Paksworld

“You killed her!”

Yeah, that’s right,  I have no self-control, and now Book IV has a first paragraph.   It may not be the real first paragraph (the actual start of   Book III isn’t what I first wrote) but you have to admit it’s attention-getting (and I wrote it early this morning before the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords…hours before that happened.  Now it looks…too related. )

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When writing fast,  I often write “what happened” and not “where/when/how/why”–without much context.  Sometimes whole important conversations, because I’m “hearing” the people talking to one another, without any guide to who said what.

This requires backfilling.    Scenes must have context (physical, emotional, whatever else is needed) and transitions from previous scenes.  Conversations that run on for a couple of pages with no “he said/she said” or “[name] said/ [othername] said”  lead to reader confusion…and lack the cues to reaction to the previous speaker’s words.

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I tried to link to these in a comment,  but the links didn’t work.  Sigh.   The only pictures I can find of Ky, the horse who was my model for Paks’s paladin horse, are the ones my webguru had on one of her computers.

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As I sit here, I smell the turkey necks and giblets simmering in the kitchen, with a faint whiff of a brownie pie beginning to share the air.   Turkeys are defrosted (finally) and will go in the roasters in the morning.  (We now get smaller turkeys plural instead of the giant bird I used to get, because it’s easier.  And we’re older.)    The ham is ready to go in the oven with a homemade spiced pear glaze.   Guests will start arriving tomorrow morning, some bringing food to share, some bringing themselves only, which is fine.    This is a middling year (big years, we end up with ~20 at the tables; this year it’s 15.  Small is 10 or fewer, small enough that we don’t need to put up another table.)

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I had ridden for years and read about cavalry engagements when I first climbed on a horse with a sword belted on.    I thought I knew what it would be like to knock various objects off the tops of fence posts.    I didn’t.   I’m sure that back in the day youngsters learned from experienced elders (by watching or by direct instruction)  some of the things that a few sessions with horse, sword, and fence-posts taught me.    And ritual disclaimer here:  I’m not an expert in this stuff.

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…otherwise known as “stupid virus.”     This has slowed work at a time when I didn’t need to slow down, but though I can’t write long at a time, I can think about things.  So progress is being made.  Just slower than I want to make it.

I have been housebound since coming home from fencing last week…started feeling lousy on Friday, and things rapidly went downhill, so I’m getting maybe a half hour to an hour at the computer before doing a face-plant in the bed again.   With a weird schedule as a result.  Not to worry–it’s nothing serious, just a stupid virus.   Takes longer to get over than it used to but still just a virus.

(GRUMP: just erased the whole post I was about to send.  My right little finger hit *something* (I wasn’t looking at it, so don’t know) and it all disappeared.  So this is not the post you would’ve had but the post’s general gist as I remember it after that moment of shock, useless attempts at recovery, and then writing a GRUMP.)

This week has been about reorganizing the POV sections into chronological order and writing connections when the lack of them became apparent.  I’ve also been noting places were cuts could be made later, to accommodate the additional material that will bring the book to the conclusion I’m trying to achieve…for which I need a LOT more room.    Right now the book’s just under 163,000 words,  but it changes daily up and down as this is trimmed slightly and that is added for connectivity and this other bit now turns out to be wrong, and here I’ve added a chunk…etc.    There’s a lot of front-loading in this book, so anything trimmed there has to be carefully done so the plot-threads can run smoothly on, without fraying to nothing later.

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Some of you will have learned from news reports that there was a shooting incident at the University of Texas early Tuesday morning.   Some of you know that UT is where I took my second degree.    Short form: the shooter fired off various rounds at the ground or in the air with an AK47, not shooting at anyone, and then went upstairs in one of the libraries and shot himself.   No one else was hurt.   He didn’t menace anyone (other than scaring them simply by firing such a weapon, and bringing on a several hours’ lockdown and the appearance on campus of even scarier people.)

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And more or less awake after a Very Interesting Night and Day…got home finally, showered, fell into bed and am now up (sort of) after a solid 5-6 hours of sleep.

I will get to comments that need answering later–there’s business stuff that must be attended to first, and only 500 of the day’s required words were written (on the bus that replaced the train as a mode of transportation from San Antonio to Austin.  And why do luxury buses–which this was–insist on putting their otherwise comfortable seats so close together that the ordinary person’s knees hit the back of the seat in front of them?   As bad as regional jets…but more comfortable seats, I’ll admit.

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Another day of travel, another 2000+ words added to Book III.    Maybe I should live on the train?   No, not really.   But it focuses my mind something wonderful–no phone, no interruptions (well, meals and such but nothing else) and the words come.   Scenery, too.  And interesting people when I do come up for air.  (Little do they know, the writer is watching…and listening…bwah-hah-hah-hah!)

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