4.19.2012

A Few Things You May Not Know About Fates

  1. Fates was originally a one-shot
  2. Fates was concepted in a Fazoli’s, proof that there are indeed narcotics in the breadsticks
  3. The first scene written is actually from the second chapter, in which Chuck and Sarah play Go Fish. The first chapter was written to bridge a logic gap, and, oh yeah, explain the whole bunker thing.
  4. Jill had an additional storyline after the Lincoln Reveal where Chuck is forced to figure out if he got over her during his time at Project Lincoln or not. This has been cut because Sarah Walker is a badass mofo.
  5. Part V’s original title was actually a titan name (possibly Kronos), and a Greek god (Hephaestus) wasn’t supposed to be used until Part VIII. Since roughly 150k were cut off of Fates’s story, plans changed.
  6. Fates Sarah was viewed as cold and remote until I wrote To Resist Both Wind and Tide.
  7. To Resist Both Wind and Tide was written on a bet about the word-count for Chapter 18 (mxpw bet me I couldn’t finish it in less than 5k. I finished precisely on 5k to the word, making both of us losers. mxpw has yet to pay his part of the bet)
  8. I wrote To Resist Both Wind and Tide because it turns out being severely limited in perspective to a man who has self-image/slight depression issues doesn’t really invite the clear-eyed inspection required to see past the world’s most formidable poker mask. And yes, I was tired of people complaining about Sarah being remote. Of course, had I known that this would only lead to a deluge of MOAR SARAH, I may have changed my mind.
  9. Just kidding. I adore To Resist Both Wind and Tide.
  10. Of my stories: Fortune Favors Fools, Wasted on Us, Training, Lies, and the CIA, and To Sleep, Perchance to Scream were written as gifts, Not in the Stars, He'll Someday Call Her Bunny, and To Resist Both Wind and Tide were lost bets, and What Fates Impose seems to be the result of a waking nightmare.
  11. Oscar Wilde is the most quoted chapter quote person. Seriously. The dude has a quote for EVERYTHING.
  12. My favorite thing to do under my guise as Moonlight Pilot was to post a chapter of Walker’s Eleven on the same day I updated Fates. In unrelated news, I’ve recently been diagnosed with a severe case of masochism.
  13. Walker’s Eleven and Fates both feature absurdist stories about livestock, FBI agents named Virginia Grey, and cute cartoon frog thumb drives.
  14. I spelled the German word for rabbit wrong.
  15. Speaking of the rabbit thing, that evolved naturally, I swear. I have nothing against our lucky-pawed brethren.
  16. Since I’ve started writing Fates, I’ve done Google searches on semiautomatic weaponry, Molotov cocktails, how far can you fall into the water without dying and how, do bullets penetrate water, Speed, all varieties of RPGs, World of Warcraft, every Star Trek under the sun, the Santa Monica Pier, how long a Cessna can stay in the air without refueling, ferries in Greece, and the history of the CIA. To date, nobody has knocked on my door asking about my Internet search history, but I have to figure it’s only a matter of time.
  17. My original beta reader swore up and down readers would murder me for Chapter 6, which only mentioned Sarah Walker twice. I laughed, and then realized she was right when Sarah didn’t feature for three chapters in a row.
  18. Bryce wasn’t supposed to be in Part V. Then I figured there were a bunch of things I needed to wrap up.
  19. I really, really don't have any thing against rabbits.  I promise.

18 comments:

  1. I'd pay to study your brain.

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  2. Anonymous19.4.12

    Wow, I've just taken a few glimpses in Fates but sweet facts.

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  3. Happy Anniversary, To Resist Both Wind and Tide!

    I adore it too, but heh, that's probably not a surprise.

    Thanks for sharing this, Frea.

    PS: Narcotic-y breadsticks? Max, are you responsible for #2? Because that sounds oddly familiar. :D If you are responsible, thank you. If you aren't, thanks Fazoli, you sound like a great guy. :)

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    Replies
    1. You totally reminded me that it was W&T's anniversary today! Thanks for that! And Max isn't responsible for #2, but my mother might be. :)

      Delete
  4. I've been rereading Fates in the PDF format and what I miss is reading the Author's Notes that went with the chapters when posted on fanfiction. Maybe when it's all said and done, you could include a chapter of info (like above)at the end. I find them fascinating (really, I swear!)

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    Replies
    1. Haha, maybe I'll make an annotated one. That sounds like a project with just enough challenge and geekiness for me.

      Delete
  5. JustCallMeDave19.4.12

    Frea:

    1. Hopefully, you mean conceived, as "concepted" is not a word.

    2. No one will come knock on your door about your Internet search history. The guys in the Puzzle Palace tell me that they a) agree that Sarah Walker is totally hot and b) they enjoy reading Fates (both before and after you've edited it).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1) I know it's not a word. But I liked it too much. And conceived just sounds like Fates is my baby. And not even a mother could love Fates.

      2) So they totally got to read that animal porn storyline I put in there? Schweet!

      Delete
  6. Ayefah19.4.12

    It's...kind of sad how many of those facts I already knew. Wow.

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    Replies
    1. Half the time, I don't bother with Google. I just ask you. Because I'll usually get an awesome anecdote to go with whatever fact I need.

      Delete
  7. The last sentence in #16 has been a worry of my own on a number of occasions.

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  8. Anonymous20.4.12

    I had always wondered if there had been some consideration to bringing Jill back. Maybe she could have been the motivation for Chuck/Sarah to get back together after all of the Lincoln stuff. Or maybe Sarah could have just kicked Jill's butt. I had always wanted to see another Fates sideline story in which we find out what Sarah was thinking and feeling when scowling after seeing that Chuck has Jill's Facebook page up on his computer at his apartment that time.

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    1. As fun as that might be to write, I won't write it, I don't think. Fates is my last story in that universe for the time being. But thank you. :)

      Delete
  9. Someday a movie will be made about this phase of your writing career.

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    Replies
    1. Have you cast yourself yet? Lou Diamond Phillips? Lou Ferrigno? Lou from Chuck?

      I'm personally hoping for Hayley Atwell to play me. Also, they can keep her British.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous20.4.12

    And here I was thinking that you had been bit by a pet rabbit and had developed an intense fear of all rabbits since or something similar, lol. And I really appreciate and love the quotes before each chapter, but hadn't realized that most were from Oscar. Too interested in the story I guess. Thanks Frea.

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  11. Kayla29.6.12

    So, I seem to be very out of the loop because I just realized by reading this that you are Moonlight Pilot..I had no idea that you wrote Walker's Eleven. Well, kudos to you because it was well written, and shame on me for just realizing this now!

    And one question for you: when you say that Fates is your last story in that universe for now..do you mean in the Chuckverse, or in your Fatesverse? Because if it is your last story in the Chuckverse, that is very disappointing because you are an amazing writer and I'm not entirely sure I would have started writing fan fiction if I didn't start reading stories like yours. And I know this sounds awfully cheesy, but whenever I felt my writing was getting stale (like when you forget about that soda that was sitting on your desk and then eventually you go back to it and it is not only warm, but also flat) I would hop onto fanfiction and read some of your work and it would snap me back into writing mode. Thanks for that!

    Anyway, the take home message of this entire comment would be that you're awesome..but you probably already knew that. So stay awesome.

    Kayla

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