#i've been thinking... making silly ideas... plotting tomfoolery!

[flamingtoads]

Cackle's and Pentangle's rivalry my beloved <3

[elwenyere]

For the Behind-the-Scenes fic asks…

On the Threshold (!!!!!!!!!! I love it so much!)

1, 7, 12, 24

Thank you!💜

Thank you so much for this ask, Elektra!!! I'm so happy you asked about On the Threshold: it's a huge treat to get to talk about this story, which has a really special place in my heart. <3<3<3 Questions are from this post.

How long did it take you to write this fic?

I have fics that flow out of me and fics that fight me, and this is one of the ones that fought me. I started writing it in late December and didn't finish it until late January (almost a month after the NYE holiday for which it was designed lolsob), partially because it grew to be much longer and more involved than I expected, and partially because it involved a new challenge for me: creating a compelling arc of slow-burn development - from first meeting to first kiss - over a period of several years.

7. What inspired the idea for the plot?

On the Threshold is unusual for me, in that the initial kernels of the plot came from personal experience. Indeed, I don't think I've drawn as much from my own life in any other fic I've written.

It was the holiday season, and I had been wanting to do something festive for Sambucky, so I started thinking about one particularly dramatic what-could-have-been moment from my past (see question 24 XD), and that spawned the idea of a 5+1 where Sam and Bucky keep almost getting together on NYE, but circumstances and misunderstandings always get in the way. The threads about grief and the way it changes you (which is another very autobiographical element in the story) ended up being woven into the fabric as I considered what some of those intervening events might be - especially for Sam.

12. Was there a scene you wished you could have included? Why didn't it fit in?

I had a lot of fun writing the disaster trio in the fic (Joaquín, Yelena, and Kate), and one of the things that frequently derailed me while I was drafting was that the three of them kept getting into extra shenanigans that were really delightful to me but that ultimately distracted from the central thrust of the story. During the scene at Clint's party in particular I probably wrote and deleted at least 1000 words of general silliness and tomfoolery.

24. Did you write every scene in order? What was the first scene you wrote, and what was the last?

For my sins, I never write in order, and this fic was no exception. The first scene that I wrote was one of the ones that came from personal experience, which is the scene at the airport, where Bucky checks his phone and realizes he missed meeting Sam outside his hotel room. From there, I worked backward, trying to figure out what kinds of earlier near misses would make that moment as dramatic as possible; and then I wrote my way toward the final get-together, which was the last scene I finished.

It makes me so unbelievably happy to know that the full story landed for you! <3<3<3

Thank you so much, Elektra!!! This meant a lot to me.