Liner Notes for The Events Of The Low-Key Hen Night

Liner notes for my story The Events Of The Low-Key Hen Night

 

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This was the hardest of the Lacey Lee stories to write. Not so much because it’s about hen nights – although for many reasons I’ve not attended very many, I have also observed and been told about several different sorts. Fictional versions are also a fine source for writing a fictional hen night, familiar and relatable.

 

Nor was it hard because it’s double length. I’m not going to go into my weird personal story length vs implied Patreon commitments, it’s just my hang up. No it was hard because this was the first thing I sat down to write after lockdown.

 

Up until then I had assumed that all these stories took place in 2020, essentially at the time they’d be published. So the hen night was scheduled for October. But would there be weddings? Hen nights? Would they be transformed, changed beyond what I could imagine, or instead be basically like they were previously?

 

The logistical problem was solved relatively straightforwardly, none of the four posted stories directly stated what year they were taking place in so I officially shifted them to 2019. Job done. Less easily solved were my own questions about what life would be like after lockdown.

 

When I tried to write this I lunged down these ratholes of thinking. So I took a step back and designed it in greater detail than normally, putting a tight structure in place. Three women come to Lacey with a drink and a problem, they play the game, three more come with a drink and a problem, then the final reveal. Job done.

 

Mr and Mrs is a well known hen night game, and one that has been greatly enhanced by almost everyone having a mobile camera and screen in their pocket.

 

Anyway, in every story from now on Lacey has big plans for the next year, which is 2020. We’ll have to see how that goes.