Paksworld

Wednesday was mostly consumed with trying to compress all of book 2 into a paragraph.  I got it down to two paragraphs.  I’m sure Editor will do better.

Today, though, was a good writing day.  Family was gone in the morning and another plot-bomb exploded, seeding my mind with shards of ideas, all smoking hot (or so it seemed.)  2768 words before I left for the city with M-, and I ended the day with a total of 3173.   Moreover, these are not just words tossed in to raise the count–these are writing-as-fast-as-I-can-to-keep-up words. 

The book 3 total is  now a smidgen over 25,000, the point at which a newborn book of Paksworld length starts struggling to stand up–a wobble-legged foal but with some sign of what might indicate its breeding and potential talent.     The vigor with which it’s poured out more plot in the past work sessions (though those have been interrupted)  suggests that it’s still well ahead of the hinge point–of course I don’t really expect clear signs of “hinging” until I’m within 20-25K of the actual hinge or “turn” of the group of books….which should be near the middle of the hinge book.  Which, for this book, is about 80,000 words.  I think.  So there’s still a ways to go.  But sometimes there are little hints.  So far…no.   So far the book is lunging ahead, gathering in more material,  braiding and weaving to be sure, but not yet tightening the coil.  The books get denser as they approach the hinge and then turn that corner.

The only way to deal with these Paksworld books (the only way I know, that is) is just to let them go, try to stay with them as they produce layers and layers of plot and people, and trust that the plot daemon who orchestrated the original will keep doing it.   So far…I think so.

I also made a trip to the city today and bought a headset for my cellphone.  Not, I promise, so I can chitchat while driving.   But because Editor wants me to do an internet chat thing closer to the release date, and also be on the phone so Editor can get me help if the software or computer has a problem.   Since the phone in my study is currently nonfunctional (has been since October, but tonight I found that a resident Genius at a friend’s house is willing to come help),  using the cellphone seemed a good bet, as long as I had hands free to type.     Genius helped me get the headset working in my ear (the mouth part had worked at another friend’s house, but I couldn’t hear–and now I can.  Bet Arcolin wishes he could talk to people a long way away with just a thing stuck in his ear…)

Meanwhile Paks is somewhere, and Arvid Semminson is somewhere, and neither of them is telling me where she/he is.   Though, with the plotbomb thing going on, I don’t need to know right this minute.