November Writing and December Plans

[osprey_archer]

Did not get much writing done this month. Feeling discouraged about writing in general, to be honest. I’ve been struggling to write (so many of this year’s writing posts are some variation on “didn’t get much writing done this month”!), and my royalties are considerably lower than last year, and it’s all very frustrating.

I have decided that for whatever reason I am simply not Ready to write Sleeping Beauty, so rather than continuing to bang my head against that wall, I’m going to set the project aside for at least a year, probably more, it seems optimistic to imagine that I’ll be able to stand the sight of it after a mere year has passed. I remind myself yet again that Ursula K. Le Guin had to sit on Tehanu for eighteen years before she was ready to write it. Eighteen years!

Have been noodling on a couple of projects but who knows if they will come to anything.

***

Anyway, in years past when I have been struggling to write, I have found prompt memes really helpful. (The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball originally grew from a prompt meme.) So I thought I would post one!

Tell me a little about a winter story I haven't written, and I'll give you several sentences from that story.

Winter doesn't have to mean holiday (although it certainly can!). Think snow, icicles, hot beverages by toasty fires, sledding and sleigh rides and being trapped by blizzards and unfortunate incidents involving holly dryads.

I will write ficlets for most any fandom I've written before (Captain America, Queen's Thief, various Sutcliffs, American Girl... I haven't actually written a Biggles or Worrals fic before but I've been thinking about trying) or for my own books, or for a completely original story.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Biggles or Worrals waits out a snowstorm inside their plane. It's okay, they have someone to huddle for warmth with.

[rachelmanija]

PS. Biggles Fest! https://sholio.dreamwidth.org/1461292.html

[oracne]

The nights last most of the day in the winter. What do the people do?

[asakiyume]

I'm sorry about the discouragement--I *loved* the things you published this year, but I realize that's not the same as sales.

Prompt: Even when the snow was falling fastest, they could see by the light of the porch lamp wolves circling round and round the cottage. Keeping them prisoner--or protecting them from harm? That was the question.

[kore]

Gennady and Daniel's first Christmas together. I want to see Gennady's reaction to American Xmas consumerism!

(lol yes when I OTP I OTP forever)

[kore]

I'm sorry about the discouragement--I *loved* the things you published this year, but I realize that's not the same as sales.

Me too! I LOVED the Green Knight pilot book.

[osprey_archer]

I assume you mean first Christmas in the nineties, as we saw Gennady's Christmas at Daniel's house?

[kore]

Yes please!

[skygiants]

(as did I!! as you know!!!)

[skygiants]

I would love several sentences of Kay being reluctantly dragged out to do a winter activity that he isn't very good at!

[littlerhymes]

Please tell me about Mordred, WWII child sent to the country version.

[threeplusfire]

Writing motivation is hard! (I recently introduced a friend to Honeytrap and we've been capslock yelling at each other about it a lot.)

Thinking of a winter story about the long nights and short days, the ever present cold and the uncertainty of waiting for someone to arrive. Frost on stone, the comfort of a fire.

[troisoiseaux]

+3!!

[osprey_archer]

Do we feeling that "huddling for warmth" or "roasting chestnuts in front of an open fire" might count as winter activities Kay is not very good at? Kay is rushing around trying to Organize things and Percy is all "just sit and roast chestnuts with me! We can be convivial!" and Kay is all "I do not DO conviviality."

[osprey_archer]

Oh, yay! I'm glad to hear that you've been enjoying Honeytrap together.

This prompt ties in with a story idea that's been floating in my head about a woman whose lover is a winter spirit who only arrives with the snow... will see if this bursts forth as a fully-fledged story.

[skygiants]

This is one thousand percent in the spirit of the prompt I gave you and exactly what I would wish to see, thank you >:D

[osprey_archer]

"Kay," called Percy, "sit down with us and enjoy the feast!"

"Later," says Kay, rushing past distractedly. "If I don't keep an eye on Smitty, God knows what he'll do to the custard - "

Percy catches Kay's arm. Tall and thin and light-boned as he is, Percy looks like the wind might blow him away. But he's strong, and he pulls Kay onto the chair beside him.

Kay lands awkwardly. The airmen laugh and cheer, and Kay's mouth sets and his chin lifts as he tries to regain his dignity.

Percy nudges Kay's shoulder. "They're glad you're eating with us for once," he says, as he loads Kay's plate with a slice of roast goose (procured at a nearby farm in return for extra airmen's scarves).

Kay replies testily, "If I sat around gobbling like you lot, we wouldn't eat half so well."

"Yes, I know," Percy says, adding two crusty rolls to Kay's plate. "But good company is the best sauce." And while Kay is still sputtering, Percy fills Kay's glass with mulled wine (the result of a very complicated set of black market trades). Then Percy stands, lifting his glass so all the airmen look at him. "To Kay, the founder of the feast!"

"To Kay!" the airmen echo, and Kay reddens and scowls and downs his mulled wine so he doesn't have to look at them. The wine is liberally spiked with black market brandy.

The custard accompanying the Christmas pudding is distinctly lumpy. Fortunately, everyone but Kay is too drunk to mind.

[osprey_archer]

Even when the snow fell fastest, they could see by the light of the porch lamp wolves circling round and round the cottage. Gentian huddled close to her older sister Philomena, who wrapped a fold of her should around Gentian's shoulders as they stood by the frosty window, which seemed to give cold as a fire gives heat.

"I shouldn't have taken the carving," Gentian whispered.

"Shh. They're not here because of that," Philomena said.

"Are you sure? Because if it is - if I give it back to them - " But Gentian shuddered as she said it, for even now she didn't want to give that carving up: the leaping wolf, carved from the lithe graceful curve of an antler.

"No, no," Philomena said. "It's nothing to do with that."

She slipped the warm folds of her shawl around Gentian's shoulders. Gentian, squinting to see through the swirling snow, didn't look up till the hinges squeaked. Then she cried out, and dived after her sister, but the door swung shut with a final gust of snow, and though Gentian tried the handle, Philomena had spelled it shut.

Gentian ran back to the window. Briefly she saw Philomena's dark hair and white blouse, but then both dissolved in the falling snow, which now hid even the wolves.

A wolf howled. Gentian shuddered, clutching her shawl close in fisted hands.

The door opened. A gust of snow blew Philomena into the room. Gentian jumped to her side, and together they pressed the door closed against the powerful wind. \

Then Gentian wound the shawl around her shivering sister, and took her cold hand to lead her to the fire, and set the kettle to boil.

Philomena's shivering eased as she sipped a cup of chamomile. Gentian sat with her cold hands clenched in her heavy wool skirts. "Well?"

Philomena shook her head. "I don't understand it," she said. "They didn't attack. But they won't let me pass."

[asakiyume]

😍Love it!

[asakiyume]

Awww, I love this too. Now I have to go eat something.

[osprey_archer]

"What did you do in the winter," Jessarat asked, "in the far north on the banks of the Cheresen, where the night lasts most of the day?"

Innis didn't answer, and Jess thought he would not answer, and perhaps it was a waste of breath to talk when there was so much ground to cover, and hard walking as they crunched along through the thin crust that had frozen over the snow. But then Innis said, "We told stories around the fire. The long sagas - those are winter stories - always told when the sky is dark and the flames flickering. We would crack nuts - you always save the nuts to crack in winter; it is something to do with your hands; w would flame dried fruits in brandy, and snatch them out of the pans, and suck our burnt fingers and brag about the grand things we would one day do..."

He paused, gazing over the fields with the snow all blushed red as the red sun sank low. He tossed his head like a restive horse, and said, "What will you do in the winters, when you've conquered the banks of the Cheresen, where the night lasts most of the day?"

"I doubt we'll make it so far."

"You're a diplomat." The growing dusk tinged Innis's face blue. "You're right, though. Winter will save us. If anything can."

[osprey_archer]

Always my goal but perhaps ESPECIALLY my goal while writing Kay, who is in charge of the victuals.

[oracne]

This is fabulous. You are such an excellent prose stylist.

[littlerhymes]

He was right to fear the fate of the custard BUT it was worth it. Organiser of vital victuals!! Kay, get your due! <3

[osprey_archer]

PERHAPS, Kay, the airmen care more about having you eat with them than they care about the fate of the custard!

Kay snorts in disbelief.