More thoughts on the book

[pegkerr]

Wrote a nice little bit today during my writing time, an entry in Solveig's journal.

Plot thoughts (spoilers):

I have been thinking that instead of having Ingrid be kidnapped at the State Fair when she goes through the Gates Ajar, instead she will be found there, just beyond the gate, but she'll be in a sort of a faint, and they can't rouse her. Kind of a coma. She might be hospitalized. The idea is that Rolf has put a spell on her, that's sort of sucking away her life force, and taking the last bit of life from her will involve the ice palace, i.e., a race against time. The reason is, if Ingrid is missing, I don't think I can make it believable that Solveig wouldn't drop everything to find her, instead of working on the ice palace, no matter what Jack tells her. We're talking Amber Alerts and police and tearful news conferences, etc., and I don't want to go there. I had originally thought that Rolf would use his power to make everyone "forget" that Ingrid is missing, to avoid that scenario, but I don't like that. If Rolf's spell also makes Agnes forget, it would remove Agnes as a player, which I don't want to do.

If Ingrid is actually there (albeit unconscious), Agnes can stay with her in the hospital while Solveig works on the ice palace (although it might be a stretch to make that believable, too; will have to think about that). And Solveig, Jack and/or Agnes can physically bring Ingrid's (unconscious) body with her to the final showdown, based on what Jack has told her.

Need to think further on this. Not sure if it's right solution.

Peg

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Or it wouldn't have to be a coma, maybe it could be a coma for a few days and when she wakes up she's not herself -- she is to the hospital, she can walk and pass cognition tests, but she is either like a changeling (doing what she is told but without internal motivation) or like Kay in the Snow Queen story, with a splinter of ice in her making her hard and cold, so that the cure Solveig needs to find is clearly a magical one, because there's the kid going to school and eating dinner, but still with her vital essence gone.

Agnes, obviously, would be as aware of this as Solveig.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Zombie!

K.

Yeah

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I pretty much reached this conclusion on the drive to work. Coma would mean doctors and hospital bills and feeding tubes and urethra catheters and the same problem: Solveig would not be free to work on the ice palace.

This will require some fine tuning. . . .

(Goes off to think some more).

Re: Yeah

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Having her not be herself would be consistent with the nature of magic in your world, at least if I understand it correctly. You're dealing with different facets, or aspects, or parts of a person. Having the bad guy forcibly take a part of someone away so he can use it himself seems to work with everything else.

I am still interested in seeing a non-narrative description of magic, to see how it all hangs together.

B