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A Matter of Appearances  by Lindelea 2 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 4/25/2007
Okay....

I am still waiting for other stories to be updated, of course! Heh!

Author Reply: Of course. If only the Muse would work on autopilot. I'd love for the other stories to be updated, too.

But thanks!

Little hobbits send their best regards.

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 8/2/2006
I'm really surprised to read this note. I would never have guessed at a light-hearted story or a comedy from either what has been posted so far, or even from the synopsis you've posted here. And I have to admit, I'm a little worried about the character death warning on the synopsis.

I also have to admit that I really like this period in the timeline. Pippin's not quite as sure of himself as he will be, Ferdi's quite irascible, Farry is vulnerable and there's the feeling that things aren't quite settled yet in the Tooklands. I think it's a valuable place to explore Pippin's character, and the relationship between him and Ferdi that still has a ways to go.

But I did wince in the earlier chapter where Ferdi takes yet another blow to the head. It's amazing he has any brains left to scramble. Can't wait to see how you get them out of this mess. It seems that the time crunch has eased up for you just a little lately, and I hope you get more time soon to develop this story.

Author Reply: Well, what spun off of Where the Love-light Gleams *was* a comedy, just as that one was oddly enough a comedy (Everyone, including Ferdi by the end of it, thinks Ferdi's hit his head when really he's been given too much medicinal brandy by too many helpful people. Perhaps not a comedy, some might think. But it's supposed to be). Ferdi got rapped on the head and...

When the story was originally worked out, there was no "character death" warning and the PG-13 was strictly precautionary.

But editor-friend and I were talking over lattes, and I started free-associating and spinning off different ways the plot could go and she seized on something and wouldn't let it go. She said she wanted to go for "thoughtful, even a little sigh-producing" rather than comic.

And so the comic story will have to come next, I guess. Hope it turns out comic. Dana laughed on the phone when I described one scene to her, anyhow.

Whew. Writing is hard work!

Author Reply: p.s. I winced as much as you did when Ferdi got this latest blow. It was supposed to be a fairly light tap, considering the original plot, not enough to crack his skull or anything but enough to send him into temporary amnesia (I'm told brain swelling can do that, though usually not so dramatically as you might see on television. Poetic license, I guess. Anyhow, for the sake of the "memory-loss" plot it's a given).

But the original free-associating spun off something rather more serious, and while I'm not really keen on doing Ferdi any more bodily harm than perhaps a hangover (and already BTDT), I'm doing the best that I can while obliging a birthday request.

(And editor-friend says I write best under duress, imagine that.)

Author Reply: p.s. (I keep getting interrupted, and I've had too much coffee today which makes me wordy.) The plot didn't even change until after chapter 2 was posted! The angst warning went up somewhere between the posting of chapter 2 and the finishing of chapter 3.

How difficult it is to change horses in mid-stream!

I will stop nattering at you now and try to do something constructive!

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