Welcome! Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear how you found it, who did the rec'cing, etc. It's such a strange story and so demanding, I really treasure those who contact me. In any event, you have nailed it with Polly, Jill, and Eustace. As for Susan, yes, that's one way to look at it. One of my reviewers, Love and Rock Music, had gone so far as to say that Susan is actually taking the more mature approach, in making Narnia relevant and that maybe, by comparison with the enormity of WW2, Narnia might seem like a children's game. That's not quite where I'm going with it either, but it's on the right track, as the later chapters make clear. I think Ch. 10 will bring this into sharper focus. The trick has been and will be to make the split between Susan and Peter one where the reader comes away angry a bit at both of them, and whether you think one is right or the other, will depend upon who you are as a person. It's easy in the typical fan fic formula if Susan is vain and shallow, then Peter doesn't sound pompous. I worked really hard on Peter's character in Part 1, and I don't want to undo that. But, I've worked hard on Susan in Part 2 and it's not going to be possible at this point to take her backwards.
The security risk point is an excellent one, and I've been thinking about the Official Secrets Act quite a bit. Edmund and Susan's position is, and will be, "it's just a silly story, it's not a code, how ridiculous!" To say otherwise would be very bad -- they are both "living the cover."
I'm not really answering the question, but this was a story I'd never intended to tell. I **think** I know how I'm going to do this. I just hope I've got the skill as a writer to do it.
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In any event, you have nailed it with Polly, Jill, and Eustace. As for Susan, yes, that's one way to look at it. One of my reviewers, Love and Rock Music, had gone so far as to say that Susan is actually taking the more mature approach, in making Narnia relevant and that maybe, by comparison with the enormity of WW2, Narnia might seem like a children's game. That's not quite where I'm going with it either, but it's on the right track, as the later chapters make clear. I think Ch. 10 will bring this into sharper focus. The trick has been and will be to make the split between Susan and Peter one where the reader comes away angry a bit at both of them, and whether you think one is right or the other, will depend upon who you are as a person. It's easy in the typical fan fic formula if Susan is vain and shallow, then Peter doesn't sound pompous. I worked really hard on Peter's character in Part 1, and I don't want to undo that. But, I've worked hard on Susan in Part 2 and it's not going to be possible at this point to take her backwards.
The security risk point is an excellent one, and I've been thinking about the Official Secrets Act quite a bit. Edmund and Susan's position is, and will be, "it's just a silly story, it's not a code, how ridiculous!" To say otherwise would be very bad -- they are both "living the cover."
I'm not really answering the question, but this was a story I'd never intended to tell. I **think** I know how I'm going to do this. I just hope I've got the skill as a writer to do it.