9 by Celeritas
Antane · 24 August 2011 · Chapter 9: 9
I must have missed this one on Great Tales - I like this, how true. You know which other two I like even more. :) Have you read Toward the Gleam? I would think you would find it interesting and enjoyable. I certainly did! Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
Thanks!
Dreamflower · 24 August 2011 · Chapter 9: 9
Moved over here, and not surrounded by other extraneous attempts, these do have much more context than they did at the challenge site. Chronological order helps too. Wonderful answer to the challenge, of course. I still think my favorite is Gimli's. Terse, and quite like what he'd be thinking. (BTW: I also like your answer to the snippy anonymous reviewer. Terse, and much more polite than what *I'd* be thinking.) ;-)
Author's reply
As soon as I realized I could do a set of nine, I wanted to get them published somewhere else as a collection. Thank you so much!
daw the minstrel · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 9: 9
These were very evocative. Do you know the legend that Hemingway once wrote a six-word short story? "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn." These seem to me to be in the same genre, all the better for their sparseness.
Author's reply
Yes, I do--in fact, that short story is what inspired the challenge that got me to write these. It's a real challenge, that's for sure, and it forces you to think about packing as much information into as few words as possible. Thanks for reviewing!
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 9: 9
Ah: chronological order. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thank you for explaining.
Author's reply
You're welcome! That one's a little bit harder to pick up on than the theme of the whole piece, and, as I said, I wanted to present these to the readers without any extra information.
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 7: 7
No, this one is Pippin. What a memory to carry with him ever after.
Author's reply
That's it!
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 9: 9
Hmm--this one's intent tends to evade me, unless it is her image on coins that may keep her memory alive. Alas for Arwen in the end in many ways.
Author's reply
No, you got it!
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 8: 8
Alas for our Sam--not all wounds heal, as his Master might have told him.
Author's reply
No, but I have to believe that this one mostly did.
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 6: 6
Our beloved Fool of a Took, awakening at Cormallen? Or Merry in the Houses of Healing?
Author's reply
Which one happened in the books?
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 5: 5
Ah--so this is Legolas, and the other our beloved Frodo. Excellent!
Author's reply
Yes, you got it!
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 4: 4
But Boromir did, alas.
Author's reply
Unfortunately, yes.
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 3: 3
Perfect for our Gimli!
Author's reply
Thanks!
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 2: 2
Frodo or Legolas?
Author's reply
I suspect that Legolas learned songs from more than just his mother, so...
Larner · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 1: 1
Most interesting!
Author's reply
Thank you!
shirebound · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 8: 8
These are all very good.
Author's reply
I'm so pleased you think so, Shirebound!
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 9: 9
Okay. But most of the others are Quest-centric (or at least War of the Ring-centric). Well, not Gandalf's. And I'm still not sure what's going on in the Frodo chapter. Then again, several decades of Aragorn's life have been focused on the goal of marrying Arwen.... It's all about Arwen, for him. === It wasn't till I'd read them all through that I realized each chapter was most likely a member of the Fellowship.
Author's reply
Actually, if you go back through and read these, you'll find they're all in chronological order. It's just that most characters have moments that will easily be recognized during the Ring War. I wanted to end with something that was dealing with those days' legacy, though, and I'd long thought that Arwen ended up on the coins so that everyone would know what she looked like, even years in the future when someone dug up a coin hoard. Anyway, good job, you figured them all out!
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 8: 8
A wonderfully evocative sentence, like the Gimli and Legolas chapters.
Author's reply
Thank you!
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 7: 7
Um ... my brain just wasn't working on this one. I feel -- less than intelligent, shall we say? But I did finally figure it out.
Author's reply
This one was confusing a lot of people on the list where I originally posted this, so it wasn't you, it was me.
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 6: 6
Well, once I'd figured out each chapter was one of the Fellowship, I did eventually realize this was Merry -- but it's definitely time to reread LotR.
Author's reply
I was trying to pick out a definitive moment (one that each character could be strongly associated with) for each microfic, but I didn't want all of them to be intense and angsty. This is actually one of the moments that helped me keep Merry and Pippin apart the first time I read it.
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 5: 5
Another easy one: no doubt what's going on here.
Author's reply
Good!
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 4: 4
Pretty obvious what this refers to. But I didn't see the focus was Boromir rather than Faramir until I realized why there were nine chapters.
Author's reply
I was hoping that "wouldn't have" suggested that someone else was thinking these particular thoughts--glad you got it, though!
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 3: 3
For this one, there was no question: finally one I was sure I understood.
Author's reply
Thanks! I wish that all of them were this clear.
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 2: 2
Well, even before I decided each chapter dealt with one of the Fellowship, this somehow suggested Frodo. I was thinking of the Sea-longing, or sailing to Aman ... but maybe the waves are the Brandywine? That connects better with the time of his mother's death. Or maybe he was dreaming of the Sea even then.
Author's reply
I like my Frodo fics to be delightfully ambiguous, but for what I, personally, was thinking: Frodo dreams of the Sea long before he has any reason to believe he'd need to sail in the books. And besides, I don't think that rivers "wave," they more "ripple" than anything else.
eiluj · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 1: 1
From the very first, this suggested Gandalf. But perhaps it could have been one of the Noldor? Later, having decided the nine chapters referred to the Fellowship (DUH!), it was obviously Gandalf.
Author's reply
*grin* I'm glad you figured it out!
Laikwalâssê · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 5: 5
very interesting little stories, but I like this one best. You speak of Legolas, that he should not go to the sea and hear the gulls cry, right? Love all of them. Thank you. Lai
Author's reply
Yes, that's the interpretation I had in mind, Lai! I'm so glad you enjoyed these! ~Celeritas
Anonymous · 23 August 2011 · Chapter 1: 1
I'm sorry, but 6 words does not make a story. Riddles, perhaps, as I tried to figure out who you were describing, but definitely not a complete story. You cannot tell a complete story in 6 words.
Author's reply
I'm sorry you think that! But as I mentioned, these were written for a challenge which specifically said only six words. And it is possible, unless you think Hemingway's "For Sale: baby shoes. Never used" was, in fact, "a riddle, but definitely not a complete story." Maybe my entries weren't as complete as the Ur-example, but it's a little shortsighted to take one author's meagre attempts and assume that because she did not succeed, it's impossible to write stories that way. Good day to you. Yours, Celeritas