Yuletide: A Candle in the Fog

[graycardinal]

Now that the author reveal is live, I can report my Yuletide 2012 contribution -- namely:

A Candle in the Fog (10228 words) by Gray Cardinal
Fandom: Candleshoe (1977)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Casey (Candleshoe), Priory (Candleshoe), Lady St. Edmund

A shoutout should go here to duckwhatduck, Starrrz, and maevebran, whom I consulted about British-peerage inheritance questions prior to wading into an actual story draft.  As written, the story went mostly in other directions, but their input was extremely helpful in the development process.

Now, you might or might not remember Candleshoe -- it was a Disney feature film featuring Jodie Foster, David Niven, Helen Hayes, and Leo McKern in which Foster's character (Casey Brown) may or may not be Hayes' long-lost granddaughter (and thereby, the fourth Marchioness of Candleshoe).  There's a very good synopsis/review linked above, so I'll omit more detail here -- except to note that Niven is in especially fine form, playing multiple personas in something of a Peter Sellers turn.

This was one of my favorite old-school Disney features when I was growing up, but I hadn't actually seen it in a long time -- so when my Yuletide assignment matched on the fandom, the very first thing I did was to order the DVD.  And watch it, twice (and a couple more times in the course of the writing).  I knew almost at once the broad shape of the story I wanted to write -- but while the character arcs were clear almost at once, the "action" side of the story remained stubbornly vague.  Until I happened to catch a particular set of Adam West Batman reruns on a classic-TV channel, featuring one Lord Marmaduke Ffogg.  I knew instantly that Ffogg would make an excellent villain, but it wasn't till I'd looked closely at the internal timelines of both canons that I realized I'd also -- totally by accident -- acquired several layers of extremely useful back story. 

At that point, it was more or less a race to finish by deadline (just barely).  My recipient and various other commenters -- bless their hearts -- have picked up on most of the asides and Easter eggs, save for one brief sideways movie reference that I actually didn't realize I'd made until I was rereading the relevant conversation.  I am very pleased with the way the story turned out, and very gratified by the enthusiastic response it's gotten from its readers.

Comments

[jedibuttercup]

Oh goodness, I had completely forgotten about that movie; I was fascinated by it when I was a kid. Now I'm going to have to find a copy to refresh, and read the fic. =)

[graycardinal]

Luckily for both of us, it's in print; I had no trouble whatever in finding it online. (I did check, once I realized halfway through the signup period that it was one of the likelier-looking prospects for getting matched.)

Come to that, I could very likely be persuaded to share, or schedule a viewing party, or something. Particularly sincemaevebran did help poke at the whole peerage-and-inheritance question during one of the write-ins last month....

[jedibuttercup]

Ask her about it; that might be fun, if schedules can be lined up.

In a couple years I'll definitely have to make sure and get a copy to show my brother's kids regardless, though. The classics must be passed on, considering how much more animated stuff they're probably going to consume than I ever did!

Hm. The old Absent Minded Professor, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the first Herbie movie, and Mary Poppins, and the original Parent Trap, what else can I think of? *musing* I'll have to make an Amazon list.