the deep moans round with many voices

Today is Yuletide reveal day! Here are the stories I wrote this year:

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( 1 ) Happily Ever After Requires Negotiation: Elections are coming around again, and the Neo-Radicals want Sophie and Dorcas to make a public gesture in support of their ideals. Sophie, meanwhile, is more interested in whether Dorcas likes her, and Dorcas will never pass up a chance to make a bargain. Sophie/Dorcas. (2,125 words, written for theblueescapist)

For the past several Yuletides, I have offered to write for Kenneth Lillington's An Ash-Blonde Witch. I kept getting matched on other fandoms instead, but this year, I got to revisit an obscure (and out of print) childhood pleasure. It is a classic Yuletide-style fandom, in that I think I may have just written its first extant piece of fanfiction.

I will briefly summarize the book, since I'm quite sure most of you haven't read it. Sophie Oakroyd accompanies her father to study the tiny country of Urstwile, which is so isolated (and carefully preserved that way by the outside world) that it's stuck back in ye olde generic European medieval/renaissance era. A local farmer (Simon) falls in love with her, while the daughter of a local tax collector (Prudence) falls in love with him, and meanwhile Sophie is mistaken for a witch because she can use applied psychology and also some psychic powers (which apparently are common in the 21st century). This attracts the attention of Dorcas, a real local witch, and a comedy of errors plays out from there, which has drastic and unexpected effects on the world beyond Urstwile.

Also there is some delightfully ridiculous poetry.

The Blue Escapist asked for a story about what happens to Dorcas after the book. I ended up writing a story focused more on Sophie, but since they are friends, housemates, and business partners by the end -- and since The Blue Escapist said femslash was fine -- Dorcas is still very present and important. She just isn't the POV character.

This is a sillier story than I often write, but I was working from a deliberately absurd canon, so that was intentional. Hopefully the jokes work!

I would like to thank cat_i_th_adage for beta-reading on short notice -- the story is better for her advice. :-)

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( 2 ) The Starlady and Her Shadow: A Folktale of Avaric: This is a tale told on the plains of Avaric, in the dark before the dawn when Oceanus wanes and only stars shine faint in deepest heaven. For though the stars see all, they keep their silence and carry no rumors to the jealous Powers of the world. (1,125 words, written for Aishuu)

I told aishuu I was going to write her a Darkangel Trilogy treat this Yuletide, and then I wrote it. Occasionally I manage to follow through on my commitments in a timely fashion!

This fic is a combined response to two of her suggestions. The major one, which set the format of my fic, is about storytelling:

I'm fascinated by the creation of myth and legend, and the lines between truth and propaganda. I'd love an outsider piece about how Aeriel and Irrylath's story is passed down through the ages (since Aeriel was a singer, it would be interesting to see this worked in). Aeriel had some really bad rumors about her in the third book, so it could be interesting to see her image rehabilitated or further altered. Since Ravenna is gone, Aeriel should take that place in the culture, but it might not work out that way. Aeriel is going to be around for a long, long time, so she may eventually not even be able to recognize what happened in the stories that are told.

And then this one decided what KIND of folktale I created:

I am fond of Sabr, and while I don't ship Irrylath/Sabr, I would like to see her as an outsider perspective on Irrylath, Aeriel or Irrylath/Aeriel. I would like to see her as a character in her own right, but as part of Irrylath and Aeriel's world.

Basically I selected a handful of canon elements and rearranged them until they told a story that recognizably describes the same general arc of events as what "really happened," but which starts by casting Aeriel as a villain and gets sketchier from there, at least from a historical accuracy perspective. As a standalone folktale, it's perfectly coherent -- or at least I devoutly hope it is. The problem is as much in what it leaves out as in how it twists and spins the people and events it describes.

I love imagining the way stories get mangled down the generations. That happens even if people aren't actively trying to emphasize and deemphasize certain aspects, but once you toss propaganda into the mix... heh. That's fun. *evil grin*

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My conclusion, based on this year and the year we visited Vicky in Spain, is that extensive holiday travel is not conducive to writing Yuletide treats. I only got this one done because I was fiercely determined to do so, and because it uses a style/voice/format that I have practiced a lot. (If you don't know that I like fairy-tales, you have not been following me very long.) I think this may be my least productive Yuletide ever, going by wordcount. But hey, I got my assignment in on time and wrote the treat I said I'd write, and I think both stories convey what they're meant to, in an entertaining fashion.

I will take my successes where I can. *wry*