Let me start by saying *thank you* to everyone who's commented on any part of this story.
You've been very encouraging when I needed encouragement. I apologize for being so lax with responding to comments -- I should have done better.
Wendy, you've been a big help all the way through writing this story... and I'm so tickled you like the whole Henderson/Francine ship thing. I wasn't sure how that would go over, especially since he doesn't get into the story til it's two-thirds over, but you guys picked up on it the first time I had Francine think about a guy named Bill
Maria, the wedding's a small private affair. They didn't invite us
Susan, I know there are some things left undone, but then that's life, isn't it? You just never get everything concluded all at once...
Thanks for your help, Rachel! And thanks for mentioning that last line. It was a late change.
Karen... I don't know about a sequel. You wouldn't want for me to have to come up with another A-plot, would you? I was thinking about a follow-up vignette, but that's not the same thing.
Thanks for that whole-hearted approval, James
So glad you jumped on board, Missy, considering you were probably the first person to bug me about a sequel to HD. See what you did???
Carol, I'm glad you think I caught Henderson. He's fun to write, but I had wondered if I was overplaying him. And it means a lot to me that you so enjoyed Brenda & Francine, too.
Ankit, don't feel sorry for Gwen! She richly deserved it, really.
Jose... not the debut exactly, no. Maybe something, though.
Ann... I guess I'm saving the best for last.
First off, thanks for the compliments on Brenda & Francine. I'll admit I never sat down and said, hmm, Lois should have some friends -- but as I was plotting HD I realized I'd have to create a few characters; Sev wasn't generous enough to kidnap a concubine for his commanding officer without grabbing one for himself, too. And then they kinda grew. Actually, I have to give a lot of credit to Claire Hess, who beta'd for me, and who really took to Francine.
And then there's Gwen, who sort of appeared full-blown in my head one day. In general, I agree with you about female characters getting killed -- the thing I really despise is when a woman is introduced at the beginning of the film, then killed, so as to provide the hero his motivation. Hate that. I wasn't sure what Gwen's fate would be for a long time, but by the time I got to the end it was obvious to me that she Knew Too Much. If you'll notice, though, all my other female characters came out of this in good shape
Oh, did I ever tell you guys the story about naming Kari & her friends? When I was first creating the character, I decided to call her Kari after my cousin. Not that my cousin is flaky, she's not <g> but I liked the name, and it was just exotic enough. And then later, when I wanted to create the rest of the "pep squad" I wanted to come up with names for them, and for some reason, Glenda and Erica seemed to fit just right.
It was several days later before I realized *why* those names seemed to go with Kari -- I've got two *other* cousins (Kari's two brothers) named Glenn and Erik.
Again, thanks everyone who's commented on this at any point -- I wouldn't have finished this without you.
PJ
