A strange, dark tale this one that Leila has chosen for a Rerun this is what she said:
Here’s one for the die hard unromantic, well, sort of. The piece deals with a queer reaction to a death. At first Ms. Owen’s Short Straw comes off absurd, possibly cruel. But as you read on it opens like a cock-eyed flower, happy to be alive and a creation larger than the sum of its parts.
Q: The ending is wonderful. Did you have to restrain yourself from jumping at it–meaning show it too early?
Q: Were there, in the draft process, other peculiar behaviors on Grandad’s part that didn’t make it into the final copy?
Leila Allison
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Louisa’s responses:
Q: The ending is wonderful. Did you have to restrain yourself from jumping at it–meaning show it too early?
Q1: Thank you, I’m really glad you liked the ending. I didn’t have to restrain myself from jumping at it because I knew it would have the best impact if it came as a surprise. I was, however, worried about the exact wording of it. I was concerned I would make it too maudlin, so in some ways, I was quite happy to put it off!
Q: Were there, in the draft process, other peculiar behaviors on Grandad’s part that didn’t make it into the final copy?
Q2: It was tempting to go quite far with his behaviour! I had a small section where the prostitutes had moved into the house and were wearing the grandmother’s clothes, and there was also a flashback to the funeral with him having picked inappropriate songs, but I thought these scenes didn’t really add enough to his character or the granddaughter’s, and they perhaps slowed things down too much so I took them out.
My thanks to Ms. Owen for her articulate and thoughtful answers. Be sure to read the story. Ain’t gonna find it here.
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Hi Leila,
I am delighted to see this back up. This is one of my all time favourites on the site.
And for all those folks who write those terrible ‘green eyes, gleaming torsos and seeing their future babies in their partners smile’ garbage, this is how you do Romance!!
Louisa, just to settle my curiosity – Did you have any songs in mind for the funeral scene you thought about?
Hugh
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