WHY DID YOU WRITE FANFIC FOR A SONG AND WHY IS IT SO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK
Like all bad decisions I’ve ever made, some stranger on the internet dared me to make a couple fictional characters kiss, and then my friends egged me on because it amused them, and now we’re here.
……….actually, it all started because I love Yuletide, the annual small-fandoms fanfic exchange. I have since around 2008, when I stumbled on amazing fics like “Small Step for Man”. Yuletide is known for showcasing rare fandoms, and unlikely-but-delightful premises—if you want to read a fic about Susie Derkins from Calvin and Hobbes playing Calvinball with Death, Yuletide’s got you covered. If you want to read a tongue-in-cheek take on St. Augustine’s diaries, Yuletide’s got you covered. If you want to read a fic that’s really a proposed “Big Gay Episode” of Horrible Histories, well someone wrote that for Yuletide. They even recorded music for it!
However, for the last….ever, Yuletide has taken place at the same time as fall semester finals. Which means I haven’t been able to participate, because I’d rather not fail my classes. Still, I usually go through the Dear Yule Goat letters casually, and pick out a couple prompts I want to try for myself.
And someone, in their letter—it was probably 2016?—asked for fic from “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and said something to the effect of, “I want Johnny and the Devil to fuck.”
Unfortunately, I read that as a challenge. I mean, I was extremely well qualified; I’d played fiddle for six years, I was a religious weirdo with a lot of opinions about theology; I didn’t live in Georgia but Kentucky wasn’t really different was it? And someone had dared me to make them bang!!!
Worse, I told @gatheringbones and @swanjolras-archive about it, and their response was “this is a fabulous idea, you should definitely ride that pony into hell” and Bones even spent a whole evening going back and forth with me about how to frame the central tension. They were horrible enablers, I’m very grateful.
As for why it’s good? Well, I’ve been having a year-long existential crisis about it, and how exactly to make it tense and lyrical and mesh magical realism with a modern South, and have the dialogue sound like it could be read with a Georgia accent without tripping into stereotype, and—
I’ve worked really really hard, I am unduly proud and I hope everyone loves it.