Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 22 (or: Yuletide 2020 edition)

[cahn]

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 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.

Comments

Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small

[mildred_of_midgard]

I wanted to comment on a particular comment here, because it delighted me so much:

January 1758? That's too early! And why is Glasow still around? What's the point of the Leuthen divergence? ....and then I arrived at the Alcmene pov scene and the penny dropped. ZOMG. Romulus and Remus indeed. (I also could see the point of the Leuthen divergence immediately. Aside from pushing Wilhelm even more, it gives Heinrich an additional reason to feel guilty and project on to Friedrich (not to mention a legitimate reason to hate on Fritz some more.

The whole AU aspect of this fic was very complicated. On top of that, the summary was the hardest and most successful one I've ever written. I decided to open with "January 1758" and Wilhelm's death, because I knew you would *immediately* pick up on it being too early, and that would tell you something about the way in which it was canon-divergent, beyond the tag just saying it was.

Then there was the Leuthen divergence.

Well, cahn can tell you, I did everything in my power to avoid this. I wanted the point of divergence to be "How dark is Heinrich?" such that the divergence is him being the kind of person who decides to kill Fritz.

But then, by wanting to make it a mystery, I added new constraints, namely: I wanted it disguised as suicide, and I wanted Wilhelmine to have long enough to live to travel to Berlin and play detective. I toyed with having her show up, charge Amalie with finding out what happened, and die. But I didn't like that, I wanted the sisters to team up.

But *you* try finding a point during the Seven Years' War in which Heinrich is motivated to kill Fritz, Wilhelmine still has at least several months to live and it's at least a little bit plausible that she traveled to Berlin, and the military situation is bad enough that Fritz's death can be passed off as suicide (because no one's going to believe it was *just* Wilhelm's death). Between AW's death and Wilhelmine's death are only 4 months, and the military situation is looking pretty up for Prussia.

I tried everything. And I eventually gave up and had to mess with the military situation.

And because I'm me and I dislike randomness, I incorporated it into the fic such that it puts extra pressure on Heinrich (he's still intentionally slightly OOC, but there's also more external motivation for him compared to canon) and is the result of a different single point of divergence: Glasow not getting locked up. So I'm glad that paid off for you in terms of added character motivation.

And *then*, when all was said and done, I had to figure out how to write a summary that would make it clear this was a mystery-and-drama (and thus appeal to mystery lovers) without letting on about Fritz's death! So I totally cheated, like those movie trailers that cut and splice things that don't go together. "Amalie and Wilhelmine team up to find out what really happened to their brother," lol. It's true but also a total lie of omission, and it makes me laugh every time. The whole summary is a LIE, although every word is true. :D

Also, this is hilarious and I can't resist sharing: I know how selenak is always tickled by Fritz writing nearly verbatim letters to different people, so I made good use of that in this fic. And when Wilhelmine realizes that the "suicide note" is almost verbatim the same as a portion of the "not my fault!" letter she got from Fritz, cahn wrote this in a comment on the draft:

Fritz's frugality! Being frugal is a good quality! ...I guess. If you're murdered.

This still makes me laugh.

I also found the textual aspects of this fic to be rewarding to write: not only are there a lot of letters bouncing around (Heinrich's letter to AW that leads him to start refusing food, Amalie's canonical letter to Fritz that she's worried pushed him over the edge, our favorite Fredersdorf letter--I couldn't resist--etc.), but Fritz writes two specific texts that are important to the plot. One, the very similar letters to Wilhelmine and Heinrich, the text of which gets used as a trigger for his murder, a faked suicide note, *and* the key to Wilhelmine realizing he was murdered. Two, that poem about wanting to be die for Wilhelmine, and failing that, to be buried with her, which leads Amalie to believe she understands why he committed suicide, misleads Wilhelmine into silently telling Fritz that he may have died for Heinrich instead (well, yes, but differently!), and leads to Fritz and Wilhelmine being buried together with the dogs. (Even in this darkest of fics, I couldn't resist fixing one thing. And yes, FW2 not calling the shots is key here-I don't think Heinrich can risk drawing attention to his resentment by burying Fritz anywhere other than where he'd made it really clear he intended to go.)

In summary, one text to make you understand why someone would want to murder Fritz, and another to make you realize he wasn't a complete monster.

And yes, cahn, this was always meant to be the trigger behind Heinrich's decision, and I did trust you to put it in (it would have been there by the time you saw it, if you hadn't been given such an early draft). Other self indeed. :)

The war not ending with the return of Silesia: yeah, this wasn't me thinking, "What would be the most logical outcome?", it was me thinking, "For plot and character reasons, the show war *must* go on--how can I make it happen?" And I lucked out that East Prussia was occupied in January 1758 (and of course, that the alliances, balance of power issues, and the war itself have gathered a momentum that transcends Fritz's misogynistic remarks).

Carel was likewise me wanting a named character with some kind of a backstory, and thanks to Selena's Fahlenkamp research, having one! He only needed a small rescue, and so I didn't have to tie it to the rest of the divergence. Hi, Carel, you get a fix-it in this bleak fic too!

Catt showing up a few months early was less my wanting a token decoy suspect (also that, but it was pretty obvious, as sub_divided said, that it wasn't him) and more me wanting a canonical source for Fritz talking about his poison, combined with my inability to resist taking a dig at Catt being self-important but not murderous. :P I'm still holding a grudge, okay!

The line about acting like he had as much right to consider himself the bereaved as Amalie was a cahn-supplied line, though, and a good one it is. :)

All in all, this was a doozy to write, and a great experience that I feel I grew as a writer from. It was also *awesome* collaborating with cahn and getting to watch selenak pick up on all the little things, as always. <333

Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small

[cahn]

The line about acting like he had as much right to consider himself the bereaved as Amalie was a [personal profile] cahn-supplied line, though, and a good one it is. :)

Oh wait, it was? I wrote you a comment earlier about how great I thought that line was, oops :) What can I say, I guess I like my own lines! :D

Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small

[mildred_of_midgard]

...I thought it was? But now I'm second-guessing. I mean, I remember writing up to the part about Catt making it all about him, but for the last couple weeks I've been seeing the part about considering himself the bereaved, having no memory of writing it, and thinking, "Good job, cahn!"

But given my recent state of mind, it's entirely possible I wrote it in a sleep-deprived, deadline-driven frenzy, had forgotten by the next morning that I wrote it, and attributed it to you. :)

Speaking of sleep-deprivation, here I am on 4-5 hours again. :( As I hinted recently to cahn, I might have to extend my salon hiatus into January. This is frustrating, because I still have a backlog of comments to reply to, plus a growing list of things I'm encountering in my reading (or questions that came up during YT fic writing!) and want to talk about, but this month, I need to focus on fixing my sleep, putting in more hours at work, and studying German.

My hope, though, is to get to the point where I can read Katte salon-relevant books in German at a reasonable speed, and then I should have *plenty* to talk about, sleep permitting. (I guess it'll be a race to see if my German or my sleep fixes itself first, lol.)

Anyway, I will try to be around a little bit, but whenever you don't hear from me, imagine me heads-down on German investing as hard as I can in our future salon goodness. :)

Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small, and Lehndorff&Amalie

[cahn]

ahahahaha actually I think maybe I did write it? As you know, my memory is just... always awful :P

Sorry about your sleep :( Yes, get sleep and work and German fixed up!

Bringing another comment over here, since relevant: I'd thought that I'd come across Lehdnorff describing Amalie not just in selenak's description, but in the actual journal, and yes in fact it was one of the last entries I had read before giving it up for Yuletide. :D

1753: June 9th
I go to Schönhausen at 6 o'clock, where Princess Amalie also comes, who has a charming and extremely friendly nature. She is a lovable princess in every way. She is criticized in various ways, but I believe that this comes more from worries that she often has than from whims. Her looks are lovely, and I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world. She is not tall, a little stout, but at the same time of an appearance that impresses everyone, and you can see her soul size in her whole being. One would always recognize her among a hundred people and note her royal ancestry. Her eyes are gorgeous, which she has in common with all her illustrious family, her mouth is small and gives her an infinite grace when she speaks; in short, she is extraordinarily gracious.

Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small, and Lehndorff&Amalie

[selenak]

Ah yes, the first entry on her. He'll later change his mind on her extremely friendly nature, lol, but I think that entry conveys yet another way Amalie was similar to Fritz (aside from the sharp tongue, the musical talent, the size and the eyes) - when she tried, she could be very charming indeed and could make a great first impression. It's just that in later years, she tried less and less.

Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small, and Lehndorff&Amalie

[cahn]

*nods* Yeah, I thought that was a little more positive than in your (overall) writeup :) Also: :( therapy for everyone, as mildred says. (I mean, I imagine some of that is just age! but I also imagine some of it is... her life. As mildred said in the fic.)