Tales of the Seasons: Jessica's Story

by Brandy Dewinter,

with infinite help from Tigger

 

Foreword

 

Some time ago Joel Lawrence wrote a story about a woman who teaches bad boys to become good men - by first turning them into well-mannered young women. That story was called "Seasons of Change." The woman was Jane Thompson, and the rest, as they say, was history. Unfortunately, it was not primarily the history of Joel Lawrence's writing. He seems to have disappeared from the cyberworld. "Seasons of Change" was incomplete (by his own admission), and certainly the setting was not fully explored. It was not only a shame to have no more to enjoy from Joel Lawrence's talent, but also a sort of nagging itch because the story needed to be finished.

Along came Tigger. Since no one within the community knew how to reach Joel Lawrence, Tigger wrote not one, but two endings to Joel Lawrence's original story, each interesting and as excellently written as the original. Then he wrote more stories in that setting, developing and expanding the characters well beyond Joel Lawrence's original creation. Other writers have explored that setting, too, creating a mini-universe of "Tales of the Seasons". As is often the case with different writers, the stories are sometimes in conflict with each other and there is no single, integrated timeline into which all the tales neatly fit. Still, the core elements of the setting, Jane Thompson and her 'petticoat discipline' methods, are common.

The original "Seasons of Change" story is about the internal struggles of Michael, the protagonist, as much as it is about the physical elements of dressing and acting as a girl. In fact, the core premise of the story is that an undesirable behavior needs to be changed. Feminization is a means to that end, not an end in itself. If the protagonist does not learn to 'behave' in a civilized way, then the skills in cosmetics or walking in heels have no value. As such, the stories in this setting needed to focus on that internal growth, and there is an expectation that eventually the student will revert to an 'ordinary' masculine role.

Some time after Tigger wrote his first ending to "Seasons of Change", he and I began a correspondence on a variety of topics. In the course of that, he flattered me by allowing me to read advanced versions of some of his stories, and even solicited comments and advice on them. My opinions are like grains of sand on a beach; there are a lot of them, they tend to gum up fine machinery, and they're not worth much. Nonetheless, he received them by the ton, and even sometimes found a nugget or two of insight within the grit (or so he claimed).

In the course of that, we were discussing the motivation of one of his characters (yet another boy trapped in Aunt Jane's lacey spiderweb). The style set forth by Joel Lawrence in the original, and followed by the others who wrote in the setting, is third person. That is a very useful point of view in several ways. It allows the writer, in authorial voice, to explain things that would not be clear to the protagonist. A young, teen-age boy suddenly inserted into the feminine world of Seasons Manor would not know a lot of things about that environment, and the environment itself is deliberately confusing to him as Jane Thompson manipulates him into seeing the benefits of civilized behavior. To define the purpose and structure to the program, the writer needs to be able to access Jane's point of view as well as speak in authorial voice. However, by now, fans of that setting know most of the essential elements, and a new story could build on that background. I started imagining what it would be like from 'the inside', from the student's perspective; specifically, a first person account of an angry, chip-on-his-shoulder kid (in my story, Jesse Shepherd) who gets sent to Jane's. It would be different, and at the very least, it would be a challenge.

A further challenge, at least for me, would be to write of a teen-age character. I know it's not apparent from 'my pictures' (not photographs at all, of course, just fantasy sketches), but it's been just a while since I was a teen-ager. Further, as I was always a model student and dutiful child, I have no personal insight into troubled teens. (Trust me. Would I lie?) Not only would overt elements like dialog need to reflect a less sophisticated, more colloquial style, but in the first person point of view, even thoughts and reactions would need to show that same level of youthful . . . (ahem) energy. Not being smart enough to resist challenges like those, I started thinking through my fingers a little.

Tigger was continuing to develop his own story ("Season of Terror") in parallel, and while the two projects were in some ways mutually supportive (sharing some characters), my story would not have come into being without his help and insight - sometimes even at the cost of his own story progression. In fact, at a point when I had not written even a third of my story, he provided a segment that became the focus for all the remainder.

The result was Jessica's story. It's as much Tigger's creation as mine, and we both hope you enjoy it.

Brandy Dewinter - February 2002

 

 

 

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© 2002 by Brandy Dewinter. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.