2018 - Year Review - Writing Fanfic
Jan. 5th, 2019 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nicholas_lucienSo another year has passed, and I finally have some time to sit down and see what the last year was like. For Christmas I got a nice wool Hudson Bay blanket (used, can't afford the cost of a new one!). Its an odd blue/green color with a chocolate brown stripe, with holes caused by some chemical that had dripped on it, and it's old. But it is still warm, so I am snuggled all in it, sitting in front of the computer, with just two fingers poking out so I can type. Hmmmmm, so warm. So what happened in 2018:
First up: Gifts! I received 1 gifted story this year!
Defying the Gods is a story frompj1228, and was written for the 2018 FKFicFest. The story was a Nick/LaCroix (Unnamed Faction), so my favorite faction. The story is a prompt about the May 1980 Mt St Helens eruption in Washington State. Nick gets caught up in the eruption and pyroclastic flows and mudslides and all, and LaCroix has to go rescue him. Now, Mt St Helens is a volcano similar in type to Mt Vesuvius, so another part of the story dealt with a flashback to LaCroix's escape when Pompeii was buried during the 79 eruption. And all of this was one gigantic flashback to a case Nick was working on in Toronto, where he had to save LaCroix! So many wonderful layers! The story is specially important to me becuase, as a child, I was in Washington State during this eruption and had the winds blown differently, where I lived would have been buried in the ash.
Second up: Prompted Story.
I wrote 1 story for the 2018 FkFicFest forwaltd called Off to the Circus. The prompt was Goodbye cruel world: I'm off to join the circus, and asked if any of the characters wished they could just run off and join the circus. Now, that prompt is also a song, so I got to use some of the lyrics in the story, which was fun, and there are references to circuses and circus history. Natalie will learn about both Nick's and Janette's involvements with circuses in the past, what they did there, and why they joined. Now, in canon Nick does mention doing slight of hand tricks in the circus. But I'll be honest, I usually skip that scene becuase there is a clown and I am afraid of clowns (I know! Afraid of clowns but wrote a circus story. I assure you, there are no clowns in the story). So Nick's involvement with the circus centers around the various circus banners he has in the loft. Being one who loves research, I identified each poster and the individuals on it, and exactly when these real individuals worked together. That set the timeline, which happened to fit beautifully into the open slots in Nick's known timeline from canon. Oh, I love it when things come together so well!
Third up: Other stories. I wrote 5 stories this year (most of them short)
The Night the Lights Went Out is part of the Calendar Day Series, which are stories written about events that happened on specific days. This story concerns with what happened to Nick, who had to work during the New York City Blackout of 1977. Nick protected many individuals throughout the night, but was affected. He was physically injured, but the rioting crowds and fires triggered memories of being pursued in the past and Nick wanted LaCroix. LaCroix does come, but Nick is a bit stubborn about it initially.
Halloween Night, Part II is the continuation of Halloween Night from 2017, also in the Calendar series. These take place before Dark Knight, with Natalie trying to get Nick to participate in the mortal event of Halloween. In the first story he had to handle trick-or-treaters, while in the second story they dress up and go to a Halloween Party at the Coroners building. Nick is kinda pushed into these activities, and he tries, but really he is not ready for so much immersion into mortal lives. Parties in the past he could handle, since many of those were more like political functions with everyone playing a part, but now he is surrounded by people really being honest with him. Nick feels again the separation he has with everyone, since he cannot be as honest with them. And Schanke makes an appearance! Initially, in Dark Knight and the movie Nick Knight, Don is not so pleased with Nick. There is definitely major tension and animosity there, and Schanke in this story definitely has that. I tried to create an explanation for why two individuals on two different shifts that never worked with each other would have such tension.
Janus Presiding was also part of the Calendar Day series, taking place on New Years Eve and finishing on New Years Day. Mostly a LaCroix story, it deals with how LaCroix sees the upcoming year (not too good since, once again, he was not able to get Nick to completely return to him). However, Nick had also been thinking about their relationship and New Years Day ended up being much different than LaCroix had thought it would be. Janus, of course, is the Roman god of beginnings, endings, passages, and time, all major parts of the story. As for the title, I just thought it sounded cool, couldn't really come up with anything else.
Continuing On was a hard one to write. I decided I wanted to try and write a story where Nick died and what LaCroix would do about that. Obviously a LaCroix story (Nick actually died before the story began), there is no dialogue, just LaCroix remembering what happened, what he did, and how he is going to go forward. Its not mentioned in the story directly, but it takes place in Season 3, when Nick and LaCroix were getting closer in their relationship. Some lines in the story are a little choppy and don't flow so nice, but this is in LaCroix's head; he will not be thinking completely logically and he will jump around a bit. He also makes decisions, and doesn't ask if that is okay. The story is also an acrostic, a form of constrained writing. There are 8 paragraphs, the first letter of each spelling out that which LaCroix was constantly thinking about: NICHOLAS.
The Night Sun was the long story for this year and required a lot of research (which I love, so that was fun, though I have sooooo much more than what went into the story). Basically, it is a cure story (spoilers ahead), dealing with the Maya Cup cure/ritual talked about in Dark Knight. Get the Maya cups, some sacrificed blood, pour the blood between the cups, drink it, and you should be cured. In canon, the second cup was broken in the abattoir, so Nick couldn't try the ritual to see if it would cure him. This story picks up post-canon, where Nick finds that LaCroix had saved the broken pieces and reassembled the cup (explaining nicely I think why Nick hadn't collected the broken pieces and glued them back together himself, they were already gone). Nick would try the ritual, but it wouldn't work. Forward a few more years and Nick finds out that he had the wrong cup for the ritual. Acquiring the cup he really needed, Natalie helps Nick do the ritual. Then something does happen! But he learns that the ritual is a cure, just not a cure for him. I loved weaving in Maya myths and the vision Nick ended up having - that was fun and my favorite part. The characters and individuals Nick meets are a fusion of various parts of Nick and Natalie. Its one of the reasons the Maya characters say lines that Nat had said, or Nick remembers LaCroix saying: that place was created by both Natalie and Nick, which means it also has the limitations Nick and Nat both have. They both have no idea how this is supposed to work, and they don't have the clear idea of how Janette was able to achieve mortality. They have their guesses (Nat thinking love was enough, hence what they did in Last Knight), but they don't know it all. Natalie had some interaction with the Enforcers, and she learned some things, like Hunters are made, and that made it into the vision/dream Nick had, but it still isn't an answer. Its one of the reasons the vision sequence seems a bit off, or the god seems to quickly change personality (sounding like LaCroix, then Nat, then Nick) (also why he has no internal thoughts - he only has dialogue), or very convenient that what Natalie had been thinking about turned out to be true - of course it did, becuase Natalie's and Nick's thoughts went into this! Nick's vampire side also made part of the vision, the part that reinforced this wasn't a cure; of course the vampire didn't want the cure to happen! Now, Nick does change a bit in the story, each time he had Nat's blood he came out a bit stronger and able to resist his vampire a bit more (also why the effect from the god worked - it was really a part of Natalie). So there is something going on, but Nick and Nat still haven't completely figured out what is happening. I will give a hint to a huge spoiler: I have a theory as to how Janette became mortal (it's more than love), and that theory is in play in this story. But since Nick, Nat, LaCroix, and the Enforcers don't know, everyone has been mis-interpreting the results as to why their efforts have worked (or didn't work in the case of when Nick first tried the ritual). I think a part of Nick unconsciously knows, something he picked up from Janette, but Janette is trying really hard to keep the knowledge of the cure from Nick. But that knowledge of how the cure worked would explain how Nick is able to resist the vampire more and how Natalie survived Last Knight without much problems.
For extra info: the Maya city name I picked for the story is a play on the one picked for the show. Altun Kinal means, basically, Water Fire. To complete the rest of the 4 elements, Luumtun Ka'anmul contains lu'um (which means Earth) and ka'an (which means Sky). So earth, air, fire, and water.
Fourth up: Live on the Air. So I want to do a story that goes through Nick's stages of being more in the light/mortal, and more in the dark/vampire, and how he moves between these states over the course of his life. I will be long, and I've got some notes, but that is as far as that has gotten. To help with this story, I am re-watching each episode. I've gotten as far as Dark Knight. But I also delved into the characters and more detailed info about certain things, like Altun Kinal and those cups. I really love research.
For the upcoming year:
I have more ideas for stories, and hardly got anything completed last year, so my stack of papers is taller now. Really got to do something about that. I do plan to start that long series this year, though the first few stories I know will be short. Not drabble short though (still working on that drabble - I'll get it one of these years)! I'll continue with watching the episodes, so more of those summaries. I have been busy since summer getting info about the Caddy, so that will be a huge summary with pictures (so I should probably get to taking those pictures!). Still going to do a song-fic, so that is still on for this year. Got a request for a wedding story, so that should be interesting: searching anything wedding will make so many targeted ads appear, not looking forward to that spam. And I have two more cure stories planned! These stories will go into concepts barely brought up in The Night Sun: my theory of how Hunters are actually made, and how the cure would actually work for Nick. In one he will even be cured! So much fun! Well, not for LaCroix, but he'll manage. And definitely a Nick/LaCroix story; got to have my UF! And hopefully there will be enough interest for a FKFicFest this year!
First up: Gifts! I received 1 gifted story this year!
Defying the Gods is a story from
pj1228, and was written for the 2018 FKFicFest. The story was a Nick/LaCroix (Unnamed Faction), so my favorite faction. The story is a prompt about the May 1980 Mt St Helens eruption in Washington State. Nick gets caught up in the eruption and pyroclastic flows and mudslides and all, and LaCroix has to go rescue him. Now, Mt St Helens is a volcano similar in type to Mt Vesuvius, so another part of the story dealt with a flashback to LaCroix's escape when Pompeii was buried during the 79 eruption. And all of this was one gigantic flashback to a case Nick was working on in Toronto, where he had to save LaCroix! So many wonderful layers! The story is specially important to me becuase, as a child, I was in Washington State during this eruption and had the winds blown differently, where I lived would have been buried in the ash.Second up: Prompted Story.
I wrote 1 story for the 2018 FkFicFest for
waltd called Off to the Circus. The prompt was Goodbye cruel world: I'm off to join the circus, and asked if any of the characters wished they could just run off and join the circus. Now, that prompt is also a song, so I got to use some of the lyrics in the story, which was fun, and there are references to circuses and circus history. Natalie will learn about both Nick's and Janette's involvements with circuses in the past, what they did there, and why they joined. Now, in canon Nick does mention doing slight of hand tricks in the circus. But I'll be honest, I usually skip that scene becuase there is a clown and I am afraid of clowns (I know! Afraid of clowns but wrote a circus story. I assure you, there are no clowns in the story). So Nick's involvement with the circus centers around the various circus banners he has in the loft. Being one who loves research, I identified each poster and the individuals on it, and exactly when these real individuals worked together. That set the timeline, which happened to fit beautifully into the open slots in Nick's known timeline from canon. Oh, I love it when things come together so well!Third up: Other stories. I wrote 5 stories this year (most of them short)
The Night the Lights Went Out is part of the Calendar Day Series, which are stories written about events that happened on specific days. This story concerns with what happened to Nick, who had to work during the New York City Blackout of 1977. Nick protected many individuals throughout the night, but was affected. He was physically injured, but the rioting crowds and fires triggered memories of being pursued in the past and Nick wanted LaCroix. LaCroix does come, but Nick is a bit stubborn about it initially.
Halloween Night, Part II is the continuation of Halloween Night from 2017, also in the Calendar series. These take place before Dark Knight, with Natalie trying to get Nick to participate in the mortal event of Halloween. In the first story he had to handle trick-or-treaters, while in the second story they dress up and go to a Halloween Party at the Coroners building. Nick is kinda pushed into these activities, and he tries, but really he is not ready for so much immersion into mortal lives. Parties in the past he could handle, since many of those were more like political functions with everyone playing a part, but now he is surrounded by people really being honest with him. Nick feels again the separation he has with everyone, since he cannot be as honest with them. And Schanke makes an appearance! Initially, in Dark Knight and the movie Nick Knight, Don is not so pleased with Nick. There is definitely major tension and animosity there, and Schanke in this story definitely has that. I tried to create an explanation for why two individuals on two different shifts that never worked with each other would have such tension.
Janus Presiding was also part of the Calendar Day series, taking place on New Years Eve and finishing on New Years Day. Mostly a LaCroix story, it deals with how LaCroix sees the upcoming year (not too good since, once again, he was not able to get Nick to completely return to him). However, Nick had also been thinking about their relationship and New Years Day ended up being much different than LaCroix had thought it would be. Janus, of course, is the Roman god of beginnings, endings, passages, and time, all major parts of the story. As for the title, I just thought it sounded cool, couldn't really come up with anything else.
Continuing On was a hard one to write. I decided I wanted to try and write a story where Nick died and what LaCroix would do about that. Obviously a LaCroix story (Nick actually died before the story began), there is no dialogue, just LaCroix remembering what happened, what he did, and how he is going to go forward. Its not mentioned in the story directly, but it takes place in Season 3, when Nick and LaCroix were getting closer in their relationship. Some lines in the story are a little choppy and don't flow so nice, but this is in LaCroix's head; he will not be thinking completely logically and he will jump around a bit. He also makes decisions, and doesn't ask if that is okay. The story is also an acrostic, a form of constrained writing. There are 8 paragraphs, the first letter of each spelling out that which LaCroix was constantly thinking about: NICHOLAS.
The Night Sun was the long story for this year and required a lot of research (which I love, so that was fun, though I have sooooo much more than what went into the story). Basically, it is a cure story (spoilers ahead), dealing with the Maya Cup cure/ritual talked about in Dark Knight. Get the Maya cups, some sacrificed blood, pour the blood between the cups, drink it, and you should be cured. In canon, the second cup was broken in the abattoir, so Nick couldn't try the ritual to see if it would cure him. This story picks up post-canon, where Nick finds that LaCroix had saved the broken pieces and reassembled the cup (explaining nicely I think why Nick hadn't collected the broken pieces and glued them back together himself, they were already gone). Nick would try the ritual, but it wouldn't work. Forward a few more years and Nick finds out that he had the wrong cup for the ritual. Acquiring the cup he really needed, Natalie helps Nick do the ritual. Then something does happen! But he learns that the ritual is a cure, just not a cure for him. I loved weaving in Maya myths and the vision Nick ended up having - that was fun and my favorite part. The characters and individuals Nick meets are a fusion of various parts of Nick and Natalie. Its one of the reasons the Maya characters say lines that Nat had said, or Nick remembers LaCroix saying: that place was created by both Natalie and Nick, which means it also has the limitations Nick and Nat both have. They both have no idea how this is supposed to work, and they don't have the clear idea of how Janette was able to achieve mortality. They have their guesses (Nat thinking love was enough, hence what they did in Last Knight), but they don't know it all. Natalie had some interaction with the Enforcers, and she learned some things, like Hunters are made, and that made it into the vision/dream Nick had, but it still isn't an answer. Its one of the reasons the vision sequence seems a bit off, or the god seems to quickly change personality (sounding like LaCroix, then Nat, then Nick) (also why he has no internal thoughts - he only has dialogue), or very convenient that what Natalie had been thinking about turned out to be true - of course it did, becuase Natalie's and Nick's thoughts went into this! Nick's vampire side also made part of the vision, the part that reinforced this wasn't a cure; of course the vampire didn't want the cure to happen! Now, Nick does change a bit in the story, each time he had Nat's blood he came out a bit stronger and able to resist his vampire a bit more (also why the effect from the god worked - it was really a part of Natalie). So there is something going on, but Nick and Nat still haven't completely figured out what is happening. I will give a hint to a huge spoiler: I have a theory as to how Janette became mortal (it's more than love), and that theory is in play in this story. But since Nick, Nat, LaCroix, and the Enforcers don't know, everyone has been mis-interpreting the results as to why their efforts have worked (or didn't work in the case of when Nick first tried the ritual). I think a part of Nick unconsciously knows, something he picked up from Janette, but Janette is trying really hard to keep the knowledge of the cure from Nick. But that knowledge of how the cure worked would explain how Nick is able to resist the vampire more and how Natalie survived Last Knight without much problems.
For extra info: the Maya city name I picked for the story is a play on the one picked for the show. Altun Kinal means, basically, Water Fire. To complete the rest of the 4 elements, Luumtun Ka'anmul contains lu'um (which means Earth) and ka'an (which means Sky). So earth, air, fire, and water.
Fourth up: Live on the Air. So I want to do a story that goes through Nick's stages of being more in the light/mortal, and more in the dark/vampire, and how he moves between these states over the course of his life. I will be long, and I've got some notes, but that is as far as that has gotten. To help with this story, I am re-watching each episode. I've gotten as far as Dark Knight. But I also delved into the characters and more detailed info about certain things, like Altun Kinal and those cups. I really love research.
For the upcoming year:
I have more ideas for stories, and hardly got anything completed last year, so my stack of papers is taller now. Really got to do something about that. I do plan to start that long series this year, though the first few stories I know will be short. Not drabble short though (still working on that drabble - I'll get it one of these years)! I'll continue with watching the episodes, so more of those summaries. I have been busy since summer getting info about the Caddy, so that will be a huge summary with pictures (so I should probably get to taking those pictures!). Still going to do a song-fic, so that is still on for this year. Got a request for a wedding story, so that should be interesting: searching anything wedding will make so many targeted ads appear, not looking forward to that spam. And I have two more cure stories planned! These stories will go into concepts barely brought up in The Night Sun: my theory of how Hunters are actually made, and how the cure would actually work for Nick. In one he will even be cured! So much fun! Well, not for LaCroix, but he'll manage. And definitely a Nick/LaCroix story; got to have my UF! And hopefully there will be enough interest for a FKFicFest this year!
no subject
Date: January 6th, 2019 09:21 pm (UTC)FWIW, you might try doing this research searching in an incognito browser window, signed out of your account, not accepting cookies. Then the assorted companies shouldn't have anything with which to associate subsequent ads!
Alternately, at least with Google, you can delete past searches from your search history in your Google account. (This is the kind of thing that perhaps none of us know about until someone tells us it exists, but it is totally available to everyone.)
Good luck! Happy new year!
no subject
Date: January 7th, 2019 12:29 am (UTC)Thanks for the great idea!
no subject
Date: January 7th, 2019 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: January 7th, 2019 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: January 9th, 2019 08:42 pm (UTC)I haven't dared reading "Continuing On" yet for the very reasons you found it difficult to write.
And I think I missed "The Night the Lights went out" and "Live on the Air". So those go straight to my reading list.
I enjoyed "The Night Sun". If I haven't commented yet, it's because it has so many layers. I need to read it again in order to compose the appropriate comment it deserves. The same goes for "Halloween Night Part II".
no subject
Date: January 13th, 2019 12:06 am (UTC)