Lle Llywela

So, once upon a time - by which I mean, about two years ago - I wrote a story. It wasn’t a story I’d planned or expected to write. It wasn’t even My Sort Of Thing, being a crossover between two very different fandoms, which I normally avoid like the plague. But I had read something which ignited a spark, and found that I had to scratch that itch, for better or for worse, so I wrote this story. It was called Blood of the Living Dead and was a crossover between The Musketeers and Merlin, but pretty much followed along season one continuity for Musketeers, so it wasn’t really so very AU as all that…

But the story did, almost incidentally and without having intended to do so, change one fairly significant detail from season one. Then afterward I wondered how that change might have impacted season two continuity, and asked myself how that second season might play out in this slightly altered universe in order to end up in broadly the same place.

So I started writing another story, just a short one, intended to suggest the beginning of an answer to that question, and I got about 85% of it done before I completely dried up.

Two years later, beginning to feel the first stirrings of creativity once more, I opened up my WIP folder and asked myself what in there might be possible to finish off - I have rather a large number of WIPs, so I kind of wanted a quick win to help me get back into a fic-writing mood. This particular story seemed closest to completion, so I gave it a once over and had a go at finishing it off, and then took some advice on smoothing off the rough edges.

And now at last it is complete. The first story I've managed to finish in two years. Not that anyone will remember the first story to have the slightest interest in reading a follow-up, but I’m pleased to have finally managed to finish it anyway.

So here it is: The Waiting Game. In which a wounded Aramis finds himself trapped and alone with the Queen when a social gathering erupts into violence. While the other Musketeers plan a rescue, how long can they hold out?

I have committed fic! Big time fic - this has been eating my brain all summer, and I'm pretty sure I could go on tweaking it for the rest of the year, but I need my life back so I'm just going to publish and be damned. *G*

It's a classic Doctor Who story, casefile, so it's posted over at my other journal, I'll just link to it here.

Title: Life Goes On
Author: Me!
Show: Classic Doctor Who
Characters: ensemble – Liz Shaw, Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant-Major Benton
Rating: PG
Spoilers: This story is set some time after the Doctor left Sarah on Earth at the end of The Hand of Fear.
Wordcount: 49,541 - complete
Disclaimer: UNIT and all characters connected therein belong to the BBC. I have borrowed them for this story and am making no profit from this.
Summary: Case-file. The Doctor has left UNIT…but life goes on without him and so do extra-terrestrial incursions. When mysterious fissures appear and unidentified aliens attack, Liz Shaw finds herself drawn back to UNIT after an absence of several years, while a newly returned Sarah Jane Smith is wondering what the future holds for her, now that her dearest friend has left her behind.
Author's Note: This story comes from more or less exactly the same place as the BtVS Wishverse fic I wrote a few years ago - apparently I have a bit of a thing for removing the hero of a show so that the sidekicks can step up and be heroes in their own right!
Acknowledgements: with thanks to Sue



Part One
Having put her time at UNIT behind her, Liz Shaw is furious at being dragged back to assist with a new investigation. Surprised to learn of the Doctor's departure, she slowly begins to change her mind as her interest in the case is piqued - but then disaster strikes
Part Two
As UNIT regroup after the alien attack, Sarah struggles to find a role in the investigation, while Liz and Harry attempt to escape from their alien captors
Part Three
While Liz learns what the aliens are up to, Sarah brainstorms with the Brigadier back at UNIT, but then the approach of another alien spaceship throws everyone onto alert
Part Four
Liz and Harry manage to escape at last, while Sarah takes matters into her own hands - with unexpected consequences
Part Five
Sarah and Harry have been thrown into the past with no way home, how will they cope? Meanwhile back at UNIT, Liz is the only person who stands any chance of saving them, but how will she handle the pressure?
Part Six
Trapped in the past, Sarah confides in Harry as they struggle to keep their spirits up, while Liz's attempt at retrieving them is interrupted by another alien attack - will UNIT get their defences in place in time?
Part Seven
As Liz saves the day, there is time for reflection: what does the future hold now?
Epilogue
Life goes on...

This story can also be read at my website or at AO3

Of course, I don't really write fic these days. I'm not sure why. Just...lost the urge. I'm hoping it comes back some day. I still have a WIP folder stuffed full of notes waiting to be turned into actual stories!

But anyway, this meme was interesting.

( Writing Meme )

Have actually written some fic. All blame for this is attached to joe_sweden, who nagged me until I caved and started writing.

This is a Doctor Who/Rome crossover. Have never written for either fandom before, so I hope the characters read okay. The perspective is from the Doctor Who characters; no knowledge of Rome is required before reading this story.

Disclaimer: Not a single one of these characters or scenarios belongs to me, alas. This story slots in between The Doctor Dances and Boomtown in season one of Doctor Who, and during the Rome season one episode Utica. A chunk of dialogue during the dinner scene is drawn directly from the transcript of Utica, with apologies to the writers and programme makers for taking such liberties with their work.

This is for joe_sweden, because she told me to do it and then for some reason I did. The prompt was: 'write a fic about the Doctor, Jack and Rose meeting Julius Caesar and being invited to dinner (courtesy of some psychic paper shenanigans) with him and Brutus. Bonus points if you get an "et tu Brute" joke in there.' This is probably not quite what she had in mind…

Hope no one's expecting much in the way of plot out of this one, beyond the Who basics of 'land, poke around a bit, and then leave again'.

To read the story, click the banner:

This is a fairly meaningless quotation post, just for the sake of it. I don't often get a Sunday paper, but yesterday I picked up a copy of the Independent and was quite struck by an interview with John Lloyd, TV writer and producer and the brains behind shows such as Not The Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image and Blackadder.

The quote that struck me was this: "It's boring to say, but the horrible truth is that most people on television don't like the programmes they work for. Everybody's chasing everybody downmarket, so you eventually get to a place where they make stuff that even a person with half a brain cell doesn't enjoy."

Soooo nicely put. And a wonderful indictment of about 95% of what's on TV these days!


In Other News, I am sort of writing again. Ish. I was issued a specific challenge, and am trying, ish, to fulfil it. It's a Doctor Who fic, the first (and probably last!) I've ever attempted. The first 7 pages flowed pretty freely, but I'm now at the point where I really need to conduct research before I can continue. I also need ideas - I need somewhere really ridiculous and exotic for the Doctor to claim to be representing in order to intrigue Julius Caesar into granting him an audience... Suggestions on a postcard please!

A few ficcish thoughts about characterisation and development and the pros and cons of tight continuity ( under the cut )

Well, hooray for an awake Pros!Muse, and for dashing off a ficlet in a day - The Fall Guy is now complete and available for reading.

It's only a couple of pages as an episode tag to the ep I just reviewed, Fall Girl, which ended on such a downbeat note, with Bodie feeling hurt and angry and betrayed by just about everyone - I wanted to have a quick peek at how he and Doyle might have started to move past everything that had happened and repair their close working relationship. This is Doyle's thought process in a very quick scene leading up to the first move being made.


And, in other news, I finally got around to buying a new watch after living time-less all week since the old one gave up the ghost. Felt weird being without it. Also bought myself a new pair of earrings, since I still haven't replaced all the ones that got pinched in my burglery, and celebrated payday by ordering the Life on Mars DVD set from amazon :)

Argentina play Holland tonight in their final group match of the World Cup, but Crespo probably won't play - he'll be rested, since they've already qualified for the next phase.

Hmm. Sat down and worked out the page counts for my Monico series so far. It adds up thus:

Starting Over – 32
University Daze – 51
In Confidence – 29
Revelations – 33
Shot in the Dark – 20
Hunted – 41
Sink or Swim – 47
Rose – 49
My Brother's Keeper – 31
Auld Lang Syne – 42
Grudge Match – 50
Once Upon A Time – 60
Malignancy – 43
Nemesis Part I – 35
Nemesis Part II – 40

All of which adds up to:

Total = 603 pages
Average = 40.2 pages

Yikes. And, not bad.

The next installment of my ongoing series, Tales from the Monico, is finished at last:

Nemesis Part II

So, with this new story I'm also officially launching my new website, designed and hosted by the lovely Rosely at Liquid Deception:

Publish and be Damned

Not everything from the old site has been moved across yet, so I'll keep it up for a bit longer, but most of the content has been transferred now.