One of the things I always have to ask myself is, “Am I ready to write this chapter?” It’s an important question because how on earth would I ever expect to explain to someone else what’s going on if I haven’t figured it out for myself? I suspect this is the heart of most cases of ‘writer’s block’ that authors face. Sure, I know the overall plot of my story and I’ve got a pretty good handle on the main characters, but what about right now, what needs to happen in these next scenes?
In the past when I reached this point I’d try to figure out some cool twist or riveting scene and plug that into the story. I’m not immune to doing that these days, but I’ve learned my best writing is done when I take a step back–literally, away from the keyboard, and spend some time thinking about what has already happened, and how the ripples from those earlier scenes would likely play out. With that in mind, when I look back at chapter one, some of the main ‘ripples’ in the mix are; the pot boy who has irritated the pompous king, the fact that the boy is starting to look at the world he lives in differently, and a self absorbed wizard whose overall role in the story is…? When I run those things run through my head some questions come to mind. First, would a tyrant really let the lowly pot boy get away with inconveniencing his king and get off scott free? And what would the wizard do if the boy was suddenly in danger? Then finally, with Begone starting to look at things differently, what might that lead to? Questions like these invariably become likely events that grow into possible scenes–this is where I do strive for the ‘cool and riveting’ aspects to come in–as appropriate; some scenes need to tug on other emotional strings. The scenes that stay truest to the plot(s)and the characters eventually make it out of my head and onto the keyboard–as the ones you’re about to read did.
So, after rereading the chapter here are my main thoughts. Not perfect by any means, but overall I was happy with it–for a first draft. This chapter had more action built into it than the first one–I consider the Ohrder’s wizardry–actual or threatened, to be action as well as the whole interplay between he and the king. Action tends to grip people’s attention better than background information or descriptions of people and places, so that always helps. I was happy with Ohrder’s character development, I felt he went from one of the crowd to a standout figure who readers will be anxious to follow. Now, if only the same could be said for Begone. Oh well, that’s what rewrites are all about. Plus–I hope this is more than just a self-justifying excuse, since this is largely a ‘coming of age’ story, his character probably needs to be brought along a little slower so we can continue to root for the underdog. Still, there’s no excusing his just being bland and boring. Plot wise, a lot of new things got tossed out. That’s good for establishing building blocks–as long as I can find a coherent way to to weave them all together without some of them getting lost in the shuffle. Okay, that’s probably more than enough of my rambling for now. Thanks for hanging with me, and don’t hesitate to share any thoughts you might have. Remember, this is the first draft, it’s supposed to be attacked with red pens–the more the merrier.
Have a blessed day,
Mike
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