OtNW Progress Update

So today I learned that /r/Frozen and Snowchan are things. And there are people there who like OtNW? Hello, people from other websites!

I’ve been pecking away at the new chapter. It’s going a bit slow because I was having a hard time figuring out the shape of it, and what events I want to hit. But today I think I really hit my stride, and I know how it’s going to play out and how it’s going to lead into the rest of the story. I make no promises about the length though. I was hitting like almost 10k words per chapter for a while, and I don’t know if I can dive back into that immediately.



I’ve done some heavy editing on the future outline for the story (which has existed for over a year at this point) to trim it down to the essentials. I figured that would make it faster to wrap up the story, and easier on me to write. Unfortunately that means I’m not going to follow through on some plot threads that were set up in the earlier chapters (and I won’t get to introduce a new OC I was really excited about, but Lord knows I have enough of them already). I think it’s better to finish a streamlined story than to get bogged down again.

Since I’m starting the new chapter fresh, I wanted to share a snippet that I originally wrote almost a year ago for what was supposed to be chapter 19 before I got stuck. Nothing revolutionary or revealing. Just Anna following through on her promise at the end of chapter 18 to call the eye doctor for Elsa. But it exists, and it’s a complete scene, so here it is for the interested.

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Anna couldn’t really blame Elsa for looking anxious just now. There were only five of them in the room–Elsa, herself, Hans, Kai, and the optometrist–but everyone’s attention was completely focused on Elsa, who sat stiff and awkward in her seat.

The optometrist had pulled out a series of lens, and said, “Now, Your Highness, can you tell me exactly what the problem is?”

“I don’t know,” Elsa said shortly. “I hadn’t known there was a problem.” Anna rolled her eyes.

“She squints when she reads.”

Elsa spun her head towards Anna. “You said I held the book too far away.”

“I think you do both,” Hans said tentatively. Elsa’s gaze whipped to him, and he very nearly flinched. Honestly, she could be such a child sometimes.

“That’s a perfectly normal sign of nearsightedness,” the optometrist said kindly. “Could you read from that book there so I can see for myself?”

After an entirely overdramatic bit of hesitation, Elsa gingerly took the book and flipped it up to a random passage. Anna gave her about five seconds, and then said, “Elsa, that’s not how you read at all. Just read normally.”

“I can’t,” she hissed. “I am self-conscious, and this was a terrible idea.”

Anna didn’t know whether she wanted to scold her or just laugh. She settled for sighing and plucking the book from Elsa hands. “It looks like this,” she said, and did her best approximation of Elsa reading. She tried her hardest to be accurate, but Elsa still looked deeply offended.

The optometrist–bless his professionalism–picked out a set of lenses and handed them to Elsa. “Let’s try these,” he said, “and if they’re an improvement we’ll work from there.”

Elsa seemed to have moved on to bitter resignation, because she handled the lens the way someone might handle a particularly rancid slab of spoiled meat, but she did at least put them on. Then she blinked rapidly, swiveled her head around the room, and blurted, “Oh my God.”

“Elsa?” Anna asked, concerned. Her eyes were huge and bugged now. The glasses couldn’t have been hurting them, could they? “Elsa, are you alright?”

“Oh my God.” Anna had nearly forgotten she was still holding the book until Elsa ripped it clean from her hands and flipped it open. “Oh my God. Are letters supposed to be this clear?”

Relief flooded Anna, and she chuckled as the optometrist said, “They shouldn’t be blurry at all, ma'am, if we have the right lens. Here, try these.” He handed her another pair.

“Oh,” Elsa said a moment later, “these are even better!” She sounded for all the world like a child who had been granted a dear wish they had thought impossible, and Anna’s cheeks were aching from matching her smile.

The optometrist handled her a third pair, which she tried on eagerly before visibly deflating. “These are worse that the first.”

“We needed to eliminate them,” the optometrist said, already holding out a fourth pair. “Here.”

Anna was reasonably sure she could sit here and watch Elsa’s expression of childlike wonder all day, but Hans touched her wrist gently and said, “We need to get going.”

“Right,” she said softly. “The paperwork’s already waiting, isn’t it?”

“I had it sent up this morning.”

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“Anna, look at this tapestry!” Elsa had somehow gotten away from the doctor and was now stood with her face mere inches from the wall. When was the last time…no, had Anna ever seen her look quite so simply delighted? It was utterly charming, and not a hint of her earlier stiffness remained. Now there was an idea. Just provide some pleasant distraction for Elsa when she would otherwise be overwhelmed by people, and watch everyone fall in love with her smile.

“It’s lovely,” she called back. “When you’re done you should go the library and look at some of the etchings.” Hans had stood, and helped her to her feet. “We have a meeting to get to; have fun, alright?”

Elsa nodded distractedly. The optometrist was entreating her to look at some styles of frames, so she didn’t even see Anna’s wave as they left the room.

Not ten feet down the hallway she could hear from behind them a bubbling laugh of pure joy, and she was struck suddenly by her own intense desire to just stay with Elsa, or maybe to keep Elsa with her. To be there for every smile, to share things with her in the moment instead of having to wait for hours or to rely on an intermediary. That they wouldn’t be so separated by their respective duties, by the council’s expectations of Anna or their distrust of Elsa. The urge was strong enough that she, for a moment at least, very seriously considered turning right around.

But there was Hans, and her responsibilities. One day. That was what they were working towards, wasn’t it? For Elsa to find her place in the kingdom, so that she could stand by Anna’s side.

It was, after all, where she belonged.