[Meme] first lines of imaginary sequels

[edenfalling]

Found via askerian:

Pick one of my stories and I will tell you the first line (ETA: okay, the first few paragraphs, on the theory that context is more interesting than concision) of its sequel. Even if I was never actually planning to write a sequel. Even if it already has a sequel -- I'll give you the first line of another version of its sequel!

Do not ask me about "Strange Likenesses," because I don't yet know how that will end (basically, there is the wildly unlikely happy ending, several variants of the rather likely inconclusive ending, and the semi-likely 'rocks fall, everyone dies' ending). Everything else is fair game.

-----

Sequel snippets written so far:

for The Way of the Apartment Manager (So how did Naruto wind up friends with Sakura by the start of "Guardian"? I will probably continue this at some point.)

for Lemonade (Thus proving that I do so know where the story's going.)

for Endurance (This one turned into an actual fic, 900 words long. *headdesk* I am not sure how 'canon' this sequel is, though, as I'd left "Endurance" inconclusive for a reason.)

for New Horizons (ie, the story in which Ginny, Harry, and Draco have a post-DH-epilogue threesome in Greece. Naturally there are repercussions. *grin*)

for The Two Secretive Princesses (925 words on Toph and Mai during Ozai's invasion of Toure-on-Marsh. Rather dark.)
---[[or the more canonical version, which includes fewer deaths and more mentions of Aunt Ermintrude]]

Comments

warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[edenfalling]

Confession: I have never actually understood a lot of the vehemence with which people accuse Lewis of mistreating Susan. Yes, she does a silly, thoughtless, hurtful thing -- pretending that Narnia isn't real and turning away from her family -- but she's young. She has her entire life to return to Narnia, if she wants to.

And the reason she doesn't go to Aslan's country is very simple: she's not dead. Which to me says that she's the only one who has a chance to do anything meaningful with her life. I feel horrible for what Susan must suffer as the only survivor of a cruel, senseless tragedy, but in a way I feel more sorry for the others -- they die, they watch Narnia die right in front of them, and they have no chance to make a difference in the world anymore. All Lewis's descriptions of "real" Narnian scenery and joyful reunion scenes cannot make up for the characters' basic helplessness and irrelevance at the series' end. Susan, in contrast, still has a future.

Anyway, I always figured that Susan was going to live the rest of her life on her terms, whatever they ended up being. What she does in "Remembrance" is one way of taking the lessons about responsibility and love she learned in Narnia and putting them into action in our world, which Aslan himself implies is half the point of their adventures. (Also, I wanted to write a "Susan regains her faith" story that did not involve Susan getting married, if only for variety's sake. *grin*)

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

Good point. I don't have strong feelings for Susan - she's the Pevensie who never really "clicked" with me, compared to Peter especially. I think the people who do have the issue are the ones who look at Narnia as a religious allusion... and it troubles them that she only got one shot.

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[edenfalling]

Funny -- Peter is the Pevensie who is most opaque to me. I find it much easier to get at the other three. (I do have a very strong idea of what is IC for Peter and what is not. I just find it hard to get inside his head.)

I think the people who do have the issue are the ones who look at Narnia as a religious allusion... and it troubles them that she only got one shot.

And this is where they lose me, because how does anyone get only one shot? So far as I can tell, Lewis's position is that as long as you're alive, you have the option to, I dunno, convert or repent or whatever. Infinite shots! Susan just missed one highly specific chance; she'll have lots more.

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

I see Peter more as an archetype than anything else - the golden boy. It's why I had issues with the PC movie. But I love playing with archetypes, so that's why I like writing him. honest to god, I'm one scene away from completing my "Peter fic."

As for Susan, I totally agree with you. But people want the happily ever after spoonfed to them.

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[edenfalling]

Peter's mischaracterization was the worst part of that movie, hands down. (Well. Mischaracterization if we're relying on the books. It made sense in terms of Disney's own version of LWW, but since I think that was mischaracterization too... *sigh*)

I like happily-ever-after as much as the next person, but bittersweet and complicated is so much more interesting. :-)

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

*nods* I didn't like him as the standard "angry teen." Totally destroys what he represents (EDMUND is the angry one, thanks).

Life is bittersweet, after all.

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[firedawn.livejournal.com]

Jumping in this discusion once again months after the fact, but I just wanted to say that book!Peter is much too responsible and mature to be up to all that he's up to in the film. I am so bitter about what they did with his character, but glad they didn't screw up Edmund's redemption for me.

Re: warning: long and slightly ranty comment ahead

[edenfalling]

I suppose they did better with Edmund because the books already give him flaws (and therefore a ready-made emotional growth arc), whereas Peter comes off more static, and they therefore felt a need to dirty him up a bit. It is perfectly possible to write an already good and noble person having an emotional growth arc -- one doesn't have to express self-doubt or a sense of loss by being an immature jerk -- but apparently that is beyond Hollywood in most cases. *sigh*