pj1228

fkficfest released 12 new Forever Knight stories. I enjoyed them all. It was interesting to see how different people approached 5 different prompts. Despite the differences in preferences that the fandom entails, it was amazing how sometimes stories addressed the same issues.
We got new insights into the bond related vampires share. New cures were explored. Lacroix had quite a bit of cleaning up to do. Crimes needed to be solved. Friendships were put to the test.

My own contribution was a case-fic called Too Old and Powerful, in which Nick gets another chance at a cure.

I've finished a new UF fic! It's another take on "Nick gets jealous".
Thanks so much to switchbladeeyes for beta reading and pointing out gaps.

Breakthrough
2,700 words; rated adult (but nothing explicit);
Relationship: Nick/Lacroix
Characters: Nick, Lacroix, Natalie, Miklos

Summary: An announcement on the radio leaves Nick more distracted than he expected.

Enjoy!

This year's round of fkficfest has gifted us with 16 new FK stories. A big thank you to all authors and to brightknightie for the organisation.

I highly recommend reading all stories.

My own contribution this year is a Tracy-centered story set after Ashes to Ashes. While finishing the report on the decapitated corpse case, Tracy makes some connections.

By Any Other Name
PG-13, gen, 5000 words

I finally managed to post my Natalie/Lacroix romance.

A Shared Void
13,000 words, NC-17
Summary: With Nick temporarily out of town, Natalie is bored. So is Lacroix it seems.
Timeline: Season 3, after The Human Factor
Characters: Natalie, Lacroix, Vachon, Feliks Twist, Grace, Nick, Janette

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I've finished a new story and could use a beta reader. Anyone volunteering?

It's a Lacroix/Natalie romance, adult rating, about 9000 words.

I continued writing, but then decided to make a cut earlier and save the rest for a sequel.

Recently brightknightie posted this AO3 meme (she got it from celli. I thought I'd try it myself (took me 3 days).


1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?
PJ1228 simply consists of my initials and the year Nick was brought across.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback?
One Loss too many has 10 comment threads.

3. What is your ao3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?
Same as my DW icon: A headshot of Lacroix from the flashback of Curiouser and Curiouser because he’s my favourite character and the most interesting to write.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?
I appreciate any comments. Some readers kindly leave a comment on a regular basis.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?
Re my own: In fact from time to time I re-read my previous stories. Some make me cringe because perceptions have changed, others leave me in awe because I felt that I was capable of more in-depth descriptions in the past.

Re from other authors: Yes, there are several favourites I keep going back to read again and again.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?
None. I check out the Forever Knight feed on ao3 regularly, so that I don’t miss any new stories. I haven’t used the bookmark tool yet. If I want to re-read a previous story I use the filter option.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?
That depends on the definition of AU. If it means transferring FK into an entire different setting, e.g. space, that’s not something I would do. If Nick/Lacroix is considered AU or any canon divergence, then that’s what I find myself writing the most.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total?
20 user subscriptions, 195 bookmarks

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it?
I write Lacroix behaving like Lacroix all the time and I sincerely hope that people do not judge me for it.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.
All of the above. As I write in a language that is not my native tongue I still lack extensive descriptions of scenery, clothing, furniture and anything that requires specific wording, especially when it concerns things from past periods. I also wish I would be better at writing comments; it always takes me a lot of time to do it thoroughly, especially when I want to do a very good story justice.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?
Done both. Most often Nick/Lacroix (popular). Recently I’ve started a series of Lacroix/Myra fics (rarepair).

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?
85. All finished. I don’t post WIP because I often go back to the beginning and change things during the writing process.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing programme?
6 on which I started.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?
I have a file with random plot ideas.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?
Not a story, but many years ago I participated in a FK role-playing game, writing the part of Lacroix while other people wrote other characters. It made up a pretty complex plot and continued for several years.

16. How did you discover AO3?
I don’t recall. Maybe an invite from brightknightie in relation to fkficfest?

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?
Hardly famous. Popular? That’s not for me to judge. Some people express delight when I post something new, which tends to bring a broad smile on my face. 😊

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?
No.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?
Kathy Whelton’s, Molly Schneider’s and Karen Gunther’s stories were among the first I ever read and which inspired me to start writing myself.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?
Just do it. If you love a TV show and hear the characters basically talking in your head, just write it down. Maybe have a beta reader check if the characters sound as they should in addition to the usual spelling checks.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?
Most of the times I start with a single scene (not necessarily the opening scene) and go from there. When I write a casefic, I often have to figure out who did it during the writing process.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?
Not on the story per se, but I have received a hint to get myself a native beta reader to replace the non-native I had in the beginning. So I did. On another occasion someone pointed out in an extensive email that I had used a wrong title for a member of the Royal family that appeared in my story. So I corrected that and felt rather embarrassed about it. The odd thing was that in my country he was always referred to by the title I used.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc.)
Writing about loss is hard for me, so I usually avoid it. It happened that I sat sobbing at my laptop while typing.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?
I have the third instalment of the Myra/Lacroix series on the way. And also a story with a flashback set in my hometown.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?
I don’t plan anything. If ideas pop up, I write them down, regardless of the status of the story I’m currently working on. That’s why I have 6 unfinished stories on my laptop.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?
No. Writing should be fun and not pressured. I find it soothing to write a few sentences before going to bed. It helps me to immerse myself in a different world and wind down. As I’m a slow writer, it’s rarely more than a paragraph.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?
I surely hope so. Although as stated in response to question 5, sometimes I’m amazed at the complexity with which I wrote in earlier years.
I started out with brief stories. Nowadays, I can’t seem to find an ending. I’m not sure if that is improvement though.

28. What is your favourite story that you’ve written?
That’s hard to decide, because it usually depends on which mood I’m in. Boys and their Toys was fun. Other favourites are Dark Undercurrents, The Art of Deception, Encounter with Destiny and Turning Points. The latter went mostly unnoticed. Maybe I should have put Lacroix/Nat in the tags instead of listing them just separately.

29. What is your least favourite story that you’ve written?
I don’t think I have one. I write what I like to read myself. That kind of excludes non-favourites.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?
Hopefully still full of ideas for Forever Knight stories.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?
I find dialogue easier to write than the descriptions around it, such as movements, mimics, gestures, clothing, setting, etc.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?
Finding the right words to express certain feelings, moods, sensations.

33. Why do you write?
I want to continue exploring the characters of a TV show that lasted only three seasons. And I find it soothing and relaxing to immerse myself into a completely different world. And it’s a good exercise to improve my English.

fkficfest has brought forth 9 new stories by 8 authors. They were all very good.

My contribution was Food for the Soul, a case-fic featuring Nick, Schanke, Janette, Natalie, Lacroix, Cohen, and others.

Last year during the lockdown I began a new story. With almost 28,000 words, it turned out to become the longest story I have ever written so far.

I focused on a pairing that to my knowledge has never been written before: Lacroix/Myra. The deeper I delved into the plot, the more it grew on me how well they fit together. This is a post-Last Knight scenario with Myra being a widow and Nick unable to intervene. So both have suffered loss, there are common interests like museums and the opera. And then there's Jenny who might fill in for the child Lacroix has lost. Myra is a self-confident woman who wouldn't take any crap from Lacroix. So there's a challenge for him.

I found it interesting to put Lacroix into mortal company which he usually detests and try out with how much he can get away with before anyone notices that he's different. I've also included several characters from season 1 like Joe Stonetree, Alma and Grace. I found it interesting to play around with season 1 characters in a post-season 3 setting. And there's an original character, Myra's neighbour who is convinced that Myra has just found the perfect man...

Gotten curious? The story is available here:
A Semblance of Family

Summary: An apparently mutual experience of loss brings Myra and Lacroix closer together. But then nothing is ever as it appears when Lacroix is involved.

I've broken it down into 7 chapters to make it more accessible. The rating is NC17 (there's Lacroix involved - what did you expect? ;) ), but that goes mainly for chapters 5 and 7. The others are PG-13.

Many thanks to dlyt whom I subjected to this lengthy tale twice and who pointed out flaws in the first draft and got me to re-think some scenes.

Happy New Year everyone!

Although I spent a lot of time writing, I managed to post only three new stories in 2020:

Checkmate is the third part of my Love Affair series, which brings Lacroix and Natalie together.

What Lies Buried is the story I wrote for the 2020 FKFicFest for the prompt "Cold Case". The investigation of a 40-year old murder case uncovers more than Nick cares for.

The Measure of Love is a Last Knight Fix-it I wrote for Fixed That For You Fest 2020. The prompt was "Nick/Natalie/LaCroix, Nick and Natalie don't die and they become a permanent threesome". I was delighted that there was a Forever Knight request among the 200 prompts. It was disappointing though that the fest brought forth only 9 stories with so many prompts.

One of the reasons why I finished only 3 stories this year was the missing Fandom Stocking. Apparently it didn't take place this year either.

Plans for the Future:

During the lockdown I spent my evenings writing a feel good story about Lacroix. It's the longest story I've written so far and will hopefully finished in the not too distant future.

Other ongoing projects are:
- The forth installment of my Relationship series
- A Nick & Nat frame story that features a 16th century flashback to my home town
- A case-fic that involves Lacroix
- Another case-fic that involves Janette

In 2019 I finished 6 FOREVER KNIGHT stories. Three of them for last season's fandom_stocking, one for fkficfest, and two just for fun.

1. Stranded2. Blue Eyes3. A Woman's Wisdom4. Filling the Void5. Confessions on Air6. Unexpected Alliance________________________________________

Upcoming projects

1. Coming soon: A sequel to Filling the Void.
2. A flashback story set in my hometown: I had started this as part of last year's fkficfest challenge before starting all over.

3. Case-fic: Years ago I had posted a start of a case-fic for skieswideopen as part of fandom_stocking, where Nick and Janette take on an undercover assignment. That needs to be continued.

4. Part 4 of the Relationship-series.

5. A new case-fic involving Lacroix, inspired by a spectacular sadly unsolved museum theft which occurred last year.

6. A Christmas story I had begun ages ago and forgot to finish again at Christmas time.