State of the Writing, and reflections
Nope, I haven't given up on writing. :) I just needed a break, after the marathon I pulled in November. Also I had (still have one) commissions to finish, and I've been wanting to draw, and to read, because I don't spend enough time reading these days, and the 50 books challenge is good and all, but not if I don't actually sit down with a book to read.
But in any case, I'm slowly getting back into the process of writing my own stuff, which is good. Which also prompted me to reflect a little, not about Our Darker Purpose, but about Was. I don't plan on giving up Was (hahaha, as if!), but no matter what, I've also felt stuck about it for some time, and I think I've finally put my finger on the problem. Which is even better.
The fact is, when I started writing Was, I had absolutely no clue about the plot. No clue, as in "I decided on putting the Heartless in only on day 1 of NaNoWriMo". Was, to me, was and probably still is mainly about its characters; the plot is kind of secondary to me. Or, rather, the 'real' plot is (are) the 1943 and 1989 arcs, way more than the 2009 one. The 2009 part could be described as "the consequences of 1943 and 1989 slamming into each other and giving the characters much crap to take care of". Still, what's important here for me are the characters' reactions. However, I still need a plot, otherwise everything would just be completely jambled. I mean, okay, even without a plot: Lou and Lyle could still meet; Ring, Echoes and Marek could still work together; the Heartless could still exist on their own; but what would be the odds for them to all meet 'by chance'? (Because, you see, I don't want to toy with something like 'Fate forces them together'; ,although Fate is nice and dandy, I honestly think that it needs a bit of a hand, of a push, of a helper, of something. Not 'the winds of Fate' alone or somesuch crap.)
So there's a problem with the story itself, and this problem is causing me to remain stuck. This I already am aware of. Yet what is this problem? Now I think I've finally found what was buggering me: there's too much of a discrepancy between the Deadlands/Heartless's place and the characters' place-in that, if you think about it, said characters, possibly with the exception of Ring, are all very much anchored in the physical world. Lyle has nothing really spiritual about him; Lou and Echoes are Technomages, and quite removed from spiritual things (the tiny Spirit/Daemon in Lou's coffee pot doesn't count: she doesn't understand that much about those (yet) anyway); Marek is pretty much acting in the physical world as well, and for what it's worth, he probably doesn't even have a complete soul left.
And that, my friends and readers, is the problem. Because the way my world functions in this story, for characters and enemies to interact, the ones have to be thrown into the others' world (and contrary-wise); and by being so thrown into their enemies' world, they are rendered powerless, or at least put in such a predicament that it's not funny anymore. Granted, this problem is going to be partly solved in the last third of the story as I have planned it. Nevertheless, it still bothers me a lot regarding the first two thirds.
So far, I've reached two conclusions:
* Either I need to get rid of that whole Deadlands part, and turn 'Mother' and pals into other mages, or at least other physical creatures. Which isn't satisfactory to me, because I'd lose the Heartless/Heart-catcher bit, and can you guess I quite like them, my lil' Heartless? Haha.
* Or I need to rework some things along the lines of using intermediaries, and having the 'big baddies' appear/act in person a little later. For instance, the Tube crash in the first chapters: at this point of the story, perhaps 'the woman in black' would actually need the help of, say, a Necromancer to be able to interact thus with the physical world. After all, this would be logical-and the other characters would have a very physical enemy to deal with in order to close down the rift in the Thorn Wall, even if temporarily only, while still keeping the Heartless as the true, final enemies.
I'd be inclined to choose the second solution, although this means having to rewrite quite a few things. But then, were I to choose the first one, it'd be the same thing anyway. What worries me is that it may thicken the plot some more. Or not. It depends on how I pull it off. I'm pretty sure there are some things I can get rid of, or rework, to keep said plot understandable all the same. Isn't this one of the challenges of a writer?
But in any case, I'm slowly getting back into the process of writing my own stuff, which is good. Which also prompted me to reflect a little, not about Our Darker Purpose, but about Was. I don't plan on giving up Was (hahaha, as if!), but no matter what, I've also felt stuck about it for some time, and I think I've finally put my finger on the problem. Which is even better.
The fact is, when I started writing Was, I had absolutely no clue about the plot. No clue, as in "I decided on putting the Heartless in only on day 1 of NaNoWriMo". Was, to me, was and probably still is mainly about its characters; the plot is kind of secondary to me. Or, rather, the 'real' plot is (are) the 1943 and 1989 arcs, way more than the 2009 one. The 2009 part could be described as "the consequences of 1943 and 1989 slamming into each other and giving the characters much crap to take care of". Still, what's important here for me are the characters' reactions. However, I still need a plot, otherwise everything would just be completely jambled. I mean, okay, even without a plot: Lou and Lyle could still meet; Ring, Echoes and Marek could still work together; the Heartless could still exist on their own; but what would be the odds for them to all meet 'by chance'? (Because, you see, I don't want to toy with something like 'Fate forces them together'; ,although Fate is nice and dandy, I honestly think that it needs a bit of a hand, of a push, of a helper, of something. Not 'the winds of Fate' alone or somesuch crap.)
So there's a problem with the story itself, and this problem is causing me to remain stuck. This I already am aware of. Yet what is this problem? Now I think I've finally found what was buggering me: there's too much of a discrepancy between the Deadlands/Heartless's place and the characters' place-in that, if you think about it, said characters, possibly with the exception of Ring, are all very much anchored in the physical world. Lyle has nothing really spiritual about him; Lou and Echoes are Technomages, and quite removed from spiritual things (the tiny Spirit/Daemon in Lou's coffee pot doesn't count: she doesn't understand that much about those (yet) anyway); Marek is pretty much acting in the physical world as well, and for what it's worth, he probably doesn't even have a complete soul left.
And that, my friends and readers, is the problem. Because the way my world functions in this story, for characters and enemies to interact, the ones have to be thrown into the others' world (and contrary-wise); and by being so thrown into their enemies' world, they are rendered powerless, or at least put in such a predicament that it's not funny anymore. Granted, this problem is going to be partly solved in the last third of the story as I have planned it. Nevertheless, it still bothers me a lot regarding the first two thirds.
So far, I've reached two conclusions:
* Either I need to get rid of that whole Deadlands part, and turn 'Mother' and pals into other mages, or at least other physical creatures. Which isn't satisfactory to me, because I'd lose the Heartless/Heart-catcher bit, and can you guess I quite like them, my lil' Heartless? Haha.
* Or I need to rework some things along the lines of using intermediaries, and having the 'big baddies' appear/act in person a little later. For instance, the Tube crash in the first chapters: at this point of the story, perhaps 'the woman in black' would actually need the help of, say, a Necromancer to be able to interact thus with the physical world. After all, this would be logical-and the other characters would have a very physical enemy to deal with in order to close down the rift in the Thorn Wall, even if temporarily only, while still keeping the Heartless as the true, final enemies.
I'd be inclined to choose the second solution, although this means having to rewrite quite a few things. But then, were I to choose the first one, it'd be the same thing anyway. What worries me is that it may thicken the plot some more. Or not. It depends on how I pull it off. I'm pretty sure there are some things I can get rid of, or rework, to keep said plot understandable all the same. Isn't this one of the challenges of a writer?