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You definitely need to read it! The plot of this one, which is tentatively titled The Former Things, will make more sense if you know the original plot, but I don’t think it’s essential that you be familiar with it. ATOTC is just a really great book!
Well, when I was first considering making the sequel, late last year, I had the idea to base it on Two Cities, but it would have required changing things a bit. I was going to do the classic “Oh, wait, you’re adopted”, but that’s really overdone and cheap in literature, and I was interested to see how it would go if she knew all along. I thought it would especially make her relationship with Sapphire interesting.
I get obsessed when I start a new first draft and I can’t focus on anything else until it’s done. in some ways its a blessing, but it can be a curse too! I usually do short stories and editing between crazy months of new novels.
Well, I’m insanely curious now, so I’m considering letting you break the “praise and admiration” rule.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice Okay, I’ll try to find a chance to read it. I’m currently still on the sixth chapter of A Little Bush Maid, so you can see I haven’t been reading much lately! 🙁
You’re right, the “Oh, you’re adopted” is done often and badly. 😀 Though I have heard of some real parents who don’t tell their kids until they’re older. I think that’s stupid, because if you suddenly dump it on them they’ll probably feel like you had a reason to tell them – like you don’t consider them your child, but if you tell them from the time they’re babies, they’ll just be used to it and not think of it one way or the other most of the time.
Well, I won’t break the rule unless you specifically say I can. 🙂 But it’s not about your writing, it’s just about adoption truths. The only problem is I’m afraid my opinions might possibly conflict with your planned plot. 🙁
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Yeah, it’s pulled all the time, especially in fantasy, I’ve found, and there’s usually absolutely no reason for them not to know.
You might as well let me know, I’ve not officially started writing yet so I can still pull apart the outline and add stuff…to a certain extent anyway.
I finished the story! I think you’ve got a good start. But what does the paper say???
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice I have no idea what the paper says!!! 😀 Actually I have a sort of an idea. I think it’s going to reference some place he wants her to meet him to discuss things. But I’m not sure yet. I’ll find out once the police get there and read it. Also, I’m trying to keep the story down to size, so I don’t want to keep going for another six parts. I want to have a quick solution to the question of what happened. What do you think happened last night that made Jack decide to disappear?
Okay, give me a second to collect my thoughts and I’ll try to explain what I’m thinking. 🙂
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Ah…what kind of word count are you aiming for? I’m going to have dinner, so let me ponder and I’ll get back to you.
Okay, cool 😀
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice Probably between 4000 and 5000 words, which means with the average 800 word parts I’ve got it in now, one to three more sections. Yeah, not much to work with. 😀
P.S. What would you do if someone stopped you in the middle of the night like happened to June in the beginning?
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@seekjustice Here’s my thesis! 😀
First of all, you said something about how Chessy’s and Sapphire’s relationship might be “interesting.” This might be true if she was adopted at a later age, but really, if she’s grown up with Sapphire, she won’t ever consider her as anything other than a sister, and if she does, that might cause problems for your readers who are adopted, since they might start wondering if they should consider their siblings “real” or not. The only thing I can think of is Sapphire’s side, if she remembers adopting Chessy, but still, it would probably be similar to just bringing a baby home from the hospital.
Next, other than the big “spring it on you” in adoption books, the thing I hate most is when the kid has grown up with their adoptive parents, who should be considered their real parents, and then suddenly hears about the birth parents and has this huge conflict about which are the “real” parents. We believe that once you’re adopted your birth family is completely out of your life, and you shouldn’t consider them a part of you anymore. Chessy is a sort of unique situation since her adoptive father was friends with her parents, but otherwise, I don’t know why he would even bother to tell her who her birth father was. The reason I was hesitant to tell you this especially was because I think that’s part of the plot you took from ATOTC, isn’t it? We compare it to spiritual adoption: Once we enter Christ’s family, we are no longer the children of Satan, and shouldn’t even consider the fact that we once belonged to him, except to thank God that we are now part of His family.
I have no idea if I’m explaining this clearly or not…
Last thing, I promise! 🙂 You say you don’t like the cliche of the big reveal that someone’s adopted, but the idea that there is a conflict between birth and adoptive parents is a huge cliche as well. I’ve even read some books where the adopted kid decides to go back to their birth parents because the parents “need them” or something like that. That’s really annoying, and if read by adopted kids, would again cause major unhealthy emotional conflicts.
Remember, I really love the way you write, and am only commenting out of concern for people in adoptive families.
Okay, I’m going to go now. If you have any ideas regarding my story, please do let me know! (One more thing: Didn’t you say on your blog that you would be posting an update on the 21st? And isn’t this the 21st? 🙂 )
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
If I was stopped in the night, then I’d probably stab the guy with my pen. No joke, I’m very strong and a pen would hurt if stabbed in the right place.
I am paranoid and have thought about this way too often.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
That point about their relationship being interesting is completely valid, but at the time I hadn’t worked out the details, and was originally thinking she might be older (Cosette, when adopted by Valjean in Les Mis, is eight or nine), but it ended up that she needed to be much younger than that for the timeline to fit properly, so I’m not really thinking that anymore. Thanks for pointing it out though, because I hadn’t necessarily thought it all out.
I don’t necessarily think that Chessy would have that conflict, since by the time she meets her biological father, Alexander Manly, he’s basically gone mad (Another thing I have to research more). He doesn’t have any memory and is suffering from PTSD. I don’t think in those circumstances she would ever really see him as her father, since he can’t care for her, can’t support her and love her in the same way that her real father has and can. So I think she would very much be relying on him to be the father in her life.
I can definitely understand that that would be traumatic for an adopted kid and could make them feel like they will never be “whole” unless they know who they’re biological family is. I can’t relate to that, but I’ll do my best not to fall into that trap!
Thanks for your help! (aha, yes…I did say that, but I didn’t feel like writing it the other day, when I was sick, so it hasn’t happened, I’ll definitely still be doing my normal Saturday post though!) Okay, I’ll think about your story…maybe I’ll have some ideas in the morning!
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@rochellaine @seekjustice Good grief — Have you guys been up all night??
(I’m not writing…)
You can pronounce it however you want.
@dekreel *hides in shame* Haha, I was kind of hoping no one would notice. 🙂 I had a good reason to stay up late, though. I wanted to discuss a problem with someone, and Seekjustice was the only one around. If you want to know what the problem was, you can read a few posts from our discussion, starting from here. 🙂
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@seekjustice, @rochellaine, We’re having our missions conferance so I won’t be able to write, or be online much, until Monday
WIP - Decisions
Kapeefer til we're old and grey@rochellaine, I don’t completely disagree with you on what you said about birth parents, but I do want to clarify something. When I read what you said I took it as you saying that once a kid is adopted it becomes as though they were never part of the other family, and they should be completely closed off from them.
I think that the kid will know which family is their family, but it isn’t horrible for them to know the birth family. Both of my adopted sisters have PTSD. the older one more so because she was abandoned. I know my family would do anything possible to find out what happened to her birth family. We cant afford it, but we want to give her that closure.
am I completely off on what you were saying?
WIP - Decisions
Kapeefer til we're old and grey@alia Okay, let’s see… 😀
I completely understand about trauma issues with adopted kids, obviously, since we’ve adopted so many. My parents run a ministry counseling adoptive parents, and have written over 40 books on parenting and adoption, so what I’m saying is mostly what I’ve heard them repeat over and over. (I hope I get it right! 🙂 )
I think you should definitely tell kids they’re adopted, and if they ask you can tell them a little about their birth parents. My parents have counseled many, many families, and researched others, and have found that when the adopted child meets his birth parents after being adopted it causes major emotional trauma in addition to what he had before and often ruins the relationships between him and his new family. So what I’d do to get rid of the PTSD would be to tell the kids that, for example, their birth parents wanted them to have a good home, and knew they weren’t able to provide that, so that’s why they gave them up for adoption. That’s something you can assume even if you don’t know who the birth parents were, because only one in a million mothers will actually wish her child has a bad future, if that many. 🙂
The biggest thing my parents do is compare earthly adoption to spiritual adoption, as I said before. Since everything should be based on Biblical principles, they’ve studied the Bible to find exactly what parallels should be drawn. In spiritual adoption, it’s reasonable to talk with new believers about their old lives, and counsel them on how they can fix things that happened before, but also to explain to them that now Satan has no power over them and they belong to God alone. We read the passage that says “no man can serve two masters” and take that to mean that he can’t serve God and the Devil, but to parallel that, shouldn’t it also mean that a child shouldn’t have two families?
If I’m not making any sense or if you totally disagree with me, I’d love to continue the conversation. 🙂 It’s really cool to meet someone who’s part of an adoptive family like I am!
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine @alia @dekreel @daeus Anyone on?
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
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