Fic reveals
Yeah, I know everyone else did this a few days ago, but I've been busy with real life and sick. Also I had to watch the complete miniseries of The Stand yesterday.
So, for Yuletide I wrote A Game of You for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gyzym. The fandom was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.
This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it way back in grammar school in the 70s. I loved the character of Turtle and I loved all the various mysteries involved in the book, and the wonderful development of all the characters. It wasn't often in a kids' book that you had adult characters sharing time with child characters, and I remember it was the first time that I had seen adult characters with such layers. It's a very short book, and the style is very simple, but there's so much complexity and humor and emotion packed into it.
As a children's bookseller, I always recommended this book to parents and kids looking for a "good mystery." It's certainly not a typical mystery, with one easy solution - like I said, there's a lot going on in the book, and there a lots of different things revealed, and just when you think the solution is one thing, it suddenly is another.
One thing about this book is that it's dated. Not by cultural references, which is generally the quickest way of dating children's books, but simply because it was written pre-internet, and with internet access, the main mystery in this book is fairly easy to solve. So when I would sell this book, I'd always warn the parents and kids to stay off the internet while reading it. :)
So I had that in mind when I got the prompt, which was pretty simple: just Turtle/Theo. One of the fun things about this book is you get a couple of wrap-up chapters, set after the main story, and you find out that Turtle and Theo grew up and got married.
I decided to write a story of Turtle and Theo courting each other, in a way that only they would, by playing a game. And then I thought it would be fun to reveal the game with letters, mixed in with the story. Originally I was going to write the whole thing in letters from them both, but in the end, I went with Turtle's letters to Theo mixed in with the framing story, because I thought that Theo's letters would be several pages long and too much to write, and that Turtle's short notes would be the best way to convey her personality and the game.
Again, because of the time frame of the book, the letters had to be actual letters, not email, because it was too early for email (I KNOW! IMAGINE!). But the last one could be an email, since the story would end in the early 90s, and that was the perfect way to end it, and for Turtle to win the game. Inserting the letters as graphics was a last minute decision, but I'm glad I went with it, because it worked out so well.
I have to thankrthstewart and crantz/![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crantz for their excellent beta, and crantz/crantz made all the graphics for me. And since I am always title-challenged, I have to thank musesfool for the title. ;)
*************
Also, for the NFFR Secret Santa Exchange, I wrote The Riddle of the Sphinx, Narnia fic forwingedflight21, from this prompt:
I'll just list a ton of stuff I love and you can pick and choose: Snarky Edmund, Susan in battle, Lucy in trousers, mythical creatures not often found in Narnia fic, Eustace post-dragon, darker AU (not necessarily meaning "everything turns out worse AU", just "everything involves a lot of hard decisions and potential angst AU"), consumption of (too much) wine, down the rabbit hole, the treasure chamber of Cair Paravel, Jill and Eustace relationship (not necessarily romantic) directly before the train wreck.
If you like crossovers, other fandoms I would love to see crossed over with Narnia are Doctor Who and Swallows and Amazons.
So that was a great prompt, with lots of stuff to choose from. Originally I had considered a darker AU of The Silver Chair, but then it seemed a little too dark for a holiday fic (although I'll probably write that someday), so in the end I went with Snarky Edmund, Lucy in trousers, mythical creatures not often found in Narnia fic, consumption of (too much) wine.
I amused myself writing it, because Edmund's always a fun character, but am never sure if the things I think are funny make anyone else laugh. ;)
Again, I have to thankrthstewart and crantz/crantz for their excellent beta. This one I titled myself, though, as you can probably tell. :D
So, for Yuletide I wrote A Game of You for
gyzym. The fandom was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it way back in grammar school in the 70s. I loved the character of Turtle and I loved all the various mysteries involved in the book, and the wonderful development of all the characters. It wasn't often in a kids' book that you had adult characters sharing time with child characters, and I remember it was the first time that I had seen adult characters with such layers. It's a very short book, and the style is very simple, but there's so much complexity and humor and emotion packed into it.
As a children's bookseller, I always recommended this book to parents and kids looking for a "good mystery." It's certainly not a typical mystery, with one easy solution - like I said, there's a lot going on in the book, and there a lots of different things revealed, and just when you think the solution is one thing, it suddenly is another.
One thing about this book is that it's dated. Not by cultural references, which is generally the quickest way of dating children's books, but simply because it was written pre-internet, and with internet access, the main mystery in this book is fairly easy to solve. So when I would sell this book, I'd always warn the parents and kids to stay off the internet while reading it. :)
So I had that in mind when I got the prompt, which was pretty simple: just Turtle/Theo. One of the fun things about this book is you get a couple of wrap-up chapters, set after the main story, and you find out that Turtle and Theo grew up and got married.
I decided to write a story of Turtle and Theo courting each other, in a way that only they would, by playing a game. And then I thought it would be fun to reveal the game with letters, mixed in with the story. Originally I was going to write the whole thing in letters from them both, but in the end, I went with Turtle's letters to Theo mixed in with the framing story, because I thought that Theo's letters would be several pages long and too much to write, and that Turtle's short notes would be the best way to convey her personality and the game.
Again, because of the time frame of the book, the letters had to be actual letters, not email, because it was too early for email (I KNOW! IMAGINE!). But the last one could be an email, since the story would end in the early 90s, and that was the perfect way to end it, and for Turtle to win the game. Inserting the letters as graphics was a last minute decision, but I'm glad I went with it, because it worked out so well.
I have to thank
rthstewart and crantz/crantz for their excellent beta, and crantz/crantz made all the graphics for me. And since I am always title-challenged, I have to thank musesfool for the title. ;)*************
Also, for the NFFR Secret Santa Exchange, I wrote The Riddle of the Sphinx, Narnia fic for
wingedflight21, from this prompt:I'll just list a ton of stuff I love and you can pick and choose: Snarky Edmund, Susan in battle, Lucy in trousers, mythical creatures not often found in Narnia fic, Eustace post-dragon, darker AU (not necessarily meaning "everything turns out worse AU", just "everything involves a lot of hard decisions and potential angst AU"), consumption of (too much) wine, down the rabbit hole, the treasure chamber of Cair Paravel, Jill and Eustace relationship (not necessarily romantic) directly before the train wreck.
If you like crossovers, other fandoms I would love to see crossed over with Narnia are Doctor Who and Swallows and Amazons.
So that was a great prompt, with lots of stuff to choose from. Originally I had considered a darker AU of The Silver Chair, but then it seemed a little too dark for a holiday fic (although I'll probably write that someday), so in the end I went with Snarky Edmund, Lucy in trousers, mythical creatures not often found in Narnia fic, consumption of (too much) wine.
I amused myself writing it, because Edmund's always a fun character, but am never sure if the things I think are funny make anyone else laugh. ;)
Again, I have to thank
rthstewart and crantz/crantz for their excellent beta. This one I titled myself, though, as you can probably tell. :D
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