Gryphon's Overture Update
Every time I get sick, my writing suffers as completely as I do. I intended to have Gryphon's Overture complete and the partial edited by now. Instead, what do I have? An extra 1500 words. Sigh.
But! I accomplished a great deal more than the word count today. I hit that point in my story where I knew what I wanted to do, and it wasn't broad enough. I saw Paige in a library. There, Jackson would find her, she could confront him in a coldly passive way Langston would be tremendously proud of, and off they go to complete the journey. That was too simplistic. Especially since there wasn't enough transition room between the previous scenes. I had a scene involving Langston between them, but emotionally, they were still somewhere else. They had in-story time to consider their options and reach decisions, but the actual page count between the scenes was too small. It was cheap, and the easy way out. I always know when I'm about to skip something, it just takes me a while to figure out what it is. I allowed myself to skip it in Bloodstones, but I refused to do it in this one. Unfortunately, this time I had no clue what to add.
Thankfully, after some small amount of brainstorming, I realized I had two side characters tagging along with Paige who would have nothing to do with the above situation the way I envisioned it. I needed a way to include them without stealing Paige's thunder. I started out intending to make them a mere transition into Jackson's arrival. What I got, instead, was a deepening of Paige's intellect and her relationship with the side characters. Which is a relief, since I was beginning to think I'd have to cut the characters in the editing process for lack of any real part to play. (I must say here that setting up a series of linked books - as opposed to a series about a single character - is HARD. I'm sure some writers deal with the present book and grow the rest from it, but I can't. I know where these are going. I want them linked from the first word in the first book. That means introducing characters I intend to use later...which provides a problem when they didn't figure into the original story plot.) I think now they're actually going to pull their weight, though. Whew!
I'm extremely nervous about the actual confrontation scene, though. I'll have to go back and read what I wrote in Paige's last scene as well as Jackson's. I don't remember what all Jackson intended to say and keep quiet, or what Paige worked out for herself. That, more than any other reason, is why it's a good idea to write every day. To stay plugged in!
On the other hand, I'm super excited about it. Not only has their whole relationship been building to this point, but I came up with a scenic venue in today's writing I'd really love to use in the scene to follow the confrontation. :D That's a silly reason, and the first is really the better one. But who can resist overhearing a terrible secret when lost in catacombs? Or to be kidnapped upon exiting?
I can't wait!
But! I accomplished a great deal more than the word count today. I hit that point in my story where I knew what I wanted to do, and it wasn't broad enough. I saw Paige in a library. There, Jackson would find her, she could confront him in a coldly passive way Langston would be tremendously proud of, and off they go to complete the journey. That was too simplistic. Especially since there wasn't enough transition room between the previous scenes. I had a scene involving Langston between them, but emotionally, they were still somewhere else. They had in-story time to consider their options and reach decisions, but the actual page count between the scenes was too small. It was cheap, and the easy way out. I always know when I'm about to skip something, it just takes me a while to figure out what it is. I allowed myself to skip it in Bloodstones, but I refused to do it in this one. Unfortunately, this time I had no clue what to add.
Thankfully, after some small amount of brainstorming, I realized I had two side characters tagging along with Paige who would have nothing to do with the above situation the way I envisioned it. I needed a way to include them without stealing Paige's thunder. I started out intending to make them a mere transition into Jackson's arrival. What I got, instead, was a deepening of Paige's intellect and her relationship with the side characters. Which is a relief, since I was beginning to think I'd have to cut the characters in the editing process for lack of any real part to play. (I must say here that setting up a series of linked books - as opposed to a series about a single character - is HARD. I'm sure some writers deal with the present book and grow the rest from it, but I can't. I know where these are going. I want them linked from the first word in the first book. That means introducing characters I intend to use later...which provides a problem when they didn't figure into the original story plot.) I think now they're actually going to pull their weight, though. Whew!
I'm extremely nervous about the actual confrontation scene, though. I'll have to go back and read what I wrote in Paige's last scene as well as Jackson's. I don't remember what all Jackson intended to say and keep quiet, or what Paige worked out for herself. That, more than any other reason, is why it's a good idea to write every day. To stay plugged in!
On the other hand, I'm super excited about it. Not only has their whole relationship been building to this point, but I came up with a scenic venue in today's writing I'd really love to use in the scene to follow the confrontation. :D That's a silly reason, and the first is really the better one. But who can resist overhearing a terrible secret when lost in catacombs? Or to be kidnapped upon exiting?
I can't wait!