I've been working a little more on "Call to the Dance".
I remember hearing something (in Writer's Craft, probably) about how writing novels is easier than writing short stories because you have so much more space over-which you can develop the plot and the characters.
Fair enough. However I must counter with this: Writing short stories is *way* easier than writing novels because, with a short story, you can remember what you wrote elsewhere in the manuscript (or, failing that, look it up by skimming through a dozen pages or so) and go back and tinker with things without having to hund through reams of paper to find all the bits that now need to be changed.
Ye bloody gods. Editing is a bitch.
I was at my Mom's place (with Paul) the other night -- I gave her a shirt which (A) she really likes, but (B) was two sizes too big for her (she'll just exchange it for the right size. Hurrah!) -- and my Mom asked me what the story of my book was.
So I told her (short version) and she helped me to articulate some stuff that I was having trouble with.
Yay! :-D
Anyway. What I've been doing tonight isn't editing. I'm still about 50 pages from the end of my first edit-job on the book, but most of those 50 pages are either (A) fine as is, minus a bit of tweaking (it's always nice to discover that your writing gets better as you get towards the end of the story), or (B) no-longer really fit the plot. Er.
So, I've been writing the story's time line. It's kind of neat because I'm going scene by scene, alternating between PoVs (Sam vs Alex), and going "Okay, this scene's already done, but that one needs to have all-new dialogue, and this one over here actually needs to be written from scratch..."
Also: I've decided that Sam's ability to see fairies isn't going to be inate OR due to the car accident. It's going to be due to the very traditional method of getting fairy spit on your eyes.
Also: The reason Alex can see Sam, but none of the other fairies are particularly aware of her as anything special? It has to do with the finger bone that the Gunny Lady gave to Alex. It's acting almost like a decoder ring, if you will, so that the bearer can act as eyes for the Gunny Lady.
Tricks are:
1) Alex doesn't know exactly what s/he has, and
2) Until Alex makes the connection (Alex isn't stupid, but s/he's also really not picking up on this... And I need to figure out why), the Gunny Lady can't see Sam through hir eyes.
3) If someone else gets ahold of the finger bone, and makes the connection, the Gunny Lady will see Sam through their eyes -- and become trapable through their control over Sam (should they decide/be-able to capture and control her).
During the scene where, in the original draft, the Book got bloody and revealed its secrets? Alex will force hir eyes open again, look at Sam, and recognize her as the Avatar. At which point the GL will be able to find her, and take up residence in Sam's body.
Which will get rid of the awful empty feeling inside of her.
And will also allow Sam to tweak the strands of the local Web of Life, thus allowing her to heal Alex. Sam is surprised that she has this new awareness, but it doesn't feel wierd or freaky... It feels normal. yay! :-)
Once the GL is inside Sam, Sam will be 'imune' to fairy Influence. (Cue the cry of despair - "Noooooooooooo! Foiled again!" - from the alligned Courts who immediately start bickering and fighting, their shakey alliance disolving in the rain, and the urban fey balance remaining, well, in balance for another eighty-odd years).
Alex doesn't die, and Sam and Alex creep away from the arguing Court Folk, to walk home (where-ever home may be) in the lightly falling snow. Everything ends happily. Hurrah. :-D
- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)
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