silbrith

[silbrith]

I finally get my happy ending to Camelot thanks to @penna-nomen's marvelous suggestion! 😂😂

Went to a production of Camelot on Saturday and I wanted so much for a show to end with a throuple. Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot could have been so happy together 💔

Loved the music 🎶 My parents had the soundtrack and I learned all of the songs as a child, but this was the first time I saw the play performed. The theatre posted this song by Lancelot -- he's an impressive singer!

[silbrith]

Nothing beats the fun of tossing around the plot bunnyball with Penna! 🐇🏐🐇

I just adore the Caffrey Conversation series you co-write and am always blown away by how you’re able to weave a plot together with many elements into a fun story for the characters to dive into and for us to read. I was wondering what your favorite part of the process was for working on these fics. And which one was your favorite story to write so far 😁.

Thanks so much! I'm blushing at the praise.

The weaving of plot elements that you mentioned is one of my favorite parts, and being able to brainstorm (we call it playing bunnyball) plots with a fellow writer has been a true highlight (waving at @silbrith) Almost as soon as she became my beta reader and let me know she didn't mind spoilers, I was running ideas by her for feedback and it was sooo marvelous to get a second opinion. When we graduated from email to video calls for our conversations, it was even better.

Favorite stories... oh my... so many are sentimental favorites for one reason or another. If I tie it back to those bunnyball sessions, I'd say Full Circle. We had multiple conversations about how to handle the White Collar "James plot" and whether James could be redeemed. I also loved revisiting elements from the original Caffrey Conversation story while giving Ellen a happier ending.

[silbrith]

This story had me squealing with delight! And yes, of course, I wish @penna-nomen would continue the adventures of Neal and Peter as reporters. 😂😂

WIP Wednesday

Thanks for tagging me @a-noble-dragon

After spending the long weekend on a virtual writing retreat with @silbrith, I drafted my AU Roulette story, which puts White Collar characters in a reporters AU. Here's a sneak preview:

"You could be a real journalist, you know," Peter said, not for the first time. As much as he disliked C4, he admired Neal's ability to gather information. His podcasts were the best feature of the publication, which otherwise veered dangerously toward conspiracy theories.

I hope to post the full story in a few days!

[silbrith]

Music Monday

Thanks for the tag @penna-nomen!

Rules: Choose a few fics you wrote that were inspired by a song - not just with song lyrics in title - and share the tune and the link to the fics. If anyone wants to guess which goes with which go for it in comments or tags!

Like Kate, I've always loved the classics. I include both popular and classic music in my stories. Whittling down the list to a few favorites is a daunting task, but here goes —

The Woman in Blue (Caffrey Conversation). Klaus Mansfeld, a friend/enemy is linked to Franz Schubert, contrasting with Neal's love for rock music. In later stories, the opposites theme is expanded to include Klaus's evil brother Rolf who is tied to Rachmaninoff.

In The Queen's Jewels (Caffrey Conversation), Neal is framed for a crime he didn't commit. Bound for Botany Bay (John Doyle) and The Chain (Fleetwood Mac) play in his head. They're later replaced by The Rising (Bruce Springsteen). The White Collar team celebrates his name being cleared with a CD of songs, including Footloose, Born to Run, Unchained Melodies, and Born Free.

Nocturne in Black and Gold (Caffrey Conversation): Neal's theme songs are Sounds of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel) and Nara (E.S. Posthumus). Neal associates heist planning with Rachmaninoff's Folia Variations. Peter uses Bridge over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel) to pull Neal out of a dark place and then scores a double-play by having it featured in Cinereous Skies in the meta series Arkham Files. At the Zoo (Simon & Garfunkel) provides a lighthearted moment. Neal and Sara make a game out of Mockingbird (Carly Simon & James Taylor). Both songs are also included in Cinereous Skies.

Arkham Files (set in the 1970s): A Little Help from My Friends, Long Time Gone, and Woodstock with its line about stardust, are plot elements in The Locked Room.

Crossed Lines (Caffrey Conversation x Supernatural): In Whispers in the Night, Peter reveals that Dean Winchester isn’t the only one into classic rock. Songs include Hot Blooded (Foreigner), Bad to the Bone (George Thorogood & The Destroyers), and Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves (Eurythmics). When Dean, Mozzie, and Peter are afflicted with a dork curse, they belt out Rawhide and Happy Trails at a diner.

Dark Rabbit (Crossed Lines): Angela Caffrey is mesmerized by a dulcimer-playing vampire. Inspiration: The Kiss, played on the dulcimer by Scott Williams.

Six-Crossed Knot (All Souls Trilogy fandom): a series about Jack Blackfriars—an Elizabethan musician and artist turned vampire. Inspiration for Jack: Cymbeline (Loreena McKennitt). Jack's theme song, Touch Me Lightly (Tobias Hume), was featured in Walking Shadows. Leonard Shoreditch's customized theme song It Was a Lover and His Lad is in Fretwork. Nothing Else Matters (Apocalyptica) inspired Tangled Knots.

Can I squeeze in one more series? Reflections (The Supremes) is the inspiration for Sedlow Chronicles (original sci-fi fantasy). That song and People Are Strange (The Doors) are featured in the second story Shadows of Crellos.

[silbrith]

So eager to read the entire story!

Snippet

Thanks @twisted-tales-told for the tag! I'm slowly getting caught up on tags.

Here's a snippet from my next Caffrey Conversation series story. This is the one inspired by Ocean's 8.

As soon as Sara entered the room, she dropped the deli take-out bag on one of the chairs. Food no longer mattered, not in the presence of the dress.

Spread across half of the table, the dress was an evening gown in sky blue. The bodice was covered with blue beads and crystals that caught the light enticingly. An over skirt of wispy chiffon was connected to the garment with combinations of more beads and crystals in a design that made her think of the waterlilies in a Monet painting.

“Tell me about the case,” she demanded. “Whatever it is, I want to be part of it.”

[silbrith]

Dragon's Egg Blue is at the top of my list of favorite stories written by @penna-nomen. As you can imagine, it's a VERY long list. One of the many runners up is Dead Planet. Soooo many stories to love!

Fav lines game 💫

rules: share your favorite lines or paragraph you’ve written from one of your fics, posted or wip.

Thanks for the tag @a-noble-dragon!

There are many lines I'm fond of, but when I was scrolling through AO3 for inspiration, the opening of Dragon's Egg Blue stood out. It's my Discworld fic, and writing in Pratchett's style was a challenge I enjoyed.

There's a saying about dragons. It goes: Here there be dragons. Because really, what more do you need to know about dragons? They're here, so you should be elsewhere. 'Nuff said. 

The saying appears on ancient maps of the Disc, to warn of dangers in the mountains. And it -- briefly -- crossed the minds of travelers who disregarded the warning only to learn that cartographers take their craft seriously and don't joke around about matters like massive flying creatures who make a game of knocking climbers down the mountainside.

I'll make this one an open tag to my fellow writers -- share your favorite lines!

[silbrith]

summarize my wips badly

Thanks @penna-nomen for tagging me!

Stories that will soon be at the starting gate: 1. Neal and Peter dance with dinosaurs. (Caffrey Conversation series) 2. Sara gets to meet her distant aunt, Rowena MacLeod. (Crossed Lines series)

Daydreams run amok: 1. A mummy chases Irene and Kai on the moor. (Tales from the Library) 2. Hauntings at the Miskatonic Library. (new Cthulhu Mythos series) 3. Mozzie and Quark save the day. (Caffrey Conversation x Star Trek crossover)

Titles looking for a story: 1. Lady with a Hellhound (Crossed Lines series) 2. The Amber Phial (Elder Scrolls series)

open tag to anyone else who wants to join!

[silbrith]

Pirates of Manhattan

Neal Caffrey has visited New Orleans once before. In Voodoo Remoulade, a doubloon cursed by the pirate Jean Lafitte, along with a vampire nest, almost wrecked his plans to celebrate Mardi Gras. Sara's never been to New Orleans, and when Neal suggested taking her there to celebrate her birthday, he didn't expect lightning to strike twice. Peter probably wouldn't be so optimistic if only he knew about Neal's previous misadventure.

Pirates of Manhattan on AO3

[silbrith]

Strange Signals

Is Neal a dragon? That didn't come up in White Collar, but it's something he's puzzling about in my latest Arkham Files sci-fi fantasy story, Strange Signals. Arkham Files is a meta fusion series of Caffrey Conversation and the world of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Strange Signals on AO3.

[silbrith]

Ringing in the Year of Baby Bear

That's right, @penna-nomen and I decided that 2024 will be the Writing Year of Baby Bear. Readers of Caffrey Conversation may remember that Baby Bear was the nickname Irene Caffrey gave her grandson Neal when he was an infant. In honor of Penna's 10th Anniversary of Caffrey Conversation (October 2023), what better choice could there be?

It's a year when we hope to have so many plot ideas, we'll need two names for them—berries for fluffy ideas and cubbies for the angsty ones.

For more about Baby Bear, our writing plans for 2024, and the history of our writing years, check out our blog post on Penna Nomen & Silbrith Conversation.

[silbrith]

Harm's Repair

With Harm's Repair, I complete my take on Jack's journey up to and a little beyond the third All Souls novel, The Book of Life. It gave me the chance to spend quality time with Marcus, Phoebe, Miriam, Fernando, and Chris. I added some twists to canon that could be the start of future adventures or they may simply be ideas to daydream about. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Harm's Repair on AO3

Happy Winter Solstice!

[silbrith]

The Iron Brotherhood

The Iron Brotherhood marks my return to Tales from the Library, a series based on The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. The first six stories featured the mysterious Count Lecerf. The Fae had somehow managed to create magical illustrations in novels that acted as portals to other worlds. The sixth story, Merlin's Cave brought the collection to a resting spot. At that point, I took a break from writing the tales. But recently, Irene and Kai visited my writing cave, insisting that the adventures were just getting started. I hope you like what we came up with!

The Iron Brotherhood on AO3

[silbrith]

Reblog if you’d be okay if your friend came out as transgender

let’s see how many transphobics we can weed out

[silbrith]

Vermeer Interrupted

For the past several Caffrey Conversation stories, Neal has been playing cat and mouse with a mysterious entity called Phoenix. The time for games is over. Who will be caught in the fallout?

Vermeer Interrupted on AO3

[silbrith]

Tangled Knots

With this story, I reached a milestone in my series based on the All Souls Trilogy. In Deborah Harkness's second novel, Jack Blackfriars is an eight-year-old child in Elizabethan England. He reappears in the third novel as a young adult who's been a vampire for over 400 years. The author sketched in a few details of his life, but left most of it a mystery for us to speculate about. And that's what I've been doing for the past 18 stories. It's now time to merge the timelines!

In Tangled Knots, I cover Jack's reunion with Diana and Matthew as well as the events leading up to it and what happens afterward. As with Jack's early history, much of what I describe is fresh territory. The novels are written from Diana's perspective. When she returns with Matthew to the present, she first becomes aware of Jack when he shows up in New Haven. But the years before New Haven were the most difficult in Jack's life. I felt they needed to be included despite the painfulness of the topic. Much more enjoyable was spending time with Jack, Marcus, and Matthew in New Orleans. I also get to feature Gallowglass and Ransome Fayrweather, Marcus's oldest son.

Throughout the series, I've made it a personal challenge to remain true to canon while also allowing Jack to experience love. Weaving his relationship with Leonard into canon events in The Book of Life was particularly thorny. Diana mentions Leonard briefly. Could I fit the canon treatment into my AU? I gave it my best shot and I hope it makes sense for those of you who have read the novels.

[silbrith]

Playing bunnyball with Penna is SO MUCH FUN!

Chapter 10 of my Flufftober-inspired White Collar fic Across the Street is posted!

~700 words. The prompt was "picking" and of course that led me to wonder how Neal learned to pick locks. He's 12 in this chapter.

Meanwhile Peter needs to pick a new direction after a career-ending injury.

Seven more chapters to go! As we get closer to merging with the canon timeline, the chapters become longer and more complex, so I'm taking them slower and working with @silbrith a.k.a. the Research Queen for her knowledge and editing skills. Plus we're having a blast playing bunnyball -- our term for tossing plot bunnies back and forth.

[silbrith]

A New Caffrey Conversation Story: Mousetrap

Peter has long been fascinated by the secrets and skeletons Neal keeps locked in his closet. After working together for nearly four years, he feels good about the ones he's managed to extract with minimal damage. The Leopard is no longer caged inside. Neal has revealed his early history with Keller. Much of Neal's life, both when he was on the road with Henry and when he was on Klaus's crew has been disclosed.

But Peter wasn't always so successful. In the case of a Braque painting Neal stole with Klaus, bringing it out of the closet resulted in Peter having to add a skeleton to his own closet. Although the painting was returned, Neal and Peter's roles in its recovery are a secret Peter hasn't even shared with El.

The time has come for another skeleton to be exposed. This time it involves a painting by Rembrandt. Will it be a clean extraction? Will it spawn additional secrets, causing others to enlarge their closets? Mousetrap is a story about secrets and the complications they cause.