wherein Liz blathers about "Secrets," as if that's anything new

[edenfalling]

Ha! Scene one of ch. 14 is defeated! I have said everything that needs to be said, and laid some groundwork for transitioning into scene two.

...Now I get to start writing scene two. *headdesk*

I am never sure, beforehand, how difficult any given scene will be to write. Sometimes I think they'll go smoothly and they take a couple thousand words and weeks of teeth-pulling torture. Other times I think they'll be long and complicated, and they resolve themselves in half an hour and a couple hundred words. So I am wary of predictions.

Scene two could be easier than scene one, since it involves fewer people and I think the specific emotional dynamics are more straightforward. Or it could be much harder, because of the particular characters involved (Ginny, Daphne, and Apple, mostly) all of whom are stubborn and prideful in some way. And I need to go back and reread the last couple scenes of ch. 13, because I think I lost my grasp on Ginny's emotional arc during my struggle with ch. 14 scene one -- I'm not sure where she ought to be in her recovery process by now. *sigh*

But still. I now have 2,125 words in rough draft. That leaves anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 words to go until I meet my self-imposed chapter length requirement, at which point I will either be done with the entire novel (OMG!) or will get to start working on an epilogue (please no).

*contemplates outline* Remind me why I do this to myself?

Comments

[smokyglass.livejournal.com]

Because we love you for it? Also, you can't really resist.

I loved the little Ekanu scene, and hope that someday you'll go back to that 'verse.

Tell me more about the Narnia genderswitch you were planning?

[edenfalling]

Oh, I am always fiddling away at some bit or other of Firsthome (Ekanu's world). I just don't post most of my work, because the vast majority of it isn't stories; it's background world-building.

The idea behind the Narnia genderswitch is to flip the Pevensies (and only the Pevensies... unless I go further, in which case I may flip Eustace as well, but probably not) and see what effects that has on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Instead of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, you'd have Mary, Stephen, Edith, and Laurence (called Laurie). They didn't get genderswapped by going to Narnia; they were simply born with the opposite of their canon sex. (I chose the names to reinforce that idea, and also because Petra, Edwinna, Lucien, and other closer variations of their original names do not sound at all like the sort of thing Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie would have attached to their children.)

Anyway, the original book is interesting because of the way it relies on readers' expectations about gender roles. The eldest is male, in charge, given to taking responsibility for the younger siblings, a warrior, and High King. What if you get a High Queen instead? What would a girl with Peter's personality be like after growing up in 1930s England and struggling with gender roles that don't have a place for authoritative women? What would a boy with Susan's personality be like, and how would he cope with an older sister like Mary? Would he be resentful? The third child, Edith, might well play up gender stereotypes and be the 'perfect girl' in an attempt to be unlike Mary, and then bitterly resent the way she's often ignored and taken for granted, because she, after all, is not causing trouble. What would the White Witch do to tempt a girl like that? And the youngest, Laurie, is open-hearted and cheerful and friendly like Lucy, but unlike Lucy, would now be expected to fight and take up male duties instead of being, oh, sort of a freelance prophetess? (That is to say, Lucy is the Pevensie who's closest to Aslan; how would Laurie balance that role with battles?)

Also, it plays havoc with Lewis's divisions of the siblings. You can't send Stephen and Laurie off to watch Aslan's sacrifice on the Stone Table, because Stephen at least will be expected to fight in the battle. Does Edith go in his place? If so, could she bear to watch Aslan sacrifice himself for her? (Edmund never had to go through that ordeal.) And what about the gifts from Father Christmas? Would Mary still get a sword? If not, would she argue? Remember, she thinks of herself as her siblings' protector, and would hate the thought of Stephen going into battle without her to watch over him. Yet she probably knows Stephen dislikes being 'mothered,' so to speak.

It's a fascinating muddle of ideas, and at the moment that's all it is: a muddle. But it may resolve into a functional plot and emotional arc at some point, and if it does, I am more or less resigned to start writing it. :-)

[slowmercury.livejournal.com]

Huh--I love this whole idea to death, and I've read your shorts set in this world and I really hope you do get the inspiration to write more here.

As for the Christmas gifts, maybe Mary gets a sword anyway in spite of being a girl? It would mean a lot to her, perhaps even be an emotional turning point. Getting given a sword by the Spirit of Christmas would be unimpeachable outside vindication that Mary's allowed to be her fierce protective self. That being bossy and bold don't have to be a bad thing just because you're a girl (if you can back your leadership up, which Mary can when she lets herself).

I'd also be curious as to when Edith splits from Jadis--if she walks into the relationship more aware than Edmund did (and as a mentee, she'd have to have more of her wits about her than Edmund did, since Edmund seemed to be in a perpetual state of denial) what exactly would it take to make her switch back?

[edenfalling]

As for the Christmas gifts, maybe Mary gets a sword anyway in spite of being a girl? It would mean a lot to her, perhaps even be an emotional turning point. Ooh, I like that! Thank you for the idea -- I think that will work very well.

Edith walks in somewhat more aware, but still without a full understanding of the situation. I think she got Jadis to tell her the bare bones of the prophecy of Cair Paravel, and is under the impression that if she gets her siblings to swear loyalty, they can be nobles under Jadis's rule. Having not met Tumnus nor heard the truth of the endless winter, and being very taken with the idea of a Ruling Queen, she considers Jadis's rule a good thing. Jadis might well have played along with Edith's ideas until she got bored, except then Aslan returns to Narnia and she decides it's better to be safe and kill all four children.

Jadis manages to hide her intentions from Edith for a bit, but eventually Edith catches on, at which point she switches back -- she may deeply resent her family, but she doesn't want them hurt, let alone dead. I'm not sure of the timing on all of this, so it's possible that Edith catches on to Jadis before Jadis realizes that Edith has caught on, and Edith tries to feed her misleading information, but that idea may come to nothing if and when I write the actual AU version of LWW. My ideas almost always change in the writing.

I am playing around with some ideas for a pre-Narnia character study of Mary, but they're not quite solid yet.