Queenswood and Storm

I have to decide whether the two separate plot arcs that I've written in the second half of Lio and Lamb: Haven are better presented separately (like the two halves of Tolkien's The Two Towers) or intertwined and presented chronologically.

As a writer, I am tempted by the first option. That's primarily because I wrote it that way. So it's essentially "done." Also, it does create some suspense for the main characters in Queenswood to not know what is happening with the other characters (off in Storm) until they show up.

Is that too contrived? Honestly, the second time I read The Two Towers, I rearranged it for myself, going back and forth in the text to reassemble it chronologically. I hated that big jump backward to fill in the story and catch up. It felt like too massive a flashback.

So as a reader, I prefer the second option. I'm just worried that it might get too complicated to follow... I have main characters who remain consistent (easy to follow) in each half of the story, but my POV also switches to minor characters, and each section introduces new minor characters. That could be confusing for readers.

Maybe I need to add setting references to the titles? e.g. ISLE OF DOCQ, JOSSE. That could help.

One factor in deciding what to do is knowing that if I intertwine the plots, going chronologically through events, I can easily split them again if beta-readers find the intertwined stories too complicated to follow. The more challenging task would be the initial intertwining, not the undoing.

One more thing: Although I have yet to list the chapters and POV in a spreadsheet (that will happen soon), at some point last fall/winter I did mentally map out the days and line them up. I'll have to search around a bit to see if I can find that doc. I remember planning that on any given day, intense moments happened in just one of the storylines, not both. I also planned their chronology with consideration of climate. In the story, weather events move from west to east. So a storm that happens in the western storyline eventually affects the characters in the eastern storyline. In other words, the two pieces should fit well together, pacing-wise and logically, without too much fiddling.

I feel like I have talked myself into a plan.

Fix List: A (Play-Along) Challenge

While writing, I try to keep my forward momentum going by not bothering overmuch with details that can be checked later. For example, if a character sits down in a chair in a room that was described earlier, and I vaguely remember describing something about the furniture in that room, I leave myself a comment in the text to check on that room's decor.

The next day, before my prose train gets rolling, I go through my comments and resolve all the issues I left for myself. I also reread and revise the newest text with fresh eyes. It's amazing to me what silly things I catch myself writing.

This June, a typical writing session started with 1.5-2 hours of revision, followed by 2-5 hours of new writing. I kept track of the number of words written and plotted them on a chart. This is a Nanowrimo-birthed habit. I was never able to meet the 1666 words a day goal of Nanowrimo, but I loved seeing my word count graph grow.

As I was writing (and revising), I often found more complex problems that needed time and attention. Instead of fixing them, I added them to a doc called "FIX." By the end of writing the draft, I had about a page, single-spaced, of messy bits to clean up.

While I generally enjoy revising, this type of work is so tedious that I couldn't sustain more than two hours a day. It took me a whole week to get through the list. In addition to unraveling a double introduction (a character who shows up and is recognized/remembered in two separate chapters instead of just the first time), here are some of the choices I had to make:

Feel free to play along; answers are at the bottom of the blog.

1. What do I call the main river in Aelland? Is it the River Aco or Aco River?
2. The word for a religious person's flowy garment can be spelled either "robe" or "robes." But within one text, it needs to be consistently one or the other. Which to choose?
3. Should the language of Irabazlea, a foreign country, be Irabazleaic or Irabazlean?
4. Do I capitalize references to the weekly court session?
5. I had variously described the main characters' eye color as "light," "pale," "bluish-green," "sea-green," and "light blue." That can't all be true. Pick.
6. Create a visual reference/description of the guard candidates, who haven't been given the official red cloaks to signify full standing.
7. Should I leave a single reference to Castellan Merek's heraldry (a falcon) or expand on it?
8. Should a visiting delegation bring its own guards? If so, do they need names, or would that be extraneous?
9. My POV requires any minor characters with POV chapters to be in proximity to or to see the main characters. Do I fix the one chapter that breaks this self-imposed rule or just leave it as is?
10. A key plot point is that one of the characters knows the foreign language of Samrian. I mentioned it already, but I could have her demonstrate by counting in the language (as her mother does in a prequel). Yes?

Most of these seem like no-brainers in retrospect. But making the actual adjustments generally required a lot of hunting through the draft and subtle revision. Like I said, tedious work. I'm glad it's done (for now). I'm sure I'll think of many more things to refine.



My answers:

1. Aco River
2. Robes
3. Irabazlean
4. Yes (Piat Court)
5. Sea-green or bluish-green
6. Simple black, wool cloaks
7. Add more references, preferably three
8. Yes, two guards with names
9. Fix it.
10. Yes.

Titles and Section Titles

I call the series I am writing Lio and Lamb. Or Lio & Lamb. Either way. I'll have to decide which at some point.

More pressing, I don't know exactly what to call each of the "volumes" of the series. I started with the story that has turned into the third book. As the original text, that one is just called Lio and Lamb. Of late, I've been subtitling it Murders of Castle Aco.

The other volume that I've mostly completed is a prequel. Sometimes that's what I call it. The prequel. It's in three parts right now, so sometimes I call it "Haven," "Queenswood," and "Storm," though those are more accurately section titles within the text. I can't imagine calling the first volume of a series the extravagantly long title of Lio and Lamb: Haven, Queenswood, and Storm.

I'm going to use this blog to brainstorm some titles and subtitles...

1. Lio and Lamb: Origins
Too much like "SPOTD: Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero."

2. Lio and Lamb: Thora's Journey
I don't hate it. But it sounds too much like a quest, which is partially true, but mostly not. The second volume will follow the quest format more closely. And although I love Thora, I don't love her name. I think she'll stay Thora, but she might not.

3. Maybe a title that alludes to the plot's genre? "Murders of Castle Aco" tips its hat to the murder mystery genre. This one is a pursuit/escape. Possibilities:

Lio and Lamb: Escape
Lio and Lamb: Escape from Docq
Lio and Lamb: Escape to Aelhaven
Lio and Lamb: Escaping Jakon
Lio and Lamb: Thora's Escape
Lio and Lamb: On the Run
Lio and Lamb: The Chase
Lio and Lamb: Pursuit
Lio and Lamb: Flight
Lio and Lamb: Deliverance
Lio and Lamb: Take Flight
Lio and Lamb: Liberty
Lio and Lamb: Release
Lio and Lamb: Liberation
Lio and Lamb: Extrication
Lio and Lamb: Salvation
Lio and Lamb: Aegis of Aelhaven
Lio and Lamb: Shelter
Lio and Lamb: Sanctum

I like the bolded ideas best.

The Chase is pleasing because it sounds like a story that is action packed. Plus, it reminds me of SPOTD.

Deliverance works because of its double meaning: deliverance to safety and birth of the twins. Plus, it hints at a particular plot twist.

I like Aegis of Aelhaven because it is story specific. Plus, the word Aegis is strange enough to sound like fantasy, which is my overarching genre.

Of course, I could just call the whole thing "Haven," which fits well. I'd just have to add a section title for the first half, because I really like "Queenswood" and "Storm," and I can't just start having section titles partway through.

So...

Lio and Lamb: Haven
     Prologue (super short)
     Deliverance
     Maybe another section here? Somehow referring to the threat of separation...
     Queenswood and Storm (or separate, if I don't twine them together).

Okay, so now I need another section name. More brainstorming?

Flight
Discovery
Peril
Jeopardy
Quarry
Raider
Midsummer
Menace

Again, I like the bolded ideas best.

My favorite is Discovery; it hints at the plot and it's what prompts the flight of the next sections. Plus, it has a double meaning again. Characters are literally discovered/found, and characters can learn about themselves. I could play that up even more.

Midsummer. My created world has fairly traditional seasonal celebrations at Midwinter, Midspring Midsummer, and Midfall. The Midspring and Midsummer rituals play important parts in this first story. But I think I'd prefer to use Midsummer as a section title if I were using all four to divide a work. Maybe I could use them as a framework for the second volume.

Final plan (for now):

Lio and Lamb: Haven
     Prologue
     Deliverance
     Discovery
     Queenswood and Storm
     Epilogue

After I revise what I've written, my next task is to decide how to order Queenswood and Storm, either one after the other or intertwined. That's a subject for another blog...

Ta-da!

You know that feeling when you finish a great novel, or fantasy series, or Netflix binge? That sadness akin to grief that these characters are going away? That driving away from the weekend and into the workaday week feeling? It takes a good, full day for me to wallow in my post-fiction hangover before I am ready to face the real world or jump into another story.

I started feeling that satisfying loss after writing the climax of the story. I knew there were several more chapters to write, but it still felt like I was saying goodbye. I hoped to tie up all the loose ends more quickly that Tolkien did in LOTR (the ending of which goes on and on and on...). The feeling only lasted a day. Then I attacked the final chapters. And here we are!

First draft, done.

After I go through as much of my "FIX" file as I can, my next move is to wrap around to the start of the series and reread Haven, Queenswood, and Storm so that I can figure out how to merge together and finish that opening volume in the series. I stumbled upon the ending to that book a while ago. I hope I can remember enough of my plan to make it happen. I'd estimate I have only 15,000 words to go, so my goal is to post another report like this before summer is over.

The best part is that I'm excited to keep writing. I wish the next month could stretch on and on and on... I'll just have to enjoy the time I have.

Outlining

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me about my writing process.

It's a common question. People always ask writers about their process. Always. It's a question I have asked of other writers, myself.

The question is often framed as a binary: Are you an architect or a pantser? In other words, do you like to plan/outline or discover your story while writing (writing from the seat of your pants)?

Of course, all writers do some measure of both.

Personally, I like to make sketchy outlines. I like to know the 2-7 most important things that need to happen in a scene before I start writing it. That helps me know why the scene matters. Then as I write the scene, I usually let the characters do their own things. It's funny how often they surprise me. That's actually one of my favorite parts of writing -- because it's more like reading.

While writing SPOTD, I had a tight time frame. The entire story had to take place between the two blue moons, so 30 days in the month of May. I created 30 docs and dated each one. Then I listed the superpower for each day, how it would be used, what bits of foreshadowing were needed, and what other events needed to happen. Each doc eventually became multiple chapters.

My process for Lio and Lamb has been a little more discovery writing. I often sketch out the next 3-5 chapters by planning who the POV characters will be and what should happen within those chapters, but until lately, I didn't have an exact end in my sights, so I hadn't planned too far ahead.

A great thing happened at the beginning of the summer. I was driving home from somewhere and vaguely thinking about the end of the story. That is, the end of the entire trilogy. And it came to me.

Since then, I have been outlining like crazy, writing double and triple my usual word count, and having a lot of fun. And as I am writing, I still discover characters in places I didn't expect them to be doing surprising things. It's delightful!

Right now, this third story is closing in on the magic 90K words. It will end up having approximately 125 short chapters, of which 115 are written. I'll probably be done with the draft early next week. The funny part is that I'll have the third book in a trilogy mostly done, while the first book is only 80% done and the middle volume barely exists. I'm a reverse Martin/Rothfuss!