Fic year in review.
Dec. 30th, 2016 10:42 amAside from a drabble I wrote for a birthday gift exchange, His Motherhood was the only fic I finished and posted this year. So, as seems to be the running tradition, all the questions in the usual fic in review meme will simply be answered about that one.
Scrubs
His Motherhood, 83,474 words. Cox/Jordan, mpreg, written for the Small Fandoms Bang.
Summary: Cox had thought he’d learned he’d always be alone, and was trying to come to accept what he knew life held for him. Even after finding out about an upcoming medical study that was barely discussed by the medical profession, derided by all respectable sources, fully aware of what it promised and certain he’d never be invited – he surprised himself and applied just the same. Even when his application for an interview passed and he was invited to see if he qualified for rejection, he didn't allowed himself to hope. But maybe it was possible he hadn’t learned as well as he'd thought.
A story about love, family, building and breaking and repairing attachments, and how to carry the past and move into the future.
What was my inspiration for this fic? How did it come to me? An offhanded remark by Cox in the eighth season - "I will gladly admit to anything that's true, no matter how embarrassing. For example, I've always wished that I could carry a child inside of me, and you know, birth it." - struck me as something very specific to admit to, even for an elaborate joke on a comedy series. Within two minutes I was seriously trying to examine why a male character would ever wish for something like that. Within thirty minutes and fandom trope reconstruction in one hand and attachment theory in the other, I got to work. At first I roped a friend into writing with me, and she contributed about half of the good ideas and most of the cheerleading, but real life ate her, so I went ahead and finished it myself.
What’s my favorite part of the fic? Jack's birth scene and the subsequent Ben-Matthias conversation. The heart of the matter, right there.
What’s the part of the fic I’m most proud of? Coordinating all of the moving parts - six different character POVs, the therapy sessions, and the chapter titles, all intended to work together to mimic the movement and structure of the show in a text-based medium.
What part of the fic was the hardest for me to write? The section where Jordan left after fighting with Cox, because I had to balance both characters thinking they were each in the right during a deeply emotional conversation.
What part of the fic am I still dissatisfied with? Bits and pieces of the language throughout. I feel like another two months and a second, more careful beta-reader would've helped smooth out some tangled bits of prose, but I had a deadline.
Who’s my favorite character in the fic? Either Hanrahan or Susan's Mother. For all that I loved writing Perry Cox, I had a great time with Hanrahan, and I found myself very curious about Susan's Mother and wouldn't mind spending more time with him.
Were there any major decisions I made about the fic that could have made it go a whole different direction? The inclusion of the Maugham family not just as someone for Jordan to talk to, but to provide narrative counterbalance, came in fairly late. If they hadn't been there, the narrative would've been much more focused on the Cox family alone.
Was there anything I only learned about the fic after I had finished it (themes, motifs, symbolism, etc)? No, not that I can think of.
Did anyone in the fic surprise me by doing anything? I didn't know Paige was a lesbian until I began working on this. Which wasn't her doing anything besides showing up, but still.
If I had to sum up this fic in a sentence, what would it be? The same as last year, "family is the hardest joy there is."
If I were to rewrite this fic, what would I change? Some of the prose segments, to keep things moving smoothly.
Did any thing about this fic’s reception surprise me? No. I knew that this sort of niche trope reconstruction coupled with a small fandom would lead to its relative obscurity, and I'm cool with that.
What were my beta’s major comments about the first draft of this fic? I submitted the first ten thousand words to a small round robin critique panel, and the main take-away from that was the first Jordan section came in too soon for the readers to have any sympathy with her. So that was a good lesson in valuing pacing over any personal structural ideas.
If I were to write a sequel to this fic, what would it be about? Either something about Susan's Mother, which would be less a sequel and more a prequel/sidestory as "Woven From Your Brown Hair" was to "Stubborn Mouths", or something about the fifty Matthias Study kids all growing up together and being very close almost-siblings to each other. Because the Study's doctors would've known how important it would be for those children to know people that come from the exact same frame of reference and understand that apart from this one thing - which is both the most important thing about them, and not important at all - they're all normal, ordinary kids.
If there are any other question about the fic, I'd be happy to answer them.
Scrubs
His Motherhood, 83,474 words. Cox/Jordan, mpreg, written for the Small Fandoms Bang.
Summary: Cox had thought he’d learned he’d always be alone, and was trying to come to accept what he knew life held for him. Even after finding out about an upcoming medical study that was barely discussed by the medical profession, derided by all respectable sources, fully aware of what it promised and certain he’d never be invited – he surprised himself and applied just the same. Even when his application for an interview passed and he was invited to see if he qualified for rejection, he didn't allowed himself to hope. But maybe it was possible he hadn’t learned as well as he'd thought.
A story about love, family, building and breaking and repairing attachments, and how to carry the past and move into the future.
What was my inspiration for this fic? How did it come to me? An offhanded remark by Cox in the eighth season - "I will gladly admit to anything that's true, no matter how embarrassing. For example, I've always wished that I could carry a child inside of me, and you know, birth it." - struck me as something very specific to admit to, even for an elaborate joke on a comedy series. Within two minutes I was seriously trying to examine why a male character would ever wish for something like that. Within thirty minutes and fandom trope reconstruction in one hand and attachment theory in the other, I got to work. At first I roped a friend into writing with me, and she contributed about half of the good ideas and most of the cheerleading, but real life ate her, so I went ahead and finished it myself.
What’s my favorite part of the fic? Jack's birth scene and the subsequent Ben-Matthias conversation. The heart of the matter, right there.
What’s the part of the fic I’m most proud of? Coordinating all of the moving parts - six different character POVs, the therapy sessions, and the chapter titles, all intended to work together to mimic the movement and structure of the show in a text-based medium.
What part of the fic was the hardest for me to write? The section where Jordan left after fighting with Cox, because I had to balance both characters thinking they were each in the right during a deeply emotional conversation.
What part of the fic am I still dissatisfied with? Bits and pieces of the language throughout. I feel like another two months and a second, more careful beta-reader would've helped smooth out some tangled bits of prose, but I had a deadline.
Who’s my favorite character in the fic? Either Hanrahan or Susan's Mother. For all that I loved writing Perry Cox, I had a great time with Hanrahan, and I found myself very curious about Susan's Mother and wouldn't mind spending more time with him.
Were there any major decisions I made about the fic that could have made it go a whole different direction? The inclusion of the Maugham family not just as someone for Jordan to talk to, but to provide narrative counterbalance, came in fairly late. If they hadn't been there, the narrative would've been much more focused on the Cox family alone.
Was there anything I only learned about the fic after I had finished it (themes, motifs, symbolism, etc)? No, not that I can think of.
Did anyone in the fic surprise me by doing anything? I didn't know Paige was a lesbian until I began working on this. Which wasn't her doing anything besides showing up, but still.
If I had to sum up this fic in a sentence, what would it be? The same as last year, "family is the hardest joy there is."
If I were to rewrite this fic, what would I change? Some of the prose segments, to keep things moving smoothly.
Did any thing about this fic’s reception surprise me? No. I knew that this sort of niche trope reconstruction coupled with a small fandom would lead to its relative obscurity, and I'm cool with that.
What were my beta’s major comments about the first draft of this fic? I submitted the first ten thousand words to a small round robin critique panel, and the main take-away from that was the first Jordan section came in too soon for the readers to have any sympathy with her. So that was a good lesson in valuing pacing over any personal structural ideas.
If I were to write a sequel to this fic, what would it be about? Either something about Susan's Mother, which would be less a sequel and more a prequel/sidestory as "Woven From Your Brown Hair" was to "Stubborn Mouths", or something about the fifty Matthias Study kids all growing up together and being very close almost-siblings to each other. Because the Study's doctors would've known how important it would be for those children to know people that come from the exact same frame of reference and understand that apart from this one thing - which is both the most important thing about them, and not important at all - they're all normal, ordinary kids.
If there are any other question about the fic, I'd be happy to answer them.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}