Justicar Jhee and the Spectral Armada
A Justicar Jhee Mystery
A Justicar Jhee Mystery
Lovely. Another Nor’easter and another one on the way. I think I’m going to leave my car buried until the spring thaw.
Many times as I write a scene, I realize the order of events unfold wrong or I spot instant plot holes. Order of operations refers to when I feel actions, information reveals, dialogue flow better in a different order. This should be here. They don’t know this yet. This works better at the beginning than here. Instant plot holes come about when my inspiration in the moment conflicts with text already written. They need to be here, but I’ve already put them elsewhere. This character missed that. Or they gave that item away already.
This happens both during the first draft and revision. I never quite know if I should address it immediately or leave a note (OOO, PH) and push through. Characters who blurt out information too soon vex me most. If I go with it, I have to restructure everything after. I often have fallout planned for the reveal and everything. Otherwise, I must decide to ignore, delete or set aside for later.
For plot holes, where do I start? These tricksy hobbits are either absurdly simple or deceptively complex. Either way more decision pain points.
I think I’m at the tail end of the scenes that need to be made up out of whole cloth. Soon, it will be mostly rearranging and integrating existing text. My position in the story feels like I’m approaching the last act. My word count is still under where I’d like it to be. I, also, wonder about how much it will shrink once I take out my inline annotations for this draft. Hopefully, I can backfill with more description now that I have a better idea of what’s needed.
Most of the work on this story has been structural. I’m doubtful I’ll get to the rewrite stage this month. It needs more time to stew as I figure out what story I want it to be.
I’m waffling on the location change. I liked the isolated location and controlled access of the settings from the first book. Very much like a cozy. Book 2 has a more urban setting, more police procedural or detective novel than cozy. The plan was always to grow the scope to a citywide level. It is practically demanded by certain story elements. Yet, I have not yet figured out how to work with such an expansive setting. I want to recapture the intimate feel for character interaction and narrowing down the suspect pool.
Still stable for now. It gives the odd rumble, but nothing too bad yet.
Have a lovely day!