Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

Well, not too far into the story, she knows all about the death of her uncle. Something about reviving him from the dead does not leave her room for ignorance, especially since they talk along the way. (Along with the fox.)

( Read more... )

On one hand, the plot element about a part of the forest is not developed well enough. It has to foreshadow the final danger, or it has to go.

On the other hand, going through a scene wondering what I was thinking, I realized what one boy would say at the end, and how it would give the heroine the motive to go do something I was wrestling with. And even what she could say and do that would provoke it, with a little initial impetus from another character.

Such is the whim of the muse.

The first chunk of dialog is done.

The second chunk of dialog -- is revealing how much of the dialog was pure plot device on my part. Not sufficiently motivated on theirs.

Chiefly, the heroine has to have a reason to think of what she suggests that the hero do. (Putting him in more danger than she will be. Unfortunately, she's the one who has to save the day, and it means she will be safer than he is.)

Motives, motives, motives. . . .

Ah backstory. The heroine has some. Something has just happened to drag it back into her life.

So when will she think about it?

( Read more... )

Type, type, type along. At his youngest sister's wedding, much discussion of the prince's as-yet-unidentified bride.

( Read more... )

One of the advantages of keeping your metaphysics off stage is that it allows your characters to debate metaphysics without some of them looking like fools. But one of the disadvantages of that is that they need some metaphysics to argue. Which ought to harmonize with the religion as practiced.

( Read more... )

When revising a Gamelit outline to ensure that the characters run low on spells, it's not so wise to add encounters, but to ramp up the use of spells in the existing ones.

( Read more... )

Heroine is in the second lab for the second group of people out to test her powers.

One of the group is burbling about how she's able to use the strength she drains from others and it dawned on me -- how does she know that?
( Read more... )

The thrilling life of the author.

I have plowed through dozens of pages of what will probably be a novella. One character just made a smart-alecky and very silly comment to another, who will briefly think of it as a silly comment.

( Read more... )

 I wasn't planning on this.  But in no less than two novels, characters are going to sit down in lulls in the actions and gather 'round the fire -- literally in one case, in the other they can't get the fire wood -- and one of them is going to tell a story. . . .

( Read more... )