cefyr

So back in April I tried getting back on track and then in May I started working three days a week and suddenly had a lot less energy for writing.

Nevertheless, I finally finished a Worrals fic yesterday! Short and sweet, it's called Frecks and the Secret Admirer and contains exactly what it says on the tin :D

So I know W E Johns can't be trusted with a timeline, but I had never realised he couldn't be trusted with an entire auxiliary air force? It was only today, as I decided to do some honest-to-god research on what it would have been like to fly in the W.A.A.F.* that I was informed that they weren't actually allowed in the air. Apparently W E Johns was asked by the government to write women pilot propaganda and decided to pretend that the W.A.A.F. included female pilots, possibly because the glamour of it would help raise their enlistment numbers. There were female pilots ferrying planes, of course, but they were employed by the civilian ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), where they had male colleagues as well, who had been declared unfit for combat.

Ah, well. I do like to be as canonically accurate as possible, but sometimes one must admit defeat because the author isn't helping. I think in this case I'll just pretend the stories are set in an alternate universe where the W.A.A.F. have female pilots and the ATA doesn't.

*) The books call it the W.A.A.F., apparently nowadays we have skipped the dots? But I can't be bothered to switch formats, so lots of dots it is.

I've got a couple of ideas for my W E Johns Bingo square, but instead I found myself trying to write unrelated Bertie Lissie fic because why not make it harder for myself? It's inspired by a line in the Clark Gable fic where Algy reveals no one knows anything about Bertie's love life, or if he even has one. So at first I thought, this calls for a 5+1 fic: 'Five Times Bertie Didn't Sleep With Someone (And One Time He Did)' but then I figured that punchline didn't feel right, so the fic is now tentatively titled 'Five Times Bertie Didn't' and includes a female racing driver, a heart-broken artist, and Biggles, none of whom Bertie takes to bed in anything but the most literal sense (and sometimes not even that).

My mum wishes me to finish the two Wodehouse fics I've got planned and/or halfway written. This could lead to a situation in which I'm simultaneously writing Bertie Lissie and Bertie Wooster, which is an interesting recipe for disaster :D

In similar news, I suddenly realised that it might be a good thing to actually write and finish my Candy Hearts fic instead of trusting to my new-found productivity and hope it would just Magically Appear before the deadline without me putting in any work at all.

I've picked up a Biggles Bingo card!
ETA: Updated with links when the prompts are used.

( Here it is. )

This fits pretty well in with my vague idea to try to write a couple of shorter fics to a theme, because here I have all the themes I could wish for. It might turn into mostly Worrals Bingo though; I can guarantee nothing. Or I'll dig up a couple of my old Gimlet books and make it W E Johns Bingo just to make it a bit more difficult :D However, because my head is Like That and I don't want to make decisions or choose what to write first, I think it will be less of a bingo kind of five-in-a-row thing and more of just me going through the entire card.

Thus, starting from the upper left corner, time to start thinking about camping!

So as the title implies, about a third of my total wordcount on AO3 from 2013 onwards was written this year. It started with my first ever WIP, Miss Lemon Handles The Situation, featuring Poirot's secretary from the TV series. That one is actually halfway finished, only I can't upload the intermediate chapters because they need some clues and things in them that depend on how the end goes. It's femslash because as seen in my earlier Yuletide fic Hats Off to the Milliner's Daughter I can't imagine a world in which Miss Lemon is straight.

Then I rewatched one of my favourite Miss Marple TV episodes (Nemesis, from the 1980s, I think) and found to my surprise that there were no fics exploring the obvious male slash pairing there. So that meant I had to write it, and then a companion fic from the opposite point of view. That was Where Do I Go From Here and His Knight in Shining Armour.

Came the Yuletide season, and my creativity and writing speed went BZOOOM (in a good way) which resulted in four fics:

The fluffy Algy/Ginger first-kiss fic for black_bentley, Keep the Sun Behind You at All Times, where I'm proud of the title for both being about Algy loving Ginger with the sun in his hair, and one of the rules of fighting in the air that I think Oswald Boelcke coined in WWI. It has an as of yet half-written companion fic that's basically just self-indulgent wish-fulfillment for Algy where he gets to play with Ginger's hair in front of a fire.

Girls aren't Gentlemen, written for wavytossings, which takes The Importance of Being Earnest and adds more slash + femslash. I wrote this mostly in order to see how well I could impersonate Oscar Wilde in writing, and the comments seem to imply that the answer is Very! Personally I think it's absolutely hilarious and I keep rereading it :D

The Missing Christmas Cards, written for hernameinthesky, is a tiny Miss Marple mystery that was ridiculously easy to write as soon as I decided what the mystery actually was.

And last but very much not least, the longest fic I've ever written, my Worrals femslash casefic for cyphomandra, Sky High! or, Worrals Gets the Girl, which was an absolute delight when I managed to figure out the plot in a way that worked, and partly hilarious to write. (The part that was the least hilarious was doing my best not to get lost in a Wikipedia hole and learn too much about WWII bombers, because I have Issuuues and those get worse when I go on deep research dives into military history. Yes, I decided to make the plot about blowing up a munitions factory during wartime using military technology anyway! It makes sense in my head.)

In December I also wrote my Biggles Holiday Airdrop story for black_bentley, Clark Gable Wishes He Looked Like That! It was an absolute delight as well and makes me giggle every time I reread it, which is the highest praise I can give myself :D

Today I got my assignment for Candy Hearts, and I'm really looking forward to it because apparently I've become the kind of person who just ...writes fic? Just like that? Which is Deeply Weeeird.

Still happily surprised by how easy it is to write now. I'm thinking of writing another couple of treats for Yuletide because why not :D I have vague plans for three treats and at this point I wouldn't be very surprised if I finished them all because apparently my normal rules for creative output aren't relevant anymore.

(I could even start thinking about a treat for the Biggles exchange.)

Meanwhile, every thing is snowy outside and there's ice on the lake. I approve of this winteryness.

My fic productivity is still weirdly high. In actual numbers, it means I get several hundred words written even on days when I'm not really feeling it, and maybe a thousand or even two on good days. This makes a vast difference to my normal output of mostly zero words per day, a hundred if I'm feeling lucky. As it is, I now have a total of two fics written and six planned for Yuletide and Airdrop, which would be absolute madness any other year. I have no clue what's happening but I like it :D

Of course this would be even nicer if it meant I could finish both my assignments before going on a treat spree, but one can't have everything, I suppose. I'm trying to prioritize so that I don't wake up on deadline day for either exchange and go whoopsie, I have written all the treats but not the actual assignment.

In unrelated news: There is snow outside my window! (This is a good thing; snow is my favourite weather.)

This year's list of Yuletide-available fandoms was really good to me! I had a lot of ideas right from the start and I think I beat my own record on how quickly I finished a treat. The only downside is I have to wait for ages now until I get my feedback kick from it D:

The regular Yuletide fic is thoroughly planned and I've started writing, which is good because the amount of plot means it looks to be a bit longer than any fic I've written before. (I've finished a number of NaNoWriMos before but those were never edited enough that I could let others read them, and I don't think I've written a fic longer than 7k words.) My sister, who only writes really long fics, keeps laughing at me for my fics being being smol and my fandoms being smol. In this, she is correct.

I have two other treats planned, one of which is half-written. At least that one will be finished, although I don't know when.

(Relevant parts copied from the letters of earlier years.)

To my Yuletide author for 2021: Hello!

I'm back for another Yuletide, which is one of the best parts of the autumn/winter season for me. I haven't yet figured out if my favourite part of it is the gifts I give or the ones I get - so far, I've been very lucky in both respects. Apart from Yuletide I mostly lurk and read things, with the occasional tiny fic written in a tiny fandom. I've tried to give a general picture of myself as a reader below, so you won't have to guess too much - unless you like guessing, in which case, good luck and have fun!

I would appreciate my dislikes being avoided, but other than that, I'm generally happy with having anything at all written for me in any of these fandoms. Gen or any kind of pairing with or without sex is fine, so please write what you're happiest with! I've tried to help out with some general thoughts/prompts, but they are very optional, so whatever idea hits you, feel free to go for it. I don't mind if your thoughts on certain fandoms/characters don't match mine - in fact, I would find it very interesting to see other views of my favourites! For the fandoms where I've requested "any character" I'm very happy with worldbuilding if that's what you're into. Don't be afraid to add original characters if you think that would make the story better!

Things I like in stories:
I like stories about friendship (with or without sex and/or romance, it's all good!), as well as world-building and character background stories. I love reading about people being competent at what they do; I don't really need fics to contain that much plot or action to keep me interested if they describe someone being really good at something.

If there's sex involved (kinky or not, both are fine with me), I prefer when it's obvious that everyone is enjoying themselves. I like reading about all sexual and asexual orientations and combinations (mono- or polyamorous), and when it comes to kink, the most important thing for me is that the characters are into it. But like I said, sex is in no way needed for me to enjoy a story.

Other things I like:
* Technical stuff, for example new technology being used as a plot point, or explained just because you want to
* Close imitation of the source text (for text-based fandoms)
* Epistolary novels, because of the way they use and show off the fact that there can be no absolutely reliable narrator
* '5+1' Fic (for example, 'Five Times This Thing Happened and One Time It Didn't') and other types of fic where the format is important and the author has to work within certain constraints
* Language being used in fancy ways, for example in puns, or people speaking other languages than English (although in that case I would like a translation as well)

What I don't like can mostly be summarized as 'people being mean'. Basically, I'm someone who closes their eyes during violent scenes in action movies, even when it means that I miss parts of the plot. Apart from graphic descriptions of violence, I also tend to skip the following:
* Non/dub-con
* Cheating/infidelity
* Death of major characters (unless it's canon)
* Great amounts of sadness (again, unless it happens in canon - I wouldn't expect the people in a Cadfael/Worrals/Biggles fic to be overjoyed at the prospect of war, for example)
Please note that I can handle death, violence and sadness in Odyssey fic, for some reason.

The very optional details copied from my signup:
(Please note that the length of the optional details says nothing about how much I like a fandom, just how good I am at describing it, and sometimes how many years I've been asking for it.)

Biggles Series - W. E. Johns
Characters: Any character (Algy Lacey, Erich von Stalhein, James "Biggles" Bigglesworth)
Optional details: I would enjoy any kind of story here, whether it's Biggles and the gang having a new adventure in any era, or a missing scene from one of the books, or something quite different, like an AU where von Stahlhein defects earlier. I am completely happy with all constellations of ships or friendships. (And feel free to make crossovers with the Worrals or Gimlet books if you've read them, see below for my thoughts on Worrals.)

Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
Characters: Any character(Brother Cadfael, Olivier de Bretagne, Owain Gwynedd, Sister Magdalen)
Optional details: Anything in the universe would please me as long as it's not much sadder than the books. Case-fic would be lovely, of course, even if it's the tiny case of Cadfael figuring out some small mystery in the abbey, but if you have other ideas, please feel free to write something else. I asked for Any, and I mean it. Cadfael certainly doesn't need to be involved! Perhaps you have an idea about Sister Magdalen meeting Owain Gwynedd for some reason?

If there's one thing I especially like about the books, it's the friendships in them. I love that they aren't just stories about murders and civil war and being divided by loyalties and young people in love, but that in the background people keep living their lives, tending their gardens and (often) trusting each other and (mostly) keeping each other's secrets. However, if you prefer to write about love and murder and loyalty and war, please go ahead! I'll read anything as long as it's not more gruesome than the books.

The Odyssey - Homer
Characters: Any character
Optional details: Since there are no characters nominated, go wild, dear author! I'm really up for pretty much any take on this text. Missing scenes from Odysseys' trip with more adventures? Backstory about his life before the war? An AU where Odysseus comes home at once, or never? Penelope's entire lifestory? Please note I really don't know enough Greek history/mythology to be picky about the details.

Persuasion - Jane Austen
Characters: Any character (Admiral Croft, Anne Elliot, Frederick Wentworth, Sophia Croft)
Optional details: Persuasion is my favourite Austen book because it's so good wish fulfillment - Anne has been living for years surrounded by people who either dismiss her altogether or want her to do as they tell her, and then suddenly not only Captain Wentworth reappears but all these other people as well (the Crofts, Harville, Benwick and Mrs Smith) who seem to genuinely like her. I would really enjoy getting to know the Crofts even better (perhaps a story of how they met?) or see Anne's or Wentworth's friendship with either of them. Or perhaps the AU mentioned at the end of the book, what would have happened if Captain Wentworth had come back six years ago and proposed again? I know I talk a lot about Anne but I would honestly love any fic in this fandom.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Characters: Any character (Dex Dearborn, Joe Sullivan, Franky Cook, Worldbuilding)
Optional details: I would love any extension of this universe. Tell me more about what it's like to work in the Flying Legion! About what happens after the movie, or how Dex and Joe met? Expand on Franky's backstory, or tell me how she and Dex are getting on! Write new adventures or make them tell each other about old ones! (I tend to ship Joe and Dex but I don't need the fic to be shippy, or to avoid pairing them with anyone else.) All I ask is that you don't make it really dark and serious.

I love this movie because it uses all of the old movie cliches and never pretends to be serious about it. I love the fabulous and impossible technology and the gigantic hangars and the marching robots and the amphibious/underwater planes and the snappy dialogue and the competent people. I love the fact that it's Dex and not Polly who needs to be saved, and that the Brits have a woman with an eye-patch commanding airships. (I also love the airships.)

Worrals Series - W. E. Johns
Characters: Betty "Frecks" Lovell, Joan "Worrals" Worralson
Optional details: It was ages since I read any Worrals books, but I just want more of Worrals and Frecks! I would love femslash, but I'm just as happy with friendship if that's the way you see them. (All I ask is that neither of them end up in a relationship with someone else.) Whether you want to write them on an adventure, or getting together, or any kind of slice-of-life fic, I would be absolutely delighted to read it. (And feel free to make crossovers with the Biggles or Gimlet books if you've read them, see above for my thoughts on Biggles.)

(This letter may get some small edits later, but I won't add any sudden new dislikes or anything.)

(Relevant parts copied from the letters of earlier years because it seems like a winning concept so far.)

To my Yuletide author for 2019: Hi!

This is my seventh Yuletide year, and it's still one of the best parts of the autumn/winter season for me. I haven't yet figured out if my favourite part of it is the gifts I give or the ones I get - so far, I've been very lucky in both respects. Apart from Yuletide I mostly lurk and read things, which is why it's relatively empty here and on AO3. I've tried to give a general picture of myself as a reader below, so you won't have to guess too much - unless you like guessing, in which case, good luck and have fun!

I would appreciate my dislikes being avoided, but other than that, I'm generally happy with having anything at all written for me in any of these fandoms. Gen or any kind of pairing with or without sex is fine, so please write what you're happiest with! I've tried to help out with some general thoughts/prompts, but they are very optional, so whatever idea hits you, feel free to go for it. I don't mind if your thoughts on certain fandoms/characters don't match mine - in fact, I would find it very interesting to see other views of my favourites! For the fandoms where I've requested "any character" I'm very happy with worldbuilding if that's what you're into. Don't be afraid to add original characters if you think that would make the story better!

Things I like in stories:
I like stories about friendship (with or without sex and/or romance, it's all good!), as well as world-building and character background stories. I love reading about people being competent at what they do; I don't really need fics to contain that much plot or action to keep me interested if they describe someone being really good at something.

If there's sex involved (kinky or not, both are fine with me), I prefer when it's obvious that everyone is enjoying themselves. I like reading about all sexual and asexual orientations and combinations (mono- or polyamorous), and when it comes to kink, the most important thing for me is that the characters are into it. But like I said, sex is in no way needed for me to enjoy a story.

Other things I like:
* Technical stuff, for example new technology being used as a plot point, or explained just because you want to
* Close imitation of the source text (for text-based fandoms)
* Epistolary novels, because of the way they use and show off the fact that there can be no absolutely reliable narrator
* '5+1' Fic (for example, 'Five Times This Thing Happened and One Time It Didn't') and other types of fic where the format is important and the author has to work within certain constraints
* Language being used in fancy ways, for example in puns, or people speaking other languages than English (although in that case I would like a translation as well)

What I don't like can mostly be summarized as 'people being mean'. Basically, I'm someone who closes their eyes during violent scenes in action movies, even when it means that I miss parts of the plot. Apart from graphic descriptions of violence, I also tend to skip the following:
* Non/dub-con
* Cheating/infidelity
* Death of major characters (unless it's canon)
* Great amounts of sadness (again, unless it happens in canon - I wouldn't expect the people in a Cadfael fic to be overjoyed at the prospect of civil war, for example)

The very optional details copied from my signup:

Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
Characters: Any character (Brother Cadfael, Hugh Beringar, Sister Magdalen)
Optional details: Anything in the universe would please me as long as it's not much sadder than the books. Case-fic would be lovely, of course, even if it's the tiny case of Cadfael figuring out some small mystery in the abbey, but if you have other ideas, please feel free to write something else.

In general, I like the way Cadfael and Hugh work together to get around the constraint laid on them by loyalties and such. Even better if they have to ask for help from Sister Magdalen. Or maybe Sister Magdalen has to figure out what to do on her own? Or you could put some/all of the nominated characters in the background and write about other people in the same universe, with or without murder cases to solve.

If there's one thing I especially like about the books, it's the friendships in them. I love that they aren't just stories about murders and civil war and being divided by loyalties and young people in love, but that in the background people keep living their lives, tending their gardens and (often) trusting each other and (mostly) keeping each other's secrets. However, if you prefer to write about love and murder and loyalty and war, please go ahead!

Kudrunlied (poem)
Characters: Any character (Gerlint, Kudrun, Ortrun)
Optional details: The relations between these three are interesting in all directions! Kudrun and Ortrun would be lovely, whether it's explicit femslash or more a deep friendship is up to you but I don't see how these two could not love each other in some way. I would also love for example a closer look at the way Gerlint and Ortrun interact, or Kudrun and Gerlint. Perhaps an AU where Gerlint wasn't killed and if/how that changes the end of the story?

The things I like most about the Kudrunlied is the way the text focuses on the women, how they take every opportunity to drive the action even when more or less constrained by their gender roles, and more specifically Kudrun managing to stay stubborn and refuse a marriage she doesn't want.

Persuasion - Jane Austen
Characters: Any character (Admiral Croft, Anne Elliot, Frederick Wentworth, Sophia Croft)
Optional details: Persuasion is my favourite Austen book because it's so good wish fulfillment - Anne has been living for years surrounded by people who either dismiss her altogether or want her to do as they tell her, and then suddenly not only Captain Wentworth reappears but all these other people as well (the Crofts, Harville, Benwick and Mrs Smith) who seem to genuinely like her. I would really enjoy getting to know the Crofts even better (perhaps a story of how they met?) or see Anne's or Wentworth's friendship with either of them. Or perhaps the AU mentioned at the end of the book, what would have happened if Captain Wentworth had come back six years ago and proposed again? I know I talk a lot about Anne but I would honestly love any fic in this fandom.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Characters: Any character (Dex Dearborn, Joe Sullivan)
Optional details: I would love any extension of this universe (including, if you wish, un-nominated characters like Totenkopf or members of the Legion). Tell me more about what it's like to work in the Flying Legion! About what happens after the movie, or how Dex and Joe met? Write new adventures or make them tell each other about old ones! All I ask is that you don't make it really dark and serious.

I love this movie because it uses all of the old movie cliches and never pretends to be serious about it. I love the fabulous and impossible technology and the gigantic hangars and the marching robots and the amphibious/underwater planes and the snappy dialogue and the competent people. I love the fact that it's Dex and not Polly who needs to be saved, and that the Brits have a woman with an eye-patch commanding airships. (I also love the airships.)

Worrals Series - W. E. Johns
Characters: Betty "Frecks" Lovell, Joan "Worrals" Worralson
Optional details: It was ages since I read any Worrals books, but I just want more of Worrals and Frecks! I would love femslash, but I'm just as happy with friendship if that's the way you see them. (All I ask is that neither of them end up in a relationship with someone else.) Whether you want to write them on an adventure, or getting together, or any kind of slice-of-life fic, I would be absolutely delighted to read it. (And feel free to make crossovers with the Biggles books if you've read them.)