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The Thrum of Tookish Bowstrings, Part 1  by Lindelea 3 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 24 on 4/4/2020
So, that gift gave Fortinbrand his position as Querier. A proper use of such a talent, I'd say. I suspect the guy is angry at the results of the Talk. Poor Farry as as a child, feeling responsible for such a plight!

Author Reply: You're exactly right about Fortinbrand! And it is sad but true that children often take the blame for something that is completely not their fault. I'm glad that Fortinbrand is not only good at asking questions, but at listening as well.

Hope you are keeping well. Thanks for stopping to share your thoughts.

MirkwoodmaidenReviewed Chapter: 24 on 4/3/2020
Lindelea!

Hello! Another very intense chapter. I feel so sorry for ten year old Farry. And I'm still not sure about Fortinbrand. Leading the child into various statements. I shall reserve judgment until we see the resolution of this event.

Hope you and yours are staying safe.

((virtual hugs))

MM

Author Reply: Hopefully everything will become clearer in the next chapter (or so), including Fortinbrand's motivations. I feel for the hobbit, actually; his is what seems like a hopeless task, but instead of simply going through the motions in the face of the inevitable, he's making sure he dots every "i" and crosses every "t". I'd love to hear your thoughts when we reach the outcome of this section! And thank you for taking time to leave your thoughts this morning.

And two new chapters of your latest story to savor over my coffee! What a wealth of enjoyment to look forward to! The coffee pot has put its finishing touches on this morning's brew, and so I may begin...

Hope this finds you well and safe. ((hugs back))

demeter dReviewed Chapter: 24 on 4/3/2020
There is sort of a running joke among some of LindaHoyland's reviewers that she writes stories about Aragorn and Faramir just so she can get them lost, captured, or otherwise injured, then make them all better. Yesterday I read the chapter in "The End of His Rope" where Ferdibrand puts on the Mithril vest and drives the decoy wagon to flush out the would-be gold stealing Ruffians. Taken all together, it seems like your stories do the same to one Ferdibrand Took. The things that poor Hobbit has endured over the years! And now, he and young Faramir have a quiet interlude waiting for rescue. I think the poor guy deserves a bit of peace and quiet! But...perhaps not in a cold hole in the ground. I am enjoying seeing how Ferdi and young Farry have overcome those troubles, and some of what has gone into making Farry the person who can lead the Shire one day.

Author Reply: (Reading through this wordy response, I apologize ahead of time if it is a trial to read through it all... I am waiting for the coffee to brew, and so my thoughts are rather disorganized and wandering this morning... so I will include a summary statement simply because my sense of irony is very strong before I get my coffee.)

tldr; I know! It's a wonder that Ferdibrand has not run screaming from the room. At least I'm a sucker for a happy ending. :)

LOL, I know that feeling very well. And LindaHoyland certainly knows her trade! Her stories pull you in and keep you reading. Thanks for the reminder; I need to seek out her stories again and add them to my current reading list.

The old story Angst, though it was hobbit-centric, was based on that premise: fanfic characters enduring endless trials. I started reading Linda's works later, or I might have asked her permission to include a few of her plot points in a chapter of that one. I used to have a list of which authors/plots I'd incorporated into that story; sadly, I lost it in a hard-drive crash, though I see to remember Budgielover, Shirebound, and febobe (and perhaps Thundera Tiger?) among them. Baylor, maybe? pipkinsweetgrass? (And Marigold, with her challenges on Livejournal, made a cameo appearance.) Well, in retrospect, I suppose you can include in the list any hobbit writer from the first half of the 2000s who gave one (or more) of the Fab Four a fever...

Ironically, I started writing Ferdi-angst for the simple reason that I'd written too much Pippin-angst. "lost, captured, or otherwise injured" does make for marvelous conflict to drive a plot, and I prefer it (character vs nature, is it? character vs the world?) to person-person conflict, to be honest. But I suppose it can start to be a bit much.

At one point, Bodkin threatened to form a Ferdi-protection society. That's the problem with having a Muse who generates story ideas at the rate of a firehose, along with the fact that you can only get a character into (and out of) so many scrapes before things start getting ridiculous!

Peace and quiet! D'y'know, over the past few years, when the Muse stopped talking to me for a long time, I imagined Ferdi and his Nell sitting quietly together before a crackling fire, content. I'm not sure how long he could bear such a state of affairs, though. He's one of those kinds of people who almost always needs to be doing something. But that picture of him and his beloved is what I invariably think of these days, when I think of him.

I hope this finds you and yours well.

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