Day Forty-nine - 93,460 words and counting

I'm writing a novel. All my progress can be found on my private blog. The commentary for each day's work can be found below.

At this point, I'm sort of in the same position I was yesterday. I've got upcoming scenes that I want to get to, but I'm not quite sure how best to get to them.

If this were a film, I'd have a brief shot of Bryony looking around her empty room... all of her friends are gone. In five seconds, I could establish that loneliness. In a novel, though, it doesn't work out quite so well. I would have to have a scene with a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end, and a hook onto the next section. I could do that, perhaps, with some thought, but it would still feel like filler to me.

Problem is, I don't really want to continue with Gideon right now, since I left him with a such a great hook at the end. And I don't want to end the chapter there. I've already stated my reasons for not switching to Merona's or Devan's POV. So, where does that leave me?

One answer is another new POV, but I don't really like that thought either. There are no candidates out there... or are there? What about Tynofast? I want to make sure that the first time we meet the Patroness it's through Bryony's POV, but I don't have to have Tynofast get all the way out to the country. On the contrary, he wouldn't have that much time.

So, where could he go? What would the purpose of such a POV be? The big, meta-purpose is to have someone to be our eyes and ears with the Patroness when Bryony is not around, just like Merona was for Gessica. But to be effective in a novel, he'll have to have a more immediate purpose too, and this scene is my opportunity to set that up.

An investigation of his own... yes, he also wants to know who attacked Bryony, because the Patroness does too. The Patroness takes it personally. All right, there we go. I have my direction for moving forward now. And it will bookend nicely with Gideon's part of the chapter--they're working toward the same goal, if in different ways.

Time to write! Let's see what happens.

--

Tynofast's POV is allowing me to explore something that I think is good to introduce at this point--the origins of the market. There has been a structure on the site for hundreds upon hundreds of years, and its purpose was not always to sell things. What that original purpose is will become apparent in time, but for now, it is enough to establish that the surface and currently inhabited areas are only the tip of the iceberg.

Oh, and did you catch that reference to the lowmen? Yeah, we'll be getting more of that later.

I'm really, really glad I wrote this chapter. I understand Tynofast a lot better than I did before, and as he will be rising in importance as time goes on, I think that's a good thing.

Chapter 3 picks up tomorrow, and we're back to Bryony. See you then!

Today's Total: 1,917 / 1,689 words (113.5%)
Nov. Progress to Date: 34,233 / 30,402 words (112.6%, 2.3 days ahead)
Nov. Total Progress: 34,233 / 50,670 (67.6%)
Book 2 Est. Completion 9,591 / 84,450 words (11.4%, 44 days to go)
Est. Completion: 93,460 / 250,000 words (37.4%, 93 days to go)