editing one's thoughts (in which I talk at length about a manuscript no one else has ever read)

[thanate]

Due to a momentary digression on Charon, thanks to zagzagael, I contemplate revamping the rather short story of Duban's quest for wisdom, possibly after tracking down a few more sources... since that chapter (I forget what number it is) is quite short, and Charon himself got rather abruptly downsized when I re-wrote the chapter where Argent had originally spent centuries rowing back and forth getting to know him. Whether this happens will depend both on further research (the content, and indeed the existence of such) and whether it can be made compatible with Duban's most folkloric of the children's fairytales. His story is short because it really is a folktale, not a two or three jammed together trying to be Pride and Prejudice, or whatever, and adding more of Charon's dolorous problems may not suit it.

But the problem of the moment is that there is a semi-serious temporal dislocation between Chapter Eight and the beginning of Chapter Eleven. Either Sinbad's story ends far too early (which could be fixed by beginning it later, or adding more undiscussed time in the middle, or both... although I don't think the second option is folklorically sound, since I can't add a year or three... perhaps his third day off, though? hm...) or Rahmah shouldn't actually *get* to France before she'd have to be back in Cheshire Cheese for the funerals. Or Roland disappears for a month or so between his abrupt departure from Cerridwen's garden and when he turns up back at home. Which isn't actually a bad idea (on his part) in terms of scoping out the lay of the land and all that, but I'm still working out how to manage it. Possibly letters between the siblings, previous to his showing back up?

There are also a couple passages that need attention where I wrapped up far too quickly at the end of Sinbad's story; people may suddenly jump into high gear, but they can't afford to rush through assuming the reader understands magic systems that are only tangentially explained in a much later chapter. And Sinbad comes out of character, I think, probably because it was late and I was tired, and trying to finish the chapter. So certain things will have to be redone, although at the moment they're still percolating.

I finally picked up a copy of the latest LMBujold on sunday (as well as a travel guide to england) and read it straight through starting shortly after dinner and not putting it down until about 3:30 monday morning. And again, partly I'm on a very slim reading diet at the moment (two books, maybe four, since winter, I think), but instead of contemplating the implications of her increasingly complicated and fascinating world, I went back to the sense of not just lethargy and semi-depression for the weekend, but the "Why, if I'm not satisfied with [whatever current job I happen to have]-- and my attention span on jobs seems to be about on par with my attention span for hobbies-- am I not out there creating worlds or works like this? I've only been claiming I want to for the past twenty years."

And really, there's nothing like going about your life and having a character or moment turn up in your head, ready for expanding upon.

Comments

[astormorray.livejournal.com]

yeah. what about that?

Let's do it. ;)