Abbie C., has real life given you a break lately? Any chance we will get more Fearful Symmetry in the near future?https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118690#msg-118690Mon, 25 May 2026 11:56:22 +0100 Phorum 5.2.22 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,128931#msg-128931 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,128931#msg-128931
I haven't died (thankfully!), but we went through quite the dickens of a half-decade when my hubby and I moved across state lines, had two babies while living quite far from family (hence no breaks or free time), and worked our tails off for a few years to bury grad school debt. I'm excited and thrilled to be getting back to writing after such a haitus. My elder boy is now five, and my littlest is now 17 months and getting more independent and sleeping through the night (FINALLY), so mommy has had time to write and edit again for the first time in literally years. I thank you for your tremendous patience--and I'm delighted to announce that Fearful Symmetry has popped, fully-fledged, back into my active writing life. I'm also excited to announce that Quills & Quartos Publishing contacted me, quite out of the blue, in March of this year, and they are offering to publish it (e-book and traditional paperback) in March of 2021!

I am tremendously grateful for each and every one of you encouraging me on this ride of a story, which started in 2012, went to sleep, and revived briefly in 2014...only to be picked up again half a decade later. Your feedback was AWESOME, and my betas hold my heart (and I'll be reaching out to you gals to be sure I can get you a print copy once it's here, just as a thank you!).

Sadly, I have had to contact Crysty & Co. about taking the story down here soon, only because Amazon "fishes" online to see if stories have been published anywhere else before agreeing to put it on their Kindle platform. Personally, I would wish to leave the half-finished version here because it's just so fun to read the parts where Elizabeth and Darcy get to face the fire together and immediately recover, with closer intimacy. I promise in the full novel that that intimacy only grows, even as Elizabeth's situation grows a bit more desperate.

If you'd like to follow the publishing journey for this novel, and you're on Facebook, I have an author page under Gailie Ruth Caress - Author. I'll be hosting a few fun Austenesque contests there once we hit publication to try to get some free copies into your hands, because I love my DWG crew. I also anticipate posting here on DWG again, just for fun, because as I write, I get one-shot ideas that are delightful, but don't fit into my Fearful Symmetry world... Those will be fun!

I thank you all again and again from my heart!]]> Abbie C. Tea RoomMon, 01 Jun 2020 20:39:00 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,128565#msg-128565 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,128565#msg-128565I was wondering if Abbie C will ever finish this story? I know it's been three years since the last update, but was wondering if it was finished under another name. Thank you
Hope all is well with the Author

Maria M]]> Abbie C Tea RoomSun, 06 Oct 2019 21:19:54 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,128273#msg-128273 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,128273#msg-128273I'm archiving your last updates and my husband was asking whehter the story was finished.]]> btroisi Tea RoomMon, 22 Apr 2019 05:27:35 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,122180#msg-122180 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,122180#msg-122180 Roxey Tea RoomThu, 18 Aug 2016 01:58:10 +0100 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118976#msg-118976 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118976#msg-118976 Abbie C. Tea RoomWed, 18 Nov 2015 02:03:52 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118969#msg-118969 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118969#msg-118969 Roxey Tea RoomTue, 17 Nov 2015 02:07:11 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118965#msg-118965 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118965#msg-118965 LizzyS Tea RoomMon, 16 Nov 2015 20:47:18 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118941#msg-118941 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118941#msg-118941
I do need to ask for help from you all. My darling beta, I'm sure, quite despaired of ever having me return to my keyboard. I had let her know of the imminent, exhausting craziness that pulled me away...and now I'm embarrassed to hop back in the saddle and ask her to ride along again. Do I have any takers? I usually need very little help with grammar, etc., but lots more help with historical elements for the sake of verisimilitude. I'll jump back on this post in a few days to see who is up for the task...and I apologize for trying the patience of so many since 2013! I'm very grateful for your readership!

-Abbie C.]]> Abbie C. Tea RoomSat, 14 Nov 2015 23:21:06 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118733#msg-118733 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118733#msg-118733
I see your point, and, as I said, my preference would be for Abby to complete the story.

But, after all, Jane Austen herself left two uncompleted novels behind, and there've been several completions of both, some very enjoyable, and this without the collaborative assistance of Miss Austen providing a plot outline of synopsis.

Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood was also left incomplete at the time Dickens passed away, a particularly frustrating incompletion since it was, as the title implies, a mystery, a crime story dependent on the solution being revealed at the conclusion in order to achieve its effect. there've been any number of completions of that novel, mostly prose, but also including a BBC TV drama, and and Edgar and Tony-winning stage musical (which has a different ending for every performance). Taking nothing away from my admiration for Miss Austen, Dickens is to the novel what Shakespeare is to stage drama. Yet many of these completions were enjoyable and worthwhile, and the stage musical was award-winning.

Another cop-writer I admire, Lt. William Cauntiz, died when his final novel was only half-completed. A close friend and brother mystery writer (though not a brother cop) finished Chains of Command after Caunitz's death.

Mickey Spillane actually willed all his unfinished manuscripts to another author he had mentored when that author was just starting out, Max Allan Collins. Collins, the consummate Mike Hammer fan, has, in consequence, had the opportunity to posthumously collaborate with the writer who was such an influence on him. In his lifetime, Spillane, on his own, wrote 12 Hammer novels, and two short stories (and two others that were expanded to novels). Collins, using the partial manuscripts and notes left behind by Spillane, has added another eight, from virtually all eras in which Hammer operated, as well as four more short stories. Most people can't tell where Mickey left off and Al picked up.

I don't say this always works. I think Robert B. Parker's completion of Raymond Chandler's Poodle Springs just plain doesn't work. And I could probably think of other examples of completions that should never have been attempted.

Point is, particularly when publication (of a sort) has already commenced, I would prefer for a story to be completed, even if it was by others, than not to be remain unfinished. Abby, thankfully, is not dead, so perhaps she may yet finish it. If real life is throwing a monkey wrench into her creativity, and she is simply not in a position to finish her story, and may never be, perhaps there's another alternative, presuming she would like to see it finished.

It's her creation, and therefore, her decision. I just threw the option out there.

JIM]]> Jim D. Tea RoomSat, 31 Oct 2015 02:09:18 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118730#msg-118730 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118730#msg-118730 LisaY Tea RoomFri, 30 Oct 2015 17:18:34 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118719#msg-118719 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118719#msg-118719
Fearful Symmetry is a story I've longed to see continued,too. If real life pitched you too much of a curve for you to finish, would you consider giving the outline of synopsis to a collaborator you trust to finish? Just to see the story completed?

My first choice, of course, would be for you to finish it yourself, but, not knowing your personal circumstances, I offer the alternative as something to consider.

JIM]]> Jim D. Tea RoomFri, 30 Oct 2015 01:26:48 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118716#msg-118716 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118716#msg-118716 Rose H. Tea RoomThu, 29 Oct 2015 21:44:46 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118704#msg-118704 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118704#msg-118704 mpinney Tea RoomThu, 29 Oct 2015 13:00:31 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118691#msg-118691 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118691#msg-118691 Roxey Tea RoomWed, 28 Oct 2015 20:37:45 +0000 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118690#msg-118690 https://www.dwiggie.com/phorum/read.php?4,118690,118690#msg-118690 LizzyS Tea RoomWed, 28 Oct 2015 19:23:03 +0000