Yuletide meta

Jan 03, 2020 13:31

Notes on Yotsuba and Ducks (Yotsuba&!)

Yotsuba&! is one of my favourite manga ever, so I was excited to get a chance to write in it. The only thing was, I wasn't sure what fun adventure I could do that canon hadn't done already. She's visited the zoo! She's gone to the beach! She's helped bake a cake! She's dressed up for Halloween!

(I'm personally super curious about Yotsuba's origin story, or what she might do when she grows up. But that's kind of outside the scope of canon, and probably not what my recipient was after. And anyway, I'd rather read what ideas someone else comes up with.)

I thought about taking advantage of this being fanfic, and doing an adventure that would never happen in canon. Like befriending a lost unicorn, or finding a door into fairyland. But the thing is, the theme of the manga is the wonder of childhood, and the amazing things in everyday life and the ordinary world. The motto of the series is "Enjoy Everything". So it would kind of undercut the theme to bring in literal magic.

I decided to do something about ducks. Because they're a big part of childhood, they've got interesting personalities, and there's a lot you can say about them.

I thought about doing a story from her dad's point of view, about fear of her trying to fly and falling, and anticipating her someday leaving the nest. But it felt trite and unoriginal.

So I went back to the foundations: seeing the world through Yotsuba's eyes, with her curiosity, imagination, energy, and wonder. Also featuring her beloved dad, who takes great joy in playing along with her games, but also sometimes has to be the responsible adult.

Notes on Balance (Seafort Saga)

I always love seeing the Seafort Saga pop up in the Yuletide tagset. But this year, it was neither me nor my recipient who nominated it. So thank you, mystery nominator!

The requests I've written before have been for Nick and Edgar, so adding Vax into the mix was a challenge I wanted to attempt. But I hadn't written him before, so I was a bit intimidated about getting him right. Plus, going from two characters to three characters is pretty much suddenly trying to solve a three-body problem.

Anyway, my recipient had some great prompts about throwing them into peril, and that always seems to get things going. Yay! Also, I am a sucker for Everybody Lives AUs.

Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.

seafort saga, yuletide, yotsuba&!

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