In the honor of my first finished long story, I'll provide some details of the writing process. I'll also do some self-criticism and see what I could've done better. I'll also explain Oliver and how the character came to be.
This fic actually came very close to ending after the fifth chapter. By then I had made them break up and I saw no hope for the two to actually reconcile (I wouldn't say angst is my specialty, but rather that realism trumps fluff any day). I created Oliver for the sixth chapter. Her original purpose was related to the fact that Arthur's plan of getting the knights hitched would take a more dominant role in the fic. She would have been publically outed in her dubbing ceremony, and Gwaine would have stepped in to save her, saying something along the lines of "I wanna marry her!" They would have run off, leaving Merlin and Camelot behind. Whether they would have engaged in an actual romance is rather irrelevant, as the fic would have ended before that.
What saved the story, in the end, was the fact that I happened to find YT and along with it the many short Merlin/Gwaine videos that exist there now. Through them I found new faith in the pair's reconciliation, which indeed took place in chapter 7.
I'm not particularly fond of Arthur/Merlin, but as it is a big part of the show, I integrated it into this fic by highlighting the differences in the characters' situations and their motivations. Gwaine found it increasingly difficult to be forever second to Merlin's destiny at Arthur's side. I briefly wondered whether I should do a scene where Merlin would choose Arthur over Gwaine when facing a wyvern or something to that effect, but I figured it would have been too on the nose. Letting Gwaine's insecurity develop between the scenes was my choice in stead. In retrospect, had the fourth season been playing at the same time, it would have made more sense to the reader.
To get back to Oliver, once I had created her, I didn't want to kill her off, so I quickly came up with another identity for her. Her fights with Lancelot were an accidental development. Once I retconned her character and her past, she was initially the daughter of king Eldor (completely fictitious, therefore). Chapter 10 originally began with a long dialog between Lancelot and Oliver, but once it had gone on for several pages, I figured it best if I cut it. Firstly, because this fic was supposed to be about M/G, secondly because I thought it better if her past was disclosed more gradually. Also, the original conversation made her look kind of bad. So, the parts about her being the youngest of several other children and therefore being rather irrelevant cosmically were downplayed, but again, I thought the way I did it in the end went better.
Merlin the tv series, as the Arthurian universe in general, doesn't exactly depict women as deep characters. There's good women, bad women and the good-but-oh-so-tempted-women. So, if I wanted a "useful" female character, I had to make one.
I don't remember when exactly I decided that Oliver would be Elaine, but when I did, pieces just seemed to fall into place. Gwaine using magic, Oliver being saved from marriage by none other than Lancelot.. Oliver proved to be a time-consuming but nonetheless a very useful character. I used her to highlight Merlin's jealousy, to reveal his powers and more recently, to get Gwaine to talk about the breakup. Chronologically speaking, originally I only had 17 chapters, then I created chapter 14 as a kind of a filler. I purposely left the relationship of Oliver and Lancy open, since I didn't create her for Lancelot to get some. They had Gal together, who knows what they'll do now :)
When I first wrote chapter 15, I didn't particularly like it, because I felt I was just throwing Lancy and Oliver together like in some rom-com. Now that I re-read it, it has actually grown on me, as it contains some very interesting bits. It also relies on the readers' intelligence and/or googling skills. Also, since I establish in later chapters that despite their forced marriage, they didn't really get together right then and there, I think it's alright.
What I still don't like is the ever-smooth "one year later" that takes place between chapters 15 and 16. I wanted to see Galahad born, yes, and in order for that to happen I would either have to depict Merlin and Gwaine's relationship for another year (No.) or jump to it. Sure, I could've used Merlin's magic to deliver the baby earlier, but considering it's well established in the Arthurian legend that Gal was born in Oliver's father's castle, I couldn't do it.
If I'd had more time, patience and again, more time, this would've been better, of course. I still got to do things I never thought I would. I never thought I'd write Elyan into the story. Arthur and Gwen were similar surprises. I completely ignored Gaius' existence, for that I'm sorry. The ending was quite rushed, but still better than the original, as at least now it has three chapters, when before only two (that was rushed! Merlin sees Gwaine for the first time in a year, the same night even, and they sleep together. Character development out of the window now!).
Oh, my story On Christmas eve, a baby was born was written weeks after I had created Galahad. In retrospect I only should've published that story after this, but hey, what can you do. It was kind of inspired by this story, but it was mostly just something I threw together.
I enjoyed reading your reviews. Usually they didn't affect the story, especially towards the end when I had already planned most of the things. That said, I must admit that the reviews for chapter 11 were priceless to read. When it's a question of 'Is Gwaine mad at him for having magic?' or is he mad at him for lying to him?', I always choose option c, none of the above. Speaking of chapter 11, some of you might have noticed that originally on ffnet the ending included the words "He did not look happy", which I later erased. I had actually removed them from the document earlier because I figured the expression was too campy, and I have no idea why they showed up on the download. So it was a question of technical difficulties, not because I wanted to build up the suspense.
I noticed a while ago that I officially have the longest Gwaine/Merlin story on Ffnet, perhaps on the internet. Considering Gwaine has only made four appearances in total, I'm not surprised, but I hope when the series returns we can get some more fans. A while ago I read a rather brilliant G/M fic that is not on ffnet, I think you can find it by searching "merlin gwaine green" or something like that. It contains a more upbeat Gwaine, whereas I chose to develop the glances and expressions he has that (to me) signal longing and loneliness (end of 3.08, for example).
Merlin the tv series is kind of a nice series. Too nice. It's like a kid's show with topless men thrown into it. Teasing, but not satisfying. What probably affected me in later chapters (let's say 10-18) was that I stopped watching Merlin's Gwaine episodes and got back to watching Supernatural, and naturally the filthy videos that are now on YT. Even worse, I started reading some very interesting Doctor/Master fics, which were more than a bit twisted. The darker turn and the higher level of angst in the later chapters were no doubt caused by the aforementioned series' tones that influenced me. It's so much easier to go bad than good.
My favorite part of the fic was when Gwaine found out and the awful atmosphere that followed. When Arthur Pendragon notices you have a problem, you have a problem. When Arthur Pendragon makes you make up, you have a problem.
As some of you already now, chapter 13 inspired me to write Blackmail. If only Gwaine were a bad person, it would have been so, so sexy. Unfortunately, he isn't. Still, it was pretty canon what he was up to, taking into account his conversation with Merlin in 3.12.
Writing this came rather naturally. In the CooperCheesecake Conundrum I usually had to draw a structure for the chapter and writing was often difficult and in the end I stumbled on my own cleverness with the plotting. In this one I just sat in front of the computer and started writing. The problems came from the fact that, after writing several chapters in a row, I realized that some scenes would work better later and so I actually did some copy-pasting with a lot of the chapters. It's a small miracle it turned out as well as it did. It felt like editing an actual tv series. I have a lot of scenes I ended up not using.
I wish I knew how to write fluff, I think it would be better for me. Though, as it is, fluff irks me. Sure, be happy, but only after the problems are dealt with. All in all, I'm sorry this didn't include as many G/M happy!scenes as one would have hoped.
I think I said more or less what I wanted to. Drop me a line to say what you thought of the last chapters. I uploaded them all at once as I didn't see a reason to withold them too long (I have no patience). It's been fun writing this, and it was nice that so many people read it and commented on it. Hope you all had a nice Christmas and I wish you all a happy year 2011!