Helen: More About 'Helen's Concerto'

Hello readers of my Blog Fiction from Kay Hemlock Brown! I started these two Blogs at a time when I had gotten heartily sick of the Helen story, and wanted to spend most of my time with the stories that I began to write later: Jane, Alexandra, Prisoner!, Jana, and so on. It just so happened that, once they were all done, I went back to my (enormous) Helen file, and started up writing more, and the story began to take on a lot more shape, and the material was a lot less embarrassing, and frankly, worth publishing.

I started picking out self-contained sections from the Helen story, and started steadily publishing them on Smashwords, and to my confusion, these Helen excerpts began to take over my life. At one time, I had sliced up the saga into something like 30 'books', and I started numbering the books from 1 (for Helen Goes To Ballet Camp) to 19 for Helen's Eventful Summer, and 21 for Helen vs. Handel's Messiah, and so on.

By now you know that I'm pretty dense in some ways! It took a while for me to see that, though I had not intended this, the Merit & the Princess movie, and the deception surrounding it, was really a love story that was struggling to be recognized. Despite all the other events that crowded themselves into the saga, which kept on writing itself, that earnest little romance got more assertive as time went on, and nothing I had written really detracted from that thread.

I wanted Helen and Lorna to be the big romance of the saga. I also wanted Helen and Rain to be the big romance. Helen and Lalitha! Helen and Maryssa! Helen and Amy! Helen and Cindy! Helen and Anne Lambert! Helen and Stephanie Robbins! Helen and Angie Connors! Helen and David Powers! Even Helen and Janet. But my fingers, without my telling them, quietly paired most of these alternative romantic possibilities among themselves, almost as if they were thinning the field for something to happen.

Pretty soon I threw in the towel, and decided that it was time to finish the series--remember it had never been conceived as a series; I had simply fallen back on that idea because of wanting to get the stories out there on Smashwords--with a conclusion.

And I did. Helen's Concerto does this, and very satisfactorily (from my point of view, despite how burdened it was by my lack of professionalism).

Because of the enormous detail that went into all the material that is being digested into Concerto (It should really be titled Helen, The End, not that Helen dies, or anything), and because all this detail is in my mind, and when I see a passage somewhere, I'm automatically linking in my memory of 'earlier' passages that are the background for it.

For instance, the second cancer surgery, in Seattle, is written up in some detail, in Helen and Sharon, and again in Concerto. But I've just expanded the manuscript of Concerto to include more of what goes on in the hospital, as well as more of what happens when Helen is brought back home, and when Helen tries to settle back into life in Philly.

There's a cute scene where Helen spots the new piano in the Brooks house, and Maryssa shows Helen how to play Chopsticks. Helen learns it fast, and plays it every now and then. Months later, Helen forgets her vow to never touch a violin again, and joins the beginners in the violin class. Erin, waiting impatiently for Helen to progress faster, laughs that "It's Chopsticks all over again!"

Well, I didn't include either episode; but I might, someday. There is a poignant conversation between Erin and Maryssa, where they discuss Helen's lack of progress. I will slip in all three episodes someday.

The Helen Saga now consists of just 10 stories, and a few other episodes that aren't in the canonical ten:

Helen BackStory: Lisa, Cindy, and the Violin (Book 1)

This was titled "backstory" because Ballet Camp, in the original numbering, had been numbered 1, and this was a sort of prequel.

Helen at Ballet Camp (Book 2)

Helen and Lalitha: The Lost Years (Book 3)

"Lost Years" because the original manuscript had been lost. But it turned up, in handwritten form. This is an important chunk, in my mind, and I'm pleased that it has gotten some downloads!

Helen On the Run -- The Lost Years (Book 4)

The previous comment applies to this one, too; in fact, even more so. But it is condensed in Concerto, so readers of that final book don't need to get this one if they would rather not. This is the only book in which you read about Erin's wonderful mother, Penny O'Brien.

Helen and Sharon (Book 5)