When “Victoria” got pieced together with “Alyce,” it became immediately clear that there might not be quite enough Bella and Ignacio as people would wish. We barely get to see either of them and the flashes on the side are tantalizing. But it’s mostly a story about Victoria, a teenage girl whose life is becoming dominated by a little-seen, sinister man. She gets to know a shady King, his outspoken brother (whose overconfidence just spells out how in love with Victoria he’s going to be), and some middle-aged people who are merely puppets for the shady king and the sinister man. Although they don’t know this themselves and believe they are very important!

This is a great plot and makes the book a fun read.The action, the hint of romance, the characters—everything was finally brought together by the rewrite. But if there were something that there Could Be More Of But Isn’t (that eternal debate that’s so much fun to have) it would be Bella and Ignacio’s back-and-forth with each other. We don’t get to see most of it and there wasn’t more in the original version of the story either. Ignacio is part of the shady government plot and even fishier sinister-outlaw plot, so he might not be someone you’d like your sister to run off with.

But Bella knew about the Hirado before anyone. There might be a lot of things Victoria doesn’t realize about her sister.

And there will be more updates.

This week we're exploring The Birthday Present/Millhaven Castle a little bit more. The book is a pairing of two longer short stories (about 10-20k each) and I've highlighted below some of the main characters to look for in these stories.

Lucy Hintara (The Birthday Present). Heroine. She is human and comes out of a last hidden colony to speak to the Emperor. She lands on the doorstep of a boy's school and her adventures go on from there. She is a bit of a flawed character--overly brave to come out on this mission and a bit stubborn. Imagine a naive, ditzy girl wearing a school-girl uniform with her hair in curly pigtails and you've got the idea.

Alyce Lomlossa (Millhaven Castle). Heroine. Unlike Lucy she is very quiet and she doesn't come out of her sheltered group, the Sherbans, voluntarily. Instead, she is summoned by a king for really shady reasons. Alyce's people dress in a self-consciously traditional way, so Alyce does also--but she has a sense of humor about it and like Lucy, she can be very, very stubborn. Imagine a girl wearing an old-fashioned 19th century farm dress and her hair in braided puffs around her ears and you've got the idea.

General Metagaf (The Birthday Present.) Comedy Character. He is supervisor of the boy's school that Lucy strays into. He is a prominent official with much experience, but is now quite out of touch and deaf as well. While he believes he's in charge, he's often clueless and just gets on the boy's nerves. He's garrulous and rough around the edges, as he's accepted things in the world for a long time, so I wouldn't call him sensitive. Imagine a grumpy, surprisingly sneaky man with tufts of white hair and a wrinkled, stuffy uniform and you've got the idea.

Blancha, Ralph, and Lulu (Millhaven Castle.) Comedy Characters. They are other Sherban young people, who are Alyce's friends. When they are invited to the ball, she must travel with them. She's known them since childhood. Imagine Blancha is slender and some might call her pretty. She wears white a lot and often deliberately tries to misunderstand situations. Imagine Ralph is a teenager with a flop of untidy hair and he's awkward as the dickens, mostly hanging his mouth open and getting in the way. Lulu is very young and seems even younger than she is. Imagine a friendly, sometimes rude girl, she likes to make noise but actually has little to say.

And there will be more updates.

This little detail didn’t appear in the book’s manuscript, but the dusty gravel road bending among green trees that the Harrison family lives beside is called “Harrison Lane” after them. It was actually named by the county because they’re almost the only house on that road and when every road had to be named something (to keep things in order) they asked Mr. Harrison “What’s your last name?” He said “Harrison” so they named the little gravel byway after him.

A small point like this can give you an idea of how long the Harrisons have been around, in a fixed way, in one place. A very long time. And they are well-respected within the community—in a way—although people do think they’re kind of odd. People in small towns can be very narrow-minded, you know. There is something quietly lovely about their home and the girls, who’ve always lived this way, don’t know how nice and cozy their lives might look to other people.

Anybody in their right minds would view the Harrisons as people you’d want to know. They have a great home life, a great home, a great religious faith, and a great loyalty to each other. Anyone who tries to bother them (like the polygamists who appeared in an intermediate draft of the book) are very mistaken about what this family represents. That's why this area was originally presented as very amusing, because it never occurred to me anyone could be bothered by it. The concept of such people trying to take advantage of the Harrison girls is categorically funny to anyone who perceives what the story is really about. But after I received feedback from several people that they took it quite seriously, I felt it was being misunderstood and removed it as a distraction. Meanwhile, our protagonists return to being the Harrisons of Harrison Lane, which is what they would have done in any case whether this area was included or not. 

You don't run into people like the Harrisons very often. They truly are unusual, but that’s not always a bad thing.

And there will be more updates.
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