Story Snip from Larksong: Interlude post-chapter 34, and IWSG Day!

ello and welcome to another Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!

 

 

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

A database resource site and support group for writers and authors. Featuring weekly guests and tips, a monthly blogfest gathering, a Facebook group, a book club, and thousands of links – all to benefit writers! #IWSG

Website / Facebook Group / Twitter / Book Club
Reedsy Discount / Past Issues

Fast Five Free Gift - Mobi / Epub / Pdf

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.   

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

 

The awesome co-hosts for the May 1 posting of the IWSG are Victoria Marie Lees, Kim Lajevardi, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Remember, the question is optional

May 1 question - How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?

 

Ooh, distractions!

It's so easy to become distracted!

Let me just update the story playlist...let me just check the lyrics of that song/location on that map/wording of that quote/slang from that time/flower in that field...

I can't write or edit with music on, so I need to avoid that sort of distraction all together when writing. If I really get into the zone, I can block out conversations going on around me, but that doesn't always come easily.

Then there's the other distraction of "if I just tidy my workspace/clean the ENTIRE house/organize my life" then I can write.

The only real way I've learned over the decades to avoid all these distractions, to not let any distractions derail you, is write every day. Keeping the story alive and keeping yourself interested in the story is pretty much the only method that works (unless you have solid blocks of writing time in between family and obligations).

It helps if you have a few trusted readers who are eager to read bits and pieces, but that depends on how soon you're willing to share a story as it develops; not every scene is ready or every plot ripe for discussion.

So that's all I know: keep the story alive in your thoughts, and write every day. Even if it's only a couple of hundred words, every bit counts!


A month or so left in Alice and George's story!

Larksong is set in Montreal, July 1914.


In chapter 1, Alice arrived at the family cottage to take care of her grandmother's aviary, following her grandmother's funeral, only to find that her parents had already leased the cottage to another family for the summer. The only way she could have one more summer in her favourite place was to surreptitiously take on the role of governess to the two young girls...

In chapter 2, we met George, laid up at the hospital with a broken leg. Instead of joining his friends on a Grand Tour of Europe, he's being sent off to recuperate at a rented cottage in the country...

In chapters 3 and 4, we returned to Alice's point of view, and saw her bonding with George's younger sisters. Then she got a surprise -- George was arriving at the cottage that very day! We saw a hint that Alice finds George attractive and interesting -- but also unbearably rude.

In chapters 5 to 10, they had their first argument, then argued once more, but the stakes were higher: war is on the horizon. Then George attempted a rapprochement. Alice had some feelings stirring... During their first evening together, they began to suss each other out over a card game, and they reached a détente of sorts before going their separate ways for the night.

In chapters 11 and 12, we started the next morning in George's point of view, with his dawning realization of his attraction to Alice. Yet this realization did not lead to greater friendliness.

In chapter 13 (which I mistakenly also labelled as 12!), a new complication arose, in the form of the arrival of Albert, George's younger, and rather rude, brother. Meanwhile, George was busy with inappropriate (as he thinks) thoughts of Alice. (I skipped a scene where Alice takes the girls down to the lake and needs to pretend with a neighbour, Mrs Chase, that she is not a governess, but simply helping out with the girls. Then, while Alice is distracted, trying to spin her web of half-truths and discussing the threat of war on the horizon, Lucy gets up on a rickety boat tied up at the dock and fell off into the water.)

In chapter 14, on returning from the lake, Alice and the girls overheard an argument that ended with this outburst from George to his brother Albert: "I don't need your tales of self-pity. The question is, what are you going to do about it, now that you've f***ed it all up?"

In chapters 15 to 19, we witnessed the fallout from the argument, then shared a moment between Alice and George in the garden. Alice left George and resumed her governess role, and decided not to join the brothers that evening in the parlour. Then, early the next morning, Alice went out, only to find George rowing on the lake, and joined him.

In chapter 20, following their early morning idyll, we finally had a true rapprochement. Alice, making up her mind in an instant, called out to George's sisters: "We're going on an expedition with your brother." (I skipped the rest of chapter 20, in which we take a trip through the woods with Alice, George, and his sisters. There are friendly chats, the girls sign their brother's cast, and George begins work on a sketch of Alice. When they return home, the girls help Alice feed the birds in the aviary and clean it in preparation for the arrival of Mr Palmer, a prospective buyer visiting from Boston. Mr Palmer says he will make his decision on purchasing the aviary and return the next day. Throughout the day, there are hints of the gathering storms of war.)

In chapters 21 and 22, as Alice saw Mr Palmer off at the gate, a new complication emerged, in the arrival of Albert's friends from university. Alice and George came close to admitting their attraction, but then George unwittingly insulted the birds and the aviary and Alice's affection for her grandmother's pets.

In chapter 23, following omitted scenes (a bit of George's reflections on Alice, and his feelings for her (as well as memories of unfavourable reactions from his parents about his hobby of sketching and painting); at the end, he decides that it might be a lark to try to lure Pixie away from his brother. He proceeds to do just that before dinner as she plays up her role of nurse and guides George through some exercises in the front parlour. This leads to an arm wrestling match between all the boys, involving both wagers for a few coins--and kisses for the winner from Pixie. That evening, they all gather in the front parlour, and agree to attend the ball and bonfire at the Hatley Manor hotel the next night. George catches Albert and Pixie canoodling in the kitchen, but decides he's in no position to say anything because he was ready to embrace Alice the governess), the next day, the crowd slept in, all except Alice, who took her charges into the village to watch a magic lantern show. On their return, George decided to show them his secret--the full extent of his artistry. It was revealed that Eleanor is also a budding artist, and the siblings agreed to continue to develop their talent and to hide it from their disapproving parents.

In chapters 24 and 25, the girls returned to the house, and Alice and George, alone in the enclosed garden, sat side by side on the bench... They kissed, and Alice revealed her true identity to George. They talked, perhaps all too briefly, about what they would do with their newfound feelings.

In chapter 26, George watches her with Mr Palmer (who's returned to inspect the aviary and agree on its purchase) and thinks about how he's actually looking forward to the big party at the fancy hotel that night, now that he'll have Alice on his arm. I've skipped this bit, and a bit where they discuss Alice's attachment to the cottage and the birds, as well as the fact that Alice isn't really a governess and what they might have to tell his family, if anything. Also a part where, seated side-by-side and hand-in-hand on the porch, they talk of George's hopes and plans for his future career, in despite of his father. Then she asked him if he meant to return to England, but Albert interrupted.

In chapter 27 and 28, in the evening, they all made their way to the banquet and dance at Hatley Manor. Alice juggled her governess duties with advances from Albert--and affairs of the heart (I've left out a bit of conversation with other partygoers from the village and the interlude when Elsie arrives to pick up the girls)

In chapters 29 to 32, Alice and George returned to the house together (I've left out the bit of their conversation about Albert and his friends, and their journey to the house, with George in his chair--but his crutches have been lost), and they grew closer than ever before, until Albert interrupted them! I've omitted the argument between George and his brother, Albert's unwanted advances on Alice, and an interlude in which George and Alice, in his bedroom, take their relationship further than they have before, until George says the wrong thing and Alice storms upstairs to bed) and, the next morning, Alice woke to find all the birds gone from the aviary! She went out seeking them, speculating as to who might have released them (I've omitted a breakfast interlude in which Pixie pretends to perform nursing duties towards George)...

In chapter 33, she argued with George on the path, about his sisters, about the birds, about Alice sticking to the story of herself as governess. (I've skipped the bit where she catches up with Eleanor, and between the two of them, they coax most of the birds back to the aviary).

In chapter 34, just when Alice thought all might be salvaged, things took a turn for the worse when George revealed her secret, her true identity, to everyone at once.

This snip is more of an interlude, an exercise in George's deep pov following the revelation:

 

A bird stops to watch, curious.

It's the mynah! Now's my chance. But where's its mate?

I'd reach for the crutches but probably scare off the bird. Only there's no way to catch it while in this blasted wheelchair.

Good thing I've got the seed bag. Maybe call Elsie?

Here, little bird... Come closer, that's it, trust me... You're supposed to be tame. There you are, look, a trail of seed> Right into the cage, in you-- Slam! Ha! Got ya.

Now, how long do I have to sit here to wait for your mate? Stop squawking, will you? You've lived your whole life in captivity. You've no idea what it's like to go from movement-–freedom-–health--to being confined to this horrid chair.

That night of the party-– No, I won't think of it. What were those girls playing at? Ready to leave a crippled man once they were done playacting. I guess they'd always been flighty. Took Alice to show me. And now she's gone, too. Damn Albert.

No-– Not all his fault. Mine, too.

But look, I had to tell them about Alice, or they'd never have stopped laughing about the birds. All this fuss over miserable birds.

This one's kind of pretty, though, have to admit. Green and lake-blue. Sweet. Alice had a name for it. How d'you even tell if it's male or female? It--he?--keeps looking at me. Inquisitive, aren't you? Oh, you'd like more seed. Have to go inside for that.

Right. Check the brake. Remove the brace, hook good leg under. Push off with arms and grab for the first crutch. Snug under the arm. Grab the second-- No, get the cage first. Damn, it's too low on the ground. Leave it. Leave it for Elsie. She'd better bring the chair in, too.

Cast comes off in five days.

Grab that second crutch and swing. Get in the house. Five more days. Can't wait to see the look on Alice's face when I tell her I've saved the last bird. And, later, when she sees me as a whole man.

Dared the pain and wheeled myself down to the lakeshore that morning. Far greater, the ache of what the sight of her does to my insides. Oh yes, I saw her mad dash to the dock, hands alternately lifting her skirts, then dropping them as she used her arms to propel herself. And then that deliberate slow step as she neared the dock.

It was all part of the vision, broken only by cold fact: she didn't leap into my arms the moment I brought the boat round, nor sit across my lap and feather my cheek with a kiss.

Instead--what? I snapped at her. Some ridiculous crack about my leg. The damned cast gets in the way of everything.

The horrible itch, the rude dependence and immobility. Leaves me a snarling beast. It's a wonder Alice stands me long enough that I can draw on whatever little reserve of polite behaviour I've got left. Manage to not alienate her entirely.

Sad truth: mightn't have given her the time of day if I hadn't been laid up and noticing more than usual. If she'd kept up the governess act and I'd been off gallivanting with Albert's ridiculous chums. Imagine never talking with Alce? Never sharing a kiss?

Not to be borne. Swing up on the crutches, off we go!


How do you deal with distractions? Please share tips!