xmenfirstkink | round 3 overflow post

Entry tags:

round 3 overflow post

Round 3 Overflow Post

This post is for Round 3 fills only. We ask that when a round hits 8500 comments, fillers begin moving their fills to this post.

Format:
SUBJECT LINE -- Round #, short description of fic (ex: "Alex/Hank, lab partners")
--- Link to the prompt
--- Text of the prompt

--- Link to the fill
OR
--- Entire text of the fill

EXAMPLE:
Prompt: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=1038472#t2038174

Charles/Erik -- Charles is a bakery owner whose most frequent customer is Erik.

Fill: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=0139482#t4502942

Charles started off the morning the same way he always did...

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This may be a strange comment, but the way you made a point about them not having penetrative sex yet made me go back and look at your initial updates to this story, where they actually do and -- I wanted to ask, do you feel like the characters have shifted from where you originally intended? Because reading that Erik that whispers to Charles how lucky he is to, basically, have all these "riches" in his captivity etc etc versus the Erik that we're reading now...I almost feel like his character development that you've established now doesn't add up to the character he will be later on, as shown in your initial updates. But I suppose Mystique's death isn't a factor in his character yet, among other things you've probably got planned.... But the Erik in those initial updates seems so cold and just completely delusional whereas the Erik here is still a (to me) sympathetic, feeling figure who genuinely cares for Charles and Charles' autonomy.

And I absolutely do not mean to insinuate that you don't have consistent character development, I was honestly just wondering if your original intentions have remained the same since the beginning of the fic. Either way, I'm in love with it, but I like this Erik so much better!

OMG WHAT ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY AUTHORIAL INTEGRITY OH NOES *cough* I'm kidding, don't worry about it. It's a good question! And the answer is: yes and no! (I AM SO MERCURIAL, YUP.)

I've said in various different places before that I went into writing this fic with a plan. An excellent plan! And that plan was to write a 5000 word fic in which Charles serviced Erik's sexual needs as a prisoner in the attic.

...Uh. Yeaaaaaah. That's not quite what happened.

The thing is, the fic grew on me, and grew deeper and more complicated and I started to see all of these other things that had got them to that place, and 90,000 words in (with plenty left to go) I'm in a very different place than I expected to be when I started. Not a bad place, because I love what I've been writing and I'm loving that I've found the ability to write something this big and involved. That said, it's also been a challenge having written already the place towards which I'm working my way now, and not being able to edit that because it's already out there and it's been read and it's an almost-immutable piece of my own canon, now, which I can't touch. It's been interesting and difficult and it's pushed me to improve all the time. I'm the sort of writer who deliberately chooses to do projects she thinks are slightly beyond her skillset in the hopes of it forcing me to work on my writing and get better at it, so pushing myself is a good thing! I enjoy it, even though it drives me mental and leaves me clawing at my own face going 'AAAGH NO WHY DID I DO THIS I SUCK ARGH' at times. My poor BFF has been very patient with me for putting up with all of my shenanigans over this fic.

So, yes, I didn't expect to be here when I started writing this fic. However, Things (capital T) are coming which will (hopefully!) explain how we get from here to where we started, and what happened to get them there, and I hope they'll work for you. I'll be interested to see what you think at the end of Part Four, when this should all gel together and you'll be able to see the transition between Part Four and back to where we started at Part One.

Without spoilers it's hard to discuss it in any detail, though you're more than welcome to ask me again about it when we reach that point. What I can do is pick out the line in Part One where it states that Charles has been a captive for five years. Now in our present part of the fic it's been about one year since he first moved in with Erik. That leaves another four years of living like this for both of them, and as much as it's awful for Charles I also think Erik would be worn down by it all, too. Day after day of this relationship and having to - in his mind - keep Charles isolated to keep him safe, and refusing to let him go. Plus the things which haven't happened yet. Is it surprising, that he would start to rationalise it, if only to keep sane? I tend to think of it as this all-consuming kind of love that feeds on itself, until it's eating itself up, because you can't let it go but it's not easy and it's not safe, and you make excuses for what's happening and you try your best and it's never good enough, and you try harder and it'll never be good enough, until the only thing you can do is keep going, even though you've reached this point at which the relationship you want to protect is suffocating under it all. It's both the opposite and the same thing as Stockholm Syndrome, Lima Syndrome, and I really feel that Erik has succumbed to it by then, the same way Charles has.

I hope that makes sense - I'm more than happy to discuss back and forth if you want to, I love talking about this stuff. This is, like, an overture for discussion, so absolutely have at it :D

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round 3 overflow post

Re: FILL: Everyday Love in Stockholm 139/?

Re: FILL: Everyday Love in Stockholm 139/?