Consolation Prize, University Challenge, Growing Beyond. Anything you want to share, I'll read.
What a treat of an ask! :)
This still remains the story I am most proud of writing and what I think to contain some of my best writing. I would love to make it original but so far I have felt stuck because of the very specific backstory it needs - like, that Mary is not a virgin and has the Pamuk scandal hanging over her, and that the estate is entailed away to a cousin. I feel like anything I did with it would be very obviously ripped off Downton and I haven’t found a way to work through that yet. But one thing I’d like to come back to is the idea of retelling myths in some form in apparently realistic fiction. Because ultimately CP is an Edwardian retelling of the story of Perseus/Andromeda or George v the dragon, whichever you want to go for. I love the melding of mythology and that kind of imagery and symbolism in something apparently non-fantastical. So perhaps working on a historical novel that contains that elements, even if it isn’t exactly CP? I don’t know. But I’m also afraid that I peaked with that story and nothing I write will ever be as good or as satisfying and I’ll never be able to capture that again.
I have half of the next chapter written and I do still mean to finish it and post it with a summary of what would have happened subsequently. I feel really guilty for abandoning it. I think I’ll never quite understand its popularity but I’m very grateful for it. I was back in St Andrews this week and I realised that I’ve never spent more than 1 night in the place at a time and I’ve only visited it three times but I feel like I know it so much better because I spent so much time there imaginatively. But really, this story still lives on in me because I can’t accept any other modern AU for the DA characters. UC is canon for me. And, for what it’s worth, all my modern AUs exist in the same universe...
The thing I have the most fun with here is incorporating the myth of SW into a modern AU, a bit like I did in CP. My favourite chapters so far have been the ones dealing with the production of Anastasia and its aftermath. I spent literally months planning the scene when Rey goes to the Winter Ball, listening to “Quartet at the Ballet” on repeat on my walk to and from school. The whole thing is designed to set up “reverse Anastasia” as a theme. So, indulge me and let me talk about Chapter Nine!
The first verse of the song Rey hears is Anastasia singing, but the lyrics reflect Ben who enters at the end of the verse -
“Can this be the evening?Can this be the place?Am I only dreamingLooking at her face?Everything I've wanted suddenly so clear!My past and my future so near!”
It is Ben, the lost prince, who is coming face to face both with the mother he is estranged from (the past) and the girl who has bewitched him (the future).
The second verse is sung by Dmitry but reflects Rey -
“Next to me this frightened girlHolding tight as the dancers whirlKeep your nerve andSee this throughIt's what you've come to do.”
Rey is both the frightened girl but she is also the rock of righteousness who is able to bring Ben out the other side of his exile. She thinks she’s the lost princess but she’s not, she’s the one who rescues the prince(ss), a nobody who is the most important and bravest person in the world.
The third verse is obviously Leia’s just after Ben and Rey have been discussing her -
“See that girlCould it be...Don't be ridiculous!I refuse to dreamI refuse to hopeI must stop believingI will ever find her…”
“She's near at handYet here I standMy heart and mind at war...The times must changeThe world must changeAnd love is notWhat revolution's for!”
- belongs to both of them and to the conflict of their situations within opposing ideologies but growing personal connection.
The rest of the lyrics I didn’t quote but they’re very appropriate:
“Someone holds her safe and warm Someone rescues her from the stormSimple things but one thing’s clear:It’s fate that brought us here”
Of course it’s fate! And both of them need rescuing from the storm...
Is this a direction to Rey who thinks she’s Anastasia or to Ben who actually is? Either way, it’s a call to arms to change!
Ask me anything about my stories, director’s commentary, analysis, anything!
