progress, maybe
Feb. 21st, 2002 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanSomewhere in between finishing an annoying project at work, driving home, playing a really tough Schubert on the piano to relax, and changing a recessed ceiling lightbulb, I think I've gotten a big step further in figuring out my current fic project. I pretty much got all the plot threads to line up mentally.
I'm being deliberately a little cryptic in the next couple grafs because of this whole superstition thing I have, where if I talk too much about what I'm planning to write, I end up not writing it. (Or writing it and then deciding it's crap.)
The development of her relationship with Geoffrey is central, and could actually be the whole story if I wanted to go that way -- even if it remains non-sexual. The whole business with the tattoo is character development and important for that, but only for that. Also required will be some more scenes with Preston, so that when he dies, the reader will give a shit. The disposition of Preston's notes after his death can be a throwaway if I decide to stick it in there. The time-travel idea is gone completely; it's lame.
I'm left then with basically two "forks" the plot could go on to. There's the one about the prophecy, which starts off kind of deus-ex-machina and then sort of becomes a comedy of errors. And then there's the one about the trainee, in which the trick would be to keep it from getting a) preachy and/or b) egregiously Mary Sue. (I've pretty much abandoned the one where her relationship with Geoffrey turns sexual/romantic -- the problem, again, would be getting the reader to give a shit.) The fun part is that the dreams can fit into either plot. :)
I think I've decided that the thing to do for now is to polish up what I've written so far -- add more substance to her character, flesh out Preston, introduce Geoffrey and develop that up to a point ... in other words, get a solid foundation down. Then I can get someone to read it, describe the two possible plot paths to them, and ask them their opinion.
Right at the moment, though, I'm going through one of those "everything I write is crap" phases, so maybe I'll wait that out before I do anything more on it. :P
I'm being deliberately a little cryptic in the next couple grafs because of this whole superstition thing I have, where if I talk too much about what I'm planning to write, I end up not writing it. (Or writing it and then deciding it's crap.)
The development of her relationship with Geoffrey is central, and could actually be the whole story if I wanted to go that way -- even if it remains non-sexual. The whole business with the tattoo is character development and important for that, but only for that. Also required will be some more scenes with Preston, so that when he dies, the reader will give a shit. The disposition of Preston's notes after his death can be a throwaway if I decide to stick it in there. The time-travel idea is gone completely; it's lame.
I'm left then with basically two "forks" the plot could go on to. There's the one about the prophecy, which starts off kind of deus-ex-machina and then sort of becomes a comedy of errors. And then there's the one about the trainee, in which the trick would be to keep it from getting a) preachy and/or b) egregiously Mary Sue. (I've pretty much abandoned the one where her relationship with Geoffrey turns sexual/romantic -- the problem, again, would be getting the reader to give a shit.) The fun part is that the dreams can fit into either plot. :)
I think I've decided that the thing to do for now is to polish up what I've written so far -- add more substance to her character, flesh out Preston, introduce Geoffrey and develop that up to a point ... in other words, get a solid foundation down. Then I can get someone to read it, describe the two possible plot paths to them, and ask them their opinion.
Right at the moment, though, I'm going through one of those "everything I write is crap" phases, so maybe I'll wait that out before I do anything more on it. :P
