Frederick Algernon Trotteville's Schooldays!

[pete9012S]

Hi All!
Does anyone else agree that there is a gold mine of material just waiting to be tapped about Fattys prestigious school career?

Have any of the Enid Blyton continuation authors tackled this amazing part of Fattys life yet,or perhaps have plans in the future to do so ?

The list of amazing achievements given by Fatty himself would surely provide lots of inspiration for some excellent short stories or even a complete novel.

Yes we all know Fatty was boastful,but I suspect even when his peers ,the findouters tried to keep him in his place,they (like we ourselves) privately realised they were in the company of brilliant,gifted , young Sherlock.

Ive always suspected that when Fatty boasted about his academic/sporting/voice throwing/disguising achievements to the others he was not really stretching his achievements,but he simply lacked the ability (as some geniuses do) to see things from the viewpoint of lesser mortals.

Surely his boasting was more than swallowed up by his enormous generosity to his much loved friends.
If you were willing to trawl through all the books and add up the amount of money Fatty spent treating them to cakes, buns, macaroons,orangeade.hot chocolate etc etc im sure the bill would be staggering!

Dont forget he did this whilst trying to keep himself in greasepaint,wigs and numerous outfits to enable him to disguise himself so well that even the findouters couldnt tell it was him unless his nails were too clean or Buster gave him away!

Enid has provided enough tempting background titbits about Fatty in school evenly scattered throughout the whole series that surely forum members it WOULD BE A CRIME ITSELF if they were left unexplored and undeveloped!

It would be great to compile a list of all of Fattys amazing claims/boasting taken from the whole series displaying everything Fatty claimed to have achieved in school and elsewhere which would then show in greater detail the scope available for some fantastic stories on Fattys as yet uncatalogued school career!

[Julie2owlsdene]

That's a good idea, Pete. At present I write about Fatty & Co in retirement over on the Blyton.net site. I may take a closer look at Fatty's school days and see if it stirs my imagination.

[pete9012S]

Just thought.....
Can you imagine what Fatty would have say about his amazing adventures in Peterswood to all his school chums!
They simply wouldnt believe it was true,would they!
'You',I can hear them say, 'a close friend of Superintendant Jenks!' Never!,youve gone too far this time Trotteville!'

And yet WE KNOW that all that amazing boasting about Pantomime Cats,Stolen Siamese cats,Missing criminals,recovered artwork,valuable necklaces etc etc would have been TRUE!....................

[Lenoir]

Yes I also love those little school anecdotes that Fatty comes out with. In "Spiteful Letters" he relates how he did his prep in his form master's handwriting!
It could a new school series, each book ending with him getting on the train (sometimes in disguise of course) to go back to Peterswood to solve another mystery!

[Jen-Jen]

Fatty's school days would certainly make for a good read!!!

He would be the life of the classroom, causing all sorts of mischief and laughter, and constantly getting into trouble yet somehow always managing to slide out of the punishments the teachers set him.

And of course he would be the one to solve the many school related mysteries - I can already see his name in the headlines of the school newsletters - 'No more hungry boys thanks to Frederick Trotteville's capture of the mysterious food bandit' - 'Freddy Trotteville saves the day again, putting an end to disappearing pencils' - the list goes on....as Fatty solves everything from finding schoolmates lost items, to solving the baffling case of the school's stolen trophies and stopping the clothing smuggling ring that pilfers uniforms from the laundry, dyes them and then resells them to unsuspecting parents.

[Jen-Jen]

I'm beginning a list of Fatty's school doings.

Fatty's school achievements:

"It's a good thing I can draw so well. I won first prize last term for art" Fatty in The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage.

"I was top of the form in everything. I always am." The Mystery of the Secret Room

"I was always good at acting...I always get the chief part in the school plays, you know" The Mystery of the Secret Room

[carpediem]

Last September, strangely enough, I wrote my first chapter regarding the end of Frederick Trottevile's schooldays. However, I haven't had time to write any more although I have a reasonably good idea how I want it to develop. I would post it but it could be months before I write any more. Still, if there is a demand on this forum to read what I've written so far then I may post it.

[Wayne Pyer]

Last September, strangely enough, I wrote my first chapter regarding the end of Frederick Trottevile's schooldays. However, I haven't had time to write any more although I have a reasonably good idea how I want it to develop. I would post it but it could be months before I write any more. Still, if there is a demand on this forum to read what I've written so far then I may post it.

It sounds like a good idea to me.
Ps. In one of the books fatty says he is school boxing champion i think.

[pete9012S]

Last September, strangely enough, I wrote my first chapter regarding the end of Frederick Trottevile's schooldays. However, I haven't had time to write any more although I have a reasonably good idea how I want it to develop. I would post it but it could be months before I write any more. Still, if there is a demand on this forum to read what I've written so far then I may post it.

Hey dont tease us!
You know we would all LOVE to read it wouldnt we forum members;..........'YES PLEASE!''
they all loudly shout!
Regards Pete

[carpediem]

Ok. I'll probably post chapter 1 tomorrow. It is not so much about Fatty's schooldays but the story begins on his last day at school.

The thread will be called: Fred of the Trottevilles: A melancholy tale

Remember, there's still time to tell me not to post it if you think no-one is likely to want to read it. I'll understand.

[Daisy]

Remembering some of your earlier contributions I await with some trepidation to see what sad fate you have in store for our hero this time!

[carpediem]

Remembering some of your earlier contributions I await with some trepidation to see what sad fate you have in store for our hero this time!

Hmm ... a very good point Daisy. Maybe I should reflect on this a little further before posting, if at all.

[Julie2owlsdene]

No offence, Carpediem, but the last story I read of yours, about Fatty in his early police training days, at Goon's etc. was nothing like the Frederick Algernon Trotteville we all love and respect as a character that Enid created. I know it's all in fun, writing fan-fic (I know Keith's site has a place for fan-fic, but I didn't think the Society did) but I didn't like you putting our hero down. Enid created a brilliant character with her Frederick Trotteville, and I thought he and she deserved better. Sorry, but that's just my opinion.

In my own mind, and everyone has their own opinions I know, but Frederick Algernon Trotteville was destined to be a very 'high up policeman' as young Bets Hilton used to say.

[carpediem]

I know it's all in fun, writing fan-fic (I know Keith's site has a place for fan-fic, but I didn't think the Society did) but I didn't like you putting our hero down. Enid created a brilliant character with her Frederick Trotteville, and I thought he and she deserved better. Sorry, but that's just my opinion.

I take on board your comment, "I know Keith's site has a place for fan-fic, but I didn't think the Society did". A quick search, however, through the enidblytonsociety.co.uk website reveals the following threads:

Re: Write a story! This has 46 posts and 1742 views

Okay, a new "game", this. Write a paragraph or a passage a post, in a story form, so that it's a bit like a "Round Robin". I'll start off with a Find-Outer's story.

THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY HOUSE

"Get up, Frederick!" shouted Mrs Trotteville and knocked on Fatty's door. Fatty groaned and looked at the clock. Nine o' clock! "Plenty of time," he thought, rolled over and fell promptly asleep again.

and also......


Famous Five Adventure BY YOU! This has 22 posts and 179 views

Heres an idea for a game;

Just add ONE SENTENCE ONLY to the previous line,to see if we forum members can write our own Enid style short adventure!!


Heres a first sentence to start us off..........

Julian clutched his leg in agony.

I can understand your alarm at people contributing fan-fiction to a site which doesn't have a place for it but you must admit both these "fan-fiction" threads on this site have proved very popular in terms of contributions and posts. Therefore I'm not convinced that I ought to refrain from posting a fan-fiction thread to this site on the basis that this site doesn't have a section for fan fiction!

I have read some of your fan fiction and I can understand where you're coming from. In fact I enjoyed reading your stories. It's just that I have a different style and mindset for my own fan fiction. When I wrote The Mystery of the Curious Notes I hope it was evident that I have a fairly in-depth knowledge of the Find Outers Mystery series. I absolutely love this series! I love the characters and I love the setting! In fact, I still read these books and I still love them! There are many of us who are no longer in the first flush of youth and who have raised families and who hold down responsible, professional jobs who still 'get a kick' out of reading Enid Blyton books! What a wonderful testament to a remarkable author!

I really enjoy writing fan fiction with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek! Perhaps you may want to re-read the comments I received from writing The Mystery of the Curious Notes? I think it was appreciated. Notwithstanding the unfortunate events which befell our hero, I do hope it had an authentic feel to it - something which, in my opinion, a number of writers of fan fiction fail to achieve. In any case I love the downtrodden and the underdog to have their day. I love to show how minor incidents in the lives of our heroes can have far reaching consequences and that it is the fragility of life which can cause young Trotteville to fail his probationary period under Goon and not cause him to achieve his destiny as a chief of police! Bathsheba Everdene in Thomas Hardy's "The Return of the Native" railed that "events had conspired against her" and that her destiny had been thwarted by a series of accumulative mishaps. Don't you think that this too might have happened to Frederick Trotteville? In The Mystery of the Curious Notes it was such a series of minor, unfortunate mishaps which conspired against Frederick Trotteville and which caused his life to turn out very different from expected.

Still, I'm not in the business of offending people and I genuinely won't post my latest offering if some might be unhappy that things don't quite work out for our hero in a way they would like. Perhaps the administrators or other regular contributors to this site might give some guidance.

Anyway, all the best and keep writing your fan fiction!

carpediem

[Fiona1986]

I think Julie is right in so far as the society site does not have a proper place for fanfiction ie there is no fanfiction page or list. However users are completely free to post fanfictions in part, in games, or in full (as has been done a few times) on the forums. As I understand Keith is quite select in the fanfic he puts on his site, whereas any body can post any sort of fanfic over here.

I haven't read your previous offering carpediem but I would be interested to read your latest. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I'm sure Julie was just being open and honest when she said she didn't enjoy your last fanfic - but that doesn't mean others didn't and it certainly doesn't mean a new piece shouldn't be posted.