Annie Hawthorne of The Curious Wren tagged me for the 7/7/7/ challenge, which involves sharing a bit of one’s work-in-progress—and since at the moment I actually have a work-in-progress with a seventh page, on which I may count down seven lines and share the next seven (without running into spoilers!), I thought I’d go for it. This is a bit from Lost Lake House, which, if you hadn’t heard me mention it before, is a novella-length retelling of the fairytale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” set during the Roaring ’20s. Bear in mind that this is still a raw first draft and a scene I’m not wholly satisfied with, so it may change (we hope for the better) in future drafts.
She wished people wouldn’t interfere with the music so much. But before she had too much time to think about it, a boy asked her to dance and she accepted with alacrity, warming quickly to her favorite pastime. While the mellow, swinging music poured out from among the ferns, and her nimble, scuffed shoes whisked lightly and skilfully across the polished floor, she was almost perfectly happy, and it almost did not matter who her partner was so long as he was a good dancer—although there were certain ones among the Lost Lake House habitués whom she preferred not to have if she could help it, for reasons apart from their dancing.
For several dances she was happily employed, and then, her final partner departing and no other immediately appearing, Dorothy sat down on a sofa in a corner and found herself left alone for a few minutes. She watched the drifting, fox-trotting crowd on the ballroom floor—the feathers and rhinestones against the women’s shingled hair, the bright-colored silken frocks with draped backs and necklines—and many smart shoes. Many of the couples who drifted in through one particular door on the north side of the ballroom had glasses in their hands, and these were always a little more raucous and less in time with the music. Dorothy half unconsciously tucked one foot under her on the sofa as she sat in her bedroom at home, a little pinch of unreasoning loneliness drawing her a bit further into herself.
I hereby tag anybody else who’d like to play along—to recap, you flip to the seventh page of your work-in-progress, count down seven lines (which, following the precedent of others, I interpreted as sentences), and then share the next seven.
Hamlette says
I love that fairy tale! What a cool idea to set it in the '20s.
Annie Hawthorne says
I love the vividry of this, Elisabeth! I can see the warm colors and swirling couples, hear the music… ^_^ This was my favorite sentence:
"While the mellow, swinging music poured out from among the ferns, and her nimble, scuffed shoes whisked lightly and skilfully across the polished floor, she was almost perfectly happy, and it almost did not matter who her partner was so long as he was a good dancer…"
I've never read a fairytale re-telling set in the Roaring '20s, and I think it's a marvelous idea, m'dear. I'm looking forward to digging into the novella when you've finished! 🙂