So, my word count in MS Word tells me that there is almost 20,000 words written of One Day. I’ve posted about 14, maybe 15,000 of that. I confess–this story is running away both the one I struggle most with writing, and the one which I am most passionate about finishing (though it runs a close second to Stregoni, which runs a close second to my two long-overdue FGB pieces—I guess I just love writing about these characters.)
At the same time, I think in part because I *do* know where this is going, it’s hard to sift through these chapters of misunderstanding and confusion and hurt. Especially since I tend to get right in there with my characters and feel everything they feel. I thank you for your patience in this.
One Day is funny, because it’s a mix of both completely pre-planned scenes and often even distinct pieces of dialogue that were written in my initial exuberant rush of getting this down on paper, and inspiration and scenes which really are very much in the moment. It’s oddly organic–but not the easiest to write! I was surprised at some of the things which happened in this chapter (Bella’s hand, for instance). And one thing I was very surprised about was that the line from Carlisle which gives the title of this story found its way in. I had written just that single line almost after I wrote the first 2,000 words of this story (which have yet to post!), and when I wrote it, I thought, “Aha. There’s the title.” I had expected it to come in far further down the line, but no, here it was, ready to slide in amidst the turmoil of this chapter. And it makes sense there. It’s strange how writing works that way at times.
At any rate. I know some of you would like to see things move quicker, to see where these two are going to end up. But, in my experience, walking one’s way out of grief is often a “one step forward, two steps back” kind of dance, and above all else, I want Carlisle’s and Bella’s experiences in this story to be organic to the AU which spawned it. Enjoy the chapter, and thank you for reading. And for all the pimpage and support and notes of, “Hey, we still want more of that!” It keeps me going. 🙂
I need to add to the review I left. Why is this the most luminous thing you have written yet? Because, to me at least, it is the deepest and fullest Carlisle you have written yet. It almost feels as if this is the distillation of all your forays into his nature. It’s lucent. Beautiful. Maybe it is the grief, the loss of everything by which he had defined himself, once he allowed himself not to be alone any more. Whatever it is, this story and the way you are writing him here. It blows me away and away and away. And then back again. You are the poet of his nature. And in this story you show us (not tell) how, yes the HOW of it, that Edward was and is and ever more shall be his primary relationship. What an incredible gift to canon this story is, how amazing that this gift is in the shape of an AU story.
Well, thank you. In the midst of all the brouhaha that’s driven me away from twitter and other more public places, it is healing, in a way, to come back to a fic that is the very essence of fic…taking a character (who is not mine) and stripping him of everything that, on the surface, might seem to be his essence. His job. His family. His sense of self. And by blasting holes through him, somehow, you see him more clearly…
To me, that’s everything that derivative work should be. And why I wouldn’t trade writing it for three million dollars from Random House.