You're welcome! Angela is the greatest mystery here, and for some reason, Samuel doesn't feel like a closing-line add-in: I think he's vital to this. I don't know why. I wrote a novel that was a sci-fi dystopian work, had it professionally edited before querying an agent, and then... the premise basically happened a year later (and that agent, Linda, who is still a good friend, thought I was clairvoyant, lol). So I have a sense for things like this, and yours is really spot-on here. Do something with it before we live this in full!
This absolutely reminded me of the grocery shopping in The Handmaid's Tale - intentional or not, you did a great job of making that part of Atwood your own, where I could think to myself, "Oh, like the two Handmaids having to walk and enter the market together," but with your own spin and wording so as to make it true to your piece (as in, "I've seen this before, but this is a different take with a different type of character, and that makes it stand out as completely dissociated from Atwood"). And it definitely feels like this is the not-so-distant future (I tend to refer to "The Before" as the time before I had my traumatic brain injury, so that connotation to me makes me think 2010, haha). Sadly, this could be how we live, depending upon our upcoming political climate (especially when you add in so many diseases and variants that stepping outside can now be an emergency; I honestly don't leave my house now unless I really want/need to, just because my health is so poor). I think some people ARE like Maralyn already, so it's not a stretch. Like I said, write it before it happens. :) This really would be an excellent piece as a novel, and if you ever want to send some chapters as you go, I'd be happy to beta for you (even if it takes a month per chapter? I think you have something here, and I don't always throw around praise if I don't think it's true). And seriously, for whatever reason, Samuel is a huge player in my mind here. I physically SEE him, which is a testament to 1)your writing/stylistic abilities and 2)my fever-addled brain writing a story from a story I like - that you've happened to create, and that has now been lodged in my brain.
I miss you, too, and thanks so much. The flu is definitely no joke. My body is exhausted 24/7. I really want to write one thing before this version of Idol stops happening, but it may be a nonfic piece. I had a really decent idea for the topic a few days ago, and while I wanted to try some fiction (I had an idea a few weeks ago for the last topic, but had the flu then as well...), life got in the way. But "going home" is something that ties into a few recent events, so... we'll see. <3
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This absolutely reminded me of the grocery shopping in The Handmaid's Tale - intentional or not, you did a great job of making that part of Atwood your own, where I could think to myself, "Oh, like the two Handmaids having to walk and enter the market together," but with your own spin and wording so as to make it true to your piece (as in, "I've seen this before, but this is a different take with a different type of character, and that makes it stand out as completely dissociated from Atwood"). And it definitely feels like this is the not-so-distant future (I tend to refer to "The Before" as the time before I had my traumatic brain injury, so that connotation to me makes me think 2010, haha). Sadly, this could be how we live, depending upon our upcoming political climate (especially when you add in so many diseases and variants that stepping outside can now be an emergency; I honestly don't leave my house now unless I really want/need to, just because my health is so poor). I think some people ARE like Maralyn already, so it's not a stretch. Like I said, write it before it happens. :) This really would be an excellent piece as a novel, and if you ever want to send some chapters as you go, I'd be happy to beta for you (even if it takes a month per chapter? I think you have something here, and I don't always throw around praise if I don't think it's true). And seriously, for whatever reason, Samuel is a huge player in my mind here. I physically SEE him, which is a testament to 1)your writing/stylistic abilities and 2)my fever-addled brain writing a story from a story I like - that you've happened to create, and that has now been lodged in my brain.
I miss you, too, and thanks so much. The flu is definitely no joke. My body is exhausted 24/7. I really want to write one thing before this version of Idol stops happening, but it may be a nonfic piece. I had a really decent idea for the topic a few days ago, and while I wanted to try some fiction (I had an idea a few weeks ago for the last topic, but had the flu then as well...), life got in the way. But "going home" is something that ties into a few recent events, so... we'll see. <3