Was it hard to let this story go?
In a way, yes. I mean I'm still working on the accompanying story in Theres's Us, which sort of goes to a couple months later while Nick's in the process of mourning and reviewing the experiences that he and Brian shared. I plan to rework that story a little bit in the next coming months and get it up to par with the rest of Something Beautiful. I want to express the relationship in bytes of pre-story mixed with samples of Brian's "journal" from the trip depicted in this story... So yes, it was very hard to let go of the story. In a way it was a therapy for me to write the story, and coming to the end of it I felt like something was being left behind that I had wanted to cling to. I originally wasn't going to make Brian die before the end of the story... but... in retrospect, I'm glad that I did, because of he hadn't have died it would've left an open ending, it would've kept the story - and therefore my story - active. There would've been no closure. It was really important for the story to end the way it did...but it made it hard to let go. I suppose, like Nick in There's Us, it takes releasing it... letting the memory go.. laying to rest everything past.
Overall what were some of your favorite scenes and why?
One of my favorite scenes is Nick and Amanda's kiss in Kentucky in the rain. I just loved the visual it provoked in my mind, and it was a key time for them.
Another of my favorite scenes was Brian and Amanda's fight in the plane just before the jump. Their argument, like the plane, had reached high altitudes and there was only one way for them to go. They went together. It was the seal of a pact. I just like the way the whole thing came out and I enjoyed writing it immensely.
Also the part with Brian trying to cross the bridge over the gorge. That whole sequence makes me laugh and smile because it was based loosely on an experience I had at a gorge in Vermont with my mom (I was definitely Nick, egging her on; she was definitely Brian, refusing to go).
What was the hardest chapter/scene for you to write?
Hands down, Nick's fight with Amanda was the hardest to write because I wanted him to forgive her. I wanted it to be a non-issue. I wanted to keep the trio together, to make it all magically okay for them. Like Amanda, I had prayed that he would understand and react differently than he did. But Nick has a temper, he's very hotheaded, and he insisted on reacting like he did. I'm glad he did, right down to his hooker reference, because it had to be done. Amanda's heart had to be broken to redeem her, and he had to be the one to do it. Even though it killed like hell to do it.
Brian's reaction to the fight was hard too. He loved Amanda, also (not romantically obviously, like a sister), and he respected her and he'd already forgiven her. He, too, wanted so bad for Nick to forgive her... Brian, too, knew that Nick needed Amanda. That's how she ended up coming along to begin with, remember? Because Brian knew whoever went on the trip with them had to be there for Nick in the end when he was gone. Seeing Amanda go was like seeing the security he'd worked so hard to create for Nick... but he couldn't side with her, either, couldn't stand up for her. What she'd done was wrong. All he could do was stand by.
The whole scene was damn near impossible. LOL
Were the dramatic parts easiest for you or were the funny parts easier?
I've always been better at drama. Look at any of my storylines - well, except the Fear of Flying one - and you'll see at its core a dramatic value. Even when I was a child, my Barbies didn't have tea parties... They were dealing with serial killer teddy bears and earthquakes and accidents where Ken drove down the basement stairs. It's just a part of me. Drama comes naturally. That said the funny parts usually come naturally, too. It's just I write and rewrite the scenes usually in fear that the funny stuff sounds too set up or too forced. The stuff that's hardest for me though? Filler.... mundane events, basic conversations, etc. Most relationships in my stories are already in progress because I just don't write "hey how are you?" type scenes very well. I don't handle those situations well in real life, and I don't know how to make my characters handle them. Consequently, I skip'em. LOL
What's the one thing you hope that your readers have taken away from this story?
There's a lot to be learned in Something Beautiful. I hope that in the rush of the story and the drama of the characters and even the identity of the characters the lessons didn't get lost. Death is not something to be afraid of. Death should not make us curl up and wait. Death and the thought of it should spin us into action, send us off to experience, to feel, see, do and LIVE. Like Brian said several times in the story, he didn't want to live dying - he wanted to die living. That's not a philosophy that we need to adhere to only when we get terrible news. I mean just think if Brian and Nick had gone on one of these adventures before he was dying, they could've experienced so much more..... Furthermore, death isn't the end of a person. When we lose someone, they're not gone forever. Their spirit lives on in our hearts. And that's the purpose of the follow up that I'm still working on, There's Us. Just because we cannot see a person, touch a person, hear, feel, etc, they are not gone. Nick's experience dealing with Brian's illness was a journey and an experience as much as Brian's was. Brian was learning bravery and appreciation, while Nick was learning how to let go - as symbolized in the balloon on the banner/"cover" for the story. Never put off saying to a loved one what you could say right now... Never forget to look each person that you cherish in the eyes and tell them how much they mean to you. It is vitally important because every moment - every instance that you spend around them, each moment of contact, each breath passed - could be the moment that you miss the opportunity too see your something beautiful.
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Topic: FS for January: Something Beautiful by Pengi (Read 15640 times)