Gzdacz Writes Fic

[nathansjosten]

I've reached new levels of insanity and am now susceptible to making fanart for fanfic (hi @gzdacz-writes-fic, this is obsessive reader dovesandravens. I might have not been able to choose a definitive favorite, but seeing as The Storyteller already had a gorgeous piece of art...here's this) anyone seeing this should definitely check out this truly wonderful story!!

Bug Boy and the Wolf (81364 words) by gzdacz

Chapters: 19/30 Fandom: Hannibal (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter Characters: Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham, Various Character(s) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Red String of Fate, helped slightly by violent tugging, Young Hannibal Lecter, Young Will Graham, Firenze | Florence, New Orleans, Angst, and fun!, (and murder!), star-crossed except it's really not the stars' fault, canon-typical creepiness, POV Hannibal Lecter, Student Hannibal Lecter, College Student Will Graham, Il Mostro, Cop Will Graham, Surgeon Hannibal Lecter, Kidnapping Summary: Hannibal has met Will Graham before. Once among the luscious forests of a remote corner of the world. Once in a city, in the cradle of the Reneissance. Once in the warm, humid nights of New Orleans. And now, here they are again. In many ways, it is a shame: it never does end well for either of them. A story told in four parts, over four decades and four encounters.

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

Bug Boy and The Wolf has an officially approved cover now! ♥️♥️

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Bug Boy is FINALLY back with Part Three!

A tiny prelude has been posted, with the first proper chapter coming next week. Updates should be weekly after that until the end of Part Three.

Here's what you can look forward to in this part:

some fun times in New Orleans and around the Louisiana swamps

bad things happen when workaholics take a holiday

VERY bad things happen to children

if I'm spiralling, and you're spiralling, who's driving the boat?

dubious consent but it's for kidnapping

Enjoy!

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

I’m travelling florence at the moment and i have been reminded of Bug Boy and the Wolf. are you planning to update again? no pressure but i love the fic so much!!!

Ah, and I still haven't had the chance to visit Florence! I hope you enjoy it ♥️

And yes, an update is coming... Several unforeseen things have happened in recent months which have slowed me down considerably, but I am working on part 3, and I am more than halfway there. Also, July should be less intense life-wise, so I hope this is the time I can finally catch up. I don't want to make any promises about an update date because I've done that before and was revealed a liar, but rest assured I have not gone more than a week without writing Bug Boy at least a little bit -- so an update is definitely coming! I just want to hold off on publishing the first chapter of the third part until I have the rest of it readyish, so that I can update weekly without breaks once I start.

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

Hello! Could I ask if you're open to dms/having conversations in private, because I'm super interested in learning more about your fics/planning process/thoughts in general, and I don't really want to bombard your asks with a ton of questions. No pressure if you're not up for it! I just thought I'd ask :)

Sure thing! I do have little breaks from Tumblr and don't always reply super promptly - as you can tell - but I'm always happy to get messages!

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

I've been having a really horrible time lately, and mason jars is really cathartic to read on the worst days. Thank you for writing it. I love your fics, and I love you for writing them. They mean a lot to me.

Thank you so much!!! ♥️

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

hey!! literally checking every day for Bug Boy and the Wolf updates! literally one of the best things i’ve ever read on A03. any updates on the next part? (no pressure, just wanted to tell you how much i loved it!!)

Ahh, that's so lovely to hear!! Yeah, I'm running a little behind... Have had a lot going on life-wise -- nice things mostly, but still! -- and my writing schedule did not survive this. I AM trudging slowly onward, but early May is a more realistic deadline to aim for now. I can tell you that Hannibal is the worst he's been so far, in this one -- took me a little while to figure out the voice of the narration because of it. And Will is, hm. Actually, they're both the worst they've ever been. Something to look forward to!

[sadfishpile]

"this is my design"

inspired by the Other Will from The Storyteller by @gzdacz-writes-fic

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

Check out this STUNNING piece of art inspired by the Storyteller! This is THE perfect visual for the Other Will. Stunning, I am stunned!

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

Hello gzdacz, I was looking through your blog and saw that you linked a lot of beautiful pictures of the different locations your fanfics take place in. I was wondering how you find these places to write about – did you know about them before writing? Or do you research on places and find a place that aligns best with what you have visualised in your head? I love your fanfics a lot by the way :)

Ooh, really fun question! I think about setting a lot, but as for how I come to it, I'd say it's a mix.

With something like the Time Left Today series, which had a lot of different European locations, about half were places I'd visited myself, and half were places I'd already wanted to visit prior to writing, so I had some awareness of what they were like and could then reseach a little more.

Leviathan was pretty much ALL location and entirely inspired by said location. Several scenes come from notes I'd scrawled down when I was in Douro Valley. All the locations from that fic are ones I've been to, actually: Porto, Marseille, even Aveiro, where Hannibal and Will argue about going but never actually go. I spent a very short time in all of the above (Douro Valley was like a half-day trip), but I didn't really need to do very much additional research, I already knew what I wanted the vibe to be like. Ideally, I would only like to write about places I've been to, even for a little while. I think then, even if you misremember or get some things wrong, you will be able to get the little details right: what the air feels like, what sounds you can hear in the evening, what a particular food tastes like.

Now I'm writing Bug Boy and the Wolf, I struggle with this a little, because I do not have the resources to go and visit all the locations from that. With the Part One location, Isle Royale, I knew the general vibe I wanted (wild, remote, isolated, cold in the winter), and I sort of scrolled around a map of the US, looking up different places. I think it took me less than an hour to chance upon it, and it felt fated, almost: it had wolves, and strange and horrible weather, and a place once called Windigo, for heaven's sake's! I looked up lots of random info about it, then just imagined the rest. For Part Two, plot reasons indicated I needed Florence, which was easier because I've been to Northern Italy, so I have a general sense what it's like. I'm working on Part Three now, which takes place in New Orleans, and this has involved so far looking up the menus of a bunch of restaurants and hitting up an overpriced bar in my city that serves NOLA drinks.

To go back to your question a little, I don't think I tend to visualise a place in my head before I look for a real-world equivalent -- I don't have a visual imagination like that, I don't think. It's easier for me to start from a real place, whether I've been there or not. I know what kind of little details I need to make the place feel real for me and I look them up (names of foods, weather, local animals, whatever), then the story and the visuals kind of emerge from that.

This was a long-winded answer and I'm not even sure I've answered your question adequately... Thank you, though, you've reminded me of some nice, sunny places at a time when my local weather is about to take a turn for freezing ;)

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

hello! i recently binge read your mason jars and time left today series, and absolutely loved it!! your writing is phenomenal, and i really resonated with your characterisations of snape and harry (particularly, i really liked how harry felt so realistic as a child to me, and also just how emotionally complex he came across)!

i was wondering if you might have plans to write any HP fics again in the future, because i would absolutely love to read more of harry and snape from you. tysm!

Ah, thank you so much!! <3

As for future HP fics, I'm afraid I can't give you an answer right now... Over the last few years, the JKR situation has soured the series for me a little and made me less excited about coming back to write HP fic. At the same time, I got into writing for the Hannibal fandom, which had been a big dream for me.

Still, I did also binge a Severitus over the Christmas period when I was feeling a little under the weather and sorry for myself, and it made me feel all nice and nostalgic (it was O Mine Enemy, by the way, which you should definitely read if you haven't yet!). In a folder somewhere, I do have a few chapters of a time travel Harry and Snape fic that I think would be enormous fun to write, and even though it's a good few years old, I still think about it from time to time. So, I guess this is a long-winded way of saying: nothing is likely to happen soon, but very much still possible in the future.

(if you're curious, I can reveal the time travel fic had Harry using the Resurrection Stone to accidentally go back to his fourth year, where he proceeded to make a mess of things and drive Snape up the wall)

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

Hannibal and Will visit a Ketty La Rocca exhibition in the newest chapter of Bug Boy and the Wolf. Here are some of the artworks they might see...

Read the newest chapter below!

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Bug Boy and the Wolf continues now in Part Two!

What's coming:

early 90s Florence,

academic essays and assignments and a thesis (tread carefully if this is a trigger),

poor nutrition and questionable lifestyle choices,

a lot of fluff and cutesy bickering,

murder, largely recreational,

concept: what if your loser college boyfriend was a serial killer?

revenge plots,

mistakes.

Just a little prelude for now, but I aim to publish new chapters weekly!

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

Bug Boy and the Wolf: part one chapter titles

Chapter titles in Part One are all in Latin and taken from the world of Biology, as a nod to little Will’s interests. Here they are, in order, explained:

Chapter Two: Copia Genorum translates to gene pool, like the limited gene pool which has led to the wolves of Isle Royale to be sickly and ill-developed.

Chapter Three: Tapetum Lucidum is the name of the reflective surface in the eyes of some night predators, which gives them the appearance of glowing in the dark.

(and for the chapters not out yet...)

Chapter Four: Supraesophageal ganglion refers to a bundle of nerves in insects which forms what is effectively their brain.

Chapter Five: Consanguinitas means blood kinship.

Chapter Six: Progenies lupina translates to wolf progeny. Or wolf children, I suppose.

Catch up here:

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

In Part One of Bug Boy and the Wolf, we find Hannibal attending a school on Isle Royale on Lake Superior. The island very much exists, and it really is beautiful, and wild, and only visited by tourists in the summer months. Its wolf population, which Hannibal reads about in class, really is inbred and heavily dependent on moose meat for survival.

The school itself is completely made-up; probably for the best.

If you haven’t yet, you can read the first two chapters here.

Chapter three is coming this weekend.

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

New story alert!

I feel like to say anything about this one would be spoiling the fun a little, so let me just throw some random words at you:

four parts, four decades!

the red string of fate (no one's happy about it)

very unsupervised children and their increasingly creepy shenanigans that will 100% end in tragedy, but oh well

Il Mostro's here!

every decade, Will finds new and inventive ways to make bad choices

every decade, Hannibal finds new and inventive ways to gaslight everyone including himself

this was supposed to be an epic romance but honestly I think it's more a coming-of-age story... if you can come of age at fifty, I mean

if you're tired of coffee shop AUs, may I introduce the Attending a Conference AU, sponsored by me being bored at conferences

Also, if you read the first chapter but come away confused about what exactly conference ribbons are, here are some for you (although these are much more boring than what the APA can do!)

[mlobsters]

original music on hannibal by brian reitzell

I've gathered clips of a variety of themes used on NBC's hannibal, clicking the theme link takes you to all of my posts tagged with that theme.

all music posts

will's theme / aperitif theme

s1e1 aperitif - meeting winston s1e4 ouef - abandonment requires expectations he needs an anchor bedtime with the dogs s1e8 fromage - clutch for balance s2e1 kaiseki - can't define him by his maddest edges s2e12 tome-wan - throat slitting fantasies s3e2 primavera - you can make it all go away s3e4 aperitivo - in the kitchen again

murder family theme

s1e1 aperitif - in the hospital together s1e4 oeuf - hannibal taking abigail home s1e5 coquilles - in bed with the angels s1e10 buffet froid - i see you, georgia s2e11 ko no mono - perhaps one day a cup will come together s3e2 primavera - i do feel closer to hannibal here

hannibal's theme / goldberg variations aria by bach

s1e1 aperitif - meeting hannibal s1e8 fromage - i was worried you were dead s2e11 ko no mono - ortolans are endangered s2e13 mizumono - on the run s3e13 the wrath of the lamb - i don't know if i can save myself

bloodfest

s2e13 mizumono - you were supposed to leave s3e6 dolce - we're conjoined s3e7 digestivo - i'm not going to miss you s3e13 twotl deleted scene - norman chapel

oeuf theme

s1e4 oeuf - not captured, son returning home s2e1 kaiseki - appointment for one s2e5 mukozuke - happy to do a favor for a friend

chiyoh's theme

s3e3 secondo - you're trespassing s3e7 digestivo - between iron and silver

miscellaneous

s1e13 savoreux - c. cassidy, vide cor meum - hello, dr. lecter s2e10 naka-choko c. mahler, 5th adagietto - this meat is not pork s2e12 tome-wan c. reitzell - imagining the slaughter s2e13 mizumono c. reitzell, whispers and ticking - vibrations of all our conversations s2e13 mizumono reitzell vs vangelis - the chase s3e4 aperitivo c. grieg, the death of åse - what could have been s3 intro to extra c. reitzell - let it be a fairytale s1e1 aperitif alt music shyboy, cover wouldn't it be good - in the hospital s2 promo alt music elo, can't get it out of my head - reckoning s2e12 tome-wan / jurassic park velociraptors / the x-files: fight the future aliens effects - shrieky noises

behind the scenes

s1 extra, a symphony for the slaughter - music is like the wallpaper on the bullroarer s3 extra, reimagining red dragon - saving twotl with brian reitzell and love crime

amazing resource for all the classical pieces via @hannibalsmusic

i didn't caption some of the earlier videos, unfortunately, but everything going forward always is. and they might have some pretty nonsensical rambling associated. but i have a thing for soundtracks and the juxtaposition of the horror soundscape reitzell used for much of the show and the melodic themes really hit me.

please let me know if you find any issues, broken links, wrong episode information, etc. dm, ask or comment!

[gzdacz-writes-fic]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

The final chapter is up!

To see the story off, here's the Sam Cooke song I had in mind when writing chapter 20... maybe this is what Will put on in the kitchen, that evening Hannibal watched him?

[zipegs]

I’m back again with another rec list!! This time, I’ll be focusing on ostensibly lesser-known long fic—for my own organizational purposes, this means a word count of (approximately) 20k+. I will be including WIPs this time around, but they’ll be clearly indicated at such. Recs are divided into two categories—canonverse (including slight adjustments to it) and alternate universe. All fics are Hannigram unless otherwise noted. 

Please be sure to heed all archive tags and warnings! Hope you enjoy, and don’t forget to give the authors some love!!

Keep reading