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cahnETA: 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 withmildred_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.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-01 07:21 pm (UTC)"Okay, I just shared a 20,000 word Google doc with you. It has all the plot but not enough feelings and some very thinly-sketched in scenes. You like shiny things, so here's an analogy. What I want to give Selena for Yuletide is this. What I've sent you is this. We have three weeks. Go!"
The idea of this analogy was twofold.
1) To establish an MO for collaborating. So, "There are parts of the fic that are inherent to the fic and that I'm attached to and that I want to stay. If you want to change or delete them, let's discuss first. That's the opal. Then there's the part where I just wrote some words so that it would read like a fic. That's the matrix. Please get rid of these parts at will (in suggestion mode, but you don't have to discuss them first)."
2) To assuage my self-consciousness about sending something this incomplete. Like, "I know these words are clumsy! I know these people aren't robots and should have feelings! If I had more time, I would fix a million things before letting a beta see it. But you're an alpha-and-beta, so please just don't judge me by thinking that I think these are great words that I am proud of. It's just there to convey the information you need to know in order for you to be able to make your contributions."
And then she made amaaaazing contributions, everyone!
Like the Mina and Heinrich scene. The purpose there is introduce Chekov's snuffbox (my idea) and to have Heinrich give himself away by being a terrible husband (cahn's idea).
Step 1: I wrote the core of the fight, where Mina says how much she misses AW and Fritz, and Heinrich says, "Oh, yeah? If you liked Fritz so much..." and Chekov's snuffbox is revealed. Then Mina comes back later and the Glasow/Heinrich connection is revealed (with ominous words that make sense in context).
Step 2: Cahn supplied a whole beginning to the scene, where Mina is trying to come to terms with Fritz's death on top of AW's, missing AW as a person, deciding to comfort Heinrich, going to Heinrich, saying all the wrong things, and getting rejected. She also introduced Heinrich's violin and other little details, etc.
Step 3: I bulk delete cahn's words and replace them with words of my own in which Mina is trying to come to terms with Fritz's death on top of AW's, missing AW as a person, deciding to comfort Heinrich, etc. I also added some things, like her maternal feelings toward FW2 (because I wanted to link that to AW leaving her the kids, which I wanted to introduce because it makes Heinrich's anger more understandable in context, especially since I couldn't provide the whole backstory of forced marriage, etc.) I inserted bits and pieces of cahn's phrasing into what I was writing, but most of that scene is mine--but you can see how much structure was hers.
Step 4: Profit!
*Knowing* that Mina and Heinrich should not be talking heads doing nothing but advancing the plot, and Mina should be grieving AW, etc., because duh, and *actually having* text, however rough, to work with, are radically different in terms of my ability to knock out a scene by the deadline. So cahn's contributions are *massive* and far beyond the total word count of which of her words remained in the final draft.
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 :) )
This was so funny, because it happened over and over again! The fact that I had my other self collaborating on this and didn't have to spell out everything I wanted was why we got this done in 2 weeks and had the last week free to hack away at the ending and to write treats.
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
The funny part is that I've been trying to pressure you into accepting co-authorship credit for weeks because I'm very uncomfortable being listed as sole author. :D I did my best to credit you in the author's notes.
(we estimated a 90%/10% word ratio, not even counting the part where she wordsmithed a lot of my text)
NOT COUNTING the part where you were responsible for the STRUCTURE of scenes I bulk-deleted and regenerated or heavily rewrote in place, like Mina and all the opera parts. :P Not counting the part where after I sent you a 20k draft so rough I hadn't even reread it, I actually let you go over each scene before I revisited it. Not counting the part where, near the end, I was like, "Welp, not working on my fic today, because I'm just waiting on cahn to write the opera parts, and that's the only major thing left."
:D :D
This was an AMAZING experience, even better than last year (probably because my sleep, bad as it was, was a million times better than a year ago), and I can't thank you enough, other self.
Whereas this was just fun :)
It was SO much fun. And also very efficient when you can just trust your other self. <3
especially because mildred did all the parts I thought were hard
As with last year, I think I did all the easy parts! This is why we have such great collaborations. Though really, I can see why writing emotional reactions to someone else's plot developments is easier than writing the plot developments they have in mind, so I think we ended up with a really good division of labor here.
Let's kill Fritz! aka the salon hive mind
Date: 2021-01-01 07:34 pm (UTC)Yuletide 2019, "Fiat Justitia": Fritz killed in a fit of anger by a close family member, Wilhelmine has to go on a quest for revenge.
Yuletide 2020, "Grind": Fredersdorf tries to convince Fritz that his taste in short-term boyfriends is F-, Fritz doesn't listen, Fritz is murdered by a boyfriend plus a close family member, Wilhelmine has put on her detective hat and also go on a quest for posthumous revenge.
Yuletide 2020, "Valet": Fredersdorf tries to convince Fritz that his taste in short-term boyfriends is F-, Fritz doesn't listen, Fritz is murdered by a boyfriend, Fredersdorf has to put on his detective hat and also go on a quest for rescuing Fritz.
Honorable mention to Ferdinand the unimportant, who showed up in two fics.
Someday it would be great if we had Voltaire crusading for Fritz twice, once when he's dead and once when he's in prison. (Oh, the humiliation.) :D
Poached Eggs and Boiled Frogs
Date: 2021-01-01 09:51 pm (UTC)A couple comments I wanted to reply to here instead of AO3, for greater visibility.
The modern setting is a fix-it for some things and a break-it for others.
Fixed: Stigma-free no fault divorce for women.
Broken: Fritz has access to Slack and text messages and expects round-the-clock instantaneous responses. Can you imagine? 18th century people, you didn't know how good you had it with the postal service. ;)
:D
My immediate response: If I write a fic that picks up immediately where this one left off, it's going to be titled "Kaphengst Kommt" and rated M. ;)
More seriously, thoughts that suggest themselves:
- First Polish Partition on the Europe trip with Catherine.
- Catherine being shocked to find that her kids are being raised with Poniatowski-influenced values instead of only hers.
- Fritz/Mike, where Mike is the CFO but also so much else. <3
- Mike talks a reluctant Fritz into therapy?
- Okay, but I'm serious about the Kaphengst porn. :P
And who knows what else. But I also want to study German and French and Voltaire and write a Voltaire/Heinrich showdown sequel to a certain other fic, so who knows what 2021 will bring. :D I still haven't given up hope on that fix-it fic where everyone escapes to France!
In the meantime, I'm delighted my rushed last-minute borderline crackfic brought the chortles and the giggles it was intended to. You two are the best of readers and commenters!
Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small
Date: 2021-01-01 10:21 pm (UTC)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,
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
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,
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
showwar *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
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
The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-01 10:39 pm (UTC)"Accidents with shooting weapons happen all the time," Frederdorf said, which was true, though they usually happened in battle; soldiers who tried to reload an already loaded gun, for example. Besides, as a battle went on, the gun barrel accumulated with powder remnants from the previous rounds, which made them more difficult to manage and more prone to misfire. Guns exploding in their soldier's hands were unfortunately not an uncommon occurence.
Seeing as how I had written this in salon in late October:
no matter how much you drill in peacetime, you're under tremendous stress when the bullets are flying around you, and you're very likely to make mistakes. And if you're relying on muscle memory, and miss a step, you might very well reload an already loaded gun, not realizing that you haven't fired, or that the last attempt to fire was unsuccessful and the gun is still loaded, and then, boom!
It was also common for soldiers in the front lines to be taken down by misfires from behind.
Also, as the battle went on and the gun barrel accumulated with powder remnants from the previous rounds, the guns became more difficult to manage and more prone to misfires.
I was like, hmm, this extremely anonymous author clearly follows me closely. :D
I emailed
She also emailed me, as she said, when she saw your Ferdinand line in "Crown", only a couple hours before I would have emailed her about the same thing (because I had read it on my phone but not yet found my way to a computer yet).
Magical alchemy. <3
Welcome, sub_divided!
Date: 2021-01-01 10:49 pm (UTC)Welcome to our small but active fandom,
In the end I went with this one because I thought the amount of research you guys were doing in reinsburg was just so cool and impressive, like a friend joked "imagine being an academic studying this time period and finding this community, I would retire immediately" lololol.
<333
The idea for the community may have been mine, but most of the content is
Speaking of Rheinsberg, Selena, I noticed that your Fahlenkamp Fredersdorf findings aren't copied over there yet. (Discovered that while researching Carel.) Are you planning on it, or would you like me to?
Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small
Date: 2021-01-02 05:39 am (UTC)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: Let's kill Fritz! aka the salon hive mind
Date: 2021-01-02 05:42 am (UTC)Re: Poached Eggs and Boiled Frogs
Date: 2021-01-02 05:48 am (UTC)Broken: Fritz has access to Slack and text messages and expects round-the-clock instantaneous responses. Can you imagine? 18th century people, you didn't know how good you had it with the postal service. ;)
Good lord yes, no kidding. However, his various employees, relations and friends are spared whenever he and Voltaire are texting at each other, clearly, because then no one else exists!
Meanwhile, Lehndorff is an earnest blogger with good descriptions (who can be snarky on occasion, such as when posting a snapshot showing Kaphengst's double chin in a photo featuring Heinrich in Las Vegas) who is into lengthy emails more than texts but who got on twitter just to follow Heinrich there.
Re: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 06:13 am (UTC)BTW, I was chuffed that both you and
As I mentioned in my reply to Mildred's comments, when writing I did consider Fritz figuring out the truth just before the last of older Fredersdorf is gone, but refrained for various reasons - there was enough angst already, and Frederick the Great should not find out time travel to alter the past was possible. (And Heinrich better not find out there was a timeline where AW was King etc.) Mildred said yes, but otoh she wouldn't mind reading stories where he does, and/or the time wars between Fritz and Heinrich.
Now, leaving aside what Heinrich would do for the moment, let's focus on Fritz: if he got a hold on the potion Saint-Germain and Fredersdorf co-invent in this story, where would he go? Because of the forgetting factor, chances are he only could do it once, and would have a limited amount of time before he's forgotten why he came. The obvious temptation is to save Katte's life, but how? Also, there are other factors to consider, such as: if Katte does not get executed in Küstrin while Fritz is a prisoner there, Fritz and Fredersdorf likely never meet, and Fredersdorf stays an obscure soldier in some backwards regiment. And of course, depending on when Fritz goes back (i.e. how long has he been King until then?) - if he tries for a scenario where he does successfully escape with Katte after all (by not writing that fatal letter, by making his escape attempt much earlier during the South German tour with Dad, etc.), he'd have to consider he won't become King, and I have a hard time imagining later day Fritz, who has tasted power, creating a world where he'll be powerless even for love.
So, if the aim of the time travel is to save Katte, I could imagine two alternate things:
- he goes back to when they started to become friends and snubs Katte unforgivably instead, unleashing the full cruel-tongued Old Fritz on him. No friendship with Katte = Katte lives, whether in Prussia or elsewhere, and Fritz still becomes King. Fritz may or may not also use the brief time he has to contact Schwerin and ask for Fredersdorf to be transfered to Potsdam if he can engineer that without making Dad suspicious
- he kills FW by opium, err, in some way not traceable to him. Then he becomes King, and can keep Katte and Wilhelmine. (May or may not use the limited time to ask for a Fredersdorf transfer as well.) The problem here is that Fritz in rl even under the most dire provocation never seems to have considered killing FW, but hey, if Heinrich gets to be a fratricide in an AU despite not having made any move in that direction in rl, Fritz becoming a patricide can also be on.
Lastly: or older Fritz, who now knows a thing or two about MT, doesn't do anything Katte related at all with that time travel potion and instead goes back to give the order to march to Vienna in 1741. That would be a Fritz during the 7 Years War travelling back. :)
Re: Welcome, sub_divided!
Date: 2021-01-02 06:22 am (UTC)re: Fahlenkamp, I'll do it, not least since I need to collect the comments discussing my checking on Fahlenkamp's disgrace claim as well as the straight write-up, etc.
You should see me an a crown
Date: 2021-01-02 07:17 am (UTC)Nabielka and I were matched on three characters - Catherine, Fritz and MT - and when I read her letter, I was relieved that she was okay with only using two of them given that her main wish was for the (First) Polish Partition to be a theme and the difficulty of all of them being in different countries. This alas meant no MT, because the time I really wanted to focus on was Heinrich's visit and the build up to the Polish Partition, so MT was the one of the three who would not be used. Fritz only gets two "on page" scenes but as he's very much in Catherine's and Heinrich's thoughts all the time, I thought he still qualifies as an important character.
Now, in order for the story to convey the complexity of the relationship, I knew flashbacks had to be a thing - show over tell, because I wanted readers to get invested into the childhood friendship and hope they can maintain it despite being in current day also professional cutthroats, err, power players who have to be aware the other party has their own agenda. Also, the flashbacks could show how much Catherine did and didn't change from Sophie to Catherine, and by remaining in her pov, I hopefully added a bit of mystery for newbies as to what Heinrich was up to - i.e. getting to wonder along with Catherine and Fritz.
Nabielka had asked for Poniatowski to be included, if possible, and I was happy to do that, not just because of the obvious relevance the Catherine/Poniatowski backstory has if you write about the Polish Partition but because it (hopefully) makes what Catherine and Heinrich come to plan/do more personal. The fate of millions, as the saying goes, is a statistic, alas. Destroying your ex lover's life and world - not motivated by personal malice towards him at all - is a tragedy. It also works as a counterpoint for Catherine's relationship with Heinrich and for his decision not to stay in Russia at the end, and her realisation about why this is ultimately a good thing. As Poniatowski really was the only person who got to call Catherine "Sophie" in her Russian life, it also very workeable for her emotional development in past and present throughout.
Incidentally, in terms of research, in addition to their respective memoirs, I had read some books about the first Polish Partition, some Catherine biographies, and the Poniatowski biography "The Last King of Poland". Which was very useful when it came to inner Polish matters, but I raised an eyebrow or both when it came to the wholesale buying into, say, Poniatowski's admiring image of Charles Hanbury Williams (you would not think this was the same envoy who managed to piss off Fritz and MT, the sole ambassador to achieve this feat, in his respective postings), and I found Horowski’s take (in Das Europa der Könige) rendition of how what Hanbury-Williams thought was his crowning achievement - the 1755 treaty between England and Russia - turned into a complete fuck-up because of the 1756 treaty between England and Prussia. (Hence Elisaveta, who hadn't ratified the earlier treaty yet, telling the Brits in 1756 sarcastically she would absolutely hold to that treaty and help them in the event of Hannover getting attacked by Prussia, sure thing!) Not to mention that The Last King of Poland has Fritz as the Evil Mastermind who planned the Polish Partition from the get go, in detail. Heinrich who? (He gets two mentions in the entire biography, once as an alternate candidate for the Polish crown - in one sentence that says Fritz didn't go for it and doesn't mention he explicitly forbade any mention of this to Heinrich - and then again by saying Fritz sent him to Catherine as part of the Evil Masterplan.) But, like I said: when it came to inner Polish matters, and of course Poniatowski himself who was after all the subject of the biography, it certainly delivered.
Since I was trying to keep the ensemble limited in order not to make things too confusing, I had to decide who in addition should show up. Kaphengst got mentioned in dialogue mostly to make it clear that Heinrich really had no romantic interest in Catherine, but there was no reason to give him an actual scene, and so there isn't one. By contrast, Grigory Orlov got to show up in person because he really was still an important factor during Heinrich's first trip to Russia (if about to be deposed), to demonstrate how Catherine handled her lovers at this point, and for exposition reasons. Otoh Potemkin, who was already around and about to become Catherine's No.1, didn't make the cut because that would have been too distracting from the main story.
Lastly: I was going back and thro about the matter with Sophie's uncle. But it happened, according to her memoirs he (the uncle) was jealous of Heinrich, it gave me a good opportunity to show the youthful bffs in action and it conveyed some of Sophie's emotional background long before coming to Russia, so I couldn't do without it.
Re: Welcome, sub_divided!
Date: 2021-01-02 01:42 pm (UTC)Unless
Madness had one story each from the three of us regulars.
Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small
Date: 2021-01-02 01:47 pm (UTC)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
My hope, though, is to get to the point where I can read
Kattesalon-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. :)
Collaboration
Date: 2021-01-02 06:17 pm (UTC)I also enjoyed it more than last year! I think on my end because the division of labor really worked for me, not least in terms of how much time and the specific types of brainpower I had available this year (for example, major self-editing/rewriting, which I always find draining if rewarding, was something I was just not in the mindset for this Yuletide, so the part where I could just write you stuff and have you edit/rewrite it was really nice for me), but also:
Though really, I can see why writing emotional reactions to someone else's plot developments is easier than writing the plot developments they have in mind, so I think we ended up with a really good division of labor here.
Part of it was the plot, yeah -- even though you'd supplied me with a detailed outline, it was the sort where I could tell you had even more detailed ideas in mind -- but even more, with you the plot and the history are intertwined so much, and I just don't have the minutiae (or, often, the bulk*) history at my fingertips like you and
Whereas you may remember that when I was writing "Counterpoint" (which you supplied the plot for) or "Survived" (which Wilhelmine supplied the plot for) every two paragraphs or so I'd run into where I was inadvertently writing some sort of anachronism, or hanging a plot point on something that wasn't historically accurate. I mean, I'm very proud of those fics, but I feel like they were very... inefficient?... to write because I kept having to run things by you and then change them. Whereas the way "Grind" was set up was the most efficient in both directions! :D
I must confess (well, I've told you this before) that I also really liked being able to write/structure the emotional parts to exactly fit my id :) IDK how you felt about that, since I know our ids aren't always kept in the same place -- apparently it didn't bother you too much :) So that was a really nice present for me <3
* At times I did what I told mildred was a great job as a beta reader who knew nothing about the fandom, despite having been in it for more than a year *facepalm* Which was useful! Since she wanted it to be accessible to someone who wasn't in the fandom! But still sort of embarrassing.
Re: Let's kill Fritz! aka the salon hive mind
Date: 2021-01-02 06:19 pm (UTC)Awwww, though, I like your mercy killing idea. <3 :(
Re: Poached Eggs and Boiled Frogs
Date: 2021-01-02 06:24 pm (UTC)Ooooof. Yeah, I bet Heinrich's batteries are dying a lot. (Fritz is like, you should get a new phone! No, you can't expense it.)
- Okay, but I'm serious about the Kaphengst porn. :P
Hahahahaha so that's what I was expecting when you said you were thinking about Heinrich/Kaphengst, and why I said I'd be OK for a treat but not for an assignment, and why I didn't realize it was you :P (I had a LOT of reasons for not thinking it was you, okay.) And similarly, Heinrich/Kaphengst porn is fine as long as I get alllll the politics and corporate dysfunction :D
write a Voltaire/Heinrich showdown sequel to a certain other fic
Really???? I AM HERE FOR THIS.
Re: Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small, and Lehndorff&Amalie
Date: 2021-01-02 06:31 pm (UTC)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: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 06:51 pm (UTC)And now you know we spent quite a lot of time on Heinrich becoming Fritz, so there was no way I wasn't going to notice that and remark on it :D Salon hive mind strikes again! I didn't think of the non-negative memories thing, though!
Mildred said yes, but otoh she wouldn't mind reading stories where he does, and/or the time wars between Fritz and Heinrich.
Time wars between Fritz and Heinrich...???? !!!! this is a thing I can have? YES PLEASE where do I sign up???? (Time wars between anybody? MT finds out about time travel too? They start tearing up the timeline between them? I AM THERE)
I am also really intrigued to the possibilities you've set out for Fritz here, especially that he wouldn't give up power for love. That first possibility, where he gives up Katte entirely (at least for then?) but Katte lives is so interesting to me (and will Fritz write a note to himself to talk to Katte in the future after he becomes king, but what will Katte think??) -- although I am going to bet my hat (except that I had to eat it when it turned out mildred was the author of Corporate AU) that mildred will 1000% prefer Option 2. (Which I admit is way more satisfying.)
But Option 3 would also be Something Else :D (Love or Vienna? Hmm. :) )
Re: Welcome, sub_divided!
Date: 2021-01-02 06:52 pm (UTC)Re: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 07:48 pm (UTC)Re: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 07:59 pm (UTC)Yep, exactly. As soon as I saw that, I knew you were going to pick up on it too, after all that time betaing/co-authoring.
Mildred said yes, but otoh she wouldn't mind reading stories where he does, and/or the time wars between Fritz and Heinrich.
Time wars between Fritz and Heinrich...???? !!!! this is a thing I can have? YES PLEASE where do I sign up????
Lol, your reaction is much closer to my reaction than the sedate summary by Selena. My actual reaction:
Selena: also, one does not want Frederick the Great to find out about time travel.
Me: The part of me that has rational political beliefs: No, of course not!
The part of me that is fannish: OMG YES WE DO WE EXTREMELY DO BRING ME MY POPCORN WOULD READ ABOUT THIS ALL DAY LONG GIMME!!! :D :D :D
Would also read the time wars between Heinrich and Fritz!
And yes, Fritz+MT time wars too! Would read!
although I am going to bet my hat (except that I had to eat it when it turned out mildred was the author of Corporate AU)
ROTFL!
Well, you may keep your replacement hat, because my reaction to *this* one was:
ONE of these two options you are allowed to gift me. :P
Re: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 08:05 pm (UTC)You want to break it differently, whereas my urges to fix ALL the things have gotten so out of control that the escape-to-France no-absolute-power AU went from Fritz+Katte+Keith to Fritz+Katte+Keith+Wilhelmine+Suhm+Duhan (Duhan to keep Fritz from going crazy and breaking his cover while he waits for the others to trickle in one by one).
I will read yours and undoubtedly tell you what a great author you are, but I'm afraid I am (predictably and as predicted) DNWing Fritz being mean to Katte for an exchange. In return, have some fratricidal, filling-the-Fritz-vacuum Heinrich from me. :)
Re: Collaboration
Date: 2021-01-02 08:18 pm (UTC)I also made mistakes, note! But yes, I can see why the other approach was more efficient and enjoyable for both of us.
Whereas the way "Grind" was set up was the most efficient in both directions! :D
:D As you may have seen, I wrote a post on how "plot first, feels later" may actually be the most efficient way for me to write, and I discovered that only because of your offer to help, so if I'm right, there may be more meaty fic from me in the future. (Not this month, though.)
IDK how you felt about that, since I know our ids aren't always kept in the same place -- apparently it didn't bother you too much :)
Well, like we discussed, when writing gifts, I don't mind sticking in things that I think or know will appeal to the other person if I'm neutral on them. And this was a gift for both of you. <3 So putting in a curtsy for you, for example, was fine. If I felt strongly about something, I pushed back, which is why the dream didn't make it in. (I agree that we could have compromised on something if we'd had more than 24 to go, lol.)
I had a fantastic time, and I'm glad the division of labor worked for you as well. (Me: but writing the plot + history first is the easy part! It practically writes itself! Which is how you got a completely plotted 20k draft 2-3 days after I was wibbling about whether I was going to be able to finish in time.)
Now that we know this works, there may be other possible collaboration opportunities, though perhaps next time I will exercise better judgment about sleep + impending deadline + complexity of fic and not need you. (Cut out any one of those factors and I could have done it myself! But...all three were outside of my control. :P)
Re: The Adventure of the Time-Traveling Valet
Date: 2021-01-02 08:20 pm (UTC)ask for Fredersdorf to be transfered to Potsdam if he can engineer that without making Dad suspicious
Fredersdorf is tall, problem solved. :P