zeegoeshere

I was super intimidated by my assignment, because Nation by Terry Pratchett was one of the best books I read this year, and I was pretty nervous at the prospect of a) writing fic in a historical fandom, and b) stepping into Pratchett's shoes. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Give The World a Shape for loneraven
Fandom: Nation by Terry Pratchett
Summary: “It’s a diplomatic mission of sorts--not for the crown, but for the Royal Society, actually. It’s the Nation. They’re trying to revoke their membership in the society and deny us access to the island.” 6,800 words. Huge thanks to drunktuesdays and sapote3 for the hand-holding and help.

My recipient requested an expansion on the book's worldbuilding, and specifically brought up the question of whether or not the world wars happened in this universe. Somehow that got me thinking about scientific racism and eugenics, and the potential of that whole school of thought getting nipped in the bud because of the Nation. Sir Francis Galton was a real historical figure, a cousin of Charles Darwin who pioneered the term 'eugenics' and basically invented intelligence tests. Normally I'm terrified of doing research, but it actually ended up being a pretty fun part of writing this story.