rthstewart: (Default)
rthstewart ([personal profile] rthstewart) wrote2011-05-15 10:41 pm

Chapter 8, Two Hearts Day, H&M

So, I've done two things this weekend.  Work and fiddle with this chapter in my very sparse downtime.  Chapter 8 was clocking in at 17,000 words, so I've split it.  The first part of this chapter has been seen before here on the LJ, but it's tweaked with different spin and dialogue in places and more context that is consistent with the story.  I'll add comments to the anonymous reviewers shortly.

Thank you all, so much.  It means the world to me that  you are reading and commenting. 

And, on to anonymous reviewers Flavia and AM:

Flavia noted that with Edmund living closer to the way the real people do, with his lowly status, that perhaps he has a greater appreciate for Susan's domestic management. Further, you ask how Edmund deals with Morgan's devotion to her career and the extent to which his intelligence and ego conflict over this. The answer to the first question is reflected in the bigger Stone Gryphon work. In fact, Edmund does have a greater appreciation for Susan, though not necessarily domestic management specifically as he takes little notice of it, at least at first. You raise an interesting question, though, and that's one I'll keep in mind as I move forward through Apostolic Way.

As to the second point, there is not a lot of emotional self awareness in this couple. Something that started as a joke in By Royal Decree is actually a very important point in their relationship, that Edmund is not "Father, Brother, or Peter." For Morgan, she has zeroed in on Edmund with the same single minded zeal that she affords everything else. She will never give him cause to doubt her -- which started really as just a bash on the inevitable love triangle stories but has become something more. One reason why he is comfortable with her career so to speak is that he is very confident of her devotion and loyalty.

AM noted a couple of things. She noted that By Royal Decree seems a bit without plot in comparison to the plot heavy parts of Harold and Morgan, and that I don’t really build up more of the world, like the smashball game and banking regulations. She further wondered why I don’t tweak things and take my writing pro or self-publish.

BRD is plot thin because it was supposed to be one thing, a big joke on Edmund with the traitorous bitch in the corset. I would kill the Hound off in Part 1 of TSG and so this was Jina’s backstory. Morgan was introduced for one reason only, I wanted to do the riff on Edmund’s titles in Chapter 3 and he needed to say it to someone. Enter Morgan. It was never intended to carry a plot. When I started H&M, by chapter 4, I sensed that readers really disliked the story and so dropped it, perceiving, in comparison to the popularity of BRD, that the plot heavy qualities were part of the problem. I was going to drop this story until E asked for birthday fic and Anastigmat wrote Deny the Child. The plot of the Lone Islands part of the story has been drastically scaled back. The point of the story is how Harold and Morgan get to the end, what Edmund hears at the Wall of Lilies and how he carries this relationship forward into Spare Oom. It also reflects my view of the transition after the Four leave.

As for the pro fic. Hmmm. Well, been there, done that, got the t shirt, so to speak. Actually, a lot of t shirts. There was a time when I stood at the precipice and could have tried expanding my nascent pro fiction. The ducks had lined up. I decided to not go any further than I had. I do write professionally in technical fields and fan fic is what I love. So thanks, but this is where I'll be!

(Anonymous) 2011-05-16 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
Ooh, I got to enjoy this chapter with a newly opened bottle of wine. And now I get to review it, slightly tipsy. I had already read the Two Hearts Day portion you previously published (try typing that three times fast while slightly inebriated), but oh, the new stuff that has since followed... Though the truly tender moments can be few and far between for these two stunted individuals, when they do come up, they're oh so satisfying. Because I'm of the melancholic sort, I immediately thing of the adolescent boy of TSG dealing with memories such as these. Heart wrenching. Truly. I'm glad you picked up H&M again, though I was fortunate enough to not have had to suffer through the hiatus, having just found your work a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to Part 2!

--Indil
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[identity profile] rthstewart.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
you can review anytime! slightly tipsy or fully inebriated! It's so difficult to write them sometimes. I have a scene already written that occurs 2 years after this and there are things they really should say and they don't. One reader said that she thought Edmund would end up being the more emotionally open one but that this chapter seems to suggest Morgan. I write them sort of see sawing back and forth. But, Edmund was actually very forthcoming in this chapter -- more than he has before, and this is something of the pattern. They ALMOST get there, wherever THERE is, and then BAM something happens and sends them backwards. Two steps forward, one step back.

The adolescent boy of TSG is melancholy about this. He's heard Morgan, he's heard rumors and stories of what he might have left behind, I think there's probably some bits and pieces that could be added about that from DT if I really wanted to pile on the Edmund angst -- which I don't. He's going to bury it all and move on and I think it will come bouncing back again once the war ends and Mirrim (I think that's her name) wants to be his always and forever and Mr. Pevensie finally wakes up and starts paying attention.

(Anonymous) 2011-05-18 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
AHA. Yes, one of the topics on my list -- the father/son relationship, or rather, lack thereof. Mrs. Pevensie has proven to be a very dimensional character, and I look forward to the Mr. coming into play. On that note, I wonder how Edmund's relationship with his mother is? The dynamic between her and both Peter and Susan is fleshed out wonderfully.

(Anonymous) 2011-05-18 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
Dangit. That was me here. Accidentally posted before I could sign off.

--Indil
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[identity profile] rthstewart.livejournal.com 2011-05-19 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
I figured it was you! No worries. I guess there's a fair amount of fic in which Mr. Pevensie's favoritism toward Peter drives Edmund to the Dark Side and Jadis. I've not read it but it's easy to see why it's out there. I tend to approach this in such a way that whatever Ed's troubles were that got him into trouble, he's put it behind him. I think he has a good relationship with is mother -- I think Edmund has good friendships and working relationships with a lot of women. With his father, I'd like to think that at this point, Edmund sees his father pretty clearly as a deeply flawed man. Maybe residual sadness for what might have been, but pretty accepting? I don't know. I'll need to think about that and how I can turn the usual trope upside down.