Recent reading and writing
May. 25th, 2020 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI can't sleep, probably because I slept late today, so why not make a post...
I am DONE with part two of what I call my Flight of the Heron monster AU! It now clocks in at 36,000 words, and the story is far from done. It's kind of crazy: I have written 89,000 words already this year. I know words written =/= words posted, but still, going by my AO3 stats, my most productive year so far has been 2010, when I posted 77,000 words. I've already written more than that this year, and it's only May! Who knew.
Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff (1985)
Oh, I'd forgotten how much I love Sutcliff's writing. *happy sigh* Thanks toregshoe for alerting me that she'd written something set in the time period which I am currently fannish about. The central foursome of characters consists of Hugh, who is loyal to John Graham of Claverhouse (= Dundee), and Darklis, who is loyal to Claverhouse's wife Lady Jean. It's obvious from the start that Hugh and Darklis are going to end up together, but for almost the whole book, the loyalty in the m-m and f-f relationships is clearly much more important, though we see much less of the f-f one on page. And of course Sutcliff does that kind of thing very well. I enjoyed it a lot, but was a bit upset by the ending, in which Sutcliff decides that it's time for Hugh and Darklis to get together, and therefore time to kill off Lady Jean so that Darklis can be free of her loyalty to her! It's very blatant. Lady Jean deserved better! She had clearly gone on with her life after Claverhouse's death (even though Hugh is all: she was married to Claverhouse *starry eyes*, how could she ever love anyone else! Aww, Hugh.)
Of course, it's a bit jarring to read non-fiction alongside something like this. Says one of my history books about the object of Hugh's hero worship: [Claverhouse] was primarily a very unimaginative soldier for whom the arrival of an order from a superior terminated all speculative thought, if indeed he ever indulged in such. Heh.
I am DONE with part two of what I call my Flight of the Heron monster AU! It now clocks in at 36,000 words, and the story is far from done. It's kind of crazy: I have written 89,000 words already this year. I know words written =/= words posted, but still, going by my AO3 stats, my most productive year so far has been 2010, when I posted 77,000 words. I've already written more than that this year, and it's only May! Who knew.
Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff (1985)
Oh, I'd forgotten how much I love Sutcliff's writing. *happy sigh* Thanks to
regshoe for alerting me that she'd written something set in the time period which I am currently fannish about. The central foursome of characters consists of Hugh, who is loyal to John Graham of Claverhouse (= Dundee), and Darklis, who is loyal to Claverhouse's wife Lady Jean. It's obvious from the start that Hugh and Darklis are going to end up together, but for almost the whole book, the loyalty in the m-m and f-f relationships is clearly much more important, though we see much less of the f-f one on page. And of course Sutcliff does that kind of thing very well. I enjoyed it a lot, but was a bit upset by the ending, in which Sutcliff decides that it's time for Hugh and Darklis to get together, and therefore time to kill off Lady Jean so that Darklis can be free of her loyalty to her! It's very blatant. Lady Jean deserved better! She had clearly gone on with her life after Claverhouse's death (even though Hugh is all: she was married to Claverhouse *starry eyes*, how could she ever love anyone else! Aww, Hugh.) Of course, it's a bit jarring to read non-fiction alongside something like this. Says one of my history books about the object of Hugh's hero worship: [Claverhouse] was primarily a very unimaginative soldier for whom the arrival of an order from a superior terminated all speculative thought, if indeed he ever indulged in such. Heh.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 12:26 am (UTC)Says one of my history books about the object of Hugh's hero worship: [Claverhouse] was primarily a very unimaginative soldier for whom the arrival of an order from a superior terminated all speculative thought, if indeed he ever indulged in such. Heh.
Okay, that is hilarious. I wish history books in my period wrote like that.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 05:31 pm (UTC)I wish history books in my period wrote like that.
I am of two minds about it! On the one hand, it's definitely amusing, and the author isn't partisan about it--he applies his irony to both sides of the conflict. OTOH, he never really tells the reader what he bases these judgements on. I mean, it might be the case that he's read tons of Claverhouse's correspondence or something, but I can't tell.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-29 07:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-29 07:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 03:44 am (UTC)I haven’t read the Sutcliffe - I had it out from the library but didn’t get very far into it, possibly because part of my brain insisted on singing Bonnie Dundee every time I attempted it (I first encountered the song via the Alice in Wonderland parody and determinedly tracked down the tune, a decision I now regret somewhat :D )
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Date: 2020-05-25 06:01 pm (UTC)Yes, it is a rather, uh, jaunty tune. But the book is good!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 05:41 am (UTC)And hey, Bonnie Dundee! This is certainly a very good one for loyalty. :D I had assumed that Lady Jean's death was historical, and looking it up this does appear to be the case, but I agree that as a plot point it felt a little abrupt.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 06:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 09:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 06:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 05:54 pm (UTC)I only realised very recently that Bonnie Dundee was a person! I always thought "up with the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee" in the song referred to the bonnets of people who lived in Dundee... :D
I haven't read as many Sutcliff books as I would like, so that's another one for my reading list.
> [Claverhouse] was primarily a very unimaginative soldier for whom the arrival of an order from a superior terminated all speculative thought, if indeed he ever indulged in such.
Hehe! Is it Duffy? I seem to remember you mentioning him making snide comments before.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-25 06:17 pm (UTC)I only realised very recently that Bonnie Dundee was a person! I always thought "up with the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee" in the song referred to the bonnets of people who lived in Dundee... :D
Well, since 'bonnets' is in plural, I can see why you would think so! I guess it's the bonnets of his followers. And referring to people (or, well, the nobility) as places is kind of a weird thing to start with...
Hehe! Is it Duffy? I seem to remember you mentioning him making snide comments before.
No, actually! Duffy is rarely snide--he does make value judgements, but he usually backs it up with examples and reasons why he thinks person X is incompetent (or whatever). No, this is Bruce Lenman. His books are a gold mine of interesting details, but he does have a tendency towards irony. It makes his books interesting to read, and he isn't partisan about it--he applies his irony to both sides. OTOH, he never really tells the reader what he bases these judgements on. I mean, it might be the case that he's read tons of Claverhouse's correspondence or something, but I can't tell.