#werelibrarian

[pluckyredhead]

For the Never Would I Ever meme: Would you ever write 1) A true unhappy ending. 2) Structure-fuck a la Rashomon or Memento. 3) A stage door musical. And extra credit for history nerds: I) What's one historical era AU you can always make work, and II) what's one historical era AU you could never make work (not necessarily inherently objectionably, just not for you).

1. Probably not? I do usually end up writing at least one very sad “dead as closure” fic in every fandom I’m in, but I wouldn’t necessarily call those unhappy endings in the sense I think you mean. I have a very sad Boostle fic full constructed in my mind (the title would be a line from “Send In the Clowns”) but I’ve never written it down because I just...don’t ever want to.

2. Only for comedy purposes, probably! And if I was feeling really ambitious.

3. Like an actual musical musical, or a fic about one? I have been trying to write the former since I was 12 and hampered by the fact that I can’t compose and don’t know any composers (but then Galavant happened and it was LITERALLY the musical I was trying to write at 12 so I can cross that off my To Do list). And I had a very elaborate Boostle (it’s always Boostle) fic planned for years that had the entire Justice League International making a musical film in the studio era, but never got around to writing it. So basically...absolutely, either one, if I had the time and the inspiration.

I. 1920s is usually pretty easy for a ficlet! Everybody just has to listen to jazz and say “So’s your old man” and have socially unacceptable attractions to one another.

II. Not a specific era but one of my difficulties with historical fic is writing something that’s fun and escapist (because it’s fic! we’re all here to have a good time!) without ignoring the realities of the time in a way that feels like erasure. Like, I spent a while trying to work out an early Gilded Age fic where Natasha, a well known demimonde, is framed for murder and hires Nelson and Murdock to defends her. It would have brought in all the Civil War characters, especially Bucky, Fury, and Sam, but I couldn’t figure out a way to incorporate all those veterans in that time period without getting really heavy about the Civil War. Since I couldn’t figure out a way to do it that would have felt respectful, I dropped it. So that’s a stumbling block that comes up now and then.

[returnsandreturns]

werelibrarian replied to your post “hi, i’m chelsea, my main hobbies are crying and eating one meal a day,...”

*mists you gently with water*

the visual image of this was strangely comforting, actually <3 

[pluckyredhead]

17: Favourite AU to write. 42: do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind? 46: share a scene of a story that you haven’t published yet. 50: open question: What's happening with the British New York, Spy/innkeeper story?

17. I’m not sure if this means my favorite KIND of AU I’ve ever written or my favorite AU I’ve specifically written but either way: BOY BAND BOY BAND BOY BAND. I feel boy bands on a deep and spiritual level and can boy band any canon in a heartbeat, and also Boy Wonder was the most fun I’ve ever had writing Daredevil fic and I would gladly tell ten thousand more stories in that universe.

46. None of my DD WIPs are super active at the moment, so here’s some Good Omens:

“No, no, nothing to do with that. Choc-o-late. It’s from the Americas.” Crowley lifts the jug and pours. A thick brown liquid, not at all unlike mud, streams from the spout and into one of the goblets. It would be remarkably unappetizing if it weren’t for the scent. “Some kind of bean. You roast it and grind it and mix it with water and honey and spices. Prince Philip is mad for it, it’s all the rage at court.” He fills both goblets halfway, then holds one out to Aziraphale. “Care for a taste?”

Aziraphale looks at the demon sitting on his bed in a monastery, offering him a silver goblet full of a foreign luxury, straight from the decadent royal court. He shouldn’t. He really, really shouldn’t.

His mouth waters.

50. True story: I started rereading one of my NY history books (Gotham, to be specific) to refresh my memory on that time period and got distracted by...just reading the book. I just passed the Civil War Draft Riots. Whoops.

[pluckyredhead]

werelibrarian replied to your post: 2 & 3!

Because I have 6 AUs on the go and only 4 of them are because of you, please tell me more about AU settings.

I FEEL NO GUILT, ONLY VICIOUS GLEE

1. The highest of high fantasy AUs! I know nothing except that Foggy would be a bard, because, I mean, look at him. A floppy hat and a lute and the gift of garb and Matt is befuddled but for some reason not reaching for any of the 27 knives he has hidden on his person.

2. I have been reading a lot of urban fantasy lately for Reasons and obviously all superheroes are essentially urban fantasy but Matt more than most. It’s just one step over to make him fae or a magic-worker or something or the sort, and Foggy is just a simple mortal lawyer who did not intend to get caught up in any of this but is too stubborn to walk away from it either.

3. Regency...doesn’t actually work so good because being working class boys from New York is so intrinsic to their characters IMO that it’s hard to make one of them a duke. BUT I COULD MAKE IT WORK.

4. There’s always the Stardust AU.

5. For historicals, what about occupied New York during the Revolution, with Foggy Nielsson the Dutch tavern keeper who lets Matthew Murdoch the blind Irish spy who fucking hates the English hide from the Tories in his back room?

6. Or Matt Murdock, the Bowery B’hoy prizefighter who’s set himself to keeping that young lawyer safe, even if most of 1840s Hell’s Kitchen would rather fight for their rights in the streets instead of the courts?

7. Look, Foggy failing SPECTACULARLY to cover for his vigilante bestie against Karen the muckraking Gilded Age journalist would be amazing and you know it.

8. I’ve gotten increasingly fascinated by 60s and 70s New York (very different beasts) and want to recast the Defenders’ early years in something much closer to real time.

9. ...okay but Matt would make a great werewolf.

I’m not actually writing any of these (except, kinda, the Stardust one) but how fun would they all be?

[pluckyredhead]

werelibrarian replied to your post: I’ve been listening to too many podcasts, I guess,...

What podcasts are you on? I just started a food history one.

Mostly MBMBAM and TAZ lately, because I’m McElroy trash now, but I love You Must Remember This and the Bowery Boys.

And ooh, tell me about the food history one!

[pluckyredhead]

werelibrarian replied to your post “Okay but an AU where the Defenders run a yoga/martial arts/fitness...”

I'll trade you for an AU where Foggy's a Minister like Lewis Pease who goes down to try to broker peace in Five Points and meets Handsome Matty Murdock of the Roach Guards.

How actually dare you, now I need to write 100K of this.

[pluckyredhead]

werelibrarian

replied to your post

“Tells us about more old-timey movies you'd love if it weren't for all...”

I was doing some research for your Fred And Ginger prompt (disclaimer, it’s gonna be not short and not happen for a while) and I came across the film Carefree....@returnsandreturns and I yelled “what the fuck” several times over the plot line of that one.

I WILL WAIT AS LONG AS IT TAKES

I actually kind of love Carefree, actually! Did you read the Wikipedia summary? Because, uh, it’s accurate but also amazingly context-free. It’s an astonishing piece of writing.

I mean, I’m not going to argue that Carefree is not totally bonkers and its treatment of mental health is...well, about as respectful as a 1930s screwball comedy can be, which is not very. And, um, yes, she does try to shoot him and he does try to punch her in the face. *cough*

But the reason I sort of love it is because most of the other Fred and Gingers, and musicals in general, are constructed around the hero pursuing the heroine whether she wants him to or not. And in Carefree, once Ginger realizes she’s in love with Fred, she pulls the same aggressive pursuit shtick on him, and even though I know flipping the genders doesn’t make it okay, it’s refreshing. Plus Ginger is brilliant at screwball, you don’t even know. (Monkey Business, guys. Watch Monkey Business.)

ALSO, Carefree has “The Yam,” which contains the ridiculous line “Come on shake your dee-pression/ And let’s have a yam session” and also this dance:

(The bit at the beginning with her picking up the bowl threateningly is her saying to him “You better come dance with me or I’ll throw this at someone and you’ll end up in jail, as previously established by our banter.” In earlier movies he’s kidnapped her, gotten her fired (twice), stolen both her groom and her groom’s pants on two different wedding days, and bitten her, so I think that’s fair.)

Anyway watch to the end to see the incredible bit where he lifts her over eight tables in a row! I love them! But musicals are weird.

[pluckyredhead]

Hey pluckyredhead, bravinto wrote the most recent section, it should in the post's reblog notes. (i tried to link, but didn't work). I think if you go off of that we're on track. <3

So, protip: don’t chug two glasses of wine and then try to figure out who wrote what in a round robin. Full marks, me! *face palm*

Working on the next section now, thank you both for putting up with my shenanigans. @bravinto