Feb 5
ACOC 36– now up!!
get it while it’s hot!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524820/chapters/48714695
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ACOC 36– now up!!
get it while it’s hot!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524820/chapters/48714695
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Have you read A Consequence of Consumption (Hannibal)?
Yes, I am/was in the fandom
Yes, but I’m not in the fandom
No, but I’m in the fandom
No, I’m not in the fandom
Summary: Despite the yelling, the flashing lights and clicks of shutter buttons, the ever-mounting noise, Lounds’ voice cut through like the ring of a bell, sharp and high. “Mr. Graham,” she shouted, “didn’t they find you at Stammets’ table?” Jack Crawford repeated “No further questions!” at the top of his lungs like a mantra. The way a child would, in combination with ears covered and eyes screwed shut, to block out an unpleasant sound. “Did you eat them!” Lounds yelled over the din. “Did you eat the mushrooms!” --- In which Will Graham survives an abduction by a serial killer, only to find that somehow he's garnered the interest of at least one more, each more dangerous than the next.
Author: ironlotus
Note from submitter: listen. listen i know the pain of reading an unfinished fic but i swear on my life this one is worth it, it's probably the best hannibal fic i've ever read and that's saying a LOT
Fanfic Rec #82 Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal) part 11
Negotiating With Dragons and Other Ill-Advised Ventures by HigherMagic Will is a mage, who works with the FBI to find missing persons and assist with investigations. He's limited by his lack of a familiar, but tries not to let that bother him. During one search, he draws the attention of a great beast, that follows him home. Dragons are a rare sight these days, and not something one should take as a familiar lightly. But when a familiar names themselves as yours, it's not really a matter of choice.
Oleander by cosmicpeach There's no choice in whether Will wants to cooperate in the M.C.P's jobs. It's required of him, it's his duty, and Will would have been lying if he said he got absolutely nothing out of it. What sort of life would he have if he wasn't in a facility? He couldn't pass as a normal person, not with his eyes, and he can't touch people without them dying. It's better for him in here, where he can do something good with what he's been given. (AU in which Will Graham is a government secret, Hannibal Lecter is a cannibalistic super-villain, and Jack Crawford's attempts to keep them from colliding seem to fail in any universe where they might coexist)
Spoiled by everybreathagift Hannibal likes buying Will stuff. Will isn't exactly complaining.
A Consequence of Consumption by ironlotus Despite the chaos, Lounds’ voice cut through like the ring of a bell, sharp and high. “Mr. Graham,” Lounds shouted, “didn’t they find you at his table?” Crawford repeated “no further questions” like a mantra, at the top of his lungs; the way a child would, in combination with ears covered and eyes screwed shut, to block out an undesirable sound. “Did you eat them?” Lounds yelled over the din. In which Will Graham survives an abduction by a serial killer, only to find that somehow he's garnered the interest of at least one more.
Comfort Food by KareliaSweet Hannibal is melancholy. Will tries to make it better.
A Consequence Of Consumption 35
Updated.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Hahaha this is why they get so long
Working on edits.
decided to change up the beginning of the scene a bit to make some parallels later on.
OOPS now we've added another 800 words.
Get to another bit that feels like it just needs a LITTLE more oomph. A LITTLE more pa-pow.
OOPS another 1k words added oh no??
Then I gotta reread the whole chapter to make sure it all makes sense with the additions... but guess what happens when I reread?
There's a reason my chapters are a million words long.
Tonight's writing playlist:
Deftones - Passenger
Queens of the stone age - Mosquito Song
Madonna - Secret
Halsey - Lilith (feat Suga of BTS)
Morcheeba - Blood like Lemonade
Linkin Park - Points of Authority
A Perfect Circle - Counting Bodies Like Sheep
Nine inch Nails - Discipline
Marian Hill - Deep
Nathaniel Merriwether - Book of the Month (feat Mike Patton)
Nine Inch Nails - Vessel
Deftones - Digital Bath
Siouxsie Sioux - Love Crime
Edited to add: decided to cut some stuff and move it into a later chapter. you'll see why when we get to the end of this one. huhuhu. So we're back at like an est 14k by the time editing is done. WHICH SHOULD BE BY THE END OF THE MONTH IF THINGS CONTINUE AT THIS PACE!!!! (no guarantees)
Quick update plus ~300 words of Hannibal pining as requested
just a lil heads up!
As usual, the blows keep coming. This one is expected, at least, but it's no less a blow. I have a surgery scheduled middle of next month. In the interim, I'll be polishing up chapter 5 edits and posting those. I expect to be out of writing shape for a week or so after the surgery, and will throw myself into 36 the second I'm well enough to be doing so. (was I saying 35 in previous tumblr posts? I meant 36).
I am very happy with the changes to ch4--it's like, a whole thousand words longer than the original--and feel like the updated version is much more consistent with the later chapters in terms of writing quality.
Which is why I giggle a little at the prospect of sharing this next little bit.
When I finished chapter 35, there were like three different places where I thought the chapter could end. I ended up going with the shortest version because the latter half of the scene from Hannibal's POV felt a little masturbatory.
Behold:
The fork floated before Will’s lips, lingering there as he spoke. “I know who you are, Hannibal.” And then his lips parted, wide, and the meat slipped between his lips. Hannibal did not see the fork fall away. He couldn’t. All he could see was the knowing in Will’s eyes for the second that they remained open before fluttering closed. All he could see was the gentle, rhythmic movement of his lips and jaw as he chewed. His senses attuned to Will so completely that everything else ceased to exist. Will knew. But he ate it anyway. And then came Will’s voice, moaning sweetly in reflexive praise. A siren call. A symphony for the senses. It filled his ears the way Will filled his sight. Rapture overcame him. In that moment, he was no longer man, no longer flesh, but light and air and color. If his spirit could return to a body other than his own, would that it were Will’s, so he might see with his eyes, taste with his tongue, swallow with his throat. But as he could not, he must take in this moment, in its utter perfection, and preserve it forever. No meal, no matter how beautifully made, could ever hope to sate him the way Will’s knowing had. No one can be fully aware of another human being unless they love them. And Will knew. And Hannibal, who had long suspected but never dared put words to the feeling, knew as well. He would hunger for him, daily. Find nourishment at the sight of him, but still ache with unsated desire until at last— “Ah,” sighed Will, cheeks pink, dark lashes fanning out over them. “This is delicious.”
I have a couple outtakes like this from earlier chapters too haha. Hannibal was threatening to kiss Will as early as chapter 23!
Anyway, thanks as always for reading!
Also my asks are open, if anyone wants to drop one!
Fic Update Incoming
Come hell or high water, chapter 35 of Consequence of Consumption is coming next week, most likely on Thuesday evening EST (US)!
I've got one scene left to edit, then a final read-through, and it is GOOD TO GO! (Current word count: 15,026, that read-through is gonna take a minute lol)
Glow-ups between revision drafts
Migraine day, so instead of doing the high-level cognitive work of editing the latest chapter, I spent a little time revising one of the earlier chapters. That put it in my head that it would be fun to do a little side by side comparison of original versions and then the rewritten versions.
So here's two, with some director's commentary:
Chapter 1
Original version:
Will closed the front door behind him, the heavy breathing of the mutts and the clicking of their claws on the wooden floors inside the house putting a small smile on his face. “I’ll be back in a few hours, guys,” he called as he locked the front door, then the storm door. A new habit for him. His home in Wolf Trap, always like a boat at sea, distant and isolated, had felt like a refuge for as long as he’d lived there. Locking the doors felt wrong, antithetical to that, but it had become necessary. The drive to the office, though longer than an hour, passed in the blink of an eye. Time had been getting away from him lately. He pulled up in front of a beautiful Baltimore brownstone, its manicured hedges all red and gold, its well-maintained facade giving him the impression of wealth and value placed on presentation. It was a nice neighborhood. Anyone would be able to tell with just a look at the cars parked along the street or the grandeur of the buildings. But Will being Will, his observations surpassed the superficial layer, the simple appearances of things. The fact that this office belonged to a psychiatrist, with this kind of location, told him a lot. He parked and proceeded to sit in his car for a few minutes. Ambled up the stairs to the door, then loitered there, watching his breath condense in the cooling fall evening air, float up and fog up his glasses,
Current version:
Will took his time saying goodbye to the mutts. Kissed one last muzzle, patted one last head, tugged one last ear. They wanted to follow him through the door, of course, to go out to play in the yard even though he’d brought them inside only twenty minutes before. But they couldn’t. “I’ll be back in a few hours, guys,” he promised, less a reminder for them and more for himself. The dogs would be fine without him, but he knew better now than to take his return for granted. He locked the front door and then the storm door, too. A new habit for him. His home in Wolf Trap, always like a boat at sea, distant and isolated, had felt like a refuge for as long as he’d lived there. Locking the doors felt wrong, antithetical to that, but it had become necessary. That went for the lock on his front gate, too. Frost-covered grass and gravel crunched under the wheels of his ancient Volvo as he backed out of the driveway. The GPS announced in a robotic deadpan that he could expect a 75-minute commute to his appointment, but he had every intention of making it last at least 90. Still, time had been slipping through his fingers recently; despite his plans to delay his arrival, the drive passed in the blink of an eye. He’d never been in this part of Baltimore before. A nice neighborhood; too nice a neighborhood, he thought, with its quiet streets and low-burning street lamps, its wide, brick-paved sidewalks. Too nice for him. And then there was the office itself, a beautiful Baltimore brownstone, its manicured hedges all red and gold, its well-maintained facade giving the impression of wealth, of value placed on presentation. Whatever he’d expected when he booked his appointment—an office in a strip mall, maybe, or in a medical park—it wasn’t this. Even his car looked out of place, parked between two luxury sedans that must each cost more than double what his annual salary was, back when he was a cop. He bought himself a few more minutes by fiddling with the papers kept in his glove box. Alphabetizing them, then sorting by date, then by length. When he couldn’t justify the busywork any longer, he ambled up the stairs to the entrance, then loitered there, watching his breath condense in the cooling fall evening air, float up and fog up his glasses, instead.
So what's changed? v2 is a lot longer, but it's not just words added. I wrote the first chapter in one sitting and posted it immediately after finishing. I didn't even have a solid idea of where the story was going until I'd finished Ch4, realized that there were certain themes and threads I had already started weaving together, and plotted out the rest of the story.
So v2 has a lot more characterization, keeping in mind who Will turns out to be later in the story. It's got more world-building. It drops more breadcrumbs about what's to come later in the fic. And, of course, it's a lot less stilted, a lot more conversational, with a more confident narrative voice.
This is the one I've been working on tonight:
Chapter 4
Original version:
The first time Will met Eldon Stammets, in reality, turned out to be more like the fourth. Well, the fourth for him, anyway; it had been many more than that for Eldon. Will didn’t blame himself for not noticing, though. Memory, eidetic or otherwise, only helps you remember the things you attend to, after all, and Will had never looked at the man’s face. He would probably have recognized him by the fit of his lab coat, the name on his nametag, the sound of his voice, if Stammets had approached him wearing them, or bothered to say anything when he did.
Current version (edits still in process):
The first time Will met Eldon Stammets wasn’t the first time that Eldon Stammets met Will. First meetings were a matter of perspective after all, of attention and memory. Eldon remembered. Will didn’t. Will didn’t blame himself for that, though. Memory, eidetic or otherwise, only catalogs the things you attend to, and Will had never looked at his face. He could probably have recognized him by the fit of his lab coat, the name on his badge, the sound of his voice, if Stammets had approached him wearing them, or bothered to say anything when he did.
Again, what's changed? I didn't like the lack of clarity in the first sentence, or how the second sentence seemed to just be a rephrase of the first. So that changed first.
Originally I tried to change it like this: "The first time Will met Eldon Stammets wasn’t the first time that Eldon Stammets met Will. Or—the first time Will could remember meeting Eldon, they had already met a few times before." But that felt even more repetitive. My beta reader advised that I approach the idea from a different direction, and this that's how I ended up with "First meetings were a matter of perspective after all, of attention and memory. Eldon remembered. Will didn’t."
A few other changes include word choice and syntax simplification (Memory, eidetic or otherwise, only helps you remember the things you attend to, after all, and Will had never looked at the man’s face. --> Memory, eidetic or otherwise, only catalogs the things you attend to, and Will had never looked at his face).
I'm still not loving the tense situation with "First meetings were a matter of..." and "Memory [...] only helps you..." given that the fic generally is in the past tense. Might be an ESL thing (note to self: message beta reader about this later).
There's a few whole ass deleted scenes, too, that I have kept in the vault because they're too fun to let go of. I'll share some of those too when I get to that part of the overall fic revision process.
Someday.