Yuletide meta
Jan. 7th, 2025 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustNotes on Wake the Dead (Kill the Dead - Tanith Lee)
Kill the Dead is one of my favourite Tanith Lee books. It's a beautifully written gothic fantasy about ghosts and legends. But its main claim to fame are the Blake's 7 expies, Parl Dro (a sardonic exorcist) and Myal Lemyal (a hapless musician).
The other notable feature is the compelling UST between Parl and Myal for most of the book, remarked on by others and admitted by Myal. Only for a surprise reveal near the end, when one character accuses Parl of being in love with Myal, and Parl delivers the memorable line, "I am in love with him. He's my son."
Anyway.
My recipient had many great prompts in their signup and letter. Among them was the suggestion of a fix-it for the ending, where Parl is not actually Myal's father or neither of them know for sure. I was like, "Interesting! Challenge accepted!"
Many of their other prompts seemed to fit naturally into the same story (eg returning to Parl's body, Myal's abusive dad showing up as a ghost, Myal's new instrument, etc). So the plot came together pretty smoothly.
Speaking of Myal's abusive dad, I really hate when a character has no canonical name. I went with switching between "his father" and "the showman" at appropriate points.
The title is probably one of the more obvious ones, but it fit the story and no one had used it yet. (In this fandom at least. In so many others though!)
Notes on The Great Circle (Alliance-Union - CJ Cherryh)
CJ Cherryh is one of my favourite authors ever. I've requested and received fic of her various series many times, including in my very first Yuletide. But I've never written a single fic myself. I guess I've always felt too intimidated or something?
But my recipient prompted for time loops! And apparently that is irresistible to me.
I've wondered before what it would be like if Cory was around in the future, and got to achieve her dream, or to meet the rest of the Hellburner crew. (Because I have a weakness for "Everybody lives!") If Dekker was trapped in a time loop, depending on when, I could think of one big thing he would want to change.
Ben, likewise, thinks about Bird often. I have no doubt he would want to fix that if given the chance.
I read somewhere that Word of God is that the Hellburner crew end up on Norway. This is great, because that's a far happier ending for them than the alternatives. But that means if they weren't around, things could have turned out differently enough for Norway not to survive, and not be able to intervene to stop Downbelow Station from being blown.
I'm not sure if there's a full chronology of the universe anywhere. I looked up a few dates, but in general, I tried not to think too hard about timelines.
My recipient mentioned they would likely have read the most recent Alliance-Union book before reveals. I wanted to finish it too, but I only got about halfway through before deadline. I just had to hope no major revelations jossed existing canon.
I really wanted to make this shippy between Dekker and Ben, as my recipient was interested in exploring that potential facet of their relationship, and it's something that's always intrigued me. But there wasn't room to go into the depth it would take to properly arc it. (Maybe someday?)
The Great Circle was the trade route from the glory days: the days of the first pusher ships and the circuit of space stations they served. It felt like an appropriate title for a time loop story.
Kill the Dead is one of my favourite Tanith Lee books. It's a beautifully written gothic fantasy about ghosts and legends. But its main claim to fame are the Blake's 7 expies, Parl Dro (a sardonic exorcist) and Myal Lemyal (a hapless musician).
The other notable feature is the compelling UST between Parl and Myal for most of the book, remarked on by others and admitted by Myal. Only for a surprise reveal near the end, when one character accuses Parl of being in love with Myal, and Parl delivers the memorable line, "I am in love with him. He's my son."
Anyway.
My recipient had many great prompts in their signup and letter. Among them was the suggestion of a fix-it for the ending, where Parl is not actually Myal's father or neither of them know for sure. I was like, "Interesting! Challenge accepted!"
Many of their other prompts seemed to fit naturally into the same story (eg returning to Parl's body, Myal's abusive dad showing up as a ghost, Myal's new instrument, etc). So the plot came together pretty smoothly.
Speaking of Myal's abusive dad, I really hate when a character has no canonical name. I went with switching between "his father" and "the showman" at appropriate points.
The title is probably one of the more obvious ones, but it fit the story and no one had used it yet. (In this fandom at least. In so many others though!)
Notes on The Great Circle (Alliance-Union - CJ Cherryh)
CJ Cherryh is one of my favourite authors ever. I've requested and received fic of her various series many times, including in my very first Yuletide. But I've never written a single fic myself. I guess I've always felt too intimidated or something?
But my recipient prompted for time loops! And apparently that is irresistible to me.
I've wondered before what it would be like if Cory was around in the future, and got to achieve her dream, or to meet the rest of the Hellburner crew. (Because I have a weakness for "Everybody lives!") If Dekker was trapped in a time loop, depending on when, I could think of one big thing he would want to change.
Ben, likewise, thinks about Bird often. I have no doubt he would want to fix that if given the chance.
I read somewhere that Word of God is that the Hellburner crew end up on Norway. This is great, because that's a far happier ending for them than the alternatives. But that means if they weren't around, things could have turned out differently enough for Norway not to survive, and not be able to intervene to stop Downbelow Station from being blown.
I'm not sure if there's a full chronology of the universe anywhere. I looked up a few dates, but in general, I tried not to think too hard about timelines.
My recipient mentioned they would likely have read the most recent Alliance-Union book before reveals. I wanted to finish it too, but I only got about halfway through before deadline. I just had to hope no major revelations jossed existing canon.
I really wanted to make this shippy between Dekker and Ben, as my recipient was interested in exploring that potential facet of their relationship, and it's something that's always intrigued me. But there wasn't room to go into the depth it would take to properly arc it. (Maybe someday?)
The Great Circle was the trade route from the glory days: the days of the first pusher ships and the circuit of space stations they served. It felt like an appropriate title for a time loop story.
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