Work continues on the novel and while I find it slower than other books I’ve written, I believe it is because of the prose that’s being generated, along with the necessary research and needing to get a lot of the details more accurate for a story set in the fifth century than one set in the present day. But as I’m going over parts that I wrote some years ago that are now being rewritten, I see where the holes and necessary new scenes are needed, even if their awkward ones to write, but it’s all adding to the characters and overall plot of the book, and the message I’m trying to tell. I’m also forcing my self to not fix or change too many things, as I’ve always been a writer who goes back and fixes and edits later, and just gets the words on the page first. I know there are lots of parts that will need fixing, or tweaking, or complete rewriting, but I’ve at least got the idea of what I’m trying to say down on the page. And it’s helping to pave the way for the rest of the book.
It’s as if I’m creating crucial coordinates in these first chapters so that the rest of the book can steer true and stay on course and not get lost in the doldrums. Which is good, because even with my basic chapter outline (which I’ve already veered considerably from), I wasn’t sure where the book was exactly going. And I still don’t fully know, and I’m also certain the characters will take it to new and undiscovered islands that never occurred to me. But as I said — and this is the last time I use the metaphor in this post — the course is plotted, at least initially with some important points, and this book is heading in the right direction.
And now for some of the writing:
There are the Northmen, the Geats, Swedes and Danes who are beginning to push south, all in search of land, riches, in search of something new to their lives. The Saxons are feeling constricted, attacked from all sides and are looking for an escape. A way out. So when Vortigern offers them this. And bear in mind that the Saxons, Angles, and Franks have been raiding the British coastline for over a hundred years. It’s a dream come true to be offered new, fresh land in return for protection.”
WORDS: 970
PAGES: 4 1/2
P.S. I’m also on track for doing a little bit of writing every day this week so far, whether it’s the two pages on work days or the four pages on non-work days (like today). Woot.
Bookbanter 