It really is about getting wet.*
Nov. 7th, 2005 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseSo there I am, scrubbing the bathroom, when a bunch of things just tumble into place in my mind.
One of the pieces of advice Jim Macdonald hammered at me at VP was "If you have a character who's there at the beginning, and she's there in the middle of the story, and she influences most of the rest, she'd darn well better be there at the climax. (Which sounds like a "well, duh..." but isn't always, not when the character in question is lying enchanted in a cave in a distant mountain range).
I found myself thinking of a way to really super-briefly summarize the main plotline of Raising the Storm (*not*, I should note, the novel Jim was talking about). I'd come up with a pretty good one, actually, as I was scrubbing, and found myself muddling over the problem of what to do with one particular bit in the climax, when a passing comment Branwen made in her critique of the opening chapter clicked. There was a minor character she'd mentioned finding interesting, and I'd been thinking that after the first half, he really didn't have much to do.... someone who showed up at the beginning, and influenced things for him throughout... and a moment later, yay! I knew how he fit into the key scene in the middle of the story, too.
Two problems -- a character who shows up early then fades out, and a climactic scene with one annoying little detail that needed resolution -- and two pieces of advice/commentary, all work together to produce another great poof of inspiration, and a plain solution. And conveniently, they resonate with a choice another character already made.
Thank you, Uncle Jim! Thanks, Brannie!
Of course, about half-a-minute later, Colin came in behind me and turned on the fan, pointing out that he could smell the cleaner fumes all the way from the bedroom. Take this as you will.
* Not that way, though that's fun, too. But I'd made a post elsewhere just a couple of days ago about how moments of inspiration like this always seem to come in the shower, or while washing dishes, or doing things again. And here I am again, washing.
One of the pieces of advice Jim Macdonald hammered at me at VP was "If you have a character who's there at the beginning, and she's there in the middle of the story, and she influences most of the rest, she'd darn well better be there at the climax. (Which sounds like a "well, duh..." but isn't always, not when the character in question is lying enchanted in a cave in a distant mountain range).
I found myself thinking of a way to really super-briefly summarize the main plotline of Raising the Storm (*not*, I should note, the novel Jim was talking about). I'd come up with a pretty good one, actually, as I was scrubbing, and found myself muddling over the problem of what to do with one particular bit in the climax, when a passing comment Branwen made in her critique of the opening chapter clicked. There was a minor character she'd mentioned finding interesting, and I'd been thinking that after the first half, he really didn't have much to do.... someone who showed up at the beginning, and influenced things for him throughout... and a moment later, yay! I knew how he fit into the key scene in the middle of the story, too.
Two problems -- a character who shows up early then fades out, and a climactic scene with one annoying little detail that needed resolution -- and two pieces of advice/commentary, all work together to produce another great poof of inspiration, and a plain solution. And conveniently, they resonate with a choice another character already made.
Thank you, Uncle Jim! Thanks, Brannie!
Of course, about half-a-minute later, Colin came in behind me and turned on the fan, pointing out that he could smell the cleaner fumes all the way from the bedroom. Take this as you will.
* Not that way, though that's fun, too. But I'd made a post elsewhere just a couple of days ago about how moments of inspiration like this always seem to come in the shower, or while washing dishes, or doing things again. And here I am again, washing.
