Sophinisba Solis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophinisba) wrote2006-01-12 01:21 pm
sophinisba) wrote2006-01-12 01:21 pm
Entry tags:
New Frodo AU coming, not really a WIP
I've run into a bit of a roadblock with the Faculty fic. There will be more, of course (there is more written already), but I'm not happy with the next part and need some time to try to fix it. In the meantime, in order to keep up with my twin new year's resolutions to post fic and not to be wuss about posting fic, I'm going to start sharing something I've kinda sorta been sitting on since August.
So, later today or possibly tomorrow I'll put up the first chapter of a longish (30,000 words), darkish, Frodo-centric AU fic. It has no sex and not much violence, but it does manage to be quite unpleasant in other ways and I'm calling it PG-13. If you'd like to check out a summary and warnings, please click on the lj cut under this paragraph
Remember this scene from TTT movie?
Of course you do! Quite memorable, wouldn't you say? I know some people are bothered by this and by the whole Frodo-Sam-Gollum-Faramir storyline in that movie, as it veers very far from book canon, particularly in its characterizations of Faramir (too mean, not smart enough) and Frodo (too passive, also not smart enough).
I can see their point. However, as a fan of angst and a fan of alternate universes, I eat this stuff up. The last time I watched TTT (after I'd written most of this fic), I was less bothered by this bit than by what happens next. From Frodo on the point of cutting Sam's throat to Faramir saying "I think at last we understand one another, Frodo Baggins." How did this happen? What else could have happened, starting from this point, if it weren't necessary to bring the story more or less back to canon by the end of the second movie?
(And, as a RL friend of mine said when I asked her about it this summer, "Well, I like that scene because Frodo's face fills up the whole screen and his eyes are HUGE." An excellent point, I thought.)
And besides that, what about this kink of mine, where I want to see my hero in a situation where his loved ones think he's crazy, even though he's really the only sane one? I get to read this kind of thing all the time in Faculty fic, but not with Frodo, so I decided I should take some action.
Therefore, I've gone ahead and written a fic, mixing book and movie verses plus a major dose of AU, in which Faramir decides that Frodo is mad, and takes the Ring from him for his own good, as well as the good of Gondor. The story will focus on Frodo and what he goes through after being taken to Minas Tirith. There will also be appearances by Gandalf, the other hobbits, and a few others. (No Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli, sorry.)
This is not a warm fuzzy fic! Here are the two main things that I expect will bother people:
First warning: Characters who are "good guys" in canon will fail to act as they should, and I don't just mean Faramir. Some might consider their behavior to be out of character and could possibly be squicked by it. I'll say in my defense that at least I realize I'm doing it, and have done my best to explain why the characters act differently here than we might expect or want them to.
Second warning: Things will start out badly for Frodo (and the others) and they will not get better. That's right, I'm saying NO HAPPY ENDING! In fact, no resolution of any kind! I will bring things to a very bad place and then leave you hanging! (I have reasons for the lack of ending, but I can't go into them here, since, heh, that would give away the ending.)
Man, do I know how to pimp a fic! Anybody still here? Heh heh.
If you'd prefer to be surprised, please skip what's below the cut and be patient, as I will start posting very soon and, barring major unforeseen events, will update regularly. Unlike other series I've started, this one is actually pretty much done, so there shouldn't ever be more than a week or so in between chapters for revisions and fiddling.
And of course, if you'd rather not read the story at all, really, it's totally fine. We can still be friends! I'll keep writing about Casey and Zeke and I'll do my best to keep writing some lighter stuff as well, now that I've got this one pretty much out of my system.
ETA: And if there's anything specific you're worried about or that would help you decide whether to read this or not, please feel free to e-mail me (sophinisba at gmail dot com) and tell me your concerns, your squicks, or whatever, and I'll spoil you rotten. I'd just rather not do it in a public post.
So, later today or possibly tomorrow I'll put up the first chapter of a longish (30,000 words), darkish, Frodo-centric AU fic. It has no sex and not much violence, but it does manage to be quite unpleasant in other ways and I'm calling it PG-13. If you'd like to check out a summary and warnings, please click on the lj cut under this paragraph
Remember this scene from TTT movie?
Of course you do! Quite memorable, wouldn't you say? I know some people are bothered by this and by the whole Frodo-Sam-Gollum-Faramir storyline in that movie, as it veers very far from book canon, particularly in its characterizations of Faramir (too mean, not smart enough) and Frodo (too passive, also not smart enough).
I can see their point. However, as a fan of angst and a fan of alternate universes, I eat this stuff up. The last time I watched TTT (after I'd written most of this fic), I was less bothered by this bit than by what happens next. From Frodo on the point of cutting Sam's throat to Faramir saying "I think at last we understand one another, Frodo Baggins." How did this happen? What else could have happened, starting from this point, if it weren't necessary to bring the story more or less back to canon by the end of the second movie?
(And, as a RL friend of mine said when I asked her about it this summer, "Well, I like that scene because Frodo's face fills up the whole screen and his eyes are HUGE." An excellent point, I thought.)
And besides that, what about this kink of mine, where I want to see my hero in a situation where his loved ones think he's crazy, even though he's really the only sane one? I get to read this kind of thing all the time in Faculty fic, but not with Frodo, so I decided I should take some action.
Therefore, I've gone ahead and written a fic, mixing book and movie verses plus a major dose of AU, in which Faramir decides that Frodo is mad, and takes the Ring from him for his own good, as well as the good of Gondor. The story will focus on Frodo and what he goes through after being taken to Minas Tirith. There will also be appearances by Gandalf, the other hobbits, and a few others. (No Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli, sorry.)
This is not a warm fuzzy fic! Here are the two main things that I expect will bother people:
First warning: Characters who are "good guys" in canon will fail to act as they should, and I don't just mean Faramir. Some might consider their behavior to be out of character and could possibly be squicked by it. I'll say in my defense that at least I realize I'm doing it, and have done my best to explain why the characters act differently here than we might expect or want them to.
Second warning: Things will start out badly for Frodo (and the others) and they will not get better. That's right, I'm saying NO HAPPY ENDING! In fact, no resolution of any kind! I will bring things to a very bad place and then leave you hanging! (I have reasons for the lack of ending, but I can't go into them here, since, heh, that would give away the ending.)
Man, do I know how to pimp a fic! Anybody still here? Heh heh.
If you'd prefer to be surprised, please skip what's below the cut and be patient, as I will start posting very soon and, barring major unforeseen events, will update regularly. Unlike other series I've started, this one is actually pretty much done, so there shouldn't ever be more than a week or so in between chapters for revisions and fiddling.
And of course, if you'd rather not read the story at all, really, it's totally fine. We can still be friends! I'll keep writing about Casey and Zeke and I'll do my best to keep writing some lighter stuff as well, now that I've got this one pretty much out of my system.
ETA: And if there's anything specific you're worried about or that would help you decide whether to read this or not, please feel free to e-mail me (sophinisba at gmail dot com) and tell me your concerns, your squicks, or whatever, and I'll spoil you rotten. I'd just rather not do it in a public post.