Chapter 17, Kiss me like a soldier headed for war
Chapter 17, Kiss Me Like A Soldier Headed For War is up.
A huge, huge thanks to those who read and reviewed the last chapter. One again, I owe lots and lots to Starbrow and pencildragon11 for their gentle encouragement.
A few research notes.
The Rainbow Room and here
Many fun things about Operation Mincemeat are here. Something I am finding very frustrating is that Mincemeat was part of the much larger deception campaign, Operation Barclay, and I'm finding very, very little about it. If you all know anything, please send me some links.
I have previously cited to the Little Kinsey report which every time I read of it makes me sadder.
And now we meet John Pevensie. There were about a zillion different ways this encounter could go, with John going from sloppy, drunken, maudlin mess, to suave sophisticate playboy, to absolute monster. I’ve previously said that he was one of the villains of the piece and I’ve obviously backed off from that. He’s a jerk, not excused, but understandable, and so very much a product of his time.
And yes, you are right, George isn’t being especially insightful into his own duplicity, is he?
Character blather below
As for Edmund, I could have written him as cool and completely in control to angst-filled PTSD. Again, I struck something in the middle. He manages, and very well, but it’s at a cost that is, for the most part, invisible.
I really wanted to do this from George’s point of view for just that reason. I don’t tend to wallow in angst, as you know, and I think it’s more interesting for the reader to know more than the point of view character.
I was cognizant of the fact that families tend to bring out the worse in each other and that doesn’t fade even in adulthood. I think that if Peter had been there, this would have been much worse with a potential return to the communicative and relational patterns of a destructive childhood. [When I was writing this, I began having vivid dreams of terrible fights with my own adolescent.]
I credit readers E and Clio with giving me huge insights in their comments. E had asked early in Harold and Morgan when we would begin to see that grave, compassionate Just King from HHB. Clio had focused on character change through the transformative power of love. I wrote that now oft-repeated line from BRD, “not father, brother or Peter” as a riff and a bit of mockery at fandom trope. Put this all together and I’ve been trying to build real growth for Edmund’s character from BRD to where he is now. The reason he can handle this now is because he has stopped pushing Morgan aside as “not relevant” and begins coming to terms in this world with how that relationship helped him become a better person.
Now granted, as happens over and over with me, things that were completely accidental end up fitting in to a larger arc. Such is the case here. I have a new reader who is now early in TQSiT and got to the wall of lilies and water where Edmund tells Peter he heard their dead. The reader was saying, “wait, WHAT?! You’re talking about Morgan, aren’t you?”
Fun fact: I had a lot of would-be readers abandon TQSiT in those early chapters because Edmund was longing for an unnamed female sexual partner and I was told in no uncertain terms that that was not appropriate or moral. I guess I should have said, “it’s his wife!” But when you do something that major, well, it took some time for me to get the courage to put on the page what my head canon was. I have that problem still and one reason I’ve struggled so much with AW lately is because I know what I want to do and I’m afraid to do it.
Morgan has become clearer over TQSiT and AW because Edmund is coming to terms with his loss, slotting that relationship where it belongs in his own emotional development and finding that by letting her memory in, it is helping him now. This also means that we don’t have the big character development for Edmund in AW other than that reconciliation of past and present. This is unlike Peter or Susan who do have some pretty significant leaps. Edmund’s challenges aren’t character growth so much as a choice of paths.
So, thanks!
A huge, huge thanks to those who read and reviewed the last chapter. One again, I owe lots and lots to Starbrow and pencildragon11 for their gentle encouragement.
A few research notes.
The Rainbow Room and here
Many fun things about Operation Mincemeat are here. Something I am finding very frustrating is that Mincemeat was part of the much larger deception campaign, Operation Barclay, and I'm finding very, very little about it. If you all know anything, please send me some links.
I have previously cited to the Little Kinsey report which every time I read of it makes me sadder.
And now we meet John Pevensie. There were about a zillion different ways this encounter could go, with John going from sloppy, drunken, maudlin mess, to suave sophisticate playboy, to absolute monster. I’ve previously said that he was one of the villains of the piece and I’ve obviously backed off from that. He’s a jerk, not excused, but understandable, and so very much a product of his time.
And yes, you are right, George isn’t being especially insightful into his own duplicity, is he?
Character blather below
As for Edmund, I could have written him as cool and completely in control to angst-filled PTSD. Again, I struck something in the middle. He manages, and very well, but it’s at a cost that is, for the most part, invisible.
I really wanted to do this from George’s point of view for just that reason. I don’t tend to wallow in angst, as you know, and I think it’s more interesting for the reader to know more than the point of view character.
I was cognizant of the fact that families tend to bring out the worse in each other and that doesn’t fade even in adulthood. I think that if Peter had been there, this would have been much worse with a potential return to the communicative and relational patterns of a destructive childhood. [When I was writing this, I began having vivid dreams of terrible fights with my own adolescent.]
I credit readers E and Clio with giving me huge insights in their comments. E had asked early in Harold and Morgan when we would begin to see that grave, compassionate Just King from HHB. Clio had focused on character change through the transformative power of love. I wrote that now oft-repeated line from BRD, “not father, brother or Peter” as a riff and a bit of mockery at fandom trope. Put this all together and I’ve been trying to build real growth for Edmund’s character from BRD to where he is now. The reason he can handle this now is because he has stopped pushing Morgan aside as “not relevant” and begins coming to terms in this world with how that relationship helped him become a better person.
Now granted, as happens over and over with me, things that were completely accidental end up fitting in to a larger arc. Such is the case here. I have a new reader who is now early in TQSiT and got to the wall of lilies and water where Edmund tells Peter he heard their dead. The reader was saying, “wait, WHAT?! You’re talking about Morgan, aren’t you?”
Fun fact: I had a lot of would-be readers abandon TQSiT in those early chapters because Edmund was longing for an unnamed female sexual partner and I was told in no uncertain terms that that was not appropriate or moral. I guess I should have said, “it’s his wife!” But when you do something that major, well, it took some time for me to get the courage to put on the page what my head canon was. I have that problem still and one reason I’ve struggled so much with AW lately is because I know what I want to do and I’m afraid to do it.
Morgan has become clearer over TQSiT and AW because Edmund is coming to terms with his loss, slotting that relationship where it belongs in his own emotional development and finding that by letting her memory in, it is helping him now. This also means that we don’t have the big character development for Edmund in AW other than that reconciliation of past and present. This is unlike Peter or Susan who do have some pretty significant leaps. Edmund’s challenges aren’t character growth so much as a choice of paths.
So, thanks!