Meme

[dreamflower]

Gacked from a whole slew of people on my flist:

Comment and I'll--

1 - Tell you why I friended you. Assuming I can remember :)
2 - Associate you with something. A fandom, a song, a colour, a piece of fruit. SOMETHING.
3 - Tell you something I like about you.
4 - Tell you a memory I have of you.
5 - Associate you with a character/pairing.
6 - Ask something I've always wanted to know about you. (Or else I'll just ask a random question. I reserve that right.)
7 - Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
8 - In return, you must spread this disease in your LJ.

You can if you want to, and haven't done it already!

Comments

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

Me, too!

[dreamflower]

1. Well, since I rather strong-armed you into *getting* an LJ, I could hardly help friending you, LOL! And I'm so glad you did.
2. LotR
3. I love your intelligent insight into the creative process of writing, not only your own, but that of others. And I like your integrity when it comes to dealing with writing in JRRT's world.
4. I remember how pleased I was to get your response to my first review to you. And I will never forget how thrilled I was when GW sent me Ch. 11 of ASG, when I was stuck powerless after the hurricane.
5. Merry and Pippin and Jamy Bucket
6. You've indicated that you don't feel comfortable writing Frodo--why? (Because I think you would do it beautifully.)
7. That one! *points up* That is some beautiful art.

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

I know my hesitation with Frodo is kind of a head-scratcher. It stems from the fact that, in my heart, Frodo is seriously sacred ground, a holy icon. You walk carefully on sacred ground; you seek not to disturb the truth of the place. By the same token,you handle a holy icon with reverence. When I do write Frodo, it is always through the perspective of people who knew and loved him; he rises from memory, as purely lovely as he ever was, and untainted by any history save the Creator’s.

It’s a narrow view, I know, and I don’t extend it to other people. I like other people’s stories of Frodo, especially the ones that show him as a youth or a tween interacting with the Shire, coming to terms with life, and pondering, as saviors do, the meaning of things that other people don’t seem to notice. Thus are the Chosen prepared for destiny.

The big danger, it seems to me, is providing Frodo with a past that compromises the truth of him as Tolkien wrote it. For instance, if he’s loaded up with angst and abuse as a youth (beyond the deaths of his parents and various minor neighborhood squabbles), then you have created a victim mentality, and his sacrifice is diminished. If you make him 100% ordinary Shire hobbit, then his truth is diminished, because he never was ordinary. This is not to say a lot of people do this, but these are the things I worry about when I approach 'imagining for Frodo'. That said, Larner did an amazing job in “Go Out in Joy” integrating Frodo’s Shire life into his legend; as did you in “Cousin Calla.” I think perhaps Frodo is just a job for professionals!

(Sorry, I did go on here!)