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Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 22 (or: Yuletide 2020 edition)
ETA: Whoops, I missed my cue -- this might as well be the next discussion post, I guess! :)
This is about the fic I didn't author (I have another reveals post for the fics I did author).
So my goal this Yuletide was NOT to write any historical fandom (because hard!) and just enjoy the excellent stuff that other people wrote. And... that sort of happened? I didn't end up authoring anything history-intensive? Buuuuut I ended up spending a lot more time than I did on any of my own fics working with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mildred_of_midgard on her fic, which she was worried about being able to pull off because she had had this completely insane idea to write a long casefic about Frederick the Great that every time I turned around had another twist put in :P :) She supplied me with what we called a "rough opal in matrix" bus pass casefic, and I cut away the matrix that remained and in some cases carved the opal -- that is to say, writing additional text for some of the scenes, what we liked to call "putting in feels," and in at least two cases entirely rewriting and/or restructuring the scene she'd written. She didn't always keep what I wrote (which we'd agreed upon in the beginning), but when she did (which was most of the time :) ) she then went in and rewrote/restructured what I put in to wordsmith (some of the words I gave her were really rough) and match her style, adding even more scenes -- that is, polishing it up and adding some gold and diamonds -- and voila, a beautiful pendant, I mean, story :)
I'm really proud of it and also it was really fun and also what I could handle this year, especially because mildred did all the parts I thought were hard and also wrote all the parts involving actual history or subtle AU before I was brought in so I didn't actually have to know historical stuff (though I guess I will never forget the battle of Leuthen now), and took full responsibility for how the whole thing turned out, so all I had to do was be like "Here, I'll write some rough feels for you for this scene!" The funny part was that I would often then write a paragraph justifying why I *had* to write the scene the way I did, and more likely than not mildred would be like, "yeah, I was sure you would do that, of course it should be written like that." (The most glaring example of this was where I inserted the Letter of Doom at the climax. I was worried there was some reason she didn't want it there, but she said, no, she just didn't have time to put it in herself and was just trusting me to do that :) ) She started jokingly calling me her "other self," to which I replied that it was with 1000% less angst and frustration -- as Frederick the Great's brother was his "other self" (which actually comes up in the fic) that he could trust to do all kinds of competent things, but they had a relationship that was, um, fraught? radioactive? Whereas this was just fun :)
Mildred did so much more than I did (we estimated a 90%/10% word ratio, not even counting the part where she wordsmithed a lot of my text) that I felt very uncomfortable being listed as a co-author, but hey, ~3000 words is a respectable Yuletide fic length :)
Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small (30384 words) by mildred_of_midgard
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Anna Amalie von Preußen & Wilhelmine von Preußen, Anna Amalie von Preußen & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen, Wilhelmine von Preußen & Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia
Characters: Anna Amalie von Preußen (1723-1787), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758), Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802), Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1732-1780), Wilhelmine von Hesse-Kassel (1726-1808), August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Alcmene 1 | Frederick the Great's Italian Greyhound, Voltaire (Writer), Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Suicide, Alternate Universe - Dark, Siblings, Canon-Typical Violence, Mystery, Tide of History Challenge
Summary:
This is about the fic I didn't author (I have another reveals post for the fics I did author).
So my goal this Yuletide was NOT to write any historical fandom (because hard!) and just enjoy the excellent stuff that other people wrote. And... that sort of happened? I didn't end up authoring anything history-intensive? Buuuuut I ended up spending a lot more time than I did on any of my own fics working with
mildred_of_midgard on her fic, which she was worried about being able to pull off because she had had this completely insane idea to write a long casefic about Frederick the Great that every time I turned around had another twist put in :P :) She supplied me with what we called a "rough opal in matrix" bus pass casefic, and I cut away the matrix that remained and in some cases carved the opal -- that is to say, writing additional text for some of the scenes, what we liked to call "putting in feels," and in at least two cases entirely rewriting and/or restructuring the scene she'd written. She didn't always keep what I wrote (which we'd agreed upon in the beginning), but when she did (which was most of the time :) ) she then went in and rewrote/restructured what I put in to wordsmith (some of the words I gave her were really rough) and match her style, adding even more scenes -- that is, polishing it up and adding some gold and diamonds -- and voila, a beautiful pendant, I mean, story :)I'm really proud of it and also it was really fun and also what I could handle this year, especially because mildred did all the parts I thought were hard and also wrote all the parts involving actual history or subtle AU before I was brought in so I didn't actually have to know historical stuff (though I guess I will never forget the battle of Leuthen now), and took full responsibility for how the whole thing turned out, so all I had to do was be like "Here, I'll write some rough feels for you for this scene!" The funny part was that I would often then write a paragraph justifying why I *had* to write the scene the way I did, and more likely than not mildred would be like, "yeah, I was sure you would do that, of course it should be written like that." (The most glaring example of this was where I inserted the Letter of Doom at the climax. I was worried there was some reason she didn't want it there, but she said, no, she just didn't have time to put it in herself and was just trusting me to do that :) ) She started jokingly calling me her "other self," to which I replied that it was with 1000% less angst and frustration -- as Frederick the Great's brother was his "other self" (which actually comes up in the fic) that he could trust to do all kinds of competent things, but they had a relationship that was, um, fraught? radioactive? Whereas this was just fun :)
Mildred did so much more than I did (we estimated a 90%/10% word ratio, not even counting the part where she wordsmithed a lot of my text) that I felt very uncomfortable being listed as a co-author, but hey, ~3000 words is a respectable Yuletide fic length :)
Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small (30384 words) by mildred_of_midgard
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Anna Amalie von Preußen & Wilhelmine von Preußen, Anna Amalie von Preußen & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen, Wilhelmine von Preußen & Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia
Characters: Anna Amalie von Preußen (1723-1787), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758), Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802), Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1732-1780), Wilhelmine von Hesse-Kassel (1726-1808), August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Alcmene 1 | Frederick the Great's Italian Greyhound, Voltaire (Writer), Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Suicide, Alternate Universe - Dark, Siblings, Canon-Typical Violence, Mystery, Tide of History Challenge
Summary:
January 1758. Prince William is dead, some say of a broken heart. Frederick wants to absolve himself of blame for William's death. Henry schemes to end the Third Silesian War on his terms. Amalie and Wilhelmine team up to find out what really happened to their brother. Alcmene just wants to be told she's a good dog.
Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part Three (1764/65)
First, Fritz reports on summer with the relatives (July 1764 = engagement FWII) while Countess Camas seems to have been recovering from an illness:
My good maman, your letter and your keepsake gave me real pleasure, because they are signs that your health is improving. I am assured that there is no danger, and that you will recover completely. My sister [Charlotte] will be arriving in an hour. I admit that it gives me great pleasure. We are promised the great nephew. His love is as cold as his whole person; but what do you care? Try, my good maman, to put your nose in the air. The great outdoors is the sovereign medicine; it will put balm back in your blood, and make you whole. For me, I am sincerely interested. You know my old heart, which is still the same, and which is made to love you as long as it exists.
//
I will show your letter, my good maman, to my sister, who will be charmed by what you think of her. I regret, in truth, not to enjoy your presence here; but I find that you have great reason to spare yourself, and ultimately, I could profit very little from your amiable company, for we are, like in a general diet of the Holy Roman Empire, surrounded by thirty princes and princesses; and besides, my infirmities prevent me from attending all the banquets. I am at the great feasts, and I try to get some rest in between. The old baron [Pöllnitz] is an insult to my crippled legs; he ran with Prince Frederick and overtook him. For me, who is dragging one foot, almost like a turtle, I match the speed of their run as well as a paralytic who would attend a ballet by Denis.
Good evening, my good maman; I hope to see you again when my legs come back to me, and I can climb the palace stairs that lead to your paradise.
Second, EC is seriously ill with fever (autumn 1764 or 65), Camas asks for help/Cothenius, and Fritz sends his own opinion on the matter (no medicine, lots of tea and warmth). Her response:
Your Majesty is certainly a more skilful physician than the good Lesser, although in your prescription there is not a word of Greek or Latin; but your letter caused infinite satisfaction to the Queen, in whose eyes I saw, for the first time, a little liveliness. [...] [The doctor] absolutely followed YM's ideas, gave no medicine, and made the Queen take a lot of tea, making her lie in bed in even perspiration. I asked him to put his ideas on the attached paper. I do not know the terms of the art, and I do not trust my knowledge. The worry in which I am perhaps makes me see things badly; I can only be at peace when the fever and the oppression are over.
With regard to my health, which YM is kind enough to care about, I will take the liberty of telling him that, from the waist up, things are quite well, but that my legs often have difficulty to support me. I am an old house whose foundations are crumbling. I hope, however, that, before I fall, I will still have the good fortune to sometimes do a nice curtsy for YM, and to assure him of all the respect and attachment imaginable. YM will allow me, I hope, to give him news of the Queen until her recovery. S.-C. de Camas.
The final letter is a sad one, Fritz' response to a condolence letter from Countess Camas (not included, only referenced in a footnote once again) in the wake of Sophie's death, November 1765, which causes him to ruminate on all the losses in the family:
I am very much obliged to you, my good maman, for taking part in the loss we have just suffered. It is a loss for all honest people, for my sister was a truly virtuous person. I knew long ago that men are mortal; I witnessed that her health was threatening ruin: but that did not prevent me, my good maman, from feeling keenly the privation of a sister whom death tore from me like a limb. Nature, a tender friendship, a true esteem, all these feelings claim their rights, and I feel, my good maman, that I am more sensitive than reasonable. My tears, my regrets are unnecessary; however, I cannot erase them. Our family seems to me a forest in which a hurricane has knocked down the most beautiful trees, and where from distance to distance you can see some thinned out fir tree hanging on by its roots, only to contemplate the fall of his companions, and the damage and devastation the storm has wrought. I hope, my good maman, that this breath of death will turn away from you, that we will keep you for a long time, and that I can often reiterate to you the assurances of my old and faithful friendship. Federic.
Re: Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part Three (1764/65)
Aw.
EC: See! He does care about me!
Me: Oh EC.
Our family seems to me a forest in which a hurricane has knocked down the most beautiful trees, and where from distance to distance you can see some thinned out fir tree hanging on by its roots, only to contemplate the fall of his companions, and the damage and devastation the storm has wrought.
Yeah, this is a sad one :( And Countess Camas herself died not too long after, right?
Re: Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part Three (1764/65)
She did, about seven months later, July 1766, at the age of 80.
Re: Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part Three (1764/65)
Does he mean Charlotte's son? Because the phrasing is ambiguous, and I wonder about "great nephew" - could the translation also be "tall nephew"? Because future FW2 was taller than most in the rather small and medium sized family, and Fritz frequently remarks on how he's grown in his letters to other people in the 7 Years War years. It would make sense if he was summoned on the occasion of Charlotte's visit, though conversely it would also make sense if she brought her son along. "Prince Friedrich" is definitely future FW2 - Lehndorff refers to him by that name through the war and only settles on "Prince of Prussia" in the post war years, avoiding the first names thereafter.
Our family seems to me a forest in which a hurricane has knocked down the most beautiful trees, and where from distance to distance you can see some thinned out fir tree hanging on by its roots, only to contemplate the fall of his companions, and the damage and devastation the storm has wrought.
I recognize that image! He also uses it when writing to Heinrich about the death of sister Friedrike (the Ansbach sister) later. Incidentally, that Fritz is affected by the deaths of Sophie and Friederike, the two Cinderella sisters, in a way, among the siblings (as in, the two with the worst husbands and the two who didn't share their siblings fondness for music and books), speaks well of him.
Re: Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part Three (1764/65)
Re: Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part Three (1764/65)
Aka the one where EC didn't know until shortly before it happened whether or not she was invited, and Lehndorff was distracted by trying to find out whether or not Fritz wanted/allowed her there at the reception which young James Boswell visited.
it's kind of telling that "cold" is really not how you'd describe his love life otherwise, but certainly Fritz' relationship with him.
No kidding. Especially since is is also not too long after Fritz fired his governor, Borck, for presenting war as less than glorious in that conversation both Mitchell and Lehndorff mention (both shocked by Fritz' reaction).
Future FW2: definitely is not sorry for burying Fritz next to FW1.