Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapters 3-4

[regshoe]

But till my last moments my words are the same: there'll never be peace until Jamie comes hame...

The penultimate week of the read-along, and in these chapters we are still very Jacobite.

Next week we will, sadly, read Part V Chapter 5 and the Epilogue.

Comments

[sanguinity]

I agree, Aunt Margaret here was wonderful; I'm glad we got to spend more time with her.

I am as confused as you by whatever Ewen thought he understood in his almost-a-dream about the twisted threads. I presume this is equivalent to when I have a great plot idea for a story while falling asleep and spend an hour trying to recover whatever-it-was in the morning. Of course it almost always turns out in the morning to be unusable nonsense, rather than the poignant moment of profound beauty that sleepy-brain thought it was.

Seconding osprey_archer, your story idea in rot13 is wonderful. And ghosts do fit well into this world -- there was also the bit in last week's reading about Ewen wondering if he was dead and a ghost when Aunt Margaret didn't immediately look up from her reading when he came into the room, which made me think there was a story there, too.

Speaking of all the otherworldly things in these chapters -- we got at least three more prophecies from Angus! There was also the bit with Alison speaking to Ewen in a dream about her loneliness. It's left ambiguous as to whether it's purely a dream or not, but I rather read it as Mr Rochester calling calling to Jane across the moor in his loneliness. Every once in a while I wonder if Ewen has a tiny bit of the sight -- or would have, if he didn't automatically reject out of hand every vision and prophecy that comes to him.

[regshoe]

Spending more time with Aunt Margaret is always a good thing. :D

I presume this is equivalent to when I have a great plot idea for a story while falling asleep and spend an hour trying to recover whatever-it-was in the morning. Of course it almost always turns out in the morning to be unusable nonsense, rather than the poignant moment of profound beauty that sleepy-brain thought it was.

XD I know what you mean! Well, perhaps...

Ooh, I like the story possibility in Ewen returning to Ardroy as a ghost, too! Also the idea that Ewen might have something of the sight himself.

[hyarrowen]

Jr frr fbzrguvat bs gur cbffvovyvgl bs Rjra orvat Fvtugrq va TvgA, gbb. Ur fnlf gb Nepuvr gung ur'f tbg n cerfragvzrag bs frrvat fbzrbar gb qb jvgu Xrvgu.

Guvf fbeg bs guvat vf jul V ertneqf gur SbgU-irefr nf orvat na NH, abg uvfgbevpny svpgvba; vg'f n fbeg bs bar-fgrc-bire havirefr.

[regshoe]

Oh yes, of course!

Yeah, it's a lovely and fascinating blend of history and magic—not quite so far over on the fantasy end of the spectrum as e.g. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but definitely not 'pure' historical fiction.

[hyarrowen]

I think Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy is somewhere on that spectrum too. She's very good on landscapes - there's definitely a Venn diagram to be drawn!

[luzula]

I presume this is equivalent to when I have a great plot idea for a story while falling asleep and spend an hour trying to recover whatever-it-was in the morning. Of course it almost always turns out in the morning to be unusable nonsense, rather than the poignant moment of profound beauty that sleepy-brain thought it was.

I actually have useful story ideas/developments at night! But unfortunately at the cost of my sleep. When my brain is especially excited about something I'm writing, I can't sleep and instead lie awake and the story develops in my head, and it's always useful and meaningful ideas that I remember the next day. But really, I'd prefer to sleep and develop the story during the day...

[regshoe]

Aww! Well, as long as you're developing the story... I often find myself having to get out of bed and scribble something down quickly before I forget it—and then having to decipher my in-a-hurry-and-possibly-also-the-dark handwriting in the morning. Sometimes this is worthwhile, but sometimes I fail to capture the profound significance of the idea and can't use it.