Fathoms

by

Manic Intent

Story Notes

Heavy R version at Fanfiction.net

Chapter 7: Had previously intended to just skip the two days (and I've in fact already written the first Chapter 7 - now 8, I guess), but it'd be too evil, I suppose, since there may be no James for Chapter 9. So this Chapter 7 has not been very thorougly edited.

Chapter 9: After another brief look through Wiki, it seems that Kingston may not have existed in this form during PotC-Port Royal, depending on whether the Port Royal in question is the 'old' or 'new' one after the earthquake. However, as this is a fanfic and I am unable to think of any better names at the moment for alternative cities, or do further research, there will be a Kingston. Readers may look forward to further historical inaccuracies later in the fic. The author believes this poetic justice, as she is from Singapore, which really only became a British settlement in 1819. Since it appears that that PoTC likely took place in the late 1600s - 1700s... Jack is unlikely to have learned any tricks regarding corsets in a Malay fishing village. Time, however, is flexible in fics, as is distance. XD Please suspend disbelief! Also (my, this is a long note) I know that Sparrow getting a Turner sword has been done before, in fics. I read lots of sparrington fics, so, as is fairly obvious, a lot of the devices and such have influenced my writing.

Chapter 10: Author has decided that PotC Port Royal, for the purposes of the story, will be post-earthquake Port Royal, albeit modified. Come to think of it, she isn't very sure whether Beckett had in fact repossessed the office, or whether he is in the fort. Oh well. Apologies for very obvious use of common plot devices in this chapter, but couldn't come up with a better way to get the story going.

Chapter 11: The issue about Norrington perhaps having a reaction to finding Ayla on board was kindly suggested by demonqueen666. XD

Chapter 12: The voyage all the way to Canton is going to be vaguely detailed and likely historically inaccurate. Was greatly tempted to write a Singapore chapter, since it was just National Day a few days ago, but there was far too much hilarity when discussing it with (other Singaporean) friends, so I don't think I can handle it. I believe at one point, someone suggested that Jack Sparrow fight a Merlion. I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether crossing the Pacific was faster (or even possible at that point in time), but what with the Suez and Panama canals still not in existence, and other historical problems, I decided Jack would likely prefer to take the long cruise with James, in any case.

Chapter 13: Oops. Looking back, there could have been much historical flavor added to Chapter 12, but which I forgot about. O_o; Chapter notes read 'Recife (Portuguese, Entrepreneurs) near forest, cool, sugarcane, black slaves, riots, rich farmers from Olinda vs traders'. Lol! Oh, and thanks again to Wiki and Google Earth. Also, the British claim that they invented French fries.

Chapter 14: omg. Still so far away from Canton T__T Speeding up now. Also, I am aware that Capetown is really written as Cape Town, but I'm too lazy to correct previous chapters. I also tried to keep track of exactly who the Dutch EIC had picked fights with around 1700s, but as it seemed to be 'just about everyone, and especially the British', you'd have to forgive some more historical inaccuracies. And yes, calling Netherlands 'Holland' is inaccurate, but I doubt Jack really knows that. Liberté is fictional.

Chapter 15: T_t how did the father sneak into the story? Zz. Looks like Canton would have to be delayed again. Also, for the sake of convenience, at certain points Norrington will be referred to in Madras as James. ._.;; It'd be back to 'Norrington' at Canton.

Chapter 16: The Madras part took far longer than it should.

Chapter 17: Sorry, couldn't resist after all.

Chapter 18:Finally at World's End. T_T Also, shophouses were only around Southeast Asia, late 18^th century, but I don't care. ;O I like shophouses. And World's End is fictional anyway. XD

Chapter 19:Heh... even though it's been one of the driving points of the story, the World's End part seems short. Oh well. As mentioned previously somewhere, I have this tendency to suddenly get... bored, of stories, and want to write the ending (startings and endings are the most fun to write, in my opinion). And, in any case, at 20 chapters with the word count Fathoms is already the second longest fanfic I have ever written. As to the puzzle squares and golems—yes, I've played Oblivion and Jade Empire.

Chapter 20: Yay done. Also, I felt it was about time Norrington got his own chapter. And the song that gave the title kept playing in my head while I was writing this. Though thankfully I opted for another ending instead...

Heavy, and therefore potentially inaccurate, use of wikipedia and Google Earth in the writing of this fic. :3 Also, although the Cathay part of the story was only from 17-19, I guess the fic was really mostly about the sparrington, not actually concluding the movie series to everyone's satisfaction per se.  After all, it did take 10 chapters for them to even get started towards World's End. XD.

Several plot devices were used that have been done so before in other sparrington fics.  This is because after PoTC2 I sortof just sat down and read all the sparrington I could find, and rather indiscriminately. :O So, I've been heavily influenced by the other gorgeous fics out there.  

I normally do write extremely long fics (Fathoms isn't my longest) that tend to peter off at the end. : / I get bored of ideas, and stories then just stop abruptly. ^__^;;  And... why does Livejournal impose a restriction on post lengths? Why does rich text posting occasionally force double spacing, and sometimes doesn't? Guess I'd never know...

Fathoms is free to archive, so long as there's acknowledgements etc etc.  I admit to being far, far too lazy to do submissions for the lovely J/N / Pirates slash archives out there, because... omg 20 chapters. T__T;;

More research would definitely have helped. :O Especially if I'd actually located and read Pirate Vindaloo before Fathoms. XD;; (It's not on the Savvy Archive! : ( ) Also, previously reading the "Writing Resources" pages for pirates fic would also have been useful.... ... : ( oh well.   As to the endings... well, should have taken it a little easier and slowed down to develop it a little more, I guess. :x