Shards of Glass: Meet the Characters: Gerda

 

“You don’t stop loving people just because they become unlovable.”

“I’ve spent my whole life one wall away from Kai.”

Gerda is a 17 year old girl living in Minnesota with her adopted parents, who are her bio uncle and aunt. She is Taiwanese-American. They live in a duplex/townhouse, with Kai and his grandmother in the other unit.

It’s been a long time since they were close, but Kai is still an important part of Gerda’s life, and she’s not ready to give up on him.

She struggles to connect with others, and often feels like an outsider. She likes stories, and roses, and baking with Kai’s grandma.

See jennyprater.com for more information on Shards of Glass.

The Snow Queen: Story the First: Which Describes a Looking-Glass and its Broken Fragments

 

(Over the next seven weeks, I’ll be posting both the text of the Snow Queen, and my thoughts on it. This is the text of the first section. All text comes from the public domain translation of Andersen’s works edited by J. H. Stickney and published in 1886. I have changed the spelling of Kai's name from Kay to Kai in this text, as it is the spelling I prefer. The illustrations, by Edna Hart, are from this edition as well.)

YOU must attend to the beginning of this story, for when we get to the end we shall know more than we now do about a very wicked hobgoblin; he was one of the most mischievous of all sprites, for he was a real demon.

One day when he was in a merry mood he made a looking-glass which had the power of making everything good or beautiful that was reflected in it shrink almost to nothing, while everything that was worthless and bad was magnified so as to look ten times worse than it really was.

The most lovely landscapes appeared like boiled spinach, and all the people became hideous and looked as if they stood on their heads and had no bodies. Their countenances were so distorted that no one could recognize them, and even one freckle on the face appeared to spread over the whole of the nose and mouth. The demon said this was very amusing. When a good or holy thought passed through the mind of any one a wrinkle was seen in the mirror, and then how the demon laughed at his cunning invention.

All who went to the demon's school—for he kept a school—talked everywhere of the wonders they had seen, and declared that people could now, for the first time, see what the world and its inhabitants were really like. They carried the glass about everywhere, till at last there was not a land nor a people who had not been looked at through this distorted mirror.

They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it. At last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces.

But now the looking-glass caused more unhappiness than ever, for some of the fragments were not so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about the world into every country. And when one of these tiny atoms flew into a person's eye it stuck there, unknown to himself, and from that moment he viewed everything the wrong way, and could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirror.

Some few persons even got a splinter of the looking-glass in their hearts, and this was terrible, for their hearts became cold and hard like a lump of ice. A few of the pieces were so large that they could be used as windowpanes; it would have been a sad thing indeed to look at our friends through them. Other pieces were made into spectacles, and this was dreadful, for those who wore them could see nothing either rightly or justly. At all this the wicked demon laughed till his sides shook, to see the mischief he had done. There are still a number of these little fragments of glass floating about in the air, and now you shall hear what happened with one of them.

The Snow Queen: Story the First: Which Describes a Looking Glass and Its Broken Fragments

 

This first part of the story is very different from the following six—it contains none of the same characters or settings, but it serves to explain the significance of everything that happens next. It’s vital to understanding Kai, to understanding the Snow Queen, and to understanding the themes of the rest of the story.

In this section, a demon makes a mirror that distorts every good thing it reflects, and amplifies everything bad. The demons rejoice that this mirror allows others to see the world as it truly is, and fly it to the heavens to see how it reflects the angels. But they drop it, and break it, at fragments of the enchanted glass fly all over the world. Some of these fragments land it people’s eyes or hearts, corrupting and changing them, and two of these, we’ll learn in the next section, land in Kai—one in his eye, and one in his heart.

Though he won’t be mentioned again, the devil who made the mirror is the true villain of the story—not the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen is…incidental. For Kai, this is a story about the world—represented by the enchanted mirror—corrupting a child. If there were no mirror shard, he would never go away with the Snow Queen. This broken mirror is the driving force behind the story.

The first part is vital, fundamental, and pretty straightforward, so I don’t have much to say about it today. Be sure to read the actual text, which I’ve posted here, and check back in next week for part two.

Shards of Glass: Meet the Characters: The Reindeer

 

“I am a magical creature, and here in my home I can feed on the cold, though in the city I must eat like you and everyone.”

“I’m sorry - I’m not a brave beast.”

The reindeer has been living in a walk-in closet for a long time. It’s not an ideal living situation, but it would be worse if the closet’s owners learned he could talk. He trusts Gerda with his story, and he’s happy to take her to the Snow Queen’s palace in exchange for his freedom, as long as he doesn’t have to face the Snow Queen himself.

See jennyprater.com for more information on Shards of Glass.

The Snow Queen

 

The Snow Queen is a story told in seven parts, which we’ll be breaking down over the next several weeks. But first, an introduction: 

The Snow Queen was written by Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1844. Andersen has produced many classic, beloved stories - The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Pea, The Little Matchgirl, The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Some happy, some funny, some tragic. Of all his stories, The Snow Queen has always held a special place in my heart. It’s a story about faith. About friendship. About growing up. But mostly, it’s a story about love. 

It’s a beautiful story, and one we’ll be spending a lot of time with over the next few months. We will be coving one of the seven sections for each of the next seven weeks, and then moving on to other Snow Queen and Shards of Glass related content.

Shards of Glass

 

“When Gerda's neighbor and childhood friend disappears into the Mississippi, she refuses to believe he's dead. A spontaneous rescue mission leads her to a strange new land, full of fairies, trolls, and talking flowers. To find her friend, she must travel through this land, to a palace at the top of the world. But reaching the palace is only the beginning-she has to get him home again, too.”

My second novel, Shards of Glass, will be released on September 26, with preorders opening in early August. Shard of Glass is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Starting in not-quite-modern Minnesota, it follows seventeen-year-old Gerda as she chases after an old friend given up for dead by everyone else.

This is just a quick intro post - we’ll be talking more about both Shards of Glass and The Snow Queen over the course of the summer. Patrons will have access to most posts one week early.

New Project Announcement: Silence

I’ve discovered, through trial and error over the last few years, that it’s a lot easier to actually get writing projects done when I have people waiting to read them. Especially when I’m sharing the projects as I write them. And I don’t have a writing group or anything right now, and I never really know what to do with my Patreon, so I’m going to try doing this: 

I’m writing a story right now called Silence. I hope it will be novel-length, but I never really know until I get there. It’s about a mermaid. I would not call it a retelling of The Little Mermaid, but honestly, YMMV on that. Starting next week, I’ll be posting a chapter of this story on Patreon every week. (With possible occasional skipped weeks for holidays, real life interference, etc.)

Silence will be available for everyone, Patrons or not. Patrons will have access to each chapter five days early, and will also have access to occasional bonus content consisting of deleted scenes, outlines, previews, posts about inspiration, posts about the history of this story-type, etc.—basically whatever I feel like, TBH.

One important thing to note here: it’s much easier to stay motivated to write if I’m sharing as I go, but that only works if I know people are reading. So if you’re here, please engage with the posts. Like them or comment—it can be something simple like a heart or a smiley face, or something longer, and I’ll try to respond to any comments, but please keep any criticism constructive and polite. Remember, this is a rough draft that I’m sharing as I write it, and it will go through plenty of editing before standard publication is an option. I’m happy to hear about any issues you notice with the story, so I can make the next draft better, but remember to be nice! (Also, feel free to point out any grammar or spelling issues.)

You do not have to be a Patron to read Silence, but you do need to be a Patron for access to the bonus content. If you are not a Patron, do please consider following my page, which is free!

Chapters will post for Patrons on Sundays and for non-Patrons the following Friday. Bonus content will post whenever I feel like it. A proper summary/back cover blurb/whatever is coming soon. Unfortunately the layout of Patreon is not super convenient for posting writing (I would love it if I could set things up to feel a little more AO3, a little less LiveJournal), so I’ll try to set up some sort of master-post where you can access each chapter easily, but I’m not sure yet if that’ll work.

My Patreon is here.