The Sorcerer's Progress (Page 53 of 62)

Go ahead and hit it.  My recent offline discussion with Her Amyness have me thinking and mulling and cogitating and stewing.

A few hours ago set to work on reviews.  But as I was submitting the first one, Optimum's DNS went out all over the Northeast.
I'm giving odds on malware, maybe from China.  And on the servers affected running Microsoft software.

Before that, I set a lot of plot logic in place.  Melayne will have a few long flashbacks, I think.  But for now, I need to get Merran through the Rockpile, introduce her to people she likes enough to stay (OUTSIDE the Rockpile, for which think B5 Downbelow or a bohemian district) and then get her moving again, without Jamen.

Melayne noted in the chapter that parallels Ch1 in B1 that Merran had never even seen a sea.  She's going to see one soon.

Rockpile first.  Reviews before that.

Got six reviews done (should have been eight) and about 1400 words that will need to be turned into maybe 1700 of a character relating what happened since Melayne was there last.    Arghh.  Why do the ideas flow at all the wrong times.

We'll see if I can break Melyne's heart--twice.

Working out bits of plot.  I think I know the B2 cliffhanger, and in its resolution I think Merran will have to kill for the first time.  It will be fully justified, but her mother will be a witness ... and Momma's concern will prevent her from learning anything important about what Merran has been up to.  And Momma's lack of concern, combined with Merran's sense of having crossed a line, will send Merran off on the trip she shouldn't take.  Kirsey will guess ... .

I have a a review to finish.

Good news with a high price: I'm looking at my current chapter and the storyline around it, and I see too much development and not enough action.  And far too much show of what should be told.

Reviewers demand more and more detail from me.  Sometimes they're right, but sometimes they're (you're) steering me toward turning a moment into a scene, a scene into a chapter, and a chapter into the whole book.

Which means that either I'm not giving you the right description or I'm not keeping your eyes busy with the right thing.

Thanks

There's a lot to be rewrit there.

I've got Tazar's analysis of the conference room in my head and I've got three goals:

Prove to Jaylene that the assassination was a rush job
Debate if the magic uses to poison the blood had anything to do with the Catacombs
Get Alda to give up and Jaylene and go back under the Veil. Jaylene will go under without Alda initially.

Then Lewellyn gets to shake Alda out of her comfort zone and wonders what the goal of the assassin was to hide the body in a place it could be found in five days.(about the time it takes for the potato hopper to be cleaned out). What would change once it was confirmed that the Defiler and death magic was involved?

I.E. the Catacombs would go into lockdown. Which means Jaylene could be underground with the assassin. And without Alda. And as 8th circle, Alda gets to lead the expedition (with Lewellyn and Valharic) underground.

Rewrites are a hoot. At least I have one chapter in my head already.

A

You got my head whirlin'.

Are you gonna use the Alda-kitchen axis as camouflage?

I think I finally have draft zero of the chapter that gets Merran & Company out from Maurand's house.  I expect to find problems when I type it up.  It goes to 14 columns in shorthand, so I'm expecting about 3800 words.

It's not quite the end of their stay.  I may tack that on, too.

Got a sort-of-an outline typed up.  Now I either go back to The Rockpile or fill in a missing previous chapter.

Oh, that chapter I put up a couple days ago? 4600 words.  Ouch.

I wanted it cloer to 3600