Les Mis, fan fiction and novels!

I have just seen Les Miserables for the third time.  I do really love the movie, I have to say.  It doesn't take much convincing for Claire to get me to take her.  She has seen it five times and when she isn't doing other things she has ear phones on listening to the 25th anniversary concert of Les Mis. I think we can safely say she is obsessed.  She has memorized every song at this point.

She found the original Les Mis by Victor Hugo on her iPad.  It is quite different from the play and movie.  She is going to try and make her way through it...but I think it is going to be hard slog (almost 2,000 pages) given how "lite" and enticing her other distractions are at the moment.

Last week The Studio had a Les Miserables Masterclass, led by their new singing teacher, Casey who was in the cast of Les Miserables as Fantine's understudy and a factory girl.  Of course Claire is already signed up for lessons.   Casey is also co-producing the Sound of Music this semester which Claire is auditioning for next Thursday.

 ...and did I mention fan fiction (or Fanfic or whatever the cool word for it is?)

So this morning I woke up and went into her room and she looked sad.  I sat on the end of her bed and probed to find out what was wrong.  Apparently a fictional character in one of her favorite fan fiction writer's ebook (?) she follows died suddenly.....AND THAT JUST SHOULDN"T HAPPEN! in full 13 year old drama.

I have heard of other teens getting into fan fiction.  Claire loves the Hunger Games series and the Divergent/Insurgent books.  Other people have used the characters in her favorite series and written spin offs, some of which she follows....something to do while waiting for the next book in the series to come out.  She is also trying to write her own novel and is reading incessantly about other characters and developing her own.

She kindled this book by Nicholas Black and is using it as a guide.  She has a friend who she is writing it with...bouncing ideas off and getting input about what to do.  Hours of FaceTime and giggling, writing into the night and so far she is 11,000 words in.  Apparently the first draft, or manuscript, will be 50,000 words. The final draft will be (she tells me) 100,000 words.  I have never written anything that long before but with this girl, I would never say that she couldn't do it as she surprises me all the time.

I can't believe how much she has changed over the year.  She has evolved from a shy, tom-boyish 12 year old into a tall, giggly happy teenager, full of ideas and discovering all sorts of ways to connect with people who share her passions (and obsessions!)

...and did I mention Instagram....