Quick report today, as there's a signing that Brandon Sanderson's doing at Barnes and Noble nearby that I wanted to go to.
Anyway, today was only 3,400 words, which is about average, though I've been so productive with some of the past few weeks that it actually feels a little shallow. Fortunately, I'm wearing my new writing shirt that I got from my writing group. See?
So that makes me remember that 3,400 words ain't that shabby. I don't know why the shirt reminds me of that, but it does.
Anyway, the exciting thing about the whole day was that I took the current problem that they're dealing with and put the conversation in a different character's point of view. (This is chapter 60 in the first draft.) See, I was listening to one of my earlier books on my Kindle, Words of the Silenced, and I realized that I had done something in the neighborhood of 7 straight chapters of pretty much just dialogue. There was action--the characters did things and the plot moved forward--but it felt a little hollow. Well, not hollow, but formulaic. I don't know how to fix that part of the story and still preserve all the complexity, but I'm trying to get away from so much exposition in the dialogue in Writ in Blood. Unfortunately, that's not happening in the first draft.
Because of this reluctance to have so much exposed in the dialogue, I decided to shift the point of view character from the one who's in peril and push it onto those who are supposed to try to save him. By doing that, I allow a little bit of action, as well as a little bit of tension--are they going to get caught spying on the bad guy as he monologues? Will they be able to save the imperiled character? Hopefully, the reader will ask those questions as the chapter rolls by, pulling them along. I also managed to weave in the bad guy's reasons for doing everything bad ('cuz that's what bad guys do) in a natural way that didn't sound forced. To me, at least.
The other really positive thing that this did, is it allowed me to have Saldrae be in a mild 'action sequence' and still be really proactive and helpful and not just a damsel in distress. It's important for me to consciously think of how Saldrae acts, how she's likely to respond, and how I can have her be a strong female character without resorting to Waif-Fu or other similar tropes/cliches. Saldrae, in fact, is one of the main focuses of my attempt to write better. I really like female characters in the lead (because we don't get that enough), but there's always a concern about how well it actually comes across, since we're lead to think that only through violence can a character be strong. I'm trying to explore alternatives to that, and, since Saldrae's actually in peril, I had to ask myself how she can be something other than a damsel in distress and still be strong without her totally kicking butt and taking names. In the end, she does something pragmatic (hit the guy in the groin along with some other things)--which makes perfect sense. It's also an interesting counterpoint to what she did the last time she was under direct attack, when she basically curled into a ball and hid herself.
I think she's coming along pretty darn well.
Anyway, today was only 3,400 words, which is about average, though I've been so productive with some of the past few weeks that it actually feels a little shallow. Fortunately, I'm wearing my new writing shirt that I got from my writing group. See?
Anyway, the exciting thing about the whole day was that I took the current problem that they're dealing with and put the conversation in a different character's point of view. (This is chapter 60 in the first draft.) See, I was listening to one of my earlier books on my Kindle, Words of the Silenced, and I realized that I had done something in the neighborhood of 7 straight chapters of pretty much just dialogue. There was action--the characters did things and the plot moved forward--but it felt a little hollow. Well, not hollow, but formulaic. I don't know how to fix that part of the story and still preserve all the complexity, but I'm trying to get away from so much exposition in the dialogue in Writ in Blood. Unfortunately, that's not happening in the first draft.
Because of this reluctance to have so much exposed in the dialogue, I decided to shift the point of view character from the one who's in peril and push it onto those who are supposed to try to save him. By doing that, I allow a little bit of action, as well as a little bit of tension--are they going to get caught spying on the bad guy as he monologues? Will they be able to save the imperiled character? Hopefully, the reader will ask those questions as the chapter rolls by, pulling them along. I also managed to weave in the bad guy's reasons for doing everything bad ('cuz that's what bad guys do) in a natural way that didn't sound forced. To me, at least.
The other really positive thing that this did, is it allowed me to have Saldrae be in a mild 'action sequence' and still be really proactive and helpful and not just a damsel in distress. It's important for me to consciously think of how Saldrae acts, how she's likely to respond, and how I can have her be a strong female character without resorting to Waif-Fu or other similar tropes/cliches. Saldrae, in fact, is one of the main focuses of my attempt to write better. I really like female characters in the lead (because we don't get that enough), but there's always a concern about how well it actually comes across, since we're lead to think that only through violence can a character be strong. I'm trying to explore alternatives to that, and, since Saldrae's actually in peril, I had to ask myself how she can be something other than a damsel in distress and still be strong without her totally kicking butt and taking names. In the end, she does something pragmatic (hit the guy in the groin along with some other things)--which makes perfect sense. It's also an interesting counterpoint to what she did the last time she was under direct attack, when she basically curled into a ball and hid herself.
I think she's coming along pretty darn well.
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