The Breach of Promise Affair - Completed

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

Ring out, wild bells!

Almost two years after it began, my WIP is finally finished. *happy dance* I posted the last chapter to AO3 yesterday.

If you prefer to read a WIP when it is complete, then Read On. :)

Starting today, I will post a daily link to each chapter, if anyone would prefer to read it in over time in shorter pieces.

It features my OC Faustina, but it’s also Illya-centric. (He does lose his shirt at one point.) And April is mentioned a few times and makes an appearance in the final chapter. So it ties in to our All about April theme.


Chapter 1

Early Summer 1966

Illya put on his tinted glasses, both to dampen the room’s opulence and to veil his stupefied reaction. From floor to ceiling, motifs from China, Japan, and India mingled with abandon. Gilded dragons ran riot about the space, shouldering the tables, undulating over the chairs, and pursuing each other across the papered walls. The décor was obtrusive, decadent, and audacious; yet, like the office’s occupant, it was surprisingly successful.

Harry Beldon tossed his coat onto a fretwork rack and took up a voluminous crimson choga edged in gold embroidery. As he slipped on the robe, he looked over his office like a maharajah surveying his state. “Well, Illya, what do you think of my changes?”

“They suit you.”

The images takes you to AO3.

Comments

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I've been watching the chapter numbers increasing on AO3 over the months waiting for completion. Spotted the count had finished earlier today and started reading. Thank you for not abandoning.

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for watching and now reading. :) It quite unintendedly became a mountain of a story and one I was determined to conquer. Between research, writer’s block, and life with a capital L, it took much longer than expected to finish it.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It's a good feeling to finish a WIP, especially one that's been going for a long time! (Unfortunately I have a fair few of those lurking in my computer....yikes!)

I'd like to read it from the beginning to get a better handle on the story as I've forgotten most of what I've read already. (dang short term memory issues!)

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Now I’m on writing withdrawal. :)

It took so long to write that I had to keep rereading the chapters. I kept forgetting the details of what I’d written before. :)

I figure I’d link to a chapter a day, though the whole thing is up. With my schedule I only have time for short reads, and sometimes I start reading someone’s long story, then forget about finishing it.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

I went through that. When my longest story, which was over 100,000 words, I went into writing withdrawal as well.

I also forgot details of chapters and had to go back and re read. One I recovered I found writing long pieces very off putting and it took me a long time to be able to manage one.

Really long stories can be emotionally, mentally and sometimes physically draining.

I often put a lot of research into my long pieces and sometimes I accumulate so much research that it puts me into a stall as I have to sift through the research and pare it down in the story. That happened to me when I wrote "The Vatican Affair." I was raised Catholic but there was so much detail that I didn't know about in the electing of a new pope. It was an educational experience that took me over two years to finish.

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

100,000 words. Wow. That’s a novel.

I know what you mean about research. So much of what I learn goes into building the world in my head but doesn’t get written on the page. But until I can clearly see that world, like the Underground, and confidently have my characters move through it, I can’t write the scene.

Writing this story was exhausting but also soothing and cathartic, as the last 14 months have been the most difficult I have had.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

When I was writing that story it was all done by hand in spiral notebooks, including the research...which was all over the map. This was before I discovered Google Docs. (I was very new to using a laptop)

Catharsis is a good thing, and glad your writing helped you through the rough times.

I was writing a fairly long story when my dad was put in hospice, and my brother was acting like a jerk. He said a lot of hurtful things to me. Heck he was there with dad in Fla. and I was in NJ...a little hard for me to do things.

My brother suffered a heart attack on the way to hospice and was medevaced to the hospital (he was a heavy smoker) and dad died that night, it was as if he knew my brother wasn't there and was waiting for that so he could pass. ( my brother had been with him every day)

Writing that story helped me get through all that emotion and turmoil. At one point I was awake for 36 hours and didn't stop writing. Focusing helped keep me from losing it.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I'm proud of you to have marshaled on with this story, especially in the midst of Life Trauma. I hope this is one step in your journey to feeling completely whole and confident.
I look forward to reading it from the beginning.

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Finishing the story does kinda feel like a milestone. :)

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

The first chapter was amazing. I'd forgotten it completely. You had a lot going on in life and you still managed to complete your epic story!

The opening paragraph grabbed me, "From floor to ceiling, motifs from China, Japan, and India mingled with abandon. Gilded dragons ran riot about the space, shouldering the tables, undulating over the chairs, and pursuing each other across the papered walls. That described my home while growing up. (minus the audaciousness, decadence and obtrusiveness)

Since my mother has passed, I've inherited some of the dragons, statues, masks, geisha dolls, samurais, foo dogs etc. One of these years when I finally get my affordable housing apartment, I can unpack it all and I'll post a photo. I have a lot of Russian, Irish, Scottish chachkas too...and a few other countries are represented...I'm a regular United Nations. lol!

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

We always had a mish-mash Oriental living room growing up. Our Jersey house even had grass weave wallpaper. A few of the prints and knick-knacks made it into my home. I’m thinking of finally passing them on. Out with the old, in with the new.

Beldon’s office was fun to imagine and describe. I hope the rest of the chapters continue to grip you. :)

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

My brother cleaned out our parent's house when it was sold as mom predeceased dad. I asked my brother for certain things of my mother's that I wanted but it was like pulling teeth to get any of it. My nieces and nephews had their pick of everything, which was unfair as I should have been able to get what I wanted of my mother's stuff. He finally sent me a box and it was filled with dollar store junk, that definitely had no sentimental value.

The odd thing is that my brother went into the navy when I was fourteen, and then when he got out, he got married and moved to Long Island, so I grew up longer with my mother's things than he did. And his kids hardly ever saw my parents. So I had more of right than they did...but I was S.O.L.

My mother's younger sister had the same taste and many of the same pieces my mom had. When my cousin was moving, she gave me a lot of her mother's things, so it sort of felt like I had my mom's things around me. Needless to say it's a very sore subject with my brother.

I don't get why people get weird like that. Sorry to be on the pity pot...

PS I'm looking forward to the next chapter of your story!