Showing posts with label Gwen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gwen. Show all posts

20,000 and counting

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.

The Summer Between, Complete

I posted the last chapter (more of an epilogue than a full chapter, really) of The Summer Between this morning. The story has actually been complete for a while, but I just got lazy about posting it until I got some very annoyed reviews wondering if I was ever going to update again!

It will probably be a little while before I work at all on the next Gwen story. Original writing has kind of taken over my time lately (as it should be, I guess), but I hope to come back to Gwen eventually.

The final chapter is here. I hope you guys enjoy!

The Summer Between: Chapter 13

Since ff.net for some reason won't let me sign in to review there, I'll do it here.  It was wonderful reading this chapter!  I can't wait to read more!  I do hope that Ruth and the baby are both ok, and I JUST realized who the Wentworths are!  I love, love, love Persuasion, but it just never registered in my feeble little mind.

I worry that Tryg or someone close to him is ill, but I'm amused at how Gwen can now barely tolerate Oliver's presence at all.  It's a far cry from how things once were.  I like Hayden and Ava more and more, and can't wait to see the completion of their story.

Dilemma

I'm having a problem.

I'm almost done with The Summer Between, and I was planning on going right into the next chapter in Gwen's story, which would be the war.

However, between reading the original edition of Rilla of Ingleside, and watching Downton Abbey, I am finding myself increasingly drawn to writing something set during that period - which would mean a Diana story, her life at Redmond during the war years.

Unfortunately, I've only done the vaguest plotting for that period of time, and don't really have a real story set out at all for her. Should I keep going with Gwen's story, or follow my current whim and start writing Di's tale, even without knowing where exactly it's leading?

Review Response to Ruby/Connie

I would so like to know more about the adults in this story-Nan and Jerry's struggles, how Betty married into the family, the intriguing rivalry between Rilla and Di. You have created such a tangled web of bonds and rivalries and love and grudges that feels so much like a real family. I just can't get enough of it!
I'm so glad you left that review, Ruby/Connie - I have a lot of backstory in my head regarding the middle generation, and because it is all clear to me, I'm always afraid writing about them will end up coming across as muddled! So hearing that it just reads like a real family is nice.

I am considering writing a story that centers around Di, Nan, and probably Persis during the War, which would fill in a lot of those details - but we'll see if it ever happens! In the meantime, I'll probably just keep dropping little tidbits into Gwen's tales.

Sneak Preview of The Summer Between

“West House
“Glen St. Mary, PEI
“May 17, 1938
“Dear Gwen,
“How are you? Are you in the throes in final examinations? Goodness, I can’t believe that you are seventeen, and that next September will mark the start of your final year of high school. Have you decided on a college yet, or even if you are going to go on for further schooling?
“You think your aunt is being awfully chatty, but really, I’m just trying to soften you up for the request I’m about to make.
“You heard, I’ve no doubt, that I had a little cold this spring. It wasn’t anything serious, so I thought, but apparently there have been some complications as a result and the long and the short of it is that your uncles have confined me to my bed or, at the most, the sofa, for the duration of my pregnancy.
“I have reluctantly agreed, because although I think they are being paranoid, I don’t want to do anything to endanger this lovely surprise baby! The only question now is, of course, how to manage for the next four months? Winnie is still a harum-scarum, and though Ruthie is a gem, she is only seven, and it is entirely out of the question for her to take care of the house, me, and your Uncle Bruce. Mother Meredith, Aunt Anne, Lynde, and even Mary Douglas have all offered to come help out, but they of course all have their own homes to attend, as well. Besides—
“Well, I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I don’t really want any of them. All of them have their own way of doing things in a home, and I have my own way, and I can’t help but think that it’ll be far worse for my health for me to be upstairs in bed, fretting over having things done differently from how I want them. Bruce doesn’t agree, of course, but what do men know of these things?
“So I have resorted to shamelessly begging my favourite niece to come take pity on me. I know (because I taught you!) that you can cook, and any child raised by your mother can at least keep a house tidy, and the girls adore you. I could tell you exactly how I wanted something done, and I could trust you to do it. Lynde, I know, would do it her way regardless of what I said, because she is convinced her way is best (and it likely is, but it’s not my way); Mary wouldn’t even listen to me, and Mother Meredith and Aunt Anne would both try, but it would distress them terribly to try to change their ways now.
“Would you be willing to sacrifice your summer to help me out, Gwen? I know it’s a terrible thing to ask a young girl, but it wouldn’t be so bad; you’d still have plenty of time to go running down to the harbour as you loved to do two summers ago. Jack won’t be around, but Lynde is, and Oliver and the rest of your Owls, I know, have missed you dreadfully.
“If you’ve already made plans for the summer, or you’d rather not come out, please don’t hesitate to say so, and I will just make the best of what I have. If you do decide to come, though, the girls are already airing out the guest room for you.
“Write and let me know, and whichever way you decide, know that I’m always your loving,
“Aunt Ruth.”
&&&

“Kingsport, Nova Scotia
“May 21, 1938
“Dearest Aunt Ruth,
“My bags are packed! Tell the girls not to fuss too much about my room; that will be my job when I get there. My train comes in on June 2. If Uncle Bruce is busy, I’ll just make my own way to West House. I am so looking forward to ‘bossing’ you all about for an entire summer! Tell Uncle Bruce I expect him to toe the line.
“Give Winnie and Ruthie hugs for me, and a special pat to Baby. I will see you soon!
“Love always,
“Gwen.”

Season of Song

I have so many things I want to discuss about Season of Song, which was finished a few weeks ago. I really feel, Louise, this was your best work yet, though I have loved all of your stories. Gwen and Co, though, seemed so real to me, and so complex. The gray areas in this story reminded me so much of the Anne books. You wanted things to be perfect, but they weren't always, and that was so much more satisfying than if they were.

Some things especially I enjoyed:
  • The strained relationship between Di and Rilla, stemming from Walter's death. People in families don't always have to get along and I know that we all (me in particular) tend to make the relationships in the Blythe, Ford, Meredith clans a real love-fest. This way was bittersweet, but ultimately more realistic, IMO.
  • The relationship between Gwen and Oliver. Again, it's easy in fanfiction to telegraph who will end up with whom, romantically, from the beginning, or to set things up very early on. I really have no idea whether or not Gwen and Oliver Grant will take things forward that way, or if Tryg will feature or not, and I like not knowing.
  • The fact that Gwen didn't stay. Oh, I wanted her to! Just like I wanted Anne to be able to go to Queens at the end of AoGG. But Anne never would have left Marilla in the lurch, and Gwen never would have left her family. Neither of them would be half so loveable if they did.
What I'm looking forward to in the next installment:
  • Seeing Gwen and the Blake kids interacting with their parents, and seeing what life in Kingsport is like for them.
  • Seeing the relationship between Gwen and Chloe grow and change
  • Romance! :)
Louise, can you give us a preview of where the next installment will pick up, and what it will cover? Pretty please?
  • The

A Title!

I came up with a title:

Season of Song

It's taken from Song of Solomon, the verse that says: "Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing is come the cooing of doves is heard in our land." (Song of Solomon 2:12) Spring is the time of youth, of hope, and of promise, when everything is possible and life really does seem like a song.

So, since my heroine is fifteen, and WWII has not yet started, and the story is pretty much a coming-of-age tale ...

Season of Song it is.

And the heroine, Gwen Blake, looks something like this: