No writing last night. Instead my friends and I at ham and played a Cuthulu board game. We didn't win. The ham was good, though.
I've been thinking about characterization in Angel Odyssey. I mentioned characterization as one of my strengths, the characters in Smooth Running are a point of pride for me, but something isn't feeling right with Jacob and Jael, not to mention some of the other, minor characters. I know the characters, that isn't the problem, but I'm wondering if I'm revealing them enough. Or, more worrisome, I'm wondering if they're interesting enough.
The purpose of Angel Odyssey is to write the kind of book I'd have wanted to read when I was 14. Now I read more than a few grade levels above my age when I was that age but I wanted to capture some of the sweetness and melancholy of Taran's own movement to adulthood in Lloyd Alexander's novels. I know I'm only in the second pass of this novel but I don't feel like I'm there yet.
I'm wondering if I should go back to what I did in Smooth Running, more action, more drama, more cross-cutting POVs between the hero and the villain. I honestly don't know. I'd intended this to be a simpler story, well-told, I hope. I almost want to re-write it that way and see how it reads but if I do that, there's no way this book will be ready for unfriendly eyes by October. Nowhere near. I hate this self-doubt.
I guess I'll keep on as I am, just keep plugging away. Momentum is so important, I don't to get stalled by my doubts. I just wish I knew what the secret was to make this novel great.
I've been thinking about characterization in Angel Odyssey. I mentioned characterization as one of my strengths, the characters in Smooth Running are a point of pride for me, but something isn't feeling right with Jacob and Jael, not to mention some of the other, minor characters. I know the characters, that isn't the problem, but I'm wondering if I'm revealing them enough. Or, more worrisome, I'm wondering if they're interesting enough.
The purpose of Angel Odyssey is to write the kind of book I'd have wanted to read when I was 14. Now I read more than a few grade levels above my age when I was that age but I wanted to capture some of the sweetness and melancholy of Taran's own movement to adulthood in Lloyd Alexander's novels. I know I'm only in the second pass of this novel but I don't feel like I'm there yet.
I'm wondering if I should go back to what I did in Smooth Running, more action, more drama, more cross-cutting POVs between the hero and the villain. I honestly don't know. I'd intended this to be a simpler story, well-told, I hope. I almost want to re-write it that way and see how it reads but if I do that, there's no way this book will be ready for unfriendly eyes by October. Nowhere near. I hate this self-doubt.
I guess I'll keep on as I am, just keep plugging away. Momentum is so important, I don't to get stalled by my doubts. I just wish I knew what the secret was to make this novel great.
RSS Feed