#Magdalena Fialova

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 26th February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Nineteen

Fräulein Fialová left a little while later, and I went to the market on my own. My first order of business was to find handkerchiefs she might like, and I did, or thought I did. I would have to find out later. Four squares of soft muslin, embroidered in the corners with small purple flowers. I thought they might be violets, and that was why I chose them: because of her violet perfume.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

That is delightful!! I love to crochet but I like knitting as well - I don't think any of my characters do it, though, other than Julia Schmidt. I'm adding to this from my writeblr, but I sent the ask from my main blog.

Albina, Dorota and Magdalena Fialová all make bobbin lace (that's how Albina and Dorota made their living before Dorota moved to Prague), and Dorota and Magdalena sing professionally. Dorota is a singing teacher, and Magdalena is an opera singer at the Malá Strana Opera House in Prague (as we see in "Violins and Violets"). The Fialová women are sopranos.

I think Ffion from "This Still Happens" should knit as well. One of the people who inspired her sews beautifully, designs gorgeous dresses and is a fantastic singer. Knitting is not out of the question for Ffion, but her life needs to settle down a bit first.

Marianne from "Vogeltje" is a seamstress, and like many young ladies of her era, can sing and play the harpsichord. Her adoptive sister, Augusta, learns the cello.

Then there are Katharina and Hans Schmidt in "Violins and Violets". Both play the harpsichord and violin, but also dabble in the cello. Of course they are both famous composers, inspired by Maria Anna and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but Katharina also goes on to teach music to her friend Wilhelm.

Who paints? Draws?

Hiya! Can any of your OCs knit or crochet? Do any of them play musical instruments or sing?

Not sure about knitting or crocheting. i feel like the answer is yes but- oh fuck, lev in htp picks it up after they have kids. he goes full maternal, love that for him.

as for instruments, i have a list *shakes it out* lonan sings and plays piano, Renfrew plays violin, Cliff plays every instrument he can get his hands on, Taegan plays the piano and writes his own music, Mari plays the drums, sean plays the violin, im sure there's more, but as a bonus, Alice consumes music the way bookworms consume stories (voraciously)

[prettylittlelyres]

Are any of your characters good at puzzles? Who would be good at an escape room and who would destroy the place?

Oh, good question! Katharina Schmidt and Magdalena Fialová would absolutely HATE escape rooms but I think Miklós Kovács would adore them. Hans Schmidt would enjoy the chaotic thrill of being stuck somewhere.

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 27th February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

I woke to a knock on the door of my flat. A knock… and the sound of my surname being called through the wood. “Schmidt, I know you’re in there!” It was Kovács. “Tell me what’s going on!” I sat up, bleary-eyed, and called for him to wait a moment. I threw on some clothes, and went to the door looking far messier than I wanted to. He looked me up and down in mild horror. “Good Lord, what’s happened to yo?” he said, barging into the flat. He was immediately followed by Fräulein Fialová.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the final chapter of the second “Violins and Violets” book. That's right: this excerpt comes from the end! In March, I am going to redraft Book One, and hope to be a lot more pro-active with sharing updates (and more excerpts!) than I have been so far. See you soon, and stay tuned.

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 25th February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Eighteen

I wiped my eyes dry, and offered her the handkerchief back, but she shook her head. I offered her my arm instead, and she took it as I pushed the handkerchief into my pocket. I realised I owed her a couple of handkerchiefs now, and made up my mind to go to the market and find some pretty ones to give her as soon as I could. We walked back to my building together, but I stopped short of unlocking the door. I needed to tell her something. I needed to tell her… “I’m…” “Yes?” she said, when I didn’t get any further. “I’m…” I couldn’t get any further. How could I tell her now that I was actually a woman? How could I tell her now that I was actually a woman, when she had seen me stand still and say nothing to that callous man at the estate sale. I took a deep breath. “I’m glad I know you, Fräulein Fialová,” I said, “I’m glad we’re friends.”

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 25th February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Seventeen

“It’s just typical nastiness,” Fräulein Fialová muttered, “Ignore it.” She took the letter from me and screwed it up into a ball. “I have a better idea,” I said, taking it back from her and tearing it into eighths. I took them through to my kitchen, opened up the stove, and tossed them in. It wasn’t lit. The scraps just lay there pathetically amongst the ashes I hadn’t swept out from the last fire. “I’ll burn it later. I can’t be bothered to do it now.” I got up, dusting off my hands theatrically, and said, “That’s all it means to me. I can’t even be bothered to burn it right now.” “What do you want to do right now?” Fräulein Fialová asked, “Did you want to go to the market?” I put my hands in the pockets of my breeches, and dug out my purse. “I think,” I said, putting the money safely away in a safe I kept in my bedroom, “That I would like to go back to the estate sale after all, and make some kind of formal arrangement with them. Ask them to hold the clavichord for me, let’s say, for three months, and, if I can’t get the money together by then, they can do what they want with it.” Fräulein Fialová, watching me from the living room, raised her eyebrows. “You seem newly emboldened.” “I am,” I said, “If people don’t want me to stay in Prague, wthey’re just going to have to deal with it.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 24th February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Sixteen

I played and played, not really knowing what I was playing or why… and then it turned into the Aria of the Nun, that I played at my audition for the opera house. It was so strange to hear it on such a fragile-sounding instrument as the clavichord, but there it was, the yellow notes doing their best impression of blue. And then Fraulein Fialová came back into the music room, with the gentleman from the drawing room in tow. I took my hands off the keyboard hurriedly, and put them behind my back. "I don't mind if you play," the gentleman said, in German, "You don't have to stop." I played a little more, taking the aria from the beginning again. Fraulein Fialová recognised it, and started to sing along softly. My fingers trembled. She knew my work? Of course she didn't. She didn't know it as mine, but… she knew the piece? Well enough to recognise it, picked out on a clavichord? My heartbeat quickened.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

Ah, this has such beautiful lighting and it's just incredible!!! (and, oh, it gives me such a Magdalena / Katharina kind of feeling!)

The artist and their muse ✨

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpt - 24th February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Fifteen

“Unless you would like me to leave, and let you alone for a while.” She glanced shyly at the harpsichord. “But I would so like to hear you play.” I took a few slow, deep breaths, folded the handkerchief into my jacket pocket, and then tried again to play. Now the music flowed from my hands… less lugubrious than it had been the first time. Sad, yes, full of grief, yes… but somehow hopeful of a reconciliation.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 23rd February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Thirteen

I watched the water rolling by, blue-green and sparkling in the winter sunlight. “What a beautiful river,” I said. Fräulein Fialová stifled a horse-like laugh. “You are joking,” she said, staring at me, “The Vltava? The most beautiful thing you ever see in the Vltava is a prettily-painted handcart, wedged in the mud.” But I stood still for a moment and gazed down into the water. “It is beautiful, though,” I said, Listen to the sound it makes as it washes over the rocks.” “And the handcarts,” Fräulein Fialová said, pointing to one that had - as she’d said - become wedged in the mud, and been broken down by the water. “Yes, and the handcarts,” I said, “But those, you will find in any river in any city. Here, the sunlight, and the reflections from the terracotta roofs, and the blue sky… Isn’t it just so beautiful?”

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts - 21st February

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Ten

Fräulein Fialová’s voice was like blue light shifting through spheres of blown glass. It was the first time I had ever heard a blue voice, and I realised with a shiver that it was remarkably like the voice I had imagined for the Aria of the Nun. I wondered if she knew it. She sang so hauntingly in the villagers' lament - for the little girl who was missing - that it hurt my heart. It hurt my heart just as much as it would have done, had these vents been real, and not just played out on a stage. Her big brown eyes were so sad that I could see it even at my great distance, and she acted with her whole body, not rigidly like the principals.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

This has the same energy as the painting inside the lid of Käthe's harpsichord that she buys when Magdalena takes her to an estate sale!

Der Künstler in den Charakter des Designs (hören von der Inspiration der Poesie), 1782.

Angelika Kauffmann (Swiss, 1741-1807)

Oil on canvas

[prettylittlelyres]

February Excerpts

Violins and Violets - Book Two

Chapter Eight

The door to the pit opened, and one of the singers came in. She wore a dress of heavy red velvet, and she still had her hair up from the rehearsal. It was braided back tightly and neatly into a bun on the top of her head, and looked like it was naturally very curly indeed. She had the biggest, brownest eyes I had seen in what must have been weeks, and upon her face she wore several tiny beauty patches. “Pané Kovács,” she said, “How are you?” She beamed at him, and touched his arm lightly. “I’m very well, thank you, Paní Fialová,” he replied, speaking in German… as she had done… She had a Berlin accent. Now that was interesting.

Hello, friends! Here we are in the second “Violins and Violets” book. It’s considerably shorter (I got to the point more quickly in this one) than the first, so there are just 22 chapters to share. Stay tuned for excerpts at 8am and 8pm GMT!

[prettylittlelyres]

Violins and Violets sequel

14th January 2024 (update)

Going to sleep now as it's 11pm here, but after a long day of struggling to motivate myself to write, I've just managed to get down 2,630 words in the last 75 minutes!

Katharina, Magdalena and Miklós have gone for a walk together, and Katharina is just starting to wonder if she night have some feelings for one of her new friends.

[prettylittlelyres]

Character Artwork: Violins and Violets - Magdalena Fialová

Hello, friends! I've spent the afternoon and evening drawing with my tablet, and here's what's come of it! It feels like ages since I last did a proper piece of character art, since I usually just sketch something in ballpoint on scrap paper, but here, at last, is a painting of the Malá Strana opera house's soprano, Magdalena Fialová! This is probably the first piece of character art I've made for Magdalena alone, so I'm extra-excited to share it with you! She's sitting on the windowseat of her apartment in Malá Strana, thinking about someone very dear to her.

[prettylittlelyres]

These are from Violins and Violets, my Camp NaNoWriMo project :) <3

The day I turned twenty, he took everything from me. 

A few weeks later, I received a reply from Hansi.

In the mechanical months that Magdalena had been gone, my hands had lost their smooth runnings, and I felt as though I was having to restore an instrument rescued from the back of the attic of an abandoned house.

“Darling... you may stay here forever if you want."

I’m tagging @futureauthor-mabye @stressbakingelf and @artattemptswriting (I follow from @thorlokibrother)

Writing WIP Game

Go to your current work in progress and share the following:

The first line of the work.

The first line of your current chapter (or if it’s a one-shot, the first line of the tenth paragraph).

The last line you wrote.

A line for a chapter/part you haven’t written yet.

Tag at least 3 people whose work you wanna see, and if you make a separate post for it, please link back to this one.