rthstewart (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rthstewart) wrote2011-01-10 08:24 pm
rthstewart) wrote2011-01-10 08:24 pm
Entry tags:
For Anon who has been there, and a sneak peek in progress report
On the off chance Anon comes wandering over here, first, thank you. Second, I really hate to say, but I've never been to the Oxford Museum of Natural History. I have spent a lot of time in museums over the years, big ones and small ones, in little towns and great cities, so I imagined what it would be like to be in a place crammed to the rafters with artifacts brought home by intrepid, home-grown explorers. Thanks so much for your lovely comments and if there's anything that I did get wrong that can be fixed, please let me know! Fortunately, the Museum has an excellent website and I spent a lot of time there in 2009. I'm assuming that any blatant errors are due to the fact that the Museum has been updated in the last 60 years. I was delighted two chapters ago in Apostolic Way to actually find a picture of the Cat Window -- something that has been described but that I could never find a picture of.
Thank you. I appreciate so much when others take the time to share their thoughts and experiences. It's daunting and humbling to be surrounded by women of such extraordinary backgrounds.
Also, yes, I'm writing. It's been really hard to find interrupted time and things just haven't been optimal for writing. Chapter 5 is up to over 11,000 words, with an additional and final 2,000 or so still badly unformed but the rest mostly done. It's another point of view split too, with Asim/Major al-Masri at the beginning and Lt. Col. Tom Clark in the back half. This marks my first American point of view character! The length and the change in point of view mean I could split it and get something up sooner. I'm not opposed to it, I suppose, but, well, I shall dither some more, first I suppose. I've been sensitive to those who felt it was moving too fast and that the first chapter seemed abrupt.I feel tremendous guilt that I've not gotten a new chapter up sooner.
From the back end of the chapter,
All Tom wanted was a stiff American whiskey, a proper meal, and some time with Jack and The New York Times crossword. Instead, it was English food, English weather, English manners, English superiority, English transportation and god almighty, English plumbing. He’d have to get Jack to a proper American dentist at some point, too.
As if divining his thoughts on just how wide the Atlantic really was between England and America, Major al-Masri asked, “Do you speak any language other than English, Colonel Clark?”
“Unlike your fellows back at the Park, I never studied Latin and Greek. I do a devastating mimic of a Boston Brahmin accent.” His own family’s storied history of arriving with the Puritans was mere gossip to these men whose familial estates were recorded in the Doomsday Book – odd to think that Tom’s ancestors would have been fleeing the ancestors of the men he was ordered to negotiate with. He understood the sentiments of his forbears very well at the moment.
“I am unfamiliar with the Brahmin, unless you are referring to the first principle of Hinduism or the priestly caste of India.”
“A caste, certainly, though not especially priestly, except in their own minds.” Tom had to laugh at the absurdity of an Adams or a Lodge dressed in one of those long shirts or loin cloths like what he’d seen in the papers with the British arresting Gandhi and all the leadership of India’s Congress Party because they dared to demand independence. The tactics of the Redcoats really had not changed all that much in the 172 years since the Boston Massacre.
no subject
Maybe I'm just grateful that you write at all, but I've never felt things were rushed, and I'm content to wait however long it might take for you to find the time to write more. We all have lives outside of fandom (I think), and it's unfair of me, as a reader, to demand you put your Real Life on hold just for my amusement.
Besides, most stories are like a good cup of tea--you just have to let them steep a little while before serving them.
no subject
no subject
The first chapter was abrupt? Really? I don't think it seemed that way when I read it but then again, it's been a while. At any rate, I do agree with
Colonel Clark's POV should be interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing what opinions he has on the Pevensies (well, Edmund and Lucy so far) and seeing if he and Asim will have a conversation about Edmund.
no subject
“When I saw him, he was also reading Sun Tzu’s Art of War and trying to master German in thirty days,” al-Masri said dryly.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Anyway, just thought I'd drop you a line. :)
no subject
As for the final chapter of TGD, I've not read it yet and I am sorry. I'm trying to hard to resolve this stupid chapter that is so long and covers so much stuff that I'm unusually focused on it. I am so proud of you for finishing and it's GREAT and also I think I don't want to read it because it means 1) the story is over and 2) there's going to be a train wreck and everybody dies.
no subject
TGD is hardly over in my mind-- I'll probably start posting the sequel next week, so don't be discouraged to read just because everyone dies in a train wreck. The aftermath is the fun part. *insert diabolical laughter*
no subject
On a vaguely related note, I would like to use this comment as a medium to proclaim that you and ALLLL of fandom should be devoutly thankful that when it comes to art, I have the eye but not the hands, because otherwise I surely would have engaged in Disney Heroes-type fanart glorifying the many OCs of yours I have grown to love so fannishly; and if that could happen, you would surely be traumatized and possibly never write again, and then everyone would hate me. Luckily, it can't! Though I still wish for an Asim centerfold and the answer to the long-pondered question of what he wears under those robes.
=]
no subject
“So, I have yet more meetings tomorrow – at which I shall keep an ear out for that troubling ‘table’ idiom – and hopefully thereafter complete a very important mission.”
The lightness in the al-Masri's tone made Tom think he could ask for further clarification without risking military secrets. “And the mission is?”
“I have a friend in Oxford whose husband is in the hospital. She is hoping I might find some chocolate for her. Real chocolate, not ration chocolate.”
no subject
Asim and chocolate? Filling Gillian's request, I see.
[And you may want to remove the extra "the" in the third line above... right before "al-Masri's tone...". :-) ]
no subject
no subject
Love the continuing excerpts, they're so cool. And yeah, go ahead and make the chapter big. We're all grown-ups here, and therefore have the attention span of something more than a gnat : ) (yeah, I know, not helping)
no subject
I'm being really longwinded, but what I want to say is that your writing is the Narnia fanfic I didn't even realize I wanted to read. I love obscure pairings and LOVE friendship-romance, so "Under Cover" struck all the right notes for me. But beyond that, I loved that you portrayed what it might be like for a new Friend of Narnia to return to our world and adjust how to live here. Why did it never occur to me to think about what that would be like!? As I said, I have no frame of reference within this fandom, but I thought your insights were brilliant, subtle, and well-written. I also loved the voice you gave you Eustace. That's what led me to read the rest of your work (I'm still working my way through the shorter pieces at FF.net) and TSG series has even more of what I liked in UC.
I'm attracted to character-driven stories and I can see how much care you've taken to differentiate all the characters' voices. You've managed to make the four Pevensies really noble and admirable while at the same time giving them believable flaws. Not an easy line to walk. And you've somehow created original characters who are not only NOT annoying, but actually attractive. I don't know about Narnia fandom, but in all the other fanfic I've read that's extremely rare. I don't actually completely agree with your interpretation of some of the canon characters (my sense of Lucy is a little less... wild, I guess?), but even where I would interpret differently, I can see your characterization as internally consistent and working with canon. It's not my interpretation, but if I tilt my head and squint, I can see yours makes perfect sense as well. I like that you created real, believable, deep relationships between your characters, especially relationships that AREN'T romantic or sexual in any way. That's another thing I think suffers in most fanfic. While part of me understands the impulse to ship everything that breathes/everything else that breathes, it's not at all realistic (or even healthy?). And we lose out on so much that is beautiful and moving that way. I'm talking about the way you've drawn the sibling relationships among the Pevensies, but also relationships with/among other characters, like Susan with the Colonel or Guy.
I also appreciate the complexity and thoughtfulness of your stories – you're not afraid to tackle questions that don't have straightforward answers. From some hints in your author's notes and then some of your posts here, I can see you've had doubts about your own approach. That's why I thought I'd leave you a note – my usual tendency is to lurk in new-to-me fandoms but I can make exceptions when I've come across something that's given me so much joy! I also wanted to make sure you don't mind if I add you to my f-list, since you post a lot about your writing here. I eat up the meta stuff. :-)
Thanks again, and I can't wait to read more.
~Katharine
PS talk about longwinded! Yikes. But guessing from your author's notes that maybe you don't mind. :-D :-D
no subject
In any event, thank you so much for coming out of lurkdom. I had lurked on Pemberley for a time and then some of my favorite stories disappeared and the updating was so very slow...
As for this fandom, hmmm. I love certain of the authors very much and I've found an amazing group of women through the story. But, yes, I do have my doubts both because of the nature of the fandom and because of the subject matter. I'm cognizant of fandom fails involving race and writing people of color, I worry about inserting fan fiction into things like the Holocaust, I worry about writing what has turned into historical fiction. And, as it seems, some (many) of my readers are better educated and smarter than I am. PLUS, there is the added issue of the fandom itself and its condemnation of content that is deemed "un-Christian."
This makes for doubts. The concurrent decline in reviews with the end of TQSiT and the later chapters of Harold and Morgan also contributed to the nagging doubt. It's a pretty constant companion and it's my problem not that of anyone else.
As for the OCs, thank you and I'm glad you liked them, even if I do have the habit of killing them off. On the Spare Oom side, what I've enjoyed doing is writing OCs to fill particular slots in the journeys of the characters. As one of the thematic elements of the work is the diversity of Narnian culture, that has meant working to write different cultures here and to show them as truthfully and colorfully as possible.
Also, with a few exceptions, most of the OCs are older because I'm interested in giving the canon characters mentors, not long term, love is forever romantic partners. There is sex and romance in the background, but it's not the point of the story -- a genre called "Bob fic" I guess
So, thank you, and welcome aboard and I hope you won't be a stranger. I enable anonymous posting everywhere so you can comment here or on FF.net.
no subject
Anyway, I myself have written fanfic that got a mixed reception, so I hear you. (I wrote Mansfield Park fic in which Fanny doesn't end up with Edmund! Then I wrote fic in which she DOES end up with Edmund! Between the two, I managed to alienate all readers of MP. Hehe.)
In my experience, fanfic that is more complex than the typical fluff tends to get less response than fanfic that appeals on a broader level. Were people mad that you killed off a character at the end of TQSiT? I thought that was a brave choice, but it also felt necessary to the storyline because you were so careful to set it up with foreshadowing. It didn't feel like artificially inserted angst. I mean, you're writing about wartime, after all! That scene was sad all right – it actually made me cry – but I thought it was beautifully handled.
Similarly, for what it's worth I think your respectful attitude to the real history is obvious to any observant reader. You don't make any flip comparisons about the seriousness of the Holocaust, or minimize the unpleasantness of what really occurred in war.
I think you're selling your OCs short, btw. They feel much more real than just slot-fillers, or cardboard representatives of "diversity." Of course making them cardboard would be counter-productive to the ideas you're setting forth, but I think many writers would have made that mistake. As I said, a lot of my love for the Narnia books is childhood nostalgia and there's nothing wrong with that, but I find it exciting to have new ways to appreciate their themes on a more adult level. I hadn't really thought about parallels between a the thriving culture of Narnia at its best, and diversity in Spare Oom, and how you handle those interactions.
Crap! Comment too long to post. Okay this is part one. Ha.
no subject
As for Christianity and morality... well. I'm a Christian, and from a fairly conservative background. I don't really know how to describe myself anymore, because as my own faith journey has progressed I've become more stringently conservative in some areas and a LOT less conservative in other areas. I neither fall completely into the conservative Evangelical circle, nor into the usual liberal camp. I don't imagine that you and I would agree on the validity of every traditional Christian moral requirement, just reading between the lines here. To stop being obscure and just state the obvious, my expectation for Narnian/Christian sexual morality is possibly not exactly the same as yours. I like the idea that it should be dependent on the God-given nature of the creature, in Narnia. I'd have stricter expectations on the humans, though.
But that doesn't really bother me. And is your choice as author, anyway – I guess I don't expect all authors to write to my personal demands. I am weird, I know. What bothers me more is people oversimplifying Christianity. The truth of God's calling to live as Christians in our world is both more difficult and more all-encompassing than I think American Christian churchy culture has made it out to be.
Considering your fic doesn't focus on romance, as you said, but on exploring issues that are surprisingly real and deep for fanfic, maybe it's easier for me to ignore things I might disagree with. But sadly, I'm not surprised that you get reactions that do the opposite – OMG SHE WROTE ABOUT SEX. And worse, tolerance!! Teh horrors.
Errrrr... you shouldn't encourage me to be more longwinded. I don't even know where that came from. I'm not usually so up-front about my opinions with people I barely know – I don't even know whether you consider yourself a Christian, or where you're from (geographically). Chalk it up to your writing being very thought-provoking. :-)
no subject
Well this is the beauty of fan fic and the community that builds around it. My first fic, over 15 years ago, brought me to a group of women who I count today among my closest friends today. I've been very embarrassed that I've been playing so much over here, so most of them don't even know that I was so deep into the Wardrobe -- well they know I tend to hide my ficcing -- but they didn't know I was writing Narnia. They thought I was doing Twilight smut. Which lead me to the tag line: "It's better if they think you are writing Twilight smut than know you are writing Narnia fan fic."
Which brings me to the morality/tolerance point. It surprised me that this was even an issue. I had read plenty of Narnia fic before and had not picked up a hint that it was an issue given the popularity of stories featuring love triangles and rape. I'd seen a lot of the brother fic/bromance stories that read very slashy to me. I caught flack in my first fandom for writing alcohol, but oddly, the minor sexual content went by without comment. So, the objections caught me by surprise.
Yes, I am sometimes immature and gratuitous and I appreciate that some readers roll their eyes when they get to a point, and wonder, why did she have to do that? Why did I have to go THAT far? And as you fairly point out, I could highlight the different animal and non-human cultures of Narnia without having the humans partake of it.
The differences in bonding and social relationships in the animal kingdom and the mythological roots of the satyrs, fauns and dryads became a quick way to set up the cultural dichotomies. There were others, but that was the quickest and most dramatic and the easiest to grasp. From there, I posit that if you grew up in an environment that was so different, it would change you, profoundly. Moreover, you would return to a place that was, after WW2 in the throes of profound cultural change as well. And those changes, how an Empire fell and became a commonwealth and a polyglot of cultures and races and the challenges of all that, became the inspiration for TSG.
Since then, I've gone deeper. Things like the moral use of power, whether terrible ends justify dubious means, nation building, how far the right to be left alone extends, elder care issues and Richard's desire to suicide, justice tempered by compassion and so on. I don't like piling on the angst for all that these are heady issues, but I've found Narnia to be a very easy place to play with these things. And I've really enjoyed and am very privileged to have met some remarkable women along the way.
Oh look who else is longwinded!!!
Thanks so much!
no subject
Oh, and another thing! See, you may be long winded, which really you are not at all, but I am even more so. The point about Lucy is well taken and her character has very much progressed for me. She was the last character I really worked with, the last Pevensie point of view and for a long time I assumed she was the least in need of work as she was further along in her Spare Oom journey than her brothers and sister.
A lot of fan fic has Lucy's siblings, especially Peter and Susan, constantly trying to protect her because she is too young. Or, she's shown as the dancing, singing, golden girl who is a bad cook.
When I wrote her letter to Peter in Chapter 4 of Part 1 of TSG, I did not at the time realize how prescient it was. That letter, and her doubts, are critical and though it has occurred off camera, we see some of the further fruition of the questions she begins to ask in that letter in later chapters -- when she talks with Peter in Chapter 1 of TQSiT and now most recently in AW with Polly and Digory.
Further, I made the deliberate choice of giving her a Guard who was female, a soldier, a wife, and eventually a mother. Briony as a role model for Lucy is very important for I assume that there is nothing that a male wolf can do that a female wolf could not do equally well and so any attempts to protect Lucy because she is a little girl are just going to fall on literally deaf ears. There is Aslan's specific charge to her in The Palace Guard that having Briony as Guard will allow Lucy to do what she wishes to, should, and must do. She will accomplish what she needs to do with Briony at her side.
But, all this means that there is a very fierce, independent, valiant, fearless quality to this vision of Lucy. She is also, as shown later in her "talks to dead people and God," a real saint like quality. This combination -- the spiritual certitude and being literally "raised by Wolves" will unfold in Part 3. I do not see Lucy as being a comfortable person to be around.
The other story I'm aware of with a similar interpretation of Lucy is in Anastigmat's Breaking the Borders.
So, I'm glad you can see it even if it's not consistent with "head canon!" Thank you again for the thoughtful comments!
no subject