A Life Rescued
Extended Author's Notes
This originally marked the end of ALR, but as you can see, I have added more chapters. I kept the information below as reference.
Why A Life Rescued?
I never read the Bridge to Terabithia book, and this was probably good, for I would never have watched the movie. As it happened, my daughter, who had read the book in fifth grade, spoiled the movie I was watching at home one day by saying, "Isn't this the story where the girl dies?" or something similar. Arggggg! I didn't know that was going to happen! The movie sent me into a deep depression that took me two weeks to shake. A Life Rescued was part of my process of recovery.
Mistakes:
I obviously made at least two dumb mistakes in researching the background of the story. First, the names of the Aarons family. The second, a bit less critical, the age of many of the characters. It took me about 23 chapters to remedy the names. I have started editing the first 22 chapters to fix those errors. The ages are not so critical, though I have been told that they are not quite in line with the book.
Spelling, punctuation, grammar mistakes? Many. I do not use a proofreader, I have never had a very good experience with them, so I just read and re-read until I stop seeing mistakes. Obviously, this is not the best way to do things, but it's my way, for now.
Sci-Fi vs. straight Fiction: I should not have used the time-travel theme. When I had to resolve it at the end of part 3, it took some doing to find a vehicle that worked. So getting out of it was a little weak, but I enjoyed writing about the DID/MPD mental issues. I should have written it that way from the start, and am correcting that as I revise.
Leslie's lack of character development: A somewhat justified complaint. I did pay more attention to Jesse's character than Leslie's.
Things I was told I should not include, but did anyway:
Religion: I included this because I wanted my younger readers to understand the role of Religion and Faith in their lives and in developing healthy moral values. As you saw in the last couple chapters, even though Leslie was interested in learning about Jesse's faith, she had a lot of questions, and is bold enough to ask the hard ones. In addition, Jesse, having relied heavily on his Catholic faith for moral direction, is now facing some difficult choice as he feels the full force of adolescence weighing down upon him.
The sexual tension/allusions to sexual activity: This is a sticky topic: some people think Jesse is perverted, or Tom is perverted, or I am perverted; others tell me I have described the passions accurately. Take your pick. I will add that the main reason I got rid of the future Jesse/time travel plot was because any appearance or perception of an older male interacting with young female raises all sorts of red flags. I didn't want to deal with that. But in the end, we are all sexual beings, and much of our adolescence was spent (or is being spent) learning how to be a boy or girl, a man or woman. Sexuality is not just sex; it is a basic characteristic of our very being: male and female. Could the story have been written without all the narrative describing Jesse and Leslie's thoughts about intimacy? Certainly, but it would have been a lot more boring and less realistic, IMHO.
The terrorist bomb & war: I gave these events minor parts in the story because I did not want Lark Creek to exist in a vacuum. In addition, I had planned on using them more in later parts of the story, if written. The most obvious is with Ellie's boyfriend, Toby, going off to war.
Jackie Roller/JK Rowling: She stays, but I should have used Roller from the start. The 'far-fetched' sub-plot of Jesse's art lessons being financed by the wealthy woman is not far-fetched at all. I personally know of a similar arrangement with a girl in my daughter's dance school.
Mr. Boone: He stays, kind of taking the place of Jesse and Leslie's grandparents.
Joan & Brian, Judy Burke's sister and brother-in-law: They stay, and are not major roles anyway. And Joan's role in influencing Leslie is important.
There were a few other comments about leaving out 'boring' or 'irrelevant' sub-plots, but these were the most often mentioned.
Things I was told I should have included, but did not:
Well, the most obvious one is Terabithia itself. To me, Terabithia was made irrelevant by a few things that evolved in my story. First, Jesse and Leslie had learned how to face their problems. Second, the change Jack and Mary Aarons' go through when Leslie almost dies and Jesse is hurt, and how that begins to heal the rift between father and son. Third, Jesse and Leslie had found other 'worlds' to explore, and in which to improve their lives. (Boone's land, their widening circle of friends, academics, sports, art, their own growing friendship/love, et cetera.)
"Ms. Edmonds…where is she?" Alive and well, now married to Mr. Thomas, Jess & Leslie's fifth grade math teacher.
Grace Jacobs:
Many of you have expressed an interest in knowing what happens to Grace, especially in light of her condition late in the story. Grace is my favorite original character and would have/might still, play a major role in the future. If I ultimately decide to not write any more in this story I'll post a, Whatever Happened To… chapter for you.
Regrets:
There is one aspect of this story that I deeply regret, not from using the sub-plot, but in using a real person's name: The sub-plot with 'Heather.' Heather Menzies played the part of Louisa von Trapp in the famous 1965 movie with Julie Andrews and later posed, one time, for an 'adult' magazine. (Yes, in the nude.) I suspect, however, based on the work she has become involved with over the past thirty years, that she might not look happily upon that youthful decision; I should have given her the benefit of the doubt and used another name, as I did with Rowling/Roller. That will be changed as I revise the story.
By the way, Heather Menzies married actor Robert Urich in 1975 and adopted three children. She still takes part in SOM cast reunions and is close friends with many of the former von Trapp children. She currently owns and runs a production studio with Angela Cartwright, another SOM cast member, and is active in various foundations for cancer research. (She survived ovarian cancer, but her husband died of synovial cell sarcoma in 2002.)
Thank you for reading.
IHateSnakes
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Fairfax, Virginia