Thanks so much and it's lovely to hear from you! Hope all is going well!
I really should have added some links to the importance of maintaining your beauty to keep up morale that I found. That was something that came up as I was working through Jill and the bundle of traits I wanted to develop. She is such a blank canvas. We know nothing about her background at all. It's funny. On FF.net I'm getting some reviews such as, "wait, the book must described Jill! You are going contrary to the book" and there is no description of Jill at all or her family.
I want you to get back to that AU too.
I'll think about the mysterious or confusing part. Some readers have mentioned not quite getting it, or wondering why Polly suddenly understands Eustace's protectiveness and then see later what I meant. I come at it several ways in the chapter itself, on the assumption that not everyone knew where I was going. The chapter has to stand on its own. I just didn't want to Polly to say, "Oh look, an African girl!" it would be clearer if I did.
I had a lot of problems defining Jill. I had been planning all along to link her with Kwong Lee and Lin Kun over cooking, culture, and gardening, and then with the AU, thought of pushing her doctoring -- which made adding Richard to the mix a nice thing, especially since from his viewpoint, her mixed race is very much like his own children and grandchildren. I was talking to myself in the car and realized that with her emotions and emotional intelligence, acting ability (from SC), her connection with the horses in SC, her being attuned to the Narnian stars (TLB), and my desire to have her be more creative and nurturing, that Jill as an artist would mesh nicely -- someone who is sensitive and tactile. I need to puzzle this out more.
I did give Eustace a lot of the lines that Edmund and Peter used in the first chapters of TQSiT. Someone said she really wanted more of an observation of Eustace's non-odious behavior -- Asim with a quirked eyebrow or something. And she was disappointed that we did not get Asim's pov when he saw Eustace for the first time. That he seemed too casual. I'm working some of that into the next chapter.
Also, something that occurred to me -- how is Ed going to react to a Narnian Friend, in England, who is closer in appearance to his wife than anyone else in their circle? That occurred to me late and I'm not sure how/if I want to go there. I don't want the whole, "they all look the same" because no, just no. This is one brain wave that I may just drop as really unnecessary. I don't need to find NEW excuses for Ed angst, but I could do a whole, "Why doesn't Edmund like me?" Errr... maybe not. Typing and thinking aloud here.
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I really should have added some links to the importance of maintaining your beauty to keep up morale that I found. That was something that came up as I was working through Jill and the bundle of traits I wanted to develop. She is such a blank canvas. We know nothing about her background at all. It's funny. On FF.net I'm getting some reviews such as, "wait, the book must described Jill! You are going contrary to the book" and there is no description of Jill at all or her family.
I want you to get back to that AU too.
I'll think about the mysterious or confusing part. Some readers have mentioned not quite getting it, or wondering why Polly suddenly understands Eustace's protectiveness and then see later what I meant. I come at it several ways in the chapter itself, on the assumption that not everyone knew where I was going. The chapter has to stand on its own. I just didn't want to Polly to say, "Oh look, an African girl!" it would be clearer if I did.
I had a lot of problems defining Jill. I had been planning all along to link her with Kwong Lee and Lin Kun over cooking, culture, and gardening, and then with the AU, thought of pushing her doctoring -- which made adding Richard to the mix a nice thing, especially since from his viewpoint, her mixed race is very much like his own children and grandchildren. I was talking to myself in the car and realized that with her emotions and emotional intelligence, acting ability (from SC), her connection with the horses in SC, her being attuned to the Narnian stars (TLB), and my desire to have her be more creative and nurturing, that Jill as an artist would mesh nicely -- someone who is sensitive and tactile. I need to puzzle this out more.
I did give Eustace a lot of the lines that Edmund and Peter used in the first chapters of TQSiT. Someone said she really wanted more of an observation of Eustace's non-odious behavior -- Asim with a quirked eyebrow or something. And she was disappointed that we did not get Asim's pov when he saw Eustace for the first time. That he seemed too casual. I'm working some of that into the next chapter.
Also, something that occurred to me -- how is Ed going to react to a Narnian Friend, in England, who is closer in appearance to his wife than anyone else in their circle? That occurred to me late and I'm not sure how/if I want to go there. I don't want the whole, "they all look the same" because no, just no. This is one brain wave that I may just drop as really unnecessary. I don't need to find NEW excuses for Ed angst, but I could do a whole, "Why doesn't Edmund like me?" Errr... maybe not. Typing and thinking aloud here.