anghraine | Entries tagged with fic talk: tolerably well acquainted

2020 fic writing post!

2020 was not my most productive year, but apart from the general state of 2020, I had a lot to do for my PhD and sleeping problems, so … /shrug. Anyway, this year—

- I got inspired by my “eh” feelings about TROS to outline a big chunk of my f!Luke series, and after (I think) four years of no updates, wrote some eighteen and a half chapters on The Jedi and the Sith Lord in something like six weeks. It’s now 67k.

- I updated my very niche Guild Wars 2 fic, pro patria, a kind of fragmented AU in which the “Missing Sister” option to say that the PC/Deborah are proud Ascalonians has a major effect on the PC’s character and story. I got Althea through a bunch of Ebonhawke/Fields of Ruin stuff, which was 50% of the motivation for writing it at all. It’s now at 89k.

- I finally finished the gift of men, the Eldarion/Faramir-and-Éowyn’s-daughter fic that has been rolling around my brain/Google Drive for years. It’s only a little over 1k, but I was really glad to get it finished and posted.

- I was overpowered with Ascalon/fuck the Searing feelings while playing the original Guild Wars and wrote a fic about the Prophecies PC’s last day (creatively called the last day) before the Searing. It’s also just over 1k and almost nobody read it, but it was really for me, so that’s okay.

- I updated tolerably well acquainted, my canon-compliant book-only P&P fic about how Elizabeth falls in love with Darcy from Pemberley onwards. Lydia just ran off with Wickham and Elizabeth reunited with Jane; I wrote about half of another chapter, but didn’t finish it. The fic as a whole is now 27k, which is kind of astounding to me tbh.

- I’d always thought of my Éowyn-meets-f!Faramir fic, we also are daughters of the great, as a one-shot, but got inspired by their canon scenes to take it further … and then got waylaid by Merry feelings? I don’t know. I also wrote about half of another chapter of this one before exams struck, so that’s partly done. I’d really like to get to the hair mingling scene! Someday. It’s 4800 words.

- I haven’t posted much of it (just this) or named it, but I started a fic about Darcy’s family (canonical and head-canonical) reacting to his engagement to Elizabeth/Elizabeth herself. It’s part of the tolerably well acquainted continuity, I think, and a kind of fun experiment with different voices. It’s 1500 words so far.

- I started a fic about Faramir’s birth and early childhood, but it stalled partway through dealing with tiny Faramir’s first dream of Númenor. I might get back to it someday. It’s 1300 words.

- I also brainstormed a Star Wars/Dungeons and Dragons fusion where Anakin is an aasimar (as are Luke and Leia), but the composite setting drifted far enough from either that it became an original fic in a universe powered by the blessings/curses of the gods. It follows a sorceress of the god of the Void who takes on the care of a troubled demigoddess. I wrote a ton of background material, but only 1200 words of actual fic.

- After only cutting things out and fixing the gaps for years, I wrote two full chapters of my original fantasy novel; I’ve decided to take out a big chunk of one of them, but even so, it’s very satisfying, and (after a lot of cuts) brought the whole thing to 72k.

And I think that’s everything!

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Mephistopheles (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

A fic meme, grabbed from

shadaras!

Name:

Anghraine / Elizabeth

Fandoms:

Tolkien, mainly LOTR; Austen, mainly Darcy/Elizabeth; Star Wars, mainly Skywalkers and Jyn/Cassian

Where you post:

Wherever I happen to be active, but also at AO3 under anghraine.

Most popular multi-chapter fic:

Season of Courtship, the Darcy/Elizabeth engagement fic I wrote 15 years ago (but revised … maybe 7-8 years ago?). It was surpassed for a long time by some other fics, but picked up a ton of kudos/bookmarks this year for some reason, so now it’s well ahead of the rest in both bookmarks and kudos. [ETA 3/17/2024: the gap has only widened since then, idk why.]

Favorite story you’ve written so far:

That’s hard to say … I’ve written a lot. In some ways, my short P&P sequel The Letters of Elizabeth Darcy, 1796-1798 will always be a fave because it came out so closely to what I wanted it to be. But the dearest to my heart are probably always going to be my Lucy Skywalker series starring f!Luke, and my f!Darcy/m!Elizabeth fic, First Impressions.

Fic you were nervous to post:

Hmm. Perhaps Better Choice, my very flawed Faramir-goes-to-Rivendell fic, which is the first fic I posted anywhere. I thought of we get dark, only to shine because of its many taboos, but Borgias fandom was so nice that I don’t think I much worried about it, beyond hoping people would read it. IDK … I’m a very nervous person, and I definitely am on the edge of my seat after I post a fic, but I don’t think I’m usually nervous about posting fics in this sense.

How you choose your titles

They’re usually general statements of what the fic is about (“Redemption,” “Anomaly,” The Jedi and the Sith Lord), references to a quote from the canon (Season of Courtship, tolerably well acquainted), or excerpts from songs (“But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell,” “like a storm in the desert”).

Do you outline?

Sometimes—I have some things that just start with an idea, others where it’s pretty clear in my head, but I ultimately work best when I have the structure and some details all sketched out.

Complete fics:

169, says AO3. Mostly one-shots, of course.

In progress:

Posted WIPs that I have active plans to continue at this time: once I’m writing fic again—Lucy Skywalker, tolerably well acquainted, and Fíriel (f!Faramir) are at the top of my list!

Posted WIPs that I have given up on: I’m terrible at really giving up on things, tbh. I always have scraps that I poke at and things like that. Such Terms of Cordiality is vanishingly unlikely, though.

Exchange fics due soon/unrevealed: none. I had the sense (speaking for myself) not to do exchanges this year.

WIPs that live in my fanfic folder and are incomplete and who knows when they’ll be finished: not a whole lot, actually, in the sense of things that haven’t been posted. I mostly do post my WIPs. I’ve got the companion fic to my Darcy-Fitzwilliam headcanons in the folder—we’ll see how that goes.

Coming soon/not yet started: hahahaha, nothing. I’ve got quite enough to be going with.

Do you accept prompts: not exactly, these days. I don’t mind them, and if they inspire me, I’m glad to write when I can spare the time, but at this point they don’t usually kickstart me and I just feel vaguely guilty when they do but I don’t have the time/energy, so I don’t actively invite them.

Upcoming story you are most excited to write:

It’s not a story, but there’s a scene in the Fíriel-Éowyn-Merry fic that I’m reallyyyyy looking forward to (though it only has Fíriel and Éowyn in it).

Tagging, if you want to do it:

elperian,

incognitajones, irresistible-revolution,

kaz,

ncfan

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Babe (Styx)

I was going over some fics and … while I mostly prefer my recent-ish Darcy-Fitzwilliam family headcanons to the old ones, I do miss Cecily and Ella sometimes.

Tagged: #this means nothing to most of you but idk—i was planning tolerably well acquainted and figuring out which configuration worked best #for what i want to do and remembered that my most recent one didn't have either of them #eleanor is more my /type/ and i think the first fitzwilliam oc i came up with and i'm deeply fond of her #but i have such a soft spot for cecily #flibbertigibbet poor relation that she is

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Don't Stop Me Now (Queen)

I was looking at my AO3 page, and … I have a pretty jumbled mix of feelings about what I’ve written, honestly.

I don’t expect many people to care, but going with the top 11:

1. Season of Courtship (Austen): I wrote it at 19 alongside The Rich Are Always Respectable, alternating on a schedule, in fits of depression and mania. A few years later (in a better frame of mind), I revised it—some sections quite substantially. I’m glad people like it but feel kind of weird about it being The One.

2. per ardua ad astra (Star Wars): I wrote this in a haze of Rogue One feelings between early 2017 and mid-2018. I was dealing with some mental health issues, but not 2005 hell, and it helped with them. I feel vaguely bad about the perpetually unfinished half of a chapter on my Drive, but I am fond of the fic generally.

3. But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell (Star Wars): I was listening to The Messiah and had the idea of a bunch of short SW fics set to various lyrics; this is one of them. It was a strange but fun project and super soothing after Austen fandom, so it’s nice to see such a short thing up here.

4. we get dark, only to shine (The Borgias): I wrote this during my MA, and the academic and fic research crossed over heavily, which made both easier. I’d finally gotten diagnosed as bipolar and put on mood stabilizers, I was getting A’s in everything, and its fandom was the absolute nicest I’ve ever been in. Best fandom experience bar none.

5. tolerably well acquainted (Austen): I had some P&P feelings and started self-indulgent drawer fic that just kind of grew. Slowly. Very slowly. But eventually it reached the point where I decided to post what I had, and … it’s still ongoing.

6. Contradictions and Varieties (Austen): this comes from my better Austen fandom days. There was a prompt at Firthness and the first half of the fic was my fill for it, and then I tacked on an ending later. I feel like the division is very obvious and it’s pretty uneven, so I’m kind of meh about it.

7. Anomaly (Austen): the ace!Darcy fic, inspired by the ace manifestos community on Dreamwidth. I thought of actually writing a manifesto for him, and then just wrote fic instead. It’s not my best fic, but it is my precious child and every nice comment warms my heart to this day.

8. Ten Facts About Harry Potter (Harry Potter): my take on Slytherin!Harry, something I’ve always deeply loved in concept and very rarely in execution. It’s … eh.

9. First Impressions (Austen): also not my best fic, but I planned it for a year and then wrote it for a big bang, and it largely turned out the way I wanted it to turn out. That doesn’t often happen! And I had friends who were super encouraging the whole time, and was in a good place mentally, and … it was a joy, really.

10. The Talk (Austen): It sure exists. (More seriously, it’s not really “me” and feels very remote.)

11. Redemption (Star Wars): this was my first SW fic ever and I shoved a lot of my ambivalence about ROTJ and the PT into it while trying to stay away from fix-fic implications. It was really fun to write for a new fandom, so I just did whatever popped into my head, and … it doesn’t bother me, since I had such a good time writing it, but in retrospect it’s a strange little thing.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ETA 2/28/2024: I don't think my top 11 by kudos looks exactly the same now, though it's similar: 1) Season of Courtship, 2) But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul in Hell, 3) per ardua ad astra, 4) we get dark, only to shine, 5) Contradictions and Varieties, 6) Anomaly, 7) tolerably well acquainted, 8) The Talk, 9) Ten Facts About Harry Potter, 10) A Cunning Plan, and 11) First Impressions.]

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: All Dead, All Dead (Queen)

I was tagged in a last line meme on Tumblr!

Rules: Post the last line of your current WIP and tag everyone who you want to share the latest and greatest of their fics!

Thanks to @irresistible-revolution for tagging me!

Hmm, I’m not sure which was more recent, so I’ll cheat and go with two :P

Here’s the last of the current chapter of tolerably well acquainted, my canon-compliant fic about Elizabeth’s feelings through the Pemberley scenes and after:

She wanted him to be happy.

And here’s one from an untitled Faramir backstory fic I started a little while ago:

But it seemed he would be Denethor’s son after all—at least in this.

Back in 2020, I tagged

elperian,

heckofabecca,

tree,

incognitajones,

ncfan

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Caribbean Blue (Enya)

solemnphoenix at Tumblr said:

Hi again! I also began reading your fic, 'tolerably well acquainted' and I'm loving it!! You've expanded amazingly on one of my favourite scenes and it's so refreshing to read it in such detail! That's canon for me now. No pressure, but when can we expect an update?!! I hope you're planning many more chapters!

I replied:

Oh, thanks! It’s definitely been fun to pore over specific scenes and imagine the details of how they might have gone.

I don’t really write on a schedule (I’m a PhD student and it wreaks havoc with my fic and original writing time+energy). I do have about a third of another chapter written, though, so it’s the thing that’s most likely to come up next.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: I'm Gonna Be (The Proclaimers)

Unrelated to the last few posts: I’m really feeling like working on the original novel rn (mostly thanks to

jubaah, lol) but I have so much to read for exams and then my dissertation even if I pass them and adfkj;adf;jk I just want to write!

...I also want to work on tolerably well acquainted, but I'm too tired. Bleh.

[ETA 7/15/2023: I did pass them and am working on my dissertation ... and still catching up on reading, lol.]

Current Location: Washington

Apparently, I’ve been plagiarized, so I looked at my AO3 (sorted by kudos) to see if it was at least from my top five fics, since people don’t always realize how much they’re picking up and re-using.

No, it was not! But in fairness, I’m pretty ????? about what logic governs which ends up at the top. It’s currently:

Season of Courtship—Darcy/Elizabeth engagement fic I wrote at 19 (though I revised it later). It hadn’t been in my #1 slot for a really long time, but got a bunch of kudos over the last few months for some reason.
per ardua ad astra—Rogue One AU where Jyn, Cassian, and Bodhi escape Scarif only to get sucked into the Death Star. So close to being resolved, and yet, not. Def my most popular for a long while, but I posted most of it in the RO fandom heyday.
But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell—ROTJ AU where Anakin/Vader seriously considers Luke’s offer to leave with him. It is 841 words and I desperately wish I had it in me to write more.
we get dark, only to shine—my longest fic ever at 168k; an AU for The Borgias that tries to bring in history and stay essentially true to the show’s dynamics. Another one that had its time as my #1 fic (despite being a problematic checklist, including incest).
tolerably well acquainted—canon-compliant fic expanding on Elizabeth’s time at Pemberley and afterwards. It’s actually something I’m invested in right now, so it’s been nice to see it climbing past most of my old fics.

Anyway. That happened!

( cut )

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac)

I was looking at my GoogleDrive, and within the last week, I created/edited:

three pages of a new chapter of tolerably well acquainted
notes on Utopia
the original fantasy novel
a f!Darcy/Elizabeth fic where they meet at Rosings (it’s a direct what-if rather than a retelling à la First Impressions)
more f!Faramir fic, this time with bonus Denethor
the original Regency novel, about a young woman who has to turn to her two glamorous, but self-absorbed and semi-estranged half-siblings to escape a terrible marriage (I meant it to be a romance, but it’s predictably about 10% romance to 90% family drama)
eleven pages of notes on Machiavelli >_<

phew

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Archangel (Two Steps From Hell)

In response to this,

heckofabecca said:

YOOOOOOOOO

I replied:

Finally!

themarydragon said:

OMG YAY

I replied:

:)

It necessarily takes a lot from the book, but it’s there!

Current Location: Washington

Almost a year later, I updated tolerably well acquainted (the canon-compliant fic that follows Elizabeth from her time at Pemberley onwards):

“And till Colonel Forster came himself, not one of you entertained a doubt, I suppose, of their being really married?”

“How was it possible that such an idea should enter our brains! I felt a little uneasy—a little fearful of my sister’s happiness with him in marriage, because I knew that his conduct had not been always quite right.”

Not quite right, indeed! For a moment, Elizabeth thought of Miss Darcy’s anguish at so much as a mention of Wickham’s regiment, and how Darcy had looked—first wary and then—

With a shake of her head, she returned her attention to Jane. Georgiana Darcy was safe and likely contented enough at Pemberley; the same could not be said for Lydia or their family.

( tag )

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Clash of Empires (Thomas Bergersen)

In response to this, angelanhunt said:

I will take any and all of these.

I replied:

hah, well, glad to hear it! some of them are popular, but some of them are … extremely niche.

#the unpopular ones have moved me lately #though i'm really feeling 'tolerably well acquainted' rn #we'll see

incognitajones said:

I didn’t know you were working on a Persuasion AU… 👀

I wrote a little bit of one a few years(!!!) ago, but never got any further. For a “never finished the chapter I was working on” value of any further.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: The Jedi Steps and Finale (John Williams)

I had an appointment with my psychiatrist, and she thinks I need to eat better (true) and that I'm hypomanic right now (also true), so ... there's that. At least the appointment is over and I can go back to my brain buzzing in a million different directions without being additionally stressed about her.

I'm trying to read a biography of Thomas More by his son-in-law and it's incredibly slow-going—unsurprisingly, given where my concentration is at right now. He's in the Tower now, though, so the end is in sight.

A stranger on Tumblr said I was an international treasure for a post describing everything we know about Pemberley from the book, which was really sweet, esp on a post I didn't at all expect it on.

And I've been working on pro patria, my GW2 slight-AU fic, which has a whopping six bookmarks on AO3, but which I know some people read and which I'm deeply attached to. My version of the PC is deeply flawed and really fun (for me). RIP to the notifications of the people subscribed to my AO3 for ... idk, literally anything else, though. I do wish I had some more motivation for Darcy/Elizabeth right now, though. I'd love to get through tolerably well acquainted. Or make some progress on the Darcy/Elizabeth femslash fic that occupies part of my brain. Or anything—I'm having amorphous Darcy/Elizabeth feelings that I can't really articulate atm.

I'd like to make more progress on my Faramir/Aragorn femslash verse, too, although it's even more niche than the GW2 fix-fic. F!Aragorn/Aranor is still problematic, but also really attractive to me (which makes her funner to write), and I might like this f!Faramir (Míriel) even better than the other one, much as I love both. I didn't come up with machinations to keep Míriel in Minas Tirith during the evacuation, so she just gets one piece of astounding news after the other before she even shows up in MT, now in a very uncertain position. It'll be fun!... someday.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Your Place In History (Epic Score)

I did a meme awhile back that includes listing your most popular works by kudos, and it's like:

1. Season of Courtship: just over 2000 kudos. Nothing I've written out of my teens will ever compare, apparently. [Dated to 2006 on AO3, but actually written earlier.]

2. But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell: 1429 kudos. 841 words, so ... okay. [2012]

3. per ardua ad astra: 1354 kudos. Yay, a longfic that I wrote in the comparatively recent past made the list! It definitely benefited from being for what was then a big ship in a megafandom, but I was mostly pretty happy with it despite some issues and continuity errors. [updated 2018]

4. we get dark, only to shine: lol, I knew it'd show up here somewhere. 1301 kudos. It used to be far and away my most popular fic, actually, despite (because of?) centering problematic characters on the problematic train to Problematicville. (The canon sibling incest pairing is but one of the dubious features.) I did put a lot of fairly serious historical research into it, though, which overlapped with my RL research enough to get a paper written and sort of published. *\0/* [updated 2016]

5. tolerably well acquainted: 1141 kudos. And here's one that I'm uncomplicatedly happy about. It's just canon expanded from Pemberley onwards, but I pored over the novel to try and make sure everything fit well enough, and tried to strike some middle ground between a pseudo-Austenian style and my own (which, despite my many Austen fics, I always find fairly difficult). But I'm very, very fond of it and hope to finish it one day. [updated 2020]

Current Location: Washington

(Stolen from

shadaras)

List your top fanfic on AO3 for every year, sorted by kudos.

I wasn't sure whether to list them by the date posted or updated, but it was easier to go with updated, so that's what it is.

( Read more... )

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: I Want to Break Free (Queen)

Agh, just realized in the very process of writing that that last chapter was the last happy one for ... a good while.

:\

(Not that I don't write angst—lol—but I was having fun with lalalala everything going well, and then the plot had to arrive. Really, the nerve.)

Current Mood: morose
Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Mandolin Concerto in C Major, I. Allegro (Antonio Vivaldi)

The date is purely because I posted various short things on the 13th that don't merit separate crossposts, but I am a completionist.

[warning: fic-spoilery references to canonical sibling incest]

( Read more... )

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Pompeii (Bastille)

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