Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

Trials and Tribulation  by Larner 4 Review(s)
Eirinn LeighReviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 7/21/2015
As someone considered a bit 'off kilter' by most I meet, and who is trying to find where I might fit as a square peg in a mostly round world I greatly appreciate Tribulation and her story. Let her know I would dearly love to hear more from her? After all, the 'tame hobbits' are never the most interesting!

Author Reply: I am sorry it's taken so long to respond to this comment. Have been fighting diabetes getting worse and frustrations on several sides, and a shoulder that decided to get so sore on me I could barely write for weeks.

I've worked with disabled individuals as a teacher and now as a caregiver since I was a teenager, and so many develomentally delayed individuals are yet gifted in strange ways. Also, being perceived as a gifted individual who was yet way to amall and socially immature, I too well understand feeling like a square peg in a mostly round world. And hopefully she will show up again! She does appear at least twice in my Moments in Time collection.

Thank you so much for your comments! I so appreciate them!

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 9/3/2006
Now I wonder why I never got this update.

You say "...I find my profession creeps constantly into my writing."

That's a very good thing! I noticed it from the time I read "Choice of Healing" and it still impresses me. You've made Ruvemir, Tribbals, Ferdi, and Ririon particularly the kinds of people one doesn't forget. And it's needed, it really is. It's hard to understand something you haven't experienced, and sometimes even harder to know how to react, and to me, stories like yours help. I met some people this summer who had some very...uh, shall we say, interesting and sometimes laughable reactions to seeing a whole bunch of blind people doing ordinary things (or sometimes just one or two of us, that is the CCB summer group) It was mostly all funny (at least to me), but some of the really silly stuff got annoying after a while, like the bus driver who was always, always, always afraid to drive on when some of us had to stand on the bus. But then I'd find myself remembering the girl who used to live down the street from me. She had a mental disability of some kind. I saw her on occasion and talked to her, but I used to get so nervous because I couldn't understand more than half of what she said, and I didn't know what to do. So if we can learn and teach through fanfiction, I say go for it! :)

"I suspect she might appear now and then, but she’s already let me know that if she does it will only be because
she wishes to be included. She’s let me know she’s not a tame Hobbit. (Apologies to C.S. Lewis.)"

*chuckles* Well, well. Even if Miss Tribbals does know exactly what she wants, she should know that she's famous now and she's won a good many hearts in a short time. *grin*
God bless,
Galadriel :)

Author Reply: The one disability that truly makes me uncomfortable is spastic cerebral palsy, a most horrible thing to confess, I find--although it does so far less now than it did when I was young and foolish.

Trying to understand how those who are different from ourselves experience the world isn't easy, but is certainly necessary. And dealing with those insensitive enough to differences and the need for accommodation and acceptance can be horrible. I do try to educate, but sometimes it's as if the words my students, friends, and I utter just fly right over heads or in one ear and out the other with no stops between. I'm certain you understand, my Lady.

If this short story helps even one individual to realize that no matter what disabilities another person may have that person also has gifts to offer, whether it's Greencap's stories or Frodo's compassion or Ferdi's perceptiveness or Ruvemir's artistic abilities or Tribbal's appreciation of love, then it's done its job, and I'll be content.

And, thanks, my Lady.

KittyReviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 9/2/2006
Do I need to tell you how much I appreciate the way how you include persons with disabilities in your stories? They are the richer for it, and it is good there is someone who is able to include them in a believable way. It is always obvious you know about what you talk. Well, Ruvemir is already one of my favourite OCs ever, and I'd like to read more of Tribbals here and there.

Author Reply: I am so glad you appreciate seeing disabled folk in my stories, for they're certainly a good part of my life, of course. Disabilities are a part of life, and whether the individual is born with disabilities or comes by them via disease or accident or war, they need to be dealt with constructively.

Frodo recognized how damaged he'd been by his experiences; that he'd try to help others live fulfilled lives in spite of their perceived limitations just seems logical and right for him.

Thanks so much for the feedback. (And I, too, love Ruvemir.)

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: Epilogue 2 on 9/2/2006
For some reason this hasn't come up on my author alerts Larner. I am always glad to read your author notes as they help to make the stories come alive even more. Please thank Tribbals for allowing this part of her story to be told and assure her that we would love to see more of her from time to time. Please make sure that she knows she is invited to my birthday tea in early October - I will bake the cookies especially carefully in her honour.

Author Reply: I will pass on the word to her, and see what she'll agree to do. And I do hope the cookies are shortbread!

Love to your folks and Jet--and your students.

Return to Chapter List