A Favor for Gloriana - Director's Cut
Feb. 25th, 2023 07:41 pmOver on the Tumblr, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
minoanmiss asked me to give a Director's Commentary on my White Collar historical A/U, A Favor For Gloriana, a Peter/Neal series set late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth Tudor, and mostly based on the 1998 Cate Blanchett movie.
Thank you, my dear, for asking.
A Favor for Gloriana is, I am positive (without checking), my first adult effort in writing historical fiction and is certainly my first historical AU. I’d just started writing fan fiction (White Collar was my first fandom that I realized was a fandom) and I fell into it hard, playing with all the tropes. I was writing wingfic, case fic, vampire fic, so much smut, and I was also signing up for every challenge that came my way.
I did not remember off hand which challenge initiated the Gloriana’verse and so I had the weird pleasure of going back to the original entry on DW because I don’t think I put any author’s notes in the AO3 post:
I am pretty sure that the original prompt in Small Fandom Fest had been left by my friend, Daria234.
So a few bits and pieces of things still floating around in my head about this 'verse.
1. When I originally saw the movie Elizabeth, I was more than mildly disappointed. As a student of Renaissance history, and a devourer of both novels and scholarly biographies of Elizabeth Tudor, I was pissed off at how much the movie got wrong for so little reason. Like the coda at the end, that Elizabeth and Dudley were "never alone again". That may be, but they make it seem as if Elizabeth’s reasons were because she was now "married to England", not because Robert Dudley had secretly married Lettice Knowles, one of Elizabeth’s cousins and a lady in waiting. I’ve never watched the sequel. Not even Cate Blanchett in boob armor was an enticement.
2. Dudley was actually quite the profligate when it came to marriage. After Lettice Knowles died, he married one of Francis Walsingham’s daughters, and Walsingham was rather fond of Dudley. You wouldn’t know that from Elizabeth, where the great spy master was ready to send Dudley to the headsman’s axe.
3. It is historically accurate that Elizabeth Tudor would have kept a married lady in waiting from her husband. Her ladies, regardless of their marital state, were expected to be as pure and 'virginal' as the queen herself. Lettice Knowles secret marriage to Dudley was an act of treason, and nearly cost her her life.
4. I have a few bits and pieces of unfinished stories: An idea where a Senator Pratt character sets up Peter in a political assassination plot, and Neal needs to rescue him. Mozzie shows up with concrete evidence about the Norfolk plot, but he’s so clearly insane, no one will listen to him (alas, Willie Garson, may your memory forever be a blessing). Peter and Elizabeth meet at court, there is forgiveness, but no true happily ever after for them - he eventually agrees to an annulment. Neal becomes a miniaturist of some renown, although his name is now lost to history. Somewhere in my office, I have a Moleskine filled with notes for WC stories, I'm fairly certain I know which box it's in, but it requires some serious deconstruction - that part of my office is like a puzzle and I'm not up to taking it apart right now.
5. Gloriana by the numbers is eight stories and about 34k. Which today, for me, is barely getting started. I've got a few Kingsman and Star Wars WIPs that are three times that length. And lets not talk about the Flash epic that's over 200k ::sob::
6. And I just discovered, buried amongst the dozens of WIP files (most are just snippets that are barely a few dozen words long), an unfinished piece of Gloriana fic, nearly 5k, called simply "Beloved". What should I do with it? Please don't say finish it, because I'm having a hard enough time writing for my actual fandoms these days. Should I post it as is and piss people off? Or just let it languish, forever unfinished?
minoanmiss asked me to give a Director's Commentary on my White Collar historical A/U, A Favor For Gloriana, a Peter/Neal series set late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth Tudor, and mostly based on the 1998 Cate Blanchett movie.Thank you, my dear, for asking.
A Favor for Gloriana is, I am positive (without checking), my first adult effort in writing historical fiction and is certainly my first historical AU. I’d just started writing fan fiction (White Collar was my first fandom that I realized was a fandom) and I fell into it hard, playing with all the tropes. I was writing wingfic, case fic, vampire fic, so much smut, and I was also signing up for every challenge that came my way.
I did not remember off hand which challenge initiated the Gloriana’verse and so I had the weird pleasure of going back to the original entry on DW because I don’t think I put any author’s notes in the AO3 post:
These are the first two chapters of a work in progress - it has been in progress since May, 2010 [3 months after I started writing fan fic - Elr, 2/25/23] - and I got slightly heartsick at the thought of this languishing any longer. The first chapter was written for Small Fandom Fest, but never saw the light of day. The second chapter was started as a fill for my dear friend rabidchild67’s Five Acts Meme, where she requested a shaving scene. I do promise to finish this (eventually), but the story, as written, can stand on its own.
I am pretty sure that the original prompt in Small Fandom Fest had been left by my friend, Daria234.
So a few bits and pieces of things still floating around in my head about this 'verse.
1. When I originally saw the movie Elizabeth, I was more than mildly disappointed. As a student of Renaissance history, and a devourer of both novels and scholarly biographies of Elizabeth Tudor, I was pissed off at how much the movie got wrong for so little reason. Like the coda at the end, that Elizabeth and Dudley were "never alone again". That may be, but they make it seem as if Elizabeth’s reasons were because she was now "married to England", not because Robert Dudley had secretly married Lettice Knowles, one of Elizabeth’s cousins and a lady in waiting. I’ve never watched the sequel. Not even Cate Blanchett in boob armor was an enticement.
2. Dudley was actually quite the profligate when it came to marriage. After Lettice Knowles died, he married one of Francis Walsingham’s daughters, and Walsingham was rather fond of Dudley. You wouldn’t know that from Elizabeth, where the great spy master was ready to send Dudley to the headsman’s axe.
3. It is historically accurate that Elizabeth Tudor would have kept a married lady in waiting from her husband. Her ladies, regardless of their marital state, were expected to be as pure and 'virginal' as the queen herself. Lettice Knowles secret marriage to Dudley was an act of treason, and nearly cost her her life.
4. I have a few bits and pieces of unfinished stories: An idea where a Senator Pratt character sets up Peter in a political assassination plot, and Neal needs to rescue him. Mozzie shows up with concrete evidence about the Norfolk plot, but he’s so clearly insane, no one will listen to him (alas, Willie Garson, may your memory forever be a blessing). Peter and Elizabeth meet at court, there is forgiveness, but no true happily ever after for them - he eventually agrees to an annulment. Neal becomes a miniaturist of some renown, although his name is now lost to history. Somewhere in my office, I have a Moleskine filled with notes for WC stories, I'm fairly certain I know which box it's in, but it requires some serious deconstruction - that part of my office is like a puzzle and I'm not up to taking it apart right now.
5. Gloriana by the numbers is eight stories and about 34k. Which today, for me, is barely getting started. I've got a few Kingsman and Star Wars WIPs that are three times that length. And lets not talk about the Flash epic that's over 200k ::sob::
6. And I just discovered, buried amongst the dozens of WIP files (most are just snippets that are barely a few dozen words long), an unfinished piece of Gloriana fic, nearly 5k, called simply "Beloved". What should I do with it? Please don't say finish it, because I'm having a hard enough time writing for my actual fandoms these days. Should I post it as is and piss people off? Or just let it languish, forever unfinished?
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