Comments on Home Alone: Forgotten in Formenos

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There will naturally be a chapter done in colored pencil, showing the whole scheme! :D I haven't written that part yet, but I'm concocting in my mind the various ways that the Ambarussa can torment my baddies Iniðilêz and Dušamanûðânâz ...

I hope you enjoy the story! And the hot chocolate! :D

It's been on my mind for two years! This is just a ridiculous time of year to get significant writing done, and it's not a story I want to work on during the summer. I made myself do it this year if only so I could stop having to watch the movies every year.

I've got quite a ways to go to finish, so hopefully this missed day matters little in the larger scheme of things. (Though I'm rolling my eyes at my timing ... I *would* choose one of the only days out of the year that you don't have time to read ...)

I hope you like it when you get to it.

I *would* choose one of the only days out of the year that you don't have time to read ...

OMG! You nailed me! Almost nothing keeps me from reading--holidays do: with family, Christmas presents, cooking, a tree we haven't decorated, and work still to be done on my Yuletide fic which MUST be totally squeaky clean before our Xmas Eve dinner tomorrow night.

I think the fact that you're asking it says that you know me pretty well as an author! :D

I don't want to spoil the story but will say that one of the things that saves the Home Alone franchise for me--because I'm not terribly enthusiastic about schmaltzy tales of the Power of Christmas Spirit--is its theme about not just tolerating but embracing people who are different. So you might get your wish ...

My older brother used to talk to me and our younger siblings like this (not the exact vocabulary--but, you know, exact tone!):

“I would not pack your trunk for you,” he says with the pointed enunciation of the deliberately cruel, “if I was filling it with your dismembered, wolf-mangled corpses.”

In his defense, he has been awesome to me for the last several decades!

It was a parody of a line from Buzz, Kevin's older brother, in the first movie, which goes something like, "I wouldn't let you sleep in my room if you were growing on my ass!"

Tyelkormo is my Buzz stand-in in this story, but yes, I recall well (being the older sibling) these kinds of exchanges!

Thanks! I am realizing that the task of writing a crossover of this movie is not as straightforward as I thought because details like the chaos in the house--shown in a couple of scenes or as background to dialogue--requires much more development in writing.

The characters are a little caricaturish, but I hope it's forgiveable given the nature of the story! :D

Your description of Tyelko's face--nose, pimples and the hope that he may someday be handsome made me laugh! Poor guy. I loved the description of his room--any little boy's dream! Imagining Macalaure with a squirrel in his hair is worth a chuckle. now I'm fascinated with the Wight and irritated by this annoyngly unctuous Maia. 

Leave it to Tyelko to tell a ghost story and be distracted by being gross!

Thank you! The story is turning out much longer than I anticipated (words I have uttered more than once in my life as a writer ...), so I'm pleased to hear that all those words are at least working for you! :D

(There are odd details from my usual verse thrown in here and there. Feanaro's insistence on cooking for his family is one of them. One of my favorite details from L&C--that Elvish guys do the cooking! [My husband also does the cooking in our family, which might be part of why I connect so well with this.])

Tyelko didn't even get an "I told you so" in the rush! 

The driver's unease and his way of presenting the situation To Nolo as a way to avoid being stuck at Feanaro's house days on end was well done. As was Nolo's comment on the house being like a beehive if the kids woke up suddenly! 

I also love how you highlight the differences between Nolo and Fëanor (carriage vs wagon, wine poured by attendants etc) but how at their core they are so very similar (much to their mutual dismay!)

poor Nerdanel.

He didn't! Although I suspect he enjoyed more the drama and attention he was causing than he had actual concern over safety. :D

You know my verse well enough to know that the differences in how The Noldor and how Feanaro approach matters of pomp and servants and the privileges of "royalty" are different in my mind. Even though I can get lost in other authors' verses and stories that see things differently, this is one thing I don't think I could write differently myself; it is such a core to my vision of the Family Feanor and how they came to occupy nondescript realms in Beleriand, distinguishing themselves through service rather than building opulent hidden realms.

The Maiar with Filthy Feär are already written! :D I'm not sure what the equivalent of the polka band will be; I haven't written this quite yet but am getting there.

I also still enjoy the movies (1 and 2, anyway), which my husband and I have watched annually, partly because I kept wanting to start this story and needed to see them before I could begin ... I also find they age well!

Thanks for reading and commenting! :D

Yes, essentially! In the original, Kevin wants to watch a gangster movie called "Angels with Filthy Souls" but is deemed too young to do so. After his family, "disappears," he pops in the VHS tape and watches a scene where mob boss guns down a man who comes to collect his cut on a job. Kevin is horrified. (Watching it as a kid, I thought it was scary too!)

This is my attempt to parody that in the Ardaverse. :D

Yes, of course they have to be buffoons! Although I am enjoying immensely making them slightly icky buffoons too (not really an angle in the original but then there aren't Elves in the original either unless one counts the girl taking the candy canes to her boyfriend ... ;)

Thanks for continuing to read and especially to comment! <3

So Celegorm likes Reader's Digest, does he?

This story continues amazingly readable and involving even if you don't know the films!

Author's Response:

Of course he does! :D (I was inspired by the book collection because a friend of mine has the entire collection of those truncated RD novels. They look beautiful, but I can't help but wonder who would want to read the classics in Cliffs Notes form??)

Thank you for such a kind compliment! I like to think that the movie isn't essential, since I'm essentially laying Silm characters/setting on top of the Home Alone plot, not really entwining the canons in any meaningful way. But I'm thrilled that, even as a non-Home Alone fan, you find the story engaging! <3

Poor little Ambarussa! It's not easy to be the youngest, least gifted members of such a large and talented family. I like the idea of the "glimmer of shared thought" between their heads.

I've never seen the Home Alone movies, but I'm sure I don't need to; this is fun! So much energy and color bursting through the lines.

Aww, thank you, Hazel! I really appreciate this comment. I don't think Home Alone is essential to understanding the story--all I've done is put Silm characters and setting on top of the plot of the first and second in the series--but I DO worry that it is needed to *enjoy* the story. I'm trying to make that not so and am glad that I've succeeded so far for you! :) I hope you continue to enjoy it.

I enjoy Feanor in this scene - his appreciation of Nerdanel, his culinary genius, his spotless apron, his intolerance of other people's intolerance of spicy food, scouting out an inn where his brother's family can stay ... I'm a little surprised he blamed the twins when he might have chosen Fingolfin or Aredhel, but everything else is pitch-perfect.

You bring out the chaos very well; I can feel it. My favorite part (after Feanor) is Fingolfin's rescue of the carpet, which is futile even though it succeeds.

I think the response to the twins was just that they happened to be the culprits when he reached his snapping point. Kind of like when a decision above me is made that my students don't like, and by the time I hear it complained about for the 10th time, I snap ... and then feel bad about it afterward.

Feanor in this scene, actually, is based a lot around me and how I interact with the world, namely feeling overwhelmed in large social situations (and maybe a little bit thinking that people that don't eat spicy food are a little bit wimps ... ;)

I'm glad you liked the chapter! :D Thanks for reading and letting me know!

I feel for all three of them. We've all had family incidents like this, when some minor thing spun out of control and ended up hurting everyone's feelings.

I love the idea that Feanor interrupted Nerdanel once and never made that mistake again. I also like the distinct personalities you give to Ambarussa and Ambarto, their differences in behavior/thinking.