ARLKSJDKLASNBIAMEXCITEDFORMYWRITING.

Flipping holidays can't come soon enough! Holiday time means writing time (and friend time, but that's not what this post is about...).

Having one of those moments where the story idea in my brain is positively bursting with AWESOME and I just want to write it. As you've probably heard I'm revisiting my superpowers story, and revamping the characters that have been with me since 2008. It still shocks me that they've been around that long. Finally, I think I've figured out what their story is supposed to be. And who doesn't belong in the story. Many a character has been scrapped. Also many have died. But that's a different novel, to be written one day when I'm famous and my readers are begging for the backstory....

Totally pumped for the epicness that will be this book! I'm using NaNoWriMo to bust out 50k for it, which is kind of cheating since I've already started the story, but seeing as NaNoWriMo is made for personal gain, I guess I can use it for the best benefits possible. Right? Heh. We're all NaNo rebels sometime or other (or every time if you're me...).

I was talking to Keira yesterday about the authory things that I wish I could do but don't yet have the skill. Number One is better foreshadowing. I wish I could master foreshadowing for a huge series like Harry Potter. JK Rowling is a genius. Don't believe me? Go read The Prisoner of Azkaban again.

The second thing is pushing my characters one step further in the way of er ... torture. I don't know how else to put it. Basically, when you write a story your character has to get past many bad obstacles, and each time they escalate, pushing the character to their limits. I can never seem to get my characters to the step that breaks them, or nearly breaks them, depending on your character. A perfect example of this is Amy in The Doctor's Wife. While she and Rory are lost inside the TARDIS (I still don't know if I'm supposed to capitalise all the letters or not!), Rory gets shut behind and door and Amy finds him only seconds later, or so she thinks. Turns out for him it's been hours. That's step one. Step two is when she's tricked into thinking Rory has waited his whole lifetime for her, and to her horror she finds an old Rory still sitting behind the door. Now, if I had written this episode, that's as far as I would have taken it. The genius bit comes in step three, the moment that breaks Amy. The moment that pushes her over the edge, and gives us a real insight to her character, and makes us care. Because we knew that the old Rory was just a fake one put there by the badguy, so now that the scene is over we don't care anymore. The writers need to scare us. To make us feel what Amy feels. So when Amy next turns the corner she sees DIE AMY DIE graffitied all over the walls and the dead skeleton of her husband Rory, and she just breaks down. Now don't lie, your stomach twisted when you watched that didn't it? You felt it that time. Now the writers have got you to care. And when the real Rory comes around the corner, perfectly fine, confirming that what Amy saw was just a hallucination, the relief that you feel is the WIN for the writer. Yeah that's right, they've got you to love their characters. And THAT is what I want to master. Not everyone realises how important step three is in pushing your character to the limits. It's the final hurdle. Right when you think everything is going okay, something ten times worse gets in the way and you groan at the TV or shake your book in frustration because you just want the character to get through and be all right! You care now. I want to make my readers care like that.

Anyways, the post just sort of became a rant and ended up twice as long as I thought it would. So I'm going to go now. Off to continue this stupid plastering. Have a lovely Sunday!

P.S Had a ridiculously long conversation with Keira last night about names. We came to the realisation that Karen Gillan is a really, really terrible name (especially when you add that her middle name is Sheila! What is wrong with her parents?) and that Amelia Pond is a beautiful, wonderful, roll-off-the-tongue name. I love writers and how much thought they put in to names. :)

Bored girl is bored.

Enter random blog post about a random subject!

I'm literally waiting for plaster to dry (on my model for a TAFE project), so what better way to pass the time than to blog about something. I was thinking of just posting this on tumblr and making it short and snappy but hey, we all know that's just a dumb waste of time. Let's make something of this.

This post is about: My Favorite Voices on the Planet.

This blog post is brought to you by (in no particular order):


1. JJ Field

You might know his voice from movies such as Death on the Nile and Captain America. Just listen.




2. Armie Hammer 

You would have seen him twice in The Social Network. A little disappointing there's not really two of him, right? He probably has the most beautiful American accent in the world.




3. Emily Blunt

Best known for The Young Victoria and The Devil Wears Prada. A little trivia: she appeared in Death on the Nile alongside JJ Feild. I wish I sounded like this. And as I side note, I couldn't help myself and had to pick one of her interviews with Rupert Friend.




4. Alan Rickman

Obviously.




5. Emma Stone

If you are unfamiliar with films starring this girl, you need to crawl out from under your rock and watch Easy A and The Help, RIGHT NOW. I've heard some people say her voice is weird or that it's a put off, but it must be the American in me because I love it. Aaaaaand I'm so excited for this movie. SO EXCITED.



And speaking of Spiderman....

6. Andrew Garfield

Because I just love everything about him ok? And his little salute is so cute. *fangirls*

Maybe it's just the lack of Christmas vibe? Or the lack of a Pond....

I was possessed by some weird compulsion to rent the Doctor Who Christmas Special when we were up getting movies tonight at Network video, despite a little voice in my head (possibly Keira?) telling me that it was terrible compared to the rest of the series. I got it anyway and now I'm sitting here watching it and kind of wishing it was over. Yet for some reason I can't turn it off. Maybe because the only thing I'm paying attention to is that glorious little bounce in Matt's fringe....

Fact drawn from this experience: Doctor Who is boring without Amy.

Conclusion drawn from this fact: Matt Smith and Karen Gillan cease to be amazing without the other, and hence should get married and have babies with epic hair.

Concluding conclusion drawn from this conclusion: Doctor Who might cease to interest me without the epicness of both Eleven and Amy. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it....

On another note, I also watched Sunshine tonight, and am happy to say that my love for Danny Boyle continues (he's also the director of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, which were even more amazing). All the sound effects and subliminal frames were really cool. Go watch his movies!

Can I have your hair? Can I have it?

I hear climax music and a Scottish accent coming from the TV so I'd better return my attention to the Doctor and see what I'm missing! Tata.

So I've been watching Matt Smith run around in a bow-tie: A Doctor Who Review, Part 1

Did I say that out loud? 

Well, not really. I typed it. But yes, you read that right. I have spent the last week watching Series 5 of Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan aka Lily Evans.

Why, you say?

Why, after all this time, do I suddenly show an interest in the TV show that I've previously bashed?

Here's my explanation. I follow a lot of people on tumblr who love Harry Potter. A lot of people who love Harry Potter simultaneously love Doctor Who, and for the past week or so my dashboard has been bombarded with images from the recent episodes, a lot of which look exciting and pretty. Especially Matt Smith and Karen Gillan's hair. Here is one example of what I have been seeing:

This looks strangely intriguing! I said to myself. Indeed, I felt there was something different about these pictures/GIFS from the latest episode (or possibly episodes) than others I had seen. A new director, perhaps? A bigger budget? Maybe even just extra good graphics by the tumblr gang. Whatever it was, the TV show seemed to have a new spark, something that wasn't there before. Maybe something just sparked in me. Actually, if I'm honest I think the cinematography is what hooked me.

I wanted to watch whatever episodes everyone else was watching, but I realised that I couldn't do that without at least a little context. So last week I marched up the street and rented the first three discs from Series 5. And here, my friends, is my review. My personal opinion on the first 9 episodes with Matt Smith as the Doctor.
I will not be watching any of the previous series', but I might continue on after these episodes. What you must know, is that my current opinion on Doctor Who is based solely on these 9 episodes alone and that I do not intend to extend my opinion back to anything before Matt Smith. I have kept my viewing of Doctor Who a secret so as to avoid things such as "oh, but David Tennant was so much better", or "but you don't know any of the story before this!" or, "oh my gosh Erin like Doctor Who. WE MUST MAKE HER WATCH IT ALL".

Therefore, now that I have revealed this to you, I allow you to give comments, but not to drown me in all the goodness of Doctor Who fandom. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan hair fandom is accepted. 


Each brief review will be followed with my "Current Doctor Who Status" which is how I feel about the show based on the episodes that I have watched, and this status will evolve with the build up of each episode.

So folks, here it is. The opinion of me, the girl who once bashed Doctor Who, on Doctor Who.


Episode 1 - The Eleventh Hour


I was worried that I'd gone mad as I popped the disc into my computer and flopped down with Justin to watch the tardis (TARDIS? Tardis? Is capitalisation important?) fly crazily through the skies of London, but once the Doctor sat down in front of Amelia Pond with a bowl of custard and some fish fingers and said, 'Look at you. Just sitting there!' I felt a little better about just sitting there, watching Doctor Who... Especially since I knew about the whole custard and fish thing from Charlie's video.

Terrible graphics and dorky badguys are pretty much a given for Doctor Who, so I was prepared. However, when Amy stepped into the room that she didn't even know existed (emphasis for effect) and that freaky serpent thing nearly snapped her neck, I was actually rather impressed. Especially when it transformed into a human using a dormant mind and the man and the dog moved and barked together because they were the same life form. That was actually pretty cool. The suspense built up as the episode continued, we met a cute nurse named Rory, the freaky serpent turned into a freaky woman with freaky twins, Amy collapsed, the freaky serpent turned into itself, and the Doctor saved the world and whatever. Not bad for a pilot episode.

Current Doctor Who Status: Doctor Who is not that bad. 


Episode 2: The Beast Below


The episode that follows the pilot of a TV series is never very good, so I admit that my expectations weren't as high as before. That said, this episode really let me down. Honestly, it reminded me why I didn't watch Doctor Who. All the melodramatic music, the plot devices that spiralled into uselessness, the Queen that took herself (or her acting?) too seriously, and that sad story about the Star-Whale and the fact that it loved all the little children and blah blah blah. Not to mention the Doctor got really upset with Amy over the video and the beast saving thing. They barely know each other! I though he was a bit unfair. And she was a bit stupid. In short, this episode was lame, and I have nothing more to say.

Current Doctor Who Status: Doctor Who is so cheesy it hurts.  


Episode 3: Victory of the Daleks

In an effort to continue my effort and salvage my low opinion of Doctor Who, I continued on to episode 3. I can't say that seeing the word "daleks" in the title was very encouraging, but hey, I was watching Doctor Who. It's inevitable. At this point, Mum came into the room and saw what we were watching a groaned, but I found out later that she's never seen a single episode.

Going back in time is always an improvement from going into the future, in my opinion. Important things have already happened that the viewer might care about, and the real past is always less cheesy than the imagined future.

Winston Churchill and his army of daleks was much more interesting than the space whale. I found myself a little bored with bits of this episode, particularly the Doctor's lengthy speech and random outbursts over the daleks. I was a bit confused. Possible this is because of my ignorance of the previous episodes, but also possibly because the daleks were ridiculously stupid and couldn't tell a detonator from a shortbread biscuit. I also have a big problem with the daleks' arms. They're just not scary. It's like they've got a whisk on one arm and plunger on the other (they probably did for real in the 1960's). Not very gripping in my opinion, no pun intended.

And, as a side note, if I were Amy I would've freaked out when the Doctor disappeared in the tardis to meet the daleks while she stayed with Winston. Amy, if you don't remember, he didn't come back for 12 years the first time!

Current Doctor Who Status: Doctor Who could be bit a more scary. 


Episode 4: The Time of Angels

I asked for more scary, I got more scary. Don't Blink is the only good episode from the David Tennant series that I've seen (made a billion more times awesome by the appearance of Carey Mulligan), so I was pretty excited that the angels were returning.

During the episode, I got so excited I nearly wet my pants. Who knew a BBC science fiction show starring a man in a bow-tie could be so frightening?!

First, the angel comes out of the TV while Amy's trapped in the room.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any scarier, Angel dust comes out of her eye.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any scarier, they enter a giant cavern full of statues to hunt down the angel.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any scarier, ALL THE STATUES ARE WEEPING ANGELS.

And just when you thought you would probably die if it got scarier, the voice on the radio is actually the solider who has been killed by the weeping angel. Justin nearly cried.

Just when you thought the characters were going to get out alive and you were going to start breathing again, Amy's hand turns to stone and the Doctor's torch is going out!!!!!


They get free, but then they get trapped. And the episode ends. And you're lying there waiting for your lungs to expand for the first time in 45 minutes. Then Justin rolled over to face his bedside and saw this:

And freaked out like I've never seen him freak out before. I was in some crazy headspace between total horror, total hysteria, and total oh-my-gosh-that's-the-funniest-thing-in-the-world.

Current Doctor Who Status: Doctor Who is scary and awesome. 


Episode 5: Flesh and Stone

Glad that episode 5 continued on with the Weeping Angels, the next morning I kept watching. The fear factor had dissipated slightly now that it was 11am rather than 11pm, but built up again once Amy starting counting down from 10 ... Justin figured out what she was doing by the time she said 9, so we waited in tense anticipation for the Doctor and River to figure out what was going on. I must admit that the Weeping Angels are probably the best monsters ever invented, because you have to keep your eyes open to stop them coming at you, but if you look into their eyes for too long you can't open yours! It's brilliant. Unless you're the Doctor, you can't win.

That said, this is my honest opinion on everything, so I have to add that there were a few dramatic moments that bothered me a bit - particularly the piano score playing in the background while the Doctor gave his "you have to start trusting me" speech to a sightless Amy. I want to throw something at the TV and yell, "stop taking yourself so seriously you stupid show!" They're too low budget for that sort of thing. It sounds like a soap-opera.

Speaking of bad things, I just remembered there was a kissing scene at the end. I was very confused. And it wasn't even because I don't know what happened before this series. The end of this episode was just ... confusing all together.

Anyway. It wasn't all bad, as I said. That's a couple of bad bits in a lot of good bits, so we're still going good!

Current Doctor Who Status: Thanks to Matt Smith, I'm actually enjoying Doctor Who. 




Episode 6: Vampires in Venice 


The cute nurse from episode 1 is back! I spent most of this episode going, "poor Rory" which annoyed Justin a little bit. Thankfully the Doctor was nice about the whole thing and brought him along and Amy got nicer as the episode progressed. So maybe the fish things were a bit lame, but I must admit I liked the fact that the vampires weren't really vampires. It was a nice twist and it made me forget about the usually bad graphics that Doctor Who is known for ... oh, except for the when the sky starting boiling, or whatever. That was a very sad-looking effect. In fact, that whole scene was a bit sad. Was the rain actually boiling hot, or something? The regular citizens seemed to think so, but the Doctor and his companions weren't very bothered ... I was a bit confused. 


For me this episode was marginally above what my original expectation of a Doctor Who episode would be, so I was still interested to see more. 


Current Doctor Who Status: I am uncharacteristically eager for more Doctor Who.




Episode 7: Amy's Choice


 I was really angry at this episode when it first started because it appeared to have skipped five years in the characters' lives for no apparent reason - that is, until it was revealed that it was possibly a dream. Then it became awesome instead of stupid.


This was probably one of the more exciting episodes because there was the suspense factor of not knowing which 'world' was the real one. Although that dream guy and the fake ice on everyone's faces were a bit lame. I'm also unsure on my feelings towards Amy's character, because on one hand I kind of like her sarcasm because it adds humor, and on another she can be a bit annoying. She and Rory are also a bit cute, though. 


And if you're going to add interesting plot devices such as the TARDIS (Tardis?) floating towards a cold star, can you at least explain a little more about this? Because it turned out that the cold star WAS in the real world and yet that's what had made them think maybe it was the dream world, and so then the star was real but then was it real? And why was it cold? Yeah. Confusing.


Current Doctor Who Status: Confused. Why am I finding so many little things to pick apart and yet I still want to keep watching?? 




Episode 8: The Hungry Earth


This episode was honestly a bit boring. I mean, I didn't really care about any of the other characters except the Doctor and his companions, and we'll all know they'll be fine... right?

I took note of the engagement ring foreshadowing at the start of this episode, because no TV show spends precious minutes on that sort of thing if it's not important, so I knew it would mean something.

So, the ground attack some miners really wasn't that exciting. It got a little better when we found out there were actual bad guys, but the episode's minor (note the difference in spelling) characters were all a bit annoying and boring. Especially the wife. Urgh.

Current Doctor Who Status: Oh, poo. It's a double episode. Guess I haven't got a choice but to keep going. 



Episode 9: Cold Blood 

So the Doctor goes down into the earth and finds some weirdo reptilian civilization who claims to have owned the world before humans. Big whoop. I got a bit more interested when Amy nearly got dissected, though. That's the kind of suspense I like! And to top it off, once the lizard-man got distracted she took his unlocking remote thing. Now we're getting somewhere.

It was terribly predictable that Mrs. I Just Want My Family was going to kill the captured lizard-woman on the surface, so can't say I was freaking out there. Just looking at the screen going, 'You're an idiot.' And then turning to Justin and going, 'She's an idiot.' And then looking back at the screen saying, 'This is stupid.'

And then RORY DIED. And then I was sad because that was the reason for the engagement ring foreshadowing. And then Amy forgot him. And then the Doctor couldn't tell her. And then he realised that the piece he pulled out of the crack WAS PART OF THE TARDIS. Ohmygoshaspoasleblasyahilkbelbeasojlkenrl.


Current Doctor Who Status: I have a confession to make. When we were at Engage (so Kristy, Oliver and Dan, I'm talking to you) and you guys said that Doctor Who was on the next night, I texted Justin and told him to tape it so we could watch some of the recent episodes when we're up to them. So you know what this means. I like Matt Smith and Doctor Who. But not David Tennant. I'm sorry I'm weird. And I didn't tell anyone because my decision on the show wasn't finalised. But I guess I just have to say it... I ... like ... Doctor Who. The end! 


So there you have it. You're probably just as shocked as I am. When I can get my hands on the next few episodes I will probably write another post. For now, I leave you with some hair eye-candy.

Admit it. You're staring. 

Well.

I haven't written in here in a month. Thankfully, I've still been writing a bit. Though this blog has become a little neglected. Never fear, I have an interesting review post that I am queuing ... and I know there's quite a few of you who will find it interesting....

So...

There's a chance that some people can get into Pottermore early. The site says "come back on the 31st of July".

I finish work at midnight tonight.

Guess what I'm checking as soon as I get home?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

 Of course, it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it's not real?

- Albus Dumbledore

So, seeing as I'm in the mood for blogging today, I thought I'd do a post about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I did part one last year, so it seemed fitting to follow it up. Plus, I've already seen this movie twice :) 

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't seen DH2 yet, I suggest that you don't read this. Unless of course you're not worried about ruining bits of the movie, then please proceed! 

Last post I skimmed over my favourite scenes of the movie, so this time I thought I'd do a best/worst moments kind of post for different categories: 

• 4 Best/Worst Scenes
• Best/Worst Dialogue
• Best/Worst Cinematography  

All right, let's start with the top 4 best and worst scenes. 4 seemed like a nice number so this is my opinion on the two best scenes in the film and the two worst. 

Best Scene Number One - Escaping Gringotts

Not only is this scene epic because of the music score and the dragon climbing up the underground cliffs with Harry, Ron and Hermione clinging to its back for dear life, the opening of this scene is also brilliant thanks to Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione in Bellatrix's body. 

When Helena first walks up on the beach as Hermione, she's already captured all the little gestures that Emma Watson brings to Hermione. Watching her facial expressions, the little shoulder shrug, and the way she tucks her hair behind her ear, my brain was totally convinced that polyjuice potion actually worked. 

The second time I watched DH2 was in 3D, and the winding, rickety roller-coaster that is Gringott's mine-cart track was so much fun. After snatching up the Hufflepuff goblet, the trio escapes on the back of the dragon who smashes through the ceiling and flies them to safety. Wicked. 

Best Scene Number Two - Preparing Hogwarts for Battle

Someone give Maggie Smith a trophy for being such a badass McGonagall. She, and the special effects, made this scene so epic and emotive. I can't even describe it. 

It made me think back to Harry and Ron arriving in the little boat on the lake in the Philosopher's Stone and getting their first glimpse of the castle. You're watching the place that you've grown up in have to fight for its survival. You're watching all the characters you've come to love be forced to defend their lives. You're freaking getting all teary in the movie theatre because this is JK Rowling's epic series ending in front of your eyes. Someone get me a box of tissues..... 

Thought those scenes were too good to be true? Well, you were right. Here come the worst two scenes in the movie. 

Worst Scene Number One - Molly VS. Bellatrix

I almost don't want to get started on how much rage I felt at the crappy portrayal of this incredible duel. In the book, Hermione, Ginny and Luna are duelling Bellatrix, who is almost beating them because she's holding not only her own wand, but the wands from two wizards that she's just killed. That's epic in itself!! 

Then, a killing curse narrowly misses Ginny's head and sends Mrs. Weasley into a protective mother storm. She shoves the girls out of the way, screams her famous line and duels Bellatrix Lestrange to the death. Oh, and did I mention that in the book this scenes takes place IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM WITH EVERYONE ELSE WATCHING?? It's supposed to be amazing. So I'm sorry, but that bit off to the side where Bellatrix flicks a curse at Ginny, Mrs. Weasley steps in the way and says her line in an undertone, then turns Bellatrix to dust with a few snaps of her wand while no one else is watching? Yeah, I don't even know what the hell that was. 

Worst Scene Number Two - The Prince's Tale

 

There's a lot of scenes I could have put here, but none that bothered me so much that I wanted to write about them. What I've chosen is kind of a small thing, but it REALLY annoyed me. The bits of the Prince's Tale flashback that included Alan Rickman weren't so bad, but the childhood bit was awful.

Snape says, 'look at me' to Harry, because we all know that he wants to look into 'Lily's' eyes before he dies. Then we get a shot of Dan Rad's eyes and grudgingly forgive him once again for his stupid allergic reaction to green contacts. But it gets worst. The very next shot is of Lily as a child, and she looks like this: 

I'm sorry, but how does that kid look anything like Lily? At all? She has dark brown eyes for goodness sake! It's a small detail, I know, but I can't even begin to explain how annoyed I feel by it. 

Oh, and that indie shot of Severus and Lily lying in the grass? Um, can someone say Twilight? I was cringing in my chair. It's not cute. It's cliche. Now get out. 

Anyway, that brings me to the best and worst dialogue in the script.

Best Dialogue: 

(Ginny runs in and sees Harry, Ron and Hermione with Neville)

 

Ginny: Harry! 

Harry: Hi there. 

Ron: Six months she hasn't seen me, and it's like I'm a frankie First Year. I'm only her brother... 

Seamus: She's got lots of them, but there's only one Harry. 

Ron: Shut up, Seamus. 

I lol'd. 

Worst Dialogue: 

Ginny (after kissing Harry): I know. 

What? She knows what? That was so dumb. Not to mention that's a pretty awkward kiss.

While on the subject of bad dialogue, Neville's speech in front of Voldemort was pretty crappy. I mean, they've got the incredible dialogue that JK gave him from the book, why not use it? I was so excited to hear Neville shout to Voldemort, "I'll join you when hell freezes over!" Not to be, apparently. 

On to the cinematography! 

Best Cinematography: Wide Shot in the Chamber of Secrets

Pretty much just this shot. Out of the whole film it's my favorite shot. It's brilliant. It tells so much; reminding you Ginny and Harry in the Chamber of Secrets years ago, how a horcrux was destroyed once before in the exact same place. It shows the magnitude of what Hermione and Ron are about to do, and it makes you take a deep breath in and hold it before Hermione brings the fang down on the cup and Voldemort's angry dark piece of soul floods the chamber. 

Worst Cinematography: Following Crane Shot After Escaping Gringotts

Excuse me, Mr. Cameraman, WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP MOVING!? 

To avoid the awkwardness of Dan and Rupert's bare chests and Emma trying to look like she's doing something because she can't strip off her wet clothes like the boys, they thought it would be better to give the audience flipping motion sickness so that they wouldn't notice. If you have to go to such lengths to try and 'fix' a scene, maybe you should take the hint and not do it like that at all! 

Heh, anyways. In conclusion, if you look that this movie as nothing more than a film and don't compare it to the books, it's really great. If you're going to pick it apart and compare every little detail to JK Rowling's writing then don't bother seeing it because you'll come out feeling like you want to shred something (but not the Harry Potter books, of course). 

I still stand by The Prisoner of Azkaban as the best Harry Potter movie ever. 

Hacking at the Plot

I've written about 700 words this morning, which is pretty nice. Not a lot, but still good. I'm happy with that.

I've realised that writing with an underage princess is no longer going to work, because I've decided to cut out a huge chunk of the plot and not have a regency. Elaine, you're now officially eighteen at the start of the story. The only thing bothering me about this is that I was going to have an epic steampunk masquerade party for your birthday, and now I'll have to figure out how to get that in the story without the excuse of a teenage royal coming of age. We'll work something out.

Sigh ... the things I must do to avoid a regency....