Insparation
I loved the Secret Garden growing up. I connected with the isolation of Mary, and longed for a garden of my own. i wanted to be the one to bring it to life, to sit next to Dicken and learn, to get my hands dirty, to bring a book into the locked walls and spend hours with only myself for company. And now I've found a way. Kind of.
I'm really excited about writing in this world. When I was little not only was it one of my fav books, but I adored the Hallmark movie based on the book. It started out in the future, with Mary as a nurse, and told the story through flashbacks (it ended with Dicken arriving in the garden and they kiss.) I always thought Mark and Dicken would end up together.
I was listening to the musical recently. It has this great song at the end (in the Broadway version sung by Mandy Patankin) or rather 2 songs. Where in the World and How Could I Ever Know. The first song is Archie lammenting the fact that he is being haunted by Lily, and where can he go to get away from the memories. The second part is Lily's responce. She didn't know that she would have to leave him, but her wish is for him to take that love he feels for her and give it to their son.
I started thinking about that idea, and wanting to expand it. How did they meet? She must have loved gardens very much. I can see her mucking around in the dirt, and her mother getting exasperated. "Why can't you be a proper lady?" And she has a sisiter who moves to India and has a child. What was that relationship like? Were they good friends? Or did they just tolerate each other?
How did they meet? Was it love at first sight? And what about the other characters. Did Lily know Mrs. Medlock? Did she ever hold Dicken as a baby? Was she friends with Ben Witherstaff or Susan Sowerby? Was the robin that friended Mary the child or grandchild of a robin that was around when the garden was first built?
Comments
Anyway, I would love to read what you have written so far about Lily and Archie. If you have not already, would you consider joining my Yahoo group, the Secret Garden Fanfiction Society? It's not very busy but I try to link up as many stories as I can find and keep the idea alive. I also like to share stuff about the books, movies, actors, characters -- pretty much ANYTHING to do with it.
As for me, I saw the show on broadway in 1992 (Lydia Ooghe played Mary and I believe Mandy Patinkin left at that point but John Cameron Mitchell was still in as Dickon though I saw his understudy (dangit). I got to see Rebecca Luker as Lily and the original Martha and other characters so I was happy about that. Lydia did a great job, too.
I have the song book, program, Playbill, some postcards they gave us at the St. James in two sizes of the original artwork, a few copies of the novel, I used to have the Secret Garden key with the rose entwined around it plus the T shirt and keychain but those were lost over the years:( I owned the 4 movies on VHS and have the 1993 version on DVD. I have never seen the animated version, though. I have the original broadway soundtrack and I don't yet have the English one but it's on my wishlist!:)
I created a secret garden fanfic archive but I could not afford to continue to host it as my job cut my hours this year so I'm looking for a new job. Once I get settled I will host it again. I used storyline for submissions of stories.
My fondness for TSG also spawned an original novel I'm working on which has the same setting of Yorkshire England, but has completely different characters and storyline.
I am so enchanted with the whole idea of the Secret Garden and I am very eager to read your story if you would be so kind as to share it with me! I hope you're well and if you ever want to talk about writing or anything, you can IM me on MSN as fangirl@gmail.com or on Yahoo as aquietconscience. the Yahoo group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tsgffs/
I hope to hear from you soon!