8. Author Notes
General note on the Two Trees series: I have begun a long term process of revision on this (to date) 15 story, 90+ chapter behemoth. I have received a great deal of wonderful commentary from various readers. I have also learned a great deal about writing in the year since I set the story down on virtual paper. As a result, I have pulled all stories out of public view as I rewrite each of one. As a revision is completed, it will be reposted.
Hunted is a variant on the Hobbits terrifying trip from Bree to Rivendell. The biggest difference is that they meet the character Laurë and she goes with them on the trip.
Hunted is a variant on the Hobbits terrifying trip from Bree to Rivendell. The biggest difference is that they meet the character Laurë and she goes with them on the trip.
- Revisions: 03/15/03 - I've made changes through out the story in light of some excellent criticism and advice offered by the Rómenna Workshop group.
- I've taken out most contractions that are not a part of a character's speech, and I've removed a good number that are in speech.
- Lots and lots of small corrections to punctuation. I am not used to fiction writing, particularly dialogue, and I have a hard time figuring out what needs a period, where I should use commas, using a semi-colon vs. an em-dash, etc.
- Cleaned up modernisms in the language. Geez, I cannot believe how much I allowed to creep in.
- Ch 2 has been expanded and subtly revised to emphasize Aragorn's distrust of the stranger and his internal debate of what to do about her.
- Ch. 3 has what was once a conversation between Aragorn and Laurë changed to be a conversation between him and Frodo.
- Ch. 6 has been modified to recast a conversation between Aragorn and Laurë. A short but important exchange.
- Ch. 7 has the most modifications. I hated the way Glorfindel was written, and have significantly revised the first two-three pages. Also, the biggest change is giving Aragorn a much more specific guess of who/what this stranger is, and introducing a few gapfiller concepts that I have been working out in other stories. There is about one page of new material, but I think it significantly improves the whole.
- I've taken out most contractions that are not a part of a character's speech, and I've removed a good number that are in speech.
- I am just trying to tell a good action-adventure tale. Given the OFC and some changes to plot (introduction of another horse, the mystery of a new character, an altered event at the Ford of Bruinen, etc.) this is clearly an AU. As later stories in the narrative unfold, the action recedes, and plot, characterizations, and conceptual experimentation will become more prevalent.
- I was trying to introduce the Laurë character in a reasonable way. You know as little about her as the others do, she is obviously odd, but not completely so, and she intrigues as much as she scares. I also wanted to be sure that she did not come across as a perfect or perfectly nice person. She is neither. She has been described as a Mary Sue by some readers, and vigorously defended from that label by others. At this point, since I've never found a writer who can give me a coherent and consistent definiton of what s/he means by the term "Mary Sue", I really don't care. If you tend to hate OFCs, you will hate this character. OTOH, if you like stories filled with a lot of Tolkien trivia, you can have fun hunting for details and clues.
- I wanted to maintain a sense of fear through the whole thing, but have it fade in and fade out. When I first read LOTR, the flight from Bree was a really scary part. The story rarely rises to this level of tension again, though there are more intense action scenes. Four poor little Hobbits, lost in the middle of no where with this filthy, sullen, scary guy - eek! And now I've given them someone else to be scared of. I played on Frodo's words to Strider when he's explaining why he trusts the Ranger: " 'You have frightened me tonight, but never in the way that servants of the Enemy would, or so I imagine. I think one of his spies would - well, seem fairer and feel fouler, if you understand.' 'I see,' laughed Strider. 'I look foul and feel fair. Is that it?' " Laurë is someone who looks fairer than Strider, but who has these weird flare-ups of "foulness" that keeps knocking the companions for a loop.
- I wanted to try to write from different perspectives and differentiate between the Hobbits. Each of them gets at least one chapter to himself (Frodo has two), Aragorn gets a chapter, too, and he and Frodo share POV on yet another.
- I needed to vent over one of the things that really bugged me in the FOTR movie. My chapter 'Argument in the Weather Hills' is meant as a correction to a stupid humor scene. Jackson uses Hobbit hunger as a set up for making fun of Pippin. I hated it. I decided that this would be closer to how any actual argument about food would have run. Just remember that JRRT himself talks about the Hobbits getting used to walking around eating much less than they are used to, and how they got fairly thin on the trip to Rivendell. I also use this chapter to explore the reasons why Hobbits and Big People (full sized humans) rarely live in the same settlements. Merry has always struck me as a smart and thoughtful character, but not as worldly as Frodo, so I make him the voice of Hobbit chauvinism. It also sets up a change of heart for him later on in future stories.
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.
