It has been a little while since I have posted a blog and for that, I apologize. Life has been crazy lately with my fiancée and I both traveling on alternating schedules. My time should be spent more at home for a while now, though, so I see no reason I can’t blog more often. Hooray!
As for what has been happening with Book Two, I have taken a step back recently. Upon reaching Chapter Five, I realized some things. Chapter Five’s first draft was finished in August 2014. It was so long ago because it was originally part of Book One before I broke that book in two due to length issues. What I realized upon revisiting Chapter Five was that IT IS HORRIBLE! I feel like it is some of the worst writing I have ever done. Now, before you throw out the old adage that every author thinks that about their work, I have a reason. The chapter is intended to hide something from the reader, but I was so focused on the fact that I was hiding something that I sapped all personality from the chapter. In truth, I did not know the character when I wrote the chapter originally. No wonder there’s no fingerprint on it other than military precision both in action in speech. That part needs to stay, but I realized that I need to know more about my characters.
That realization sent me on a journey to create a template that I could fill in quickly to generate a more robust character. Personal back stories will still have to be written. I have written anecdotes for each of the major characters save Grant just to get to know them before launching them into this adventure. I do not intend to change THAT trend. However, I am filling in information (in a database of my own creation – there is a little Thegrador in all of us) about different parts that make up a person. Their country and even city of origin have an impact on their worldview. Their patronage (as in their heredity) have an impact on their values. The reverse for both of those statements is also true. Knowing those facts going in can help me make rounder characters that seem plausible to the reader.
The downside is that it is A LOT of work. Filling in political and socioeconomic structures, population estimates, values, taboos, exports, trade partners, and major geographic landmarks for sixty-four countries is a monumental task. I’m roughly halfway through it, though, as I have completed three of six continents. I’m making progress, but I miss the writing.
Fortunately, Sunday is November First which rings in the beginning of National Novel Writing Month (@NaNoWriMo). It has been years since I even tried to participate, but this year will be different. I have decided to try to do a lot of bulk writing through chapters told by characters I understand (Rorian, Thegrador, etc.). Fifty thousand words is a lot and could go a long way toward filling out Book Two. I’m going to skip ahead several chapters to get away from the mud of what I’ve already written. That will help me avoid turning on my inner critic. I’m putting that guy in a cage for the next month. He’s important, but not on the first draft. That’s what slowed me down so much on Book One. Here’s hoping I do well.
In other news, I’m continuing to work with Critters Workshop (@CrittersDotOrg) critiquing other authors’ works and waiting for mine to come up in the queue. I’m hoping it does so soon. EDIT: I just checked and it comes up November 4! Right now it shows third in the queue for that week. I hope that means that it will get e-mailed to the group. That greatly increases its chances of getting picked for review by my fellow authors. This is more exciting than I can describe.
That seems like everything for now. I hope you are all well and I will check in again soon. Hopefully I will get a chance to blog again tonight after I have done some more work on the backstory of Genesis.
This is the Mad Cartographer signing off.
-BSG