Merry Christmas, to all who observe/celebrate/enjoy!
Combining two days of work into one post, for brevity’s sake.
Chapter Two was more of a bear than I had expected – this is where I am wading into unfamiliar waters, both in setting and time, and the characters are a reach for me. Finding something in them I could connect with, and then using that to fill them out, emotionally and mentally, occasionally fetched me up against a brick wall. J in particular – such a vastly different life than any I could imagine, being a male of a certain class and culture. And then I have to square all the actions and reactions with the events and mores of their time, and…. Well, there was a lot of fiddly bits.
Next book, the entire world is utterly made up, so nobody can tell me I did it wrong (someone will, anyway).
“Oh, it is so art,†she replied instead, with the tone of someone continuing a longstanding argument. “You simply do not believe that anything not carved from marble can be a masterpiece.â€
became
“Oh, it is indeed art.†Elizabeth was clearly slipping back into a longstanding argument. “You simply do not believe that anything not carved from marble or painted in oil may be a masterpiece.â€
There was also a lot of research: I watched two different 2-hour documentaries today, one touching on the general theme, and the other touching on the time period, and took so many notes and crammed my brain so full it’s a wonder nothing’s ‘sploded yet.
And oh, there are so many bits I want to share, but too many of them are too close to the heart of the story, and I’m not quite ready to share that yet. But this, this bit made me laugh when I first wrote it, and it makes me laugh now. Poul and Charles amuse me so, the poor dears…
His co-worker stared at him. “Poul, do you even listen to yourself any more?â€
“Never when I’m on the job. That’s how I make it home every night. You should try it.â€
15,000 words tweaked and revised, and that’s Part I. Running behind, but still in the running. Onward to part II….