Thomas story complete
5 December 2018 01:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeAfter some tinkering on a couple of paragraphs, I think I've got the Thomas-PoV Crimson Peak story in a workable shape; I'm not very sure about a title for it, but going on the old principle of 'what is the theme -- as versus the subject -- of the story', I've tentatively decided on "Change of Heart". The idea is to try for a double meaning by hinting that maybe there's going to be an alternate ending in which Thomas does genuinely renounce Edith, whereas also covering the canon-compliant outcome I've actually written. I'm not especially pleased with it as a title, but it will have to do in lieu of anything better.
I managed to find a copy of the "Crimson Peak" novelization in the local library, which I'm certain is the identical copy that I picked off the shelves when the film first came out, and which I abandoned as unappealing in the first few chapters. In fact, I believe I recognise the exact sentence on which I rejected it :-p
It does get better later on, but the beginning is pretty clunky; not what you'd expect from a writer who boasts five Bram Stoker Awards to her name. The book is much closer to the finished film than such projects often are, but with a burst of extra differences towards the end: a flashback scene to the Sharpes' childhood and a long chase/escape through the old clay mines, plus additional lines of dialogue (e.g. Edith emoting If you are here with me, show yourselves. Give me a sign in the middle of her knife-fight, instead of the simple Help me, followed by a similar extra spiel from Lucille). All the material here that was cut from the finished script, if cut it was, was omitted to good effect :-p
I had a vague notion that I might use this fandom for the Writers Anonymous 'December Holiday challenge', since according to my reckoning the final showdown must have occurred around early December -- a few weeks into winter. Having done Thomas' and Alan's points of view, I thought there might be something to be done with Lucille's perspective: ghostly Lucille observing the inquest on her own body.
There must have *been* an inquest after violent death(s), even if it appeared an open-and-shut case of self-defence, and Alan and Edith probably wouldn't have been able to leave the country without giving evidence, as they are the sole witnesses. A delay for them to recover health first would also push the date closer to the Christmas/New Year target, although obviously no coroner would wish to be sitting on Christmas Day.
The requirement was normally for inquests to be held within a day or two of the death so that the body could be examined before deterioration took place, but with deep snow on the ground that might be less of an issue...
I'm pretty sure there's an account of a village inquest in at least one of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, but I can't picture which. There's an early nineteenth-century one in "Death Comes to Pemberley", which I can't lay my hands on :-(
Not sure what the plot would consist of, though. Lucille's (insane) reflections and backstory?
Lucille did everything for Thomas: all the money went to his work, and she was left doing the labour of the house single-handed without new clothes or any outings. She did not personally benefit from her actions in any way. Because of her devotion to her brother she has had no suitors and no (surviving) children, and she has had to watch while he marries other women: she has sacrificed everything to his dream.
But I feel we need a second strand ("It takes the intersection of two ideas to make a story"). And where is Thomas in all this? Peacefully dead and hence leaving no ghost?
If I do write this, I shall definitively have acquired a new fandom, which is something I can do without, especially as it seems to be virtually dead: zero reviews and a grand total of 21 page hits on the Alan story so far, many of which were probably prompted by my talking about it on the FFnet forums. However, with the amount of time I've spent on Crimson-Peak-related material in the past few weeks, I think I probably already have already acquired it :-(
(Discovered the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hidden_passages community on Dreamwidth.)
I have, however, actually written a hundred words or so on Nautical Raoul today (after more looking-up of marine engine design); I think I've finally caught my flashback chapter up to where it started, with the ship past the tip of Norway and out in the Barents Sea, running into the first signs of pack ice, but with the engines on the verge of being usable. In other words, I've almost finished patching the gigantic plot hole and can resume the fray at Plot Point 7 (written over a year ago -- ouch!)
I managed to find a copy of the "Crimson Peak" novelization in the local library, which I'm certain is the identical copy that I picked off the shelves when the film first came out, and which I abandoned as unappealing in the first few chapters. In fact, I believe I recognise the exact sentence on which I rejected it :-p
It does get better later on, but the beginning is pretty clunky; not what you'd expect from a writer who boasts five Bram Stoker Awards to her name. The book is much closer to the finished film than such projects often are, but with a burst of extra differences towards the end: a flashback scene to the Sharpes' childhood and a long chase/escape through the old clay mines, plus additional lines of dialogue (e.g. Edith emoting If you are here with me, show yourselves. Give me a sign in the middle of her knife-fight, instead of the simple Help me, followed by a similar extra spiel from Lucille). All the material here that was cut from the finished script, if cut it was, was omitted to good effect :-p
I had a vague notion that I might use this fandom for the Writers Anonymous 'December Holiday challenge', since according to my reckoning the final showdown must have occurred around early December -- a few weeks into winter. Having done Thomas' and Alan's points of view, I thought there might be something to be done with Lucille's perspective: ghostly Lucille observing the inquest on her own body.
There must have *been* an inquest after violent death(s), even if it appeared an open-and-shut case of self-defence, and Alan and Edith probably wouldn't have been able to leave the country without giving evidence, as they are the sole witnesses. A delay for them to recover health first would also push the date closer to the Christmas/New Year target, although obviously no coroner would wish to be sitting on Christmas Day.
The requirement was normally for inquests to be held within a day or two of the death so that the body could be examined before deterioration took place, but with deep snow on the ground that might be less of an issue...
I'm pretty sure there's an account of a village inquest in at least one of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, but I can't picture which. There's an early nineteenth-century one in "Death Comes to Pemberley", which I can't lay my hands on :-(
Not sure what the plot would consist of, though. Lucille's (insane) reflections and backstory?
Lucille did everything for Thomas: all the money went to his work, and she was left doing the labour of the house single-handed without new clothes or any outings. She did not personally benefit from her actions in any way. Because of her devotion to her brother she has had no suitors and no (surviving) children, and she has had to watch while he marries other women: she has sacrificed everything to his dream.
But I feel we need a second strand ("It takes the intersection of two ideas to make a story"). And where is Thomas in all this? Peacefully dead and hence leaving no ghost?
If I do write this, I shall definitively have acquired a new fandom, which is something I can do without, especially as it seems to be virtually dead: zero reviews and a grand total of 21 page hits on the Alan story so far, many of which were probably prompted by my talking about it on the FFnet forums. However, with the amount of time I've spent on Crimson-Peak-related material in the past few weeks, I think I probably already have already acquired it :-(
(Discovered the
hidden_passages community on Dreamwidth.)I have, however, actually written a hundred words or so on Nautical Raoul today (after more looking-up of marine engine design); I think I've finally caught my flashback chapter up to where it started, with the ship past the tip of Norway and out in the Barents Sea, running into the first signs of pack ice, but with the engines on the verge of being usable. In other words, I've almost finished patching the gigantic plot hole and can resume the fray at Plot Point 7 (written over a year ago -- ouch!)