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Some favorite fics about the Beatles' first US visit.
Feeling in a fic rec mood today, do not be alarmed. It's Eyes of the Storm season, and I thought I'd share some favorites set during that time...!
Hear Them Say (@boshemians). George is sick before the Ed Sullivan show and observes himself and his bandmates through a feverish lens...
the best of times, the worst of times (@crumblingcookies). The Beatles are treated badly at the British Embassy in Washington; Paul and John steal a moment.
Plant a Seed (@eveepe). If I had to choose one smut [with feelings!] story to read for the rest of my life, it would be this one. Prompt fill: "John fucks Paul in his gay little sailor outfit from these Miami pics." Yes, but it's so much more.
Sorry Girls, He's Married (@midchelle). "The morning after the Ed Sullivan Show, John is in a strange mood. Cyn is asleep. Paul makes a bad choice."
How You Were Diverted (candle_beck). Not sure this classic needs an introduction. Another excellent George POV during the band's first visit to NYC. Paul is handling John, John is handling intruders. Not a fluffy story.
A Little Distance (@fishfingerpies). In Miami, John and Paul finally don't have to share a bed anymore.
Miles Away (candle_beck). I'm cheating a bit with this one, since this is a story made up out of vignettes about Insomnia — the Beatles through the years, awake and asleep — but it's bookended by the year 1964 — and I love this writer, so...
I got distracted
Lately, I've been wondering about "writing the marriages" when the story is really about John and Paul. Is it really fair to craft a character with the intention of having her step aside to make room for Lennon/McCartney walking down the real or proverbial aisle, and feeding each other real or proverbial red apple slices for fertility as the rice grains rain on the roof of the geodesic dome?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Then I got distracted, and had the idea of collecting & sharing my favorite Beatles fics where the women and wives play the main part, and the question doesn't arise.
As always: just my personal taste, not a definitive list in any way. Please enjoy!
Yoko
White Swan, Black Swan (@savageandwise). After John's death, Yoko writes a poem for Paul. Incredibly good. This is what I'm here for.
Cry, Baby, Cry (@savageandwise). Yoko's thoughts about her miscarriage in 1969.
a great threat (@pauls1967moustache). Yoko meets Paul—the woman who is her boyfriends collaborator. Things escalate in deeply satisfying ways and come to a head, as it were, during the Yellow Submarine premiere.
love like ghosts (@backbenttulips). Yoko and J/P as Rebecca AU.
She's Not a Girl Who Misses Much (Anonymous). Yoko lovingly studies Paul, and then the John & Paul business.
Cynthia
the lake and the ocean (whiteisthewarmestcolor). Cynthia remembers she's an artist, and faces some truths about her marriage to John.
Where a Wedding Has Been (@savageandwise). John confesses his unfaithfulness after India.
Tesselate (cloudy_blue). Cynthia and John. Cynthia and Paul.
Maureen/Pattie
tell me all my love's in vain (@midchelle). Maureen and Pattie, 1964-1974.
Jane
Drop Like a Stone (@eveepe). Jane meets Linda for the first time. They're joyfully attracted to each other.
I thought i knew you, what did I know (@pauls1967moustache). Jane catches Paul cheating on her with John. When John confronts her afterwards, she does not back down.
Acid and Ukuleles (distinguished_like). During the island purchase trip to Greece, Jane is enormously bored. This changes when she walks in on John and Paul...and joins them.
Linda
Surprisingly Good For You (@savageandwise). Linda, rock photographer, reflects on the Beatles.
want me when I'm not there (@backbenttulips). Linda catches Paul cheating on her with John, and divorces him. *applause*
in the bleak midwinter (@backbenttulips). This is technically mclennon and from John's POV, but it's Linda who came, saw, and decided to take her daughter back home—but not without summoning John to Scotland to clean up the mess of Lennon/McCartney. The kindness of a free woman.
Red Light, Green Light, Strawberry Wine (@savageandwise). New Orleans, 1975. Linda, Denny and Paul let off some steam while waiting for a call...I really love Linda's POV here: her insistence to take what she can get, and her rising frustration.
May
Cutting Water With a Knife (@savageandwise). J/P from May's POV.
Astrid
Another Girl (@boshemians). Astrid visits the Beatles during the filming of A Hard Day's Nights. She always saw them clearly...and that includes J/P.
BONUS:
Two Fans
The night they met again (@friendofgeorgeharrison). 2020: A fan looks back on a night in NYC in 1980, when she and her sister followed John and Paul. If you read this: read to the end! :-)
EMI Studios canteen worker
See Us in the Real Life (RedheadAmongWolves). Observations of the boys, and John and Paul in particular, during the early days. She sees the love there that's...not sleeping, but nudging boots under the table
Martha
Silly Girl (@bluewater9). John and Paul through the eyes of Martha. Again, if you read this, it's worth reading until the end!
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25, 36, 43 and 61 (for you and I have memories) 💌
36. What fic are you proudest of?
I’ve reread tell me all my love’s in vain at least four times? What was I on when I cooked that up…
61. In you and I have memories, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?
It used to be split between the hospital phone call and the almost punch in chapter two. Feels kind of weird to call them scenes because they’re both so short. In the new chapter, I remember really loving the Cyn scene while I was drafting, but I’ve just reread it and I dunno, not feeling it as much as before. I mainly loved the final image, I think. Anyway, long-winded way of saying it’s probably the Rishikesh one currently. I think the character psychology is pretty effective, and the fact that it’s the beginning of everything going wrong in this fic is hilarious because it’s such a non-event.
25 and 43 already answered!
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For the Fanfiction Writing Asks:
49. What fic of yours would you say is the best introduction to you as a writer?
68. Are there any fics that influenced you to write the way you do?
75. Is there a particular fic that readers gravitated towards that you didn’t expect?
Thank you!
49. What fic of yours would you say is the best introduction to you as a writer?
Definitely oh, what a night!. It’s still a good intro to my writing style + sense of humour and will not leave you feeling utterly miserable like many of my other fics will!
68. Are there any fics that influenced you to write the way you do?
Tooo many to count but here are a few obvious ones:
a thrill a moment by @drumsalongthemersey
platonic ideal lennon/mccartney dynamic to me. The characterisation the patter the inscrutable brain wars. 10/10. They will study this at yaoi academy.
I Think of Things We Did by J_deandra_j
This fic rewires your brain to the same frequency of song lyrics and nonsequiturs that the beatles think in. I mean the dialogue the characterization this is thee obertauern fic sorry oh what a night! who i just recommended as the best introduction to me teehee
The Magic Flute (Courtship) by Virginia_Plain
Yokos of all time!
The Ballad of Lennon and McCartney by @walkuntilthedaylight
Formative! First beatles fic I ever read I think? Really informed how I dealt with my own AU and the writing is just lovely.
75. Is there a particular fic that readers gravitated towards that you didn’t expect?
I was a little surprised by how well Sorry Girls, He’s Married did, but it was to be expected realistically.
Anonymous
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5, 25 and 43 for the fanfic ask! Thank you!!!
5. How many wips do you have? What fandoms/pairings are they for?
About 8? A lot aren’t actually wips, I just make a doc anytime I have a halfway decent idea. Mostly beatles, but not all. I have a twilight fic with the premise that the coven are a group of delusional very human cultists (had to abandon because I realised I don’t know enough about twilight to write it.)
Pairings are mostly McLennon (basic :() except for some insane ones. One is paul/john eastman. All I’ve written is ‘the premise is that paul is the protagonist of a lana del rey song.’ I don’t even know where I was going with that. Also, a john/jane fic, possibly the most cursed pairing I have ever come up with.
25. What’s your favourite part of the writing process (worldbuilding, brainstorming/outlining, writing, editing, etc)?
Brainstorming is probably the most enjoyable part because I can spend all my time thinking about how good this fic is without having to do any of that 'drafting’ nonsense.
43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?
Sickfic maybe? For Paul hurt Paul crying Paul sick Paul dead reasons
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10, 77 for the fic ask
10. Do you work on multiple wips or stick to one fic at a time?
I usually stick to one fic at a time to keep my thoughts focused. Also, I’m not a good enough organiser of my free time to juggle writing multiple fics at once. Probably none of them would ever get finished lol
77. Why do you enjoy writing fanfiction?
Sometimes you just need to rotate two guys around in your head, on paper, for nearly seventeen thousand words.
Also, a fic about John Lennon sucking Paul McCartney silly is sort of my version of a serious meta about The Beatles and Their Legacy etc.
fic: you and i have memories (ch. 3!)
Water splashes on the drainboard. “Oh golly, Paulie,” Linda says airily. She wipes her brow and sets a clean plate aside to dry, clink. “Who’d have thought, huh?”
“You’ll be happy.” Paul shrugs, single-shouldered, and crosses his arms. Yoko laughs, and John is speaking down the hall – a low, indistinct murmur. “Thought you might want to, I dunno, gloat about it.”
Water streams uninterrupted into the drain. In his periphery, Linda glares at him with narrowed eyes. Paul examines the kitchen tile.
The splashing starts again, louder this time. “I’m not happy,” she hits the t like it personally offended her. “I would prefer it, actually, if you had listened to me in the first place.” She starts drying the dishes, hands clumsy with agitation, then stops abruptly and turns around. “You would have let some creep drill holes into your skull if he’d done it, wouldn’t you?“
Anonymous
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Hi, I was wondering if you have recs where Paul ignores and freezes John?
Thanks a lot!
Thank you for asking, and sorry for being so late with my reply. I hope this is still useful to you.
This is a fascinating request. It made me realize that most fics I know focus on John freezing out Paul (with or without pining)—the reasons for that would probably be worth a separate post. So: challenging ask, thank u very much.
I also kept coming back to the way you worded it—ignores and freezes. That’s highly specific, if you think about it! It includes an edge of pain and cold anger, or at the very least something unnatural: a decision to freeze, to numb, to refuse to see the other (Look At Me…).
It also feels final—or, at the very least, final-in-the-moment. How to separate this from fics in which they’re broken up, not talking™, misunderstanding each other, are mad at each other (but only as a prelude to making up)…?
Does it also rule out fics in which they’re not together, or fighting, or breaking-up-but-still-obsessed…never got together…?
As you can see, I might have been overthinking this, just a tad. :-) But here are some stories that, hopefully, fit your ask to varying degrees.
The wild and windy night (@zilabee) must have been one of the first J/P stories I read, and I guess I memory-wiped just how brutal (and damn good, because: true) it is. This is about mutual attempts at freezing and severing, and brace yourself: it’s going to hurt. But it lands in a hopeful place. Cathartic. (Sorry, everyone, for never including it with any of my angst recs; I honestly must have decided to tuck this one away in a specially secured room reserved for the strongest stuff.)
How do you sleep (LouisWain1939) was the first fic I thought of reading your ask. If you want freezing cold, this is it. Prompt-fill for: Paul wanks to HDYS (optional: he phones John as he does it to make John listen). I love it.
you and i have memories (@midchelle). Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind AU. John is the first to opt for the removal of Paul memories, but Paul follows suit. Unfinished, but what a premise—and it’s rendered so convincingly…! Treepanning+
open heart (@revollver): Vampire AU. Paul feels ashamed of how much he needs John, and refuses to open up to him. Hot and sensual and sad in exactly right proportions—with an unexpected dark and satisfying ending.
I’m gonna haunt you (sexysadie): 1968. An ice cold conversation between John and Paul in a pub.
Coast Starlight (bookofapril) The best canon divergence of all, in which Paul is happy with Robert Fraser (and, sometimes, Linda) in the 70’s, and John is a slightly annoying shadow from the past. John is frozen out in absentia, in a wonderful Paul/Elton John conversation on Fire Island.
The Death of a bachelor (wavesof_joy): Modern AU. Paul gets married in Vegas…and it’s too late to elope with John.
Here are two stories centered on the 1966-1967 “Paul refuses to trip with John” era — maybe a bit of a reach for the ask, but I’m thinking: John wants to get in, and Paul appears distant…baautiful, but not quite real…either way, these are both excellent, so enjoy: Sunday Driver (@boshemians; excellent Tara Browne cameo) and Chrysalis (cloudy_blue).
And finally, your ask made me think of two (three?) stories in which Paul freezes out John temporarily for trauma/pain/misunderstanding reasons: Brother Dearest (@javelinbk) and The Cast Iron Shore and its sequel, The Reeperbahn, by @m1ssunderstanding. In the first, John and Paul are stepbrothers as well as lovers. At first, they dislike each other, and later there is a heartbreaking break-up for your ignoring-each-other needs. The second is an AU in which Paul works as a ‘rent boy’ to support his abusive father, and starts a messy and intense relationship with John, leading them and their band from Liverpool to Hamburg. John and Paul love each other, but do they trust the other loves them back? No. Missunderstandings indeed—deeply painful in places—off the charts pining—and plenty of great Hamburg Beatles in action scenes…!
That’s all I can think of for now—perhaps others can chime in with additional recs? (@whenyourbirdisbroken, @crumblingcookies? Tagging you because you have vast fic memories!)
I hope you will enjoy these, anon!
Anonymous
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So are you gonna drop the link for the mclennon crash au or....
ofc. go nuts <3
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