrote a large chunk of it while I was capable of doing little more than sitting on a sofa covered in blankets with a laptop in front of me, consuming little more than tea with honey interspersed with doses of Nyquil. The only hang-up I had was trying to settle on a summary for it when it was all beta'd and ready to upload - the final was "Charles Wallace graduates", but as I told therienne, aka_arduinna, elynross and Dorinda, I came perilously close to going with "A story that's covered in BEES!"
And weirdly, it was the easiest story I've ever written. It just sort of wrote itself, with little intervention from me, and I didn't have my usual angst-filled bout of self-editing and despair, and I didn't make myself crazy trying to settle on the right ending. It was fun and easy, and I kind of adore it, and I'm really happy that cyphomandra liked it, too.
I was really nervous about that last part, because I was writing to her request but also writing the story I wanted to read, and it is -- how shall I put this -- significantly more out there than any (serious) story I've ever written before, and I'm including last year's zombies-under-the-palace Vorkosigan story in that grouping. I told my beta readers, "It may not be the best story I've written, and it may never be the most popular story I've written, but it will always be the one with the highest percentage of giant, talking bees." (It's also probably the only story in existence that features a giant, talking bee and never actually uses the word bee.)
So - it was fun, it was oddly easy, and it was a stretch into something new for me, and for all those reasons I'm really happy that cyphomandra asked for it and that I had the chance to write it. All in all, I adored this Yuletide as much as I expected to and as much as I usually do, and can't wait to do it again.
Now, as a recipient this year, I made out like a bandit. I've already gone into extensive happy rambles about my stories here, but I wanted to add a personalized thank-you to the writers now that I can:
Once Upon a Mistletoe, by Jheen, is a lovely Reid/Morgan Criminal Minds story with a side of Garcia, who regularly wins my internal "favorite female character on TV" contests.
Happy New Year, by ladybug218, is a Bones story, and the story of the second kiss Brennan and Booth needed to have.
Yes, by Laylah, is set after Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls novel is a sweet, calm, easy first-time story for Ghost and Steve with music and lemonade and honey.
and Missing Mile, by Cher, is also set after that novel and is a sweet, hot, needy first-time story for Ghost and Steve with beer and bad dreams and desperation.
It was an embarrassment of riches, and each of these stories made me really happy in a way totally different from the others, and you all rock. Thank you!
I definitely skew more towards the Kairos/Murry books, with my favourite being A Swiftly Tilting Planet, but I do really like the world of these books; the focus on connections, on science as well as art, and family. I would prefer something with a glimpse of the unearthly, if possible, and I'd love to see more of Charles Wallace - what's he like as an adult? Or something in between the earlier books, a breathing space or a more local conflict.
To fulfill that request, I wrote:
A Song by Starlight, a story set three or four years after A Swiftly Tilting Planet, in which Meg and Charles Wallace have another adventure and Charles Wallace graduates from high school (sort of).
terrio, luzdeestrellas, Dorinda and elynross were wonderful editors and hand-holders through the course of the story, and therienne and aka_arduinna literally kept me alive while I wrote it. I adore them all.
I added this series as an offer at the VERY last minute, literally. It was late, and I was awash with insomniac optimism, and I thought, "I love these books! I can do this! I want that story too!" I was sure I wouldn't match up on it, though, because I had a ton of cool thoughts running through my head about it and that's usually a sure sign that Yuletide will surprise me with something else. =)
When I got my FIRST assignment, and it was this, I was slightly terrified but also over the moon, because the ideas I'd had the night I offered it had been percolating and I really, really wanted to do it and I really, really wanted to do it well. And then there was a glitch! And assignments were recalled, and I was horribly sad, because by then WOW did I ever want to write this story. And then assignments were reassigned and I got the same one! And there was much, much rejoicing.
I did approximately 1.5 months of research before I started writing - research that never actually made it into the story, but was fun and interesting. I now know more about bees and colony collapse disorder than any fan alive who is not also a beekeeper. And then I wrote, and then I got horribly sick - like, really horribly badly sick - but I still never, even for a second, thought seriously about not writing the story. I wrote a large chunk of it while I was capable of doing little more than sitting on a sofa covered in blankets with a laptop in front of me, consuming little more than tea with honey interspersed with doses of Nyquil. The only hang-up I had was trying to settle on a summary for it when it was all beta'd and ready to upload - the final was "Charles Wallace graduates", but as I told therienne, aka_arduinna, elynross and Dorinda, I came perilously close to going with "A story that's covered in BEES!"
And weirdly, it was the easiest story I've ever written. It just sort of wrote itself, with little intervention from me, and I didn't have my usual angst-filled bout of self-editing and despair, and I didn't make myself crazy trying to settle on the right ending. It was fun and easy, and I kind of adore it, and I'm really happy that cyphomandra liked it, too.
I was really nervous about that last part, because I was writing to her request but also writing the story I wanted to read, and it is -- how shall I put this -- significantly more out there than any (serious) story I've ever written before, and I'm including last year's zombies-under-the-palace Vorkosigan story in that grouping. I told my beta readers, "It may not be the best story I've written, and it may never be the most popular story I've written, but it will always be the one with the highest percentage of giant, talking bees." (It's also probably the only story in existence that features a giant, talking bee and never actually uses the word bee.)
So - it was fun, it was oddly easy, and it was a stretch into something new for me, and for all those reasons I'm really happy that cyphomandra asked for it and that I had the chance to write it. All in all, I adored this Yuletide as much as I expected to and as much as I usually do, and can't wait to do it again.
Now, as a recipient this year, I made out like a bandit. I've already gone into extensive happy rambles about my stories here, but I wanted to add a personalized thank-you to the writers now that I can:
Once Upon a Mistletoe, by Jheen, is a lovely Reid/Morgan Criminal Minds story with a side of Garcia, who regularly wins my internal "favorite female character on TV" contests.
Happy New Year, by ladybug218, is a Bones story, and the story of the second kiss Brennan and Booth needed to have.
Yes, by Laylah, is set after Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls novel is a sweet, calm, easy first-time story for Ghost and Steve with music and lemonade and honey.
and Missing Mile, by Cher, is also set after that novel and is a sweet, hot, needy first-time story for Ghost and Steve with beer and bad dreams and desperation.
It was an embarrassment of riches, and each of these stories made me really happy in a way totally different from the others, and you all rock. Thank you!