#deardarkling

1:What inspired you to write the fic this way?Honestly, when I got the idea for it, it seemed like so many ideas and so much work and effort that I just wasn’t going to write it. Eventually a friend convinced me that it didn’t have to be a huge, connected thing with an overarching plot, and that each chapter could just be a new story that struck my fancy. So that’s why each early chapter feels a little self-contained, but then I started connecting them automatically as my own personal canon and it developed a plot on its own.

2:What scene did you first put down?The end of Chapter 16, when Emmeryn doesn’t pardon Frederick for his first kill.

3:What’s your favorite line of narration?It’s probably in one of the times Frederick goes into Fret Overdrive. He’s fun.4:What’s your favorite line of dialogue?“Once upon a time there was a very kind and capable knight who ate all his meals alone because his only friend was his horse.” <–I like the idea of a snarky Emmeryn a lot.

5:What part was hardest to write?When the Khan came to visit. I just knew I was going to write it as overblown and campy.

6:What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?People wanted to read it? HAHAHA. I continue to be baffled by the reader base I acquired for Halcyon Days. I never worked very hard on the story (diligently, sure, but not with real effort), it’s predominantly gen, and any romantic undertones are for a pairing that doesn’t even exist in the game, where the characters in question exchange only two lines with each other. Yet it remains the greatest source of feedback I’ve ever gotten in all my years of writing fanfiction. (And I really, really appreciate it. Whether positive or critical or very short, feedback is what makes fanfiction fun and worthwhile, in a lot of cases.)

7:Where did the title come from?”Halcyon" means “peaceful” (from the Latin for “kingfisher”, a bird of glad tidings since it was thought to nest on the sea and calm the waves). So the halcyon days are the calm between storms; the family’s little break from war.8:Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?Frederick’s panic attacks are drawn partly from personal experience, and I based a few of Emmeryn’s quirks and opinions on Popes Francis and JPII. But that’s about it. 

9:Were there any alternate versions of this fic?One where it never developed a real plot or got particularly involved. I still have no idea what happened.

10:Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?It’s not really supposed to have a pairing, per se. It does get pretty Fremmeryn-heavy in some chapters, but it was always operating under the assumption that everyone–Frederick and Emmeryn included–already knows that it’s not going to happen. So their friendship/willingness to love just for love’s sake and not for romance or reward was supposed to be the important part. (But why hint at it at all? Because I fall for the courtly love trope every goddamn time.)  

11:What do you like best about this fic?I’ve enjoyed writing the kids most, and looking back, I think the chapters that focus on Lissa generally turn out the strongest.