Wee Free Men

I’ve talked the youtube channel Miscast more than once around here. The main thing I love about Trent’s work is that his message is “give it a try, experiment, make mistakes and have fun”. I am painfully aware that I’m a perfectionist who absolutely gets in her own way, I need that kind of encouragement. As discussed at length in my Nightstalkers project, I’m trying to be better about it. I’ve been rewatching everything he’s uploaded recently to try and get me out of a hobby funk and dragging this project out of its hiding spot feels like the next obvious step.

Six years ago, my dad passed away. We had a very strained relationship, and in the final decade of his life had only spoken twice. Families, however, are weird things and each of the siblings picked out things to keep while clearing his home. I was fortunate to snag his collection of Discworld novels, most of which I had given him for birthdays, father’s days and Christmases over the years. Actually, I think my older brother officially got them but he lives on a different continent and they have been in my flat for the last six years. Ssssh, don’t remind him.

Taking time to reread my favourites in the months following my dad’s death, I came upon a germ of an idea. An army that would be just for me. I would create Tiffany Aching and an army of Nac Mac Feegles.

As I’m prone to do, I obsessed over the army for months; took notes on dozens of scraps of paper when ideas came to me, spent hours searching for model lines to suit, etc. I could picture the whole thing in my head. That picture became the problem.

I’m sure I’m not alone in being so intimidated by the thought of the reality of a project not matching what you have in your head that you stall out and do nothing on it. So it was with this one. It became the “one day” project.

I guess now is one day.