Blame Be_The_Moon -- Egotistical Meme
So my whining in the previous post generated a Harold and Morgan Plot The Narnia Census comment fic courtesy of autumnia keeperofqkeys and min023 I burned the dinner but it was fun. On the plus side, thanks for the lovely comments. I'm at 7,337 words, of which I'll probably use most of it, and I'm not half done, so that means probably another two parter. The problem is
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I had put this off for a long time because I was worried about researching early methods of road construction. The discussions of cast and wrought iron, glass, the reinforcement of Greek structures with iron, the Tey Bridge disaster and all that from Part 1 took forever. There were principles of mortarless construction that I thought Dwarfs would use and... well, you get the picture. So, I've never been completely satisfied with the details of that story. But, yeah, I know, people are really reading it for Peter, and it's always fun to write him from other points of view.
Peter, however, was a really challenge here given what I was trying to do thematically and to make it fit with the bigger Spare Oom story.
Another reason why I put it off was that I did not want to tie Peter so firmly to Narnia that the reader (and he) could not see that he is supposed to then transfer that zeal and commitment to England. This I find fault with in fanon which commits him so completely there that he doesn't do anything here but angst. Having done nation and democracy building myself (social institutions though, rather than infrastructure), I really have felt that the P's experiences in Narnia would translate to England post WW2.
On the other hand, without telling this story, I felt that something about Peter's specific choices when he commits to Spare Oom in Part 3 were missing for readers. It's my own fault -- but building up his animal expertise in Part 1, you sort of expect him to go into animal care and he doesn't. The point was to be that the Beasts and Beings were citizens, people, and he's supposed to take that commitment to those of Narnia and transfer it to the people of Spare Oom. That's Richard's essential message, not that animals are cool. Hey. Too late now.
For all that, I was tickled to be able to develop some things that to the outsider Princesses seems very shocking. Peter walks the Southern Road, camps out with (and drinks with) Dwarfs (though no swearing except in battle), and then there's all the mud and the struggle to fortify the levee and keep it wiping out the Rabbit Warren. She's dim, but the Princess is spot on in her perception that there's not a lot of room left over in Peter's emotional hierarchy for a single woman. His family, his country, and Aslan, take up a lot of room. And before you ask, yes, I'll get around to, eventually, dealing with that King marrying the land ritual. Bedlam mentions the idea but never wrote it. Here I just use it for Princess shock value -- note I did not say that there actually was rutting in the fields -- only that the Princess thinks there was such uncivilized conduct. I've not settled yet what I think the ritual is -- I could see individual groups coming up with the different things -- build a nest, answer riddles, etc.
Phew, long response, but a good question. So, short answer to the last part. In the end, I usually use almost everything I write. If it doesn't fit, I cut it, save it in my "Tash" dump, and then pull it out later. Some things end up being used in a different form, as with the excerpt of 2 days ago that ended up not being used as a quote but worked into dialog.
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Uh... and here I was thinking it was a silly setup tossed off because I couldn't think of anything in particular, being rather bad at creating prompts for other people to write (which is what this meme really is in disguise). And I get back this. Wow.
*scrolls up to re-read*
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One thing that he does seem to struggle with, somewhat ironically, is seeing people as Beings -- but perhaps that's only the flirting young women sorts. He doesn't quite seem connected to the people of Spare Oom yet, and that probably affects his desire to throw himself into dusty books. Or, more accurately, his lack of motivation to not throw himself into dusty books. Meeting the rest of the Russell household might help with this; every encounter with another person to whom he connects strengthens his ties to Spare Oom. He clearly isn't feeling the same responsibility for the people of Spare Oom that he felt (feels) for the people of Narnia. There's no reason why he should, particularly, since he hasn't been given charge of Spare Oom as he was given the care of Narnia, but it's clear that his next step has to be making that transition, from the responsibility of a King to the responsibility of an Ordinary Man (albeit one with great gifts).
And before you ask, yes, I'll get around to, eventually, dealing with that King marrying the land ritual. Bedlam mentions the idea but never wrote it. Here I just use it for Princess shock value -- note I did not say that there actually was rutting in the fields -- only that the Princess thinks there was such uncivilized conduct. I've not settled yet what I think the ritual is -- I could see individual groups coming up with the different things -- build a nest, answer riddles, etc.
If you actually write this, I will adore and worship you forever. The king-land bond -- in Narnia or otherwise -- is totally my thing, and is actually how I got into Bedlam's work. Someone said "Peter/Sentient Narnia" and I said "ZOMG WHERE?!"
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Yep, that's the challenge for Part 3 and, in truth, the oldest and most well developed parts of the story. As I wrote above, the Peter of Part 1 is a reaction to fandom. Some of fandom Peter I jettisoned entirely, but other parts I took up as a challenge, to fix. All those digressions with Richard are to this end -- the madness of the Englishman and the nation of shopkeepers in the Museum chapters, the analogy of the beaver rather than the bulldog, and then Peter finally reflecting that maybe he should try harder to love England as Richard does in the final Cross Pollination chapters. That boom de yada appreciation for this Creation and its people is a big part of Peter's journey, begun, but not finished and in for a period of arrested development before he FINALLY gets there. I don't really get much questions about this and I've wondered if readers saw it, or even remember it. I look back on those digressions and think, well, yeah, they seem pretty pointless, but there is a point buried in there I'm trying to make. The first Museum chapter is one actually that took A LOT of refinement and big chunks did get edited out so I could make these points. So, they stay in and even now, I wouldn't change them.
As for the ritual, yeah. I really want to go there. I've not done the research to know what other "marrying the land" rituals there are in mythology. The most obvious ones are fertility related and Mists of Avalon most prominently comes to mind. I'd love to try the Sentient Narnia too, but with Bedlam already having done it so powerfully, well, it would take some effort to do something differently -- though I could start by eliminating Edmund's role, Peter's madness, and Narnia's harshness. I am thinking it's more than just the land herself, and more than fertility/sexual, but the creatures are involved too, hence a series of challenges.
OK, really, I'll stop now. Really.
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What, you think I object to you getting long-winded and philosophical?
As for the ritual - the fertility/'royal marriage' type is by far the most prominent in historical terms, but fantasy is pretty free to play with the idea. I personally don't tend towards a truly sentient Narnia - no possessed!avatar as Bedlam writes - but more of a Presence in the mind/heart/soul of the king (or queen). And I think the people have to come into play, because borders are fluid; the sense of the nation is in the minds of the people who live in it, not truly impressed into the earth itself. That said, generations upon generations of people believing in the land leaves a mark. It would be, I think, rather like the feeling you get stepping into some of the older places of worship -- blindfolded, you'd know you were entering space that had been held to be sacred for years upon years.
Which parts of fanon!Peter were you rebelling against? Obviously the notion that there is nothing for him outside of Narnia and the associated angsting about that, but was there more to it?
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As to my rebellion, as my response to Min is above, I was rebelling against fandom Susan too. There were a lot of things that bothered me. I don't view Aslan as being cruel in all this, but being very benign and gentle -- everyone writes him being benevolent but then the P's are so miserable, you can't quite connect the dots. Miniver ended up describing it really well -- they are not cast of Eden when they leave Narnia. The Acts of the Apostles is the much better analogy and that's the title I'm running with for Part 3 (since titled Apostolic Way, or something like that).
I found the high Medieval or even Renaissance quality to the stories a bit strange when so many of the subjects don't have hands. My inspiration comes from Henry II and House Plantagenet. Granted, I also have a very naturalistic vision, taking Aslan's I am a True Beast statement literally, so this is the sort of place where there is animal hair everywhere. Eveline described it is as a grittier Narnia, and that's true. I do think there was a fair amount of military conflict and difficulty, but very little handwringing (for all that I'm dealing with death rituals now).
Further, most fandom stories are either Peter and Edmund First Person, or the pov of the Mary Sue OC. I was reacting to both of those conventions as well.
I really got tired of pretty girls make men do stupid things and there was so much of that in fandom. Granted, there's a lot of it in real life too, but I assumed that they were all very, very savvy as to seduction ploys from very early on. This was one of the reasons for Edmund's courtship contracts -- he was trying to manage the risk up front and diminish expectation. I assumed no stupid monarchs, so that meant they thought about things in very rational ways, in advance. There will be no Mordred scenarios either. The Dim Princesses are broad parodies of most of the conventions of Narnia romance, right down to the "learn business of governance." Even the good stories have these ridiculous reasons why women keep showing up and so I just called it for what it was -- attempted seduction. There is ALWAYS a love triangle and in fact, I've got a whole thing in my head for Part 3 that blows that one out of the water with basically a, "Don't be ridiculous! Why would I be interested in your brother when I'm sleeping with you" sort of thing. I could go on and on about this one -- I'm deliberately writing contra the typical Narnia romance, whether, angst, tragic, or happily ever after.
I guess that's some of it. There's probably more. OK, time to get cleaned up. I still smell like incense from last night's vigil Mass.
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