Taking my own medicine
I was recently on the Secret Library Podcast, hosted by the wonderful Caroline Donahue. She is also my writing coach and is an excellent sounding board when my stories are not doing the things they are supposed to.
Like, right now.
I’m writing Vanguard, the sequel to Archer 887. I’ve mentioned before that sequels are hard for pantsers, since I had no idea where the plot was going until the book was done. Like, maybe the vaguest end goal, but after was a black abyss of nothingness.
I have made good progress since the start of the year. I have 40,000 words. I have creepy antagonist, The Hunter, whom I adore. He’s sneering and conflicted and implacable. The best.
I have my various storylines mostly sorted. They’ve all come the midpoint crisis/goal and are ready for the main action to kick off. Huge cliffhanger planned.
Except… One character just doesn’t feel right. Her scenes feel stilted and don’t have the cultural exploration and moral depth that I want. There’s a lot of her observing rather than doing. Which is sort of fine, as she’s a journalist, but I can’t make things work the way I want.
Then Caroline interviewed me, and I said this:
"Ask yourself: why is this not working? Is this a flaw in the in the plot? Is it just characters talking to each other? Is there something wrong with how the world is structured or are the rules wrong? Is there too much magic solving their problems, whether it's actual magic or technology or whatever?”
And I gave myself the answer:
“Then you have to unpick everything and go back to the very beginning and be like: is it the characters? Is it the idea? Is it the world that they're in? How can I adjust the knobs on it a little bit and put up the high and take down the low and change the gain. And maybe we can build something that makes more sense, that feels more authentic, rather than these little cardboard characters just kind of doing their thing, like little shadow puppets.”
I hate it when I’m right.
So, I thought about it for a bit (I did almost no writing for Vanguard in March) and I decided I’m going to flip her scenes around. I’ll need to rewrite some 8,000 words, form a new character, change the POV. But I think it will add urgency and unease into the story. Hints at the desperation driving everything toward the final crisis of the book.
Wish me luck.
Caroline is an amazing lady; check her out here!
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Thanks!
Anna