{"id":290,"date":"2019-01-24T07:06:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T07:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ldinmanbooks.com\/?p=290"},"modified":"2019-01-24T13:11:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T13:11:20","slug":"in-the-word-mines-the-open-sea-with-some-charts-and-the-firmament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ldinmanbooks.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/in-the-word-mines-the-open-sea-with-some-charts-and-the-firmament\/","title":{"rendered":"In the word mines: the open sea, with some charts, and the firmament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, I seem to have got off my blogging regimen just a little bit, after a brief spate. But I’m not all that sorry, because I have<\/em> been writing. The odometer on “Household Lights” just clicked over 30,000 words, and I feel pretty good about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And naturally, there was a good reason why I was stymied several days earlier. Several of the elements I had envisioned for the story, when brought together, had a chemical reaction I hadn’t prepared for, and the anticipation of the decisions I would have to make had slowed my roll. But, after some chat with a couple of betas, and an exciting new idea, I started to write my way into the new reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remarked to Erica<\/a> afterwards that I didn’t often write to find out what happens, but that I was definitely doing so in this case, and she said, “Oh god, I write to find out what happens all the time.” It’s interesting to me how different people’s processes can be: I dream and mentally storyboard nearly everything before ever putting down a word — and usually the first thing I write isn’t the first thing, it’s a thread of conversation I found to pull in service of some character interaction or plot turn. I amass a clutch of jotted passages, some of which are barely-scaffolded strings of dialogue and some of which are fully-blocked scenes, and then at some point I take the plunge and start writing the opening. Usually, when I get to the already-written material, it fits in well as-is. Sometimes it needs tweaking. Rarely do I have to throw away any pre-written scenes, but it has been known to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For “Household Lights” I have three pre-written passages to work into the remaining sequences, and (by current count) seven sequences left to write. That will probably work out to about 20k more words, now that I’ve charted my new territory somewhat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s interesting about the developments of this story is the knock-on effects it will have on what I’m still calling Book 2. (That makes “Household Lights,” like, what, 1.5 or something? I haven’t decided. I think Ann Leckie<\/a> — or at least, Goodreads — did something similar with her short, um, ancillary material to her Ancillary Justice<\/em> trilogy, and there’s<\/em> a good story you should definitely read. And you can tell just how effectively she interrogated the domination system<\/a> from the inside by how livid it made worshippers of domination. I could only aspire to that kind of effectiveness; but I digress.) Some themes I had planned to address in Book 2 demanded to be treated in this story, which on the one hand may alter some of my pre-written scenes for it<\/em>, but on the other, may clear a lot of ground ahead of time and save me some wordage down the line. So as Bob Ross says, we don’t make mistakes in our world; we just have happy accidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it’s back to work with me. Tea, sunrise, a dusting of snow outside, and an open document in here. Heigh-ho.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, I seem to have got off my blogging regimen just a little bit, after a brief spate. But I’m not all that sorry, because I have been writing. The odometer on “Household Lights” just clicked over 30,000 words, and I feel pretty good about them. And naturally, there was a good reason why I<\/p>\n

Read More <\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

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