|
I just broke 20,000 words on Wings of Song! I've been planning on it being somewhere between 40-50,000 words, so I am either already halfway there or nearly so. I'm so pleased!
It's changed enormously from Meggie of Green Gables. The main character is now named Julie, and in personality she's much more like a younger Gwen than Meggie. I've given her the three siblings, like Gwen, too - Jamie, Maisie, and Nicky. AND a living mother. No more twins, no more dead parent - I'm trying to move away from MG cliches.
She's half Mexican-American (her maternal great-grandparents moved from Mexico to California in the 1800s) and half Scottish-Canadian (her father's many-times-great-grandparents came to Canada from Scotland), and it's been interesting having a main character of an ethnicity different from my own, without making it a book about being Hispanic in the 1930s - because that is definitely not the point, just as the Depression is present but not the point of the story. It's a juggling act, but so far I think I'm keeping all the balls in the air.
Peter, Bran, and Polly are still there - I couldn't do away with them. And Peter and Julie are friends much as Peter and Meggie were, though I'm trusting it's a bit more realistic given the age gap now than it was before.
Johnny will be showing up, too - he's actually making his appearance in the chapter I'm writing now. I'm trying to tone down the melodrama with him, too, without losing much of his personality.
It's been so much fun combining the two stories and from there coming up with something of the flavor of each, but a new story all its own.
I still haven't decided on Will or Tryg for Julie's eventual suitor (or Oliver or Hawk for the rejected one, for that matter) - but those are questions for later stories. For right now, I'm just having a blast writing a wholly MG story.
Cathy, how is your new Bertha story coming? Adrienne, I STILL haven't seen Frozen, so I haven't been following your Frozen fic, but if I ever do see the movie, I'm planning on reading your fic right after.
It's changed enormously from Meggie of Green Gables. The main character is now named Julie, and in personality she's much more like a younger Gwen than Meggie. I've given her the three siblings, like Gwen, too - Jamie, Maisie, and Nicky. AND a living mother. No more twins, no more dead parent - I'm trying to move away from MG cliches.
She's half Mexican-American (her maternal great-grandparents moved from Mexico to California in the 1800s) and half Scottish-Canadian (her father's many-times-great-grandparents came to Canada from Scotland), and it's been interesting having a main character of an ethnicity different from my own, without making it a book about being Hispanic in the 1930s - because that is definitely not the point, just as the Depression is present but not the point of the story. It's a juggling act, but so far I think I'm keeping all the balls in the air.
Peter, Bran, and Polly are still there - I couldn't do away with them. And Peter and Julie are friends much as Peter and Meggie were, though I'm trusting it's a bit more realistic given the age gap now than it was before.
Johnny will be showing up, too - he's actually making his appearance in the chapter I'm writing now. I'm trying to tone down the melodrama with him, too, without losing much of his personality.
It's been so much fun combining the two stories and from there coming up with something of the flavor of each, but a new story all its own.
I still haven't decided on Will or Tryg for Julie's eventual suitor (or Oliver or Hawk for the rejected one, for that matter) - but those are questions for later stories. For right now, I'm just having a blast writing a wholly MG story.
Cathy, how is your new Bertha story coming? Adrienne, I STILL haven't seen Frozen, so I haven't been following your Frozen fic, but if I ever do see the movie, I'm planning on reading your fic right after.
Oh, I WISH I could read along like I could with your fanfic! This sounds amazing and I want to know more. I'm trying to picture Julie and to reconcile her with Gwen and Meggie. Are Peter, Bran, and Polly still adopted? Is their backstory the same?
I haven't written much more but I'm slowly fleshing it out. Right now I am trying to decide whether I have Ruby meet Jordan Gray after she saves him from drowning. I like the idea of them never really having met or even seen each other (except when she's pulling him out of the water) or if that's too abrupt. We'll see...
I know! I wish I could read chapter by chapter like on ff.net! I'm trying to cleanse my mind of Meggie and Gwen, so Julie can be an entirely new creature to me.
Cathy, I would maybe have them meet briefly meet. It may be because L is going through a Disney movie phase, but to not have them meet seems a little Little Mermaidish to me.
Cathy, totally omit my previous comment. On thinking of it, I kind of like the idea of their not meeting more than the other way around. Especially if that's what you had in mind to begin with, because you have this seedling of a masterpiece growing in your mind. If that's what your main instinct is for it, then go for it. To do anything else would make it less than what it could be.
I've been planning on offering you ladies first critique of the story anyway, so hearing that you want to be reading chapter by chapter is encouraging. If you're really curious, I could send you, or maybe make a Google doc and share it with you, the chapters that I have already finished.
I'm on board with the never meeting idea, it seems to make the letter writing more meaningful. But like Adrienne said, go with your gut on this! Trust your instincts.