Friday, April 10, 2020

The plumage don't enter into it!

Just finished a monster 2,800 word "scene." Actually, three scenes; I'm lumping several together for ease in editing.

Puts me at about 16K. It is moving more quickly. The research seems to have been about right. I couldn't do it just from the materials I'd copied and saved, but they told me what I was going to do and led me in the right direction to fill in a couple of details.

About James Greathead and Cretaceous clay and the proper way to describe a Norwegian Blue.

It is quite likely when I go through the primary edit passes I'll take a third or more of the various name drops and references out, and then explain better the ones I've left in. Greathead and Brunel matter, for the plot and themes of the book. Monty Python, not so much.

Actually, there's one more text chunk but it will be simple. They are going to get fish and chips near the Tower then watch the first part of the torchlight ceremony.

The following chapter is insane. I'm going to jump over the visit to the Lambeth Larks (my invention) at the Firehouse (my way of referring to an actual Kennington theatre) and head straight for the Imperial War Museum.

Which is dripping with poppies (don't know why those weren't in the previous scene), and otherwise going crazy for Armistice Day, and I haven't even figured out what costume the reenactor group is talking my protagonist into.

More research. (My thought is the next weekend she plays an ATS. For this one, some kind of nurse or somebody that would be seen on the streets during the Blitz.)

Monday, she finally gets to do some real archaeology.

I just found a "Dressing as a..." video (from a series I knew about before and always intended to use as reference) for a WW I volunteer nurse. And I found a book written by one of her experiences (same person who wrote National Velvet) Which was free. So...I guess the first costume is going to be a VAD.

And the Tower scene is written. It was just a little 200-word coda.

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