I decided to see if I could upload a picture on my blog, and it turns out that I can. This is a drawing of Princess Blanchefleur Alicorn. It's not a perfect likeness (I originally imagined her with scads of curly hair, mainly due to K. Y. Craft's lovely picture book of the `Twelve Dancing Princesses') But I am still rather proud of how my picture came out.
That's an interesting picture. What is the character like? {curious smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
Proud and royal, but she uses her pride as a way to hide from her emotions. She thinks she's a keen judge of character but she's oblivious to the personal relationships around her and that makes her blunder badly.
ReplyDeleteShe's a slippery character. I keep thinking I've finally gotten her voice down, then realizing I haven't at all.
She does sound tricky to get right. Some characters just seem to be like that. {sympathetic smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
Thanks. She's one I just have to keep working on.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I guess so. Some characters just need more work, and some stories, too. I hope I just finished a story that's been giving me trouble for a year, and it's short! {rueful smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
Congratulations! Sometimes short stories take the longest to write. You have to pack so much into them in just a few words.
ReplyDeleteYes, that may have been part of it, although it was right in the range that I most often write. I think my big problem was that it involved science fiction and romance. I read science fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction most of the time. The science fiction fell into place fairly quickly, but gettig the romance clear and understandable was a real struggle. {lop-sided smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
Romance- there's an intimidating thought! I tried to write a fantasy once where the whole climax hinged on the characters being in love. The thing was, they never had time to actually FALL in love, because the hero spent half the book imprisoned.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I've really felt like I had romantic elements work in a story was when I kept it away from the outline. Otherwise everything feels forced. I'm glad you were able to work out the romance angle. :)
Yeah, trying to write romance was pretty rough for me. I haven't lived it, and i don't read it much, so I really don't know how they work. {lop-sided Smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
I don't have any personal experience with romance either. Most of what I know I learned from watching my parents. :)
ReplyDeleteWatching my parents gives me an itnersting view of romance. They are not Hallmark-standard romantic, but I don't think they're unromantic, either. They just approach romance individualistically. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
Real love is gritty. It involves sticking with people when everything's falling apart. That's what I learned from watching my parents. I think that's hard to portray, because most romance stories start at the beginning of the relationship, before the loyalty has had a chance to developed.
ReplyDeleteYeah. I've noticed the same thing with my parents. My health put my parents thru a few tests. They pulled together each time, I'm happy to say. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteThat's one of my problems with the romance genre. They're all interested in how folks meet and/or get together in the first place. Yet that's not when a couple decides whether or not they'll stay together. That comes later, when they're dealing sick kids, high water, empty nests, and other major turning points in life. Then a couple decides whether to face this together or separately. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
People talk about divorce statistics sometimes like marriage is a roulette wheel- like whether you stick together or not is a matter of luck. It's depressing, especially since it's a lie. I guess the idea that love is a choice suggests work, though, so maybe people prefer saying `well you have a (I forget what number. It's really low though) chance at a happy marriage.'
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that, too. People talk about the chances of having a good marriage like it's luck. Yet I see my parents working... on understanding each other, on giving slack when it's needed, and support when that's needed, on being there when that's needed. {pause}
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, it looks like more work than I'd expect. If each person is willing to give 50%, and expect the other to do the rest, it looks like the marriage eventually fails. If each person is willing to do "most" of the work much of the time, the marriage works out better. Sometimes you really do have to do more, because your partner needs help thru a rough patch. Other times, tho, it looks suspiciosly like each person has to put 75% of the work they think has to go into the marraige just to meet in the middle. {lop-sided smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
I notice that, too. Folks talk about luck, butthat luck looks liek hard work to me. I think that often the problem is that relationships take more work than a lot of folks think they do. So they feel like they're doing most of the work, even if the other person is working at it too. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
Interesting... this post must have crossed some age line. I noticed a note that my comment has to be approved, although I didn't get that on newer posts. If I'd noticed that after the first comment, you wouldn't have gotten the second one, too. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteAnne Elizabeth Baldwin
I'm sorry about that glitch! I didn't realize the computer was holding your messages to be moderated until just now. Technology really isn't my thing. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right about both parties having to give a lot more than fifty-fifty. A lot of friendships are the same way. I think brothers and sisters are `relationship practice' because when you're young, you can't bail out of your family -you're forced to stick around and work things out.
I wondered if it would tell you when it began. That's why I pointed it out. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've noticed that about friendship. If I gie only half, it founders. I'm very suspicious the other person feels the same way. {lop-sided smile}
I never did get much practice with family relationships, except for daughter and grandaughter. I was very close to my parents and my grandmas. However, I'm an only child, so I don't have any siblings. I was never really close to my cousins, aunts, and uncles; I was lucky to see them a few times a year. {Smile}
Makes it interesting when long-lost cousins turned up. Two distant cousins got in touch with me last year. We're like a year or so apart, if that much... novel, since the three of us fall in a "gap," with few cousins close to our age on that side. Now I'm trying to figure out how to be a cousin to them. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
That's cool that you're able to get to know some of your cousins, and that they're so close in age. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know my extended family that well either. I'm the second of five children. When my older sister got married and moved halfway across the country, I felt like my place in the family changed. I used to be the youngest girl, and now I'm more or less the oldest sister. It was an odd shift to get used to.
Yes, it is neat. Among closer cousins, the closest on Dad's side is four years older (I'm the youngest). Four years may not sound like a lot as adults, but to kids it's quite a gulf. Especially when the older one is so caught up with being one of the big girls, she isn't keen on playing with someone younger. {lop-sided Smile}
ReplyDeleteThat would be a shift. Sounds like you almost went from being a little sister to being a big one. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
My big sis still sees me as a kid, while my brothers see me as a bossy big sister. It's weird.
ReplyDeleteIt's really tough to get close to someone who sees age as superiority. I've known some people like that growing up.