Chapter 3

[rthstewart]

 

Well, chapter 3 went up, and it’s really, really long.  And complicated at a thematic level, and well oh my god, plot.  Yes, there’s actually quite a bit of plot stuck in there, amidst all the angst.

 

A huge thanks to the incomparable Doewe who did the German translation as Edmund struggles through “Learn German in 30 Days,” self taught, with no Rosetta Stone tapes.  He proceeds to cheerfully massacre the language as Harold and Alberta massacre vegetables. 

 

As I was writing it, with Edmund explaining to Peter about his meeting with Asim, I thought, you know, I can’t describe this scene off screen here.  One of the most common comments I got was that readers (my few, my loyal, I love all 10 of them) really wanted this interaction.  I was going to do the scene, just not here.  But, if Peter was going to hear about it, then we needed the scene, and so this was the result.  Otherwise it was a lot of telling and no showing. 

 

So, there it is, with Edmund coming out a shade darker than usual.  I’d really wanted to use the “Peter, do you want the truth or the lie?” I know where I’m going to use it again, and I thought, with all these shifting tales and lies, and deceptions, I could put it here, for both of them.  I’d originally heard the “Lie to me” in the wonderful BTVS series, episode of the same name.  Edmund has been living, through Susan’s letters, some pretty wild cloak and dagger stuff, he’s just been taken to the woodshed, gently, by a Major in the British Army and he’s feeling a bit paranoid at the moment, which in this universe is a natural state for him anyway.

 

For the next chapter, I was trying to decide whether to write it first as Queen Susan arriving in Tashbann, or Susan Pevensie arriving in DC.  I’ve already written the end of the chapter, which is Susan Pevensie, and was thinking today that I would do it as Queen Susan, then switch to Susan Pevensie, to conclude.  I think that makes the most sense, but I need to decide and then just stick with it.

 

By the way:

Lone Islands = North Africa

Archenland = Canada

Galma = Russia

Northern Marshes = Europe, France specifically

Ettinsmoor = Nazis

 

I think I’m outted to some people, which is depressing me no end, and I’ve been thinking of packing my bags and shutting down for a bit.  But, I want to get this chapter and the next one, and then do another chapter of Palace Guard with the Cheetahs.  Oh well.  It’s my own fault for dabbling in fandom again.  Once I start reading fan fic again, I can't stay away from the writing.  Oh well.  I need to think about this and what I'm going to do about it when I'm not depressed about the Torchwood ending.