Author's Notes, Observations on "King of Red Dunes"
So, I finally posted up my entry for this month's fe_contest ! (you can check it out here: http://fe-contest.livejournal.com/65004.html#cutid1 or at fanfiction.net at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7319063/1/King_of_Red_Dunes) Altogether, I'm happy with the way it turned out and I'm pretty happy with the characterizations. When it comes to crack pairings (in Magvel at least) my first thoughts go to Joshua/Eirika and Joshua/Tana because, well...Josh never gets paired with any of the other noblewomen in fic, at least as far as I've seen. More than likely it's because they don't support, but he is the crown prince of Jehanna, so you'd think he'd get paired up with some of the other royalty once in a while XD. So this idea of a Joshua/Eirika political marriage romance dealio spoke to me, and especially their dynamics as partners. If the limit had been closer to 8,000 words than 4,000, I think the story would have taken a different angle and possibly focused less ultimately on Joshua and Eirika's relationship, but as it is, I'm pleased with how the two plots came together.
(on a side note: After I finished the fic, I seemed to remember someone having made a meta post about human trafficking and slavery in Grado and Jehanna, and then I looked and realized acrookedhouse had made a headcanon post to that end in xirysa just a few weeks ago. I just wanted to say I wasn't trying to step on your toes or anything like that XD;;) Truthfully, I took a lot of inspiration from Daenerys's chapters from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, also in a desert land (I've been taking a lot of inspiration from GRRM in general lately, it seems :P I've been on a reading and re-reading binge since A Dance With Dragons came out.)
Anyway, here are just some of my quick comments on specific parts of the story:
[King Joshua V, Lord of Jehanna, Tempest King and Ruler of the White Dunes] - I don't think anything in-game specifically states Joshua is the fifth of his name; I just pure headcanoned that out of my ass. XD "Tempest King" is his title in the end scroll, and Queen of White Dunes was Ismaire's epithet and the title of the chapter in-game starring her. It's also, of course, the inspiration for the title. :P
[I was not her first choice, Joshua mused later, though he’d known that all along. One had died to protect her and another had married the Holy Princess of Rausten. I might not have even been her third.] - Aside from the mentioned Seth and Innes, I'm willing to bet Joshua's also heard all the whispers about Eirika and Ephraim being closer than brother and sister.
[The captain unlocked his box and spilled its contents on the carpet before the throne. The first thing Joshua saw was eyes.] - this whole scene wasn't in my first draft. The reason I added it was because I felt Joshua needed a strong, visceral catalyst to wipe out the human traffickers in the south. After all, the war had only ended recently, and I felt that he'd be reluctant to start a conflict again so soon after unless there was some element of immediacy.
[“This morning a city patrol found the bodies of five slaves buried beneath the sands. ] - I had planned to change the title of this story to "Beneath the Sands" as a reference to this scene I added, but I reverted to King of Red Dunes because I thought it was a little less generic and a little more personal to Joshua.
[“Like in Grado, they work only on the fringes of Jehanna. But they’re there.] Personally, I imagine the majority of the slavery and human trafficking to happen in southern Jehanna and the northern and eastern parts of Grado. Without the Emperor's firm hand in Grado during the war, I imagine a lot of shady stuff happened there.
[“I was looking at the swords. I still prefer a silver sword, but I used to use a shamshir. I would use a talwar but I’m not sure how skilled I would be with it in the off-hand. And I would try a khanda, but they’re too heavy.”] - All of these are swords used in the Middle East and elsewhere. Marisa could probably geek out all day about those (and I know a few things about medieval-era swords) but no one wants to hear that. :P I do think it's in-character for her, though.
[She shared many stories from Renais as well] - I think I could definitely see Joshua and Eirika bonding over storytelling and culture-sharing.
(on a side note: After I finished the fic, I seemed to remember someone having made a meta post about human trafficking and slavery in Grado and Jehanna, and then I looked and realized acrookedhouse had made a headcanon post to that end in xirysa just a few weeks ago. I just wanted to say I wasn't trying to step on your toes or anything like that XD;;) Truthfully, I took a lot of inspiration from Daenerys's chapters from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, also in a desert land (I've been taking a lot of inspiration from GRRM in general lately, it seems :P I've been on a reading and re-reading binge since A Dance With Dragons came out.)
Anyway, here are just some of my quick comments on specific parts of the story:
[King Joshua V, Lord of Jehanna, Tempest King and Ruler of the White Dunes] - I don't think anything in-game specifically states Joshua is the fifth of his name; I just pure headcanoned that out of my ass. XD "Tempest King" is his title in the end scroll, and Queen of White Dunes was Ismaire's epithet and the title of the chapter in-game starring her. It's also, of course, the inspiration for the title. :P
[I was not her first choice, Joshua mused later, though he’d known that all along. One had died to protect her and another had married the Holy Princess of Rausten. I might not have even been her third.] - Aside from the mentioned Seth and Innes, I'm willing to bet Joshua's also heard all the whispers about Eirika and Ephraim being closer than brother and sister.
[The captain unlocked his box and spilled its contents on the carpet before the throne. The first thing Joshua saw was eyes.] - this whole scene wasn't in my first draft. The reason I added it was because I felt Joshua needed a strong, visceral catalyst to wipe out the human traffickers in the south. After all, the war had only ended recently, and I felt that he'd be reluctant to start a conflict again so soon after unless there was some element of immediacy.
[“This morning a city patrol found the bodies of five slaves buried beneath the sands. ] - I had planned to change the title of this story to "Beneath the Sands" as a reference to this scene I added, but I reverted to King of Red Dunes because I thought it was a little less generic and a little more personal to Joshua.
[“Like in Grado, they work only on the fringes of Jehanna. But they’re there.] Personally, I imagine the majority of the slavery and human trafficking to happen in southern Jehanna and the northern and eastern parts of Grado. Without the Emperor's firm hand in Grado during the war, I imagine a lot of shady stuff happened there.
[“I was looking at the swords. I still prefer a silver sword, but I used to use a shamshir. I would use a talwar but I’m not sure how skilled I would be with it in the off-hand. And I would try a khanda, but they’re too heavy.”] - All of these are swords used in the Middle East and elsewhere. Marisa could probably geek out all day about those (and I know a few things about medieval-era swords) but no one wants to hear that. :P I do think it's in-character for her, though.
[She shared many stories from Renais as well] - I think I could definitely see Joshua and Eirika bonding over storytelling and culture-sharing.