You do something with this that I think all writers, not just Hamilton writers or even fanfiction writers, really struggle with: recognizing that their characters are not just heroes, that the world is wider than the story being told. Other characters who are 'incidental' to the plot, like Soojin, are affected by Hamilton's actions; he is not just a founding father who created the banks or Eliza's husband – his flaws don't just affect the people who know him; they have an effect on the rest of the world as well. The people who don't know Hamilton well are acknowledged, have opinions, are important, and I actually can't remember seeing that done before? And certainly not so well. Literal famous authors fail to do this all the time, and the way this series and this fic especially accomplishes that is actually incredible. And Jessica recognizing and pointing that out? She is an actual genius.
Jessica...okay so I don't watch Sleepy Hollows, but from remembering it seemed like she was not a canon character? And she's so well done. First: a friendship between a young person and an adult that doesn't feel creepy and isn't familial! That is not something I see often, and wow does it work. And Jessica. I love her. Jessica loves history and loves reading and she doesn't want to be a historian – she wants to be a medic, and she's a Puerto Rican wlw and she's got magic and her parents died and – . She's such a well-fleshed out character. So often we think of a few characteristics that define a person and make that Them; Jessica doesn't feel like that. She feels real and complex. All the OCs, even the ones with very few lines or even no lines, feel very real. Reading Jessica's takedown of him after the library was shit I needed to hear, as a white person. Even though I'm very different from Hamilton, reading that made me think about how I live my life and occupy space. It kinda sucked and it was so good, that it sucked. It was incredibly well written, and adds to Jessica's character – she's young but she's the one fetching Hamilton from the library, forcing him to eat, and like... it's something she has to do, sort of, but she's also so fricking resilient and adaptable and gonna do what needs to get done. Inspiring. And like... she gave Hamilton all these presents and also a dressing down he sorely needed and on a personal level, I really need to see more of that – just because someone is angry or disappointed in you because you fucked up doesn't mean they don't also like you. That's something I really struggle with, and you wrote it out so well.
Also, the thing with 'recognizing your protagonists aren't just protagonists' may be really rare in general, but it's especially bad in the Hamilton fandom. The way Hamilton is written so often makes him... perfect, in a sense. Sure he fucks up and hurts himself and others by his focus on his work, but the work itself is always Exactly The Right Thing and he always is virulently anti-slavery even when he is white and he hates Jefferson because Jefferson is unjust and not because he's opposing Hamilton and just – it's never acknowledged that he might not have seen everything correctly or even that personal flaws could very well have interfered with how he worked or ways in which he was privileged and just, not perfect. I like a lot of Hamilton fanfic, but the idealization was making me itchy, and I couldn't articulate how he seemed to actually be. I really wanted to see a story with a more-historically-accurate Hamilton showing up in the present, because much as I love POC!sjw!Alex, I also really have a thing for culture shock and again the way POC Alex is written is so often simplistic. This series develops him so well and I appreciate it so much. Like, buying all his clothes? And getting his shots! And listening to his musical and impulsively contacting Chernow and Jessica having to learn copperplate and the classics recitation omg he's just... it's exactly what I wanted to read. A story in which everything doesn't come automatically, because even if we see ourselves in him the historical Alexander Hamilton was not a modern tumblr warrior, but Alex is pretty damn good at adjusting but he's still homesick and he'd prefer to be back in his own time and that's such a subtle but important characterizing moment. This whole series is wonderful, and the complexity of the characters is its strongest among many strong parts.
Also! I really don't read enough stories with lesbians because like... the line where … okay I haven't read this in a while, Anna? The scholar who tags along to pick up the letters to Laurence with the wife. The part where she was putting her work before her wife and her wife was annoyed and the line about divorce – it made me realize that I've pretty much exclusively seen 'wlw are really happy and in love!!!' and 'happy wlw relationship ends in tragedy'. But... wlw are people too and might be unhappy or make mistakes in their relationship or not communicate well or get divorces, and we need that representation too, because 'wlw are happy in love' is only part of the story. Sure, communication may be better in general because you can't assume some heteronormative things, but that doesn't solve everything. It was not even something I had considered prior to this story! And now I will try to incorporate that, when I am writing things.
And! I also love Theodosia! She was so competent and I was super relieved she was on Hamilton's side because I'm pretty sure she could fuck him up! It was also really cool to figure out that she was Theodosia. I'm kind of really gay for ancient competent enchantresses
And Elizaaaa being such a no-nonsense competent woman/witch and the plot, but also she still loves him, but also that's not... so important. I am so excited to see who he chooses? In my personal opinion it seems pretty likely to be either John Laurens or Phillip. My initial thought went to Burr because symbolic foils except... Burr's old by the time he dies, and I think he's noooot someone Alex would spend his one get-out-of-death-free card on. Alsooooo I love Loy a lot a lot and their conversation is so good. Loy is such a good friend and you develop him so well so quickly! His thoughts on Buddhism and poly and everything was so great. I really like that scene, and I really liked the line where Alex basically said... 'you're really articulate in English and I'm sorry that I can't listen to you in Thai cause wow' (such a butchering of that line but whatever). Your OCs are so good and I love that Alex offers Jessica his get-out-of-death-free card and I love this story and i'm so excited for more, thank you for writing what you have. (also, made me realize that I still have some explicit shitty ways of thinking about trans people: because Loy was introduced in his own perspective first, I thought about this in the way that it actually is, ie, man-who-is-trans, rather than Trans Man, which is how I usually think about trans people: they're men if they're men, of course, but the trans part is always really prominent in my head. But it wasn't when I read this, because I was introduced to Loy through Loy's eyes. I still have a long way to go.)
And to expand: John or Phillip. I'm undecided! Both died young and are really important to Hamilton but in entirely different ways and I want them both to come forward but I know they caaaan't. But I really feel like it must be one of them, because they're two of the biggest relationships in Alex's life, and they died early, and relatively 'recently' in Alex's personal timeline. Either way I am so excited to read more. Thank you, everyone who contributed to this story! (this is written a few days after reading because I had so much to say and spent a lot of time thinking all this out in my head). [when your comment is so long you literally have to split it into three comments to make it fit lol...]
Okay so this is a _very_ long comment reviewing this series as a whole, and it concerns different authors' work, so I wanted to make sure you all see it? soo... this is also a comment on a couple of the other fics, and it's spoilery up to 'What'd I Miss'. I'm also going to add: this many authors making a series this coherent is also incredible. Good friggin' job.
Okay, first and foremost, I'm honestly screaming over the length of these comments!! I don't think I've ever seen comments this long, let alone received them!
Keeping the characters responsible for their actions is something we try really hard at. Hamilton especially tends to get off easy by fandom and historians alike. It's something that happens to everybody's faves, and we really tried to be like "Yes, he did good things, but he also did bad things. He's human." The hero-worship-y feel of a lot of the fandom has made me really "ehh...." towards a majority of it. That's something we're trying to work through with Jessica, realizing that a person you like is an actual person and you can't just justify their actions blindly.
Writing the "culture shock" aspect of it is really interesting. There's so much we take for granted, there are things that the others will mention that make me go, "Oh, I wouldn't have even thought to mention that." There's a line in one of the other fics in the series, I believe in Pseudonym, where Crane makes a comment about how there are things even HE takes for granted now. It also lets us comment on society, what's changed for the good and what's only changed its name, without it being too awkward.
Jessica is an OC! OCs can get such a bad rap in fanfic, so every time someone mentions they love Jessica, or Anna, or any of the others, I'm so relieved. Again, we try really hard to make them feel like actual characters, with their own separate backstories and likes and dislikes, as apposed to just props for Hamilton. Like with Hamilton, we have to think about how their actions are going to affect the story at large, why they're going to act that way. Honestly, when I first read the series (before I jumped in myself), I was blown away by Anna and Emily. They felt like they could've been actual characters from the show, they fit in so naturally!
The realness of Anna and Emily's relationship is one of my favorite things. No relationship is going to be perfect, and I feel like showing that they take work and compromise adds to that feeling of them being real. Showing how they work through outside stresses (though I feel calling Hamilton a "stress" is a bit of an understatement haha) adds to their characterization and shows them as more rounded characters. If everything was sunshine and roses, you would never be able to see any other sides of them.
Listen. I'm also super in love with our Theodosia. Chaotic neutral genius sorceress? Sign me UP. AND Eliza. Yes. I haven't written her myself, but I adore her. One of my main issues with this fandom is how they treat Eliza as nothing more than Hamilton's wife. Like.....she had more years without him than with him. She had a life after he died. Women exist outside of their relationship to men! Incredible!
Loy is such a sweetheart!! Really hoping we see more of him ;))
I love writing as a part of a group! We all add different perspectives, and with so many eyes we can easily pick out inconsistencies and awkward phrasing. I've definitely learned a lot since starting all this, thanks to my lovely co-writers. It's gone a bit inactive, unfortunately, but we definitely want to finish it! Watch this space, wait for it, etc etc.
Never apologize for long comments!! This made my YEAR! I'm so, so glad you've enjoyed it thus far :D
Comment on Every Book He Could Get His Hands On
sanvitheartificer on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Jul 2017 03:02AM UTC
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sanvitheartificer on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Jul 2017 03:03AM UTC
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sanvitheartificer on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Jul 2017 03:04AM UTC
Last Edited Tue 18 Jul 2017 03:13AM UTC
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ReginaCordium on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Jul 2017 09:14PM UTC
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