Last year I started updating my older stories in the Caffrey Conversation AU, applying edits and adding bonus content. Most recently I've posted bonus chapters for "By the Book" and "Caffrey Envoy," and now I'm adding "Written in the Stars" to the mix, updating what was a stand-alone story to become part of the series. Here are a few insights into what's changing and what I'm adding.
What am I adding?
The early stories focused largely on Neal and Peter. The vast majority of the time the action was from one of their POVs, and Sara didn't even appear until several stories into the series. Over the years I've become aware of the Bechdel test and of issues around the lack of diversity in fanfic. We've made the series more inclusive as we went, and now I'm giving the women a larger voice in the earlier stories through the bonus content. In the chapters I added to the end of "Caffrey Conversation" and "By the Book," we see what Sara was up to, and how she's on a path to move to New York and join the main cast in upcoming stories. The bonus content for "By the Book" and "Caffrey Envoy" provides insight into the women of the Caffrey family, including Noelle, Irene, and Angela.
My hope is that the bonus content will be a treat for returning readers who already know these characters, and that it will whet the appetite of new readers who will soon see these women take on larger roles in the following stories.
What am I changing?
There are a couple of areas where I'm trying to be more sensitive. First, there's language related to mental health, such as use of the terms crazy, insane, etc. where other words would be more appropriate. Second, there were references to the Harry Potter series, whose author is now known to hold negative views towards trans people. In my edits, I'm changing the references to a generic "school for wizards" series. Fortunately there are many such series available these days, and readers can imagine their favorite in these references. For instance, earlier this month I read A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and plan to read the sequels soon.
What's "Written in the Stars"?
Shortly after posting "Caffrey Conversation" in October of 2013, I wrote "Written in the Stars", a stand-alone story where I compared Neal and others to characters from Star Wars. In December of 2013 I rewrote the ending of "Caffrey Conversation" so that I could turn it into the start of a series. While "Written in the Stars" remained on its own, it contained much of my original thinking about Neal's mother and her family, and those definitely influenced the Caffrey Conversation AU. Now I'm bringing "Written in the Stars" into the fold, tweaking it to fit between "Caffrey Envoy" and "Caffrey Flashback" in the series.
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