Echoes in a Hollow Space

Alas, not a productive week, word-wise. A number of distractions, plus I had to stop and do a "Where the hell am I and where am I going?" outline for the rest of the book. I'm not an outliner, per se, but about once every third of a novel, I get flustered at where the book is leading me and have to stop and reconnoiter the landscape. Is it still possible to get to the endpoint from where I'm currently traveling? The answer is almost always yes, but once that panicky feeling starts, there's nothing for it but to think things through. I may not follow the outline now that it's done, but at least it's done it's job and I can hopefully get back to writing.

I'm definitely at the "this is no longer fun" stage of the novel. But that usually just means I'm close to the hump that will allow me to get on with the downward slide. Not as close to the hump as I'd like to be, can't see over the top, but close. I suspect future drafts will have me telescoping some of what I've written and expanding other stuff, but this is not the time and place to worry about that. Just pushing forward here. I want to get through the current slog and get to those action scenes, but I keep getting distracted by more and more slog.

I do find myself thinking longingly of the next novel I'd like to do, even to the point of doing a good deal of research reading for it. I'm also itching to put the final final final FINAL polish on the last novel so I can start inflicting it upon the world. But I know these sirens do not mean me well. They care nothing about humps and mountains, being largely aquatic. They want me to jump overboard and drown or smash my boring-old-definitely-not- fun-anymore boat upon the rocks. I must stuff my ears with wax and keep on rowing. That's the only way I'll ever see the shores of home again.


Venus In Transit

72,250 / 100,000 (72.2%)

Over the weekend I was thinking that perhaps my next project should be to turn one of my novellas into a novel (and neither has vampires!). One is "Sealed with A Curse" which is really a long novelette, coming in at just over 15k; the other is "Hortensia's Man," just shy of 31k. I'm thinking it would take less time to produce finished novels from either of these than starting from scratch with another. I'm trying to play the percentages here, to have more "product" in the pipeline, but it's hard to tell where the true percentages lie. I want to write Charged with Folly, but my perception at this stage is that it will take much longer.

"Curse" has some problems with research I'm not ready to tackle at this point in time, but the 15k that's set in the 18th century would be just a small part of the novel, anyway. Mostly, it's a contemporary fantasy harkening back to events in 1727. "Hortensia" takes place entirely in the Nineteenth Century and I'm sure that anyone who knows early California history would find plenty wrong with it--but the good thing about that story is that very little of it takes place in Known History. The bulk of the story, part one (the 30k novella) and part two, as yet unwritten, take place in a made up valley away from most of the centers of European population and history. California was sparsely populated with the European-descended in the early 19th century. That's the history I'm mostly going to be dealing with in that story. But even there, the particular tribe I'm writing about is also a made up tribe: based on the mores of California Indian tribes I've read about, but still made up.

Since there's more of "Hortensia" and since she's been lobbying for a novel of her own ever since she first popped into my brain; since I've done tons of intricate worldbuilding on the Dos Lunas valley already, maybe that's the way to go. Do I have 50k more words in me to make this a novel? Initially I want to say, "Hell, yeah." But I wonder. Is the conflict strong enough? I can't quite tell until I get in there and start playing around.

And I haven't finished Night Warrior yet. And I think everyone's sick of it, so that isn't helping my motivation any. "You are a self-motivator, Pam," I remind myself. Yeah, I am, but sometimes I live reflected in the eyes of others. So sue me.

I'm looking for readers for my novelette, "Sealed With A Curse." I'll be glad to return the favor in kind. ABSOLUTELY NO VAMPIRE CONTENT. :-)

I'm not looking for heavy duty critiques, just an overall feel for if it works or not, if it can still be cut down. I've lost all perspective on it. I'm especially interested in knowing if the beginning draws the reader in—and if it doesn't, the reading task is easily dispensed with. Just stop reading and let me know it doesn't work. I'd run this through the workshop again, but it would take all three slots and I don't want to interrupt posting The Novel at this juncture.

Here's the blurb:

Early in the Eighteenth Century, Simon Jellicoe, a mysterious cunning man, shows up at the English country inn of Megan and Robin Boyle. Strong emotional currents weave through this inn: Megan is four months pregnant by her lover, worthless Neddy Jenkin. She married Robin in order to give her unborn child security, not telling Robin she was pregnant. Although Robin adores her, no man likes to be cuckolded and Megan fears things will go wrong because despite her certain knowledge that Neddy won't take care of her, she still desires him and he's still hanging about. She's thinking of asking Simon Jellicoe to cast a spell to make things turn out right, but as Simon can tell her, spells often go badly awry if they are cast with muddy intentions...

About 15,000 words SMF/61 pages (okay, 15,250 words SMF).

Contact me at sapelle@yahoo.com if you're interested.