Like I said, summer is always a difficult time for me to write.… Little to no structure to the day, the kids are around, other committments, etc. I’ve had no fewer than four family dinners in the last week! Not that I’m complaining about that, anyone who knows me is well aware of my love of good food, good music and my family (not prioritizing, there), but one needs a good deal of discipline to stay on track with writing with all these other things going on. I got in some ukulele practise, doing more uke/mandolin duets with Kev, which is always good for a laugh.
Good FAT Jazz gig yesterday, (we were able to start on time, thank goodness) and then raced home to have 15 people over for lobster (sponsored by Helen, thanks Helen!) and much fun and food was had by all. I love hosting, coz it means we get the leftovers. Again, no complaints. It’s a grey day today, and perhaps that means some progress.
I’ve been pondering point of view, and how to introduce some of the story of what’s going on in the village of Nennia earlier, to lighten the “info dump” near the end. I’ve also gone through that section and identified some nasty examples of “telling”, which should be no trick to eliminate, as well as a couple of bits I can more effectively bring out by showing the actual scene in real time. Stephanie’s comments have been helpful for all this, too. She’s the one who suggested I write some earlier scenes from Shawn Carver’s pov. I don’t think I’ll do that exactly, but that gave me the idea of writing them from his daughter Sasha’s pov: the Unreliable Narrator will allow me to show the reader what I want them to know, without the character understanding it, which would give away too much.
Off I go.