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ellnyx (ellnyx) wrote in het_challenge,
@ 2008-09-05 12:57:00

Entry tags:

f: final fantasy 12, r: promptbuilding

how to go on not looking [ffxii, balthier/ashe]
~I don’t know whether to be proud or horrified.
~I apologise for Basch, but, er......
~Apologies also for the ff.net link. Apparently 17100 words is not a happy size for LJ.

Fandom: FFXII
Author: logistika_nyx
Title: How To Go On Not Looking
Pairing: Balthier/Ashe
Characters: minor Basch daydreaming over Balthier, assorted Dalmascans
Ratings/Warnings: R, post-game, non-linear timeline (dated), sex, life
Prompt: “…they buried her alive in 1945.”

.

Not to look back, Ffamran wrote, I’ve learned that lesson well.

.

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sarasa_cat
2008-09-18 02:42 am UTC (link)

I want you to perfect this story because I love it. Seriously!

If you want to move the story over to bunny_bit_me, I'd gladly do a round or two of beta (in between all of the other madness in my life).

I do think that you could keep in in the 15,000 to 17,500 range just by tighten a lot. Again, it really all depends on how many themes you want to explore, yadayadayada.

When I read this, I was torn between whether or not is was Ashe's or Balthier's story. Balthier was the strong character in this story. He moved me. Yet, Ashe was the one who seemed to have the real story and Balthier was really more the victim of the story. And yes, all of the stuff you said about Ashe is what makes this so interesting. She's the one with the heavy conflicts that are difficult/impossible for her to resolve whereas Balthier makes decisions early on and generally sticks to them, making a new post-skypirate life for himself. (BTW, that scene with Ashe asking Basch to take Balthier away was a brilliant little bit of Basch because it felt very Basch).

Another option is to write a few separate stories. Take this and tighten it up substantially so it is clearly Ashe's story and then take other ideas (stuff cut from this story, stuff never written) and make them short stories of their own telling Basch's and Balthier's stories.

--

All of your discussion about Ashe is making me think that I need to do something with the 20,000 or so drafted words of Ashe/EveryoneMale I have sitting around waiting to be expanded/edited/finished. It would be interesting to compare characterizations especially since yours vs mine follow different shipping headcanons but look like they probably come to the same sorts of thematic conclusions.

As far as the novel/serials vs short story vs atmospheric character explorations (like Andante), I've been drifting towards having multiple headcanons and then writing or planning out shorter (5k to 20k words) stories that focus on one character's problems at a time. I *want* to think in series of epic novels but the time required is laughably difficult. BUT, breaking down my "wings & cages" headcanon or our "sacred & profane" AU headcanon into different shorter stories is so much more doable. Then it is just the Ashe/Vossler saga from Ashe's POV or whatever. Every time I find the urge to put a lot more in, I just take it out and use it to start another story (unless it is my Ashe/Basch saga which is really about Ashe/otherpeople and Basch/otherpeople). But then, I think all I've done is rediscover the wheel because this is what a lot of fic writers do if they aren't focusing their efforts on long serials.

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