Writing Process - Sand
Oct. 5th, 2012 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blairmacgI managed, thus far, to get a mere 500 words into the Sheykhala project. That means I have only 449,500 words--give or take--left to revise. I may make a bit more progress this evening.
As I mentioned in this previous post, I'm choosing to remove the act of rape from the novel, and those revisions require a shift of motivation and personality for the primary antagonist. And that happens in the first chapter. From the first paragraph, I must decide how this altered antagonist will view the other characters and how he will react to them. How his sensuality is experienced and expressed, how his charisma entices while his actions repels. What he notices, what he assumes, what he plans, and what he wants. So while the chapter's outcome will be the same--X will no longer be able to do Y because of Z--the journey, and the journey's motives, will be different.
Another time-eater sounds trivial: I needed to know the size of the average cowhides, horsehides, and African buffalo hides. Since I want to use leather a great deal, I must have a reasonable source. And the source will determine the appearance and cost of said leather, as well as the environment and ecology of the setting. That, too, comes in to play within the opening paragraphs. But now those questions are answered, and the reader will likely never notice I bothered.
And now I shall return to it.
In other news: Tonight is usually the night I train, but I have just enough of an intestinal ick that karate would be a very bad idea. Tomorrow, I'm taking Dev and one of his friends to the local Renaissance festival, where he can't wait to check out the weapons. Once upon a time, I worked Ren fairs. I still have the costumes, but not the body that once fit within them. On the other hand, I've lost ten pounds in the last month, so there's always next year...
And in two weeks, I'll see That Man again, and I am SO looking forward to it!
As I mentioned in this previous post, I'm choosing to remove the act of rape from the novel, and those revisions require a shift of motivation and personality for the primary antagonist. And that happens in the first chapter. From the first paragraph, I must decide how this altered antagonist will view the other characters and how he will react to them. How his sensuality is experienced and expressed, how his charisma entices while his actions repels. What he notices, what he assumes, what he plans, and what he wants. So while the chapter's outcome will be the same--X will no longer be able to do Y because of Z--the journey, and the journey's motives, will be different.
Another time-eater sounds trivial: I needed to know the size of the average cowhides, horsehides, and African buffalo hides. Since I want to use leather a great deal, I must have a reasonable source. And the source will determine the appearance and cost of said leather, as well as the environment and ecology of the setting. That, too, comes in to play within the opening paragraphs. But now those questions are answered, and the reader will likely never notice I bothered.
And now I shall return to it.
In other news: Tonight is usually the night I train, but I have just enough of an intestinal ick that karate would be a very bad idea. Tomorrow, I'm taking Dev and one of his friends to the local Renaissance festival, where he can't wait to check out the weapons. Once upon a time, I worked Ren fairs. I still have the costumes, but not the body that once fit within them. On the other hand, I've lost ten pounds in the last month, so there's always next year...
And in two weeks, I'll see That Man again, and I am SO looking forward to it!
