This year I had a marvellous prompt from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lnhammer, who wanted something based on the Kokinshu. (I recommend you drop by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lnhammer to see some of his translations from the same - his lj is for general journaling, the dw account for translations.) I fell head over heels in love with the prompt, which led to me spending most of December beating myself up for not writing something as good as it deserved. In the end, what I wrote was as much a love-letter to Kyoto as to the Kokinshu, and I was very, very relieved that my recipient, and some of his friends also, liked it - between my love of the subject, and my respect for my recipient's own writing, I knew I had an intimidatingly high standard to live up to. (I fear, incidentally, that unless you are familiar with both the city and the anthology, the story will mean nothing to you at all.)
The anthology opens with 6 books following the seasons (two books each for spring and autumn, only one apiece for the less poetic summer and winter), which sequence is counterbalanced by the 5 books in the second half following the course of an affair; there are also other books relating to travel, laments and so forth, not to mention two books of miscellaneous subjects (for my story I ignored the final two books of miscellaneous forms and Folk Music Office Songs). I settled on a structure that ran through the two main sequences and the other books concurrently:
You will note Book 18 (the second book of miscellaneous subjects) fills out the final sequence, where there are no remaining books on love: the affair is now over. Although this structure provided both setting and plot (to the extent the story can be said to have a plot), it did immediately present the problem that while the course of the affair matches the tone of the seasons quite well, the poems I most wanted to reference often didn't have the right seasonal imagery for their position. One solution would have been to abandon the concision of a single year and spin out the story over 6 years, with the largest section, but not all, of each year written in the correct season. This, though, had a number of drawbacks, including that I did not conceivably have time to write something that long. I'm not, at this point, going to list all the references, or go into why I picked one place over another as a setting: I assume if it would mean anything to you you would have more fun spotting things yourself, and if you aren't in a position to spot references, it won't mean anything to have them pointed out.
For all the time I spent worrying, I did enjoy writing this enormously - it was a great excuse to immerse myself in the Kokinshu, and also to reminisce about Kyoto, trying to pick just the right location for each section.
This meant I had no time to spare for writing treats, but then Madness was extended till Boxing Day, so I managed to sneak in two little things after all. Caerwent (otherwise known as 'I can never think of titles') is a quick piece based on Yonec, and Dress Ye Never So Fair, 499 or 500 words (depending on when I edited it last) inspired by various versions of Child Ballad #44, with which I think I'm cautiously moderately pleased: apparently something short enough and written quickly enough can escape my normal tendency to condemn everything I write as insufficiently good; presumably even I apply lower standards to something written in an hour or so. (Well, doubtless I shall come round to hating it, to counterbalance the stories I eventually find acceptable: I was just rereading last year's story (another 'I can never think of titles' effort, and written for someone who asked for 'any' characters, with no prompt, no letter, and no mention of the subject anywhere in her journal) and discovered to my amazement that while it clearly needs two or three thousand more words, minimum, and not to have end notes that make it quite so obvious I've given up on hoping my recipient knows anything about the subject whatsoever, the writing itself, which I remembered as so embarrassingly bad I couldn't bear even to glance at it again, is actually perfectly acceptable. Still, it was a great deal more fun this year, writing for someone who clearly knew the subject very well indeed, and probably rather better than I do.)
My normal rec post for excellent stories you can appreciate even without knowing the fandom will be somewhat delayed this year: I'm busy and there are an awful lot of stories. Nonetheless, it will make an appearance, even if not for several months: after initially wondering if the standard were a bit down this year, I found a number of very good stories I shall certainly be including.
lnhammer, who wanted something based on the Kokinshu. (I recommend you drop by lnhammer to see some of his translations from the same - his lj is for general journaling, the dw account for translations.) I fell head over heels in love with the prompt, which led to me spending most of December beating myself up for not writing something as good as it deserved. In the end, what I wrote was as much a love-letter to Kyoto as to the Kokinshu, and I was very, very relieved that my recipient, and some of his friends also, liked it - between my love of the subject, and my respect for my recipient's own writing, I knew I had an intimidatingly high standard to live up to. (I fear, incidentally, that unless you are familiar with both the city and the anthology, the story will mean nothing to you at all.)The anthology opens with 6 books following the seasons (two books each for spring and autumn, only one apiece for the less poetic summer and winter), which sequence is counterbalanced by the 5 books in the second half following the course of an affair; there are also other books relating to travel, laments and so forth, not to mention two books of miscellaneous subjects (for my story I ignored the final two books of miscellaneous forms and Folk Music Office Songs). I settled on a structure that ran through the two main sequences and the other books concurrently:
| Seasons | Other Books | Love |
|---|---|---|
| Book 1 | Book 7 | Book 11 |
| Book 2 | Book 8 | Book 12 |
| Book 3 | Book 9 | Book 13 |
| Book 4 | Book 10 | Book 14 |
| Book 5 | Book 16 | Book 15 |
| Book 6 | Book 17 | Book 18 |
You will note Book 18 (the second book of miscellaneous subjects) fills out the final sequence, where there are no remaining books on love: the affair is now over. Although this structure provided both setting and plot (to the extent the story can be said to have a plot), it did immediately present the problem that while the course of the affair matches the tone of the seasons quite well, the poems I most wanted to reference often didn't have the right seasonal imagery for their position. One solution would have been to abandon the concision of a single year and spin out the story over 6 years, with the largest section, but not all, of each year written in the correct season. This, though, had a number of drawbacks, including that I did not conceivably have time to write something that long. I'm not, at this point, going to list all the references, or go into why I picked one place over another as a setting: I assume if it would mean anything to you you would have more fun spotting things yourself, and if you aren't in a position to spot references, it won't mean anything to have them pointed out.
For all the time I spent worrying, I did enjoy writing this enormously - it was a great excuse to immerse myself in the Kokinshu, and also to reminisce about Kyoto, trying to pick just the right location for each section.
This meant I had no time to spare for writing treats, but then Madness was extended till Boxing Day, so I managed to sneak in two little things after all. Caerwent (otherwise known as 'I can never think of titles') is a quick piece based on Yonec, and Dress Ye Never So Fair, 499 or 500 words (depending on when I edited it last) inspired by various versions of Child Ballad #44, with which I think I'm cautiously moderately pleased: apparently something short enough and written quickly enough can escape my normal tendency to condemn everything I write as insufficiently good; presumably even I apply lower standards to something written in an hour or so. (Well, doubtless I shall come round to hating it, to counterbalance the stories I eventually find acceptable: I was just rereading last year's story (another 'I can never think of titles' effort, and written for someone who asked for 'any' characters, with no prompt, no letter, and no mention of the subject anywhere in her journal) and discovered to my amazement that while it clearly needs two or three thousand more words, minimum, and not to have end notes that make it quite so obvious I've given up on hoping my recipient knows anything about the subject whatsoever, the writing itself, which I remembered as so embarrassingly bad I couldn't bear even to glance at it again, is actually perfectly acceptable. Still, it was a great deal more fun this year, writing for someone who clearly knew the subject very well indeed, and probably rather better than I do.)
My normal rec post for excellent stories you can appreciate even without knowing the fandom will be somewhat delayed this year: I'm busy and there are an awful lot of stories. Nonetheless, it will make an appearance, even if not for several months: after initially wondering if the standard were a bit down this year, I found a number of very good stories I shall certainly be including.
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