Dear Pinny musings

[gwynhefar]

I'm trying to decide where to go with this . . .

The original idea was to do the whole thing as a series of letters, with the reality of what happened at the beginning only being truly revealed at the end. The whole thing is supposed to span about 7 years.

But . . .

A. started giving me a *lot* more backstory than I expected. There are other things I want to tell now - things that can't logically be explained through the medium of one person who was there writing to another person who was there.

Moreover, the scene that originally sparked this whole thing was just a flash of the discovery of A. last letter to Pinny by a third party. Obviously the discovery must be narrated outside of the letter context even if the story actually ends with the last letter.

So I'm torn. If I continue with the letter sequence, there's just so much of the story I won't be able to tell. If I alternate between letters and narrated scenes, then it will be difficult to have the gradual revelation through A.'s words that I imagined.

Hmm . . . maybe if I intersperse the letters with narrated scenes from the point of view of other people that A. meets - people who also don't know the story, and therefore can't give it away too early, but are still able to provide an outside perspective . . .

I'm thinking aloud here, obviously. Damn story in my head doesn't want to come out the way I want it. *sigh*

Comments

[harkalark.livejournal.com]

What about a secondary character who also writes letters? Or keeps a journal? And A. tells this other person the stuff she wouldn't have to say to Pinny (since she already knows it), who then writes about it, only learning bits and pieces at a time. This way, the entire thing could still be epistolary without jumping back and forth between letters and narration.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

That could be a good idea, but it doesn't fit with the character. There is *nobody* A. would tell about this stuff, especially at first. Maybe towards the end, but introducing another voice at that point would be too jarring.

[harkalark.livejournal.com]

Translation:
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