Penultimate chapter, really. Yeah, really. This time, I really mean it

[rthstewart]

At 14,000 words and growing, plus the Part 3 preview, it was time to split.  I know you are shocked.  With added closet and the remnants of a scene that has been around for a very, very long time. 

The last chapter is about 80% done, with final dialog written.   It will be later in the week, along with a preview of Part 3.
Chapter 23, The Queen Susan In Tashbaan, Part 2, Crossroads

 

 

Comments

[min023.livejournal.com]

Wow, gifts fit for a Queen, added closet, and His Lordship the Penguin in the flesh - love it! better review coming soon : )

[the_rck]

Yea for more Queen Susan! I enjoyed the chapter a lot.

[autumnia]

I loved the appearance of Sir Flobber! Highly unexpected yet amusing, and in a way his abrupt appearance helped dispel some of the tension between Susan and Tebbitt.

And yay for Tebbitt's continuation of reciting poetry! It's a very endearing quality. :-)

[ilysia-039.livejournal.com]

I loved this chapter. That's all I have to say. Just- you knew I would love it. Oh, Susan.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! There is more gift giving in the final chapter, with send offs by Agnes and the Colonel. It's so close to being done. I very much appreciate the support and reviews.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

This was a very, very old scene in my head, going back at least 6 months. I know it's a bit uncomfortable for readers and I think I might lose some. Since I knew this was coming, I've been closely following reader reaction to Tebbitt and when people expressed such dislike for him back in Chapter 5, I knew I had to be careful in how I developed him. The story comes at the idea of how the Pevensies reveal themselves as not children in may different ways, and how Susan treats and reacts to Tebbitt is, ultimately, one of them. What did change in the re-writing was that Susan was much less abusive to Tebbitt. She was kinder and more regal. Lady_Songsmith had articulated it as a hand pat and "You couldn't help yourself, dear. I'm that good." And that's pretty much what it is. She is condescending in a way. This is on her terms. Men fall in Susan's wake. She likes Tebbitt, certainly. He is good looking and charming, clever, and very, very committed to duty. The woman that she is/will become is quite attracted to him.

And speaking of instigation, this is something I am really, REALLY careful about in writing this sort of thing. I do not want to ever put a character in a situation of ambiguous consent (it's a thing -- I really dislike the prevalence of that genre in fan fic). I think it's an interesting idea to play with writing monarchs -- how does one say no to the King or Queen? I was very careful with this in BRD, actually -- Morgan instigates, not Edmund, and that's deliberate on my part. And here, I have probably idealized Tebbitt more than is realistic in his recognition that No means No.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

As I wrote to Autumnia, this scene has been a long, long time in coming. And, as I've spent more time in this fandom and in getting back in the fan fic groove in other fandoms, the more I've thought about female fan fic characters in romantic and intimate situations. This is complicated by the fact that a large percentage of the Narnia fandom has very firm, and very fixed views on sexuality -- doesn't belong, is wrong, is very wrong except in wedlock. Here, I really have viewed Susan's awareness of her desires and her willingness to act upon them -- to a point -- as a form of empowerment and a part of her overall self-knowledge. It occurred to me last night that whereas a male character acting in this way is humorous or sexy (think the portrayal of Edmund in BRD where I got at the issue of attraction through broad humor), when a woman characters shows those same desires, expresses them the same way, she's a slut.
Women in romance fan fic are frequently depicted or viewed as either simpering in their love or as sluts. The writer thinks that by giving her 'tude or by killing her off, that this fixes everything. Or that marriage solves it all. It doesn't.
This all really bothers me and it's a tall order for a fan fic story and I'm certainly not going to change anyone's mind. Frankly those who would have been really bothered by this dropped me a while ago -- probably around the chapter Folly with Susan and Tebbitt by the pond. I can't change anything, but I can at least try to offer a different views and not contribute more to what is already out there.

[ilysia-039.livejournal.com]

And I think it's wonderful that you do that. I do very much see the reluctance with which sexuality is dealt with in the Narnian world- most people either demonize it, or avoid it. There really doesn't seem to be much middle ground. But what you're doing is, I think, to be applauded. Lewis obviously wrote the Chronicles, in the main part, as a children's story, so it stands to reason that sexuality is not exactly waxed poetic upon. Yet many people in fandom claim to be attempting to write realistic worlds and characters, and sexuality is something that has to be incorporated into that for any sort of realism to exist.

The fact that you're doing this- writing interesting and developed and realistic adult characters- apparently bothers some people. But there are also a great many people who think it's fantastic, and wouldn't have you change it for the world. So please, for all of us, never stop Going There. I'm completely ready to Go along with you.

[min023.livejournal.com]

Now that's a really interesting thought sequence - can't say I'd ever got it that concrete, but now that you've verbalsed it, I think you've got it dead on here. The man/woman double standard is not unique to this fandom, or even to fanfic in general - it appears in lots of places, and is just as annoying there as it is here. In terms of whether sexuality is 'allowed' in Narnia fandom, well, yes, they were written as children's tales, and Lewis was a crusty, academic bachelor for much of his life. So does that mean that no-one should ever go there, or only under the most constrained of conditions? I'd say not, but I'm still here, so you know where I stand on that.

OK, so I'm not much of a writer, but for mine, the 'marriage or death' options strikes me as an author cop-out in a way. It seems to me to be the 'easy' option, and (depending on the worldbuilding going on), an unrealistic one, too. From where I'm sitting, marriage is many, many things, but easy isn't always one of them. And dead is just dead. I'm all for assertiveness and self-knowledge, and for realistic, thoughtful adult behaviour, so I applaud you for Going There. I'm definitely coming along for the ride.