Dillinger's Got Nothing On Us: Author's Notes and Babble

[tsuki_no_bara]

J2 RPS AU
PG-13
Author notes and hysterical historical babble
Master post
ArtExcept for my various nanonovels, this is probably the longest (mostly-)cohesive fic I've ever written. It's also my first RPS, and probably goes without saying that it's my first bigbang. Writing it was an exercise in frustration, and I think the only reasons I finished

Comments

[harrigan]

I really enjoy well-researched historical fic. And honestly? I prefer more plot than porn, too. So this was right up my alley and a pleasure to indulge in. Thanks!

[tsuki_no_bara]

i prefer more plot than porn too. (and 20k words of porn without much plot is A LOT OF PORN. O.O ) but man, i tried to be historically accurate about things that no one would necessarily know - i mean, cherry mash candy really was sold around the midwest in the 30s, but who's going to know that? why would it matter if that's the stuff jared fills a bag with at a random drugstore? i could've made something up. but i wanted some truth in my fiction. and i'll be honest, the random research was really fun.

and y'know, i wasn't actually expecting anyone to read the author's note - it is SO self-indulgent - much less enjoy it, so thank you for doing so. :D

[harrigan]

I ♥ fic where the author does so much research! It really does make me feel like I am there - it adds a certain intimacy to the reading experience and I think the author/story comes across with more conviction.

(Or maybe I'm just a huge fan of doing research myself - it's my favorite part of writing - so I sigh happily when I encounter a kindred spirit.)

By the way, I read a novel this year you might find intriguing? The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers. (It has nothing like your characters or plot, but if you enjoyed your research, and liked that era, but also like stories about brothers with a sort of supernatural element, you might like it.)

[tsuki_no_bara]

i'd never heard of that book but it sounds REALLY INTERESTING. (and i'm not just saying that because the blurb references j edgar hoover and the fbi's depression-era war on crime. :D which people don't mention as much when they're talking about dillinger and bonnie and clyde and those guys.) i'll have to check it out!

[tsuki_no_bara]

i'm kind of surprised by really, really pleased that people are reading and enjoying the author's babble notes. and i'm so happy you liked the fic! thank you. ^_

[wendy]

Yes, I always read the author notes prior to reading the actual fic. I don't know either, ok?

Anyway, this really stuck out to me: I wrote the epilogue before I had any idea how the story ended, and in fact before I'd even written the beginning.

One of my favorite pro-authors gave his advice on writing and it basically boiled down to...first, write the first page. Then, write the last page. Then, throw the first page away and start over.

So see! You did it just right!

When I briefly worked at the Dallas Public Library, I did a bit of research on Bonnie and Clyde as the historical archives on the couple are housed there. But, this makes me want to go and learn about other gangsters and their lives and motivations too. It really is quite fascinating.

Anywhoo...onto the fic!

[tsuki_no_bara]

i read the author's notes first too. :D even for fics i'm not sure i want to read.

>>So see! You did it just right! <<

except i didn't write the first page and then throw it out, i just wrote it second. or third. anyway, after i'd written the end and some of the middle. but hey, almost right! heh.

one of the side benefits of the research i did was that when i was done with the story, i knew a lot more about gangsters than i had before. bryan burrough is evidently not fond of the way history has treated bonnie and clyde - ie, how they've been so mythologized - he was kind of judgemental of their place in pop culture. they were two-bit criminals in greater dallas, not successful star-crossed-lover bank robbers. i thought that was fascinating. (and yet thousands of people showed up at the funeral home to see bonnie in her casket....)