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Why: From the Diary of Virginia Lake
My thoughts:
It is not often that an author’s thoughts on a story end up being longer than the story itself, but in this case I feel it necessary.
Let us look at the story first; it opens with Colonel Lake walking into the lobby of her apartment building after another long day at HQ. Once inside she tosses her purse and coat on the couch, not bothering to put them away. This action should have revealed to the reader that something is up as Virginia Lake is a very meticulous individual. Instead she heads straight for her bedroom and gets comfortable. We know from her thoughts that it has been a busy week for her.
Now dressed in be in for the night she puts on tea and selects a piece of music to listen to. This piece is set in 1983 and CD players had hit the market just a couple of years prior. I mention her journal as well as the safeguards she uses to protect it as someone in her position keeping a journal could be considered a security risk. The choice of music along with her thoughts shed only a tad of insight as to what is troubling Ginny.
Once she starts writing the mystery is revealed, she was thinking about first date with Craig, and all the things that would never be. That would be enough to make anyone melancholy. Her choice of music for the evening now makes sense. We find out that Virginia is also upset about some misconceptions as to the parameters of her relationship with Craig and later with Paul. We find out that the notion of casual sexual promiscuity without the promise of a future together disgusts her.
She admits that she was beginning to fall in love with Craig and had he lived she might have explored physical intimacy with him. Her feelings about Paul are revealed as well, how he gave her a shoulder to cry on, and they ended up in a rebound relationship. But Virginia is an intelligent woman and she doesn’t allow herself to get intimate with Paul.
She thinks about Ed, and we know from Silver Star that she has very strong feelings for the Commander. That fact, coupled with the knowledge that Ed does not buy into the gossip, gives some her comfort. She realizes as she is writing that Ed had been kind to her today by having dinner with her in the cafeteria at HQ. The notion brings her to tears and one of them lands on Ed’s name. When she blots it with the tissue it softens its look. True to form, Ed did not like his kindness being noticed or overstated but we know from Ginny’s written thoughts that the moments are very special to her.
She contemplates the alien threat being careful not to mention anything SHADO by name in her journal. When she is done she puts the diary back in the safe, set the lock and gets herself ready for bed. Between the stress of the day and the memories of things that never would be, or things that may never be, Virginia cries herself to sleep.
I wrote this story as a deep exploration into Ginny’s character, to see how she would handle certain things, like Craig’s death, gossip, the pressures of her position, and her thoughts about the Commander. I really had fun with the tear landing on Ed’s name; it added a whole new emotional dimension to the story.
For reasons unknown, the character of Virginia Lake is considered by some to be a sexually free and active woman, an opinion formed by the events of one, out of the nine episodes, that she appeared in. It is a very highly subjective view as there is not a shred of solid canon evidence to support the statement. Had Virginia been shown with a different man in each episode, then that viewpoint might have more credibility.
Let us look at some history; the episode, The Man Who Came Back, first aired on February 3, 1971 and the sexual revolution was well under way in the United States. In the UK however, that was not the case, at least according to friends I have who live there. Regardless of that, most of the promiscuous behavior that took place in that time period was by those in their late teens, on up through the late twenties. And even then, it was still frowned upon by the majority, up until almost the beginning of the eighties. Add to that, the double standard of sexual conduct between men and woman that still exists even today.
In order for Virginia Lake to be the chief designer for the Utronic equipment, she would have to hold an advanced degree (most likely a doctorate) in applied and/or theoretical physics. That is normally an eight year program and according to my sources most of those graduate courses cannot be challenged. In addition she would have had to been with Westbrook for a while to have landed that position. Remember, this was the chauvinistic seventies. That means that Virginia was not a kid, she had to be at least in her mid thirties in Identified.
With all of this in mind, it is highly unlikely that Virginia Lake was a sexually freed and active woman. The evidence simply is not there, which brings me to my next point. This story was labeled by certain parties as a case of canon/character derailment, OOC, Possessive Sue, Fixit Fic, and so on.
The very first rule of processing feedback whether it is good or bad, is to look at it objectively. Often negative feedback is much more helpful than positive feedback and can be a writer’s best friend and means for improving their craft.
So let us look at the facts, in order for this piece to derail canon or character, it would have to obviously violate canon in some way. Since the details of Ginny’s relationship with either Craig or Paul were never revealed, we do not know anything other than what was shown on the screen. And this piece does not violate anything that was shown on the screen. Subjective evidence does not count as the term implies, it is subjective. Since the term Fixit Fic goes hand in hand with canon derailment, it too does not apply. OOC, short for out of character, implies that I wrote Virginia radically different than she was shown in the series. I have to disagree; I portrayed her exactly as I saw her in the show, professional and cool on the outside, but warm and caring underneath. Since characterization is also highly subjective, I have to dismiss that charge as well. (Had I written her as a table dancer at night then OOC would apply.)
I had to do quite a bit of digging to find the definition for Possessive Sue. The only way Google could find it was to add Mary Sue to the search term. Because this term deals with a favorite character, and Virginia is my favorite character, I had to give this some extra thought. By straight definition just about every character in SHADO could be considered a Mary Sue, in retrospect, all of them were the best in their fields, they all had stratospheric IQ’s, the women were all beautiful, most of the guys were handsome, it was a Mary Sue convention.
I have added some aspects to Virginia’s character, she plays classical piano, she’s a pilot, later on she discovers a knack for drawing, and she generally abstains from alcohol as a matter of choice. None of this is outside the realm of realism. Now if I had her working on cars, riding horses, or cleaning stalls, that might raise an eyebrow. I portray her as someone who appreciates the arts, musicals, opera (I hate opera), the symphony. I have had to research much of this materiel as most of it is not my forte. But everything here is in keeping with the interests of an independent well educated woman of the time period. So I do not see the Possessive Sue tag as being applicable. But I do appreciate the time that was taken to give their opinion.
Writing a diary for a character from a TV show can be very difficult, as the point of view is always third person objective. The only clues the viewer has are the expressions and dialogue, both what is said, and how it is said. Some of the clues are very subtle and you need to pay close attention. In addition to the onscreen canon, I also took into consideration every piece, I have read, that had Ginny in it to help cement my view of her innermost thoughts. It is not an easy task to complete successfully.
Denise asked my how a guy was able to write a woman’s journal entry and make it believable. The first step was to indentify the emotions as they would be the same regardless of gender. Once I did that I had to try to look at the situation from a woman’s point of view. Having many female friends over the years has helped, as well as being a very good listener. I have written a few stories that normally would be hard for a guy to write, Best Friends was one of them. I can only say that by listening to my lady friends over the years I have been blessed with a unique perspective that has allowed me to write from a woman’s point of view. I do not know what that says about me, but there it is.
I hope everyone enjoyed my take on Ginny’s diary.
Matt
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Why: From the Diary of Virginia Lake (Read 897 times)
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