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

[osprey_archer]

I was forced, FORCED I TELL YOU, to read another Biggles book for inspiration, hence the lag on this ficlet.

***

"Bigglesworth."

Von Stalhein's voice is not loud, but it cuts through the howl of the snowstorm, the ringing in Biggles' ears after he crash-landed the aeroplane into a snowdrift. Biggles unclenches his stiff hands from the controls and turns to face his prisoner.

"We ran out of petrol," Biggles informs him.

Von Stalhein dips his head in acknowledgement. His jaw is clenched, as if to keep his teeth from chattering. The temperature is already dropping rapidly.

Biggles blows on his hands. "I'll have to untie you," he tells von Stalhein. "We'll only survive this cold if we huddle for warmth. Do I have your parole you won't try to escape?"

Von Stalhein's brows lift. "Where would I go?" Biggles lifts his brows in return, and von Stalhein lets out a sigh that is almost a snort. "You have my word."

Biggles is already untying von Stalhein's bonds. They round up every scrap of fabric in the aeroplane, including the parachutes, and cocoon themselves, sitting so close together that Biggles can feel von Stalhein's bony hip digging into his own. He considers a joke about whether the Soviets are feeding von Stalhein, only suddenly it doesn't seem funny. He swallows the joke and wonders if there is anything else in the aeroplane that he could feed von Stalhein.

"Don't suppose your people suit up their kites with iron rations," Biggles says.

Von Stalhein snorts again. His breath is warm against Biggles' neck, a surprising warmth in the frigid cabin. Biggles sighs. He ate up all his own food while staking out the arctic research station that is the headquarters of von Stalhein's latest operation.

But then von Stalhein wriggles. He holds out a chocolate bar, which Biggles takes and splits, and they each sit nibbling on their half, trying to make the food last. The snow has piled up around the plane, muffling the howling of the wind to a dull soporific roar.

"Next time I take on a job," Von Stalhein says, "I shall endeavor to make it somewhere tropical."

"Next time you take on a job," Biggles suggests, "you should take it with me."

Von Stalhein shakes his head. But he doesn't snort this time, and that, Biggles thinks, is progress.

[rachelmanija]

I was forced, FORCED I TELL YOU, to read another Biggles book for inspiration, hence the lag on this ficlet.

Haha. Which one did you read?

What a delightful ficlet. Biggles seizes the opportunity to cuddle with and feed his beloved enemy! He starts untying von Stalhein's hands even before he gets his parole!

"We'll only survive this cold if we huddle for warmth."

Sometimes I feel like Biggles senses that he's starring in an epic, tropey, enemies-to-lovers story.

He considers a joke about whether the Soviets are feeding von Stalhein, only suddenly it doesn't seem funny.

OWW MY HEART.

"Next time I take on a job," Von Stalhein says, "I shall endeavor to make it somewhere tropical."

"Next time you take on a job," Biggles suggests, "you should take it with me."

YES. Such a perfectly them exchange.

[osprey_archer]

Biggles Takes Charge, in which Biggles doesn't appear until about the 50% mark! Algy accidentally becomes embroiled in Ruritanian adventures when he visits the abandoned hunting lodge of a friend (who is secretly the heir of the throne of Moldavia) and meets the friend's cousin, on the run from men who want to kill all the remaining royal heirs to destroy the royalist party!

Either Biggles sense that he's in an enemies-to-lovers story or he's trying to manifest this fate by acting on it hard enough. It seems to be working for him!

[rachelmanija]

Oh, that book sounds fun! I haven't read it.

I could absolutely believe Biggles trying to manifest enemies-to-lovers by sheer force of trying. It's a strategy that works for him in general.

[sheron]

The book in which Biggles directly warns von Stalhein about the French police that's looking for him, and does it in the flirtiest way possible:

‘A little bird whispered in my ear. Now let me whisper in yours.’

I love it.

[osprey_archer]

He sees von Stalhein so rarely that he has to make the most of every opportunity to flirt!

[sholio]

This is so sweet and lovely! Naturally Biggles's immediate thought is not "oh no, I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere with my prisoner" but "I will untie him immediately so we can work through this problem together."

We'll only survive this cold if we huddle for warmth.

And thus 10,000 fanfics were born.

He swallows the joke and wonders if there is anything else in the aeroplane that he could feed von Stalhein.

AWWWWWWW.

[osprey_archer]

Biggles is perhaps delighted to get this providential chance to try to talk von Stalhein into joining the good guys. "Usually we can only exchange brief words at gunpoint," Biggles thinks, "but this time I'll have a whole entire snowstorm to try to talk him around."

[rachelmanija]

Yes, absolutely!

...now I want "Biggles and von Stalhein are imprisoned together."

[osprey_archer]

Von Stalhein's lowlifes of the week, tired of von Stalhein's inability to kill Biggles and more than a little convinced that von Stalhein and Biggles are already working together, chain them to the walls of a pitch-dark dungeon beneath a crumbling chateau in some neglected French province.

The real difficulty will be figuring out how von Stalhein comes out of this experience STILL resisting Biggles' blandishments to join his side.

[rachelmanija]

I LOVE this.

It could be a canon AU where he comes over earlier. I also discovered that once you trap them together long enough, it becomes very difficult to not do that.

[sheron]

Oh my god I would love to read approximately 50,000 more words of this fic! I love that there's some indeterminate job that they were both on that led them to this situation and the fic just drops us before the fact of Biggles in freezing conditions immediately deciding that they both must survive this.

"Next time you take on a job," Biggles suggests, "you should take it with me."

This is so perfectly in character.

I'm so glad you wrote this! (Here via rec!)

[osprey_archer]

Does not even CONSIDER the possibility of letting von Stalhein freeze. Obviously they have to come through this together!

[philomytha]

Perfect! Naturally Biggles goes straight from 'you're my prisoner' to 'come snuggle for warmth with me and maybe I can find you some food' <333. And a fantastic ending! You have the entire essence of their tropey enemyship here and it's great!

[osprey_archer]

Biggles didn't pick a plane with insufficient petrol on purpose in order to engineer the chance to snuggle von Stalhein for warmth and try to tempt him into joining the good guys, but he's not in the least sorry that it turned out that way!