After my last blog post, I thought about what I’ve identified most through this editing round of Book III. The lesson I learned is that bones need tissue. We’ll get into the weeds with this below, but it applies to life too. You need bones, absolutely. Your basic needs must be met. You need a job, food, shelter, and social connection, especially love. On top of that, though, you need tissue too: a job you like and are passionate about, found family, hobbies, passions, respect from those around you. Yes, it sounds like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. That doesn’t invalidate it. Keep that in mind as we apply that idea to writing in the Chat below.
Drawing from the Well
I made progress this week and hit a minor milestone: finishing incorporating the notes from the first readthrough into Arc 4. That means there’s only one major arc and the Interstitia left and then I can start moving DOWN the checklist rather than being stuck in this one step. It’s good stuff.
Page 230/293
114,276/148,464 Words
Filling the Well
I finished a couple of books this week, putting me back on track for my reading goal for the year. Realm Breaker was good. It felt like traditional D&D fantasy. It was quite complex but set up the sequel beautifully. After that, I listened to Black God’s Drums really quickly and that was good too. I was impressed with how fleshed out the world was in such a short story. Full List
80/105 for #ProjectBookworm2023
Well Chat
Without tissue, even the best skeleton falls apart.
Book 3 that I’ve now been working on for a couple of years is an abject lesson in this adage. It’s a complicated book. As with most fantasy epics in a long series, the plot lines are spiraling out. The world is becoming denser, more varied, and more complex. There’s a lot going on.
To keep track of everything, I focused on the structure of each major character arc that was a focus within the book. In the beginning, it was all I could do to compose the skeleton of the story. It’s got good bones now and I’m really proud of it. What did we say above, though?
Now I’m recognizing that there isn’t enough connecting the bones to make for a cohesive body. One of the many remaining steps will be designing the muscle and tissue to hold things together. I have to add some organic matter to make the scaffolding, the chassis hold up when readers are looking at the whole. That means adding scenes. The story needs time to breathe between major story moments and I haven’t given it enough of that. So I have at least half a dozen new chapters to write to do just that. The slices of bread are in place; I need some peanut butter and jelly to hold them together into a sandwich.
Is that enough metaphors yet?
The important thing is that I carry this lesson forward into Book 4 (when I FINALLY get there). If I can account for this need for connective tissue in the planning phase, I won’t need to add quite so much of it in the editing phase. Have I mentioned that writing a novel is hard? So this is going to involve thoughtful, slow scenes where characters can discuss what’s going on and reflect on events. That will allow them to recognize what’s happening and make informed decisions. Right now, it almost reads like they’re flitting from one significant moment to another.
How do you manage balancing plot and reaction scenes to make things feel natural? Sound off in the comments or on social media. I would love to hear from you.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG