#uchihabat

Best in Fic 2019 | Modern AU

Bad Girl / @uchihabat

“Well, I’m a bad girl,” she confessed.

In the moment, she did not study the words. It had been a careless joke—she of the color-coded notes and highlighters, a bad girl? To anyone else, it would have been funny.

There was a buzzing sound in her ears, and Jon Snow was looking at her with powerful disdain. What was his problem? He was looking at her like she’d said something rude—through the haze of alcohol, she realized what she had said.

Fuck.

Sansa has just started at Wall Consulting, and is determined to make a good impression on the frosty, successful Jon Snow. Things don’t go quite according to plan.

Reasons you should read this now:

Sansa is awkward AF in this fic, and it’s completely hilarious and great.

Uchihabat is not only one of my favorite people in all the world, she’s also a fantastically talented writer. She’s been hitting it out of the park all year with with fics that are utterly excellent, but Bad Girl has a special place in my heart because it’s origin is at least partly my fault (I regret nothing and will explain nothing).

The basic premise is genius, and uchihabat does it justice. A lot of fics have a good hook, but don’t know how to explore and build on it, but that’s very much not the case here. The awkwardness of the premise is lengthened and built on to craft a really fascinating look at the pressures and invisible mores of the workplace and how hard it is for Sansa as a woman to navigate them.

It has definite Pride and Prejudice vibes in its structure, and that can only be a good thing.

oooh ummm let’s see, did you want anything in particular? otherwise i’ll just list my favourite fics :)

they tumble down by thimbleful - i love this one so much, and thimble is such a good author wtf

A Winter’s Tale by just_a_dram - this made me ship them honestly, and i’d recommend anything by dram she is amazing!

City of Illusions by honey_wheeler, thefairfleming - LOVE ME SOME GLADIATOR AU, this is my go to when i’m feeling it

this is the map of my heart, the landscape after cruelty by Dialux - now i’m just pimping out things i really wanted but this is amazing blend of folktales and got and i love this so much

and:

Summary:

Modern-setting AU. A bomb scare brings Jon back into Sansa’s orbit after years of not seeing each other. As they grow close, Jon promises himself he won’t actively interfere with Sansa’s marriage—but how long can he keep that promise to himself?

Comments:

First of all this author knows what the fuck she’s doing. (I’m assuming they’re a she, but she-he-they!) Good writing elevates any premise and this premise is already damn good. The quality of her writing, the obvious detail and care that went into her choices, made the story one that I can’t stop thinking about, texted my best friend about, and brought a tear to my eye more than once.

Second, I’m a bit biased here because I was looking for a fic that has this exact premise and found this one-- so I was bound to be pleased. I’ve been looking for a good modern AU with Sansa intertwined in something dark and a dash of crime/mystery, preferably with insane/nasty Ramsay, and haven’t been able to find one I liked. (It usually comes down to the writing style/quality for me, I’ll abandon a story quick if I don’t like it). So this beautifully written story hooked me instantly and I stayed up to 2AM reading it. 

The characterizations are another aspect of the story that make it stand out. Sansa in her high school flashbacks is exactly how I’d imagine her-- chatty, cares about grades, wants to excel, positive, does things like attend her cousin’s hockey game in a renaissance fair dress lol. Her insecurities and vulnerabilities were so believable and astoundingly touching too. The high school/younger years flashbacks may have been my favorite parts of the story-- perhaps because I’m writing my own modern AU where they’re teenagers-- and the confusion, angst, and pining in each mention of the shared past was just... ah! beautiful.  

Sansa’s struggle in her violent manage, that raw vulnerability that she feels so keenly every moment of every day because Ramsay touches and destroys every aspect of her life... Jon’s struggle to contain his knowledge of what’s happening for her sake, to not embarrass her, to help her, to let her come to him... they were walking a tightrope the whole time and it was delicious to read.

I loved the characterization choices for all the side characters too, even ones that were barely mentioned (Daenerys, Margaery, Arya, Olenna, Mormont, Val, etc). Daenerys was a favorite. I love  I love "fun rich feminist aunt who loves Jon as family" Daenerys. 

The climax and the resolution were wonderful, satisfying, emotional, intelligent. This is just good shit, folks. 

The narrative.

I didn’t go into a children’s cartoon thinking let’s hardcore ship these animated characters. I really was in it for the storytelling and the beautiful world-building. The characters were funny, silly but also real.

Zuko’s redemption arc is also one of the best I’ve seen done in anything ever and I love him truly so much, but it also occurred to me that a lot of Zuko’s narrative in terms of actual interactions and symbolism closely tied together with Katara. He respected her, always had, and she was the one whose opinion meant the most to him. And in the end, Katara was the person he trusted the most as a friend and as a bender to come help fight Azula.

And as for Katara, Zuko was the one person who understood her grief and anger and accepted her as an equal, not as a mother figure.

For me, they understood and complemented each other the best.

Kat@ng also never made sense to me. He wasn’t so much younger than her but for me, mentally, he was. All throughout the seasons, he was like a baby duckling that imprinted on her because she was the first person he saw and she took care of him. I understand why he liked her so much but I never understood why she liked him. She was his surrogate mother. Them ending up together was weird.

I truly thought Zutara was the endgame. Everything felt like it was leading up to it. I mean, hell, he sacrificed himself to save her. That’s tropey as shit haha. 

me queuing literally every single Bellarke related thing that ever comes across my dash all the time every single day:

my gift for @uchihabat in this round of the @jonsaexchange! This is based very loosely on Jane Eyre, because I love the setup for the story so much!

Jon Snow’s entry to Winterfell Manor was on perhaps the windiest night of the Scottish autumn. He blows in on foot, after dusk, as the carriage he rented would only take him so far as the main road. The manor loomed above him in the dark, tall and foreboding.

He knocked on the side entrance specified in the letter he’d received, and waited. He’d written ahead from London with the date they could expect him, though Jon could not have expected them to have waited up this late. It is after a few minutes spent shivering on the step that he hears shuffling beyond the door. When it swings open, he’s greeted with the a warm light and the now-familiar Scottish burr of the highlands.

“Ack, my boy, you must be freezing in your shoes!”

“I’m Jon Snow,” he introduces, gladly surrendering his bags to the servant boy who steps forward to claim them. “The new tutor.”

Fortune In Spades was really fun to write (I love Jane Austen so regency-style anything hits all my buttons), and I really hope to work on it more. There was a solid...3-5k words of plot that I deleted from the beginning of that for @weestarmeggie17 ‘s fest. That fic has some substance. 2018 just wasn’t a good writing year for me after about March lol.

But I do wanna write more this year, freelance allowing. I’m so glad you enjoyed it <3