Nearly 6,700 words done today. This is about as high as I get, in terms of output--between six and seven thousand. I was only able to get this much 'done' today, though, because I had almost an entire chapter already written that finally fits into the story. I do that whenever possible, since I will write snatches of scenes--sometimes entire chapters--that occur chronologically later in the book than I am at that particular moment. It's not ideal, as it often requires a lot of tweaking to get the 'old chapter' to match up with the story when they finally merge. Nevertheless, I find it worthwhile. It often gives me a guide so that I can fit things together more smoothly.
All that being said, I still don't know how this story is supposed to end. There's some really interesting analyses that I mentioned before; I need to do that more carefully with my characters and with the story. Once that's done, I should be able to see where I am going with this book.
Nicomachus
All that being said, I still don't know how this story is supposed to end. There's some really interesting analyses that I mentioned before; I need to do that more carefully with my characters and with the story. Once that's done, I should be able to see where I am going with this book.
Nicomachus
This is Nicomachus. Okay, not really, but it's what I picture him as--with a less crooked nose.
Nicomachus Diol is where the story started nearly two years ago. (Interestingly, despite the fact that I have the mental image of Adrian Brody here as Nic, I don't think I've ever bothered to describe him. That's my first revision, actually, aside from adding a poem to the beginning of the first chapter.) Without Nic and the manifold iterations I dreamed up for him, I would not have the story that I'm working on right now. I have no idea what it would be like, but Nic's my main inspiration for what's going on.
His name is actually based upon the son (and father) of Aristotle, at least in terms of where it comes from. There is a philosophical bent in Nic--I always have a character who's philosophically inclined in my stories, since I find it such a fascinating discipline--that makes him a sort of spiritual successor to Aristotle, but his way of working is quite distinct from the big A. As a character, he's my Marty Sue, as he's a pacifist, a philosopher, a Poet, and likes to analyse things using the Socratic method. He has a couple of chapters in which he's actually kind of cool because his skills get shown off--asking questions to confound the ignorant and appall the free. There's always a bit of begging the question when writing Socratic dialogues, and I hope that, if people ever get to read this story, they feel less that the interlocutors are at the receiving end of a begged question and more that they are watching someone who hasn't thought as carefully about the argument get faced with the realities in front of them.
Nic as a character is definitely the main point of view character (I already mentioned the stats), but he's also the weakest person to put so much emphasis on, I think. He has lots of flaws and he makes a lot of mistakes. He underestimates things all of the time, so a lot of the story involves him trying to put out fires over which he has little control. He's passive aggressive, he hates confrontation (hard to have a 'good' fantasy character who hates violence, as I explained in the last post), and, more than anything else, there's a stigma of the intended audience that's attached to the idea of a poet. Who thinks, "A guy who's going to carry an incredible story filled with intrigue, danger, violence, love, regret, and hope: The guy's gotta write poetry!"? I mean, really.
When people ask what the book's about, I'm always at a bit of a loss, since the stuff that makes the story cool (to me) is hardly common currency for awesome. I mean, I love Shakespeare--his verbiage has inspired the tone of the Poetry and Form in the book--but I know that I am not in his league. And, let's be honest: Shakespeare has a cachet about him that draws people in, despite the complexity of the language. John Milton is completely unappreciated as a poet outside of English classes, yet he is, arguably, the next greatest poet in the English language (being second only to Shakespeare). Why don't people read Milton but they'll attend festivals of Shakespeare? Aside from drama versus poetry, it's really just the fact that everyone knows who Shakespeare is. If you dislike him, fine, but you can do that because you've been exposed to him in some way. You're a geek if you like him, a nerd if you love him, but you're understood because people get who Shakespeare is.
And one thing he's not is someone you turn to when you think of high fantasy stories written for a modern audience.
Nicomachus, then, is my homage to the Bard, and he's a frightful one to be it. Shakespeare's allure is compounded by four centuries of appreciation and analysis (okay, maybe three centuries; Shakespeare wasn't really liked that much during Cromwell, and he basically fell away until after the Glorious Restoration. But, still: he has that whole 'classic writer' thing going for him). Nic is a bit of a wuss, slightly emo (which, in my defense, so is Hamlet...but I'm not Shakespeare, cultural cachet not even part of the equation), and he has a really hard time remaining focused on the problems in front of him. When they say that you should have flawed characters, they don't mean "have flaws, and, somewhere in there, a character." That's a broken character, and I feel like I'm just a misstep or two away from breaking Nic.
Of course, that won't stop me from pushing through on this story. Part of me seems to say that, if I can get Nic right, I'll get this book right. It really hinges on him, despite the fact that Calistar is so much cooler and Saldrae is so much more interesting. Despite that, the real emotional depth that I want to explore is inside of Nic, who is a brilliant person who has a hard time getting that brilliance out in a way that helps people. In a sense, I see him as me. Not the brilliant part--the more I learn the more I know that I know nothing--but as one who sees things differently and gets frustrated at one's inability to express it. I often feel like Nic (which explains my draw to him), because I'm also awash with doubts about my own abilities and capabilities. Like Nic, I have a hard time really seeing any good that I do, and, also like Nic, I am plagued by the guilt of having others care for my offspring so that I can do something else--in my case, something that I pretend is worthwhile and matters in the long term. Nic has the advantage of being the right guy in the right place at the perfect time, but he doesn't seem to let that mollify him.
To further the idea that so much hinges on him, I should say that Nicomachus Diol tinges almost all of what we see in the book. His original opinion of Coratha (the city which took the name of the country in which he lives) actually has to be flat out refuted by another character's point of view, just so the readers know that he's a biased narrator. His disgust with the politics that drove him from home in the first place is something that I think is greater than the events actually warrant. I'm partial, since I cooked up the governmental system that he's a part of, but I think his government's pretty cool. It's not perfect, but it's familiar enough that its strangeness can be overlooked and/or understood. That's pretty crucial, but I fear that Nic's bias will so inform the reader's that anyone who reads it will get confused and put it down.
Or maybe I worry too much. Writ in Blood may be only the title, but I don't need to make it literal. I probably could do with a little bit of relaxation on how the book would be received, if I ever manage to get it fully off the ground.
Hmm. Things to think about.
Nic as a character is definitely the main point of view character (I already mentioned the stats), but he's also the weakest person to put so much emphasis on, I think. He has lots of flaws and he makes a lot of mistakes. He underestimates things all of the time, so a lot of the story involves him trying to put out fires over which he has little control. He's passive aggressive, he hates confrontation (hard to have a 'good' fantasy character who hates violence, as I explained in the last post), and, more than anything else, there's a stigma of the intended audience that's attached to the idea of a poet. Who thinks, "A guy who's going to carry an incredible story filled with intrigue, danger, violence, love, regret, and hope: The guy's gotta write poetry!"? I mean, really.
When people ask what the book's about, I'm always at a bit of a loss, since the stuff that makes the story cool (to me) is hardly common currency for awesome. I mean, I love Shakespeare--his verbiage has inspired the tone of the Poetry and Form in the book--but I know that I am not in his league. And, let's be honest: Shakespeare has a cachet about him that draws people in, despite the complexity of the language. John Milton is completely unappreciated as a poet outside of English classes, yet he is, arguably, the next greatest poet in the English language (being second only to Shakespeare). Why don't people read Milton but they'll attend festivals of Shakespeare? Aside from drama versus poetry, it's really just the fact that everyone knows who Shakespeare is. If you dislike him, fine, but you can do that because you've been exposed to him in some way. You're a geek if you like him, a nerd if you love him, but you're understood because people get who Shakespeare is.
And one thing he's not is someone you turn to when you think of high fantasy stories written for a modern audience.
Nicomachus, then, is my homage to the Bard, and he's a frightful one to be it. Shakespeare's allure is compounded by four centuries of appreciation and analysis (okay, maybe three centuries; Shakespeare wasn't really liked that much during Cromwell, and he basically fell away until after the Glorious Restoration. But, still: he has that whole 'classic writer' thing going for him). Nic is a bit of a wuss, slightly emo (which, in my defense, so is Hamlet...but I'm not Shakespeare, cultural cachet not even part of the equation), and he has a really hard time remaining focused on the problems in front of him. When they say that you should have flawed characters, they don't mean "have flaws, and, somewhere in there, a character." That's a broken character, and I feel like I'm just a misstep or two away from breaking Nic.
Of course, that won't stop me from pushing through on this story. Part of me seems to say that, if I can get Nic right, I'll get this book right. It really hinges on him, despite the fact that Calistar is so much cooler and Saldrae is so much more interesting. Despite that, the real emotional depth that I want to explore is inside of Nic, who is a brilliant person who has a hard time getting that brilliance out in a way that helps people. In a sense, I see him as me. Not the brilliant part--the more I learn the more I know that I know nothing--but as one who sees things differently and gets frustrated at one's inability to express it. I often feel like Nic (which explains my draw to him), because I'm also awash with doubts about my own abilities and capabilities. Like Nic, I have a hard time really seeing any good that I do, and, also like Nic, I am plagued by the guilt of having others care for my offspring so that I can do something else--in my case, something that I pretend is worthwhile and matters in the long term. Nic has the advantage of being the right guy in the right place at the perfect time, but he doesn't seem to let that mollify him.
To further the idea that so much hinges on him, I should say that Nicomachus Diol tinges almost all of what we see in the book. His original opinion of Coratha (the city which took the name of the country in which he lives) actually has to be flat out refuted by another character's point of view, just so the readers know that he's a biased narrator. His disgust with the politics that drove him from home in the first place is something that I think is greater than the events actually warrant. I'm partial, since I cooked up the governmental system that he's a part of, but I think his government's pretty cool. It's not perfect, but it's familiar enough that its strangeness can be overlooked and/or understood. That's pretty crucial, but I fear that Nic's bias will so inform the reader's that anyone who reads it will get confused and put it down.
Or maybe I worry too much. Writ in Blood may be only the title, but I don't need to make it literal. I probably could do with a little bit of relaxation on how the book would be received, if I ever manage to get it fully off the ground.
Hmm. Things to think about.
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