carbonel

I received two Yuletide stories this year, both based on the Chapel Hollow books by Nina Kiriki Hoffman -- one my assignment and one treat. There was one other story in the fandom this year, so now there are five whole stories in AO3. I'm very happy to have more of it to read.

Closest to the Truth (1180 words) by Gammarad
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chapel Hollow Series - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Laura Bolte/Tom Renfield (Chapel Hollow)
Characters: Laura Bolte, Tom Renfield, Zandra (Chapel Hollow)
Additional Tags: News Media, Interviews
Summary: It was inevitable that the media would want to interview successful model Laura Bolte.

Growing Up Ilmonishti (1526 words) by fawatson
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chapel Hollow Series - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Worldbuilding - Character
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Yuletide Treat
Summary: Nick and Laura's oldest child grows up in Arcadia.

**************

For my assignment, I wrote a story based on the four Melendy books. The requestor wanted a story focusing on Mark and Rush, and gave me plenty of room to use my imagination. The story gives them one last adventure before they go off to boarding school (as described in the more obscure Spiderweb for Two: A Melendy Maze).

An Adventure for Two (3357 words) by JanLevine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Melendy Quartet - Elizabeth Enright
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rush Melendy, Mark Herron
Summary: It's the end of summer, and Mark and Rush are on a quest and looking for one last adventure before they have to go off to boarding school.

I only realized that I'd matched with the same requestor of four years ago after I'd written and uploaded my story. That was also a Melendy story -- this new one is my third -- and apparently was unsuccessful, since I never heard anything from her. Since people may have seen me grumping about that in a couple of places, let me publicly says that this time she came through today with a long comment and great enthusiasm, well worth the wait.

I think I'm probably done writing Melendy stories, but I'm very happy with my Yuletide experience, despite my last-minute angst.

Tonight is the seventh night of Chanukah. So far, I've remembered to light the candles (and say the prayers) every night. There's a certain sense of satisfaction in using up a complete box of candles.

This is one of my favorite Chanukah songs, and I wanted to share it.

Watch on YouTube

My holiday weekend will be spent reading the Yuletide archive once it goes live, but other than that I nave no real plans. Though I do have one present arriving via FedEx if it shows (it was supposed to arrive yesterday, but it's still in Chicago). I'm warm and safe and I have plenty of food and lots of TV to watch and much fiber to spin.

I hope everyone is having a warm and safe and pleasant weekend, wherever you are, whether you have friends and family to share it with or not.

I wrote "An Afternoon Out," set in the world of the Melendy Quartet (The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, And Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two).

An Afternoon Out (2626 words) by JanLevine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Melendy Quartet - Elizabeth Enright
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Evangeline Cuthbert Stanley, Mrs. Oliphant (The Melendy Quartet)
Summary:

Cuffy has one friend who doesn't call her by that name, and she's been seeing her once a month for the past couple of months. At the moment, that's all the adventure there is in her life -- other than trying to mother five rowdy children, that is -- but will there ever be more?

It's the second Melendy story I've written for Yuletide (here's the first one), and this one was much harder for me to write. I'm reasonably happy with it, though. I don't know if I disappointed the recipient completely, or if something else happened, but there hasn't been any response from her. Other than that, there are a couple of very positive comments and a small handful of kudos, so I don't think I stumbled too badly.

Crossposts: https://carbonel.livejournal.com/267088.html

I received an epistolary Peter Wimsey (and Harriet Vane and others, as well) story that made me so very happy. I have a theory as to who wrote it, and tomorrow I will find out if I am correct. In the meantime, at least one rec:

The Duke's Parlormaid (3544 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey
Characters: Harriet Vane, Peter Wimsey, Helen Duchess of Denver, Gerald Wimsey Viscount St George, Gerald 16th Duke of Denver, Alexandra "Kitty" Climpson
Summary:

A story in correspondence, with detective interruptions.

Crossposts: https://carbonel.livejournal.com/266775.html

This is my not-quite-annual "OMG, why do I do this to myself?" whinge.

I signed up for Yuletide, and got my match. Unlike many other years, I was totally unfamiliar with three of the four fandoms, but (of course) the last one was a fandom I'd offered. I came up with a vague idea for a story, and fleshed it out by doing story noodling with Pat WINOLJ. And there things sat for way too long.

I decided I really wasn't happy with what I had in mind, and hadn't put any words to the virtual page, and I'd be better off defaulting. Except that, when I checked, I had misremembered the safe default date, and it had already passed.

So I had to write the damned story to keep in good standing with Yuletide. I buckled down over the weekend, and last night, I finished it. I sent it off to Pat with a note saying that I was at the "I hate this story and everything about it" stage.

Today at the gym, she had a number of suggestions how to tweak things to improve it, but reassured me that it was a coherent story that worked for her. Which was a great relief. I'll want to do one more edit after she sends me her emailed comments, but in the meantime I've uploaded the current version of the story, because the deadline is imminent (sometime tonight). Thankfully, it's fine to keep tweaking things up to the point where the archive goes live.

I had such good intentions for this year. I was going to get the story done early so I didn't have to worry about things. And maybe even pick up a pinch-hit. Ha bloody ha. I wish I could figure out a way to deal with my decades-old procrastinatory tendencies. I do sometimes wonder about my executive function issues. But at least I know it's nothing new.

And right now I'm in a small bout of "yes, it needs an edit, but thank Ghu it's done" euphoria, and I can actually start to look forward to reading from this year's batch of stories.

Crossposts: https://carbonel.livejournal.com/266375.html

This is a placeholder, and I hope to get back to it soon.

Crossposts: https://carbonel.livejournal.com/265315.html

I just posted a first draft of my Yuletide story. The deadline is Sunday morning, at 9 am Central time.

I was this close to defaulting before the default deadline. I was at assignments page, about to click the default button, and I decided to see if I could get something. After about 10 minutes, I had 300 words, and I decided if I could do 300 words, I could do 1,000 (the minimum for Yuletide). And then I procrastinated some more.

When I finally got started, there were a couple of days of dripping blood onto the keyboard, but I finally have 2,700 not-too-awful words. I'll do a second draft after I receive comments from my beta reader, but it's a complete story, so it fulfills the basic requirement.

Why oh why can't I go through this process a month earlier? This isn't a tradition, it's a habit. A bad one. Maybe next year I'll just take the year off.

This is currently a placeholder, because I am getting my signup in at the last minute. The real thing will be up as soon as I can manage it.

Just in time, because I'm going out of town.

I may still tweak things a bit, but I don't have to panic anymore. No defaulting this year.

It occurs to me that because I'll have such limited Internet access once I'm on the cruise, I won't be able to read most of the Yuletide stories once the archive goes live. Even if I pay for access, it'll be by time, not bytes downloaded. I'll try to get to my own gift story, though, so as not to leave whoever wrote my story hanging.

Everything else will probably have to wait until I get back.

ETA: Gift stories, not story! I just thought to look, and there are two mystery works waiting for me!

Dear Yuletide writer,

Thank you so much for taking on my assignment. I hope it fills you with anticipation rather than gloom and doom.

In general, what I like about Yuletide is seeing more of the characters I like, and seeing them acting in character. I will admit that I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort, but only where it's appropriate to the situation. I'm fine with sex scenes if --again -- it's appropriate to the characters, but that's generally not my primary focus for Yuletide.

1) The People - Zenna Henderson

(no names selected)

This is a fandom of my heart, and I've been requesting it just about every year since I started signing up for Yuletide. I loved these stories when I was young, and I still go back to them from time to time. What I particularly love about the People stories is the interaction between the Earth-humans and the People-humans. Because they all are human, even if they're different. And I'm a sucker for stories involving psi powers, so I hope there will be some of that.

While I think I listed four of my favorite characters (Karen, Peter, Valancy, and Bethie) for the tag set, I'm not selecting any to be required. As a tag from a previous Yuletide story in this fandom said, "original characters are perfectly canon in this fandom." I love stories that tell some of the back story (what was the old Home like?) and ones that deal with the current issues of the people. Or, of course, future fic set in the present time. How are the People adapting to computers? Is the Internet a useful tool for finding lost members of the People?

2) Modesty Blaise - Peter O'Donnell

(Modesty Blaise, Willie Garvin)

Most years I request Dinah and Steve Collier, but apparently this year those two didn't make it to the tag set, so optional details are optional. I'd love a case-based story with psi elements so that Dinah can use her talents. Anything up to and including NC17 is fine, but no sex between Modesty and Willie, please! What I love about these books are the genuine friendships among all the good guys, as well as the twisted machinations of the bad guys. I like the way O'Donnell generally writes from multiple viewpoints without giving any feeling of head-hopping, but the choice of POV is of course up to you, dear writer. I love seeing the lighter moments that point up the darker ones, with the darker ones giving depth to the stories.

3) Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis

(James Dunworthy)

Other than Mr. Dunworthy, who is the center around which the Oxford history department revolves, I'm leaving optional characters to be optional, because there are too many characters to nail down just one or two. It's the world (past and present) that's a large part of what makes this fandom so intriguing. I'd be happy to see adventures with Colin and Polly, or Kivren and Verity, or pretty much anyone. I have a mild preference for the canonical characters, but that's your call.

4) Sharing Knife - Lois McMaster Bujold

(Dag Redwing, Fawn Bluefield)

This is my first time requesting this fandom; I just reread the books and would love to see more. I'm hoping to see more of these characters in their life together, and what they've made of it. What happens with their children? Will the Lakewalkers come to a better accommodation with the farmers? What happens the next time a malice arises in a town? Does Dag come up with any new and interestingly creative groundwork? What sort of community have they made together?

1. The Yuletide reveal has happened, and there are many fine stories. My story was written very much with the requester's prompt in mind, and is total crack. It's set in an alternate universe version of Valdemar, specifically during the Last Herald Mage era. The title is "Paying the Price."

2. I had planned to watch all four NFL wild card games, but apparently the Cardinals-Panthers game is on some obscure subsidiary ESPN channel that my DirecTV subscription doesn't carry. This is the first downside I've had to the rearranging of my service that cut my monthly payment almost in half, from $98 to $53. Still slightly grumpy about it though, especially since this is the one game of the four that isn't available via live streaming, either.

3. My bathroom book project has taken me to C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun trilogy, which I've owned for a long time, but never read. I have slogged through the first 25 or so pages, and it is starting to become more enjoyable and less work. I hope this will continue to improve. I keep snickering at a clan with the name of "Intel." Even in 1978, this was probably about as poor a choice as Guy Kay's naming a character "Aileron."

4. I finally ordered a light box -- the portable studio kind, not the seasonal affective disorder kind -- and have hopes of getting decent photos of my yarn. Next step after that will be a for-sale website. That's a major goal for 2015.

5. There is an orange bag, made of that weird material that feels halfway between paper and cloth, that has been sitting, probably with feline assistance, on the floor in my hallway, where it has no business being. Morwen, for some reason, has decided that it is now the cat bed. Nine times out of ten, when I pass that spot in the hallway, there is a small black cat curled up asleep on the orange bag. She's very cute there and looks quite happy, but eventually I'm going to have to pick the bag up and put it away somewhere.

Which I believe means that I will be out of default status once the mods take note of that. (Yes, I sent the appropriate e-mail.) I will probably do another edit tomorrow if my beta gets a chance to do a fast edit, but if not, it can stand as is.

I don't ever want to tap-dance so close to the edge again. The story isn't that long, but it was like pulling teeth to get down. And that was after I threw out a half-written version and started again with an entirely new approach.

I will console myself with the thought (as someone pointed out earlier) that my missing the deadline means that my recipient will get two stories -- the pinch-hit and mine.

And the archive shows that I have two stories waiting! I can now look forward to them with a clear conscience.

I defaulted on my Yuletide story. Worse, I did so past the no-fault default deadline. For some reason I had it fixed in my head that the deadline was December 22, and I was going to get it done by December 21. I was away on vacation with essentially no Internet for the least week and a half, and missed all the warnings.

I believe that the next step is to finish the story (bears and all) and upload it as a New Year's Resolution, which will redeem me for next year.

But DAMN. I love Yuletide, and I hate this kind of screw-up. This is much worse than the year that I missed signing up in time.

Also, I came back from vacation with a cold. I've been taking my temperature every couple of hours, and it's now up to 100.4, having risen gradually from 99.0. I should take some aspirin instead of charting my fever, but it's a weird sort of obsession that tends to happen to me when I have fever brain.

(For anyone who's going "what?" about this, Yuletide is a small fandom fan fiction exchange. It's currently signup time. The DYW letter is to give whoever receives the assignment a bit more information than fits on the form.)

This is the sixth time I've signed up for Yuletide, and the seventh time I've participated -- a few years ago, I missed the signup period, but wrote a pinch-hit. This year, I squeaked in by signing up around two hours before entries closed, which is more characteristic than I'd like to admit. But onward.

In general, what I like about Yuletide is seeing more of the characters I like, and seeing them acting in character. I will admit that I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort, but only where it's appropriate to the situation. I'm fine with sex scenes if --again -- it's appropriate to the characters, but that's generally not my primary focus for Yuletide.

Requests:

1) Modesty Blaise - Peter O'Donnell
(Modesty Blaise, Willie Garvin, Dinah Collier, Steve Collier)

I'd love a case-based story with psi elements so that Dinah can use her talents. Anything up to and including NC17 is fine, but no sex between Modesty and Willie, please! What I love about these books are the genuine friendships among all the good guys, as well as the twisted machinations of the bad guys. I like the way O'Donnell generally writes from multiple viewpoints without giving any feeling of head-hopping, but the choice of POV is of course up to you, dear writer. I love seeing the lighter moments that point up the darker ones, with the darker ones giving depth to the stories.

2) Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis
(Kivrin Engle, Verity Kindle, James Dunworthy)

One idea might be to have Kivren and Verity gang up on Mr Dunworthy to go on a(n) a/d/v/e/n/t/u/r/e research trip together? Optional details are of course optional, but the Roaring 20's in the U.S. might be one idea. Truly, just about anything set in this universe would make me happy. I'd be pleased to see any of the other canonical characters as well.

3) The People - Zenna Henderson
(no names selected)

This is a fandom of my heart, and I've been requesting it just about every year since I started signing up for Yuletide. I loved these stories when I was young, and I still go back to them from time to time. What I particularly love about the People stories is the interaction between the Earth-humans and the People-humans. Because they all are human, even if they're different. And I'm a sucker for stories involving psi powers, so I hope there will be some of that.

While I listed four of my favorite characters (Karen, Peter, Valancy, and Melodye) for the tag set, I'm not selecting any to be required. As a tag from a previous Yuletide story in this fandom said, "original characters are perfectly canon in this fandom." I love stories that tell some of the back story (what was the old Home like?) and ones that deal with the current issues of the people. Or, of course, future fic set in the present time. How are the People adapting to computers? Is the Internet a useful tool for finding lost members of the People?

4) Vatta's War - Elizabeth Moon
(Kylara Vatta, Stella Constantin)

What happened after the books ended? I can't imagine that everyone simply lived "happily ever after." One possibility would be a story about Stella and Toby dealing with inventions and business and life on Cascadia. Another option might be to focus on Ky and Rafe and how they plan to manage their lives. I haven't chosen a third or fourth character to leave the options open for which the direction to choose.

Every year, I have such good intentions for Yuletide. I'll get it done early, I think. Maybe I'll even pick up a pinch-hit. And every year, I'm still writing away in the last few days. I just finished the first draft of this year's story, 24 hours to the minute before the deadline. It's off to my beta reader, who will give me edits tomorrow.

No real message here, just a vast relief that it's done in time. And I really do intend to finish earlier next year.

But I probably won't.

(For anyone who's going "what?" about this, Yuletide is a small fandom fan fiction exchange. It's currently signup time. The DYW letter is to give whoever receives the assignment a bit more information than fits on the form.)

This is the third time I've signed up for Yuletide, and the fourth time I've participated -- a couple of years ago, I missed the signup period, but wrote a pinch-hit. This time, I'm not going to wait until the last minute.

In general, what I like about Yuletide is seeing more of the characters I like, and seeing them acting in character. I will admit that I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort, but only where it's appropriate to the situation. I'm fine with sex scenes if it's appropriate to the characters (Nicholas Rathe and Philip Eslingen, I'm looking at you), but that's generally not my primary focus.

Requests:

1) Point series - Lisa A Barnett and Melissa Scott
(Nicolas Rathe, Philip Eslingen)

I'd really like to see the missing part where Nicolas Rathe and Philip Eslingen become a couple -- especially if it happens while one or both are working on a case. Anything up to and including NC17 is fine, but I'd prefer emotions and plot as the focus, rather than sex. I fell in love with these stories before knowing that they were avatars of Bodie and Doyle from The Professionals, but given how much of my life I've devoted to that fandom, the resonance adds to my fondness for the books. I also love the world-building in these books -- the way astrology and clocks and magic are so intertwined and make a unique setting that's not your generic medievaloid fantasy world. I'd love to see some of that show through in a story.

2) Modesty Blaise - Peter O'Donnell
(Modesty Blaise, Willie Garvin, Dinah Collier, Steve Collier)

I'd love a case-based story with psi elements so that Dinah can use her talents. Anything up to and including NC17 is fine, but no sex between Modesty and Willie, please! What I love about these books are the genuine friendships among all the good guys, as well as the twisted machinations of the bad guys. I like the way O'Donnell generally writes from multiple viewpoints without giving any feeling of head-hopping, but the choice of POV is of course up to you, dear writer. I love seeing the lighter moments that point up the darker ones, with the darker ones giving depth to the stories.

3) The People - Zenna Henderson
(no names selected)

This is a fandom of my heart. I loved these stories when I was young, and I still go back to them from time to time. What I particularly love about the People stories is the interaction between the Earth-humans and the People-humans. Because they all are human, even if they're different. And I'm a sucker for stories involving psi powers, so I hope there will be some of that.

While I listed four of my favorite characters (Karen, Valancy, Shadow, and Dita) for the tag set, I'm not selecting any to be required. As a tag from a previous Yuletide story in this fandom said, "original characters are perfectly canon in this fandom." I love stories that tell some of the back story (what was the old Home like?) and ones that deal with the current issues of the people. Or, of course, future fic set in the present time. How are the People adapting to computers? Is the Internet a useful tool for finding lost members of the People?

4) Emelan - Tamora Pierce
(Sandrilene fa Toren, Briar Moss, Trisana Chandler, Daja Kisubo)

I loved reading The Will of the Empress, but it seemed to leave so many things open. What happens when one of the quartet gets seriously involved with someone? With Daja in the Empire, the issue was never in doubt, but what if she or one of the others finds the one (or more than one!) right person? Will it cause problems for the other three? I'm actually more interested in story and adventure than romance, but I'm interested in how it will affect all of them. In this series, more than many others, I'm so curious about what happens -- or could happen -- next.

Happy New Year to all!

My Yuletide story (the one I wrote, I mean; I already posted about the one I received), "Delivery for a Dancer," is set in the world of the Melendy Quartet (The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, And Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two) by Elizabeth Enright. It was written for

snacky.

I'm very thankful to Pat Wrede for help with plotting, beta reading, and providing a sympathetic ear while I bitched and moaned.

For Yuletide this year, I received a story in Nina Kiriki's Hoffman's Chapel Hollow universe (The Thread That Binds the Bones, The Silent Strength of Stones, and Spirits That Walk in Shadow). I'd been a little worried because I saw it go by on the pinch-hitter list, but the pinch-hitter hit a home run, as far as I'm concerned.

Salt Between Us (2469 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Chapel Hollow series - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Characters: Nick Verrou, Kim Calloway, Josh Keye, Jaimie Locke, Rugee; Mentioned: Pop, Evan, Willow, Elissa, Harrison Locke, Kim’s Dad, Henry, Annis, Barney
Summary:

The clan gets bigger and some Presences find new homes.

I look forward to the New Year's reveal, when I find out who wrote it. I hope I made my recipient as happy.

I posted my finished Yuletide story to the archive before the deadline -- with all of 15 minutes to spare. It'll get another edit-and-polish, and it's with the beta reader right now, but the hard part is done!

It ended up longer than I'd initially thought it would be, at just over 6K words.

I missed signing up for Yuletide, but I was able to snag a pinch-hit. I wrote "Guenhumara," set in the world of Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset for twistedchick.

It's short, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. And I'm very thankful to Pat WINOLJ, who pointed out a major issue, so I could fix it.

Because I did a pinch-hit, my requests were added to the existing list for Yuletide Madness, but no one felt sufficiently inspired by them to write a story. Oh, well. Next year, on time. Salutary lesson and all that.

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Entries tagged with yuletide

Yuletide -- what I received and what I wrote

Happy holidays

Yuletide reveal

My Yuletide present

Yuletide angst (with a mostly happy ending)

Dear Yuletide writer...

At the last minute -- again

Dear Yuletide writer

Yuletide story is posted!

Dear Yuletide writer 2015

Five things make a post

My Yuletide story is finally uploaded

I really really didn't mean to do that

Dear Yuletide Writer 2014

Down to the wire (again) with Yuletide

Dear Yuletide Writer 2013

Yuletide reveal!

Mine, all mine! (but I'm happy to share)

Squeak!

My Yuletide story