A very, very late observation, with respect to "The Retired Novelist":
In leaping on the Dr. Strange references in tazlet's signup, I overlooked a singular and non-trivial clue in the anonymous author's reply to my comment over on AO3 -- namely, their reference to the character of Diana Winthrop and the nod in the story to some of that character's relatives. That clue points in an entirely different direction, because it very strongly indicates that the author is a reader either of my own DW journal or (more likely) the fic_corner exchange's DW community.
And that clue points not only away from tazlet, but toward a writer no one else has tagged for the story: namely, sanguinity herself.
I am torn. I don't think it's impossible; she's done multiple gifts before, and is certainly capable of having written the story, but the style is somewhat different from her usual, and I have been severely misled before in assigning work to sanguinity that's not hers at all.
OTOH, it would explain a great deal about some of the conversations in the guessing post this round....
Re: Guesswork of Doom (Act I)
In leaping on the Dr. Strange references in
And that clue points not only away from
I am torn. I don't think it's impossible; she's done multiple gifts before, and is certainly capable of having written the story, but the style is somewhat different from her usual, and I have been severely misled before in assigning work to
OTOH, it would explain a great deal about some of the conversations in the guessing post this round....