Day Forty-six - 87,608 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.

I had a late last night, so the 10am release probably won't be on time. You'll never know, though. It's not like you're up this early, and I'm going to set the posting time at 10am no matter what. I'm all about revisionist history, as long as I'm up front about it.

As I implied yesterday, the trickiest part about today is going to be the transition from present to past, or from future to present, depending on your point of view. I need to make it apparent from the very start so that the reader gets used to the idea of a story occurring in two different eras. I've already established a different setting, so when all of a sudden we're back in the market, and Bryony's still injured, the reader will hopefully get the idea that we're picking up where the last novel left off.

There is a certain amount of parallel structure between the beginning of this novel and the first. It is mostly intentional, although I did not realize how similar they were until I started actually drafting the chapters. The good thing about parallelism is that it provides a clear narrative thread, and also gives the reader a chance to contrast the present situation with the past one. What is interesting about Bryony awakening from her injuries this time is how it is different to last time, now how it is the same.

One of those contrasts is her anger. In the last book, she awoke as a highborn and was the soul of politeness and modesty. Now, she awakes as a middling, and behaves in a haughty and high-handed manner. She's angry and not inclined to be fair.

Gideon was a late addition, but I think his character will be important later on. Spoiler alert! He's the captain of the guard. Gessica does not (at this point) know who attacked Bryony, or if they're likely to do so again. She trusts Gideon implicitly, and he is the only person that she trusts to guard Bryony right now.

Chapter one continues... today. Then I'll be caught up, and the normal 10pm update schedule will continue.

Today's Total: 1,769 / 1,689 words (104.7%)
Nov. Progress to Date: 28,381 / 27,024 words (105.0%, 0.8 days ahead)
Nov. Total Progress: 28,381 / 50,670 (56.0%)
Book 2 Est. Completion 3,739 / 84,450 words (4.4%, 48 days to go)
Est. Completion: 87,608 / 250,000 words (35.0%, 96 days to go)