Paksworld

No one person can do it all, in the alpha-reading world, which is why having a group works best for me.  Each of you is sensitive to slightly different things.

Overnight, I got more helpful comments.   And I’m seeing my way clear to some changes in mid-book that will of course impact end-book when they’re done.

Spoilers (some serious spoilers) below the line, so don’t “read more” unless spoilers don’t bother you.

Whose book is it, anyway?   A good question.    I think Dorrin may dominate in the end, but at present it feels important to deal fairly with all the main influences in Paks’s life (other than her family.  Sorry…they’re just not there.)  And the real story is bigger than they are…it goes all the way back to two critical times.   When the elder races got themselves tied in knots about humans–and how what they did, how they reacted, led to current situations–and (maybe related, maybe not) how the Fall of Aare happened and what might cure what ails it.

Kieri will come to realize that his grandmother has deep flaws reaching far back–that though she’s wise in some ways, in others she’s a mess.   And he’s got to come to terms with his own limitations.  Fine, he’s a half-elf and will live much longer than full humans–but he’s not immortal and he’s not capable of doing everything himself.    All his abilities aside, he’s not the right person for every job.   If he lets past frustrations with the limits others put on him control how he uses his now-legitimate powers…not good.    It’s possible that realizing his grandmother’s flaws will make him more aware of his own limitations.

But aside from that, what I need to do now, in this book, is bring out more strongly what it is that’s driving the whole multi-volume story, because it’s not clear to people.  On the human side, the mess in Old Aare has affected history and things are crumbling worse than ever.   No amount of sticky-tape will patch it; each previous attempt has lasted a shorter time and the breaks have opened wider than ever.    On the elven side, there’s a similar situation with a breach between elves and humans, and elves and rockfolk.

What the elves keep doing (or some of them keep doing) is denying that anything’s wrong, or that anything wrong has anything to do with them.   Because they can cast glamour, and affect peoples’ memory, time-sense, place, etc., they think they can re-write history.   So Paks “forgot” that she was to carry a message to Halveric and did not really experience the distance from the elfane taig to the hills much nearer Brewersbridge.  And most at Halveric Steading forgot that the Lady had ever been there, after her winter visit–and though Aliam and Estil remembered, they could not speak of it.  All these interferences (and many more) have consequences.

So in the long run, what this story may be about is the long tail of mistakes, and the cost of righting wrongs.    I’ve already started (even while packing, yes) to think how to pull this up a level.   It should not be sitting there, the known problem that’s not being dealt with by the protagonists (because they don’t see it themselves yet–they have other immediate things to deal with)–it makes them seem stupid.  (Um…no stupider than some of our political leaders have been, pursuing immediate goals and not seeing more serious, but more distant, approaching dangers.)

But now–another load of laundry’s done, I need to wash my hair, I need to finish packing…