Tell, don't show

I am way under my word count for the past 2-3 weeks. Ever since work re-started, really.

Finished the scenes I added/moved. Story has passed the turn-around; the "dreary struggle against poverty" stuff is over and the "crazy stunting" part has begun.

Have been playing with timelines and outline again as I work up the details of what the next chapters do. It is always a bit of a postman's problem; A could be boating when he meets B, that's natural, but if A and C are together when B first appears there's some great stuff C could say. But C hates boats. So you juggle, and you mourn the roads you can't take.

And I considered strongly two re-writes. One is probably a better book; the first chapter takes place out of London. Makes it more focused on London as the core setting, cuts the cast list down a bit, doesn't lay false trails about history that isn't The Blitz. And it makes logistical sense.

Starting in London also means I have to work to insert the cut material into other chapters. That makes one or two of the scenes stronger but there's stuff I really can't do and that just gets dumped.

And it means the First Look is London, probably Trafalgar Square. But at the same time; starting in the Midlands meant I could make some generic points about England before focusing in. I am on the fence but it is possible for that alone -- for the first moments in a new country -- my original instincts were right.

All in all, it probably is the right choice. I'm less sure about shifting around events later, particularly, moving the discovery of the Diary earlier so Penny can be reading about Linnet being unhappy in a hole underground just as she is herself being unhappy in a hole underground. My main objection there is it is a bit too on-the-nose.

***

I've had this conversation with myself before. It is always a question; will I learn more efficiently from re-writing the novel I have, or completing the novel I have and writing a new one?

And once again I'm coming down on the side of finishing. The smaller plus; the more words you write, the better you get. The bigger plus; what I really need to do is write more. I need to find out ways to write more, that is, faster. Rewrites are very much not faster.

***

In the middle of making coffee yesterday I had another of those unfortunate realizations.

For this book, the Big Bad is Guy. He's not a bad person, he just is what sets events in motion. Well, and he tries to kill my protagonist, but that's understandable.

Guy is a particular type. He's the one who wants to belong. But he doesn't want to fit in. He wants to be at the center table. He wants recognition and acclaim. And he's found a flawed method to attempt this. He's a quick learner but not a deep one. He gets those easy talking points, those cool facts that everyone should know, the advanced technique; some thing that he can use to show off with.

And it really only annoys the center table, because they have the depth of understanding he'll never have. He's too lazy for that. He's the sort that jumps into gun discussions with that one test that proved 9mm was superior to 45ACP. Or that shows up in Archaeology circles with the possibly pre-Clovis points found near a Mammoth. For people outside of whatever sport or activity or field, he looks like a flashy expert. For people inside the field, though...

Okay, the teal deer in the room is the way I've currently outlined, he gets only one chapter in which he can be seen doing his thing. There's more to his story and he is the central mover of my story and, dammit, he should have been in the primary cast list!

So now I'm going back and thinking about whether and where I can introduce him, and what exactly are the secrets Penny still needs to learn to get to the climax of the story, and what triggers those moments of discovery and/or realization, and where they need to fall amid the rest of the timeline........