Hail and Well Met, Newsletter Friends!

I have a new fic out: Pommel and Guard. It is, to my surprise, another Broadchurch fic, set towards the end of series three and focusing primarily on Hardy's relationship with Daisy. It's also very short, clocking in at less than 2k words.

I wrote it partly because I've been wrestling with the way the show handles the issue of sexual assault. I don't think it did a bad job, but I do think it was a bit fragmented. There are a lot of different pieces at play, but they seemed to exist is relative isolation, siloed in their individual plot lines. This fic is an attempt at some cross-pollination.

I've also started a Broachchurch collection for Hurt Ellie Miller fics, if that's your jam.

Though it probably sounds a little weird coming from someone writing fanfiction, I've never been a fan of romcoms. In particular I've never been a fan of those Hallmark Christmas movie, and have seen exactly zero of them. When December rolls around and people start planning their movie marathons I wonder what they see in this whole industry that I don't.

And then there's Peace and Good Luck to All Men.

Yes, it's a Supernatural fic. I haven't watched the show in years and at this point wouldn't watch it again without being paid. Despite this, each Christmas season I pick an afternoon to sit down and savor 30,000 words of cheesy holiday drama. The plot synopsis is roughly this: Castiel's baby sister Anna is bringing her boyfriend Dean home to meet the family during their annual dysfunctional holiday gathering, with the surprise addition of his recently-dumped younger brother, Sam. Cas falls for Dean, his brothers fall for Sam, and the holiday rapidly spirals out of control thanks to some insane family antics. It's completely ridiculous.

I'm not really sure why I'm so attached to this story. It's certainly not my favorite; I find plenty in it worth criticizing. Like any true classic, I walk away thinking something different every time. Last year I realized I felt pretty weird about the story's framing of innocence and maturity. The year before that I mostly felt relieved that my own meet-the-family experience went much better. Though I haven't gotten to this year's re-read, I find myself thinking about how this story might have been the first piece of fanfiction which really, truly made me laugh. It has everything people love about those Hallmark movies: holiday coziness with the assurance of a happy ending.

Plus, I have to constantly remind myself that “Yeah, but what level of cute? Like ‘least-offensive-way-to-say-you’re-not-hot’ cute? Or ‘right-here-right-now-take-me-on-the-desk’ cute?” isn't an actual pop culture reference that everyone else will get. It totally should be. What a great line.

On the WIP docket right now: two Good Omens fics.

One has the (temporary?) unwieldy title of "Taking Short Steps One Foot at a Time (and Keep My Head Low)". It's basically Good Omens to the tune of 1999 cult-classic white-collar workplace comedy Office Space. It's also supposed to be Long, which is hard, because I've never written anything Long before, and it's supposed to be funny, which is hard, because writing something funny is hard no matter how you slice it. As such I keep getting distracted by an unnamed and minimally researched Pilot/Flight Attendant AU, which turning out to be very cutesy and very boozy.

Hopefully, my next email will be letting you know that the first chapter of "Short Steps" is up. If not, well, I hope you like Pilot!Crowley as much as I do.

—unsmilingchuck