It's over, it's over, it's over, my friends

[tocryabout]

Chapter 15, "Toute en Splendeur", is complete. Referendum! Annoyingly political relatives! Hockey!

Upon some consideration, I decided that since I'm doing a sequel I have nothing much to say in the epilogue. So we're done. 65,700 words. Endnotes are here.

As a DVD extra sort of thing, I also found a file on my computer which you may or may not find interesting: the McCree/O'Brien family tree, with unimportant siblings left off (I was trying to save space). Nana is Margaret Macdonald, a reference to my own great-aunt who died this year. Grey text = deceased.

Finally, new banner:

(That's Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, not Joel Plaskett.)

Hooray for me, anyhow. The first chapter of the sequel is quite close to complete, so you'll be seeing it quite soon. As soon as I think of a title. (I always regretted giving Aphanes its rather impenetrable Greek name; not really a grabber.)

*drinks wine*

Comments

[youngest-one.livejournal.com]

Excellent work, as usual. The family gathering reminded me of all the various holiday dinners I've attended over the years - the smell of food, the kids yelling and laughing at their own table, well meaning relatives saying things that make you want to smack them.

I wasn't sure about the ending at first, but after reading it again, I've decided that it was appropriate. Joel's story was about finding acceptance and understanding, and his refusal to give up and go to his room showed just how much he's grown in the course of this story. I was proud, impressed, and touched. I can't wait to see where you take him next.

You mentioned in the author's notes that this story was inspired by a dream. Did you go straight from the dream to writing the story, or was there a longer interval in between?

[waterstrider.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a dream, just an image that came into my head somehow. (Although now that you mention it, I'm less and less certain that it wasn't a dream at some point.) Anyway, no, as I said I was noodling around with a couple of other pieces, which I then put aside for a long time before I could persuade myself to write fanfic.

The ending is a little mundane because Joel has had the necessary epiphanies, and having another one won't make a difference unless he gives in and lets the puck hit him in the face now and then. He needs to accept the world as much as the world needs to accept him. The choices are imperfection or nothingness, and he (rather grudgingly) chooses health, family, and friends, with all their limitations.