How’d so much time go by between posts? Oh yeah, I know. I worked on Friday, the overnight retreat at the school happened, I began recovery on Saturday, went to a dinner party, I had a FAT Jazz gig yesterday.… Ok, it’s all making sense now. Work was exhausting, the overnight retreat was successful thanks to all my many volunteers, I had a nap on Saturday afternoon, the dinner party was lovely, and the gig went great with much audience enthusiasm. We helped the Eagle Ridge Hospital Auxiliary raise about $8000, which is pretty good for only the second year of this fundraiser.
And can rest easy now, thanks to my friend Tom returning the rest of my Jasper Fforde collection. I’m happy to loan out books to eagerly curious readers, but I always feel just a little on edge until my favourites are returned to me. It’s like when the kids are out at a birthday party and hubby’s at football… I don’t feel completely whole until the family has come home. It’s worth it, though, if everyone had a good time and the books were enjoyed by the borrower. Especially if it means I’ve converted another friend into a Fforde Fan.
I would never have discovered Jasper Fforde if not for my friend Sheila. See, Jasper is her neighbour in Wales and she, knowing I’m a writer, suggested I read his work. Why he isn’t classified as Fantasy I can’t understand, because I can’t think of any books more “alternate world” than his, and yet there he is on the General Fiction shelf. I don’t get it. In any event, I found him, and Man, he’s terrific and clever and hilarious. Love it.
After a nice chat with Ron the other day while he was driving north to Seattle (yes, he’s hands-free) I am looking forward to sitting down and mucking about with Griffin today. (After I create the agenda for tonight’s music parents’ meeting). See, I really wanted to write this novel in the first person and I love the way it’s coming out. Trouble is that one of the ways I figure out where a story needs to go next is to play around with other characters. For instance, what is Jesqellan up to? That’s how I developed that character in Dark Elf’s Warrior, and by golly that also created a lovely sub-plot which became a integral part of the sequel, Deception.
I guess I was blocking myself from trying that with Griffin because I’m writing in the first person and somehow convinced myself that I wouldn’t be able to use it. But I have to remember that there are no hard and fast rules in this art form, and I can do whatever the hell I want. I can play around with other point of view, and I can find other ways to bring that stuff in even though it’s in Griffin’s pov. Or, I can insert small segments from other POV’s, so long as I do it smoothly. (I read a book recently that was mostly in 1st person, and then stuck in these 3rd person bits and I didn’t like it, so I’d have to handle it another way). Whatever I do in the final draught, I can try anything. So that’s what’s going to happen today.
Let’s see what Rickenbacker Topiary and Fenix Overland are up to, shall we?
[Apologies to Griffin fans: I don’t have anything more for you to read yet! I’ve been working on the end.]