Thanks to deadlines, I’m pretty sure I’ll forget to post this later in the week. Here it is, several days early, just in case.
For those of you wondering where the Calais County series came from, it started with this article both Emma and I read last year about (dubious) origins of Valentine’s Day..
More specifically, the idea came from this paragraph:
The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival – or longer, if the match was right.
Let me replay the ensuing conversation:
EMMA: You could never make a premise like that work.
MEG: Oh, look. Your cup of reverse psychology overfloweth again.
EMMA: No, I’m serious. I bet it’d be tough to make it happen without a crap-ton of exposition.
I grumbled a lot, and produced some truly shitty, awful drafts, but I ended up liking the premise enough to take it more seriously.
So that’s where Calais County came from. And Happy Valentine’s Day in advance.
I LOVE THAT YOU KNOW YOUR READERS SO WELL AND WE WOULD BE ASKING THIS VERY QUESTION.
I SURE HOPE MR. SILVER WILL BE HOME THIS WEEKEND. :0)
Chuckle chuckle chuckle! Oh my! I think for a lot of people a “you can’t…” Is the beginnings of some wonderful stuff.
And pray, do tell, whereth (time & place) does this lottery taketh place? Sounds like something out of Roman or Greek times. Though could possibly be old Scottland. Where actuall marriage didn’t take place until a little bugger was conceived, making sure both parties (from farming families) where healthy enough to continue the good family name/business so to speak.
Happy Valentines weekend.