The Piano, Chapter 8 (now complete)

[logastellus]

The soft whirr of the CD spinning up in his alarm clock wakes Wilson.  He shuts it off before the CD begins playing, and turns his head to look at Julie.  She is asleep, still and peaceful.

For once, he feels pretty peaceful himself.  He knows things are still not well between

Comments

[evila_elf]

Awww *sniffles* Beautiful ending!
I can't find the words to express how much I enjoyed this whole story...
...and the piano playing at the end---perfect!

[logastellus]

Thanks! The piano made little cameos throughout, but I really wanted to bring things around full circle at the end.

This has really been a satisfying project, I've had a lot of fun with it. It's always good to hear that others are enjoying it too! Thanks for reading, and for taking the time to comment.

[wanderingwidget]

A perfect ending, and I especially liked the detail about the chopsticks, they would be so very much House ^^

[logastellus]

Hee! I love little details like that, they're ever so much fun to write. So glad you liked the fic!

[genagirl]

That was just perfect - Wilson's anguish, nearly being sick, driving to House's place w/o conscious thought. I loved the quiet dinner, the piano - everything.

[logastellus]

Thank you! This was an exceptionally satisfying chapter to write. Most of the middle of the fic was very chatty, lots of dialogue. I wanted to end it the way I began: in Wilson's inner spaces, in his silences. I'm glad you enjoyed reading it!

[pwcorgigirl]

Oh, so lovely. I sat down and re-read the entire eight chapters straight through, and everything you did came together beautifully in this one. I love Wilson's amusement at House's jealousy (you have the cadence of Wilson's voice down perfectly), how much he enjoys driving his safe Volvo but understands why House loves the raw forward motion of his bike

[logastellus]

Thank you for this incredibly thoughtful and insightful review, and for all of the wonderful encouragement you offered me along the way. In retrospect, from a reader’s perspective it was probably a mistake to post this in chapters - the way the themes and relationships build upon one another, it probably needs to be read in one sitting instead of broken up in pieces. Unfortunately - and this is entirely my failing - I don’t think I could have written it any other way. I was undoubtedly quite foolish to attempt something so complicated for my first venture into Housefic; there was a good chunk of time in the middle when I despaired of my ability to realize the ideas in my head, and if it weren’t for a sense of obligation to the people who had read and commented on the first few chapters, I would never have finished it.

“There's a very nice, very subtle bit of foreshadowing -- of real cruelty and the legal definition of it -- in Ella's conversation with House about killing her husband.”Heh. If only I could take credit for

[pwcorgigirl]

For a first venture into Housefic, you hit the ball out of the park!

I think it's a two-edged sword of a decision about whether to post during the writing of a long fic. Good readers can help you shape it with excellent feedback, but it's so painful to feel like you're blundering around in public with something. The one time I tried a multi-chapter fic (at one point I was juggling 11 characters, most of them major) I seriously doubted my sanity in the middle of it but didn't want to let down the people who were reading it.

Isn't accidentally clever a wonderful thing? I always think of that as the Muse putting in long hours while I'm off doing something else!

[logastellus]

That was "At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners"? Loved that. As soon as I finished it, I recced it to my roommate with a post-it note on her door that read "Go read this RIGHT NOW. This woman should be writing scripts."

"I seriously doubted my sanity in the middle of it but didn't want to let down the people who were reading it."
Yes, this was it exactly. Whatever I write next will be shorter, I think; but now I have a lot more confidence about my ability to complete a long piece. This has been a heck of a learning experience!

And hats off, all hail to the Muse, indeed. I did do quite a bit of very deliberate foreshadowing and echoing of themes among characters; it is startling and pleasing to see that the Muse gifted me with even more that I wasn't even aware of doing! It just reinforces the feeling that I am not so much writing these characters as they are speaking through my pen. Or keyboard, or something.

By the way, I love the new icon. It suits you. Though I'll confess that I do miss the doggie a little! :)

[green_ghost]

I didn't see the papers coming, I really didn't... knocked me for a loop. I really love the way you write Wilson/Julie. She's not a caricature and their interactions are so believable. The imagery in this last chapter was outstanding. This is one of the very best House stories I have ever read. I so hope to see more from you. Thank you so much!

[logastellus]

Oh, wow, thank you! I’m really glad that you enjoyed the story.

This was in some ways one of the easiest chapters to write, because I’ve known since ch.4 where I wanted things to end up, but also one of the hardest, because there were so many threads to tie up and I wanted to be really careful about tying them up enough but not too much.

I’m glad the papers came as a shock - they did to Wilson, too, and I was trying hard not to foreshadow that too much in earlier chapters, so the reader could feel his reaction.

I think I might like to write more Wilson/Julie sometime. I really enjoyed doing it here, and there’s a lot of fascinating psychopathology to explore in the area of Wilson and love/sex/intimacy.