Stregoni Benefici, Chapter 10: Layman
Chapter Ten: Layman
London, England, 1667
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One of the things about good canon, in my opinion, has always been that there should be more going on than just a retelling of what might have happened to the characters in any given time period. It’s one of the reasons I don’t fault people who say they find canon fic boring; the truth is, much of it can be. The strongest canon fics have purpose unto themselves; the characters have a story arc and conflict and growth just as they would if they weren’t part of a larger story.
When I set out to write Stregoni, my challenge was to find what the arc was for it. Where is the story in Carlisle’s background? And, with the help of M, my friend of ten years who gives me much inspiration for my stories, I realized that the story of Stregoni is the story of turning Edward; that in some way, each and every bit of every chapter leads us closer and closer to that evening at a hospital in Chicago in 1918, when Carlisle makes the decision that will change his life forever. It’s not enough just to write Carlisle’s history-it’s too long and too circuitous for that. Plus, he is far too purposeful a man to tell his story without purpose.
Making that happen, however, continues to be a right sight more difficult than I thought. Despite that this novel has an outline more detailed than any I’ve ever written (if you’re familiar with Moleskine’s Cahier line, this story has a cahier all to itself), segments of it keep throwing me far off kilter. Chapters 10 and 11, the current one posting and the one just finished being penned, turn both the 1667 and 1918 plots to deeper conflict-Carlisle’s struggle with his father becomes more defined, and he now knows he has to make some decisions if he’s going to keep Elizabeth the way he’d like to. My beta was kind enough to throw this one “back over the wall” as I like to term it, i.e., she asked for some revisions to change the shape of the argument between William and Carlisle. All in all, I don’t know how much I tweaked it (I’m sure Openhome will tell me), but getting the movement between these two to feel right is complicated, to say the least.
At any rate. Enough of me rambling on about it. Go read it, if you haven’t already. I’ll be curious to hear what people think.
Also, many, many thanks to those anonymous souls who keep assuring that SB pops up on fanfic award nominations all over fandom. I am floored and continually humbled. Although SB didn’t win in its category for the Hopeless Romantic Awards, “Form 1040” took home “Best Renesmee” (which I find surprising, as I personally hated her before writing that fic), and it absolutely made my day.
Thank you, as always, for reading.