Thursday, March 17, 2016

Going forward by going backward.

I was at a bit of a stall with Fairy Punk. I have a general idea of where I want to go, but I wasn't feeling it. I think it's dangerous to write a story if you don't feel it.

Anyway, Linda kept complaining that she thought there wasn't a "connecting thread" in the chapters, and meanwhile I was world-building as I went along, which was starting to tie me up in knots with contradictions.

So I had the sudden impulse to go back and build that world.

I have a major character who is referred to all the way through the book but is deceased: The half Elve, half Dwarve genius inventer, Joseph Tindermaker.

So I decided to tell the backstory through his POV.

At first I thought I might be writing full flashback chapters, which would have been challenging to fit into the current narrative.

But the little stories I was telling were coming in at around 500 words, so I decided instead to try to write a little italicized foreword to each chapter.

I wrote the first six yesterday, and read them out loud to Linda.

"There's your connecting thread," she said. "Much better."

I write to Linda's approval to some extent. I mean, I know I'm on the right path when she doesn't have reservations. I know there's something wrong when she does have reservations.

So I'm halfway through the story now, and I'm very pleased.

The biggest challenge for me will be to get some of the "Punk" into it. My main character, Iggy, is a punkish bounty hunter. So I've been exploring the current Pyrate Punx world trying to get a handle on it.

I don't need to go overboard on it,  just some believable flavoring.

I've contracted for a cover, and I've seen the first sketch and it was really good. But I felt that Iggy looked a little tame in it, so asked for a revision.

But...it's going to be cool.


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