Yuletide Roundup and Hobbit Squee!
--Yuletide this year was a lot of fun! I wrote four stories, some in delightfully tiny fandoms, and ended up very pleased with the results. Three of my stories ended up on rec lists, so I was particularly thrilled with that!
Orual and the Queen (6588 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Orual, Istra, Bardia, Arnom, The Fox
Summary: When Orual discovers her lost sister Psyche in slavery and brings her home, she expects a happy ending. But Psyche's story is not so easily rewritten...
This was the Yuletide prompt I was matched with--Till We Have Faces is a dark, haunting retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth from the viewpoint of the "ugly stepsister." It also, in my humble opinion, has the only truly believable, realized female character C.S. Lewis ever wrote (the fact that his wife apparently helped with the writing might have had something to do with that). Orual is amazing--selfish, passionate, brave, a wise ruler and a humane person, although she never quite seems to realize it about herself. I love her and was happy to have a chance to try and present her as other characters in the book might have seen her (the book is in first person POV, so we never see Orual externally except through hints and implications).
Abide With Me (2901 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Songcatcher (2000)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Eleanor "Elna" Penlaric/Harriet Tolliver
Characters: Eleanor "Elna" Penlaric, Harriet Tolliver
Summary: Eleanor Penlaric fell in love with Harriet Tolliver's words before she ever met her.
When I went to look at my Yuletide recipient's letter, I noticed she'd asked for fic about this movie for nearly every exchange ever. I didn't know the movie, but surely such dedication should go rewarded at some point! So I found the movie and got to write this little story about two of the characters--teachers and lovers in Appalachia at the turn of the 20th century. I wanted to write a story about how they met, which led to some wonderfully fun research about the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the early feminist movement. I had a blast with this story.
Finding the Right Words (1181 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Demon Knights, DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Exoristos/Shining Knight
Characters: Exoristos, Shining Knight
Summary: Exoristos is an Amazon. Amazons do not love men. Shining Knight is a man. One of these propositions must be wrong. Ex used to think she knew which one, but now she's not so sure.
A Seat at the Round Table (1583 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Demon Knights, DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Shining Knight, Arthur Pendragon
Summary: In which Sir Ystin arrives in Camelot and, after long travails, proves himself to King Arthur and the court.
I'd been really looking forward to getting to read some Demon Knights fic for Yuletide, so imagine my disappointment when two different prompts showed up on the pinch hit list! Obviously the only way to ensure Demon Knights got the attention it deserved was to write it myself--so I did. :)
--In other fannish news, I went to see The Hobbit before Christmas and enjoyed it very much, but was completely blindsided by what they've done with the Thorin Oakenshield character. Still promotional photos don't do him justice--this guy is angsty smouldering sex on wheels, and I left the movie completely and totally smitten. Martin Freeman is utterly adorable as Bilbo and inhabits the character wonderfully, capturing all sorts of Hobbity mannerisms and non-verbals that make him totally memorable.
Hm, a brooding, angsty Prince who witnessed the death of his parents at an early age, then wandered the world preparing for the day when he will return to his home and reclaim it...a peaceful, apparently-simple guy from a bucolic rural town who may have more inner strength than he seems to... Uh oh.
Yeah, I'm afraid you're going to have to brace yourself for some (God, I hope) understated Thorin/Bilbo on your flist soon. It's really the first fannish thing from which I've emerged saying "I MUST WRITE SOMETHING" in...ages...so I've decided it's no use fighting it.
(Can anyone point me to some good Hobbity icons, maybe?)
Orual and the Queen (6588 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Orual, Istra, Bardia, Arnom, The Fox
Summary: When Orual discovers her lost sister Psyche in slavery and brings her home, she expects a happy ending. But Psyche's story is not so easily rewritten...
This was the Yuletide prompt I was matched with--Till We Have Faces is a dark, haunting retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth from the viewpoint of the "ugly stepsister." It also, in my humble opinion, has the only truly believable, realized female character C.S. Lewis ever wrote (the fact that his wife apparently helped with the writing might have had something to do with that). Orual is amazing--selfish, passionate, brave, a wise ruler and a humane person, although she never quite seems to realize it about herself. I love her and was happy to have a chance to try and present her as other characters in the book might have seen her (the book is in first person POV, so we never see Orual externally except through hints and implications).
Abide With Me (2901 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Songcatcher (2000)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Eleanor "Elna" Penlaric/Harriet Tolliver
Characters: Eleanor "Elna" Penlaric, Harriet Tolliver
Summary: Eleanor Penlaric fell in love with Harriet Tolliver's words before she ever met her.
When I went to look at my Yuletide recipient's letter, I noticed she'd asked for fic about this movie for nearly every exchange ever. I didn't know the movie, but surely such dedication should go rewarded at some point! So I found the movie and got to write this little story about two of the characters--teachers and lovers in Appalachia at the turn of the 20th century. I wanted to write a story about how they met, which led to some wonderfully fun research about the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the early feminist movement. I had a blast with this story.
Finding the Right Words (1181 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Demon Knights, DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Exoristos/Shining Knight
Characters: Exoristos, Shining Knight
Summary: Exoristos is an Amazon. Amazons do not love men. Shining Knight is a man. One of these propositions must be wrong. Ex used to think she knew which one, but now she's not so sure.
A Seat at the Round Table (1583 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Demon Knights, DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Shining Knight, Arthur Pendragon
Summary: In which Sir Ystin arrives in Camelot and, after long travails, proves himself to King Arthur and the court.
I'd been really looking forward to getting to read some Demon Knights fic for Yuletide, so imagine my disappointment when two different prompts showed up on the pinch hit list! Obviously the only way to ensure Demon Knights got the attention it deserved was to write it myself--so I did. :)
--In other fannish news, I went to see The Hobbit before Christmas and enjoyed it very much, but was completely blindsided by what they've done with the Thorin Oakenshield character. Still promotional photos don't do him justice--this guy is angsty smouldering sex on wheels, and I left the movie completely and totally smitten. Martin Freeman is utterly adorable as Bilbo and inhabits the character wonderfully, capturing all sorts of Hobbity mannerisms and non-verbals that make him totally memorable.
Hm, a brooding, angsty Prince who witnessed the death of his parents at an early age, then wandered the world preparing for the day when he will return to his home and reclaim it...a peaceful, apparently-simple guy from a bucolic rural town who may have more inner strength than he seems to... Uh oh.
Yeah, I'm afraid you're going to have to brace yourself for some (God, I hope) understated Thorin/Bilbo on your flist soon. It's really the first fannish thing from which I've emerged saying "I MUST WRITE SOMETHING" in...ages...so I've decided it's no use fighting it.
(Can anyone point me to some good Hobbity icons, maybe?)