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Vacant Throne Update
Sep. 2nd, 2006 09:38 pmI haven't updated the WIP recently, although I have been working on it. Since school started, I've been spending only a few hours of the day working on it, either in the morning before classes, or in the evening after classes. So I don't feel like I've gotten much done and thus don't feel like posting an update where I've only increased the word count by 1000 words or so. BUT by the end of the week, I hope to be able to have a significant update. In fact, my goal is to finish a chapter a week while teaching at the same time.
I can honestly say . . . I've met my goal for the first week.
Yesteday, aside from launching the contest (Enter! Pass it on to your friends!) I also managed to write. I finished chapter 10 and started chapter 11. I think the end of chapter 10 is way cool, in a world-building/historic sort of way. Like Skewed Throne, this book has 2 different timelines and this last bit was in the "minor" timeline. And I play with the magic. In fact, I play up the fact that this timeline happened in the past and the reader already knows what happens, so all these little hints of what is to come are woven into the scene, but of course the characters in the scene have no idea how significant all these little things are. I like playing with the fact that the reader has "extra" knowledge, and hope that the reader reaction is "Oh shit! Can't they see that? Why do they keep doing that! It's going to be disasterous!" while at the same time understanding WHY the characters don't think it's that significant.
We'll see I guess. Wordage below.
In other news, while driving around running errands, I suddenly realized that I'm going to have to revise the first half of the book. See, something minor has been bothering me. Varis' interaction with one of the characters actually. It never felt quite right. Not really wrong either. I couldn't put my finger on why.
Today, I realized that the reason it wasn't quite right is because I was trying to make Varis and this other character friends, when in fact, Varis hates her. An unreasoning hatred. And it suddenly struck me that THAT is one of the most significant transformations for Varis in this book. She needs to begin the book absolutely hating this character for no real reason, and as the book progresses that hatred has to change. Not that they'll end up friends or anything either. It's more complicated than that.
The good news is that all it requires is that I tweak all of the current scenes between these two to change their attitudes. I don't need to ditch everything written and start again with new scenes. I also need to add in a few extra scenes to establish the background of the hatred and the foundation for the character change. Everything is THERE, just with the wrong emotional emphasis.
And in other good news: I can see the ending. Not in the "light at the end of the tunnel" sense, but in the "Oh! There's the plot!" sense. It's not just a few half-formed ideas anymore. These ideas have combined and mixed and now I see the complete skeletal structure of the end of the book. THIS must happen, then THIS, then THAT, and that all leads to THIS, etc. I don't have all the body between all those points visualized yet, but I see how everything I've written slips into this, and the most coherent element is that realization I had about Varis and this other character earlier today. It all FITS. And it forms a STORY. A real story, not just plot, but CHARACTER.
I think I might actually have a book. *grin*
Another thing realized that I should have figured out earlier is that these really are Varis' books. I mean literally. There are some world events happening around her, but they don't matter. Not really. It's all about her. Her life, her struggles, her realizations. Things she does and realizes change the world around her, but she doesn't act to change the world, she acts because that's what she does to survive.
Which is not what's done in a typical fantasy.
*shrug*
Anyway, wordage:
Vacant Throne
PS--Did you enter the contest?
I can honestly say . . . I've met my goal for the first week.
Yesteday, aside from launching the contest (Enter! Pass it on to your friends!) I also managed to write. I finished chapter 10 and started chapter 11. I think the end of chapter 10 is way cool, in a world-building/historic sort of way. Like Skewed Throne, this book has 2 different timelines and this last bit was in the "minor" timeline. And I play with the magic. In fact, I play up the fact that this timeline happened in the past and the reader already knows what happens, so all these little hints of what is to come are woven into the scene, but of course the characters in the scene have no idea how significant all these little things are. I like playing with the fact that the reader has "extra" knowledge, and hope that the reader reaction is "Oh shit! Can't they see that? Why do they keep doing that! It's going to be disasterous!" while at the same time understanding WHY the characters don't think it's that significant.
We'll see I guess. Wordage below.
In other news, while driving around running errands, I suddenly realized that I'm going to have to revise the first half of the book. See, something minor has been bothering me. Varis' interaction with one of the characters actually. It never felt quite right. Not really wrong either. I couldn't put my finger on why.
Today, I realized that the reason it wasn't quite right is because I was trying to make Varis and this other character friends, when in fact, Varis hates her. An unreasoning hatred. And it suddenly struck me that THAT is one of the most significant transformations for Varis in this book. She needs to begin the book absolutely hating this character for no real reason, and as the book progresses that hatred has to change. Not that they'll end up friends or anything either. It's more complicated than that.
The good news is that all it requires is that I tweak all of the current scenes between these two to change their attitudes. I don't need to ditch everything written and start again with new scenes. I also need to add in a few extra scenes to establish the background of the hatred and the foundation for the character change. Everything is THERE, just with the wrong emotional emphasis.
And in other good news: I can see the ending. Not in the "light at the end of the tunnel" sense, but in the "Oh! There's the plot!" sense. It's not just a few half-formed ideas anymore. These ideas have combined and mixed and now I see the complete skeletal structure of the end of the book. THIS must happen, then THIS, then THAT, and that all leads to THIS, etc. I don't have all the body between all those points visualized yet, but I see how everything I've written slips into this, and the most coherent element is that realization I had about Varis and this other character earlier today. It all FITS. And it forms a STORY. A real story, not just plot, but CHARACTER.
I think I might actually have a book. *grin*
Another thing realized that I should have figured out earlier is that these really are Varis' books. I mean literally. There are some world events happening around her, but they don't matter. Not really. It's all about her. Her life, her struggles, her realizations. Things she does and realizes change the world around her, but she doesn't act to change the world, she acts because that's what she does to survive.
Which is not what's done in a typical fantasy.
*shrug*
Anyway, wordage:
| |
67,950 / 100,000 (68.0%) |
Vacant Throne
PS--Did you enter the contest?
