I really enjoyed reading this! I feel like the pacing and tone were especially effective. Just when I would start to feel slightly itchy to have answers, the story would untangle and keep moving along. A week after finishing, I’m still stuck on a question though and wondering if I’ve missed something obvious or if it’s a clue to some hidden meaning:
-Warning, potential spoiler ahead-
In the opening scene, how did the narrator know what Willa looked like? “As he spoke, he realized it wasn’t the worst idea. The sitter was tall, raven-haired.”
Maybe it’s an incorrect read, but it seemed like he’d never met her. Made me wonder how much was a Willa-derived fantasy and how much of the story was his own fantasy.
Either way, congrats to Dylan for a compelling story! And I’m very excited to read more original fiction in Synthesized Sunsets.
Hi Lindsay! Thanks for reading Snowlight, and thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
The answer to your question: Miles has seen pictures of Willa and Charlotte together. I imagine they’ve even got a little 4x6 photo print stuck to the side of a fridge with a magnet, next to a mini Calgary-Flames schedule and a flyer clipping for milk coupons, in which Willa’s kneeling with a hand over Charlotte’s shoulder. Maybe Miles and Charlotte’s mom’s scribbled ‘Char & Willa’ in Sharpie.
It’s a detail that got left out in the first revision. I sort of liked the ambiguity, how it lets the reader come up with something. But that (above) is what I pictured. No pun intended
I really enjoyed reading this! I feel like the pacing and tone were especially effective. Just when I would start to feel slightly itchy to have answers, the story would untangle and keep moving along. A week after finishing, I’m still stuck on a question though and wondering if I’ve missed something obvious or if it’s a clue to some hidden meaning:
-Warning, potential spoiler ahead-
In the opening scene, how did the narrator know what Willa looked like? “As he spoke, he realized it wasn’t the worst idea. The sitter was tall, raven-haired.”
Maybe it’s an incorrect read, but it seemed like he’d never met her. Made me wonder how much was a Willa-derived fantasy and how much of the story was his own fantasy.
Either way, congrats to Dylan for a compelling story! And I’m very excited to read more original fiction in Synthesized Sunsets.
Hi Lindsay! Thanks for reading Snowlight, and thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
The answer to your question: Miles has seen pictures of Willa and Charlotte together. I imagine they’ve even got a little 4x6 photo print stuck to the side of a fridge with a magnet, next to a mini Calgary-Flames schedule and a flyer clipping for milk coupons, in which Willa’s kneeling with a hand over Charlotte’s shoulder. Maybe Miles and Charlotte’s mom’s scribbled ‘Char & Willa’ in Sharpie.
It’s a detail that got left out in the first revision. I sort of liked the ambiguity, how it lets the reader come up with something. But that (above) is what I pictured. No pun intended