A little free-writing brainstorming

[pegkerr]

Here are a few snippets from tonight's free-writing exercise:

What does Solveig hope

to find satisfying work (she isn't sure at the beginning of the book that it's architecture, but she decides that it is by the end), to find someone to love, who deals with her honestly

What does Solveig want

to build the ice palace, to mother Ingrid well, to be self-actualized. To accomplish something worthy, more than just in her role as a mother.

What does Solveig fear

being made a fool of (like Rolf did as his younger self), being abandoned, harm to her child. That her life will be frittered away in the day-to-day details of mothering, paying the bills, etc., but will never add up to much in the end. That her life will not amount to anything much

What does Solveig regret

The way her relationship with Rolf-the-young man ended, though she doesn't have the slightest clue why it did. She doesn't regret Ingrid herself, and in fact thinks that Ingrid is one of the best things that ever happened to her, but she does regret how becoming a single mother narrowed her options.

What does Jack want

Starts: the same thing Rolf wants (immortality?) Eventually, wants Solveig, wants the heart of flesh

What does Jack fear

starts: aging, death, getting close to other people. Showing emotions?

What does Agnes hope

that Solveig will find her own way.

What does Agnes want

a really good pinot noir wine with dinner

What does Agnes fear

not a damn thing

What does Agnes hate

bullies. Cowards.

What does Agnes regret

Aside from the death of her husband, nothing. Agnes lives her life without regrets.

What does Rolf hope

not sure. To live forever? I still don't quite have a handle on what he wants.

What does Rolf want

um . . . power, immortality? To eat the fish of wisdom?

What does Rolf fear

aging, death, getting close to other people. Showing emotions? Not being the one in control

What does Ingrid want

her bunny blanket. A peanut butter and banana sandwich. Her mother holding her. To stay up late. To get to sleep ten more minutes in the morning.

What does Ingrid fear

being separated from her mother

Peg

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"a really good pinot noir wine with dinner"

That is, of course, a good Burgundy. Give me some advance warning, and I'll let you taste a couple.

B

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

It would help if I could remember who is who. I know who Sloveig, Jack, and Ingrid are, but I don't know who the others are.

B

Agnes and Rolf

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Agnes is Solveig's mother and Ingrid's grandmother.

Rolf is the villain. Spoiler warning.
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You (and Solveig) will learn toward the end of the book that he's also Ingrid's father. He has been using his magic to give him long youth, and so Solveig thought he was about twenty when she first knew him. Details need to be worked out, but he tried to do something to her seven years ago, having to do, I think with the strong magic she has that she doesn't know about (and that, in turn, has to do with the winter magic she got saturated with when she fell through the ice as a child) but it backfired because he didn't know he had gotten her pregnant with Ingrid. And this messed up his control of his magic, including the youth spell, so when she meets him again, seven years later, he seems to be in his fifties, and she doesn't recognize him as her old lover.

Re: Agnes and Rolf

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Oh. I thought Jack was the villian.

W.r.t. Rolf...how realistic is that? I would expect that most people would recognize their lover after 30 or so years of age. Certainly Ingrid would recognize an eerie resemblence, unless magic is chaning is appearance, voice, mannerisms, etc.

B

Re: Agnes and Rolf

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Or vice versa?

I mean he could have deliberately made her pregnant, because making people pregnant and then drawing strength from the fetus, which then dies and is miscarried, keeps him young, and it has to be his baby, but the bit where he does it misfires because of the winter magic and because Solveig wants her, she knows she's pregnant and she wants to be, a wanted baby plus winter magic, and so it misfires? And that would give him a reason for wanting to get hold of Ingrid now, if he could figure out a way to suck the strength from her now, which maybe would be a new thing he'd need to do at both ends of the year or something?

I assume she thinks Rolf is the father or uncle of the guy she used to know?

Re: Agnes and Rolf

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I mean he could have deliberately made her pregnant, because making people pregnant and then drawing strength from the fetus, which then dies and is miscarried, keeps him young, and it has to be his baby, but the bit where he does it misfires because of the winter magic and because Solveig wants her, she knows she's pregnant and she wants to be, a wanted baby plus winter magic, and so it misfires? And that would give him a reason for wanting to get hold of Ingrid now, if he could figure out a way to suck the strength from her now, which maybe would be a new thing he'd need to do at both ends of the year or something?

WOW! I want to mull over what you've said, Jo, but I think you've come up with a really elegant solution! I started writing a reply to this comment, but it became so long that I've stuck it in my main journal. See my post here.

Bounce, bounce! Hurray!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that if you identify the thing that Jack and Rolf want, you'd be a lot closer.

If it's to do with immortality/not aging, you could do something thematic, maybe, with Agnes not wanting that, being prepared to die as part of life without regret?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Agnes would be like that, and I think that she definitely has a place in this discussion and would have a few tart words to say on the subject (I'm liking her more and more).

Agnes is cool^_^

[kishmish.livejournal.com]

I really like Agnes^_^
So does Rolf get to meet Ingrid?
I think immortality is a pretty solid thing to want, it's just how far Rolf would go for it. He has the heart of stone right? So what does he have to give up for immortality?