Knife · Edge

The joy of fandom, of fanfic in particular, for me is not the possibility of self insertion, or the ability to make characters act out my darkest fantasies. For me it's always been about the continuation of the story. There is nothing I like better than finding a fanfiction that flows from the end of the movie or book almost seamlessly. So that when I sit back afterwards, I find myself content that the characters have found their richly deserved happily ever after. Again.

Every time I sit down to write a new fic, there's a promise that I make in the back of my brain that says that I will be true to the tale that came before, honest in my depictions of the characters as they are, and that any story or arc that I derive from those will flow as naturally as I can make it from canon.

A few months back, while deep into the molasses of "Dangers Untold" I was having a conversation with Lixxle (author of My Fine Feathered Friend, which is brilliant and hilarious, and oddly in canon). Somehow, as always, the conversation turned to those Labyrinth fanfic cliches we all loathe: bratty Sarahs, sadistic Jareths, a goblin kingdom that is magically without goblins, faerie courts that would have bored Victorian English aristocrats senseless... those sorts of things.

And somewhere in the back of my mind, right about where that silent promise sits, a story started boiling. So I took a little break from Dangers and hammered out a few chapters just to see, and sent them to Lixxle and Phuriedae for review.

Their reaction surprised me, because most of the time people are begging me to please drop whatever new shiny I've picked up and go finish Dangers Untold. Including them. But they were both adamant: I had to finish this story.

Over the last few months I've pecked at it here and there. Unlike most of my stories it comes to me in scenes that are not always in chronological order. So I'm busy shuffling here and there in the manuscript trying to figure out what happens when and where certain characters are and what they're doing.

I decided, for Nanowrimo, that I was going to finish it.

Immortal Love is my longest fic to date, clocking in at around 35,000 words.This one is already longer than that. It is eating my brain and my sanity one bit at a time. In one week I've pounded out over 16,000 words to add to the 20,000 that were already there. It is barely 10 chapters along and there are still huge chunks missing. This monster of a story, however, is the closest I think I've come to that silent promise of mine.

It's what I wish the Return to the Labyrinth manga had been. It's what I wish Immortal Love and Dangers Untold had been. And I can't wait to share it... but I'm going to finish it first.

Wish me luck, and hopefully sometime around Christmas I'll be ready to start posting it.

still typing. Still writing. Up to twenty six more pages now (three and a quarter chapters, for those who are counting).

Also, a little sketch I did of his Grumpy Majesty, cause I feel like it.

I need to eat. I've been forgetting to do that, lately.

Yes, the rumors are true.

I'm writing again.

My muse is a fickle, jealous thing, and he tends to take offense at extended periods of neglect. And I have been neglecting him rather badly.

December of 2005 I descended into madness, and within a month I churned out 35,000+ words that became the story "Immortal Love." Immediately upon finishing it, I started writing "Dangers Untold." 17,500+ words in... I lost the beat. It died a cold, stunted death, and I stood there, frantically searching for the trail for...

oh...

two years, five month, and eleven days.

During that time I picked up a couple of other stories and finished them. "What you Wish For" is a particular favorite. "The Price of Dreams" was written under what I can only describe as a fit of madness.

At one point, it occurred to me that the way forward is sometimes the way back, and so I started writing "Shove's Tale."

I was right.

While at first that one was hard going (do you have any idea how hard it is to go back and rewrite a whole story from the point of view of a minor character? One who had a whole 'nother set of problems going on? Different interactions with the main characters, sub plots and storylines that interwove and affected the original storyline but that the main character must remain oblivious to? Huh? HUH?) lately it has picked up, and by writing it I've discovered the trail of "Dangers" again.

I also partially blame this on Phuriedae, my loyal beta, and Lixxle, new friend and psychologist. And Subtillior, who got some of those gears grinding again.

Yes, the rumors are true. I'm writing again. Slowly, sometimes not without a great deal of agony, but I'm writing again. I will finish Shove's Tale and post it as I go, as intended. "Dangers," however, I'm keeping back until ST is finished. I want to make sure it's done, make sure it's complete and edited and makes sense before I post it.

However, as a show of good faith, for you loyal few who've found me here, I'll be generous and post a small excerpt.

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