I started writing again, sort of, slowly slowly from the shadows, but now I got stuck.

I’ve got these two character meet at a seaside cafe, but now I’m thinking it’s not possible for a man an a woman to do so in 1840 in England… is it? It’s being a pain to research whether anything like cafes or tea shops existed at that time. The woman is a widow in her 40s, so it’s not that she needs to worry about her reputation or whatever. Also, she kinda doesn’t give a fuck. So idk… maybe better just having them meet at the promenade, or a park?

I rather like open endings. I’d choose ambiguity any time over an ending that I won’t like. (It depends on the story, of course, for example a murder mystery needs to have a resolution, but I hope you get what I mean.)

Lack of imagination is a skill issue.

I’ve just rewatched the old Snow White and Seven Dwarves. And honestly, for such an old film, it doesn’t hold up badly.

Snow White does house chores bc that’s all she knows, bc the stepmother had her working as a scullery maid. It can hardly be expected of her to have a STEM degree! When she’s thrown out of the palace, after the huntsman spares her, she is understandably shaken and scared, but she wipes her tears and even apologises to the animals for crying. The animals are drawn to her, and that’s a good trait in a person. She enters the dwarves’ house bc she needs a shelter for the night. I don’t see anything wrong with her cleaning the place–it was in a terrible state and for her to ask for a place to stay, she could have naturally assumed that she would need to lend a hand. Also she didn’t do it all by herself, the animals helped her.

The bit in the middle with the dwarves dragged. I would have liked to see more of the prince and maybe a scene of him looking for her.

The main problem with Snow White is that we have an older woman being jealous of a younger one, and that comes from the original folktale. Or at least the way the Grimms wrote it. But that is a separate issue. If you wanted to dive into the story, you could analyse why the queen feels so anxious about her looks and why she’s threatened by her stepdaughter. (It also makes me think of Cersei Lannister in A Fest for Crows and that ‘young more beautiful queen’ and how it surprised me when I read it bc I couldn’t believe how GRRM descended into such cartoon villainy. Of course one day your place will be taken by a younger person bc that is literally how succession works. Even in normal careers, you will eventually retire and someone else will take over. The most normal thing in the world.) This is also my problem with Stardust and those witches who were after the star bc it would give them eternal youth (a witch so powerful she can turn an animal into a person and yet can’t change her looks?). But this is Neil Gaiman, so what can we expect…

You are at a coffee shop.

You sit down.

In front of you there is a table and on the table there is a tray with your order—a large cup of Americano and a plate with a sausage sandwich on it. No sauce. And a small glass of cold water.

You see the coffee shop, people sitting at their tables. It’s very busy here, of course, it is Saturday afternoon. Pairs, groups, solitary figures like you. A man…

I’ve just had a realisation that I really like characters who are competent. Doesn’t matter if they are heroes or villains or in between, I appreciate someone who is good and efficient at something. (And to bring down a competent villain, a hero has to be competent too.) Which explains why I hate types like Bridget Jones or Louisa Clark from Me Before You.