friday.

[sunfright]

I think I figured out my angle on the Irene Holm project. I'm not going to tell it from Irene's PoV, although I'm dying to one day look inside her head - some other project, maybe - but from the pastor's daughter's, instead, who I have headcanonically dubbed, Ruth Overgaard (she isn't mentioned by name in canon). I ship the two of them greatly.

Honestly, it was a question of picking between one thematically exciting character (ballet themed Irene Holm) or another (Christianity themed Ruth) - and Ruth won out. Besides, I think there's more drive in Ruth. Irene just passes between towns, repeating her dance classes over and over, I want to write something a little less impressionistic than that. Something with more plot. Which is saying something for how little plot there is in Irene Holm as a short story, because when even I - who remain plot allergic, ngl - am trying to find a way to introduce plot into the set-up, it's pretty fucking plot-less there to begin with, haha.

I have the general outline of the story figured out. Ruth overhears a visitor to the rectory say that Irene Holm has started classes in a nearby market town and that, unrelated, said market town's pastor is temporarily looking for a housekeeper, since his wife just died and he has two small children. Ruth suggests to her father that he could send her to help out his colleague and he reminds her that she will be marrying soon (she's engaged to the curate). They share a moment, because the pastor knows his daughter was completely smitten with Irene when she was here and can figure out why she might want to go to that market town, besides charity. However, he allows her to go, if the other pastor wants the help, if nothing else giving her three months' worth of freedom before having to marry the curate. The market town's pastor happily accepts and off Ruth goes to live over winter in the other rectory, in the other town, where Irene is.

After that, Ruth will be trying to help Irene, who is so caught up in her old life in Copenhagen, to settle in the reality she lives now, somehow support her in a process of growing back into herself. Getting rid of her fears gradually. It's going to be a story about setting ourselves and others free in love.

That's the plot, I guess - and that is as much plot as I can manage. I was never a plotty writer, you didn't hear me say that, I'm just saying, I'm not Herman Bang either.



I was downtown yesterday to see my doctor (which went really well! all my bloodwork checks out, more or less) and afterwards, I bought the prettiest notebook for the Irene Holm project (I like to have a notebook for each project I work on, as you might imagine, I have a lot of fucking notebooks, lol) and sat down at the local library with my computer to relax and have some coffee and just - be out of the house for a while. In the end, I stayed out too long and was completely wiped in the evening, but it was a good time. I got both some note-taking done, some RP'ing done and just... yeah, relaxed.



There's a book I really want. It's a Danish female theologian's introduction to the female characters of the Bible, introducing traditional and modern interpretations of each biblical woman and her theological context. It's a big one, 500 pages, fully illustrated and just... a really lush piece of publication. It was released last year and I've wanted it since I first saw it, but it's also pretty expensive, so I haven't had the chance of actually purchasing it yet. Maybe I can put it on my X-mas wishlist. If I don't cave in before, haha.



Currently I'm completely obsessed with Carl Nielsen's A Dream About Silent Night, a piano piece working with the melody of "Silent Night" and then just, elaborating on that theme. It's such a gorgeous, serene little piano work and I can't stop listening to it. Very Danish, very simple, but so pretty. We have the word "hygge" in Danish, some of you may know it, it's to describe a state of mind devoid of conflict and things to upset you. This piece of piano music is "hygge".

Watch on YouTube

My Claudine book has furthermore arrived at the bookstore where I will go pick it up next week! Very excited about that.