Oh dear...

[azalaisdep]

Second Small Person has been having The Hobbit read to him - by me, the Resident Geek, and occasionally First Small Person - at bedtime for the last few weeks. Two nights ago he went up to bed in a state of great anticipation, announcing that "The Battle of Five Armies is about to commence!A little while later, I went up to say it was time for

Comments

[lindahoyland]

I used to make up new endings in my head all the time. I hope your son will soon get over being upset.

[azalaisdep]

I think he's just about forgiven JRRT now - partly through the teaser effect of the first chapter of LoTR, which was printed at the end of our copy of The Hobbit! He is a big fan of Bilbo, so now wants to get started on FoTR - though he has been warned that Bilbo only really comes in at the beginning and then right at the end...

[altariel]

Now you have the excuse to make up loads of new Bilbo stories for him.

[azalaisdep]

I've never tried writing fanfic for a junior audience! Would be interesting to see how well I could imitate Hobbit tone without coming off irredeemably twee...

[ysilme]

(I didn't let on that Mummy and lots of her friends have been doing this online at some length for years and years, and calling it fanfiction...)
Hahaha, we get them all eventually, we get them all! ;o))))

Sorry for this bit of fannish glee, but another mom on my flist shared the other day how her daughter got recently infected with fierce fandic reading, and I've been talking to my 6-y-o niece recently what to do when the book is through but one doesn't want the stories to end.

This being said, I'm so sorry for your SSP (lovely denomination, by the way!) to feel this pain and go through this, though I share your feelings - well-remembering the bitter tears over book characters, now as well as then, but rejoicing in the feeling a child can be moved so much by a story.
Are you going to write him a special story to ease his pain?

[azalaisdep]

I think it's an excellent bit of fannish glee :-) I may have to give some thought to a special Bilbo story (or a Thorin-and-Fili-and-Kili-live!AU...)

[mrowe]

Aww...

And hey, the fandom can always use new readers and writers; we'll be here waiting;-)

[azalaisdep]

With our specially-woven nets of Mirkwood spider-silk, natch ;-)

[curiouswombat]

Oh dear - I was older than him and it certainly gave me the sniffles! But yes, good to know he is so into the story... and now he can begin to work out how he would have had the story develop - and become a fanfic writer too!

(This message is brought to you by Virgin trains - I do love being able to communicate at 120+mph!)

[azalaisdep]

Nice to know both the train and the wifi were in full working order! I may have to explain the concept of the AU (both he and First are entirely at home with the idea of the crossover, given how often their imaginary games involve conflicts between, say, the Star Wars Lego characters and their medieval knights, occasionally with dinosaurs thrown in...)

[jay_of_lasgalen]

Ah, bless him. I understand what you mean about being torn - of course you don't want your child upset, but it's wonderful that his imagination has been held like this and he's realising the power of a story.

I know I'm going to cry at the end of the third film :(

I like your solution. Who knows, you may have a budding writer on your hands!

[azalaisdep]

It does also demonstrate what different characters he and First are - First loves The Hobbit too and he and I are currently well on into TTT, but I don't think it would ever have occurred to him to cry over a book. Second gets a lot more emotionally involved (in films/TV as well as books - he still can't watch Doctor Who!) whereas First just wants a rollicking plot and plenty of fights ;-)