Titles, Tentacles, and Trust

Explosition: in a narrative, the presence of excessive exposition. i.e. expository barf

Well, 80K has been surpassed. This is good. This is very good. And as I plunge into the last few chapters, I’m realizing I do have more to say in this space. So I’m thinking the draft will be around 95K now… give or take.

I have a tentative new title: Mother’s Ink. Or Inkwell. It’s become the center of the story, really (ink that is), and has even lent itself to my own version of the undead. (This is momentous! I’ve never had the undead in a novel before. I feel like I might have leveled as a writer. They even scare me.)

The hard part is keeping a firm grasp on all the strands in the story. The final climactic scene has taken a great deal of think time to sort out. I need certain people in certain places as well as certain artifacts in certain places, and trying to orchestrate that has proven rather difficult. But last night’s late thought session (I tend to think out most of my novels in bed before falling asleep or driving in the car listening to Classical music) I figured out 95% of it. That other 5% is still up in the air, um, literally. But I think I can get there.

Two Things I Loved: Okay, so there’s 10K of stuff since the last post. That’s a lot of stuff. So I get to cherry pick. I loved the interplay between Dinah and Ash (though it needs some work) and I loved bringing Dev back into the “real” world. The latter was painful and awkward and so wonderfully anti-romantic and unsatisfying. Which is just how I wanted it to be.

Two Things I Loathed: The exposition. It’s everywhere. Both of the narratives I’ve been writing in have come to the point where they are with People of an Informative Nature (TM). They are realizing things, learning things. And while that information is essential to the over all plot, it does slow things down. For me.  And there’s more than one instance of expository barf, so that counts for more than two things.

Best Quote of the Day:

“What color are the stones, Ash?” Corin asked. “The ones along the top.”

Ash squinted. “Is this a trick question? ‘Cause I don’t have time for—”

“Just answer me. What color are they?” Corin pressed.

“Ain’t no color. It’s empty.”

“Empty?” Dinah laughed.

“What do you see, Dinah?” asked Corin.

“The rubies are brilliant,” she said. “The most brilliant I’ve ever seen. True red, as deep as blood.”

Corin nodded. “Precisely. She sees it. We cannot. Do you know why, Dinah?”

“Because you’re men and simply can’t appreciate the nuances of refined aesthetics?” she tried, but knew it was a lame attempt at humor in a mirthless environment.

Worst Quote of the Day: (especially Dev’s “don’t take her, just take me” bit; ugh)

“Miracle. It sounds like a nightmare. I’ve seen what those things are capable of,” Marna hissed. She was angry—spitting mad, as her father might have said. Dev missed that about her, that temper. It had been years since he’d seen it.

“You and your Brennada friends, my dear, have meddled in business quite beyond your ken,” the Sib warned. “Do not presume to tell me.”

“Let her go,” Dev said, standing, taking a step toward the Sib. He didn’t know what he would do to stop hean, but just listening to heas voice was making him ill. “Do what you want with me—I don’t care. Just don’t bring her into this.”

The Sib laughed. “Ah, so noble! But I’m afraid I can’t do that, Devinder. She has proven surprisingly valuable for all of her mundanity. We thought she would lure you from your journey, though were were mistaken, in a way. Still, she certainly prevented your death, which was to our benefit. But it seems there are other men prepared to be snared on her behalf. You do have a way, Ms. Bashkin.”

Thoughts of the Day: Really, it’s just been novel fever around here. Not thinking terribly clearly on any front, and probably won’t until the draft is finished. I’ve been pondering that last scene a great deal, and that’s about it.

Around the Bend: Big boss fight! Cue music! Cue dancing! Cue freaky squidlings and undead sorcerers! This stuff is gettin’ real, I tell ya.

(Image CC by Stephane Giner via Flickr)