rereading lfay chapter one! was missing the fic so hard and couldn't help going back to it after getting more hyped about seeing wicked later this year :')
have any other little facts about lfay? maybe some specific unfound parallels to point out? did you intend to make elphaba left handed in the promo photo for the fic?
ps. congrats on the greg awards :))) 🎉🎉
Oh my gosh hi!!!! It's so good to hear from you! Thank you for letting me know that you're rereading, this message made my heart so happy. I'm so excited you get to see Wicked again this year! I just bought my tickets to see the tour again in a few months.
I'm actually so excited you asked about behind the scenes facts, I have a bunch of behind the scenes stuff that I haven't shared.And thank you about the awards, I was super flattered to be nominated/voted for in all of those categories!
Cover Art
As for the cover art, I've always had the head canon that Elphaba is left handed or ambidextrous. However, the real reason I made her left handed was because the cover art is actually a photo of my real hand painted green. I'm right handed, so it was easier to paint my left hand and take the picture with my right. I got black press on nails and everything. The "Love Fae and Yero" letter was paper I stained with tea and I hand wrote the title. I like to craft so I figured that was easier/more fun than photoshopping. It took many tries to find a good angle for the pic and I have a whole folder of the pics that didn't work as well.
Please let me know your thoughts if you continue to reread, and ask any questions you like. Thank you for giving me the permission to info dump about my story!!!!
Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Love, Fae & Yero"
References to source materials
The original characters were homages to famous pen pal stories (in name only, not in personality).
Amalia- Named for Amalia Balash from Parfumerie (1937 Play) and She Loves Me (1963 Musical)
Vicar Mathias Popkin- Named for “Mathias Popkin”, the fictional name given to Klara’s anonymous suitor in The Shop Around the Corner (1940 Film) He is also intended to be the same “Owl in Munchkin Rock, a vicar with a thriving flock, forbidden to preach” from “Something Bad”.
Lieutenant Jozsef Fox- Named for Joe Fox from You’ve Got Mail (1998 Film)
Jerusha Pendleton- Named for Jerusha Abbott and Jervis Pendleton Daddy Long Legs (2009 Musical)
Miss Garland- Named for Judy Garland who starred in In The Good Old Summertime (1949 Film) and of course The Wizard of Oz (1939 Film)
There were also some lines inspired by these stories. Elphaba says "I wanted it to be you so badly" in Chapter 17: See How Bright which is a line from "You've Got Mail", Glinda and Elphaba visit a Parfumerie, the last line of Chapter 14 is a nod to "She Loves Me", and Glinda says she got the dress for Elphaba at "The Shop Around the Corner". All of the references to them meeting at "eight o'clock" is a nod to the song "Tonight at Eight" from She Loves Me. Elphaba also says "Will he like me when we meet" in Chapter 11, a line and song from She Loves Me. There's likely more I can't think of right now.
In (almost) all of the versions of the pen pal story the girl waits for the guy at a cafe with a rose in a book so he knows it's her, so that scene in Chapter 11 is a nod to that as well. Except in those versions the guy *does* find out it's her but doesn't tell her he's the pen pal right away. I did consider keeping this story more true to that model (meaning Fiyero would realize Elphaba is the pen pal but wouldn't reveal it) but I'd already gotten the idea to have Glinda reveal it at the Ozdust and I didn't want to change that.
The sorcery is inspired by The Wizard of Oz.
The magic I decided to incorporate into the story, primarily teleportation and crystal balls, were inspired by The Wicked Witch of the West’s magic in the movie. When The Wicked Witch of the West first enters she has a red cloud of smoke but when she exits there is fire. Then of course, there is her crystal ball she uses to spy on people.
The Epilogue: The Badlands
My decision to have Elphaba and Fiyero go to the Badlands was largely inspired by earlier drafts of the musical.
In the San Francisco Tryout Elphaba has a conversation with Nessa during WWOTE about the Badlands. They call it “the bleakest most Ozforsaken place you can imagine” and how no one ever returns from there, and Elphaba says she could because she could fly. She said Animals fled to the Badlands and were so frightened they forgot how to speak.
I was also inspired by this passage in Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz by Carol de Giere about an ending in which Elphaba and Fiyero run into Doctor Dillamond in The Badlands and Elphaba helps him speak.
“It was to take place on a scruffy farm in an isolated area of Oz called the Badlands.” (p. 309)
“He [Stephen Schwartz] liked the down-to-earth feel of having her use natural healing abilities rather than magic. Dr. Dillamond then bleated with difficulty: “El-pha-baaaa.”
“On some emotional and philosophical level, it was why I wanted to tell the story,” Schwartz later revealed about the last scene where Elphaba tries to heal the Animals who have fled to the Badlands. “It’s the fact that it’s completely anonymous and she’ll never get any credit or public affection for it, but she does it anyway.” (p. 310)
I felt the line about staying anonymous was particularly fitting, so I wanted to loosely incorporate his original vision into the epilogue.
Additionally, some other plot points/dialogue were taken from the San Francisco Try Out, particularly in Nessa and Elphaba's talk in Chapter 28: Sister Sunrise. Elphaba says "So it's you they're talking about, I thought it was another lie about me" and Nessa says "not everything's about you". Fiyero also originally had a line in the Lion Cub scene where he says "you cared about the cub so much it changed everything, what's it like to care about something that much?" which I used as well in Chapter 10: Fair Weather Friends.
It was really cool to see the different versions/drafts that didn't make the cut and use them for this mishmash of different canons.
The story was originally going to be *much* shorter.
I didn’t originally plan to set Elphaba off down The Wizard path. It was just going to be a Shiz-era story and I considered ending it after “An OzDust Do-Over”. I also considered ending it after “She’s Off To See The Wizard” on an ambiguous note, and then maybe continue in a sequel. Then ideas like the sonnet, cave, and trapdoor started coming to me and I realized I had to continue it through. As a writer, I usually tend to make a story darker/more dramatic than I originally set out to do lol.
Lost chapter
There is a “lost” chapter of LFAY that was originally between Chapter 19 “An Honest Go” and Chapter 20 “Out Loud” in which Elphaba helps Fiyero through his test anxiety. It was ultimately cut because it wasn’t serving the grander plot, but the current plan is to use a lot of the dialogue I wrote in a different story I have in mind. It still exists in my draft folder.
Parallels
As for parallels I'm sure there is many that I wrote and forgot about, I may have to reread myself. But one that I particularly like is a parallel between Chapter 17: See How Bright and Chapter 34: Dorothy and the Darkness. It repeats the line : "Fiyero had come…and he’d brought the light back with him."
Elphaba also says "Follow me, Yero?" to which Fiyero responds "Anywhere" three times. Once in the museum in Chapter 19: An Honest Go, once as they're heading into the seedy market in Chapter 27: Mockbeggar Market and once before they're about to leave Oz in Chapter 34: Dorothy and the Darkness.
I'm positive there are more I'm not thinking of, I really went off on the parallels. 😅 Let me know if you ever catch any more!
Bonus: I got bored once and created them on Sims...
Thank you again for reaching out, please do so again if you have other thoughts/questions!
on lfay, were the perpetrator(s) of the vandalised protest signatures and anti-animal poem ever revealed? maybe im looking in to it too much and it's simply a group of random immature people, but i dont think i would mind some closure on that old situation. perhaps it is stated and ive forgotten since it's been a while? if so i offer many apologies 😭
Hello!!! Thank you again for messaging! I’m sorry this reply is coming SO late, this week has been a busy mess.
Great question! Thanks for asking! (Slight spoilers for LFAY ahead)
I didn’t think up or specify who wrote on the clipboard or who read the poem in Chapter 15 similar to how we never really find out who wrote on the chalkboard in the Wicked musical. I felt like I’m times of rising injustice acts like that could happen from any random person and the feeling that it could be coming from anyone you interact with on the daily was scary.
Of course, I wouldn’t put it past Jozsef Fox to do something like that!
justt a question about lfay, was the fic always gonna be named what it is now or were there any other possible names?
Hey good question! I actually hate coming up with titles usually. For the majority of the time as I was writing it the document was just labeled “Pen Pal Story”. So when I came up with “Love Fae & Yero” I just stuck with it! I didn’t come up with anything else lol.
Something I did spend a lot of time with is chapter titles, I love coming up with chapter titles. Chapter 3 “Letters of Acceptance” used to be “Full Ride” and Chapter 17 “See How Bright” was “Borrowed Moonlight” for a long time but I changed them both at the last minute. The hardest chapter title to pick was Chapter 16 “Asked and Antlered” I just titled it “Antlers Chap????” In my working document and couldn’t think of anything for a long time. There is a chapter title for a later chapter that I may still change, I feel like I haven’t landed on the best title yet.
just wondering, is there any parallels in lfay that haven't been found yet ?
Ooooh thanks for asking! I jam packed the story with parallels so it’s very possible. I know of one for sure that hasn’t been mentioned yet, and I think there may be more, but I’d have to go back and be sure.
I DO know there are a few parallels coming up in the last few chapters that I’m excited about so be on the look out. Only 5 chapters left! 😮
I really loved incorporating these moments. I’m glad you’re having fun spotting them!
HELLO!!!! how are you? it's been a while haha 😅... but, long story short, after watching wicked last night im back in the fandom! and what better way to celebrate than read a fic by my favourite author 🥳 ? so, i read "In Any Universe", and boy do i have a lot of good things to say about it!!!!!
this fic is awesome, im sad that i didn't read it earlier! it had my favourite tropes that were amazingly executed, along with so many wacky and interesting alternate universes 😁😁! some that stood out to me were fake dating, masquerade, family and musical. to say that i really enjoyed these would be an understatement!!!! first of all, fake dating is my absolute favouriteee trope, so i was so so excited to see it applied to fiyeraba so well! the masquerade was honestly a really interesting plotline, and the musical universe was cool to see referenced! and family au was soo adorable, and parents fiyeraba make me feel so happyyyy ❤️❤️! overall, they were all so so romantic and cute and made me realise how much i miss fiyeraba 🥺!! i also really liked the general storyline, and the pipeline of fiyero coming to terms and accepting his situation was so lovely and satisfying to read!
i was wondering if you had any little facts about this fic? it was super creative and i couldn't help but love every separate storyline!!!!!
sorry for gushing, im just super happy to be back and reading your fics again! ill hopefully in the fandom again for a while, so i can find the time to read some other works of yours and maybe reread 😁😁😁
@melop-sia!!!!! It's so wonderful to hear from you!!!! Welcome back to the Wicked fandom! Your message just made my entire day, I actually screamed when I read that I was a favorite author of yours, words like that TRULY go a long way. thank you for your thoughts on In Any Universe. I had so much fun writing that one!
Welllllll since you asked, I'd love to share a little bit about it!
Light spoilers for In Any Universe below the cut!
The idea came to me when I was just thinking a lot about fanfiction tropes in a loving way, inspired by fanfiction writers and our tendency to put the same characters into countless different situations/lives and have them fall in love all the same. I got the idea when I was driving (most of my ideas come when I'm driving) about my otp essentially going on a "tour" through the different tropes. Initially it was supposed to be 100% comedic and self aware.
I didn't have a strong throughline planned out in the beginning that would set them off on their journey. I thought about (and even drafted) Fiyero mentioning how "random" it was that they got together and if any one thing was different they'd probably not be together, then I'd have Elphaba take offense to that. But it just wasn't working, especially because I was clinging to the idea that I wanted Fiyero to be human in the present timeline. Once I finally released my hold on that idea and let him be a Scarecrow, the story throughline became much clearer to me! It was easier to write when Fiyero had a "lesson" to learn (sort of "It's a Wonderful Life" style, though I've never seen that movie). That of course made the throughline a bit more serious, as well as some of the timelines getting increasingly darker.
I just can't resist angst and hurt/comfort no matter how hard I try!
I just really love the quote I put at the beginning of the story about finding the same person over and over.
As for the stories within the story, I just started by making a list of as many tropes I could think of. Fake dating, fix-it fic, crossover, etc. and eventually trimmed it down to the stories that made the cut. I wrote them all out of order and then stitched them together later with the throughline story. I think I did the coffee one first, then the masquerade, and then I put it down for several months (as is my style) and picked it back up with the Wicked actor one.
I really considered breaking the story up into chapters and sometimes I regret the fact that I didn't, I still consider breaking it up because I know it's very long. Still I think it flows better as a singular piece but at least can be easily read in multiple sittings if you're like me and need mind breaks.
When I decided to make it one single piece I made a real effort to keep the sections snappy and not longer than they needed to be. I was pretty obsessed over word count and keeping it below a certain amount (I think 1000 words). I think the Fake Dating one ended up being the longest and the hardest to keep trimmed. Still, I wanted each story to have a satisfying arc in its own way.
One challenge I gave myself (which was VERY difficult) is that I didn't use the word "love" until the very end when Fiyero told Elphaba he loved her after getting shot. I came to that idea later on and had to edit a lot of the earlier stories. Then he says he loves her many times in the finale scene.
I thought it strengthened his lesson about being grateful for what they did have. I found it really important to mirror the "can't imagine thinking about how things might be different" (paraphrasing) in the worst timeline with her dying in the cornfield with what he'd said in the beginning.
As for the ending I did leave it slightly ambiguous, but I believe as the writer that the journey he went on was real and not a dream (kind of like I believe that in Wizard of Oz Dorothy's experience really happened, even though it seemed like Dorothy was waking up from a dream). However, I wanted to the reader to decide for themself!
I think my favorite ones to write were the Fiyeraba family (I love them as parents!), Coffee shop AU, and the Masquerade. I also found it clever and trippy to do the Wicked actors, but that one was by far the hardest challenge!
I so appreciate your readership and engagement with my work!!!! Please reach out in the future if you ever have thoughts or questions.
I don't want to jinx it because it's still early days but I'm excited to say I've been writing again (Fiyeraba, obviously) now that my life has more time. We'll see where it takes me, so be on the lookout!
Hi, recently my friend who u may know as melopsia (she comments a lot on the lfay fic on ao3), got me into wicked and introduced me to ur fic lfay maybe a little under a month ago. I may not be able to write comments as great as them 😅 but just wanted to say that ur fic has been quite the journey and i don't read much but for once i actually felt like reading after i picked it up. I started reading it around the time chapter 19 or 20 was out (i ate through the first twenty within like, 4 days 😭), ever since then its just been my main form of escapism for a while and although i am a bit sad that it's coming to an end, reading it has been a breathtaking, exciting and suspenseful experience and i look forward to the last chapter!!! Just wanted to write something here because I haven't got an account on ao3 and i rlly wanted to express my gratitude before the last chapter is out for the great stuff u have made.
KEEP BEING AMAZING U R RLLY TALENTED!!!😁🤩👍👍👍👍
You can't know what this message means to me. Honestly I barely know how to respond because I'm so beyond flattered and this encouragement came exactly when I needed it most. I struggle with believing in my own work (as I'm certain many creators do), so thank you thank you thank you for your kind words.
Also, I TOTALLY get that. I have a really hard time following through when I read, even if I enjoy the story. So to hear you say that is just beyond. This story has been my biggest form of escapism for months, I'm glad it could provide that for you as well.
I appreciate you reading and I appreciate you reaching out. I hope you enjoy the final installment. Welcome to the Wicked fandom!
(Also of course special shout out to @melop-sia for recommending it and for their comments throughout!)
