Paksworld

So…page proofs are done (check) and some family LifeStuff probably/maybe resolved (half-check) and I’m back “on book”.   Yesterday, after a dietary error that kept me close to one room in the house, turned out to be a very productive writing day anyway (3001 new words, in addition to cleaning up some continuity problems I discovered while working on the proofs of Kings…no, B- did not tell his father about hmmmmmph at Autumn Court, becuase hmmmmph didn’t start until AFTER Autumn Court. when ummmm went mmmmph.  Yes, hate me.)

Sometimes when secondary-to-tertiary characters are given a speaking part, they behave well and stay where they’re put.  Sometimes they don’t.   You never know who’s going to blunder into the line of fire and get mowed down, for sure, or if the one who gets shot lives or dies…until deep in the book.  Take the squires, for instance.   I had done a background check, and decided that the Marrakai girl would have Marrakai-type problems in her first year as squire (hot, fast-reacting personality type), the Mahieran boy would have member-of-royal-family type problems (entitlement issues, maybe some jealousy of those nearer to the throne), and the Serrostin boy would have some confidence issues (youngest, shortest) and perhaps use his intelligence to be manipulative behind the scenes.   There’s not a lot of room in the book to do “bringing up squires” in much detail, but that’s the kind of incident I was anticipating.

Only…not.  Well, sort of, but also…not.   That’s because the well-intentioned and ethical (in his terms) actions of someone else have created a situation into which, like a black hole, certain masses are doomed to fall, whether fitting the person’s family pattern or not.   I had no idea these other ummm would be there at all, let alone then, or that a mmmhm would be strolling along and do what he did.

The plot daemon is presently determined to draw out the suspense and tension as far as possible; attempts to shorten the approach to the black hole are being resisted by the full force of the plot daemon’s plot-drive.   I keep looking around for potential rescue forces, but…there aren’t any.  There’s no reason for there to be any.   (There is a rescue force but it’s not where it needs to be, and I’m not sure it’s adequate anyway.)    The doomed spacecraft is either going to fall into the black hole or find some paperclips and gum and other household items that will, when correctly aligned, produce the equivalent of a Sheewash Drive.  (Anyone who hasn’t read The Witches of Karres needs to go find a copy.  Old-fashioned rollicking SF.)

I realize I made a hard left turn from the fantasy world of Paks to SF, but black hole really is the best metaphor for certain plot forces that take over.

Anyway,  a squire is worried about something going wrong, but is worried about the wrong wrong.    As a mother, I do not want a hair of their heads to be harmed, but as a writer…it’s my job to throw them at trouble (or trouble at them) and let what happens happen.   The reader has been given clues so that the reader will know what the character doesn’t…it’s not a big surprise-from-nowhere for the reader, just for the character(s).   And even the character had some clues, but lacked the ability to recognize them and analyze them.

Well…the character isn’t dead yet.   So back I go to the increasingly long file, to work on it this afternoon.

3001 words yesterday and I should make my 2000 today