Thursday Thoughts

Haven't done much this past week - been buried in allergy fog and done a lot of harp-playing, including a networking gig on Tuesday. Hopefully it turns into something ...

Mainly been hashing out this fantasy / mystery short story that continues to bedevil me. I can only remember once before where I've still been changing so much - chopping, adding - after so many edits. That one had a happy ending, so I can hope that I can beat this one into shape yet. I would also love to get another two hundred words out of it - the "8k" market is limited, but it's less limited than the "over 8k" market - but it seems to be holding steady and stubborn about where it is.

I need to get cracking on my character profiles for my novel. One thing I've noticed in reality shows that I'm trying to emulate is that often, part of why you watch is to a) cheer on your favorites and b) see the people you can't stand get bumped off (... the show). There's a visceral intensity to it that I know is partly created by the fact that these are "real" people - grant that the faces the players present to the camera aren't often wholly authentic - but I want to capture as much of it as possible. So I've been consciously thinking about which of the characters fall into which category - which will the reader cheer for, which will they campaign against ... and hopefully, if I do my job right, some of them won't garner the same reaction from every reader.

I am a bit concerned about using a "camera lens" POV for the main scenes in the story, but I am intending to break that up with close-focus on individual characters - and off-stage scenes from a few, select POVs. I am hoping to emulate that sense of not knowing what is going through the character's head - until you step aside with them in the isolation booth. So much of this is balance between getting the meta-story feel of the base material without making it seem arbitrary or unnatural. I'm hoping if done right, it will give its own unqiue element of depth.