PicoWriMo story issues

[vilakins]

LJ, you're back ! I missed you! Or, more accurately, my friends on you.

I was a bit stalled on my PicoWriMo story because I had some problems with the concept, which has Vila in Narnia.

Firstly, it seemed that the overlap with Narnia lasted only from 1900 to 1949. But then I decided that was only with Earth; Jadis came from an ancient world with a dying sun which might have been in the far future, so why not have a connection with Xenon in quite a different time?

Secondly, at the end of Prince Caspian, Peter and Susan were told that they were too old to go back to Narnia. Wouldn't Vila also be? Then I remembered that King Frank (the London cabby) and Queen Helen got there as adults, so perhaps it's a state of mind--a lack of imagination and readiness to believe--rather than age that keeps people out. But that left Avon out and I thought his reactions would be fun. Ah ha, but if Jadis could get to Narnia by holding onto Polly's hair (if I remember correctly), then Vila could grab Avon and pull him in to prove he wasn't making it up.

Thirdly, I wanted this to be light and fun to write (and, I hope read), and season 4 isn't either. Then it hit me: having Vila write the story in the first person would make it so much easier. I could show his reactions to things like an entrenched aristocracy, and he'd be funny even when the story was more serious. I don't usually go for first person unless there's a reason the narrator would write it all down, but I can see Vila doing so as a sort of proof that it happened.

Now I've sorted that out, I can rewrite what I've already written, then let Vila take over. I'm feeling much more positive about the project now.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

This sounds like it could be really interesting. Good luck with it! :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Now I've dealt with my own objections, I'm ready to leap in and see where it goes.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Sounds a great idea. And this - so perhaps it's a state of mind--a lack of imagination and readiness to believe--rather than age that keeps people out. - is canonical. I can't give you chapter and verse offhand but he wrote something like it to a fan who objected, with some justice, to what he'd done to Susan; he was rather regretting that himself by then and definitely hints that eventually she would get back.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Jadis did get in by holding Polly's hair, btw, and wicked Uncle Andrew got in via the magic rings, I think?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

What he did to Susan was awful: not only did she not go back, but all her family died. 'The Last Battle' so upset me as a kid, for several reasons, I've never read it again.

But if you have to be child-like, Vila definitely qualifies.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I can't remember how he did. I did like the description of the pools in the world between the worlds; I do love the magic and wonder in the stories.

I'm wondering if Vila should meet Bacchus. Nah; he'd never leave!

[kerravonsen]

Firstly, it seemed that the overlap with Narnia lasted only from 1900 to 1949. But then I decided that was only with Earth; Jadis came from an ancient world with a dying sun which might have been in the far future, so why not have a connection with Xenon in quite a different time?

Another datapoint is that we're told in "Prince Caspian" that the Telmarines originally came from Earth through a portal, and I'm not sure but I got the impression that it was from earlier than 1900. (goes off to check)

Okay, here's the passage:

"You, Sir Caspian," said Aslan, "might have known that you could be no true King of Narnia unless, like the Kings of old, you were a son of Adam and came from the world of Adam's sons. And so you are. Many years ago in that world, in a deep sea of that world which is called the South Sea, a shipload of pirates were driven by storm on an island. And there they did as pirates would: killed the natives and took the native women for wives, and made palm wine, and drank and were drunk, and lay in the shade of the palm trees, and woke up and quarrelled, and sometimes killed one another. And in one of these frays six were put to flight by the rest and fled with their women into the centre of the island and up a mountain, and went, as they thought, into a cave to hide. But it was one of the magical places of that world, one of the chinks or chasms between that world and this. There were many chinks or chasms between worlds in old times, but they have grown rarer. This was one of the last: I do not say the last. And so they fell, or rose, or blundered, or dropped right through, and found themselves in this world, in the Land of Telmar which was then unpeopled."

So, there's more evidence that you could have a "chink or chasm" for them to fall through.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Those changes you've made all sound right to me; access to Narnia is definitely about a state of mind, and an open-ness to childlike wonder etc. That would make it difficult for Avon (and possibly Jenna, although I don't know if you were trying to include her) but I think you're right about the holding the hair thing. Aww, I love the idea of Vila in Narnia. He'd be happy there.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

So that was before Digory and Polly? It does sound very Bounty. The children didn't always go through the wardrobe though; there was the picture, and a gate in a wall, I think, plus the train platform, so the time connections seem pretty stable from Earth to Narnia except for the pirates.

I'm having Telmarines in the story and they'll look like Norfolk Islanders too.

A thought though: who did the children of Frank and Helen marry? Narnia was empty when they arrived, yet later Col takes a lot of people to settle Calormene if I've got that right. Maybe there were lots of chinks.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

He so would be; Aslan will have to force him back. I've always thought of Vila as not quite grown up. It'll be set in S4 though, so no Jenna. I don't think any of the S4 crew but Vila would get through on their own.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

I think it sounds like fun - and writing from Vila's POV is fun.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Just checked The magician's nephew. The boys married nymphs and the girls married wood-gods and river-gods.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

set in S4 though, so no Jenna.

Disqualified on account of Lipstick and Invitations anyway.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And it's easier too: it's like writing all dialogue. :-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks! That must have made them all fairly magical.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yes!

I wonder if C S Lewis was getting at someone with that. It seems so vicious somehow.