Do you have "friends" in your novels, are they good friends? I know the essence of the romance is the love story but you can include friends as well, just so long as they don't take over the whole story. The stubborn Elizabeth Mary in The Substitute Bride, would be lost without her companion. Yes, the girl is her maid, but she is also Elizabeth's best friend and Elizabeth knows it. Kate in Dangerous Enchantment has an unusual good friend, and that is the male character's mother. Those who have read A Saxon Tapestry know that Alfled would really suffer had it not been for her friend and maid, Hild.
Thinking about this subject had me reflecting on my friendships I am very lucky in my friends they are wonderful people, and their friendship has recently been tested to the limit. But there are other friends too - friends you don't often see, or come to that friends you have never seen!
Fifty years ago I started a correspondence with a young man who was serving in the US Amy in Germany. I confess to being a bit giddy in those years, but George was the one person with whom I could be serious. By that I mean exchanging views on literature and the arts. He was the only person I could be that way with and we exchanged many letters over the years. We lost touch, as you do, but recently I found George on facebook. This was amazing. My inspiration for seeking him out was a stack of letters I found when clearing out the bottom of my filing cabinet (you don't want to go in there believe me). I found him right away. Amazing.
I think it proves that you don't have to meet someone to be a friend and you don't have to see them regularly. Frienship comes from sharing ideas, liking similar things and most of all being able to express your thoughts and feelings. Wonderful.
3 comments:
Ah, but someday the twain shall meet!
Best, George
Well put. Friends expand the sense of reality in books. And where would we be without them in life?
Glad that you've made contact with George again, Margaret!
I've rediscovered several 'old' friends via the internet (either Faceook or Friends Reunited). With some, when I've met up with them, it's been as if we only saw each other last week, not 40 or 50 years ago, and we continue to meet and get on just as we always did. But with others, although we might have been good friends in our schholdays, I've found that our lives have diverged so much that we no longer have anything in common.
It can work both ways, it seems.
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